Hello again, and welcome to Chapter 9! I haven't got much to say except from, thank you all for your reviews and messages so far and I hope you continue to enjoy this fic. So without taking to much time, enjoy!


"We're back! And we brought a delivery!" Dustin announced loudly as he stepped through Steve's door triumphantly.

"Shh!" Nancy scolded him from where she stood behind him, "We don't need the whole street to know!"

"Sorry..." Dustin apologised quietly with a small smile.

"Now, lets quickly get these into the house..." Nancy turned to El who was pretending to carry some boxes, but really she was making them float with her powers, as was evident by her slight nose bleed. There were four boxes altogether, they just hoped that if someone saw them, they would assume they weren't heavy.

"What the hell?" Jonathan appeared at the door that led to the kitchen looking completely unpleased, "I can't believe you actually stooped that low!"

"God you scared me!" Dustin caught his breath as he tried to get over his sudden fright.

"What do you mean, stoop so low?" Nancy questioned Jonathan angrily as she and El got the boxes into the house, "We don't really have much choice, do we?"

"There's plenty of choices you could have made that's better then stealing vital hospital supplies!" Jonathan argued back.

"Such as?" Nancy looked at him expectantly as she waited for his answer.

Dustin and El took the opportunity to take the boxes into the kitchen to avoid getting caught up in an argument that in a way, might of had something to do with them. They had helped steal the boxes as well after all. The atmosphere in here was no better though. Robin and Steve were sat giving each other icy stares, whilst Mike, Will and Eddie all sat by awkwardly looking at anything but the warring pair. The new life in the room was greatly welcomed.

"Oh look, you brought four big boxes of blood..." Steve commented with fake enthusiasm, "Just the kind of stuff my mom would love to find laying around here"

"When did you guys get here?" Dustin asked as he greeted his friends, ignoring Steve's sarcasm.

"Not to long ago" Will answered him with a slight smile.

"Though we should have come later maybe..." Mike also spoke as he looked over at Steve and Robin, "Anyways, how did it go? Steve explained what my reckless sister had planned. Speaking of which, where is she?"

"Arguing, with Jonathan in the hallway about helping me" Eddie answered him instead from where he sat beside Steve with his elbow resting on the kitchen counter whilst his chin rested on his hand, looking completely bored, "I can hear everything. No matter how much they try to keep their voices down..."

"Again?" Will asked clearly concerned.

"Looks like that's the new normal around here" Steve commented.

"What was that?" Robin snapped at him.

"Nothing.. " Steve rolled his eyes.

"What's up with you two?" Dustin asked surprised.

"Nothing!" they both snapped at him together.

"Ok...geeze..." Dustin held his hands up as if surrendering, "Anyways...its your lucky day Eddie! We got four boxes of fresh blood for you! I think one box a day should be enough, maybe less. How's your appetite?"

"What is this?" Eddie smirked, "A five star restaurant? Which blood type would you recommend? Do you want a review at the end? "

"Laugh all you like" Dustin cut him off proudly, "If you had seen our whole operation, you'd be amazed at how well everything went. We probably could have gotten more...Well El and Nancy could have, I was the distraction..."

"Before you tell your whole story and celebrate...shouldn't we let Eddie try the blood first?" Robin reasoned from where she was listening, "Or you could have just stolen all of it for nothing..."

El and Dustin looked at each other sheepishly. That thought had never even occurred to them. And if it didn't work...then all of this blood, that could have helped people, would go to waste.

"Shit..." Dustin cursed before heading to one of the boxes and opening it. He lifted out a bag full of red liquid and then walked over to Eddie before handing it to him.

"Er...thanks..." Eddie accepted it awkwardly.

"Does it smell alright?" Dustin asked expectantly as the others watched on to.

"Err...It...it doesn't smell to bad" Eddie admitted pleasantly surprised, "It kind of smells like...apples"

Steve lent over and sniffed at the bad curiously, the others looked at him strangely.

"What?" he asked them as he sat back, "I wanted to see if I could smell apples"

"And?" Mike asked intrigued.

"I can't smell anything..." Steve shrugged.

"Idiot..." Eddie insulted him amused.

"Now try it!" Dustin encouraged Eddie, now feeling a lot more hopeful that it would work.

Everyone stared at Eddie and he suddenly felt very self conscious all over again.

"Guys, I can't do this with you all staring at me like that" Eddie admitted shyly.

"Oh...sorry" they all apologised as they began to look around the room at anything but Eddie. Eddie chuckled to himself before readying the bag in his hand. Being careful not to spill any of the red liquid out of the air tight bag, he gently ripped the corner of it with his teeth. His stomach was hurting like crazy with his hunger, and his throat was burning with his thirst. He was extremely surprised he had managed to hold out this long so right now, he hoped against hope, that this would work. Sighing once more, he placed his lips over the ripped corner and began to suck. His eyes grew wide with surprise the moment the liquid entered his mouth. It tasted good! Granted it wasn't as good as when it came directly from a human, but it was drinkable. And it wasn't long before the bag was empty.

