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"How could you let her get hurt?" Jim Hopper snapped at Steve who had Beth hung over his shoulder, her body limp and her arms swinging as he ran after Joyce who was storming into her room to prepare to treat Beth.
"You do realize that we can't take her to a real hospital because then, well, we'd have to just tell the whole world about those things and the lab and every secret that we've had since this whole thing started!" Hopper yelled at Steve, pointing his finger into his chest as Steve sat back up from laying Beth on Joyce's bed so she could treat her.
Due to her amount of running and blood loss, Beth passed out on the drive to the Byers household.
She hadn't woken up since.
"Look, Hopper, on the junkyard bus, one of those things was clawing at the door and she tripped when she was trying to get away. It managed to scratch her leg. I'm sorry. I know it was stupid of me to leave any one of them vulnerable at any second, and I'm sorry." He said, walking out of the room after glancing at Beth in guilt.
"Whatever, kid." Hopper finished, following him into the living room where everyone sat.
Meanwhile, Joyce held a bleach-soaked cotton ball under Beth's nostrils, which instantly woke her up. Beth coughed, sitting straight up and swinging her head around, trying to determine she was somewhere safe and far away from the lab that was infested with those things.
She saw Joyce's face and relaxed instantly, the woman being like a second mother to her. "Hi, Joyce." Beth sighed, watching as the woman prepared some medical supplies to treat her leg which was drenched in blood and agony.
"Beth, the alcohol is gonna hurt and so will me taking the bandages off. You okay to tough it out?" Joyce asked, her hands hovering over the layers of blood soaked cloth, waiting for Beth to at least nod.
Beth reluctantly sighed, nodding to Joyce who immediately began peeling the fabrics away from the gash, every fiber of cloth being slowly pulled off causing agony to ripple throughout Beth's leg, a scream emerging when Joyce began dabbing alcohol around the wound to clean it.
Steve and Dustin rushed in, their eyes both going wide.
Dustin ran over to his sister, grabbing her hand in comfort while Joyce tried to go as quick as she could to avoid pain and, more importantly, infection.
"Beth, I know it hurts, but I need you to stay still." Joyce tried to prepare a needle and sturdy thread, but she kept moving and squirming in protest.
"Hold her down." Joyce concluded, pointing to Steve who reluctantly complied. "Fine." he groaned, not wanting to hurt Beth or hold her down while she went through immense amounts of pain at all.
"I'm sorry." he whispered to her and Joyce poked the needle through her tender skin, pulling a thread through and closing the large gash.
"Stop! Stop!" Beth cried, the pain being the most horrid thing she'd ever felt.
Steve pushed against her vigorously moving body, pressing her into the bed further so she would stop moving ad Joyce tried to stitch her up as quick as she could.
"Almost done, Beth." Joyce reassured, trying to finish the last stitch when Beth stopped moving completely, passing out.
"W-wait, Ms. Byers!" Steve cried. "What happened?" Dustin was now worried, his sister's hand now limp around his.
"She just passed out from the pain. She'll be okay. I'm done, you can let her go now." She told them, taking sterile gauze and wrapping it around her leg after she pulled up the blood coated leg of her jeans.
"So her leg will heal alright?" Steve asked, brushing the hair from Beth's face that wiggled it's way out of the loose bun she'd tied it into the previous day. His eyes held a certain admiration that only Joyce picked up, the color of his eyes immediately lightening with an emotion Joyce Byers knew all too well.
Joyce nodded, ushering the boys to the door so Beth could get some rest on her own. "I'll watch her, you guys go ahead." As the two began to walk out, Joyce grabbed Steve's elbow and nodded her head in Beth's direction.
He looked confused but Joyce knew what was going on. "You have feelings for her, don't you?"
Steve's eyes went wide, his eyebrows scrunching together in disbelief. "W-what?" he nervously laughed. "No-pft-no way." he said, his tone so unsure that even he noticed it.
Joyce smiled, crossing her arms against her chest and waiting for the boy to crack. "Fine." Steve admitted. "I have feelings for her. But she-uh- has a boyfriend, so I could never be with her."
Joyce patted his shoulder, pointing to a sleeping Beth. "She's special. I can see why you like her, Steve. Just keep her close, protect her. It's the least you can do; especially since she's with that Billy kid." Joyce smirked, laughing with Steve as they walked into the living room to join the others.
But Beth had woken up minutes before they left, hearing every word of the conversation they'd just had.
Steve "The Hair" Harrington had a crush on Beth Henderson.
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uh ohhhhhh the plot just thickened!! dun dun dunnnn i know this gif is from long ago in the story but it fits the ending theme well, so that's why i chose that one ;) happy reading! bare with me this is unedited (again!)
