Chapter Eighteen: Sound of Sirens

"What time did you get to sleep last night?" Robin asked, looking over at Lydia with a frown.

Lydia was squeezed between her and Max in the middle of the BMW's backseats. Dustin had called shotgun, and Lydia was struggling to get over the betrayal of Steve just allowing it to happen.

"What are you–" Lydia spoke through a yawn. "–my mom?"

"You look exhausted," Robin emphasised.

Lydia simply shrugged. "Steve snores."

Upon the accusation, her boyfriend immediately glanced into the rear-view mirror. "I didn't even snore last night!"

"Uh, yes you did," Lydia insisted. "I mean, it was mostly heavy breathing. But still."

Robin clicked her tongue, shaking her head. "Steve, could you be any more inconsiderate? She needs her beauty sleep!"

"She had another bad dream, that's why she's so tired," Steve corrected. "Got nothing to do with me." A smirk crept across his mouth. Lydia knew exactly what was coming. "Well, unless you count–"

"No!" Dustin screamed from the passenger side, hand clutching over his ears. Max cringed in the backseat, nose scrunching in disgust.

"Gross," Robin muttered.

"Steve," Lydia warned. He flashed her a teasing grin. "Also, your heavy breathing is just as annoying as the snoring."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Lyds, next time I'll try and shut off my human need for oxygen."

Robin rolled her eyes. "It'd do us all a favour." She cast a look at Lydia, who snickered. Even Max cracked a small smile.

It was true, Lydia had legitimately struggled falling back asleep because of Steve's ridiculously loud breathing, but it wasn't the main reason she was kept awake. Her mind had been churning over a vivid and gruesome nightmare since the early hours. One she desperately wished to forget.

The dream began with a blonde figure stood on the edge of the woods, partially disguised behind the leaves and trees. Lydia had caught a glimpse of a green pleated skirt and cheerleading uniform. The girl had turned and sprinted in the opposite direction, so Lydia followed, running and running and running, until she reached a clearing. That was where she stumbled across Chrissy Cunningham floating in the air.

The sight alone should have been enough to shake Lydia back into reality. But it didn't. She had screamed, shouted, pleaded, tried to move and help her. But Lydia was rooted to the ground, sinking deeper and deeper into the earth. She was forced to watch as Chrissy's bones cracked, twisting in unimaginable ways. To watch her eye sockets pop. And then, Chrissy dropped to the ground in a crumpled heap. Lydia was finally able to scurry down the incline, tripping and tumbling, covered in dirt and mud. But when she reached her, placed a hand on her shoulder, turned her over, Chrissy had transformed into somebody else...

Max.

Lydia closed her eyes, desperately trying to rid the haunting visuals from her mind.

The red-head was sat beside her, arm resting on the windowsill, chin placed in the palm of her hand. The relief that had washed over Lydia when they picked up Max, safe and sound, an hour ago was overwhelming. But the nightmare still niggled in the back of her mind.

Steve pulled up alongside Reefer Rick's boathouse and switched off the engine. Lydia took a moment to survey their surroundings; nothing seemed out of place, or like it had changed from the night before.

The group climbed out the car and headed to the trunk, where they'd stocked several plastic bags full of groceries. Swooping some into his arms, and then completely disregarding both Steve and Lydia's warnings to be careful, Dustin sprinted to the boathouse door and burst inside. "Delivery service!"

Eyes wide in alarm, Eddie had one hand pressed to the wall and the other against his chest. "Jesus."

Lydia offered him an apologetic smile as the five of them filed inside. The grocery bags were set down on a wobbly black table. Lydia and Robin started to unpack, unloading an assortment of crisps, protein bars, a bottle of chocolate milk and a box of cereal.

Eddie hovered eagerly behind them, swiping the Honey Comb cereal the moment it was set down. He hopped back into the boat and tore across the box, shovelling messy handfuls into his mouth.

Dustin cleared his throat to get Eddie's attention. "So we got, uh, some good news and some bad news. How do you prefer it?"

"Bad news first, always."

Eddie chewed slowly, staring up at him in anticipation. Dustin took a deep breath, but was interrupted before he could begin.

There was a crash outside, something thudding against the door.

Eddie's eyes widened in panic. Dustin and Robin frantically scrambled for the tarp. Steve and Lydia automatically stepped in front of the boat, blocking the view.

