Well, it took a couple months, but I've finally finished this. I had major problems writing this chapter: procrastination, writer's block, and a false start plagued me. And then, when it finally took off on its own, I didn't have internet for several days. I probably would have posted this sooner if that hadn't happened. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this final chapter of Big Brother!
As befit her personality, Lucy was born in the spring. The sun was shining brightly and the first of the year's flowers were in bloom the day she came into the world.
Peter and Susan were beside themselves with excitement the day she came home. While they were waiting for their parents to arrive with Lucy, Susan carefully brought all of her favorite dolls and stuffed animals into the living room and arranged them on the sofa and floor to show her new sister. Peter, on the other hand, could not stay occupied with any activity that his grandparents set before him and was constantly running back and forth from the living room to the kitchen, with several variations of one question on his tongue: "Are they home yet? When will they get home? Are they almost home now?" Soon, the part of the living room floor that was not occupied by Susan's dolls and stuffed animals was littered with open picture books, several unfinished drawings, two half-done block towers, and various toy cars. There was even a tangle of uncooked macaroni noodles and red yarn spider-webbing over George Pevensie's chair by the fireplace.
Finally, Peter's grandparents became tired of his behavior when he bowled Edmund over during one high speed run into the kitchen, nearly knocking his toddling brother against the hot stove. Peter was scooped up by his grandfather, carried into the living room, and plopped into one of two wooden chairs by a small table. His grandfather then pulled a puzzle off a nearby shelf and proceeded to scatter the pieces across the table. Peter's attention was instantly caught; puzzles were something special that he did only with his grandfather. He grinned and began helping his grandfather flip the colorful puzzle pieces so that they all faced up.
However, after about ten minutes of putting the puzzle together, the sound of the front door opening echoed through the house. Peter's hand froze in mid-air where it was about to fit a piece into the puzzle, and Susan's breath caught in her throat. Their grandfather watched in amusement as the siblings' heads slowly swiveled towards each other and they shared a look of wide-eyed excitement. For a moment, the room was completely silent, except for the sound of the ticking grandfather clock in the corner. But it was a short moment, for as soon as the cry of "We're home!" rang out, the room erupted into a flurry of movement and sound.
Susan squealed and rushed for the living room door while Peter jumped down from his chair, knocking it over and sweeping half of the puzzle pieces off the table in the process. The two children made a beeline for their parents and Lucy. George picked Susan up and swung her around in the air while Peter wrapped his arms around Annaleigh's waist.
"Hello, darling," Annaleigh said softly, smiling gently down at Peter.
Peter smiled brightly back to her, but he was soon distracted by the small wiggling bundle in Annaleigh's arms. He withdrew his arms from around her waist but kept his eyes on Lucy as Susan ran at their mother and hugged her legs tightly.
Susan also stared at Lucy when she backed away from Annaleigh, and soon her curiosity got the better of her. In the midst of the greetings that the grownups exchanged, Susan lifted up her voice loudly.
"Is that her?" She questioned her mother, a chubby finger pointing at the baby in question.
This struck her parents and grandparents as funny, so the room erupted in laughter. Annaleigh, struggling to keep hers in and not succeeding very well, said between giggles, "Yes, dear, this is Lucy."
Arms now crossed and an indignant 'how dare you laugh at me' look on her face, Susan spoke again. "I want to hold her."
Annaleigh nodded her assent as the other adults got their laughter under control, and the group moved to the living room. She raised an eyebrow as she surveyed the mess that encompassed the room and looked at her father-in-law for explanation. He mouthed one word, "Peter", and the light of understanding came into her eyes. Mouth twitching and eyes twinkling, Annaleigh helped Susan get situated on the couch with Lucy while Peter hovered close by.
George stared at the tangle of yarn and noodles covering his chair, squinting and tilting his head, unsure what to make of it. Finally, he shrugged and sat down in the middle of it, directing a question to Susan as he did so. "What do you think of your new sister?"
Susan seemed enraptured by Lucy. "She's adorable," She answered, using the same word she had used for Edmund over a year ago. Then she looked up, a puzzled expression on her face. "But why is she so bald?"
This earned another round of chuckles from the grandparents and a loud guffaw from George.
"Oh, the honesty of children," said Annaleigh, smiling widely as she removed Lucy from Susan's arms. Susan slid off the couch with a pout on her face, annoyed that the adults kept laughing at the questions she asked.
Peter eagerly took Susan's place on the couch and reached out his arms for Lucy. Annaleigh carefully transferred Lucy from her arms to his, and Peter was finally holding his youngest sibling for the first time. As soon as Peter tightened his embrace around her, Lucy's eyes flew open and Grandmother Pevensie gasped.
"She has the bluest eyes I have ever seen!" she exclaimed.
"Yes," Annaleigh said fondly. "I believe they're even brighter than Peter's were at her age."
Grandmother Pevensie leaned closer to Lucy, intently studying her face. "Do you think she'll keep them?"
Peter looked up at his grandmother. "I hope she does," he said.
As his mother and grandmother glanced at each other and shared a smile, Peter looked back down at Lucy. He began tracing her face, much like he had with Susan about four years back. He smiled as he felt the top of her head. Susan had been wrong, he discovered. Lucy was not bald; she had soft, downy, light blonde fuzz covering her head.
