A/N: this is mostly drabble. I've had this bouncing around in my head for some time and decided to put it down. There's not a lot of context leading up to it, but if you guys like it I may write multiple chapters.
Setting: 1 month after the children return home from the country.
Background: Peter and his mother have been quietly and subtly battling for authority since the children all returned home from Professor Kirk's house in the country. It hasn't been spoken of explicitly until this moment, only quiet admonishments and side comments from their mother when she thinks Peter is going a little too far.
I don't own Narnia!
"Leave me ALONE!" Peter froze, hearing his little brother's roar pierce through the quiet house. He immediately rose from his desk and hurried toward the sitting room and the sound of his mother's voice and Edmund's agitated shouting in response. "I already told you I don't want to!" he was yelling. He pounced his hand on the arm of the chair he sat in. "So come off it! Just go! Leave me alone!"
"Edmund." The boy stiffened upon hearing Peter's voice. His mother turned from where she stood in front of him, looking bewildered. "What's going on?" Peter demanded.
"She wants me to go to market with her and Lucy and I already told her over and over that I'm not going!"
"I only want you to breathe some fresh air, Edmund!" his mother exclaimed. "You've been cooped up in this house for weeks!"
"I'm not going!"
"Hey." Peter's tone was authoritative. "You do not shout at her like that. Apologize to Mum." Edmund scowled, his eyes flashing from Peter to his mother and back again. "Right now," he added when Edmund said nothing.
"'m sorry," Edmund mumbled at last, not making eye contact with her.
"No, do better than that," Peter pushed. "Look her in the eye and apologize for shouting at her."
"Peter, that's not--"
"No, Mum, it's unacceptable. Edmund. Say you're sorry and do it right." Finally, Edmund forced himself to look at his mother. Jaw set rigidly, he managed,
"I am sorry for shouting at you."
Then, he turned to Peter. "There. Happy?" Peter raised his eyebrows at him.
"Alright. If that's how it's going to be. Upstairs right now."
"Peter!" Their mother admonished.
"Go." Ignoring her, Peter nodded towards the staircase. "Now. Up to our room, Edmund. I'll be in after you in a few minutes." Edmund sat for a moment, then bit his lip before rising, turning on his heel and taking the stairs loudly. When Peter cleared his throat, he stopped in his tracks, then finished his way up the stairs quietly. Peter didn't like it when he stomped.
"Peter Collin!" came their mother's gasp of astonished rebuke. "What do you think you're doing?! You are not his parent!"
"Yes, I am, actually," Peter spun around to face her. Her mouth gaped open in surprise. His eyes bore into hers, hard and challenging. "I'm as good as."
She gasped. "How dare you!"
"I am," he insisted. "I raised them while we were in the country, Mum. Literally, I did. Comforted them, took care of them, disciplined them. I made hard decisions for their good that made them hate me sometimes, I sat up with Edmund and Lucy at night when they couldn't sleep, I was able to teach Edmund to stop bullying Lucy--"
"Oh, yes, by bullying him back, isn't that correct? Asserting your authority until he cowers and submits?"
"Did that," Peter pointed up the stairs, "look like cowering to you, Mum?"
"He practically ran from you! He--"
"He obeyed, Mum." Peter was desperately trying not to raise his voice. "He obeyed me. They obey me because we love each other and they trust me not to take advantage." His mother scoffed.
"Listen to you. My 15 year old boy trying to sound like he is a seasoned father of three. How would Daddy feel if he heard you talking like this?"
"I'd hope proud," Peter answered her softly. "Proud that he raised his eldest well enough to step in for him in his absence."
"You have not stepped in for him!" His mother was on the verge of tears. "You will never replace him!"
"But that's not what I said, is it, Mum?" She was looking at him so wildly and desperately that he almost wanted to give her a hug. "No one can ever replace Dad. Of course they can't. I would never dream of trying." He stepped towards her. "But I can do my absolute best to still give Edmund and Lucy some semblance of a father's guidance and love while he's away. Not Dad's love," he stressed slowly, "but a father's love. They are my little siblings, after all. Don't they deserve that? Isn't it my duty?" He reached for his mother's hands as tears spilled down her face and gathered in his own. "You...you asked me to look after them, Mumma," he said, voice wavering the slightest bit. He searched her face with his eyes, begging her to understand. "Isn't this what you wanted?" His mother wrenched a hand out of his grasp and dabbed at her eyes. "And...I'm 16, Mum," he added, almost in a whisper. "Had my birthday in the winter."
