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complicatedchelsea · 5 months

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Fallen Through Time For You

Chapter Fifteen: A New Normal

Masterlist:

(Sydney's POV)

A dull beeping sound was the first thing I was aware of when I was dragged back into my body and away from the comforting darkness. I kept my eyes closed, trying to keep stock of everything around me and try to make sense of the murkiness of my thoughts.

Jason dragging me into the alley.

The sirens.

The sight of a blurry Eddie above me, panic and rage hitting me like a freight train.

The nurses taking pictures of me while I cried out as they reset my wrist. The pinch of needle and then no more pain, just swimming in a feeling of numbness.

Opening my eyes to see Eddie staring down at me, tears running down his beautiful face.

Did I hear Wayne?

So Joyce had actually found me, that wasn’t Jason coming back to finish the job. Will must have reached her in time and someone must have called an ambulance. I didn’t remember getting to the hospital, but I remember the feeling of needing to see Eddie and when he appeared above me, it was as if I had taken my first deep breath since Jason had first struck me. He had looked so sad, so anxious and those feelings in my chest had exploded.

Oh god. He must have felt all that fear. That’s why he was so angry.

The hospital bed was more comfortable than the ones I had previously found myself in from a different life. There was a blanket pulled up to my chest, my body feeling cold underneath. I stretched my legs out carefully and tried to wiggle my hands carefully to bring the feeling back, but I stopped when I realized something was wrapped around both of mine. I guess the thicker, scratcher material was the cast, but my other hand was being held by someone else.

Eddie.

That was enough for me to fight against the weight holding down my eyelids, wanting to see him. See how he was doing. I can’t imagine what he must have felt in that moment, what my fear must have done to him.

I blinked a few times to clear my eyes before the sight next to me became clear. Hopper was sleeping in a chair to my right, head tilted back and his hat covering his face. He was still in his uniform meaning that he must have been there for a while.

Eddie’s curls entered my vision next, them laying in a frizzy heap around his face. His one hand was holding mine, the other grasping onto the sleeve of my gown as if I might have slipped away from him during the night. His face was smooth and less red than I remember seeing it the night before, all signs of crying gone.

I shifted a little bit onto my side, pain tweaking down my chest that I chose to ignore to get closer to my boy. I tightened my grip on his hand enough that it grounded me, but not enough that I wanted to wake him from what I’m assuming was his uneventful rest. But fate decided for me as his face twisted and his nose slightly scrunched up. It took him a second to open his eyes and once they made contact with mine, I got the pleasure of watching clarity bleed into his muddy eyes.

“Sweetheart?” He asked me quietly as he gazed back at me. “Are you awake?”

I nodded, not trusting my voice after all the screaming that I did the night before. I tried to move towards him, but my face scrunched up in pain and that was all it took for him to shuffle more towards me on the bed. The one hand that was grasping my sleeve moved to rest against my cheek, his thumb sweeping back and forth in space.

His beautiful eyes welled with tears and his grip tightened on my hand as he let out an unsteady breath. Before he could open his mouth, I stopped him with a shake of my head.

“It’s not your fault,” I whispered to him. “Don’t apologize.”

“But,” His bottom lip wobbled and my heart broke. “If I would have been there-”

“He would have killed you, baby.” I said as I ran my thumb along his knuckles. “I’m not sorry for you being safe.”

“But it’s my job to protect you.” He argued back. “What does that say about me?”

“I protected you.” I said to him. “I’m allowed to protect you and I’m so glad you weren’t in that alley with me because if he would have killed you in front of me; I would have never survived.”

Eddie shook his head. “Don’t say that.”

“I love you.” I answered back, watching his face melt back into a softer expression. “I’m sorry I woke you up.”

Eddie snorted quietly and raised our joined hands to leave a kiss on the back of mine. “Don’t be. I wanted to be the first face you saw when you woke up.”

