A/N: By Aslan, 'The Call' is really starting to grow on me! Hee, the more I write about Edmund, the more I like him as much as Peter. :)
"Alas, today, the 16th of May…(drumroll please)…my little brother has finally fallen in love!" Peter shouted, then all of the Pevensies, except Edmund, who was standing alone, obviously sulking at the teasing his siblings started since they got back from the marketplace, collapsed on the sofas, laughing.
It was late in the afternoon, 'the lazy time of the day,' as Susan loved to call it, and they were lying around in the living room, relaxing after a long day of shopping. ("I don't like to think of this as a sport, actually," Peter voiced his opinion.) The 'old' group shared a sofa, while Edmund and Lucy occupied another.
"Oh, please," Edmund, now red-faced, "Stop it, you guys. Like it's contagious or something."
"Why," said Susan, in her mock solemn tone, "Now thou art sociable, now thou art Edmund, now thou are what thou as by nature. Isn't this better than groaning for love?"
Edmund really groaned this time, as he squirmed in his chair. "Don't go all Shakespeare on me, Su. I'm so not Romeo."
"Well, I'm glad you've learned your stuff, then," she answered, whispering to a baffled Caspian about Romeo and Juliet.
"Yeah, so much fun teasing me. You're in love, too," he shot back.
Susan simply made a sound in her throat, whilist Caspian stared very intently at the details of the vase on a small table nearby.
"Bad denial, bad denial," thought Peter, "What's happening to people here? Maybe love's contagious like Ed said."
Lucy held her stomach, hurt from laughing too much, "Maybe we should stop, Peter, Su, Ed's getting bugged." Still, there was a little satisfied grin on her little face. "I'll tell you about her later." This last sentence she'd leaned in close and said to Edmund's (by now) pinkish ears.
Outside on a balcony, a couple, hand in hand, were watching the stars, gazing at the sparkling light wonders of the night.
Susan sighed, "Isn't it wonderful? The stars…they're gorgeous."
"Not as much as you," Caspian turned to her, eyes full of meaning, "Susan—I'm not here just to, well, visit you…but—"
In mid-sentence, his glance was cast downwards at his newly-polished shoes, like a culpable schoolboy.
"Caspian," he moved when she called his name, softly but affectionately, "But what? You can tell me anything, anything…" she clutched his hands, fearing they would slip away.
"Oh, Susan," her knight in shining armor, her Prince, pulled her into an embrace, "I love you, you know that."
Susan's cheeks turned a shade of rosy pink, "I—love you, too, Caspian," but Caspian only saw it beautified her face all the more.
He sighed.
Suddenly the King of Narnia knelt down right in front of her, hands fumbling into his pocket for a certain object, and their eyes met.
"Susan," Caspian reached for her trembling left hand, "Susan Pevensie, will you marry me?"
Susan gasped in realization of what he had been meaning to ask her. "But Caspian…it's us, we—we can't be together. I mean, what—what about the time? What would everyone sa—"
Her troubled strutter was silenced by his lips capturing hers, their kiss growing from sweetly tender into passionate, Susan running her hands through his smooth black hair.
This was it, what I've been dreaming of…what I've been waiting for.
The love of my life.
He was perfect, my everything.
But why, oh, why do I have to push him away?
Though contradictory to her feelings, she had pulled away with a groan, "Caspian," his name, saying it was painful but pleasing at the same time, making her wonder what was (and would) happening to them both, "We can't stay like this."
Caspian studied her face.
"Please give me sometime," said Susan, her voice shaking with emotion, "It's all very sudden."
He hugged her, whispering into her ears, "I understand, but whatever happens," Susan tightened her hold on him, "Remember I'll always be there for you, my Susan."
Meanwhile, the younger Pevensies, Edmund having come joined Lucy in her bedroom, were discussing an equally important matter.
"Her name," said Lucy, Edmund leaning in closer in interest, "Is Anna."
Edmund hugged himself, repeating his 'love's' name in a dreamlike voice.
Lucy hit him with a pillow, "What, now you're going to turn all Susan now and stop talking to me?"
"Oh come on, Lu," the second 'in love' Pevensie pleaded, "It's just—I don't know—it's this weird feeling. Like, I think about her all the time."
This time Lucy was the one gagging. "Now you know what it's like to be in love. And stop ridiculing Su!"
"Fine, fine, I get your meaning," said Edmund, with a smirk.
For a moment there, Lucy was glad to see his smirk, the first time in her life. It was as if a sign to confirm he was still Edmund, her normal hormonal but nice teenage brother.
After a few seconds of awkward silence he had never felt before during a conversation with his closest sister (who he had always argued against, but now had supposedly became his matchmaker), Edmund turned to Lucy, "Do you think there's any way I could, um, meet her?"
The fourteen-year-old matchmaker pretended to think, hands touching her 'beard', "Hmm…"
"C'mon, Lucy! Stoping teasing me!" came a wail from Edmund.
"Amazing," Lucy grinned, "The last time I heard you wail was when I hid your toy when you were ten."
"Whatever, just get to the point," he shook his head.
"Well, I suppose you could go to the marketplace sometime with me when you're free—"
"I'm free anytime, anywhere, anyhow, now!" sang Edmund happily, clutching his pillow, "For her."
Lucy made a disgusted face at her brother before continuing her mini speech, "You even sing? Aslan, what is happening to my brother? Anyways," she punched Edmund's pillow, imagining it as 'Anna' in her mind, "When you're free, you could come, and I'll introduce her."
"Great, thanks, Lu!" he squeezed her hands in gratitude, and, whispering Anna's name softly, fell as asleep in Susan's bed.
Lucy could do nothing but put her pillow over her ears. "Seems like this is going to be long."
By the next morning, everyone had woken up with a purpose in their minds.
Edmund, for the first time in his fifteen years, 'rise and shine' early as if to greet the sunrise.
"Well, well, well," Peter glanced at the empty seat next to him at the breakfast table, asking in his mock serious voice, "Where's my favorite brother? Is he not up yet?"
"He's gone," answered Caspian, busy with his breakfast.
"Gone?" Peter dropped his fork at the same time as Susan did, the 'clank' sounds echoing off the walls, "What do you mean, gone where? He's never an early riser! And this…earlier than me? No way!"
The King of Narnia chuckled, "Him and Lucy's gone to the marketplace. Said they have some mission to accomplish." With that, Caspian walked off to put his finished plate in the kitchen sink.
"Some teenage love affairs, huh, Su," said Peter, smiling.
"Erm, Peter," began Susan in a quite guilty voice, "Speaking of love, I—" Oh Aslan, I never imagined this moment would come! It's so…unbelievable. "I have something to tell you."
A/N: Some big things goin' on here!
Let's see how they'll turn out, shall we?
Hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I had fun writing it!
Love to all you readers and reviewers and much thanks for everything,
Your ever humble fanfic writer :)