Author's note: Oh my gosh, I am so sorry I totally lied about the last chapter being the last one tonight! After I went back through and was editing, i just got stuck on a long streak, and I completely finished the story! So here we go! Let me know what you think!

Again, I don't own Narnia. That privilege belongs to C.S. Lewis

When he was gone, I began to feel slightly lightheaded, in the best possible way. He told me he loved me. He kissed me. My heart was still beating uncomfortably fast and I could not control the small smile that found it's way to my face, despite the pain it brought to my bruised cheeks.

"Christina, how are you faring?"

I tuned back in from my little cloud of happiness and winced as I began to feel the pounding in my head once again.

"Been better," I muttered.

"Come, a nice long bath should assist you in recovery."

Nodding my head in agreement, I followed her into the bathroom and stood back as she filled the tub with steaming water and lucrative soaps and lotions. Once finished, she turned to help me undress. I was grateful, for my arms and shoulders ached, and pulling the nightgown off would have been a nightmare by myself.

Wait how did I get into a nightgown?

I made a note to ask Caspian what had happened after I had lost consciousness, hoping to not get sidetracked again this time, and I grasped Arianna's hands as she helped to lower me into the tub.

I spent close to an hour in the bath, just laying there and breathing slowly in and out. The warmth of the water massaged my tense muscles and temporarily relieved me of my stress. But once I saw that my hands were beginning to get wrinkled I called for Ari. Typically, I was a fan of modesty, and I was able to bathe myself without much help, but I was still in an impressive amount of pain and I could not do too much on my own.

After she had helped me out of the bath, Ari wrapped me in a very plush and warm robe and sat me down in front of the vanity to brush and fix my hair, as well as pick out my dress for the day.

"I thought this would be a good one to wear today, because it's very soft, and comfortable," she said, holding out a simply gray dress with royal blue accents, that laced in the front.

"Perfect," I agreed, standing.

Once she had helped me into my dress, she laced up the front, leaving it lose in order to not put any pressure on my bruises, and then she wrapped her arm around mine gingerly.

She took me to the dining hall, which was close to empty now that it was mid morning and the time for breakfast was done, but after seating me at one of the benches near the front of the hall, she exchanged a few quiet words with one of the kitchen maids and in a few moments a large breakfast platter was brought before me.

With surprising vigor, I dug into the food. My stomach gurgled its thanks as I began eating. Apparently I had been hungry; funny, I didn't even notice. Then again, it made sense. I was too consumed with Caspian.

As soon as I had finished eating, the ladies took the trays away from me, but I did not miss the curious and disgusted stares I got, no doubt due to the bruising and swelling on my cheeks and neck. I was so worried with how they looked; I did not even bother to look in the mirror while Ari helped me get ready.

"Ignore them, Chris," she whispered, noticing my glances.

I nodded and took her hand to stand. Next she took me to the infirmary to see Tangela, the nurse, to get more of the healing salve and the bandage on my head replaced. While she was rubbing the healing salve on my neck and cheeks, she looked almost amused, and kept glancing at my head.

And that's when I felt them. Little bumps underneath my bandage.

"Did you stick me with a needle last night, Tangela?!" I tried to yell, but it came out as a whisper.

She snickered, "Forgive me my lady, I should not be laughing, but I am shocked that it has taken you this long to notice them."

As soon as she reached for my head I smacked her hand away and looked over to Ari, who looked shocked by the way Tangela and I spoke to one another. Tangela, normally a very peaceful caretaker and nurse, was not a fan of me, after the last incident with stitches.

"Ari, go get Caspian. I don't care what he is doing; tell him I need him now. And hurry!" I whisper/yelled as I smacked the nurse's hand away again.

"Don't touch me until King Caspian is here!" I warned her.

"Very well, girl. At least allow me to prepare an herbal tea which may heal some of that scratch in your throat," She said curtly.

"Thank you," I said, nodding, but still eyeing her suspiciously. She could be trying to get on my good side so she could stick her needle into my forehead again while I wasn't expecting it. And I was not about to let that happen again.

It took her about 10 minutes to crush up the different herbs and make tea, Caspian and Arianna walked in right as she was handing me the steaming mug. I took a long drink of the steaming liquid, cringing as it stung its way down my throat.

"What's wrong?" Caspian asked, his Spanish accent more prevalent now when he was worried.

"Care to tell me anything about last night?" I snapped, surprised at how quickly the tea had helped my voice. It was still hoarse, but it was no long just a whisper. I gestured angrily to my forehead with a sarcastic smile on my face.

He shrunk back a couple of steps and guilt took over his face.

"Chris, I am so sorry. I forgot to tell you this morning because…well-because," he stumbled.

My cheeks turned red then, because I realized why he had forgotten to tell me about my stitches. Because he was instead telling me that he loved me. A warm, happy feeling settled itself into the pit of my stomach as I closed my eyes and nodded, feeling bad for having snapped so quickly.

"Nevermind. You can tell me what happened last night after we get out of here. Now, Tangela, I believe, has to replace my bandage, but I don't even want to think about what is up there, so I am going to lay down and close my eyes, and I'm going to squeeze your hand, ok?"

He nodded silently and helped me lie down on the cot. I pinched my eyes shut as the nurse pulled the bandage off of my forehead and poured some liquid on the stitches to keep them from getting infected. It felt like she struck a match on my forehead.

