HAVEN - stranger things.

xxiii. EPILOGUE.

tw: mentions of needles and blood.

xxiii. amends and heartbreak!

susan carmichael was a few weeks into being fifteen years old when she learned the truth about hawkins.

"so you're telling me that wendy has—"
"here are those pancakes....and here's your eggs and bacon." susie was interrupted by the friendly waitress.

"thank you." steve harrington offered a smile. he looked down at the banana pancakes in front of him, susie had ordered blueberry ones.

as the waitress walked away, susan took a sip of her ice water. steve had gone to the hospital early that morning, he wanted to see wendy and explain to susie before he had to meet up with robin and dustin.

"—has been doing this for three years? and i haven't known about it?" susie completed, shoveling a forkful of pancakes into her mouth.

"she told me that she didn't want you to know," steve took a bite of his eggs. "said you would've wanted to get involved." he shrugged his shoulders.

steve loved that diner—he and wendy had sat in that exact booth several times after late night football games. wendy always ordered the same thing, blueberry pancakes with bacon and apple juice. steve always thought that it was too much sugar, but wendy loved their apple juice. it had always been homemade. sure, the place had a weird smell, but steve never seemed to notice it whenever he would listen to wendy talk. that was when they were happiest, spilling their guts out at midnight in the diner.

"well, yeah! if my sister is fighting aliens—"
"keep your voice down."
she lowered her tone, "if my sister is fighting aliens, i don't want her to get hurt, steve...but now..." susie frowned.

steve looked at susie carmichael, her big brown eyes were tired. he remembered seeing that same expression in wendy's eyes. the carmichaels had a way of carrying their emotions in their eyes, he noticed.

"i'm sorry. i really am, suze. i wanted her to stay with me and i would've made sure she was...hell, we got beat up pretty bad too, but she wouldn't have been in that goddamn hospital. she wanted to look after max," steve watched as susie inhaled sharply. "when she wakes up, i don't want to tell her about max. it'll only stress her out more." steve shook his head.

susie didn't say anything else as she reflected upon max mayfield's demise, she had seen the other kids in the room with max, lucas was the only one to stay. she found that sweet, she wondered if charlie would stay with her if she had been in the hospital. grief riddled susie carmichael's body, she chewed slowly as it felt like her food had grown sour in her mouth. she was no longer hungry.

"wendy didn't deserve any of this shit, all of this pain. next time, i want in." susie proposed.

steve harrington stared at his girlfriend's sister, mouth full of pancake and eggs. he shook his head before swallowing his food.
"no." he said.

"steve, i don't want her to get hurt again. we don't even know what's going to happen to her because of this wound." susie objected.

"susan, no. one, i'm not adding another kid to this. this vecna...or henry...well, one...anyways, vecna slash henry slash one is no one to gamble lives with, and i'm surely not gambling yours. if vecna doesn't kill me, wendy surely will. two, i'm her goddamn boyfriend and she didn't listen to me. what makes you think she'll listen to you?" steve ranted, throwing down his napkin on to his plate.