Road trip | | Reddie

38 - visit

Eddie woke up in Bev's basement on the couch, Mike still asleep on the floor. He assumed everyone else was upstairs and that it was the next day, he fell asleep in the car last night

He walked up the creaky steps leaving Mike to sleep, entering the dining room where everyone was chatting eating cereal. "Heyyy it's Spaghetti man!" Richie says getting up from his chair. Eddie yawns, sitting in the chair next to him "Morning"

"Hey Eddie!" Midnight waves happily from her chair next to Bev. Eddie smiles "So you've met everyone?"

"Yep!" Bev smiles "Thank god you decided to save her"

Eddie looks around the table, feeling like someone's missing "Where'd Winnie go?"

"Oh he's been figuring out all the legal shit with the conversion camp and with my Dad all morning" Richie sighs "I offered to help but he said he's got it all covered"

"A-are you gonna have to l-live with him anymore?" Bill asks taking a bite of his cereal. Richie shrugs "I dunno. I sure as hell hope not"

The losers continue eating breakfast and chatting, Mike eventually coming up and joining too. They talk for a while before Winnie returns

"Hey guys" he says entering the door, waving to everyone. He's greeted with a chorus of hello's and walks into the dining room "Good news, St. Beckett's is officially shut down, the kids are all free and safe!"

The losers cheer, Winnie eventually interrupting "Hey Rich can I talk to you for a sec?" Richie nods and follows him into the living room. They sit down on the couch

"So I have some news about Dad. And Mom" Winnie begins "So first of all, me and Philip are moving into Derry. We found a great duplex near the edge of town on that big hill near the train tracks, kinda near Derry High. If dad loses custody of you, I was thinking maybe you, and also Eddie, could stay with us. Obviously Eddie has his own choices to make with that but you're more then welcome to live with me and Philip and I'd be happy to take custody of you"

At first Richie's a little confused and overwhelmed, but after processing it all he smiles "Yes! If that's possible, of course that'd be awesome! I mean I don't wanna live with some random people and I definitely don't wanna live with Dad. Are you sure it's not too much of a hassle though? I mean-"

"It's not a hassle at all" Winnie says with a warm smile "The only thing is the chances of me getting custody of you aren't very great. I mean, it's possible for older adult siblings to be granted custody but the odds are slim. I have a court case later today to deal with the whole situation on Dad and we can figure out all the custody stuff during that"

Richie takes a deep breath "Do you think dad will go to jail?"

Winnie sighs "For child abuse, probably yeah. Who knows what other charges he has as is"

"Do I have to come to court then?" Richie asks "Like as a witness or whatever?"

"For a little bit yeah" Winnie nods "Also about mom. She's as the hospital recovering. She almost died because of drug overdose and barely made it"

Richie looks down, his eyes filling up with tears. This is just so much. So much information and so much happening. He didn't know getting away from his dad and being happy with Eddie would be this damn hard

"Well can we...well can I visit her?"

Winnie nods yes "Mmhm. If you want you could go after the court thing. The hospital is right near city hall I could drop you off after your part of the case while I finish the rest"

Richie agrees. Winnie stands up patting his shoulder "Wanna go ask Eddie?"

Richie nods again, standing up and going back to the dining room. He pats Eddies shoulder and waves for him to follow him into the kitchen. Eddie does, meeting him by the fridge while the losers continue to chat