I hissed and squeezed Caspian's hands.

"Tangela, after you finish here, may you please bandage the king's hands? They appear to be quite torn up," I said, trying to distract myself as she was applying more bandages to my head.

"Yes, my lady. You may sit up now, I am finished."

Caspian helped pulled me up into a sitting position and swing my legs over the side of the cot, than he sat down beside me.

"Drink your tea, " Tangela called over her shoulder as she was grabbing more bandages.

I picked up the mug and sipped at the now-warm liquid while she came over and poured some of the anti-bacterial liquid on Caspian's knuckles. He closed his eyes, but showed no signs of pain or discomfort other than that. Once she had wiped the blood off his hands she wrapped bandages around his knuckles and then dismissed us, with a dirty look in my direction.

By this time, Ari had gone about her other duties, so it was just Caspian and I walking out to the gardens, silently.

I kept thinking about what he had said earlier, and how desperately I wanted to tell him that I loved him too, and I just wanted to kiss him again. But I also wanted to know what had happened last night. No, I needed to know.

Once we had sat down on one of the benches, in the sun, I looked over at him.

"Cas, what happened last night?"

He closed his eyes for a moment and then sighed. Then he looked at me and told me about how he was on his way to bed when he heard me screaming, and he came to find me. He saw Fahd trying to choke me, and he tackled him. He was vague on what he did after that; all he said was that he "sent the Calormens away."

Then he talked about how he took me to Tangela and got me fixed up, and then took me to my room so I could wake up in comfort. For the most part, I could fill in the blanks, but there were still two things I was curious about.

"How did your knuckles get so torn up?" I asked him.

He looked down, almost ashamed, and played with a little frayed edge of one of his bandages and stayed silent for a few moments, then he looked up at me.

"You remember what I said this morning?"

I nodded, gulping.

"To see him treating the woman I love like that I- I couldn't control myself. I wanted to kill him. I almost did, if it hadn't been for you," he whispered.

My heart fluttered at his statement about me being the woman he loved.

"I heard you say thank you, and I stopped. I dropped him. I asked Nevin to get rid of him, and I focused my attention on you. I didn't think you were going to die, but Christina. All that blood everywhere. I was terrified."

"Most of it was his," I chuckled, "I think I broke his nose."

Caspian cracked a smile, but he looked at me very seriously, no humor or happiness in his face. I inwardly cringed at how penetrating his gaze was, but I also couldn't look away from him. My heart ached to kiss him, to tell him I love him, but I could tell by his face that now was not the time.

"Why Christina? What happened?"

And that was when I remembered that Caspian had come in at the end, and he had no idea how the attack had begun. At that I thought of Fahd's threat to "take me." I shuddered. I had almost forgotten that.

"He was very drunk. He followed me when I left the ball. He cornered me in the corridor and asked me how long I had been your 'whore' and then he… he," I didn't want to say it out loud. It made me so uncomfortable. But Caspian was here to comfort me, and he deserved the truth, no matter how horrible.

"He said 'I wonder how Kind Caspian will react when his own personal prostitute is taken by another man,' and then he tried to kiss me. I tried to leave and that's when he grabbed me, I didn't know what else to do, so I hit him in the nose, and then I kneed him in the groin. I think I made him mad, and that is why he began to attack me," I finished.

Caspian's hands were balled into fists and his fingers were turning white, I feared he would tear through his bandages if he did not loosen up.

"Cas," I whispered, laying my hand on his.

Instantly his hands loosened and he looked at me, his eyebrows furrowed. His deep brown eyes held unfathomable emotions within them, but I could definitely detect anger, disgust, but I did not know what else I was seeing when I looked at him.

"He… threatened to… take," he struggled over the word, "you?"

I nodded, holding his hand and reaching up, touching the furrow between his brows and waiting until it softened.

"I wish I had killed him," he growled.

"Hey Cas," I said, still trying to figure out the answer to my other question.

"You never told me how I got into my nightgown last night." I whispered, smiling.

The murderous look on his face immediately disappeared and was instead replaced with wide eyes and very red cheeks. And that, alone, gave me the answer I needed to know. He changed me into my nightgown last night. My cheeks turned slightly pink, underneath the bruising, thinking about what he saw while he was doing that, and if he saw anything, hoping he was grossed out or disappointed.

"Did you-?" I didn't know how to ask this question.

"No Chris, I swear. It was completely the purest of intentions, and completely appropriate, I swear!" now he seemed to be flustered and even more embarrassed than before.

He looked so cute with the pink coloring his cheeks, I couldn't help myself when I leaned forward and just gently pressed my lips to his. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to get some of the red to fade form his cheeks.

"I love you too, Caspian." I told him.

I started at him, waiting for some sort of reaction, but his expression was blank, and it seemed as though he had stopped breathing for a few seconds. Oh god, was he just being nice earlier, did he really not love me like I had hoped he did?

"What?" He choked out. Now he sounded like the one who had been choked.

"I love you Caspian. I am so sorry I didn't say it to you this morning, but Ari interrupted and then you left, and then I needed to know what happened last night before I distracted myself again."

"Christina, wait. Please. Just… don't say things you don't mean," he mumbled, not looking at me.

"I mean this Caspian, I really really do. I have loved you since the first time we met."