Chapter Ninety-Six: She Needs You

Steve, Robin, Nancy, and I made the decision to keep the results of my test to ourselves. The kids needed to focus on the task ahead as much as possible, and we were already going to struggle to do that as it was. 

I sat at the table in the RV, trying to push the current situation ot of my mind so that I could mentally prepare myself for what I had to do with Max. 

Our plan against Vecna was pretty extensive; Lucas, Erica, Max, and I would stay behind in the real Hawkins, while Eddie, Dustin, Steve, Nancy, and Robin would go into the Upside Down. Lucas, Max, Erica, and I all had bright blue lanterns that we'd purchased at The War Zone, and we would use those to locate Vecna inside of the Creel house. Once we'd found him, Erica would run out to the playground and signal the others in the Upside Down. That would lead to Phase Two: Max would would taunt him, and we would follow him up to the basement, where Max and I would set up shop and prepare to travel into her mind, with Lucas monitoring us.

Phase Three consisted of Dustin and Eddie transform Eddie's trailer into a fortress and draw the demobats to them. With their spears, shields, and temporary bunker, they would keep the bats at bay, while Nancy, Steve, and Robin, would move onto Phase Four: Sneaking into the Creel house and killing Vecna in his trance state.

Once in her mind, Max would, with the help of my powers, hide in one of her happiest memories, buying us and the Upside Down crew enough time to kill him, while hopefully not killing Max and potentially me.

It was a good plan, and one I needed to be 100% focused on, seeing as it would be my job to protect Max, as well as keep her hidden. I couldn't afford to be distracted, so I decided to sit alone inside the RV and try to center myself until it was time to ship out at sunset. 

Just before this however, Steve walked onto the RV with me, leaning back against the bathroom door and crossing his arms.

"How do you feel?" I asked, propping my chin in my hand. He nodded, slowly looking up at me.

"Honestly?" He asked. I nodded and he pushed off of the door, coming over to crouch down beside the table bench. I moved so that I was sitting on the edge of it, and he put his arms on the sides of my legs. "I'm happy, Barbie. I mean, I'm really happy."

"Really?" I asked gently, reaching up and coming a hand through his hair. He chuckled, nodding as he looked at me with tear-filled eyes.

"I mean, we were just talking about this," He said, "Having a family of my own has always been a dream of mine, but the fact that I get to do it with you is just...its unreal."

I smiled as his tears fell, brushing them away with my fingers.

"I  think I'm happy, too, underneath all of the fear." I admitted. "I mean, obviously I didn't anticipate this would be happening right now, but...I want that dream that we talked about, I want to have a family with you, I just..." I averted my eyes to my lap, a sob overtaking me.

'Hey...hey." He rubbed my legs.

"I wish my dad were here." I said, covering my mouth with my hand.

"Come here." He grabbed my hand, standing up and pulling me to my feet so that he could wrap his arms around my waist and press my body against his. I wrapped my arms around his neck, crying into my arm.

"I don't want to mess all of this up."

"You won't," He said, putting a hand on the back of my head, "No way. You're gonna kill this whole parenting thing, I know it. I mean, Eleven knows it, the kids know it, and if your Dad was still alive, he'd tell you exactly the same thing."

I blew out a breath, pulling away and wiping my eyes.

"I need to get focused," I said, shaking my hands out, "We're marching into battle here, I can't...I can't be all weepy and emotional right now."

"Yeah, how dare you." He said sarcastically. I chuckled, tucking my hair behind my ear as he put his hands on my face. "I love you, ok? And I didn't think this was possible, but knowing what I know now, that you're the mother of my children present and future, makes me love you that much more."

"I love you too." I said, smiling tearfully. He smiled back, leaning his forehead against mine. 

"I guess we should start picking out baby names." I laughed, grabbing the lapels of his jacket.

"I've got a few ideas."

"Yeah?" he chuckled. I nodded, pulling away from him. "We got this. Seriously."

"I need to stop thinking about it." I said, taking a deep breath to compose myself. "Ok, I think I'm alright. I think I'm ready, let's do this."

"Are you sure?" He asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure," I agreed, "As long as you promise me you're gonna come back through that gate in one piece."

"I'm gonna try, Barbie. And you better come out of Max's mind." 

"We'll try," I told him, "Unfortunately, that's all we can do at this point...try out best."

"Let's hope its enough." I nodded in agreement.

