Title: Build Up to the Letdown
Author: generalnothing
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Cain, DG, the Queen, some guards and mentions of an old boyfriend on DG's part. And somehow Gulch made it in here as well. Yay, Gulch! Cain/DG - more of a friendship than a romance.
Disclaimer: Still here, not owning anything.
Warnings: None, really. The series obviously. Umm…angst. And a tiny, itty-bitty, miniscule bit o' humor at the beginning-ish.
Summary: She'd always been the one to give people the strength to heal. Now, she needed to be healed. No one can really step up to the job, but one man can try.
A/N: This story went somewhere completely different from where I wanted it to go which seems to happen to a lot of my fics. I, obviously, cannot write fluff. Written for the Color Challenge at tmchallenge. Prompt: Red.
Son of A/N: Not beta-ed because I require instant gratification. All mistakes are mine, please don't take them. J (Heh. Word, you are silly with your randomly replacing my emoticons with smilies)
Grandson of A/N?: This fic kicked my ass. Please review even if you hated it.

It took DG a full twenty-four hours after the eclipse to bring up the subject of going back to the Other Side to get some of her stuff.

"Just a few things, Mother," she had said, pulling out the innocent face to placate her parents. "Some art supplies, some clothes, my toothbrush, photo albums. Stuff like that. Please? If I stay here it means I'll never see my friends again and I'd like to get some stuff so I can remember them."

With that her mother's look had softened. "We'll send some guards over to gather your things, my angel," the queen had said, not wanting to deny her newly found daughter anything.

DG had been quick to respond, saying that the guards wouldn't know what to get and that it was best if she went herself. The queen had quickly dismissed the idea, but DG had been able to convince her with some well planned words and the promise that Cain would go with her. The queen had looked quickly around to the Tin Man and he had only nodded minutely, a promise to keep DG safe hidden behind the bob of his head.

This is how he found himself in a small farmhouse on the Other Side watching the youngest princess run around her old bedroom. Bags were open on an unmade bed, clothes being thrown haphazardly into them.

Cain had attempted to fold some of the garments, but had quickly stopped when one of the articles of clothing he'd attempted to fold had turned out to be a pair of emerald green panties. He'd stared for just a moment before flinging the offending piece of attire back into the bag, tipping his hat further down his head to hopefully hide his blush.

DG was zipping about the room and hadn't noticed his panty grabbing episode, and for this he was grateful, but she was making him dizzy running back and forth in the small, attic room.

"DG," Cain said, trying to get the dark-haired woman's attention. She wasn't listening, moving as fast as she was between the bed and her closet. "DG!" he said again, louder this time and he was rewarded with a slight glance in his direction.

"Cain, I don't have time to slow down," she said, anticipating what he was going to say. "I want to go to the Hilltop and say goodbye." She grabbed a few more items from the back of the closet she was in and threw them in the general direction of her open suitcase. Old photo albums were flung open as they hit the ground and Cain bent down to retrieve one of them. He flipped through the first few pages, a small smile gracing his features at the young DG that appeared in every photograph. She was laughing with friends, arms slung around each other or she was straddling her bike, wrench in one hand and an oil covered rag in the other.

Cain's smile fell when he flipped to a page that had a picture of DG and a young man, not much older than the princess, happily entwined in each other's arms. Cain could see the happiness in DG's eyes and noticed that he hadn't seen her that happy in the week and a half that he'd known her. Not long enough to really know a person, he knew, but going through what they had had brought them closer than close, at least in his mind.

"What are you doing?" DG asked sharply, eyes flicking between him and the open photo album. Cain had been so engrossed in his thoughts, he hadn't heard her until it was too late. She seemed to be causing that effect a lot lately, which was bad for his Tin Man reputation and his reflexes. She was standing right in front of him, right hand holding several sketchbooks and a box of pencils, her left holding her painting supplies.

"I - uh -" Cain started, not knowing what to say. The look in her eyes was also one he hadn't seen in her before, but unlike the look in the picture, this one was pure anger. Anger and something else…sadness? "You - you dropped this," he said, holding out the photo album. She tossed her art supplies on the nearby bed. He flinched when she grabbed the book out of his hands. "I was just - I was just looking."

"This is my private stuff, Cain. I didn't give you permission to look at it."

