"It was so real," Max says, her back facing the group in which Robin and Nancy had just joined. "And then, when I got closer, suddenly I just… I woke up."

"It was like she was in a trance or something," Dustin says. "Exactly what Eddie said happened to Chrissy."

While looking through the files, Max had suddenly entered a trance in which Alex, Steve, and Dustin could not wake her from. Once she jolted back into consciousness, she rushed into the dark hallway in which they now stood.

Max turns, her body lit by the beams of the flashlights. "That's not even the bad part."

She leads them back into Ms. Kelly's office while Alex and Steve share a concerned look. Back inside the small room, Max stands at the desk and presents the files to Robin and Nancy. "Fred and Chrissy–they both came to Ms. Kelly for help. They both were having headaches, bad headaches that wouldn't go away. And then… the nightmares, trouble sleeping. They'd wake up in a cold sweat. Then they started seeing things, bad things from their pasts. These visions, they just kept on getting worse and worse, until eventually… everything ended."

"Vecna's curse," Robin says, looking up at Max who is trying to hold back tears.

"Chrissy's headaches started a week ago. Fred's, six days ago. I've been having them for five days. I don't know how long I have. All I know is that, for Fred and Chrissy, they both died less than twenty-four hours after their last vision. And I just saw that goddamn clock, so… looks like I'm gonna' die tomorrow."

Alex feels her heart shattering, similar to the way she felt on the morning she discovered Will was missing. She pulls herself together for Max's sake, but she decides right then and there that she will do anything in her power to stop that from happening.

Exactly as Max finishes speaking, a clanging noise sounds from somewhere in the school. The group startles at the noise. Alex doesn't think it could be Vecna, but it could potentially be someone else dangerous.

"Stay here," Steve instructs, his face serious. He takes a long, skinny lamp in his hands and slowly creeps out the door. A look passes across the room amongst the group, a silent agreement to follow Steve. As they quietly follow behind him, Alex takes Max's hand. She hopes that it might provide an inkling of comfort, or at the very least remind Max that she's not alone.

The sound of approaching rapid footsteps grows louder. Alex watches from behind Steve, who clenches the lamp tighter in his hands. At once, Lucas comes into view as he nearly skids across the linoleum floor. Screams of shock and terror come from Steve, Dustin, and Lucas, while gasps sound from Nancy, Max, and Alex. Robin makes no noise, but instead stumbles backward into Alex, who steadies her.

"Jesus, what's wrong with you, Sinclair?!" Steve says, lowering his makeshift weapon. "I could've taken you out with this lamp!

"Sorry, guys. I was… I was biking for eight miles. Give me a second, shit." Lucas pauses for a moment to pant. "We've got a code red."

"What?" Steve asks.

Lucas moves to stand in front of Dustin. He speaks so quickly that he barely leaves in time to breathe. "I've been with Jason, Patrick, and Andy, and they've gone totally off the rails. They're trying to capture Eddie, and they think you know where he is. You're in terrible danger."

"All right. Yeah, that definitely sucks, but we've got bigger problems than Jason now." Dustin looks back to where Max is standing with Alex. Lucas looks at Max, confused but concerned all the same.

After meeting up with Lucas, the group drove to Nancy's where they could stay for the night. Lucas was promptly caught up to date on everything. Dustin and Steve made sure not to leave a single detail out, including their perceived notion that Eddie and Alex are totally in love, by the way. Alex simply rolled her eyes at this point; she was too focused on Max, who sat mostly silent during this encounter. She snuck away for a few minutes to borrow the phone and call home, only for the line to be busy. It was busy again thirty minutes later, and another thirty minutes after that.

Soon after their arrival at Nancy's basement, everyone lay down either on the floor or on one of the couches. A spot on the couch had been offered to Alex and Max, who both declined. It seemed apparent that mostly everyone had fallen asleep rather quickly, judging by the various snores and slowed breaths Alex could hear.

Hours later, Alex still lies awake staring at the ceiling in the dark. A million thoughts race through her head. Her mom is supposedly in Alaska, while the home phone is busy for no discernable reason. Two innocent people are already dead, Max is under attack, and Eddie is being hunted by jocks who are convinced he is a satanic killer. Her heart pangs for every reason, but she feels extra guilt when it comes to Eddie, who is all alone in that boatshed. If it weren't for the situation with Max, she would have stayed with him so he didn't have to be alone. But she couldn't leave Max, not like this. Eddie will understand, he has too.

