To Hell and Back Again

Chapter Twenty-One

"ROBIN! DUSTIN!" Steve cried out as he held Eddie's limp body in his arms. He used the cuff of his favorite white sweater to wipe the black blood off Eddie's face. "It's okay... it's okay, Eddie." Steve leaned over his body and shook him slightly. "ROBIN!" Steve screamed out again as he slid his hand under Eddie's knees to lift him up. He stood up with Eddie's body laying against his chest. It was only five minutes... five minutes since they had promised to be together forever. Robin ran through the trees and stopped in front of Steve. His face was stuck in terror and his eyes were red and puffy as he struggled to carry Eddie to his car. "He's not breathing. Get help! Please!" Robin ran to her bike and started peddling towards the hospital as Steve carried Eddie. "It's going to be okay... it's going to be okay..." His tears fell off of his face and landed on Eddie as he struggled to get Eddie into the back of his car. Steve looked around and saw Dustin standing by his bike horrified. Dustin had seen Eddie die once and he was terrified he'd have to see it again. "Forget the bike! I need you to drive!" Steve threw his keys at Dustin who had never even attempted to drive a car before. Dustin fumbled the keys in his hand and got into the driver seat. Steve crawled in on top of Eddie, sitting on Eddie's legs as he started to do CPR. Dustin pulled out of Skull Rock and carefully drove to the hospital.
"Steve! I don't know how to drive!" Dustin yelled going as slow as humanly possible.
"Left is break, right is gas. Step on it, Dustin." Steve cried as he forced compressions on Eddie's chest. Thirty compressions, two breaths. Thirty compressions, two breaths. He leaned in and puffed air into Eddie's mouth. He reached up an arm and wiped tears off his face as he continued to try restarting Eddie's heart.
Meanwhile, Robin threw her bike over and ran into the hospital. "I NEED A DOCTOR!" She yelled as she stood helpless in the emergency room. She turned to see Steve's car screech to a stop in front of the door. A tall man in a white coat ran over to Robin and started looking her up and down. "Not me, them." She pointed to Steve who was carrying Eddie into the hospital.
"Okay, sir, what's your name?" The man waved for nurse to bring over a gurney.
"S-Steve. Steve Harrington." Steve looked down at Eddie who was breathing but shallowly. "He needs help. He was coughing up blood, black blood. H-he needs help please help him." Steve pleaded as the doctor helped the nurse take Eddie from Steve.
"Black blood?" The doctor shot Steve a confused look as the nurse started to take Eddie into the back. "Okay, Mr. Harrington, I'm going to need you to stay here and wait. We'll come out and inform you when we have updates. Please sit." The doctor put his hand on Steve's shoulder. He shrugged off the doctors hand.
"No! I have to go back with him! You don't understand!" Steve tried to follow the nurse but Robin grabbed his arm. "Robin! Let go I have to go back with them!" He tried to shrug out of Robin grasp.
"Steve. We need to let them do their job." She tried to use a calm voice to let Steve know it was going to be okay.
"We need a total blood transfusion!" The nurse yelled from the hallway where they took Eddie.
"What are you guys doing to him? You have to let me back there!" Steve pulled away from Robin. He grabbed the doctor by his shirt. "I swear to god if you hurt him I'll break every single bone in your body." Steve tried to hold back his tears as he stood terrified of what was going to happen. Robin and Dustin grabbed Steve's arms and pulled him away from the doctor.
"Mr. Harrington, we're going to do everything we can." The doctor fixed his shirt and started to walk towards the hall where Eddie was. Steve backed away and turned to see Dustin and Robin. Dustin's eyes were full of tears and his hands were shaky. Steve grabbed Dustin and hugged him. Dustin wrapped his arms around Steve and put his face into Steve's chest.

