Elizabeth proceeded back down the hall towards the small room and after knocking softly she entered, not sure if she'd be receiving a pleasant greeting or not. "Hello Kate."

Kate frowned and looked anxiously towards the door for her mother. After a few seconds had passed, she looked back towards her visitor with the same pout she'd had earlier. It was pretty obvious she wasn't happy about something, but whether she'd be willing to share why was another matter entirely.

"You know me Kate; I'm your Auntie Elizabeth." She said with a kind smile. "Your mum's on the phone at the moment, is there anything I can do to cheer you up?"

"No." Kate said firmly, hugging Bongo and trying not to let her chin quiver. She knew it would give way to the tears that were trying to fill up her eyes if she couldn't control it and she didn't want to cry at that moment. As Elizabeth put a chair close to Kate's bed, and looked into her big eyes, Kate couldn't help herself and let a tear run down her cheek, and then she began to cry audibly. "I want my mommy."

Elizabeth wasn't entirely sure if it was a 'pity me', 'hug me' or 'leave me alone' cry, but knew that whatever it was it seemed to be getting the better of the small child. Opening her arms to Kate she asked, "Do you want a hug?"

Surprised to find Kate immediately open to the idea, she went over and sat on the bed next to her, giving her a hug and rubbing her back, hoping the crying would slow down. When it didn't slow, Elizabeth pulled her into her lap and continued rubbing her back, "What is it Kate? What's wrong? This can't all be over your mother, can it?"

Kate simply cried, she didn't quite know why she felt the need to continue crying, but it just continued on. She'd been through a lot in the past 24 hours and only wanted to be back at her house, in her room, with her blankie and her mommy comforting her. To reply to Elizabeth's question seemed a nearly impossible task but she managed to get out, "Mommy."

It seemed to be a hopeless cause and Elizabeth knew that Kate wasn't going to calm down without her mother so she picked the child up, wrapped in a blanket and still clutching her bear, and carried her slowly into the living room where Carol was still on the phone. Kate seemed to calm down a little at the sight of Carol and Elizabeth was glad that something had finally worked to help her cries subside. She knew that while Kate would probably prefer to have her mother cuddling her and taking care of her, it might be a good idea if someone took her temperature so she set Kate down on one of the bar stools and scanned the apartment in search of a thermometer, figuring that with Kate being sick it must have been used in the past 12 hours. She was right and spotted it on the bathroom counter. Fortunately it was an ear thermometer so Kate didn't object to having it placed gently inside her ear; the fact that it took a shorter time to calculate the temperature was simply an added bonus in Elizabeth's eyes.

When it beeped and she removed it from Kate's ear, she caught an inquisitive look from the young child and asked, "Do you want to see what it says?"

Kate, who was doing her best to act like a big girl and not cry, nodded her head and looked at the numbers it flashed at her. "One hundred and three point one?"

Elizabeth checked the thermometer herself, then felt Kate's face and the back of her neck. Carol, who was in the middle of a battle with her mother over when or if the girls would be attending church with her, had missed the entirety of the incident and was surprised to feel Elizabeth's touch on her shoulder. She turned around quickly, brow furrowed once she noticed the expression of concern coming from her friends face.

"Mom, I'm going to have to call you back… no mom… no… mom? Mom, I'll… yes… no… mom, yes… no I'll tell him… ma? Okay, I love you too… okay, no… okay bye." After ending the call she looked at Elizabeth, feeling her pulse quicken, "What's wrong?"

"Carol, her temperature's 103.1 ((39.5 Celsius)), I think…" she was almost instantly cut off by Carol who rushed to her still pouting child and began checking her.

"Kate, baby, mommy's going to get you some Tylenol to help you feel better, do you think you can try some?" she asked quickly, and before Kate had a chance to answer she added, "Elizabeth we've got some liquid Children's Tylenol in the bathroom, could you possibly grab that for me?"

