Disclaimer: I wanna own it so bad!!! Why! Why?... Ok I'm all better.
For the first time in almost five weeks she didn't wake up screaming or shivering. Her eyes fluttered open slowly as diffused light came dancing through the curtains. She was now so used to being either disoriented or frightened when she woke up that she was utterly confused as to why she felt somewhat normal. She simply lay there unmoving for a while processing this new development.
Wyatt had somehow managed to twist her in the night so that her face was tucked against his neck and her body was pressed against his chest, her leg was tangled in between his. One of his arms was wrapped around her shoulders while the other rested on the small of her back. She felt as if she had been cocooned or something. Not that she was complaining.
She grinned snuggling even closer to him and he muttered his arms tightening before he relaxed back into sleep. Content she let her mind wander over what they needed to do next. Other than dealing with Gulch they had to head north or south. Both palaces were about the same distance from where they were and to be honest she dreaded going north.
Her dreams of what had happened there and the very real feeling of despair and cold that accompanied them made her wary. Her mind raced, did she want to put it off or get it over with? Maybe getting another piece of herself would make her feel braver about the frozen wasteland… or not. Now she was just trying to avoid the issue, she turned her head more fully into Cain's neck annoyed with herself for being afraid of a freaking building.
When her eyes closed she felt it. She lifted her head slightly in amazement. She let a small amount of her light out and let the tips of her fingers graze the Tin Man's chest. Her light responded to the missing bit of her soul and began to pulse gently. She caught her breath when she felt it and wondered how in the name of Dorothy she hadn't felt it earlier. It was all but singing in contentment. While it didn't try to repel her light it made absolutely no effort to move toward her dancing around where it was joyfully.
She felt Cain shift and thinking he was still asleep remained as she was, eyes closed listening to her soul sing with her magic. This was so weirdly comforting her hand began to relax lowering slowly until her palm was flat against him. Then she felt his hand move over hers and she broke the link her eyes snapping open. She felt disoriented and her body felt oddly heavy. She sighed pressing her face against his neck harder breathing him in. Somehow it made the separation easier.
The arm around her shoulder stroked her lightly. "Darlin?"
"Sorry." She mumbled into his skin. "I don't know how I missed it before. I think you do weird things to my higher brain function most of the time."
She felt him smile as he pulled her hand up to his lips and kissed her palm. "It's good to know I'm not the only one affected DG." His lips worked their way up to the tips of her fingers before he kissed her wrist and placed her hand back where he had found it. "You're not shivering today Sweetheart." She could hear the relief in his tone and kissed the skin next to her lips earning herself a small rumble.
"I'm going to blame you for that. If your career as my bodyguard doesn't work out I will so hire you as my new blanket."
He snorted running one of his hands down her exposed cheek. "I think I can handle both duties Princess. Although I may need to ask you for a pay raise."
Damn she loved it when he let his humor come out to play. She tilted her head back her lip twitching like crazy. "Sorry all I can offer you are some added benefits. You know health plan, dental, extra day vacation time. Whatcha think? Going to stick around or do I need to find somebody else?"
His eyes twinkled down at her. He gave a mighty sigh. "I suppose if that's the best you can do I'll have to take it won't I?"
She laughed softly and shimmied up so she could kiss him. His smile stayed in place as he held her against him and rolled her onto her back. Her laughter got louder when his fingers tickled her ribs. His head came up and he look at her his eyes shinning and his fingers continued to torment her now that he'd found her weak spot. "No! You're so mean Wyatt Cain!" She gasped trying to wriggle away.
He chuckled down at her as she thrashed and in desperation she threw her elbow on the mattress hooked a leg over his hips and flipped them both over. Unfortunately she flipped the wrong way and they teetered on the edge of the small bed for a second both of them flailing before they tumbled off and onto the floor.
They landed with a thud tangled up hopelessly with one another. She lay unmoving for a moment after Cain grunted from the impact and started laughing hysterically. She really couldn't move, between Cain and part of the blanket that made the short trip with them it was practically impossible. "Darlin you're a hazard." He sighed somewhere above her head.
She started shaking silently unable to even make noise she was laughing so hard. She gasped fighting for air feeling the Tin Man struggling to get up. Only she could end up like this. Cain grumbled, "Are you going to help me or just lie there laughin?"
She pulled weakly at the blanket once before letting her hand drop. Wyatt grunted sensing defeat and tugged hard on the blanket letting it drop completely off the bed. She was immediately surrounded by fabric as it fell over her head and she batted at it as her body convulsed.
Then the blanket was yanked off of her and she blinked as light hit her eyes. Cain managed to sit up and lifted her leg and pushed it off his chest and onto his legs. She gasped fighting for control, as she lay sprawled awkwardly on the floor. He huffed down at her pretending to be annoyed as he reached around her hauling her up. She wrapped her hands around her his upper arms holding on for the ride. She giggled kissing his nose when he glared at her.