"Ouch, motherfu–" To Lydia's greatest (like, seriously) surprise, Betty Angel stumbled through the doorway, struggling to cradle two full paper grocery bags in her arms. When her eyes landed on the group, she recoiled back in surprise. "Oh. Hi." She placed the crumpled bags at her feet, holding her hands out in surrender. "What's up nerds? I, uh, come in peace."

Lydia instantly relaxed. Steve breathed out in relief. Eddie straightened up, peering out from behind the couple. "Betty?" He asked. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I just..." Betty trailed, eyes drifting around the room. Robin waved sheepishly. "I wasn't expecting other people to be here. What's going on?"

"It's a long story," Steve replied.

Betty squinted, as if noticing him for the first time. "Harrington?"

"Yeah, yeah. Trust me, I'm more surprised to see you."

Lydia agreed with him, because what the actual fuck was Betty "don't even breathe in my general direction if your name is Eddie Munson" Angel even doing in the vicinity of someone she not only detested, but had been accused of murdering her best friend? And she was carrying grocery bags, which surely meant it couldn't be her first visit...

"Hi!" Dustin greeted, beaming at Betty as he bounded eagerly towards her. "I'm Dustin."

He outstretched his hand. Her eyes flickered down. She reached out and shook it. "I'm B–"

"Betty," Dustin interrupted, grin stretching wider. "I know. Heard so much about you."

Eddie glowered at him.

Betty responded with a lop-sided smile. "Oh really?" She glanced in Eddie's direction, eyebrows arching.

Curiously, Lydia's eyes darted back and forth between the pair. Interesting.

"Uh, so the bad news," Eddie prompted, slyly changing the topic to set them back on track.

"Oh, right. The bad news." Dustin turned his attention back to him. Betty meandered over to the grocery table. "We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you. Also, they're, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy.

"Like, 100% kind of convinced," Max added on, perhaps a little unnecessarily – they were trying to inspire some hope for the guy. Though Lydia supposed it was important to keep a relative amount of perspective.

"Oh, yeah, you're totally fucked," Betty said through a mouthful of food. Nevermind. They all turned to stare at her. She was still stood at the table, munching on a cereal bar. "Sorry, skipped breakfast." She swallowed. "But, um, yeah, Marnie and Jason have, like, formed some sort of alliance. Whole basketball team's looking for you."

Eddie blinked. "And the good news?"

"Your name hasn't gone public yet," Robin said. "But if we found out about you, it's a matter of time before others do. And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you."

His expression dropped. "Hunt the freak, right?"

"Exactly."

"Shit."

Lydia's expression softened. She couldn't imagine what he was going through; the fear, the guilt, the panic. Not to mention he'd been dealing with it completely alone.

Reflecting on yesterday, she'd probably thought about Eddie a little too harshly – although, after the whole glass bottle debacle, could she be entirely blamed?

"So, before that happens," Dustin swooped in. "We find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence."

Eddie blinked. "That's all, Dustin?" He asked incredulously. "That's all?"

"Yeah, no, that's pretty much it."

Eddie ran a hand over his face. He sucked in a deep breath, brown eyes wandering over to Betty. She was further back in the corner, arms folded, worried gaze focused solely on him. Double interesting.

"Listen, Eddie," Robin began. "I know everything Dustin is saying sounds totally delusional, but we've actually been through this before. I mean, they have a few times, and...and Lydia and I have once." Robin exchanged a glance with Lydia, who nodded in encouragement. "Ours was more human-flesh-based, theirs was more smoke-related."

"Don't forget the Russians," Lydia added.

Robin pointed back at her. "Yes, and the Russians."

Eddie's brows furrowed. During Robin's spiel, Betty had inched closer to him, placing her hand in the edge of the boat. Triple interesting.

"But bottom line is," Robin continued. "Collectively, I really feel we got this."

"We usually rely on this girl who has super powers," Steve carried on, scratching the side of his face. "But, uh, those went bye-bye, so..."

"So we're technically in more of the..." Robin trailed.

"Kinda..." Lydia attempted to fill in, casting an unsure sideways glance at them.

"Brainstorming phase," Max finished for them.

Steve snapped his fingers. "Brainstorming."

Dustin stepped forwards. "The main thing is, there's nothing to worry about."

Eddie and Betty exchanged an entirely unconvinced look.

Steve had also scoffed, prompting Lydia to dig her elbow into his ribs. He glanced over at her, but their attention was stolen by the sound of sirens wailing in the distance.

"Shit."

