"Shit." Eddie cocked his head to the side, offering a half-smile. "Well…did they bring back any souvenirs?"

Beth smirked back, appreciating his ability to smooth over the bitter piece of news with his wry jokes. "No, just their usual disdain for my existence."

Beth had managed to shower, take a nap, and get back to the cabin, even if it was later than she'd hoped. She'd tried to fend off her parents' questions by saying she'd had a long night and needed to sleep, but their interrogation would not be delayed. Now, she was eager to shove the experience behind her and focus on Eddie, who had been aimlessly trying to clean up the ramshackle cabin when Beth arrived. "How did your visit go? I'm willing to bet it went better than mine."

Why is our answering machine filled with messages from the police? Why are people saying you're involved with a killer? What on earth are you wearing? Is that blood?

"I'm fine, by the way," Beth had told them, answering the question they never bothered to ask.

Eddie shrugged, looking for the right words to describe his reunion with Wayne. "Uh, you know. Weird. Complicated. Some things were harder to explain than others. But, he always knew I was innocent." He smiled to himself. "It was…good to hear. Really good."

"I'm glad he's on your side. He seems like a really good uncle," Beth said, grabbing a broom to help sweep up.

We don't know what to believe. We keep hearing all these stories. We thought we raised you better than this—

"You didn't raise me at all," Beth shot back. "If you have complaints, tell all those nannies you hired."

"So…how much did you end up telling him?" Beth asked. "Nancy and I couldn't really agree on how deep we should go. I think we ended up confusing him a little."

He sighed. "I…told him everything. Vecna, the Upside Down…all of it."

Beth exhaled. "And…is he at Pennhurst now, setting up a nice padded cell for you or...?"

Eddie smirked as he shoved things into a trash bag. "Funny. Look, I didn't know how to explain half the shit the happened without putting all the cards on the table. But…after finding Chrissy like that, and the federal agents coming to the trailer, and the gates opening...I mean, weird shit has been happening here for years. I guess he was ready to believe the impossible." Eddie cleared his throat. "Wayne wanted me to say how sorry he was. I guess you told him Chrissy was your best friend? He knows it's been really rough for you."

Beth nodded, looking down at the floor. "That's…really kind of him."

You've been lying to the police, sneaking around, linked to the murder of that Cunningham girl—

"That Cunningham girl?" Beth laughed in disbelief. "Chrissy. Her name was Chrissy. She was my best friend since kindergarten, but she's known to my own parents only as 'that Cunningham girl,' Jesus Christ…"

"Come on," Eddie prodded. "Tell me how it went with your parents. You okay?"

She shrugged, leaning on the broom as she considered her answer. "It pretty much went exactly how I thought it would. Them spouting bullshit, me waiting for it to end."

"You can't really blame them for being worried about you-"

"The Hawkins Post has been calling. The news stations have been calling. Do you realize how embarrassing it is-"

"And here it is, the real reason why you're mad," Beth interrupted. "I embarrassed you. You're not concerned about me or how I'm doing or even who killed Chrissy, you're just pissed because you've been somewhat dragged into it—"

"It's sweet that you think they're concerned about me," Beth told Eddie wryly. "They're just mad because they don't want to be the focus of a scandal. Look, I've always known they were assholes. Nothing that happened this morning remotely shocked me. You of all people know I've dealt with way worse this week."

Eddie bit his lip, unable to hide his sympathy for her. "How much did you tell them? About this week, I mean."

"We didn't really make it too far into the details," Beth said. "Too much hysteria."

Please, tell us the rumors aren't true. That you haven't been hiding out with that—that murderer-

"Normally, I'd have no problem lying to you," Beth said, her hands balled into fists, "but out of loyalty to Eddie, who is, by the way, completely innocent-"

Is he gone now? Did the earthquake—

"Do not ask that question without at least pretending you're not wishing death on a stranger," warned Beth.

"I'm sorry," Eddie said, putting a comforting hand on her back.

"It's fine. Really. Actually…parts of it were kind of productive," admitted Beth. "Small parts of it, anyway."

You're lucky we can get your name out of the papers—

"Wait," Beth said, intrigued. "You can do that?"

"Money talks, Elizabeth," her father reminded her. "And it can also convince people to be silent. Not that you deserve this kind of consideration, after all you've put us through—"

"Okay, so kill the story. But kill all of it," Beth told him. "I don't want Eddie's name in the news either. He's innocent."

"It's not the same as legally getting your name cleared, but I think they'll stop the news from reporting on you as the murderer. It's something, at least," Beth told Eddie. "A little peace of mind for your uncle. Maybe the story won't leave Roan County, and you can start over somewhere else if Powell drops the charges."

