Chapter Ninety-Five: Work Through It

We opted to have to more prominent members of 'The Hellfire Club' stay in the RV while Steve, Robin, Nancy, Max, Erica, and I headed inside.

"So much for avoiding angry hicks." Robin said. The place was incredibly crowded, crawling with people, several of which I recognized as Hawkins citizens.

"Let's be...fast." 

"Yep."

"Definitely."

We all split up, with Steve and I booking it towards the clothing section. We each grabbed whatever military surplus t-shirts we could find, plus a jacket for each of us. Steve found this really cool brown leather jacket with patches all over it that fit him perfectly and I found a similar one that was oversized and army-green. We went up to the counter and paid for them before changing in the bathroom and coming back to join the others.

"How many of these do you think we need?" Robin asked, holding up a can of kerosene.

"Like five or six." Steve told her, beginning to pile cans into the cart. "Riles."

"For sure, five or six, at least." I agreed, looking up to see Robin's eyes locked on something over my shoulder. Steve followed her gaze, and I turned around to see that Vickie was standing at the counter, rifling through a table-top stand of pepper spray.

"What are you gonna do, Robin, you just gonna stand here and gawk at her?" Steve asked.

"Shut up."

"She's cute." I said, smiling at Robin. "She's got kind of a Molly Ringwald thing going on."

She took a step forward and my jaw dropped, thinking she was actually going to go up and talk to her, when some blonde guy came up behind her, putting his hands on her back and shouting, causing her to scream.

"Jeez, you scared me!" Vickie scolded, turning to face him.

"Whoa, you gonna mace me with that?"

"If it keeps you in line, yeah." They kissed and I turned to face Robin, putting a hand on her shoulder. She whirled around, running into Steve as she ran in the opposite direction.

"Robin," Steve called, "Robin!" 

I sighed, Steve and I both exchanging sympathetic looks before he followed after her and I stayed back with the cart, continuing to stock up on kerosene when Erica came up behind me.

"Jason and his meathead friensd are here," She warned, "He's got Nancy cornered at the gun counter."

My eyes widened and I turned around to see Nancy and Jason standing very close, with a shotgun clasped between them.

"Stay hidden." I told her, pushing my cart over towards them.

"Now your brother, he, uh, is he here with you, by chance?" I heard him ask. I took a deep breath before steering my cart right towards him, digging it full force into his side and prompting him to let go of the shotgun.

"Oh, shoot! Oh, I'm sorry. This old cart got away from me." I said, giving Nancy the opportunity to get some distance from him.

"Can you just watch where you're going?!" He asked, clearly annoyed before he narrowed his eyes at me. "Wait...you're Chief Hopper's daughter, aren't you?"

"The very same," I said, moving in front of him so that I could block Nancy from his few, "and you're Jason. You're Captain of the basketball team this year, right?"

"Sure am." He said, eyeing me suspiciously. "So, what brings you here?"

"You didn't get the memo?" I asked, leaning against the handle of my cart. "There's a murderer running around. You don't get to be the police chief's daughter without learning to take precautions."

"Yeah, I'd bet." I forced a smile, glancing behind me to see if Nancy had had time to purchase her guns and get away from the counter. He slapped a hand down on it, drawing my gaze back to him.

"Say..." He trailed off, "When you were in high school, weren't you pretty close with some of those Hellfire kids? Dustin Henderson, Mike Wheeler..."

"You're joking, right?" I asked. "Mike Wheeler is just my best friend's little brother, they were like...twelve at the time. How many high school seniors do you know  how run around making friends with Middle Schoolers?"

"You'd be surprised." He said suspiciously. I smiled, somewhat sarcastically. 

"Seems kind of creepy if you ask me," I said, pushing my cart so that it was beside him and I could stand directly in front of me, "an eighteen year old, running around with a bunch of kids. If you're not careful, someone might think you have unsavory intentions or something...they might not let you near them...if you're not careful."

"Are you saying that I should be careful?" He questioned. I shrugged.

"Depends," I said, moving to stand directly beside him as I started to walk away, "I just know that there are some people who get very protective about the safety of children. If any of those people thought said children were in danger, well...there's no telling what they might do."

He glared at me and I forced a smile.

"Nice talking to you, Jackson." I walked past him quickly, letting my smile fall as I rushed to the checkout counter as quickly as possible, getting there just as the others had finished buying their stuff.

"What was that about?" Steve asked, as the cashier rung up my items. 

"Oh nothing, just vague, semi-threatening small talk." I said, shoving the cart away from me as they began loading my stuff in bags. "Let's just say, the sooner we get out of here, the better."

