Disclaimer: I do not own IT or any of the characters. That all belongs to the awesome and talented Stephen King. I only own my OC and other characters I make up along the way.

A/N: Okay...I know I should be studying, but as it turns out my Philosophy teacher gave us Monday off to study for the midterm. I also didn't expect to finish this chapter as fast as I did...but who's complaining about that? (: Anyways, this chapter was fun to write. There is more interactions with the Losers' and more Richie and Gwen scenes. Despite the agnst, those two are total sibling goals. Overall there's fluffy friendship moments with all of them together. Enjoy!

"Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light." — Madeleine L'Engle

Chapter 12: Not the only one

In record timing, Gwen Tozier was out of her lazy clothes (aka her pajamas) and was ready to go.

The fifteen year old was now dressed in her usual everyday wardrobe. Which consisted of wearing her sneakers, shorts and a band t-shirt (this time the band t-shirt was Journey), and she had her dark hair tied back in a sloppy pony tail.

Feeling much more energized than an hour ago, the Tozier girl went down the stairs with determined steps. When she reached the last step she saw her brother waiting for her in the living room. The rest of the group wasn't there, making a puzzled expression come across her face. She found this to be odd because she assumed after Bill had left from the heartfelt moment they had in her bedroom, that he and the rest of the boys would have waited. Had they already left without her and Richie?

"Hey." She said catching her brother's attention. "Where's everyone at?"

Seeing her up from bed and looking like her usual self had Richie feeling better too. He managed to give her a small smile. "They're waiting outside for us."

Gwen nodded her head relieved they hadn't left without them. She then tilted her head at her brother. "And you didn't want to go outside and wait with them?" She asked him.

"No..." Richie replied shaking his head. "I, uh, wanted to wait for you inside."

Gwen could hear the brotherly love in his tone. The same tone he'd been using during her down fall since last week. She suddenly began to feel terrible as realization hit her hard. Richie had been nothing but kind and caring towards her and yet she'd been distancing herself from him...again. Just like how she had done when Chase had died. God, what kind of an older sister was she? She wanted to straight up and apologize to him (like any normal human being would do), but of course her mouth got the better of her and she ended up saying something entirely different.

"So...I know you took my diary." Gwen said surprising herself. Although that had not been what she originally wanted to tell him, she decided to go along with it. She didn't want to panic with trying to find an excuse as to why she had said that. Besides, this wasn't the first time she noticed her diary was missing because of her brother. It was just the first time she's ever called him out on it. Anyways...maybe starting things off with this random comment would be a good thing. It certainly somewhat lighten the mood a bit. A smile was daring to escape her, but she kept it at bay.

Behind his magnifying glasses, Richie's eyes widened even more. "Oh shit." He became a blubbering mess. "It's just that you weren't talking to me and I wanted to know what was going on with you." He let out a sigh. "I'm sorry. Please don't be mad."

Gwen started to hate herself even more from hearing how concerned her brother was for her well-being. God, she'd been so awful to him. "I'm not mad at you." She gently reassured her brother as she started walking over to him.

"You're not?" Richie questioned his facial features twisted in puzzlement.

"How could I? I haven't written in that thing in months." Gwen said as she now stood in front of her brother with a soft expression.

"Oh...yeah. I noticed that when reading it again." Richie answered without thinking thoroughly. "Oh, double shit..." There was a pause before he noticed how revealing his answer had been. His sister was going hate him now that she knew him reading her diary had happened more than once. He nervously adjusted his glasses. "I mean—"

"Still not mad at you." Gwen easily interrupted him.

The Tozier boy blinked rapidly. "Huh? For real?" He asked instantly feeling the worry he had of his sister hating him go away.

Gwen nodded her head. "Yeah, and anyways..." She drawled on finally able to find it within herself to say what she had been wanting to say to him. "I actually want to apologize to you."

This bemused Richie. A frown settled on his prepubescent face. "What? Apologize to me? Why?"

Gwen took a deep breath and then let it out. "Because I've been a total bitch to you."