"I need another one!" Eddie announced hungrily as he placed the empty bag down and dragged an unsuspecting Steve out of his seat as he began to help himself to the contents of the boxes.

"A warning would be nice before you drag me around..." Steve groaned as he rubbed at his wrist.

"So you can drink it?" Dustin asked failing to hide his happiness.

"Well if he couldn't, he's sure got a funny way of showing it" Mike commented as Eddie was already halfway through his second bag of blood.

They all sighed in relief. At least that problem had been solved.

"Ok" Robin spoke loudly, "You and El can tell us how you managed to get all of this blood now. Because until we figure out an alternative, we're going to need to do it again"

And so, as Eddie happily had his fill of blood, he and the others listened as Dustin and El explained how that blood had come into their possession. From first entering the hospital, to obscuring the cameras, and to El and Nancy following a nurse down the corridors.

"We waited as she stored the blood" El explained, "We were, hiding. When she had gone. I unlocked the door. Nancy looked through the fridges until she found the most common blood. O positive I think? We packed it into these boxes and put them on a hospital trolley. Then we had to be careful as we walked around with it. Then we finally found a fire exit. I lifted it down the stairs with my powers. Then we ran to the car and placed the boxes in it"

"Before we high tailed it out of there and back here to you guys!" Dustin finished quite pleased with their successful mission, "And nobody suspects a thing!"

"Still time" Eddie cut in as he slurped on his third bag.

"Slow down man" Steve suggested, "Your going to end up with none left at this rate..."

"Sorry, I'm starving" Eddie defended himself.

"Good, just what I need!" Nancy declared loudly as she stormed into the room closely followed by an angry looking Jonathan, "Put that bag down and drink from me instead!"

"W...what?" Eddie asked confused and the others in the room matched this.

"You heard me" Nancy continued, "Drink from me. We'll take all of this blood back..."

"Nancy stop being stupid!" Jonathan cut in frustrated.

"Oh, so now I'm stupid?" Nancy turned on him, "Is anything I do at the moment good enough for you?"

"You know I didn't mean it like that! But you have to admit that stealing blood from a hospital is pretty idiotic. I mean, it's criminal!"

Nancy didn't answer him, instead she silently fumed for a few moments before turning to Eddie and snatching the half drank blood bag out of his hand.

"Hey!" Eddie whined as he watched his food get taken away.

"Sorry, but I need to return this" Nancy told him as she placed it back into its box.

"I'm not joking when I say I'm starving..." Eddie warned them as he stared at the box longingly.

"Don't worry about it, just drink from me" Nancy ordered him as she offered him her wrist again.

"Whoa whoa whoa" Steve stood up as he tried to pull Eddie away from her, "Let's all think rationally"

"Yeah, come on Jonathan" Will began taking Nancy's side, "Stealing blood is bad yes...but its the lesser of two evils really"

"You to Will?" Jonathan dismayed, "You really agree with this?"

"Well it's either this, or people die..."

"I definitely pick stealing blood" Mike added in.

"Me to" El backed him up.

"Of course I already agreed" Robin joined in, "Though I'm still against needles..."

"Sorry man" Steve smiled sympathetically at Jonathan, "But we need this blood, other wise the only other option is to let him feed off of us or more innocent people. And both would result in death in the end...Plus, we've already resigned ourselves to donating blood back for the rest of our lives"

"I just don't understand why you are all helping a guy that clearly hates you all, and risking prison. Someone is probably going to lose their job for losing track of so much blood. Do none of you care about that? Then the criminal investigation that will probably take place, and then the fact you are going to need to do it again. Do you think it will be that easy next time?"

"Of course not" Nancy shrugged, "Contrary to what you believe, I'm not stupid!"

"And we know what the consequences are. But we have no choice" Dustin added in again, "We are not killing him or sending him away"

"He's not a pet! He is quite capable of breaking the law on his own!" Jonathan argued.

"Jonathan?" Will cut in again, "I know that if it was me we were wanting the blood for, there would be no questions. You would do it as well. The only difference is, you don't know Eddie. I don't know Eddie...but these guys do, and they obviously want to help him for a reason. So just accept it..."

