Becca felt as if the very ground had just opened beneath her, plunging her into a state of shock that rocked her to her very core. Everything she'd wanted for the last six months was standing right in front of her, but she was terrified to move, to speak, to break the spell of this moment and risk it all being some mirage or a dream she would wake from. Could it really be this simple? They just walked through the gate, found Rick's place, and here he was? It didn't feel possible.
"Becca?" Eddie repeated, sounding just as disbelieving as she felt. He took a small, hesitant step forward. "I...what...how...I don't understand. Is it really you?"
She couldn't move. She opened her mouth, trying so hard to answer his question, but she just couldn't find the words. She had suddenly lost all ability to speak. Where were all those phonics skills she had learned in Kindergarten when she needed them? Becca closed her mouth, giving up on words, and simply nodded her head.
Eddie strode to her in a few quick steps, dropping down on his knees in front of her on the porch. His hands landed on her cheeks, his forehead pressing against hers. She sighed softly at the feel of his skin against hers. When his lips found hers, a whimper escaped against his lips and then the floodgates burst open, tears flowing down her cheeks.
One of Eddie's hands slid to the nape of her neck, the other against the small of her back, pulling her against him until every inch of her was pressed against him. She rose to her knees, her hands winding in his hair, her lips hungrily devouring his in an attempt to make up for all the kisses she had missed these last six months.
"Becca...Jesus Becca..." Eddie whispered, his lips pressing sweet kisses against her closed eyelids, her cheeks, her nose. They moved along her jaw and as they trailed along her neck, she sighed his name, tilting her head to give him full access to any part of her that he wanted to reach.
It was as if her soul had been split in two and now the other half had returned. It was as if all of the empty, gaping holes that had been left behind were now being filled with each touch of his lips against her skin. It was the breath returning to her body. It was a life preserver being thrown, finally saving her from drowning amid the torrential waves. She clung to him, this man who was saving her just with his presence. This man who was bringing back the part of her that had been missing.
Eddie pulled back slowly, his eyes searching hers, "What are you doing here?" Then, it was as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on him. He shook his head quickly, his eyes morphing from soft to angry. Becca reeled back slightly, her fears and doubts returning as he gripped her face tightly in his hands. "What the hell are you doing here, Becca? Why? Why would you come back to this place?"
"I came back for you!" she cried. Why didn't he know that? Had he really thought she would just abandon him here and forget about him? Did he think so little of her, of what he meant to her?
"You shouldn't have done that," he insisted, shaking his head. "Becca, you have to get the hell out of here. I don't know how you got in but you need to go back."
"I am not going anywhere without you," Becca stated. "Eddie, I am not leaving you in this hell. You are going to come home with me."
"Becca, I can't," he sighed, taking her hands in his. He ran his thumbs gently along her knuckles, his eyes on their hands as he ran his tongue along his lips nervously. "Baby, I want to. I want more than anything to be with you but those damn monsters aren't going to let me leave and you can't stay. I am not letting you trap yourself here."
"I know. I know you're their master or something but I have a plan. I..."
She stopped talking as she heard loud talking heading in their direction. Becca groaned, laughing softly and rolling her eyes when she realized who it was. Of course. He just couldn't wait like she'd instructed him to.
"Becca said to wait for her!" Steve hissed.
"I'm done waiting," Dustin argued. "She's been gone for like twenty minutes! What if she's in trouble? What if these bats have a hold of her? What if she walked into the trap she warned us about?"
"If there was a trap that I got caught in, your loud ass mouth would have gotten you just as caught as me," Becca called.
They came stomping around the corner of the house and both stopped when they caught sight of Eddie and Becca, kneeling next to each other on the front porch. Dustin's eyes went wide, his mouth gaping open. He stared at them, frozen in time for a moment and then a huge grin spread across his face and he was flying up onto the porch, wrapping his arms around Eddie and knocking him backward.
"Whoa there big guy," Eddie laughed, patting his back.
"Jesus Christ, I thought we'd lost you for good," Dustin muttered, pulling back and sitting down next to them on the porch.
"Yeah, me too buddy. Me too," Eddie agreed, nodding.
Eddie slowly sat up and glanced over at Steve who was still standing at the bottom of the porch steps. Steve smiled and gave a little wave. Becca knew he was anxious, worried that Eddie hated him because she had been feeling the same exact way.
"Hey man, it's really good to see you," Steve finally said.
"You too," Eddie replied, rising to his feet. He made his way down the steps, stopping in front of Steve. Steve pressed his lips together, waiting for what was coming next but Eddie simply pulled him into his chest, patting his back. "It's really good to see all of you."
