It was Christmas Eve and Elizabeth, Eddie, Dustin, and Uncle Wayne were spending it together at Eddie's trailer. Elizabeth had convinced him to get a small tree. He had never bothered before, not really seeing a point. He would go over Christmas Day to give Uncle Wayne a small gift and they would eat dinner together but that was about it. He hadn't really had a reason to go all out for the holidays before.
Elizabeth loved the holidays, so she had not only gotten him to get a tree that they decorated together with ornaments she made but they had strung Christmas lights along the inside and outside of the trailer as well. She had also gotten the two of them stockings and they were hanging on his key hooks by the front door. Elizabeth had even written their names on them with colored glitter glue. He had loved decorating with her and watching her excitement as they put each thing up, the trailer looking more festive as they went. It was the first time he was excited for Christmas in a long time.
Eddie had tried to talk to Elizabeth about her mom after she had shown up at his trailer that night. He shared what she had said and how she had apologized, but Elizabeth wasn't ready to hear it. He had tried to talk to her about going to see her mom for Christmas but she refused. That was why Dustin was here tonight. He had agreed to come spend Christmas Eve with them since she said she would not be going over there on Christmas Day like she usually did.
He was going to try to talk to her about it again tonight, after everyone left. He understood her anger, but it had been almost two months since she had spoken to her mom, and she had already skipped Thanksgiving with her family. They had a friendsgiving in Bryxton with Robin and Steve and then came back here to have Thanksgiving with his uncle. He didn't want her to regret not seeing her mom for Christmas. He knew it was hurting her to cut her mom out, and he couldn't bear anything causing her pain.
The four of them ate dinner, drank spiked eggnog, played some board games, exchanged gifts, and had a lot of laughs. After a few hours, his uncle stated that it was time for him to head home and get some sleep. They gave him hugs and wished him a merry christmas as he headed out the door for his own trailer.
"I guess I should probably get heading home too," Dustin said, standing up. "Thanks so much for inviting me tonight, but I wish you guys were coming tomorrow. I mean, Christmas Day is going to be a little boring, just me and mom."
"I know," Elizabeth muttered, placing her hand on her little brother's shoulder, "and I am so sorry, Dusty, but I just don't think I am ready to see her."
"I get it, but when are you going to be ready?" he asked. "It's been almost two months now. Trust me, I was angry too for a while, but she really is sorry. She knows what she did was wrong, Elizabeth. She apologized to Eddie, and she is happy to welcome him as part of the family just like she used to."
"And that's all fine and good," Elizabeth stated, sitting back, "but it doesn't change what she said to him. It doesn't change what she did to us. I don't know how I am supposed to go back after that."
"Baby, I get you being angry," Eddie offered. "And I appreciate that you want to stand up for me. I love you so much for that, but I've forgiven her. She said she was sorry, and I could tell that she meant it. No, that doesn't mean it takes away what she did, but it does mean we can move on from here and start fresh. I love you, and if we're going to be together, then that means me being a part of your family too. And, sweetheart, I want that. I want to be a part of everything that is a part of you. I know she caused us to miss out on time together, but we can't change that. However, we have now and we have forever from here. Let's not lose more time focusing on the past. She's never going to be able to do that to us again and I don't think she would try. Don't you think if you can forgive me for what happened, maybe it's time to forgive her too?"
"There's a difference between what you did and what she did," Elizabeth said stubbornly. "You did something believing it was best for me."
"So did she," he offered, shrugging, "and we were both wrong. Yes, she said awful stuff, but I also chose to believe her instead of talking to you about it. I could have made different choices just as well as she could have."
Elizabeth folded her arms, glaring at him, but he could see he was winning her over. Her eyes went from him to Dustin who was putting on his best sad face for her. Eddie fought back a laugh, knowing she was a sucker for it. She finally sighed, throwing her hands up in the air.
"Fine," she groaned, turning to Dustin. "Tell Mom we will be there for dinner tomorrow."
"Awesome!" Dustin exclaimed, hugging them both. "It would have been so depressing just me and mom. It's going to be so much more fun with you two."
Eddie laughed, "Glad we can bring some excitement to your day."
Dustin headed out and Elizabeth and Eddie walked over to the couch. Eddie sat and pulled her onto his lap, resting his head in the crook of her shoulder. She curled against him and laid her head against his.
"I'm glad you changed your mind about tomorrow," he said. "I think you would have missed your Christmas with your mom and Dustin."
"Yeah, well...when you have to go and be all rational and wonderful, what am I supposed to do?"
Eddie looked up and smiled, kissing her.
"Ohh!" she squealed, pulling back. "Can we do presents now?"