Steve sat quietly in between Robin and Dustin in the waiting room. It had been three hours since they took Eddie and he was getting impatient. He had his elbows resting on his knees and his face in his hands. Dustin and Robin were looking at the hallway waiting for the doctor reappear with answers. Steve looked up from his hands. "We had five minutes together. Five minutes." Steve looked at Robin who was trying not to look at Steve. She hated seeing Steve this upset but she wasn't going to say anything. Steve twisted the ring on his finger around.
"Steve..." They all looked up to see Nancy with the rest of the kids behind her, all except El and Will. Steve stood up and hugged Nancy. She put a hand on the back of his head and sighed. "I'm sorry, Steve." Lucas and Max went and sat next to Dustin in the row of chairs. Steve looked at Nancy and opened his mouth to try and talk.
"H-he just..." He choked over tears. "I don't know what to do." Steve squeezed Nancy into a hug. She rubbed his back as she looked over to Robin who was staring daggers at her.
"Mr. Munson?" The doctor asked looking at the field of children. Steve looked around for Wayne who wasn't at the hospital yet. "Is Mr. Munson here?" He asked again, reading the clipboard in his hands. "Steve Munson?" He asked once more as he looked at the only male over the age of 18.
"Y-yes?" Steve responded as Robin and Nancy looked at each other confused. Dustin immediately sat up in his seat and smiled, elbowing Lucas in the shoulder. Lucas snarled at Dustin's jabs.
"He's awake and asking for you." Steve started to walk away with the doctor. "He's been through a lot so just be careful with him. We had to do a blood transfusion. I have no idea what could have caused this but in a week or two he should be ready to go home."
"And what about the coughing up blood?" Steve asked as the doctor turned a corner. The halls were empty with an occasional cart or two in the hallways. The white walls were almost blinding against the florescent lights.
"We think it was because his old blood was clotting so quickly that his heart couldn't pump it fully. We've never seen anything like this before." The doctor opened a wooden door to Eddie's room. He was laying on the bed, awake, staring up at the ceiling. He heard the door open and his eyes shot over to Steve. "I'll give you some privacy. We'll be back in about an hour with results." The doctor left closing the door behind him.
"Mr. Munson?" Steve laughed as he sat in a chair that was next to Eddie's hospital bed.
"That's the only way they'd let you come see me. If I told them you were my brother." Eddie laughed weakly as he took Steve's hand. Steve kissed Eddie's hand and noticed his rings were gone.
"W-Where are all your rings?" Steve looked down at Eddie's bare hands.
"They put them on the table over there." Eddie looked around and looked at the door. "Is my uncle here?" Eddie turned and looked at Steve. Steve shook his head.
"He should be here soon. I can believe you told them I was your brother." Steve laughed and kissed Eddie's forehead. "You scared the shit out of me, Munson." Steve squeezed Eddie's hand as the door opened behind them. Wayne walked into the room and looked at Steve and Eddie. He set down a bag he had with him as Steve stood up to let Wayne get through to Eddie. Wayne looked at Eddie then immediately pulled Steve into a hug. Steve smiled and wrapped his arms around Wayne.
"Thank you for saving my boy." Wayne whispered as he squeezed Steve before letting him go and walking over to Eddie. "How are you, son?" He rubbed Eddie's shoulder.
"I'm okay. I feel fine." Eddie lied knowing that if he told them that he was in pain they'd have a doctor in the room as soon as possible and he just wanted to see them before he had to look at more charts. His chest felt tight as his stomach was growling from not being able to eat. He looked around the room then looked at the machines he was hooked up to. "Is all this necessary?" Eddie reached for Steve's hand. Steve took his hand and rubbed the top of his fingers with his thumb.
"They just need to make sure you're okay, Ed." Steve smiled and looked at Wayne who had taken Steve's chair. He was sitting with his hands crossed, bouncing his leg up and down. "Wayne, are you okay?" He nodded at Steve then looked down at Steve's hand. He smiled at the ring he had given Eddie to propose with.
"Already? You kids can't slow things down." He reached out his fist to give Eddie a fist bump. Eddie tapped his knuckles against Wayne's and smiled.
"I couldn't wait." Steve responded as he leaned in and kissed Eddie.
"Wait, you couldn't wait?" Wayne asked as the doctor opened the door. He cleared his throat as he walked in front of Eddie's bed holding a clipboard and a small box.
"Okay, Mr. Munson," the doctor said as Eddie, Steve and Wayne all looked over at him. "Edward Munson," the doctor clarified, "Your labs came back clean. We can't figure out what the problem was but at the time being, because there was nothing to indicate you're going to get worse, you just have to stay the night then we're going to send you home with a bottle of blood thinner pills. You take these twice a day and your blood should get to circulating quicker and you'll start to feel better. We just advise that you watch out for toxic chemicals or asbestos. We think that's what you might have inhaled to cause that much damage to your blood and lungs. You're a medical mystery, kid." The doctor set down the bottle of pills on the table next to Eddie's rings. "You take these twice a day, with food. Once in the morning and once at night. Once your prescription is up you won't need anymore unless you're having problems still." The doctor nodded at Wayne and Steve then walked out the door, closing it behind him.
"That's good. You only have to stay for the night." Steve looked at Wayne who was nodding.