A/N: Miss me? Thank you all for your patience in my sporadic updates. I appreciate each and every one of you. I'm trying to make this fic a bit of a priority now that I've managed to get my Tokyo Revengers fic finished and out of the way so the hyperfixation can actually release me a bit.
We're heading into chaos now and really going to start deviating from canon because the events in this chapter are going to...have an impact on future things. You'll see. Hope you enjoy! As always you can find me on tumblr at 'asirensrage' and please let me know what you think.
Thanks again! 3

Chapter 53

"This is a bad fucking idea."

I leaned against the wall next to Steve, watching as the adults slowly entered Steve's house. Most of the kids were elsewhere. An effort to mitigate the chaos that was bound to happen. It would be easier if we didn't have the kids trying to declare it's the truth while the adults focused on corralling them. "You think so?"

"You don't?" he asked, looking over at me. "They're never gonna believe it."

"Maybe, maybe not," I said, shrugging. "But they deserve to know. Barb returning after all this time shows things aren't quite over, no matter how much we wish differently. It shouldn't all come down on El and a bunch of kids to stop it next time."

"I'm surprised you got Hopper to agree to it."

"We argued, but he knows I'm right. Better to have backup, especially with how crazy things can get." That wasn't a lie. Hopper and I had argued about it when I brought up the fact that we should inform the adults. I was pretty sure it was the fact that Joyce agreed with me that swayed him. The parents of this place should know what their kids are up to, especially when it involves monsters and government agencies that had proven they'd fake a death if they had to.

Steve offered his house, the very place it all began, as the meeting place. Not only were the Thompsons here, but we had invited the Sinclairs, Wheelers, Claudia Henderson and Joyce. The Hollands were told earlier. They deserved to know first and being told separately hopefully helped lessen the stress on Barb. They were likely going to be the easiest, having dealt with her disappearance and supposed death already. Billy had been there too. He had taken a little more convincing but the aftermath ended with Max complaining to me that he didn't want her to go anywhere alone. It was suffocating her, but she did admit that it was nice to know that he cared. In his own way.

"I better go in," Steve said. "My house means I'm hosting, right?"

"Right. Need any help?"

"Nah, it's just offering the coffee and cookies. No big."

My eyes widened. "Wait, did you bake?" He nodded and I grinned. "Well then maybe this will go a lot easier with your famous chocolate chip cookies."

He ran a hand through his hair and looked embarrassed. "You think?"

"Can't hurt!"

As expected, the result was chaos.

Thankfully, the presence of Flo and Powell helped calm people. Hopper laid out the facts, starting with the disappearance of Will and Barb, how the government faked their deaths and the chaos of the lab that had attempted to take over the place. He spared himself none of the blame for keeping this to himself and, while still angry, most of the parents seemed appeased. Mr. Wheeler seemed to appreciate it, and while some of them still fretted over their children, we were able to keep the peace. Even as Mrs. Sinclair looked like she was going to punch Hopper in the throat.

"Why weren't we told?" Mrs. Wheeler asks. "Before this? When it was happening? Why didn't our kids say anything?"

"Would you have believed it?" I couldn't help but ask. "Most of the–" I corrected myself. "Most of us are young. Dustin and his friends are into fantasy, they play Dungeons and Dragons. Would you have believed them or would you have waved it off as a game or story they were playing?"

"Of course we–"

"No you wouldn't," Joyce cut in, frowning slightly at the other parents. "None of you were even willing to believe me that Will was alive when he went missing. It was only after that the body in the quarry was found and proven to not be him that you paid me a bit of attention and even then, no one ever questioned why someone tried to fake his death!"

Hopper placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. She shrugged him off. "Our children aren't stupid. They're young, but they're not stupid. They watched everything that happened, watched the adults around them brush off their fears and concerns. They're dependent on us, on the adults around them. They can't protect themselves from our bad decisions! It's not surprising they didn't tell us. They couldn't risk it. And," she stressed the word. "I have never heard a single apology from any of you for being left on my own, for dealing with the worst event of my life so far and being thought of as…as a loony!" She was panting slightly by the end of it.

The entire room was silent. You could practically hear a pin drop on the carpet. It made me wonder how long Joyce had been holding on to that.

