Susan covered her stomach with her hands as her heart began to race. What is he doing here? her mind screamed.
"What are you doing here?" Robert asked angrily from behind her. He had moved to the door the second Susan had said Philip's name. His left hand was wrapped tightly around Susan's upper arm, his right one grasping the door.
"I came here to see Susan. I was unaware that she was otherwise involved with someone," Philip sneered, his narrowed eyes glaring at Susan.
"I'm not involved with anyone," Susan said angrily.
"Your stomach would say otherwise," Philip spat.
"My stomach, if it could talk, which it most certainly does not, would say that you're an idiot and is in its current state because of you, not anyone else!" Susan cried, her voice shaking. Philip's eyes widened.
"Me? That's-I mean, it's- But how can it be mine?" he stammered.
"Well, I imagine you were there," Robert stated dryly. Philip looked up at him, his eyes filled with hatred.
"So, you've what? Been pretending to take my place?" he asked Robert.
"Your place? Your place is what caused all this to begin with!" Robert said, his voice rising.
"Susie and I were in love! You have no right-" Philip shouted.
"I have every right! You weren't around for her when she needed you!" Robert yelled back.
"Boys!" Susan shouted, looking between the two men. Both stopped and looked at her. "That's enough! You're acting ridiculous!" She turned to face Philip. "Robert has been my best friend throughout this and has taken care of me when I needed it most. Something you never would have done," she said before turning to look up at Robert. "Let go of my arm. You're squeezing too tightly," she said quietly. He immediately released her but kept a hand close to her in a possessive gesture. "Robert, you can't blame him for everything; I've told you that dozens of times. It took two people to make this baby, me being one of them. And I didn't tell him, so it's entirely my fault he never knew. You can't blame him for that," she said firmly.
"Try me," Robert growled at her, his eyes dark with anger.
"Stop, please," Susan quietly pleaded, placing a hand on his chest.
"Susie, how about you and I take a drive and discuss this. I think you owe me that much," Philip suggested seriously.
"No," Robert said firmly without looking away from Susan.
"I think she can make her own decisions," Philip argued.
"Robert, I'll be fine. Trust me," Susan said soothingly. Robert looked at her determined face for several moments before finally sighing.
"Alright. Go with him. Do what you want," he said, hurt apparent in his voice.
"I'll see you when I get back?" Susan asked hopefully.
"No, I'm going to head home. I'll just see you tomorrow," Robert said, pulling his coat from the coat rack next to the door.
"Robert," Susan started but stopped when Robert raised his hand.
"Don't worry. Be careful," he said as he pushed past Philip in the doorway.
"Come on, Susie. Let's go," Philip said, grabbing her hand roughly and pulling her out the door. Susan shut it behind her and allowed herself to be pulled towards Philip's waiting car. A flash of headlight came past them as she watched Robert drive off.
He has got to stop leaving like that, Susan thought to herself. When they reached Philip's car he let go of her hand and walked around to the driver's side, leaving her standing on the curb next to the passenger's side.
"I guess he left his manners in France," Susan muttered to herself as she opened her own door and climbed in the car. Philip started the car and pulled away from the curb, his hands clenching the steering wheel tightly. In the months they had been together, Susan had never seen him angry. He's actually a little frightening angry, she thought as she glanced at him subtly. They drove for nearly an hour, the tension in the car growing thick, until they were into the countryside. Without the streetlights of the city, the surrounding area was dark, making it difficult to see anywhere but in front of the car where the headlights shone on the twisty country road.
"So what are you doing in England?" Susan asked hesitantly, wanting to break the silence between them.
"How could you not tell me?" Philip yelled, banging his hand on the steering wheel.
"I just couldn't! I didn't find out until long after I left you and France. We hadn't spoken and, I don't know, I was scared," Susan hurriedly explained.
"You were scared. That is such a sorry excuse," Philip spat angrily.
"Well it's true! I didn't want you-" Susan began, cutting herself off quickly before she said what she had felt since the moment she had found out she was pregnant.
"You didn't want what? Me?" Philip shouted.
"No, I didn't want you. I told you that before," Susan whispered, staring down at her hands.