Richie Tozier was all for cussing. He cussed every damn day of his life. He threw the F bomb here and there, along with other colorful words. His older sister cussed too. Maybe not as much as him, but he'd heard Gwen say some very power word choices too. He, however, had never heard Gwen call herself a bitch before. He'd never called her that either. So to hear Gwen say that about herself made Richie immediately shake his head in protest. She wasn't that...she was far from being anything remotely close to that. "What? No—"

"No, Richie, I was." Gwen stopped him with a serious expression. It softened with the next few seconds that passed. "Listen, I know I'm not the worlds greatest older sister." She said feeling extremely bad. "I've been real shitty to you lately. And I know I don't say this often because I'm not one for Hallmark family card moments and I know you aren't either, but you know I love you, right?" Gwen stated as she stared softly at her brother. As she did this she saw how his eyes behind his glasses were becoming shiny. Seeing him look so vulnerable made tears start to form in her eyes too. "Just because I don't say it aloud every damn day doesn't mean it's not true." Her voice wavered a bit as she continued speaking out her emotional thoughts. "You're my little brother. I have to be there for you just like you've been there for me."

Richie blinked back tears. He knew how much his sister was going through right now in her life. With the losses she experienced, her ADHD and now her depression...but hearing her apologize to him and actually saying that she loved him made Richie want to cry his eyes out. The Tozier boy was never one for serious vulnerable moments...well, only if Gwen was there with him. Other than with her, Richie was never this solemn, not even with their parents. His mother and father hardly ever said they loved him. And like Gwen said to him, she never said it aloud either, but unlike with his parents, Richie knew she cared for him. So to hear her say she loved him now, got to Richie emotionally. He put away his laid-back persona and instead easily fell into a vulnerable state.

"I know and I love you too, Gwen...but..." A few tears rolled down his cheeks. "I can handle mom and dad being distant, but not you. Please, not you." Richie sounded as wounded as he appeared, and that made Gwen's heart ache more for her little brother. His eyes (the ones that were similar to her's) filled with sadness. "I know you haven't been feeling well, but I need you. I need my sister."

Not wasting another second, Gwen brought her younger brother into a hug. Richie wasn't much for hugging other people. The only person he'd hug with no reluctance was his sister. The Tozier girl felt him put his head on one of her shoulders as he returned the hug. "I'm sorry, Richie." She said as she felt her own tears go down her face again. She cursed that damn clown or whatever that thing was for making her fall back into her depression and for making her distant herself from her brother again. "I'm so sorry. I promise I won't distant myself from you anymore. I won't let this sickness get between us." She had no idea if the sickness she was referring to was her depression or the clown, whichever though, Gwen wasn't going to let herself get dragged down again.

Richie nodded his head against her shoulder before he pulled back from the hug. Gwen saw him lift his glasses and start to wipe away any tears that remained. She wiped her own face only much slower. When they settled down, she decided to break away any emotional tension that was left over from their heartfelt moment. "Now having said all that..." Gwen now gave her younger brother a non-serious look."You really need to be more crafty when taking things that don't belong to you."

Richie released a low scoff. "You need to find better hiding places." He easily retorted back to her.

Both siblings stared at each other before they finally erupted into much needed laughter.

Richie was the first to sober up. "I promise, I'll put it back where I found it."

Glad that things were better between the two of them again, Gwen nodded her head, pleased. "Okay."

"We should head out now. They're still waiting for us." Richie said now making his way towards the front door.

"Wait before we go there's something I need to do." Gwen said with a serious voice.

Richie stopped his walking to turn to look at her, puzzled. "What's that?"

Gwen didn't say anything, just smiled and went towards the kitchen.

"Gwen?" Richie called out. "Look, whatever it is can it wait till later?"

"No can do little brother!" Gwen shouted back from inside the kitchen. "This won't take a minute."

Still beyond bemused, Richie went into the kitchen. He narrowed his eyes when he saw his sister open the fridge. "What are you doing?" His question was answered when he saw her take out the sandwich he had made for her. "I thought you said weren't hungry?" He quizzically asked her.

"Well..." Gwen replied eyeing the sandwich with hunger. What she had been noticing lately was that her antidepressants had not only been taking away her energy, but they had also been taking away her appetite (at least she thought it was her antidepressants—she had no idea something else was taking away her vitality due to her depression fall back). However, now that she was out of bed and feeling like her happy-go lucky self again, she felt her stomach rumble with hunger. "That was before. Now I'm starving." And with that said, she stuffed a big piece of sandwich into her mouth.