"I know you're still awake," Max mutters from beside Alex, her back turned away from her.

"Guilty."

Max rolls to her opposite side, so that she's facing Alex. It's dark in the basement, of course, but the dim light from a night light allows Alex to see Max's face. "Kinda' hard to sleep with the snores," Max says sarcastically, but of course she has other reasons why sleep is hard to come by, too.

There's a comfortable silence for a few moments. Alex has spent hours trying to find a balance in the way she interacts with Max after the revelation earlier in the evening. She doesn't want to act completely normal, because, well, things aren't normal. But at the same time, Alex knows that Max won't want people to act weird around her.

She decides in her head a plan that might boost Max's spirits, though it will take a lot out of Alex to admit. "I do like Eddie. Just thought I would give you the satisfaction of saying 'I knew it.'"

There's a pause, then comes Max's voice. "I knew it." Followed by, "You could've told me earlier, you know."

Alex shrugs, but it's hidden by the blanket over her body. "I know, but I don't open up a ton, besides it's not like he would like me back."

Max scoots closer to Alex, and firmly places her hands on each side of Alex's face. "Alex, you're a genius, yet somehow incapable of noticing that he's totally into you." She releases Alex's face and scoots back to her position. "I'm guessing that you were into him in the past, at least at some point?"

Alex nods. This feeling of opening up was still pretty foreign to Alex, yet she opened up two major times since she'd been back in Hawkins: once when she opened up to Eddie about her past, and now to Max. Alex worries that maybe these actions are a mistake, but then she assures herself. Maybe it's a sign that she should open up more often.

"Maybe once upon a time I was, but never pursued anything because I don't exactly have the suave relationship skills like you or Steve or Mike," she admits.

"Don't you ever call Mike Wheeler suave again," Max demands, her tone light, and even a brief smile ghosts upon her lips.

The sound of a fart interrupts them. Alex isn't quite sure who the flatulence came from, but Max's expression shows that she is certain. "Definitely Lucas," she says.

"You two are adorable, you should talk to him again."

Max subtly scoffs. "Maybe when you get with Eddie."

Alex doesn't respond, not sure what to say. Max speaks again after a few moments, the smallest of smiles on her face. "Thanks for letting me be your secret keeper. I… appreciated you being my secret keeper for the last six months. I'm sure you're plenty of others' secret keepers too, but I'll never know since you're so goddamn good at it."

"I like being your secret keeper, too. Hope you're not planning on getting a new one," Alex jokes, trying to inspire hope.

In the dim light, Alex sees what she thinks is a small tear slip from Max's eye. "No, but you know what could happen tomorrow-"

"No," Alex immediately interrupts. "It won't."

Max rolls over, away from Alex. "Alex?"

"Hmm?"

"You deserve to be happy too, you know?"

Alex lies there, still staring at the ceiling for a while thinking about what Max said. Alex isn't so sure she deserves to be happy. She lies there long after she suspects Max falls asleep based on her slow breathing, though Max could also be faking sleep. If there was someone who rivaled Alex at hiding feelings, it was Max. But she'd gotten a smile out of Max, and that was all that really mattered.

Eventually Alex falls into a restless sleep, plagued with nightmares and worry. She awakens, likely not even an hour later. The horrible yet familiar feeling of being alone crawls up her body like poisonous vines, squeezing her chest and throat until she feels like she can't breathe. She's in a room surrounded by people–she knows that–but with everyone else asleep, she's alone with her thoughts. Her black fingernails dig into the palm of her hand, potentially drawing blood, but she doesn't care. She just has to do something, anything to make this horrible feeling go away. Every moment that she's let someone down flashes through her mind.

"Did you hear her brother is missing? I bet that freak killed him, sacrificed him to Satan or some shit." Her classmates.

"Could you maybe try being normal? Goddamn, no wonder why the kids at school don't like you." Her dad.

"Alex, where were you? You know you can't leave Will alone when Jonathan and I are gone!" Her mom.

"Jesus, Alex, you have to open up to me! You can't just let me find you crying in your room when you never tell me what's wrong." Jonathan.

And perhaps the worst time Alex let someone down was Will. She was supposed to be home the night he went missing, and she wasn't there to see his reaction to her let-down, but she'd played every possible scenario of the moment over and over again in her head. Had he yelled for her? Cried for her? Wondered why she wasn't there? Blamed her?

