The couple stopped chasing them shortly after they knew they couldn't catch up to a moving vehicle.
The owners of the RV were left behind as Steve continued to drive.
Now that Steve was driving closer to the speed limit, Julia decided to go to the front.
She left Melody with Robin and Nancy. Both teens didn't know what to do with the young girl. Nancy looked at Melody awkwardly. Robin grinned at Melody and leaned closer to her face.
Melody moved her head back, wanting her space. She looked in the direction where her parents were and extended her hand toward them.
Hearing footsteps getting closer to him, Steve looked over his shoulder.
Julia sat on the passenger seat. "I'm impressed. I didn't know you could drive an RV," Julia said, buckling in her seatbelt.
He chuckled, "This is great practice for me."
She waited for him to elaborate. "I don't think I ever told you this, but I always had this dream that I'd have this really... really big family." He didn't look for her reaction, nervous he would scare her away. It's the first time he had said it out loud.
"I'm talking, like, uh, a full brood of Harringtons. Like, five, or six kids," he said with a big smile.
Julia's eyes slightly widened. She didn't think her body would be able to go through pregnancy six different times.
"Six little nuggets. Three girls, three boys." He let out a warm laugh, his eyes creezed.
Julia didn't interrupt him; she was intrigued on what he had to say.
"And every summer, I figured all of us Harringtons, we would pack into something like this." With his index finger, he moved it around in a circular motion.
"And just see the country." He looked ahead in concentration as if he was picturing what he had just talked about with a smile on his lips.
She looked at him thoughtfully. He blinked a few times and said, "You know, the Rockies, Grand Canyon, maybe Yellowstone," he listed.
Happiness radiated from him as he said, "End up in some beachside town in California. Spend a week parked in the sand. Learn how to surf or something."
She smiled at him. "I love that. It sounds fun. I want to see more than just Hawkins."
She stared at the empty road. "I think learning how to surf would be fun, but we should wait until Melody is a bit older so she can properly enjoy the trip."
He looked at her for a few seconds, surprised by her response. He thought she would react differently and not want the same thing as him.
Her eyes sparked for a second. "Let's add Niagara Falls to your list," she said excitedly, looking at him.
She didn't have to ask him twice. He would take her anywhere she wanted. If she told him she wanted to see all the National Parks, he would take her to every single one.
After a second, she added, "Oh, and six kids, that's too much." She shook her hand. "I don't think my body and mind can take that many pregnancies."
He would never pressure her in having a lot of kids if that was something she didn't want. It was his dream of having a big family, and maybe it wasn't something she wanted, and that was fine.
He chucked, "I agree six might be too much. How many are you thinking?" He glanced at her as his two hands were on the steering wheel.
"I don't know," she answered honestly. She knew she wanted more, but she wasn't sure how many. "I don't want Melody to be an only child, but I want to give my body some time to rest." Her pregnancy wasn't easy, mostly at the end. It was hard for her mentally and physically.
She looked down at her hands that were resting on her lap. "Are you fine with me not knowing how many kids I want right now," she asked, a bit hesitant. It was a hard decision to make. The only two things she was sure of were she didn't want to only have one child and she definitely didn't want to have six.
He extended one of his hands to her lap, his fingertips slightly rubbing her hand. She moved her hand closer to his.
"Julia, you can say you only want three, then change your mind and say you're fine with only two kids."
He glanced at her, rubbing his thumb on her hand. "We are still young. We have all the time in the world."
He focused on the road, and on the right side, not too far away, he saw a big green sign with the words War Zone in yellow letters.
"There's no rush." He reassured her.
She exhaled in relief, knowing that Steve was fine with her not having an exact number right away. She knew Steve wasn't like that, but there was a small fear in the back of her head that made her believe Steve wouldn't take a no for an answer and want six kids, one after the other.
They were getting closer to their destination. Steve moved the steering wheel and went into the parking lot. The place was full of cars parked everywhere.
Steve parked in the back of the building, away from prying eyes.
