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I'm baaaaaaack everybody!

For starters, I want to thank everyone who gave me name ideas. I couldn't have done it without you guys.

What's that? No, I'm not going to reveal the winning one yet! You have to read the story for that!

So read on! I'm not going to write anything graphic, to let you know. I'm trying to keep it PG here.

And keep in mind that Caspian and Susan eventually talked it out with each other, and Caspian agreed to help her by any means necessary.

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Chapter Six

Arrival (Nine Months And Many Tears, Mood Swings, and Cravings Later)

Peter, Edmund and Lucy were all out on their horses near the woods, because they had been bored and wanted something to do. Peter and Edmund were pretending to sword fight each other, yelling playfully as the swords clinged through the air. Lucy just had the joy of galloping across the field again and again.

The golden sun was high in the cloudless, bright blue sky. The day seemed perfect.

Lucy blinked happily up at the sky, where she saw a phoenix flying almost directly into the sun.

That must be how they obtain their fire. thought Lucy.

"Peter and Edmund, look!" said Lucy, pointing. "A phoenix!"

"That never ceases to amaze you does it," said Peter, laughing. "They live here, Lu."

They were still for a minute, watching it.

"They are beautiful though," said Edmund. "Brings me back to the White Witch battle, where the centaur sent that arrow and it turned into one..."

The word "arrow" made something click in Lucy's brain and she suddenly remembered.

Susan's due date was today. And they had forgotten to check on her.

"Edmund! Peter!" she said suddenly, making Peter jump violently and making Edmund nearly fall off his horse.

"What's wrong?" said Edmund a little irritably (he didn't like to be surprised).

"We've forgotten to check on Susan! Caspian's not in the castle right now so Twilight told us to check on her while she went to gather more medicine!"

Peter went pale. "Oh no..."

"Quickly!" said Edmund, steadying himself on his horse. "We have to go back now!"

Their horses, sensing desperation, all started galloping as hard as they could toward the castle, but had to slow down for a minute because the horses were getting tired.

Edmund kept saying, "A small break then we have to get moving, now!"

But a sound from the woods beside them made Peter turn his ear toward the forest. He shook his head. Maybe he was hearing things.

As they rode away, however, Peter heard it again, a low, pained moan that formed into a single word.

"Help..."

At the last minute, Peter turned his horse toward the woods. Lucy and Edmund nearly fell off theirs in surprise.

"Peter! What was that?" yelled Edmund.

"The castle's this way!" cried Lucy.

"She's not there, Ed!" Peter yelled over his shoulder. "I hear her moaning for help! She's in here!"

"You'd better be right, Peter!" said Edmund, turning his horse to follow with Lucy in pursuit.

Peter's horse galloped rapidly, with Peter looking left and right for Susan.

Then he saw her, lying in a small dugout, clutching her swollen stomach. Peter stopped the horse and leaped down beside her.

"Peter," said Susan, clutching his hand. "It's happening."

"I know," said Peter. "Ed, Lu, get down here!"

Susan was panting and gasping with pain as Edmund and Lucy took their places beside her.

Lucy turned to Peter. "Is she...?"

"Yeah," said Peter. "Go find Twilight. She might be gathering herbs right now, so hurry."

It didn't take long to find Twilight, for she was in fact about five feet away.

"What's going on?" came Twilight's voice, and Twilight herself came toward them.

"Susan's having her baby," said Lucy, who looked panicked.

Twilight instantly went over to where the child would soon emerge.

"All right, stand back. Does anyone have a robe or towel or anything I could use? Get me my satchel, Lucy. I have some in there."

Lucy obliged and in a few minutes, Susan was as settled as you could be in a small underground cave.

"All right," said Twilight.

Susan started to strain and her siblings tried to comfort her as best they could. From what they could decipher in Susan's groaning, her baby was coming fast. Finally she stopped to take a break, her face red and covered in sweat. Peter clutched her hand comfortingly.

"Where's Caspian?" Susan panted. "I want him here, where is he."

"He's out negotiating with a neighboring country, dear."

Susan squeezed Peter's hand so tightly that her nails pierced his hand. Peter gave a yell almost louder than hers and jerked his hand away.

"I'm bleeding!"

"I'm sorry," she said. "This really hurts."

"No kidding," said Edmund, who had a full view of everything and wasn't feeling very good about it.

"Come on dear," said Twilight. "You're almost there."

