Story's on archive so you can read here (chapters)

redamancy

The quiet sound of sniffling seems impossibly loud when Eddie steps into the hallway, too tired to sleep and too restless to lay still any longer.

He freezes, tilting his head, nervously scenting the air as he creeps down the hallway, careful of the occasional creaking floorboard as he tries to determine who might have gotten up in the middle of the night to go downstairs and cry. It isn't an unusual activity; he's found El and Steve downstairs just in the past week, needing some sense of privacy and leaving the bedrooms behind for it. With no sign of Will Byers, the mood in the pack has grown steadily blacker.

Eddie stops at the edge of the stair railing and peers down into the living room; he has a great vantage spot for the back of the couch and spots two familiar people sitting on it, one of them hunched over, his head in his hands, while the other rubs slow, soothing circles into his back. Jonathan Byers. Nancy Wheeler.

This is decidedly a moment that Eddie should not be intruding upon, and he almost goes back to his bedroom. Almost forgets he ever saw this, because he can imagine exactly what's going on. But then, Jonathan speaks.

"I'm sorry." His voice is hoarse and weak and anguished, and Eddie bites down hard on the inside of his cheek. "I'm sorry. I don't know what happened. I never stopped taking the pills. I have an alarm set. I'm careful."

Nancy continues rubbing Jonathan's back as a slow prickle of unease worms its way into Eddie's guts, and she croons softly to him, too. "It's not your fault more than it is mine. You don't have anything to apologize for. We did this together, omega. I'm not going to hold you solely responsible for it."

"God, we don't have time to deal with this right now. Half the hospital staff evacuated and there's less people there by the day. How am I supposed to..." Jonathan trails off and Nancy scoots closer to him, winding her arm around his shoulders, tucking her face in against his hair. Trying to do her best to comfort him even as his breath trembles and hitches and stumbles. Oh, God...

Eddie is definitely listening in on something he shouldn't be, and he takes slow and careful steps back from the railing. Not fast enough, it seems.

"Don't worry about it right now," Nancy suggests. "We'll get the abortion later."

Abortion? Eddie stops. He blinks stupidly in the darkness of the room and tries to make sense of those words, his mouth falling open a little before he snaps it shut again, swallowing against a sudden tightness and dryness in his throat. Oh, he definitely should not be hearing this... But he also doesn't understand why Jonathan is so upset. It's just, what, an unwanted pregnancy? They can get him an abortion. Eddie would offer to drive if it was such a problem.

Might be kind of hard to take him without alerting Steve, but they can.

He tries to take another step back toward the shadowy hallway, determined not to hear anymore, but he's too slow yet again. He needs to just move faster, it seems, and risk them knowing that he heard no matter how bad that is.

Jonathan sobs and chokes and then lets out a thin, high-pitched whine that makes Eddie's alpha want to whimper in answer, upset at the idea of an omega in so much pain. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but I don't... I know we never talked about it, not really, I just. I'm sorry, Nancy. But I don't want one."

Oh fuck. Oh Jesus Christ. Eddie carefully covers his hand with his mouth and moves back into the hallway. The house is too quiet and he can still hear them vaguely, but he doesn't want to. Not anymore. He doesn't want to alert them now, either, because that is not something he's supposed to know. Clearly, they're trying to get some measure of privacy down in the living room.

"You don't want... Want one what? An abortion?" Nancy's voice carries an air of disbelief; Eddie knows some things about her. He knows how turned off she is at the idea of children. How it stood between her and Steve getting back together, because the idea of six children was absolutely terrifying.