Finally I had time to update - sorry to those who've waited for it! Enjoy reading! :)

At least one of their problems was solved, when Mrs. Macready informed Susan, that she was going to visit an ill friend to help her and that she would at least spend two days there. Susan was relieved, that meant that she hadn't to hide Caspian for two days and that they were able to do their inquiries at least for two days without being interrupted.

After letting Susan promising that she would take care of the house, the garden and the horses in her absence and that she would behave, Mrs. Macready left house the next morning.

Susan watched Mrs. Macready getting on the taxi, and waited until it disappeared, then she ran upstairs to Caspian. He was sitting at the chair next to his bed, oiling the blade of his sword. He looked up with a smile when he heard Susan coming up.

"Mrs. Macready took off. Now I can show you the whole house. Come on and we search a better place for you to sleep." she said taking his hand and leading him downstairs.

After the tour through the house and after Caspian had settled himself in a bedroom near Susan's one, of course only for her safety, they combed through the whole house, especially the professor's office again, to be sure that Susan hadn't overlooked anything, that might help them.

But they searched again without results. They were just having lunch, when they heard the door bell ring. Both looked at each other alarmed. Who could this be? Mrs. Macready? Tash?

While Susan walked to the door to open, Caspian hided himself behind some curtains in the entrance hall, making sure to be hidden if it was the housekeeper and to be able to defend Susan if it was the evil creature.

But it was neither of them. A young handsome man was standing outside the house.

"Hello my darling!" he said pulling Susan into a hug.

"Eric, what are you doing here?" Susan asked surprised.

"I've finally got your uncle's permission to marry you and I wanted to kiss my wife-to-be." Eric informed her, covering her lips with his, giving her a passionate kiss.

Caspian could feel the anger and the jealousy arising in his body and automatically his hands gripped his sword tighter. So that was the man Susan was in love with.

Very well aware of Caspian watching them, Susan pulled away from Eric, stammering, "I am glad you are here. Wow, what a surprise!"

"And who is this?" Eric asked, looking at Caspian, who had stepped forward.

Without thinking of the problems that may be caused by this Susan answered, "Eh, this is Caspian Macready, Mrs. Macready's nephew. Caspian, this is Eric, my … eh … fiancé."

Eric stepped forward to shake hands with Caspian, looking scrutinising at Caspian. Caspian's brown eyes were dark and unreadable, but his firm handclasp showed, that he didn't like this Eric.

"And where is Mrs. Macready?" Eric inquired.

"She left us this morning to visit an ill friend!" Susan informed him.

"Then I am right at time, am I not?" he said looking between Susan and Caspian.

While Susan showed Eric the house and the garden, Caspian took a back seat, but always watching them, to be able to take in a hand if necessary. There was something about this Eric he didn't like, not only that he was Susan's fiancé but something else he couldn't explain.

In the evening, when they were having dinner Susan felt quite uncomfortable. She was sitting at the head of the table, the young men on both of her sides.

Eric had started asking inconvenient questions about Caspian's origin, family background and about his intentions. Caspian answered them patiently, his dark eyes still unreadable, trying to sound truthfully. Susan helped him as good as she could, but she grew more nervous with each question.

Then when they had finished eating, Eric turned his attention towards Susan. "You look lovely, my darling." And she indeed did. She wore a blue dress that swept low across her pale shoulders and underlined her blue sapphire eyes. Her hair was hanging loose on both sides of her pale face, her lips full and red.

"You are the most beautiful woman I ever saw. If I hadn't already asked you to marry me, I would do so now." Eric took her hand kissing her knuckles softly. Susan gave him a warm smile.

Under the table Caspian clenched his fists, trying to control his anger and jealousy. He looked down at his plate, trying not to show his feelings. When Eric moved one hand so her cheek and kissed her gently, Caspian couldn't watch this anymore.

He stood up, looked down on the table, trying not to catch Susan's gaze, "I am off to bed. Thank you for the delicious meal." and with these words he took off.

When Caspian was in his room, he banged one fist against the wall with an outcry. It hurt him so much watching her with another man and now he could understand her feelings, her anger about his marriage. But he had to accept that she wasn't his to have.

He had to live with this hurting feeling, he needed to protect her.

Aslan, please help me! Help me to stay strong!

"I wanted to talk to you about the marriage." Susan looked up surprised when Eric suddenly brought up this topic. They had finished dinner and were now sitting on the couch in the living room.

"We will have enough time to talk about it. Let's just enjoy the evening." Susan thought it strange to think of her in a white dress promising herself to one man for the rest of her life, actually to build a new family when she had just lost one.

