Sorry guys! I would have had an update up yesterday but my stupid boss called me into work on my day off! Grr! Anyways, thanks for the reviews! Here we go!

Chapter 16

CASPIAN'S POV

Caspian wrung his hands in his lap as he sat upon his throne in the grand ball room. A celebration had been planned for Lucy, and now he just waited for her arrival. What is taking Annebelle so long to get her ready? I really don't care what she wears. Gorgeous royal purple curtains with golden accents had been hung in decoration, and the band played soft music as Narnians stood waiting patiently to begin. There would be dancing, and guests could come and go to the table of food as they pleased. Caspian had made sure that the cooks prepared everything he knew that Lucy liked. Now he just strummed his fingers on his leg, waiting for her to arrive. He hissed as a bread roll collided with the side of his head. He turned sharply to see Annebelle smirking to his right.

"Bella! What did you do that for?" She didn't answer, only nodded in the direction of the doors. Caspian turned to where she was gesturing and stood up clumsily as the royal announcer cleared his throat as he stood in front of the doors.

"Narnians, it is my pleasure to introduce, Lucy the Valiant, High Queen of Narnia," The guests dropped to one knee as the doors opened. Caspian, however, dropped to a bow rather uncontrollably. She's gorgeous. Lucy looked beautiful in a pale pink gown, and her usual reddish brown waves were in glossy ringlets falling to her waist. She did not wear a traditional crown, since she was a Queen of Old, but a golden skinny headband that circled around her head. The crown looked as if someone had taken a bunch of small golden leaves and strung them all together. Lucy's eyes locked with his and she gave a gleaming smile, her eyes sparkling as she took in her surroundings. She directed her attention back to the Narnians. She raised a hand in signal for them to rise. The celebration began, and the band started to play as guests began to dance. Caspian shot up, making his way towards Lucy. I wish it weren't innapropriate for me to attack her lips right now. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her, moving his mouth to her ear.

"You're beautiful," He whispered, before kissing the side of her head. He smirked as he saw her blush, and was about to speak again when he heard a throat clear behind him. He turned to see Andrew, his head advisor.

"Lucy, this is Andrew," She held a hand out to him sweetly and he kissed it in friendly gesture. "He's my head royal advisor. Andrew, well you already know this is Lucy-"

"Your girlfriend?" Lucy blushed crimson and looked at the floor while Caspian stood baffled at the man.

"How did you-?" Andrew leaned forward, speaking in the King's ear.

"A blind man could spot that," He gave them a wink. Lucy giggled nervously while Caspian shook his head in disbelief. Caspian smirked at the man.

"Just as they could spot your love for Bella," Andrew jabbed him in the stomach, but it was too late, Lucy was interested.

"Oh how sweet! Does she know?" It was Andrew's turn to blush, and Caspian answered for him.

"No, she doesn't. He won't even drop a hint. You know Lucy, I bet you could-"

"Ah, no. Absolutely not," Andrew interrupted. Lucy gave the man a sly smile before looking back at Caspian, who was giving her an identical one back.

"Too late. I'm going to help," She said tauntingly. Caspian chuckled and Andrew huffed. Caspian clapped him on the back before leaning to speak into his ear so that Lucy could not hear him.

"She's going to make you miserable, you know that right?" Andrew gave them both one more glare before bidding them goodbye and dashing away. After a few moments of laughter, Caspian held out his hand to Lucy in an offer to dance. She smiled widely before placing her hand in his, letting him pull her close. He placed one hand on the small of her back as she put one on his shoulder. He then took her free hand in his own and started swaying them around. He wasn't very good, but didn't really care. They stumbled around slightly, ignoring the snickers from Trumpkin, who stood nearby chatting with a few members of the navy. After Caspian tried spinning her around, nearly letting her fall to the ground, the snickers turned into full on laughter and even Lucy was giggling slightly.

"Oh Caspian, I love you but you're an awful dancer," She giggled as she spoke. He gave her a goofy grin before replying.

"Or maybe I'm not. Maybe I'm just so clumsy because I have a beautiful girl so close to me," This earned him another melodic laugh.

"Oh well aren't you corny," She joked.

"Only with you." She rolled her eyes as he kissed her forehead. They heard a few mocking "awwws" from there friends to which Lucy stuck out her tongue. After a bit more embarassing dancing they decided to just stop and chat. He led her over to the food table where he chuckled as she got excited about the chocolate covered strawberries he had gotten especially for her. They ate a while and moved aside to let others help themselves as they talked. Caspian frowned as Lucy looked a little put out.

"Is something the matter?" She bit her lip as she hesitated, but stopped as she saw him give her a serious look.

"I'm just worried about tommorow," Caspian knew what she was talking about. He was worried as well. Even though he knew it would be awkward, he would make an announcement of his and Lucy's courtship, and set serious limitations. Still, he was aware that there was no garuntee that his rules would be followed. Caspian took her little hands in his own and gave her a serious look.

