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you didn’t really put much thought into it at first; your period was pretty irregular, that’s just how it was for you.
but instead of it being late for a few days or so, which often gave you a scare even though you practiced safe sex with steve, you don’t even remember when your last period was. it’s was so irresponsible of you to not jot it down and keep track but you knew in your heart that you weren’t getting away with just a scare this time.
you have yet to let steve know about any of this— harboring an accused murderer and trying to hatch up a plan to defeat vecna before he snaps max into a million pieces which would then cause hawkins to go up in flames—you’ve just a been a little busy lately.
the test you bought from melvald’s before all this shit went down is sitting in the zippered pocket of your purse, that currently hung on the back of the passenger seat headrest, and is ready for you use when you find the time.
you know you should probably get to taking that test soon, the earlier you find out the better, but you’re still in a state of slight denial—not wanting to believe that this could be happening to you and steve on top of everything else that’s going on right now.
currently you sit in the RV with dustin and eddie, all three of you out of sight if anyone were to pass by. your leg bounces nervously, peeking out every now and then, wishing that they’d hurry it up in there. the sooner they get out the sooner you could leave this place.
you know this place is packed for more reasons than just hunting eddie munson, but you can’t help but feel uneasy being here.
dustin and eddie look back and forth from you to each other again, debating if either of them should say something. dustin encourages eddie to do so—tilting his head you way.
“lady henderson,” eddie calls out his nickname for you after you’ve just sat down again from looking out the window. you look over to where he’s huddled and hidden from the outside world, a soft hm? coming from you. “everything okay?”
“yeah!” you say a little too loudly. “yeah.” you say again after clearing your throat.
“you sure?” dustin asks, and you nod again.
“perfectly fine.” you give a thumbs up.
eddie and dustin give each other an if you say so look and it’s quiet again for a only a little bit before the rest of the group piled back into the RV in a rush, explaining that jason and his cronies were also in the store, and that they had to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. you knew your intuition was right this whole time.
you seat yourself in the passenger seat, buckling up as steve is taking off as fast as he can.
-
you sit quietly next to steve by the RV while he and robin make molotovs, hardly focusing on what they’re talking about, you could only pick out vickie and something about a boyfriend.
“i’m gonna use the bathroom.” you kiss steve’s cheek before standing up and taking a left turn to your purse before going to the bathroom.
it’s really now or never, you think.
you go about your business, making sure you’re actually peeing on the stick, the whole process going a lot smoother than you expected it to. you put the cap back on and set it on the counter while you wash your hands, trying to focus on anything but the test.
you sit on the shut toilet lid, holding your head in your hands and staring at your shoes. you feel so incredibly sick to your stomach; you try not to connect it to your current situation, maybe it’s just nerves due to your friends soon being face to face with vecna, maybe you just ate something bad, who knows really.
whatever it is, you feel like you’re going to throw your guts up.
it’s silent while you wait for the test to do it’s magic; you’re resisting the urge to stand and pace the small bathroom, not like you could, when there’s a tap on the door.
“you good in there?” it’s steve.
you stand and rip the test off the counter, placing it in the waistband of your jeans and pull your shirt back over it. you unlock the door and open it to see steve still standing there.
“hi.” you smile sheepishly. “yeah, i’m fine.”
“you’re sure?” he has his hand planted on the doorframe as he leans against it and his other hand on the handle for the door, all but trapping you inside the bathroom. you nod.
“just felt a little nauseous because i’m so nervous, i think.” you reveal, leaning back against the sink. you’re hyper focused on the way the test is digging into your skin from where it sits in your waistband, but you try not to let that show on your face.
“it’s gonna be okay, babe.” steve reaches his hand the was on the door frame out to you. you don’t waste time and grab it, holding his one hand in both of yours.
“you don’t know that, stevie.” your stomach churns at the thought of losing any of your friends, just the thought of it is making you nauseous again.
“just trying to be optimistic here,” he pulls you in for a hug. “someone’s gotta be.”
he’s being optimistic to make up for the conversation that he and robin just had outside, one that he won’t tell you about.
he holds onto you for a while, until there’s a throat cleaning behind steve; eddie popping his head out from behind his shoulder.
“sorry to interrupt, but nature is calling.”
you genuinely laugh for the first time in a while, and push steve out so eddie can go in. you can hear the kids calling for steve from outside and you nudge him to go.