Richie's eyes widened, both impressed and shocked at his sister for doing this. "Gwen!"

Gwen was too much into the deliciousness of the sandwich to see the expression her brother had on. "Wow, this is really good." She mumbled with a mouth full of food.

Perhaps Richie should have been disgusted, but he was too happy with himself that his sister was enjoying the meal he had made for her. He watched as she put the last piece of sandwich into her mouth before she quickly swallowed that too. She had been right. It didn't even take her a whole minute to finish eating the whole thing. Color him impressed.

Gwen walked over to the sink to put in the plate. She used the napkins that were there to wipe her face clean before turning to face her brother, nonchalant. "Well that was good." She said with a smile on her face. "Thanks for making it."

Still fascinated by what happened, Richie said the first thing that came to his head. "You're welcome."

"Now come on let's go before they send a search party for us." Gwen joked making her way to the front door again. Richie followed closely behind her. When they went outside they right away saw Bill, Ben, Stan, and Eddie, waiting for them on their bikes.

Stan, the first to see them, spoke up. "Is everything okay?" He asked the siblings. His gaze lingered more on Gwen than it did on Richie. The curly haired boy was happy to see her dressed and ready to go. She looked better now...more healthy, if that made sense.

Gwen nodded her head. "Yeah, everything's fine and dandy." She said as she got her bike that was next to Richie's leaning against her front porch.

Bill tilted his head a bit. "W-W-What took you g-g-guys so long?" He asked genuinely puzzled.

Not wanting them to know about the brother and sister moment they had (especially Bill), Richie decided on a second explanation. "Gwen stuffed the sandwich I made her into her mouth. You should have seen her eat that thing. It was awesome!"

"Oh my God." Eddie commented with his mouth wide open. He turned to look at Gwen with wide eyes. "Really?"

Gwen was not all embarrassed for the boys to hear about her unladylike manners. She already felt like one of the boys anyways. So she shrugged her shoulders. "Yup, I hadn't eaten anything and I was hungry."

The act of a girl eating sloppy should have been a down fall for Stan, but it hadn't been. He instead looked on the bright side as he gazed at his crush. "Well, I'm glad you ate something." He softly told her.

Gwen gave him a smile that had his stomach doing cartwheels. Her attention though was soon directed towards Ben. Said boy looked just as impressed as Richie had been. "Wow, you must have been really hungry."

"Not anymore." Gwen easily replied before throwing her brother a grateful smile. "Thanks again, Richie."

The youngest Tozier tried to act nonchalant, but deep down was touched by his sister's thankfulness. "De nada, señorita." He responded to her in a Spanish accent. This made her laugh resulting in Richie breaking into a smile.

"I have never heard of a girl eat that fast before in my life." Eddie said still in awe and shock.

Gwen laughed as she got onto her bike. "Well, now you have."

Richie did the same with his bike. ""You should have seen her, Eds. Freakin' amazing I tell you."

Eddie huffed at hearing Richie use that nickname. "Don't call me that." He childishly complained to his bespectacled friend.

"L-L-Let's go." Bill said before the two of them broke into their usual banter.

"Wait!" Eddie called out making them all stop. The smaller boy looked at Gwen seriously. "You shouldn't ride your bike with a full stomach! My mother even told me doing that isn't good for you! You can get sick and throw up!" Eddie announced. His hypochondriac tendencies were coming out to play.

Gwen threw him a reassuring look. "Relax, I'll be fine."

Eddie sighed, but reluctantly nodded his head. "Okay...just let me know if you start to feel sick. Maybe we could stop by the pharmacy or even my place to get you something."

A small smile appeared on Gwen's face at how worried he was for her. "Will do, Eds!"

Eddie blushed and quickly averted his gaze from the older girl.

"Hey, how come she's allowed to call you that, but I can't?" Richie playfully whined to his smaller friend.

"Because she doesn't annoy me." Eddie simply told him. And because I like the way it sounds when she says it.

That retort made the rest of them laugh as they finally started riding their bikes to Beverly's place.