"Yeah, Erica mentioned that." I nodded, grabbing the bags in each arm and following the others out of the store and back to the RV. 

"What happened?!" Lucas asked nervously as Steve stepped into the RV.

"We gotta go."

"Your old friends are here." Erica reported as the rest of us funneled inside.

"Lets go, let's go, let's go!" Dustin prompted.

"I'm going! I'm going! Sit down!" Steve yelled as we peeled casually out of the parking lot. 

~~~

We went and parked the RV in some random field, and each split up to prepare for battle. Dustin and Eddie were using nails and garbage can lids to make shields, Lucas and Erica were making spears out of sticks and hunting knives, Nancy and Max were in the process of sawing off the barrel of her shot gun, and Steve, Robin, and I set up camp beside the RV, pouring kerosene into liquor bottles so that we could make Moltov Cocktails.

"It just doesn't make sense." Steve stated, holding a bottle as Robin poured kerosene into it.

"What doesn't make sense?"

"That was Dan Shelter," He said, "He graduated like, two years ago."

"So?" Robin asked.

"So he's in college, which means he was visiting on Spring Break. Fast Times was returned like, I don't know, a week ago? Right? Unless she's got some horndog brother that we don't know about, which is possible. Or she's just like, really into Judge Reinhold?"

"I mean..." I held out my hands, making a face at them both. "Judge Reinhold's kinda-"

"Guys!" Robin interrupted.

"What?"

"I don't care," She said, "and I don't understand why you guys do either with everything that's going on. Honestly, this feels like a perfect time for that little pull of the rug, because...in the face of the world ending, the stakes of my love life feel spectacularly low."

"Yeah...I get you there, but...I still have hope." Steve told her, as I secured one of the clothes in the bottle and passed it down the line.

"Not everything has a happy ending."

"Yeah, yeah, believe me, I know." He put the funnel in the next bottle, and Robin started pouring it. The strong smell of Kerosene filled the air, and for some reason as soon as it hit my nose, another rush of nausea hit me.

"I'm not talking about failed romance," Robin told him, "I just...I have this terrible, gnawing feeling that...it might not work out for us this time."

"You think we shouldn't be doing this?"

"I think we're mad fools, the lot of us, but...Riley's right, I mean, if we don't stop him, who will?"

I stood up, walking over to the front of the RV and leaning my hand against it before bending over and vomiting in the grass.

"Again?" Steve asked, putting the moltovs down and walking over to check on me. I held out a hand to him.

"Don't come over here, this is..." I closed my eyes, fighting back a gag, "Really gross."

"I'm your husband Riley. I think I can handle a little bit of puke." He said, crossing his arms. "Ok, but seriously, are you sick or something? Because I got maybe side effects of your powers or whatever, but that was hours ago."

He reached forward, putting the back of his hand on my forehead. 

"You feel fine."

"Hey Riley?" Robin called, prompting us to look at her. "Just out of curiosity, purely unrelated to your sudden bouts of nauseousness, when's the last time you had your period?"

"Robin, that's ridiculous," I called back, "I had it..."

I trailed off, looking up at Steve.

"No...you're messing with me." He said, taking a step back. "Ha, ha, very funny guys."

"Now," I continued, ignoring his skepticism and looking over at Robin, "I'm supposed to be on my period right now, how did I not notice that?!"

"Holy crap." Robin said, standing up, "I was like, 50% joking, I didn't even know you guys had-"

"No, stop," Steve said, all traces of humor gone, "No, you are not...you aren't..."

I looked at him with fearful eyes. 

He turned back towards the others.

"Hey guys!" He yelled. "Riley and I have to run back to town! We'll be back soon, ok!"

They all shot us thumbs up, going about their business as Steve turned to face me again. I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"You're kidding me," I said dryly, "You're actually kidding me, the timing...it actually couldn't get any worse than this!" 

"Hey, we'll figure it out, ok?" I shook my head. "Come on. If we're about to head into battle, we'd better know for sure."

I sighed, walking around to the passenger's seat and climbing inside. 

"I can't," I buried my face in my hands, "I actually can't do this."

"You like that word, huh?" He asked, trying to lighten the mood. I shook my head.

"We're only a few hours away from facing Henry head on, Steve," I pointed out, "Not only did I just potentially become a huge liability, after Sara, and my Dad, I don't think I could handle losing a kid. Our kid-"

"That's not gonna happen, ok?" He said, keeping his eyes on the road. "Not only do we not know for sure if you're pregnant, you're going to be in Max's mind. You're in no physical danger, and besides that, you said yourself Vecna created you, so he's not gonna try to kill you if he wants you on his side."

"Oh my gosh," I realized, "I'm a freaky mutant, we have no idea what my DNA is gonna do to a kid-"

"Riley!" He exclaimed, cutting me off. I blew out a breath, glancing over at him. He sighed. "Look, we...we have been through some insane crap in the last four years, and we've dealt with all of it, ok? We've dealt with it, and we came out on the other side, and this is going to be no different. Whatever happens, if your pregnant or not, if our baby ends up being some super-powered mutant, we will work through it, just like we always do." I let out a breath, trying to calm myself down. 

"I'm scared," I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper, "Like...more scared than I have ever been in my life, kind of scared." He nodded.

"Me too, Barbie," He admitted, "But we're together in this, ok?"

He reached a hand out and I took it, turning sideways in my seat and holding it between both of mine. He blew out a nervous breath of his own. 

"We can't risk parking in town for too long, with the RV being stolen and all," I said, "So keep the engine running. I'll run inside and grab it and then we'll go back to the field with the others, and I'll take the test on the RV." He nodded, letting go of my hands and putting it back on the wheel, his knuckles turning white with his grip on the steering wheel.

"Yeah...yeah, ok."

"Steve," I said, causing him to glance at me, "You're right, ok? You're right. Whatever happens, we'll figure it out." He nodded in agreement, and I turned to face the front again. 

