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Chapter Text

Claudia never told Karen that she had a crush on Ted back when they were in high school.

The only person that did know was Bob Newby, and that was because they lamented their situations of watching Lonnie hanging off of Joyce and Karen and Ted hiding under the bleachers.

“Who knows, most high school relationships don’t last past graduation, maybe we do have a chance,”

She had said one evening when they were working on a joint project, 

“I would like to think I did, but I’m sure if Lonnie finally screws off Jim won’t waste a second to jump in line… and I’m no match for him,”

Claudia had patted his shoulder with a sympathetic smile, 

“Well I think you’re a catch, Bob Newby, so don’t lose hope.”

She had secretly hoped that Ted and Karen would end up breaking up, and no matter how many times she caught wind that they’d argued or something had gotten them to a breaking point, the next day Ted would (without fail) show up by her locker with a bouquet of daffodils and Chrysanthemums, apologizing for something that was 7 times out of 10 not even his fault.

They were friends, so she accepted that as enough.

Then they graduated, and Ted joined the forces, Karen promised she’d wait for him, and Claudia went to college in Maine with Bob, got a degree in nursing, and came back to Hawkins to find out the two had gotten married once he got back from Vietnam and had a little girl named Nancy.

So she pushed the little crush aside and settled down with Walt, and for a little while, it was good.

And then he started coming home late, the smell of whisky on his breath and a quick word in response to her questioning. She just prayed he’d walk and not drive.

She got pregnant with Dustin, and her world shifted, she threw herself into becoming a mom, excitement filling her every moment as she looked forward to a future with her new baby and husband.

Dustin was born with a rare birth defect and she felt like a failure. 

She cried herself to sleep for weeks as her baby stayed in the hospital, and Walt was nowhere to be found. 

She had never imagined a bed that cold with so many blankets could be that cold.

When she finally brought her baby boy home he was all she dedicated her time to, and lucky for her he was such a happy child, he hardly ever cried and was so aware, always looking around smiling.

He was her only focus when Walt’s late nights spent “on the road” turned into long weeks of absence.

She drew the line at him sleeping with other women.

The worst part was that she had gotten wind from someone else.

It was late September when Bob called her from his house in Maine, his words rushed as he tried to fill her in on him seeing Walt at the bar with some skinny blonde.

“I’m so sorry Claudia, I really am. But I couldn’t in good conscience let you go without knowing about it.”

She would always appreciate Bob for his steadfast loyalty to her.

The papers were signed and she had full custody of Dustin by the end of the year. 

He didn’t even bother to come collect his things. 

So Claudia went outside to burn them all.

Or at least she had planned to but she had no gasoline or matches.

Which found her in Melvalds’ at 9:30 pm, standing in line waiting to check out with a tear-stained face.

“Claudia?”

She about jumped out of her skin at the sound of Ted’s voice as she whipped around to find him behind her a couple of odds and ends in his arms, 

“Are you ok?”

“Walt’s been sleeping around. I don’t know for how long,”

She’s not sure why she just blurted it out in the middle of the store, for everyone to hear, and as the shame rushed to her cheeks she saw nothing but sadness in her old friend's eyes as he hummed before shifting some things in his hold to take the lighter fluid and matches from her, nudging her ahead so he could pay for their stuff thanking the cashier before ushering her out of the store.

“Where’s Dustin?”

“My Mom’s. I needed some time to think.”

He nodded, handing her the bag with her stuff in it,

“I’ll help you start the fire.”

Which had led them to stand in her backyard, a pile of burning clothes and random nick-nacks all in a makeshift fire-pit (Ted had dug a hole and then layered it with stones before they dumped all of his belongings in it and doused it. She threw the match in)

“Are you ok?”

“I don’t even know anymore.”

The silence stretched for a while as they stood side by side, watching the fire burn.

“I’m sorry he did that to you.”

“It’s probably because I’m too fat- Bob said she was a skinny blonde, it had to be that right? It wasn’t something I did, was it? I tried so hard to be a good wife and make him happy- I-  would let him go out as late as he wanted and never complained about him saying mean things to me,”

She felt the tears building up as he patted her shoulder, and a little voice told her in the back of her head that he hated touch so this was him trying to be comforting.

“I think it’s just because he’s a piece of shit. Not because you’re fat or a bad wife- that came out bad,”

She snorted, laughter bubbling out of her as she bent forward holding her sides, tears streaming down her face,
“Claudia- I’m sorry, shit I’m really bad at this-”

She waved off his apology as he folded his arms, sticking his hands under them to avoid nervously flicking them,

“Don’t apologize I- I’m sorry it’s just the way you said that was so funny,”

She wiped her tears, looking up at her friend.

He looked tired. He always looks tired now.

“Thank you. I needed that.”

He shrugged, not sure how to take the compliment, 

“I’m glad it helped. I have to get back home, you ok?”

She sighed, nodding as she crossed her arms like him, 

“Yeah- yeah I’m good. Thanks.”

He nodded before looking past her at the fire, 

“There’s a bucket of water on the porch for you when you’re done watching it burn. Want me to tell Karen?”

She sighed, it was going to be everywhere by tomorrow with her slipping up like that.

“Yeah, I’m sure she’ll call later anyways since everyone in the store heard me blurt it out like an idiot.”

He gave her a half smile, shrugging again as he started to walk away, 

“Welcome to my world, I’m always doing that. Goodnight Claudia.”

“Goodnight Ted,”

She watched the items burn for another two hours, wondering what it must be like to be married to someone who actually cared for you.

Claudia never told anyone about her little crush, she’d given up on it years ago. They were married, happily at that, who was she to be a homewrecker. she knew how bad it hurt to be the other woman.

When she saw Bob finally shoot his shot and land it, she cheered him on from the sidelines. 

He deserved this.

He would tell her about him and Joyce, about how much he loved holding her in his arms and how the way she laughed made him feel like he was going to melt.

“It’s everything I ever dreamed. I don’t know how I got so lucky.”

“Because you’re Bob Newby, and you are the best man I’ve ever met.”

She watched them fall in love in a way she knew they both deserved and wondered idly how long it would take Bob to propose to her already and move to Maine.

And then she got the news.

There had been another accident at the Hawkins Lab, and this time Bob had died when a wall collapsed.

She cried so hard she threw up three times.

Her Bob, the beautiful sweet soul she’d considered a brother.

Her sweet sweet Bob.

How he’d gotten in that spot, she had no clue, but the police said it was a quick death, so she prayed it was painless.

Dustin was also torn up about his death, so the two mourned him, laughed about his memories, and then went to Maine and put a flower wreath together that they floated away down the lake by his house, 

“He was the closest thing I’ve ever known to a father figure.”

Dustin said as he watched the wreath float away,

“I mean- Hopper tries, I think? But he can be a little scary sometimes, and Mr. Sinclair always has good advice, and Mr. Wheeler is a lot like a Dad too, but in the way that he’s always trying to make sure I don’t do stupid stuff or get in trouble, but Bob was always interested in what I had to say, he liked to hear about my achievements and DnD and science and everything…. I’m going to miss him.”

She looked at her boy, and not for the first time in the past year, felt like he was holding something back. 

But she bit back a sigh as she pulled him close, pressing a kiss to her boy’s forehead, 

“We’ll all miss him sweetie.”

Dustin loved his summer camp, but Claudia hated it.

It meant she was all alone, it meant that the house was quiet and she felt like she was stuck with nothing but her thoughts.

She would fill her time with work, it was a good time to get extra hours in, but her coworker Emily had somehow convinced her to go down to the pool with her, so she got a bathing suit and went down with her, the two women chatting about their kids and plans for the rest of the summer as they sat on the edge of the pool, their legs wet but the rest of them tanning.

“Have you seen the new kid lifeguarding?”

Emily asked, sipping her coke as Claudia gently kicked a beach ball back to a group of girls playing a couple of feet away.

She looked up to see that boy Billy walking out of the dressing room and she felt herself bristle a little, 

“Oh I’ve heard about him, he went after my Dusty last October, and tried to run him over with his friends when they were riding back from school.”

Emily gasped in response as Claudia leaned back a little on her hands, 

“And he keeps going after that sweet boy Steve. Dusty said he beat that poor sweetheart to a pulp that November too, apparently, the kids were having a game night and they invited his sister over to play, my Dusty is good friends with her she’s such a sweet girl, and he caught wind and went after them, he tried to hurt Sue’s boy Lucas and when Steve intervened he got rocked, although he got in a few good hits because he ended up leaving them alone.”

“Oh bless that poor boy's heart,”

Claudia hummed in agreement as she watched all the mothers tanning giggle trying to get the teen's attention, 

“Oh, what the hell- Em look at that,”

“Oh that’s actually why I was asking if you’ve heard about him Claudia, he’s apparently the hot piece on the block right now, all the moms are trying to get a piece of him,”

“Oh, that’s disgusting.”

Regardless of how she felt about the teen, he was just that. A narcissistic teen. Teen. and women their ages going after him was sickening.

“Now you didn’t hear this from me, but I’ve heard through a few other moms that he’s already got a favorite, someone he’s been seeing for a bit.”

“Oh? Well, I’m sure he’s popular in school,”

She picked up her coke to take a sip as Emily leaned back and closer to her to whisper, 

“Oh he is, but I mean one of them. Apparently, he likes them a little older,”

Claudia grimaced, looking over at her friend, 

“Em, are you being serious?”

She nodded, before pulling her big-brimmed sunglasses down, 

“And if rumor has it correct, it’s Karen Wheeler.”

Claudia felt her blood run cold, as Emily nodded to the other side again,

“She’s been here every day, sometimes she brings Holly, other times she’s on her own, but she never misses a day when he’s on. They always chat and she has the tanning bed closest to his seat. Rumor has it that they’ve been talking since November too,”

Claudia felt numb as she listened, thanking God for her sunglasses as she looked over to the lifeguard station, 

Sure enough, Billy was standing in front of her chair, his entirely too tight speedos showing off his rear end as he flexed in just the right way, saying something she couldn’t hear

And sure enough, Karen was giggling, holding onto the top of her chair as she seductively posed herself.

Claudia felt like she was about to throw up, 

“Excuse me Em, I’m gonna go quick to the restroom, hold my soda?”

Em nodded, taking the coke from her friend as Claudia stood, 

“I’ll keep your spot sweetheart, make your potty break quick! We hardly ever get to just sit,”

Claudia laughed to hide the torrid of emotions flooding her, as she scampered off to the bathroom stalls, getting into one on the far end quick enough to expel her breakfast.

She was torn. 

Part of her felt she needed to tell Ted what was happening, another part of her wanted to pretend she didn’t know.

And an even bigger part of her remembered what it felt like to find out from someone else

She wished Bob was here. He would know how to handle this shit.

She didn’t have time to contemplate it for long, she brought Dusty back from camp and had back-to-back day shifts the following few days so she could have the fourth off, only to find out she’d be working then too because several people had just stopped showing up to work. 

Every time she had a chance to think about the situation she was pulled away to focus on another situation at work and any free moment she had she spent with her boy who was depressed that his friends were so focused on their relationships with their girlfriends.

In a last-ditch effort to make her boy happy, she handed him some cash and sent him to the mall to see Steve, knowing if there was anyone who could cheer her boy up it would be Steve.

She told him to make sure he was home by 7 so he would beat the dark, and reminded him to let Steve know he was welcome to stay over if he wanted.

He didn’t call her at 7, but she didn’t notice, not when she was one of the three left on the floor with everyone else calling off.

What she did notice was coming home on July 4th and he wasn’t there.

She sighed, before calling Sue to ask her if he and Lucas were up to anything. Sue said that Lucas had left early that morning to go to the mall with his friends, so she assumed that Dustin must have been there too.

She thanked her before hanging up, thankful that his friends were hanging out with him again before she got a shower and went to sleep off that horrendous shift she’d just pulled, not at all looking forward to the next one in a few hours.

She never made it to the next shift.

She woke up to her phone ringing, answering it with a sleep-addled mind. Before she could get much of a hello in she could hear Sue panicking on the other end, 

“ THE MALL IS ON FIRE, CLAUDIA THE KIDS ARE AT THE MALL-”

Claudia was awake in a heartbeat, a terrified scream escaping her as she left the phone hanging from the cord before she ran, grabbing shoes as she tore out of her house, pleading with God to protect her baby boy.