Cain was surprised to say the least. "Princess, I -" he started. He watched as she shoved the photo album to the bottom of her suitcase before zipping it up. "I'm sorry, DG."

"Don't worry about it, Cain," DG said, not looking at the Tin Man. She grabbed the two bags on the bed and then bent down pick up the now closed suitcase. Cain went to grab the suitcase, but DG jerked it out of his reach. "I got it," she said, struggling to make it down the stairs.

DG didn't know why she was so mad at him. It was just a picture. But she had been watching him as he looked at it and had noticed how his features had changed when he got to the picture of her and the boy. She saw sadness in his eyes and a flash of jealousy. That's when she got mad. They'd known each other a little over a week; he had no right to be jealous of a boy he didn't know. Especially that boy, she thought, closing her eyes at the memory of brown hair and green eyes, arms wrapped around her waist and days spent on the back of her motorcycle. She shook herself out of her memories and started back down the stairs.

"DG -"

"I said I got it, Cain."

Cain let his chin drop to his chest. He felt bad that he had invaded her privacy, but he just wanted to get to know the princess for who she was before the Eclipse. He sighed before he followed her down the stairs to the bottom floor of the run down farm house.

She'd already handed over her bags to the two other guards that had accompanied them to the Other Side by the time Cain got to the end of the staircase and he had to jog to catch up with her as she went outside.

"DG, wait!" he called out, following her, watching her grab a helmet off the porch railing as she jumped the last few steps to the ground.

"DG," he said, finally catching up with her. "DG, where are you going?"

"Hilltop, remember?" she said, sliding the helmet on her head, still not looking at him.

"Not by yourself, you're not," Cain said, sliding on to the back of the bike. DG stiffened when she felt Cain's hand wrap around her waist.

"Then hang on," she said, revving the engine of the bike and taking off.

"I thought you said we were going to Hilltop?" Cain shouted over the wind as they passed the diner, turning his head back to stare at the quickly retreating sign.

"I lied!" DG yelled back, turning her head only slightly.

"So where are we going?"

DG didn't answer, just leaned lower on the bike and sped up. She didn't even slow down when the patrol car pulled out of the Hilltop's half full parking lot.

"Deeg!" Cain yelled, having to raise his voice even more over the wail of the siren behind them.

"Don't worry about it, Cain!" DG said back, leaning into the left hand turn she was making. "He'll understand," she said softly to herself. She pulled into what Cain recognized as a cemetery, slowing down as she reached the iron gate that led to the interior of the graveyard. The police car pulled up behind her and the officer was out of the vehicle before DG had even shut off her bike.

"DG, what the hell?!" they both heard from behind them and Cain felt DG flinch. "A twister hits your farm house, you go missing for more than a week and then I see you tearing past Hilltop like a bat outta Hell! So I repeat, DG. What the hell?!"

"Gulch, don't get your panties in a twist," DG said calmly, stepping of the bike and resting her helmet on the handlebars. Cain slid off next to her, hand itching for the gun that he'd left back in the O.Z. as the officer walked towards them. Cain stepped forward and to the left, putting himself between the princess and the man who was still stalking towards them. The approaching man may have been an officer of the law, but DG was still the princess and Cain was still her protector. And this man was yelling at her, something Cain did not take kindly to.

Cain felt a hand on his arm and he turned his head to look over his shoulder. DG shook her head minutely and Cain stepped back to his previous spot.

"DG, where have you been? Where are Hank and Emily?" Gulch asked as he neared the couple.

"Don't worry about them, Officer Gulch," DG said, trying to calm the still approaching man. "After the twister, we went and got a hotel in the next county over. We're fine."

"You haven't been to the Hilltop in a week, DG. Carter's been raisin' hell wonderin' where you've been. What, they don't have phones at this hotel?"

"Yeah, well, Carter's been ridin' my ass for two years. Tell him I quit, yeah?"

"DG, I'm not tellin' Carter a damn thing."

"I'm not going back, Gulch," DG yelled. She was getting tired of yelling, whether it be at Cain or anyone else. "I'm leaving. For good," she said with a sigh. Cain looked back at her and noticed that she seemed look more tired than usual. There were bags under her eyes and her skin was pale. He realized that she hadn't exactly had time to rest in over a week.