“we can talk more later.” you promise him and then he’s on his way.
you make your way to the back of the RV to sit on the couch, pulling the test from your waistband and don’t look at it yet; you look out the window at steve interacting with your brother and the rest of the kids and you decide that whatever this test says, whether it be now or later, you want this with steve.
the door to the bathroom begins to swing open and you’ve never moved faster in your life to hide the stick from eddie. he stops in his tracks you land back onto the couch; you offer a smile and he still squints his eyes at you.
“uh—“ he opens his mouth and shuts it again. “i’m just gonna go.”
eddie quickly makes his exit and you see him run over to where steve and dustin are playing a little too dangerously with the makeshift nail shields eddie and dustin made.
you breathe a sigh of relief at being alone once again, pulling the test from under you.
-
you clutched tightly onto max as you hugged her goodbye, reassuring her that you all would reunite again—safe and sound.
you made sure to give extra tight hugs to lucas and erica too, telling erica to keep the two of them safe because you know she’s up to the task.
it’s breaks your heart to have to separate like this, but you know in your heart that it’ll work out in the end by doing it this way.
it doesn’t take long to get back to the trailer park, your stomach churning as you sneak back into eddie’s trailer to get back into the upside down.
it’s only when you’re all standing in front of upside down’s munson trailer that it all actually sinks in with you, this is really it.
nancy, robin and steve are splitting from you, eddie and dustin; you elected to stay with dustin, it felt wrong to be without him at a time like this.
“i love you,” you give steve one more kiss. “please come back to me, i’ll never forgive you if you don’t.”
“i know.” he holds you against him tightly, and you inhale his scent as much as you can before letting him go. “i love you.”
you release him and walk back over to eddie and dustin, your lip wobbling before you steel yourself once again. you almost don’t catch steve telling the boys to not be cute and try to be heroes but you do and the statement makes you laugh, blowing a kiss to him as he leaves.
the three of you begin to demobat-proof the trailer making sure there’s no way for them to get in after eddie lures them this way.
after what felt like hours of hammering shit into all sides of the trailer, you all stand back and admire your handiwork. the boys start to head inside to set up for eddie’s concert lure.
“we’re sure every way to get into here is closed off?” you ask, dustin and eddie nodding like they’re so sure. you really can’t take their word for it and you don’t want to risk anything going wrong. “i’m going in to check.”
you checked every nook and cranny of the trailer, and everything seems to be covered.
“everything almost ready?” you ask when you’ve made your way back out. they’ve just finished plugging in eddie’s amp and a whole bunch of other shit you’ll ask about once this is all over.
“yup,” dustin kneels by the edge of the trailer roof. “just about ready to get this show on the road.”
“i think you should head inside, lady henderson.” eddie tells you, and you know that you probably should because it’d make it easier for the boys to make it inside the fence once the bats from literal hell start flying in.
“but i wanna see it.” you huff, following his orders anyway.
and not to soon after, master of puppets is being played loudly above you. you can’t help but cheer for eddie even though he can’t see you, finding it incredible that he learned the song in such a short amount of time.
you stand by the rope back to your world ready to climb through should you have to make a quick escape. you chew on your lip as the song continues on and you sense the demobats closing in. before you know it, dustin and eddie are barreling in.
“eddie!” you exclaim. “that was incredible!”
“most metal ever!”
while the boys are shouting and celebrating, the three of you are unable to hear the bats tearing into the vent in the ceiling you seem to have missed when you did your inspection.
“dustin, eddie!” you’re pointing to the vent that’s almost pulled all the way off when the boys spring into action, stabbing their spears up into the hole in the roof.
it’s not nearly as effective as they thought it’d be, continuously having to stab up into the hole not finishing the job. that is until eddie shoves the makeshift shield with nails into the ceiling, shutting the bats out for good.
you clutch at your chest, your heart hammering against your rib cage. you thought you checked every entryway. “please tell me there’s no other way for them to get in here again.”
dustin and eddie look at each other before eddie runs towards his room with dustin quickly trailing behind where you’re assuming another vent that wasn’t closed off that even you missed is being torn off as you stand at the rope, frozen still.