"You're doing brilliantly," said Lucy, who was the only one brave enough to look down. Susan managed a weak smile.

Edmund finally looked down too. He looked back up at Susan, horrified at what he had seen.

"You're bleeding too!" he said.

Susan shook her head. "It's fine, Edmund. It's completely normal."

Twilight gave an excited shriek. "Look down, love!"

They all did; the baby slipped out and started to cry.

"Girl or boy?" said Susan, laying back and sounding exhausted.

"Girl," said Lucy, who looked overjoyed. She gave the baby to Susan. "A little baby girl."

Susan's face had sweat and tears mixed as she looked at her daughter.

"Hi," she said "I'm your mum."

They all looked at the baby, and there were smiles on every face.

But suddenly Susan's stomach started to heave again.

"What's going on?" said Lucy quickly.

"Apparently we're not done," said Twilight, who, oddly enough, didn't sound surprised.

Peter took the first baby from Susan; her hands instantly traveled to Edmund's and squeezed them tightly.

"Two of them?" said Edmund, wincing. "Is that possible?"

Susan looked even more frightened than she already did and Lucy gave him a look that said Did you have to?

"What?" said Edmund, feigning innocence. "Is it?"

"Hey!" came a voice from above. They looked up.

Trufflehunter stood there, looking concerned.

"What's going on?" he said.

"Susan's having her baby," said Peter. "Or in this case, babies."

"Oh my."

"Where's Caspian?" said Lucy.

"He's on his way back," said Trufflehunter. "If I see him I'll tell him where you are."

Within a few minutes, the second baby had been placed in its mother's arms.

"This one's a boy," said Twilight happily.

"Twins," said Edmund, grinning.

Susan began to cry. "I'm their mum."

"Why are you crying?" said Lucy, sniffing and wiping her eyes. "This is a happy time."

"Two of them," was all Edmund could say. His voice trembled in spite of himself.

"You're crying too," said Peter to Twilight, his voice choked up.

"What?" said Twilight thickly. "I'm not made of stone."

Susan held both babies so everyone could see.

They were very delightful to look at; the boy had brown eyes like his father and the girl had blue eyes like her mother. Brown hair was plastered to both of their heads.

"What are their names?" said Lucy.

"I'm saving that for Caspian and me to decide," said Susan.

They just sat staring at the babies for a moment.

"Come on," said Twilight, breaking the silence. "We have to get you back to the castle."

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By the time night had fallen, Susan was lying in the infirmary, holding both her babies. She couldn't believe they were hers. They were so precious to her and she knew Caspian would be overjoyed to see them.

"Su?" came a voice from the doorway.

Susan looked up and there was Caspian.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," said Susan faintly. "Come here."

Caspian did and Susan put their daughter in his arms. He looked at her and a smile appeared on his face.

Then he noticed Susan was holding another one.

"Two of them?" he said quietly.

"It was rather unexpected," smiled Susan, her voice very quiet.

"Have you named them?"

"I haven't yet. I was waiting for you. Any ideas?"

Caspian thought quietly.

"Hmmm...something bold for the boy...what about Leo?"

"Leo?" said Susan. "What does that mean?"

"I read somewhere that it means lion."

"Leo...I like that name," said Susan thoughtfully. Her eyes traveled down to her son.

"Leo," she said gently. It seemed to fit him.

Susan looked back up at Caspian.

"Now what about our daughter?"

"You choose." said Caspian.

"Okay...how about I name her after a flower?" said Susan.

"Like Rose?" suggested Caspian.

"I was thinking more like...Lily."

"Lily," Caspian repeated, looking down at their daughter. "It suits her."

"Leo and Lily," said Susan. "Our babies."

The words felt so good to say. Leo's wide, brown eyes were searching his mother's face. Lily's pale blue ones stared up at her father.

At that particular moment, everything seemed right.

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That's right! The winners of my name competition are creative-writing-girl13 (who came up with Lily) and pANpIPE09 (who came up with Leo)!

I will now adknowledge everyone who participated: sillyprettykitty, Leal (), creative-writing-girl13, danielle, Naomi Friesen, and pANpIPE09.

Thank you for submitting names! You guys rock.

I think I'll write another chapter, and yes I'm going to use another time interval. But I don't know...should I write another one?

I guess my decision will depend on what kind of feedback I get from this one.

Peace! I'll be back!

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