"Of course." She said as she rushed off to the bathroom, noticing for the first time the charming accessories that had been placed in it to make it perfect for the twin 6 year-olds who were staying there. She got back to the main living area quickly and took no offense to the manner with which Carol ripped the bottle out of her hand and poured some into the little cup for Kate to drink out of.

"Come on Kate, just drink it down please and you'll start to feel better." Carol coaxed. "You know that Tylenol helps you get better so you can go out and have fun."

"No." Kate said flatly. She still had vivid memories of the previous night when she'd had some of the liquid Tylenol and it had come back up just as quickly as she'd swallowed it.

"Is your tummy feeling bad again?" Carol asked, hopeful that the answer would be no and they wouldn't have to experience a repeat of the previous nights activities.

"I don't know." Kate said, clearly not in a pleasant mood. Carol continued to hold the cup in front of her and eventually Kate gave in and drank it down. When there was no immediate rejection of the medicine, Carol let out the breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding and caught sight of Elizabeth's curious expression.

"Don't ask." Carol said, picking up her daughter, blanket and all, and carrying her back towards her room. Kate was resting her head on her mother's shoulder and the only one who knew what was about to come was Elizabeth who tried her best to warn her.

"Carol!" Elizabeth cried out as Kate regurgitated the medicine that seemed to have gone down so smoothly. Carol barely had time to react as she felt the liquid goo hit her neck and shirt. She tried to remain as calm as possible, shifting Kate to her right side until she could set her down in the bathroom. After Carol was done cleaning Kate up she cleaned herself up and apologized to Elizabeth for the unpleasant circumstances she found herself in. Thinking over the events that had just occurred, including the fact that while Kate had been crying quite a bit there had been few actual tears falling from her eyes, Elizabeth said only, "Carol, I think you should consider taking her back to County. Mark's on, I'm sure he'd be happy to look after her; she's got to be dehydrated if she can't even keep Tylenol down…"

"Actually, I was just going to ask if you could give us a ride down there." Carol admitted. Kate was now wearing a pair of pink athletic pants, a white tank top, and white hoodie; she didn't bother trying to find shoes for her daughter who seemed perfectly satisfied in socks, and they made their way towards the door, Carol remembering to grab her keys and cell phone before they walked out the door. Elizabeth retrieved her car and brought it over to where Carol was standing with Kate in her arms. Opening the door, Carol sat in the back seat with Kate who had begun to cry again, not one who was enjoying change very much at that point. "Thanks Elizabeth, I really appreciate this."

"It's not a problem Carol, but do you think you could give Mark a ring and let him know we're coming?" she asked, knowing that while Mark would be happy to take care of Kate, it was always the best plan to call and see what was going on there first.

"I'm on it," Carol said as she pulled out her phone, and then paused looking puzzled for a moment before asking, "Has the number changed in the past 6 years?"

"I don't believe so," Elizabeth chuckled as she drove the familiar route to the hospital.

"Hi, is Mark available?" Carol spoke clearly into the phone, happy that she still remembered the phone number to the place she'd worked so long ago. "Mark Greene, he's a doctor… are you a temp? Okay, is there anyone else at the desk with you right now? Good, put one of them on the phone. Tell them… no, tell them it's Carol Hathaway. Yes, THAT Carol Hathaway… hello? Hello? Oh Chuny, thank G-d, is Mark around?"

"Yah, hang on a second Carol," Chuny said, calling out to Mark, "Hey, you've got a call from Carol. He'll be right there."

"Carol?" Mark asked into the phone, confused as to why she was calling. "What's going on? Is everything okay?"

"Are you busy?" she asked, knowing it was a stupid question.

"Well, so far no major problems," he replied, repeating his earlier question, "What's going on?"

"I was wondering if you'd have time to check out Kate, she's still feeling a little under the weather, I'm worried about dehydration; and I'd feel better if someone checked her out." Carol admitted.

"Sure, hang on a sec Carol… we've got a GSW coming in the door right now, but I'm sure someone can see her." Mark said, not bothering to wait for a reply before hanging up and snapping on a pair of gloves.