Lucy was still awake, but her eyes were starting to slowly blink and stay closed longer and longer. Finally, when they blinked shut and stayed that way, Peter kissed his sleeping sister's button nose and said, "Welcome to our family, Lucy."
Peter quickly slipped into the role of the protective and loving big brother to his new sister. Not to say that he wasn't already that way with Edmund and Susan, but he kicked it up a notch with Lucy. There was something about her that made him feel as though they had a special connection.
Edmund, on the other hand, seemed to be experiencing some of the jealousy that sometimes arises among young children when their parents bring a new sibling home. Whenever Annaleigh held Lucy and Edmund caught sight of her, the one-year-old would toddle over as fast as he could to his mother and reach up to be held. If Annaleigh happened to be sitting at the time, Edmund would attempt to crawl up onto her lap, and, if he succeeded, would snuggle close to her and stare at Lucy with an almost triumphant expression on his face. If, however, he didn't succeed in climbing up onto Annaleigh's lap, he would flop on the floor and start whimpering. Sometimes, he turned it into a full-fledged temper-tantrum and if it got bad enough, Annaleigh had to set Lucy down and carry Edmund from the room. Peter was always close by whenever this happened, and, more often than not, was able to hold Lucy whenever Edmund had a jealousy-prompted hissy fit. However, a couple of times Annaleigh could have sworn Peter did something to Edmund to work him up more and prompt him to scream louder.
"It's as though Peter can't get enough time with Lucy," Annaleigh remarked to her mother-in-law one night when the two grandparents were visiting. "When Susan was a baby, he loved being around her, but he was just a little child himself, so there was none of this obsessive behavior."
Grandmother Pevensie smiled. "I suppose it runs in the family. It's been a long time since you were Peter's age, but I can remember visiting your mother when you were little and seeing you behave in quite the same way when Harold was born."
Annaleigh opened her mouth and began to respond, but was interrupted by Peter and Susan racing into the room.
"Look, Mummy! Look, look!" squealed Susan. She shoved a pink stuffed bunny half as big as she was into Annaleigh's lap. "Grandfather gave it to me!"
Peter plopped down on the floor next to where Lucy lay on a blanket and began dumping out the contents of a medium sized box in front of him. "Grandfather gave me soldiers." His eyes lit on one of the small figures in front of him and he set it aside, separate from the rest. "And a princess," he added in slight disgust.
Grandmother Pevensie and Annaleigh squinted at the figurine. Sure enough, with its rosy cheeks and lips, elaborate hairstyle, tiara, and long flowing gown, it couldn't be taken for anything other than a princess.
"That must have been put in the box by accident," remarked Grandmother Pevensie.
"But Peter, dear," said Annaleigh. "Don't the soldiers need someone to protect?"
Peter's busy hands stilled for a moment, and his eyes shifted from the two toy soldiers grasped in his fingers to the toy princess that lay alone on the floor. He shrugged and said, "I suppose." He dropped one of the soldiers he held and set the princess upright on Lucy's blanket, then proceeded to designate half of the soldiers as "bad" soldiers while he arranged the rest around the princess. He was well into his new game when one of Lucy's hands waved through the air and knocked half the soldiers over. No sooner had he set them up again than Lucy's hand once again swept through the air and, this time, alighted on the princess. Lucy grasped the toy and waved it around before bringing it to her mouth and sucking on the princess' frilly gown.
Peter sputtered for a moment, annoyed that his game had been interrupted once more, and reached for the princess, pulling it from Lucy's firm grasp. Then, he paused, his gaze moving back and forth between Lucy and the toy princess. Annaleigh had been watching from across the room as the scene unfolded, and she hid a smile as Peter handed the princess back to Lucy.
"You keep her," he said as his sister pulled the toy close. "She looks a bit like you, anyway." He smiled at Lucy as she gurgled and kicked her little feet, then he returned to playing with the toy soldiers.
"Come on, men!" he exclaimed, giving voice to one of the toys as he arranged them on the blanket around his baby sister. "We must protect the princess at all costs!" Peter grabbed one of Lucy's chubby fists, the one tightly clutching the princess doll, and kissed it tenderly. "Princess Lucy." And with that, he began a mission; one that would span lifetimes and worlds…a mission to protect the princess, the future Queen.
Wow, I can't believe it's done. :( I'm going to miss this story, but I'm considering writing more about the young Pevensies...what do my readers think? Should I? You can tell me...in a REVIEW! :) I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed this story for me. Your kind comments were so encouraging and brought many smiles to my face.
And as to reviewing this chapter...I have several reasons why you should. 1. As I said earlier, reviews are encouraging, 2. They can help an author improve certain areas of his/her writing, and 3. Tomorrow's my birthday! So you can consider your review as your own, personal birthday gift to me! Okay, I know that isn't really a good reason to review, but I just had to put that in there. :) And don't ask how old I'll be; I probably won't tell you. Besides, it's rude to ask a Lady her age! :)
Anyway, thanks for reading my story! May Aslan bless you all! -Lady Jill Pole