Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia nor any of the characters and places associated with it.


Chapter 24: Adoption

I wake up early the next morning to the sound of one of my babies crying. I rub my eyes and stretch out all my stiff limbs before jumping off of Peter's lap and going and fetching Brenton from the small, grass basket that the badgers have brought over for us. I pick him up and hold him against me before I nurse him. Once he's done, I take him for a little walk so that I can get a good look around the area which we are in. A large, green forest is on one side of us and a large, snow-capped mountain is on the other. Okay, so there isn't much around, but I can hear the distant sound of a waterfall and the unmistakable sounds of laughing and screaming children coming from the same direction as the waterfall. I know we're near Glasswater Creek. I briefly wonder what the time is as I notice Peter starting to wake up. I walk over to him and smile before kissing his cheek.

"Good morning, Mr Pevensie," I say happily as he opens one eye to peek at me.

"It most certainly is," he replies with a smirk. I smile at him before looking up to the sky to try and work out the time from the sun.

"Should we start heading back to the castle now? It looks like it's around eleven and I would like to be home before it gets too late," I ask as I hand Brenton over to him. He nods and smiles at me before I go and grab Annabella.

"Sounds like a plan. Let's go," he agrees just as I walk over to where Crystal is sleeping with Midnight. I stop mid-step, suddenly confused as to how in Narnia we're going to get the babies back home. We can't go horse back while trying to hold a baby in one arm, that would be stupid and irresponsible of us, but we also can't walk back to the castle. That will mean another day trip and I really don't have the time or patience for that.

"Peter, how do we plan to get the babies home from here?" I ask him while turning around to look at him. He's lost in thought for a moment, obviously trying to consider all the options we have.

"We can't. We'll send a message to Cair Paravel and ask a centaur or two to come and pick them up for us so that we can ride the horses back. Perhaps some of your friends might come and help us out. How many centaur friends have you got that work in the castle?" he asks as he gets up and walks over to me. I think of all my friends. Emolise is one, but I'm not sure she will ever do anything for me again, and, besides, I'm certain that she's still trying to get over everything that has happened to her over the past few months; Killara and Cabigail are the other two. I guess that they will probably be my best bet.

"I have two, Killara and Cabigail," I tell him. He nods.

"Okay then. Now, you've lived in Narnia all your life, how do you send a message out if you don't have any paper?" he questions as he walks over to me. If there's one thing that I know about Narnia, it's that there are messenger birds everywhere, which is why you have to be so careful when talking to someone in private. Most of the messenger birds are loud and awfully bothersome.

"Messenger parrots. Shout the word 'message' and one will come in an instant. Just make sure that you hold your spare arm up so that he can land on something," I reply with a grin. He does what I tell him. A second after Peter has called out, a brightly coloured parrot instantly flies into the open space and lands on the spare arm that he's holding up. It squawks happily.

"What message can I send, squawk, for Your Majesty, squawk?" it asks as it bows its head a little bit. I bite the inside of my cheek a little bit to keep from laughing at Peters face. He hasn't really dealt with messenger parrots yet and he seems quite surprised and shocked as he looks at it.

"I have a message for Killara and Cabigail; they're servants in Cair Paravel. Tell them that Ashley and Peter need some help carrying the twins back to the castle and that they're waiting for them up at the waterfall near Glasswater Creek," he tells the parrot once his odd shock has worn off.

"Dear Killara and, squawk, Cabigail. Peter and Ashley, squawk, need help carrying the twins, squawk, back to Cair Paravel, squawk. They are waiting up at the waterfall, squawk, near Glasswater Creek, squawk," it repeats to ensure that it got the message right. Peter nods.

"Perfect, thank you!" he answers. The happy parrot bows again and happily flies away above the tree line. It will take that bird only a few minutes to get to the castle which means that the girls will be here in about an hour and a bit.

"What would you like to do?" I ask Peter as the babies fall asleep in our arms again. He thinks about it for a minute.

"Why don't we go over to the waterfall? I can hear some children playing and I'm sure they would love a surprise visit from us," he suggests with a smile. I nod.

"Sounds like a plan," I agree before walking over to Crystal. I pat her nose a little bit until she opens up one eye to look at me. She looks tired and bored and extremely annoyed at being woken up at this time.

"What?" she inquires miserably. I raise an eyebrow at her bluntness.