"You're right." To my surprise, it was Ted Wheeler who stood up. He walked over to Joyce and held out his hand. "I'm sorry, Joyce, for not paying attention and not helping you. I was wrong for that."

"I was too." Claudia Henderson got up quickly and followed. "I couldn't imagine losing my Dustin. I'm so sorry." She hugs Joyce tightly.

The two of them spur the others into apologizing. Steve and I remained where we were, meeting each other's gazes in mutual awkwardness at being on the sidelines of this.

.

"Well?" Sam finally asked, once things had settled slightly and Claudia stopped crying. I had been bracketed by both him and Deanna as the news came out and I told them the series of events that started with finding the monster in the woods. "What are we going to do about it?"

That was the big question, wasn't it?

Surprisingly, it wasn't Hopper who answered.

"We're learning first aid," Steve spoke up from where he was refilling Karen Wheeler's coffee. "Mrs. Henderson has been teaching us, right?"

"That's right," she nodded. "We'll get Dustin and his friends to learn too."

"We'll need to tell the rest of the town," Mr. Sinclair added. "Not right, they're in danger not knowing, especially if you think it's not over." He nodded towards me.

"In that case," Ted Wheeler took off his glasses and cleaned them. He looked around at all of us. "We'll need to plan for any eventualities that the government might have like shutting down our lines of communication or disinformation. Evacuation plans, emergency supplies, as well as ensuring we have a signal for any suspicious characters that might arrive."

Karen seemed to perk up. "I can handle that. We already have a phone tree in place, everyone knows somebody here. We can pass on the messages quickly."

"That will work," Ted nodded. "Good idea."

"I can keep an eye on the hospital," Claudia added. "Everything gets recorded there."

"We will have to work out a system," Charles Sinclair said. "Not only for the signals and plans but also to coordinate communication and classes. It shouldn't just be the kids taking first aid."

I stayed silent, listening as the adults made plans. We not only had the police station covered but the hospital as well. It was great that they didn't seem to be discounting the roles the kids had played so far either.

"Johnathan is working at the paper," Joyce threw in. "He can help keep an eye out for anything strange happening."

"Nancy too!" Karen added. The two of them seemed to share a look of solidarity in offering their children. Or because they knew their kids were seeing each other. At least that was what I heard from Veronica.

As the adults got more animated, I stood, waving off the unspoken concern of my parents to join Steve near the wet bar. He held up a cookie in offering and I took it, taking a bite as he refilled my coffee. I leaned back against the bar next to him, watching the conversation take off. It was nice. It felt promising that they were taking it seriously, that it wasn't just going to all rely on us to figure this out.

"Guess you were right," Steve muttered, leaning over just enough so I could hear it.

"I usually am," I teased. "At least now we're not alone."

"Yeah," he breathed. "Not anymore." We stayed silent for a moment, half listening to the conversation behind us before Steve continued. "I saw Barb."

"Oh yeah?" I turned towards him. "How'd that go?"

"I went with Hopper. Brought cookies and…those yellow flowers. Daffodils? The lady at the shop recommended them. Said they meant resilience. Just wanted to talk to her, y'know? Own up to my part in her disappearance. Her mom was furious at first, especially because Nancy had dragged me to that dinner with them when we were dating. After Barb's disappearance. I lied to their faces that night because Nancy wanted me to, and she wasn't going to forgive me for that now that she knows that I knew the truth that night…at least until Barb's dad reminded her that I was just a kid and that they wouldn't have believed me. Like what Ms. Byers said. It was kinda sad watching her deflate but they thanked me for the apology. For the flowers. Barb seemed to like them. She took them from me, at least, so I think it went okay even if she didn't really say anything. When I left her mom said she liked the cookies."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. I nudged him slightly. "See? Told you your cookies were magic. Bet they could get you anything you want."

Steve looked at me, smiling softly. "You think?"

It wasn't even a day later when I felt someone grab my arm and usher me into the alley I was walking by. I twisted out of their hold, moving into a familiar position to knock them down so I could run before I realized who it was. I let out a breath.

"Jesus Christ, don't do that!" I snapped. "I could have dropped my croissant!" Seeing her confusion, I added, "I was ready to hit you!"