Not everyone was going to go. Eddie, Dustin, Lucas, and Julia stayed behind.
Robin handed an annoyed Melody back to the young girl's mother. "She's in a bad mood," Robin said as she made her way out. "Oh, and she stinks too." With that she closed the door. Melody was probably in a bad mood because her diaper was dirty.
Julia kissed Melody's cheek "lets change you." She placed Melody down on the sofa on the left side.
Lucas got up and moved to the opposite side. Julia sat on the floor near her daughter.
The young brunette girl began to move her body around like a worm, "Stay still," Julia said with her hand on Melody's stomach, and with her other hand, she tried to reach her bag. Her fingertips were only a few centimeters away.
Eddie noticed that Julia was struggling to grab her bag; he helped her and placed it closer to her.
"Here you go" he positioned it on the small brown sofa near Melody's feet.
She thanked him and got out a diaper from the packback.
Eddie, intrigued, sat beside Melody. Babies were a new territory for him. Being a father was not something he felt pressure to become. There's a part of him that is scared he can turn out just like his father.
He's still young, he could probably change his mind in the next 10 years, but as of right now he is good on his own. He can barely take care of himself. Besides, he's a wanted man; he needs to clean up his name. He can later worry about children.
The thought of having a family of his own had never crossed his mind. Julia seemed to be a natural even though she was struggling with her energetic daughter.
Slowly Eddie moved his hand directly above Melody. He wiggled his fingers around.
The young girl was intrigued by the rings of the older teen. Julia looked at Eddie with gratitude. He smiled back at her and took off his skull ring, and showed the ring to the baby.
The brunette girl extended her shorthand, wanting to grab the ring. She was fascinated with the objects. Melody squealed as she tried to grasp them every time Eddie moved his hand higher.
Melody stayed still longer than before Julia took advantage of her daughter being entertained wanting to hold Eddie's rings. She quickly took off Melody's dirty diaper.
Eddie let Melody have one of his rings but quickly took it away from her when he saw her taking it straight to her mouth.
"Not again," Dustin mumbled, covering his nose and walking to the front. He almost gagged as he sat on the passenger seat.
Julia rolled her eyes at how dramatic Dustin was and set the dirty diaper to the side.
"Do you feel better," Julia asked her daughter.
Melody smiled and extended her hands. Julia couldn't imagine how uncomfortable Melody must have felt with a dirty diaper.
With a little assistance from Julia, Melody sat up.
Julia got up from the floor and took a seat next to her daughter.
Melody's hairs were all over the place. The black thin hair tie was loosely on her head. Julia untied the hair tie and brushed Melody's hair back.
Her daughter grunted and moved her hands up to her head, wanting her mother to let her hair be free.
With one hand, Julia moved Melody's hand down to her side. The little girl didn't give up easily.
After a few tries Julia was able to give Melody one curved ponytail.
The mother kissed her daughter's forehead "you look beautiful, Mellow." Melody wasn't too happy with her mother and looked the opposite way.
With the smell being gone, Dustin got up from his seat. He was pacing in the small area he had available. Julia noticed it was something he did quite often.
He looked at his watch, "What the hell is taking so long?" As if the others heard him, they opened the door abruptly. Quickly one after the other, they walked inside carrying big brown bags.
"What happened," Lucas asked.
"Gotta go. Your old friends are here," Erica responded, sitting beside Lucas.
Steve walked to the front and inserted the key into the ignition.
Julia didn't move from her spot and held Melody closer to her.
"Let's go! Let's go!"
Nancy sat on the passenger seat next to Steve.
Eddie sat beside Julia.
"I'm going! Sit down!"
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞
𝙸'𝚖 𝚜𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜. 𝙸 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚊 𝚓𝚘𝚋 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝙸 𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘. 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚌𝚞𝚜 𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚍𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚔𝚎𝚗𝚍, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚐𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝙸𝚖 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚞𝚢𝚜.
𝙰𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜, 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐💜 𝙸𝚝 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎: )