Steve blinked and let the real-world flow back into his senses. He had managed to convince his dad to let him fix his knee by confessing that every hug was driving him crazy because he could feel his dad's pain. It had been just like fixing Hopper's injuries, which he was determined to finish doing soon, even though his dad's knee injury was much older.

He found himself nudging a few other things as well, since his dad had long since adjusted to compensate to mask the limp he otherwise would have had. If he was honest, it felt ridiculously easy compared to what he had had to do for Nancy and Owens. He still had the unpleasant sensation of blood oozing from his nose as he came back to himself, but Eddie passed him a tissue and that was easily dealt with.

"You're done?" his dad asked, clearly surprised as he opened his eyes.

Steve nodded.

"It was actually about half an hour, Darling," his mom explained.

"Really?" his dad said. "It felt like no time at all."

"Want to test it?" Steve asked.

He could forgive his dad for the slightly dubious expression that flashed across his face, after all, this was all new. The look of utter wonder as his dad stood up, mouth falling open, eyes wide, was more than enough of a reaction to make up for it.

"Oh my god," his dad said moving from one leg to the other repeatedly as if he couldn't quite believe it. "That is, well, miraculous."

Steve wasn't sure what to say to that.

"And there goes your excuse not to help with all the preparations for later this afternoon," his mom stepped in for him, masking the sudden awkwardness and kissing her husband on the cheek.

"I would never," his dad replied, tone playful thanks to his mom.

"Oh, Darling, I love you, but you so would," his mom said. "At least you won't be quite so terrible at the company basketball tournament this year."

"I still say as company president I should be allowed to bring my son in to play for our team," his dad protested. "Most of my guys are over forty and overweight. We never stand a chance, especially against the youngsters in sales."

"You know the rules, David," his mom countered, "no one not on the company payroll, or suddenly we'd have teams full of sons while their fathers sat around and drank beer."

"Steve, tell you mother you could intern for a few months before the tournament," his dad tried to get him on side.

Steve stiffened, because he feared where this conversation would end up. His dad had offered him an internship after Starcourt, but Steve hadn't wanted to leave Hawkins or commit to going that route with his life. He really wasn't cut out for business.

"David, stop pressuring your son because you want to win a game," his mom said, tone light, but eyes very much giving his dad a message, "he has bigger things to think about at the moment."

His dad paused for a second, clearly catching on to his mom's hint.

"It's just so humiliating losing every year," his dad said, sitting down with an over dramatic sigh.

"But your knee's working this year, Dad," Steve decided to ease back into the conversation, "they won't know what hit them, and we can always play a few games while you're here to sharpen your skills."

His dad smiled. Apparently that was exactly the right thing to say.

"Jocks," Eddie said in a derisive tone, that made Steve's mom chortle with laughter.

"Come on," his mom said as her laughter died down, "Steve, you should eat something while Eddie can help me start to set up. David, you can go and freshen up. Sam will be here in an hour to make sure everything is ready, and I want to get a head start."

"Point me, My Lady," Eddie said, standing and bowing, "I am your servant."

"I won't be long, Mom," Steve said, smiling fondly at his boyfriend's antics, but also accepted the plate with two PB&J sandwiches on it his mother pushed towards him. "You should eat something too, Dad," he added, handing half of one to his father. "Your body did a lot of work, even if you didn't notice it."

"I don't think I've had a PB&J since your PB&J phase when you were seven," his dad said, accepting the sandwich happily. "For sixth months, Steve refused to have anything in a sandwich except PB&J," his dad told Eddie.

"You're telling me there are other sandwich fillings than PB&J and grilled cheese?" Eddie asked with a loud gasp. "Wayne's been fibbing to me this whole time."

Steve laughed and almost spat out the bite of sandwich he had just taken.

"Go," he said, shooing Eddie towards the door his mother had just disappeared through, "because choking on a PB&J would be terrible after surviving the last few weeks."

Eddie grinned at him and walked away. That left Steve with just his dad. He still felt a little on edge, but he launched into a discussion about the latest football scores because he didn't want to deal with anything heavier right then. The fact they were going to have a house full of people, half of whom were about to find out some very life changing things, already had him on enough of an edge. Any deep conversations with his dad would have to wait. Luckily his dad seemed to be on the same page and they chatted as they ate their sandwiches.

