A/N: Yes! Second update in one day! I feel like cheering, so in the words of Aslan... cover your ears!... Ok, maybe not. And maybe a second update so soon isn't that exciting, but it definitely seems that way to me. Anyway, it is safe to say that this is my favorite chapter of them all (including ones yet to come). It may not be the best chapter, but it is most certainly my favorite. And now you can see why!

Edit: So I had some comments about the end of this chapter, so I changed it just a hair. Hope it helps!

"I don't see why you care so much, Lucy," Susan laughed, her head hidden in the closet as she tried to find a suitable dress. "I mean, it certainly wasn't very nice of the girls to take my diary, but honestly, they were just stories. I don't know why you feel the need to keep them so private."

Lucy stood still in the middle of the floor, her mind frozen by Susan's words. "But it did happen," she managed.

Susan laughed again. "Don't be ridiculous," she said, pulling out a midnight blue dress. "How does this look?"

Lucy pulled her mind away from Susan's startling revelation for long enough to notice what Susan was doing. "Is that… Are you going to a party? Is that allowed?"

Susan shrugged. "It's easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission," she said lightly.

Lucy's face tightened at the words. "But if you're caught?"

Susan turned to the mirror, holding the dress against her. "They can't exactly make me leave the school now; it's my second last year. I'll get a bit of a lecture, maybe a tighter curfew…"

"This isn't your first time, is it?" Lucy realized.

"And it isn't my last, either," Susan confirmed. She reached into her drawer and pulled out a silver necklace. "A girl's got to have fun, you know. Maybe some time you'd like to join me."

Lucy grimaced. "No thanks."

Susan ignored her tone. "You can always change your mind. Now, do you think this will be elegant enough?"

An image sprang into Lucy's mind of Susan in a different dress. Also midnight blue, this one was not designed to reveal skin and figure, but to ornament a queen.

"Narnia misses you, Susan," Lucy said quietly.

Susan stopped what she was doing to cast an annoyed glance in Lucy's direction. "Are we back to that again?" she complained. "Isn't it about time you grew up?"

"I've already grown up, and so have you," Lucy pointed out. "You just choose not to remember." And with these words, Lucy left the room before Susan could say anything to stop her.

- - -

Lucy stood facing the wall, one hand clenched around the telephone at her ear, the other in a tight fist at her side. There was a bit of a buzz coming from the earpiece, most likely from the noise in the hall at her brother's school. Lucy was beginning to feel impatient about the wait when a breathless voice came on the line.

"Lucy? What's wrong?"

"Edmund?" Lucy exclaimed. "It's a bit of a long story, but, um," she paused to check that no one was near to hear her words, "I think Marjorie knows."

"About what?" Edmund's tone was worried now, and guarded.

"About you-know-what," Lucy hissed. She didn't want to risk saying anything, even when no one was around.

There was a pause on the other end of the line, before Edmund uttered a harsh and very dirty word. "You didn't hear that," he added quickly.

"She certainly believes it," Lucy continued, ignoring her brother's language. "But she wants to talk about it and I don't know what to say, and besides, I promised."

Her mind flashed back to the afternoon at the professor's house where the four of them had quietly and solemnly promised each other never to tell a soul about their adventures.

The other end of the line was still quiet, then there was a slight scuffle on the other end. Edmund announced, "Here's Peter," and then Peter's breathless voice was greeting her.

"Sorry for taking so long, Lu," he apologized. "I was outside playing cricket. What's the problem?"

Lucy explained the situation all over again, and waited through Peter's pause.

"Oh dear," he sighed finally, and Lucy knew that if he wasn't quite so stern with himself, especially around her, he probably would have uttered the same dirty word as Edmund.

"Can you trust her?" Peter asked.

"I believe so," Lucy answered doubtfully. She and Marjorie had shared many secrets in the past, but never one so big.

"If you aren't sure, don't say anything," Peter said firmly, "but it isn't necessarily a bad thing to let one or two people know. After all, this is a part of us."

Lucy nodded, then remembered Peter couldn't see and said, "I think I'll tell her."

"Swear her to secrecy, then," Edmund said suddenly, and Lucy knew he was listening as well.

"I will," Lucy promised, suddenly wishing she were with her brothers in person. "I love you."

"We love you too," Peter assured her.

"Very much," Edmund added.

There was a short pause in which Lucy basked in the love of her brothers, before saying reluctantly, "I guess I should go."

"Yes," Peter sighed. "We'll talk to you soon."

"Real soon," Lucy said. She let her arm drop, then remembered Susan. "Oh, and Peter?"

But the line was buzzing, her brothers already having hung up the phone. Lucy sighed, reminded herself that she would see then, or at least talk to them soon, and set the phone back on the stand. She had the consent of her brothers now, but there was still one more person she needed to ask.

- - -

The only light on in the room came from the candle on Lucy's bedside table. She sat on the edge of her bed, watching the flickering flame and trying to clear her mind of any distracting thoughts. Instead, she filled her mind of Narnia, pretending for a moment she was in her room in Cair Paravel, watching the candlelight flicker off the stone walls and tapestries.

"Aslan," she whispered, opening her heart to pray. She knew, and had known for a long time, that here in this world, the Lion was known by a different name, but it still felt more comfortable praying with the name that had been on her lips for over fifteen years. "Aslan, I need help. I think Marjorie knows, but I don't know if I should admit that everything in Susan's diary is true. Peter and Edmund said it would probably be all right, but I wanted… I needed to ask you. Do you think it would be all right?"

There was nothing but silence in the room to answer her, but that was all right. Lucy had always had a harder time hearing Aslan in England. It wasn't like Narnia, where he would walk into her room in the middle of the night to talk with her when she was worried. She waited a little longer, and presently her gaze fell on the leather-bound Bible sitting on her desk.

A verse she had read several days previous came into her head, and Lucy could hear the Lion's gentle voice whisper in her ear;

Listen to me and I will explain to you;
let me tell you what I have seen.

A smile crept over Lucy's face, and breathed in deeply. "Thank you, Aslan," she whispered, and she climbed into bed and blew out the candle.

I hope you thought this was as good as I thought. And to find out... REVIEW! It helps the writing process.