After the Fall

Dead or Alive? (Angst)

Max uses the cotton balls to dab the alcohol on Lucas hands, him occasionally wincing at the burn he feels while Max cleans his hands. They both sit on the edge of the bed, Steve in the bathroom getting himself ready. It is five forty five in the morning when they decide to get up and get ready. Max can tell Lucas hands were bothering him even though he didn't want to show it.

She has learned that a lot about him during these past weeks, months, even years. Even though Lucas is open he doesn't want to show when he is hurting, both physically and emotionally. He always tries to put everyone's needs before his, he always tries to make it seem like everything is okay, just like Max use to do. Max cannot blame him for that, it is the typical thing that is done when so much occurs in a persons life, or at least the typical thing both her and Lucas do.

Max is just glad that Lucas decided to open up to her about it, not like Max would take it if he didn't open up to her about it. She feels like a hypocrite, because she got so angry with him that he wouldn't talk to her but she did the same thing when Lucas was encouraging her to talk to him but she didn't.

Max looks up at Lucas, seeing him look down at his hands. He is deep in thought, he looks far away Max can tell. She goes to wrap the bandage around his hands before putting her hand on Lucas cheek, making him look up at her. "Hey.." Max starts, his eyes half lidded, she can see the tiredness in his eyes, they both barely got any sleep last night because their minds were constantly thinking about everything. "...think positive thoughts okay. We are going to get through this alright?" Max finishes.

Lucas nods his head, he doesn't want to think negative thoughts because that is only going to make his head hurt more then it already does, it is going to keep putting on the weight that he feels on his chest, on his heart. He leans his head on Max's hand, firing great comfort with just her touch alone. The weight is still there, the pain is still there in his head but Max, her presence alone makes it bearable, makes it more tolerable to deal with.

"We are going to go to Ohio, find Darrell and see where to go from there." Max says, finishing up his hands and holding them in hers. "Whatever happens it doesn't matter, because jail is not a option, it is not even on the table. We will search every square inch of Ohio if we have too."

Steve makes his way out of the bathroom, still in his police attire. He just decided to take off the top part and just wear his white muscle shirt. "You guys ready?" Steve questions, going to put his taser and gun on him.

"Yeah let's go." Max replies, standing up and holding out her hand for Lucas to take. Lucas takes her hand, grabbing the bag with the radio before they leave out of the door.

Eleven watches them as they leave out, the warm water hitting her feet every time she takes a step. She watches as Hopper waits by the car, Steve getting in the passenger side and Lucas and Max getting in the back seat. She looks behind her, seeing that they are leaving out of a hotel. Her eyebrows knit in confusion, Max was right when she knew that they were not taking Lucas to pre-trail detention.

Eleven takes the blindfold off of her eyes, opening her eyes to see Nancy, Mike, Erica, Dustin, Suzie and Joyce all around her.

"What did you see?" Nancy questions.

"They are going to Ohio." Eleven responds.

"Ohio?" Dustin asks confused.

"Why are they going to Ohio?" Nancy questions.

"To find someone...Darrell." Eleven mentions, remembering the name.

"Do you know who this Darrell is?" Joyce asks, sitting on a chair.

Eleven shakes her head, going to wipe the blood from her nose. "Lucas looked sad.." Eleven says while looking around at everyone in the room. "...bothered."