Reunited At Last

[King Caspian X]

"That's all?!" he exclaimed happily. He pulled her up into his arms and slipped off the tree root gracefully so that he could spin her around like he had done before. A few weeks? He thought there would be a few months, certainly. Where had he been all this time? It had flown. "Susu!" was all he could say. He really didn't know what else he could say. But now he was glad he had picked the name tonight. "Niccolo." he said. "His name is Niccolo."

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

"Well, maybe a little more," she laughed when he spun her. "Niccolo," She repeated the name in he had chosen in her head. "Does it mean anything?" Her mind continued onward. Galen had been one of three at one time, why should they not be anything different? "What if there's more than one in there?" She wondered out loud, "Aslan said we would have a son, he never said only one son though. What if there's a little girl in there too?"

[King Caspian X]

Caspian smiled when she laughed. He loved laughter, truly, he did. It was his favorite sound in the world. Especially Susan's. "It means victory of the people." he said. He didn't know how he knew that. He just remembered it from somewhere. "More than one child?" he repeated her in question, a spark flying into his eyes. Could they really have more than one? Triplets in her first pregnancy was amazing enough, but Caspian would have never imagined multiple births again. It was so rare, as it was, just to happen in one pregnancy. But if they were blessed enough, he would never push it away. It only took him a moment to decide. "If we ever have a little girl, which we will, someday," he said, referring back to his promise to her that they would have a big family, just like in the dreams she had had, "We will call her Lucy."

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

She couldn't help but think of her sister when he spoke her name. She hadn't thought about naming her own child after the fallen queen. Every now and then she still remembered seeing her dead on the forest floor with dried blood clinging to her throat. She had died horribly at the claws of the changeling who claimed to be Caspian's father at the time. And all because Susan was too much of a fool to see through his lies. "Lucy would be perfect."

[King Caspian X]

With loving lips he kissed her cheek, and with a stronger hand he squeezed her shoulder. "You better start thinking of names for the others." he gave her a wink, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "It is your turn to pick next time, after all."

Then he got an idea. He set her down on her feet softly, and reached for his dagger and walked to their tree. But he turned to her first, to see if she might like what he thought of before he did it. He wouldn't make a move without her consent. "What would you think if we put our children's names under ours?" he asked. "Underneath our heart, because that's ours, we could put their names?" It wasn't a persistant idea, and if she didn't like it he wouldn't be disappointed. It was just a thought.

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

"Of course," When he set her down she went to their tree and traced her lover's name. "But each name would be seperate from eachother. That way when they're older they can write the names of their lovers and make their own hearts. It will be their special place for them just like it is for us now."

[King Caspian X]

Caspian smiled and handed her the dagger, the blade in his palm and the handle extending to her. "Here." he said. "I want you to carve it." It would be good to have both of their works on the tree.

(Sorry it's short, just wrote a paper and I got no muse left)

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

"I can't," She told him running her hand along the trunk, "Just as you carved our names and made this our place they will too. And if they don't want this to be their place, if they want one all on their own, then we can't change that."

[King Caspian X]

He slid his knife back into the scabbard at his belt. She was right. His sons, and maybe even his daughters, would like to carve their names themselves. He just thought their names should be on there, since they were Susan's and Caspian's children. His eyes returned to her, as they always did. "Now what should we do?" he asked. Really, he just wanted to spend his time with her. He didn't care what they did. "Or are you tired?" It had just dawned on Caspian that she had walked all the way out here, a child in her belly and a child in her arms, and waited for him for he didn't know how long. He wanted to spend the night awake with her, as sleep was not something of dire need. He had just been dead a month. There was no exhaustion to be felt of that. But he concerned himself with her first, and waited.

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

She hesitated. Of course she was tired, even if she herself did not know it. Her child weighed her down heavily, but she had been too happy and excited to care or notice. She sat on one of the roots of their tree silently wishing Caspian would come and hold her from behind, but not saying anything. She didn't mind if he didn't and was sure he would say something. "Maybe a little tired. But I don't want to sleep, not after just finding you."

[King Caspian X]

He stepped thoughtfully through the grass until he was behind her, but he didn't hold her. Instead, Caspian laid his hands on her shoulders and massaged them strongly and scratched her back. He suddenly realized that they had never celebrated their first anniversary. If they had gotten married near the beginning of her pregnancy with Galen, and she was now near the end of her pregnancy with Niccolo, that meant they had been married more than a year already. And they had never celebrated. "I owe you some flowers." he said, almost laughing. How could it be that the both of them had forgotten? And why was he even deciding to remember it now? Today was a special occasion, he supposed. Maybe that was why he remembered their anniversary. He had even missed her birthday by a day. Even now, he was forgetting his own. He was twenty-three today, and he didn't even know it. Their anniversary would be coming up again in a couple of months, and so would Susan's birthday. And so would Galen's. And in a few weeks, would be Niccolo's. Caspian shook his head. He needed to get a better memory. "Let's go swimming." he said rather suddenly.

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

The change was not what she had hoped for, but she loved it better. Everything, her worries, her pain, her fear, it all dissapeared with his hands on her. "Wait, why?" She asked confused. "I don't remember asking for any. Not that it matters, you give me enough already." But she didn't mind the swim. She thought she remembered hearing somewhere that it was good for women with child, but she couldn't remember for sure. The only thing was that she didn't exactly want to get up right now.

[King Caspian X]

"Forgot our anniversary a few months ago." he said, with less shame than he usually would have had, since she had forgotten too, but he still couldn't hide the elements of humility in his voice. "I won't forget again." he said quickly, promising both her and himself. "I need to get one of those things Cornelius has in his study. A... um... calendar, I think he called it. Not sure."

[Queen Susan the Gentle]

"Do we really need one." She remembered how it was when she was queen. Days and months became blurred and years flew by to the point where none knew where it really was. Even now she couldn't tell him just how long she had been queen, only just that many years had passed. "I don't remember it being all that important."

[King Caspian X]

"It was an important day for me." he said sweetly in her ear. "I gained a fiance, a wife, and a son all on the same day." Caspian laughed a little. "And your poor brother! The look on his face!" Gradually, though timely he stopped his laughing. But the smile couldn't be pushed away so easily. "And if there's any man that could put the fear of God in me, it's your father. He's a great man." he paused a moment, looking down at the grass. What a conversation they had had. "I asked him, you know, for your hand. He couldn't bare to give you away to anyone. And I can't blame him." he kissed her cheek softly. "I still have that letter that he wanted you to have." He added, but said nothing more on the matter, and quickly changed the subject. "I would like to honor that day. For the first time in sixteen years I had a family, and more." He stopped scratching her back and walked around the tree root to stand before her. He knelt down on one knee, just as he had that day. "But if you don't want to celebrate, I don't mind. The memories are just as sweet." He gave her a little wink as he took her hand.