And the world keeps turning

Disclaimer: The characters and other things from The Chronicles of Narnia don't belong to me (sadly). Credit goes to those who do own them.

Each day was a struggle, a different one each day but always with that familiar ache of losing something you'd rather always beside you. Susan had understood from the moment she made her choice that she would inevitably lose a part of herself that day. It was something she had to live with.

However, mercifully, she felt no regret. Susan knew this was the only future that would allow her to be happy, to allow her to truly live and be more than a shell of a person. It was most just for all concerned.

Of course, there were days when she wondered how life turned out on the other side, if she caused pain or if things turned out well somehow. It was not something she could escape and she did not want to. It was a constant reminder for her to make the most of what she has or the sacrifice would have been for nothing.

Susan continued to look at the horizon, waiting for the sun to set before she returned inside. She watched as the blue sky darkened into the night until she was blanketed by a canopy of stars. She closed her eyes and sighed, wishing that somehow at that moment, they could see what she did.

"You will see them again, in time, dear one."

Her eyes flew open in surprise and she whirled around to see the great lion before her. She ran to him with much enthusiasm that resembled that of her sister's. It was only a sharp pain in her belly that reminded her to slow down.

"Careful, Queen of Narnia, the little one needs special care. We have all the time in the world now." Aslan said with a smile.

Susan nodded and walked back to the bench with the lion by her side. "Narnia is beautiful at night. It's so peaceful like it was never touched by evil. I can almost pretend that they're here as well and they're only sleeping."

"I cannot lie and tell you it will be easier for losing your family is like a wound that will never fully heal. But trust that the little one and his father will bring you more than enough joy to give you much to live for."

She smiled and placed a hand on her stomach, feeling her son kick as he often did when she was feeling particularly melancholy. He always knew when to make his presence felt to place a smile on his mother's face.

"I've never had the chance to thank you Aslan, for this chance. The key, the portal, everything else in between, I appreciate it. Thank you for letting me love him as his wife and not as a memory trapped in another world."

Aslan smiled, "Your love would not be any less strong were it from a lifetime away than it is now. I believe it allowed both worlds to shape a future that would always have you and King Caspian together. The deep magic, which at the very core is made of the truest love known to any creature that ever breathed life, is more powerful than I or any other being. What the world has witnessed in both you has allowed this miracle to happen, without it you would not be in Narnia, you would not be home."

Tears flowed from her eyes as she listened to Aslan. Susan wept for the older brother that always protected her, for the younger one that always reminded her to see both sides and the sister who loved her without reservations. She cried over the regret of not being a better daughter. Mostly, her tears were flowing over having the chance to be a good mother and wife to her family here. It was the relief that she finally made it home that shook her with sobs on Aslan's mane.

It was some time before Aslan spoke again, just before he was about to leave. "Be at peace dear one, you will see them again."

Susan wiped her eyes, hesitating at first, but then she asked what she had been dying to know all along.

"What do they think happened to me? Do they know I'm here?"

"No, dear one, they believe you to have gone on that trip alone. The world changed enough so that your mother and father never planned to be with you, a truth they all accept including your siblings."

"But for how long will that work? Surely, they'll look for me?"

Aslan gave her a smile, but a pain shone in his eyes. "For as long as is necessary. Rest now, Queen Susan. In the end, it will not matter. Have faith, you will see them when the time comes."

The great lion left her, taking with him a great burden from her heart. She breathed easier, so she felt. The stars twinkled above and she wondered if one of them was the woman who gave her husband the key.

"Thank you even though I never knew you. Thank you for letting go." Susan said closing her eyes once more.

"Susan?" Caspian's concerned voice called out to her, "Are you alright?"

She smiled at him and motioned for him to sit next to her.

He smiled curiously at her but did as she requested, placing an arm over her shoulder as he pulled her tight next to him.

"Supper is ready, are you not hungry yet?" he said

"I'm fine. I can wait a bit more." Susan said leaning on his chest, "It's just so beautiful here. Sometimes, I still can't believe it's real."

She paused, straightening up and looking him in the eyes, "Aslan was here."

Caspian was surprised and then looked around quickly, wondering if he could still see him. Then the shock was immediately overtaken by an icy cold fear that snaked up to his heart, fearing that his wife was to be taken from Narnia again.

"No, no!" Susan said placing a hand on his, "It's not what you think. He just…well he just sort of welcomed me home and told me they're okay back there. I'm home for good Caspian."

He breathed a sigh of relief, placing a kiss on her forehead, wanting to strengthen the truth that he held in his arms. It was the final assurance, the last worry taken from his mind—the blessing from Aslan of Susan's new life in Narnia.

Caspian looked up, a solemn look on his face that matched his serious tone. "I miss them too. The life I had there, no matter how much of a constructed reality, was the closest thing I had to normal. Your siblings were the kind I dreamed of having both here and in that world. The life at school was something so simple compared to the burden of growing up as heir to the Telmarine throne, your destiny believed to be set in stone. And in any which way, it was a life with you in it."

Susan gave him a small mischievous smile, "Do you want to go back, my king?"

He laughed and shook his head, "No for as much as I dream of simplicity it is not who I am. The intricate details of my life are intertwined with the history of this world. King or not, I would always have to return."

