"You were totally ogling him."

"I was not!" Nancy protests, picking her way over a fallen tree trunk as delicately as she can, as though the effort is enough to believably keep her from being forced to meet Robin's gaze head-on, "A stare of disbelief because he was leaving us to fend for ourselves is hardly ogling."

"But it is still a stare."

"Not in the way you're thinking."

"Right. Keep telling yourself that," Robin persists, sending a conspiratorial grin Sadie's way, and nudging the blonde gently with her elbow before addressing her, instead, "I think Nancy's got a little thing for your uncle, don't you?"

"No comment."

"Oh come on!"

"No way. I'm not—I'm so not touching that," Sadie replies, a grin pulling at the corners of her mouth at the odd juxtaposition between their current intentions, trekking towards a gate to another world that only held danger for them, and the odd sense of relief she felt over the simple conversation—the teasing—that was passing between her, and her two companions, now. She hadn't known either of them particularly well, before her world had started to crumble apart at the seams, but Sadie is more than a little startled to realize none of that seems to matter, much…

Robin and Nancy appear to have simply decided to accept her without question, even with her comparative lack of experience with what they are facing, and to say anything other than that she is not abundantly grateful for that fact would be a lie.

"Well if you're not going to help me with this, maybe talking about something else will change your tune."

"I—what?"

"You heard me," Robin says, clearly ignoring Nancy's perplexed expression in favor of grinning mischievously at Sadie, instead, "Because Nancy ogling Vincent is nothing compared to the looks you've been sending a certain wanted fugitive."

"I wasn't—no, that's not what that was!"

"No?"

"No!" Sadie exclaims, sending a furtive glance behind her as though expecting Eddie will be standing nearby, listening in on every word, the relief she feels when she sees him still several paces behind, engrossed in a conversation with Steve almost palpable, "I mean, it's not—it's not like that."

Nancy's confusion fades rather quickly at that, recognition of the statement prompting a faint grin as she looks at Sadie in time to notice the faint pink hue staining her cheeks. Truthfully, she is more than a little relieved to have Robin's attention off of her, at least for the time-being, in spite of the lingering remorse over knowing that such a thing only comes at Sadie's expense, instead.

But even with being far less accustomed to Robin's antics than even she is herself, Nancy cannot help but admit that Sadie appears to be reacting to it rather well.

Even when the next words out of Robin's mouth are causing Nancy to wince sympathetically, Sadie's flush only deepening, though even so, she does not seem to take offense.

"So what's it like?"

"What do—what do you mean?"

"If it's not like that, then what's it like? With you and Eddie?" Robin asks, curiosity apparent in her tone, her attention drifting back to where Eddie and Steve trail along behind them, while Sadie seems to turn to where Lucas, Max and Dustin are now moving farther on up ahead, clearly content to ignore this conversation altogether.

"We're—friends."

"Friends."

"Yes. Friends," Sadie repeats, biting down on the inside of her cheek as she remains poignantly aware of Robin's intent gaze, somehow knowing her attempts at denial will never do her any good. As if trying to taunt her, her mind strays back to memories of Eddie kissing her. Of how easy it had been to move closer to him. To almost pray for him to take things just a little farther.

She can't recall ever craving Andy's hands on her. In fact, Sadie had done everything in her power to stall the inevitable, until he grew tired of those efforts, and removed the choice from her, entirely. But Sadie can't shake the feel of Eddie's fingers in her hair. She can't stop hearing the low groan he had given, when she had pressed herself as close as she could to his chest…

"Sadie?"

"Mm?"

"Just friends doesn't quite seem to cover your little daydream face right now, does it?"

"Daydream face?" Sadie questions, a part of her already resigned to having been caught, though she still hopes to put up something of a protest, regardless, "That's not—is that even a thing?"

"Well Robin seems to think that it is," Nancy quips, shrugging as she moves just a bit closer to Sadie to avoid a collision with an upcoming tree, "And I've learned by now there really isn't much point in arguing with her."

"So she's done this to you, too?"

"Oh definitely. Even before Vincent."

"Yeah. So, before your uncle came along, Nancy actually had quite a thing for—"

"Robin!"

"What?" Robin protests, her expression indicating a clear desire to feign innocence, though the laugh that escapes ruins that effort in next to no time at all, "I'm just—calling things as I see them."

"In an unusually obsessive way."

"Can you blame me? I mean, in the face of everything we're up against, we should probably try finding the silver lining anywhere we can, right?"

