It's the middle of the night, that solemn overarch between holiday and drudgery. Midnight, after Christmas day, leading into the 26th.
Kate slept over at that Bartons' for Christmas, and at midnight, woke up. On the floor in a sleeping bag in Lila's room, she knows that if she's going to escape the quiet of the night, she's going to have to be quiet getting up. There are leftover cookies downstairs in the fridge, and she's hungry. As silently as she can, she sits up, which is easy enough. The movement of the covers sounds like thunder in the utter stillness of the dark. She plants her hands on the carpet, slowly pushing up and back, scooting out of her sleeping bag. With every inch she moves, she swears bombs are going off, it feels so loud.
She realizes she's clamping her teeth together tightly, as if the clicking of her teeth against each other would wake Lila. She keeps moving up and out until she's out of the sleeping bag. She quietly gets to her feet and tiptoes out, opening the door slowly. The door creaks with the all the noise in the world. As soon as it's open enough, Kate slips through it, going downstairs for cookies.
When she gets to the fridge, the kitchen light turns on. Standing by the switch is Clint, holding a plastic container full of cookies.
When the light turns on, Kate shrieks for a split-second before stopping herself, putting her hand to her mouth quickly.
"You know," Clint says at a normal volume, "I would've thought any of the other three would've been up trying to steal these." He puts a cookie in his mouth.
"What are you doing up?" Kate asks, trying to shift the blame.
"I own this house," Clint answers. "I can do what I want." He eats another cookie. "What are you doing up?"
"Kinda wanted a cookie," Kate answers honestly.
Clint shrugs. "You're 22. I trust you. I'm not liable for you, so have at it." He hands her the container. "If you were Cooper, Lila, or Nate, you would've been sent back upstairs by now."
"But seriously," Kate asks, "what ARE you doing up? I mean, you can't just be waiting out in the dark for one of your kids to sneak down here. Right? I mean, what if they just… didn't?"
"Are you gonna talk," Clint responds, "or are you gonna eat?"
"Gonna eat," Kate replies, biting into a cookie.
"I dunno," Clint answers. "I guess if I fall asleep, I'll wake up tomorrow and Christmas is over. If I'm awake, there's more of it, it feels. Didn't have much of a Christmas this year."
"Well," Kate says with her mouth full, "what you had was pretty good."
"Yeah," Clint says with a chuckle. "Yeah, it was. Kids liked their presents. Got Laura what she wanted. Yep. It was pretty good."
For a minute or so, neither says anything. They just contemplate all that happened, everything with the Tracksuit Mafia, the Ronin situation, Kate's mom, everything else… it's a lot. Finally, they can catch a break.
The clock on the microwave turns to 12:00.
Clint sighs. "December 26th. Long way aways till next Christmas. No point staying up now. Just put the cookies back in the fridge when you're done, okay?"
Kate nods, shaking crumbs off from under her mouth.
"And, uh," Clint says, headed for the stairs, "try not to get too many crumbs on the floor."
"I'll try."
"Okay. G'night." Clint heads upstairs, not caring about how loud his footsteps are.
Back in the kitchen, Kate leans against the counter and slowly eats another cookie, taking small bites and taking a long time chewing them. She doesn't think; she just stares into space, living in the moment without sentience, existing.
Suddenly, she hears a creaking noise from the stairs. She puts the cookies on the counter and goes to check it out. Standing halfway up the stairs, trying to go down quietly, is Lila.
"You're not supposed to be up this late," Kate says.
"Neither are you," Lila responds swiftly.
"What do you want?" Kate asks.
Lila squints a little, spotting a little cookie frosting on Kate's lip. "I want what you're having," she says.
Kate notices she's being stared at. She quickly licks her lips, but to no use. "I was having some alone time," she says innocently enough.
"Yeah, with cookies," Lila adds.
Kate sighs. "Fine, come and have one. ONE."
Lila leaps the rest of the stairs, landing a little more loudly than she probably should have. Both her and Kate stifle laughter, trying hard not to laugh out loud as they go to the kitchen.
"What was that?" Kate whispers loudly, breathing hard to keep from laughing.
"I dunno," Lila giggles. "It was efficient."
From upstairs, they hear footsteps.