"We're heading over to the waterfall. Feel free to come if you like!" I offer before walking back over to Peter and grabbing his hand. He pulls me through the woods a little bit until we come out into a large opening. The first thing I notice is the gleeful waterfall. It's only small, but it's big enough for the children to play under. The water is a sparkling blue and the pool underneath it looks cool and inviting. The next thing I notice is that the children playing there are all from the orphanage. I recognise some of the faces instantly, but the main one I recognise is Brianna's; the little girl from my coronation that had happily given me a bouquet of Green Jades, the rarest kind of flower in all of Narnia. She's swimming around by herself under the main spray of the fall, whilst all of the other children splash around in the shallower part of the pool. I hear Mrs. Finkel's voice then and look over to her. She's standing in front of a little wooden seat, which has old carvings on the arm rests, and bows as soon as she notices me looking at her.

"Your Majesties! Of what do we owe the pleasure?" she asks as Peter gestures her forward. She quickly comes over to us before bowing again.

"We were in the area and heard the children playing, so we thought we'd come and surprise them," I explain with a happy smile. She smiles back and instantly calls the children over. Within two seconds of them all spying us, we're suddenly surrounded. It's pretty cute how they're all quiet as soon as they see the babies though and I happily hold Annabella down a little bit lower so that some of the smaller children can see her clearly. They're all very gentle with her as they look at her. None of the children are any older than eight or nine years old. Once they all have a look, I finally notice Brianna sitting on the wooden seat all by herself.

"What's wrong with Brianna?" I ask Mrs. Finkel. She frowns a little bit when she notices her herself before looking over to me.

"Could I talk to you over here away from the children, Your Majesty?" she politely asks with a slight bow of her head. I nod and hand Annabella over to Peter before following her along the stream a bit. We cross over a small, ancient, wooden bridge after a second so that we're on the opposite side to Peter and the children. We walk back up stream again so that we can clearly see my husband messing around with the children. She sits down on a large rock and I instantly follow her lead. "Brianna's very shy. She doesn't tend to speak to people she doesn't know. She usually shies away from large groups too. She's never been the same since she found out that her parents had actually died. All those years of hoping she would meet them suddenly got completely destroyed," she explains. I take all of this into consideration while looking at Brianna.

"How long ago did she find that out?" I inquire as I look back to Mrs Finkel. I can see her counting backwards in her head a little bit before she replies,

"About three months ago. She's been an orphan since she was only three days old though," she answers with a slight grimace. "The poor dear thought that one day her and her parents would be reunited and that they might be able to be a family, but sadly that will never be." I look back over to Brianna then doleful. I know exactly how that little girl feels. She's staring unhappily back at me. I grimace.

"She seems upset about something recent though," I murmur. That's when Mrs. Finkel laughs and I turn to her with a look of confusion on my face.

"No, she's not upset anymore! She's moved on. She understands that she'll never get her parents back again. Seven-year-old children are very easy to make happy again you know," she disregards. I look back up to Brianna. She's definitely sad. She has a large frown on her face and her eyes look red and puffy like she has been crying. My heart breaks at the sight instantly.

"Well, I think she is," I tell her before standing up and walking back over the bridge to Brianna. I take a few cautious steps towards her. "Hello, Brianna, would you mind if I sit down next to you so that we can have a little talk?" I inquire with a gentle smile. She shakes her head and shuffles over so that I can sit down. "You look a little bit sad. Why don't you tell me what's wrong?" I offer while turning my full undivided attention to her with a bit of difficulty. It's hard to ignore the sounds of all the other children and the roaring reverberation of the waterfall.

"All the kids are making fun of me," she answers quietly. I strain to hear her voice clearly. She frowns then and looks as if she's about to cry again. I frown too.

"What are they saying or doing to you that is making you so miserable?" I ask. She looks up at me; sadness filling her wide, blue eyes.

"They've been teasing me because no one wants to adopt me," she explains softly as a tear runs swiftly down her cheek. I have to restrain myself from wiping it away. There's nothing I hate more than seeing young children cry.

"Why do they think no one wants to adopt you?" she shrugs before looking back down at her fingers. She starts playing with a silver ring that sits delicately on her right hand. It's a very simple ring, I note in my head. It has a small, gold love-heart on it and what looks to be some writing underneath it. I'm sort of curious as to what the writing says actually.

"Because I'm shy and a Daughter of Eve," she murmurs. I smile at her.

"That's not something to be ashamed of you know and besides, that's their loss," I tell her matter of factly. She looks up at me with a curious expression.

"What do you mean, Your Majesty?" she asks. I smile.

"I mean that being a Daughter of Eve is something rare. There are only very few people in Narnia who are human and it's something special. You should feel honoured to be from that generational line," I explain before adding on, "Oh, and call me Ashley. Your Majesty feels far too formal for right now." She smiles brightly at me.