"If I may speak?" Eddie finally broke his silence as he reluctantly pushed Nancy's wrist away from his face and grabbed the bag of blood from the box again. He stared directly at Jonathan as he began to drink from it once more, "I have no intentions of drinking from any of you as tempting as it may be. I've not asked them to go out and steal this blood for me. Hell, I wasn't all for it myself! They offered. I gave them two options, either Kill me or let me go out and hunt humans. Of course they didn't want to do either. They came up with this idea, and honestly, I'm grateful for it. It might not taste as fresh, but it still tastes good and it's definitely helping my hunger..."

Jonathan sighed heavily. He looked around at everyone's defiant face's before finally caving.

"Fine...but you need to come up with something that's going to help him in the long run. You can't always be going off and stealing blood. Have you even tried to figure out if you can change him back into a human?"

"Err...no" Dustin admitted sheepishly.

"Seriously?" Jonathan rolled his eyes, "Well, until you figure something out, I want nothing to do with this. Will, you can stay away as well. I'm not having you dragged into any trouble this guy is going to bring into this group"

"Really?" Nancy asked a little hurt.

"That's not your decision" Will added.

"I'm not arguing. Come on Will, we're leaving...now!" Jonathan ordered before turning and leaving the room in a mood.

"Wait there!" Nancy ordered as she quickly followed after him angrily.

"I'll...I'll try and talk some sense into him" Will offered as he reluctantly followed them both out of the house.

"Well that escalated quickly" Robin commented uncomfortably.

"Well he might be more willing to help us if someone" Steve indicated Eddie, "Hadn't been such a dick to him when they first met"

"In my defence..." Eddie began before stopping and thinking for moment, "Yeah your right. I can see why he doesn't like me" Eddie laughed before grinning to himself.

"Come to think of it, you do make some pretty bad first impressions..." Steve remarked as he rubbed at his throat remembering how he and Eddie had first met.

"Hey, that one wasn't my fault. I thought I was under attack. You were hitting where I was hiding with a paddle for gods sake!"

"True" Steve shrugged, "But still..."

"He did bring up a good point though" Dustin began to speak again and everyone looked at him, "Is there anyway to change Eddie back? Is it even possible? Do you know of a way Eddie?"

Eddie shook his head in response. If there was, Vecna hadn't told him, and probably wasn't willing to either.

"Stupid question, I know El. But do you happen to know of a way?" Dustin now asked her hopefully.

"No" El answered truthfully, "Maybe killing One would work?" She suggested after a moment.

'Let's think about this rationally" Mike cut it knowing that in order for Vecna to be killed, El would have to be put in danger yet again, "Demobats are part of the hive right?"

Everyone nodded.

"And one of them is inside of Eddie, right?"

They all nodded again before Steve exclaimed loudly.

"Oh!"

Everyone looked at him surprised.

"I see what your getting at!" Steve looked at Mike knowingly, "Vecna is also connected to the hive, if we kill Vecna, it could also possibly kill the demobat inside if Eddie! But then it could alsol..." He trailed off whilst looking at Dustin who was waiting patiently for him to finish his sentence. Instead, Steve remained silent.

Seeing everyone's reluctance to speak, Eddie took it upon himself to finish the words that he already had a feeling were true, long before these had come to the realisation.

"It could also kill me to..." He finished as he ripped into another bag of blood.

"That is not an option!" Dustin argued quickly.

"You keep saying that man, but it's always an option" Eddie pointed out.

"No, it's not" Dustin continued defiantly, "We have El now. El stopped Max from dying didn't she? We kill Vecna and then El can help Eddie stay alive! Can't you El?" He asked as he turned to face her hopefully.

"I...I might be able to..." She answered him awkwardly.

"No, you can't put that on her shoulders" Mike cut in as he came to El's defence, "I'm not having her put in danger and then blamed for something that might not even work!"

"But it worked on max" Dustin answered quietly.

"Max was an exception. She didn't have a connection to the hive running around in her body" Mike pointed out before turning to Eddie, "No offence"

"None taken" Eddie accepted awkwardly as he continued to drink the blood whilst watching this whole scenario play out.

"And even then, Max is no longer in her own mind! We don't know where she is or how to fix it!" Mike finished defiantly just as Eddie choked on some blood as he heard the words that had been spoken about Max, everyone looked at him.

"Sorry" he apologised, "Wrong hole..." He wasn't going to tell them that he knew exactly where Max was and how to get her back.

"Please" Dustin begged as he turned to the others again, "We have to try..."

"What do you say El?" Steve joined in on the conversation now, no longer able to see his friend getting upset all over again, "Do you think you can give it a go?"

"I'll try" El confirmed readily, she didn't like seeing one of her first friends getting upset either.

"Thank you!" Dustin hugged her happily catching the girl by surprise.

Then everyone looked at Eddie expecting him to be just as grateful. He caught them all looking at him and swallowed his mouthful of blood before speaking.

"Err... yeah, thank you I guess" He spoke awkwardly.

