DG stared out at the trees, looking away from the fire, so that she wouldn't become night-blind. She listened to the rustling of the two Cain men settling into sleep. She heard Jeb's breathing even out quickly, the young man falling asleep quickly. Wyatt stayed awake much longer, she heard him shifting occasionally, leaning over to feed the banked flames, his hands brushing over his coat, the bedroll, the crisp, fallen leaves. Eventually, he too fell asleep.
DG's thoughts ranged over the two men at her side obsessively. Sometimes she didn't know if they really understood how much she needed them. Her life had fallen apart—and these two men had been the only support that she'd had. Her parents were strangers, who didn't care to know the woman that she'd become, only the princess that they envisioned. Her sister was happily wrapped up in Ambrose (Ambrose? Enough said.), and Raw had adopted his orphaned nephew, Kalm, and had returned to his people with him.
DG pushed these thoughts firmly out of her mind. There was no use dwelling on what she was leaving behind—especially when it cared so little that she was leaving it. All day, Wyatt had dwelled on the past, and Jeb was always focusing on the here-and-now… so she was going to focus on the future. It wasn't like it didn't need a lot of thought, anyways.
She didn't know what to expect when they reached the farmhouse. She hoped that the house itself would be alright, but it was possible that it had sustained some damage from the travel storm. She planned on magic-ing up a couple of power-of-attorneys, and selling the farmhouse. If anyone who knew anything about the Otherside came looking for them, like Ahamo, or maybe her Robo-parents, then they would be long gone, in a different city, living under different names.
DG let herself daydream about her new life. The three of them would move somewhere—Jeb had voted for rain, and Wyatt said that he didn't want the desert… DG didn't think that Australia was really a viable option anymore, since she'd mentioned her interrupted plans to her family, once. She had wanted to leave the country before she was blown over to the O.Z., but DG found herself homesick for her home-country. She wanted to watch the Red Sox beat out the Yankees again. She wanted to go into a grocery store and buy a Pepsi. Hell, she wanted to ride her motorcycle again! They'd go to baseball games on the weekends, and eat Chinese take-out. They wouldn't have to act as her bodyguards anymore, although she had no doubt that they'd remain protective. Wyatt had always been so protective—Mmmhmm, nope, turn those thoughts around, think about something else!
Maybe the Pacific Northwest. The coast? She would love to be near the ocean, she'd never visited it before. She pictured the three of them going out to work every morning, and coming home in the evening to eat, watching films, learning about Otherside life—the boys would really need the crash course in pop culture. She could hardly imagine how wonderful it would be to relax, really relax, with people that she loved, with people that she knew loved her. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had that—her Robo-parents had, once, but the Witch had had their CPUs erased before the Eclipse, and her biological parents hadn't felt it would be good for her to have such a strong connection to her past—she needed to adjust to her real life… A new family, a career determined by an accident of birth, and oh, by the way, this noble you should marry since it would really help us balance out the budget for the next ten years.
She felt her eyes getting heavy with tears, and with sleep, her thoughts trying to convert to the dreams—nightmares. She gently shook Jeb's shoulder to wake him for his shift. He yawned sweetly, and rubbed at his eyes, before sitting up and shooing her back to her own bedroll. DG fell asleep immediately, dreaming about cold ocean breezes and riding her motorcycle down lonely winding highways.
She awoke quietly, blinking her eyes up blearily at Wyatt as he gently rubbed his thumb along her jaw. She stared up at him for a moment, and their blue eyes were locked on each other in an electric connection. DG shivered, and Wyatt dropped his hand and stood up. The three of them went about breaking down their camp, eating cold biscuits and left-over stew for breakfast.
Jeb paused in hiding the remnants of last night's fire. "DG, why didn't you want to grab your Robo-parents, bring them with us? They could be programmed to stay loyal to us, you know. I mean, it's not tough, we could have done it. And I know that you really miss them."
DG shifted uneasily, despite her desire to act like the question—the memories that it brought up—didn't bother her. She'd probably have managed with anyone who wasn't him. Or his father, who was giving Jeb a nasty look from his space across the clearing. Jeb ignored it—neither he nor the princess were really known for their subtlety, and the question was pertinent. He waited patiently for her answer, knowing that she'd never just ignore him.
When she did answer, her voice was low. "I don't want to stay with people who love me because they're programmed to. I don't want to stay with people who will do what I want them to because they love me." Her breath hitched. "I know that I didn't want to stay with people who wanted me to do what they wanted because they told me that they loved me."
Jeb nodded, and gave her a one-armed hug, before finishing his task at the fire. They all got into the truck, and headed out of the orchard, Wyatt being careful of the newly-restored trees. They sped down the highway, and they finally came to an open field, next to a big, deep lake. DG smiled grimly—this part was so melodramatic, it reminded her of some ridiculous murder mystery movie. The three of them got out, retrieved their belongings, and Jeb set the truck up so that there was a great big rock on the gas pedal… and the truck drove out and drowned in the lake, and the three of them were standing in the middle of a lonely field in the middle of nowhere, few tracks identifying their presence (the signs would all be gone by this afternoon—rain was on the way).
DG lifted her hands into the air, and called up a travel storm. As the tunnel began to form over them, she thanked God for letting her escape this crazy country with the two men that she loved. They told you that you couldn't choose your family, but DG knew that was a lie—and she was taking them with her and going off into the wild storm with them to prove it.
A/N—So, this is the last chapter, one for each family member! I know that I left their circumstances a little vague—I plan on writing a sequel about their life on the Otherside, with some more depth into their reasons for leaving, flashbacks and so on. I hope that you've enjoyed this story, and please, please! please leave me a review, telling me what you thought of it!