Lila stands on her tiptoes, hands on Kate's shoulders, pulling her to the same height level in panic. "That came from Mom and Dad's room!" She whispers frantically.
"Crap," Kate reacts. "Hide!"
"Why me?" Lila responds.
"Because your dad's already seen me down here, now hide!" Kate answers, almost laughing again.
Lila skates across the hardwood floor in her socks to the family room and dives on the couch. The back of the couch is to the stairs, so if Lila is lying on the couch, lying across it flatly and remaining still, she probably can't be seen from the stairs, but it's the fastest hiding place, so it's a risk she has to take.
Kate leans against the counter again, the same way she was earlier.
Clint comes down the stairs, turning on the light at the bottom of the steps, providing light to the stairs and a little light to the family room.
Lila presses herself against the back of the couch, trying to hide her presence.
"You good?" Clint asks.
"Of course," Kate replies, mouth full of cookie. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Heard a noise," Clint responds, sounding suspicious. "Like a bump."
Lila tries hard not to laugh.
"You did?" Kate asks, pretending to be surprised.
"Thought so," Clint says. "Did you?"
"You know," Kate says, standing up straight, "the very concept of sound is—"
"I'm too tired to deal with this," Clint reacts, turning off the light and going upstairs.
Kate and Lila remain motionless for a solid ten minutes after, neither willing to risk making noise.
Eventually, Lila rolls off the couch, setting her feet on the rug and quietly standing up. She walks across the carpet, careful to put her heels down before her toes to minimize noise, then slides across the hardwood floor back to Kate. "That was close," Lila giggles, grabbing a cookie.
"You have no idea how lucky you are," Kate responds, herself eating another cookie.
"How lucky we BOTH are," Lila replies. "Dad would've killed us both for sure."
"How'd you get down the stairs as far as you did without him hearing?" Kate asks. "'Cause I mean, he was down here like right before you came down."
"He takes out his hearing aids when he sleeps," Lila answers. "He puts 'em on when he gets up."
"Then how'd he hear you land after you jumped like an idiot?" Kate wonders.
"It's the most annoying thing ever," Lila explains. "He could have 'em out or off, but he can still feel our vibrations. He's like a… a…"
"Hawk?" Kate interjects.
"Kinda," Lila agrees. "Okay, I've had like three cookies now and I need some milk. You want some?"
"Yeah, pour two glasses," Kate takes the offer.
"Or…" Lila says slyly, opening the fridge, "we could have eggnog."
"No," Kate denies quickly. "No eggnog. Way too heavy after eight cookies."
"Eight?" Lila reacts. "Okay, makes sense for you. You have milk, I have eggnog."
Lila pours Kate a glass of milk and herself a big cup of eggnog, and this is a BIG cup, like the size of a drink at a fast-food restaurant. Lila takes one sip of eggnog before moaning lightly. "Yep," she says.
"You were right. Eggnog's too heavy. Especially after however many cookies I had all day today."
"Just put some plastic wrap over it and hide it in the back of the fridge," Kate suggests. "Now that you've had a sip…"
"No," Lila interrupts, panting a little. "No, too late now." She chugs the rest of her glass of eggnog, exhaling loudly when she's finished.
Kate's jaw is dropped. She's shocked and honestly impressed. "Okay, you SO should not have done that," she says.
"Maybe," Lila responds, wiping off the eggnog around her mouth with her sleeve. "Okay, I'm done. I'm going back to bed."
"Yeah, I'm right behind you," Kate says, grabbing another cookie and popping it in her mouth.
They put the eggnog and milk and cookies back in the fridge and go back upstairs quietly. Lila gets in the bed and Kate in the sleeping bag.
Lila whispers to Kate, "I'm going to regret this in the morning."
"How many cookies did you have today?" Kate asks quietly. "Or, yesterday?"
"Maybe a couple dozen," Lila responds. "This eggnog might push me over the edge."
"What, you gonna be sick?" Kate reacts, sitting up quickly.
"We'll see," Lila answers uncertainly. "But it's okay, because this is the one day of the year we could do that. Will you hold my hair back if I throw up?"
"That bad?" Kate shows real concern. "Are you okay?"
"Just asking out of caution," Lila says. "If I throw up, it's not going to be soon. Maybe… later."
"Well, if you do, I'll be right there," Kate says. "That's what sisters are for."