Under the First Mistletoe

What Matters Most

"Lizzie, honey, can you hear me? Wake up, please, please, wake up."

Lizzie tried to open her eyes, but she felt she couldn't. Her eyelids were heavy, and she couldn't lift them. She groaned, realizing the fact that she felt sore all over. And that she was covered with a gazillion blankets.

"Oh, Lizzie, sweetheart," a voice whispered beside her.

Lizzie felt someone's hand on her head, and she turned her face towards it. She tried to open her eyes again. This time she was able to open it and she saw her mother's face. "Mom?" She blinked.

Her mother gasped. "Oh, Lizzie, sweetie, honey, thank God you're awake. Thank goodness you're okay," Mrs. Daniels said hugging her daughter. "I was so worried," she whispered stroking Lizzie's hair.

"What happened?" Lizzie asked staring at the baby blue walls in her room. Her room. She was in her room. Not in- then she remembered what happened. "Lily? Is she okay?" Lizzie cried out in alarm. "I tried saving her. I tried but I don't know-" She stopped and choked back a sob. She felt tears in her eyes.

Oh God, if something happened to her!

"It's okay, honey, it's okay. Lily's okay, you saved her," Mrs. Daniels said hugging Lizzie and rocking her back and forth. "Don't cry, Lizzie, everything's okay."

"Mom? Is she awake?" Sally asked softly knocking on the door.

"Yeah, come on in," Mrs. Daniels said amid her tears. She smiled at Lizzie and kissed her on the head.

"Lizzie," Sally began stepping inside the room. Becky, Matt, Mark, Luke and John followed behind her. "Thank God you're okay," she said sitting down on the bed, putting her arms around Lizzie.

"Yeah, you with the asthma history," Mark joked grinning.

"Oh, Mark, be serious," Becky scolded.

John shook his head, but he was smiling. "You okay?" he asked his younger sister.

Lizzie nodded. John was about ten years older than her. They weren't really close, as close as she was with the twins, or as close as he was with Luke. But she knew that John cared for her, just as she cared for him.

She remembered a few years ago, when she had gone home crying because she had failed a Math long test, when her parents were expecting her to be an honor student (just like her older brothers). She thought no one was home but as it were, John was there. He saw her and demanded what had happened.

He even told her that if a guy was the cause of her tears, he was going to beat him up. With a tearful laugh, she'd told John there was no guy. After she'd told him the real reason, he comforted her, telling her she was good in her own way. And when her parents had found out and started yelling at her, John had gone up to her defense, telling them that they were being to hard on her.

Lizzie had felt so thankful for John. And after, her parents did loosen up a little.

"So, Liz, how did it feel like? Was the water freezing cold?" Matt asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Oh, Matthew, as if she needed remembering that now," Mrs. Daniels scolded with a frown. She stroked Lizzie's hair, and looked at her in such a motherly way that Lizzie blushed.

"Geez, mom, everyone's looking," she mumbled, feeling embarrassed, though she felt a little happy with the extra attention they were giving her.

Luke winked at her. "Don't worry, we won't tell any of your friends," he teased.

Lizzie stuck her tongue out at him, and they all laughed. In spite of herself, she giggled at how childish she was. It had been a long time since she and her family had been together, just like this, laughing together. Her dad, though, was probably still out.