Steve had to use every trick he had ever learned attending his parent's dinner parties and being king jock in high school not to fidget as the party all walked into Hawkins General. Hopper had a quiet word at the nurse's station before they were all headed to the elevator and up to Max's floor. 

As soon as they made it to the right place, Joyce swooped in and did her thing. Max's mom looked amazingly grateful, especially when it became clear that Hopper was going to be sticking around to make sure all the kids behaved themselves.

Once Max's mom was safely in Joyce's capable hands, Hopper and El went into the room. Steve heard El joyfully greet her best friend while Hopper swept the room with a weird looking device he'd apparently been given by Murray.

"All clear," Hopper said when he reappeared a couple of minutes later.

Steve nodded, exchanged a look with the older man and walked into the hospital room.

"Who's there?" Max asked, voice quiet, but with very much the attitude Steve had come to expect from the girl.

"Hi, Max," he replied, "it's Steve."

White misty eyes looked at him, even though he knew the doctors said Max couldn't see more than a little light and shade.

"This feels organised," Max concluded, turning her face back to El who was sitting on the far side of the bed, holding Max's hand.

"It is," El replied. "That is why Dad was scanning the room to make sure no one was listening."

"Is it Vecna?" Max asked, a tremble in her voice.

"No," El said very firmly. "He is dead."

"No one's going to be allowed to hurt you anymore, Max," Steve added.

He walked over to the chair closest to him and sat down, placing the backpack he was carrying on the floor.

"What's going on?" Max asked, eyes flicking between them as if looking for expressions she could no longer see.

"Good things," El said and Steve wished he could share her unshakable confidence.

He knew he could do this, but it didn't stop the nerves fluttering around his stomach.

"Will and Steve have powers now," El said. "Will seems mostly like me, but Steve is different."

Max's clouded eyes turned back to him.

"I can heal," he told her simply.

"Heal?" she asked. "Heal what?"

"So far, everything I've tried," he replied.

"Steve healed Eddie and Robin and Dustin and my dad," El said.

"And myself," he added.

"What was wrong with them?" Max asked.

"Dustin badly twisted his ankle getting out of the Upside Down the first time and aggravated it in the final confrontation, Robin had cuts and bruises, Hopper had injuries from the Russians and Eddie, well Eddie..." Steve did his best to explain, but didn't quite know how to explain Eddie.

"Eddie died," El said.

"You brought Eddie back from the dead?" Max asked, eyes wide and shocked.

"No, Vecna did that," Steve said. "I made sure he didn't die again after El killed the viney bastard."

"And you're here..?" Max asked.

"To fix you," he said plainly.

Max blinked at him, and her eyes looked suddenly very shiny.

"All of me?" she asked in a very tiny voice.

"That's the plan," he replied and saw the first tear slip free. "I might have to stop, take a break, but I will always come back until it's done."

"Really?" was the next unsure question.

"I promise," he said.

"Will it hurt?" Max asked, blinking away the tears.

"No. Hop didn't seem to know how much time had passed, so I think it's like going to sleep," he did his best to reassure her. "All you have to do is relax, okay?"

"Will it hurt you?" was her next question and he cursed the fact they all seemed to know him so well.

"No," he replied, but Max turned to El, a question in her expression.

"It will not," El said, "as long as Steve is sensible."

"I know, okay. Jeez, anyone would think I just throw myself under buses for the fun of it," he said in his best bitchy voice, which made El grin and Max, partially crack a smile.

"You have a bad track record," Max said quietly.

"I've only had three concussions," he replied, doing his best to sound petulant.

That elicited the slightest breath of a laugh from Max, which was exactly what he was hoping for. However, she sobered quickly.

"Okay," Max said, voice resolute.

"I have to touch you," he told her, reaching out and gently taking her fingers where they poked out of the cast on her arm.

He couldn't help the shudder that ran through him as soon as their skin met.

"What was that?" she asked.