“How long have I been out?” I asked as his hand moved from my face to fret on me. He tucked the blanket closer to me, smoothing some hair away from my face. I could see some natural light peeking from behind the blinds to reflect on the floor.

“You slept through the night,” Eddie answered as he started tracing shapes on the back of my hand that he was holding. “Wayne was here for a few hours but he went back to the trailer to handle some things. Hopper was worried that Jason might come to the trailer looking for me so Wayne decided to sit up with the shotgun.”

I shivered. “All this trouble for me?”

“You’re my kid,” Hopper interrupted us and I jumped at the sudden sound of his voice. Looking over Eddie’s curls, I could see that Hopper was awake and sitting up with his hat now resting on his lap. “That bastard is going to be found today.”

“So he’s still out there?” I asked quietly as my eyes flickered towards the closed door. Is there any way that he shows up here?

“He’s not getting anywhere near you,” Eddie promised as he leaned away from me but kept a vice grip on my hand. “He’d be stupid to show up here.”

“He lost his damn mind weeks ago,” Hopper muttered as he stood up and came to stand beside the bed to look down at me. “How are you feeling?”

“Sore,” I muttered as I tried to shift again and stopped at the pang in my chest. “I’m on some pretty high painkillers, aren’t I?”

Eddie nodded. “What do you remember?”

“Pain,” I said as Eddie’s face crumbled. “I was too out of it last night to remember what they did.”

“Your wrist is broken,” Hopper started as he gazed down at me. “You have severely bruised ribs and only two cuts needed stitches-one on your arm and the one on your face.”

“My face?” I asked as I moved my free hand up and felt the bandage that was sitting against my skin.

Pain. Jason waving a knife around-one that I was convinced he was going to stab me with. Someone holding me down and the knife being brought down against my face-

“Oh,” I said softly as it came back to me. The look on Jason’s face, the pain as the knife slid down my face. “It’s going to leave a scar, isn’t it?”

“That doesn’t matter,” Eddie said as he placed his hand over mine and brought them both down to rest against my chest. “It just matters that you are alive.”

Hopper cleared his throat. “I’m going to let the nurse know that you are awake and once she gives me the clear, I’m going to get Powell and we are going to ask you a few questions to finish the report. Is that okay with you?”

I nodded my grip on Eddie’s hand tightening as I met his eyes. “You’ll stay with me?”

Eddie nodded. “You’re not leaving my sight.”

Hopper watched us both for a moment before he leaned down to kiss my forehead before heading towards the door, not looking back at us.

“He was terrified, you know.” Eddie said as my eyes slid back to meet his. “I know that I was a wreck last night, but once Wayne left and he settled himself in here, I think he actually cried. Said that when Joyce called him, all he could think about was another kid of his dying.”

I felt a lump form in my throat and I closed my eyes as a wave of emotions swept over me. “I fought like hell.”

“I know you did, sweetheart.” Eddie replied and I felt movement against the bed before his forehead pressed against mine. “Feeling that fear and then seeing Will bust into the diner? I don’t ever want to feel that way again.”

“I’m sorry.” I said quietly.

“No, Sydney.” Eddie said as he leaned back and I opened my eyes to meet his red-rimmed ones. “I don’t want you to be sorry. I’m so proud that you fought like hell to get back to me.” Eddie let out a wet laugh. “I hope you know that I’m not letting you out of my sight anytime soon.”

I laughed back, tugging him back to me against the bed. “I wouldn’t want you to.”

After the nurse had came in and helped clean me up (I didn’t realized I was so filthy and true to his word, Eddie waited outside the bathroom for me as the nurse helped me shower) and deemed me up for more visitors, Hopper and Powell where in the room showing me pictures and asking for statements.

“My blood should be all over him,” I stated as Eddie fussed over me again, making sure the blanket was tucked around me as I was finally feeling up to sitting up. The painkillers were making things a little hazy, the IV irritating the hell out of me causing Eddie to take my hand so I would stop messing with it. “If he’s still got the same shoes on from last night-which he probably is stupid enough to keep with him, then my blood should be all over that too. Not to mention how much he dragged me around by my hair, my DNA should be all over him.”

