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Chapter Four: Charisma

Sleep hadn't come to Sarah that night, her heart hadn't stop fluttering since Eddie had told her he wasn't going let anyone hurt her again. The tone in his voice had been soft but assertive, conveying that he meant every word. Eddie had fallen asleep not too much longer after that, holding her against him while Steve had his arm slumped over both of them. She had never felt so completely at peace, her life had always been a constant state of danger but right now, in Eddie's room, she felt safe. It had been a long time since she had felt safe but she still couldn't sleep. She had felt Eddie's hand caress her arm in his sleep, mumbling things under his sleep induced breath. Gently pushing back on Steve to make him move the boy finally moving over when Sarah elbowed his side, she had been stuck on her side all night.

Sarah rolled onto her back stretching out, the muscles in her legs tremoring from hours of inactivity. She was grateful it was Sunday and she didn't have to go to school, she wasn't sure if she could stand seeing Jason right now. Placing her arm over her eyes she let out a deep breath, she had spent at least the last ten years hiding her father's abuse from others, her mother taught her how to act to keep others from getting suspicious and things like how to reduce the swelling. She had tried her best to shield Sarah from her father but in the end it became too much and she gave into her drug addiction, leaving Sarah to deal with the abuse alone. She had only been young when she had Sarah, barely just old enough to consent when her father charmed her, ruining her life forever. It had been a hot summers day when Sarah had come home from school, excited to show her mother the one hundred percent she had received on the English test they had done the week before. The house had been eerily quiet for a Tuesday, her mother was normally blasting her tunes on her vinyl in the kitchen, cooking up something. Sarah walked through the house looking for her mother, the anxiety creeping in with every room that was empty. The last room left to check had been her parent's, Sarah had been calling her mother's name receiving nothing but silence in reply. She pushed open the door and saw her instantly, she was on the floor, on her back, vomit around her and in her mouth.

A tear slid down Sarah's cheek at the memory, a hand reached over to wipe it away but the touch scared her, she let out a shriek jumping away from the touch in a panic; back hitting the wall in her attempt to escape. Steve woke up in a haze at the racket while Eddie sat up. "I'm sorry Sarah, it was me, I shouldn't have scared you."

Sarah looked at Eddie through blurred vision, tears welled from deep inside and coursed down her cheeks. "I'm sorry."

"You okay?" Steve murmured, dazed at being woken abruptly from an alcohol induced sleep.

"Yes. Sorry." She wiped at the tears to rid of them, her hand shaking.

"It's my fault, sweetheart. I should have given you warning." Eddie's voice was always so gentle with her.

Sarah's tension released from her body, relaxing back down on the bed instead of being up against the wall. She felt embarrassed at her over reaction, she thought he had been asleep and that she had been the only one awake. She laid back down between the boys with a sigh, rubbing at her eyes to rid of any remaining tears. "No, it's okay, I just have a lot on my mind, I'm scared to go to school tomorrow."

Steve threw his arm over Sarah's stomach, lazily tracing circles over her belly button. "Don't go then."

"I have too, I've already missed five months. I need to graduate."

Eddie hesitated for a moment, Sarah must have felt it as she turned to look at him, meeting his gaze as if letting him know she was okay and he could touch her. He ran a hand over her cheek affectionately, coming to a rest on her neck "I'll be with you the whole time."

The blood rushed to her head, tinting her cheeks in a blush. They both had hands on her, touching her so gently that her mind was losing any focus it had left. She had never had a boyfriend, she didn't notice anyone but Steve and for a while he had been chasing Nancy, not that she mind, as long as he was happy. She had never even been kissed; Billy had tried to come onto her multiple times but she knew he was just trying to get under Steve's skin. She was Steve's weak spot. She had been his best friend; his rock and Billy had tried to exploit that. But right in this moment, feeling both boys touch her skin she wanted nothing more than to be kissed by both of them.

"My head hurts, what the hell did you give me last night, Eddie?" Steve broke the silence with a sigh, dragging his hand down his face.

