"Is that too tight?" She asks, just to make sure.
"N-no, it's fine. Thanks," he shrugs.
She finishes wrapping the bandage around his hand. She finds herself unable to pull her hand away though. There's something here, she thinks as she lets her fingers grace his. She feels something. A spark, maybe? Maybe more? She curls her fingers into his and for a moment thinks about Jonathan Byers instead of monsters or Barb. About the fact he's not a pretentious creep but incredibly brave, caring, funny, smart, resourceful, sweet and weirdly cute.
"Nancy?"
The soft murmur of his voice causes her to look up. He looks at her in a way that warms her and makes her heart flutter. She doesn't let go of his hand.
"Yeah?"
Now they're just holding hands. Nancy Wheeler has wrapped his hand up in bandages, like he'd wrapped hers up just before. But her hand lingers, her fingers softly touch his. Her index finger taps against this. Before he realizes what he's doing he's moving his thumb against the back of her fingers, locking their hands together. She doesn't try to move her hand away at all. That feels amazing. It causes him to for a moment not focus on Will or his mom or the fact they all might die tonight, instead he allows himself to think about Nancy. How she's not just another suburban girl. How she's strong, smart, funny, cunning and completely fearless.
And the most attractive person he's ever seen in his life, he realizes as she looks up. She'd been looking down at their interwoven hands. He'd been so busy looking at her he doesn't realize he's said her name before it's out of his mouth. Her voice is as soft as her fingers when she answers him. Her big beautiful blue eyes meet his. When she looked him in the eye earlier in the evening and told him she wanted to finish what they started her gaze was filled with tears and a burning rage. Now it's stoic, with something more there which he can't quite pinpoint.
He's overcome with the urge to kiss her. They're all very likely to die tonight and he's got nothing to lose but all to gain from kissing Nancy Wheeler.
So he leans in and captures her lips with his. Her lips somehow are even softer than her voice or her fingers.
The whole week she's had an ever growing pit of dread and despair in her stomach. It's still very much there. Barb is gone. If Joyce and Hopper don't get him out of there soon Will is too. And if they can't draw the monster here Joyce and Hopper will surely die. Hell, there's like a 99 % chance she and Jonathan both die in this house tonight. But when Jonathan kisses her she also gets butterflies in her stomach.
It's tender and soft, yet assured. He kisses her with conviction. It feels monumental. When their lips break apart he rests his forehead against hers. They breathe for half a second. Then she kisses him back.
Then the lights start blinking.
They're both instantly on their feet. The tender moment is over. Now it's time to kill this thing. They stand back to back in the middle of the room to cover all angles, her gun at the ready.
"Where is it?!"
"I don't know, I don't see it!"
Just then it bursts through the ceiling in the far corner.
Instinctively she fires three rounds at it. It seems impervious to the bullets, only turn it's… whatever you call that thing that sits where its head should be, towards them and shrieks, showing its fangs. Well, at least she's got its attention.
Then Jonathan's arm wraps around her and he's pulling her away with him down the hallway. They run down the hallway with the monster on their heels, avoiding the bear trap, straight into Will's room just like they planned. Jonathan readies the lighter, she stands guard with the gun.
They can hear it on the other side of the door, in the hallway. But then it slows down, quiets down. It gets oddly quiet, the chaos from just moments ago suddenly over.
"What's it doing?"
"I don't know."
"Do you hear anything?"
"No."
Peeking out of the doorway they don't see it anywhere. The lights have stopped blinking. Side by side they slowly venture back into the living room. The monster is nowhere to be found.
"It's going to come back."
They wait in the dark, breathing heavily. Nervously.
Then the lights start blinking again.
"Where is it?" She wonders.
"Come on. Come on, you son of a bitch," Jonathan mutters.
"You see it?"
"No. Where are you? Come on!" Jonathan calls the monster out.
They spin around wildly searching for any sign of it amongst the blinking lights. Suddenly they all cut out and it's dark. And that low, disturbing growl she's not been able to get out of her head since she crawled through the tree is right behind them. It happens fast.
"Jonathan!" She cries out as he's suddenly knocked to the ground, nailbat clattering to the floor next to him.
The monster is on top of him, showing all its menacing teeth. No way she's letting it take him too.
"Go to hell you son of a bitch!"
She rapidly fires rounds at it until her gun clicks. Shit, it's empty. At least she got its attention again, it gets up off Jonathan. But now it rears towards her instead. This is it, she's sure as it's weird flower-head of death splits open and it goes towards her. This is how she dies.
The monster on top of him, teeth inches from his face, he knew he was going to die. But then there's loud bangs as fearless Nancy shoots the monster and suddenly the weight is off him.