“He left the knife at the crime scene,” Powell said from his place by the door, Hopper sitting on a chair on my other side with a recorder in his hand.

I snorted. “The knife he cut me with? The one that is going to be covered in his fingerprints?”

“We won’t be able to match for prints until we bring him into the station,” Powell said. “But I promise you we are doing everything we can to find him. We haven’t spread word about what happened just yet, but I’m afraid people are asking questions.”

“You think telling them he beat an innocent girl will give them an incentive to turn him in?” I asked incredulously. “The town protected him the first time around with Eddie-he even gloated about it. You really think they will?”

“His friend came by the station this morning,” Powell said as he turned to face Hopper. Hopper clicked the device off, shutting the folder he had resting against the bed.

“This is the first I’m hearing of this,” Hopper said. “You didn’t think to tell me this earlier? Like when you got here?”

“The kid wants immunity,” Powell continued. “He doesn’t know where Carver is, but he thinks he can draw him out.”

“Like hell am I giving that kid immunity!” Hopper yelled. “He still touched Sydney, held her down while Carver attacked her.”

“Jim,” Powell said with a sigh. “We don’t have to give him full immunity, but his testimony will help put Carver away-for good this time. No weaseling out of it. You just need to talk to the kid.”

Hopper mulled over that for the rest of the visit. Powell took the statements and promised that if we needed anything, Hopper could call him at any time. After he left, the doctor came back in to reiterate to me what he told everyone else last night. He gave copies of care instructions to both Hopper and Eddie, making me promise to take it easy and then come back for a checkup in two weeks to see if the stitches needed to stay in any longer.

Steve and Robin showed up an hour later while Hopper was filling out my discharge paperwork. They brought with them fresh clothes for Eddie and I, but also breakfast.

“God, I’m starving.” I said as I eyed the bag in Steve’s hand. “I didn’t get a chance to finish eating last night before I got dragged off.”

Steve eyed me as he placed the bag at the foot of the bed. “Can we not joke about that, please?”

He replaced Eddie on the bed as the latter went to change, giving me a kiss on the forehead before making his way to the bathroom. With a look, Steve made a move to gently turn my head and look at the line of stitches on my cheek. “It’s going to leave a scar, huh?”

“Welcome to the party, babe,” Robin said as she plunked down in the spare chair. “Now we are bonded for life.”

“That’s a very dark way to think about it,” Eddie said as he came out of the bathroom, tugging a shirt down over his chest. I got just a small glimpse of his chest before it disappeared, my face heating up as he caught my eye. Eddie laughed, coming back to me and brushing some of my hair out of my face. “You want to eat or get dressed first?”

My stomach growled louder as an answer, Eddie just laughed and started to divide the food between the four of us.

“Are you going back to Eddie’s?” Steve asked me between bites.

“I think Hopper wants me to go back with him, but I honestly want to go back to my own bed and sleep more,” I frowned and turned towards Eddie. “Is Wayne going to be home?”

Eddie nodded. “I don’t think he’s going to be going to work the next few days, sweetheart. You scared him shitless.”

I looked down at my lap, fiddling with the napkins in my lap. “What about Will?”

Steve grabbed my hand. “Don’t. Don’t do that. Will is fine, and I think he just wants to make sure you are in one piece. The kid is happy that you’re alive.”

“Did he tell you that Jason was going to kill him too?”

It got quiet.

“What?” Steve asked me. “What did you just say?”

“Jason was going to kill you?” Robin said at the same time.

I peaked over at Eddie to see him staring at me, an unreadable expression on his face. He knew this, heard me tell Powell this, but that look his face told me that anytime he hears that it’s going to be the first time all over again.

“Jason was going to kill me,” I said as I looked up at Steve and glanced at Robin. “He still believes that Eddie killed Chrissy. ‘An eye for an eye’ is what he said. When he dragged me into the alley, I don’t think he knew what he was going to do with Will. I talked him into letting Will go, that’s the only reason that I’m here, alive.”