“you gotta get out of here!” you hear dustin yell to you from the bedroom. you can hear him coming this way, shouting again at you to pull yourself up and get the hell out of there. “go now!”
you’re pulling yourself up somehow on weak arms, making your way back through careful not to hurt yourself on the landing back into your world, shouting at dustin and eddie from your side to get back here.
dustin obeys your command, rushing and climbing up the ladder and falling through as gracefully as one could while in a rush. what made you ache inside was that eddie was not close behind.
eddie stood there, waiting at the rope while the makeshift cover they rushed to put on the second vent and the closed bedroom door was being bombarded.
“eddie!” you hear dustin scream beside you, you can only hear static in your ears as eddie looks up to you and your brother then back to where the bats are soon to be coming in. “what are you doing?!”
eddie raises the spear to cut the rope but you speak up in time before he does.
“eddie, don’t!” your chest is hurting. “you don’t need to do this, you heard steve earlier. please, eddie!”
“we’re not going to see you any different if you run again.” you plead. “i mean, look at me and dustin! we ran immediately!”
“i gotta do this.”
“eddie!” dustin is hysterical next to you.
“what about graduating?” you’re running out of time. “all the tutoring sessions? i didn’t waste my time doing that and neither did you. you’re going to graduate, eddie. you just have to be there to do it.”
“come on, eddie!”
“you have to be here for the kids, for rest of the hellfire guys,” you’ll accept the lesson later on about everyone’s names in hellfire but your brain is too busy scrambling to think of reasons that could change his mind about being some kind of hero. “you have to be there for your uncle, too, eddie.”
you’re hoping that you’re breaking him down in the few seconds you’ve been begging and pleading for him to just climb the fucking rope back up.
“eddie, please.” you sob. “for dustin, for mike and lucas. you haven’t even met will, yet! you’d love him, you just have to come back with us.”
it wasn’t enough to beg and plead with eddie—all you can hear is the rope being cut with the spear and dustin’s scream of eddie’s name is muffled as the blood is pumping in your ears.
you were so desperate to keep him from going back out there and pretty much killing himself not only because it was the right thing to do—but eddie also became a part of your little found family here in such a short time. even though dustin met him just this school year, and steve didn’t take to him so well at first (scared dustin found another older male friend to look up to instead of him, but still won’t admit it), he was quickly integrated into the group that seemed to keep growing.
though he was more laid back and appearing less mature than steve, you needed eddie to be around for the kids now more than ever—now that you’re pregnant with steve’s kid (somehow you’ve kept it a secret this long), steve’s not going to have much time to keep these kids in line. with jonathan gone, there weren't many options now but you knew he’d be up to the task.
eddie’s completely out of your sight now, and you clutch your hand to your mouth, feeling what little food you had in your stomach coming back up.
“dustin, i’m gonna be sick.” you get up and rush to the kitchen sink. it’s a lot more gagging than anything coming out, and from the corner of your eye you can see your brother gearing up to jump back into the upside down.
“dustin.” your voice is rough. “you’re going to hurt yourself if you jump through there.”
“i have to help eddie.”
“i know, dusty.” you’re wiping the back of your hand across your mouth. “that’s not gonna stop the fall from breaking your leg.”
“i don’t care.” he’s inconsolable, and you’re having to run over to stop him from trying to get back to eddie.
“just—“ you try to think for a minute. “i’ll give you a boost, and pull me through once you land. safely, by the way.”
“someone’s gotta stay up here to pull us back in.”
“i’m not letting you go back out there alone, dusty.”
your bickering with each other did nothing about the fact that eddie was already out and on the run from the demobats, the two of you simply wasting time at this point.
“we’ll boost each other up and pull each other through,” you huff, looking around the trailer to see if there was anything you could stand on that would make the fall through less drastic. “i need to find something that’ll give us a boost.”
“that!” you rush over to the corner of the trailer where a bookshelf stands with knick knacks on it; dustin coming over to help move it towards the hole in the ceiling. “hurry, dusty!”
“i’m hurrying!”
when the bookshelf is in place you push one of the arm chairs over as a stepping stool to get on top of the shelf.
“try to go down like steve.” you encourage, and dustin scoffs.
“not an athlete, but i’ll try.”
dustin does actually go through the hole like steve; except the landing isn’t nearly as graceful, but you’ll take that over him breaking his leg falling through.
