all i've ever known, EDDIE MUNSON.

xiii, HOLD ON TIGHT, IT WON'T BE LONG.

"Do you need anything for the pain? More morphine?"

Todd shook his head. "Just tell me where the damage is so I know where to avoid moving," he huffed out.

Sitting down again, she scooted her chair closer and reached for his hand once more. "A few broken ribs" ─ that made sense ─ "bruising on your leg, but we won't know the damage until we get you on your feet. Also got shot in the arm so there's that too."

Right. . .

Todd rolled his head to the side to properly look at her. "I'm sorry. . ."

"You're just lucky that regardless of what happens, Jason Carver will still be charged with something."

"What─?"

"I can either explain everything now, or we can wait until you're up for it."

He shook his head. "Now, please. . ."

Delia nodded before explaining everything. Apparently, around the time when Todd started losing consciousness, Max had been pulled out of her trance, and Erica who had apparently managed to lock them inside the attic, let them out and they found Todd passed out as Andy finally thought that Jason beating up an unconscious person was where he drew the line and not the fact that Jason had shot someone earlier. It didn't, however, stop August from grabbing the gun that Jason had used against Todd and hitting Jason over the head with it to knock him out before gluing herself to Todd's side as they tried to stop the bleeding. All while Lucas ran off to find a phone booth to call for an ambulance. In the end, it had been thanks to Nancy and Agent Stinson─ the latter of whom ended up showing up at Max's trailer a few minutes before those in the Upside Down had emerged from the portal─ that one had arrived.

"Are. . . Are the others okay?"

She nodded her head, but Todd couldn't help but notice her hesitation. "Max is safe─ she and August are staying with the Sinclair's tonight. Steve is next door dealing with his own wounds, and Robin's keeping him company."

"And Eddie?"

Again, there was that hesitation, one that Todd was all too familiar with, especially when she pursed her lips.

"Ma. . ."

"I'm not supposed to tell you. . . Not yet."

"If he got arrested─"

"No that isn't. . . Powell is looking into Jason Carver after what he did last night, and apparently you said something to that other boy that has him turning on Jason, as well as some other things Lucas said," she explained. "I don't. . . I don't know everything, but he got hurt, lost a lot of blood, Steve said he had a weak pulse that Dustin thought. . . Thought he died. . ."

Tears welled up in Todd's eyes, causing him to wipe them away the moment that he realised they began to form. "Is he. . ."

"They managed to do everything that they could. . . Although it took Stinson putting her foot down since those idiots wouldn't help him but. . . It's just a matter of when he wakes up. . ."

"That fucking. . . It was─"

Whatever he was about to say got caught in his throat as a sob tore right through him, it fucking hurt. While Todd couldn't care less about what had happened to him, the thought that something had happened to Eddie, the very person he was desperate to protect and shelter from everything, broke him. He felt a dip in the bed near him and it was a few seconds later before Delia, as carefully as she could without hurting him─ not that it mattered, his breathing was erratic enough that the pain was constant.

Todd wasn't sure how long he cried within his mother's arms. By the time he settled within the pillows once more and his mother returned to his bedside, orange hues began to paint the sky, illuminating Hawkins in a soft glow that would only grow as the sun began to rise further. He knew that she should've left his side to tell someone that he was awake, but she remained as he grew tired, exhausted from not only how many tears he had shed, but everything else.