"There is nothing to worry about," He saw her attempt to give him a reassuring smile. He sighed, he knew fake smile from Lucy when he saw one. "What exactly is troubling you?" Lucy bit her lip once more as her eyes turned more fearful.

"Trumpkin and Glenstorm told me that Archenland men don't exactly think women should have a choice for a lot of things. They told me not to be alone with any of them. They didn't exactly say what they were talking about but I got what they meant," She said everything in a hurry, as if she really didn't want to talk about it. He saw her eyes turn glossy with tears as she looked down at her feet. Caspian felt his heart drop, she was really afraid. I officially hate Peter. He placed his hands on her cheeks.

"Lucy, I'm going to tell them that-" All of the sudden she grabbed his wrists and made him let go of her.

"It won't matter what you say!" A few guests stopped and gave them a look. Caspian shot them all glares and they hurriedly left them alone. He turned back to give Lucy a confused look, but saw that she had tear marks on her cheeks. He reached out for her and she wrapped her arms around her waist, burying her head in his chest.

"I'm sorry," She whispered. He shook his head, telling her she did not need to apologize to him. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and kissed the side of her head. He was puzzled. The Lucy he first met would have been the kind to punch a man in the groin if he advanced on her. This fearful behavior was not normal for her. He murmured words of comfort into her ear as she calmed herself. She eventually looked up at him, tear stains on her cheeks. Caspian could not help but question her.

"Lucy. Has anything like that ever happened to you before?" He spoke lowly. He really didn't want to know, but then again he did so that he could hurt the man if at all possible. The arm he had around her tightened as he noted her few moments of silence. He brought his eyes to hers and felt himself sick as she nodded. He pulled her as close to his side as possible and dragged her along with him out into the hallway away from the guests. A million different thoughts were running through his mind at the same time. He wanted to kill the man responsible for this very painfully and slowly, but he also wanted to make sure that Lucy was okay. He needed to know when and where this happened. But most importantly, he wanted to whose throat would be meeting his sword. Caspian led her into a small room where he met with his advisors. He slammed the door behind him after she was inside. He turned to her, stumbling over to pull her into his arms. His entire body shook, and he had a feeling she would have bruises on her skin from where he held her. Lucy brought her hands up to his chest and gently pushed him away so that he would look at her. She still had tears in her eyes and her hands shook, but she tried to give him a comforting look.

"Caspian, please calm down it wasn't what you think," He gave her a questioning look. She sighed. "It wasn't that. He didn't get that far." He felt relieved but not enough to be calm. He didn't want to upset her, so he nodded and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her to his chest but leaving her enough room to see his face and speak with him.

"Tell me," He pressed gently. She blinked back a few tears and nodded quickly.

"It was Susan's boyfriend, Gerald. I knew he had forced her to be with him before, but she always insisted that it was fine and that he just lost his temper sometimes. She told me never to tell Peter or Edmund. I think she was just hoping that he would eventually propose, Susan would do anything for children," Caspian nodded and felt a wave of sympathy and also of anger towards the girl he used to fancy. How could she let herself be subjected to that? "Well he was over at our house one day, Susan was going to cook him dinner. It was just me, Susan and him in the house. Peter and Edmund were out with friends, and mother and father were already off in America. Susan left to get something at the market, and he just attacked me. He made me do things, and did things to me," She gave him a nervous look. "I really don't want to go into details," She said.

"Please don't," He told her, tightening his grip. He did not need images of his Lucy being hurt in his mind. She nodded, before going on.

"He was going to, well you know. But Peter and Edmund came in and saw what he was doing. He tried to run but Edmund was too fast for him and they both beat him up pretty badly while I called the police. Susan felt awful, and didn't even look at me for weeks. We never told mother or father, I don't really like to talk about it. They didn't have to know anything for us to have him put in jail, he's still there," She finished, looking down at her feet as if ashamed. Tears fell slowly from her eyes, hitting the stone floor. Caspian picked her up in his arms, whispering that he loved her and that he would never let anything like that happen to her again. She cried into his shoulder for a while, every sob or gasp made his heart break a little more. He knew he would never see this man and that there was no way he could avenge her, but was desperate for anything that would make the tears stop falling and take her fears away. He kissed her forehead and cheeks repeatedly, stroking his fingers through her hair and swaying her back and forth soothingly.

"The law doesn't go into details about how the suitors are to spend time with you. I was looking it over earlier for anything that may help. It says that I cannot be with you while they are on dates with you, but it doesn't say anything about anyone else. Someone can go with you, Trumpkin, Rynelf, Glenstorm, anyone you want. You will never be alone with them," He felt her body fall less tense in his arms, she let out a shaky sob.