She should have never let him just wander around, it was too dangerous-

The drive to the mall was a blur, all she knew is she was pushing people out of the way she tried to get past the crowd of people watching it burn, someone grabbing her arm, 

“Ma’am stay back-”

“LET GO, MY BABY’S IN THERE- DUSTIN!”

She felt like her world was slipping out of her grasp as she tugged again before hearing a familiar voice behind her also shouting, 

“I don’t give a shit- my kids are in there I’m going in-”

“Sir please just wait until we get them out,”

“Fuck that-”

She watched as Ted twisted the guy’s hold on him before trying to get back in, Karen screaming for their kids as she held Holly, someone also holding her back.

Sue and Charles had just gotten to the scene when an explosion went off in the mall, stopping everyone in their tracks. 

Claudia felt tears streaming down her face as she screamed, hitting the ground sobbing, her whole world unraveling right in front of her. 

It was like tunnel vision as she watched the burning building, screaming cries flooding out of her like she had no control.

“Mom?”

His voice echoed from behind her, and she felt like time froze as she spun around, seeing her boy, unscratched standing before her, his eyes blown wide in fear, Erica Sinclair standing beside him with the same look of fear on her face.

She screamed again, no words able to come out as she scrambled to her feet, running to scoop her boy up in her arms, holding him as tight as possible as she heard Charles and Sue scream out and collect Erica beside her, asking her where Lucas was and if she was ok, 

“Mom they- Mom they’re all in there oh my god oh my god oh my god-”

She felt her heart drop as Dustin started to spiral in her arms, and she looked up at the Sinclair's, and from behind she could see the Wheelers as realization crashed down on them that their kids were in the burning building. 

That was all it took for Ted and Charles to take off running, their wives holding their daughters and screaming as the armed forces tried to stop the desperate fathers, 

“Where’s Max?!?! Maxine!?!?!”

Susan screamed as she ran up from where her car was half-hazardly parked. 

Claudia watched as she held her boy who was fully sobbing that it was his fault in her arms, saying something about Russians and demogorgons that she couldn’t understand as she watched the doors open to the burning building, several armed forces spilling out, the kids between them, some of them being half carried out and others running out,

The second Mike and Nancy made eye contact with their parents they screamed, running out to get to them.

Karen instantly took off, Holly in her arms as she ran to meet them sobbing in relief as the kids met Ted halfway, crashing into him as he held them both tightly, Karen met them half a second later as she plopped Holly down and held her kids.

Sue and Charles also took off running, Erica following and getting to Lucas faster than them, crashing into her brother at full speed, the boy catching his sister with a dazed look before his parents caught up and held him just as tightly.

Claudia felt Susan run past her, the mother running with arms open as she collected Max who was sobbing uncontrollably, the Byers boys looking lost in the crowd before being whisked away to medical trucks. 

She watched from where she was with Dustin as everyone got acquainted before Dustin tried to peal away from her only for her to hold him tighter, 

“-om please, I need to make sure Steve isn’t dead.”

Something snapped in her at that and she let him go, before following him, 

“I’m coming too.”

The Hendersons sat side by side in the waiting room, people being rushed in and out, it was odd for Claudia to be on the other end of the hospital. 

“I’m sorry.”

Dustin sobbed into his hands as Claudia rubbed his back, not fully understanding everything he was saying. 

“Sweetheart please stop apologizing-”

“I’ve been lying to you, I- I can’t do this anymore Mom,”

He sat up, looking her dead in the eyes. 

“We need to talk.”

“About what-”

“Everything, all of it. I- the Upside Down and Will’s disappearance and coming back and Bob’s death and this all of it,”

She felt like she’d been splashed with cold water at his rambling as she held his face in her hands, 

“Baby what are you talking about-”

“Harrington?”

The two looked up, 

“I’m here for him,”

Claudia said as Emily sighed, something tired in her eyes, 

“I had a feeling, follow me, honey, is Dustin ok or does he need to be checked?”

Claudia shook her head as she stood up, Dustin already on his feet, 

“He’s just shaken up, he wasn’t in the building, walk me through what he’s got on the way down,”

Three broken ribs, a severe concussion, partial hearing loss, two lost teeth, and a broken cheekbone, along with some organ bruising and blood loss.

Emily said it was a miracle his lung didn’t get punctured by the way his rib was sitting.

He was asleep when they got in, his friend Robin asleep curled up beside him. She’d had a nervous breakdown when they were separated and had to be sedated to calm her down enough to treat her injuries. 

After Emily had filled her in she left them, and Dustin spilled everything. 

It was about two hours later when he’d finally paced himself tired that he was sitting curled up in her lap, as she brushed her hand through his curls, wondering how she could be such a horrible mother and miss all of this.

“Dusty I’m so sorry, I failed you,”

She croaked, her voice raw from all the screaming and crying she’d done in the last hours.

“How?”

He asked, drained of any energy,

“In everything… I left you in situations- sweetheart I’m so sorry… you’ll never be put in those situations again.”

She was leaving. 

They are moving as soon as possible, and she’s taking Steve with her- and probably Robin.

She was still processing everything as Dustin fell asleep in her arms, and as carefully as possible she shifted him so he would wake up enough to crawl into the bed beside Steve, making sure he wouldn’t bump or arouse the sedated teen before she slipped out of the room, holding a hand over her mouth as she took several deep breaths to try and steady her racing heart before she heard soft crying down the hall.

She turned her head to find Ted down the hall, sitting on the floor with his head buried in his arms, his body shaking.

Her blood ran cold when she remembered Nancy and Mike were both hurt before she half ran down the hall stopping a few feet away from him. She could hear his stifle crying as he tried to hold back what she assumed would have been much louder sobbing, his fingernails digging into his upper arms hard enough to draw blood from them.

“Ted? Honey, are you ok?”

He didn’t answer, almost as if he couldn’t hear her as she slowly got on the ground, approaching him so she didn’t startle him, 

“Ted? Hey what’s going on-”

“I can’t breathe, why can’t I breathe?”

He gasped still not lifting his head, and suddenly a switch flipped in her and she was in her nurse mode, brushing her tears away, 

“Hey, you’re ok, just try to calm down, can I touch you?”

“No- no don’t touch me,”

“Ok, no touch, can you try to sit up?”

He shook his head, a high-pitched exhale getting stifled by the way he was hiding his face,

“Honey half of the problem is you’re holding your breath to try and not cry, you’re going to have to stop doing that ok? No one is going to say anything about you crying, I promise, now try and take some slow deep breaths alright? Can you do that for me?”

He tried to nod, attempting to take a shuddering breath that turned quickly into a sob that he tried to bite back again as she hushed him gently, desperately fighting the urge to pull him into a hug, 

“That’s it honey deep breath, try again, in and out, don’t worry about the crying, I promise no one’s going to care ok?”

“They’ll hear,”

She looked up at the door, completely closed and no way of them hearing. 

She knew it was a mental thing, but to him, he was close enough for his kids to hear him break down, she bit back a sigh as she stood up, scrambling to an empty room to snag two of the blankets in the closet, returning to stuff it under the door, before sitting down in front of him with the other blanket in hand, 

“Ok see, I put a blanket  under the door, they won’t hear you now I promise,”

That was all it took for him to let go, sobbing so hard his body shook as he tightened his hold on himself, 

Her heart ached as she watched him, her hand clutching the blanket tightly. She gave him a few minutes before inching closer again, praying he’d say yes, 

“Can I give you a hug?”

It took a few seconds before he nodded, still crying hard but that was all it took for her to move, kneeling forward as she collected him in her arms as she held him, shushing him gently as she rocked to try and soothe him.

“You’re alright, I promise, the kids are ok, they are all alright-”

“I failed them, I failed them all- they- oh my god how many times- oh my god they are too young for this-”

So Mike and Nancy must have told them as well.

She continued to shush him, looking up to the door, idly wondering where Karen was before memories of earlier in the week hit her out of nowhere, did he know-

“Ted, try to breathe, you didn’t- we all failed them, did Nancy and Mike tell you?”

He nodded, trying to collect himself as he started to loosen his tight position, Claudia mentally reminded herself to check his arms where he’d dug his nails in later.

“We are all responsible, or irresponsible in that case, but,”

She pulled back, hands on his shoulders to force him to sit up and look at her, and her heart almost shattered at the worn-out person she was sitting eye to eye with.

“They are alive. They are scratched up and have trauma to work through but they are alive. That is enough. We will all work with the aftermath as best as possible,”

Saying it to him as if she was saying it to her. What she needed to hear in that moment.

He sighed shakily, leaning back so his back was up against the wall, his body still trembling from the aftermath of the panic attack, 

“I- everything is falling apart… it’s not just that- the kids I mean, it is but-”

So he did know.

“What happened?”

“I don’t even know… all I know is that kid that died, Karen- I can’t say it.”

She could see him nearing another breakdown, and was worried that if he spiraled again it would end up worse the second time so she jumped in, 

“Don’t. It’s alright, I know.”

Hurt flashed in his eyes at her admitting it and she felt like shit before rambling to explain, 

“I was at the pool a couple of days ago, and a friend of mine told me there were rumors and I didn’t get a chance to ask her, I didn’t want to believe it so I wanted to ask her first before spreading it any further-  too much happened all at once Ted, I- I’m sorry I should have said something but I didn’t want to assume,”

He didn’t try to stop the tears that spilled, instead closing his eyes as he let out a shaky sigh again, 

"Ted? are you ok?"

“I- I don’t even know anymore…”

Suddenly she was back in 1975, in the cool of the night as a fire burned in front of them.

“I’m sorry she did that to you,”

He tried to shrug, but she could see that all the energy had been zapped out of him, 

“I probably deserved it.”

“You did not. No one does.”

She answered quickly, feeling something hot and angry bubble up in her before she forced it to extinguish for a moment, 

“Ted you can’t sleep in the hall, it’s a tripping hazard.”

“I just want to sleep with my kids- that sounded horrible… I don't- I don’t sleep with kids,”

She found herself snorting in amusement as he half opened his eyes, giving her a half-try for a smile, 

“I know you don’t. Want help standing up?”

She asked as she stood, stretching her hand out to him. He stared at her for a moment, contemplating before he nodded, taking her outstretched hand, pulling himself off the ground as she half pulled him up, the two stood in the hall for a moment before she reached up and adjusted his glasses, brushing a stray tear aside, 

“You’ll get through this, we all have.”

“Thanks, Claudia.”

She smiled, a hand on his shoulder, 

“You’re welcome Ted, now go sleep with your kids,”

He huffed a breath out in a half-aborted attempt for a laugh before he nodded, mumbling a yes ma’am before he turned around stopping to look at her, 

“Are you ok? Where’s Dustin?”

She sighed, something warm welling in her chest at his concern, 

“I’m fine Ted, Dustin’s sleeping, we’ll all talk tomorrow, go sleep. I’m going to sleep too.”

He nodded, turning around again, kicking the blanket to the side before taking a deep breath to steady himself as he opened the door and slipped into the room, closing it with a soft click.

Claudia stared at the door for a moment, wondering if the kids were asleep or awake if Karen was in there or not, and how everyone would process in the morning.

A small voice in her head told her now was her chance to try and grow close to him, but she shushed the Bob-sounding thought, chiding herself for thinking about the way her heart was pounding at the feeling of hugging him.

He didn’t need someone to be trying to jump him right now, he needed room to heal, room to try and cope with not only this whole “upside down” thing that everyone else was going to have to deal with but also his relationship of 20 plus years dissolving in the same night. 

For now, she’d be a friend there to help him with his healing process, later on, she would revisit this, she owed it to her friend to at least try.

But right now, all she wanted to do was go back to Steve’s room, kiss all her kids goodnight, and turn in, exhaustion hitting her like a bus as she turned around to walk back to the room down the hall.

Chapter Text

Claudia wasn’t entirely sure what to expect once morning rolled around.

The kids were still passed out cold, and she was hoping they’d stay that way for a little longer (several hours if possible) so the rest of the parents could discuss and somehow, hopefully, come to terms with all this shit.

They had decided earlier that morning they’d meet outside so they could avoid any bugged lights or spies listening, which lead them to sitting around this table in HMH’s garden.

