A/N: Hi everyone. This will be the last one for a while. Remember to read and review. Also I would like to thank Sonny13 for pointing out that I had posted the wrong thing for chapter 8. Anyway, I hope ya'll enjoy. Disclaimer- Much to the author's displeasure she does not own anything related to the Chronicles of Narnia except Caleb and Molly.

Chapter 9

Edmund did not return to the party that night. The other Pevensies gave Molly strange looks as if to ask what happened, when she returned to the throne room with the necklace on, but no Edmund in toe. Molly looked over at the three with an apologetic glance that seemed to say, "I'll explain later."

Molly proceeded to dance the night away. She was sure that she had danced with every man that at least once, and of course Lucy. Peter had allowed her to dance with him once, though he had a strange look on his face throughout the dance. Molly shuddered at the realization that Edmund's face looked the same when he was trying to figure out what a person was thinking.

The other dance that Molly remembered was the one she shared with Caleb. With all the chivalry he had shown her the last few days, Molly found it extremely odd that he seemed obsessed with dominating their dance. At various intervals throughout the evening, Molly couldn't help but glance over at Susan. The poor girl seemed to be swamped with suitors of every shape, size, national origin. Molly smiled as Susan was asked to dance more than the birthday girl.

As the night grew longer, Molly felt as though she had had enough of dancing and celebrating. She excused herself and began the walk back to her room. In route, Molly reached up and pulled the large clip holding her hair up out. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She had never had hair this long; it currently reached her mid back. Her mother had always made her cut it once it passed her shoulders.

Molly stopped short of her door at the thought of her mom. Two whole year in Narnia and Molly still thought about her mom. What did she think when her daughter never made it home that night? Molly shook her head trying to rid herself of the thoughts of her mom.

She entered her room and took off her dress. Molly was glad to be free of the corset. She smiled to herself fingering the necklace that still hung around her neck. Why had Edmund given her such an expensive present? It wasn't like she was his girlfriend or anything. She would have expected to see a gift like it at a wedding or anniversary, but not for a birthday. Molly sighed and climbed into bed, hoping that when she woke up everything would go back to the way it was.

When Molly woke up that morning, nothing was as it had been the previous day. At breakfast it was announced that Edmund had left early that morning to survey his duchy, the Lantern Waste, and that he expected to return before Christmas. It was also announced that a Calormen prince had asked Peter permission to court Susan.

Molly spent her time at breakfast staring at her oatmeal. Edmund was gone; Susan was dating a guy Molly knew was bad news, and Caleb wasn't all he appeared to be. She excused herself from breakfast early and ran back to her room.

She looked both outside doors sighing. No one was going to see her for a while, there was something Molly needed to do in private. Molly sat down at her desk carefully shifting her papers. She groaned as she realized how much paper was actually sitting on the desk.

Soon the Treasury Ledger was on the floor, followed by every single requisition form. Molly convinced herself that she wouldn't touch any of it until Edmund was home, screw the kingdom.

Then Molly turned her attention to the story ideas that littered the rest of her desk. It seemed that hours passed as she sorted the thousands of scraps. A knock came at her office door not long after the sorting began.

"Lady Molly, may I come in," the voice called. It was a distinctly male voice, Molly quickly deduced that it was either Susan's suitor or Caleb, no one else called Molly a lady. "No, you may not," she called from her desk. The door knob jiggled slightly then stopped. The knocking grew louder and more urgent. "Lady Molly, open this door. I need to speak to you," the voice nearly yelled through the door.

"You have neither an appointment nor the authority to force me to do anything of the sort," Molly yelled back. The knocking continued and Molly couldn't concentrate on what she was doing. Finally, she gave up and opened one of the drawers in her desk, took out its contents, and opened the false bottom. From that secret compartment Molly withdrew her most treasured possession from home, an Ipod.

As it turned out, soon after the Pevensies were crowned, the fox that Molly had met soon after entering Narnia appeared with her small purse begging forgiveness for stealing it. Molly had been amazed to find the contents intact and her Ipod fully charged. Then, when Molly moved in to her current rooms she had discovered the false bottom and hid her things there. Because, lets face it. People from the 1940's see an Ipod and suddenly Doctor Who shows up rambling about wibbly-whobly- timey-whimey stuff.

