Crimsonwings92: Bet you guys didn't think I would have updated so soon, huh? Especially considering my history for late updates that just take forever! Hahaha! Well, I realize this one is a short chapter, but the next one is going to be longer, so…trade. Anyway, hope you enjoy this next installment of The Cair Paravel. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Chronicles of Narnia not mine.

The Cair Paravel

Chapter 5: My Parents and Nohea

The sun was high in the sky that day, shining down on the many inhabitants of the beach outside the Cair Paravel hotel. The ocean water seemed to glitter and gleam with beauty as the many colorful fish below its surface flitted by in ignorant bliss. A soft sigh left light pink lips as a large hand ran through sun gold locks, the bluest eyes you'll ever see staring out at the scenery before him. Peter closed his eyes against the warm sun and the light breeze, allowing for the peace and serenity to lull over him and put him at ease. He was alone today seeing as how Lucy was on yet another adventure for the entire day, swimming with dolphins, and Julia decided that she would spend the day in the spa right after several hours of yoga class to 'calm my frazzled nerves' as she had put it herself.

"I guess I could have gone to the gym," he mused to himself, using his hands to support his weight as he leaned back, "But I don't want to spend all day with a bunch of sweaty men I don't know talking about how to get definition in their calves."

Again, the blond man sighed and laid back all the way, his body relaxing against the smooth rock he was perched upon. He had removed himself from the overcrowded beach itself and found a nice quiet place to rest among a collection of rocks farther out to see where the waves came up to lick your toes and the sea life zipped by in oblivion to his presence. Although he was quite glad to get away from the noise on the beach, he wasn't sure sitting isolated on this rock was any better. He wondered if Lucy was in the water right then, getting ready to take off with one of the dolphins. He wondered what Julia was doing in her yoga class, the Lotus or the Palm Tree? He wondered if Geneva was working again today.

…Geneva?

Knees brought up to his chest, Peter allowed his mind to run away with that last thought, refusing to be surprised that he had thought of her at that moment. It's now past her three-day work period that she had informed him about and he hadn't seen her yet. He had gone by the restaurant just to see if she was there, feeling somewhat disappointed when he found out she wasn't. He then continued to wander about aimlessly, subconsciously searching for a familiar head of black, wild curls and, once again, feeling disappointed when he didn't see that. Geneva had been on his mind as of late, especially when Julia wasn't around to distract him; even then, her image was just nagging at him from the back of his mind, practically begging to be acknowledged.

"Geneva…" he whispered for the sole reason to taste her name on his tongue; he liked how it just rolled off of his tongue, sounding sweet like smooth chocolate.

Even though he wouldn't admit it out loud, he missed her these past three days. The very thought made him want to laugh at how sad and pitiful he sounded; missing a girl you barely know and would probably never see again after the summer was over? It was completely preposterous and yet...it made sense. It felt right for him to miss her just like it felt right, in his mind, for him to enjoy being with her.

…What…the hell?

"Ugh, my brain hurts!" he exclaimed to the skies, falling back against the rock, "Am I really that much of a sad, bloody muppet!"

"A what?"

Peter turned sharply to look at the person who interrupted his thoughts, a gasp leaving his lips a moment later when the near perfect image of Geneva dressed in a green board-bikini set with a matching sarong filtered through his mind.

"What the hell is a sad, bloody muppet?" she questioned, fearing for his sanity.

"Gen…Geneva," he uttered in shock, the saying 'speak of the devil and she shall appear' flitting through his thoughts for a mere second.

Said girl looked at the blond man curiously and in slight worry, turning her head to the side in order to look at him from the corner of her eye; "Peter…you okay over there?" she asked slowly, inching a little closer to him.

He blushed as he jumped up, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, "Um, y-yes. Yes, I'm perfectly fine. How are you?"

"Better than you, I'm guessing," she answered teasingly, although her eyes still held that worried glint in them.

Peter couldn't even retort to that. All he did was laugh gently and look at her, noticing the reusable bag on her arm. He pointed to it for a second, curiosity in his eyes as he spoke up.

"What have you got there?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she replied teasingly, holding her head up and away with a grin on her face.

"Are you going to make me guess what it is you have in that bag?" he inquired just as playfully, moving a little closer to peer inside of it.

Geneva moved her arm away, smirking as she asked, "Are you going to tell me what a sad, bloody muppet is?"