~*~

Steve had helped his mom arrange the living room so they could get everyone in with various chairs from all over the house, along with the normal furniture in a different configuration. Owens had arrived exactly on time with an actual overhead projector. Steve had had no idea there were going to be visual aids.

It was while helping to set that up he had noticed Owens looking at him. Hence, he wasn't overly surprised that when he went to the main garage to pick up another extension cord, he found the man waiting for him as he stepped back into the main house.

"Doctor Owens," he said, a little wary.

"It's Sam, please," Owens replied. "I just wanted to thank you personally for what you did for me after Colonel Sullivan's actions. We haven't had a chance to talk since."

"Don't mention it," Steve replied. "You protected El, we're even."

Owens gave him a small smile.

"Well, even if I agreed with that, which for the record, I don't," the man said, "I have two things to thank you for."

Steve didn't understand.

"A little over a year and a half ago," Owens explained, "I was diagnosed with an inoperable malignant brain tumour. The only three people aware of this were me, my wife, and my specialist, and now you. I was given three years, four at the outside. It was one of the reasons I was willing to take the fall for the oversight that was Starcourt without a fight. After you healed me, I realised my symptoms were gone and yesterday I gave myself a scan. The tumour no longer exists."

That was definitely not what Steve had expected to hear. He was so surprised that when Owens handed him a small card, he simply accepted it. It held only a set of numbers in pairs.

"What's is it?" he asked.

"My personal phone number," Owens replied. "No government channels, no big brother listening. I am trusting you to keep it confidential unless you need to use it. If you need anything, anything at all, from parking tickets disappearing to Upside Down related anything, call me. If I am not there, my wife will be able to get a message to me wherever I am."

"I don't need..." Steve began to say.

"Steve," Owens said, "please. You have given me my future back, which I can never repay, this is the least I can do."

He looked down at the card in his hand, before slipping it into his pocket.

"Okay," he agreed. "Thank you, I will keep it safe. But you didn't have to."

"And you didn't have to save my life, twice," Owens said with another of his smiles, "but you did."

Steve did his best to smile back, but the conversation had him off balance, so he wasn't sure how convincing it was. He let Owens head back as he mulled over what they had talked about. Healing the man had been so chaotic and desperate he had had no recollection of what he had actually been healing. That he had apparently cured a cancer while repairing the damage from the bullet probably shouldn't have shocked him as much as it did. He needed time to process it, but he didn't have it at the moment, so he pushed it back to think about later.

No doubt Robin would be able to help him talk it through, maybe Eddie too. Until then, he had things to do.

~*~

Robin arrived first with her parents. She threw her arms around him the moment she stepped through the door.

"Missed you, Dingus," she said.

"Missed you more," he replied, hugging back. "Hello Mr and Mrs Buckley, please come in."

He had met Robin's mom and dad many times, had dinner with them on several occasions, but they still looked unsure as they stepped into his home.

"Welcome," his mom said from behind him. "Please, make yourselves at home. Can I get you a drink, coffee, tea, something cold?"

"Oh, thank you," Mrs Buckley said, seeming to settle somewhat at the normal niceties. "A coffee would be lovely."

"And Mr Buckley?" his mom prompted.

"Richard, please," Robin's dad said with a smile, "and a beer would be good if you have one, thank you."

"Of course," his mom said.

"I'll get them," Steve offered, dragging Robin with him towards the kitchen as his mom led their guests over to where his dad was waiting to play host along with Owens. "Your parents look like they're coming for an execution," he commented as soon as they were out of earshot.

"It was the suits and the paperwork that spooked them," Robin replied. "Dad insisted on reading every word before he would sign, and it's been so hard not just blurting everything out."

"Yeah," he agreed while he grabbed a mug from the cabinet and made Robin's mom's coffee with milk and one sugar, just like he knew she liked it. "Had that discussion with my mom yesterday afternoon after you went home, and my mom filled my dad in when he got home earlier. If you need any backup once your mom and dad know the truth, I'm there for you."

"Thanks," she said and gave him a one-armed hug. "Can't believe they're finally going to know. Dad might lock me in my room and never let me see daylight again."

"I'll break you out," Steve promised, going to the refrigerator to get a beer for Mr Buckley, "well if your dad or mom don't come after me with a bat for endangering their daughter that is."

"I can definitely protect you from that," Robin replied going for the same light-hearted tone. "Where's you boy toy?"

