Before Hat Kid could do anything about Bow, they had to wait for the police to leave. But they were taking so long! It was like they'd never leave!

By the time they finally did leave, the rain was heavier than ever, and it was starting to get dark. They had to find Bow!

"C'mon, Snatcher!" she insisted, tugging on his vest from a kitchen counter. "We gotta find her before she drowns! Or worse!"

"I don't think there's much worse than drowning-" he started to say, but the grim looks that the others were shooting at him made him shut up pretty quick. "R-Right. Are the police still out there, old man?"

Conductor peeked out the window, grumbling to himself about being called 'old'. "Hold on, Laddie. There's still a car out there."

Hat Kid hopped up and down anxiously. "But we gotta save her!"

"Keep yer hats on! They're leavin...they're leavin… and they're gone!"

Scooping up the tiny girl, Snatcher remarked, "That's our cue. C'mon, kiddo, before it gets really bad out there."

Unfortunately, it was a little too late for that. The rain had turned into sleet and snow and their breaths were caught by the cold, turning them into puffs of mist. Hat Kid shivered, pressing her tiny form closer to her large friend for warmth.

"Well, this sucks." he hissed, also shivering slightly. His vest and thin shirt did nothing for the cold.

"Where was she?!" she insisted, bouncing up and down.

Kneeling down by the bush, he gently set her down. "Right here. Go look around, will ya? And don't die!"

Hat Kid was gone. As soon as she was able to, she darted off into the bush to search for her friend. "Bow!" she called out. "Bow! Bow it's me! Where are you?!"

"...h...ha.."

Blood running cold, and not from the freezing temperatures, she tried to follow the raspy breathing. "BOW! Bow! I'm here!" she cried.

"Kiddo? What's going on?" Snatcher sounded farther away than before, but Hat Kid wasn't focused on that.

"...ha...hat?"

At the very bottom of the bush, lying in a dirty, half frozen puddle, was Bow. Her outfit stained with muck, her face thin and tired looking, signature bow droopy. Clearly she hadn't been having a good time on her own.

Hat Kid leapt down, starting to drag her sister out. "D-Don't worry! I have help! We'll get you inside and warm, and fed-"

"You...you talked to Beans…" Bow coughed, looking up at her angrily. "That's not allowed…"

"So what?!" Hat Kid snapped back. "It doesn't matter! Beans can be super nice! And what's important is that they're my friends! And they're going to help you!"

Grunting, Hat Kid dragged and carried her adopted sister from the bush. Snatcher hovered over in a concerned gesture. "My god, she looks like shit." he reached out to pick the two up, but Bow started loudly coughing and trying to struggle.

"Don't touch me! I know what you do to Borrowers!" she tried to sound threatening, but was so sick and tired that it had no real impact.

"Bow, this is Snatcher! He's super nice." the hatted Borrower explained. "No one will hurt you. I promise. You've gotta trust me."

Bow sniffled, starting to cry. "I-I'm scared...Hattie...I'm so scared!" she wailed, holding tightly to the purple dress.

"I know! It's OK! He's kinda scary."

"Hey!"

"But he's very nice! Everyone is! Look at me." Hat Kid knelt down to Bow's level, smiling. "I'm right here."

Slowly, Bow nodded.

Getting permission to do so, Snatcher very gently picked up the two girls. "Aw, kid!" he shuddered, shifting Bow in his hand. "You're freezing! And you're soaking wet! You want Pneumonia? Let's get you inside. CC will know what to do…"

Snatcher burst through the doors to the house, a big grin on his face. "Guess what's better than one Borrower?!" before his concerned roommates could reply, he showed them the two girls in his cupped hands. "TWO Borrowers!"

CC quickly made her way over to check up on the two. "Snatcher! This one looks very sick!"

"C'mon, that was funny though-"

"Not the time. C'mere sweetie!" CC tried to sweetly urge Bow into her own hands, but Bow instead shuffled closer to Hat Kid.

"Bow," Hat Kid smiled, gently rubbing Bow's back. "This is Cookie! She'll help you feel better!"

"...Cookie?" Bow muttered, before being hit with a sneezing fit. It was this fit that allowed CC to hold her. Bow had weakly made motions for CC to pick her up in a hug, sniffling and close to tears. She gladly picked up the sick Borrower, holding Bow close to her chest.

"This girl needs some soup, and a nice warm blanket! Conductor, place the 'Nice Blanket' in the dryer for a few minutes, and Grooves, get out the cans of chicken noodle soup!"

Hat Kid had clambered up to Snatcher's shoulder. "Do you think Bow will be OK?" she whimpered, wrapping herself in his hair.

"Kid, CC can fix anything. She fixed your leg, didn't she? I'm sure a cold will be a snap!" he chuckled.

Once the so called 'nice blanket' was warm, Bow was wrapped up in a little blanket burrito. Bow had sniffled and cried the entire time, demanding why everyone was being so nice to her.

"Because, lass." Conductor had replied, voice soft as he wrapped the blanket around her. "Ye need help. And yer a friend of the wee hat lass. Any friend o' hers, is a friend o' mine. And even if ye weren't, I wouldn't let ye die in the cold like tha'."

Hat Kid had sat next to Bow, comforting and reassuring her at every moment she could.

"I hate having to use these cheater soups!" CC grumbled, stirring the pot of chicken noodle soup.

"...you mean the cans, darling?"

"Yeah! Cheater soup." tapping the spoon, she ladled the soup into a bowl and made her way to Bow. "Hi sweetie! I have some soup for you! It's chicken noodle." she had a small spoon with her, and offered the sick girl a sip.

Bow whimpered, and Hat Kid stepped forward. "If I have a sip, will that make you feel better?" she offered. "I'm 100% positive it'll be delicious!"

"I...I'll just have a sip." the sick Borrower insisted. Slowly, they were gaining her trust.

Smiling warmly, CC helped the new addition to the house have some warm soup. Because she was so small, she only had a few small spoonfuls before sleepily burying herself deeper into the blankets.

"Poor tired thing." CC sighed.

Conductor had experience with sick children, more than the others anyway. So he offered his advice. "Wee ones need rest. Although, I don't think we should move her. But we gotta keep close to make sure her flu don't turn into somethin' worse."

"Sleepover!" Hat Kid cheered. "Sleepover with Bow!"

"I can sleep on the couch to make sure nothing happens." Snatcher offered with a grin. "Besides. I'm sure sleeping on the couch would probably ruin your back, old timer."

"I'm not tha' old!" Conductor huffed, working hard to keep his voice low around the sleepy little girls.

"Well I mean, you don't look a day over a hundred!"

"LADDIE-"

Grooves stepped between the two. "Both of you, enough!" he hissed. "Conductor, we have filming tomorrow, and Snatcher already offered to watch them. There. Done deal."

The tension settled, CC, Conductor and Grooves went to bed. Snatcher had waved them off, but once they were in their rooms did his oh-so-innocent grin turn more devilish.

"Soooo. Kid." he said, turning to Hat Kid. "You wanna eat junk food until we get sick and stay up too late?"

"Yeah! Yeah yeah yeah!" she cheered quietly to not wake up her sister.

Barely an hour later, Snatcher chuckled to himself as he came across Hat Kid sprawled on a couch pillow, snoring quietly as she drooled on it. So much for 'eating junk food and staying up too late' for her. A couple bites of a Pop-Tart had knocked her out.

Scooping up the pillow, he set it next to the blanket burrito holding Bow. Two little Borrowers, cuddled up on pillows and blankets. "You two, are gonna give me cavities." he muttered under his breath.

Now he had two little Borrowers to give him regular heart attacks. But it was worth it. Just one had brought so much joy into his life. Two should double that! That was how the math worked, right?

Math had never been his best subject.

Sighing, he dug through the fridge for a package of bacon as a midnight snack. The past week or so had been strange, and part of him still couldn't believe it.

Hearing one of the girls start to whimper, Snatcher abandoned his midnight snack to check on them. The new one had started to squirm and whine softly. "Hey, hey." he purred, fluffing up her blanket to be more comfortable. "You're fine. You're safe."

She sighed, sinking deeper into her blankets. He smiled. "We'll take care of you, kiddo. Don't you worry about a thing."

When Bow woke up the next morning, she was still in her blanket burrito. At first, she was incredibly frightened, being so out in the open like this. But as she glanced over to see Hat Kid sleeping nearby so peacefully, she started to relax.

Her adoptive sister had said that these Human Beans were safe, and kind. And even though it went against everything that she had been taught, Bow was starting to believe that.

Without asking for anything in return, they had taken her in, gave her a nice place to sleep, warm soup, and made sure she was comfortable and felt safe.

Could all the stories about Human Beans….be wrong?