"That's my child, Susan. How could you not tell me?" he asked again. Susan was silent for several moments before she realized they were zooming faster along the dark streets. Hoping to ease some of Philip's anger and make him slow down, she asked, "Do you want to be involved with it?"
"Involved how? By pretending we're one big happy family? By giving you money?" Philip sneered.
"It's your child you said! I just wanted to know if you wanted to be a part of its life!" Susan cried. She knew she had failed in easing Philip's anger and had only succeeded in making hers rise. "Will you slow down? You're going to get us killed!" she yelled at him. She felt the car begin to slow and sighed with relief.
"Better?" Philip asked, his voice calmer.
"Thank you," she replied. Philip stopped the car near the side of the road and turned off the engine. Turning to look at Susan, he said quietly, "If you had told me I would have helped you."
"You would?" Susan asked, shocked by his admission.
"Of course, Susie. Our relationship wasn't a romantic fairytale, but I did care about you. I wouldn't have wanted you to end up like this or have to go through this. I would have helped if you wanted to, you know, get rid of it," Philip said.
"Get rid of it? I didn't want to get rid of it! I love it!" Susan cried, clasping her hands over her stomach.
"Okay, okay! No need to get hysterical!" Philip said defensively.
"I'm not hysterical," Susan muttered.
"I can help you financially with the baby. Help you pay for things for it, clothes, um, food…" Philip said unsurely.
"I think for the time being I'm good on food for the baby, since it'll be free for a while," Susan said, giggling at Philip's uncomfortable look on his face.
"I can help you financially," he repeated, his face growing cold. "But I don't want to be a part of the child's life. I have a reputation and a business that I need to have a clean history for. A bastard child would be a stain on these things."
"Very well," Susan said, turning to look out the windshield, her face growing as cold as Philip's.
"Susie," he began, his voice warming. Susan glanced at him and said, "It's okay. I understand." She turned back to look forward and was suddenly blinded by a bright light heading towards them. A loud horn sounded as a warm, thick heat began to surround her, filling her with calmness before she felt a force slam into the car. Glass shattered around her and she felt the pieces scratching at her arms. She was thrown forward and to the side, hitting the side of her head on something before her world went black.
"Move, your majesty!" a burly man called out. Susan jumped aside as he and a tall faun hurried into the room carrying a second faun between them. Her hand flew to her mouth as she saw a large gash down the side of his head, blood flowing out of it.
"Lucy!" she cried as she hurried after the men, grabbing a pile of rags off a table as she moved past it. When the man and the faun set the injured faun down on a low cot, Susan knelt beside him and began dabbing the blood around his wound. "What happened to him?" she asked.
"My guess is he caught the wrong end of a giant's fist," the burly man said solemnly. Susan looked up him and glared, annoyed at his response.
"If there's nothing else you can do for him, I suggest you go assist the High King and King Edmund further," she snapped, turning back to the injured faun.
"Yes, your majesty," the man said.
"Susan, you can't talk to everyone like that," Lucy admonished as she knelt beside her sister. The sunlight coming in through the garret window glinted off the small bottle she held, the amber liquid it held sloshing as Lucy moved the bottle.
"Just give him the cordial, Lucy," Susan sighed. Lucy pouted slightly at her sister, put out by Susan's attitude towards her, as she pulled out the stopper and dropped a single drop of the cordial in the wounded faun's opened mouth. As he began to heal before the two queens' eyes, Susan stood and walked silently from the room. She kept her eyes on the door, ignoring the dozens of bodies lying on cots in the Great Hall. She kept walking until she was outside, taking a deep breath of the cool air, the cleanness of it helping to ease her nausea she felt from the sight of death that had been surrounding her for days. Lucy appeared moments later, her young face unnaturally hardened.
"These giants are getting out of hand. I'm going to be out of cordial eventually," she said sadly.
"Peter has to do something about them. He has to confront them, squash their continuous uprisings. We can't continue on like this," Susan agreed.
"Susan! How can you say that? What if something happened to him?" Lucy cried, alarmed by the fierceness of Susan's voice.
