Isabela was in the kitchen, getting some water and looking for one of her máma's warm arepas.

She couldn't sleep, as all she could think about was how close she was to losing her sister a few weeks ago, and she would have only one good recent memory with her. The rest was just her taking out all her issues on her Mirabel and treating her terribly.

She knew, and was absolutely thankful, that it didn't happen, heck, she'd been secretly thanking Casita every day for saving her. But it was so close. Too close. She wasn't sure what she would've done had Casita not been able to protect her.

It had been keeping her up a lot lately, but luckily her madre's cooking always calmed her down. Something about the warmth of her mom's food (and the flavor was great of course, but the heat gave her physical comfort, almost mimicking a hug) had a way of calming her down and clearing her head.

Her mamá knew this, and she always had a stash of food kept where it would stay warm, just for Isabela when she needed it. Isa was of course insanely grateful for it.

As she was cleaning up and getting ready to go back to her room (with a couple extra arepas of course), she almost tripped when Casita started flipping their tiles around her.

"Wha— Casita!" She yelped. "You're gonna make me fall!" Despite her frustration, she was whispering, as she wanted to avoid waking anyone up.

Casita kept flipping the tiles, doing so in a manner that told Isa they wanted to lead her somewhere.

She narrowed her eyes in concern. "Is something wrong?" She started following the frantically flipping tiles.

It led her up the stairs, right to the nursery.

Her brows furrowed, and she frowned when she heard whimpering from the other side of the door.

"Mirabel?" She whispered.

She gently opened the door, and she saw the sight of her youngest sister sleeping.

She wasn't just sleeping though. The 15 year old was curled up as tight as she could, and seemed to be curling up even more, if that was possible. Her hands were defensively above her head, like she was trying to keep debri from falling onto it.

The position was all too familiar.

That's the position she was in when Isabela thought she was going to lose her.

"Oh no." She whispered, suddenly understanding what was happening. She rushed to her sister's side and touched her arm. "Mirabel." She whispered, hoping to wake her up.

She didn't.

"Mirabel." She said at normal volume, urgency in her voice. "Hey, Mira, wake up."

When that still didn't work, she shook her gently, and Mirabel jolted awake, wrenching her arm out of Isabela's hands, immediately scooting back towards the wall once she was free. She was hyperventilating, her eyes were darting around frantically, and tears were pouring out of her eyes.

"Hey, hey, shhh." Isabela said softly. "It's just me. It's Isa. You're safe. Casita is fine." She listed off things that she thought would help Mirabel calm down and realize it was a dream.

Casita waved with one of the window shutters, supporting Isa and showing Mirabel that they were okay.

Mirabel looked at the shutters at the wave, and then her sister. She registered that her sister was in front of her, and she focused on her to calm down.

After Mirabel started to calm down, Isabela offered her hands, which Mirabel hesitantly took. Once her hands touched Isa's though, she grasped them in a death grip, needing something to ground her and also afraid that her sister would leave. Isabela noticed, and she gave her sister's hands a squeeze, assuring her that she wouldn't leave.

"You're okay, Mira." She whispered gently.

They sat like that for awhile, Isa whispering soothing words to her at random intervals, patiently waiting for Mirabel to calm down.

Eventually, she did, at least to the point where she had stopped shaking.

The younger girl took her hands out of her sister's to wipe her eyes, before resting them on top of her knees. "Sorry." She mumbled.

"You don't need to be sorry." Isa shook her head. "It's not your fault you're having nightmares."

Mirabel just stayed silent, avoiding her gaze.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She thought for a second, before nodding. "It was just...the house falling on me again." She said, softly, curling into herself more.

Then barely audible, Isa could barely hear her say her next words, and it broke her heart.

"I thought I was going to die."

Her little sister looked so small, curled up and scared in the corner.

The older girl started to move closer to her sister, pausing to get permission. At Mira's small nod, Isabela moved so she was sitting next to the 15 year old, wrapping an arm around her and holding her close. Mirabel tensed for a second, before relaxing and leaning against her older sister.

Isabela started running her fingers through Mirabel's hair to soothe her. "It must have been terrifying to be in that position." She said softly, validating Mirabel's feelings and rewarding her for talking. She knew it was hard for her sister to open up, so she did her best to make it worthwhile. They were all trying to be more open and get closer, and this was a great start.

She felt Mirabel nod as an answer to the question and snuggle into Isa more, but didn't say anything else. She used one hand to take one of the arepa's out of her pocket, offering it to Mirabel. "Do you want one?" She asked. "It's nice and warm, which always helps me."

Mirabel hesitantly took it, and Isa felt her instantly relax once she took a bite, and the straight haired girl smiled.

Mirabel didn't say anything else after that, so Isabela just held her baby sister closer, and they just stayed like that for awhile.

Eventually, Isa looked down to see that Mirabel had fallen asleep in her arms, which earned a small smile from the 22 year old. She gently and slowly adjusted the two of them so that they were actually lying in Mirabel's bed, of course making sure not to wake her up. She wasn't going to go back to her room tonight.

She might've almost lost her sister before, but at least she was able to be her for her now.

The two girls just snuggled, and Isa eventually fell asleep. The presence of the other one kept the thoughts and nightmares away from both of them for the rest of the night.