Molly placed the buds in her ears and hit play turning the volume all the way up. Now the banging on her office door was unnoticeable. Completely pleased with herself Molly returned to her work sorting the various scraps of paper.

Around lunch time, Molly pulled the small tassel in the corner of her room meant for a personal maid or manservant. A dryad came up the hidden stairwell behind a tapestry in Molly's bedroom, "What may I do for you Molly?" She sat in thought for a minute. "Is there anyway you could bring up a grilled cheese sandwich, some soup, and a pitcher of water please," Molly asked. The dryad nodded to all points of her lady's request and disappeared behind the tapestry again.

Minutes later Molly's steaming hot lunch and water were delivered. "Thank you," Molly called as the dryad disappeared, "and please don't tell the king and queens." Molly bit into the grilled cheese and grimaced. In her three years in Narnia, Molly had yet to meet a creature who could make a decent grilled cheese. The soup was good, a hearty vegetable stew of some king. Molly ate quickly a moved the dishes to the servants entrance.

After lunch, Molly picked up the story idea that she felt had the most potential to become a novel and sat down at her desk to write.

Her story started something like this:

Neither of them was sure when it first started. Their friends claimed that their love had been one of first sight, but they had never seen it themselves. In fact, one might claim that this pair realized their love for each a little too late….

For the next few weeks Molly poured heart and soul into that story using her memories of Edmund, home, even her dreams. Well, maybe not the dreams as Molly slowly became an insomniac plagued by dreams of Edmund whenever she closed her eyes. Every day without fail the same male voice returned to her door begging her to let them in and everyday like clockwork Molly would turn on her Ipod and drown out the yelling.

At the end of the second week an amazing thing happened. Molly was working as always when she heard the padding of feet on her carpet. She looked up from her work to yell at whoever had used the servants entrance without her permission. Instead of one of the Pevensies, Molly saw Aslan in his majestic glory.

"Dear One, why do you lock yourself away?" He asked in a kind voice. Molly stood up from her desk and went to hug Aslan. "I don't know Aslan. It feels like everything is wrong," she said into the lion's mane. The great lion chuckled. "You are right about that dear one. Things are not proceeding as they should," Aslan said, "That is why I have come to see you."

Molly gasped. The great lion had come to her, not Peter, Edmund, Susan, or even Lucy, but her. Aslan smiled as only a lion can, "now tell me dear one why do you lock yourself away in this room?" Molly hung her head, "I've locked myself away so that I may preserve happy memories of Narnia." The lion nodded. "Your time is coming Molly. You must be ready to face the challenges that lie ahead," and with that the great lion vanished.

Another two weeks passed as Molly worked furiously on her manuscripts. Currently there were two sitting on her desk in neat piles. One was the first few chapters of The History of the Pevensie Monarchs: A View from the Inside, a memoir style biography of the four monarchs. Molly had only managed to cover the year between the war with the white witch and Edmund's 15th birthday. The other was a novel, well a romance novel to be precise. The bulk of the writing was complete and Molly was busy revising the grammar and order of events.

The daily knocking had all but ceased by this point, which left Molly isolated save from her dryad bringing her meals twice a day, along with news from the outside world.

Susan and the Calormen prince's relationship was growing and it was becoming clear that Susan might actually marry this young man. Peter was dealing with the giants again; Molly groaned at this remembering the last time she dealt with the giants. In fact they reminded her more of the mountain trolls in Harry Potter. Lucy was busy helping to entertain the crown prince of Archenland, Cor, who had arrived in Narnia a week earlier. Then there was Edmund, at least word he was stuck dealing with a contingent of Black Dwarves who felt that he had no right to rule them.

Finally on the day that marked a month of isolation, a knock came at Molly's door. "Molly, please open the door," a soft male voice called through the door. Molly got up from her desk and placed an ear at the door. "Who is it," she asked softly. "Edmund," the voice on the other side breathed.