Steve stared at me for a moment before getting up from the bed and walking towards the door. I watched him in complete silence as he didn’t even turn around, just open the door and slip into the hallway. I glanced at Robin. “What did I say?”

Robin sucked in a deep breath, and I noticed that her eyes had started to water. “I don’t think Steve realized that Jason was actually going to kill you.”

Eddie’s hand landed on my knee causing me to turn and look at him. He sent me a sad smile. “Just give him a few minutes to calm down. Steve didn’t want to get angry in front of you.”

“Why?”

“Because,” Robin said as she moved to Steve’s spot and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “One, he never wants you to see him angry. He’s terrified that you won’t want to be around him, he’s like that with all of us. Two-he’s going to need to get it out of his system. Steve doesn’t like being angry, reminds him too much of his dad. So let’s give him a minute and I’ll help you change?”

A week. That’s how long it took me to get annoyed at Eddie.

I’m surprised I lasted as long as I did.

When we first got back from the hospital, it was nice always having him right there. Waking up from a nightmare about Jason? Eddie was already bringing me to his chest, holding me close until I calmed down, not letting me go as we both fell back asleep. Wanting to see everyone? Eddie drove us to Hoppers, didn’t leave my side-even waiting outside the bathroom with the excuse of making sure I didn’t fall.

Eddie didn’t go to school that week either. Wayne and I didn’t give him any shit for it, especially Wayne when he saw the panic attack I devolved into because of a male neighbor knocking on the door. But when Sunday night came and Eddie said that he wasn’t going back to school the next day, I started to get a little mad.

“Why?” I had asked him. Wayne had gone back to work a few nights ago, claiming that bills had to be paid and if anything Eddie could handle the shotgun. Wayne also knew that while Jason might be stupid, he wasn’t stupid enough to show up at the trailer. By now the whole town knew what happened-Jason Carver attacked Hopper’s niece because she was seen with Eddie. It was one thing to spread gossip, but with Hopper threatening serious consequences to anyone hiding him; no was willing to test his word this time.

Eddie looked up from where he was sitting at the kitchen table, writing in his notebook with an idea for his next campaign. “Why what?”

I frowned and shifted from where I was sitting on the touch, a pile of blankets on top of me at Eddie’s insistence. “You just told me that you weren’t going to school tomorrow. Why not?”

Eddie stared at me for a moment, a hard look on his face. “You’re not serious?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Enlighten me?”

“Sweetheart,” Eddie said as he snorted unkindly, his tone a little harder than I was used to coming from him. He didn’t spare me another glance, choosing to look back down at his notebook. “Don’t be stupid.”

“Stupid?” I echoed back to him, turning to face him fully. “What the hell does that mean?”

I watched as the grip he had on his pen tightened, him shaking his head softly as he let out a harsh breath through his nose. He refused to look at me.

“Eddie,” I said, a little astonished as I tried to get up from the couch. At the squeak of the springs he was up in an instant, offering me his hands so I wouldn’t strain the muscles in my chest anymore than I needed to. “Don’t use me as an excuse to not go to school.”

After he made sure I was good, he took a big step back from me. “You think I’m using your attack as an excuse to not go to school?”

“Eddie,” I tried again, wanting to make sure that I wasn’t coming across as accusing. “There are plenty of people that want to see me, offering to spend time with me during the day so you can actually go to school and graduate this year. I don’t want to be out of your sight either, but you can’t just not go back to school.”

“So you don’t want me around?” Eddie asked, frustration bleeding into his tone. He threw his hands up and crossed them against his chest. “You don’t know what it felt like to see you in that hospital bed! You didn’t feel what I felt when Will burst into that diner and told me that Carver dragged you into that alley! You think I’m using this as a stupid excuse to not go back to class?”