"Tarp!" Dustin ordered. "Tarp. Tarp."

Betty and Robin reacted the fastest, grabbing a corner each and throwing it over Eddie. Hurriedly, he pulled it over his head and slumped down to hide underneath.

The others raced to the window, huddling around for a clear view of the road. Lydia had to stand on her tiptoes to see. Steve leaned closer, placing a hand against her back as blue and red flashing lights flew past them.

It looked like two police cars and an ambulance. Which only meant one thing...

"Do you think it's happened again?" Lydia asked quietly.

Steve released a heavy breath, turning to look at her. "Guess there's only one way to find out."

—

The whole group, minus Eddie and Betty, had piled back into Steve's BMW and followed the emergency vehicles. Led to a narrow road, scene cordoned off by yellow police tape, they joined the small crowd that had formed; including almost the entirety of Hawkins' police force, several panicked people, and many news vans plotting to break the scoop. Amongst them, looking incredibly concerned and very tiny amongst the brash and bold journalists, was Nancy Wheeler.

One shared look confirmed everything.

Their battle hadn't ended at Starcourt.

As the group pushed their way through the crowd to reach Nancy, a set of strong fingers latched around Lydia's upper arm. She halted, which grabbed Steve's attention. He seemed almost ready to fight until he realised who it was.

"Explain. Now," Rich ordered firmly.

Dustin had continued charging through bodies, with Robin following close behind, awkwardly shrinking to make herself as small as possible whilst muttering multiple apologies. Max slowed just ahead, glancing back over her shoulder. Lydia waved for them to continue. Steve hesitated but did as he was told, placing an assuring hand on Max's shoulder as they carried on.

Lydia's attention returned to Rich. He loosened his grip on her arm, running his hand across his face. His eyelids were puffy, heavy and drooping. The circles underneath them were dark. He was even starting to grow stubble – something that was particularly unsettling, Rich always shaved.

"You look like shit," Lydia remarked.

"I've had about four hours sleep in the last three days," he replied bluntly.

Lydia offered him a week smile. "Better than nothing, right?"

Rich took a step closer, lowering his voice. "Lydia, two kids are dead, one of which I've known her entire life."

His voice had wobbled slightly, prompting Lydia's expression to soften. She hadn't fully considered how hard Chrissy Cunningham's death would be for him on a personal level. Chrissy and his sister Marnie had been friends practically since birth. Rich had watched the girl grow up. And now he was working on her murder case.

"Marnie is on a rampage," Rich continued. "Betty's gone completely AWOL and now you and your friends are sneaking around like the fucking Scooby-Doo gang, so you need to tell me what the hell is going on. Is this connected to–" He placed a hand on her arm again, angling them away from prying ears as he leaned closer. "Is this connected to the mall?"

"We don't exactly...know," Lydia answered, vaguely enough for Rich to sigh. "But we're working on it," she added on quickly. "And we might have a lead."

"What lead?" He prompted.

"I can't tell you."

He blinked. "You can't tell me?"

"You just have to trust me, okay?" Lydia responded. "I'll keep you upd–"

"Trust you?" Rich whispered disbelievingly. "You got yourself trapped in an underground Russian lair last summer!"

"That was actually Steve and Robin's fault," Lydia pointed out. "Speaking of which, I have to go. We're following our lead."

"Lydia," Rich warned.

"Just, please, find it somewhere in your heart to put faith in me," Lydia said, backing into the crowd. "And relax about Betty, she's fine."

"You've seen Betty?"

"Uh..." Oops. "Kind of."

"Lydia–"

"Forget I said anything," she rushed out, turning on her heel.

"Is she with Eddie?" Rich pressed, following after her. "Lydia. Have you seen him?"

She glanced up in the air, willing god to give her some damn strength, before she turned back around to face him. "Look, he didn't do this. And I think you know that."

Rich gestured around them, to his colleagues, to the journalists. "They don't. Marnie definitely doesn't. And neither does Chrissy's boyfriend. Lyds, the whole fucking town is gonna find out."

"Then...delay the information."

"Just– just tell me where he is and we can figure something out."

"I can't." She shook her head. "If we can stop Vecna–"

"Vecna?"

"Working name," Lydia said, waving her hand dismissively. "Anyway, if we can stop Vecna, we can prove Eddie's innocence before you lock him up."

"If we lock Eddie up and this happens again, that proves his innocence," Rich pointed out. Lydia halted, deliberating. He kind of made a valid point. "Just think about it."

