AUTHOR'S NOTE – I loved the reviews I got for the last chapter. Some of them really made me smile, MonsterPenguin's in particular. Don't worry girl I'm just as obsessed with Ben Barnes and Narnia as you, you're not the only one. Now I have some bad news, I might not be able to update tomorrow because a friend of mine is in the final of Mr Leicester so I am going along for moral support. I'll try my best but if I can't get one up tomorrow I'll make it extra special on Saturday.

Chapter 8 – A shooting star

Eustace ran, tripping over his feet as he headed for the main deck and the grinning faces of all the crew who were witnessing finally Eustace getting the punishment he deserved.

"Oh my god this is so funny." Edmund practically cried with laughter as he watched Eustace raise swords with Reepicheep.

"It's no more than he deserves." Caspian smiled, with arms crossed.

"Trying to run away?" Reep questioned out loud, swinging in front of Eustace on a rope so he had nowhere to go.

"We're on a boat you know." The little mouse mocked, landing in front of the quivering boy and holding the blade out in front of him.

"Look, can't we just discuss this?" Eustace begged, looking at the faces of his family for help, but none of them stepping forward.

"That was for stealing." Reep said before cutting Eustace's trouser brace with the sword, not acknowledging the comment Eustace had made about discussing the situation.

"That was for lying." The little mouse continued making another slice into Eustace's shirt and latching hold of the orange that was hidden within.

"And that was for good measure." Reepicheep finished, smacking Eustace around the face with the orange he had just obtained.

He'd really done it now. Eustace was seething with rage and before he knew it, he was lifting his own blade and swinging it towards the mouse that had just humiliated him.

"That's the spirit." Reep shouted, jumping straight out of Eustace's path as the crew looked on.

"Lauren, Lucy you have to come and see this." Edmund called still chuckling when he found them.

"Eustace and Reep are sword fighting. You don't wanna miss this." Ed continued practically pulling them along.

When Lauren saw the two of them fighting she couldn't help but grin widely.

"See I told you to leave it. He's getting his comeuppance now." She said to Caspian who was still watching from the side of the deck. His smile couldn't get any wider if he wanted it to. This was something none of them would forget in a hurry.

"Now come on take your best shot." Reep said, egging Eustace on as he jumped around every inch of the ship, driving the boy crazy.

"He is going for it though, I'll give him that." Lauren mused giggling along with Lucy who couldn't stop the tears falling from her eyes.

"Stop flapping your wings like a drunken pelican. Come on focus." The mouse said to Eustace, it came across now they weren't fighting a proper duel. Reep was trying to toughen the boy up, not that the boy himself knew that.

For the next 10 minutes Reep drove Eustace to the brink. Reepicheep was swinging his sword at Eustace but at the same time giving him instructions on how to proceed with the duel.

It all came to an end shortly after, Reep finally having enough and knocking Edmund to the floor with the handle of his weapon. The crew cheered for a triumphant Reep and laughed at a now very embarrassed Eustace who was getting to his feet and brushing the dust off of his trouser legs.

"Come on then, back to work." Caspian called out to the crew who responded immediately, breaking apart and getting back to their individual tasks.

"Good match. I'll make a swordsman of you yet." Reep smiled, coming to stop on the rigging at Eustace's side.

Eustace smiled for a moment feeling happy that someone besides his mother was giving him a compliment. It was short winded though; he didn't want Reepicheep to see that he had gotten through to him. So the expression instantly dropped making way for a trademark sarcastic comment.

"Well, if the playing field were a little more even." He began, pointing his nose in the air trying to show the mouse that nothing he said to him would have any effect.

"It would have been a whole different result." He finished, walking away before Reep could answer him back.

"Indeed." The mouse chuckled to himself as he watched the boy leave his side.

It was now mid afternoon, the sun was shining high in the sky and birds were flying over head. Caspian was busy below deck discussing tactics with the crew that could help them move forward faster, Lucy was darning various people's clothes after they had seen her handy work earlier and Lauren and Edmund were still working on his sword.

