TW for slight steaminess, I guess (a lil smooching) and vomiting.

{Papa, Part II}

Steve sat on the Mayfield's bathroom counter while Alice cleaned his bat bites. He tried to focus on anything real, but Vecna's nightmares were impossible to forget.

"Sorry, sorry," Alice said as he winced. "I know it stings. Do you want me to try and—"

"Don't use your powers," Steve croaked. "It's fine."

Alice pursed her lips but acquiesced, continuing her work with the rubbing alcohol. He flinched.

"Almost done," she said. She looked up from the wound and smiled at him. For a moment, the pain almost subsided. "You're a great patient."

"You're a great doctor," Steve said with a weak grin of his own.

Alice pressed some gauze against the bites. He hissed in pain and Alice mumbled out more apologies as she wrapped the gauze in medical tape.

"All done," Alice said. She nodded in the direction of the bloodied strip of sweater they'd used as a makeshift bandage in the Upside Down and asked, "Do you think Nancy will want that back?"

"That would be pretty weird if she said yes," Steve said. Alice laughed, despite the fact that it wasn't a joke and wasn't that funny. She was overcompensating, smiling and laughing more than the situation warranted to make Steve feel comfortable, safe.

It was nice, but it wasn't what Steve wanted. Not what he needed. He needed Alice to hold him, to kiss him, to touch him, to remind him that she was real and tangible and alive and not the bloodied corpse Vecna showed him in those terrible visions.

As if she sensed his yearning, Alice brushed a loose strand of hair off Steve's forehead and kissed it. He shivered under the touch.

"I'll go get you some water," Alice said. She started toward the bathroom door, and Steve began to panic. He didn't want to be alone. He couldn't be alone.

Alice's fingers barely grazed the doorknob before Steve was in front of her, cupping her face in his hands and kissing her like some kind of casanova.

She melted into the kiss, wrapping her arms around Steve's neck and allowing him to push her onto the countertop.

Steve's kisses trailed down her jaw and onto her neck, careful of the spot where she'd been bitten. He reached under her shirt, holding the bare skin of her waist.

For a blissful moment, Alice forgot where they were and what was happening. Before she could get too carried away, she said, "Steve, as much as I'm enjoying this—trust me, I am—this is horrible timing to hook up."

"We're not hooking up," Steve mumbled into her neck.

"Okay, then what are we doing?" Alice said. "We really should get back out there."

Steve pulled away. He brushed a lock of hair behind Alice's ear and said, "I don't want to go out there yet. I want to be with you. Just you."

"Okay, but—"

Steve shut her up with another mind-blowing kiss, the kind that made Alice feel upside down (no pun intended).

After another minute, Alice broke off the kiss.

"Canasta rain check," she said. "We need to talk to the others."

Something akin to fear flashed across Steve's eyes.

"You don't have to tell us what happened in your Vecna vision," Alice continued. "I know from experience that stuff can be really personal. But now that we can get into the Upside Down, we need to make a plan to kill Vecna."

"He gave me more than a vision," Steve said. He fidgeted with the buttons on the denim vest, unable to look her in the eyes. "He showed me stuff about his past. Showed me his plans for Hawkins." He screwed his eyes shut. "It was horrible."

Alice held both of his hands in hers and leaned their foreheads together.

"It's going to be okay—"

Alice's obvious lie was Steve's tipping point. He huffed out a sarcastic laugh and dropped her hands.

"Do you actually believe that?" he said. There was a layer of meanness to his voice, a hardened edge that made Alice feel small.

"Huh?"

"Do you really believe everything will be all right?" Steve said. He crossed his arms and glowered the way King Steve used to. "Or is it just bullshit?"

Shocked and annoyed at the sudden change in disposition, Alice glared and jumped down from the counter. She mirrored his crossed arms.

"It's not bullshit, Steve!" Alice said. "I'm trying to be optimistic! What's the alternative? Be miserable and a downer and think we're all gonna die?"