"Could sound a little more grateful" Robin commented.

"Oh, I'm sorry..." Eddie sat up straight bowing his head to El and in the poshest voice he could muster, spoke, "Thank you El for being willing to try and save my life. I realise the strain this will put on you but whilst I'm going to be either withering in agony whilst you try to pull this thing from me, or facing yet another death. I will be extremely grateful for it and not nervous at all"

"Ok, I get your point..." Robin mumbled as Eddie grinned up at her.

"In all seriousness though" he continued, "I'm glad your all trying to help me" Though it was all probably going to be planned in vain, he didn't know if Vecna would hear what they were saying or not. So the guy would probably be expecting them anyways.

Everyone smiled at him in confirmation, well all except from Mike who was now filling with worry for El. Eddies expression suddenly changed to one of intrigue as he tilted his head to the side as if listening to something. His eyes widened as if surprised by something for a moment, before returning to normal just as quickly. They all watched him wondering what the hell he was doing, before he finally spoke again.

"Jonathan and Will are leaving" He recited to the room as he noticed them all staring.

"They are?" Steve asked confused.

"They've finished talking, and Jonathan is refusing to come back inside" Eddie shrugged.

"Why?" Mike asked.

"Is it because of you?" Robin also asked, guessing that this was highly likely.

"Partly..." Eddie confirmed then added vaguely, "There could be another reason..."

"Such as?" Steve asked curiously.

Eddie shrugged once more..

"So that's where you draw the line on listening to someone else's argument?" Steve berated him, "Especially one you shouldn't have started listening to in the first place!"

"I can't help it! I can literally hear Mrs Hanson from down the street using the bathroom!'

"Gross..." Robin sounded disgusted.

"It's not by choice" Eddie looked at her sternly, "I can't just turn it off...shit! Everyone look natural, Nancy's coming back..."

Not long after, Nancy did in fact walk into the room. She stopped in her tracks as she looked around at everyone. They were all looking at anything and everything as long as it wasn't in her direction, trying their hardest to look disinterested. Sighing heavily and rolling her eyes she turned to Eddie.

"You heard didn't you?"

"Huh? What...me? Heard what?" Eddie lied with a sheepish smile.

"Are you ok?" Robin asked now concerned, "What happened?"

"Yeah, never better" Nancy spoke steadily as she marched over to the counter that still had the dead rabbit on it. She was trying her hardest to hide her actual emotions.

"Are you and Jonathan ok?" Steve now asked just as concerned.

"Yeah we're fine..." Nancy answered him with a small smile as she began to pull out different kitchen utensils, "He just needs to calm down a little and then he'll be back..."

"Ok" Everyone accepted her answer not wanting to pry any further. They were still a little concerned but not thinking much more of it. They just thought it was an everyday couple disagreement about a not so everyday thing. They would be back to normal with each other once all this was over with, they were sure. Only Eddie knew the truth, and he was surprised that Nancy was hiding it so well.

"So what are you doing?" Mike asked now as he changed the subject.

"Right now, I'm going to make rabbit stew for dinner. Then I'm going to take over guarding Eddie so that Steve can have some time to himself" she answered as cheerful sounding as she could.

"Thank god" Steve sighed with relief, "First thing I'm doing is bathing!"

"Aww I'm going to miss you man..." Eddie smirked teasingly, "Sure you don't want any company in the tub? You might get lonely..."

"Really dude?" Steve looked unimpressed as Eddie laughed.

"B...before I get guarded by anyone else...do you mind if I have a shower?" Eddie now asked awkwardly, "I haven't had a decent one since getting back..."

"Sure" Steve agreed surprisingly quickly, "You can wash your clothes to, just borrow some of mine for now"

Everyone looked at him surprised but also, concerned.

"Are you feeling ok?" Dustin asked, "Do you have a temperature?"

"What? Can a guy not be nice without being ill?" Steve snapped. Really, deep down his good intentions were because he felt bad for Eddie. He considered him a friend as much as Dustin did. He knew that there was a good chance that Eddie might not be alive at the end of all of this. So the least he could do was let him have a shower and some clean clothes. He would do the same for any of the others as well. Of course, he wasn't going to show those feelings to them though, "Just make sure you don't wreck the place!"

"Well what ever. You need to store that blood in your refrigerator. The longer it stays fresh the better" Nancy ordered as she began to take charge of the situation, "Then we can decide what we're going to do for the rest of the day. Maybe come up with a plan for what we're going to do about Eddie's condition?"

"Already on it!" Dustin announced proudly.

"What do you mean?" Nancy asked.

This is when Dustin and the others told Nancy about everything they had discussed whilst she had been busy with the whole Jonathan situation. She casually prepared the Rabbit stew as they talked it over.