"The connection," he said, giving El a pleading look not to tell Max anything else. He didn't want Max worrying about him. "Sorry, I should have warned you."

Max was in a great deal of pain. There was a vague fuzzy feeling over the top of it, that he assumed was the drugs she was on, and what he hoped meant she was not feeling what he could sense, but he wasn't sure. Holding on to that hope, he closed his eyes and let the real-world fade into the background.

As with Hopper, he allowed his instincts to lead where they wanted to go. The first thing on the agenda was removing the chemicals from Max's system. Not that he had any idea why or exactly what he was doing, but it felt like cleaning house. It felt necessary, but nothing like his usual healing. Once that was done, the real task began.

Max's injuries were not small hurts, but they had been seen to by doctors, they were set up to heal naturally. It was easy to speed up what was already happening. In his mind, Max was a crystal, at its centre fiery and bright, but at its extremities, clear and cracked. He repaired the cracks, fusing them together with soothing energy until the crystal was perfect and whole.

It seemed so natural to him, it didn't feel like it was very long until he found the wall, only Max's was not invisible. This wall was cloudy, obscuring everything beyond it. Steve could not sense what was behind it, as if it was some kind of shield. He smashed through it just as easily as with Hopper, however. What hit him was so much more than he could have guessed.

He felt like he wanted to scream as he surveyed the damage Vecna had left behind. It was so much bigger than simple physical injuries. It was horribly obvious how the madman had tried to take everything that was Max. He could feel the left-over contamination. There was a vague familiarity about it, and Eddie flashed through his mind, but he couldn't let himself become distracted.

Furious over what Max had had to go through, what she was still going through, he dove in, letting his instincts clear away all traces of Henry/One/Vecna and putting right all the hurt he found. In a way it was cathartic, but it was also difficult. There did not seem to be one part of Max that had not been touched by the evil.

He pushed as hard as he dared, until his internal warnings were screaming in his head. The pool in his mind was grey when he finally forced himself to give up.

The back of his mind was screaming it wasn't done, but he had no choice. He was so torn he had to fling himself out of the healing trance. Rearing back, he gasped into the real world.

"Steve!" El said, immediately on her feet.

"I couldn't finish," he muttered, "I'm sorry, I couldn't finish."

El came round the bed, placing her hands on his shoulders.

"Steve," she said firmly, "breathe."

He did as she said, letting the fight ebb out of him. As the adrenaline wore off, the fatigue hit him, and he had to push hard not to sag in his chair. El handed him a couple of tissues when he finally focused on her.

"Thanks," he said, dealing with the blood coming from his nose as quickly as he could.

He really needed to figure that out as soon as possible, because he hated nosebleeds.

"I can see you."

Max's voice was tiny and full of wonder. Steve immediately forgot all about himself, turning his attention back to her.

"Hey," he said, looking into Max's blue, but still slightly cloudy eyes.

"Everything's hazy," she said, as a tear escaped, "but I can see you and I don't hurt."

"I'll finish it," he told her. "I promise. I'm sorry I had to stop."

"You really did it," Max said, a quiet sob escaping her. "I..."

He knew that feeling of unreality, of finally believing and having that crash through your barriers for being brave. It tore at his heart. His instinct was to wrap her in a hug, but the huge casts and the sides of the bed made that too difficult.

"Hey, Mayfield," he said, reaching out and taking her hand again, "we've got you."

El was hovering, apparently unsure what to do. Steve gave her a nod towards Max, and unlike him, El didn't seem to think the hospital paraphernalia was as much of an obstacle as he did. She leaned over the bed and threw her arms around Max's neck. Max sobbed against El's shoulder as El cried along as well, while gripping Steve's hand surprisingly hard, considering how bulky her casts were.

They probably would have stayed that way a lot longer, but Steve couldn't stop himself sagging in his chair. The world seemed very remote for a moment. When it came back, El was looking at him again.