Joyce was sitting at the table in a stunned manner, almost as if she was frozen with a cup of coffee in hand, staring at the floor, as Sue and Charles sat in front of her, Sue’s hand on  her hand in comfort and Charles leaning forward with his arms on the table,

“So Jim’s a part of this too? Is that how he ended up in the basement with the… Russians?”

He asked softly as if speaking to a startled animal. Joyce nodded, tears welling in her eyes, 

“If he doesn’t make it I’ll never forgive myself,”

She whispered, her voice thick with emotion.

It was in that moment Claudia realized this was not her first rodeo, and other than Jim she had no one to help her through Bob’s loss.

“He’ll make it sweetheart, don’t think like that.”

Claudia encouraged from her spot at the table, her hands wrapped around her cup of coffee, before looking at the lot of them.

She didn’t know Susan all that well, but she was working with not only losing her stepson but also all of this and her husband walking out on her after Billy’s death. She was sitting beside Ted smoking a cigarette a thousand yard stare on her tired face as she presumably half took in the conversation.

Ted was also sitting completely zoned out, holding a cup of coffee that he hadn’t touched once (the only reason he had it to begin with was that Charles had pushed it in front of him telling him to at least drink a little something, concern on the other man’s face.) if she wasn’t sure that the rest of the parents knew about the affair before, she was damn sure of it now judging the way Susan coldly pushed past Karen on her way outside, and the way Sue and Charles acted only as cordial as possible with her before Sue handed Claudia a cup of coffee and gave her a “we'll talk later” eye.

Karen was sitting at the table, an empty chair between her and Ted and another empty chair between her and Joyce, her eyes red-rimmed and her usually perfect hair pulled into a half ponytail, and like the rest of the parents still in the same clothes they'd been in the day before except for Joyce who was in a pair of scrubs.

If anyone had slept it was out of exhaustion, and from the dark circles under Susan's eyes, she was one of the ones who hadn't slept.

“Ok… alright first matter at hand is this whole….. hell below earth thing. Joyce you and Jim have known this entire time?”

Charles asked, looking at the mother of apparently three now until she looked at him, something broken in her big brown eyes,

“I wanted to tell you guys, it's just- we had NDAs and I…. I couldn't risk their safety, I promise that's all,”

“We trust you dear it's just- those are our kids… imagine if it had been you on the other end of the table,”

Sue interjected, giving Joyce's hand a squeeze. That was all it took for Joyce to break down sobbing, apologizing over and over for withholding from them and for the kids being in danger as many times as they were. The Sinclair's were up in a heartbeat, both moving to hug the sobbing mother, Charles gently pulling her up to her feet as Sue came around from the side, soothing her in their gentle tones. 

It was clear where Lucas got his calming charm from, and where Erica got her strength.

After Joyce had cried her heart out and Claudia had gotten her a cup of water, they waited for her to calm down for her to recount everything from the beginning to them, having an adult point of view to fill in the blanks that their kids missed when they hysterically filled their parents in.

“Shit…” Charles swore softly under his breath, running a hand down his face as Sue sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose,

“What about this time?”

Karen asked, and for a second Claudia felt like the room got cold, as Joyce shrugged 

“They'll come around this afternoon and have more paperwork I guess,”

“Any chance we can contest it? Who are they trying to hide it from? The world? We aren’t gonna say anything to anyone.”

Susan asked, taking another drag from her cigarette. Charles sighed, sitting back in his chair hard as he ran a hand through his hair, 

“It’s not that easy, the government isn’t gonna take you for your word… I wonder if there’s any other way,”

“What if we leave,”

Ted asked, steadfastly staring at the tabletop as he played with the Styrofoam cup of coffee,

“Leave? Like, move out of Hawkins?”

Sue asked, getting a shrug out of the man, 

“Forget it, that was stupid,”

He mumbled, following it with something else self-deprecating as Claudia frowned, 

“No, it’s not, it’s a start. What if we did move? Could they still hound us?”

Charles looked at Sue, the two having a silent conversation that ended in her tilting her head as a way of telling him to answer, 

“Yes and no. we could hypothetically leave, but we have lives here, we can’t just uproot the kids and leave our jobs. This- it’s real life, and sometimes we have to just stand firm and deal with the shit we’re dealt.”

It was a double-ended answer, one for the rest of the parents but also something Charles was hoping Ted would read into about his situation. Claudia made a mental note to explain it to him at some point when they had a chance to talk.

“Ok well, what would be your best suggestion on how to deal with all of this on a legal end then Charles?”

Karen asked, and Claudia felt like someone had pinched the back of her neck. 

“I think we just take it as it comes if anyone comes to the kids, we just tell them not to have them sign anything-”

“They don’t know we know.”

Ted interjected, looking up from whatever pattern he’d been staring at in the wood, 

“The feds, they don’t know that we know. As far as they’re aware, we’re still in the dark. So what if we just… act on that? Play dumb, but always be with the kids.”

“Play the role of overprotective parent, like we don’t want them to be out of our sight,”

Sue followed up, clasping her hands together, as Claudia nodded, 

“So if we’re always with them, no one will come around to blow cover,”

She added, before turning to smile at Ted, 

“That’s very smart Ted, good thinking,”

The small half-smile she got in response was worth a thousand words unspoken, and so was the rush of excitement that she made him smile.

Charles nodded, sitting up to lean his elbows on the table, 

“That can work. It’ll give us time to figure out how to deal with it, but what about Joyce and her boys, and Eleven, isn’t she considered a fugitive?”

“Well, we can always pretend that we knew Hop adopted a kid, start calling her by her birth name, what was it?”

Sue suggested, patting her husband’s forearm, 

“Jane. her name is Jane.”

Joyce answered, finally looking less weepy as she looked at the rest of them, 

“Ok so that’s the plan? Fein ignorance? I think we can do that.”

“I think it’s a start. As far as you and Jim go Joyce, we’ll all take turns hanging out in Jim’s room, once he’s come around we’ll lay it out for him. Sound like a plan?”

Everyone nodded, as Susan took another long drag out of her cigarette before chucking it at the ground, standing to snuff it out, 

“Are we good to head back in? I need to check Max,”

“I think we’re good,”

Charles responded with a nod. She smiled at him before placing a hand on Ted’s shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze before she left, Ted reached up to touch the spot she’d had her hand, absentmindedly rubbing it before brushing out his shirt as if to try and make the feeling of lingering touch leave quicker, something Claudia’s seen Dustin do whenever he wasn’t privy on being touched in the moment.

“Anyone else wants to share anything?”

Sue asked standing up, Charles following her move, the couple in perfect sync.

“Nope. I’m going back to the kids.”

Ted stood up swiftly, maneuvering out of the seat before he started back towards the hospital, Karen stood up quickly as well, 

“Ted wait-”

He didn’t bother to stop, continuing to walk in as fast as possible as Claudia and Joyce also stood up, the single mother hugging her friend around the shoulders in a show of support for her emotional distress.

Karen sighed before turning around to the other four, her eyes misty, 

“I’m sure you all have something you want to add-”

“Oh, I have plenty,”

Sue cut her off, folding her arms in a way that looked perfectly posed, 

“But only because I have two children who are traumatized and in need of their Mother, along with people I consider to be friends in need of support, I have nothing to say to you right now. I’m going to check the kids,”

She said, directing the last part to Charles, pecking him on the cheek before she walked away, leaving the four to stand there as Karen let go of a breath, a shuddering few tears spilling, 

“I- it all happened so quick,”

“Yeah, seven months moves like lightning, especially when you’re talking to a teen.”

Claudia bit out before she squeezed Joyce’s hand as a goodbye, brushing past Karen to go see her kids.

Her kids were still blissfully unaware, sleeping like babies all cuddled up to each other.

Claudia had tried to contact the Buckley's and Harringtons first thing in the morning, without any response from either, which in the Buckley’s case left her feeling a little uneasy, but in the case of the Harringtons’ she wasn’t surprised in the slightest.

She brushed a hand through Steve’s long soft hair, wondering how bad a state the damage would leave him in, hoping it wouldn’t be anything too serious before pressing a kiss to his forehead, moving to do the same to Dustin. 

Steve would more or less sleep for a lot longer than the other two, he’d been woken up every few hours to make sure his concussion didn’t leave any lasting damages, especially since he’d suffered a horrible one seven months ago when Billy nearly beat him to death. 

Hot rage rushed through her blood as she thought back on how beat up he’d looked, and how she’d asked him what happened and he told her he got jumped. 

She was mad at herself for not asking more questions, but there was nothing she could do about that now.

So instead she just pressed a kiss to her Dusty’s head, and then one on Robin’s too, hoping her parents weren’t among the victims that were being found who were part of the human flesh monster that had wreaked havoc on the mall, before cautiously peaking out of the room to see if anyone was out there. 

With the exception of nurses she knew personally, she found no one out of place so she decided to go check on Jim and Joyce’s kids, before peaking in on some of the other kids to see how they all were.

Jim was still knocked out cold, his daughter- Jane sitting at his side as she watched him sleep, fear in her eyes before she looked up at Claudia, 

“I can’t- my powers aren’t working.”

Her heart split in two at the little girl's desperate tears, and without a second thought she walked across the room and scooped her up in her arms, hugging the little girl tightly as she cried, holding onto Claudia like she was the first person to have hugged her in a while,

“You don’t worry about that right now sweetie, you need to go back and lay down, you’re in no shape to be up and about.”

She pulled away from the girl only to lead her back to her bed, helping her up to get back to Will’s side, the boy also sleeping soundly.

Jane got in the bed beside her brother, wiping the still pouring tears before Claudia sat down beside her, wiping the tears, 

“You’re ok sweetheart, don’t cry, you just need to sleep for a bit, get your strength back and we’ll revisit this later ok?”

She nodded, nestling in beside Will, 

“You know?”

Claudia put a finger to her lips, signaling Jane to not mention it before she brushed her long bob to the side, 

“I know you need sleep, now go to sleep, your Mom will be back in a few. But it’s important you sleep,”

She was starting to wonder if Jane could read between the lines, and judging by her confused look she more or less had no idea what the woman was trying to imply but she obeyed regardless, slowly dozing off as Claudia carded her fingers through her hair, waiting until she was out to stand up, pulling a cover over the sleeping teens. 

She looked at them for a moment more, before turning to look at Jonathan, finding him also asleep on his side, his shirt off displaying the huge bruise on his back.

“Oh, you poor sweet boy,”

She chided softly, her back hurting in sympathy for him before she ran a quick diagnostic check on everyone to ease her worries, leaving once she knew everyone was stable and sleeping.

She peeked into the Sinlcair's room, finding Sue sitting in the armchair with Erica sitting on her lap, the girl laying her head against her mom’s shoulder as they watched the morning news, Lucas still sleeping in the bed beside them. She wasn’t sure how much longer Joyce Karen and Charles would be outside, but for now it seemed like Erica was enjoying the moment with her mom. Claudia smiled before backing away, moving to the room down the hall with the name Mayfield on it.

She stopped short of entering when she heard Max crying, talking to her Mom as Susan shushed her gently, telling her that she was ok now. Presumably a nightmare, Claudia frowned, the poor girl has been through the ringer. She’d have to stop by to chat with Susan at some point and see where she was emotionally and mentally, the last thing that poor woman needed was to go through all of this on her own.

She stopped at the last room, pushing the cracked door opened slightly more so she could peek in at the Wheelers.

Mike and Nancy were sleeping, Nancy on her side and Mike nestled into her, the two looking like they’d fallen asleep hugging, she wasn’t sure how much they knew about the affair, or how anyone even came around to find out about it, but she had a feeling that they were more than aware of it.

Ted was on the opposite side of the room, Holly in his arms as he rocked her slowly, rubbing her back gently as he hummed softly, staring at the wall. Whether or not she was awake when he got back in, or she was simply the easiest of the three to pick up and hug, she didn’t know, but she could see the way he was shifting from foot to foot as he tried to keep himself from coming untethered again, and more or less Holly was the one thing keeping him grounded at the moment.

“You ok Ted?”

He glanced at her before going back to looking up, getting Claudia to step into the room fully, noticing he was watching the TV on low, 

The Mall was destroyed, whatever hadn’t been burned was broken, and there was yellow tape and at least a hundred military and government vehicles surrounding the scene. 

