Everyone was kind enough not to bombard Steve with questions as Eddie helped him up and into his parent's ensuite bathroom to clean up. 

"So, how are you really feeling?" Eddie asked, hovering close by as he washed the blood off his hands and face.

"Kind of wild," he admitted, leaning on the sink, and letting everything turn over in his mind.

Yes, he had helped Eddie, Hopper, and Max, but this had been a whole other experience. The others had all been slower for a start, and this had felt so much more urgent, so immediate.

"It was kind of wild to watch," Eddie told him, stepping up behind him and placing a hand on his back. "Nancy was so pale, like she was already dead, and she came back to life under your hands. Birdie is right, it is amazing."

"I still don't know what I'm doing," he said, watching the last of the bloody water circle the drain.

"Yeah, you do," Eddie said, leaning closer to whisper in his ear. "You might not fully understand it, but I don't fully understand how my van works, but I can still fix it."

"Debateable," Steve replied automatically, and Eddie scoffed at him.

He wasn't sure he quite believed that, but they were in yet another crisis, so he pushed his doubts down.

"Did you explain everything to my mom, Wayne and your guys?" he asked, pulling off his shirt and picking up the soap to clean where the blood had soaked through.

"Hmmm," was all that came back.

"Eds?" he asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Sorry," Eddie said, blinking and giving him a coy little smile, "got distracted. Give a guy some warning if you're gonna rip your top off. Yes, they've all had Upside Down 101 and I explained about me and how I'm not dead too. Your mom is one formidable lady, I think Owens is in so much trouble when she gets her hands on him. When Robin gave her the rundown on Starcourt and the Russians, your mom looked like she was ready to kill. And I think Wayne is just glad to have an explanation for all the weird shit that's been going on. Gareth, Jeff, and Frank look about how I felt when I learned about all this shit too."

"And are you okay?" Steve asked as he splashed water to rinse off. "Can't have been easy explaining where you really were."

"There might have been a bit of manly crying," Eddie said, trying to play it off with humour, but Steve could see how hard it had been. "And manly hugging too."

"Well, as long as it was manly," he replied in kind, but leaned over and pecked Eddie on the cheek at the same time. "I'd give you a manly hug too," he added, "but I'm all wet."

"No fair, Harrington," Eddie complained, "you can't promise me things like that and not deliver. And how did you manage to make this about me? I'm sure we were talking about you."

"Yeah, well, we can do the heart to heart later, we've got a crisis to deal with right now," he replied, refusing to dwell on things. "Can you find me a shirt, please?"

"No problem," Eddie said and disappeared before Steve could suggest where to look.

Steve went back to cleaning up. He was towelling off when Eddie returned, flushed and breathing hard, clearly having been running. He laughed when he saw the shirt Eddie handed him.

"Y'know, my dad has clothes in the room just outside this door," he said, but pulled on the band Tee Eddie had grabbed.

"Didn't think of that," Eddie said unrepentantly, "and your room is off limits, so you'll just have to bow to the metal."

"You just like me in your clothes," Steve complained, even as he grabbed Eddie by the front of his shirt and gently pulled him closer. "Only for you."

Eddie looped his arms around Steve's shoulders as Steve leaned in for a proper kiss this time.

"You had me dressed in your clothes for days," Eddie said into the kiss. "Turnaround is fair play."

"Okay, I'll give you that," he agreed at which point his stomach gave an almighty growl and killed the moment.

"Come on," Eddie said, "you need to refuel."

When they walked out of the downstairs bedroom, the first thing Steve saw was Nancy sitting up, wearing a shirt that was way too big for her and clutching a mug.

"Nancy," he said, giving her a pleased smile, "how are you feeling?"

What he really didn't expect was for her to abandon the mug on the coffee table and launch at him, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Hey, you're okay," he said, wrapping her in his arms as she cried into his shoulder.

He had become so used to Nancy being the put-together one in a crisis that he wasn't quite sure what to do. That and the fact he was feeling somewhat lightheaded did not help him process. He might also have swayed a bit.

"Okay, right, let's move the hugging to the couch before you both fall down," Joyce said from somewhere close.

Not being the complete idiot some of his friends thought he was, Steve went with it when a couple of pairs of hands steered them into empty seats.

"Sorry," Nancy said, pulling back. "Thank you."

"No problem," he replied because he had no idea what else to say. "Sorry about the blouse."

Nancy let out a short, loud laugh even though she was still crying.

"I think it was ruined anyway," she said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Group hug," Dustin yelled, and Steve just braced for impact.

It was silly and crazy, but the tangle of limbs seemed to be just what everyone needed. For a while Steve just let himself enjoy it. They had a mystery to solve and yet more danger to deal with, but celebrating the small victory was good for them.

"Okay, okay, enough," Eddie's voice finally cut through the chaos. "Steve and Nancy need to eat, like right now."