Peter blinked.

"Tell you what, if you tell me what a sad, bloody muppet is, I'll tell you what's in this bag. Deal?" she held her hand out for Peter to shake.

He stared down at that small hand with the slender fingers, smiling warmly at her as he took her hand and kissed the back of it.

"Deal," he breathed, lips brushing the skin and making Geneva blush.

She pulled her hand away and mockingly glared at him, the look resembling a pout and making the blond man laugh at her expression. The young woman indicated for Peter to sit down as she took a seat herself upon the smooth rock face, setting the bag down beside her away from Peter's vision. She then looked at him expectantly, deep brown eyes shining as it caught the light from the sun. It was here that Peter noticed something very special about her eyes, small gold flecks that lined her pupil and glittered quite prettily. He bit his lip and looked away, scratching behind his ear as blood rushed to his cheeks.

"So, you want to know what a bloody muppet is," it wasn't a question, "I basically just called myself a damn dimwit, is what I did."

"Really? Why would you call yourself that? And why would you call yourself that so loud?" Geneva giggled, looking at the handsome boy.

Peter shook his head, too embarrassed by the reason to really tell her, "It was nothing really. I just thought I forgot to tell Lucy to take sunscreen with her when she's out there in the water today. She burns so easily, we all do."

"Ah, I see. Aren't they swimming with dolphins today?"

Peter nodded, "They are. Lucy was so excited, she kept rambling on and on about how she hoped she could see Nohea today."

Geneva laughed, a twinkling sound that Peter enjoyed hearing; "Yeah, Nohea always brings the ladies back. Captured my heart from the very first moment I saw him."

"When did you meet Nohea?" Peter questioned, moving about a bit to sit more comfortably and face Geneva.

"About five years ago. He was still just a little turtle, big enough to fit in my palm. I was scuba diving out near the coral reef a little farther out in the water and he was tangled up in some seaweed. I helped him get set free and from there, he's been like my best friend," she explained, the softest of expressions he's seen on anyone's face crossing her features.

She looked so pretty then, so very feminine and this warmed the boy's heart to the point where he almost melted. He cleared his throat in an action to attempt to clear his head as he pointed to the bag.

"Now that I've answered your question, you can answer mine. What did you bring in the bag?"

Geneva blinked and looked at said bag he was referring to, making a noise of realization as she smacked her forehead, "Duh, almost forgot. I was planning on spending the day here and decided to bring some snacks to eat."

She rummaged around in the bag and pulled out several whole fruits, only one of them looking familiar to the blond man.

"I know what that is," he said, pointing to the mango, "But what on Earth are those other things?"

"This," Geneva pointed to a green fruit that looked like a lime, "Is a guava. It actually tastes really good…I like it."

She had put down the other fruit in her hand and took out a knife, cutting the guava open to reveal its pinkish center. She gave half of it to Peter, the young man sniffing it gingerly before taking a small bite, savoring the taste. His female companion nodded her head in time to his chewing, smiling brightly as he swallowed.

"Yeah, it's good isn't it?" she urged, putting down her half and picking up another fruit that had a lighter green shell with a hint of orange in it.

"It's not bad," Peter replied, still mulling over the taste.

Geneva simply giggled as she cut into the second fruit, this one having a smooth, reddish-orange center with little black seeds packed together on the inside.

"This is papaya. Not my favorite, but it's still pretty good. It's used in a lot of juices and you can tell why. These are real juicy," she handed the boy half so he could taste, Peter doing so obediently.

"And these," she rummaged around in the bag and pulled out a cluster of small, red fruit that looked like raspberries on steroids, "are lychees. The best way to describe them is to compare them to a grape, only they're sweeter."

Peter held the small fruit in his hand and stared at it, wondering if it was okay to just bite it and eat it.

"Do I just…bite on it?" he asked hesitantly, glancing up at his company.

"Yeah! Just like this," Geneva reached out and wrapped her slender fingers around his larger hand, bringing the fruit close to her mouth and biting it lightly.

She pulled back with the red skin caught between her teeth, revealing the white center beneath it. She ate the skin in her mouth and then bit the white flesh of the fruit, savoring the sweet taste.

"There, now you try," she mumbled around a mouth full of fruit, catching some of the juice on her finger and sucking it up past her lips.