She gasped softly, walking over to stand by his side, watching as they replayed clips from the morning and what looked like clips from the night before, more or less journalists that had gotten there when everyone else did. 

She could see herself and the others in a shot, and part of her wanted to turn away, reliving the memories of thinking her baby was dead.

“They said the casualties list right now is 19.”

He mumbled, shifting from rocking fully to just on the balls of his feet. 

“My God…”

She looked up at him as he continued to stare at the screen before looking down at her, 

“They’re all ok.”

She said it both for him and her, a reminder that their kids weren’t a part of the casualties list. He nodded, still staring at her for a moment before going back to watching the screen.

“What are we going to do…”

She sighed, folding her arms as she turned to watch the scenes play out as well, 

“I’m not sure, the main focus is getting the kids in better shape physically and then talking to them about all of this. Next…”

She stalled, unsure what to say.

Everyone’s next was going to look different. 

Her next was going to be moving Steve in, and if she had no one else to go to Robin, finding a way to keep her kids out of trouble and also be here for Ted while he goes through is next.

His next was…. A lot.

“There’s too much going on.”

She hummed in response to what he said, looking over at him, 

“Wanna put Holly down and talk about it?”

“What if she wakes up?”

“She won’t. She looks pretty out.”

“What… what if someone comes in?”

“We can talk right outside of the door if that works?”

He considered what she offered, looking over at the kids before back at the TV, then at the door, weighing out the choices he was offered before he moved to go rest Holly behind Mike, the boy turning around in his sleep so he could pull Holly close and hold her like a teddy bear.

“See? Mike’s gonna hold her just fine.”

She watched him wring his hands before humming in response, moving to pull the blankets up on them before going to step outside to chat with her.

Claudia closed the door gently behind her, not fully shutting it as she watched him fold his arms, tucking his hands under them to try and avoid moving around too much.

“You know I’m not bothered by that,”

He gave her a quizzical look, freezing entirely as she leaned against the wall next to the door, 

“You moving. Dusty has to pace or move his hands sometimes to stay focused. It doesn’t bother me if you have to do that too.”

“Oh.”

The silence stretched for a moment as he continued to stand a little hunched, looking past her at the door, 

“What did you want to talk about?”

“Your Next.”

“Oh.”

The silence stretched for a few more seconds, Claudia allowing him the time to either say something to think out the rest of his thoughts before she started another one, trying to be careful not to overwhelm him.

“Do you know what you and Karen are going to do?”

He shrugged, hugging his arms tighter against himself, 

“Divorce, but I-”

He stopped himself, biting the inside of his cheek. Claudia didn’t interrupt him, waiting to see if he’d pickup the sentence again.

“I don’t know what to do. There’s so much- the kids and Karen and he’s the kid who died so there’s also that and… the other thing, and what do I even do once we do divorce? Who gets the kids? I can’t- I can’t live without the kids…”

His voice tapered off as he started to pace, not fully aware that he was. Claudia watched him, putting her hands in her sweatpants pockets as she watched him unravel, waiting until she needed to jump in.

“Sweetheart you aren’t going to live without the kids.”

“Yes I will- I will because they, the mom always get the kids, and- and Mike and Nancy can’t stand me so they’ll want to be with Karen and that’s fine, it’s fine I um, it’s fine but I don’t- they mean everything to me, I can’t imagine living without them and Holly,”

He was talking with his hands as he paced, his breathing a little erratic but nothing to be too worried about yet. 

“And I can’t stop this tight feeling that keeps starting in my chest and I’m worried I’m going to have a heart attack, but then it goes away and I feel empty, like more than I normally do- what did I do… I- it had to be something I did, right? Why would she do this to me? What did I do to deserve this?”

He was crying now, tears flowing as he stopped pacing, leaning against a wall as he scratched his inner wrist, staring at the door again, 

“There are so many things screaming in my head but nothing makes sense. And I fucking can’t stand the fact that I haven’t gotten a shower and I’m still wearing these clothes and that my skin feels like it doesn’t belong on my body and I want to claw it off-”

Claudia had pushed herself off the wall mid-rant to walk over and grab his hands, stopping them from tearing into his wrist,

“You’re overstimulated.”

“I’m what?”

“Overstimulated, it happens sometimes when there’s a lot going on at once and your brain can’t focus on one thing at a time so it tries to focus on all the things at once. The stimulation is too much, does that make sense?”

He nodded, not trying to pull his hands out of her grasp.

“So here’s what you should do, I think you go home, get a shower and change of clothes, get some clothes for the kids, and come back-”

“I can’t leave them-”

“Yes, you can.”

She held onto his wrists with a gentle but firm grasp, waiting until he was giving her eye contact, 

“Karen is on her way back, she’ll wait with them while you’re gone, then she can go and shower and change too. Joyce is gonna go home and do the same thing, Charles is gonna sit with Jim, and when they come back, Sue and I will go,”

“But what about Dustin and Steve and his friend?”

“That’s for me to worry about. You only have two things to worry about right now ok? Do those two things and then come back, you’ll feel a lot better if you do.”

He nodded, looking down the hall, 

“What about Susan?”

“She can go home with Max since Max isn’t injured. The Sinclairs' are going home too, and after they clear your kids and Joyce’s they’re all good to go too, so is Dustin.”

He nodded, subconsciously twisting his wrists in her hold not in a way that he was trying to get loose but more so for the feeling of friction it was causing, 

“Is Jim and Steve going home soon?”

“Ted, one thing at a time. If you try to do too much you’ll have another episode like last night,”

She chided gently, not wanting to shame him for the breakdown last night, but judging the pink blush that spread across his cheeks he was already feeling shame bubbling up.

“Hey, look at me for a second,”

She asked, tugging on his wrists to get him to look at her, waiting until he was looking down at her to continue, 

“What happened last night was a completely normal response to having all of that tossed at you, there’s no shame in that alright? You can’t feel ashamed for how your body reacts to things Ted, it’s just the way you are,”

He looked like he wanted to say something, but opted for biting the inside of his cheek instead as she sighed, giving his wrists another squeeze. 

“Go home, get a shower, get clothes for the kids. Don’t try to figure out who’s doing what next, when people are coming home, what the divorce is going to look like, none of it. Ok? Just go home, shower, and bring back clothes for the kids.”

“That’s three things.”

She felt her brow furrow at his response getting a shrug out of him, 

“You said I have two things to worry about, that’s three.”

She made a small ah noise, nodding once, 

“Can you handle three things?”

He nodded, shifting on his feet awkwardly as he looked at their feet, 

“I mean I can handle all of it, I don’t know why I’m acting like this right now, I can handle it I have before.”

“That’s what happens after a while Ted, you burn out and start losing control. Which is normal and fine,”

She said, tacking on the last bit as she tipped to the side to catch his eyes, giving him a smile, 

“And you don’t have to handle all of it, just three things right now, and then we’ll work on the rest. Ok?”

“Ok,”

She smiled, giving his wrists a squeeze before letting them go, nodding down the hall. 

“I’ll let them know you’ll be back. Now hop to it, Wheeler,”

He gave her a try for a half smile before looking back at the door, mumbling something, and then leaving, saying he’d be back in a few over his shoulder.

Claudia watched him walk away, waiting until he’d left to let go of a deep sigh, tucking her hair behind her ear as she peaked back into the Wheeler’s room. 

They were all still fast asleep, but from what she could see they had superficial cuts and bruises, so there’d be no reason they couldn’t go home, 

She smiled, before closing the door and walking down the hall to check on her kids, half hoping that Dustin would get up soon so she could have him go sit with the Wheelers

Dustin was more than happy to go sit with the Wheeler's he waited until Steve was awake, talking to him softly before he moved to tear out of the room, only stopping when Claudia grabbed his shirt to stop him, the teen spinning around to look at her with confusion, 

"they've had a rough night Dusty,"

"yeah Mom, we all did?"

she sighed, not wanting to tell her kid about what his friend would more or less tell him in the next few minutes, 

"it's a little different sweetheart, just- be calm ok? and try to be a good support for Mike."

Dustin raised an eyebrow but nodded in response, never being one to fight his mom, 

"Will the others be up soon? we have to kinda... recap the events?"

"not here. wait until we get home, and Dusty, if anyone comes in your room that is... them, you need to call me immediately, ok?"

he nodded again before she let go of his shirt, placing a kiss on his cheek before swatting his butt, 

"off you go munchkin,"

He giggled softly before grumbling about the name for show, scurrying out of the room to go hang out with the Wheeler kids, leaving Claudia to sigh and watch him, biting back a laugh as she smiled,

She adored her boy.

Steve groaning was enough to get  her attention as she shifted back to turn around and tend to him, checking Robin who was still very asleep, 

"How are you honey? you need pain meds yet?"

"Everything hurts. I don't know why,"

"We'll talk about it later honey right now you just rest I'll get you some more meds and some water, you hungry?"

"No, I feel a little nauseous,"

"Ok honey, let me get you some meds,"

"Thanks, Mom,"

The name slipped without him realizing it, but she did. Her heart swelled with emotion that he felt maternal comfort from her as she busied herself upping his morphine,

"Robin's here right?"

"mmhmm, sleeping next to you,"

"I love her so much, just not like in a sex way, in a different way."

She giggled as he got loopy again, before she readjusted him so he wasn't going to get sores, letting him continue to babble

"Like I was thinking it was in a sex way, but then I found out it wasn't. I'm happy with that, I just wanted a friend. well I want a- owe, I want a girlfriend too, but I really like have a friend like Robin, she's like- ow that hurts, she's like a sister but better, I always wanted a sister, or a brother, I see Dustin like my brother though so it's good. I actually see all of them like siblings, sometimes I like to pretend I am actually really their brother, it makes- ow why does that hurt, it makes it easier to go home when it's quite."

Claudia wanted to punch the Harringtons.

"Well you won't be going home alone anymore sweetheart, you wanna stay with me and Dusty? if we can't find Robin's parent she can come too."

He looked up at her, his big hazel eyes blown wide with the drugs and emotions, 

"You mean it?"

She patted his none bruised cheek gently, her heart aching at the sight of how banged up he was, 

"One hundred percent. But right now why don't you sleep for a little longer, we'll talk about moving you in when you feel better."

"Oh, sure, ok. Yeah, we can do that,"

He sighed as she pulled the covers up, leaning down to press a kiss to his head, 

"Sleep well honey,"

She waited until he was out to walk out of the room, going down the hall to peek in on Dustin and the Wheelers.

Mike and Dustin were sitting together on the bed, Dustin holding Mike in a hug as his friend buried his face into Dustin's neck crying. 

Claudia felt like her heart had been torn out of her chest at the sight, wanting to go comfort the boy, but deciding against it. When he was ready, he'd come to her if needed. Her Dusty has it in control right now.

Nancy was sitting on the chair with Holly, braiding her hair as she stared ahead, her eyes red from what she assumed was exhaustion and tears. 

How they had come to find out about it last night, she wasn't sure. Between Dustin telling her everything and her being anxious about Steve she hadn't noticed if there were any raised voices, she'd have to talk to Sue about it. 

She sighed, before turning around to walk back to her room. 

Joyce and Charles were heading back, talking to each other as Karen followed them, her eyes red.

If Karen was heading back with the kids, she was sure Dustin would leave with Mike and more or less go see Will or Lucas to talk, it would be a matter of minutes before everyone was on the same page.

so she nodded to Charles and smile to Joyce before turning in, hoping to get a few minutes to decompress before they hit phase two of trying to pickup the pieces. 

Chapter Text

Phase two involved a lot.

A lot more than Claudia was prepared for.

As far as avoiding the feds, their plan had been working well enough, between Claudia talking their ears off so they wanted to leave, Ted’s cold stare, and Sue’s intense questionnaire, no one wanted to poke around enough to find out if they could get past the “overprotective parents”.

“Susan isn’t going to be able to afford her home,”

Sue mentioned offhandedly to Claudia as the two ate dinner in the cafeteria, 

“Oh no, what is she going to do?”

“She doesn’t have to worry about it. Me and Charles are going to house her for a bit until we can help her get on her feet again, we think this could be a good opportunity to keep her from spinning out of control as well if she has someone to keep her accountable.”

