I got nothin'. Thanks goes out to Amber Stag and Mandy of the Amoeba.

No spirit could win me
No hope left within me
Hope I could have loved her
and that she'd set me free
But it's not to be
If I can't love her
Let the world be done with me.
If I Can't Love Her (Beauty and the Beast: The Broadway Musical)

Charming hesitated. For once in his life, given an order by his mother, he hesitated.

Never mind the fact that she was supposed to be dead.

Never mind the fact that she was here in Narnia, attacking the guards.

Never mind the fact that he liked it here.

He did.

He liked everything about this place. The land itself was amazing. The creatures here begged for more exploration, and the ways of life here, he finally realized, were exactly what he loved. Chivalry, honor, protecting people. Just what the knight's code of honor was, in it's heart of hearts. Just like what he'd forgotten, he thought, flushing with shame and not a little guilt. The people were amazingly polite, and the company was fantastic. The company. Lucy, Eustace, Laslareen, even Doris.

His throat closed. Especially Doris.

He turned around and found her behind the lines of Narnian guards, huddled together with Lucy and Jill and the other Narnian rulers, whispering furiously. She looked up and met his eyes, and then looked back at the others. She didn't look back, but the flash of longing he'd seen in her eyes was clear.

Charming looked back up at his mother, who was glaring furiously, at him, waiting for him to extend a hand.

"No," he said simply.

"Good, let's-" She'd been turning around, and now her head snapped back towards him. "What?"

"I said no," he said. He was proud of the fact that his voice quavered only a little.

"That's what I thought," she growled, and flew towards him, wings buzzing furiously. Her outline began to blaze with pink sparkles, making her so very, very bright...

A shadow interspersed itself between Charming and his mother just as he struggled to clear his sword from the sheath, and he squinted, trying to figure out just whose shadow it was silhouetted against the pink glow of his mother's magic.

"Goodness," he heard Lucy gasp.

"Back off, fairy," a deep voice growled.

His sword slid out of its sheath with a rasp, and he held it straight and proud, stepping out from behind the wall of woman.

He took his sword in a two handed grasp and gazed up at his mother, not three feet away, glaring at both him and the stepsister.

"Mummy, you've been grooming me for a high post all my life, and you've been controlling every move I've ever made. You wanted me to marry a princess. The princesses are happy with who they're with, and I'm happy with what I've got. I don't need a kingdom, and I don't need a princess, and I don't need royalty. I've got friends who are royalty, and I've got friends who aren't royalty. But I'm happy with them. I'm happy here. I'm not going home."

His mother looked at him, and her eyes softened.

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

Charming nodded.

"Well then," she said, looking both miffed and tired.

Mummy put her wand away and zipped over to Edmund. She now wore a grin at least as big as that of the legendary Alice Cat. "So I hear your kingdom needs a fairy godmother?"

"So why'd you do it?" Doris asked as they trudged along one of the paths winding among the rocks below Cair Paravel.

Charming shrugged. "I had an epiphany. I don't need to go back to Far Far Away or Tyme Ago or any of the other lands. I'm happy here."

"Oh," Doris said.

"Oh? I just stood up to my mother, and all you can say is 'Oh'?"

Doris shrugged. "I stood up to my mother years ago when she told me to lock Cinderella in the basement with that traveling Bard. It's not that hard." She paused. "But I'm proud of you."

"Thanks," he said.

They rounded a corner, and Caspian stepped out from behind a large rock. Before Charming could jump away, Caspian grabbed his shoulder with one hand and clapped him hard on the back with the other.

"Good show, Charming," he chuckled. "Now I see what Doris sees in you."

He turned to Doris. "My Lady, would you mind giving me a few moments of privacy with Charming?"

"Sure," Doris said, stepping away. She vanished back up the way they had come, and Caspian led Charming down the path towards the gently pounding surf.

"Well," he began over his shoulder as Charming followed him down the sloped path.

"She seems set to stay here," Caspian said.

"Uh-huh," Charming agreed.

"So do you, apparently."

Charming shrugged.

"I've been sent to tell you that you have our permission to stay here in Narnia and keep lodging in Cair Paravel as long as you like."