"Lucy, it has to be done. You said it yourself: you'll run out of cordial eventually. That cordial has saved countless of our soldiers, our friends. It saved your own brother! If we don't stop the giants, if Peter doesn't confront them, we'll continue on having more and more injured and continue using more and more of the cordial until it runs out and then where will we be?" Susan said sternly.
"I know," Lucy whispered.
"That cordial is our best weapon against any who threaten us. We can't continue to waste it because we want to save ourselves from danger," Susan said.
Susan opened her eyes to a bright, hazy light. I'm dead. This is Heaven. Why does Heaven have ceiling tiles? Maybe it's not Heaven, she thought as her eyes darted back and forth. Turning her head, she felt the world moving in slow motion. Across the room was a window with dull looking blinds hanging on it, an empty hospital bed sitting below it. A hospital. I'm in a hospital. A car hit us. My baby! her mind screamed as she grabbed her stomach, feeling relieved when she felt the familiar bump.
"She's awake!" Susan heard a woman say, the voice familiar. "Nurse?" Susan lifted her head, groaning slightly from the movement.
"Ah ah ah," a second woman said, placing a cool hand on Susan's head. "Don't sit up too quickly now. You've been out for a few hours now." Susan sat up slowly, feeling the aches in her body slowly start to emerge. Oh, if only I had some of Lucy's cordial, Susan thought.
"How are you feeling, dear?" Aunt Alberta asked.
"Sore," Susan croaked, clearing her throat after she spoke.
"I would imagine so! You're very lucky to be alive, nearly unscratched except for a few bruises and scrapes here and there. I wish I could say the same thing for your gentleman friend who was in the car with you. Poor thing has a broken arm, several cracked ribs and is covered in cuts," the nurse said as she dabbed a foul smelling liquid onto a cut on Susan's lip. Susan hissed as the sting from the liquid came, pushing the nurse's hand away.
"But he's alright, isn't he?" she asked, concerned about Philip.
"Oh, yes. He'll heal nicely," the nurse replied reassuringly.
"And the baby?" Susan asked, rubbing her hand along her stomach.
"Perfectly fine. The doctor checked all the baby's vitals nearly the minute we brought you in and we've been monitoring you both to make sure everything is healthy," the nurse answered. Susan sighed with relief, relaxing slightly against the pillows. Shouting suddenly came from the hallway, angry voices echoing as the door to Susan's room flew open.
"Sir, you can't go in there!" a woman shouted as Robert burst into the room. Susan sat up quickly, ignoring the pain the motion caused, and exclaimed, "Robert!"
"Susan, are you okay?" he demanded, coming to the side of the hospital bed where she lay.
"I'm fine. I," she began but stopped when Robert grasped her chin, turning it gently towards him to inspect her cuts and bruises on her face. She heard him sharply intake a breath and saw his lips draw together in a tight line.
"I'm fine," Susan repeated as she placed her hand over his that still held her chin. He moved his hand away and asked, "And the baby? Is it okay?"
"Fine and dandy," Susan replied cheerily.
"I should kill that bastard for doing this to you," Robert muttered.
"Susan, dear," Aunt Alberta spoke up. "Uncle Harold and I are going to… go get a cup of coffee." Susan nodded to her aunt and remained silent, her eyes glaring angrily at Robert, as they left. The nurse, who Susan had forgotten about, quietly moved about the room with a slight grin on her face.
"What?" Robert finally asked, his face finally cracking under Susan's glare.
"Enough with the death threats," she said simply.
"I'm sorry, but if he was here, he would be extremely glad he was already in a hospital," Robert said.
"Well, then you'll be happy to know that he's in a lot worse shape than I am," Susan shot back.
"I should have never let you go with him! I knew this was going to happen!" Robert said, his voice rising in frustration.
"Oh, you did, did you? You knew we would pull over to the side of the road to talk? You knew a car would come around the corner too fast and hit us?" Susan yelled.
"Well, I," Robert stammered, surprised by Susan's outburst.
"Exactly. You didn't know. So stop being so angry," Susan said. Robert sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, he said, "I can't help but be angry when you're sitting here looking like you got into a prize fight and lost. And regardless of whose fault it was, I'm still blaming him for this." Susan sighed deeply, her lips pursing together before finally rolling her eyes and throwing her hands in the air.