She shoots up into a sitting position, a sob coming from her mouth that she promptly stifles. Will was the sweetest kid; there was no way he blamed her, right? She could never be so sure, and for that reason, she had decided years ago that perhaps she didn't deserve to be happy. Or maybe she had decided she didn't deserve happiness all those years ago because of the way her dad picked apart her fashion sense, and her music taste, and her personality, and her hobbies, and her goals and ambitions.

She shakes the blanket off of her body and stands, deciding that her little pity party is over. She decides to do what she always does: make herself useful. She steps through the sea of sleeping bodies to find the two items she needs: a flashlight and the papers about Victor Creel that Nancy and Robin had brought back from the library. She places herself into a corner of the room away from everyone else and begins meticulously reading through the pages. Later, when she hears footsteps upstairs, she politely asks Mrs. Wheeler if she can use the shower. By the time she's back in the basement, the room is lively, or at least as lively as it can be considering the situation.

Max is sitting at a desk on the opposite side of the room. Alex isn't sure what she's up to, but it looks important so she leaves her to it. "What's up?"

Steve, Lucas, and Dustin stop their conversation to include her. "We're looking over this stuff about Victor Creel. Trying to piece everything together."

"I read through it all already. What are our thoughts?" Alex says, arms crossed and standing next to Steve.

"When did you read this?" Lucas asks from his spot on the couch.

"Last night while you were farting in your sleep."

"What? I do not-" Lucas starts to deny his actions, but stops.

"My question is how could Vecna exist in the fifties? It doesn't make sense." Steve says, rubbing his forehead.

"As far as we know, Eleven didn't create the Upside Down. She opened a gate to it. The Upside Down has probably been around for thousands of years. Millions. I wouldn't be surprised if it predated the dinosaurs," Dustin says, putting his signature Thinking Cap to use.

"Dinosaurs? What-"

"Okay, okay," Lucas interrupts Steve. "But if a gate didn't exist in the fifties, how did Vecna get through?"

"And how's he getting through now?" Steve asks.

"And why now?" Lucas questions.

"And why then? Just pops out in the fifties, kills one family, and he's like, 'I'm good.' And poof, he just disappears. Just… gone? Only to return thirty years later to start killing random teens? No, I don't buy it. Straightforward, my ass. Honestly, Henderson, a little humanity now and then–it wouldn't hurt you."

Alex looks between Steve and Dustin with a questioning look. There must've been something said before she got downstairs. Steve and her each take a seat in one of the chairs on opposite sides of the couch.

"The why's I'm not sure about. Maybe we could look more into Victor Creel's family and the teens being targeted to look for similarities. For the how–is it possible there's a gate that's been around for a while that we don't know about? Can Vecna make gates himself?" Alex says, trying her best to make some educated guesses.

"Sounds like we have more questions than answers," Steve mutters.

Dustin looks past Steve and Alex toward Max, who is still busy at work under the light of a table lamp. "Any idea what she's writing? Did she sleep?"

"She slept a little bit, I think," Alex answers the question that she knows.

Suddenly, the basement door is thrown open. Robin and Nancy run down the stairs; Alex had been wondering where they were. They get to the bottom with a sigh. "We have a plan," Nancy says with a small smile.

Alex moves to sit on the arm on her chair to allow for Nancy to take her seat. Robin pulls up a stool and dives into their plan. "Thanks to Nancy's newspaper minions, we are now rock-star psychology students at the University of Notre Dame."

"I'm now Ruth," Nancy says.

"And I'm Rose."

"So we called Pennhurst Asylum, told them we'd like to speak with Victor Creel for a thesis we're co-writing on paranoid schizophrenics," Nancy says.

"To which they said no," Robin finishes Nancy's sentence.

"But we landed a three o'clock with the director."

"Now all we have to do is charm him and convince him to let us talk to Victor," Robin says.

"And then maybe we can rid Max of this curse."

"Yeah, about that," Steve says. "We've been doing our Victor Creel research and we have some questions."

"Hopefully we can get some answers. Sounds like you came up with a great idea." Alex offers a small smile of encouragement.

"Wait… where's mine and Alex's?" Steve asks, flipping through the fake portfolios for Ruth and Rose. Nancy's face contorts and she throws a glance at Robin.

"Well, Nancy and I were thinking of going alone," Robin says, then tries to cover their tracks. "I mean, you know, it was hard enough to get two fake personas."