"So now all we need to do is figure out how to find a portal to the upside down and get there with a plan that will actually kill Vecna" Nancy concluded.

"Yes" Steve confirmed as he placed the last of the bags of blood into his refrigerator, they were lucky it was so big, "You sure you don't want another one?" Steve asked Eddie who had helped.

"Nope, I'm actually full" Eddie confirmed.

"Well six bags is a lot..." Steve trailed as he closed the door, "God I hope my parents don't come home and see this..."

"Maybe we should get you a flask or something for you to drink it from...that way it won't be as gross..." Robin commented.

"Hey! I don't pick on your eating habits" Eddie pretended to be offended.

"Well, the stew is finished and simmering away" Nancy announced as she placed the vegetables that Robin had been chopping for her into the pot before placing the lid on top, "So El? Do you think you can open a portal into the upside down when we need it?"

"I don't know" El answered honestly, "The first two were an accident"

"I see... Well maybe since them big cracks through town are technically a portal...we might be able to get through somewhere along there. Where did you come through Eddie?"

"Outside the Creel house. But that portal closed" he answered honestly.

"Damn..." Nancy got to thinking again, "Leave it with me. I'm sure I'll think of something..."

"We trust you. It was you that came up with the whole blood idea after all" Eddie smiled at her encouragingly.

Nancy smiled back before pulling out a small key. It was the key that belonged to the cuffs still holding Eddie and Steve together.

"You look like dogs about to get a treat" Nancy laughed slightly and the others joined in as they noticed their happy faces.

"Not cool" Steve sulked, "You try being locked to someone for as long as we have without any privacy!"

"I will be once Eddie is finished in the shower" Nancy smiled smugly, "Your not the only one to suffer Steve"

"I'll try not to take any offence as you guys bond over how much my company makes you suffer" Eddie commented sarcastically.

"Ok" Nancy laughed again as she undid the cuffs. Steve and Eddie both rubbed their wrists full of relief.

"That feels so much better" Steve commented as he now looked at his slightly bruised wrist, "Look at what your constant yanking me around has done!"

"Mines already healing" Eddie stuck his tongue out at Steve, showing him his wrist as proof.

"Oh yeah, did you guys know Eddie has gained the freakish ability to heal quickly?" Steve pointed out to the others unamused.

"Freakish?" Eddie asked, taking offence.

"Cool!" Dustin and Will exclaimed together as Dustin grabbed Eddies wrist to inspect it more closely, "He really does!"

"See" Steve spoke again, "Freakish!"

"Your face is freakish" Eddie shot back.

"Will you two grow up?" Nancy rolled her eyes, she then began to give out orders before things could escalate further, "Steve? You can go and guard the door as Eddie can go and take his shower now. Just to make sure he is definitely showering and not trying to escape"

"Ouch" Eddie pretended to be offended at her blatant distrust, "Can't even be trusted to have a shower on my own..."

"Also" Nancy continued ignoring him, "Get him the clean clothes you offered him, and bring your dirty clothes down Eddie. We can wash them in the laundry room after"

"Yes ma'am!" Eddie accepted with a bow as he got up to leave the room.

"Who made Nancy the boss anyways?" Steve whispered to Eddie as he to, began to leave the room.

"You might be unhappy about it, but your still doing as she told you" Eddie laughed as he teased him.

"Shut up..." Steve sighed.


"I can't believe I'm wearing this..." Eddie groaned as he sat in the Kitchen now handcuffed to Nancy.

"Yeah your right" Robin looked him up and down, "You really don't suit it"

"You know, if we style your hair just right, you'll look just like Steve" Dustin laughed.

"Mores the pity" Robin rolled her eyes having still not forgiven the mentioned male.

Eddie was currently sat in some of Steve's sweat pants and t-shirt, and he was far from happy about it. He'd also borrowed some old socks but had drawn a line at sharing underwear.

"Still, you have to be grateful" Nancy pointed out as she stirred the stew she had made, "Steve could have said no to you having a shower and you would still be sat in dirty clothes"

"Yeah..." Eddie agreed as he adjusted the sweat pants a little, "I am but...there so...loose"

"Well you'll get your old clothes back tomorrow" Dustin reassured him, "What do you normally sleep in?"

Eddie let out a small laugh and looked at him with a smirk.

"Really?" Nancy and Robin both exclaimed together.

"Men are pigs" Robin scoffed.

"Surely that's looser than wearing them clothes?" Nancy added.

"Yeah, but it's different" Eddie shrugged, "It's more restricting this way, if that makes sense?"

"Not really..."

"Well like this fabric, it rubs in places you don't really wa..."

"Never mind..." Nancy cut him off quickly and Eddie grinned again in response, "I get it..."