"Ed, can I ask you something?" Lauren asked suddenly, looking up at her cousin.

"Sure, what's up?" Edmund responded, not taking his eyes off of the blade, continuing to work the rust of its handle.

"What's it like when you go back? Does it just feel like it was a dream?" She wondered, finally getting the attention of her cousin who put his sword down at the side.

"Well, yeah it is kind of. You find yourself back in your old life and wondering if it even happened or if you were just imagining things. I suppose the worst part when you realise it was all actually real, is if you will ever come back. If you'll ever get the chance to experience this place again." He started, thinking back to his experiences of returning home after Narnia.

"I bet it was good to share the stories with Pete, Susan and Lucy though afterwards, wasn't it." Lauren added with complete interest.

"Yes that part was good, reminiscing about the good times. Why are you asking this anyway?" Edmund thought looking straight into the eyes of his cousin.

"Umm, well I'm just thinking about what I'm in for. What we are going to leave behind when we have to go back someday." Lauren answered, not adding every reason as to why she had brought up the subject in the first place.

"Don't you mean who you have to leave behind?" Edmund realised, seeing Caspian emerge from below deck behind Laurens shoulder.

"Let's just forget I said anything ok Ed." She smiled, getting to her feet and going in search of some food with Lucy so she didn't have to discuss the issue further.

As the day finally came to an end and they were still no closer to land, Lauren decided to get an early night. All the events of the day had taken its toll. She hadn't just had one heart to heart that day but two, one with Caspian and one with Edmund. That was a record for her.

"Guys I'm going to head off to bed, I'm really tired. Do you mind?" Lauren questioned to the group that had congregated at the front of the ship.

"No of course, go and get some sleep." Caspian smiled rubbing her back with his hand.

"Thanks, I'll see you all in the morning." She smirked with tired eyes, before walking off to the bedroom she had on loan from Caspian.

"Is Lauren ok?" Lucy wondered in concern, once her cousin had gone.

"Yeah, yeah she's fine. I think she's just worried that we might not find the lost citizens in time. You know how much she cares for other people." Ed answered, not wanting to reveal too much. It was up to Lauren to discuss her feelings with people, not him.

"If that is the case, then she will not fret much longer. I'll make it clear to her that we will succeed, I won't give up." Caspian thought deeply, now wanting to be successful not just for his people but for Lauren as well.

Lauren woke up very early the next morning, so early in fact that their seemed to be no life on the ship. The only sign that there were people on board was that the ship was still moving, some of the crew working below deck over night.

She just wandered around the ship for a while, the sea air wafting up her nose, 'it was actually nice to have a bit of quiet time on her own' she thought.

When she spotted that the sun was just peeking up over the horizon getting ready to rise she decided she would not be satisfied until she got a panoramic view of it, an undisturbed look at the Narnian sun she was learning to love so much.

When she was a young girl living in London there was nothing she loved more than sneaking to the park across the road from her house and climbing the trees as high as she could go. She became very skilled at it after a while, so when Lauren now decided that the best place to go to get a view of the sunrise was the crow's nest high up in the sky she didn't hesitate in starting the climb, she was not scared of heights at all.

After an hour Lauren had watched the sun come up, seen the sea begin to sparkle as it rays hit the surface, and witnessed the ship begin to come to life, people bustling across the deck to get to work.

Lauren loved the fact that she could watch the goings on of the ship without anyone's knowledge. It was like looking in from the outside.

Eustace was the first of her family members to make an appearance that morning, first thing he did was pull his journal out from within his sock and then hide in a corner, pencil in hand. Edmund was next closely followed by Caspian, both boys munching on apples and laughing away as they approached Drinian to discuss the day's proceedings.

"Has anyone seen Lauren?" Lucy asked when she made her appearance not long after the others.

"She wasn't there when I woke up this morning." She young girl continued, concern in her eyes.