Claudia watched her friend poke at her salad as a swell of emotions built in her chest, 

“You two are good people Sue.”

Sue stopped poking her food, looking at Claudia with a look of surprise that softened into a small smile, 

“I could say the same for you, Lucas said you are taking Steve in. And Robin too if her parents don’t show,”

She nodded, bowing her head to look at her potatoes, 

“That’s different, Steve’s almost like a son to me,”

“It’s still a lot to take in a teen who’s messed up, mentally and physically.”

“He’ll get better,”

“Especially with you as his mom, he will.”

Claudia felt her cheeks burn as she tsked, taking a sip of her iced tea, 

“Besides, I would do it with or without those being factors. I’ve wanted him to move in for a while,”

“I rest my case. You’re a good person too, Claudia,”

She gave her friend a small smile, before taking a bite, trying to think of something to talk about, 

“So this whole thing with the Wheelers.”

Apparently, she didn’t need to,

“Yeah, how’d you find out about it?”

Sue took a long drink of her water before holding the glass in both hands, contemplating how to start, 

“Did you not hear them in the hallway?”

Claudia shook her head, 

“Dusty was telling me about everything, he was a little hysterical so it took me some time to bring him down from it all, by the time I stepped out of the room-”

She cut herself off with a small cough, 

“Yeah, you found Ted. Charles was going to intervene but you stepped in before he could. You did good bringing him down Claudia, I was impressed.”

She tsked again, diverting the praise, 

“You guys saw all of that?”

Sue shook her head, stabbing her salad, 

“Not all of it, no, just what I assume was the beginning, once I saw you had it in control we backed off.”

“Oh… so what happened,”

“What didn’t happen would probably be a better start,”

Claudia raised an eyebrow as Sue took a bite before she continued, 

“From what we heard, the kids told them about everything, Karen slipped up saying something about how she knew Billy, Nancy asked how, and she wouldn’t directly answer which turned into everyone shouting and ended in Karen saying something about him being a lifeguard she’d seen a few times, before they took it out to the hall, more or less to keep the kids out of it. They fought about semantics, he pried for information and she spilled that she’d been seeing him on and off since November, apparently nothing physical ever happened but that was enough to set off a reaction.” 

Sue took a sip of her water again as she looked off to where a group of nurses were eating before continuing. 

“Mike about flew off the handle, yelling at her about how he tried to kill him and his friends, Nancy also snapped, crying and saying she was disgusted because she and Billy were the same age, and Ted… he didn’t say anything. I think he was too stunned to say anything.”

How the hell had she missed all of that?

“Me and Charles got involved only to break up the screaming match, by that time Susan had heard and so had Max, Susan lost it again, crying and spitting all sorts of swears at Karen who was also crying at that point it was a huge mess. It ended in Charles walking Karen out to break it up, and me corralling the Mayfields to their room to try and calm them down. By the time I got back out, Ted had already ushered his kids back to their room and was trying to defuse the explosions while I assume pretending he was fine, he didn’t respond to any of it until she came back and he left the second she entered the room, that’s where you found him. Joyce heard it later from Charles after we talked this morning, and Jim I assume still doesn’t know.”

“Did any of the staff hear?”

Sue raised an eyebrow at the question, not sure how it had anything to do with the situation at hand, 

“Nurses are nosey, they will share gossip like it's their own lives. If they heard-”

“It’s gonna be all over town before the end of today,”

She nodded as Sue swore under her breath, 

“I don’t honestly remember if anyone was there but I’m sure someone heard something.”

That's going to be a fun fire to put out, and if she was right about her inkling, more or less another meltdown to try and avoid or defuse once it was out.

“I guess we’ll have to deal with that when we get to that point, but for now I think we focus on getting people home.”

Sue nodded, finishing the last of her food, 

“And figuring out who’s going where. I assume Jim will move in with Joyce and the kids, we’re taking Susan and Max, and you’re taking Steve and Robin.”

She nodded, finishing her meal as well before sipping her tea, 

“I assume the Wheelers will work out who’s going home and who’s moving out,”

Sue nodded, picking up her stuff, 

“I’m sure you’ll be filled in once they do.”

Claudia felt a tinge of a blush dance on her cheeks as she finished off her drink, also collecting her stuff to take to the trash, 

“I’ll let you know once I know.”

“I know you will, and Claudia,”

She stopped her by the shoulder, turning her to face her, 

“Don’t try to handle it all on your own, let us help where we can,”

Claudia smiled, patting Sue’s hand, 

“Thanks, Sue.”

Jim woke up bitching about how bad his head hurt. Only to be bombarded by Jane and Joyce.

After he’d been checked by the doctors and had something to eat Joyce passed him five letters, one from each parent except for the Sinclairs who sent him a joint letter, letting him know that they were in on everything, that there was a silent pack to keep pretending they were in the dark on it all, and not to sign anything given to him by the feds.

When he asked why Ted and Karen didn’t just do the same thing that Sue and Charles had, Joyce filled him in on the details of their soon-to-be separation, which he had a few colorful words for.

By the weekend everyone was cleared to go home, the Buckleys had come to pick up Robin, both beyond relieved to find her alive after searching for her for the past two days. Claudia watched at the girl was enveloped by her parents, kissing her face and hugging her close as possible with a fond smile, happy to see that they had made it out alive after all before turning to her boys, patting Dustin on the butt and rubbing Steve’s bicep, 

“Alright boys, ready to go home?”

Dustin whooped, skipping off to her car as Steve watched his best friend with her parents before nodding with a faraway look and a forced smile, 

“Yeah, I am.”

She rubbed his back as he walked to her car, letting him get in the passenger seat as she watched the others leave the hospital. The Sinclairs led the Mayfields out, Lucas and Max hand in hand behind them as he talked softly to her, the girl nodding along to whatever he was saying, followed by the Byers and Hoppers, Jim refusing to use a wheelchair policies be damned as he walked out holding Jane’s hand and walking- hobbling by Joyce’s side, the boys walking a little ahead as they fought for shotgun. The Wheelers were last to leave, Mike and Nancy going first, followed by Karen who was holding Holly, and Ted bringing up the rear, the parents stopping just outside the front where she hugged Holly and pressed a kiss to her head before passing her off to Ted, exchanging a few words to him that he simply nodded in response to while holding Holly close as she laid her head against his shoulder, only sitting up to wave to Karen as she walked away.

They’d decided for the time being Karen would move out, Ted had booked her a hotel room for the weekend so they could figure out what to do, and he’d take the kids home since Mike was acting slightly hostile and Nancy was cold towards her, they’d figure out divorce and custody after they figured out all the upside down shit.

The drive home was noisy in a way that made Claudia feel at ease, the sound of the boys bickering about rooms and how to arrange things was amusing, and after a stop by the Harringtons' cold mansion to pick up the things Steve wanted to take with him they went home.

The two arranged the spare room together, music blasting as they laughed and argued about what Steve should keep and throw out while Dustin mocked him for his preppy clothes and Steve pushed him around for his obsessive collection of odds and ends.

She simply listened to the insanity from the kitchen where she made dinner, feeling fully happy for the first time in a few days before her phone rang.

“Henderson home this is Claudia,”

“ Hey Claudia, it’s Joyce.”

“Oh hi sweetheart, you guys ok?”

“ Oh no we’re fine, me and Jim were just talking about… all that, and um we’re trying to find a day that would work best for us to all meet and talk,”

Oh, that made sense, 

“Sure thing honey, when is everyone else available?”

“Well Jim’s gonna have off for a while, and Sue and Charles said weekends work best for them and Susan’s not working yet so probably any day. I’m checking with you first because of your working hours and then I’ll check with Ted and Karen to see um.. Well, how they want to go about it honestly,”

She hummed in agreement, stirring the pot of spaghetti, 

“Well, weekends work good for me, and any evening. I work mornings except for when it gets tight on the schedule.”

“Ok perfect! I’ll call you back once we’ve got a plan.”

“OK sweetie, you take the rest of the weekend to just enjoy your family ok?”

“I think I will…. Thanks, Claudia.”

She smiled, turning the heat off the stove, 

“Of course Joy, have a good night.”

She hung up before going to the corner of the hall, 

“BOYS! DINNERS ON!”

Claudia sat on her porch, smoking a cigarette and staring at the hole that she never filled after she burned all of Walt's stuff.

The whole thing honestly had her in a state of shock still, her beautiful baby boy being in danger so many countless times, Steve her now sweet oldest being so close to death that many times as well, the fact that all of this had somewhat happened right under her nose in her own home as well was insane. She wanted to be mad at Dustin and at Joyce and Jim for not telling her, but more than anything she was mad at herself for allowing him to be in those spots, for not being more protective, for not looking deeper than the surface.

And then there was the whole thing with Ted.

She was still trying to wrap her head around it all, while also trying to figure out where she fit in with the whole thing.

She snuffed out her cigarette before turning in, going to check and make sure the boys were both asleep before she closed their doors and went to the living room, sitting in the armchair as Tews jumped up on her lap.

She idly ruffled his fur as she punched a familiar number into her phone, listening to the dial go, wishing she'd hear the other line pick up even though she knew there would be a click and then-

"Hi! This is Bob Newby, if you're hearing this I'm probably busy doing something or I just plain missed the call, either way, you can go ahead and leave me a message and I'll get right back to you!"

the distant voice of her long-gone friend made her feel like her throat was tightening, as she sat for a minute, wondering what it would be like if he was alive and she could just call him and fill him in on everything. 

"Hey Bob, this is Claudia, I um, I guess I just needed a soundboard to listen to me rant."

she sighed, closing her eyes, wondering what he'd say in response before she continued, 

"So you know the Wheelers? well, it turns out things um- they fell apart. They're separating. A lot happened, including finding out about this whole other world under earth thing, we're all safe now, but in the wake of it all some things came out and well, I'll just say that it's a long story and you don't want to hear all of it."

He'd tell her he did, and coax her to spill all of the details, regardless of if he did or didn't want to know, he would know she wanted to share it.

"Long story short, I've got a problem. I want to be there for Ted, but I don't want my feelings to get in the way. Like I want to be supportive, but I don't want to get my feelings in on it or push my feelings on him, make sense? I don't know if it does or doesn't."

She sighed, continuing to scratch Tews on the head,

"Well I won't hold you up anymore, I'll call when I have any updates. Goodnight Bob."

she hung up, wondering how many of his inbox were her calls to him, the ones that would be forever unanswered.

She sighed again, scratching Tews one more time before picking him up as she walked to her room to go to bed, suddenly excited to remember she would get to sleep in a bed again.

They'd planned on the end of the month to talk about the whole... Upside Down as Dustin kept calling it.

It would give everyone the time needed to reacclimate and settle in to what their new normal was.

Steve had called his parents, getting his Dad's secretary Joanne who he told that he was moving out, she said she'd relay the message to her boss and wished him well on his next journey in life. Claudia held him as he cried his heart dry at the lack of care from his parents.

She took Steve shopping for clothes and other things, to help him feel at home, Dustin tagging along for kicks and as he put it "family bonding".  Claudia was quickly finding that one of her favorite things to do was watch her boys interacting. She'd always wanted a few kids, but with Walt leaving them when Dustin was no older than a few years she never got the chance to have another, and while she loved having sons there was a small part of her that wished she could have a daughter.

By Thursday the two had gotten restless, desperate to see their friends again, and while Robin didn't last more than a day before getting the Henderson's number from a phone book, calling them to talk to Steve and then biking across town to get to their house to be with him, Dustin's friends had taken a little longer to get settled. Will and Jane had come over already a few times, and Steve had taken Dustin down to the Byers a few times as well, but Lucas had been focused on trying to help Max feel comfortable in his home, and Mike had gone silent on the radio, only answering once or twice to let them know he was listening.

"We're gonna go over and surprise him, and then we're gonna drag him to the arcade, hopefully, that'll distract him and Max enough for a little bit."

Dustin rambled through a mouthful of eggs, getting an elbow from Steve who was drinking coffee, 

"Dude, no one wants to see your half-digested eggs, swallow first,"

Dustin flipped him off getting a snort from the older boy as he looked back to  Claudia, 

"Me and Rob are gonna go job searching today, I can drop him off first,"

He offered as she waved him off, finishing her own coffee, 

"No honey you go ahead and pick up Robin, I'll drop him off. Dusty, are you gonna meet at the Wheeler's or the Byers?"

