Two months after they confessed their feelings to each other on the back of Eddie's car, they were still as close as ever. Eddie had been worried when he dropped Steve off at the shop that night. He watched as Steve sat behind the wheel of his car, his headlights illuminating the side of the building before he waved Eddie off. The whole drive home he'd been worried about what would happen next as Lucy slept behind him.
But the following day, Steve showed up for lunch at the truck stop. The guys shared a cup of coffee after Eddie clocked out. It was like nothing had changed. He was able to breathe a sigh of relief that night.
And really, nothing did change. Steve never made Eddie feel bad about not being able to reciprocate his feelings. Eddie never felt like Steve was upset or disappointed. It was nice. They spent time together when they could. More often than not, it was lukewarm dinners at Eddie's, or joyriding in one of their cars while Lucy slept.
Now, the weather was starting to change. The temperatures were dropping to comfortable during the day, and downright chilly once the sun set. October was officially here, and with it came all manner of fall fun.
"We should take Lu to a pumpkin patch," Steve suggested as he sipped his drink.
"What? Why?" Eddie asked, wiping his cloth over the counter between them. "Don't know if you noticed but she's roughly the same size as a pumpkin."
"Oh, come on, ya big grump," Steve laughed. "It'll be fun! Hayrides, hot chocolate, pumpkins. An afternoon with your favorite friend and your favorite daughter."
"I only have one of each," Eddie laughed.
"Let me have my win, Munson."
Eddie thought about the idea. Steve might be right, he thought. It could be fun to do something other than hang out at home. And Lucy would love a hayride. Well, maybe. She's never seen hay before. Just as he was about to speak again, to offer Steve a soft 'maybe' a voice he'd forgotten about sounded from the front door on the other side of the large room.
"Hey, rockstar."
Steve looked up from his plate just in time to watch the color drain from Eddie's face. Eddie almost always wore a bright smile, his cheeks dimpling. Sometimes, if Steve said the right things, a slight blush would color his cheeks and ears. But now, there was nothing. His face was white as paper and his expression was completely blank. Emotionless.
"Billie."
Steve had heard the name. Billie was Lucy's mother. The woman who had made Eddie quit the band and then left him alone in a dirty apartment with Lucy when she was barely three weeks old. Any time he'd heard her name before it was either spoken with venom or over a deep sigh. But now, the two syllables fell off Eddie's tongue in a confused, almost disbelieving way. He turned in his seat towards the door. She was pretty, he noticed.
Her hands were stuffed into the pockets of a beige jacket as she smiled sheepishly to Eddie. Her tight, light colored jeans reminded him of the dress she'd worn the night they met. His eyes narrowed as she began to walk over to the counter. He never thought he'd see her again. Never wanted to see her again. But here she was. In Hawkins. At his job.
She walked to the counter, coming to a stop a few seats down from where Steve was finishing his lunch. Eddie felt his mouth go dry as he watched her sit down.
"What are you doing here, Belinda?"
"Belinda?" She asked with a smile. "You never called me that. You gonna start calling me Miss Holbrook, too?"
"Why are you here?"
Eddie was not in the mood for pleasantries. His harsh stance and stern tone reminded Steve of when they were in school together. When Eddie had adopted a persona of intimidation. It seemed so strange to Steve to be seeing it now.
Billie looked at Steve briefly, her green eyes skirting over his form for just a moment. "I want to see Lucy," she finally answered.
"Oh, well it's nice of you to show up when she's almost a year old, but that's not gonna happen."
"Eddie, she's my daughter-"
"No," he said, cutting her off. "She's my daughter. You were just… an incubator."
"How was I supposed to be there when you took her away from me?"
Eddie looked genuinely shocked. If the situation weren't so tense, Steve might have even thought his expression was funny. The way his eyes bugged, his head shaking as he tried to understand what she was saying. But given the moment at hand, it was anything but funny.
"I stayed in New York for three months after you left us," he said. "Three fucking months of pawning everything I owned, doing whatever else I could think of to make enough that we wouldn't starve. Where the hell were you, Billie?"
"I wasn't ready to be her mom, Eddie. But I'm ready now."
Eddie crossed his arms over his chest. "Good to know, but it's too late. You're not seeing her. You're not going anywhere near her."
"You can't just keep her from me forever."
"The fuck I can't," he scoffed. "I suggest you head back home now. Leave us alone."
Billie nodded silently. She finally stood from her seat with a sigh. "Eddie, I've filed paperwork to have your custody rights stripped. You should be getting something in the mail soon with a court date."