Sadie and Nancy remain silent at that, both of them already knowing Robin is right, whether they really want to admit to it or not. None of them know what the future holds. Whether any one of them will actually be able to act on whatever feelings they may or may not have for people, whether or not those feelings are only rumored, or actually true.

The prospect is honestly terrifying, something Nancy can see Sadie feels clearly, every bit as much as she and Robin do, and so she latches onto the one thing she can think of to attempt to lighten the suddenly somber mood.

"Shared trauma."

"What?"

"Shared trauma," She says, recalling the words Murray Bauman had used against her and Jonathan what feels like ages ago, now, and seizing on them as a means of removing the traces of fear that still remain so apparent in Sadie's expression now that her laughter and embarrassment over Robin's teasing have faded away, "Supposedly it makes for a really great couple, and I think if nothing else, you and Eddie have that part of things nailed down."

Silence persists between the trio once again, and Nancy begins to wonder if she has inadvertently managed to say the wrong thing. But then Sadie is emitting a little snort, brown eyes going wide as she realizes she clearly failed to keep her amusement to herself.

After that, it really isn't much longer before Robin decides that she's been attempting to behave herself for long enough.

"Ooh. Good one."

"You two are not helping. You know that, right?"

"Not helping. So that means you do feel something for our fugitive," Robin implies, grinning broadly at Sadie's resultant flush, the way the other girl is clearly trying to scramble for any reasonable means of denial honestly adorable, even with Nancy sending Robin a warning look from behind Sadie's back, "I knew it."

"Robin—"

"What? I already said I'd love to see old flames come back to life. Why not add new ones into the mix, as well?"

Laughter overwhelms them after the remark, and Sadie catches herself feeling a curious sense of belonging with these two other girls that she had hardly known, prior to today. She still misses Chrissy, of course. She misses her best friend with every breath she takes. But it's nice to have someone else to lean on. Someone else to take her mind off of things, because she can't seem to stop feeling guilty that Eddie has been forced to do so almost exclusively thus far, even with his own problems still very much at the forefront of everyone's mind.

And as the three of them continue to move through the forest, Sadie forces herself to cling to this surprising sense of peace, knowing that no matter how much she may wish otherwise, it is definitely not going to last.

…

The sun has gone down completely by the time they reach their destination, Dustin clutching onto his compass like a lifeline as he teeters on the edge of the lake. He's thrilled to be right. So thrilled, in fact, that his excitement very nearly caused him to run completely into the body of water, had Eddie not intervened, snagging a hand on the back of the younger boy's shirt to keep him from becoming entirely submerged. But Sadie?

Sadie cannot seem to stop staring at the inky blackness of the water before her, the memory of Patrick's body crumpling and disappearing beneath its surface at the forefront of her mind…

"You are a fool, little one. A fool, if you believe you and your friends can stand against me."

Jumping at the unexpected intrusion into her thoughts, Sadie feels her heart hammering against her ribs as her blood runs cold. She looks around for Eddie. Robin. Nancy. Anyone, but suddenly she is entirely alone…

Panic claws at her heart as she turns in a small circle yet again, her eyes frantically searching for any sign of her companions and finding none, no matter how hard she tries. And that is when she realizes it. That as she has turned around the second time, every last familiar piece of her surroundings has all but disappeared.

Now, there is nothing but the lingering sensation of another presence that she cannot see, standing there with her in the suddenly consuming darkness, the voice she dreads once again reaching her, and causing her to clamp her lips closed around a sob.

"You are leading them right into my hands."

Sadie wants to deny that claim with everything she has, but somehow the words seem to stick in her throat, the sound of a dark laugh causing goosebumps to erupt over the skin of her arms. She tries to move. To tug Eddie's leather jacket tighter around her, but she's suddenly completely rooted in place.

Frozen. Powerless.

A gnarled hand suddenly rests upon her shoulder, and Sadie cannot even summon the willpower to manage a scream.

"I told you, Sadie. You made the wrong choice. And now, you are going to pay…"

"Hey! Hey, Sadie, wake up!"

Blinking as she feels something shaking her, Sadie emits a startled gasp when the hand on her shoulder becomes more familiar—less threatening—her mind still more than a little foggy as she peers back at Eddie while he stands before her, panic etched clearly in every last facet of his expression. It takes another moment or two before reality fully sinks in, and Sadie wobbles a bit where she stands as the breath she hadn't known she was holding surges back into her burning lungs.