The kids backed off, except Mike who stayed glued to his sister's side perched on the arm of the couch. Steve couldn't help feeling a little exposed. Now there was nothing between him and where his mom was standing to the side. When a plateful of mac-n-cheese was thrust into his hands he held it almost like a shield. His mom, usually so perfectly put together, even when she was being casual, looked like she might have been crying. Eddie hadn't mentioned that.

"Okay, Mom?" he asked as that slowly sank in.

She gave him a tight smile and nodded, although her eyes looked kind of shiny. He patted the third seat on the couch in invitation. When she sat down, she reached out and pulled him in for a quick one arm hug.

"You should eat, Darling," she told him.

He nodded, but couldn't quite manage it straight away. For a few moments he searched her face, trying to read how she was reacting.

"You doing okay?" he asked, ignoring everything going on around them for a while.

"Steve, that should be my line," his mom said seriously.

"Yeah, but you only just found out about all this," he replied. "It's a lot."

"And if everything I have been told is true," his mom countered, "you found out about this a week and a half ago."

Steve did a mental calculation in his head and realised it was true. It felt so weird to realise that. He was still getting used to the idea, still adjusting, but it had been such a huge change it seemed like longer ago.

"I guess," he replied.

"And you've been dealing with all this without being able to tell me or your father since you were sixteen," his mom added and there was the fire Eddie had mentioned.

"Way older than most of the kids," he pointed out.

"Steven," his mother said in a tone that begged no argument, "that does not make it any better. The government made children sign NDAs, which is more than simply illegal. And they did it by blackmailing you all."

He could tell his mother was incensed.

"Mom," he said, placing a hand over hers, "are you okay?"

He knew a deflection when he saw it because he'd used more than a few of them himself. No doubt his mother was not about to let the matter drop, but it was not the time.

"Yes," she replied, taking a deep breath, "I am just very, very angry."

That would do for the time being.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied, "just very, very hungry."

That managed to get a smile out of her. They were going to have to talk, probably for a long while, but with the crisis going on, it was not the time.

"Then eat," his mom said, giving him a very small smile.

He smiled back and did as he was told. When Robin presented him with one of his shakes, he'd written the recipe down for cases of emergency, he could have kissed her. Instead, he ate his mac and cheese and sipped at the shake like it was ambrosia.

He was still eating when Hopper called for everyone's attention.

"We need to figure this out," the older man said.

Everyone who'd been through the Upside Down was sitting around nodding in a resigned way, his mom, Wayne and the Corroded Coffin guys appeared to be doing their best not to simply freak out.

"Nancy, you said you thought you were being followed," Hopper said. "For how long?"

"I noticed something yesterday," Nancy replied, placing her fork back in her bowl, "but it wasn't until today I decided it wasn't me being paranoid. Today it was two men in dark clothes in a car. I ditched them and came to you."

Steve was impressed with how calmly she managed to recount the information. That she had successfully ditched a surveillance team was also pretty metal, as Eddie would no doubt describe it.

"Has anyone else seen anything suspicious?" Hopper asked next.

"There was a weird guy in the store when I went to pick up groceries yesterday," Steve said as he thought about it. "He could just have been security though. I didn't notice anyone following me back to town, and I always check because of Eddie."

It had become a habit since Eddie began living with him. His house was far enough back from the road that no one could see into it without coming up the drive, but he liked to be sure.

Everyone else just made vague, inconclusive noises.

"I've heard everyone talk about Doctor Owens," Eddie spoke up. "Could this be him?"

"Not likely," Joyce said.

"He would not do this," El agreed. "If he had wished to kill me, it would have been far easier when I was trapped in the Void. It is more likely the men who killed Papa."

"The ones who tried to arrest us after the final battle," Dustin piped up.

"They did what?" Steve's mom asked.

"After El finished off Vecna, all these men in black uniforms appeared and wanted to take El away," Lucas revealed.

"Only Dr Owens showing up with his own people with guns stopped them," Will added.

Steve could see his mom adding more to her mental list.

"But why now?" Mike asked. "Why not when they first let us all go home?"

"Because the bureaucratic fighting is over," Hopper said, staring at the ceiling and closing his eyes for a moment as if he thought he'd been an idiot.

"What do you mean?" Steve's mom asked.

"Sam, uh, Doctor Owens offered me the job at the lab the day before yesterday," Hopper revealed, "and he said it was because he'd finally made sure everything was settled and he was back in charge for good. If this black-ops colonel is as fanatical as I think he is, this might be his last-ditch solution."

"But El saved the world," Lucas pointed out as if it made no sense to him.

"I don't think he sees El as a person," Robin said, "just a weapon."

"Which in his mind would make her even more dangerous now there's no enemy to defeat," Dustin concluded.

"So, what do we do?" Wayne asked the obvious question.