CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWO
EARLY MORNINGS

The next morning Aaron stood outside the front door of the Wheeler household with a beyond irritated expression. With his arms crossed across his chest and his head tilted down towards his shoes as he kicked the small stones resting on the door step of the family home.

Kimmy stood next to him with an expression carving into her features also. Although it was an expression of severe nerves and guilt that rested on her youthful features.

With the two stood so close to the other, the contrast in expressions stood out like a sore thumb.

Aaron was beginning to lose his patience and it wasn't even noon.

They'd been stood outside for the past ten minutes. If it were up to Aaron, the two would have walked straight in the second they'd reached the home, but Kimmy had argued against it, insisting the two knock first.

And considering the group inside the home either hadn't heard them or had yet to come get them at the door, it only pushed Aaron closer to agitation.

He could already feel himself on the verge of anger and he didn't even have a reason. The blond knew he'd snap at the slightest thing that day.

With the heightened mix of anger, stress and worry pumping through him it were as if he could snap at any moment.

Aaron knew it sounded selfish considering the circumstances at the current time, but he just wanted the day to be over to ensure that Kimmy wouldn't become victim to whatever Max was.

Perhaps she wasn't the most in danger, but Aaron didn't care. Kimmy was his top concern and frankly he couldn't find himself focusing on anything other than what may happen to her for more than five minutes.

So, with his mood already taking a foul turn, the blond let out an irritated sigh and glanced to the digital watch on his wrist.

"This is bullshit." He mumbled to himself, shaking his head as he stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets before turning to Kimmy and speaking up in a louder voice. "This is bullshit."

Kimmy turned to look at him with an uneasy look, clearly unsure what to do herself. And after a brief pause, she let out a deep sigh. Moving to knock on the door again, only louder.

Aaron rolled his eyes and leaned back as he ran a hand through his hair in a stressed manner.

The entire reason they were at the Wheeler house so early was because they had been called by Dustin and told to come over as soon as possible, the boy insisting that it was urgent. And now it appeared no one was in.

Of course, Aaron was nothing but irritated to have gotten such a frantic phone call so early, especially after having such a late night with Kimmy unable to sleep from so much worries and concerns racing around her mind.

However, once he'd come to his senses and realised just why Dustin may be calling, and who it may concern, both himself and Kimmy rushed over to the Wheeler's without a second thought.

The question of why Dustin was calling from Mike's didn't strike Aaron until he was stood at the doorstep. In fact, Aaron didn't actually know what everyone else had done the night before.

After the incident at the graveyard he and Kimmy had gone home. Kimmy was very shaken at what had happened to Max and the girl would have stayed by the redheads side all night if she could have.

However with how upset and shaken Max was, she hadn't wanted to see anyone, not even Kimmy. The redhead had just wanted to go home.

Aaron understood where she was coming from completely. He hadn't known what it was she saw or felt, but it must have been absolutely horrifying.

That was exactly why the group was meeting this morning instead of discussing what had happened last night when it had actually happened. Aaron was sure everyone in the group was too shaken to do anything last night.

Truthfully, it wasn't until what had happened at the graveyard that he had realised just how serious the entire situation was.

"Dustin definitely said Mike's house, didn't he?"

Kimmy's quiet voice pulled Aaron from his thoughts. The blond snapped his head around to look at her, taken by surprise at her expression. Or lack of for that matter.

The brunette looked to him blankly, as if there wasn't a thought going through her mind, as if there was no sort of feelings rushing through her at all.

He knew this wasn't true of course. But she just looked so tired. Like she was already over all of this before it had even started.

Aaron couldn't blame her, he knew himself the situation was unfair. It just saddened him to see that the brunette had clearly started to give up on herself before they even knew if she would even be targeted.

Aaron quickly realised he had been staring at her far too long, so he quickly cleared his throat and went to answer her question.

"He did." The blond said simply, forgetting his irritations and angers for a second due to his slight distraction.

"So why aren't they answering?" Kimmy asked in a tired voice.

Just like that, Aaron was reminded of why he had been in such an irritated mood before Kimmy had spoken up.

The blond clenched his jaw and took a breath, snapping his attention away from her and to the front door once more.

"I don't know." Aaron mumbled after a brief silence. "But I'm sure as hell not standing out here another minute staring at the front door like a fucking idiot."

Before the girl could question it, Aaron had grabbed her hand and started tugging her away.

"What are you doing?" Kimmy instantly questioned, sounding rather frantic as Aaron pulled her away.

