Nina understands that she's technically not off the clock, even at three in the morning. She's reminded of this when tiny hands shake her body and a little voice pleads, "Please wake up. Please help me."

"What's wrong?" she groans out. She's only mildly concerned, if she's honest, Ella had passed exhausting by far early on in the day.

The little girl sniffles and then murmurs, "I had an- an accident and m-my mommy locked her d-door 'cause I'm not s'posed to bother her right now."

"That's okay," Nina coos and throws the blanket back. "I'll just clean you up."

The little girl began to sob. "Mommy's gonna get mad at me!" she wailed.

"No, no. It's okay, honey. Look, we'll go get you some clothes and have a little shower. I'll toss your sheets in the washer myself, she doesn't have to know." And so she leads the little girl back to her bedroom and then strips the bed of its sheets. Afterward, she goes and turns on the shower in her bathroom and helps her bathe.

"Can I sleep with you?" she pleads after her shower.

"Of course," Nina coos, "But please don't pee on me."

The following morning, Nina wakes up quite surprised to find Ella in her bed. She's so tired that she's almost completely forgotten the events of the night before. She stretches and rolls over to go back to sleep, but hears a small voice say, "Nina?"

"Yeah, hun?" she murmurs, her eyes still closed.

"Can you hold me?" she requests. Nina hums and rolls back to Ella, pulling her into her arms. "Thank you."

"Always, hun."

She enjoys the warmth of the tiny body curled up next to hers but is bothered by the tickle of Ella's tiny breath on her collarbone. She tries not to mind it much and eventually falls asleep again. The two sleep until her alarm goes off, which neither of them are particularly happy about, but they have things to do.

"Can you go put on the clothes laid out for you?" Nina asks. Ella nods and begins to shuffle towards the doorway. "And brush your teeth because I am gonna smell your breath and if you didn't brush them, I'm gonna make you use grown-up toothpaste and you won't like it."

Nina brushes her own teeth and changes into real clothes. She makes her way into Sadie's bedroom to assure that she's awake but barges into the bathroom that connects her room to Ella's upon hearing the two girls arguing. She makes it just in time to catch Sadie whack Ella's hand with her hairbrush.

"Absolutely not," Nina gripes. "Give me that!" She snatches the brush from Sadie and points her out of the bathroom, which she doesn't even bother to argue against. Ella clings onto her and wails, so Nina rubs her little hand that's turned red from the force and gives it a quick kiss. "You're okay. Can you wait right here?"

"Uh-huh," she mumbles very sadly.

Nina's rather calm when she goes to sit beside Sadie. "Are you gonna spank me?" She asks.

"No," she says with a shake of her head. "I don't believe in spanking, it doesn't teach you anything but aggression. Can you tell me why you hit your sister?"

Sadie sighs and groans, "She's annoying!"

"Yeah? Well, how did she annoy you? You've only been with each other for five minutes today." She chuckles and then adds, "I know you're a cool big kid now, but she's your little sister. You shouldn't hit her. If she's being annoying, you should walk away."

"She was being rude," she mumbles back. She won't look at Nina, but she can tell she's upset.

"What was she being rude about?" she questions. She picks at her nails and chooses not to respond. "Sadie?"

"Do you like her more? More than you like me?" she wonders aloud. Her voice wavers and Nina feels some sort of guilt about it. "Why did she get to sleep in your room?"

"Of course not!" she exclaims. "You're both fantastic, okay? She had a little accident and asked me if she could, is all. Sometimes Ella needs a little bit of extra help because she's little. You're just so well put together, honestly. You can sleep in my room any time you want, I don't mind. But I need you to not hit your sister. Now you have to play with her for two hours today."

"Two hours?" She groans. "Please, no!"

Nina laughs at Sadie's dramatic reaction. "Two hours or a two-page letter about how much you love her."

She seems to stop and think for a moment. Nina's jaw almost drops from the consideration. "Two pages like... one paper front and back?"

"Nope," she says. "Two as in two pieces of paper front and back."

"Ugh!" she whines. "Fine, I'll play with her!"

"Good, now go apologize."