“alright, your turn.” dustin’s waiting for you on the other side to break your fall if needed.
you go through as quick as you possibly can, dustin catching you on the other side and don’t waste time getting back out of the trailer.
dustin is already screaming for eddie, and besides that it’s strangely quiet out for the horde of bats that were just out here. you start calling out for eddie too, keeping up with dustin as he speed walks around the upside down version of eddie’s trailer park.
it doesn’t take long to see a sign of life—eddie biking his way back towards you and dustin. you look at each other in confusion but still run to meet him halfway.
“what happened?” you ask, your breath coming out in pants. “are you okay?”
“yeah,” eddie looks spooked, and you know it doesn’t take much these days to spook eddie but something must’ve happened. “i don’t know, the bats were coming at me and i was ready for it, but they all just dropped dead.”
no one says anything else for a few seconds; you’re just trying to process and make sense of what he just told you.
“they must’ve gotten to him.” you say. “to vecna.”
you’re met with nods from the boys, hoping you’ve got no casualties from either group; you just so happened to get lucky with yours.
“let’s get out of here, okay?” you start walking back towards the trailer. “we’ll wait for them on the other side.”
-
it’s like you’re back in time on the RV again—the constant standing up and sitting down after checking the hole in the ceiling for any voices or movement, nonstop leg shaking after sitting down and dustin and eddie looking at you like you’re crazy.
all the lights are off again the trailer, the sun would be coming up soon and everyone in the park would be going about their day any time soon and you don’t want to draw any attention here.
you’re up again when you think you hear something, and the boys are looking at each other again to decide who should say something first. they both know you’re less likely to snap at eddie if he says anything, so he’s usually the go to now.
“lady henderson,” eddie speaks up carefully. you look over, directing your attention to him instead of the gateway to the upside down. “i’m sure they’re okay. you can take a break, y‘know?”
“yeah,” you’re nodding. “yeah, i’ll do that.” you’re walking back to where you made yourself comfortable for the night; eddie’s mattress (with blankets on it) pushed against a wall is where you’ve decided to land.
“what’s up with your stomach?” dustin asks. “you’re still sick?”
you don’t even realize you’re doing it but you’ve been holding your stomach every time you got up to check the gate.
“uh, yeah.” it’s not necessarily a lie, your stomach actually is churning from waiting on steve’s group to come back, nervous because they’re taking so long. “just worried about everyone. i’m—“
you’re cut off by your own body bringing bile back up your throat, and you’re rushing back to the kitchen sink. you’re too preoccupied trying not to puke your guts out to notice steve’s group on their way back in.
“guys?” robin’s voice comes from the other side. “where’s the rope?”
luckily while you waited, eddie so kindly made another sheet rope to throw through, already standing and throwing it through the same way dustin did previously.
you’re rinsing your mouth out with mouthwash you stole from eddie when you finally realize they’re here, turning to see robin pull through first and nancy following suit. you’re ready to go to the worst case scenario when steve doesn’t immediately follow after but before you even can he’s climbing through and landing gracefully on his feet.
you are stuck in place at the kitchen sink as he’s greeted by dustin and eddie; he doesn’t spend much time talking to them though, as he quickly makes his way over to you.
“stevie.” you whimper, pulling him in for a tight hug. “i was worried sick.”
“like, literally.” dustin cuts in and you flip him off behind steve’s back.
you inhale steve’s scent again, though a little different now from wandering the upside down and fighting vecna, but still steve all the same.
you think about the test you put back in your purse in the meantime, though you don’t even have it on your person right now, and if it can wait until this fiasco is over.
you lean your chin on his chest, just staring up at him talking to…whoever, you’re not really paying attention you just want to look at him. you push up on your toes to kiss his cheek, drawing his attention back to you.
“you’re okay?” you ask. “not hurt at all?”
“no, babe.” steve smiles down at you. “you’re good?”
you nod and meet him halfway in a kiss, so glad you’re finally back together and won’t be separated again like this any time soon.
“sorry to break this love session up,” robin cuts in, you and steve parting but still hanging onto each other. “we should probably go get max.”
-
you all collectively decided to ditch the RV back at the trailer park, not wanting to draw more attention to yourselves when pulling back up to the creel house. it’s probably drawing more attention that a big group of people are walking at this hour, especially looking the way you all do but still better than being caught with a stolen RV.
you lean on steve the entire way there, your feet dragging after having been up all night. and like the great boyfriend he is he holds you up the entire way there.
ironically, it’s like seeing heaven’s gates when the creel house is in sight. you can vaguely see the trio you left there the day before and you find it in yourself to rush over and the rest of your group follow behind.
you gather them up as best as you could in a hug, the three of them returning it immediately. you couldn’t help but get emotional over everyone actually making it through, tears falling before you can catch them. you pull away to get a good look at them and see lucas’s face all beat up. you gasp and grab onto his face as gently as you can.
