Christmas night/morning of December 26 just keeps getting more chaotic.

Lila fessed up to having eaten two dozen cookies over the course of Christmas day. As if that wasn't enough, she got up at midnight to have more, AND drank a tall cup of eggnog to top it off. She was already feeling queasy when she went back to bed, and told Kate that. Now she is awake at 3AM, not feeling good at all.

She feels nauseous and hot. She sits up in bed, hoping that the small change will make her feel better. It does not. She wipes the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve and falls back to the bed. When her head hits the pillow, the spot where her head was feels as hot as the sun. In a rapid move, she sits up again, turns left so her legs are dangling over the edge of the bed, and throws the covers off, not caring that the covers land on Lucky, who jumps off the bed and lies down by Kate. She puts her arms around her stomach, leaning over, focusing on breathing in and out to distract herself from feeling sick.

She thinks some cold tap water from the bathroom sink might help, so she gets up, trying not to make noise so as not to wake Kate. However, Lucky sniffs around Kate's hands, licking off any excess cookie crumbs left over from earlier in the night.

"Lucky, stop," Kate giggles, trying to be quiet, thinking that Lila is asleep. Now that she is awake, though, she sees the silhouette of Lila's feet against the dim light coming in from under the door. At least,
she thinks it's Lila. She grabs her phone and shines the flashlight at whoever it is, just in case.

Lila turns when the light comes on, throwing her hand in front of her eyes to block it. "Kate, stop!" She whispers as loudly as she can.

"Okay, not a kidnapper or murderer, we're good," Kate says quietly, turning off her phone. "You okay?"

"No," Lila moans. "That was WAY too much eggnog."

"Okay, stay here," Kate advises, stretching and getting up. "Is there a bucket or trash can or something I can…"

"Bathroom," Lila says, sitting on the bed and turning on the lamp on her nightstand. "Can you get me some water, too, please? Just tap."

"Yeah, for sure." Kate rushes out and comes back shortly after with a small trash bin and a plastic cup of water. There are white stains around the edge of the cup. "This is the cup that was in there," Kate says. "I'm assuming you guys use this for rinsing after you brush your teeth. Whatever leftover toothpaste-spit-whatever will probably go down well. The mint of it."

"Thanks," Lila says, taking a small sip of the refreshing water and setting the cup down on the nightstand. Kate hands her the trash bin and sits down beside her on her right.

"Scoot over," Lila says. "I don't want YOU getting sick."

"You just had too much sugary crap," Kate replies. "It's not a germ, I can't catch this from you." Kate starts rubbing Lila's back. "Think you're gonna throw up?"

"I dunno," Lila mumbles, adding "That's nice." She's referring to the back rub.

"My mom used to rub MY back when I was sick," Kate says. "That would help me feel a little better."

"What else helped?" Lila asks. "I just wanna not be sick."

"Just resting," Kate responds. "Breathing. Maybe walking around the house."

Lila shakes her head in small, rapid motions, almost like she's shivering. "No," she murmurs. "walking would make it worse. I just wanna process this here. And breathe."

"Okay," Kate reacts, still rubbing Lila's back.

Lila turns off the lamp, the light being too much light for her at the moment.

The sisters sit there in the dark, just being quiet and getting Lila through this. A small noise is made when Lila takes another sip of water, but other than that, the only sound is both of them breathing, filling the room with that vital sound of life, filling Missouri with the quiet heartbeat of pushing on. Somehow, in a way she can't explain, Lila feels a little better, simply by breathing in and out and thinking about just that, and hearing herself and Kate breathing. The simplicity and beauty of the moment calms her down. Each breath is the same as the last, until she accidentally inhales a little too much, which offsets everything.

"I might throw up," Lila says, breathing a little heavier.

"Hang on," Kate reacts, pulling as much of Lila's hair back as possible. "Okay, you're good, throw up your internal organs at will."

Lila gives Kate an annoyed side-eye look.

For a literally hot minute, Lila inhales and exhales rapidly, until she slowly starts to feel a little less nauseous, but not any cooler.

"Not gonna puke," Lila says. "Still not good, though. I'll just… Can you just sit by me a minute?"

"Yeah, for sure," Kate responds. She puts her hand on Lila's shoulder and brings Lila against herself. The sound of Kate's heartbeat calms Lila a little.

Kate whispers to both Lila and herself, "Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens…"

Lila continues, quietly, "Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens."

Kate laughs a little, thinking to herself, "What is it with these people and that song?" Then, she continues softly, "Brown paper packages tied up with string."

They finish together, "These are a few of my favorite things."

"You know what we're like?" Lila asks. "We're like Anna and Elsa. In that one scene in 'Frozen II'."

"Yeah, but who's who?" Kate responds.

"I'm Elsa, obviously," Lila says, "because you started singing first and I'd rather have the ice powers.

"Fair enough," Kate replies. "You probably need the ice to cool down some."

"Yeah," Lila reacts. She chugs the rest of the water.

"Okay, you didn't have to chug that," Kate says.

"But I did."

"Is this going to be the same story as the eggnog?" Kate asks.

"No, I promise," Lila giggles. "If, uh, if you wanna go back to sleep, you can. I think I'm okay now."

"You sure?" Kate asks.

"I'll just lay down on the bed," Lila replies, "on top of the covers. So I don't get hot."

"Okay, if you say so," Kate says. She gets up and goes to her sleeping bag. "Just wake me up if you need anything, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Lila responds, lying on top of the covers.

A creaking sound gets the sisters' attention. It comes from the door, which Kate hadn't shut all the way. They look up, and the door shuts. They hear footsteps receding to Clint and Laura's room.

In that room, Clint gets back into bed beside Laura. "She's fine," he says, chuckling. "Kate's got her."

"She just had too much sugar, that's all," Laura muses.

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking," Clint says. "But man, they're just like sisters."

"This might be the fact that it's 3:15 talking," Laura says, "but why can't they be?"

"What do you mean?" Clint responds.

"Well," Laura explains, "Kate's mom is in prison. Her dad is dead. The one guy, Jack, who knows what's up with him? Should we get Kate's mom to sign over legal custody?"

"Yeah, that's totally 3:15 talking," Clint laughs. He kisses Laura. "See you in a few hours, honey." He rolls over and closes his eyes.

"Does she have anyone else?" Laura asks Clint.

"Just Jack," Clint says. "Not sure she trusts him."

"What about legal next of kin?" Laura wonders.

Clint chuckles, but says seriously, "Now THERE'S an idea."

Meanwhile, in the girls' room, Kate falls asleep quickly. Lila, however, lies on her bed, on the covers, breathing. Slowly, over the course of several minutes, she cools down a little. She hum "My Favorite Things" to herself quietly. In the third verse, each note is a few seconds after the last one. Slowly, she drifts off to sleep.