Title: Follow You Home - California Tin (21/42)
Author: Erin (
erinm_4600)
Characters, Pairing: Cain and DG, but if you saw 'em in the miniseries, they're here or mentioned. Plus some OCs
Rating: PG
Summary: Cain stayed in LA. But can he survive on the Other Side?
Warning: post-series, directly after California Queen. Blame
n_e_star, for she fed Steve. ;)
Disclaimer: The original characters belong to L. Frank Baum and their respective actors. The current characters belong to Sci-Fi, the movie folks and their respective actors. The rest of 'em are mine.
Prologue |
California QueenCalifornia Tin:
Part One |
Part Two |
Part Three |
Part Four |
Part Five |
Part Six |
Part Seven |
Part Eight |
Part Nine |
Part Ten |
Part Eleven |
Part Twelve |
Part Thirteen |
Part Fourteen |
Part Fifteen |
Part Sixteen |
Part Seventeen |
Part Eighteen |
Part Nineteen |
Part Twenty | Part Twenty-One |
Part Twenty-Two |
Part Twenty-Three |
Part Twenty-Four |
Part Twenty-Five |
Part Twenty-Six |
Part Twenty-Seven |
Part Twenty-Eight |
Part Twenty-Nine |
Part Thirty |
Part Thirty-One |
Part Thirty-Two |
Part Thirty-Three |
Part Thirty-Four |
Part Thirty-Five |
Part Thirty-Six |
Part Thirty-Seven |
Part Thirty-Eight |
Part Thirty-Nine |
Part Forty |
Part Forty-One |
Part Forty-Two California Sun Five |
Waking Up (CaliSun 20.2) |
Almost Like Being in Love (CaliSun 24.5) |
An Hour and 45 Minutes |
Hava Nagila |
Unexpected DG knocked on Michael's door the next morning and waved when he looked up from a stack of folders. He waved her in and motioned to the seat across from him. "Good morning, DG. What can I do for you?"
DG gave him a nod and took a breath. "I would like to see the calendar, please."
Michael's eyebrow went up and he tried not to smile. "Calendar?"
DG bit her cheek and looked away. Of course he would make this difficult. "The vacation calendar."
Michael squinted and looked to the ceiling for a moment before reaching for his ear. "I'm sorry. It sounded like you said 'vacation', but I know that can't be right. You don't take vacations.”
DG scrunched up her face and looked away for a moment as Michael let her simmer. A moment later, he pulled a binder from underneath the stack of folders and passed it across the desk. DG gave him a look as she took the binder and flipped it open. Michael went back to the folder he'd been looking at as DG reached for a pencil.
"So, where are you going?" he asked, glancing over a report.
"Home," DG said, filling in the line for the week she wanted off. Michael looked up with surprise and DG gave him a forced smile.
"Good for you," he said a moment later, nodding again to his files. "You might like to see this," he added, opening another folder and holding it up. DG reached across the desk and took it, twisting her wrist to read the page on top.
"HOLY-" she gasped, jumping forward in her seat. Shooting a glance up to Michael, DG looked back down to the page and gave a quick impression of a goldfish. Finally looking back up to her boss, DG blinked and stated: "There's a really big number in front of that decimal point."
Michael grinned and nodded as he leaned back in his chair. "It's all thanks to you."
DG shook her head. "All I did was set it up," she said, waving a hand in the air.
"No," Michael said, sitting up again. "You worked the crowd."
"But, we didn't talk about the museum or money or- We talked about cruises and grandkids and the weather..." DG said, shaking her head.
"Sometimes that's all it takes," Michael said with a nod. "You weren't in their face. Occasionally, doing nothing means everything." DG looked at the page again and flipped to the second page. She snorted a laugh and covered her mouth to hide the smile when she reached the line with Coop's name.
"You know," Michael said, pointing to the file. "If we dipped Josh and your friend in bronze, set them out on the patio and charge an admission, we'd never have to have another fundraiser." DG's eyes shot up but she said nothing. She gave him a half-laugh and looked back down to the list quickly.
Michael had no way of knowing how not funny that was; at least, in Cain's case.