"Byers, we're gonna bike down, I can just bike,"

"throw your bike in the back of my car, I've got a few errands to run today anyways before work."

He nodded before going back to finishing his eggs, talking to Steve about what they planned to do since he'd be busy. Claudia took in the moment for a minute more before getting up to go shower and get ready for her day.

"You remember the first night at the hospital?"

Claudia looked at her boy in the passenger seat before going back to watching the road. There's not a moment of July 4th 1985 that she won't remember till the day she dies.

"I do, yeah. What about it?"

"Mike said that um, after all that shit happened and we were in our own rooms that when him and Nancy told their parents about everything it kinda turned into how his Mom was... Not sleeping with Billy but almost sleeping with Billy,"

"having an affair?"

"yeah, that."

"yeah, that's what Lucas' Mom told me, what about it?"

Dustin was quiet for a moment, looking out his window as if trying to decide how to breech the topic he wanted to talk about. Claudia gave him his space, looking over once to see he was playing with the zipper on his vest to control his nervous stimming,

"Mike said that when everyone split up and left he pretended to be asleep and he heard his Dad leave the room, and at some point, he said he heard your voice but couldn't make out what you were saying because it was muffled but he heard a lot of crying."

"Yeah, well there was a little bit of crying and some talking,"

That was an understatement,

"Why's that honey?"

Dustin shrugged, trying to avoid what he wanted to say, 

"I just- maybe if I had never gone poking around on that radio frequency then everything would be ok, you know?"

She was quiet for a minute, thankful for the red light that gave her a moment to turn around and look at her boy. When had he started to grow out of his babyface?

"Dustin, you need to listen to me very clearly, none of this was your fault. Ok? The Russians were in the mall long before you heard the radio, you had nothing to do with the flesh-eating thing that attacked those people, and most of all you especially had nothing to do with the situation going on with the Wheelers."

"I- no I know I don't with the Wheelers it's just- if I hadn't done anything things would be kinda going on as normal,"

he argued, fiddling with his hands now as she sighed, before moving again as the light turned green,

"Dusty, say the whole Russians thing wasn't apart of this, the flesh thing would have still attacked people, still would have used Billy to attack and kill people, and would have still had you guys involved in some way. Would we still be in the dark with everything? maybe. Would the Wheelers still be together? possibly but you need to hear me on this: the truth will always come out. No matter what the situation is, be that you kids trying to protect us because that's what the government had you believe was right or Karen's affair, or how we feel about people and situations, no matter how much you try to avoid it, it will come out. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, it does."

the silence stretched for a moment longer before she turned around to glance at him again, taking one hand off the wheel to squeeze his shoulder, 

"No matter what though baby, I will always love you, and you can always trust me, so please. Never hide anything from me again."

he smiled at her, patting her hand, 

"I won't. I promise."

Dustin lugged his bike out from her car as he shouted at Will and Jane, the twins coming to meet him out front as he dropped the bike to give them both a huge hug, before instantly going into detail on what he wanted to do with the afternoon. 

Claudia watched them interact for a moment before looking at the porch where Jim and Joyce were with some man- she assumed it was Jim's friend Murray, the three talking before he looked over at the car, causing the two to look as well as Joyce waved in greeting at her. She waved back with a smile before pulling out, deciding to go shopping for a few more things for Steve before she went to work.

"I mean I heard it from my neighbor, but it sounds like she was with him for a while,"

"you're kidding!"

"No! And the crazier part is, he was about her oldest daughter's age,"

"oh wow... I guess she wasn't getting laid enough,"

"Or her husband isn't all that good at sex, he's always been a little odd,"

"That's true. I heard he was one of the people that died in the mall, too bad for Karen, wonder if she'll see about finding another soon."

Claudia felt her blood boil at the shushed gossiping from the other women who were waiting in line for the deli meat. It was the third conversation she'd heard about the entire thing in the past two days. She wanted to snap at them, but she remained composed and tried to ignore them whispering right in front of her in favor of looking at her list of meats to get.

"Are you two talking about the Wheelers?"

"Yeah, you heard about it too?"

"Cynthia by this point I think everyone in Hawkins knows,"

"Well, news does spread fast in a small town,"

Sure, if news was gossip then it spread like wildfire among housewives.

"I mean do what you want in your free time but she has a little girl!"

"Oh I know, and Tanya was saying it had been going for a while,"

"Oh really, I wonder if she ever had him over in their house."

"Possibly, does her husband travel for work?"

"I don't think he does, doesn't he work finances?"

"You know I'm not sure. But I'm sure if he has been out of town then there's a chance that she had the boy over,"

Claudia scoffed, loud enough that the three heard and were at least a little ashamed to be gossiping in the open, before she closed up her list, putting it in her purse, 

"Well, I don't need meat bad enough to stand here and listen to this crap."

she snipped before getting out of line, storming out to pay for her other things so she could get out of the store as fast as possible.

Ted had gotten an apartment for Karen, it was a nice place from what she'd heard, and the kids were splitting time between their house and Holly would go over to Karen's. Mike and Nancy hadn't gotten to that point yet, however, they'd gone to the park with her once and it ended in Mike storming away and Nancy following him.

"Mike is so angry, but he's also sad."

Jane said one night as she and Dustin played LIFE with Will Jon and Steve in the living room, 

"Yeah well, we've all been there before."

Jonathan said, moving his piece on the board, before passing the dice to Steve, 

"Does he want to talk about it to anyone?"

Steve asked, shaking the dice before tossing it. Jane shook her head, picking at the carpet she was sitting on, 

"I tried to, but he said I won't understand, and that I shouldn't worry about it because we are not dating."

"Well, he didn't have to be an asshole,"

"Jon,"

"Sorry Will but that was an asshole thing to say,"

Will sighed, crossing his arms from his spot beside his brother, 

"Takes one to know one, didn't you say some dumb shit to Nance about her never understanding you because of her social status? Well, I guess you can retract that now on one front, at least Mike has a reason to be pissed you were just being pissy-"

"I was not being pissy, she made me lose my job Will that's plenty of reason to be pissed, it's not like I took it out on anyone when Lonnie was cheating on Mom,"

"yeah because we were a lot younger, who were you going to take it out on anyways, your shadow-"

"Alright, both of you cool off, Will come help set the table, Jon go take a lap around the house."

Jim said from the kitchen where he'd been reading the paper as Claudia and Joyce finished making dinner. The boys broke up, Jon storming out the house as Will got up and stormed into the kitchen, Steve looked between them before saying something to Dustin as he got up and went after Jonathan, and Dustin got up,

"I'll show you where our dishes are Will, Jane wanna come?"

She nodded, looking disappointed in herself for starting the fight before she got up to follow Dustin.

"I don't know why Jon and Will have been so tense, they hardly ever fought before and yet this week they've been going at it."

Joyce sighed, handing Claudia the container of milk,

"Is it always about the same thing or everything?"

"I think it's always got to do with Mike, Jon says something sharp and Will just comes after him. It's so out of character for both of them,"

Claudia hummed in contemplation before adding milk to her sauce, handing the jug back to Joyce, 

"Maybe talk to them about it separately, I'm sure they'll tell you what's going on."

"Oh I think I know what's going on, I'm just- I don't want to say anything yet."

Oh.

Claudia looked at Dustin and Will talking to each other, Joyce's youngest teary-eyed as he nodded and said something to his friend, before Claudia turned around to look at Joyce, 

"You think so?"

She nodded, her eyes on the boys as well, 

"He'll come to me when he's ready. As for Jonathan, he's so protective of his siblings, and he's not happy with Mike for not knowing,"

"That isn't Mike's fault, he doesn't pick up on stuff like that, besides that poor boy has so much going on right now."

"I know I know, I just- Jon is protective of Will's feelings because of how mistreated he was as a child. It's coming out wrong but it's coming from a good place,"

Claudia sighed, before turning off the stovetop, moving the pot to a cool end, 

"Well hopefully Steve can talk some sense into him, or at leas talk to him about how to come across better."

Joyce nodded, before giving the peas to Claudia to add to her sauce,

"Have you heard anything from Sue or Charles?"

"Yesterday I ran into Sue at the post office, she said that they got Susan a good job as a receptionist, she's struggling right now with figuring out Billy's burial and what to do as far as moving out on her own. She said that she's had some addictive issues in her past so Sue and Charles are having them stay for a while longer to make sure she doesn't slip."

Claudia nodded, that sounded like the Sinclairs, always looking out for their friends.

"Anything from Ted or Karen?"

Joyce asked, starting to slice bread as Claudia bit the inside of her cheek, 

"Not a lot no, I'm hearing a lot about them though."

Joyce groaned, stopping mid cut, 

"So it's not just at Melvald's then,"

"Oh no, according to the most recent conversation I heard, this is the hot gossip on the town right now."

 Joyce pursed her lips, before going back to cutting the bread, 

"And if we're hearing it-"

"They're definitely hearing it."

The two worked quietly together for a moment before Joyce tossed the bread in the bread basket, 

"Maybe Ted was right, maybe moving away isn't a bad idea."

Claudia huffed a laugh, looking over at Joyce, 

"Where would we even go?"

Joyce shrugged, before going to the fridge to pull out butter, 

"I've always wanted to go to California, I think it would be nice to live close to a beach."

Chapter Text

“We’re moving.”

Claudia froze in place at the sound of Mike’s melancholy voice echoing from her living room, and for some reason the only thing she could think of was California,

“WHAT!?!?”

“YOU CAN’T! THAT’S THE HANGOUT HOUSE!”

“WAIT WHAT-”

“Where?”

“Why are you moving?”

“I don’t know where, it’s not gonna be the hangout house anymore Dustin so deal, and we’re moving because no one wants to live there anymore.”

Slowly, she moved to the door of her room, leaning to listen as best she could, 

“Wait so you guys are moving- but how? Isn’t your Mom in an apartment now? So it's your Dad moving?”

“No Lucas, it’s my dead grandma’s ashes moving out, surprise. Yes, it’s Dad.”

“Wait Mike where are you guys moving to? Are you leaving Hawkins?”

She could hear the panic in Will’s voice at the thought of being separated from his closest friend as Mike presumably shrugged judging the silence, 

“I don’t know, I don’t think he knows to be honest. He just told us last night that he’s gonna put the house on the market soon and hopefully have it sold by the end of the summer.”

“Are you guys going to live with your mom?”

“I hope not.”

His voice was bitter at Max’s question, but she could tell it wasn’t directed at Max.

“Does he like, want to stay in Hawkins? And if he doesn’t will you guys go with him?”

“I don’t know, I mean their divorce isn’t even fully finished yet, and they’re trying to figure out custody so I guess it depends on what the stupid judge says.”

Claudia folded the shirt she was holding slowly, for no other reason than to do something with her hands,

“I’m sorry Mike.”

“It’s- it’s fine. But don’t say anything to like Steve and Jonathan ok? I’m sure Nancy is gonna tell them and Robin but for now, it’s just you guys that know.”

“He hasn’t said anything to the other adults?”

She assumed Mike shook his head by the silence that followed before their voices dropped a notch, 

“Dustin, where’s your Mom?”

“Oh she’s in her room, I think she’s folding clothes.”

“Can she hear us?”

“I don’t think so? Here let's see- MOM!”

She didn’t answer, going over to her bed to sit down as she counted backward from 7 getting to 3 before-

“MOOOOM!”

“WHAT’S UP DUSTY?”

She yelled in response, her voice as light and carefree as usual despite where her mind was running, 

“No we’re good, she would have answered the first time if she could hear us,”

“Ok good, because Dad’s probably not really ready to tell them yet.”

“Why? Does he not trust them?”

“No- it’s not that he doesn’t trust them El, it’s just…. Dad’s a little weird, especially when it comes to changes and stuff so he’s probably like trying to figure out the way to tell them while also being ready to answer all their questions.”

“Oh, so he want’s to be prepared, just in case people ask him hard questions.”

“Yeah,”

“And he wants to have answers for any possible question so it doesn’t throw him off?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Like you,”

“Um… yeah?”