"R-really?" Charming asked, surprised.

"Yes. However..."

Charming didn't like the sound of that however.

"Your mother, on the other hand..."

"Spit it out," Charming said.

"May not. Narnia does not allow magic to be worked here save the work and miracles of Aslan. Your mother will either have to give up her magic or return to your homeland."

"Oh my god," Charming said.

"What is it?" Caspian asked curiously.

"I think I love you," the knight said.

Caspian lurched away, looking alarmed. "What?"

"It's an expression," Charming said quickly. He wouldn't have thought Caspian to be quite a homophobe.

"Oh," Caspian said, still looking uneasy.

"I was just relieved that my mother wasn't going to be allowed to remain here."

"She won't give up her magic?" Caspian asked, sounding intrigued.

"Are you kidding?" Charming asked, surprised. "Magic is her life."

"I see," Caspian said.

"So that's what you needed to tell me."

"And you sent Doris away why?"

Caspian shrugged. "Plot device."

"Sounds good to me."

Charming looked up. Doris was almost to the castle now, high on the winding path above them.

In a split second, he made a decision that would undoubtedly change both of their lives.

"Caspian?" he asked quietly, looking out at the sun setting far across the ocean, turning the waves the deep red of heart's blood.

"Hmm?"

"About Doris..."

"Hmm?"

"Since she doesn't really have any family," Charming began hesitantly, "Would you mind if I..."

"Yes?" Caspian asked, turning around and propping himself up on the rock.

"King Caspian the Tenth of Narnia, would you give me your permission to court the Lady Doris Renoir?"

Caspian smiled.

"You'll be all right here?" Mummy asked, and Charming nodded.

His mother looked gloomy, and then brightened. "I'll come and visit every few months, alright?"

"Okay," Charming said, and helped her into the carriage.

"Do you still want me to send you snackie-wackies every week?" she asked, looking at him, lower lip trembling.

"No, Mummy. I'll be fine."

She closed the door, eyes sparkling.

Charming leaned in through the window. "Some snacks every month or two might be nice," he admitted into her ear.

She smiled. "That's my boy."

"I love you Mummy," he said.

"I love you too, Prince," she said, using his childhood nickname.

She tapped on the front of the carriage, signaling the driver, and when Charming pulled his head out, the carriage shot off in a flurry of magic sparkles. He watched it vanish into the clouds over the brightly lit sea, still trailing pink sparks from its wheels.

A few hours later, Doris found him still standing in the middle of the courtyard where his mother's carriage had been, eyes still searching the now-late evening sky.

The moon, lying huge and low on the western horizon, probably killed any chances he had of spotting anything in the sky, let alone a carriage that was probably back in Far Far Away by now, but he still looked as though he sought out a distant speck.

Her heels tapped over the cobblestones, but he still didn't look at her. When she put a hand on his shoulder he finally tore his gaze away from the sky, only to look out at the sea.

"You okay?" she asked, and he finally looked down at her and nodded.

"I'm fine," he said.

"You sure?"

"I'm sure," he said.

There was a somewhat awkward silence.

"Can I ask you something?" he said, seemingly nervous

"Uh, sure," she said cautiously. He was probably going to mention Lasaraleen or something now, she thought.

"Do you hate me?" he asked, blowing that train of thought out of the water.

"N-no," she said. "Why would you ask something like that?"

Charming looked around like he was looking for someone. Doris followed his gaze, but when she saw no one, she suddenly realized how close Charming was.

"Anything else you'd like to know?" she said, trying to sound like she wanted to go back inside.

There was a gentle touch on her hand and she almost jumped. Charming's slightly damp fingers were entwining with her own, and she didn't know what to think.

"C-Charming?" she asked nervously, wondering what kind of game he was playing.

"Do you still think you love me?" he asked, and she could see that he was at least as nervous as she was.

She wanted to say no, but the fluttering in her stomach and the dying sick feeling she'd felt when she'd thought about Lasaraleen said otherwise.

"Yeah," she said honestly.

"Good," he said.

Then he kissed her under the moonlight.