Without hesitation, Molly opened the door to reveal a grim covered Edmund in simple traveling clothes. She pulled him into the room and locked the door behind him. She turned around and stared at the boy, no man, before her. He looked much different than he had before the left. His hair was longer, almost to his shoulders, obviously knotted and grimy from days without bathing. His entire boy looked like it was covered in mud, and yet his sword was completely clean, glistening in the sunlight that streamed through a partially open window.

Molly hugged Edmund to her. He stiffened for a split second unsure of the contact, before returning the hug. As the hug broke, Molly wrinkled her nose. "You stink," she laughed. Edmund's eyes light up hearing her laugh after so many weeks, "Of course I stink. Do you really think the Lantern Waste has baths?" He smiled. Molly grinned before ringing for her servant and pushing Edmund behind a bookshelf on the far wall.

"Lady Molly?" the servant asked. "Could you draw me a bath please," Molly asked. The dryad seemed happy with her request and complied immediately leaving to retrieve the water for it.

As the dryad left Ed peered from behind the bookshelf at the girl he left behind. The bags under her eyes alone told him she had hardly slept in the last month. Her hair was matted and tangled, almost wild around her shoulders. She was thinner than he remembers. He reasoned that people can change; at least that's what he thought until he saw the half eaten breakfast on her desk. The most surprising things were the numerous black splotches that covered her cheeks, arms, and hands. At first glance, Edmund had wondered if her had been in a fight. Then he saw the two piles of paper on her desk. Those black splotches were ink.

The dryad returned stating that the bath was ready. Molly thanked the dryad and pulled Edmund from his hiding spot. "Go bathe, Edmund. Before I defenestrate you," she threatened. Edmund complied walking through her bedchamber into the connect bathroom. He stripped his filthy clothes off and stank into the warm water, relishing the relief it gave to his tired muscles.

While Edmund bathed, Molly scoured her room for some of Edmund's newer old clothes. She had quite the collection after years of stealing his tunics and trousers. After searching what felt like forever, she found a dark blue tunic and tan trousers that looked at least a little bit newer than all the other tunics and trousers she had stashed away.

She knocked on the bathroom door and listened for a muffled "come in." Molly opened the door and quickly dropped the clothes by the tub side trying hard to ignore Edmund's bare back. Aslan, why did she have such a hot friend? She chastised herself as she backed away unable to tear her eyes away from the muscles of Ed's shoulders and upper back.

Once the door was closed Molly ran back to her office desperately searching for the hairbrush that was somewhere in that mess of a room. Molly found it under some of the older draft pages of her story and started to run it through her hair, desperate to get the tangles out before Edmund finished with his bath.

Molly yanked the brush through her hair but the knots seemed to resist everything she tried. As she reached back to deal with a particularly hard knot, a rough hand stopped her and took the brush from her. Molly tried to turn around, but the person, most likely Edmund stopped her, brushing her hair softly working through the knots.

"How did you get like this?" Ed asked softly from behind her. "You left, Susan is busy dating, and Lucy is busy being a host. I guess I just felt left behind," Molly said. Ed stopped brushing her hair for a moment. "I thought you wouldn't want to see me after what happened," he said. "Edmund, I expected you to follow me not abandon me," she said turning around.

As she faced Edmund, Molly looked into Ed's eye's searching for the boy who left her. Ed seemed caught up in his own thoughts for a moment. Molly leaned in closer to him until they could feel each other's breath on their skin.

Molly watched as Ed's eyes darkened. Then he leaned forward and claimed her lips. Molly's eyes that had been wide with shock closed of their own volition. Ed warped his arms around her pulling her closer to him, and dropping the brush. Her arms wound themselves around his neck, her fingers threading through his dark locks, still wet from the bath.

The pair pulled back from their kiss in need of air looking carefully at each other trying to gauge their reactions. "I'm glad you're home Ed," she whispered between them. Ed said nothing, kissing the girl in front of him again.

As they lost themselves to another kiss, someone hidden in the sevants entrance tried to contain his anger. Molly would be his, no matter the means….