A knock at the door.

"Uh, guys?" Robin called from the hall. "We can hear you, you know—"

"We have to be realistic!" Steve yelled, ignoring Robin. "Vecna told me what he wants to do! And it's bad!"

"So we'll stop him before he can do any of that shit!"

"Yeah?" Steve said. He ran a hand through his hair. "Like we've stopped him before? We don't have El—"

"We have Kali, and we have me, and if we can get Nancy a gun, she's a force of nature—"

Robin opened the door and poked her head in.

"Again," she said in a stage whisper, "you two are extremely loud and the whole house can—"

"Not now, Robin!" Steve snapped. She shot him an apologetic smile and ducked into the hall.

"Why are you yelling at her?!" Alice said. "Why are you yelling at me?! Look, I know you're scared—"

She reached to touch his shoulder. He shrugged out of her grip, the frustration and anger at their impossible situation bubbling over.

"Don't patronize me!" Steve spat.

"I'm not being patronizing!" Alice shouted. "I'm trying to help you, you jackass! I'm trying to make you feel better! Do you expect me to stand around and do jack shit while you're suffering?!"

"You can't fix me, Alice!"

"Okay! So stay broken, I guess!"

Steve rubbed his face and shook his head. If he were less jittery and terrified, he'd know to stop talking.

"Jesus," he muttered. "Why the fuck did I ever go back in there?"

"In where?" Alice said, exasperated. "The Upside Down?"

"The Byers' house!" Steve snapped. "I should've fucking left when Nancy told me to!"

His words hit Alice like a dagger to the chest. As soon as Steve saw her expression morph from anger to confusion to sadness, he realized he'd fucked up.

"Oh," she said, barely above a whisper.

Steve groaned.

"No, Alice, wait, I didn't mean—"

She stormed out of the bathroom, past him, past Robin, past the others pretending not to eavesdrop in the living room. Steve followed her into the Mayfield's kitchen.

"Al," Steve said. "Hold on, I—"

"We don't have time for this!" Dustin shouted.

"Give us a minute!" Steve yelled. "Alice, that's not what I—"

"Then what did you mean, Steve?" Alice exploded, turning away from the kitchen window and narrowing her eyes at him. "Go on." She stepped closer until they were toe to toe, inclining her chin so she could look him in the eye. "What. Did. You. Mean?"

Steve chewed his lower lip and didn't respond. Alice's eyes started to sting, but she didn't want to cry—not now.

"I'll spell it out for you," Alice said, voice deadly calm. "If you'd never gone back into the Byers' house, Nance, Jonathan, and I would've been killed by the fucking demogorgon. Even if we had by some goddamn miracle survived, you and I probably wouldn't have become friends. We definitely wouldn't be dating right now. So what you're essentially saying is, your life would be so much better in a world where we aren't together. Where I'm not in it at all."

"Jesus Christ, Alice!" Steve shouted. "Don't put words in my mouth! That's not what I said and you know it."

"But it's what you meant!"

"No! No, it's not!" Steve stomped the length of the kitchen. He let out a string of curses. "Why do you always do this? Jump to conclusions, think that I don't want to be with you? It's like you're holding me at arm's length, or like you want me to do something shitty so we can break up!"

"That is not true—"

"It is!" Steve said. He scoffed. "Maybe you're the one who thinks it would be better if we weren't together."

"I didn't say that!" Alice said.

"Neither did I!"

"ENOUGH!" Nancy screamed, entering the kitchen and smacking her hand on the countertop. "We are in real danger right now and do not have time for you to argue. You need to sort your shit out another day. Understand?"

"But he—"

"ALICE!" Nancy said. "Do you understand?!"

Alice nodded, looking at her shoes.

"Good." Nancy took a deep breath and gestured toward the living room. "Steve, please take a seat by the window. Alice, you sit with Robin over there."