"I don't..." Dustin joined in again confused.

"Dude..." Mike rolled his eyes, "Think about it..."

"Huh?" Dustin was even more confused, but then, it finally sank in, "O...oooh! Really Eddie? I have to still wear underwear at least!"

"This conversation goes down as something that we really didn't need to know about each other" Robin sighed heavily.

"I...What are you all talking about?" El asked Mike quietly.

"Erm...I'll...I'll explain later" Mike deflected.

"Food smells good Nance!" Steve declared loudly as he walked into the room fresh from a long bath. Everyone was grateful for the new distraction, "I can't wait to try it..."

"Agreed" Dustin added hungrily, "I've never had Rabbit before"

"Well its the first time I've made it, so I just hope it's good" Nancy worried out loud.

"I can't believe Jonathan and Will left. Their really going to miss out!"

"Yeah..." Nancy agreed quietly, there was a hint of sadness in her voice that went unnoticed by everyone but Eddie. Forcing herself to sound a little more cheerful, she spoke again, "Well its ready!"

"It looks great!" Steve complimented her as she dished it out in front of him. He was extremely cheerful now that he was able to move around freely on his own.

"I hate to agree with him" Robin added bluntly, and Steve rolled his eyes in response losing a little of his good mood, "But it really does!"

"Yeah, I wish I could try it..." Eddie added longingly.

"So try it" Dustin offered him some of his.

"No point" Eddie declined, "It'll just taste like garbage"

That's when he caught sight of Nancy's angry glare and quickly back tracked.

"I mean...it will probably be the best stew in the world! But...it just wouldn't agree with me...it's a vampire thing..." he smiled nervously.

"Nice save" Mike snorted as he dug into his own food "Though its still weird to think that you are technically a vampire now..."

"Yeah" Dustin agreed thoughtfully and the others nodded.

"This is really good!" El suddenly spoke, sounding quite happy as she shovelled in mouthful after mouthful of stew.

"Calm down" Steve scolded her, "I don't want to be doing the heimlich!"

"I'll just grab some blood" Eddie sighed as he stood up and headed for the refrigerator, "Who knows, maybe one will taste like rabbit stew..."


"Can you tell mom that I'm staying at Robins house tonight?" Nancy asked Mike as they were getting ready to leave.

After the stew, the gang had decided to try and brainstorm on how to get into the upside down even though Nancy had told them she would think it over. But after the others had thought more about it, they had decided it wasn't fair to just leave it all on Nancy's shoulders. No, they had decided they would all try to decide how to get to the upside down and kill Vecna together, and then hopefully, save Eddie. However they had come up with nothing. In the end they had decided to follow the cracks that had formed in town. They hoped to find anything slightly resembling a portal. If they did, they would regroup and decide what to do from there. It wasn't much of a plan, that they knew, but it was still something.

"Yeah sure" Mike agreed, "But I don't understand why you don't just drive us home and explain yourself..." El was staying at Mike's house whilst Jonathan and Will were staying at Dustin's. Luckily, Mrs Henderson didn't mind them all coming and going as they pleased.

"Because one, I don't think they would believe me about staying at Robins if I turn up in Steve's car. Two, We're going to get some gear together for tomorrow. And three, because I promised Steve that I would give him a break from watching Eddie and I intend to stick to that" Nancy explained.

"I'm not that bad..." Eddie butted in quietly from where he stood beside her leaning on the doorframe. He knew that their plan tomorrow wasn't going to work, but of course, he couldn't tell them that. Either way, he was still going to help them gather what they needed.

"He's going to drive you all back" Nancy continued ignoring him.

"I'd rather walk" Robin complained.

"Look, I don't care that we seem to have fallen out over nothing..." Steve began from where he stood close by.

"Over nothing?..." Robin began but was quickly cut off again before it escalated.

"But I can at least make sure you get home safely regardless. I'll even drop you off first so you don't have to be alone with me..." Steve offered.

"Fine..." Robin huffed in agreement.

"On that note, let's go" Steve commanded as he happily headed for his car, grateful that he could drive it yet again.

"Bye guys!" They all said their farewells as they vanished off of the driveway, Steve, painfully aware of the strange sound his car was making now that Eddie had pointed it out. His happiness hadn't lasted long.

"Well..." Nancy spoke awkwardly as she shut the door and turned to Eddie, "I Err...I need to use the bathroom..."

"No...no, I am not following you into the bathroom!" Eddie refused point blank, "I draw the line right there!"

"Well lucky for you, I have the key to the cuffs" Nancy winked at him as she went into her jeans pocket and pulled it out, "I'll just attach you to something else until I'm finished"

"Wait...so me and Steve could have had that luxury, but instead you decided to hold out on us?" Eddie fumed.