Steve starts to protest again, but Nancy interjects, "Steve we don't have much time; Robin and I should really go get ready."

Nancy and Robin rush up the stairs, Steve hot on their trail. Alex doesn't mind staying here with Max, and four people co-writing a thesis together is too hard to sell. Alex follows after her best friend regardless. She catches up with them as they're busting through Nancy's bedroom door.

"Nancy, you're outta' your mind if you think I'm babysitting again."

"First, they're not babies anymore. And Max is in real danger. She needs people around her," Nancy says.

"I know, but why me?" Steve questions.

"Max really looks up to you, you know?" Alex says.

"And how do you know that?" Steve counters.

Alex thinks back to everything Max has told her through their correspondence after Alex moved to California, but doesn't tattle. "I can just tell."

The conversation is interrupted by Robin who runs into Nancy's room. She makes a beeline for the poster on the wall beside the bed. "Oh my god, you have a Tom Cruise poster!" She says incredulously first, then changes to teasing. "You have a Tom Cruise poster."

"That's…old," Nancy says while tearing through her closet. "Can you please not touch anything?" Robin ignores her plea and continues rooting through Nancy's belongings.

"I can't just… not do anything, Nance. Maybe I can be helpful with this asylum director dude. I don't know. I could turn on my charm," Steve pleads his case, adding in some snaps for an extra flourish.

"Not the kinda' charm we need," Nancy says, tearing her gaze away from the closet for a split second.

"Ouch," Steve responds, and Alex pats his shoulder.

Nancy backtracks. "No, it's just… I did a little digging and it turns out this Dr. Hatch is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Harvard visiting scholar, okay? This is a lifelong student of the world. If we're gonna' win him over, we're gonna' have to convince him we are too. That, like him… we are true academic scholars."

"Holy shit, there's a little ballerina in here," Robin says, holding up a delicate, pink jewelry box with a tiny ballerina in it.

Steve and Nancy scrunch their faces and share a look, while Alex simply smiles at her friend's adorable quirks.

"Academic scholar? She's giving you an academic scholar vibe? I mean, Alex is a mega genius, why not take her?" Steve asks, which prompts Alex to nudge his arm at the statement.

"No offense, Alex, but while the nose piercing looks great on you, I don't think it would scream distinguished academic scholar to someone like him. And… there's no way you would ever let me put you in something like this." Alex takes no offense, people see her piercing and dark clothes and metal band attire and turn up their nose without even taking the opportunity to get to know her. But the second Alex sees the frilly dress Nancy holds up, she knows she can't go. "Absolutely not!"

"Oh, please tell me you're not putting me in that," Robin whines, while Steve smirks at her.

Alex slips away for a moment to use the restroom, but through the wall she's still able to hear the conversation from Nancy's room.

"Also, Steve," Nancy says, her tone sounding serious. "Please keep an eye on Alex."

"What? Why?"

"I've barely seen her eat, and I don't even know if she slept at all last night," Nancy responds.

"What?" Steve questions. "Alex loves food."

"Yes, but when things start to go wrong, Alex starts to… neglect herself. She did it when Will was missing and Johnathan has told me about other instances."

Alex finishes up in the bathroom and makes her way downstairs, not wanting to walk into the room while her friends are talking about her. She doesn't want anyone to worry about her, but she found it sweet that Nancy would pick up on something like that.

Steve meets her back downstairs a few minutes later. He offers her an open bag of potato chips that he either found in his car or stole from the Wheelers' pantry. Alex doesn't know which scenario is funnier. "Chip?" He smiles at her.

She gladly accepts the bag with a grateful smile. How'd she get so lucky to have such amazing friends? Alex and Steve squish onto the couch, while Alex munches on her chips.

"I know you guys are staring at me," Max speaks from the other side of the room.

"You said you needed something?" Lucas says, pretending to be confused. He, Steve, and Dustin grab random objects from the table and try to pretend like they're busy. Alex continues what she was doing, since she wasn't staring to begin with.

"How you think your eyes boring into the back of my head is protecting me from Vecna, I don't know." Max stands and makes her way to stand in front of the group at the couch. Lucas and Dustin continue pretending to read, while Steve tosses a ball into the air and catches it over and over again. "You can look at me now," Max adds.

