Anomalously enough, unexpected events happened to the most assuming people.
The sky was an artist's masterpiece, brushes painting the huge setting sun a shade of orangish red, its background a combination of dark black and the hot colors, as Edmund, joyous as he was of his 'first quasi date,' practically skipped 'all the way' home in the afternoon, his sister Lucy trotting along, grumbling.
"Guess other than you getting a date," mumbled Lucy, "Nothing else can be more interesting."
In a euphoric mood, Edmund could not help but agree. "Anna's so, Lu, so different. She sure can really chats up people." His smile never leaving his face, Lucy could tell he was replaying moments of their conversation with Anna, in which, admittedly, her brother gladly stole some of her lines.
"Oh, dresses?" asked Anna, clasping her hand together, "No, tell me about it. Maybe I'll have to learn from your sister, the fashionista Susan?"
The young Pevensies laughed, Edmund blurting out, "But what about the one you wore that day at the—er—marketplace?"
'The marketplace,' thought Lucy, was a rather touchy word with Edmund these days, containing some sort of special chemical that could turn his face a shade of beetroot red.
'I'll have to think of a 'pet name' for that face later.' She made a mental note to herself, smiling.
Anna frowned at Edmund's question, confessing sheepishly, "Ah, that one. Mum made me wear it to some wedding."
He grinned at her frown, to which Anna responded with a glare, "But you looked nice."
Her glare subsided to a mild chagrined face. "Right, right, Ed," she replied halfheartedly, sighing, "No matter what anyone says, I'd rather not be caught in a dress like that again."
What do you know? She's funny.
"Huh uh," annoyance seemed to get the better of Lucy, who remained speechless the rest of the way. Her bottled up emotions exploded again as a result of Peter's cry once they set foot in the dining room.
"We have great news to tell you!"
Other than her parents, Peter was Susan's rock, her source of comfort. His brotherly gentle touches, soothing words always calmed her down, from matters of stolen lollipops to of the heart.
"It's ok, Su," his hand placed on her shoulder, "The Professor and I will try to reach our parents. I'm sure they'll be pleased to hear of this."
Susan looked up at Peter's optimistic face, "I hope so," nodding to Caspian.
With Father and Mother away in America on business, the reason they were here in the first place, the Gentle—and, as originally was, Practical—one felt she needed their consent before any actions could taken place, especially anything the size of marriage.
"Well," concluded Caspian, as Peter left the room in search of the Professor, "Any more surprises and we'll be in business."
His bride-to-be gave him a soft smile, "No, I think Lucy and Edmund are in for quite a surprise."
A person standing outside the Finchley village probably wondered what a commotion was out there, when four shouts joined at the Professor's front door.
"WHAT? YOU'RE GETTING MARRIED?"
"WHAT? YOU'RE GETTING A DATE?"
The (old) Kings and Queens of Narnia stared at each other's face in oblivion.
Silence was neither peace nor quiet, instead shaping itself as a barrier of implausible ideas, of awkward times.
"It's about time!" Peter finally broke the silence, pulling Edmund into a nearly suffocating hug, "Ed?"
Her little brother trapped, Susan patted his hair gently, Caspian staring blankly at the 'Edmund Commotion,' to Lucy's amusement.
Edmund himself muttered in between gasps for breath, "Save it for later, Peter."
"And you two, congrats," he said simply to Susan and Caspian, when Peter, over his 'little-brother's-growing-up' mood, released his grip on him. "Been waiting for that."
The Just winked at Caspian, who replied as a little nod.
"Sure you have, Ed," said Susan in mock stern.
"Welcome to the family," Lucy extended her hand to shake Caspian's, except his 'shaking' was rather reminiscent of Mr. Tumnus's, widening her smile. "Oh, don't go, Su. Will we miss you," she hugged her sister once more.
"Thank you," Caspian could only repeat his words to all of them, the four Pevensies, for accepting him so warmly and understandingly. "Thank you."
Needless to say, tears, hugs, 'I love you's,' and more 'Thank you's,' were expressed, used, said countless times in that defining moment.
The Pain of Preparing.
Who wouldn't say the same for the two Pevensies?
While Edmund's was for his first step in romance, Susan's was at the end of hers, both events equally important nonetheless, thought Peter, as, him being the oldest, rushed from room to room, making sure everything was ready.
His first stop was the Professor's.
No sooner had he knocked on the door had he been accepted in.
