when eliza woke, it was still dark outside. she was still on the floor, her legs on james's chest and her head resting against thomas's hip. her hand was wrapped in her younger sister's grip.

groaning softly, eliza pulled her hand away and stood, stepping over peggy to get to the bathroom, closing the door behind her with a soft click.

when she re-emerged, she found her sister staring up at her with wide eyes.

"did i wake you?" eliza mouthed.

peggy responded by tapping one finger against the bathroom door. ah. so that was what had woken her up. "sorry," eliza hissed.

peggy nodded, rolling over and curling into a fight ball. eliza smiled, then settled herself down between james and thomas again.

as she closed her eyes, she put her head on james's chest and laid her legs over thomas's before falling back into a peaceful slumber.

· · ·

when she woke for the second time, peggy and james were both gone, and she now had a blanket under her head. smiling softly, she moved her legs off of thomas, who rolled over and curled into a fight ball. then she sat up and immediately laid back down in an attempt to ease the pounding in her head. it didn't help.

she pushed herself up into a sitting position, groaning slightly. when the headache didn't get any worse, she slowly stood and, after covering thomas with the blanket, made her way into the kitchen, where she was immediately bombarded by both peggy.

"here's an aspirin and some water and breakfast is on the table." how peggy was managing to smile so brightly was beyond eliza. he sister had easily drunk twice as much as any of them, yet seemed to be functioning the best.

quickly swallowing the pill, eliza sat at the table next to james, who was sitting with his head on the table. she lightly tapped his shoulder, and he grunted, confirming that he felt about as good as she did. thankfully, though, the aspirin was already kicking in, and she managed to eat a few bites of the eggs peggy had prepared.

she was just about to start cleaning up when thomas walked in, looking far worse than any of them. his usually fluffy hair was drooping and tangled, probably from sleeping on the floor, and his shirt was somehow on backward. he looked as though eliza could poke him, and he would drop dead.

peggy noticed, and smirked as she handed him two aspirin and a glass of water, then directed him to the table.

eliza hurried to the sink, hiding her smile as she washed her dishes. but thomas knew.

"don't laugh at me, lizzy," he muttered, just loud enough for her to hear. "it's not my fault i've done a lot of things."

eliza's lip trembled with the effort of holding back a retort, but it didn't matter. peggy beat her to it.

"actually, thomas, i think it is," she smirked, setting a plate of eggs in front of him. "but whatever you say."

he just grunted.

· · ·

"well, i can take some of these back to my apartment, although you'll have to let me know what's what."

"they're labeled, pegster."

after breakfast, they all seemed to be doing better, even thomas, and now they were trying to figure out what to do with eliza's things.

"i totally knew that," peggy fibbed as she turned the box around, reading the label as thomas read his box aloud.

"unmentionables," he muttered. "do i even want to know?"

"just my underwear, that's all." eliza laughed out loud, lifting another box to balance it on her head. it stayed for a quick second, but soon collapsed into eliza's arms, spilling out two sheets of paper. james hurriedly picked them up as she set the box down.

"ooh, what are- plane tickets?" he frowned, glancing from eliza to the papers.

eliza shrugged, buying her lip. "ah. al- alexander and i were going to go on a trip," she muttered. "to south carolina. for our three year anniversary... i-" she let out a choked sound.

"i thought he might propose there."

there was an awkwardly sympathetic pause before eliza cleared her throat.

"but!" she said, forcing a cheerful smile and lifting the box back up, "everything is all good now. i'm better without him." she glanced over at james and thomas to give them a grateful smile, but they seemed to be buried in an intense conversation. she shrugged and walked toward the door, turning to her sister for help.

"speaking of which, i need to figure out where i'm keeping everything."

peggy opened her mouth to reply, but james cut her off, seemingly done with his whispered discussion. "actually, lizzy," he began, fidgeting with his hands nervously. "we were wondering- i mean, thomas and i were thinking- maybe-" james glanced to thomas for help.

"what he means is, we were wondering if maybe you would like to move in with us- permanently?"

eliza was shocked. she hadn't really expected anything like that. sure, she, thomas, and james had become a lot closer lately, but moving in with them? she hardly knew them.

still, james was always so sweet, and thomas was eager to rush to her aid, no matter what was going on. and they had both looked so nervous when they were asking...

eliza glanced at peggy, who shrugged. "it's up to you," she mouthed.

eliza looked back at james and thomas, setting the box down gently.

"i would love to."