Lauren saw Caspians shoulders immediately tense at hearing this. He began moving around the deck asking people left right and centre if they had seen her, all replying with a shake of the head. Lauren was just about to put him out of his misery and shout down revealing her location when a loud cough that escaped her mouth did that job for her.

"Lauren? What are you doing up there?" Edmund asked, bending in an abnormal position so he could get a look at her.

"I was bored." Lauren called back down.

"You were bored at 6 o'clock in the morning?" Lucy asked, pulling a face.

"Yeah, I wanted to see the sun come up." She answered back with a smile, seeing Caspian approaching and looking up at her.

"You have seen it now, so can you please come down? You're making me nervous." Caspian asked, crossing his arms.

"Ok, ok I'm coming down." She giggled loving the look on Caspian's face as he looked up at her nervously. She hadn't told him about her tree climbing skills.

Lauren got to her knees, getting ready to start the long climb down to the deck when she decided to take one last look at the beautiful view that was laid out in front of her. It was whilst doing that, that she saw something in the distance, a solid green mass which could only be one thing.

"CASPIAN!" She shouted as she made her way down.

"What?" He asked confused as he reached his arms up to help her put her feet on the ground.

"Ummm, ummmm." Lauren started, completely lost for words for the first time around Caspian. He was looking straight at her, right into her soul. He genuinely looked relieved when she was safely back on deck, like he could breathe again.

"Lauren what?" He asked again, placing his hand on her arm whilst Lucy and Edmund looked on awkwardly.

"Land-ho." She smiled, feeling at ease again when she saw him grin. She had remembered what he told her to do from the last time.

"Drinian?" Is there Land up ahead?" Caspian shouted from Lauren's side, not wanting her to start climbing things again. God, she put him on edge.

"Aye your majesty, but it will take the rest of the day to get close." Captain Drinian replied after looking through the telescope.

Caspian grinned at Lauren, the crooked grin that always made her slightly light headed, then moved to join Drinian along with Edmund, leaving Lauren and Lucy together.

"You really do like him don't you?" Lucy asked in a whisper as Lauren and her went in search of some breakfast.

"A little too much I fear." Lauren admitted nervously.

"Like I said Lauren we will have to leave at some point. Just be careful, I don't want you to get hurt." Lucy remarked in concern for her cousin.

"I think it's too late for that Luc. I'm passed being careful around him. I can't help it." Lauren answered, needing to share her feelings with someone.

"I thought you were just friends?" Lucy added.

"We both thought so to and maybe Caspian does just want to be friends, I guess I wasn't being true to myself for a while."

"What are we going to do with you Lauren?" Lucy huffed, wanting to lighten the situation.

"Food always makes it better." Lauren smiled, wanting to get herself out of this situation so dragging her and Lucy over to the ration table.

Meanwhile back up on deck Edmund, Caspian and Drinian were assessing the piece of land they were fast approaching.

"It looks uninhabited." Caspian began, peering through the telescope lense.

"If the Lords followed the mist east, they would have stopped here." He continued, his mind always on the task at hand.

"It'll be a trap?" Captain Drinian said, concerned that they might be walking into something dangerous once more.

"Or it could hold some answers." Edmund added, coming to his own conclusion.

Caspian thought on it, wary of what could lie ahead but determined to continue despite his fears.

"We'll spend the night on shore. Search the island in the morning." Caspian decided, handing the telescope to Drinian so he could go and inform the crew of their plan.

For the rest of the day the people on board the Dawn Treader prepared for the royals and their party to leave for the mysterious shore and by sunset they were ready to set off in the boats that would take them there.

Caspian, Lauren and Edmund along with a couple of members of the crew took one boat and Lucy, Eustace, Drinian, Reep and some more of the crew took another. In total there were 15 people that set off for the island that evening.

"It's beautiful." Lauren voiced out loud as they reached the shore and stepped out of the boats and on to a sandy beach.

The place they saw before them couldn't be any more different to the last island they accommodated. It was luscious green; there were gardens, tall trees, majestic sand dunes and vast open spaces. It was the most breathtaking place Lauren had ever seen.