"What's with the bats?" Dustin asked, gesturing around the house. There must have been two hundred of them perched all around the house.
"They listen to me. They follow me everywhere. I've tried to ditch them but no luck," he sighed with a shrug. "I can't seem to get rid of the little bastards."
"You complete dinguses!" Robin yelled, panting as she slowed up, Ivy and Jax right on her heels. "What in the hell are you..." She stopped. "Drama Queen!" She leapt at him, wrapping her arms around him.
"Whoa...so all of you came, huh?" he asked, laughing.
"You don't know the half of it," came Hopper's voice.
Becca looked up to see the rest of the group walking toward them. Apparently no one listened to her directive of waiting until she came back. She watched as each person took turns hugging Eddie, smiling at the happy reunion.
"I can't believe you're all here," Eddie said, looking around at them in shock. "I mean..." He paused as his eyes fell on the blond vampire standing to the side, bored and leaning against the porch. "Who the hell are you?" His head tilted, eyes narrowing as his heightened senses let him know what he was looking at. "Why did you bring a vampire with you?" Eddie turned to look at Becca. "What the hell is going on Becca?"
"Okay," she said, moving toward him and laying her hands on his chest. "He's part of that plan I started to tell you about before all of these guys interrupted us."
"Plan? Plan for what?"
"Plan for getting you out of here, man," Dustin interjected. "The Upside Down needs a monster master. You can't leave because they need you here to lord over them. So, we're going to give them a substitute option so you're free to go."
_______________________________________________________________________
Eddie's brows knit together, a crease appearing between his eyes and Becca reached up, pressing it gently away. He smiled down at her, still unable to believe she was really here. Jesus, he'd missed her. He'd been so crazy with longing, he swore that he'd heard her calling his name, crying for him, talking to him. He'd thought he would never see her again and then there she'd appeared, crouched on the front porch, looking like the most radiant thing that he'd ever seen. No dream could ever do her justice.
"Wait..." he said, coming back to reality, "you're going to leave this random vampire here?"
"Random?" the vampire scoffed. "I am no random vampire, you metalheaded moron." He looked Eddie up and down. "I am Spike. I have survived two centuries. I have killed two vampires, slaughtered countless others. I am a bloody menace to society. I am built to be King of the beasties, unlike you with that sodding soul."
"Spike?" Eddie asked, snorting. "Like a Doberman?"
The blond vampire growled, flying across the grass and gripping the front of his vest, "Spike, like I drove railroad spikes through the hearts of people who irritated me. Would you care for a demonstration?"
Becca was there instantly, her hands grabbing onto his coat and throwing him bodily off of Eddie. Spike flew through the air and landed hard onto the grass fifteen feet away. Eddie found himself once again awed by the power she contained in that tiny little body.
She strode over, grabbing the front of his coat and pulling him close to her as she hissed, "Touch him again and I will show you exactly what a slayer is capable of."
Spike laughed, "Stop threatening me, pet. We both know you're all talk. You won't chance killing me until you have your boyfriend safely out of here."
"I don't have to kill you," she threatened, "to cause you immense pain and suffering." Dropping him, she walked away, back to Eddie's side.
"Becca," Eddie said, looking to the vampire and then back to her doubtfully, "are you sure about this? You want to leave this...Billy Idol wannabe in charge of this place? How do you know what he's going to do?"
"Billy Idol stole..."
"Shut up," she snapped. "Nobody cares. Eddie, I know. We've talked through all of this. I know it's not the best plan but it's the only plan we have."
"No, it's not," he insisted. "You can leave me here. They wait for direction from me. I'm not going to hurt anyone. I don't want to hurt anyone. This place is harmless as long as they listen to me."
"No, that is not a plan. That is not happening," she argued. "Eddie, we all came here to rescue you. I am not leaving without you again. Don't ask me to do that."
Eddie sighed, reaching up to rest his hand on her cheek. He knew his beautiful, stubborn, tough as nails girl was going to fight him on this but he had to try to get her to see reason. The very thought of having to watch her walk away made him feel like he would collapse into pieces on the ground. He had never felt as unalive as he truly was like he did these last six months without her, the one thing that still made him feel alive, that brought him joy beyond imagining. But to leave this...unknown entity in charge of this place, it was too much of a risk. They couldn't afford another Vecna situation.
"Becca...baby," he whispered, "I don't want to do this any more than you but can we really risk everything? I...I can't let you do this for me. I am a monster. I am...I'm not worth potentially risking everyone here, everyone in Hawkins, everyone in the world."