The boys apologize and drop their props. Max passes out an envelope to each of them, before handing Alex an extra three envelopes. "Give these to Mike, El, and Will if you can ever get ahold of them again." Her eyes grow wide when she realizes what she's said. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that-"

Alex offers her a small, comforting smile, even though the concern of Max's statement is real. "Max, it's fine."

Steve and Dustin start opening their letters, but Max stops them. "What are you doing? No, don't. That's not for now. Don't open it now."

Dustin and Steve stuff the letters back in the envelopes. "Sorry, what is this?"

"It's a fail-safe. For after. If things don't work out."

"Wait, whoa," Lucas says. "Max, things are gonna' work out."

"No, I don't need you to reassure me and tell me it's all gonna' work out. Because people have been telling me that my entire life and it's almost never true. It's never true. I mean, of course, this asshole curses me. Should've seen that one coming."

Alex watches after Max, unsure what to say, so she says nothing. Max turns, quickly moving on from her outburst. She grabs Dustin's walkie from the table. "If we go to East Hawkins, will this reach Pennhurst?"

"Of course, yeah," Dustin answers.

"Why are we talking about East Hawkins?" Steve asks cautiously. "No… No… No!" He then declares, his voice getting louder with each no.

"Well, I'm going," Max speeds up the stairs, everyone else scrambling to follow her.

"Steve, we should take her," Alex says, gripping Steve's arm at the top of the stairs. He looks at her, contemplates for a moment, and then continues following after Max without another word.

"Max, seriously, I'm not joking. I'm not driving you anywhere," Steve says, marching behind Max in the Wheelers' driveway.

"If you think I'm going to spend what is likely the last day of my life in the armpit that is Mike Wheeler's basement, then you're out of your mind. So, either take me where I need to go or tie me down, which is technically kidnapping of a minor. And if I live to see another day, Steve, I swear to God, I will prosecute," Max says without even pausing to take a breath. She reaches Steve's car and pulls at the handle, which doesn't budge. "Open the door."

"Uh, no," Steve says.

"I know a good lawyer." Max's face remains steely. Alex stands beside her and nods, as if to say she's not lying. Truth is, maybe Max is lying; Alex isn't sure. She thinks back to all of Max's letters and can't think of a time when a lawyer was mentioned, but she just wants to make sure that Max gets to do whatever important activity she wants to do. If something were to happen to her–which Alex steadfastly tells herself won't happen–she would feel horrible if there was something she didn't get to accomplish.

To Alex's delight, Steve breaks and pulls his keys from his pocket. "Henderson, that super walkie of yours better reach Pennhurst."

Everyone climbs into the car, Max taking concerningly long to take her seat.

Alex peers out the car window, waiting for Max to come back from her trailer. She turns her head to find Dustin staring at her. "Do you need something, Dustin?"

"Oh, nothing, just… he's asked about you before."

"Eddie?" Alex asks, confused but assuming that's who Dustin is talking about. "What do you mean?"

"Well, there was this one time at lunch, Lucas, Mike, and I were talking about ways to hook you and Steve up," Dustin says, and earns an eye roll from Steve and Alex. "And he casually asked if you were doing well in California."

Alex shrugs it off on the outside, but her heart rate picks up. "He was just being friendly is all."

"There was also that other time we were talking about the Steve-Alex plan and he said something like, 'why would you hook her up with Harrignton, he doesn't even like metal,'" Lucas says, his head leaned against the glass of the window, likely worried about Max.

Her heart beats so fast she begins to think it may not be healthy. She's beginning to think maybe she does have a chance, but she's not about to admit anything to the boys right now, nor does she have the time to spend thinking about the topic. "He was just looking out for a fellow metalhead."

"Ouch, why was I brought into this?" Steve asks from the driver's seat.

"Well… do you like metal, Steve?"

"No…" Steve says, his hands raised in the air in his defense. "But, still. Anyway, how did he even know you were a 'metalhead?'" Steve includes air quotes for his last question.

Alex tugs at the faded black denim covering her arm. She had worn the jacket ever since she started highschool. It had fewer patches of her favorite bands back then, but the jacket combined with various band shirts–that she often tailored herself–made her stand out like a sore thumb. The lack of friends and the never ending stream of insults thrown at her by classmates caused her to often have a pair of headphones on blaring music to drown the world out. "Somehow I had an art class with Eddie freshman year. I guess he didn't have his art credit yet. Anyway, we'd talk in class occasionally. Compliments about band shirts, 'oh did you listen to that new album,' stuff like that. I'd see him around at the music store and we'd always just say hi. Before I got close with Steve freshman year he was literally the only person in the entire school besides my brother who would talk to me in a way that wasn't to belittle me."