“what happened?” you turn his head as softly as you can to not irritate or hurt him any more than he already is. “who did this?”
“jason found out we were here.” lucas says quietly.
“sent one of his orderlies after me, too.” erica scoffs and you frown. that couldn’t have been the walk in the park she’s going to make it out to be.
“he came in as vecna was about to take max, he saw the entire thing.” you don’t say anything and wait for him to finish his thought. “he didn’t believe it wasn’t me doing it until he was choking me out and it still didn’t stop.”
“you’d think seeing it the first time would make him a believer but here we are.” eddie mutters from behind you.
“where is he now?” you ask, wiping the blood from his face on the jacket you took off. you try to be as gentle as possible since you don’t even have water to wipe it away with.
“he left as soon as he found out it wasn’t us or eddie doing this,” he stops talking for a second while you wipe his busted lip, he hisses in pain but does nothing more than that. “me and erica did everything we could to get max back.”
you turn and notice that dustin, nancy and robin are tending to max and that makes your job easier—you’re usually the one taking care of the kids this way while everyone’s doing their part by physically fighting something.
lucas takes over wiping his own blood off while you check in on erica, checking any visible skin for bruises and cuts from her fight with what’s-his-face.
“i did hold my own, you know.” she brags, while you turn her left arm over and around.
“i believe you.” you say with a laugh.
and you do, unfortunately since she’s been brought into this she’s done nothing but hold her own and be strong and you wish every day that she didn’t get dragged into this.
she’s just a kid after all—they all are.
“look,” steve speaks up so everyone can hear. “the suns rising, and we can’t run the risk of being caught out here. so let’s get home and get some rest.”
-
you’re eternally grateful that hawkins is not that big of a town, the walk from the creel house to everyone’s respective homes didn’t take very long.
you, dustin and eddie were going to crash at steve’s, the house empty anyways with his parents gone for his dad's business trip.
you hold steve’s hand and he holds your purse in his other free one, swinging your conjoined hands gently. you can’t hear the boys in front of you but they’re both talking very animatedly for people who have been up all day and night.
“i’m tired.” you sigh, trying to keep yourself upright as you walk. “feet hurt.”
“we’re almost there, babe. just a little longer.”
seeing steve’s house was like finding an oasis in the desert, and you’re all nearly rushing to get inside.
you rummage through your purse for steve’s keys, painfully aware of the test in the zippered pocket. you sort through the keys on the ring, putting the one for his house in the lock. it’s cold and it’s quiet when you open the door, as it usually is, but you walk in comfortably as if it’s your own.
steve drops all his things to the side of the front door, glad to be home. he’s unlacing his shoes while the other boys stand there awkwardly.
“shoes come off,” you explain, yours already in the organizer. “when steve’s done with that he’s going to show you guys to a room you can sleep in.”
steve gets on that, leading the boys up the stairs and towards the guest room. you make your way to the kitchen to get some water for everyone, also just taking a second in there while you’re alone to finally just breathe. you stare at your purse and think that if you’re going to say anything to steve it should be tonight. before anything else decides to change your plans.
“you good?” steve’s voice pulls you from your spaced out state.
“yeah.” you clear your throat and get back to what you were originally doing. steve grabs glasses for you once he sees you pull the ice tray from the freezer. “gonna bring them up to dusty and eddie.”
you fill the cup with ice and steve fills them with water.
“i’ll meet you in your room, yeah?” you offer a smile and leave the kitchen before he can ask questions.
when you get to the guest room, eddie is already fast asleep on the bed while dustin’s also sound asleep on the floor with some blankets. you quietly set the glasses down in a spot they’ll see them in if they wake up in the night.
you cringe at them sleeping on the sheets and blankets with their dirty clothes but you’ll just have to wash them later since steve is useless with that kind of stuff.
it’s like you’re a mother already.
your hands are shaking as you walk the length of the hallway from the guest room to steve’s. from the corner of your eye, you can still see the light in the kitchen on and steve isn’t in his room yet. you take a deep breath and head back downstairs.