"Ok, I'm ready," I confirmed, "Let's just get out of this field before I change my mind."

~~~

We loaded everyone into the RV just as the sun began to set. It was eerily silent as everyone tried to wrap their heads around what we were about to do.

I glanced at Steve from the passenger's seat, only to find that he was already looking at me. He took a hand off of the steering wheel, holding it out to me. I took it, squeezing it tightly as he pulled to a stop in front of the Creel house.

"Be careful." He said, as I stood up from my seat. I bent down, pressing a slow kiss to his lips. 

"You too." I whispered, standing up to face the others. "Just in case this all goes horribly wrong...I love all of you guys. You're my family, and...I can't tell you how grateful I am to have you all in this fight along with me."

Dustin stood up, throwing his spear and shield aside and running over to me, crushing me in a hug. I smiled, squeezing him tightly as I hugged him back.

"You better be careful, Henderson. Don't get cocky and get yourself killed, I mean it."

"You either." He said, pulling back to look at me. "I love you, Riley."

"I love you too, kiddo." I moved away from him, letting him move past me to Lucas as Eddie stood in front of me next. 

"I don't know you that well," He said, "But if I'd known in high school what a gladiator you are...well I don't know if I would've believed it." I smiled. "I won't run away this time."

"Run if you have to, Eddie. There's no shame in that, you don't always need to be a hero." I pointed out. He nodded.

"Yeah...at this point, for me, especially after fighting alongside a hero like you...there is. There really is," He said, "But I won't let anything happen to Henderson...or Harrington, or Buckley, or Wheeler." I nodded.

"I truly believe that." I wrapped my arms around his neck and he hugged me back, moving so that I could stand with Nancy and Robin.

"We'll look after your hubby, ok?" Robin told me. "Not a scratch on him."

"None on you either," I said, hugging her too, "And do me a favor. With Vecna?" I pulled back. "I want you to burn him down. I mean, nothing left." She nodded, offering me a salute.

"Sir, yes, sir." She stepped aside, leaving just Nancy and I at the back of the RV.

"How did we get here?" She asked, holding her arms out to her sides. "I still remember...sleepovers...truth or dare and daydreaming about boys."

"Oh, you know...something about Monster Hunting with Jonathan Byers or something crazy like that." She laughed. "Listen, Nancy, um...before we do this, I don't...I don't want to leave anything unsaid." She nodded. "You've been my best friend since eigth grade and...I'm sorry if I haven't always been the friend that you deserve."

"No, I'm sorry," She said, "If I had been half as good a friend to you when I was dating Steve, then maybe we never would have fallen out of touch-"

"No, stop, you listen to me," I said, putting my hands on her shoulders, "You...are one of the best, most loyal friends a person could ever ask for, and I will always, always look at us meeting, and becomeing friends as one of the biggest blessings that I have in my life." She smiled, tears dotting in her eyes. "I love you, Nance."

"I love you too." She threw her arms around my neck and I hugged her back.

"Also, can you promise me something?" She pulled back to look at me. "If something does happen to me, can you...can you promise me that you'll look after them? Steve, and Eleven...all of them." She nodded.

"Of course I will." I nodded, smiling at her. 

"See you on the other side, Nancy Wheeler." She smiled back.

"On the other side, Riley Hopper-Harrington."

Once we'd finished our heartfelt goodbyes, that we all knew could very well be our last, Lucas, Erica, Max, and I climbed off of the RV, all of us armed with lanterns, notepads and pencils, flashlights, and Max's walkman. Once we all climbed out, with me shutting the RV door behind us, there was no looking back. There was no more hesitation.

It was go time. 

We all walked up the concrete steps to the front walk, staring up at the giant, decrepit house opposite us before walking up to the porch through the front door.

We all took our shoes off by the door, splitting up between the floors with our lanterns. Max and I had the attic, Lucas took the second floor, and Erica monitored the ground floor. We made it abundantly clear to each other that we would not say anything to avoid alerting Vecna to our presance to early, so if any of us found Vecna, we would leave our lantern in that spot, find the others, and explain it to them by writing messages on our notepads.

It all seemed very full circle to me, going back to communicating through notes, but I could save my nostalgia for a later time.

In the end, it was Erica who had located him, leading us all back to the first floor, where the lantern was blinking steadily from the place she'd left it on the floor, casting blue light all around the room. Max walked over to it, her lantern glowing just as bright the closer she got. I followed her lead, the hair standing up on the back of my neck as I stood beside the lantern.

I turned around just as Erica wrote something on her notepad, flashing it towards me.

Phase One?

I nodded and she took off, heading out the front door to the playground to signal the others.

~~~Steve~~~

"Uh, I don't mean to freak anyone out, but I swear we've seen this tree before." Robin said shakily as we trekked through the woods in the Upside Down.

"That's impossible." Nancy assured her. 

"That would suck, right?" She asked. "If...Vecna destroyed the world because...'cause we got lost in the woods."

"We're not lost, Robin." She laughed nervously, forging ahead of us. "Hey, watch out for the vines, Robin! Hive mind, remember?"

"Thank you!" 

"Ah, don't worry about her, she's just stressed," I said, "You know, scared."