She made a choice quickly and decided to go with it because she wanted to do this and it would be fun to do it now. She tilted her head and decided to completely throw him off his game this morning. Because waking him up with her magic as she listened to her soul inside of him and knocking him off the bed wasn't enough to get the bewildered face from him. "Wyatt?" She said innocently.
He gazed at her suspiciously as he held her. "Yes, Sweetheart?"
She locked eyes with him happily. "Marry me." Oh score. There it was, jaw drop included.
"What?" He managed flabbergasted.
She snorted and smiled at him. "I'm proposing to you. Should I have gotten down on one knee? Hard to do when you always have me in your lap like this."
His blue eyes were searching her face thoughts rushing across them. "You couldn't let me ask could you?" He finally answered his hand running over her hair. He was gazing at her adoringly and she hummed satisfied that she knew what his answer was going to be.
"Nope, that wouldn't have been any fun for me at all. And you still haven't answered me." She wrapped her legs around his waist as she said this waiting for his answer.
He grabbed her kissing her softly and she melted against him. He leaned back his hand cupping her face. "Yes, DG."
She lit up at his answer. Literally… she started glowing as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. He let her breath when she whimpered softly and gave her a full out 'I love DG' smile. Hand twining with hers and chuckling at the light radiating off her. She suddenly felt tears prickling unexpectedly at the back of her eyes. "I love you." She whispered.
He opened his mouth hand still on her face when she heard footsteps in the hallway. Her head snapped around and she scrambled off him snatching for her shirt as he grabbed his gun that was resting on the floor next to the headboard. Tugging the shirt over her head quickly she compressed her light until it only escaped from her palms and waited tensely.
There was a pause as the owner of the footsteps stood outside the door. Cain cocked the gun right before they heard a knock on the door. "Dad?"
Cain jerked his gun up toward the ceiling letting the hammer fall back into place as he relaxed his posture. "Yes, Jeb?" He set the gun down and scooped up his pants from the messy pile they had made stepping into them. She let her light retreat as the tension drained away from her. She began to dress quietly as well sending out a false hope that Jeb did not know what they were doing in here. She wasn't stupid and neither was Jeb but she could pretend.
When he started talking she could hear the amusement thick in his voice, her hopes of pretending flew out the window. "Are you ever going to get up or would you rather I let you spend the rest of the morning with DG?"
She threw her boot at the door in retribution as Cain raised his eyes to the ceiling as if looking for guidance from above his face flushing again. "We'll be out in a minute Son." Cain replied blandly.
She heard him rest his weight on the doorframe as he settled himself. It occurred to her that Jeb had a well-developed sense of how to prod his father without getting shot. That and a very firm grasp of the ways in which to wield sarcasm. "Oh of course. No hurry or anything, not like we need to discuss what to do with that slipper or where any of us are heading. Tell me DG do you always keep him in bed this late in the day?"
She pulled on a sock grinning wickedly. Two could play that game although Cain would most likely strangle her for this. "I wouldn't have to if he let me sleep at night. He's really very affectionate you know."
She heard two simultaneous strangled sounds. Cain was looking at her in embarrassed horror and she could only assume Jeb had the same expression on his face. "What no witty retort out there? Let that be a lesson to you Captain. Mess with the Princess and get burned!" She called out jovially.
"You're not a good person Princess." Jeb sighed. "That was not something I wanted to think about. I'll see you two at breakfast, we're eating in the town hall." She heard his footsteps retreating and stood to retrieve her boot.
Cain finished dressing as she waited shooting her the most endearingly mortified glances. She grinned at him serenely loving every moment of this. "DG that was really not-"
"Oh it was so necessary. Not appropriate at all of course but Jeb got the hint." Cain rolled his eyes and was about to say something else before she derailed him again. "Besides we needed to get dressed before you told him we're getting married. Might be better if he's already speechless before you drop that bomb."
He put his fedora on shaking his head as he walked over to her. "You're going to be the death of me Sweetheart." He gave her a peck on the lips and opened the door. "Come on, time for breakfast."
They left the house and she grabbed his non-gun hand as they walked down the street. He gave her a sideways glance his lip twitching at her. What? As of fifteen minutes ago they were engaged, she was going to hold his hand. They reached the largest building in Milltown and heard voices inside. It sounded like the cafeteria at her old high school except most of the voices were male and older.
He held the door open for her as his eyes swept the room quickly. Satisfied that it was safe they walked over to Jeb, Raw and her Roboparents hands still entwined. She noticed a number of covert looks and suppressed a smile. She sat on the old bench next to Momster and grinned evilly at Jeb who rolled his eyes and pointed his fork at her. "You play dirty Princess. I won't forget that."
She snorted and grabbed a piece of toast from a plate in the center of the table as Cain sat down next to Jeb. Popsicle was eying Jeb as if he had stated the grass was indeed green. Raw stopped chewing and gazed at the young man knowingly. "DG likes Jeb. How she shows it." His warm eyes looked at her as he patted her hand. She grumbled into her toast and Jeb blushed lightly. Jeb was supposed to work that out on his own. Cain chuckled his eyes running over the room again finally resting on Gulch who was sitting with Father Viewer and listening intently to whatever it was he was being told.