For an hour or so the group went in search of something to eat, they weren't very successful so decided to take their minds off of their empty stomachs and settled down for the night.

No matter how hard he tried Caspian couldn't get to sleep. His mind was filled with so many things, the mission that lay ahead, what they would find on this island the next day, the pressure that was on his shoulders and then Lauren. His stomach turned that morning when he saw her leaning over the top of the crow's nest. How could he keep her safe when she was up there? What if she lost her balance or something and fell?

Little did Caspian know, but on the other side of the beach Lauren was just as restless as him. She was slipping in and out of sleep for what seemed like hours. It was the middle of the night now but still Lauren was wide awake, settling on looking up at the stars, the only light giving her any kind of awareness of what surrounded her coming from the moon.

She glanced up at the sky, hands behind her head and tried to make out the intricate constellations that were clear above, stars so bright they looked like diamonds. There was one star that caught Lauren's eye, it shined much brighter than any other and began shooting across the sky suddenly, Laurens vision following it within an instant. The star was leading Laurens gaze to something, someone. As the shooting star travelled across the sky and headed out of her view she realised where the star was leading her eyes, because there right where the star had just disappeared from view was Caspian, sitting upright down by the water and he was clearly just as awake as she.

"Hey, what are you doing up?" Lauren whispered after getting up as quietly as she could to approach Caspian.

"I couldn't sleep, too much going on up here." He smiled, pointing to his head when he said it.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, leaning in close when she took a seat at his side.

"Lauren I think you already know what I am thinking about." He whispered, looking at her and making her heart beat double time.

"That's why I can't sleep either." She yawned tiredly, resting her weary head on his shoulder.

"I don't think I can be your friend Lauren." Caspian revealed, Lauren perking up in panic at his words.

"What, what do you mean you can't be my friend?" she asked wondering what she had done wrong.

Caspian knew this was it, the moment when he told Lauren how he really felt. This was the right time. He looked at the moon shining down and illuminating her face, blonde hair blowing in the night air and he knew that he had never witnessed anything so beautiful in all his life.

"I mean, I can't be just friends." He finally admitted, placing his hand on the side of her face and stroking her cheek with his thumb whilst she looked over his face, a glow suddenly growing within.

"Caspian are you sure about this? One day I will leave and then what will that mean for us?" Lauren worried with a tear, placing her own hand on top of his.

"I don't care about that now, I just know that..."

Before Caspian could finish, Lauren's resolve had left her, all reason had exited her body and next thing she knew her lips were on Caspian's. Neither of the pair had ever felt something like it before in their lives. It wasn't a long kiss, just short and to the point, their lips moving softly and tenderly against one another's, the sleeping people around them unaware of what was occurring at that very moment. To both Lauren and Caspian it was the most special thing they had ever experienced. There was no going back now; no way they could deny the feelings that were running through their bodies during that short period in time. In the 5 seconds their first kiss lasted they went from being two people to being one, a complete whole. Caspian had always felt that something was missing in his life and as Lauren and him pulled apart, wrapping themselves up in each other's arms on the sand afterwards he could no longer feel it, he was totally happy for the first time he could ever remember.

For the next hour or so the pair just sat cuddling, their heads resting on one another, every now and then leaning in for a small kiss or peck on the cheek. With that the couple walked hand in hand back up the beach and settled down where Caspian had attempted to get to sleep earlier on. They laid down, Caspian wrapping his arms protectively around her as they did so and before long Lauren had fallen into a deep sleep.

Caspian held on to her, sleep finally taking him and as his eyes began to close he felt content, content that now him and Lauren had opened up to each other, had shared that special moment there was nothing he could not do. Just Lauren being at his side, feeling the same way as him was enough to get him through everything.

Awww. I couldn't keep them apart any longer. I hope you enjoyed the first kiss and that it met your expectations. Please review and I will try my best to get you an update tomorrow.