Kate, rather than Cecy, from the Enchanted Chocolate Pot Series (Wrede and Stevemere). Cecy is the driver, the inquisitive one who pokes and prods but Kate is the quiet power, stroinger than anyone expects and despite trailing hairpins behind her, she's the one who steps up to take up the mantle (or shawl, I suppose) of her power to protect her own.

and because I can't stop at one...

For TV, Dani Reese of Life (two seasons) who faced down Charlie Crews and earned his respect before he came close to earning hers, who handled oddball cases and an odder partner but also screwed up her own life royally and she knew it. She rescues herself, she gets rescued, she rescues.