"You should refuel," she told him very firmly.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Could you pass me my bag, please?"

He could have reached down himself, but he didn't fancy his odds of falling out of the chair. He needn't have worried, however, as El was quick to help.

"Thanks," he said as she gave him the backpack.

Reaching inside, he pulled out the sports bottle he had prepared earlier. Screwing off the top, he put his head back and chugged a good portion of the concoction inside as quickly as he could.

"What's that?" Max asked, still sniffing, but apparently happy to be distracted by watching him.

"Protein powder, peanut butter, two candy bars and milk," he replied. "Basically, as many calories as I could get into one drink."

The idea had come to him after the phone call had come through about being able to see Max that evening. His blender might never forgive him, especially after making it deal with a whole bar of Hersheys, but he could already feel the results hitting his system.

"That sounds," Max started to say, pausing to consider her words, "kind of good actually, except the protein powder. Billy used to swear by that shit and it's disgusting."

He just hummed in agreement as he knocked back some more of his mutant milkshake. Unless treated correctly, protein powder was indeed disgusting.

"You should eat too," he said.

"They've got me on pureed crap," Max complained.

Steve reached into his backpack and pulled out two Milky Ways.

"One for you, one for El," he said, and put them on the bed. "I'm sure El won't mind helping until we can get you out of the casts."

"I would be happy to," El said with a bright smile.

"Would you mind grabbing a Kleenex first?" Max asked, usual stoic expression firmly in place.

"Oh, of course," El said, dashing back round the bed to reach the small table on the other side.

Steve would have loved to help, but he was pretty sure trying to stand up would be a bad plan. Instead, he finished his milkshake and dug out the granola bar he had also packed while El helped Max.

"So, what's the plan for what comes next?" Max asked as El unwrapped the candy bars. "I would really like to ditch these as soon as possible."

She lifted her arms to demonstrate.

"We are going to pretend I healed you," El said, breaking off part of the first bar and offering it to Max. "No one knows about Steve and Will yet. We are making sure it is safe before we tell."

"Sensible," Max agreed around the candy.

"When I've finished healing you, we'll call Owens and he can deal with getting you out of here," Steve added.

"When will that be?" Max asked.

"I could..." Steve started to say.

"We could sneak in early tomorrow," El said, giving him an all too knowing look. "If we bring a walkie, we could alert the others when it is finished, and they could call Doctor Owens straight away."

"I've refuelled," he protested. "I could..."

"Steve," El said in a tone that was far beyond her years. "You have pushed too hard. I see the signs. You must rest properly."

"But..."

"Shall I call Robin in?" El asked, which made Max laugh out loud.

If he had felt stronger, he probably would have protested more loudly, but all he could do was play his last card.

"But look at Max's eyes," he pointed out. "Someone is going to notice that."

"What about my eyes?" Max asked.

"They were milky white," El explained, "but now they are mostly blue again."

"That does sound kind of obvious," Max agreed with Steve.

"Sunglasses," El said without missing a beat. "I have seen Stevie Wonder wear sunglasses on television because he is blind. Max could do the same."

"That could work," Max said. "Do we have any?"

Steve sighed and reached into his pocket.

"I expect these back, Mayfield," he said as he pulled out his favourite shades and handed them over to El.

"Yeah, yeah," Max said, even as El helped her put them on. "So, how do they look?"

"Bitchin," El said with a grin.

The way Max smiled back made all the effort worth it.

"We should let the others know," Steve said and went to stand up. "While I stay here for a bit," he added as he immediately sank back into the chair.

El patted him on the shoulder as she walked round towards the door.

"Thank you," Max said quietly as El stuck her head into the corridor.

"Least I could do," Steve told her. "Sorry you have to wait."

"Steve," Max responded with one eyebrow raised above the shades, "one miracle at a time is fine, okay. So can you move shit with your mind too?"

His stomach turned at the very idea.

"Yes and no," he replied and prepared to be bombarded with further questions.