Steve and Dustin look at her in shock. Even Lucas perks up a bit at the revelation. "Why am I just now hearing about this?" Steve asks.

"It was never relevant to any of our conversations?" Alex offers but it comes out as more of a question. "It's not a huge deal." She knows she needs to be more open about things like this, but it has never come easy for her.

"Alex the enigmatic strikes again," Dustin says, then opens his mouth to speak again.

"Let's focus on what's important here, guys," Alex states. Saving Max, defeating Vecna, clearing Eddie's name, and making sure her family is okay is all that needs to be focused on.

"Yeah, Max is taking a long time in there. I think we should go check up on her," Steve says.

They exit the vehicle, but before they've even made it to the front side of the car, Max rushes around the corner of her trailer. She hops in the backseat of the car, and everyone else mimics her movements, albeit confused and concerned.

"Max, you okay?" Alex asks.

"Yeah, Steve, can you just drive?" She says.

"Did something happen?" Dustin asks.

"Can we please just go?" Max asks again, her tone starting to sound agitated, but Alex imagines it's only to cover up the fear that Max is experiencing.

Alex keeps an eye on Max, whilst also giving her some space on the drive that ends up with them at the cemetery, per Max's request. Upon arrival, Max exits the car alone but is followed by Lucas. Alex turns her head away from the window, so she doesn't feel like she's spying. She's glad that Lucas and Max are talking, even if only for a moment.

After Lucas comes back to the car and Max heads up to Billy's grave, they sit in the car in a nerve wracking silence for a concerning amount of time. Finally, Steve breaks the silence, "All right, it's been long enough."

"Steve, just give her some time," Lucas says, leaning against the hood of the car.

"I have, all right? I'm calling it. If she wants to get a lawyer, she can. I'm going up there, unless Alex wants to do it?" Steve asks, looking toward Alex for an answer.

Alex nods, getting out of the car. "Yeah, I'll go check on her."

Alex trudges up the incline of the hill and approaches Max's sitting figure. "Hey, Max, everything okay?"

Max doesn't respond, and Alex immediately realizes that something is terribly wrong. She calls out Max's name multiple times, shaking her shoulders. Max's eyes are glossed over; her irises a pale blue and the whites of her eyes bloodshot. She realizes what's happening and yells out for Steve or Dustin or Lucas; anyone to help. The next few moments are a blur of the others running to her, then Dustin running back to the car to retrieve the walkie. Alex tries over and over to wake Max, but just like Eddie said, Alex finds no success.

"Max, stay with me, just hold on," Alex pleads, trying her best to hold it together, but tears stream freely down her cheeks.

Dustin returns, flinging a walkman and a variety of tapes onto the grass. Alex looks at him expectantly, unsure of what use these items have, but willing to try anything. "What's her favorite song?" Dustin asks.

"Why?" Lucas asks.

"Robin said if she listens…" Dustin begins to answer but shakes his head hurriedly. "It's too much to explain now. What's her favorite song?" Dustin's voice is yelling by the time he finishes.

"Kate Bush…" Lucas mumbles, then raises his voice. "Find Kate Bush!"

They all start rustling through the tapes, strewing them about. Alex's hand lands on it and she shoves it into Dustin's hand. Alex watches in anticipation as the headphones are slipped onto Max's head.

Please… Alex pleads in her head, whilst continuing to call out to Max. Max remains seated and in a trance for a few minutes, until suddenly she begins to rise into the air. Her levitation knocks Alex backward, before she scrambles to her feet. She calls Max's name over and over again, until her throat is raw. When she begins to think all hope is lost, suddenly Max falls through the air and hits the grass–her eyes back to normal and filled with tears. Max's eyes glance around fearfully until Lucas grabs her and holds her tight.

"I thought we lost you," Lucas says.

"I'm still here," Max manages to get out.

Alex hastily wipes her tears with her sleeve and places a calming hand on Max's knee. Steve places one hand on Lucas' back, while the other hand grips Alex's shoulders. They share a quick glance that is somewhere between worry and relief. The group sits in this position for a long time while the night settles in around them.

Author's Note: No Eddie in this one (sad face), but I have to make sure to develop Alex's other platonic relationships as well in the short period of time that I have to work with. Once again, thank you for the support!