The couple dutifully followed Nancy, where they were separated like bickering schoolchildren.

"Steve," Nancy prompted. "Please, when you're ready, describe what Vecna showed you."

Steve kept his eyes on his lap. He sucked in a breath and began his tale.

"One second," he said, "I was with Alice in the Upside Down. Next, I was falling. Like something grabbed my foot and pulled me down. I hit the ground and landed in...in my swimming pool." He cleared his throat. "My house's pool in the Upside Down. It was empty and covered in vines. And..." His eyes flicked to Nancy and Alice. "And I saw Barb. But she was—um, she was dead. And Vecna said it was my fault."

Nancy let out a quiet sob. Alice couldn't cry. She couldn't feel anything except anger at Vecna.

"That's not true!" Alice said. "Steve, don't believe that for a second."

Steve sniffled and rubbed his eyes.

"Vecna's not from the Upside Down," he continued. "He was that Creel kid. The one who was in the coma and died...but he didn't die."

"Wait, Henry Creel?" Lucas said, jaw dropped. Steve nodded grimly.

"Holy shit," Erica said.

"That's impossible!" Dustin said.

"It gets weirder," Steve said. "He had...abilities. Like El, like Al, like Prasad. He's the one who killed his family, and when he was in the coma, that evil doctor guy took him."

"Brenner," Kali said with a scowl.

"Yeah, Dr. Brenner. He took him to Hawkins Lab and made him One."

"One of what?" Eddie said, leaning forward in his seat.

"Number One," Kali clarified. She showed Eddie her double-oh-eight tattoo, and his eyes widened. "I should have known."

"Did you ever meet him in the Lab?" Robin asked.

"I did not," Kali said. "During my tenure there, the oldest patient was always Two."

"He wasn't always a patient," Steve said. "Brenner made him a nurse, or something."

A look of recognition and fear flashed across Kali's face.

"An orderly," Kali said. "There was an orderly named Henry. He always gave me the creeps."

"So that's why Vecna kept saying you guys were the same," Max said to Alice. "You both have powers. You both have a connection to the Lab."

"Yeah," Alice said, "but I'm not murdering teens, so that's where the similarities stop."

"Not yet, anyway," Eddie said.

"Don't tempt me," Alice warned.

"Did you see anything else before you woke up?" Nancy asked Steve.

"I saw how Vecna ended up in the Upside Down," he said. "It was actually El who sent him there. And then I saw..." Steve swallowed hard. "Um...I saw...Jesus, I can't do this."

Steve stood from his chair to bolt into the kitchen. Dustin stopped him.

"Steve," Dustin said, speaking to him gently like a skittish animal he needed to train. "You're doing great. You've got this!"

Steve sighed and sat down once more.

"He showed me things that haven't happened yet," Steve said. Tears glistened in his eyes. "Awful things. There was this, like, dark fog spreading over Hawkins. Fires in downtown, and shit. Dead soldiers. And this giant creature with a gaping mouth. He had an army of monsters, all coming into Hawkins. Into our houses. And then he showed me—he showed me..."

He looked over at Alice. She watched him, brows furrowed.

"He killed you," he whispered, voice breaking. "He killed you in front of me. You died in my arms, and I couldn't do anything to save you."

Any lingering anger Alice felt toward Steve dissipated. A tidal wave of guilt and grief and worry washed over her. She suddenly felt very, very nauseous.

"But he's just trying to scare you, right?" Robin said. "I mean, it's not real. It can't be!"

"Not yet," Steve said. "That's what he's building toward. That, and the gates. There were four, spreading across Hawkins, and they didn't stop growing. And this wasn't Upside Down Hawkins, it was ours!"

"Four gates," Alice repeated. She clutched her queasy stomach and scanned her memories over the past few days. "Vecna said something about that, when he took some of my powers."

"Four chimes," Max added. "His clock always chimes four times. Four times exactly."