She could hear Will chuckling before the two boys started to squabble, followed by Max teasing about how the weird apple didn’t fall far from the tree before they started talking about something else, however, Claudia couldn’t stop thinking about the possibilities of life shifting all over again.

“Have you heard from Ted or Karen lately?”

Joyce asked her as the two women worked on fixing up Joyce’s living room. With the addition of Jim and El they shifted some things around, added another bed in Will’s room for El and moved some of Jim’s stuff from the cabin into her home. There were plans to fix up the cabin again, but the focus of now was to acclimate the family together.

“I haven’t. Dusty said that he was home when he went over to hang out with Mike the other day, but past that I haven’t heard anything. I… I haven’t really reached out to Karen.”

She felt a small flush of shame at admitting that, but every time she went to pick up the phone to call she felt something twist in her stomach and found that she couldn’t go through with it.

Then there was Ted. She had tried to talk to him a few times. For the first week or two afterward he was good about it too, he talked to her or the others and answered their calls or questions, but slowly Nancy answered the calls letting them know he was at work or he was busy, and she only talked to him when she dropped off or picked Dustin up, the conversation was quick but not uncaring, he was great at deflecting any question about himself.

“What about you?”

“I did call Karen the other day,”

Joyce said, flopping out a sheet before folding it. Claudia looked up from where she was dusting the coffee table off, Joyce still had her back to her as she folded the sheets from the wash,

“She said she was ok, Holly is fine with her Mike and Nance are still a little standoffish. A lot standoffish. And she’s currently a receptionist for a salon in Indianapolis.”

“That’s nice.”

She didn’t mean to sound so disinterested, she simply was, and whether Joyce could tell or not was beyond Claudia as she stood up to stretch before taking her dusting stuff to put on the kitchen counter, 

“She did say she’d come the end of the month to recap with the rest of us about the Upside-Down.”

“Good, it should be an all-hands-on-deck situation.”

She made herself busy searching for a candle to light and put on the table as Joyce collected the folded sheets, 

“I was thinking, before then I may have a few of us all over to just relax, let the kids unwind, and let us have some downtime too,”

She stated as she went to the hall to put the sheets away at the same time that Claudia found a candle, 

“Oh I like that, what does Jim have to say about it?”

She shifted her mission to finding matches as Joyce reentered the room, sitting on the edge of the table with a soft sigh, 

“He’s down for it, he’s so done with being cooped up healing that he’s pretty much ready to do whatever if it means he can do something- matches are on top of the fridge- he’s been looking a lot better too, how’s Steve doing?”

Claudia reached up and patted her hand around until she found the matches, going back over to the counter, and striking a match before she picked up the candle and lit it, 

“Oh, he’s healing great. His hearing is still not good, they said he may need hearing aids, but his ribs are healing well and his face looks so much better, he and Robin are gonna go job hunting tomorrow afternoon. I think they said they’re gonna check out the video store.”

“Oh good, I’m glad to hear he’s healing up. I feel like I haven’t seen him in too long.”

They’d all crossed paths, between dropping the kids off here or there, seeing someone at the store, or happening to them it was no different than before. But Steve had been staying home to finish healing up and hadn’t been to the Byers in a few days.

“You’re right, having an evening would be good Joyce, something that everyone can reconnect.”

Joyce smiled, nodding with excitement that she had someone in agreement with her.

“Lovely, I’ll call around and see who can make it.”

Turned out, Charles was out of town on a case and Karen was busy doing “something” that weekend, so they wouldn’t be able to join but everyone else was opened.

Claudia and her boys got there earlier, giving Joyce plenty of time to love on Steve and check him over to make sure he was doing well.

If Claudia hadn’t stepped up first, she did not doubt that Joyce would have.

Sue came a little later with her kids and Susan and Max, the mother-daughter duo looking a little rough before Lucas took Max’s hand and led her to the backyard.

Sue had later told the other two that it was their first day of joining therapy, and it had been a rough start but a much-needed one.

Ted and the kids showed up last, Mike and Holly racing out of the car with excitement to meet up with the others, Will waving excitedly as Mike charged at him, skidding to a halt an inch from his “friend” before they started talking excitedly, while Holly made a beeline for Steve, bouncing around excitedly as she asked him if they could play in the sprinkler.

Ted and Nancy came around at a much slower pace, Nancy picking up the pace when she saw Jon, handing Ted the bowl of what looked like watermelon before she half ran to her boyfriend, wrapping him up in a hug.

Claudia watched as Joyce half jogged over to Ted, taking the bowl as she talked. He nodded and answered her, the two walking together to the house to more or less deposit the fruit before joining the rest outside, and if Claudia knew Joyce she was going to try and get a word in with him quickly to see how he was and what was going on with the divorce.

She made herself busy otherwise, between setting the table with plasticware and chatting with Jim about his healing process she hadn’t seen the two leave the house, didn’t even realize they’d joined until Joyce showed up by her side.

“He didn’t say much, just that they’re supposed to have a final court date sometime in September. You think you can get anything more from him?”

Claudia looked over to where he’d gone and sat in the grass as Holly plopped down in his crossed legs, talking to El as Ted braided her hair.

“I can try.”

“Hey you, long time no see,”

He looked up at Claudia from where he was sitting cross-legged in the grass, finishing Holly’s braids,

“Daddy hurry UP Steve said he’ll turn on the sprinkler when I have my hair back.”

He snapped out of staring at Claudia to look back at his youngest’s head, tying off the second braid before kissing the crown of her head, 

“Ok then off you go,”

“YAY! Thank you, Daddy- STEVE! LET’S PLAY WATER JUMPING NOW!”

She took off, leaping up from his lap to race over to Steve who was leaning over the hose filling something up as the other kids fooled around under the sprinkler.

“This seat taken?”

He looked at the grass beside him before looking back up at the woman, his face deadpanned,

“It’s not really a seat.”

She cracked a grin before sitting down beside him, crossing her legs to match his posture besides the way he sat hunched in on himself,

“I’ll take it anyways,”

“Oh- ok.”

He didn’t say anything else, looking over at Holly as she ran over to the kids shrieking with excitement.

“How have you been?”

He shrugged, picking up a blade of grass,

“Busy, between work and figuring out court cases and other things, how are you?”

Deflecting, classic.

“Good, me and Dusty talked about his friend Suzie, her Dad found out about them and had them break up over the phone. He was a little heartbroken but after a chat we decided it was for the best. Long distance relationships are hard, especially as a teenager.”,

He hummed in acknowledgment, peeling the blade of grass into several pieces, 

“I didn’t realize he was dating,”

“I didn’t either, not at least until I got an irate phone call from a Richard Bingham shouting about how his good Mormon daughter wouldn’t be dating an agnostic sinner.”

She spit the last part, her blood still rushing with vitriol at that last comment. She tore that self-righteous man a new one after that comment.

“He said that?”

Ted asked, looking over at Claudia in something between shock and anger?

“You betcha, I tore into him for at least an hour.”

“Good. self-righteous asshole, what does he know anyway.”

She felt a rush tear through her violently as she watched Ted pick another piece of grass, 

“I mean, Dustin can get on my last nerve like no one else, but he’s a good kid. His religious takes aren’t anyone’s problem but his own- and yours, but still. And coming from a Mormon of all people, I’d love to hear what all nineteen of his wives have to say about it.”

Claudia snorted, before smacking Ted’s knee,

“You don’t know if he has nineteen wives, Ted, that’s a stereotype.”

“Yeah, and Agnostics being bad people is also a stereotype, no lost love here for dishing what was served.”

She huffed a breath, looking at the man beside her as she felt the emotions tear through her again. She knew that Ted and Dustin (more Dustin than anyone) liked to get on each other’s nerves, between picking petty fights or the snide remarks the two would make at and about each other from time to time, but she knew deep down the reason Dustin was so comfortable doing so was that he trusted Ted and that even though Ted would act exasperated with Dustin she knew it was mostly performative and that if push came to shove he’d take a bullet to protect her son.

“So…I heard from a somewhat reliable source that you’re looking at moving,”

Ted looked over at Claudia with a half-raised eyebrow, silently analyzing her statement before going back to watching the kids run after each other screaming, Steve chasing them with a water gun. 

“I may be,”

While he was never a loud person, in the past weeks Ted’s voice has gotten softer, almost like he’s trying to avoid being heard. 

“Any chance I could persuade you to stay?”

He looked off to the side of the backyard, and while Claudia was tempted to follow his line of sight to see what he was choosing to focus on she couldn’t stop looking at his face.

“I don’t know. I can’t- nothing’s set in stone, I’m just thinking, probably too much out loud if Mike’s talking about it.”

She huffed a laugh at the last comment, unfolding her crossed legs so she could stretch out. Ted didn’t uncross his legs, but he did lean back on his hands in a position that appeared as if his guard was down. She liked it when he sat relaxed with her.

“Why do you want to move?”

She wasn’t sure what possessed her to ask, and for a split second she thought she’d messed up at how he tensed, but he relaxed almost as fast as he’d tensed up before shrugging, still looking out into the trees,

“Not sure,”

“Ted, can you tell me the truth?”

He sighed, and as he exhaled it was almost like she watched him cave into himself. She frowned, opening her mouth to say something before he uncurled his legs and laid back in the grass, folding his hands over his stomach and his ankles over each other. To anyone else, he looked like he was just relaxing, to Claudia she saw him taking a cautionary action to avoid someone reading his lips.

“I hate that house.”

The sound of the kids’ laughter filled the air as Steve chased them with a water gun, Nancy and Jon shouting cheers to them or Steve here and there. They were happy, playing around as kids should, not worrying about what was lurking in the woods a few feet ahead.

“I hate- I hate everything about it. The way that everytime I walk through the kitchen I think about the day we bought it and how Karen talked about how pretty the red top on the island is. I hate that our room isn’t our room anymore, that she probably didn’t see it as our room maybe ever. I hate that the living room used to feel safe and now I just feel on edge. I hate the colors of the paint and the wallpaper and how happy everything looks when all I feel is like rotting wood. Looking sturdy on the outside but dead and falling apart on the inside.”

He was tapping his thumbs together as he listed everything off, his eyes misty enough that when he blinked several tears escaped and made a home in the grass under his head, Claudia felt her throat tightening as she looked away from him to the kids. They weren’t aware of the conversation, still trying to tackle Steve and steal the gun, forgetting how highly athletic he was regardless of his healing from the tourture. She could see from where she was that even though they were complaining and bouncing around they were all still being mindful and not going too hard to avoid hurting him.

“I hate- I hate what that damn house symbolized to me. A new life, a happy life where we could grow old together, it wasn’t a house, it was a home. I wanted it to feel like a home. No matter what I did it wasn’t a home. And I hate it.”

When Walt left her and Dustin, she too stood in the home she’d imagined a whole life in and wondered if it was worth it anymore. She too walked into their room and stared at their bed and wondered if it was truly ever theirs. The next day she went to the hardware store and bought countless cans of paint and wallpaper and redid the entire house in two weeks, she made it her home.

She had a feeling this wouldn’t end the same.

“Are you leaving Hawkins?”

She was dredging the answer.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so, because we share custody, so I can’t.”

She felt awful for feeling at ease at that response.

“You know, you can always move closer to Cornwallis.”

He huffed a breath, and she felt her chest loosen at the smile that twitched on his lips, 

“I could yeah, I’ve heard it’s nice up there.”

“It’s a lovely area. And besides, we’d be neighbors.”

He looked up at her, something flashing in his eyes, gone as quickly as it had arrived and far too fast for Claudia to analyze,

“I guess so… that would be a highlight.”

She smiled down at him, and suddenly she realized that she liked this view, the ability to look down on him made her heart flitter in a way that she hadn’t felt in nearly three decades.

“Careful what you consider a highlight, Dusty is known for shenanigans.”

“Oh no way, I would have never guessed such an innocent well-mannered boy could be such a magnet for trouble,”

“Watch it headass that’s my kid,”

She snipped with no heat in her tone as she pinched his arm, getting a half laugh and sound of shock out of him, eliciting a laugh out of her as well.

“Looks like Claudia’s managed to get at least a laugh out of him,”

Sue said, taking a drink from her glass as Joyce walked out of her home, looking over in the yard at the two in the grass, Ted lying on his back and Claudia sitting leaning over him, catching them both mid-laugh as Claudia pinched him.