"I think I'd have to go pretty far to escape it," Eddie said. He looked skeptical. "I don't get it. One minute you're telling me what assholes your parents are, but now you're saying they'll help keep my name out of the papers?"

"What you have to understand about my parents is they'll do anything to keep up appearances," Beth explained. "Their pride is their weakness. Trust me, I know they're not doing it because they think it's the right thing to do. They're doing it because I made…certain convincing arguments."

Her father had looked almost amused. "Do you think you're in a position to make demands of us?"

Beth shrugged at him. "Kind of. The story won't go away unless you silence me too. It's hard to deny what they're saying about me if I'm the one confirming it. So, that's my price. Don't let Eddie's name get dragged through the mud. Or I'll drag ours through every shit pile I can find."

"I hope you didn't do anything you're going to regret," Eddie said quietly.

"The only regret I have is forgetting they were arriving home yesterday," Beth said. "I'd never have gone back to my house if I'd remembered. And honestly? If Vecna isn't completely dead and the end of the world happens…might as well swing for the fences, right?"

"At some point though, you might wish you hadn't burned bridges with them," Eddie pressed. "They're your parents."

"Eddie. When your uncle got here, the first thing he did was hug you," Beth reminded him. "The first thing my parents did when they saw me was start yelling. Your big mistake is thinking they behave like normal human beings who care about their kid."

Eddie sighed. "Well if it makes you feel any better, Wayne is very concerned about you…"

Beth scrunched her face. "Is this about how excited I was to hear about the Feds? I know I came across a little overzealous, but this is a big deal for you, and I'm sure Wayne doesn't want you to take the fall for all of this."

"Yeah, it's something like that," Eddie said cagily. Beth raised an eyebrow, but she didn't press him on what he meant by it. If Eddie didn't want to tell her everything about his conversation with Wayne, she understood. There was plenty she didn't want to tell him about her own homecoming.

"How could you be so stupid to even go near a degenerate like that—"

"Eddie's a good person. He cares about me. You don't even know him—"

"We know enough. Drug dealer. Devil worshipper. Felon father. Junkie mother—"

"I'd rather have Eddie's mom than what I've got." That earned her a slap across the face. Beth looked at her mother with an even gaze, refusing to give her the satisfaction of any emotion at all. "And people wonder where I get my temper from."

"So, how are you even here?" Eddie asked. "It sounds like they'd have you locked away in a tower or something. Guarded by a dragon."

"The dragon and I have an understanding," Beth teased, having sat down on the couch for a break. "They think I'm with Nancy Wheeler right now. Volunteering for a disaster relief thing."

"And they bought that?"

"What can I say? They're new to this observant parenting thing," Beth said with an eye roll. "And volunteering's a good way to 'repair the damage I've done to my standing in the community.' What about you? I kind of thought Wayne would've taken you back to where he's staying."

"He wanted to. It was our one argument." Eddie flopped down next to Beth. "He wanted me to go back with him…and talk to the police."

Beth's stomach tightened. "He wanted you to turn yourself in?"

"Wayne wanted me to stop running. Said it caused me more problems than it solved. And I get what he means," Eddie said slowly. "But…if the world does end, I'd rather spend my last days in this weird cabin than in a jail cell."

Beth drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "Chief Powell didn't even mention you when he came for Jason's body," she said. "Maybe…maybe it's finally over. Too much has happened. I mean, you saw what Jason looked like. Earthquakes don't melt people."

Eddie nodded. "Yeah, I know. But…talking to the cops isn't really what we argued about."

Beth watched as Eddie chewed his lip, fidgeted with his rings, and tilted his head from side to side as if the thoughts within were using it as a see-saw. "Eddie, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but you've got to stop wiggling around like that. You're making me nervous." She reached over and gently took his hands in hers. "It's okay."

Eddie looked down at their hands clasped together and exhaled. "We…fought about you." He took his hands away from hers and buried them in his hair, leaning back on the couch.

"Me?" Beth raised her eyebrows. "When you said you told him everything, I thought you just meant the alternate dimension stuff…but okay…"

"He guessed at it, mostly. You were wearing my shirt. Describing everything as 'we' did this and 'we' thought that." Eddie looked at her. "Wayne called me out on wanting to stay in this cabin because I can stay here with you. He thinks I'm being irresponsible and holding onto you without thinking about how my situation's going to affect your life."

"You've been telling me how hard it's going to be. Telling me that I should cut my losses. How is any of that irresponsible?" asked Beth. "I chose to stick by you-"

"That's the other thing. He's worried that your judgment's…maybe not the best right now? Because of grief? And I told him it's bullshit, and that we're both aware of how bad everything could get…" Eddie trailed off.

Beth swallowed. "But…?"

"Everything has been a shit show this week. And this whole time, I was thinking, at least I have Beth. But...maybe it is unfair on you. You've been dealing with losing Chrissy, and being set against the rest of your friends-"

"Eddie, you've been helping me deal with losing Chrissy-"

"And now I'm causing a whole rift between you and your parents—"

"No, Eddie, that's—they couldn't even remember Chrissy's name," Beth said. "The fact that I fought with them has nothing to do with you and everything to do with them being awful goddamn people. The rift isn't because of you. The rift has always been there. Very old rift," she reassured him.

"And then…there's what you said. In the Upside Down," Eddie said slowly. "Right after you fried the bats…"

Beth looked down at her hands in her lap. "You mean when I said I fell in love with you?"

"You said I made you fall in love with me."

"That's not-" Beth shook her head. "I didn't mean it like that. I was upset and it came out wrong."

"Maybe it didn't." Eddie shrugged sadly. "I just keep thinking about how I teased you about loving me that time you yelled at the group for abandoning us, and because you jumped in after me when I fell out the boat-"

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe you were right?" Beth took a deep breath, mustering all the maturity she could manage. "Eddie….do you want to...end this?'

"No," Eddie said quickly. He looked back at her and repeated it. "No, I don't want to end this…but I don't want to hurt you either."

"And I don't want to hurt you." Beth leaned in and kissed him, her hand steady on his cheek, Eddie's hand drifting up to hold it there. "Look," she said when they finally pulled away. "Maybe we're not destined to be together forever and maybe this week has messed us up and maybe you might still go to jail and the world might end…but this feels good. And I don't want to lose that before I have to."

"You won't." Eddie pulled her in so her back was settled against his chest, his arms wrapped around her. "I never should have let Wayne get into my head-"

"You shouldn't get mad at Wayne. He only did what he thought was right," Beth cautioned. "Can't blame him for thinking I'm mildly insane when the first conversation we had involved a government conspiracy."

Eddie chuckled. "Yeah. And…things with us did happen pretty fast…"

"True…or," Beth said, cocking her head to the side, "Depending on how you look at it…you could say they happened extremely slowly." She looked up at Eddie, who looked down at her with a puzzled expression. "Seventh grade."

He snorted. "Wow. That's a stretch."

"I think it could be a convincing argument. I'm very persuasive."

"Yeah, sure," teased Eddie. "You could be a goddamn lawyer."

"Maybe I could!" Beth insisted. "I could go pre-law in college…if the world doesn't end." She frowned. "If I'm in denial about anything, it's the world ending. I always thought an end-of-the-world scenario would…be more immediate, you know?"

Eddie nodded. "Maybe it's a good sign. That Vecna's really dead."

"I actually got a bunch of acceptance letters for colleges," Beth said, quiet excitement in her voice. "Must've come in the last few days. I saw them when I got home this morning. It's…stupid to think about. Because I'm excited? But also…the world might end."

"Shit, you should be excited. That's…really cool." Eddie leaned his head on top of Beth's. "So…where'd you get in?"

"Six different colleges. All Division One."

"Damn. Smarty pants."

Beth shrugged demurely, though a proud smile creeped onto her face. "When I applied, all I really cared about was going somewhere with a competitive cheer squad and getting the hell out of Hawkins." Her smile faded a little at the thought of leaving Hawkins now as she turned to look at Eddie. "So…what about you?"

He smirked. "I'm not college material, sweetheart."

"Okay, but what was your plan? You don't seem the type to want to stick around Hawkins, either."

Eddie shrugged. "Doesn't matter much now, but I was gonna try to make it with my band. Wayne said I should think about something more practical, but that was the dream."

"I don't know," Beth said loftily, turning again to lean back against Eddie. "As someone who's recently seen you play, I think you could've made it."

Eddie's low, throaty laugh floated into her ear. "Yeah, come to think of it, you did seem to really enjoy that performance…"

"Mm, now I know you're feeling better," Beth told him. "You can manage to gloat."

"First Dio, now Metallica." Eddie shook a triumphant fist. "I'll make a metalhead of you yet, Beth."

"I didn't even hear that whole song. Just the guitar part. My opinions may be skewed," she teased. She thought back to Eddie playing on top of the trailer, the one purely good memory from the night before. "Might've just been the guitarist. He was pretty sexy."

"You expect me not to gloat about that?" Eddie murmured, a smile pulling at his lips.

"The guitar solo was…especially good," Beth remembered, biting her lip. The way she felt watching him flooded back to her. She twisted around once again to face Eddie, her hands resting on his thigh. "Do you wanna know what I was thinking? When you were playing?"

"You know I do."

"I was thinking that you are a total rock god," Beth whispered, leaning in for a kiss. All the stress and fear and anger of the last twenty-four hours melted away as their lips meshed together, arms holding tight, their thoughts only on each other.

"Shit." Eddie pulled away, looking frustrated. "This is what Wayne was talking about-"

Beth whined. "We just had that whole talk, it's fine, don't go…" she whimpered, pouting as Eddie leaned back on the couch, arms crossed over his chest.

"I'm supposed to be a responsible adult," Eddie grumbled.

"This pause totally counts as being a responsible adult," Beth countered. "You did it. Good job. Now please kiss me again." She looked forlornly at him. "Do you really want to stop?"

"Hell no," Eddie blurted, causing Beth to laugh.

"Then get back over here," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck as he pressed his lips to hers. The next few minutes were lost to their kisses, sweet and comforting and good.

"Eddie…can I stay here tonight?" Beth asked quietly as they pulled away. "I already told my parents I'm probably sleeping over at Nancy's, so they won't notice."

"You can stay forever," he murmured. After a beat, he added, "I love you."

"I love you too," she whispered back, wishing she could stay there forever. Her heart ached thinking about all the uncertainty they still faced—the police, the end of the world. And the one bit of bad news she knew she eventually had to tell him.

Beth took a deep breath—she didn't know if this was the right time or not, but it would gnaw at her until she said it. "Eddie…there's something else. About what my parents and I discussed, though 'discuss' is probably too civil a word to really use…"

"Jesus Christ, they didn't kick you out, did they?"

"No," Beth said, "That would ruin their plan of pretending everything is fine and nothing is wrong and their daughter isn't connected with Hawkins's Public Enemy Number One." She sighed, leaning back on the couch and looking up at the ceiling. "It…might end up being a moot point, what with the possible apocalypse if it ever happens…but…they want me to go away to college. Far away."

Eddie didn't answer, so Beth continued. "Most of my options are pretty far, anyway. I did get into Notre Dame—not even my fifth choice, but Chrissy wanted to go there, so I applied too—and maybe I can negotiate with them more and just go there, but I don't think they'll budge. They want me out of the state. Probably to make sure I don't renege on my own promise to stay quiet myself," she muttered. "Basically, the agreement we made was that I keep my mouth shut about everything, they lean on the press to kill the story, and they pay for me to get out of their lives forever." Beth bit her lip. "And on the surface, everything will look perfectly normal."

Beth looked over at Eddie. He looked deep in thought about what she'd just said. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I…I don't want to go. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to get your name out of the papers, and one thing led to another, and all of a sudden…"

"Maybe it's for the best," Eddie said slowly. He looked back at her, his eyes serious. "I mean it when I say I love you, and...Shit, I don't want to lose you, but who knows how long I'll be hiding out? How long before I surrender and get carted off to jail. Where I'll end up if I get a chance to leave Hawkins. It's not fair for you to make plans based on that-"

"I can decide for myself what's fair," Beth protested. "I'll pick the next-closest college, and I can still come back sometimes, and-and visit you in prison with a cake with a file in it. The whole thing-"

"What's that saying," Eddie said. "Something like, if you love something, set it free or some shit-"

"And if it comes back, it's yours," Beth said. "That's the second half of it. You can't just ignore the second half, and I want to come back. I mean it when I say I love you too, you know. I love spending time with you, and talking to you, and how you make me laugh, and how you make me feel like—like I'm not hard to love."

Eddie pulled her in to hold her against his chest, her sniffles muffled there. "You're not hard to love," he told her. "You're a smart, fearless, badass of a storm. And someone like you doesn't deserve to be held back by anything. Or anyone. Christ, it means so much to me that you want to stick by me like this, but…I'd kick my own ass if I stopped you from having everything you deserve." He sighed. "When do you have to make your decision?"

"Soon," she muttered. "Like, two weeks, I think."

"So make your decision. And make it your decision, like this whole week didn't happen and you're choosing where to go like a normal senior. And then, if we're lucky, we'll still have the summer. Not much of a summer, but, you know." Eddie shrugged. "It's still time." Not enough time, Beth thought sadly. They fell into silence, Eddie slowly running his hand up and down her back.

"I'll still write to you. In college," Beth promised.

"Where would you even send the letters?" Eddie laughed. "Weird Cabin In The Woods, Hawkins, Indiana?"

"I'll send them to Dustin or something, I don't know," Beth giggled. "But I'll figure something out."

"I know you will," Eddie said, still holding her tight. "You always do."