"Deeg," Gulch started, moving towards DG. Cain moved forward once more and Gulch stopped. "DG, what the hell is going on?" he asked softly.

"Gul - Elmer," DG started, her eyes pleading with the policeman. "Nothing is going on. I just came to say goodbye," she said with a sigh, jerking her head to indicate the cemetery.

Gulch eyed the cemetery over her shoulder and the look in his eyes softened. Cain eyed the two of them, his gaze bouncing back and forth between them. The princess and this officer seemed to be having a silent conversation and that made him…jealous? He seemed to be getting jealous a lot lately. DG obviously knew this man well enough to have an understanding about the situation they were in and that made Cain nervous.

Cain really didn't know the princess all that well now that he thought about. At least, not the princess that came from Kansas. Sure, he knew when her birthday was because the whole of the O.Z. had celebrated it. And he knew some of her past from the week he'd spent with her. But the fifteen years she'd spent on the Other Side he knew nothing about. He didn't know what her favorite color was, how she drank her coffee, if she even drank coffee, did she have a boyfriend, a best friend, what was her favorite subject in school. He knew none of that. Cain brought his focus back to the subject in front of him, just in time to see Gulch's reaction to DG's statement.

Gulch nodded, the look in his eyes a sad one as he walked back to his patrol car. Cain was staring at the man in shock, that he'd just let DG go like that, without a word. He turned back to DG, intent on asking her what had just happened, but she had already started walking towards the iron gate that led to the graveyard.

He started off after her, keeping his distance. Somehow he knew that she needed to do this by herself, that she didn't need someone hovering over her. As much as he told himself he didn't know anything about her, he realized that it was all trivial stuff. So he didn't know what her favorite food was or the name of her favorite song, he knew that she was a brave and strong young woman who had saved the O.Z. Knew that she was willing to run headlong into danger waving a stick to save a family she knew nothing about. That she was noble and loyal and felt every emotion as though they were pressing in on her. He knew that she needed to do this alone.

DG walked halfway through the graveyard, dodging headstones here and there before finding the marker she wanted. She knelt down in front of it, laying a hand softly on the top. Cain watched on, aware that the scene she was making probably looked like the one that he had made not long ago, kneeling in front of the grave of his late wife.

DG was whispering to the headstone and Cain moved fractionally toward her.

"Hey there, Danno," the young princess said, running her fingers over the letters engraved on the stone. Her fingers had traveled this same path hundreds of times before. Daniel Theodore Calvin 1985 - 2004. A lone tear ran over DG's cheek as she traced the letters once again.

Cain ached to go to her, to pull her into his arms and hug the pain away. He wanted to do for her what she had done for when she had simply placed her hand on his shoulder in front of the cabin behind the white elm. He moved to step forward, but was stopped as she continued to talk.

"I gotta go, D," she said softly. "I don't have time to tell you the whole story. And, I don't think you'd believe me anyway. Telling you I'm a princess in a different world probably sounds kind of crazy, but it's the truth." DG laughed humorlessly. "You always said I was a princess. I never believed you." DG stood up, kissed her fingertips and then pressed them to the gray stone. "I'll miss you Daniel Calvin."

DG's heart hurt to leave her best friend like this, knowing that she most likely would never get to visit him again, never get to tell him stories about Kitty Levins and her boob job, about the crazy drunk who came into the Hilltop, Gulch's flirting with Molly at the diner. She finally turned away from the stone and wiped the tears that were rolling down her cheeks.

Cain watched as she walked right past him without even glancing at him. He sighed and followed her back to the bike.

The ride back to DG's old farm house was as quiet as the ride to the cemetery had been. The bike was pushed into the garage and DG gave it one last pat before closing and locking the door behind her.

DG, Cain and the two guards were standing on the roof of the farm house less than an hour later, DG glowing with light, conjuring up a travel storm. The two guards went first, carrying DG's bags, and Cain and DG went next, Cain wrapping his arms around the princess' waist as they jumped off the roof.

The travel storm was well placed and they landed in the courtyard of the royal palace, greeted by the Queen, her consort and Azkadellia. DG broke away from Cain, heading towards her family. Cain watched as she let her father take her suitcase and walk into the castle without so much as a look back to him.

Cain let out a sigh. Something bigger was going on than her catching him looking at an old photo and he was determined to get to the bottom of whatever was bothering his princess.