“hey, stevie, is everythi—“ your voice fades as steve comes into view, the pregnancy test from your purse in his hand. you’re like a deer caught in the headlights as steve looks down at the test in his hand then back to you. you keep opening your mouth to say something but shut it again, nothing coming out.
“when did you take this?” steve’s voice cuts into the thick silence in the kitchen. your heart is hammering in your chest and you’re focusing on not having a panic attack so much that you didn’t even hear steve.
“hello?” steve calls out a little louder, snapping you out of it. “i said, when did you take this?”
“on the RV,” you’re whispering. “when you were making molotovs with robin.”
“so you knew, while we were talking in the bathroom, you knew.”
“i didn’t,” you’re trying not to hyperventilate. “i didn’t look at it until you and eddie were out of the RV. i knew then.”
steve stands there, dumbfounded, tossing the test and the plastic clatters on the counter.
you’re realizing maybe you made a mistake not including him in all this, but you had to have him focused on the task at hand. you couldn’t have him thinking and worried about the little peanut in your belly when his attention needed to be on getting to vecna and saving max.
“i didn’t tell you yet because i didn’t want you to think about me when you should’ve been thinking about saving max.”
“i’m more than capable of focusing on two things at once.” steve runs his fingers through his hair. “you knew and you went to the upside down? you could’ve been seriously hurt and you still went?”
“steve, i’m probably no more than a month along.” you lift up your shirt for dramatic effect. “i don’t even have a bump yet, and i wouldn’t have been hurt. dustin and eddie were there!”
“you’re still stupid for doing that.” steve sighs, and leans his body on the kitchen counter.
maybe it’s just your emotions getting the best of you because of your current state and the rational part of you knows he’s just been caught off guard and he doesn’t mean it, but your eyes still well up with tears anyways. you snatch the test from the counter in front of him and your purse with it, on your way upstairs to grab some clothes and shower.
steve follows closely behind you as you dig through his drawers like they’re your own, pulling clothes you’ve worn before from them. you wipe tears from your cheeks as you pull a pair of briefs for you to wear from the drawer.
“babe,” steve says cautiously. “i didn’t mean it, i’m sorry.”
“move, steve.” you don’t look him in the eye. “i wanna shower.”
thankfully he gets out of your way, and you take a few steps to the bathroom closest to steve’s room. you can feel him following close behind you again, holding a towel he pulled from the closet.
he stands outside the door when you shut it, his eyes closing with a sigh as he slides down the wall to wait for you. he’s dead tired but you’ve both never gone to sleep mad at each other and that’s not starting now. he’ll wait as long as it takes.
“stevie.” you call out from the other side of the door. steve is up in a flash, opening the door you left unlocked.
you know you were trying to be mad but you couldn’t be away from him for too long; you didn’t want to. sure, a part of you is still upset about his statement earlier but you keep repeating to yourself that he didn’t mean it. you know steve doesn’t think before he speaks sometimes. maybe you were stupid for that but at the end of the day you wanted to be there for your friends.
“i’m sorry, baby.” steve holds you with the spray of water hitting his back, his lips pressing into the wet crown of your head. “gotta start thinking before i speak.”
“i was stupid,” you admit. “but i don’t wanna hear it.” you joke and he chuckles into your hair.
“i love you,” you say, looking up at him. “i’m glad you made it out okay.”
“you said yourself you’d never forgive me if i didn’t, i couldn’t handle that.” steve pours some shampoo into his hand to lather into your hair. “but seriously, i know the news didn’t come out the way you probably intended it to—but i’m happy, i’m excited.”
you smile at him, tears welling in your eyes again but for a better reason this time.
“this goes without saying, but i’ll be there for you. every single step of the way, i’ll be here.” he’s holding his soapy hands on your cheeks. “even when you want me out of your sight, or if you want me to drive across town for something to eat, i’ll do it. i’ll be here.”
you pout as the tears spill over and mix with the water from the shower. you clutch onto him tightly, never wanting to let him go.
-
four months later;
“let me look it over.”
eddie hands you his final paper for ms. o’donnell’s class, his leg bouncing under the table. you’re reading it over, the lined paper crumpled from being folded to fit in his metal lunchbox and from his erratic erasing. the paper is actually decent, enough to at least pass her class and that’s really all he needs anyways. you do make minor edits as you read through, not much red covering the paper anymore unlike the first few papers he wrote.