"You're right! I never thought of it that way before, Ashley," she admits. We sit in a comfortable silence for a few more minutes before I notice her playing with her ring again.

"Brianna, what does your ring say?" I question as I look at it. It looks familiar in a way, but I can't remember where I have seen it before. She looks at me and quickly slides it off her finger before closely looking at the writing underneath the golden heart.

"It says, 'I love all of my princesses.' Aslan gave it to me a few months ago while I was crying and really upset. He told me a few things that made me happy and then told me that the ring would help with someone else's decision process. I really like it," she tells me with a shy smile. She slides it happily back onto her finger before she turns to look at me. "He also told me that it's your ring and I was to assume that it had great significance about it." I look back down at it curiously. In that instant I know that Aslan wants me to do something; something important.

"I thought it looked familiar," I murmur as a response to her before standing up slowly. "Wait here for a second, I'll be right back!" I tell her before running over to Peter who's completely enthralled with a little boy's story of the pirates he saw on the ocean the other day. I wait until he has finished before calling Peter over to me. He smiles.

"I'll be right back," he promises the children before coming over to me. "Before you say anything, please grab Brenton, my arm's about to drop off." I laugh loudly at him as I gently take my son from his arms and cradle him against my chest. "Now, what's up?" he asks.

"Listen, I know we just had our babies and everything and we've been through a lot, but I want to adopt Brianna. Please consider it!" I beg. He looks a little surprised at me, before looking over my shoulder in the vague direction of Brianna. He then turns back to me before his eyes lock with mine. I can tell he's searching for something in them. After a few minutes he stops and sighs.

"We already have two; another one's not going to hurt us. Okay," he agrees. I stand here shocked for a minute. I was so sure that he was going to say no, that I'm completely stunned that he said yes.

"Really?" I ask after a minute, completely shocked into place. He nods.

"Of course. You seem set on it and there's nothing more satisfying than adopting a small child like that, so why not?" I smile brightly and give his cheek a kiss.

"You're the best, you know that right," I say excitedly. He smirks at me.

"I know." He winks at me then before adding on, "I'll go and work everything out with Mrs. Finkel and you go and talk to Brianna." I nod and he happily offers to take Brenton back while I go and talk to Brianna. I smile before I quickly hand him Brenton and run back over to Brianna, who's still sitting all alone on the bench. I sit down next to her again, before glancing down at her.

"Brianna, I'm about to ask you a very serious question and I need you to listen very carefully, okay?" I ask. She smiles and nods at me. I take a deep breath in. "Brianna, how would you like it if you came and lived in the castle with King Peter and I? And by that I mean, how would you like it if we adopted you?" Her stunning, blue eyes grow wide and her face lights up instantly.

"You mean it? Really? You want to adopt me!" she exclaims as she jumps up from her seat. Her long, black hair bounces as she excitedly jumps up and down. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Please could I be your daughter? I've always wanted to be your daughter." I smile at her genuine excitement for the idea.

"Well I would like nothing more than that," I reply with a grin. She instantly jumps into my lap, catching me completely by surprise.

"Thank you," she murmurs as she cuddles into me. I smile down at her and wrap my arms around her tightly.

"That is quite alright." She smiles then and cuddles in a little bit closer to me again.

"I heard the squealing from a mile away, Brianna! Are you going to go and live with the High King and Queen now?" Mrs. Finkel asks as she walks slowly up to us. Brianna turns her head a little bit and nods.

"They're going to be my mummy and my daddy," she states. I could cry; I seriously could. She's so accepting to the fact of us adopting her, even after only just finding out about it. Peter comes over to me then, his arms empty as he sits down next me. I look at him as puts his arm around my shoulders. Brianna burrows herself a little bit deeper into me, obviously unsure of Peter. It takes me a second to realise that they've probably never even met before.

"Brianna, this is King Peter. He's going to be your new father. You don't have to be afraid of him," I say understandingly. She smiles shyly at him, but buries her face back into my hair a second later. I look up to Peter who is looking down at Brianna, very at peace with the fact that she is so shy around him. His eyes lock with mine for a moment and in that moment, I can see that he completely understands. I grin before looking back down to Brianna.

"Are the girls here?" I question him after a few minutes of silence between us all. He nods and gestures his head behind us. I stand up, gently pushing Brianna off of me, and turn around. They're both smiling brightly at me and I suddenly realise that this is their first ever time of meeting, let alone holding, my babies. "Meet Prince Brenton and Princess Annabella," I say while walking towards them, Brianna in careful tow.

"They are too gorgeous, Ash!" Cabigail exclaims as Annabella plays with her honey-golden locks. Her blue eyes look down at the baby like she is the cutest and most adorable thing she has ever seen in her life.