"You told our parents?!" It took me a few seconds before I clued into what Nancy was talking about. Honestly, I was a little surprised she decided to corner me, and that Ted and Karen told her they knew so fast.

"Yeah," I nodded, mentally thanking the higher powers that she didn't make me drop my thermos. If I had to deal with this without coffee, it was not going to be pretty. I took a sip, nodding to myself when it was still hot, before I focused back on her. She was wearing some dress that made her look more like a housewife than anything. It was weird, especially since I had been used to seeing her running around in jeans at school.

"And they believed you?!" She looked more alarmed than anything, and I was pretty sure she wasn't finished so I waited. "How? Why?! First Barb and now…" she let out a huff, sounding frustrated and indignant. Her eyes met mine. "Why did you tell them?"

"Hopper told them. Because they needed to know," I said slowly. She had the same expression on her face that Mike did when I had my last conversation with him and El. "Not only do they live in this town where this shit is happening, but their kids are involved too. It's because of Barb and the lies that were told about what happened to her and Will that he had to come clean. They deserved to know and honestly, I'm glad they do. It shouldn't fall on us to take care of things. They have some great plans."

"...I don't get it. Why would they believe you?"

"Again, they believed Hopper. And probably because they're not actually blind. They know weird things are happening in this town. Just like Barb's reappearance."

That caused a reaction. Nancy glared at me, as though it was my fault that the girl had come back from the dead. "She won't talk to me. Barb," she added, once she saw my confusion. "She says it's my fault."

"Is it?" I couldn't help but ask. It's not like I was around when she disappeared.

"No!"

"Okay, so? Don't take it personally. Pretty sure she's gone through a lot. Probably needs time to decompress and come back to the fact that she survived." I didn't know what Nancy wanted from me, but I had the feeling I wasn't giving her an answer she was looking for.

"Yeah, well, she doesn't need that creep hanging around her, like she's easier prey because you never gave in to him."

It takes a second to realize who she means. "Hey! That's a pretty fucking spiteful thing to say because you can't deal with the fact she's upset with you. Billy is at her side because she's asked him to be. He makes her feel safe and if it wasn't for him, she wouldn't have been found when she was. Her return probably feels like something she can't trust because she was stuck in a fucking nightmare for so long and I have no doubt that her parents are fucking grateful not just for him but for finally knowing the truth about what happened to their daughter. So you can cut that jealous shit out now. Neither of them deserve it." I took another sip of my coffee, making a mental note to make it stronger next time. "For fucks sake," I muttered. I headed for the sidewalk, leaving Nancy in the alley. "Next time think before you speak, yeah?" I waved without looking back. Why were the Wheeler kids so fucking exhausting? I needed to fix things with Robin. I could not be left with them as one of my few options for female company.

Nancy wasn't the only one appearing out of the woodwork. As if I summoned him by defending him, Billy called me. It still felt weird using a landline but I ignored it and cradled the phone between my shoulder and ear as I continued making lunch.

"Hello?"

"Fucking finally!"

"Billy?"

"Yeah, who else?"

I heard him inhale and figured he was smoking. I hoped he had dragged the line outside or at least was half out a window. "What's up?"

"Something fucking weird is happening, Kate."

That caught my attention. "What is it?"

"I feel like something's following me. Anytime I ain't with Barb, something is staring at me."

I stopped what I was doing. "Following you? Have you seen anyone?"

"No. And it's only with B that the shit stops. I can be by anyone else and it's still there."

"Breathe, Billy! Take a breath, okay? We'll figure it out. Where are you?"

"I'm at…shit, I'm at home."

"Not Barb's?"

"They're having some family thing."

"Okay, look, come over. We can work this out. I can call and see who else is free."

"I'm not talking to no one fucking else, Queenie."

"Not even someone who has more experience than me in this shit?" There was silence in response. "Fine. Come over. At least that way you're not alone, okay?"

Once I hung up, it suddenly occurred to me. Billy's midnight wanderings led him to Barb, and despite his inability to leave her side, we never actually asked him what was causing the insomnia. The appearance of Barb overshadowed everything else. I hadn't seen him since the time when we explained to the Hollands the truth about what took Barb and what was happening in this town. I should have asked sooner.

.

[TBC]