“how is it?” he actually looks pretty nervous, which is warranted after all, he definitely deserves to graduate after all the shit he’s been through.
“it’s good!” you hand him back the paper. “i did make a few edits again, but i think it’s ready to be rewritten for the final time, in pen, or typed out even.”
“you think you could write it for me?” eddie sends a charming smile your way. “you have neater handwriting and i don’t have a computer to type this on.”
“eddie,” you admonish. “she’s going to know you didn’t write it. but, i can type it on dusty’s computer, maybe.”
“oh, you’re a lifesaver, lady henderson.” eddie stands, handing the paper back to you. “look, i have to meet up with the rest of hellfire, i’ll see you later?”
you sigh while you’re packing your stuff up from the picnic table near eddie’s trailer and nod at him. “yes, that’s fine. but, i will be quizzing you with the biology flash cards i made.”
you hear a groan from near eddie’s van before he gets in but no other arguments. you see him waiting for you in his van to get into your car, and with a final wave you get into the car.
-
“hey, pretty lady!” is the first thing you hear when you walk into family video and you’re blushing. wasn’t your boyfriend, though, it was robin.
“hi robin!” you stand at the counter, finger tips gripping the edge. “steve around here somewhere?”
“he’s actually just stepped to the back, keith’s got him running around back and forth changing the movie posters around the store.” robin informs you. “but you have me!”
“works for me,” you give her a smile. “i do need to get out of here eventually though—eddie’s somehow conned me into typing up the final draft of his paper for ms. o’donnell’s.”
“and the peanut?” she asks, rubbing her hands together.
“they’re good,” you gush, free hand rubbing softly on the small bump protruding from the dress you wore. “i can’t even keep the food i want to eat down every now and then but other than that, we’re great.”
when you told your friends about your pregnancy, it actually went over pretty well. the kids were excited for another member to join their party, already trying to figure out what their role would be once they’re born. you and steve knew jack about dungeons and dragons but knew that they’d be in good hands once they’re interested in playing.
the first thing eddie said when you told him was ‘ i knew you were acting weird!’ you still giggle thinking about it.
your mother on the other hand—she cried for hours, not because you were pregnant, but because her first baby was growing up. you even cried with her for a little while.
you haven’t even told steve’s parents yet. you’re not sure if you even want to have people that are so in and out like that to be a part of your baby’s life, you’ll have to figure that out later. but, if steve is not in any kind of rush to tell them, then neither are you.
“hey, babe.” steve sneaks up on you, kissing your cheek. “didn’t expect to see you here.”
steve’s sorting through rolls of posters, pulling ones he needs out of the roll and setting them flat on the counter, using tapes to keep the corners down.
“i brought you both lunch, actually. i was on my way back home from eddie’s and i was craving a shake so i stopped by a burger joint for one.” you set the bag you had in your hand on the counter, fresh burgers inside. “i hope you’re in the mood for them too, if not, i’ll just save them for me later.”
“no we’re starving,” robin pulls the bag closer to her. “thank you, seriously.”
“it was no problem at all.” you double check if that was everything you needed to do here, nothing else coming to mind.
you lean on steve before you start to leave, his whole body turning towards you to gather you up in a hug. he leans down and gives you two kisses in quick succession, both hands coming down to rub against your small belly.
“see you later,” another kiss. “mom is making lasagna, tonight.”
you and steve elected to stay in your mom’s house for the time being, it felt more like home there for both of you than at steve’s. your mom loved having a home that was becoming full again, it’s been just the three of you for so long that even having just steve come around made your mom so much happier.
“you’re welcome to come too!” you let robin know. “the more the merrier.”
she tells you that she will be there, not one to pass up a lasagna, and with that you’re on your way back home to type up an essay like you’re back in school again.
-
“dusty come on!” you bang on his door for the 5th time that morning. “we’re going to be late if you don’t hurry up! ”
“just a minute!” dustin yells from the other side of the door.
you know he’s talking to suzie again, which isn’t a problem any other time but today’s the senior class graduation and you’re going to leave him if he takes any longer.
“two minutes,” steve says through the door. “if you’re not out in two minutes she said we’re leaving you.”
you seat yourself at the table in the kitchen, eating just a plate of bacon and left over fried rice from having take-out last night.
“i think he’s on his way out now.” steve informs you, grabbing a piece of bacon from the plate your mom set out and not from yours, learning from experience not to take your food right now. “you ready?”
he’s packing away the bacon you didn’t eat so you can take it along with you, dustin barreling down the hallway.