"They're so adorable! Look at his little nose and eyes and his little pinchable cheek and aww, he's so adorable!" Killara gushes. I laugh at her reaction.

"Glad you like them. Now, what do you say we head off now," I suggest. They both nod at me and carefully walk over to the bushes where our horses are waiting.

"Come along," Peter murmurs as he suddenly appears beside me. He holds a welcoming hand out to Brianna, but the adorable little girl just grabs one of mine with both hands and holds on tightly. He pulls back his hand and smiles a beautiful smile at her before kneeling down to her level. "You take as much time as you need to be comfortable around everyone, okay, sweetheart?" She nods her head at him while sucking her thumb. He stands up again before leading us over to the horses.

"Have you said goodbye, Brianna?" She nods at me.

"Yes. I said bye to all my friends and to Mrs. Finkel. Also she told me to tell you that apparently Aslan arrived this morning and took all of my stuff to the castle by magic or something like that." I feel my body freeze as she tells me that, but then relax. Of course he knew that we were going to adopt her. That's why he gave her the ring and besides, why else would he put a human as an orphan?

"Good. Remember also that you're getting a brand-new bedroom too, Brianna. So along with all of your old stuff, you'll also have loads of new things like new toys and books and clothes," Peter reminds her as we walk over to the horses. She may not be comfortable around him just yet, but even she can't help but smile brightly at his words. What seven-year-old wouldn't like to hear that they get a whole new wardrobe and bedroom?

"Thank you, Your Ma…jes...ty?" she starts to say softly. She stops though as he starts shaking his head at her.

"You don't have to call either of us that anymore. It's mother and father or dad and mum for you now." She smiles at him slightly.

"What about mummy and daddy?" she asks him shyly. I chuckle along with Peter at that and nod down at her happily.

"Of course you can call us mummy and daddy!" I exclaim. We get to Crystal and Midnight then and each of them instantly look at Brianna, confused.

"Who's this other human?" Midnight asks Peter, not taking his eyes off of her for one second.

"This is Brianna, our new daughter," Peter explains as he jumps up onto Midnights back. "I'm assuming you'll want her to ride with you and Crystal, love," he guesses. I nod happily and gently hoist her up onto the horse. Her face instantly drops in fear and it suddenly occurs to me that there's a possibility that she's never been on a horse before, having been from the orphanage and all.

"Grab onto Crystals' mane," I tell her gently when I notice her not holding onto anything. "Are you okay, Brianna?" I ask worriedly. She nods and grips on tightly to Crystals' mane like I told her too. Crystal gives a horsey whine as I shoot her a glare. She shuts up in an instant. I jump up onto her then so that I'm now sitting behind Brianna before wrapping my arms securely around her and grabbing onto Crystals' reigns. She's shaking. "It's okay. I won't let you fall. I promise." Brianna turns her head to look at me and smiles a little bit. I smile back comfortingly.

"Alright, if everybody's comfortable now, let's go!" Peter exclaims happily before he starts riding into the forest. Crystal takes a few, small steps forward. I can tell Brianna's even more scared now that she has started moving.

"Stop, Crystal," I command at once. She does as I say and stops her procession. Peter stops from in front of us too. I look at him first. "Why don't you head back, Peter? I've just got to give Brianna a bit of a riding lesson," I explain. He nods in understanding.

"Sure. I'll see you back at the castle," he agrees with a supporting smile at Brianna. He leaves then and I turn my attention back to the little princess in my arms.

"Brianna, listen to me. You're perfectly safe. I know it feels a little weird at first, but I promise you that you are not going to suddenly fall off of her," I promise. She nods slightly as her shaking gets a little less. I hope that helped her a little bit. We start again and this time we don't stop. We follow the small river along until it starts to turn towards the ocean. From that point on we ride straight ahead. Eventually we arrive at the castle; we use the back entrance to it though. I don't want to draw a crowd just yet and I don't want to make Brianna more nervous than what she already is either. Oreius opens the gate for us happily while bowing before we ride on through the outskirts. We get to the stables a few minutes later. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are all waiting for us at the bottom of the marble stairs. I smile and briefly lift my arms so that Peter can lift a very nervous Brianna off of Crystals back before I ride her into the stable. I jump off and instantly walk around to talk to Crystal. "Thank you for being so patient back there," I tell her before kissing and patting her long snout.