"I couldn't exactly trust you and Steve to take this seriously. The second you two were alone, you would un cuff yourselves and then you'd probably be gone"

"Why would I run? You'd only find me again..."

"Well we don't know that do we?" Nancy finished as she walked towards the bathroom un cuffed herself from Eddie and then cuffed him to a heavy looking sculpture, "If you move and break that, I don't think Steve will be to happy about it..." She smiled sweetly at him as she vanished through the bathroom door.

"Your an Evil woman Wheeler" Eddie smirked as the door closed.


That night Eddie lay in silence beside Nancy on a bed in one of Steve's spare rooms. He could have tried to sleep, but again, he saw no point. Instead, he thought over everything he was doing to make it easier to get El to the upside down sooner, rather than later. Getting between the groups friendships and breaking them apart was proving slow work, but it's all that he could think of to achieve his goal. He knew how he would get El their once his first goal was complete, so at least he had it sort of figured out. His trail of thoughts were suddenly interrupted by yet another loud sigh from Nancy as she once again turned over. She had been doing this numerous times during the night. Finally having enough, Eddie spoke to her.

"Are you ok?" he asked, "You've been tossing and turning all night. Is it because I'm here?"

"Huh?" Nancy opened her eyes and stared directly at him confused before sitting up herself, "No, it has nothing to do with you. In fact, besides some slight resistance when I turn over from your arm, I keep forgetting your here. Your being so quiet"

"Well I'm trying to be considerate so you can sleep. But I guess it's all in vain. I suppose at least Steve is sleeping like a baby. He must really be glad to be rid of me" Eddie laughed quietly.

"Sorry..." Nancy sighed again as she looked away sadly.

"It's because of your break up with Jonathan that your like this, isn't it?" Eddie finally asked not being able to take it much longer, "You've been down about it since he left. You should have went after him"

"So you did hear that?!" Nancy now looked at him full of surprise.

"It wasn't by choice" Eddie pointed out, "But...yeah"

"Well choice or not, you should have done something to distract you from it. It was a violation of my privacy!" Nancy added angrily.

"Violation of your privacy?" Eddie bit, "I haven't had a single bit of privacy since you guys found me. Hell, I couldn't even take a shower earlier without Steve being in the room! And that one is a choice!"

Nancy was about to argue back, that is until the realisation of what he was saying hit her. It was true, they had taken away his privacy. Really, he had more reason to complain then what she did.

"Sorry..." she apologised, "Your right. But I told you earlier, we can't risk..."

"Me running away" Eddie finished her sentence for her, "Yeah yeah, I get it..."

They fell silent for a moment before Nancy couldn't take it anymore. A bit to enthusiastically, she spoke again.

"And F Y I, we haven't broken up. We're just on a break..."

"Please!" Eddie scoffed, that's just a fancy way of saying you have broken up. Good thing to..." He added.

"Why's that?" Nancy asked curiously.

"I always thought you and Steve would make the better pair"

"No, we've been there and done that...It didn't work out..."

"Never say never" Eddie smirked to him self, "You two are definitely still into each other"

"No" Nancy denied quickly, "I'm with Jonathan..."

"Not at the moment your not..." Eddie remarked as he fiddled with his finger nails looking amused. He finished off with a tone that could only be described as serious and sympathetic at the same time, "I heard what Jonathan said to you outside earlier as well..."

"I was afraid of that..." Nancy sighed sadly.

"He was the one that did the breaking up. He told you that you needed to screw your head on straight and grow up before he even considers carrying on with the relationship...Total dick move by the way. Must be on a come down from all the weed he's been smoking... either way, that must have hurt?"

The room had fallen silent again. This felt weird to Eddie, he had expected some kind of retort back. Suddenly though, the reason why became abundantly clear. A slight sniffle from Nancy reached his ears.

"Shit!" He cursed as he got up onto his knees and crouched over her not knowing what to do, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry...please don't cry, I don't handle this shit well... I really should have phrased it better!"

"Sorry" Nancy apologised again as she wiped furiously at her eyes whilst sitting up straight, "I don't want to cry either. It's not because of you. I'm just sick and tired of never feeling good enough for a guy!"

"Your joking right?" Eddie snorted, "Any guy would be lucky to have you. Jonathan is an idiot for even thinking those things let alone saying them. And Steve really should have fought harder for you. I mean your smart and beautiful. And hell, you go out of your way to help people! Even an idiot like me!"

Eddie caught himself and stopped mid speech as Nancy suddenly let out a small laugh, slightly amused by him.

"Sorry" She smiled at him, "Would you like to continue?"

"If you tell anyone I said that, I'll throw you to a demodog!" Eddie threatened with his own smile as he sat back relieved that she was smiling again.