DG continued looking at the names on the list and passed the binder back across the desk to Michael. She let out a whistle at some of the numbers as he glanced over the line she'd crossed off. "A whole week?" DG glanced up to see the smirk on his face. "Are you going to be okay, being gone that long?"
"And there are no phones," DG responded with shrug and a smile. "Well, there are phones. But no bars to save your life..." Michael chuckled for a moment then cleared his throat.
"Seriously?" DG nodded and passed the folder back. "Well, I am impressed," he said with a nod. DG rolled her eyes slightly as he laughed under his breath.
"I'm gonna have a good time," DG stated, standing up with a false huff.
"I'm glad to hear it. Now get back to work," Michael ordered, pointing to the door. DG made a face in response, to which he made a face in response and she waved to him before turning and leaving the office.
-*-
Sasha was waiting for DG in the lobby of the Gallery, rushing over and grabbing her arm as DG emerged from the gallery. "Did you see the list?" Sasha squeaked, practically jumping in place.
"I know!" DG grinned back and bounced with Sasha.
"Lunch?" Sasha asked after composing herself.
"Yes," DG nodded, and the girls headed outside and turned toward the café. After the girls were seated, Sasha leaned forward.
"So," she asked, dropping her voice. "You remember the guy?" DG nodded. "Last night," Sasha smiled and leaned back in her seat. "Two hour phone conversation. We're going out on Wednesday."
"Nice," DG said, reaching for her water glass.
Sasha waved to DG. "And what did you do yesterday?" DG ignored the lilt in her friend's voice and shook her head.
"The laundry... the dishes... bought some groceries." DG nodded and reached for her water glass again. "Learned a little bit about World War Two."
"That's it?" Sasha asked with a frown. DG's brow furrowed and she set the glass back down on the table.
"Oh," DG snapped, holding up a finger. "I opened a new box of Kleenex." Sasha rolled her eyes and slumped back in her chair. "It was my day off, Sash. What was I supposed to do?" Sasha shook her head and moved her knife over half an inch on the table.
"Well, if I had that to go home to, I sure wouldn't give a damn about the dishes," Sasha muttered under her breath. DG huffed a laugh and leaned toward Sasha.
"I'd set you up, but that would make it really awkward for Two-hour Phone Conversation." Sasha rolled her eyes again and sat up as the waiter brought over their meals.
"Put it on your calendar, the twenty-second-" Sasha said, glancing up to see DG shaking her head.
"I won't be here," DG said reaching for one of the fries on her plate. Sasha raised an eyebrow.
"It's a Thursday. Of course you'll be here." DG shook her head again.
"No, actually," she said, reaching for the ketchup. "We will be gone all week. Monday to Friday- well... Monday to Sunday," she amended. Sasha held up a hand.
"You're serious?" DG nodded and Sasha leaned back in her seat. "Wow." DG made a face and shook her head.
"You guys always tell me to take a vacation. When I don't, you rag on me. And when I do- It's not like this place is gonna come crashing to the ground," she huffed and closed the cap on the ketchup bottle.
"I'm just surprised you're going of your own free will. It is your free will, right?" Sasha asked, sitting up.
"Yes," DG said, making a face. "What's on the twenty-second?"
Sasha shook her head and waved. "Midnight show. Don't worry about it." DG closed her eyes and cursed herself. She'd forgotten about the movie.
"You should still go."
Sasha made a face. "It's no fun to go alone."
"If things go really well with Phone-boy, maybe you'll have something else to keep you busy on the twenty-second," DG said with a grin. Sasha sighed and nodded.
"Ooh, that reminds me... Courtney wanted to know if you still want to do lunch for Lisa and Rebecca." DG cocked her head and looked at Sasha. "Their internship? It's ending." DG tapped herself on the forehead.
"I knew that. Yes, count me in." Sasha nodded and twirled pasta onto her fork.
"I think we're going to that Mexican place over on-" she started, finishing the sentence with a nod. DG nodded and took a bite of her sandwich. "Next Friday, unless plans change," Sasha continued a moment later. After a few more bites, Sasha set her fork down and looked up to DG with a rather blank stare.
"Did you say 'We'?"
_____
It's like pullin' teeth. Thank the Dear and Fluffy Lord there's a weekend tomorrow... *le sigh*