Kate Marsh woke with a start, weary eyes opening with a jolt as a steady stream of curses filled the air.
Initially, she thought that the disruption had come from some of the hospital's staff- that is, until she realized the noise was coming from behind her.
The blonde grew still and listened in on the conversation with both curiosity and vague anxiety, hoping that whoever had entered intended no harm.
Upon listening though, she realized that the voices belonged to none other than Chloe Price and Max Caulfield, and at the realization she released her tension. Evidently the duo hadn't noticed her flinch, as they were bickering in hushed tones.
"I said to be careful, Che! You'll wake her up if you keep falling off the damn chair," the voice belonged to Max, whose voice was laced with irritation and mild amounts of fear. "Not to mention the hospital security. I do inot/i feel like being arrested for trying to spread the Christmas joy. Especially since this is-"
"Yeah, yeah. Kate's favorite holiday. I know, Max Attack. It's hard to forget that cute little smile she gets whenever December rolls around. It sucks that she's stuck in here." Chloe cut in, and based on the ruffling of her clothes Kate assumed the bluenette had risen from her fallen position.
"Which is why we're doing this, remember? Now, since you've clearly taken the position of World's Clumsiest Punk," the brunette chimed, fumbling around with what Kate imagined to be Christmas decorations. "Move over. I'm gonna put the star on the tree."
The duo shuffled and tumbled around, and given the volume of their movement Kate took the opportunity to flip onto her other side and watch her girlfriends clumsily decorate the tree.
The sight that meet her gaze was definitely a hilarious one, and adorable now that she thought about it.
Chloe was holding Max up on her shoulders while the scrawny photographer leaned forward and shakily put the golden, glittery star up on the tree's top- what little light that came through the blinds struck the shiny star and lit up the room with a thousand smaller specks, giving Kate a better view of Max's attire.
That's where the hilarious bit came in.
Max Caulfield was festive, true, but she never- NEVER wore costumes, with the exception of Halloween given the circumstances.
But now, trying to get down from Chloe's shoulders, the hipster adorned a cute little outfit. A headband was affixed to her hair, blending in with ease among her ruffled brown locks, and welded to it was a set of silver antlers (curving so the ends pointed to one another) and two rounded deer ears (a pale brown that easily stuck out against the darker shading of her hair).
And on top of that, as Kate soon realized with a closer examination, Max had a small red nose painted on her face and a small tail attached to the back of her jeans.
Kate found herself smiling gleefully, aware that the brunette had worn the costume to cheer her up.
Eventually Max managed to climb down from her perch, giving a small huff as she did. Chloe snickered in response and the two cared on for a while, wrapping tinsel around the tree before hanging a few ornaments as well.
(Kate couldn't tell from where she was, but she was fairly certain a few of them were painted on by Chloe and Max respectively; cute little designs and well wishes scrawled on white and silver balls.)
Eventually Chloe walked off to get the lights and complete their work, and Kate debated revealing her consciousness- but, sure enough, fate had one more little punchline in store for the night.
"Hey Maxipad- catch!" Chloe whisper-shouted to her partner in crime, tossing the strong of lights towards the photographer.
Max had just turned when the lights sailed towards her, and she yelped out in surprise before stumbling back.
The room was silent for a second and Max found herself tangled in a mess of wires and lights, the look of shock and confusion melting into fury as she shot Chloe a glare.
Chloe was clutching her stomach and holding a hand firmly over her mouth, muffled laughter coming in low tones as Max scowled.
"Glad you think this is funny, you ass! Now help me get this damn thing off before she wakes up."
Kate decided now would be a good moment to reveal herself, muffling her own laughter and hiding her grin with her hand. The sheets swished against each other as she sat up, prompting her lovers to whip around and face her with surprise etched across their respective features.
"Kate, how long have you been awake?! I'm SO sorry if we woke you up, babe." Chloe was the first to speak, moving in strides towards the blonde before wrapping her up in a hug.
Max quickly joined them, though her pace was slowed be the wires dangling precariously around her.
"Ever since you fell off the chair earlier, but it's fine. It was fun to watch you two work." Kate shot both of them a smile, which they returned without hesitation. "I do have a question though..." she continued, narrowing her eyes slightly to squint at them both.
"Shoot." Max replied, her blue eyes gleaming with curiosity.
"How did you two get in here without alerting security?"
Chloe and Max stilled at that, giving one another sideways glances before Max decided to reply.
"Well, we iare/i the Blackwell ninjas. I'm a sneaking pro and Chloe is good at finding out patrol routes."
Kate shook her head at their antics, then yawned into her palm before sliding back under the sheets.
"Alright then. I'm going back to bed; we can pretend I didn't wake up. Try not to let security catch you whenever you leave."
"Night then, babe." Chloe responded, giving Kate a small kiss on the cheek while Max pressed a quick kiss to her forehead.
With that Kate drifted off, a smile still stretched on her face while her girlfriends sat beside her.
And when she woke up in the morning, she found the two of them seated at her bedside, snoozing peacefully while sunlight and Christmas lights covered the room.