"Thank you" Nancy smiled at him again, "I needed that. And you know what. Your right. I should stop caring about what a guy thinks about me. I'm me, and if they don't like it, screw them!"

"That's the spirit" Eddie grinned.

"Maybe my problem is that I always go for the wrong guy?" Nancy spoke quietly to herself before turning to Eddie with a suggestive smile. He eyed her curiously, "Or maybe I'm sick of always trying to be the perfect girl? Maybe, I should just let go for once and do something crazy?"

"A...are you asking me? Or telling me?" Eddie asked slightly taken aback and frozen to the spot. She didn't mean what he thought she meant, right?

His answer soon came when she quickly leant over and connected her lips to his. He pulled back completely surprised.

"Wh...what are you doing?" he stammered as she smirked at him.

"Something crazy...if you want to?" Nancy shrugged.

"What about Steve and Jonathan?" Eddie asked surprised.

"Well Steve is asleep a couple rooms down. I can go and get him if you want me to?" Nancy laughed slightly.

"You know what I meant!" Eddie spoke seriously.

"If you don't want this" Nancy smiled seductively at him as she began to lean in close once again, "Then just say so..."

"I err...I..."

Nancy didn't speak again as she once again connected her lips to his. Eddie didn't pull away this time. Instead the kiss deepened and before they knew it, they were lost in the bliss of each others mouths. Nancy straddled Eddie as their cuffed hands intertwined with each other. Only, Eddie forgot just how sharp his new teeth were and when he went to playfully nibble at her lip, she pulled away alarmed. She placed her hand over her lip looking quite surprised.

"Shit, I'm sorry!" Eddie quickly apologised as he sat up to check on her.

"I...Its fine" She answered him breathlessly, "It just caught me by surprise, that's all..."

Eddies eyes widened as a familiar strong smell suddenly hit his nostrils. Slowly he brushed her hand aside from her mouth and looked at her bottom lip.

"Your bleeding..." He told her.

"Shit...err... I don't know what to do!" Nancy panicked as she sucked in her lip to prevent the blood from escaping as she made to get up off of him, "We should go and grab some blood from the refrigerator, that should help you!"

"No!" Eddie denied her rather quickly stopping her from moving, "I just...I just want to..."

Nancy understood immediately. She didn't know if it was trust or just plain stupidity from being caught up in the moment, but suddenly, she found herself fumbling in her jeans pocket and pulling out the keys that belonged to the cuffs. She quickly undid the cuffs on her own wrist before throwing the key onto the floor. Placing both of her hands on each side of Eddies face, she pulled him in before kissing him deeply. This sent Eddie into overdrive, she really did taste like cotton candy! However this was enough for him, he had no desire to try and get more. His mind was focused on other things as he rolled over so that Nancy was underneath him instead. Their kisses got more desperate as they began to pant from breathlessness. Eddies now free hand began to trail its way down her side, being sure to gently trail his nails down on her skin. This sent shivers of pleasure throughout Nancy's body as she gasped a little, the coldness of his touch only added to the feeling and intensifying it as her own body began to warm up. Soon that hand was trailing back up again, but this time it found its way underneath her shirt and then underneath her bra. Nancy gasped loudly as Eddie began teasing her breast. She pulled him in closer, pushing herself into him in wanting. Her own hands, beginning to trail down his back before she pulled his t-shirt off with surprising skill. Taking the opportunity, Eddie moved from her mouth to her neck where he trailed kisses and sucks causing her to moan out in pleasure as he began to take her shirt off which was then closely followed by her bra. Eddies hand then began to wander further down and into her jeans. He was being extremely careful not to scratch her, and as soon as she felt his touch a jolt of pure electricity shot through her as she gasped loudly. Her subsequent moans were soon swallowed by Eddie as he once again covered her mouth with his own. Enjoying the feeling far to much but still wanting a little payback, Nancy let her own hands trail from Eddies back, down into the front of his sweat pants. He gasped with surprise as he pulled back and stared at her smiling face.

"We really shouldn't be doing this..." He breathed out heavily, obviously not wanting to stop.

"We can both regret it later..." Nancy smirked just as breathless, "Right now, I don't want to stop..."

With that, the two of them were lost to the night.


Wow! I'm gunna admit, I did not expect fir my fic to take that turn at the end either. It just came naturally haha. To be honest there has been a bit of chemistry between them in this fic throughout, maybe it came from there? I'd like to say sorry, but I'm really not haha. But just so you all know u don't ship Nancy and Eddie together in the slightest! So spoiler alert, it will be a one off. So yeah... if you enjoyed this chapter please leave a review or a message and I'll see you all in the next chapter. Until then, bye!