called_lioness | (no subject)

"It would," he agrees, and closes his eyes as her lips touch his forehead. His hand smoothes up her back.

"And I'm sure I would." He opens his eyes to look back up at her. "Tell me about him?"

"Oh..." She frowns, a little.

"I look like him, a bit. So does Peter. We took more after him than Mum. His name was John, and he taught, until the war started, and after it. He told me when I was little that I finished off the family rather nicely, which is why I didn't have a younger sibling. He was an officer in the Royal Navy, and he wrote letters to Mother every night. She kept his picture by her bed. He laughed a great deal, and he sang us to sleep, and when he came home...when he came home, we all cried, and I heard him tell Mother he barely recognized us all, and I realized I hadn't seen him for years, and then I realized that for me it had been nearly twenty years since I'd seen him. It was strange," she finishes, slowly.

"Was he different than you remembered?"

He's curious. After all, his father never came home at all.

"Perhaps he didn't recognize you all. I imagine none of you were quite the same as you had been, then."

"No. I don't think he did," she says quietly. "Peter, perhaps. Maybe Susan. They were at least a bit grown up before he left. Ed and I'd been far younger, and I think the years had changed us more. But all of us--I don't know. I barely thought about him in Narnia. I don't know that I could have told you his name, or not without thinking, after a bit, but I don't think anyone ever asked, for that matter." She laughs, and tucks her hair behind her ear. "I sound horrid, don't I? But--when we came back--I missed him when I thought about it. But I'd spent most of my life without him. I think if we'd never left it would have felt different. I was glad for him to be home, but--I didn't really know him at all at that point. I don't suppose he was much different. I think he looked far more tired and older than his picture did."

"Wars change us all."

"You're right, though, I think," he continues, after a moment. "That I would have liked him. I believe I would. And you don't sound horrid at all. I never thought much about my own parents until I was much older, you know. And even then it wasn't until I met Lord Bern that I really started to wonder about them, what they must have been like."

"So I've learned." She smooths his shirt for a moment, absently. "I think he might even have liked you. Eventually, anyway. As long as he never knew that you'd been married or had a son or quite how old you are. I'm certain Mum would've. Lord, if you'd been in London, she would have fussed over you." The shirt's smoothed again before she reaches up and traces his features with his fingertips. "They must have been lovely, your parents."

"Doctor Cornelius liked them."

His free hand comes up to cover hers, and he turns his head to kiss her fingertips, as she had his a moment ago.

"He said that my mother was the only Telmarine to be kind to him. I wonder why my uncle let him come back to teach me, if the Doctor had been so close to my parents--or to my mother, at least."

"Well, if he liked them they must have been lovely," she says reasonably, with a faint smile, brushing his cheek with the back of her fingers. "Perhaps your uncle wasn't utterly horrible."

"Do you know, I'm not certain still that he was."

He smiles a little, and leans up to kiss her lightly.

"Perhaps I only want to think that. After all, it was a very long time ago, and I was still very young, then--but it eases my mind to think that there might have been some less horrid part of him. I don't quite believe that there was, but I suppose it doesn't really matter now, does it?"

"It might. A little," she murmurs. "After all, he didn't kill you when you were an infant, and it might not be much, but it is something." And it's a rather morbid train of thought, so she leans down and cups his face in her hands and kisses him again, a bit more firmly than the last kiss. "All this talk and I've not give you your presents," she says with a smile when she pulls away.

Caspian doesn't say he needed an heir and he doesn't mention how Miraz planned to kill him later, and instead only smiles, and kisses her back.

"I like talking with you," he says, firmly, resting on hand at the small of her back. "It is a continual surprise." But he smiles back and moves to sit up with her.

"I like everything with you," she laughs, and reaches over for one of the bags, setting it on her lap.

"Now, I bought you three things, and you must promise me that you won't hate me for one of them," still grinning.

...

Caspian makes a face.

"I think I will no longer trust you and Alanna together," he says, thoughtfully, and grins at her cheekily.

"All right. I promise I shan't hate you, no matter how richly you might deserve it."

"It's Alanna," loftily, thinking of the mural, "who's obsessed with you and tea towels. And perfect. Close your eyes, then?"

The face gets a little more wry, but he closes his eyes obediently.

It takes a certain amount of ~~resignation~~ trust.

Well, the first thing she places on his lap isn't to be feared, anyway. "All right, open them."

He does so, and a delighted grin lights up his face in sudden pleasure.

"Lu! It looks marvelous."

Flipping through the thick pages, his smile only grows brighter. These books, with their large, glossy photographs and pages of neat text, are still something of a novelty to him.

Looking back up from a two page spread of calm ocean waves, his eyes are alight and warm.

"Thank you."

"I thought of you when I saw it," she smiles, and the warmth in his eyes is worth any book, really.

"--Also," grinning, "when I saw this," handing the next gift over. "I thought you and the twins might have something to do together."

Wary, he takes the proferred book and cassette, and looks at it.

And laughs, and laughs.

"Mayhap," he says, finally. "Or perhaps I could lend it to Eustace."

"Don't bother," she says cheerfully, "I bought him one, too."

The last gift is a silver picture frame, with a lion on one side, and a unicorn on the other.

"I thought you might have something to put in it, and if not, perhaps we could get a photo taken of Rilian, or a drawing done," she says, a little uncertainly.

Sitting up, Caspian holds the picture frame in both hands and looks at it for a long moment, with a smile, before glancing back up at Lucy.

"I haven't any pictures," he admits, but he's pleased with the gift and it shows.

He puts the frame down carefully on the bedspread, and leans over to wrap and arm around Lucy and kiss her cheek, and murmur "Thank you" into her ear.

"Then we'll get you one," she says quietly. "I know I like to see the pictures of my family, after all. You should be able to too."

She smiles and leans against him, murmuring back, "D'you remember when I said that coming home to you would be better than the holiday itself?"

"Or better than running off with Adam," he comments, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Aye."

A moment, and he smiles into her hair.

"Is it?"

"Oh, that was a horrid plan. I told you, Adam snores."

She may or may not be telling the truth, but it's said Very Seriously as she presses her face against his shoulder. "Mmhmm. I should go away more often just to be able to come back."

"I don't think I would like that at all," he tells her, also Very Seriously.

What a Terribly Serious conversation.

"You haven't any idea. I was horribly miserable without you."

Pining, even.