“Baby-” I tried to interject as I took a step towards him but froze when he took another big step back from me. I tried to not let that hurt me as I cleared my throat. “You can’t keep me locked in here with you forever. I know that Jason is still out there and I know that I can’t go walking down Main by myself, but dammit Hopper and even Joyce are capable of making sure that nothing happens to me.”

“You don’t know that!” Eddie replied back, his voice getting louder. I felt my heartrate start to kick up, my body beginning to panic at the signs of anger coming from Eddie. “I left you alone with Will and Jason was able to get you. I can’t trust you by yourself!”

I took a step back, the statement like a slap to my face. “You can’t trust me by myself? What are you going to do, stand outside every bathroom for me like Jason is going to pop out from behind a shower curtain? Be serious Eddie, you haven’t left me alone since we got out of the hospital! I understand that I scared you, but damn I can’t go anywhere by myself!”

Eddie scoffed and narrowed his eyes at me. “I remember you being grateful for that when you had a panic attack because a neighbor knocked on the door. Or when you woke up in the middle of the night with the comforter wrapped around you wrong or-”

“Eddie!” I raised my voice. “I’m not asking you to not see me! I’m not asking you to not be there for me, but you can’t stay glued to my side forever! It’s not plausible and it must be stressing you out trying to play guard dog every day minu-”

The sound of Eddie slamming his hand down on the counter stopped me immediately. My body went stiff as a board, flight or fight instinct took over as I watched him stand back up with anger vibrating his body.

This is Eddie.

This isn’t my father.

Eddie would never hit me.

Eddie would never yell at m-

“You don’t seem to understand so maybe I need to spell it out for you!” Eddie yelled, his voice echoing the trailer so loud I’m pretty sure the neighbors next door could hear him. “You won’t survive another encounter with Jason by yourself, sweetheart! I told you that I wasn’t letting you out of my damn sight and I meant it!”

“You can’t keep me here,” I said to him, not raising my voice and doing my best to keep the wobble out of my voice. I could feel my eyes stinging as I tried to not let the tears fall. “You don’t think I’m grateful for what you’ve done? I love you Eddie, but we are going to have to move and start trying to get past this. I can’t let Jason hang over our lives forever. You can’t let him win.”

Eddie let out a frustrated laugh and rubbed harshly at his jaw. “And what, you want to go on pretending that you don’t have a broken arm and bruised ribs? Hm? What about the cut on your face? The one that’s going to scar and remind anyone that looks at you that Carver attacked you and won. What then, sweetheart? Are you going to still pretend that it didn’t happen?”

I bit my lip to stop it from wobbling. Never had we fought like this. Sure Eddie and I argued, but it wasn’t nothing we couldn’t talk through and find a solution.

This Eddie? This one that yelled at me and slammed his hand on the counter, the same one that promised me he would never do those two things? I don’t know who he was.

I cleared my throat and clenched my fists by my side as he stared me down.

“You, Eddie Munson are an asshole.” I said to him, letting my heartbreak seep into the tone.

Eddie shrugged and turned away from me, hands at the sink with his head falling against his chest. “Don’t group me with them.”

“Oh, I didn’t. You did that all on your own,” I snapped back at him. I glanced down and grabbed on the blankets off the couch, wrapping it around me as I started to make my way to the front door. I wasn’t staying here, not after the yelling and the slamming of his hands. We both needed space before he said something he couldn’t take back.

At the sound of tugging on my converse, Eddie turned around with his arms crossed over his chest. “And where do you think you are going?”

I huffed as I stood back up, tugging the blanket tighter to me in a sense of comfort. “You think you deserve to know that after you slammed your hands around and yelled at me?”

Eddie didn’t move, but I could see the way his hands clenched at his chest. “You can’t go.”

“Watch me,” I said I turned back to unlock the door, not bothering to grab my key from the hook beside the door. “Try to follow me Munson, I dare you.”