Both Eddie and Sarah looked at the boy faced down and struggling with life, it had been the first time he had used Eddie's name instead of just using his last name. Eddie liked the way it sounded coming from his mouth, with a smirk crossing his lips he said. "You said you could handle your alcohol, Steve."

There was a sexual tension that hung heavily over the room, Sarah could feel Eddie's fingers twitching around her neck while Steve lifted his head up to look at them. A loud knock coming from the front door made Sarah bolt upright and out of the bed in a matter of seconds, a hurried noise somewhere between I'll get it and let me came from her mouth. She had nearly fallen off the bed in her haste but didn't dare look back at the boys knowing her face was bright red. Sarah pulled open the front door to see Nancy standing there, her lips pursed, a smile creeping from the corners of her mouth.

"Is it rude to open someone else's door?" She asked at the look on the girls face.

Nancy laughed moving forward to hug her tightly. "Maybe pants next time."

"Pants?" Sarah repeated the confusion thick in her voice and on her face until she felt the cool morning breeze on her legs. "Oh... I don't have pants on."

Nancy laughed once more, she had missed Sarah more than she realised and she knew she had missed her a lot. Along with Nancy losing Sarah, Jonathan had moved away and she felt lost, throwing herself into her journalism and editing the Hawkins high newsletter. Sarah pulled her inside, shutting the door and leading her to the lounge.

"I was on my way to come see you yesterday, I'm sorry I didn't make it."

"While I want to be mad at you for not coming to me sooner, I understand. Although speaking to my douchebag brother he mentioned he saw you at school and didn't think to mention it."

"His little life is in disarray with Eleven miles away. Speaking of... how are you doing with Jonathan?"

Nancy sighed. "It's hard, you know? I'm hoping he'll come down for spring break since Mike's going to see El, but I don't know, it's still up in the air."

"You miss him?"

"Every day."

Sarah reached out and placed her hand on top of Nancy's, the two sharing a sad smile between them. Steve stumbled out of the room near crashing to the floor as he did so, able to regain his balance using the wall. Eddie emerged from the room giving Steve a hand at getting him back onto his feet before patting his shoulder, walking towards the kitchen for a drink.

"Don't you have work today, Steve?" Nancy asked.

"Shit." Steve cursed. "Where's my car keys?"

"You cannot drive." Sarah was the first to speak, arms folding across her chest. "You can't even stand."

"Also I took your car home last night." Nancy added.

Eddie handed Steve a glass of water and tapped his cheek. "I'll take you to work when I drop Wheeler home."

Steve looked confused but said nothing, taking a sip of the water before realising how thirsty he was and downing the glass. Heading to the kitchen to get more with wobbly feet.

Eddie had dropped Nancy off at her place, ignoring every comment about his driving she threw at him. Sarah giving her a hug before they headed to the video rental, Steve struggling with motion sickness in the back, doing his best to hold down the vomit. It had taken the two of them to get him out of the van and walking towards the shop.

"Maybe you should have taken the day off." Sarah muttered as she helped keep the boy upright while walking through the door.

Robin came out from the back hearing them enter. "Finally, Steve where have you been? You are so late, dingus! I thought you were bailing on me. You know how much convincing it took me to let Keith give you a job?"

"Yeah, yeah." Steve dismissed. "Not so loud."

Robin walked up to Sarah and took a hold of her hands pulling her to the side and away from Eddie who was left holding upright a very hung-over Steve. "You and Eddie over there, what's going on?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Bullshit."

"Okay so like, shit went down yesterday and one thing led to another and I spent the night in bed with Eddie and Steve and now all I can think about is." She rubbed the back of her neck, her cheeks going red as she pulled Robin close. "The three of us... together."

"See here you are, living the dream of having two people in bed with you when I fall for straight chicks."

"That band girl you mentioned last year is straight?"

Robin gave a sigh, nodding. "Like I've said before, just my type."