Peter would have done what she asked immediately, but he was still stuck on the image of her lips puckering around the lychee and sucking the sweetness up from within it. His hand trembled as he forced himself to move, bringing the fruit up to his lips and popping the rest of it into his mouth. He tasted the flavor and admitted it tasted wonderful, but he couldn't help but be a little envious of the fruit since it got to be so close to Geneva's mouth.

'Control, Peter. It's just a fruit, no need to get jealous of it…it can't even feel,' he berated himself.

"Did you know that fruits and plants have emotions?"

…Well…so much for that.

"Um…no, I didn't. How do you know that?" he responded after his clearing his throat. Again.

"I read in a study somewhere that fruit and plants can actually feel happiness, sadness, pain, and panic. For some, depending on how they are feeling, they actually grow faster or bloom bigger because of it."

"What made you read the study about it?" Peter asked.

"My teacher at school," Geneva groaned, "I have one more year to go and I can leave that pit of hell everyone calls high school."

"You're in high school?" Peter inquired, sounding shocked.

Geneva looked at him and nodded, "Yeah. I'm coming up on my senior year."

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"God Save the Queen!" Peter exclaimed, the expression making the ebony girl burst out laughing, "I would never have guessed you were only seventeen! You…you carry yourself in such a mature manner. I would have thought you were a little older."

"Goodness! How old are you?" Geneva asked, wondering if maybe he was younger and just looked like a young adult.

"Well, I'm nineteen," Peter answered bashfully, feeling somewhat like a pervert for being attracted so strongly to a young teenager.

Said 'teenager' blinked slowly before she scoffed and rolled her eyes, "As if you're any older."

"I am older."

"Only by two years! It's not like we're that far apart in age where I'm such a little delinquent that goes around causing trouble!"

"I never said you were a delinquent."

"You implied it!"

"Only because you took it that way."

"…What?"

Peter smiled triumphantly as Geneva groaned and hung her head, rubbing her temples as if she had a massive headache.

"I swear, you're just like Kathy," she muttered under breath, rolling her eyes.

"Kathy...your guardian?" Peter questioned.

"Yup," the teen answered, popping another lychee into her mouth and sucking on the juice.

"Right…" Peter mused, rolling his next choice of conversation carefully in his head, "Geneva?"

Brown eyes peered at him; "What happened to your parents?" he asked cautiously.

She simply stared at him for a moment, her face blank and clear of any and all thoughts, making Peter slightly worried to what she was thinking. To his surprise, she merely shrugged and turned away.

"Nothing happened to them. They're perfectly healthy and were pretty happy with life last time I checked," she answered, biting into her half of a guava.

"So, if nothing has happened to them, why do you have a guardian that you live with in Honolulu?"

"Because they gave up custody of me to Kathy."

"But…why?"

"How much of this do you want to know, Peter?" Geneva asked in exasperation, rubbing her forehead tiredly.

He considered her question for a moment, mulling it over in his head, before he reached out and grasped her tiny hand in his, squeezing it firmly. Geneva lifted her gaze to meet his, finding nothing but warm encouragement in his eyes.

"I want to know all of it, Geneva. This is obviously something that bothers you every time it's brought up and I want to know why so I can make it better. Or, at least, more bearable," he answered truthfully, his eyes begging for her to relay her story.

The teen sighed softly and nodded, staring at the rock face, "My parents never wanted me, I was just a mistake that made their lives a living hell. They tried to live with their consequence, keeping me and raising me to the best of their ability, but they just couldn't do it, they couldn't handle having me around because I was just a constant reminder of how good their lives could've been if I hadn't been around."

Her brown eyes glared at the black rock beneath them, the look so fierce Peter wondered if it could be set on fire.

"They sucked as parents and never cared where I was or what I did for ten years…that's where Kathy came in," Geneva smiled, "She was a staff member at the community center I spent a lot of my time at and had taken an interest in me. She worried about me and always paid me extra loving attention…she was the sister I never got to have and always wanted. When Kathy found out how bad I had it at home, how my parents despised my very existence, she opted for taking custody of me and having me live with her. My parents had no objections to it; in fact they just handed me right over to her, gave up their parental rights, and disappeared from my life. Kathy moved us to Honolulu almost right after for college and we've been here ever since."