"He's been telling us his plan the whole time," Nancy said.

"Cocky bastard," Kali grumbled.

"Four kills," Lucas said. "Four gates. End of the world."

"If that's true," Dustin said, "he's only one kill away."

Thoughts of monster armies and death and the end of the world was too much for Alice to handle. She slapped a hand over her mouth and bolted to the Mayfield's bathroom, where she proceeded to vomit up the contents of her stomach.

Steve made a move to follow. Kali blocked him and stepped inside first.

"Last time you two were in here together," Kali said, "it ended with a screaming match. I will help."

Before Steve could protest, Kali slammed the bathroom door in his face.

As soon as she caught a glimpse of Alice puking her guts out, Kali grimaced. She held Alice's hair back but leaned as far away as she could.

"Thanks," Alice rasped. She leaned away from the toilet. "I think I'm good—nope."

She retched once more and Kali shuddered.

"Gross."

"Your bedside manner could use some work," Alice quipped.

"I admit," Kali said, "I am not very nurturing. But I figured you may want a little space from Steve after that previous argument."

"Don't remind me," Alice grumbled. She leaned her head on the toilet seat and groaned. "I'm an idiot."

Kali crossed her arms and leaned against the wall.

"That is untrue."

"No, I am! I got stupidly defensive over a perfectly rational comment and now Steve hates me."

"He does not. Or if he does, he is the idiot in this scenario."

Alice looked up at Kali.

"Why are you so nice to me?" she said. Kali raised an eyebrow, so Alice added: "I dragged you into this Vecna mess. Even if Steve doesn't hate me, you probably should."

Kali shrugged.

"I could leave any time," she admitted. "And trust me, I have strongly considered it. But Jane is like a sister. And you are friends of Jane's, and you are good people, so I feel the foolish need to help."

"You're a really good person, Kali," Alice said with a smile.

"Do not tell anyone. That fact shall ruin my reputation."

"Uh, guys?" Erica opened the bathroom door. "Just thought you should know—these nerds are planning a grand theft auto."

"What?!" Alice screeched. She stood up a little too fast, dizziness and dehydration causing her head to spin. She stormed out of the bathroom, Kali and Erica on her heels.

In the living room, Max shoved her Michael Myers mask on Eddie's head while the others gathered their things.

Before Alice could chastise them for whatever stupid plan they had cooking up, Robin said, "You all right, Al?"

"I'll be fine if someone explains what the hell is happening," Alice said, crossing her arms.

"We need to go to the War Zone to get weapons so we can kill Vecna in the Upside Down," Dustin explained. Alice's eyes widened.

"Eddie's going to steal us a ride," Max added.

"It's the RV a couple blocks over," Eddie said through the mask. "It's perfect."

"Should you really be stealing vehicles when you're already a wanted man?"

"Elder Henderson, that's what the mask is for!" Eddie protested. "Plus, Lucas said Kali can camouflage me if we get into a scrape."

"I only use my powers to benefit myself and my friends," Kali drawled, "but I suppose I can make an exception for Michael Munson here."

Eddie lifted the mask and beamed.

"Aww," he cooed. "You want to be my friend."

"That is not what I said."

"Guys?" Nancy said. "Can we maybe talk less and move a little more?"

The group exited the trailer and followed "Michael Munson" toward his target: a Winnebago with some very close-minded political bumper stickers.

Eddie crawled through the window and landed with a thud onto the couch in the RV. He tore off the Halloween mask and locked the door, before taking a seat behind the wheel.

One by one, the others clumsily fell into the Winnebago, taking their seats and staying low.

"Uh, Eddie?" Robin said, joining him and Steve at the front. "I don't know if I love the idea of you driving."

"Don't worry," Eddie said. "I'm just starting this sucker. Harrington's got her. Don't you, big boy?"

Steve scrunched his face up in confusion. Before he could disagree that he did not "have her," Eddie started the engine. The RV radio whirred to life.