Eddie's rambling about how she shouldn't have ate that fast and repercussions were still ongoing even as they made their way to Beverly's place. His concern for her had hit a new mark. He was talking so fast about medical nonsense that it was even to beginning to annoy Richie of all people. The smaller boy's babbling finally stopped when they reached the apartment complex where their red haired friend lived at. Which was located on Lower Main Street—the shabby area of Derry.

Beverly, who had been sitting at the top of the outside stairs smoking, put out her cigarette and raced down when she heard them (or should she say when she heard Eddie) making their way. She stopped running when she got to the place where they had stopped with their bikes.

"You guys made it." Beverly said feeling a sense of relief now that all her friends were here. Thank God. The redhead was especially relieved to see Gwen. She hadn't spoken to her older friend for about a week now. "I need to show you guys something."

Ben stared at the redhead with absolute concern. He could see how shaken up she was. "What is it?" He timidly asked her.

"More than what we saw at the quarry?" Richie cheekily asked her. He was trying to make the odd tension created because of the anxiousness they were all feeling go away. Unfortunately, his joking at the moment wasn't taken well.

Gwen, who was parked next to her brother, threw him a 'now's not the time for joking' kind of look. Which was basically a small frown. While the others either ignored him. Except for Eddie who was more vocal with his reply.

"Shut up! Just shut up, Richie!" Eddie vehemently exclaimed. The smaller boy although curious with what Beverly wanted to show them, was more on edge. After his frightening encounter with the Leper and clown on Neibolt Street, Eddie didn't know what to think anymore. He was afraid whenever he was by himself because he kept waiting for that thing to pop out at him. Except it hadn't...not since walking by that old house. That however didn't mean he felt safe...on the contrary he felt like he was always being watched.

Beverly gave Gwen a small but noticeable thankful expression. "Gwen can come in. No problem there. But, uh..." Her face fell and her voice lowered to a mousy tone when looking at the rest of the group with nervousness. "My dad will kill me if he finds out I brought boys into the apartment."

"Then w-we'll l-l-leave a look out." Bill suggested swiftly to her.

Following Bill's idea in whimsical action, Gwen patted one of her brother's shoulders. "I nominate the best look out of all time, Richie."

"What?!" Richie exclaimed, his voice cracking a bit. "That's not fair." He said throwing his sister a look that showed how much he disagreed with her.

Gwen lowered her hand, becoming serious. "No, you're right, that's an unfair way to choose." Suddenly she turned frolicsome and touched her nose. "Nose goes!"

Bill and Ben were quick to touch their noses, followed by Stan and Eddie. Richie, however, who had been bewildered by such sudden announcement by his sister was the last to touch his nose. "What? No! Shit!" He complained realizing how he was now the official look out guy.

Gwen stifled down her laughter as she once again briefly patted one of her brother's shoulder. "It's all on you, little brother."

After saying that, they threw their bikes on the ground (except Stan who actually left his standing up) and started following Beverly up the stairs to her apartment.

"Woah, woah, woah! What if her dad comes back!" Richie exclaimed with furrowed eyebrows.

Stan stopped his movements to look at him. "Do what you always do—start talking!" He retorted back to him.

Gwen who had stopped next to Stan, smiled at her brother. "Yeah, what he said!"

Richie moved his gaze towards his sister. "Gwen, you traitor! I thought we were in this together!" Richie comically told her, pretending to sound betrayed. Even though he was left behind (again to take watch), he wasn't really mad at her or at any of his friends. Annoyed yes, but not mad. Overall he was just happy that Gwen was being her usual joyful self again.

"I believe in you!" Gwen shouted back to her brother with an amused expression. Both her and Stan then continued going up the stairs, trying their best to hold in their laughter.

Richie rolled his eyes halfheartedly, pouting. There was a pause before he suddenly brightened up as he watched all them go further up the stairs. "Oh, and by the way, my talking is a gift!"

Any form of lightheartedness the group had vanished when they went inside Beverly's apartment. All of them got an ominous vibe as they slowly walked further into her dark hallway. Down the hallway was a room with the door closed. Whatever was inside there, Gwen knew it wasn't going to be good.

Beverly felt her stomach drop as she pointed to said room to her friends. "In there."

"What is it?" Stan inquired on edge. He unconsciously scooted closer towards Gwen for comfort as they walked. The Tozier girl didn't notice that movement because she was too focused staring at the closed door.