The blond didn't answer her, practically dragging her around to the back of the house.

"Aaron." Kimmy tried again, attempting and failing to tug her hand out of his hold. "Aaron! Dustin told us to go to Mike's, we can't just leave-"

Kimmy's string of worries was cut short rather abruptly when Aaron's footsteps suddenly came to a halt.

Kimmy's brows furrowed and she looked to the blond in confusion as he dropped her hand and adjusted his sleeve so his sweater would cover his hand fully before moving towards the backdoor of the house.

The boy began repetitively banging his now covered fist on the door to the basement of the house.

While the noise startled Kimmy at first, she quickly rolled her eyes and leisurely made her way over to where he stood.

It didn't take more than thirty seconds of Aaron sending unnecessarily loud noises echoing through the family home for someone to whip the door open.

A rather frazzled looking Dustin Henderson stood at the other side of the door. It looked as if the boy had just woken up.

The curly haired boy went to spill out a long list of complaints no doubt, but Aaron beat him to it.

Throwing his hands up in aggravation, all the pent up frustrations that had been circling the blond's mind the night before seemed to hit him all at once.

"What the hell have you all been doing?" Aaron snapped, too frustrated with everything going on around him to care if he looked like an asshole or not. "We've only been up there for the past ten minutes!"

"No, what the hell are you doing?" Dustin countered with a wide eyed expression. "You are aware that we have been helping a fugitive! What the hell were you thinking banging on the door like that?"

Aaron knew what Dustin was saying made sense, he really did. But for the life of him he could not find it in himself to focus on it or fully register what he was doing or what was being said to him.

"What I was thinking was that I didn't want to stand outside for another ten minutes while you're all too busy doing god knows what down here to answer the door!" Aaron scoffed, turning behind him to grab Kimmy before making his way into the basement.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Dustin asked in a distant voice, his face laced with sleep.

Aaron furrowed his brows and glanced to him. "You called a little over an hour ago."

He watched as realisation slowly dawned on the boy at Aaron's words. Aaron paid no mind, understanding quickly that he must have dozed off not long after calling.

The blond was quick to make himself at home, sitting on the large cushioned seat before drawing his attention to the others in the room, taking note of how disheveled they all looked.

"You all sleep here last night or what?" Aaron asked in a curious voice, furrowing his brows and tilting his head as he looked around.

"Yeah." Robin shrugged calmly.

With one brief look around the room, Aaron quickly realised that they'd been sleeping. And that he'd just went and woken them up by practically banging the door down.

"And may I ask where our invite was?" Aaron joked in a serious voice, taken aback while referring to himself and Kimmy.

"You two left before it came up." Steve answered simply.

Aaron's brows raised in surprise at the news that Steve had also stayed over. Truthfully he hadn't known what to expect when he saw his brother, he just assumed that Dustin had called him separately or something. However as he thought about it, he realised how stupid that idea sounded.

"You stayed over too, Steve?" Kimmy asked in a taken aback tone, voicing Aaron's thoughts.

"Yeah." The older boy replied in a calm voice.

Aaron could feel Kimmy shrug next to him before she shifted her attention onto Lucas who had mostly been quiet since the pair walked in.

"How was Max doing last night?" Kimmy asked in a voice Aaron couldn't quite decipher.

The boys eyes widened the slightest bit at the question directed at him, clearly looking the slightest bit uneasy and guilty.

"Um... yeah. She was holding up okay, you know, given what happened." Lucas mumbled sadly, unable to look the brunette in the eye as he messed around with the sleeve of his sweater.

"Oh, right." Kimmy nodded, sounding the slightest bit saddened in her friends answer. However she quickly changed her facial expression and put a small fake smile on her lips. "Probably for the best she got some time to herself. You know, with everything going on."

It was suddenly as if everyone in the room was watching Kimmy to see what her reaction would be, and Aaron only found himself getting more and more irked.

The brunette was clearly uncomfortable with everyone shamelessly watching her so intently, yet no one made any effort to advert their gaze.

"Seriously, Nancy, what is up with your parents?" The blond sighed, doing his best to change the subject and take the attention off of Kimmy. "We've been up there knocking for-"

"Her parents aren't home, idiot." Steve remarked calmly as he walked past his younger brother, flicking his forehead with his fingers as he past.

Aaron rolled his eyes yet said nothing about it. Instead he turned his attention to Lucas who was sat grinning next to him.

"Whatever." Aaron mumbled.