Nothing but the sound of the waves could be heard between the two, but even then, it sounded too quiet, deathly quiet. It took a couple of seconds for all of this to sink into Peter's brain considering that what he just heard was beyond shocking. Her parents didn't even want her around? I mean, he and Lucy were so upset that they're parents were hardly around to spend more than a weekend with them, but at least Mr. and Mrs. Pevensie actually wanted their children to be alive! Peter felt so selfish then, so bratty for complaining that his parents weren't around as much as he wanted them to be when there was someone right here in front of him who didn't even have parents.

"You're being way too quiet over there," Geneva broke the silence with a soft, hollow chuckle, pain evident in her eyes.

"…I'm sorry," Peter replied, hoping she would catch the double meaning.

She did.

"For what? It's not your fault," she muttered, her fingers lightly grazing over the back of his hand.

"I'm just…I'm just sorry," he repeated, no longer able to resist holding her as his arms wrapped around her shoulders and he pulled her close to him.

Geneva giggled then and leaned her head onto his shoulder, listening to his strongly beating heart and feeling comforted. She's never talked about her parents before; never felt she should since no one ever bothered being persistent like Peter was. Then again, no one was like Peter at all since he could practically break her with a single, pleading look.

"Don't be sorry, Peter," she told him, closing her eyes.

He said nothing and Geneva chuckled as she allowed him to continue holding her. This went on for about two long minutes when the girl suddenly perked up and let out a breathless giggle.

"Peter. Peter, look," she urged him to let go, "There's someone I want you to meet."

"What?" he whispered, looking down at her face, but she wasn't looking at him; instead, her eyes were on what looked like a rock with a sun-like pattern on its back.

"Peter…meet Nohea," she said as the turtle emerged from the clear water close to where they were sitting, something close to a gurgled groan leaving the reptile's mouth.

The brightest smile Peter's ever seen on her face spread to Geneva's lips as the young girl got up from her spot on the rock and moved closer down by the water, beckoning for Peter to follow. She sat upon a rock closer to the water, her legs dangling in the cool liquid up to her knees as Nohea swam up to her and nudged her legs with his head. She laughed as she pet the turtle's head and gave it a kiss, hugging him as best she could without fully pulling him out of the water.

"Nohea, I want you to meet a new friend of mine, Peter. He's Lucy's older brother," she put her hand on the man's shoulder, "And Peter, this is my best friend ever, Nohea."

"Um, it's nice to meet you," he greeted nervously, unsure of how to address the reptile.

Again, a gurgle left Nohea's mouth as he nudged Peter's leg with his head and then waited. Peter was perplexed by the animal's stillness.

"He wants you to pet him," Geneva informed him, giggling and shaking her head, "You and Lucy really are siblings."

Peter just chuckled lightly as he reached down and stroked the great turtle's head, amazed by the pattern on his shell.

"He really is a handsome guy," he voiced quietly, watching Nohea turn back to Geneva and lay his head in her lap, relishing in her sweet word and tender touches.

"I know, right? The handsomest turtle in the whole world!" she chirped, laughing excitedly as her best friend gave a groan and rolled playfully in the water to show his agreement, "He's been there for me through all these years."

Peter watched girl and turtle for a moment, feeling his heart flutter with how happy she was to be with her best friend. Her happiness made his day all the brighter and he liked that. His large hand gently touched her arm and Geneva looked at him curiously.

"I want you to know, Geneva," he started, his voice thick with sincerity, "that I want to be there for you as well. I don't want to take Nohea's place, but I do want a place by you. I want to make you happy, just like Nohea does."

"You don't have to do that just because you feel sorry for me," the ebony teen retorted, lightly stroking her best friend's head.

Peter's hand moved from her arm to her cheek, cupping it and turning her face towards him as he spoke while looking directly in her eyes, "That's not why I'm doing it. I'm doing it because I care and I want to see you smile like this more often. I want you to be happy, too."

"…Thank you, Peter…" she breathed, blushing hot as he became bold again and leaned in to kiss her soft cheek, "…thank you."

He smiled at her before the both of them gave their attention to the ever so handsome Nohea, the spell that Julia had Peter under broken once again while Geneva's was just getting stronger.

End Chapter

Crimsonwings92: …Okay…well, there you go. Chapter 5 of this story. Not exactly sure how I feel about it, but it's there and I hope you guys liked it! Just a little announcement for all of you out there that love to role-play and are looking for sites to role-play in, there's one called We The Role Players, WTRP for short, and it needs some life so check it out! See you next time! Ciao!