"And what if I did not choose to come back?" Susan said.

"Then I would love you from this side and I'd have waited for you in Aslan's country. Thirteen hundred years didn't matter, remember? If time and space was not enough, do you think anything else can keep us apart forever? One way or another, we'd find each other again." Caspian said.

He paused and turned to ask her in return. "And what if I did not go to you?"

"I would have found my way back. I had thought about it, you know? If only for a glimpse of you, I thought I could try something, anything!" Susan exclaimed

"What stopped you?" Caspian asked gently

"Believing you moved on. At first, I assumed I didn't want to suffer by seeing you with whoever she was. I hid behind the defense of jealousy. Over time, I realized that I simply did not want to disrupt your happiness, what you had with her. It mattered more than what I wanted. It was something I could accept as long as I knew you were happy."

She took a deep breath and continued, "And then there was John. I began to fall for him. In my darkest hours, he was there. The stranger who knew me, who was patient with me and who was determined to make me smile, reminded me how to live. I was moving on, too."

Susan took Caspian's hand and traced the part where two lines met. "I wasn't. It took me a while to realize that he simply reminded me of you and I was just falling in love with you all over again. His strength, his determination and his kindness, it was all you. Your eyes never lied. Whether you were ashamed, proud, confused or hesitant, I could always trust it was true because I saw it plainly in your eyes."

She leaned in to kiss him, a repeated promise of forever she sealed when she put her hand in his that fateful day. "It may have taken longer, maybe a year or another thousand, but I know that in any future, we'd always end up here, in this moment, together."

In that moment, the baby decided to kick and his parents felt it at the same time.

"Ah, I think our son agrees. Now my queen, it is time to go and feed our boy. Let's go inside?" Caspian said helping Susan stand.

She nodded and took his arm, content that it was no longer only in dreams that she was his queen.

Adam was older, and nanny was no longer concerned with him running away or living in his fantasy world, as she called it. He was turning out to be quite a normal boy and that was enough reason for nanny not to worry as much, allowing him to roam around a bit on his own.

On the outside, he may be just like any other boy, but inside he had not forgotten. Though the dreams had come fewer and farther in between, he had not forgotten. His illustrations had become clearer, the details sharper than before. For his age, it was a wonder for his teachers where he had gotten such an inspiration and they marveled at the gift he had.

It went on for a while until the day he returned to the park and sat on the swing once more. He clutched a newspaper in his hand and he read, quite slowly, taking it all in. It spoke of a tragedy, a great one that claimed lives, including the Pevensies he once met in this place. He read of their demise, three of them, and the small note by the writer below, that upon searching for their sister in America to let her know, they had discovered she had long succumbed to an illness.

Adam slept fitfully that night, waking up in cold sweat, knowing no other urge than to place on paper what he had seen. It was chaos, the sky in a violent explosion of red and black and a door sealed by Peter's hand and a golden key, similar to the one Caspian brought to this world. That Narnia had ended, night had fallen.

He returned to sleep, saw the beauty and brightness of the world he had love for so long for the last time. He saw Peter, Edmund, Lucy and Susan reunited. He watched as Caspian joined them, his son Rilian some steps behind him, eager to meet the family of his mother.

He saw Aslan watch over them all. And he watched them until it was time to wake up. And Narnia was no more in his mind. He remembered nothing and his dreams were tucked away with his childhood.

Rilian waited for his turn to meet them. He had dreamt of this moment since the time his mother had first told him about them but she had waited longer. He could spare her a few more moments alone with them.

He could remember it clearly when as a young boy he sat next to his mother as they waited for the southern sun to set. Queen Susan sat him on her lap and began to tell him about the wardrobe and the Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve that stumbled upon Narnia through it. She told him about how they lost Edmund and found him again. His mother shared with him how reluctant they were to save Narnia from the White Witch. The queen told him of Aslan, his sacrifice and how he saved them all in the end.

Rilian smiled to himself as he recalled that it was his father who told him about the world where his mother came from. For whatever reason, maybe it was too painful for her, it was Caspian who told him of how he went into that world and how he forgot about Narnia. He told him about how it was to be a boy named John and how he watched Susan struggle to life back in London. He told Rilian about the cars, trains and the games people played in that world. Caspian wanted him to understand his mother, what kind of life made her out to be the woman that she was. The king wanted his son to love Susan by knowing who she truly was and the courage it took to be his mother.

Susan waved his son over so she could introduce him to Peter, Edmund and Lucy. He nodded and continued to walk behind his father. It dawned on him that this time he was the one with the story to share to the family. He would be the one to sit next to them in the endless days in Aslan's country, the real Narnia, to tell them of the tale he witnessed all his life—a story of true love that crossed worlds and spanned thousands of years He would tell them about how they defied the odds, about the neighbor they never saw again, the ship that sailed without a certain passenger and the ordinary tree by the library that made it all possible. He clutched the key that hung on his neck as he watched as his mother place her hand in his father's and he knew that this tale will still continue to unfold before their very eyes for all of eternity.

-fin

A/N: Thank you so much for those who have been reading this story. I've loved hearing from you and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Looking forward to writing more Caspian/Susan fics! :)