"You're welcome, now put me next to Midnights stable again. I love talking to him." I laugh at her one-track mind before letting her into the stable. His head is instantly over the fence, talking happily to her. I smile at them and lock the gate before heading back outside. The first thing I notice is that Susan and Lucy are already holding their new niece and nephew. I realise suddenly that this is the first time they have ever seen them. I should've guessed that they would want cuddles immediately. Peter has both of them completely enthralled in a story. I instantly guess that he's telling them about what we have done. The next thing I notice is that Edmund is talking, or trying to talk, to Brianna. The shy, little girl is standing by herself looking very stand offish. I'm not too worried though, she'll get used to the people. I smile at them all then and walk forward. "Hi, how are all of you? Was everything okay at the castle while we were away?" I ask as I walk over to Peter and grab his hand. As soon as Brianna notices me here, she has her arms wrapped tightly around my leg. I smile and stroke back her hair with my spare hand.

"Yes, everything was fine. We've all been worried sick about you two though. We weren't sure whether you had gotten safely to the babies or not and whether they were still alive by the time you got there so I must say that the entire castle sighed in relief when the messenger bird arrived for the girls," Susan tells us as she gently rocks Brenton.

"Good to hear that everything went well," Peter replies.

"Thanks, brother, and for you too. I'm glad you got to the babies in time and adopted this little cutie in the process," Edmund says with a smile in Brianna's direction. I feel her grip on my leg get even tighter due to nerves.

"It's okay, sweetie. These are your aunts and uncle. They won't hurt you," I promise her. She smiles up at me before looking over to Edmund. She pulls away from my leg slowly as well and walks forward a little bit until she's in front of him. She puts her hands nervously behind her back and stubs her foot into the dusty ground over and over again before looking up to him.

"What's your name again?" she questions him after a minute or so.

"My name is Edmund. You see, sweetie, I'm the cool member of this family. In fact, would you like to try wheelbarrow racing?" he asks her excitedly. Her eyes widen with curiosity and interest.

"NO!" we all shout out in unison. Edmund looks at us with a strange expression.

"What's wheelbarrow racing?" Brianna asks curiously in a whisper.

Peter POV

I have a very strong feeling that she will want to try it if he explains so I quickly let go of Ashley's hand and bend down to her instead.

"Brianna, would you like to see your new room?" I ask as I very gently offer her my hand again. She looks down at my hand and then up to me. Her eyes lock with mine instantly. I can tell she's nervous and shy, but I don't expect all of that to go away instantly. I know it's going to take a while for her to fully trust me, but for now the least I can do is try.

"May I, daddy?" she asks me quietly. I try to stop the instant male pride from taking over at the mention of her calling me 'daddy', and instead try to focus on getting her settled in.

"You may." I get up then and quickly look over to my beautiful wife. She's talking with Susan and Lucy about the babies and how she needs some more clothes for each of them. I know instantly that that means tomorrow will be a shopping day even though I'm certain that the babies' closets are already full of the most expensive clothing. I look back down to my, gulp, daughter before leading her inside. She didn't accept my hand and is instead slowly following me into the castle. She looks around at the high ceilings and walls in awe and wonder. "Do you like the castle?" I ask her gently. She nods slightly.

"Yes, I do." It's silent for a moment before her small voice piques up again. "Daddy? Is my bedroom purple?" she inquires a little bit louder than before. She smiles a little as she realises that her voice echoes in the massive space. I grin at her tangible interest over something so basic.

"I'm not sure, we'll just have to go upstairs and see," I reply as we enter the small hallway with the small staircase in it. She stays behind me, shyly strolling along, trusting my guidance. If I'm being honest with myself, I don't even know where we're going. I have no idea where Aslan has put her room so I decide to just go up to our mini house and show her around in there first before asking one of Ashley's' friends (kill me if I can remember any of their names) where her bedroom is afterwards. As we walk up the staircase and pass through all the different hallways, we get a few glances from some of the staff. They aren't surprised or shocked looks though, more like a smile here and a look of pure adoration there. It's more obvious with all the female servants that they all think it's cute that we have, not only the babies, but a gorgeous, little, seven-year-old too. None of them ever say a word to us though. They just do what they always do, which is bow or curtsey and leave without saying a word. Eventually we reach the mini house. I open the door slowly before walking in. Brianna follows me in nervously, but somewhat wholeheartedly too. I watch her as she becomes mesmerised by the bright room. I can tell that she loves the place and instantly know that we will have no trouble with keeping her here. Her eyes suddenly widen in delight at something behind me. I turn around only to notice Aslan standing there. I grin and quickly walk over to him whilst Brianna runs past me with squeals of delight before jumping on top of him and tackling him to the ground. They laugh in delight together before Aslan turns his attention to me. I bow immediately.