Beverly steadied her voice. "You'll see." She answered not only to him but for the rest of them as well.

They each were having inner conflicts with each other, but Eddie's concerned thoughts couldn't be contained any longer. The smaller boy took a deep breath trying to stop himself from hyperventilating.

"Are we are going to see your bathroom? I just want all of you guys to know, eighty nine percent of the worst accidents are caused in bathrooms and, I mean, that's where all the bad bacteria and fungi are. It's not really a sanitary place—"

Bill slowly opening the door stopped the smaller boy's rambling. Eddie instead started feel queasy. He gagged a bit. "Oh, I knew it." He said as he held in the vomit he wanted to let out.

"Holy moly macaroni." Gwen uttered, mouth gaping at what she was seeing with her own eyes. It looked like a freakin' blood bomb had gone off. There was blood everywhere, all over the sink, mirror, floor, bathtub, and even the ceiling. How in the world did this happen?

Their shocked reactions had Beverly feeling more sane with herself. "You can see it?" She asked still wanting confirmation from them. She needed to know she hadn't gone crazy...cause she sure felt like she had.

Stan looked at the blood covered bathroom with trepidation. "What happened in here?"

Beverly nervously twirled her fingers together. "When my dad didn't see it, I thought I might be crazy."

Ben shook his head, assuring his red haired crush. "Well, if you're crazy then we're all crazy."

"Yeah and trust me Bev, you're far from crazy." Gwen earnestly added to her friend's sanity.

Bill spoke up, voice stuttering but resolute. "We c-c-can't leave it like this."

"We're not." Gwen answered stepping into the bloody bathroom. Once in there she turned to look at the rest of her friends with a determined expression. "Bev, bring as much cleaning supplies you can find. Paper towels, napkins, sponges, gloves, trash-bags and a mop. Anything will do. We're gonna clean until this place is spotless from top to bottom. Hopefully we can finish before your dad arrives."

Beverly felt tears wanting to escape but she held them in. She instead gave Gwen and the rest of her friends an expression that showed how grateful she was for them. "Thanks you guys."

"There's no need to thank us, that's what friends are for." Gwen assured her. She paused and then her face scrunched up in after thought. "Well, I doubt other friends have had to clean their friends blood covered bathroom, but you get what I mean." She said shrugging her shoulders. "You called for help and here we are."

Beverly gave all of them one last grateful look before she ran off to find clean supplies for all of them to use. When she left the rest of the boys walked into the bathroom. Bill and Ben were keeping their composure, but it was Eddie and Stan who were still outwardly freaking out. Although Eddie was more disgusted with what he was seeing, it was Stan who concerned Gwen more. Mainly because of how he was looking around the bathroom with a high-strung expression. Gwen walked over to where he was near the bathtub.

"You okay?" Gwen concernedly asked the curly haired boy.

"It's so messy." Stan said his voice shaking a bit. He never liked messes and this bathroom was a bloody mess. He looked at the bathtub that was tainted with blood and an uneasy feeling settled in his stomach. This feeling vanished when he felt someone take a hold of one of his hands. Whoever it was they had soft comforting hands. His gaze went upwards and his heart speed up when he realized it was Gwen who was holding his hand. That bad feeling he had from staring at the bathtub was long forgotten and instead his feelings for his crush replaced them.

"It's okay, Stan. I'm here." Gwen softly reassured him. "We're all here."

Stan gently squeezed her hand in response. Gwen gave him a small smile returning the squeeze back. Neither of them noticed how Bill, Ben, and Eddie were intently looking at them, and neither boy wanted to interrupt the moment they were having with each other.

Unfortunately, the moment was soon interrupted thanks to oncoming footsteps.

Gwen was the first to let go and Stan tried his best to look not disappointed as Beverly came back into the bathroom with loads of cleaning supplies.

"I hope this will do." Beverly hopefully said to her friends as she juggled with the stuff she was holding.

Gwen walked forward and took one of the many pair of gloves and yellow sponges Beverly was carrying. She turned back to look at her friends, her face set with resolution.

"Alright guys...let's start cleaning."

A/N: The next chapter will continue where this chapter left off and it also will have the epic rock war between the Losers' Club and the Bowers' Gang. Not to mention Mike will finally come into the story. :D So look forward to that!