"I don't like you attempting to discipline the younger children," her voice shook as she tried to retain her dignity. She made no acknowledgement of his comment about his birthday. "It is not appropriate."
"You're welcome to take over any time," he replied evenly. His mother reeled back before shooting forward and grabbed his chin.
"Do not dare give me permission to do as I see fit with my children, Peter Collin Pevensie!" she hissed. "You speak completely out of line, young man!"
"Mum. All I'm saying is that they're probably not going to let you. We'ven't seen you in a year," he reminded her gently. "They're accustomed to my discipline."
"Oh, and what is that?" His mother scoffed coldly. "Don't tell me you mean to say that you actually get away with putting one of them in a corner or spanking them."
"Actually, I do," Peter nodded. "Both of those things. In fact, I'm about to go up and give Edmund a spanking for speaking to you that way. He knows better than to be disrespectful."
"How--" his mother seemed dumbstruck. "How on earth can you talk like this? How do the younger ones allow it? How does Susan allow it? You can't possibly tell me that Susan is compliant with this...this...arrangement."
"I am," Having been listening just around the corner out of sight, Susan stepped into the sitting room from behind her mother. "I am, Mum. You must believe me when I tell you that Peter has done us no harm. Only ever good. The discipline comes when it is earned."
"Darling, how can you talk of discipline? You and he have barely a year of age between you!"
"And what of it?" Susan crossed the room and stood at Peter's side. "He's still my older brother and he still took us in charge during our time in Na--in the country. Never has he done us any harm. He took...takes...care of us." Their mother seemed to be at a compete loss for words. She simply pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose and shook her head, then shook it again.
"Talk to them, Mum," Peter suggested. "Lucy, Susan," he gestured towards her, "Ed. I need to go up to him; he's expecting me. But talk to them if you're really that concerned. You'll see. I'm not hurting him, any of them. I would never." He started toward the stairs.
"No. No," their mother spoke forcefully. "I will not allow this. It is not appropriate and it is much too much responsibility on your shoulders that does not belong to you."
"Oh, now that we're back and you expect everything to magically go back to normal, it's too much?" Peter snapped, finally growing tired of the back and forth. He whirled back around to face her. Susan's eyes widened next to him and she looped her hand through his arm, holding him steady. "Try a year ago when I was called out of class and never went back to school because I needed to pack my things! How about when I got to break the news to Susan and Lucy because you were too upset to tell them yourself?! It was too much responsibility then, Mum!" His jaw was set; his nostrils flared. Susan increased the pressure on his arm, hoping he would take it as a warning. "It was too much when you shipped us off two days later! And yet, you still asked me to take care of them and I did. And damn well."
"Peter!" Their mother gasped.
"It's not too much now," he added forcefully. "I've settled, I've taken responsibility for them, and I'm going to continue doing it whether you allow it or not. I owe it to them. They need me. They needed me then and they're not going to stop needing me now that we've been uprooted again and are back home."
"I think Ed and Lucy might actually need you more than ever, now," Susan added quietly.
"I love them," Peter was shaking a little. "I love them, Mum. I would never hurt them. But I'm not going to step back from my role now because it makes you uncomfortable. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that it's like this. But it would not be loving to detatch myself from them now when they have grown to expect me to guide and...and parent them." He leaned in and put his hand on Susan's cheek quickly, as if to say thanks, then stepped back towards the stairs. "Ask yourself what you expected, Mum," he added as he began to back up the stairs. "You asked me to promise you I'd look after them. And whether or not you agree, this is what Dad would want." And he turned, taking the rest of the stairs two at a time, leaving his mother standing next to Susan, utterly speechless.
A/N: What did you guys think? Do I continue this? Do I add flashbacks and such for context and write about them coming home and settling? Do I expand on Peter's relationship with his mother? I would love any and all thoughts you may have. :)
-Cas xx