He laughed, "I mean, I was kissing here but I love how excited you get about the holidays. You are so adorable. Sure, we can do our presents now."
Elizabeth ran over to the tree, picking up a small package and handing it to him. It was wrapped beautifully with ribbon and a little bow. Her present was definitely not wrapped up that nicely.
He gently tore off the paper and paused. It was a guitar pick on a chain just like the one he usually wore, but this one was engraved with E&E. There was also a quote on it that said, "This is endgame."
"Elizabeth, I love this. It is perfect," he said, and he meant it. He ran his finger over the engraving, feeling a lump form in his throat. The truth was, he already had his greatest wish for Christmas but this reminder that she was his forever was everything he could want and more.
"I know it's not much," she said quickly. "Working at a video store and being a full time student doesn't exactly pay well."
"It's plenty," he assured her. "I already have you. You are the best gift I could ever ask for. I don't need anything else, but this, this is the perfect gift. I love it."
Eddie immediately put it on and grabbed her face, kissing her, before walking over to get his gift for her. She looked like a little girl as she clapped her hands. He handed it to her, the wrapping paper quite wonky. He'd never been good at wrapping things. He just pulled the paper across, stuck tape on it, and hoped it stayed together.
She opened the package and then looked at what was inside with confusion. He knew she was trying to figure out why he would give her that as a gift.
"A key?" she asked, looking at him. "I don't understand. I already have a key to your trailer."
"That's not a key to my trailer," he said with a big grin.
"Okay," she laughed, "so what is it a key to?"
"It's a key to our new place."
"What?" she questioned, completely befuddled. He could see the gears turning in her beautiful brain as she tried to figure out what was happening. "What are you talking about?"
"So, my boss Jimmy, he knows a guy in Bryxton who owns a garage. He talked to him and he needs a supervisor to run things. Jimmy told him he thought I would be perfect, and it's a significant pay increase for me. So, I started looking around the area and I found an apartment that is in our price range. It's nothing fancy, but it would be ours, and we can move in after the first of the year."
Elizabeth sat there, staring at him in shock, her mouth hanging open. He couldn't tell if she was happy about this news or not. Maybe he should have talked to her about it first. He was just so excited that they could finally be together, all the time, no more waiting days in between seeing each other. But maybe it was too much, too fast. They'd only been back together for a few months. He didn't want to scare her off.
"Baby?" he asked. "Are you happy? If not, we can wait. Shit. I'm sorry. I should have talked to you about it. I just..."
"I...oh my god!" she yelled and leapt at him, wrapping her arms around him and showering his face in kisses. "I cannot believe you did this! I am so happy! No. I definitely don't want to wait to live with you! We are going to have a place of our own! This is amazing!"
Eddie laughed, wrapping her up in his arms and kissing her fiercely, "Oh thank God. I thought I'd screwed up. If you didn't want to move in with me, I would have respected it but damn, I would have been heartbroken."
"Of course I want to move in with you," Elizabeth assured him, winding her arms around his neck and pressing her forehead against his. "I love you, baby. I hate being away from you. This is so exciting, our own place!"
"Like I said, it's nothing fancy. It's a very basic place. Just a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms," he said, shrugging.
"Eddie, I don't care if it's a cardboard box! I get to see this face every single day. I get to kiss those lips every single day. I get to fall asleep with you every night. This is absolutely the best present ever."
Eddie beamed, her reaction was even better than he had hoped for. He pressed his lips to hers, pulling her back down to the couch with him.
"I am so relieved," he said, "I was worried that maybe you wouldn't be so keen on the idea."
"Why not?"
"I don't know. I know you are roomies with Robin, and you love living with her. You're still in school, and I was going to say we could wait until you were done. I mean, I could move in to be close to you but you could wait until school is over."
"No, absolutely not," she insisted. "I am not waiting any longer to live with you. I mean, Robin might be a bit upset about this idea, but she can have the whole room to herself, and it's only one semester. Then she'll be done and heading off too. I think she'll be really happy for us. But what about Gareth and Jeff and your gigs at the Hideout?"
"I already worked all that out. I am going to have Tuesdays off so I can head into Hawkins for our shows, and we'll figure it out from there. Gareth and Jeff were excited for us when I told them. You know those two are our biggest fans...well, maybe after your brother. And, if once you're done with college, you get a job somewhere else, then we'll figure that out but I just couldn't be that far away from you anymore."
"Oh my god...I am so excited," she breathed, grinning from ear to ear.
He leaned down for a deep, gentle kiss. "Merry Christmas, princess."
"Merry Christmas, Eddie."