Lucy awoke in the middle of the night, and she lay staring at the ceiling in the first confused moments of wakefulness. She didn't quite understand where she was, because the last thing she remembered was being on the couch. After a moment she remembered: Edmund had come in and he had comforted her. He must have helped her into bed. She smiled a little sadly. He was sweet to have comforted her, but she rather wished she didn't need it in the first place. She thought of Peter, and the look on his face, and she rolled onto her side to stare at the wall and try to fall back asleep.

Here she received a surprise. There was a figure sitting in the chair next to her bed. She gasped, but then her eyes adjusted to the wan moonlight, and she saw that it was Peter. He was watching her. She sat up at once.

"Peter!" she said, though her voice was still hoarse with sleepiness, "What are you doing here?"

He looked at his hands in his lap. "I wanted to make sure you were okay," he answered a little haltingly. "Are you?"

She nodded and bit her lip. She wanted to throw her arms around his neck, but she still wasn't sure if he was still mad at her.

He got up and sat on the edge of her bed and looked down at her. Her eyes were now fully adjusted to the light, and she could see that his eyes were very bright and he wore a tender expression. He reached out and pushed her hair off her forehead with a shaking hand.

Now Lucy sat up and flung her arms around him as she had wanted to do. She remembered when he came to save her in the battle and she thought he was beautiful, but now it seemed to her that he was even more so. He was getting older now, and the hair growing on his chin scratched her cheek. She rather liked that. It reminded her of when she was small and she would curl up with him after she had a nightmare and rested her cheek against the starchy cotton of his pajamas. She hugged him as tight as she could and tried very hard not cry.

"Lu," he said, and his voice was very hoarse. "I can't bear to lose you."

"You won't, Peter. You won't. I'll be safe. I've always got you to protect me," she whispered into his neck.

"But I didn't. You almost died. And if you had…" He shook his head and held on tighter to her.

She drew back and looked at him. "It doesn't work like that. It's not all or nothing, that either I watch out for you or you watch out for me. We take care of each other. We all do. That's how we got this far, isn't it?"

"But what you had to do…I never wanted you to have to kill. It's too terrible."

"Peter, do you think I ever wanted to see you kill someone? You are so brave, and so strong, but you weren't ever meant to kill anyone. Not you or Edmund. But you do, to protect Narnia and us. And so I did, to protect you." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, brushing the tears away impatiently. "I hated it. I hated every moment of it, and I was so scared. But I set out to protect you, and I did." She shook her head. "I won't stop. I'll follow you every time I'm worried if I have to, even if it means disobeying you. You won't ever go alone."

Peter regarded her for a long moment, and Lucy bit her lip, worried that he might get angry again. His face remained impassive, and he got up and paced a bit at the foot of her bed. "I can't bear this. I can protect Narnia, and I'd gladly lay down my life for any of you. To think of you doing the same is too awful." Lucy opened her mouth, but Peter cut her off. "Yet I'm beginning to see I'm lucky enough to have you care about me the same way. Maybe it's not fair of me to say you can't come. Maybe…maybe none of us should go alone. Not you, or me, or Edmund, or Susan, if she ever fights."

Lucy nodded. "That's how we saved this country. We helped each other. And Aslan helped us."

He looked at her and nodded. Then after a long moment he said, "I brought you something," and he went over to the chair he had been sitting in and reached behind it. He withdrew a bow and a quiver of arrows, almost (but not quite) as fine as Susan's. "You'll be needing these the next time you ride off. To protect us. Perhaps that's what Father Christmas meant when he said you were only to fight in the greatest need." He sat down next to her and handed her the gifts.

Lucy looked at them fondly and put them aside in favor of cuddling up next to her brother. "I couldn't lose you. I couldn't, Peter," she said tearfully, resting her head on his shoulder.

He smiled a little and kissed her forehead. "You won't. Because I have you to watch over me."