"Meanwhile I'm crushing on two boys." Sarah sighed. She looked over as Eddie led Steve behind the counter, his grip around the boys waist secure, ensuring the teen didn't topple over at any minute. The smirk that graced his lips as the two engaged in banter made her heart skip a beat.

"If nothing else it was nice not having to hear Steve whinge about how he keeps striking out with the ladies last shift."

"Why's that?"

"The only girl he wanted to talk about was you. He didn't pay attention to anything that walked through those doors since you. It's been a nice break really because I can tolerate the Sarah hype."

Sarah nudged Robin with her elbow receiving a snort from the girl. "Maybe there just wasn't much to choose from that day."

"You be surprised at how many girls walk through this place in one day."

"Hey, sweetheart, we'll come back to take Harrington home after he's done." Eddie spoke up, hand on Steve's shoulder, he was face down on the counter groaning.

"Do you want a lift home too?" Sarah asked Robin.

Robin looked from Sarah to Eddie. "No thanks, I choose life."

Eddie flipped her off and Sarah laughed. "I'll see you tomorrow at school, dork."

"Later dingus." Robin smiled, the two doing their goofy secret handshake laughing.

After making sure Steve wasn't going to pass out behind the desk, Sarah headed out the door with Eddie at her side. Sarah knew she had to go collect some things from her old house but she wasn't sure if their things had been removed, if the house had sold and new people lived there or exactly what her father had done before leaving Hawkins.

"Hey, what do you say to a little breaking and entering?" Sarah mused looking towards Eddie as he put a cigarette in his mouth, the gape in his mouth telling her he hadn't been expecting her to say that. "I need stuff from my old place."

"I'm all for a little law breaking but you have to listen to my ideas for the campaign. With some actual valid input, I'm talking calling me out on my shit if it's not amazing."

"I'm only seeing the bonuses for me here, Munson." She playfully teased.

Eddie captured her face between his hands, tilting her head to look up at him, he loved the surprised face that graced her features, cigarette falling from his mouth as he leaned forward and placed his forehead against hers, his hair framing her face. "You have no idea just what you do to me, Henderson."

Sarah licked her lips, she thought surely he could hear her heart beating against her chest. "Sorry."

He simply smiled at her, pulling back and gently running his thumb along her chin. Every time he got close to her it was getting harder to pull away. He smirked at her stunned expression and gently pulled her towards the van.

Eddie pulled up to a two-story house, it's windows and doors closed up, leaves piled over the lawn and front veranda, nothing had been done with the place since they had left. It had taken Sarah a long moment to get out of the car and even longer to walk towards the front door. Eddie had been impressed watching Sarah so gracefully lock pick her way inside. She took his hand in her own, ignoring any reactions he gave her, instead squeezing it for comfort; Sarah hated being in this house. She led him up the stairs heading for her parent's room, her feet slowed the closer they got to the door, memories flashing through her mind, the sense of dread she felt at ten as she crept towards the door calling out for her mother.

"You okay?" Eddie asked at her sudden halt, she was pale, her grip on his hand so tight it hurt.

She swallowed hard. "I walked in on my mother's overdose when I was ten. This door has always taunted me."

"Do you need that room?"

Her nod was stiff, grip on his hand never relenting, she had only been in this room twice since finding her mother's body and both times she had spent hours standing and staring at the dark oak door trying to work up the courage to walk into it. Inhaling deeply through her nose Sarah walked towards the door, reaching out a shaky hand and opening the door. Memories of the door squeaking open to reveal her mother lying on the floor flashed through her mind, her breathing quickened and her whole body went tense. Eddie felt the shift in body language and used his thumb to gently stroke her hand. She focused on what she had come in for, taking no glances around the room. She spotted the part in the floor she needed, making her way towards it, releasing Eddie's hand from her death grip. Bending down she pulled at the loose floorboard lifting it up and chucking it to the side. Reaching into the hole under the floor she grabbed a black bag bringing it out from its hiding, dusting of the thick layer of dust that covered it.

"You didn't tell me your dad was Russian."

"What?"

