Disclaimer: I do Not own Tin Man it and all recognizable characters belong to their respective owners which isn't me i'm just borrowing them for a while :)A big thank you to Hippo-Griff Tamer from being my Beta for this

A/N: I am so Sorry for not updating this in so long i honestly thought i had finished this one (my oops) anyway here it is...and again i am sorry for the long wait.

Chapter 10

Jeb left the porch, leaving his parents to talk. He walked back in to cabin shaking his head, still not believing that his mother was here. Nor could he believe that DG had made it so that she could say goodbye. As he came into the dining room he looked at the princess who had brought his family back together in a sense. True, he would never have his mother back with him but she had brought his father back to him. He could not blame his father for falling in love with the youngest princess. Even he loved her, though, of course, not in the same way. He had thought it weird that his father had fallen for a woman so much younger than himself but then again the age difference between them was not so big a difference as to make it seem too odd. The Prince Consort, after all, was older than the Queen by almost sixteen years. So the age difference really had been a lame excuse for his not pursuing the princess when it had been so obvious that he loved her. Jeb had known about his father's feelings for the princess since the day he had went off to rescue her from the danger she had been in when they were in the camp before the big battle with the witch.

As he watched his parents from the dining room, he began to wonder if his mother would approve of his own feelings for the woman who had been possessed by the ancient witch. The witch, who had used the face of the woman he had come to love in the last annual, the woman who had caused so much strife in his family. Even though he knew others continued to believe that Az had not really been possessed by such evil he knew better. As he had come to know her he had come to see the gentle and sweet woman she really was. He knew she was older by a few annuals but he also knew that the age difference was a small matter. All he had to do was remind himself of his father's love of a certain princess and he dismissed the thought almost as soon as it surfaced. He looked over at the elder princess and allowed himself to smile which like his father was a rare occurrence.

"What?" she asked when she noticed his smile.

"Nothing, Az," he replied though the smile remained in place.

Az looked over at her bodyguard who in the past several cycles had come to mean more to her than just a guard. He was her friend and constant companion. She didn't want to admit it but she had fallen in love with him. Yet, she wasn't about to let him know it. Her fear of his reaction to that admission kept her silent on the matter, that and she wasn't sure if he could ever see her more than the cause of his families problems. After all it had been the witch who had ordered his father placed in the Iron Suit which had caused his family to be torn apart. There was not a night that when by that the guilt of everything the witch had done to the inhabitants of the OZ. Her nightmares came nearly every night and it was usually the younger Cain that had to see her through the night after she woke up. She began to wonder if it was those nightly talks they had that had made her begin to see him as more than a friend. She turned away from him trying to hide the sudden blush.

DG watched the silent interaction between her sister and Jeb. Knowing what she did, she began to wonder when the two would admit their feelings for each other. But as she thought about it she realized that it would probably take some drastic move on her sister's part for the younger Cain to say anything if he was anything like his father. Both men were more alike than she had ever thought. Both were stubborn and didn't admit their feelings very well. She knew that had she not run away Wyatt would probably have kept her in the dark about his own feelings towards her. She began to wonder if there was something that she could do to get the two together though the thought of what Adora had said made her pause for only a moment. So what if their family dynamic would become really complicated. Love was love and she would see her sister happy. She wasn't sure how she felt about her sister eventually becoming her daughter-in-law. Even the thought had her giggling internally. Their family was going to be so messed up, she thought to herself. She sobered up when she realized that they had yet to tell the Queen and Consort of the change in her marital status. Looking down at her hand she examined the ring that now resided there. The ring itself was gold but it also had three gems embedded into it. The middle gem was a pale blue topaz and the two on each side of the middle gem were sapphires. She made a note to look at Wyatt's ring to see if it was the same or different in the way the gems were placed. She wondered if the gem color had any special significance and then decided she would ask Wyatt later.

Smiling, she waited for Adora to finish saying farewell. She knew that the spirit would return to the realm of the dead once she was finished speaking to the man whom they had both loved in their own way. She would be sad to see her new friend leave but she knew that she couldn't hold the spirit here forever. She was so lost in thought she didn't here Az, Glitch, Raw and Jeb leave the cabin. Nor did she hear Wyatt come up behind her and ask if she was ready to head back to the city. She jumped when he pulled her back against her and kissed her temple.

"OH! Don't do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack there Wyatt!" she cried smacking his arm in retaliation.

"Sorry," he said though he really didn't mean it even if it had not been his intention to scare her.

Contrite she turned in his arms and looked up at him. "So what was it you were saying? And where did everyone go?"

"They headed to the hill where we are going to head back to the city by travel storm and I asked if you were ready to head back. Your parents are going to worry needlessly if we don't get back soon."

"I know, I was thinking the same thing. Besides, we have to tell them what happened here as well as letting them know that we intend to have a wedding too." She grinned up at him.

He chuckled at her impish grin and taking her hand led her out of the cabin. "By the way, I want to thank you for that," he said pointing to the grave marker that she had replaced.

"You're welcome," she answered as he led her to the hill where the others were waiting.