It Is Time

[King Caspian X]

When she jumped into his arms, Caspian wasted no time. He picked her up, broken wrist or not, and ran. He wouldn't let her leave with Lamont. "Then I will let Lamont kill me." Caspian said. "And then we would be together again." He kissed her lips, enjoying the fact that she was in his arms again. He turned and ran down the stairs, into the kitchen, through the door, into the cupboard and removed one of the shelves. He ran down another flight of stairs, into a hidden chamber. But the King didn't stop there. He ran up the flight of stairs and out the door that lead outside. Lamont and the demon would search the Castle, but they wouldn't find them. Caspian ran down the hill and fell to his knees, searching the grass. When he found the handle, he yanked upward, revealing yet another hidden place, and closed the door behind them and bolted it. When he finally stopped to take a breath, he fell to his knees. He had never run that far that fast before, even in battle. He was breathing heavily, and his wrist was pulsing. He didn't want to lose Susan. He took his chance to save her, and now they were here. He smiled at her, his chest still heaving for air. She probably thought that he was crazy.

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

To say that what he did was not what she wanted. As he carried her she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her head against his chest. He took her places she had never known existed and when he put her down he collapsed and she knelt down beside him with her arms around him. "If I die without you it is to protect you." She told him after his breath had slowed a bit. "I'm more than sure that Lamont will force me to have more children if I don't have any from you. They will need a father if I fall and if I do then it is because I have no choice left. I will never willingly abandon them and I would hope that you would do the same."

[King Caspian X]

Caspian put his hands on his knees, steadying his breath. When he was finally back to normal, he wrapped his arms around her as she did to him. "Please," he said, "Don't let him get you pregnant again." there was a little bit of humor in his voice as he said this, though he knew it wasn't funny. He just still couldn't believe that they had made it here, to a safe and secret place. Caspian brushed the hair away from her face and his hand touched just beneath her chin. "If you have more children, I will protect them if you die. I will raise them. I promise you that." he said seriously. "But I will live a life of misery without you, and I will not run from death. Should there be a bridge between to mountains, old and creaky, I will walk across it. I wouldn't care if it broke and I fell to my death." Caspian kissed her lips softly, and his voice was quieter as he spoke. "But if you don't have anymore of his children, then I will let him kill me. We would be together again." He took her fingers and entangled them with his. "Please don't die." he said. "Please, please don't die. I've almost lost you twice yesterday alone."

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

"NO!" She almost screamed at him out of frustration, fear, and some anger. Why was he so dertermined to fight her, "run from death if it comes. You can't just let death come and take you just because you miss me. The kids will need a father, espessialy if it's a boy. It hurts just for me to think of a life without you. But if you did die I would struggle just to wake up in the morning, but I would do it. I would have to live for them alone, if anything. They could not afford to lose the only parent they had left. To leave them alone would be to ask Lamont to come and take them and use them for whatever he wants them for. I won't let that happen and neither can you."

[King Caspian X]

"Susan," he said. "You know I wouldn't leave them. I would only die once they had grown to be fine young men or women, adults. Once they were married. Then they would understand and let me die. But if they wouldn't let me die, then I would live for them. I might go insane, but I would live. I wouldn't die without their consent." he said, knowing that what he had just said made no sense and sounded insane already. "But why are you so certain that you will die? Aslan is with you. He is always with you. He will not let you perish." Caspian held her tighter. "Aslan will help us through this, just as he has done with everything else. We've made it this far, haven't we? He will pull us through again, and we will both live and be together." He stroked her hair gently, running his fingers through it. "You don't have to leave anymore, though. You're safe now. You can stay here, in Narnia." he said.

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

"Aslan will not help me, you know that. You heard him when we were in the church months ago. I've put you before him in my heart and because of it he cannot help me. I keep trying to think that I would push you aside in faith for him, but it is impossible. My every thought comes from you in some way or another. Every time I look at you I believe my life is complete and that I don't need Aslan. But I know it's not true and I can't change it. I just love you too much."

[King Caspian X]

"But you need Aslan." Caspian said. "You don't really need me." he looked at her in the eyes. "I am a sinner. Aslan is not. You can't put me above him." the man stroked her face with his hand. "I love you," he said, "More than anything or anyone in this World or any other. But you can't put me above Aslan."

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

"I know what I need to do, it's doing it that's hard." She cried, "I don't know how to stop wanting you every moment of the day. I don't know how to stop dreaming of days that we live together happy with children that don't have to live in constant fear of Lamont. Not once since I've been here have I had a single dream where Aslan was even mentioned, much less did anything. I just don't know what to do."

[King Caspian X]

Caspian wiped away her tears as they fell with his thumb. "You don't have to stop dreaming wonderful things." he said comfortingly. "You don't have to stop wanting me. Just don't doubt Aslan so much. Put more faith in him and welcome him back to you as a friend." Caspian kissed her nose. "Aslan never left you. He just waits for you to come back to him." his thumb wiped away another tear. "Relax." he told her. Caspian felt bad for his poor wife. She was always under so much pressure, always her fears came to her in reality, and always she was bothered in some way or another. The man smiled at her encouragingly, hoping to get a smile back.

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

She breathed in deep knowing he was right. She just wasn't sure how to change what she had been used to living. As always he had spoked perfectly, with no flaw in his words or his tone. Even the way his thumb brushed against her face so softly gave her comfort. Without thought, almost as if on inpulse, she took his hand and kissed him hoding him by his neck. She didn't have much to cause the desire aside from simply wanting him and she knew he had never denied her a kiss before. "I will still love you."

[King Caspian X]

"And I'll never stop loving you." Caspian answered, letting her kiss him. The warmth of her lips spread over him, as if they had never been in danger that night. He hoped that everything would be alright now, because things were already starting to look better. A smile came across his lips as he looked at her. His mind went back to all of their memories, and this time they were only the happy ones. He even laughed at some of the funny ones, and he snuggled his head against her. "I'm so lucky that I have you." he said, still smiling.

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

"No more than I am." She told him. She stayed there, letting him hold her for a moment longer before she let herself collapse as if the strength had been drawn out of her. "I still have to go back. They're probably looking for me as we speak. I'll come back for you, just like I said, and I'll tell you everything I know. But I do have to do this, I just feel like I have to. Something about leaving Lamont now makes me hurt inside. I don't know why and I want this feeling to go away. I don't know why I feel this need to be with Lamont but it's there."

[King Caspian X]

Caspian caught her in his arms as she collapsed, as he always did. But this time a pain shot up his arm and he had to bite his tongue. Hard. He helped her back up, still supporting her with his good hand though. "You...don't... love him... do you?" Caspian asked hesitantly. He knew that the answer was no. He knew that she hated his cousin just as much as he did. But what she said didn't make sense. "Minutes ago we thought that we'd never see each other again. And you still want to go back to him?" he asked. His voice wasn't angry, just confused.

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

"I hate him for everything he's done." She said holding his hand, "I can't explain this feeling inside me, but yes I want to go back. I know everything he'll probably do to me for even leaving when you took me here, but I still feel like staying with him is where I'm needed most. It's just there and it won't go away. I am worried that it might be the demon's magic trying to get me to come out of my hiding place, but I might be wrong. I don't know much about magic. But I'll never know until it's done and over with."

[King Caspian X]

Caspian kissed her hand. "Alright then." he said to her. "I trust you." But he couldn't move his hand to open the door. He just couldn't. He didn't want to see her go. Caspian looked into her eyes again, always hypnotized whenever he did so. He kissed her lips softly, one last time. "Are you sure that you want to go now?" he asked.