"I believe a 'congratulations' is in order," he tells me. I smile.

"Thanks, Aslan, for everything," I reply. He smiles at me.

"You are welcome, Peter. Now, I do believe this little one would like to see her bedroom." At this Brianna instantly shoots up. It is extremely obvious that she loves Aslan to bits.

"Where is it?" she asks excitedly. "Is it purple, Aslan?" she adds on. I laugh at that and quickly walk forward so I can follow them to her bedroom. Aslan stands up then and slowly walks over to our bedroom hallway. He walks over to the purple door and nods towards it. Brianna immediately runs towards him. He moves out of the way to let her past before she excitedly tears open the door. I walk after her instantly. Suddenly all the coloured doors make perfect sense. Each coloured door leads into a bedroom, the purple for Brianna, the green for Brenton, and the yellow for Annabella. I smile at the realisation before walking quickly into the room after her.

Her bedroom is huge. It has a queen-sized bed along one of the walls that's covered with purple, pink, silver, and white fluffy pillows. A pure purple and white silk doona covers the white, bed sheets while a very pretty looking quilt sits at the very end of it. There's also a huge bed canopy that hangs lightly over the top in true princess style. Her room also has a large stone fireplace opposite the bed with quite a large protective covering around it to prevent any little children from falling into it. There are also lots of shelves covered with everything a little girl can ever dream of; doll after doll, toy after toy, jewellery boxes, which I imagine are filled to the brim with necklaces and bracelets, colouring in books and pencils, and loads of books. I walk over to one of the shelves with books on it and look at some of the titles. All of them are about fairies and mermaids and magical kingdoms. I instantly turn to look at the rest of the room. There's a large rug on the floor too and a little, mini toy kitchen set-up in the corner next to a trunk filled to the brim with dress up clothes. There's also a dressing table with a large mirror connected to it that has some hair stuff on it. A large picture is hanging on the wall also. It's a picture of a unicorn, standing in a field of purple flowers. I smile at that one knowing that Brianna will love it. I spy a door in the corner as well and picture it leading into a large wardrobe. I don't dare look though, imaging it to be filled with pretty dresses (too girly for my liking).

"Aslan! This is so cool! I can't believe I get to live here!" she exclaims as she runs over and jumps on him again. I laugh slightly. I see Aslan whisper something in her ear then before she nods once and slowly walks over to me. I kneel down to her with a genuine smile before she takes a step close to me. "Thank you," she whispers softly in my ear a second later.

"You're welcome," I whisper back. She smiles.

"Where's mummy?" she asks me as she takes a few steps back from me. She must hear something for immediately she smiles and runs out of the room. I grin and follow her out, closing the door behind me. "Mummy! You have to see my bedroom!" I hear her squeal as she runs into the main living area. Obviously, Ash is back. Aslan's next to me then looking as majestic as ever.

"Thank you for that. I doubt any of us in the castle could've made a room that perfect for her," I tell him with a bow of my head. He laughs slightly.

"You are very welcome. I assume you can guess what the other two rooms are for then." I nod and slowly walk over to the green door, or Brenton's bedroom. I open it slightly, just enough to peek my head in to take a look. Light green, baby blue, and cream are the main colours throughout the room. A large cot sits against one of the walls whilst a table with baby essentials sits against the opposite wall. An ancient looking rocking chair sits in the corner of the room also. There are also loads of toys and, again, another door in the corner that obviously leads into a closet. I quietly close the door and turn to talk to Aslan, but he's gone. I frown slightly and walk back out to meet up with my wife and new daughter.

Back to Ashley POV

"Mummy! You have to see my bedroom!" Brianna squeals as I walk into the apartment that I have missed so much over the past few days. I sigh in contentment. It's good to be home.

"I definitely have to! Where is it? Is it down on the other level?" I ask her curiously. I have no idea where Aslan has placed her in the castle. I hope it isn't too far away from our bedroom though. Ever since the Starstone incident, I'm not too sure about anyone under the age of twelve being alone on their own level without adults nearby, even though I know that there are guards on every corner.

"No, it's in here!" she exclaims while running towards the small hallway. I laugh, immediately guessing that she has stolen our room. I walk after her though, my arms filled with two sleeping babies. I walk into the hallway then before almost bashing into Peter.

"Need some help?" he inquires as he takes in my full arms. I nod and he very carefully takes Brenton steadily from one. I smile at him.