"Really?" He took her face in his hands and kissed the tip of her nose.

"Yes, anyone you want. The suitors may be annoyed, but I really don't care. I never really liked them anyway," He sighed as he heard her give a small laugh. He pressed his lips to hers, kissing her tenderly. As he brushed his lips over hers, he felt her body relax more and more in his arms. She pressed herself up against him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Caspian brought his hands up to cup her face, stroking his thumb over her cheek softly. He looked her over, seeing that tear stained cheeks and watery eyes. He knew she wouldn't want to go back into the ball room now.

"I should get you to bed," He whispered, getting a nod from her. He looped his hand through hers and led her to her bedroom. After getting inside, he closed the door so that they could say goodnight privately. He held her to his chest for a while, they stood in silence. He pulled back to kiss her when she piped up.

"Please don't leave," He felt a tug at his heart as he looked into her face. Her big eyes were still glossy and hopeful, and she bit her lip nervously at her request. She's probably afraid of nightmares after talking about all this. He nodded quickly, pulling her even closer. He claimed her soft, sweet lips, resting a hand on the back of her head to keep her close. He kissed her for a while in an attempt to calm her, and could tell by how she was reacting that she was dead tired from the day's activities. He showed her where she could find nightgowns in her wardrobe before leaving her to change and to change himself. He changed clothes hurriedly, wanting to get back to her. He felt the urge to have an eye on her at all times, to assure himself that she was okay. He stood outside her door until she opened it, and walked inside to see her wearing a plain white nightgown that fell just below her knees. The sleeves were long but she rolled them up to her elbows. He closed the door, locking it, and pulled back the covers so that she could slip inside. He layed down, wasting no time in wrapping her in his arms and letting her rest her head on his chest. Caspian pulled away for a split second to blow out the candles on the table next to them, before placing a tender kiss to her forehead.

"I love you," He heard her whisper into his chest. He hugged her tighter.

"I love you too, Lucy. Get some rest," He ordered, stroking a hand up and down her back while the other played with her hair. He watched her intently, and could see and feel when her breathing deepened, and she fell asleep.

XoXoXoXo

Caspian let go of Susan, he knew he would miss her, but if Aslan was taking her away before they could even start a relationship, he knew it was not meant to be. He watched her walk back over to join her siblings. Peter looked distressed that he was leaving, Edmund's face was expressionless. Lucy, however, was looking down at the ground, and he could see a tear rolling down her cheek. Aslan roared, making it so that the large tree standing in the courtyard unraveled itself into a sort of portal that would lead his friends back to their world.

"Alright children, it is time to go back," Edmund put a hand on Lucy's shoulder, who stood next to him. Caspian heard her let out a small sob. "You two will be back," The great lion assured gently, and chuckled as Lucy threw herself at him, kissing his cheek. The rest of the Pevensies nodded to Aslan, before turning their backs to the Narnians, and walking towards the portal that would take them away. Caspian watched Lucy start to follow, before something snapped inside him.

"Lucy!" He called desperately. She turned to him, letting out a strangled sob before she bolted into his arms. He picked her up, squeezing her little body tight. "You weren't going to say goodbye to me?" He asked his best friend worriedly. He heard her sob once more.

"I didn't want to say goodbye. Because then it would be like I'll never see you again," He could barely hear her as she spoke into his neck. He whispered her name in realization before kissing the side of her head. He looked up at Aslan, who looked on at them with a calm expression.

"Will I see her again?" He asked cautiously.

"There is no way to tell. Lucy will come back when she is needed," Lucy whimpered as Caspian whispered to her that it would be okay, trying to assure himself. He did not know what he would do without her. She was his best friend, the only person he could really talk to. He did not know why this little girl had such a strong effect on him, but he knew he didn't want it to go away. Caspian eventually set her down, getting on his knee so that he could be at her level. He pushed some hair from her face before kissing her forehead.

"Be good okay?" She nodded, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Come back to me," He whispered in her ear so that she only could hear. She nodded frantically, before pulling away. She practically ran from him, as if she wanted to spare them more pain by getting away quickly. He watched her walk through behind her brothers and sister, possibly never to return to him.

Caspian jolted awake. He blinked a few times, seeing that it was still dark outside and was probably a few hours till sunrise. He looked down and smiled, adjusting his hold on Lucy. He sighed, remembering the dream that he had so many times before. It was his worst nightmare. He felt Lucy stir slightly, murmuring something in her sleep before smiling slightly. She snuggled closer to him in her sleep, sighing. Caspian felt his heart swell in his chest at his next thought.

Lucy is here, and she is never leaving again.

Yay for Chapter 16! I'm going to be super busy for the next week cause I'm on the work schedule a lot so I'm going to need inspiration to write during the free time that I have! Please inspire me! Write a review! Thanks for reading! You guys are the best!