“But,” I heard movement behind me. “Jason’s still out there-”

“You’ll get a call from whoever I end up with. But don’t you dare follow me. I need some space and I think you need to think about what just happened, what you just did.”

I didn’t say anything more as I opened the door and let it slam behind me. I took off for Max’s trailer, seeing the lamp she keeps in the living room on from behind the curtains. I only had to knock once before she opened the door, a bowl of cereal in her hands. She took in my state and let me in without another word, guiding me to the phone on her kitchen wall.

“What happened?” She asked me.

“Do you have Steve’s number?”

She slid a pad of numbers towards me without argument and leaned into my side when I raised one of my arms to settle along her shoulders. She wrapped her arms around me loosely as I dialed Steve’s number, anxiously biting my lip at the sound of it ringing.

“Hello?” Steve’s voice questioned over the line.

“Hey, Steve.” I said and I felt my dam start to crumble and the tears slid down my face. “Do you think there is a chance you could come get me?

“Sydney?” He questioned, his voice going concerned. “What happened? Are you at Eddie’s?”

“Uh,” I sniffed and tried to swallow the ball of emotion in my throat. “Eddie and I got into a fight, is there any way I could spend the night with you?”

I felt Max tighten her grip on me and in return I gripped her closer to my side.

“Of course, where are you calling from? Are you still with him?”

“No,” I said as I wiped my wet face on my sleeve. “I walked down to be with Max. He-uh said some things and I-”

I cut myself off with a sob. “Just get here as fast as you can?”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” Steve said in a tight voice. “Just stay with Max, okay? If Eddie comes to the door, I’ll deal with him.”

“Thanks, Steve.”

“Don’t worry about it, honey. I’m on my way.”

I hung the phone back up and threw my other arm around Max, squeezing her as tight to me as possible. “Thanks.”

She took a step back to wipe at my face. “Come sit on the couch with me while we wait for Steve. I won’t let Eddie in.”

“I don’t think he’ll be coming,” I said as she pushed me towards the couch and covered me with another blanket.

She nodded and didn’t press for any more details. We watched an episode of Jeopardy! while we waited, Max cuddled to my side as I tried not to think about how angry Eddie looked. How he slammed his hand on the counter and-

“It’s me!” Steve’s voice called out with a knock on the door. “I’m completely alone.”

Max left me to open the door, Steve appearing in front of me in an instance with a concerned look painted across his features. “What happened?”

I cried again, trying to explain what happened but knowing I wasn’t making much sense.

“We just started arguing and he got so mad at me, Steve.” I said as I took a breath before rubbing my eyes. Steve kneeled in front of me, a hand coming up to squeeze my knee. “We’ve argued in the past but he just got so mad he screamed at me and then he-”

I cut myself off, not wanting to give too much away. It was my fault anyway, wasn’t it? I was the one that didn’t just keep my mouth shut and let him stay home another day.

But Eddie’s different. Eddie made me promise him that I would always tell him if I was angry.

“Sydney?” Steve asked me. I focused back on him. “What did Eddie do?”

I shook my head. “He was just angry and scared me. I just don’t like when things are slammed ar-”

“Hey, hey,” Steve said as I looked back at his face. “It’s one thing for Eddie to get upset and another thing to slam something when he knows that it triggers you. You did the right thing by walking away from the argument.”

Steve sent a look towards Max and stood up. “I’m going to bring you back to my place, let you have a hot shower and hopefully get some sleep. Does that sound okay with you?”

“Will you-” I hesitated. “Will you call him when we get there? Just so he knows that I’m okay? I think this whole thing has spiraled because of Jason-”

“That’s no excuse, but yes I will call him.” Steve said as he held out his hands for me to grab so he could help me sit up. “But he’s not coming over.”

I shrugged. “I told him that he couldn’t. I needed space.”

Steve didn’t say anything else as he helped me to the car. Max watched me go with a sad look on her face and I didn’t once look in the direction of my home just knowing that he would be standing by the door.

