AN: I revere C. S. Lewis, and after reading all the books through back-to-back in a matter of a couple of weeks, I couldn't get the characters out of my head. Personally Ed is my favorite, (books and movies) but I had not planned on writing a Narnia fic... this story just sort of...happened :)

Disclaimer: C. S. Lewis is the culprit. Not I. I only used his characters :)

*SPOILER ALERT for those who have not read The Final Battle. (Read it! it is the best!)*

The Pevensies died in a railway accident. I like to think all of them paired off, but nothing was mentioned in the books because that wasn't the point of the stories. As far as I'm concerned, Eustace and Jill, Polly and Diggory, and Lucy and Tirian paired off. Peter remained the bachelor king and Edmund left someone behind.

Her name was Beth. They met the year before the accident when Edmund came to the train station to pick up Lucy. She was coming home from her last year of school. He had arrived on the platform early, so he took a seat on a bench and began to read a novel he had thought to shove into his raincoat. Not long after, a scream pulled him from the detective story.

"My bag! Help! He stole my bag!" a girl was crying. He spotted her elbowing her way through the crowd, chasing a boy his age toward the exit. It had been two years since anyone had called him King Edmund the Just, but for thirty years that had been who he was, and old habits die hard. When he saw the thief was planning to take the exit beside his bench, he devised a plan.

He remained in his seat so as not to scare the mugger from changing directions. Pretending to read the paperback in his hand, he held his umbrella in the other like a walking stick and waited for the exact moment the boy passed him.

No one watching saw exactly what happened next. One moment the thief was making away with the purse, and the next he was on his face at Edmund's feet. Edmund had stuck the umbrella between the mugger's running legs and tripped him. Then he knocked the boy a good one across the shoulders when he tried to stand.

"Your first mistake was stealing from a lady." Edmund told him. "You did a great dishonor to yourself."

The mugger snorted at his choice of words, but flinched away when Edmund stooped to retrieve the purse. The on-watchers cheered. The cowardly thief crawled away in shame, and the bag's owner came forward with a big smile of relief and appreciation. "Thank you so much, sir!"

"Don't mention it, miss . . ."

"Candley, Beth." She supplied.

"I'm—Ed Pevensie." He had almost said king; even an act that small had made Narnia closer to him. He could feel it fading and tried to hold onto it. But when he called himself Ed, it slipped away entirely. Now he was just a boy standing on a platform with a purse. He handed it back to her. She took it with a bashful smile. "Thank you again, Mr. Pevensie."

"Ed, please." He said.

"Ed." She said with that bashful smile again. She put her hair behind her ear, and Edmund thought he liked that. "I don't know what I would have done without your help. I would have had no ticket, no money. I would have been stranded."

"Whatever I could do to help, I suppose." He said because he didn't know what else to say. Actually, he did, but it was kingly stuff like before and he felt like an ass using it. She filled the silence with praise. "That was very brilliant how you stopped him! I've never seen anything like that in real life. It was very chivalrous."

Edmund wasn't sure if she was making fun of him or not. It made him feel like an even bigger ass. They were in modern England after all, not Narnia. And after all of the hard times he'd given Peter for acting like a high king. He waved her comment aside. "Oh it would have looked better if it had been a black umbrella. It might have passed for a sword then."

She laughed. "Maybe, but it was still the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. You were a knight straight out of the story books."

Edmund could only smile, because she had no idea how close she actually was to the truth. It must have been something in his face just then, as he smiled and thought of Narnia that made him kingly again, because Beth's smile changed. She titled her head to the side, and that effect made her eyes brighter. "You know, I think you were one once, in another life."

Edmund's astonishment wiped the smile from his face for a moment, and he looked at this girl, really looked at her, for the first time, knowing that she had never meant to tease him for his chivalry. His smile returned, more Ed than king this time, but his best one yet. "Well, I was a great warrior king of a magical land as a boy."

She laughed again, and Edmund liked it. He continued, "No really! They called me King Edmund the Just."

"I am sure they did if Sir Edmund delivered justice for everyone, including strangers he met on vacation."

"Miss Candley, do you think it's possible," he had to pause to gather his thoughts and marvel at his own rashness. His heart was racing as if he were in battle again. Never had he asked out a modern girl before. "I mean, do you think you would like to have some tea or, or something?" In the back of Edmund's mind, he was wondering at Beth's ability to make his feel like an ass three different times in one conversation. He waited in trepidation for her reaction.

It was the best he could have hoped for: surprised, a tiny bit bewildered, and then very happy. The joy lasted maybe ten seconds, and then she looked crestfallen. "I can't." She said to her shoes. "I'm sorry. I'm on my way to my cousin's for the holidays."

"Oh," Edmund said. "That's . . . It's good to visit for the hols . . ." Beth nodded and turned to leave. He was disappointed and relieved that she was going; all he wanted was to sink into the pavement, or just disappear. Then she suddenly stopped and faced him again with the kind of brave smile you get when you are acting impulsively.

"I come back in twelve days. Maybe we can meet here again after the 5 o'clock from Bristol?" Now Beth was feeling like the ass and Edmund was too bewildered to speak. He nodded. "Yes! Yes, that would be wonderful…"

A train pulled into the station. Everything was hustle and bustle as the passengers filed off and others climbed on in their places, but Edmund and Beth remained standing before one another smiling. Then he realized what train it was. "Oh, Lucy!"

"Excuse me?" Beth asked.

"Lucy, my sister, I'm here to pick her up. She's home from school." He spotted her then, retrieving her luggage. She looked even more grown up since the last time he had seen her, reminding him that she would understand what he was doing if she happened to spot him talking to a girl. Panic and embarrassment raced around his head for a moment, before Beth saved him.

"I should go." She said. "My train will arrive any moment."

"Great, okay." He said. She smiled awkwardly and said goodbye. Edmund waved and then felt like a fool for doing it. She was out of sight when Lucy finally appeared at his shoulder, her heavy luggage cart in tow. She threw her arms around him in greeting. "Edmund!"

"Hullo, Lu." He said, returning the hug. She pulled back with mischief in her eyes. "Okay. Who was she?"

AN: Plz leave a reveiw...end of each chapter or the whole thing, but do leave one! PLEASE!