It had been a week since Cain had had a chance to talk to DG. Between being given the job of Head of Security, the rebuilding of the O.Z. and DG's unrelenting avoidance of him, their time together was pretty much slim to none. He'd seen her at dinners occasionally, but the dinner table surrounded by her family was not the place to discuss what had happened in Kansas.

So he waited a whole week before he finally broke down and snuck into DG's suite. He should have knocked, but instead he quietly opened the door and slipped in. He looked around, astounded at the amount of artwork that was scattered around the room. It seemed that DG had spent the week since they got back painting. There were pictures of Central City, the Eastern Guild, the Old Road, Milltown, and the Ice Palace, everything that she had seen on her journey through the O.Z.

Cain made his way further into the chamber, glancing around. There had to be over twenty paintings, some lined against the walls, a few propped up on chairs and couches. When did she sleep? he thought, looking around again. A few of the paintings were of Glitch and Raw with DG and Cain, some of just Glitch; she'd captured him with a goofy smile. His eyes caught one painting, partially hidden from view by a picture of the lake Finaqua. It was a detailed portrait of him, Cain, as he had looked as he knelt at the grave of his wife. DG had captured him in stark detail, from the wrinkles in his duster to the sadness in his eyes.

The scene reminded him of why he was there and he set the painting back down, casting it one last look as he turned toward the balcony. DG was standing on her balcony in front of a half painted canvas, paintbrush in one hand and the other hand on her hip. Two other easels were set up behind her, one covered by a tarp, hiding the painting underneath, the other holding a completely blank canvas. The corners of Cain's mouth quirked up at the sight of DG. Her dark hair was down, cascading over her shoulders and down the back of her sky blue dress that matched her eyes. Her feet were bare and his mouth turned up even more when he noticed the pale pink polish on her small toes. There was paint all over her hands and Cain noticed that bits of paint had somehow made it onto her cheeks, probably as she had pushed stray tendrils of hair behind her ears.

Cain noticed that DG did the cutest thing with her lip when she was concentrating, where she would pull her bottom lip in with her teeth, but only on one side. She would nibble on the one side of her lip and when she would release it, the side she had been gnawing on was always more swollen than the other.

She was doing that at the moment and resting the end on the paintbrush on the part of her lip that was poking out. Red paint fell from the brush end and splashed onto the stone floor of the balcony. Cain followed the droplet as it fell and joined the others of its kind in a puddle beneath the feet of the princess. He wondered why he didn't notice it before.

DG took a step back, her foot arching, the heel never quite reaching the ground before she moved forward again, swiping the brush against the canvas. Cain took another step forward to peer at what she was painting. He gasped at what he saw and he hoped that she hadn't heard him. He held his breath for a moment, but she didn't turn around.

Cain was shocked at what he saw. If he had to give a name to what he was it would be 'pain.' It was dark; most of the canvas was painted black, red lines across it in no discernable pattern, just flung across the painting as if DG herself was bleeding across it. It had no shape; it just was, like emotion painted across an otherwise emotionless space.

"Cain?" He jumped when he heard the sound; he hadn't even noticed that she had turned around. His eyes moved slowly from the painting to her eyes and he noticed that she seemed to have been crying. Her bright, blue eyes were shining and bloodshot and seemed a bit puffy.

"Hey, Princess," Cain said, finally finding his voice, but it cracked and he winced, hoping she didn't catch it. "It's been awhile," he continued, forcing down the blush that crept onto his pale skin.

"It has," DG replied, voice so soft that Cain had to take another step forward. He was on the balcony now, only a few feet from her, next to the easel that was covered with the tarp. "I blame myself for that," she said, turning back to the painting. She looked at it for a moment, contemplating before throwing the brush to ground and waving a hand over the canvas, wiping it clean with her magic.

"Hey!" Cain exclaimed, reaching for her. Cain sighed and let his hand fall back to his side. "What was that all about?"

"Nothing." DG took a step toward the edge of the balcony and looked over the edge. The sight was a dizzying one and she had to step back again. A wind picked up and caught the edge of the tarp. She turned to watch as the wind blew stronger, removing the cover completely.