Eric ignored her statement and continued, "I thought about the date and I think that Christmas would be a great time to marry. We could …"

"Christmas? This Christmas? Eric, it's only three months till Christmas. We can't arrange everything within 12 weeks. That's impossible! Normally you get engaged one year before you marry." Susan told him angrily, although she knew she had no good reason for becoming angry.

"I just want you to become my wife as soon as possible." Eric defended himself.

"Let's talk about this another time. It's already late. I think it's time to go to bed." Susan obviously wanted to put an end to the topic.

"Susan, I am sorry. I don't want to put the screws on you." Eric apologized.

"It's ok!" Susan said, giving him a short kiss on his lips and leaving him alone.

The next morning Susan walked through the gardens in front of the house. It was a wonderful warm autumn morning. The leaves from the trees had begun to change their colours into wonderful different colours, different forms of red, brown and yellow. Some had already fallen down from the trees and so Susan heard them rustling with every step.

This wonderful untouched nature reminded herself of Narnia, of its wonderful forests and grasslands. And this memory made her feel good, made her feel comfortable. It was nearly like she was home again, like Edmund and Lucy were waiting behind the next tree to frighten her and like she would see Peter on his horse when she was around the next corner.

Here she could relax, just take a deep breath and think.

Eric had gone to town, because he needed to manage some business things and that gave Susan some time to think why she had reacted the way she had when Eric wanted to talk about their marriage.

She wanted to marry Eric. He was a great guy, he loved her and he would care for her, she knew that. But she just couldn't imagine that he would replace her family, her siblings, she had loved so much. She was to be his wife and he would be her new family. That just sounded weird when she thought about it.

But she loved him! Didn't she love him? She wasn't that sure about it. With Caspian's arrival so many feelings had arisen, feelings she hadn't known before. But she had forgotten Caspian a long time ago, she had come over him a long time ago, hadn't she? To be honest it had hurt her to see him again and if she had some over him it wouldn't have hurt.

But Caspian wasn't going to stay, he will have to return to Aslan's country. And if he left she would be alone again. No, Caspian was her past, she needed to concentrate on Eric, he was her future! But did she want this future? …

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard footsteps through the greenery. She looked around and suddenly caught Caspian's figure some feet away from her. He was throwing his knives, using a tree about twenty feet away as his target.

The young man was concentrating on his target and didn't notice Susan's presence. He threw both knives within a second, each of them hitting the target in the middle. Susan clapped her hands and Caspian turned around surprised and alarmed. He looked relieved when he recognized Susan.

"Nice shots!" Susan commended.

"Thanks!" Caspian said, moving forward to put the knives out of the tree.

"Maybe you could show me how to throw them so that I can defend myself if my arrows aren't working again?" Susan's request dropped in unexpected, but when Caspian thought about it, it was a quite good idea.

He approached her nodding and handed the knives over to her, saying, "If you want me to."

First Susan just tossed them from one hand into the other, to get a feeling for them. Then Caspian demonstrated her how to stand, to aim and to shoot. He handed the knives over to her and she tried to emulate as he had demonstrated, but the knives hit the grass some feet away from the tree they used as target.

"I would neither want to be you target nor next to it." Caspian choked, walking close behind her to adjust her arms. Body contact was everywhere, his arms on both sides of her. Susan could feel the heat of his body and grew nervous. Maybe this hadn't been such a great idea.

"Now face your target. Don't think of anything else." she could feel his warm breath on her skin and it was hard for her to think of anything else than him.

"What are you doing?" Susan suddenly heard an angry voice shouting behind them.

Then, Caspian was suddenly gone. He had moved so quickly that Susan nearly fell down when his strong body wasn't there anymore. Somehow she managed to remain standing. She turned around and caught Eric's gaze. Susan exchanged looks with Caspian, who was looking conscious of his guilt, and they both new that this had looked badly.

Before they could defend themselves, Eric attacked Caspian with his fists. The first beat came too quick for Caspian and hit him right in the face, but the second blow he could dodge.

"No, Eric, please! I just asked Caspian to show me how to throw a knife to defend myself." Susan shouted throwing herself between Caspian and Eric.

"Against whom do you want to defend yourself?" Eric yelled.

"It was a bad idea, I know. I am sorry. Let's just forget about it, ok?" Susan begged.

"He was touching your whole body, how can I forget about that?" Eric continued, still anger in his voice.

Eric pushed Susan away, attacking Caspian a second time. Susan lost her balance and fell down with a startled cry. Caspian made a grab for her, but he was too late and Susan fell down on the earth, her head hitting the hard ground.

Well this is definitely not one of my favourite chapters - next one is going to be better, promise! :)

Nevertheless I would really like to hear your thoughts about it - so please leave me a review!

Thanks to those who reviewed so far - what would I do without you? ;)