"Okay. Okay, you're okay," Eddie breathes, entirely unsure if the words are meant more as a reassurance to Sadie, or to himself, "C'mere."

Sadie hardly has any time to react before Eddie is pulling her against his chest, his arms winding around her shoulders as she realizes, albeit belatedly, that she is trembling from head to toe. She knows Robin and Nancy are nearby. That Lucas, Max, Dustin and Steve are probably getting a front-row seat to her weakness as well.

Surprisingly, though, Sadie finds that she doesn't really care, her trembling subsiding bit by bit the longer she remains with Eddie, even when another hand moves to rest on her shoulder.

Steve.

"What the hell was that?"

"I can't—when you go to find the gate, I can't—I can't be there."

"Wait—what?" Steve mutters, clearly confused by the sudden change in tune when he knows for a fact that even seconds prior to this very moment, Sadie had been every bit as on board with their plan as Eddie was, himself, "What are you—Sadie, that doesn't make any sense."

"He's not-he may not want me in his world anymore, but I-I don't think that means he doesn't want to be in mine."

"Vecna?"

"And if he can do that, he can—maybe he can figure out where I—where we are."

"So—he can track us. You think Vecna can track us if you're there, too."

Sadie nods, then, and is almost immediately aware of the protective tightening of Eddie's arms around her, but her eyes remain locked with Steve's, an unusual sort of understanding passing between them without her having to risk saying anything more. Something not all that far from determination tightens his features, and he offers her a nod, before turning to head toward a boat Sadie has only just noticed lying nearby, covered in tarp, the sharp crackling sound the blue material makes as Steve casts it to the side the only other noise around for a moment, until Dustin moves to stand at Sadie's side, glancing between her and Steve with curiosity apparent in his tone.

"Okay, uh—what was that?"

"What was what?"

"That thing, right there. With you and Steve. Like you were reading each other's minds, or something."

"Oh, I—we weren't—"

"Wait. Were you actually reading his mind?"

"I don't think that's how Vincent said it works, man."

"Screw Vincent," Dustin retorts, the outburst obviously having more to do with lingering disappointment over the other man's departure, rather than any sort of frustration with Steve and his cautionary comment, at all, "Sadie's not him. Maybe it—maybe what she can do is different."

"I don't think it is," Sadie admits, frowning as she steps away from Eddie completely, "I was just—I was just telling him I can't come with you. Not this time."

"Why not?"

Sadie doesn't immediately reply to Dustin's question, risking a glance at Steve as he stands back from the boat, that same sort of unspoken communication passing between them whether she is truly aware of how it occurs or not. She is grateful though. So, so very grateful that he seems to sense her reluctance, and moves in to speak in her stead, her teeth digging into her lower lip as she turns her attention back to Dustin, and hopes he will accept whatever explanation Steve happens to give as it stands.

She knows she's being a coward. She knows it. But somehow, admitting to the fact that Vecna was just in her mind—again—is too terrifying a prospect for her to face on her own.

"Someone's gotta stay behind to make sure you three idiots don't do anything stupid while we're gone."

"Hey!"

"Woah, uncalled for, man."

"I thought babysitting was your job, Steve."

"Okay, that's enough from the peanut gallery, thank you very much," Steve gripes, shooting Max, Dustin and Lucas what he hopes will pass for a significant glare, though just a single look at their faces tells him the end result is anything but what he had been hoping for, "Sadie can stay with the three of you."

"I'll stay, too."

"Eddie, no."

"They're the ones who've got experience with this shit, remember?" Eddie says, aware of the slight inclination of Steve's head as he tries to surreptitiously get the three freshmen still gathered nearby to give him and Sadie a little room. He doesn't miss the shit-eating grin Henderson sends him, or Sinclair's skeptically raised brow.

Eddie even notices Max's light groan as Steve regards her reluctance to depart with a slight narrowing of the eyes, but in spite of all of that, she does move away, the little quartet moving to join Nancy and Robin as he turns his attention back to Sadie once again.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd uh—think you were trying to get rid of me."

"What? No!" Sadie exclaims, shaking her head as she reaches on instinct for Eddie's hand, her own eyes narrowing as she recognizes the tell-tale sign of his ensuing smile, "Eddie, I'm being serious."

"I know, Sweetheart. Sorry."

"I just—we're doing this for you. You, and Max. You shouldn't let my decision to stay behind take that away from you."

"What about all the times we split up, and everything went to shit?" Eddie inquires, aware of the almost sad smile Sadie wears, and recognizing the sudden twist in his gut as something not all that far from dread, "I'm not talking you out of this, am I?"

"Not this time."

"Shit."

"Eddie, I'm going to be fine," Sadie assures, knowing right away that Eddie does not believe her, no matter how she might wish that he will, "What could possibly go wrong if I stay here?"

"Andy could find you again, for one."

"He won't."

"You don't know that."

"He won't," Sadie insists, risking a step closer to Eddie, and forcing herself to refrain from looking over at the others, knowing full well that if she does, she will likely lose her nerve, entirely, "But even if, by some miracle, he does, I guess I'll just—I don't know—try to find another crow bar."

Eddie laughs, then, the sound low enough that Sadie doesn't think anyone else will notice, something curious igniting in her gut as she watches him regard her with that half-smirk that she is growing to enjoy far too much for her own good. His other hand finds her free one, and she bites down on her lower lip as he steps closer, the borrowed jacket she wears brushing against his chest in the process…

For a moment, Sadie wishes she could stop time. That she could live in this moment just a little bit longer, rather than face what she knows without a doubt lies ahead. But then she realizes the sudden noise she hears is Steve clearing his throat, her cheeks flaming scarlet as Eddie gives her hands a squeeze, and pulls away to opt for another tactic entirely.

"You know, keep talking like that, and people will start to get the wrong idea about us. Might even start saying shit like how I'm a bad influence on you."

"Eddie?"

"Yeah, Sweetheart?"

"I think I—I think I'd be okay with that."

Sadie can't stop herself from smiling as Eddie laughs again, his eyes gleaming beneath the light of the moon, and forcing her to continue looking him in the eye as he reaches out to brush a stray lock of hair behind her ear. She doesn't want him to leave, in truth, but she knows that asking him to stay would be one of the most selfish things she could ever do.

She just hopes he isn't right. That this will not end up being yet another time when they separate, and all hell breaks loose, because Sadie isn't entirely certain how much more either one of them can take if that is the case.

"C'mon, man, are you coming with, or what?" Steve calls out, the impatience that is so apparent in his tone causing Eddie to roll his eyes, the act forcing Sadie to lift a hand to cover her mouth in an attempt at stifling a sudden laugh. And as she watches him go, dimly aware of how Max has moved to stand at her side, Sadie finds herself desperately hoping that they are successful. That they can find this gate Dustin is so obsessed with. That it will allow them the time to come up with a plan to stop Vecna once and for all.

When Sadie risks a glance at Max, she can tell with just a single look in the girl's blue eyes that she is hoping for the same.

…

"Ugh, when did Steve get so hairy?"

"Right? I keep telling him he needs to tame that jungle, but he claims the ladies dig it."

Sadie is entirely incapable of resisting the snort of amusement that breaks free in response to Dustin's comment, even though she could have predicted the sudden weight of not only his gaze, but Lucas' as well in next to no time at all. Exhaling, Sadie does as best she can to simply offer them a neutral glance in return, but of course all hope of doing exactly that rather quickly implodes as soon as Lucas decides to break the sudden silence between them first-hand.

"Do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Dig the—jungle," The boy asks, his hands lifting so that his fingers can mime quotation marks as he says the word 'jungle', while Dustin watches with rapt attention, nearby, "You're—I mean, you're a girl, so—"

"Jesus, Lucas, you're such an idiot."

"It's a simple question, Max."

"No. No, actually, it's a stupid one," Max retorts, shooting Dustin a quelling look, and then holding out a hand towards the binoculars Lucas still holds tightly in his own, "Give me those."

"What?"

"The binoculars. Now, Lucas."

"Why? Planning on ogling the jungle?"

Max says nothing in response to Lucas' quip, and Sadie turns to look out over the lake as well, biting down on the inside of her cheek to try and suppress a smile. She recognizes just the slightest hints of jealousy in his tone, and it's admittedly taking everything she has to refrain from teasing him about it…

Regardless of what Robin may or may not have been getting at with the rekindling of old flames, though, Sadie knows that now is hardly the time.

Instead, she watches as the distant figure that is Steve stands in the boat that is now bobbing at the center of the lake, her arms folding across her chest to ward off a sudden chill. She's worried. She would be a fool to pretend anything but.

It's fairly obvious, by this point, that Steve plans to try and set eyes on this supposed gate beneath the water on his own, and although she is still relatively certain that she made the right decision in staying behind, Sadie cannot ignore the apprehension Steve's plan fills her with no matter how hard she tries.

She tries to remind herself he's faced this sort of thing before. Faced it, and clearly survived. But as Steve reaches down to take something from Eddie, and then turns back to the water to prepare for the dive, something squeezes against her chest, the memory of Vecna's words causing a cold chill to race down her spine whether she wants to acknowledge the feeling or not.

As if in time with the chill, a sudden crack of a twig and the sound of muffled shouts echo out from behind where Sadie stands with Lucas, Dustin and Max on the shoreline, forcing the four of them to scramble down behind a sizeable tree trunk that has fallen on the forest floor who knows how long ago. Dustin is still clutching the walkie, frantically turning it off as soon as Robin's voice blares out, threatening to expose their location in seconds, flat.

The four of them share a look, then, knowing that they are going to wind up in more than a little trouble if anyone finds them…

Not to mention that it won't be all that difficult to locate Eddie, Robin and Nancy out on the lake almost immediately after that.

"We can't let them find Eddie—"

"Then we give them something else to chase."

"Wait, what? Sadie, what are you talking—"

Sadie is scrambling to her feet before Dustin can even manage to finish the question, the beam of one of the flashlights the newcomers are carrying almost immediately tracking the movement, and nearly blinding her as a result. But she doesn't think about that. She doesn't have time to, the need to provide a distraction paramount as she darts off into the woods, and away from the edge of the lake, altogether. Branches smack against her skin as she moves, the undergrowth beneath her feet threatening to trip her at every turn.

Dimly, she is aware of Max's voice, shouting something behind her. The sounds of movement through the foliage at her back. And Sadie slows, torn between the need to keep running, and an instinctive desire to ensure Max and the others are okay.

It is that reduction in pace that ends up being her undoing, a shriek escaping as Sadie's inattention on the path ahead causes her to collide with something solid, the air rushing out of her lungs as she stumbles backward and crashes in a heap to the ground beneath her feet.

Fingers curling in the leaves and dirt beneath her hands, Sadie tries to force herself to stand, her eyes watering as she struggles to drag in a breath past the sudden constriction in her chest. But as soon as she finds herself capable of some solid movement, a hand coils around her arm, hauling her upright in spite of her struggles to break free, the figure who clearly has a hold of her shouting back to the rest of his companions, and causing Sadie to wince at the volume bellowing out so very close to her ear.

"Hey! Got the Carver girl!"

"We've got the others."

Sadie's heart sinks in response to the declaration, and she finds she can do nothing more than allow the officer still holding her arm—the very same one she had spoken to outside of Eddie's trailer after Chrissy died—to lead her back to the others. She tries to remind herself that this was, at least in a way, the plan. To garner the attention of the police so they couldn't find Eddie and the others out on the lake. But whatever satisfaction she may have felt over such a thing rather quickly pales as she realizes the police chief is holding onto a very exasperated looking Max, his eyes meeting Sadie's for only a moment before he turns to the man standing immediately to his left.

"Radio the station. Have Flo give Lorraine a call. She's gonna want to know her daughter's safe and sound."

"Where you want me to tell her she's at, Chief?"

"The Wheelers'. From what I'm hearing, everybody else that has a claim to these kids is there already, anyways."

Not long after, Sadie finds herself being shuffled along beside Max and herded into the back of a police cruiser with the redhead at her side, the prospect of facing her mother suddenly far more terrifying than anything Vecna could throw her way.

She doesn't say it out loud, but she cannot seem to shake the suspicion that she may have just lost her one chance to help Eddie and the others, for good.

…

Okay! So, once again, the muses kind of got away from me, and made it take a bit longer to get to Watergate than I wanted. But I hope the extra attempts at showing some form of bonding between Sadie and the rest of our crew isn't that terrible of a decision? I promise, the next chapter will have that mother-daughter confrontation, and hopefully (barring more rogue muses) Sadie and the kids working their way back to Eddie, Nancy, Robin and Steve as well. I'm trying to balance canon events with my own little inclusions and differences here and there so that the story doesn't just seem like the same old thing, but with Sadie tossed in at random. So…hopefully it's working, at least some of the time? ;)

As always, my heartfelt thanks go out to each and every one of you that has taken the time to read, follow, favorite and review this story thus far! Special thanks to WiseGirlDivergence46, mistyagami, and acutemoose for leaving such lovely reviews! I'm beyond thrilled you're enjoying the story so far, and hopefully you continue to enjoy where it goes from here!

Until next time, my loves…

MOMM