Cain and DG stared, equal wonder on their faces as the painting was revealed. As soon as the tarp had settled, however, their expressions changed drastically. Cain's shock was back, but this time it was ten-fold. DG's face fell as the painting was uncovered and she held her breath to hold the pain back. They both stared at the canvas for a moment and it seemed to DG that time stood still.

A loud peal of thunder shook DG from her thoughts and she glanced at the quickly darkening sky. Rain clouds had rolled in unnoticed and DG hurried to bring in her now empty canvas. Cain grabbed the other empty canvas and set it just inside the suite. They both turned to look at the uncovered painting, neither wanting to make the first move toward the portrait.

"Who was he?" Cain asked, not looking at the princess. He heard her audibly swallow before she answered.

"His name was Dan. Daniel," she said, trying to hold back tears. She had said her goodbyes, more than once, but the memory of her hurried last goodbye to him following the look on Cain's face as he found the one last happy moment she'd spent with Daniel made tears well up in her eyes.

"That's not what I meant, Princess," Cain said, turning to look at DG.

"He was - He was a friend. He was a boyfriend." A lone tear slipped down her cheek. She had cried so much over the past two weeks, more than she'd ever cried in the fifteen years she'd spent in Kansas, even when she'd fallen off the monkey bars on the playground and broken her wrist. Even more than when Daniel had died.

Once again, Cain ached to go to her, to pull her in his arms and take away the pain. But he knew how this worked; she needed to work through this herself, at least at first.

DG took a deep breath before continuing, wiping away the tears that had already fallen and staring at the painting in front of her, but Cain could see she wasn't really seeing it. "I was 17 when it happened, he was 19. He was on his way home from work and I had asked him to come see me. I was working at a different diner then and it was out of his way, but I wanted to see him. I knew he was tired, he'd been at work for, like, 10 hours, but I wanted to see him so bad. I was told that it happened fast, that he hadn't even seen the truck that hit him and that he probably hadn't felt any pain." DG let her gaze fall to the stone floor before continuing. "It was my fault," she said with a whisper.

At that Cain went against the thoughts in his head and went with what his heart was telling him to do. He stepped forward, catching her as she pitched forward and she buried her face in his chest. She was openly sobbing now, clutching the lapels of his ever present duster as her body shook with the force of her cries. He whispered soothing words into her hair, stroking her back with one hand as the other wrapped around her waist to hold her closer.

They stood there for so long that the suns that had been hidden by the clouds finally settled below the horizon and they were left in the dark, the only light coming from several torches that had magically lit themselves hours before. DG's hands had finally unclenched from Cain's lapels and her arms had wrapped themselves around his waist. His were still wrapped around her, but he was no longer rubbing her back. Her head was tucked under his chin and his cheek rested against the top of it.

She'd finally stopped crying and was close to falling asleep standing up when they felt the first raindrops fall. As soon as Cain felt the first one hit his nose he immediately moved them inside, leaving her side for only a moment as he went to retrieve the painting that was still on the balcony. He returned to her after placing the painting delicately on the couch.

"Why were you mad at me back in Kansas, Princess?" Cain asked slowly, tipping her face to look at him, the knuckle of his index finger tucked under her chin.

"I wish you wouldn't call me that," DG said, averting her gaze from his.

"DG, then."

"I wasn't mad," she said with a sigh. "Okay, I was, but only for a moment. I saw the way you looked at the picture of Daniel in my album. Like you were jealous. I couldn't…That's not the way he needs to be remembered."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Cain asked, turning her face to catch her gaze.

"I - I couldn't. I wasn't ready. And I was leaving him and it was all happening so fast and I didn't really know what I was doing and it was hard and I -"

"Deeg," Cain sighed, casting his gaze to the ground before dropping his hand from her chin only to grab her shoulders with both hands. "Deeg, you didn't leave him. He's still here and he knows that you love him. You'll never completely say goodbye to him. He's always here," he said, pointing to her heart.

More tears coursed down DG's cheeks. Gods, she was tired of crying. Cain reached up to thumb away the wetness, only succeeding in smearing the paint that was still on her cheeks. "You know what, Princess? You look good in red," Cain said, giving DG as small smile.

DG gave a small laugh and then buried her head in Cain's chest once more. They resumed their previous pose, arms wrapped around each other and Cain's head resting on the top of hers. She would be okay. They would be okay.