A/N—Regarding my time-line, a very astute reviewer (who unfortunately left an anonymous review that I couldn't respond to) noticed that my timeline is AU, since DG is identified as 20 annuals old, and that Cain is said to be in the iron suit for eight years. Now—at the beginning of the first episode, General Lonot says that DG is "a girl of 20 annuals." So, guess work, since he didn't stop to ask, and I don't think he rummaged around for her wallet. While I can see Zooey being able to pass for 20-ish, I really do think that she looks older. I also think that she acts more maturely than most 20 year olds. And being a major Wyatt/DG fan, the idea of her being 27 instead of 20 when they meet is more appealing to me. Now, I couldn't identify where in the film it said that Cain was in the suit for 8 annuals—but it does say that in the interviews and making-of features on the DVD. If anyone could point to the dialogue in the film, I'd be really grateful. According to my time-line, fifteen annuals works (especially since Toto said that he was in prison for fifteen annuals—they match!).
Anyhow, if you have any insights or comments, I'd love to hear them! Also, reviews in general make me so incandescently, radiantly happy! Please leave me one!
Jeb dozed lightly against the window. He could never really fall asleep in cars; he'd never had much to do with them, before the Eclipse. As a child, and then as part of the Resistance, they'd mostly used horses, or their own two feet, to get from place to place. Between the wrecking balls that were his father and DG, though, Jeb had decided to do his damnedest. It wasn't working, though. All he could do was close his eyes, and sham.
Really, he sat there and worried. He, his father, and DG were escaping. There was no other word for it. They were sneaking out of the country, out to a place where it would be difficult to find them. If they were caught, they'd be escorted back to Central City at gunpoint, and DG wouldn't ever escape from the mass of 'bodyguards' they would give her. He and his father would probably meet a quiet end somewhere… forced retirement was too much to hope for.
They should be covered for a good week. Their cover story… stories… were that the two men were escorting DG to Finaqua. That Jeb had left after a huge fight with his father, and that DG and Wyatt were going up to Finaqua. That DG was attending a soiree at Finaqua… all the stories led to Finaqua, and if anyone ever caught up to them at Finaqua, there were messages left saying that they'd gone up to the Northern Island to meet with blah, blah, blah. In the meantime, they were gone.
DG had been trying to figure out a good cover story for Jeb and his father once they reached the Otherside… she had thought that maybe saying that they came from some remote outpost in Alaska, that didn't have a television or a radio—or a town, really, would be a good cover for not having any pop culture knowledge. Then she thought that maybe they should be refugees escaping from a cult that they'd both been raised in. Jeb had tossed in a few ideas… DG had nodded thoughtfully, and said that they had something similar to homesteading, but she wasn't sure that they could pull off being Amish. Former Amish. Then she had frowned, and said that she'd never heard of anyone being formerly Amish. What followed was an odd conversation about a religious group known for being environmentalists—DG thought. She admitted that she didn't know much. She had brightened. Maybe that would be a good cover story! She'd have to google it when they got there. Google? Jeb wasn't sure that he wanted to know. He loved DG as dearly as any sister, she'd been there for him when he'd gone through Hell… but sometimes she was just plain crazy.
As for his father, well, the man hadn't said more than five or six words all day. He had his I'm-busy-thinking-about-this-so-go-away mask on. Jeb wondered if it was supposed to look so skeptical, or if it had to do with what he was thinking. He was laying money on it being unconscious. It was funny, his father had told him once that after so long in the iron suit, he felt frozen, like he couldn't move, couldn't feel. But he came out of that suit more transparent than he ever went into it. Jeb could read every emotion that passed over his father's face—that impassive stare that he used to hide his thoughts only betrayed that he was thinking, now. The differences between the smiles, the smirks, the frowns, the exasperation, the anger, the love, holding back the tears—the I-want-to-give-you-a-hug, the hurt… Jeb could read his father like a book. And the man hugged! Jeb hadn't gone short on hugs from his father when he was young, but he hadn't seen his father be physically affectionate with anyone besides him and his mother. Now the man handed them out to princesses, Headcase-cum-advisors, Viewers… and Ozma knew who else. He was also quite a bit more gun-happy than he'd been before. Very entertaining.
Jeb jerked fully awake with a thud, glaring at his father for the abrupt braking. He rubbed his eyes before getting out the cab, and began setting up camp while DG put up her little shield-thingy. That princess was damned useful to have around. Jeb smiled a trifle grimly as he started finding some bigger pieces of wood for the fire. DG was always useful to have around. When he'd first met her, she'd begun helping with the infirmary, helping plot the attack on the Witch's tower, introducing herself to his people. The girl never rested. Once the Royals had all been reinstated in the palace, DG still hadn't stopped. She ran from magic lessons to counsel meetings to etiquette lessons. He knew that she never slept, because he had been her bodyguard. He'd take his night shift, standing outside of her room, and hear her crying, or pacing, or the sound of a pencil on paper. And here she was… still going. Still making herself useful.
He scooted up closer to her on a log, and tried to teach her how to roast a rabbit over a make-shift spit.
"No, you don't really need to turn it so often."
"But won't it burn?"
"Naw—it'll be fine." Jeb idly poked at the coals, shifting them around with a stick. "So did you never go camping over on the Otherside?"
DG dimpled. "My Robo-parents never really went camping with me, and they didn't let me go camping, either. They did let me pitch a tent in the yard for a few years, though." She started laughing.
"And…" Jeb prodded.
"They wouldn't let me anymore after they found my boyfriend sneaking over."
Jeb started laughing, too. "How old were you?"
"Ummm… I think that I was sixteen or seventeen."
Jeb started laughing harder as he caught his father glaring at the fire. Oh, and the man thought that he was so inscrutable. Jeb wasn't stupid, and he wasn't insensitive. He caught the tension that was there between his father and DG—and he didn't mind it. He knew that his father was still healing, and that DG would never intrude on that… in fact, his father would probably make her wait around a lot longer than either of them deserved.
As they finished eating their meal, DG volunteered to stay up for the first watch. Jeb grabbed his bedroll and scooted to the right. He lay down, and listened to the familiar sounds of a campsite settling down for the night. He could hear his father shifting on his blankets, DG settling against a tree trunk, facing out into the darkness. His own thoughts continued to race.
They were interrupted when DG asked him softly, "Is there anything that you're really going to miss, Jeb? Like muglug or having two suns in the sky, or anything?"
Jeb thought for a minute, but it didn't take him long to answer. "I'm not leaving much here, DG. I'm a family man—just like my dad. I'd rather be with you two than with anyone else, or anything else." He grinned, and added cheekily, "besides, I'm really looking forward to meeting a nice girl of my own from the Otherside. Those jeans of yours are quite nice!"
He laughed out-loud as DG made an amused, indignant sound, and his father chucked a pinecone at him. He laid back down, knowing that there wasn't anything here in the O.Z. that he'd miss, not when he was here with the two people who loved him, that he loved. When you'd spent your life in the Resistance, you became more suspicious at first, but more fully open to love, and loss. And family. And this, this new father, this girl that he'd spent a year guarding, watching, and protecting… these two, they were his family. What matters, what's important, is family. His family.