Eddie held up the pieces of paper that he had found on the desk, Sarah took the letters from him, eyes glancing over every paper that sat on her father's desk. Her heartbeat so hard against her chest she coughed at the strain to breathe. The Russians? Why did he have letters written in Russian when they had no family from Russia? She grabbed as many letters as she could and shoved them into the side pocket of the black bag she had retrieved from under the floorboards, perhaps Robin could help her read them. The Russians left Hawkins after the lab exploded, there was no more Russians, no more upside down, all of that was behind them.

Sarah sat in the van, a finger being assaulted in her mouth as she bit at the corner of her nail. Her mind working overtime to erase any memory of being in or leaving the house. She couldn't remember going into her old room and grabbing what little possessions she had. She couldn't even remember getting into the van and Eddie driving off. Her free hand was wrapped around the bag she had gone in for, clutching it tight to her chest.

"It was my mother's get out fund." Her voice was a quite kind of calm, breaking the silence. Finger in her mouth pulling at a piece of skin on her fingernail causing it to bleed but she took no notice, her mind working overtime to try and calm her. "She had always said that we'd get out, get away from my father and flee Hawkins. That we'd finally get to live the fairy-tale we deserved. After she died I kept adding to it by stealing money my father wouldn't notice missing. When I thought I'd had enough to leave, Steve wandered into my life, I mean after he stopped picking on me, and I stayed." The sticky metallic taste hitting her taste buds made her take the finger from her mouth, examining the tiny wound she had given herself. "Can I make you and your uncle dinner? He doesn't work Sunday's normally, right?"

The change of topic was so casual, she turned to look at him with a tilt of her head. Eddie watched as she moved from biting her finger to pulling at the loose thread from her sleeve hem all while looking at him. He knew she was still in a high state of anxiety, it radiated off her, so he simply nodded, unable to explain his intense desire to want to do everything in his power to make her happy. The two had stopped at the shops as per Sarah's request to go food shopping. Eddie observed the looks from people around them, he just knew they were wondering why she was hanging around him but Sarah never seemed to notice, simply only focusing on him and what they were doing; it was like no one else existed to her. He had never had someone look at him the way she did, she never looked at him like he was scary or weird, her eyes sparkled when she looked at him. After food shopping Eddie swung by the video rental to pick up Steve who had been sitting out the front of the store waiting for them, climbing into the back when they arrived.

"I am never drinking anything you give me ever again." Steve groaned from the back of the van; he had never been so hung over in his life.

"I did tell you to slow down."

"Why'd you drink anyway?" Sarah asked.

"Er."

"Want to join us for dinner, Harrington?" Eddie interrupted looking in the review mirror to meet the boys gaze.

Sarah twisted her upper body around to look back from the front seat. "Oh yes! Please?"

Steve met Eddie's gaze in the mirror holding eye contact. He was grateful for the change of subject; he didn't want to tell her that he had downed a whole bottle of alcohol because of her. She would take it the wrong way and blamed herself. "Yeah, sure."

Eddie nodded, changing his direction to head back to his place. He had already figured Sarah would be staying at his again tonight, it wasn't even a question at this point; she didn't really have anywhere else to go and he defiantly enjoyed her company.

Wayne was sitting outside the trailer with a cigarette in his hand when the van came to a stop, watching as the teens exited Eddie's van. "Hello again, Sarah."

Sarah gave a shy wave. "I'm making dinner if that's okay?"

"Dinner huh? Eddie keep her." Wayne smiled at the teens reactions, Sarah had gone bright red and even Eddie cleared his throat trying to cover his embarrassment.

"This is my friend Steve." She grabbed the boy's arm and pulled him next to her so hard he had bounced into her knocking her off her feet. Eddie had been beside her and caught her before she fell, Steve using Eddie to stabilize himself as well, squashing Sarah between them, the two boys staring at each other. "Too hard, sorry."

Steve released his grip on Eddie, clearing his throat and standing up straight. "They invited me for dinner, hope you don't mind." He reached out a hand to shake Wayne's hand.