"Now what is it this time, m'boy?" Adjusting his glasses, Digory Kirke asked his nephew.
"A wedding, sir," Peter said firmly. A decision was a decision, and it was much better to let it out at once than not at all. "For…Susan and Caspian."
The Professor sat up in his chair, "A wedding?" he repeated, deep in thoughts. "Are you sure about this, Peter?"
The Magnificent nodded, "Yes, sir, I am," before proceeding to detail out the story and reason of Caspian's visit after their first meeting with the Professor.
Nods, 'um's,' and 'ah's,' followed a hushed sound from the old man, "Close the door," he ordered, "And come here."
"So let me get this straight," said Peter, "She's not a girl?"
They were in their bedroom, lanterns lighted, it being nearly dark outside, Peter on the bed casually watching Edmund pack his hiking gear, musing over the likes of his brother's 'first date,' moments just after being briefed on Anna's profile, from the Ed point of view, of course. (Quite pretty, but liked to tie her hair up in a pony tail, hilarious, grew up with some brothers, the Tomboy of the Village and so on.)
Edmund replied with a scoff, slamming his 'torch'—the new one he had gotten after their latest trip to Narnia, for which he never told his parents the reason of the old flashlight's disappearance—into his sack an extra bit harder, before finally saying hesitantly, "She is—I mean, in a way, she's not…but she is."
Peter, fingering the hiking sack, couldn't help but laugh at Edmund's fractured sentence, "Oh really, must have suited you then," he joked. "But why the hiking?"
"'Cause she's a girl," repeated Edmund, grinning, as he closed the sack, and jumped onto the bed to claim his usual seat beside Peter, "And an adventurous one at that."
"Now that's a tip," added Peter, "You know jolly well what 'girls' at Susan's school are like."
At the thoughts of the 'girls,' Edmund shuddered, "Oh, romantic dinners, expensive presents, and the dances, the awful dances!"
Peter clapped his hand in agreement, "Yes, sir. For all we know, Edmund Pevensie can't, has not, and never will dance," saying his fact statement in the best manageable British posh accent.
By now, Edmund having hit Peter with a pillow, they were lying flat on the sheets, arms behind heads, thinking.
Edmund rolled his eyes, "I'd take hiking than dancing any day, Peter. Thank Aslan she's like this. Wonder why the village idiots don't fancy her." He had emphasized the 'idiots,' so dramatically Peter had to attempt blocking out his laughter.
"Maybe you're the only one who do," he managed to say.
Only to be engaged in—no matter how they had outgrown it—a pillow fight once more.
"Flowers, check, location, check, guests lists—guests lists! Where is it, Lucy? Oh, no!"
The lone ranging emotional voice, rare at dawn, this time of the morning, came from none other but Susan, who was currently undertaking the tough task and duties of a wedding planner herself.
"Lucy?"
Yawning, the youngest Pevensie sat up on her bed, looking over in Susan's direction, only to discover that Susan had already collapsed back in bed, eyes closed, not aware of the sentence she had uttered.
"Oh, Su," Lucy muttered wearily. Susan had always been the distressful one, panicking over most planned things even prior to them happening, like in their visits to Narnia, but that was another story.
"Don't worry," the little sister placed a comforting hand on Susan's, whispering in her best reposeful voice as she had done with Edmund and Peter, "It'll be ok, I promise. Peter's talked to the Professor. I think Mother and Father are coming today at dinner."
"At dinner?" This time, Susan really did wake up, lifting her head from the pillow.
Puzzled, Lucy said, "Did you hear what I was saying, then?"
Susan merely nodded blindly, before asking, "Dinner? That soon? You're sure, Lu?" Her answer was a tighter grip on her hand.
"Oh, Aslan, what and how on Earth am I going to tell them?"
A/N: Things going on pretty fast after this. (Meet the Parents—haha, right, it's so up to Susan and Caspian. Ed and Anna? Am trying to make her un-Mary Sue as possible. Know you're bored of the 'boy-meets-girl-and-falls-in-love' fics. Me too. Got something planned for them as well. Not going to be one easy date, man.)
Took me weeks and weeks to plan what to write, as well as two shinanegans of drafts, but, here it is, you're looking at the final result! :) Proud of it, no doubt.
Thanking you sincerely for stopping by, reading, reviewing, and giving this writer-in-training a chance,
Love and peace out to all,
Your ever humble fanfic writer :)