Yay! Chapter 2! Ugh, I realize this took a while, but I'm in the process of cleaning my room--which may take up to three weeks. So I will write a bit every day, but I cannot promise that I will write a lot every day. I will try to update as much as possible though. This chapter is sort of 'getting to know each other' fluff. I'm slowly discovering and getting to know my characters, so hopefully I'll be able to smooth them out and define them even better. I don't own anything besides Josephine...review? Thank you Shayna-na-na and Ana-Love for reviewing!

Chapter 2

A shaft of sunlight fell across Josephine's languid sleeping form, around eight a.m., effectively waking her from her dreamless slumber. Jo stared up at her gold ceiling for a moment, wondering why she wasn't at school now that the sun was up; then she remembered it was first Friday. She thought about rolling over and going back to sleep, but she could smell Nana's cooking wafting from downstairs, and that was enough to get Dracula up in the morning.

She got out of her extremely comfortable bed reluctantly and went to the bathroom for a shower and to get ready for the day. After she deemed herself suitable for the outside world, Josephine pulled on a pair of blue jeans and a light blue baby doll type top with pretty silver embroidery that gave the idea of India. As well as a spritz of rose perfume.

As she walked into the kitchen, Josephine was thrown off for a moment when, besides her Nana, she found Caspian seated at the white wooden table, with a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon before him. Josephine blinked rapidly—she wasn't sure why she did this, but usually when she was trying to comprehend something, she blinked rapidly, perhaps it would help get more oxygen to her brain—and then said "Oh, last night wasn't a dream."

Her Nana frowned. "No. There's eggs and bacon in the skillet on the stove; fix yourself a plate." Josephine nodded and busied herself with buttering her toast all the while listening in to Nana and Caspian's conversation.

"Did you sleep well, Caspian?" Nana asked in assurance that she was being a good hostess.

"Yes, thank you, the bed was quite comfortable." Josephine put her buttered toast on the green ceramic plate and proceeded to pile fluffy scrambled eggs on top.

"I'm sorry that I have to go to work today, Caspian, but I will ask my colleagues if they know of anything that can help you." Jo placed some bacon on top of her egg and toast combo. "Josephine will be here to keep you company."

Josephine rolled her purple eyes at the wall. "But, Nana, today was 'Jo is happy again' day."

Nana clucked. "You can be happy with another person around."

"I do not mean to intrude; I can stay in the guest room all day, if it would be better." Caspian offered.

Jo, realizing that making him sequester himself in that tiny room would make her a horrible person, rolled her eyes. "Never mind, I was just being overly dramatic. It'll be nice having someone to hang out with in this creepy old house." She smiled like invitingly at the rather distressed man, trying to put him at ease.

Nana stood up and made her way to the side door. "I'll be home by seven, hopefully."

[~*~]

Caspian stared down at his plate of what Susan has assured him was some sort of pork. He wasn't sure if he should eat it until he observed Josephine bite off a small portion of her own 'bacon' and chew it thoughtfully while still holding the rest of the strip betwixt her ling fingers. As the silence brought about by Susan's leaving ensued, Caspian realized that he would be spending his entire day with the lady before him. This new epiphany frightened him just a little.

To break the silence, he asked; "What, exactly, did you have planned for today?"

She finished chewing her food, swallowed and said; "I was planning on watching some movies, relax, maybe work on a history project." She stressed the word maybe by drawing out the vowel in a playful manner. "You're welcome to join me." She met his chocolate eyes with her violet ones.

He paused, unsure what she was offering. "What is a movie?"

The girl went quiet for a moment, and Caspian was sure she was considering her words carefully. "A movie is a way to tell a story that uses very fast moving pictures with sound. The story is recorded on a silver disk and a sort of box window moves the pictures and generates the sound. Most stories, called 'movies' or 'films' are about two hours long." She smiled and stood up to clear away their empty plates and wash them quickly while he thought on what she said.

"I should very much like to see these movies."