"Thanks, Pete," I say before rushing over to a very impatient Brianna. She's standing in front of the purple door and I suddenly realise that I have completely forgotten about the magic doors. I watch on, expecting her to be annoyed at how the door won't open, instead though she swings it open easily. I stand there surprised for a second before effortlessly walking in after her. I can't help but smile at the girly room. Yes, every girls dream come true. I walk over to her closet then and slowly open it with my free hand. It's stuffed with dresses, all in colour order and made of the most delicate fabrics known to man. They all look very beautiful. I look over to Brianna quickly only just realising now that she's still in her orphanage attire. The grey and grey-green dress doesn't look too bad on her, but I know she will prefer to wear one of these dresses. I walk over to the purple section before pulling out an appropriate dress for playing in. I end out grabbing a light purple and pink one. "Brianna!" I call. She instantly is at my side, excitement obvious in her eyes.

"Yes, mummy?" she replies. I hold the dress up for her.

"You should put this on. It'll be more comfortable than the dress you're wearing now," I tell her. She nods and grabs it from me before quickly stripping off her old clothes and slipping into her new ones. She beams brightly once it's fully on and I can't help, but feel a little proud of her in that moment.

"Thanks, mummy. I love it," she says excitedly. I smile at her and gesture her back out. Peter's in her bedroom looking for us. He looks a little surprised when he sees the dress on her, but seems pretty happy when he notices how happy she is. As soon as she spots him though she stops twirling and nervously looks at him. "Do you like it, daddy?" she questions as she plays around with one of the layers, causing the other layers to show very clearly. He smiles.

"I do, very much so, my little princess," he promises. He may not mean a lot to her yet, but I can tell that she is happy with his response. "Come along, Brianna, I want to show you the balcony and Ocean." She nods once and carefully follows after him. I smile at them both and quickly look down at Annabella's sleeping form. I decide to put her to bed and guess that the yellow door is hers. I open it and sure enough it's a yellow and pink nursery. I sigh and gently put her into the cot. She stirs a little bit as I put her in, which I had expected, so I rock her cot a bit just as I feel two arms snake around my waist. Peter kisses my shoulder lightly before I look at him.

"What's the time?" I ask curiously.

"Four-thirty," he replies tiredly. I groan.

"So in other words it's still too early to go to bed," I whine. He laughs quietly and kisses my cheek.

"Yes, a little bit too early for that still," he agrees. I lean back against him, completely drained of all energy and emotion. I don't stop rocking the cot back and forth as he cuddles me.

"We have a dinner to attend though, Mrs. Pevensie. Malina told me that instead of dinner at six-thirty, they'd be ready by five o' clock with it," he explains lightly. I smile.

"Good! I don't think we've eaten a proper meal for days now!" I complain while pulling away from his embrace and grabbing his hand. I stop rocking the cot for a second and look down into it. Annabella is peacefully asleep now. I smile.

"Yes, I figured you're probably tired too. No one will blame us if we go to bed right after dinner," he tells me with a happy smile. We walk out of the room together, hand in hand, before heading over to our bedroom.

"So, what do you think of Brianna?" I ask him curiously as I collapse eagerly onto our bed. I missed this bed like anything while we were out. My back is sore from sleeping on rocky surfaces and beds that were far too small for us and so it's a great relief when I feel how extremely comfortable this one suddenly is.

"I think she is a very sweet and polite girl, although she is also very shy. I know she won't be comfortable with me for a while, but I'm willing to wait, because I know she will be one day," he answers truthfully. And this is why I love my husband.

"Talking about Brianna, where is she?"

"She's with her aunts," Peter replies as he collapses next to me. I roll onto my side and look at him properly for the first time in days. He's grubby and, now that I think about, also very smelly. His hair is in absolute disarray and his clothes are all torn and muddled.

"Oh good. It'll be nice for them to get to know her a little bit better and hopefully it will help her relax around them," I say. He smiles.

"I could say the same for us. We don't know very much about her yet. I'll make sure tomorrow is a family day and we can just have a relaxing day and just be with our children. We've barely spent time with the babies either and I would really like some quality time as a family before business starts up for me again. How does that sound?" he inquires. I smile brightly and roll over so that I'm on top of him. I lean down and give him a long, loving kiss before leaning up again a bit so that just our foreheads are touching.

"That sounds great, honey," I reply content, "but what sounds even better right now is the word food. I'm going to go and have a bath and change. I'll see you downstairs," I say as I quickly roll off the bed and go over to our closet. I randomly pull a gold dress out and some clean undergarments and go over to the bathroom. A dryad has already run a bath for me and so I just slip in. It feels good to be clean again, I have to admit, and after around fifteen minutes I get out. I slip into the beautiful dress elegantly and quickly run downstairs after combing my hair and putting my, now polished and sparkling clean, crown back into its rightful position. I walk eagerly into the dining room and sit down at my usual spot at the table. I'm on the corner, since Peter sits at the head.