"What's got you in a mood?" Steve teased from now the other end of the room.

Aaron felt his eyes widen and his brows shoot up at his brother's question. "What do you think, jackass?"

Kimmy smacked his arm lightly at his comment, causing the boy to look at her with an almost pleading look. Like he was asking her how he was expected not to say something back to him.

"Woah." Steve laughed, only adding fuel to the fire. "Someone's cranky."

"Shut up." The blond snapped at him, scrunching his nose in offence. "I'm stressed-"

"When aren't you?" Steve scoffed, cutting the younger boy off.

Aaron narrowed his eyes at his brother but decided to say nothing, knowing his brother was speaking nothing but the truth.

"In his defence, this past week hasn't exactly been stress free." Kimmy told the eldest Harrington brother with a shrug.

Steve simply shrugged his shoulders at her, adjusting his hair as he sat down.

"Yes, thank you, Kimmy." Aaron commented with a smug smile.

Kimmy scrunched her face up almost teasingly at him before speaking up once more. "With that said, you do stress more often than not-"

Steve's obnoxiously loud laugh cut her off as he nodded in agreement, but before he could comment on her remark, Nancy stood rather abruptly and put a stop to the groups banter.

"Can we discuss what it is we're all actually here to talk about?" Nancy signed, although Aaron wasn't able to tell if she was irritated, or simply tired.

"Yes." Steve nodded at once, before casting a look at both Kimmy and Aaron as if to say they were acting ridiculous.

Aaron scrunched his face up and sent him a teasing look back before diverting his attention onto Nancy who was now stood.

Nancy nodded, however not before sending Steve a slightly creeped out expression. "Okay-"

The sound of static from the radio cut the older girl off, causing Nancy to let out a sigh of irritation.

"Hey, Dustin this is Eddie the Banished." Came Eddie's voice through the muffled radio. "Dustin, this is Eddie. Dustin, do you copy? Dustin-"

"Hey, it's Nancy." The older girl answered the walkie with a less than impressed expression, rolling her eyes and pinching her nose.

"Hey, Wheeler." Eddie mused from the other end of the radio, in a much cheerier voice than Aaron expected. "I'm gonna need a food delivery. Like, really soon."

Aaron rolled his eyes at the boys rambles. There wasn't any particular reason for it, but the boy was already in a bad mood and it was as if he was looking for something to be annoyed at.

"Okay." Nancy sighed once more. "Stay where you are and we'll be over as soon as we can."

"Cool, listen, can you pick me up a six pack?" Eddie asked nonchalantly. "I know it's stupid as shit drinking right now, but a cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves."

Aaron scrunched his face up in judgement and turned to Kimmy at his question.

"So I guess hiding him from the cops isn't good enough any more." The blond whispered to her sarcastically. "Now he's got a bunch of teenagers to buy him beer as well."

"Stop." Kimmy laughed quietly at him. "As if you would be the one buying it."

"Damn right I won't be." Aaron instantly replied. "He should be glad I'm helping him out at all."

Kimmy rolled her eyes at this and Aaron knew why. All the blond had done since getting involved in this entire thing was complain. The blond knew that was what she meant by the look she sent him, but he simply shrugged at her. Not trying to deny it in anyway.

He knew he'd done pretty much nothing but complain but in Aaron's defence, he was way out of his comfort zone.

The boy did not like getting mixed up in trouble at all - especially not with the law. And what the group were doing to help Eddie was in fact illegal.

Nancy paused before answering the boy, her eyes widened drastically before momentarily placing a hand over her mouth.

"Hey listen I'm gonna have to call you back." Nancy rushed out, turning off the radio as she rushed to Dustin frantically.

"Dustin!" She exclaimed hurriedly. "You were supposed to be on Max watch!"

The boy furrowed his brows and tilted his head. "What?"

"Max!" Nancy exclaimed, now clearly panicked. "You were supposed to be on Max watch last night!"

"What- yeah, she's right over there-" Dustin cut himself off, as he glanced to the far corner of the room. A look of panic now also mirroring his features. "Shit."

"Yeah, shit!" Steve mocked with an exaggerated eye roll. "You had one job, Henderson."

"None of you noticed she was gone either!" Dustin yelled in panic. Rushing to stand to his feet.

Nancy instantly made her way to the basement stairs as she began to climb them so fast she was practically running, Dustin wasn't too far behind her.

Kimmy turned all her attention onto Steve, who looked much more calm than both Nancy and Dustin.