"Fine, I give up. Idiot men. Hate him if you want. See if I care," Susan grumbled as she leaned back against her pillows and crossed her arms over her chest. Robert chuckled and leaned down to brush Susan's hair back and place a kiss on her forehead.
"Maybe you need to rest. You seem a little tired," he said teasingly.
"What I seem is annoyed," Susan replied, childishly sticking her tongue at him. "Oh, dear!" she exclaimed as she felt the cut on her lip pull. She tasted blood in her mouth as the cut began to bleed.
"Now, Miss Pevensie, I suggest you not do that again," the nurse chided as she hurried over to Susan's side and began dabbing more of the stinging liquid onto the cut.
Susan gritted her teeth against the sting it caused and muttered, "Why can't they create a cordial that would fix everything like we used to have?"
"What did you say?" Robert asked. Susan's eyes widened, shocked at her slip of the tongue and turned her head quickly to Robert, who was looking at her strangely.
"Nothing. I'm just mumbling over that stuff she put on my lip," Susan said quickly.
"Maybe you need to rest," Robert suggested slowly, his eyes worried.
"Maybe you're right," Susan agreed.
"I'll go see when you can go home and take care of whatever paperwork they need, ok?" Robert asked, giving Susan a warm smile as he squeezed her hand.
"That sounds nice," she replied, returning his smile. When he had closed the door behind him the nurse said, "That's a fine young man you have there." Susan turned to the nurse, her brow furrowing.
"He's not mine. He's a friend," she said softly.
"Well, it may not be my place to say so, but I don't believe he thinks the same of you," the nurse said, chuckling quietly. Susan pursed her lips together and turned her head away to look at the door, waiting silently for Robert to return as the nurse's words echoed in her head.
A man stood in a dimly lit room leaning with his hands on the long oak table in front of him, staring hard at a map of Narnia that was spread over the table. Every plan of attack he had made on the map only resulted in a definite failure of the Narnian army. The hours had ticked away since he had first shut himself in the room with the map, going over the various strategies that had been successful in the past. Finally frustrated, he pounded his fist on the table and pushed himself away, covering his face with his hands before running them through his hair. "It's hopeless!" he cried to the room. The opening of the door behind him caused him to turn, his hands dropping to his side. A centaur wearing battle armor walked in, bowing low.
"My lord," he said.
"General, what news?" the man asked.
"I have spoken with my brothers and we have consulted the stars, which do not lie. They tell us the Telmarine army will be here within the week. They tell us that Narnia will fall and that we will fail. But they also speak of hope that comes, although none alive will see it," the centaur replied.
"Then let us cling to that hope and meet our destiny," the man said solemnly, clenching his fist tightly.
AN: The reviews for the last chapter made me laugh! You readers HATE Philip! I guess every good story really needs someone to hate, but I just can't hate Philip. He's not the best guy in the world, but he's not a bad guy. Also, I like (sort of) that you all are making assumptions about Robert and the side stories about the mysterious boy and lord... but I'm gonna be honest with you: none of you are right! How do I know this? Well, aside from being the person who's writing this story, I honestly have NO idea where I'm going with them! I have about 3 or 4 scenarios floating around in my head, but can't decide which will be the most shocking and appropriate for this story. Finally... someone mentioned that I needed to remember Lucy in the memories/flashbacks and that most of them were with Edmund and Peter... you're absolutely right! I wanted to use Lucy sparingly, because a) she's not my favorite and b) Lucy's... well, Lucy. I didn't really purposely bring her into this chapter to use her more; the scene with her in it really was planned. I just feel that Lucy's presence in the memories/flashbacks generally has the most impact and are more powerful, more so than any other characters in Susan's life, because both of the sisters (I feel) have this really unique relationship... as most sisters have. Anyway... Right now, I'm kind of at a stopping point with this story and may not update as quickly with the next chapter (which, for those of you who have been following since the beginning of Choosing Grace means I may not update for a week rather than every few days). I'm just feeling like there's no central conflict... it's just a bunch of day-to-day occurances. I'll figure something out... No worries!
Before I go, did everyone see the trailer for Voyage of the Dawn Treader that came out yesterday (Thursday)?
