Here we go, last chapter. It's a bit shorter than usual, but I guess last chapters tend to do that. Thanks to all of you who've been reading, it's been lovely having you along for the ride. And of course, special thanks to all my reviewers! You guys are the best.

Enjoy!

Chapter 24

Caspian is waiting when Mira returns. He's staring off to the west, toward her old home, so he doesn't see her approach. Suncloud greets her, but he's far enough away that Caspian doesn't hear their quiet exchange.

"I'm coming home," is all Mira has to say, and then Suncloud is sweeping her into a tight, tight hug and murmuring how glad he is into her shoulder.

When he lets go, Mira smiles and he shoos her toward Caspian. Well, actually he calls him "her king," and for the first time Mira has no urge to correct him.

Caspian whips around at the gentle touch of her hand on his shoulder. Hope and apprehension shine side by side in his gaze, and he hesitates in reaching for her.

"I saved her," Mira whispers to him, taking both of his hands in hers. "I want to come back with you."

A smile dawns on Caspian's usually serious face. It's boyish and when it reaches his eyes Mira could swear she's never been happier to see someone smile. The tired, worried lines in his forehead and around his eyes finally vanish, replaced by a beaming smile that she can't resist returning.

This time, when he leans down and captures her mouth, Mira knows it's not her imagination and she knows that she's wanted this for much longer than she's ever wanted to admit.

One kiss isn't enough, for her as well as him. It's actually her who leans in the second time, eager for another taste of happiness and hope.

"Let's go home," Caspian murmurs against her lips after that second kiss. "I've missed you too much."

"I know." Mira's guilt peeks back out, but she shoves it away. It's over now. It's been over for a long time.

The three of them leave for Cair Paravel within the hour, and for the first time since finding herself in the hospital, Mira laughs and jokes with them freely.

Night becomes her favorite part of the day. The hours she so dreaded she now cherishes, for it's when the sun has set that she's closest to Suncloud and Caspian. The day is for merriment, for long locked-away lightness and joy. But the night is when they trade stories of the past few years, catching up on all the things they missed.

Suncloud tells her about an adventure Caspian had with pots and pans in the middle of the night when he was determined to have an apple tart. Caspian tells her of how he soundly defeated Suncloud in a shooting tournament. Mira tells them about Leila's new red pitcher with the daisies and her love of broken things no one else would want.

She thinks of herself when she explains it to them as best she can, wonders if Leila always stood by her because she used to be broken too, and Leila always found imperfect things to be her favorite.

She sleeps curled against Caspian's side when he and Suncloud get tired. Mira can't remember the last time she slept through the whole night, but she does it this time.

By the time they reach Cair Paravel a week and a half later, it's become a normal, every night kind of thing – sleeping next to Caspian and sleeping through the night. Mira wonders if the two are related. After her first night in her own chambers she decides they are.

She sneaks into Caspian's room a few hours before dawn, and she never sleeps on her own again.

When she's been at the Cair for three weeks, Caspian asks her to walk with him after a private dinner in the gardens.

Mira wanders with him through a walkway of rose-covered trellises and past a fountain twice as tall as her. He talks more than usual, pointing out flower after flower and asking her whether the new statue he's planning to add to the maze of tulips should be of a faun, a minotaur, or of Aslan. Aslan, of course, and she tells him so.

He finds more things to chatter about, and Mira begins to wonder if something's the matter. Tonight he seems nervous about something, but she can't figure out what there is to be nervous about. She's heard of no threats to Narnia, no unrest, no ill omens from the heavens. What could be wrong?

Caspian finally falls silent when they find a stone bench hidden against the garden wall, but his hand is cool in hers. He kisses her knuckles as he helps her sit down; his nerves seem to vanish all of a sudden when he seats himself beside her and takes her other hand.

"I've wanted to tell you something for a long time," he begins.

Mira tips her head slightly to the side, confused. Caspian clears his throat softly.

"I can't wait any longer. Mira, I love you. I've been in love with you ever since I thought I would lose you."

Words that would have frightened her and sent her into a tailspin of panic a year ago now bring a slow smile to her mouth. Mira sits perfectly still, relishing in the warmth that's returned to his hands. She wets her lips, her heart doing little jumps in her chest.

"I think…well, I love you too," Mira admits in a whisper. "I don't know how long, but now that you've said it I know it's been a little while for me too."

Caspian's smile sweeps across his face, and then he's pulling her close and pressing his lips against hers again and again, much more than he's ever kissed her before. Even early morning kisses when he gets up and goodnight kisses before they fall asleep were never like this – almost frantic, fueled by need and a long time of waiting and holding back.

Mira finds that she's not afraid to keep going that night, to let him touch her and whisper tender promises into her ear.

Within three months, he asks her to marry him. Mira turns him down, saying she's too young and she hasn't even been back with him a year and how can he know for sure about the rest of their lives so soon? He understands and kisses her nose.

He asks again when she's been back a year. Again she says no, this time because she's been learning more and more about the responsibilities of a king – and his wife – for months now and she's terrified of not being good enough. She's only a girl, she tells him, not a queen. He kisses her forehead and tells her it's okay.

The third time he asks, it's been two years and Mira finally knows what she wants. He tells her he'll help her if she doesn't know what to do, that she's never been just a girl and he knows she would be a queen the people would adore. He also tells her that if she still doesn't want to not to worry, that he knows it's a lot to ask and he won't blame her if she's still opposed to the idea.

She silences him with a kiss and tells him yes when she pulls back.

They're married by the end of the month.

Mira wasn't really one to think of happily ever afters. But after three years of marriage and with a bump on her abdomen that grows every day, she's starting to wonder if perhaps they might exist. She and Caspian don't always agree – she only just came around to the idea of children – and she still has nightmares and bad days where she almost forgets the happy Leila that Aslan showed her, but she always feels safe and he always loves her no matter what she does.

She doesn't want to call it a happily ever after because it's something beyond that. It's a kind of Eden, something almost too good to be true that she thanks Aslan for every day. She still wonders if it has an expiration date, but as of yet it hasn't come. She's truly starting to believe it won't.

Years it took her, and looking back at all it took to get here, Mira decides it was worth it as she stares into the setting sun from the window in her and Caspian's chambers. She wouldn't trade this for anything, and she even believes Leila has found her own happiness too.

Her own little Eden.

THE END

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