Caspian watched as Josephine moved languidly into the living room and to the far corner where they kept what he could only assume was what she called 'DVDs'. She grabbed three very thin, but wide boxes, and then spun around to face him. For his inspection she held up the boxes with pale fingers. "Which on first? On the agenda today is: Twilight, Stardust, and The Princess Bride."

They all sounded rather ridiculous to him, but as he wasn't going to make any progress on getting the help he needed until Susan returned home, he figured that it wouldn't hurt him to watch them all with Josephine. "What are they about?'

"Twilight is a sort of star-crossed lovers with vampires. Stardust is an adventure / fairytale with a Fallen Star as the heroine. The Princess Bride is about true love with a lot of action thrown in."

Caspian frowned, all three sounded like various degrees of horrible, though the idea of a vampire rather intrigued him. In Narnia, the only references of vampires were from ancient stories that the Kings and Queens of old had brought with them. With some hesitation in his voice he said "Twilight…?" This seemed to be the correct response because Josephine positively glowed in excitement. She quickly inserted the silver disk in another strange box that had a little tray that slid out. Caspian sat gingerly on their sofa as the larger screen started to glow and the movie started.

[~*~]

Josephine felt ever so slightly ridiculous and guilty for making a buff warrior King watch up to six hours of girly, true love drenched movies; but then again, this was her day to relax, and it wasn't her fault that he was here. As the opening scene for Twilight started up, with the deer being chased and killed, Josephine wondered what, exactly, Caspian was doing here. Well, really, he did have a kingdom to rule, didn't he? She felt as if she shouldn't ask him though—he seemed like a man who enjoyed his space—the strong silent type, he was.

About five minutes in, Josephine realized that Caspian would have absolutely no idea what half the things in the movie were—as they didn't have cars, airplanes or cell phones in Narnia; heck they didn't even have electricity. "If you're not sure what something is…" she let the phrase hang in the air, unsure if he would take offence at being asked if he needed help—most men, especially the strong and silent types, were weird about asking for help. The man on the opposite side of the sofa nodded absent mindedly at her; he seemed rather enraptured by the story, actually and Josephine decided that he could probably figure things out himself.

The day progressed fairly quickly; Caspian asked her a few questions during Twilight and afterwards expressed disbelief that any self respecting woman would fall in love with a man that hated himself and sparkled.

They viewed Stardust, which Josephine professed to be her favorite movie ever, second. Caspian seemed to enjoy that film better, possibly because it was set in less modern times. He also seemed to find the way the hero and heroine defeated the witch very interesting.

"You know, stars take human form in my world too." Caspian volunteered after the movie was finished. Josephine looked surprised.

"Really? That's so cool. Here they're just massive orbs of gas in space, billions of light years away. I think I would prefer it if they were human like, though. It would make me feel somehow less lonely."

Caspian frowned and looked somewhat concerned and intrigued. "Are you very lonely? I believe last night you said you didn't have friends."

Josephine was slightly taken aback—she was surprised that he had taken what she said seriously, and she was amazed that he remembered the conversation last night. She wasn't sure if she should confide in him; really she hadn't known him for a full day—and she still wasn't sure if she believed that he was King Caspian X—but then again, who what he going to tell? As far as she could see, he only knew Nana and her. She gave him a half smile. "Yeah, I guess I was just a weird kid; I dunno, I chattered to my imaginary friends in public and wouldn't shut up about Nana's Narnia—well, your Narnia, I guess" she glanced sideways at him through her thick black lashes. "Plus my eyes are an unusual color, even if I think they're pretty, children will tease you about anything that's not common in their little worlds. So, as we grew older, it became habit for my classmates to say away from me." Josephine, upon observing the small look of pity in his lovely chocolate eyes, quickly changed the subject. "So, its lunch time, what do you say I introduce you to culinary wonders of the frozen food aisle."

Josephine had to laugh at his apprehensive look. "Don't worry, it's perfectly delicious and usually safe."

[~*~]

And thus Caspian found himself eating what the enigmatic Josephine called 'pepperoni pizza'; it was a strange, greasy, chewy triangular red food. He wasn't sure if he liked it or not, but he would definitely have another slice to find out.