Steve didn’t waste any time once we got back to his place, taking me upstairs and leaving me with a pile of clothes that I pretty sure was Eddie’s at one point and a look telling me to take as long as I needed.

I let the shower beat down against my back as I stared at the tile beneath my feet.

Eddie would never hurt me.

But he yelled at me.

What would I do if I saw him like that? I wouldn’t want to leave his side either.

But he yelled at me. And slammed his hands down at me.

Steve was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs with a plate of cookies and a glass of milk. He didn’t say anything for a while, letting me munch on a cookie as I stared down at the cast on my wrist, reading everyone’s names and messages. I traced over Eddie’s name, the one he bolded right over the place the soulmark would be if the cast wasn’t covering it. I had laughed at the time, but looking at it now made me sad.

Was this my sadness or his?

“Did you think he was going to hurt you?” Steve asked me quietly, letting the words float around me.

I shook my head immediately. “No, Eddie would never hurt me.”

“But he yelled at you. He scared you. Isn’t that the same thing?”

“I think he’s worried the moment I leave his sight Jason will find me.” I said as I looked over at him. “I think that for so long Eddie has dreamed about me and not once did those dreams include Jason Carver trying to kill me for loving Eddie.”

“That doesn’t make it okay for what he did.”

I nodded. “I know, Steve. And when he comes to me, he’s going to have to apologize for the way he treated me.”

Steve nodded, “I called him while you were in the shower.”

“What did he say?”

Steve let out a deep breath and laid down against the stairs. “He was worried about where you went, and said the moment you left the trailer he regretted it all.”

Steve met my eyes. “Made me promise that if anything happened, I would call him to come over. Said you had been having nightmares about Jason and that you need someone to sleep in the same room as you.”

“That it?”

Steve turned away from me. “More or less. I told him to get some sleep, that he had been compartmentalizing all this stuff for the past week and he needed to get it out before he drove you away for good.”

I twisted my hands. “Eddie is my everything, I don’t think I could survive without him.”

Steve grabbed my hands. “He knows that.”

“I just,” I let out a sigh. “I couldn’t go anywhere by myself, Steve. I understand what he saw was terrifying, I felt it. But he can’t keep this up for the rest of our lives. He’s going to have to trust me that it won’t happen again.”

“I know,” Steve said. “C’mon, let’s get you to bed so you can sleep this off and feel better in the morning.”

Eddie found me the next afternoon sitting out by Steve’s pool, watching the trees behind his house swaying the wind. He was quiet as he came through the side gate, only making his presence known when he was right behind me.

Heavy material landed on my shoulders as he sat down next to me, leaning down to fix his leather jacket against my frame so I wouldn’t be chilly out here in the wind.

“Do you want to see me?”

I turned to look at him then. He had bags under his eyes like he hadn't slept last night. He was wearing the red sweater I had gotten him for his birthday, making the joke that he and Steve could match. He looked sad, like the night away from was actually years.

“Did you go to school today?”

He nodded, looking down at his hands and I watched him push his sleeve up on his right arm so he could see his soulmark. “I did. I almost didn’t go-but when Wayne got home this morning he and I had a long talk.”

“That’s good,” I said back, not knowing how to continue. I did want to see him, but I was still so upset about what happened the previous night. “I’m glad he set you straight.”

“Sweetheart,” Eddie started as he looked up from his wrist to my eyes. “Can we talk about last night?”

“Are you going to yell at me again?”

Eddie winced. “You don’t know how shitty that made me feel.”

“I think I might have an inkling.”

Eddie sighed and turned his body towards me. “Can you let me talk without any interruptions for a minute? No yelling, no slamming my hands or anything.”

I nodded.

“Sydney,” Eddie started he rubbed at his face. “I don’t think I’ve ever been as scared as I have been this past week. That’s no excuse for my behavior last night and I’m going to promise you that last night will never happen again.”

“Why didn’t you talk to me?” I asked him.