"Not at all." Wayne shook the teens hand. "It's nice that Eddie has some friends over."

"Come on." Eddie sighed taking a hold of Sarah's hand entangling their fingers together and leading her inside, his free hand taking the bags for her.

Wayne watched the way Eddie fussed over Sarah; he hadn't seen his nephew like this before in all the years he had been his guardian for. Putting the lit cigarette to his lips he sucked on it inhaling the smoke. Steve entered the trailer after the other two and Wayne could hear the teens already engaging in conversation.

Sarah had made them dinner, it had been a while since Eddie or Wayne had had a proper home cooked meal, or even sat down to eat together. The little dining table and chairs besides the kitchen just fit the four of them, Eddie and Wayne on one side, Steven and Sarah on the other. Eddie could tell she had become more comfortable with his uncle, now being able to hold a conversation with him and not look like she would bolt at any second.

"What are you, five?" Sarah said blankly watching as Steve pushed around the broccoli on his plate

Steve turned to look at her, unimpressed look on his face. "You know I hate broccoli."

"So how did you two become friends?" Wayne asked waving his fork between Sarah and Steve.

"Steve used to pick on me with all the other cool kids." Sarah replied. "Then I fixed his joke of an English assessment-"

"A joke? Was it that bad before you told me what to change?" Steve interrupted.

"You would have gotten an F."

"I got an A+ for that."

"Yeah. You're welcome."

"So you two aren't dating?"

Sarah choked on the water she had just gone to sip. "Oh no, no Steve was with my friend Nancy. He only sees me as a friend." She froze as soon as the words left her mouth, that hadn't exactly come out the way she thought it would. "Um. I mean I haven't dated anyone."

"Oh really?" Wayne ignored the look his nephew was giving him.

Sarah nodded. "I was too busy with school and cheer I guess."

"Boys aren't worth the trouble anyway." He smiled at her giggle and both boys side-eye.

After dinner Eddie had dragged the other two into his room to avoid any more awkward comments from his uncle. Steve was laying on his side on the bed, Sarah sitting with her back against his chest doing schoolwork while listening to Eddie plan out his campaign, enjoying his over-the-top animations. Steve had been quietly intrigued by the story not that he understood what was going on. Steve had fallen asleep by the time Eddie had finished. The two then looked over her timetable and saw that since she had come in halfway through the year she had been placed in random classes, majority with Eddie. Sarah hadn't had many friends prior to meeting Nancy and Steve so her classes had always been by herself, occasionally Chrissy would be in one of her classes and they'd sit together but it was few and far between. She had collected the title of being a loner in middle school, some weirdo with a dead druggie mother and that title had stayed when she got to high school. People had always bullied her, it was nothing new, even when her father forced her to become a cheerleader for an extracurricular activity so she wouldn't seem so 'weird', they let her sit with them but she never felt included.

Eddie was sitting on the floor with one of his dungeons and dragons books open on his lap. Sarah on the bed laying on her stomach writing notes from one of the mathematics textbooks, her head dropping every so often. "Hey, you should probably stop for the night." Eddie spoke softly watching her eyelids get heavy, the grip on her pen loosening.

"I'm nearly done." Her voice was thick with fatigue. "Sorry Steve fell asleep here again."

"Ah, don't worry about it, maybe I can make him part of the Hellfire Club sometime, he looked pretty into it eh?" Eddie grinned when she let out a tired laugh. "Anything I can get you?"

"Maybe a glass of water please?"

"Coming right up Princess."

He came back into the room ready to hand Sarah the glass of water but found that she had lost her battle with sleep, books spread across the bed, a pen still clutched between her fingers, one sticking in her hair; drool coming from her mouth. Eddie shook his head with a warm smile placing the glass on the small side table. He stared at the two of them in his bed, he liked seeing the two of them there, his bed had been lonely for so long. He was completely and utterly attached; he would give his all for Sarah and he couldn't explain the feelings he had started to feel for Steve. "...shit..."