Caspian suddenly found himself reaching for the absent sword that was usually at his side when he heard a strange high pitched ringing. Josephine lithely left her chair and leap across the room to pick up an oblong box into which she began speaking.

"Hello?...No, Nana, I haven't burnt the house down, yet… He's fine. We've been watching movies…Twilight and Stardust…I made pizza!...mmhmm…mmmhmm, love you too, bye!" She turned to smiled at him and Caspian realized that she had a very pretty face—especially when she was smiling.

"Just Nana calling to make sure I haven't accidently killed you or burn the house down."

He raised an eyebrow, "And does she have good reason to be worried about that sort of thing?" And much to his dismay, Josephine did not answer him, but simply giggled and returned to her lunch.

The rest of the afternoon preceded much as the morning. Josephine convinced Caspian that his ability to function as a male and get a girlfriend totally and completely depended on watching Princess Bride and so, he found himself feeling much as the narrator's grandson—apprehensive, and then transfixed.

"Are you saying that if I ever want to find myself a Queen, I should behave in a manner akin to this Wesley?"

Josephine nodded dreamily.

"What? Leave her for years at the mercy of cruel, conniving, murderers?"

She rolled her eyes, "You're missing the point. He did it all for her—he left to make his fortune, so they could have a good life together. He put up with her being a sob because he knew she was perfect underneath that prickly exterior. He died for her; it's really romantic."

Caspian snorted in disbelief."Dying—for anything—is not romantic. It's painful for the dead one and the ones they leave behind."

"Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for awhile." She quoted at him; he found it quite irritating.

"Life isn't one of your fairy stories Josephine; people die every day in your world and mine, for reasons a thousand times less honorable than love. People are killed for common, sinful reasons—it almost always has nothing to do with love. Don't delude yourself."

"Jesus, what's your problem?!"

"You're just so naive!"

"Well, who died and made you King of the Cynics?" she shrieked.

"HEY! You know nothing of my life, don't you dare speak of it!" He found himself thundering back at her; he realized that they were standing rather close, glaring at each other and breathing hard.

"I know more than you think, Caspian, nephew of Miraz." She hissed in a low, poisonous whisper. She suddenly whirled around—tendrils of blond hair hit is chest and stung his face—and marched into the hall way. He followed her to the doorway.

"Where are you going?"

She was half way up the stairs, but turned to face him—from the backlighting of the window behind her head, she appeared to have a halo of light around her golden hair. It was a strange feeling for him, looking up at a woman—he was so tall, it was usually odd for him to even look up at a man.

"I am going to my room, your majesty." She inclined her head in a mocking way. "I am going to do homework. Do not bother me." She turned back on her path and swept up the rest of the staircase.

Caspian had to admit to himself that Josephine had the demeanor and makings of a queen, and how could she not, with Susan as a grandmother.

[~*~]

Josephine slammed her door as hard as she could—something, that if her Nana was home, would have gotten her computer taken away—and stormed over to her desk ready to write a seething essay on Henry VIII and his wife felling reign.

How dare he yell at me? How dare he call me naive! She thought. She shirked and shoved a stack of books off her desk, enjoying the loud crash they made and the satisfaction at causing something to fall. Damn him! Damn him and his superiority, his worldliness. Damn his lovely eyes and gorgeous cheekbones. Damn him to the ninth level of Hell.

So what if she had some rage issues? It made her a more interesting person. She caught her pale reflection in the mirror and paused; her cheeks were flushed scarlet and her eyes glittered with some mad emotion. "What are you looking at?" she spat at herself.

Josephine was alarmed at the type of emotion that her little argument with the handsome Caspian had brought to the surface. She sighed and scooted out of her chair to kneel on the floor in front of her windows. She placed her hands on her knees and closed her violet eyes. Josephine started to concentrate only on her breathing. Inhale, exhale. In, out. Slowly she felt the color leave her face and her blood pressure go back to normal.

A moment later she hear Nana's car in the drive.