"Max stayed over here last night?" The brunette asked in a distant voice.

Steve eyed her with an almost suspicious expression, as if curious as to how that was some sort of mystery.

"Uh, yeah?" He answered, almost sounding unsure of himself.

There was a brief pause amongst the three, one where no one knew what to say. All for separate reasons.

"Oh right." Kimmy mumbled quietly after some time. "At least everyone was here in case something went wrong I guess."

Aaron bit the inside of his cheek as he glanced to her glum expression that she was trying to hide. He knew that she wasn't upset that Max was with the others, Kimmy desperately wanted Max to be safe.

But Aaron also knew that Kimmy wanted to be there.

The only reason that she had gone with Aaron back to the Harrington household was because Max had insisted she wanted to be left alone. Kimmy would have stayed by her side all night if she could have.

Aaron had a feeling Max knew this, and perhaps that was why the redhead had been so adamant Kimmy go home the night prior. So the brunette wouldn't be up all night stressed.

But if this was her plan it had failed, seeing as Kimmy had in fact been up practically all night with stress. Rambling to Aaron while he was half asleep about how worried she was about her and how she didn't have any idea what she'd do if something happened to her.

At least that's what Aaron hoped Max had been doing. But on the other hand the blond knew the girl had a tendency to push people who cared about her away when she felt vulnerable.

Aaron could only hope that wasn't what Max was trying to do to Kimmy, especially at such a critical time of need. Aaron knew that would destroy the brunette.

"I swear to god." Aaron spoke up in as happy of a voice as he could muster to try ease the brunette a little. "If she's been up there all this time, I'll lose my shit."

The boy allowed a feeling of relief to flush through him as she cracked a small smile at him, moving to grab her hand properly and pull her up the stairs behind him.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked his younger brother curiously.

"Going to see if Max is upstairs." Aaron replied as if it were evident. "Obviously."

Kimmy sent him a small grin of amusement and allowed the boy to guide her up the rest of the stairs.

The boy kept ahold of her hand until they'd made it to the top step, slamming the basement door behind him.

"Listen." He told the girl, grabbing ahold of her arm to stop her going any further. "About Max staying over, don't take it personal, okay?"

Kimmy looked unsure with herself but forced a nod anyway. "I know."

"Seriously." Aaron continued in a serious voice. "I've seen her do it to Lucas, I've seen her do it to me, and I've seen her do it to Dustin. I think it's just something she does to cope when she feels like her life's going to shit."

Kimmy looked down to her shoes for a moment and bit the inside of her cheek, glancing up at him with a distant expression.

"I get it, I just... I just wish she knew how much I care about her." The girl said almost helplessly. "I don't want her thinking I don't give a shit about her, and I don't want her to think she can push me away because of what's going on. I just want her to know she can talk to me."

"I know you do. And she knows she can talk to you." Aaron was quick to say in a quiet voice. "It's just, she doesn't cope well when things don't go right. I mean, she practically fell apart after Billy died. And now after she's just started talking to everyone again, all this shit had to go and blow up in her face."

Aaron watched Kimmy carefully as she sighed. The girl went to say something but stopped herself, and Aaron grew concerned that she feared she'd cry if she as much as opened her mouth.

"Just... try and talk to her about it today." He tried to advise, although he wasn't really sure what it was he was supposed to say. "Worst thing you can do in this situation is act like everything's normal and that you're fine not talking to her. Try to catch it before she goes completely cold like she did with Lucas last summer."

Kimmy nodded to him and did her best to collect herself so she could go to see the redhead. "Okay."

The boy forced a small smile back and went to grab her hand once more to guide her through the house in which he was much more familiar with than she was.

"Good." He nodded simply while adjusting his grip to interlock their fingers. "She'll be fine. You both will be."

Kimmy said nothing, but made a noise as if to tell him she didn't really believe him.

Aaron chose to ignore this, biting the inside of his cheek as he did his best to convince himself what he had told her was true.

...

HI!!! I'm sorry I haven't been updating much!! I won't go into it but my life has literally changed drastically in the past few months and it has been so difficult to write despite the fact I've been trying really hard too.

Anyway on a positive note I'm pretty sure everything is looking to be much more under control now so I should be back to posting an update more frequently.

Again so so sorry about the updates but hopefully you understand that it hasn't been because I'm not interested or don't want to write this story but because of personal things that have been going on and have stopped me from getting a real chance to write. <3

Anyway I hope everyone had a great day, and make sure to look out for more updates soon!!!

- AJ :)