ALWAYS THERE

As much as I love Tumnus and Lucy, I felt that Terence and Lucy deserved a little something, with just the two of them. I was in the mood for that brother/sister sweetness, and this seemed perfect.

Brace yourself for warm fuzzies galore. Don't forget to review! It's not a have-to, but it would be very nice.

Characters (except Terence) © C.S. Lewis and Disney/Walden Media

Terence and Story © unicorn-skydancer08

All rights reserved.

Night had fallen upon Cair Paravel once again. Lucy Pevensie lay in her bed, warm and snug under the covers, yet she was unable to sleep. Tears slid steadily down her freckled cheeks, seeping into her pillow, and though she tried to keep quiet, she couldn't help the pitiful whimpers and the sobs that rattled her small body. She shut her eyes tightly and curled into a ball, trying to blot out the painful memories that troubled her. After a time, she sensed somebody's presence.

She felt a soft hand on her blanketed shoulder, and an equally soft voice said, "Lucy?"

She recognized it as Terence's voice; sure enough, when she opened her eyes and looked up, the unicorn recently turned human was standing over her.

Despite his youth, Terence's hair and goatee gleamed like the moon, even in the dimness of the room. A look of gentle concern filled his handsome, teenager-like face. For some reason, he was still fully dressed; he wore his usual blue, gold-trimmed robe over his black, skin-tight tunic, and his dark blue mantle rested casually over his shoulders, not unlike Tumnus's scarf. Either he hadn't gone to bed yet, or he simply hadn't bothered to change.

"Terence," said Lucy when she saw him. The name came out somewhere between a whisper and a croak.

"Are you all right?" Terence asked her, as he quietly settled next to her on the bed. "What is it, dear heart? What's wrong?"

She didn't answer outright, but she crawled out from under the covers and climbed into the young man's lap. Terence made no objection to this. He even wrapped her in his strong, protective arms, as far as they would go, and lulled her gently, just as if she were his own child. She rested her head against his chest, where she dissolved almost at once into a puddle of tears. Terence sat very still and let her cry, while he stroked her and kissed the top of her head.

As he cradled the girl and comforted her as best he could, he wondered if this was the way Edmund and Peter felt. Though he and Lucy were unrelated, at least by blood, he certainly felt like a big brother, soothing his distraught little sister.

When Lucy felt herself calming down, Terence eased his hold on her a little. With one finger, he tilted her chin upward, so that she was looking him properly in the face.

"What is it, Lucy?" he asked again. "Whatever is the matter?"

Lucy sniffed and gulped, and managed to forestall further tears. "I'm sorry," she said thickly. "It's just…well…it's my mum, Terence."

"Your mother?"

She nodded. "I miss her…her and Dad, both. I miss my old home, Terence."

Terence remembered hearing Tumnus say something about Spare Oom, in a foreign place called War Drobe. Whatever it was called, it must be where Lucy and her siblings had come from.

As for Lucy missing her parents, he could understand that perfectly. Both his parents had disappeared from his life a long time ago, and even now, their absence was like a hole in his heart.

"Oh," was the only thing the white-haired boy said as he lowered his gaze.

"I'm sorry," Lucy apologized, at length. "Don't get me wrong, Terence; I do love it here in Narnia, with you, Mr. Tumnus, the Beavers, and all the others. But—"

"But you still miss the other place," he filled in the rest. "I understand."

He paused briefly, before going on, "I, myself, have become surprisingly attached to this land and its people, especially you. It's my home, but not my true home, if you know what I mean."

"What about your true home?" questioned Lucy. "What about your family? Will you go back to them?"

There was a look of deep sadness on Terence's face that she rarely saw before.

"I don't have a family," he confessed. "Not like the one you've got, anyway. At least you have your sister and your brothers with you. At least your parents are alive, as far as you know. My mother died when I was very young, and I've never known my father. Where my father roams today, or whether he's still living and breathing, is anybody's guess. As for home, it's not like I had much of a home to go back to. I've never really belonged anywhere."

In spite of herself, Lucy was sorry for Terence. She couldn't imagine living the way he did. When she spoke again, she suggested, "You could belong here. We—all of us—can be your family."

Terence looked at her again, this time with a hint of a smile. "Well," he said, "you have all certainly been like a family to me, I'll tell you that."

He tenderly smoothed her coppery hair as he continued, "You, in particular, have been like the sister I've never had."

Lucy smiled through her tears, touched at the notion that Terence considered her as good as a sister.

She snuggled closer to the white-haired youth, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed his cheek. "I love you, Terence."

"And I love you," he whispered back, and there were now genuine tears swimming in his eyes also. His own lips brushed softly over Lucy's brow, before he enfolded the girl in his arms once more.

She buried her face in the warm crook of his neck, while he rested his chin atop her head, so that the silvery strands of his goatee mingled with the wine-red of her hair.

In the shelter of his arms, Lucy felt her sadness and loneliness slowly ebb away. Even so, she pleaded, "Stay with me, Terence. Will you stay? Please?"

"Of course," he answered, without hesitation. "I'll stay for as long as you want me to."

At length, the young man began to hum a sweet lullaby, and slowly that humming evolved into singing. Terence had a beautiful voice, as beautiful as the music Tumnus produced when he played his flute.

The song he crooned into Lucy's ear as he held her and idly rocked her to and fro wrapped her in a cocoon of warmth, and made her eyelids droop almost at once:

"Hush-a-bye
Don't you cry
Go to sleep, my little baby.
When you wake, you shall have
All the pretty little horses.

"Blacks and bays,
Dapples and grays,
All the pretty little horses."

By the time he'd reached the end, Lucy was already sound asleep, right there in his arms. Her arms had loosened their grip on him, but her head remained in the same spot against his chest. She lay quiescent, her breathing deep and even.

Slowly, gently, Terence rose to his feet, lifting Lucy up with him. He pulled back the blankets a little before laying Lucy down on the soft mattress. He tucked her in, making sure she was snug beneath the quilts, and adjusted one of her pillows a bit.

Then he bent over her to bestow one final kiss upon her cheek, his long, silky bangs brushing over her skin as he did so.

"Sweet dreams, little sister," he whispered affectionately.