“i made it.”
“yeah, barely.” you tease. “now let’s go!”
-
you barely made it in time, eddie’s uncle ushering you over to where he was sitting. dustin sits next to him and you and steve file in next to him. robin immediately finds you in the crowd and waves from her seat on the field with the rest of the graduates. eddie hasn’t seen you guys yet, but you can see him; he’s adjusting his cap on his head, his hair probably too big for the cap. nancy, sitting pretty as usual, is all the way at the back of the group.
the wheelers are sitting in the row in front of you; mrs. wheeler conversing with you a little about your pregnancy before the ceremony starts.
you don’t get to talk for long—principal higgins tapping on the mic to get everyone’s attention. the beginning of the ceremony drags on, speeches from admin taking too long when you know everyone here just wants to get to their loved one being called up.
while the valedictorian is up giving her speech, you rest your head against steve’s shoulder while you snack on the bacon you brought with you. “i’m bored.” you mutter to him.
“tell me about it.” steve huffs. “it felt different being down there though.”
principal higgins is back up to the microphone again, announcing that they will be introducing the graduates for the class of 1986. that makes you sit up, all of your friends last names are in various spots of the alphabet so you’ll be able to keep your attention on the announcements.
robin is up first, jonathan following close behind. he enrolled at hawkins high again after spring break; after everything that went down, the entire family felt like they needed to be back here in hawkins. you take a peek at joyce and jim, who are sitting a row down and to your right, cheering for jonathan. you’re so glad they finally made it work after all these years. argyle also sits with them—you don’t know the specifics of that, if he’s just visiting or what, but you’re happy he’s here.
next up on the lineup of your friends—eddie. you think that yours, steve’s and the kids' shouts combined we’re louder than anyone else at this graduation. you did get a few looks from families that surrounded your big group, jason carver’s parents sitting not too far away and sending the dirtiest looks of them all.
after jason saw vecna taking max, he hid out for a while. he didn’t see his friends, didn’t go out as often as he would’ve during spring break. he didn’t get time to properly mourn chrissy since he went on his manhunt for eddie as soon as he found out, and he took that time to do it. which was a real pain in the ass for eddie—the sooner jason cleared his name, the sooner he could get back to his life. they didn’t believe jason at first, not until he got his friends to come in and pretend like they saw everything too.
eddie still does feel pangs of guilt wash over him from time to time for leaving chrissy there when maybe he should’ve done something but at least he’s not and innocent man accused of her murder anymore.
you’re in shock when eddie does exactly what he said he’d do, flipping off higgins and snatching his diploma and running back to his seat. principal higgins was very clearly over him, telling other staff to leave him be so they could get this over with. you can do nothing but laugh; he is a man of his word after all.
it doesn’t take long, thankfully, to get to nancy at almost the end of the line. and before you know it, the graduates are throwing their caps in the air, the graduation music playing loud over the speakers.
it’s a big mess trying to find your friends in the big group of ex-high schoolers roaming around but it doesn’t take long for them to find you and the group.
you snap so many pictures with the camera you had steve buy for this occasion, wanting to keep the memory of this forever. you made sure to take an obscene amount of pictures, having to change the film roll many times, just so the parents (and uncle) of the graduates could have some too.
after all that, the parents made your ever growing group take one big photo, multiple flashes going off.
“okay, i’ve gotta get out of here to start the spread for the graduation party.” mrs. wheeler says to you all. “you’ll all be there i hope?”
you were never one to turn down food, even more so now. “me and steve will definitely be there.”
-
when you’re sitting in the wheeler’s home, snacking on cheese and crackers you begin to feel emotional again—you almost wouldn’t have had this if things didn’t go all according to plan.
if, which you didn’t find out until later, eleven hadn’t stepped in within max’s mind and took care of vecna, max probably wouldn’t have been here today.
with the help of her, steve, nancy and robin, you wouldn’t have max and you wouldn’t have your town. you also wouldn’t have eddie, either, vecna’s defeat contributing to the demobats demise that didn’t make sense at first.
you cuddle closer to steve on the couch, his hand coming around you to rest on your rounding tummy. you’re just listening to the chatter within the house and the boys shouts from playing d&d in the basement.
you’re grateful for the noise, and you wouldn’t have it any other way.