He laughed at her choice of words.

"With Wayne in the basement," Steve said. "I promised to let him know when his bandmates get here, but until then he wanted to stay out of sight. Less questions that way."

"That I get," Robin agreed, grabbing a soda for herself before they headed back towards the other room.

Dustin arrived next with Claudia, and Steve got hugs from them both.

"Dusty says you protected him," Claudia whispered in his ear as she embraced him. "He wouldn't tell me from what, but thank you, Steve."

"He protected me too," he replied, before pulling away.

After that, the Hopper/Byers clan arrived, along with Argyle. It wasn't as if they'd been gone very long, but El, Will and Joyce gave him big hugs anyway, along with Argyle, who seemed willing to hug anyone and everyone, Jonathan awkwardly waved at him, and Hopper patted him on the shoulder. Everyone was a little on edge, but Steve found that perfectly understandable.

At least they were finally going to be briefed on the full cover story as well, so that would be useful.

The Wheelers were next in line. Nancy greeted him with a kiss on the cheek, Karen gave him a hug, Mike gave him a hug, which threw him for a complete loop for a second, and Ted just glared, looking like he'd been sucking on a lemon.

"He didn't like having to sign the paperwork," Nancy told him quietly.

At least Ted seemed to relax a little once he had a beer in his hand and Steve's dad took over dealing with him.

After the Wheelers came the Corroded Coffin guys. The only one who had brought his parents was Gareth, but then Steve knew he was younger than the others. It seemed Jeff and Frank had opted not to involve their families. Steve could understand that, he would much rather have kept his parents safe and in the dark too. That they were involved made it easier on him, but it put them in danger from a possible re-emergence of the Upside Down and the shadier arms of the government.

Robin disappeared down the basement stairs to let Eddie know his friends were here while Steve played host. The bandage on Gareth's fingers and the way Jeff was still limping made his skin itch, but it wasn't as if he could fix them right there and then. One thing he did know for sure was that his excursion into having powers was not going to be mentioned. If he suddenly had a nosebleed, it would raise questions. He got everyone drinks instead.

Eddie was making sure his guys were not quite as one edge by the time Steve got back. Ted Wheeler was staring a hole through Eddie's back, but everyone else seemed to be politely ignoring that, as was Eddie.

"Max," Steve crowed, absolutely delighted when he next opened the door to find the redhead standing on the other side.

He half opened his arms in an offer, not sure if she would be open to hugs, and was quite surprised when she threw herself at him.

"El told me everything I missed," she said as she clung to him. "Don't think any of you are getting away with leaving me out if it happens again."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he promised, giving her a firm squeeze. "Hello, Mrs Hargrove, please come in."

Max's mom looked nervous and as if she felt out of place, so Steve did his very best to make her feel comfortable as he welcomed her in.

Last, but in no way least, the Sinclairs arrived.

"You're looking better than last time I saw you," were the immortal words Erica chose to greet him with.

"I feel better too," he replied. "Your special soda is on the second shelf of the refrigerator."

That earned him a smile. He could tell Erica was as nervous as the rest of them, but with a goal in mind, she seemed to relax. A hug was forthcoming from Lucas before the kid made a beeline for Max while Steve invited in Sue and Charles. They seemed less wary of the whole situation than the other parents not in the know, but then Steve was pretty sure anyone who could produce a child like Erica was bound to have a certain confidence.

Once everyone had arrived and had their beverage of choice, Owens moved to the front of the room. The plan was to have the briefing first, then to bring out the food afterwards so everyone could have a chance to talk about what they had learned.

Steve couldn't help noticing that the room was divided into those who already knew about the Upside Down and those who didn't. It was a clear split as the kids gathered together and the adults who were aware mostly waited for what was to come. Steve stood to one side with Robin, close to the kids, with Eddie and his guys the other side of them as his mom urged everyone else to find seats.

"Hello," Owens started as everyone quieted down. "I would like to thank the Harringtons for hosting this gathering and to remind everyone here that nothing discussed this afternoon may be repeated to anyone not present. You have all signed the relevant paperwork, but I would ask that if you feel you will not be able to comply with the agreements, please leave now."

Nobody moved.

"Good, thank you," Owens said after a couple of awkward seconds. "Simply put, we are here today because your children have helped save the world, in most cases, more than once."