She'd come out her bed screaming, so charged with fear and terror that her door slammed open and her windows shattered from the amount of magic that just came out of her. She heard feet running and Peter and Jenny tore into the room, wands out and eyes alert. "What was it?" Jenny asked. Peter took in the sight of her sitting in bed, blanket knotted around her legs, and red hair tousled. "Nightmare." He walked to the edge of her bed. "Jenny, can you get her something to drink? Anything will work, but she needs to be calmed down." Jenny left and he reached out to her.
"Chris?"
She turned, eyes wide with fear. "Gone. All gone."
He sat down, peeling her hands off the blankets. "What happened?" Chris blinked away tears. "I saw them dying."
"Who?" He rubbed her hands between his own.
"All my family."
She moved to brush her hair back from her face, and he caught her hand as it came down. "You've hurt yourself again." A razor thin line of blood had welled up along the side of her hand. "I must've brushed against my knife." She gestured to the hilt that stuck out from underneath her pillow. He used the edge of his shirt to wipe the blood off and her hands curled away from brushing against his stomach.
He uncurled her stiff hands and held them. "I know they're gone." He met her eyes and stared into hers. "You know they're gone. Why do you have nightmares?"
"Fear."
"Of what?" She swallowed hard and whispered so low that he couldn't understand her, cleared her throat and spoke again.
"Scared of losing others." The tip of her finger glided over his wrist and they stared down at their hands.
"You have nothing to fear. We are getting smarter about the people who are trying to kill us."
Jenny came back, accompanied by Peter's father, head of the Defenders. "Are you alright child?" She swung around and let her feet dangle to the floor. "Tired." He swept her into a tight bear-hug and then looked at her shadowed eyes. She quietly drank the cold water that Jenny had brought her, and waited for him to speak. "Christina, do you know how many younger Defenders there are now?"
"Six, sir."
"All of you have leave for tomorrow. Go to the beach. This is the third one of you six to have nightmares lately. Stress is making us careless." He left and they looked at each other."Do you want us to stay here?' Jenny asked. "No. I'll be okay." Jenny and Peter left and blew out the candles on the way out. But a few minutes later, her door creaked open and she could just make out a dark shadow sitting down in the chair next to the door. Peter settled down into the chair and she smiled in the darkness. "Thank you."
The day had been beautiful, and one that she kept close to her heart for a very long time. They spent most of the day in the sea, enjoying the complete lack of duty. They had bonfire and didn't come home until almost midnight. It was at the beach that Jenny had taken pictures of everyone. Chris' favorite was one that she had talked a passing Muggle into taking, of them running out of the ocean.
It had been the final moment of peace, because the next day, Jenny had died on the way to get her pictures developed. Shot twice with a Muggle gun in the back, and left to die in an alley. Jeff had found her when he came to pick her up. It had been a somber group that had gathered that next night.