She hesitated, thinking back to all the rumours that had surrounded the Munsons for years; his dad an abusive, alcoholic, criminal. Him a drug dealing freak repeating senior year. He was the perfect scapegoat for something like this. People demanded answers. They might not accept finding it in a supernatural creature.

"Rich, do you really think the system is ever gonna do someone like Eddie Munson a favour?" she asked. He opened his mouth to respond, then closed it again. "Exactly." Lydia spared a glance across at her friends, who were all watching her closely. "I gotta go."

"Call me," Rich shouted after her. "Seriously. And don't do anything stupid. Please."

"I won't!"

"Call me or do something stupid?!"

"Can't promise either!"

–

Ten minutes later, the group were sat around a mucky picnic table in Forest Hills. Lydia had only been to the trailer park a handful of times before, but each visit had given her bad vibes. There was something unsettling about the place, an uneasy energy. And since Chrissy's death, that atmosphere had dampened even further. The place was like a ghost town.

The bright yellow crime tape surrounding the Munson trailer rustled in the breeze. Lydia dared a look in that direction. Her stomach churned as thought about Chrissy. Her gruesome death. Mangled body. The horror Eddie had witnessed. If it had been anything even remotely like Lydia's brutal nightmare then...God, she didn't even want to think about it.

"You're saying that this thing that killed Fred and Chrissy, it's from the Upside Down?" Nancy clarified, palms pressed on the table.

Lydia was sat on the edge of the bench, with Max situated across from her. Dustin was on Lydia's left, having snuck in the spot between her and Steve.

"If the shoe fits," Steve responded.

"Our working theory is that he attacks with a spell or a curse," Dustin explained. "Now, whether or not he's doing the bidding of the Mind Flayer or just loves killing teens, we don't know."

"All we know is this is something different," Max said. "Something new."

"Doesn't make sense," Nancy muttered under her breath.

"It's only a theory," Dustin defended.

"No, Fred and Chrissy don't make sense," Nancy elaborated, forehead creased in confusion. "I mean, why them?"

"Maybe they were just in the wrong place," Lydia suggested.

"Were both at the game," Dustin linked.

"And near the trailer park," Max added.

Steve looked over his shoulder, glancing at their surroundings unsurely. "We're at the trailer park," he pointed out. "Uh, should we maybe not be here?"

Lydia's eyes consciously darted around the vacant space. She didn't want to voice it, since it was where Max lived, but the place massively gave her the creeps.

"There is something about this place," Nancy noted, peering at their surroundings. "Fred started acting weird the second we got here."

"Acting weird as in...?" Robin prompted.

"Scared," Nancy answered. "On edge, upset."

"Max said Chrissy was upset too," Dustin reminded.

Their attention shifted to her. "Yeah, but not here," Max dismissed. "She was crying in the bathroom at school."

"Serial killers stalk their prey before they strike, right?" Robin reminded. "So, maybe Fred and Chrissy saw this Vecman?"

"Vecna."

"Dunno about you," Steve began. "But if I saw some freaky wizard monster, I would mention it to someone."

"Maybe they did," Max spoke quietly, slowly looking up at Lydia, who frowned. Her eyes gradually trailed over each of them. "I saw Chrissy leaving Ms. Kelley's office. If you saw a monster, you– you wouldn't go to the police. They'd never believe you. But you might go to your..."

"Your shrink," Robin finished.

Lydia's stomach flipped. Max had been seeing Ms Kelley. And after what had happened to her in Lydia's dream...

"Hey, asshole!"

Lydia's head whirled around to pinpoint the furious voice. Her heart raced. Were they not supposed to be there? Were they trespassing? The cops didn't seem to have a problem with it–

"Is that..." Robin trailed, losing her train of thought.

Lydia leaned forwards, squinted into the distance, and realised exactly why. Fuck. "Marnie?"

The cheerleader stomped towards them, expression contorted in pure rage. Lydia had seen her angry before, but not this angry. Marnie's hands were balled into tight fists at her sides. She looked dishevelled; plum coloured velvet jacket a few sizes too large, hair thrown up messily in a bun, no makeup to hide the heavy bags underneath her eyes.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Marnie snapped as she stormed up to their table.

Lydia straightened up. The group exchanged worried glances. "Marnie–"

She jabbed a confrontational finger at Dustin, who immediately shrank back. "You–" Marnie spat. "You're friends with him, aren't you? Where the fuck is he, huh?"