The air in the truck stop vanished. Hell, probably every oxygen molecule in the state of Indiana. Eddie's heart fell to his feet. His knees suddenly liquefied and he had to press both hands to the counter in front of him to stay standing.
"What did you just say?"
"I didn't want to," she said, her voice almost pleading. "But my parents hired this lawyer. I knew you probably wouldn't let me see her. But I figured I'd try anyway."
Eddie was silent. His eyes were wide as he stared at the countertop between his hands. How could she do this? How could she leave them and then one day decide that she had a right to take Lucy away? He felt sick. Physically sick as the pancakes he'd eaten on his break hours earlier suddenly began to rise to his throat.
He turned away and ran into the back. He quickly found the trashcan near the door to the cash office and emptied his stomach into it. His knees hit the hard concrete floor as his head was planted into the small trash can that he held tightly in both hands. He felt tears roll down his cheeks.
Once there was nothing left for his stomach to deposit into the trash can he set it down and moved so that his back was against the wall. He brought his knees up, resting his arms over the rips in the denim as the tears fell freely. The idea of not having Lucy tore at him like an animal.
Suddenly, someone was beside him. He opened his eyes and looked to his left. He was surprised, to say the least, to see Steve on the floor next to him.
"The big guy let me back," he said, answering the question Eddie didn't even need to ask. "Told me to check on ya."
Fresh hot tears began to rain down Eddie's face. Steve slung an arm over his shoulders and pulled Eddie into his chest. He held him like that for what felt like hours. Just letting Eddie cry, doing everything he could to stop his own tears. He'd grown close to Lucy this summer. But even if he hadn't, seeing Eddie break down would have been enough to have him in tears.
"What am I gonna do?" Eddie asked, sniffling as he tried to slow the wave of tears.
"I don't know," Steve sighed, running his hand up and down Eddie's arm. "But we're gonna figure it out. Okay? I won't let her take Lucy."
It was two days later when the letter showed up in his mailbox. Eddie felt his knees almost give out again, followed immediately by red hot rage. According to the letter, his "case" would be tried in just about a month. He had 27 days to figure out how to keep Lucy in his life. And he'd be damned if wasn't going to do everything he could to keep her.
Wayne found him a lawyer. Some slick dick looking guy from a few towns over who specialized in custody and family law. He seemed pretty sure that Billie didn't have a leg to stand on. He said all the right things to try to ease Eddie's mind, but nothing worked. He was on edge and anxious, and he knew he would be until the court date was behind him.
Two weeks before the trial, Steve's phone rang. He stood from the couch, turning the TV off on his way to where his phone hung in his kitchen. He downed the final swig of beer in the bottom of his bottle before picking up the phone.
"Hey, Steve?" Eddie sounded terrible. A heartbreaking combination of tired and distressed.
"Eddie," Steve answered. 'What's going on?"
Eddie took a deep breath. Steve could almost see it, his eyes closing tightly as he rubbed his hand down his cheek. He'd been seeing a lot of it lately.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, man, anything."
"You're totally allowed to say no to this," he started. "But that lawyer Wayne hired said I need to find character witnesses. Basically, people who will tell the judge I'm not a fuck up and that I'm a good dad."
"I'll do it." Steve didn't hesitate for a moment. He knew that Eddie wasn't a fuck up, and he was definitely a good dad.
"Are you sure?" Eddie asked, breathing a deep sigh of relief.
"Yeah," Steve answered just as quickly as he had before. "When is it?"
"It's in a few weeks. He wants to sit down with everyone and talk about what kind of questions her lawyer is gonna ask and shit like that."
"Who else ya got?"
"Uh, Wayne and Misty both volunteered. Now you, and Wayne said I should ask Sarah. But that seems like a lot to ask someone I barely know."
"I bet she'd say yes," Steve said quietly. The few times he'd met Sarah two doors down from Eddie, she was sweet to him. And she clearly loved little Lucy.
"Maybe," Eddie sighed. Steve heard shuffling on the other end of the call and knew that Eddie was probably sitting on the counter near the phone. "I'm just freaking the fuck out."
"Well, what does your lawyer think?"
"He actually said I have a pretty good chance. Said that since we never had legal custody papers drawn up, it wasn't technically illegal to bring her to Indiana."
"Well, that's good, right?" Steve asked, trying to sound cheerful.
"I guess," Eddie replied. "But he also said that judges tend to side with the mom on custody stuff. So I just don't know. I'm trying everything I can. Even went out and bought a fuckin suit," he giggled.
"Oh, well now I'm definitely in," Steve smiled. "Can't pass up an opportunity to see that."