But it's going for Nancy now. He sees the nailbat on the floor next to him and quickly grabs it, scurries to his feet and without a second thought hits the monster with it in the legs as hard as he can. Thinking it must be a decent strategy to try and take out its legs. And it works, at least it has the desired effect of stopping the monster from getting to Nancy.
"Go!" He calls out to her.
He bashes it again and again as hard as he can, giving Nancy time to get out of the way. He follows her, backing down the hallway facing the monster. He's able to keep it away from him with the bat and somehow have the presence of mind to avoid the bear trap. He hurries his backpedaling.
Then there's a mighty cry of anguish as the monster steps in the bear trap.
"Jonathan, now!"
He throws the lighter, igniting the gasoline trail and a huge fireball erupts around the monster in the bear trap. Its shrieks grow louder as it burns alive, the sound is horrible. When the flames go so high they lick the roof and risk incinerating the whole house he gets out the fire extinguisher Nancy stole from the police station and tells her to get back.
Smoke fills the hallway as he puts out the fire. It sends them both into coughing fits. When the smoke finally clears they can see… nothing, in the trap. Aside from some remnants of otherworldly flesh.
"Where did it go?" Nancy asks.
"It has to be dead. It has to be," he insists, as much to himself as to Nancy.
It's quiet again. He's pondering what to do next when the lights turn on again. But it's different this time, not all at once blinking rapidly but one after the other turning on in a line down the hallway.
It's not the monster. Somehow he feels his mom is near. Almost like he hears her.
"Mom? Is that you?"
He follows the lights down the hallway, into the living room, Nancy behind him.
"Where's it going?" Nancy asks as the lights lead them out to the front porch.
"I don't think that's the monster," he tells her as they watch the light poles turn on one after the other.
She stands back and watches Mike and his friends reunite with Will with a smile. Thank God they got Will back. She's so happy for him, for Jonathan and Joyce, for Mike and his friends. They got Will back from that horrible place. But not Barb. Barb is dead. Her smile falters as the realization hits her again.
Now with even more force than when Eleven called out that Barb was gone while floating in the kiddie pool. So much else was going on then she couldn't really take it in until she was able to slip away to be alone while the others took care of Eleven and prepared to go rescue Will. She'd sat alone with her back against the stupid tiger mural and cried. Then collected herself as she was overcome not with grief and despair in that moment but a burning rage. And the realization that Joyce and Hopper would be doomed. Jonathan had sat down next to her and she'd told him they needed to finish what they started, and he'd agreed.
But now with it all over, now the despair and grief hits her hard, so hard. Barb is gone. Barb is dead. Barb died in that horrible place, by that wretched monster. And it's all her fault.
She turns away. She needs to go and find some private place to cry, she can't ruin their happy reunion and can't go back to her parents and the others in the waiting room like this.
"Nancy."
His voice stops her in her tracks. He saw her. She thought she was discrete but she supposes the boy who's spent all his years at school quietly observing rather than talking to people has a feeling for when someone's doing just that.
She takes a breath and tries to wipe some tears away but it's a fruitless endeavor as they won't stop falling now. Screw it. He's seen her at her worst already. She turns around to face him, wrapping her arms around herself. The tears make her vision blurry but she can make out his kind face, his features soft, looking at her with a type of tenderness she's never felt from anyone.
He comes over and wraps his arms around her in a tight hug. She hugs him back and buries her face in his chest, letting the tears flow.
"I'm so sorry," he murmurs.
His embrace is warm and feels safe. Just as it did when he pulled her out of the tree. She tightens her hold of him. He does the same. If nothing else she's got this. His safe embrace.
Just like that night, after the tree, he holds her close until she's stopped trembling and her tears have stopped falling.
"Thank you," she says quietly when they finally pull apart a little.
"I'm so sorry," he repeats.
"Thanks. I'm so happy about Will."
"Thank you, for everything. He wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you," Jonathan says with convictions and takes her hands in his.
"I didn't…"
"You did."
"Thank you. For everything. You saved me."
"You saved me."
She nods and looks down at their interlocked hands. He strokes his thumb over her bandaged hand. She does the same to his.
"I… you should get back in there," she tells him, mustering a small smile.
"I'm just… are you okay?" He asks, concerned.
"I'm okay. Thanks," she nods and tries to keep her little smile up. "I should go, tell mom… something."
"Okay. I just…"
"I know. I'll see you, Jonathan."
"See you, Nancy."
They finally let go of each other's hands. She walks back to the waiting room. He walks back to Will's hospital room.