Dustin audibly gulped, leaning as far away from her as possible. "Where's who?"

"You know who."

"Marnie," Lydia cautioned.

"I know you're protecting him," Marnie snapped. "Tell me where the fuck he is!"

"Okay," Steve intervened, holding his hands out. "Let's just...take a moment."

"Take a moment?!" Marnie shouted in disbelief. "Take a fucking moment, Harrington? That son of a bitch killed my best friend, if you shit-bags are hiding him–"

"We– we don't know where he is," Dustin stammered. "I swear."

Marnie opened her mouth to retort. But then her attention landed on Max. Her stare narrowed. "Mayfield, right?"

"Yeah."

"You live opposite Munson, don't you?" Marnie prompted, taking a slow step towards her. "What did you see?"

"I mean, I do yeah, but I–"

"You saw something," Marnie accused.

Max shook her head. "I didn't."

"I can tell you're lying," Marnie snipped. "All of you are."

Max stood her ground. "I didn't see anything."

Marnie laughed half heartedly, shaking her head. She stared at Max, expression dropping. "Liar," she seethed, reaching out and grabbing a fistful of Max's jacket. "Tell me what you fucking saw!"

Lydia had legitimately never moved so fast in her entire life. "Hey!" She marched towards Marnie, shoving her shoulder hard enough so that she was forced to release Max.

Marnie stumbled. Lydia grasped onto the collar of her purple jacket, yanking her forwards. She maneuvered her arm, placing it underneath her neck to pin her back. The girls stared intently at one another, breaths ragged.

Lydia tightened her grip, voice lowering darkly as she inched closer. "Touch her again and I swear to God I won't be responsible for what I do next."

"Lyds," Steve said cautiously, getting to his feet. "Lydia."

Marnie's lip curled as she raised her chin indignantly. The muscles in Lydia's jaw twitched. "I'd like to see you fucking try. Go on. Dare you."

"Okay, that's enough," Nancy interrupted authoritatively. "This isn't helping anyone."

Lydia was too furious to listen. She knew about Max's history. It didn't take a genius to work out that Billy Hargrove had been a shitty brother. Marnie knew well enough what kind of person he was. Lydia understood why she was angry, but to take it out on a teenager?

Her firm stare searched Marnie's. "Walk the fuck away."

"Or what?"

"Lydia," Steve warned again.

She held onto Marnie a moment longer, then abruptly released her grip.

Marnie took a step back, smoothing down her jacket. "That all you got?" She smirked at her.

Lydia was forced to swallow her pride before things escalated too far. But that didn't mean she was going to let Marnie get away with it.

Lydia drew in a deep breath and composed herself. "Listen, I am so sorry about Chrissy. I can't even imagine what you're going through right now." Marnie looked away, head shaking. "Really, I can't. And I know this is hard for you. But don't take it out these kids. 'Cos that's what they are. They're just kids."

Marnie scoffed, hardened eyes drifting back over the group. "You all know where he is. And I know he's probably scared. Hiding," Marnie said nastily. "So you tell that freak, he'll know true fucking fear when I find him. Because I will. And he's gonna pay for what he did."

She swung back around, storming back in the other direction. Lydia watched after her, chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath.

Lydia wasn't entirely used to standing up to people, especially someone as arguably terrifying as Marnie Bryant. So, she kind of wanted to collapse to the ground.

"Lyds," Steve prompted softly, arm reaching out towards her. "You ok?"

She turned back around, squeezing his hand in reassurance, though she didn't know if that was more for her sake or his.

Lydia felt like her entire body was trembling, the adrenaline rush steadily climbing back down. "Yeah."

Max watched as she sat "That was..."

"Dramatic," Nancy said.

"Hot," Robin breathed out.

"Awesome!" Dustin cheered, breaking out into a grin. "I didn't know you could do that! All this time we've been relying on Steve in fights, but you're way scarier!"

Lydia's attention lingered on Max before hovering over the table. "Are you guys okay?"

They all nodded a little sheepishly.

"I mean, if anything, kinda turned on," Steve responded.

Nancy audibly sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Max outwardly cringed.

Dustin shook his head, face scrunching in disgust. "Dude, that was not something you needed to share with the class."

"Fuck it if I'm not too," Robin spoke up. Nancy glanced over at her in disappointment as well. "All this time I thought Marnie was the h–" she caught herself, eyes widening. "Scary one," she finished quickly.

Lydia raised her eyebrows. Nice save.

"I hate to break–" Nancy paused, gesturing between them. "Whatever this is up. But I think we really need to follow this lead."

"Right." Steve nodded, tearing his gaze away from Lydia. "Yeah."

Upon Nancy's instruction, they got to their feet. Lydia's eyes swept the grounds for any sign of Marnie about to ambush them again.

"So we go to Ms Kelley's?" Robin double checked, a few paces behind Lydia as the group followed Nancy's fast strides.

"Yeah," Max replied. "I should be able to talk to her."

Steve jogged to catch up to Lydia. His shoulder lightly bumped against hers in his silent way of saying I'm here. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she answered. "Just...don't know what came over me."

"She was totally out of line," Steve said. "There's not a lot of things I wouldn't put past Marnie Bryant, but bullying kids?" He scoffed. "That's a new low, even for her."

"She's upset," Lydia tried to keep some perspective. "Her best friend just died."

"Still," Steve said. "That wasn't okay."

"Imagine if that was–" Lydia cut off. She didn't even want to say it. Imagine if that was Robin. "Hell, I get it, you know? All the evidence points at Eddie. I'd be hunting him down too–"

"Hey Nancy!" Robin called out. "Where you going?"

Lydia and Steve whipped back around to find Nancy, at a halt, halfway back to her car.

"Oh, there's just something I wanna check on first," Nancy replied vaguely. Too vaguely.

Dustin flung out his arms in annoyance. "Something you wanna share with us?"

Nancy buried her hands in her pockets. "I don't wanna waste your time. It's a real shot in the dark."

"Now's really not the time to be modest, Nancy," Lydia pointed out. She knew the girl was brilliant. If she had an idea, it was definitely something they should consider.

"Are you out of your mind? Flying solo with Vecna on the loose? No," Steve shook his head. "It's too dangerous."

"He's right. I can go with you," Lydia offered, taking a step forwards.

Nancy opened her mouth to respond, predictably in disagreement, but stopped herself when Steve interjected.

"Yeah, me too. Here." He tossed Robin his car keys, who just about snagged them from the air before they dropped. "I'll stick with Lyds and Nance. Take the car, check out the shrink."

"Don't think you want me driving your car," Robin shut down the plan quickly.

Steve looked at her exasperatedly. "Why?"

"I don't have a license."

"Why?"

"I'm poor," Robin shrugged.

Max raised a hand. "I can drive."

Steve's eyes almost bugged out his head. "No, never again. Please. Anybody but you. No." Dustin's brows raised. He slowly pointed a finger at his chest. "No chance."

"Come on."

"No."

"All right, okay," Robin interrupted impatiently. Lydia had noticed her starting to fidget. "This is stupid." She yanked Dustin's walkie talkie from his backpack and headed past them. On the way, she dropped Steve's keys back in his hands. "Nancy and I will stick together. Unless you think we need you to protect us."

Lydia and Steve exchanged an unsure look. Robin and Nancy? That was surely a match made in hell.

"Be careful," Steve gave in.

The girls smiled, turning and heading to the car. When they were out of earshot, Steve addressed Lydia. "Nancy's gonna kill her, right?"

"For sure." Lydia cast a look back over her shoulder. Robin was definitely not Nancy's cup of tea, Lydia had already gaged that from the last time they met. Hopefully it wouldn't be a completely disaster. "What can ya do, I guess?" Lydia started towards the BMW, ruffling Dustin's hair on the way. "I call shotgun, twerp."

"Not fai–"

Steve pointed a finger at him. Dustin's mouth immediately clamped shut.

"Get in the car," Steve instructed. "And wipe your feet." Dustin obliged. He stomped to the backseats, stepped inside and made a show of wiping his shoes on the carpet. "On the outside, not the inside!"

Lydia bit back a laugh, pulling open the passenger side door. Steve flung open the driver's side and climbed in with a huff.

"Always the babysitter. Always the goddamn babysitter!"

A/N

Lydia protecting and caring about Max is all fun and games until you remember what happens at the end of the season 🙃

Also no Lydia/Steve/Nancy love triangle in this house because idk wtf was going on between stancy in s4. There will defo be a bit of tension between them but overall no major drama – sorry to any love triangle truthers.

It's so funny to me that non Died In Your Arms readers first introductions to my new characters were Betty collapsing into a door trying to balance groceries and Marnie attempting to fight two fourteen year olds.