"Eddie, no," she insisted, her hands coming up to rest on his chest. "You are. You are worth everything. Look around you." Her arms waved around at the group. "All of these people came for you, without hesitation. All of these people were willing to fight for you because you fought for them, because they think you're worth saving. They love you. They miss you. I love you. I can't..." She shook her head and when she looked back at him, the tears swimming in her eyes almost broke him. "I lost myself without you. I don't know who I am anymore. Don't make me do that again. Eddie, I can't...I can't breathe without you. I don't want to do this without you."
"I...Jesus," he groaned, his fingers pressing into the bridge of his nose. "I've been completely lost without you. I've been losing my goddamn mind. I just figured I would slowly slip into madness being stuck here, in this hell, alone, and away from you. I just can't see leaving this..." he waved toward Spike, curling his lip in disgust, "...thing in charge here."
"Whoa mate, that was uncalled for. I may not have a soul, but I do have feelings," Spike snapped before looking around at them and laughing. "Just kidding. I feel absolutely nothing for any of you."
"Eddie," Hopper said, ignoring the vitriolic vampire, "I've always known you're a good kid at heart. I've always known there was a good guy beneath the mask you put on to protect yourself from the judgement of all the assholes in this town. You've saved our asses twice. You are worth saving. We wouldn't be here if any of us thought otherwise."
"Yeah man," Steve agreed, "and besides, we fought and took out the Mind Flayer and Vecna. What's one vampire against all of us? This shithead tries anything and we will take him out. We're a master monster fighting force at this point."
Eddie laughed, "Yeah man, you're quite the badass with your bat. I will give you that."
"And me with my sword," Dustin insisted, raising it to show him.
"Who gave him a sword?" he asked, looking around at everyone.
"Becca did," he answered, "because she trusts me."
Eddie turned to her, raising his eyebrows. "You thought it was a good idea to give this kid a giant steel blade that can slice through bone?"
Becca shrugged. "He's used one before. You weren't there but he battled off those demodog things with one. He's perfectly capable."
"I tried to warn her," Steve said, raising his hands.
Eddie frowned, "You're braver than me. You just watch where you're swinging that kid."
Dustin scoffed, rolling his eyes, "I got it. Don't worry."
"So, are we doing this thing or not?" Spike asked. "Sorry if you're all enjoying your little reunion but some of us have things to do like taking over a hell dimension. Are we ready to get this show on the road already?"
Eddie glared at him. He really didn't like this guy. He hoped Becca knew what the hell she was doing because this Spike character was definitely holding some card up his sleeve that he was waiting to play. Why would anyone willingly stay in this place? The complete isolation, the desolation of nothingness that went on forever, the horrific sounds of the bats and the demogorgons as they hunted...he had been slowly losing all sense of sanity since he'd been trapped. Nobody in their right mind would give up their freedom to be in charge of this place. This was no kingdom to rule. It was a prison to be confined in.
"Yes, we're doing this," Becca stated. "So, this was your plan. How does this work? Do we just walk out with Eddie? Are they just going to accept it? How do we let them know that you're the new king of the castle?"
Spike stuck his thumbs in his belt loops, rocking forward a bit as he pouted his lips, "Honestly, the amount of plan I had included getting us all in here so you could get your honey. I say he tries to walk through the gate and we see what happens. If the beasties let him be, then the plan worked. If not..."
"Are you kidding me right now?" Becca growled, taking angry steps toward him. "This was your plan! If we came in here and walked for three goddamn hours to find out that Eddie can't leave, then our deal is off and your chest will get well acquainted with my stake!"
"Whoa cutie," he said, raising his hands. "I never promised I could get him out. I promised I could get you in. It still might work. They see a monster staying and they may be satisfied enough to let your boy toy out."
Eddie sighed, "Alright, look, let's just head to the gate and see what happens. Worst case scenario those little flying assholes grab onto me again and hold me here. If that happens, then you guys go and..."
"No," Becca said, her expression fierce, eyes set with determination. "If they won't let you go, then Spike, here, is going to come up with another plan. He got us into this and he is going to figure out how to get you out."
"No pressure or anything," Spike huffed.
"Okay," Malcolm interjected, "let's head back toward the gate and see what happens. If these monsters want a master, we will find out soon enough if they find Spike suitable or not. Lord knows I wouldn't."
"You know, the constant barbs my way are not appreciated," Spike snorted. "You're only this far because of me. You would be on your way to California, a place that could prove false, if it weren't for me. And how were you planning to get all the way to the drug lord's house in Indiana from California if there was a gate?"
"You were going to California?" Eddie asked.
"Long story," Becca sighed, shaking her head. "We'll have plenty of time to talk about everything later when you're out of here. Come on. Let's go."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Next chapter 01/19