Love And Hellfire

Chapter 14: The In-between

By time the four had made their way back to the cabin, it was almost dusk. Assisting Avila as she struggled to keep her strength, Steve raised her arm, holding it over his shoulder to support her fully.
"Hey, you okay?" He asked her, noticing her slip in and out of sleep.
The most she could manage was a nod, her eyes heavy as they could see the cabin clearly up ahead.
"I'll get the door." Eddie raced ahead, bounding up onto the porch and taking hold of the handle. Before he had chance to push upon it, the door itself opened suddenly.
Steve and Robin stared in pure shock and terror as before them stood none other than Jim Hopper.
"Where the hell have you been!" He shouted angrily.
Before any of them could even begin to concoct a lie or excuse, Avila suddenly collapsed in Steve's arms. Drifting unconscious, the last thing she remembered was the deep, booming tone of Hoppers voice.

~8 hours later~ 

Steve was one of the first to awaken, sneaking his way around the lounge towards the kitchen. He steadied his breathing carefully, as he moved infront of the large arm chair where Hopper lay snoozing. It was paramount that he didn't wake him. It was no secret that former chief of police Jim Hopper had a terrible temper. More so when he was scared and annoyed, just like he was last night. 
Turns out Nancy had been the one to call him. The young ones refused to divulge their plan to her, so in retaliation she saw no other way to get what she wanted than to snitch on them all. Steve felt betrayed, disappointed. As Avila slept in the comfort of Eddie's old bed, Hopper made the call to split the gang in two overnight. Nancy and Jonathan took the four young ones back to the Wheelers', as Jim remained at the cabin. In his words 'to keep an eye on the troublemakers'. Steve sniggered as he watched how good of a job he was currently doing in 'keeping an eye on them'. 
Navigating his way towards the kitchen now, Steve took great care to avoid stumbling over various weapons they'd dumped upon their arrival last night. As well as a selection of D&D toys and books, Dustin's notes and Will's drawings. 
"That little shit." Steve cursed quietly under his breath. "Needs to learn to pick up after himself."
"Tell me about it." As Steve reached the kitchen counter top, he stumbled upon Eddie who appeared to have only just woken up himself. 
Forcing a smile, Eddie quickly grasped at his forehead where a bandage rested barely clinging on to his skin. Taking his hand away from it, Eddie observed the drops of blood that now resided on his hand. 
"Here, I'll take another look at that." Steve offered, retrieving a small tub of medical supplies from a nearby shelf and approaching Eddie. As he did, from the rooms behind Robin suddenly emerged, looking exhausted. Yawning widely, she was clearly anxious. 
"Morning idiots." She greeted them loudly at first before being shh'd by the boys, pointing to where Hopper still remained napping. "Okay, okay I get it. Don't wake the angry man or he might just put us all on the naughty step again, right?"
Rolling his eyes at her, Steve removed Eddie's old bandage, revealing a small cut upon the right hand side of his forehead. Eddie winced slightly as he did. 
"Sorry dude." Steve apologised, disposing of the bloodied dressing. "You hit the ground harder than I thought..."
"Yeah, well I hit it more than I should of.." Eddie moaned, shooting Robin a terrible glare. Within all the heated arguments of the previous night, somehow it came to light how Robin had dropped Eddie whilst attempting to move his body, thus causing more pain and discomfort. 
"What?! I said I'm sorry okay?!" She winged, pouring herself a large glass of water and taking a small sip. "Besides, I'm yet to hear a 'thank you Robin' ,'You saved my life Robin'."

"Now why would he lie?" Steve teased her. As the two guys laughed, Robin playfully splashed him with a handful of water. Within all the ruckus, the three of them became on edge as Hopper began to stir in his sleep all of a sudden. Robin quickly became alerted to a muffled noise coming from the very same bedroom she'd recently left. Rushing over to the door, she bounded in excitedly, only to look on in disappointment at Avila, who was still sleeping.  Returning to the boys, she left the door ajar, so she could keep a close watch. 
Noticing her look of worry, Steve offered her a seat beside him. 
"She'll be okay." He told Robin, smiling sweetly. "She just needs to rest."
"I know." She said. Steve began to clean the wound upon Eddie's head, retrieving new dressings and tape from his little basket. 
"Do you wanna know how I know she'll be okay?" Steve asked Robin. He waited for a second as Robin just stared at him, the most bewildered and confused look upon her face. "Because she's strong. She's strong like you are."
Robin blushed, smiling at the ground as she felt herself becoming emotional once again. She was feeling a mix of emotions as she became more and more impatient. All she longed  was for Avila to wake up. She just wanted that. 
Deep within their sweet exchange, both Robin and Steve had failed to notice how distant Eddie had become. Realising almost simultaneously, Steve smirked at Robin as they watched him, his eyes fixated over on Avila who remained asleep in the bed. 
"Not interested, huh?" Steve reminded him, all of a sudden regaining Eddie's gaze. 
"What?" He mumbled nervously, afraid that they'd been watching him, watching her. 
"You heard him, Munson." Robin winked, herself looking over at her sleeping cousin. "Cut the crap and just be honest with us, be honest with yourself..."
Awaiting some snarky or sarcastic joke in response, Steve and Robin became concerned when Eddie became distant once again, shaking his head over and over.