The "homeowners" yelled and pounded on the windows. Steve's face bore pure panic—Eddie's, unadulterated glee.

The boys switched places and Steve mumbled encouragement to himself: "It's just a car."

He shouted, "Everybody hang onto something!"

"DRIVE, STEVE, DRIVE!" Dustin screamed.

"Go, go, go, go, go!" Lucas yelled.

With the precision of a racecar driver, Steve gunned it. The Winnebago rocked as they made their great escape.

"Oh, they're angry," Alice said, watching the homeowners flip them off and chase them. "Really angry."

"It's not every day you lose your house and car in one fell swoop!" Robin said.

"HOLD ON!" Steve yelled. He made a sharp turn, murdering a few innocent trash cans on the way out of the trailer park.

🍋🍋🍋 

A little while later, Alice and Kali dug through the pantry and fridge of the Winnebago, looking for food and water.

"Not a single bottled water," Alice said with a groan. She squeezed next to Dustin and Robin on their bench seat and held up a yellow bottle. "Just ten containers of lemon-lime margarita mix."

"Liquid is liquid," Erica pointed out. "Better to drink that than die of dehydration."

Alice took a sip of the juice, and Eddie asked, "Do they have anything to put in it? Y'know, make the margarita mix an actual margarita?"

Alice frowned at the bottle, remembering the Jimmy Buffett song about margaritas she was inexplicably haunted by.

Nancy left the passenger seat and walked to the back.

"Alice," Nancy said. "Do you mind if we switch seats? I'm feeling a little carsick."

"Carsick?" Alice said, furrowing her brow. "In the front seat?"

"Uh, yes?" Nancy said, twisting her mouth into a fake wince. "It's more common than you'd think. It affects 1 in 12 people."

"Is that so?" Alice said. "Somehow, I don't buy that..."

Nancy huffed.

"Just go talk to Steve," she whispered, "so you two can make up and stop moping."

Alice blushed but headed to the front. She cleared her throat and pointed to the now vacated passenger seat.

"Can I sit?"

"Go ahead," Steve said, giving her a tight-lipped smile before turning back to the road.

"Thanks."

The couple sat in silence for a bit. Alice knew what she needed to say, but couldn't seem to find the words. She fidgeted with the cord of her Walkman before taking off the headphones.

"Do you want to put your tape in the tape deck?" Steve said, making a move to switch off the radio.

"No," Alice said. "It's fine. I won't subject everyone to 'Somebody to Love' on repeat. God knows I'm already starting to get sick of it. We can just listen to 'Fire and Rain.'"

"Cool."

More silence, except for the crooning voice of James Taylor on the radio. Alice wanted to scream.

"When I was a kid," she blurted out, "everyone I cared about either left me or sent me away."

Steve frowned.

"What do you mean?" he said softly.

Too late to stop now.

"In the orphanage," Alice said, picking at her fingernails, "every time I made friends with one of the other kids, they'd get adopted shortly after. And then new kids would be dropped off, and I had to sit back and watch them get adopted, because people would rather adopt a cute little toddler than a four-year-old with anger issues." Alice scoffed. "I'm sure the anger issues thing isn't a surprise."

Steve didn't respond. He glanced between Alice and the road, giving her the time and space to keep talking.

As much as she wanted to close down instead of open up, Alice continued.

"And then Sacred Heart Orphanage got shut down, and I got sent into foster care. Geez, that was the worst three years of my life. And that's saying something, based on the last three years of monsters and Russians and nightmarish shit."

Steve's eyes widened. Alice had never talked about her time in foster care before. Never.