Jeb followed his father's eye line. "Look, I don't know what he did to start this thing between you three but my men told me he helped fight off the Longcoats. And from what I understand he saved at least two of them."
Cain turned his eyes to Jeb in disbelief. Jeb shrugged at his father continuing. "They have no reason to lie to me. And he's got a nice scare across his temple to prove it. If he doesn't want to go back to the Otherside I'd be willing to keep an eye on him. He doesn't have much training but I can fix that fast. He certainly isn't afraid of a fight, I can work with that."
She raised an eyebrow at the young man. Raw rumbled in agreement with Jeb. "Man struggling to find purpose. Might find that with fighters. Should listen to son Cain."
The Tin Man's ice blue eyes locked with the warm brown eyes of the viewer. He was silent for a long time. "You're sure he won't hurt anyone?" Cain's voice was level as he spoke to Raw. It was obvious to her that he was willing to trust the seer but he had to be sure that what he was saying was true. Raw closed his eyes letting his posture relax as he read Gulch from a distance.
"Strives for order. Senses chaos here. In heart wants to fix. Was bored before." Raw opened his eyes. "Man could make good soldier." His warm eyes turned to Jeb. "Jeb can teach this."
Cain nodded slowly his attention turning to her. She chewed the last bite of her toast slowly reaching to get some juice. She trusted Raw as well and thought it was only fair that Gulch get a new start here as well. She took a drink, set the glass down and stood up from the table. "I'll see what he wants to do."
She walked over to the sheriff feeling Cain's eyes on her back as she sat down across the table from him. His dark eyes came up to hers and he gave her a weak smile. "This is a very strange place DG." His smile faltered. "Those men were going to kill the people here weren't they?" She saw it then. The man was tired and afraid. The fight yesterday had given him a serious reality check.
She gave him a heartfelt sigh. "Yes, they want to kill anyone that defied the witch. The people here have been through a very rough fifteen years. Now that the royal family is back in power things have stabilized but the remaining resistors aren't going down easily."
"You mean you and your family." He picked at the food on his plate idly as he said this.
She twitched. It was so wrong that she barely even categorized them that way in her own mind unless they were in the room with her. "Yes, although I can't say I've done as much as the King and Queen. I don't have the training to run a country."
Gulch's eyes moved to her Robparents and then back to her. "Not close with the real one's then?"
She leaned back feeling guilty because it was true. "I don't know them very well yet." She decided to turn this conversation back to him. "Look Elmer, I have two options for you and you need to pick one in the next hour or so because I have to leave."
He focused on her listening. She continued. "I can send you back to Kansas and you can go back to your life or you can stay here. Jeb said you could join up with his regiment."
"Why would he offer that?" She stared at him hard. He was genuinely interested in this.
"His men told him you fought yesterday and saved a few of them. He's an honorable man, he wanted to give you a place in this realm if you want it."
Elmer nodded mulling this over. He set his fork down then looked back at her. "I spent most of yesterday talking to the Floater." He indicated Father Viewer who was moving around the room talking to the townsfolk and soldiers. "He told me what's happened here. He told me what you did. Who that man Cain really is." She crossed her arms on the table feeling uncomfortable. "I'd like to stay. There's nothing left for me back in Kansas but endless days in a patrol car and paperwork. At least here I can do something other than stare at flat fields."
"If that's what you want I'll let Jeb know." She stood up from the table. "Good luck Elmer. This place is different but it feels more like home to me than Kansas ever did. I hope it feels the same way for you." She turned as he nodded to her and walked back to her place at the breakfast table.
Jeb raised an eyebrow. "He said he wants to stay." Jeb grunted turning back to his food. Cain was silent as she stared past his shoulder lost in thought. She wasn't going to worry about Gulch anymore. She refocused to find Cain's eyes on her face. "I think I want to go to Finaqua first unless you had another plan."
Cain grunted. "That's as good an idea as any. At least we'll be warm for a while longer." His glanced at Jeb and she got the hint a smile playing across her face. She winked at the Tin Man and waited.
He grumbled under his breath rotating one of his shoulders as he prepared himself. "Son, could I talk to you outside?" Jeb looked up chewing. He saw the small signs of nervousness from his father and his eyes darted to her. She picked her glass back up and smiled behind it as she took a drink. Jeb's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he stood.
As they walked away the young man glanced at her over his shoulder. She waved jauntily at him and he shook his head leaning over to Cain. She wondered what he said to his father that caused Cain to let out such a loud bark of laughter. She rolled her eyes thinking that he was going to have the second shock of the morning as soon as Cain got him alone. She felt a smile forming on her face. This was going to be fun to hear about. She didn't doubt that it would be hard to rip the story out of Wyatt but she was determined. She figured she could out stubborn even him.
Author Note: Finally found an internet connection! Sorry about the wait I'll try to post again as soon as I can! Leave me a review!