"Yeah. Yeah, I...I know. Its just..."

"She's a super Klutz?" I asked, causing Nancy to chuckle. 

"She did tell me it took her longer to walk than most babies, so..." I nodded, chuckling.

"I really shouldn't laugh," I stated, "When I was a baby I actually crawled backwards."

"Crawled backwards?" She repeated.

"Yeah, I'd push with my hands like this, beep, beep," I mimed it, showing it to her, "Always in reverse, you know? I mean come on, it makes sense. You push to move, right?"

"No, no it doesn't make sense." She laughed.

"Well it did to my tiny little Harrington brain," I replied, "That is, of course, until I reversed by baby butt down a flight of stairs and thumped my head really good. Yeah."

"Wow, that explains...so much."

"Yeah, I think it kinda does," I agreed, "I think like, right out of the gate, like, I'm super confident, you know? But I'm also like, an idiot, which is just-I mean its a brutal combination. But, I mean, the good news is, I get a big enough thump on my head, I can change, you know? I can learn, I can...crawl forward."

"A thump in the head or a punch to the face?" She asked. I smiled. "I assume you're talking about Riley."

"Nah, she thumped me over the head even before that," I confirmed, "I mean, did she ever tell you about the first conversation we ever had?"

"The whole, 'feeling right at home in case someone goes missing' thing?" She asked. "I mean yeah, bits and pieces." I nodded.

"I was trying to apologize for all the crap Tommy and Carol had said to her, about being a milk carton kid and all that, and I invited her to the party."

"The one she warned us not to have?" She asked. "I've never really wrapped my head around the fact that if we had just listened to her back then, Barb might still be alive today." I nodded.

"Yeah...she somehow always knows the right thing," I stated, "But anyway, I was trying to be nice to her, because she was your friend, and I wanted to get in good with you, and she just...she saw right through it. I mean, this was the first time I'd heard her talk in years and she wasted no time calling me out." She smiled. "She just...she was never afraid to tell me when I was being a douchebag, and yet...I don't think she ever believed that that was all that I was. I think somehow...she always knew that I could be better than I was, and she knew exactly what to do and say to bring that person out of me."

"Yeah...she's good at that," Nancy agreed, "I mean, the boys have even said that. She knows their limits, she knows when to treat them like kids and when to trust them."

"Its part of the reason I know she's gonna be a great Mom," I stated, "I mean, if she can bring the best out of an idiot like me, get me crawling forward again, what's she going to do with a kid's whole lifetime. I'm just hoping I don't slow her down, at this point." She furrowed her eyebrows.

"You do realize that she needs you, just as much as you need her, right?" Nancy questioned. I shook my head.

"Nah...that's not true," I argued, "I mean, I do what I can to be there for her, but she'd figure it out in the end. She's a superhero, and I'm just...lucky to be here." She scoffed. "What?"

"Steve...Riley has had one of the hardest lives of anyone I have ever met," She told me, "I mean, even before the Upside Down, but especially after, she was hurting, and you were the first person to ever notice that."

"What?" I asked. She nodded. 

"I mean, at the beginning, when it was just me, her and Barb, she...she was the strongest of the three of us, for sure. She acted like she didn't need anybody, and we just believed her, but...the reality was that she hadn't had anyone to take care of her. Not for a long time, and she was forced to grow up and take care of her Dad when she was like, twelve. But you somehow saw through all of that, and you made her realize that it was ok to be a kid sometimes. You made her laugh, and goof around and you made her more alive than I had ever seen her."

"Do you really believe that?" I asked sincerely. She nodded.

"I've never seen her happier than when you came into her life," She continued, "And even aside from tapping into the childlike parts of her that she'd turned off, you could always tell when something was bothering her, always. Just by the look on her face, and now I don't think there's a single person on this planet who she trusts with her dark days more than you. If she didn't have you, there's no way she could've kept going as long as she has."

I looked down at my feet.

"I really hope that's true," I muttered, "Because if I'm being honest, I've never...I've never really felt like I deserved her."

"I don't know if anyone deserves Riley," She admitted, "But...the least we can do as it least try to do and be for her what she's always been for us, and I think no one has done a better job of that than you."

"Thank you, Nancy." I stated. "I really appreciate you saying that-"

"Hey guys!' Robin shouted, running back to us, "You guys, awesome news, looks like we weren't going the wrong way after all! Come on! "

"Ok," I said, following after her, "Ro...slow down! Ro-Robin, slow down!" 

We trailed after her, finally coming through the trees to arrive at the house, which was surrounded by red lightning and an entire swarm of Demobats. We let our eyes trail away from the house, looking over at the playground to see a cloud of light floating inside of the rocket ship slide.

"Erica." I said, sharing a look with Robin before walking over to the playground.