“I’m so worried that the moment I leave you alone he’s going to find you and finish the job. That I won’t be fast enough and he’s going to take you from me in this lifetime and I won’t survive it. Not this time.”

“Eddie, that’s a lot to hold onto by yourself. You can’t stretch yourself thin like this.”

He hesitated for a moment before reaching out for me, one hand landing on my cast while the other traced the line of stitches on my face. “I think you are the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. People can’t fathom the beauty of stars, but I can’t fathom what kind of magic it took to create you, sweetheart. But every time I look at you, I’m reminded of how much I failed you.”

“Eddie that wasn’t y-”

“Sydney,” Eddie said so certainly. “I didn’t mean anything I said last night. I was so angry and wound up and so worried that the moment I left you, he would find you and hurt you again. At least if he found us he could hurt me and not you. But you were right, we are going to have to start trying to find a way to move forward from this.”

“But baby,” Eddie said as he scooted closer to me, thigh pressed up against his. “I have been hovering and I know that it was wrong. I trust you more than anyone else in this life, but the idea of you being taken away from me makes me a weak man.”

I nuzzled against his hand. “So let me share the burden.”

Eddie shook his head. “I have to earn it. The way you looked at me last night, the way I scared you? That forgiveness needs to be earned. I promised you when you showed up here that I would never be like them and then I turned around and did the one thing you are afraid you.”

“I love you, Sydney.” Eddie whispered. “And sometimes it makes me feel crazy with the lengths I would go to make you smile or laugh and to stop you from crying. I am so sorry from the deepest parts of me that I scared you. I’m never going to argue with you again.”

“Baby,” I said with a sad smile and leaned my forehead against his. “We will be better. This communication thing is a two-way straight, we can do better.”

Eddie shook his head gently. “No, you didn’t do anything wrong last night. It was all me. Once you forgive me, we can worry about all that mess later.”

“Eddie-”

“Sweetheart.” Eddie interrupted me. “I have more things to apologize for, you can’t forgive me yet.”

I leaned back, “Yeah?”

And then this man really pulled a rumpled sheet of paper out of his back pocket, unfolding it one-handed against his thigh, the paper crumbled beyond relief.

“Eddie,” I let out a surprised laugh. “No you didn’t.”

Eddie glanced up at me, a smile tugging at his lips. “What? I had to be thorough.”

“Baby,” I tugged him forward with the hand still holding mine. “Come back.”

Eddie pressed himself back into my space.

“I love you.” I told him, letting his face flush at me like the first time I told him. “I’m always going to love you. Just promise me that it’s not going to happen again.”

Eddie shook his head. “I promise, sweetheart. I’m never, ever going to yell at you again. Or slam anything around you. I’m going to be better at communicating.”

I leaned over to kiss at his jaw, letting out a sigh when I molded into his side. “Our first big fight, huh?”

Eddie snorted. “Well you know what happens after big fights.”

I leaned away from him to raise my eyebrows.

Eddie grinned. “I get to kiss it better. And I think the longer I run my mouth, the more expensive the toll gets.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked him. “How many kisses do you think are going to make up for it?”

Eddie rolled his eyes in amusement. “I think the number starts in the low hundreds, but my uncle didn’t raise a quitter.”

I leaned my head back against his shoulder. “I don’t know what I did without you.”

Eddie sighed. “I hope you never have to find out, sweetheart.”

Happy Thanksgiving (or whichever holiday you celebrate!)!

So here's the long awaited chapter. Sorry for the long wait, I'm going to try and be better about updating but with the holidays my department is more busy than ever.

So the point of this chapter was to show that these characters can be more than they seem. Sure Sydney and Eddie are ass over heels for each other, but we know that Eddie can be an asshole. I didn't want to erase that part of him. People fight, even the ones most suited for each other. Both have trauma that have to work through, they just need to learn to work through it together.

But alas, the trauma is just getting started. Stick around my lovelies, its going to be a wild ride.

Leave a comment if you want to be added to the taglist! Leave some comments to tell me how you liked it!

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