~~~

I ran into the drug store and picked up the kit, and then we drove back to the field and parked again. Steve agreed to go back outside and continue helping Robin with the explosives as I put all of the components together.

The stupid test was ridiculously complicated, involving a plastic tray, an eyedropper, two test tubes and a stir stick that I would put in said test tube once the contents of the tray had been placed into it with the dropper. Once it was in the test tube, I had to leave it in there for thirty minutes to see if the stick would turn blue, meaning that the test was positive.

I cleaned out the tray once the test tubes were ready, leaving the test on the back of the toilet and keeping my eyes trained on my watch as I literally counted the minutes, pacing back and forth down the aisle of the RV. Steve and Robin came to check on me periodically, but somewhere about the twenty-five minute mark, Nancy climbed back onto the RV.

"Hey, Nance. Shotgun serving you well?" I asked nervously. She just stared at me, clearly already having been filled in.

"You're sure?" She asked. 

"About if I'm pregnant or not?" I asked. "No, I've still got another five minutes, but...I'm late, that much I'm sure of."

"Oh my gosh..." She put a hand over her mouth, "H...how do you feel?"

"Physically?"

"You know what I mean." She said, crossing her arms. I nodded, averting my eyes to the floor. 

"I'm...terrified," I told her, "I mean, if this were happening at any other time I might be happy...excited for us to have a family, but this...I mean, are we just setting our child up for failure? Arer we just bringing him or her into the world to...die some horrible, Upside Down related death or...to never know what its like to be a normal kid because I'm...defective?"

"You're not defective." Nancy argued. I shrugged.

"I don't know what I am," I replied, "And at this point, it...its quite possibly too late for me to figure it out."

"But you're not alone, Riley," She stated, "And your child, however they turn out, won't be alone either. They're going to have all of us." I nodded, tears welling up in my eyes.

"I want to be excited, but I'm just really scared." I said, my voice breaking. Tears welled in her eyes too as she rushed over to me and pulled me into a hug. I hugged her back, burying my face in her shoulder. 

"I know," She said quietly, "But I promise, each and every one of us is gonna do whatever it takes to protect this baby, just like you and Steve have done whatever it took to protect us." I smiled at this, pulling away from her and wiping my eyes as the alarm on my watch started going off. Steve heard it from outside of the RV, climbing on and looking at me with nervous eyes. I swallowed as Nancy stepped aside, allowing Steve to take her place directly in front of me. 

"Its time?" He asked. I nodded and he put his hands on my face, pulling me so that he could lean his forehead against mine. "Whatever it says, we'll work it out, ok?" 

"Yeah." I whispered, pulling away from him and turning to face the RV bathroom. I bit my lip as Steve put both hands on my shoulders, massaging his thumbs into them as I pulled the door open. 

I didn't even have to remove the stick from the tube, because even from where I was standing, it was obvious that the end of it had faded from its original white to a light blue. I gasped, turning around to look at Steve.

"What?" He asked. "What does that mean?"

I looked back at the stick, staring at it in disbelief before meeting his eyes again.

"Its positive," I said, putting a hand over my mouth, "I...I'm pregnant."