"Mummy, where do I sit?" Brianna asks me as she runs over to me. I pull back the chair next to me.

"Right here, although starting tomorrow you'll have to sit at the other end of the table until the servants figure out a new seating arrangement because you've stolen your Aunt Susan's seat," I tell her as I gesture for her to sit down. She smiles and sits next to me. She goes to reach for a slice of lamb when my hand quickly grabs hers and pulls it back. "No one ever touches the food, let alone eats it, until the High King sits down and takes his first bite," I explain. That's one thing about adopting that I didn't think about earlier. We have to teach her all of the rules that stand firm in the castle. I know it will take a while for them to sink in after she's spent most of her life in an orphanage, but I know for a fact that she will get them eventually. I hear the deep horn sound then, pulling me from my thoughts, and stand up as my husband walks into the room. I take a glance over to Brianna. She has obviously noticed everyone standing and so she's quick to copy. I smile at her, silently telling her that she did the right thing before looking back to my husband who's now sitting down. I sit down after him before the rest of the creatures at the table sit themselves.

Dinner's always a slow procession at the beginning, I'm not saying that my husband's slow, it just takes a while for all the food to be served and all of that kind of stuff and then when you add on all the standing we have to do, it takes a good ten minutes before we actually start eating. Peter takes the first bite of his food then and instantly the entire dining room erupts into talking and laughter as everyone starts pigging into all the glorious food. Servants waltz smartly in and out as we eat and I get to talk to each of my friends as they each take turns in handing me my plates. By the end of it, I'm stuffed, in a very good way I will admit.

"Would you like to stay down here for a while or head up to bed?" Peter asks me as we walk into the Great Hall hand in hand. There are creatures everywhere at this time of the night and so we usually stay and talk to them for a few hours before bed. I yawn then, immediately giving him my choice.

"I'm really tired and the babies will be up all tonight aswell. I need sleep," I tell him as I look over at the golden, moon dial that hangs on the wall beside a tapestry. He smiles and nods before letting everyone know that we're retiring for the night. He grabs my hand then and leads me up the treacherous staircase. I hear little footsteps following behind us all of a sudden. I don't even need to turn around to guess who it is. We get to our level and instantly Brianna's hand is in my spare one.

"I'm tired too," she explains after I give her a curious glance. She yawns heavily then and I can see her becoming slower and more lazy in her steps. I smile at her as Peter opens the door and lets us both enter. I pull her inside before Pete closes the door and locks it shut. I instantly go to check on the twins, since it is a dryad who's looking after them. As soon as I get through the door to Annabella's room, the dryad is instantly at my side in her flurry of yellow petals.

"They are fine, Your Majesty," she tells me while curtseying. I smile at her.

"Thank you." She nods her head in an answering way before disappearing out the window. I watch as the wind carries her down towards the ground in a wide flurry of random petals before dropping her off at her tree. I smile and instantly look in the pretty cot. Annabella is fast asleep and is very peaceful. I quietly leave her room before checking on Brenton who's fast asleep too. I stroke his thin layer of brown hair back softly as he sleeps soundly.

"Mummy, can you please tuck me in?" Brianna asks me softly from the doorway. I look over to her and nod.

"Of course I can." I leave Brenton alone to sleep in peace before walking across the hallway to Brianna's room. When I walk in, she's happily snuggled up under her blankets. Pillows are scattered all over the floor and I notice that she's holding a book in her hands. I walk over to her bed before sitting on the edge of it and leaning over a little bit so that I can read the title of the book.

"Could you please read 'The Princess Unicorn' to me?" she asks as she places the book gently on my lap. I smile and open to the first page.

"Once upon a time…" I begin. Half an hour later, she's fast asleep. Her black hair is spread wildly all over the pillow as she breathes heavily. I plant a soft kiss on her forehead before whispering, "I love you," and blowing out the candles in her room. I trudge into our bedroom a few minutes later, completely spent, before collapsing on the bed in a tired manor. Peter's already in bed, the covers pulled up to his chin to try and keep the warmth in for me. I smile and slowly get up before peeling off my gorgeous dress. I put on pyjamas again for the first time in what feels like weeks before slowly peeling back the sheets and getting in. Peter instantly pulls me into him and wraps his arms around me tightly.

"I love you," he whispers softly in my ear. I smile and look up at him.

"I love you too." He leans down and catches my lips in a gentle, loving kiss before pulling away. I sigh in contentment as he starts stroking my hair gently back. I fall asleep quickly with dreams of my happy family.