"A lot of people foster kids for the wrong reasons," Alice said bitterly. She crossed her arms and stared out the windshield, watching green trees zip by. "They do it for brownie points, so they can look like such good, selfless people in the eyes of their friends, their family, their pastor, whoever. They'll dress you up in clothes you hate and drag you to Sunday brunches and coo about how 'thrilled' they are to have you as part of the family. And then, the millisecond the thrill wears off, when you're not shiny and new anymore, when you start having temper tantrums and acting out because you're a kid with a bad past, the foster family sends you back to the social worker with some bullshit excuse about why it didn't work out. How you aren't 'a good fit,' like fostering a human kid is like buying clothes or a car or something."

"That's horrible," Steve said, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Alice."

"Most of my foster families were like that," Alice grumbled. "Or, they fostered too many kids, or they didn't like you enough to actually adopt you. Same story, over and over. Shipped back to the social worker. But then, after years of feeling wholly unlovable, I finally got a good foster family! A mom and dad and a little brother who loved me and wanted to keep me around. Who wanted me in their family, permanently. And they adopted me, and for three years it was wonderful...until my dad got sick."

"Dustin told me it was cancer," Steve said quietly.

"Lung cancer," Alice said, eyes stinging with unshed tears. "After years of smoking. That's why I keep replacing your 'hidden' Marlboro boxes with Bubble Yum. And yes, I know about your secret cigarettes, as much as you try to hide them."

"Busted," Steve mumbled, shooting her a guilty smile. Despite the circumstances, Alice smiled back.

"The point of this sob story," Alice said, "is to say...you're right. I do hold you at arm's length sometimes. But it's not because I don't love you or don't want to be with you. It's because every other time I've gotten too close to someone I love—" Alice sniffled as tears rolled down her cheeks. "—they're taken away or they leave me."

"Alice," Steve said, looking over at her, brown eyes wide and earnest. "I'm not going to leave you. I promise."

"I know," Alice said. "It's shitty and unfair of me to assume you would. I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize," Steve said. He sucked in a breath. "I do, for that dumb shit I said about the Byers' house. I'm really sorry about that."

"No, it's fine. You're completely right, and there's nothing wrong with you thinking that way."

"But I shouldn't have said it. I guess it's just...I'm scared. Goddamn terrified of what's going to happen to you. To all of us. And I just don't know how to handle it. But the truth is, I don't regret going back in to fight the demogorgon. I wouldn't want you guys to face it alone. That was my choice and it was the right one, and I'd make it again if I had to."

Steve took one hand off the steering wheel and held it out for Alice to hold, which she gladly did.

"I wasn't lying the other day," Steve said, "when I said you were the best thing that's ever happened to me. Alice, you're worth the monsters."

Alice cried a little harder—happy tears, this time.

"You're a real sap," she said with a watery smile. "You know that?"

"Robin told me the correct term is 'emotionally intelligent.'"

"You're worth the monsters too, you know," Alice said. "Having you by my side is what gets me through the shit we keep getting stuck in. I can handle anything if I'm with you."

"We can handle anything together," Steve said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

They shared another smile, and Alice felt a weight lift off her shoulders. 

{Posted October 9th, 2022; Republished March 27th, 2025}

A/N [from 2022] Gotta love some conflict and then conflict resolution! 

We're getting into the 3rd Act of this part, so you know what that means...UPCOMING CHAPTER TITLE HINTS!!! Subject to change, but here are the next few titles: 

[71] "Women Want Me, Demodogs Fear Me"

[72] Boss Battle 2.0 

[73] Lazarus

There will be one more chapter of Ep. 8, three or four for Ep. 9, and then the Part 4 epilogue.  

The plan (so far) is to continue this book whenever Season 5 comes out. But it kind of depends on what actually happens in Season 5! I know for a FACT that if certain characters are killed, this book is going full AU for the last part. But thinking about ending this book makes me sad soooo let's not talk about that rn...maybe when I finish this book, I'll just write a new Stranger Things book with a new OC. God knows I have enough ideas to fill a hundred ST books. 

QOTD: Who do you prefer, Michael Myers or Michael Munson?

A: Michael Munson, obviously!