𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐖𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐒

thirty-seven

steve drove to max and sam's trailer, and max promised him that dropping her letters off for her parents would only take twenty seconds. "that thing's got batteries in it, right?" steve asked, looking at dustin's walkie talkie.

dustin sighed. "i'm not even answering that question." after a moment of silence, he shook his head. "yes, it has batteries."

"yeah, i got it." steve replied.

minutes passed, and the four left in the car all got out, hoping they would hear her if max tried to call for help. mainly if she did, sam could run full sprint to her sister. "that was longer than 20 seconds." steve accused when she walked back, but he quickly noticed that she was upset. "hey, whoa, whoa. you all right?"

"i'm fine, just drive." she responded, throwing her backpack into the car and climbing in without another word. she began to speak only to give them directions, and no one was going to tell her no at this point. "turn here."

the car pulled into a cemetery, and sam wasn't quite surprised. she recognized the route as soon as they hit the highway. max had one final letter in her hands as she walked up to billy's grave. the rest of the group stayed behind to give her some privacy, but sam anxiously eyed her sister.

"are you okay?" steve asked as he looked over at her. she was leaning against his car, fidgeting her fingers and seemingly distant from the present moment. "sorry, i feel like i keep asking you that."

she shook her head. "i will not forgive myself if..." she frowned. "if something happens to max and i had the opportunity to stop it." a tender moment of silence filling the air, before she spoke again. "not only max, if it happens to anyone one of these kids. i will never forgive myself."

his gaze softened. he understood exactly what she was talking about. "she's gonna be okay." steve replied, putting his hands on her arms. "i promise." he said after a moment, looking over at max. "and we're gonna find this venom-"

"vecna." she corrected. "venom is from spider-man."

"okay, vecna, yeah. we're gonna find him and we're going to stop him, okay? just like the demodogs and the mind flayer." he almost had to stop himself as he took in all of the names. "we're gonna stop him together, like we have done again and again."

sam nodded then, leaning into his touch. "she's my sister. and spending so much time with these kids..." she looked over her shoulder at lucas and dustin. "i don't know, it makes me feel like their older sister too. and i'm...i'm kinda glad we get to 'babysit'."

he tilted his head. "yeah?"

"yeah, like.. in some ways, i think maybe they need us. maybe they don't, but if they ever did..i wouldn't think twice about helping them." she shook her head, looking down at her shoes. "they really look up to you, steve. all of them."

this made him smile, and he grabbed her hand. "well, you're probably their biggest role model." he said. "remember when wheeler was giving me a hard time, the very first time we were in charge, saying you were the babysitter?"

sam laughed. "yes, i remember. i had just met mike, too. you were so jealous."

he laughed. "they-" sam's demeanor had changed. "stop." his eyebrows furrowed. max sat there for a while reading the letter, and the group had been waiting to give her time, but sam was beginning to get worried. "i was trying to have a tender moment-" steve began again. "stop!" sam ordered again, creeping up the hill. steve growing worried about max, too.