It was like something had slapped her with understanding, like for the first time in the past weeks she truly looked at the two of them together, their body language and the way Claudia looked at Ted, the way he smiled at her even though he hasn’t smiled in a month, that it finally clicked.

“Yeah… she’s got that magic touch I guess.”

She answered, still watching them as she held the bowl of watermelon. Whether they were aware of it or not, she could see it written all over their continence. Her heart lept a beat as she heard a small voice in the back of her head warn her to not let them just dance around it like she had with Jim.

Like she had with Bob.

Sometimes you don’t get a second chance. 

She didn’t with Bob.

So she broke away from watching the two and put the fruit on the table, tuning into Sue and Jim’s conversation about the Munson boy that he’d busted for passing out weed the other day. Jim went easy on him, he was a kid with too much time on his hands and far too little sense when it came to what was and wasn’t safe. 

She’d talk to Claudia later, for now, she’d let them enjoy their space.

Having a group night had turned out to not only be a great idea but also something they'd decided should at the least be weekly,

"I mean Robs couldn't make it tonight, and Mr. Sinclair and Mrs. Wheeler so We'll have to do it again,"

Steve had reasoned as they drove back. Claudia hummed in half agreement, her mind slightly muddled still yet from her previous conversation.

"-om? are you listening? HellOOOOOO-"

"Dustin oh my god do you have to yell?!?"

"What's up, Dusty?"

"oh nothing, just your child trying to speak to you but you are not listening so maybe nothing,"

Claudia couldn't control the giggle that spilled out of her at her son's petty attitude before she looked through the rearview mirror at him, 

"Ok dear I'm all ears, what's going on?"

He sighed dramatically before looking over at her in the mirror, 

"I was saying that we should go to the beach, all three of us. You know as a family."

 "Oh sweetheart that's a good idea, I'll have to see if I can get some time off."

Dustin smiled at her before going back to looking out the window, chattering about what they could do while down at the beach before she looked over at Steve, the boy had gone still,

"You ok dear?"

Steve looked over at her, his big brown eyes shining as he nodded before looking back out the window, 

"I just... I was trying to remember the last time I went on a family trip. I don't remember going on a family vacation. Is that odd? maybe I'm just forgetting."

Claudia felt something both spike in her chest and her heart at his denial of his parent's neglect, still trying to find the best in them even now.

"Maybe you did sweetie, but that's ok. We'll make new memories."

Claudia shifted the package in her arms so she could knock on the Wheeler's front door, the box filled with odds and ends making some noise as she did before the door opened to Nancy, the girl looking at her with a slightly raised eyebrow, 

"Mrs. Henderson? I- hi, what's up?"

"Oh nothing sweetheart, I was just going through some of the stuff in our basement and figured Holly may like some of these toys I had from when Dusty was little,"

"Oh! Oh, that's awfully sweet, thanks, I'll take them. Holly and Mike are with Mom this week but she'll be excited to see this when she gets back,"

Nancy took the box from the older woman before stepping aside so she could come in, closing the door behind her with her foot before she walked into the rest of the house, putting the box down on the coffee table, 

"Did you opt out on going this week?"

Claudia asked out of curiosity, looking around the home. Their conversation that weekend had been something she'd been thinking about more than she'd like to admit, and now that she was fully paying attention while she was standing in the house she saw it.

It was a shell of the home it used to feel like, even though not much had changed.

"Not necessarily, me and Jon are working on the finishing touches of our paper that we'd started during the whole... Mindflayer thing, we're planning on having it done by the weekend but I needed to work on it, and it would be a long drive to and from every day so I decided to stay. Mike isn't happy with me about it, but I have a job he just doesn't want to go."

She made a soft ah sound as she nodded, folding her hands together, 

"How are you doing honey?"

Nancy shrugged, looking around the house before she sighed, 

"I don't honestly know. I have a lot to think about, too much to think about. But I'm ok... now."

Claudia nodded, reading the girls body language, 

"You talking to Jon about it?"

Nancy blinked for a second before nodding, her cheeks getting slightly pink as she played with her hair, 

"I- a little yeah? I mean he's been through it before kind of, so it's easy to talk to him. I've been talking to Steve too, he's always been a good listener. And I talk to Dad, but I don't tell him a lot because I don't want to add more to his plate."

"Sweetheart I think your Dad can handle it, trust me."

Nancy half shrugged, looking out the window, 

"He shouldn't, I mean I get it, he's my Dad and he can handle my problems but this is his problem too, and he's handling Mike's erratic state about it all and Holly's constant questions and not to mention all the talk in town about it, so I don't think I need to add my problems on top of all that."

Claudia sighed, before walking over to take Nancy by the shoulders, looking her deep in her eyes, 

"I know I can speak for him when I say this; nothing is too much for a parent. Your problems are the most important problems to us, to him. Talk to him, you all need to communicate more."

Nancy gave her a small smile nodding once, 

"Ok, I will. Thanks, Mrs. Henderson."

Claudia smiled before patting Nancy's cheek, 

"I'm always here honey. Just in case you wanted to talk to someone else, or you know have a prettier face to sound off on,"

Nancy laughed, patting Claudia's hand before backing up to go get the door for the woman. Despite their differences, Ted and Karen had raised their kids well.

"Speaking of your Dad, where is he? shouldn't he be home by now?"

It was pushing late afternoon or early evening, and the only reason she'd gotten to her basement at all was because she'd gotten off early that day.

"Oh yeah, he left me a note, he said he was going to be late today, he said it wasn't work it was just that he needed to square some things up."

Claudia nodded, stepping out the door as Nancy followed her, leaning on the doorway before crossing her arms, 

"I personally think he went out to have some time, he doesn't like when we're all split up."

Claudia nodded again, once again thanking God that she never had to experience split custody.

"I may talk to him, have a good rest of your day honey, I can't wait to read your story in the paper."

Nancy smiled, nodding once as she pushed herself off the doorframe, 

"I hope it lives up to your expectations."

“I thought you’d be here.”

Ted looked up from where he was sitting on the edge of the quarry, his legs dangling off the side, half squinting at Claudia due to the sunlight before he went back to looking out, 

“I didn’t know anyone was looking for me,”

She hummed, before moving to sit down beside him, giving him enough time to move if he didn’t want her company, but seeing that he didn’t she knew it was a welcomed addition.

“Well, I was, not sure about anyone else,”

“Oh… did you need something?”

“No, nothing in particular, Nance said you’d gone out but no one knew where, I figured you could have shown up here, you used to come here a lot when we were younger.”

“Oh… You remember that?”

She bit back a laugh as she nodded, tapping her hand on the rocky ground beside her.

“Something on your mind?”

The silence stretched for a moment, the two sitting side by side, their hands close  but not quite touching,

“This is where Jane stopped Mike from dying.”

The wind blew their curly hair as Claudia let out a long sigh, looking over at Ted, 

“He almost jumped to protect my Dusty,”

Ted hummed, a faraway look in his eyes, 

“I almost lost him without even knowing, not because there were monsters chasing them or that he got swallowed up by the ground they were…. Kids, like him, that were going to kill them…”

It was a subject that Claudia had actively avoided thinking about for a while, but in truth, it was because she’d spent nights awake thinking about what would have happened if they’d stabbed her baby or Mike had jumped, what would have happened if Billy had run the boys over or had succeeded in killing Steve and the kids that night.

She knows she isn’t the only parent spending countless hours playing different scenarios over and over where they were left in the dark and lost their kids.

Point and case, why the two were sitting at the quarry right now.

“Kids can be heartless, no different than adults,”

“I am a shit, Dad.”

“What?”

Claudia turned around so fast she heard her neck crack, her brow furrowed in confusion at his sudden statement,

“What are you talking about Ted you’re a good Dad,”

“No, I’m not.”

“Ted-”

“I am horrible at reading between the lines like they need me to, I don’t understand their emotional struggles so they feel like I’m cold and uncaring when I do try to interact I come off aloof or like I’m just telling them what to not do, Nancy thinks I’m apathetic, Mike thinks I’m an asshole, it’s a matter of time before Holly feels the same, and in reality, I just think I- I was never cut out to be a parent.”

He looked down at his hands, closing and opening them a few times as he blinked to try and keep the tears back.

“I couldn’t even tell that Mike and Nancy were struggling. I tried to ask them why they’d wake up crying but they’d never tell me and I never pressed them. Why didn’t I press them? I- I should have known better. I should know how to do this parenting thing and I suck at every single thing I try to do with it. Why can’t I be more like the rest of you?”

Claudia sat stunned, watching him as he sighed shakily, taking his glasses off to run a hand down his face, before tipping his head back and blinking at the sky, 

“I think my Mom was right, to just up and leave one day. I must have been such a shit kid to deal with.”

“Would you ever leave your kids? If they were real shits and they never listened to you or were a handful?”

He looked at her confused, his eyes still misty with unshed tears. He looked so young without his glasses, he looked 38 in comparison to him looking like he was already in his late forties.

“No? Why would you-”

“Have you ever hit your kids like your Dad hit you?”

He blinked, her question throwing him off, 

“No. I- I would never, I don’t think I’ve ever even spanked them,”

“Do you tell them that you can’t stand them? That they’re too much or they need to just pull it together?”

“No- Claudia what-”

“Then you’re already leagues ahead of your own parents, and you should be proud of that Ted.”

Being friends with Bob meant she knew a lot about his Stepdad and what happened behind closed doors. 

“That doesn’t make me a good parent Dee, it just means I’m not abusive, that’s the bare minimum,”

The use of the nickname hadn't been lost on her, neither had the warm feeling that spread through her chest at the sound of it. Secretly she hoped he'd call her that more often.

“Ted, honey we all have room to grow as parents. All of us, even Charles and Sue,”

He snorted in amusement as she half grinned at his reaction before continuing, 

“But that’s just one of the parts of parenting, the growing’s never over, for us or them. We learn a lot more about what to do right than they ever learn from us. And we think a lot more about how bad we fucked up than they internalized. And as far as I know, you have worked your ass off to give them a comfortable life, you try to be as involved as they will allow and you would sooner die for them than ever let them be put in harm's way,”

Without thinking, she reached across and put her hand on top of his, and momentarily his concentration was broken as he looked down at their hands before looking back up at her, she wasn’t sure if it was just wishful thinking or if his cheeks really did get pink, but she pushed it to the back of her mind,

“If you hear nothing else, hear this. You are a good Dad, no matter what you think about yourself or what you’ve heard people say.”

He stared at her, something flashing in his eyes before he looked down at their hands again, his body so still it looked like he wasn’t breathing, 

“I hope you know the same applies to you. About being a good mom.”

She smiled, patting the top of his hand as her heart pounded in  her chest, 

“Thank you Ted.”

Chapter Text

“So that meeting we’re planning on having, to cover all the loose ends about this upside down thing.”

Claudia looked up from where she’d been painting the far end of the Byers living room.

“Yeah? What about it?”

Ted shrugged from his side of the room, eyes laser-focused on the trim in the corner of the ceiling.

It had been a last-minute decision on Joyce’s end, but she wanted to gut and change everything about her living room. Too many memories tied to the wallpaper is what she had said, and she was ready to move into something new.

Ted and Claudia had offered to strip the walls and redo it so long as she told them what she wanted, and after the kids had given their opinion, (Jim didn’t care what the walls looked like, his only concern was that Joyce felt at peace in the room) they had landed on a dark yellow. 

Claudia thought it would look nice, and had told Joyce as much, giving her a boost in confidence of her color choice, so Ted and Claudia had coordinated time off so they could spend the better portion of the week working on it. 

Originally, the Byers had no problem living there while they worked, but after day one Ted had given Joyce the key to his house and told her to make herself at home there, and Claudia had offered her spare key to Jon and Will if they wanted to go spend time with Dustin and Steve. Too many bodies and too many people trying to help, at least El knew to just watch silently, except for when Claudia and Joyce had come back from the hardware store and found her sitting in the living room as Ted scrubbed the back wall down to get the glue off, nodding along as she told him everything there was to know about dogs.

The two seemed to get along well enough, but she was more than happy to join her family if it meant she got to hang out with Will and Dustin.

Which had led them to staying in the house as they worked, taking off shifts to nap or refresh. It had gone from just the living room to also the kitchen and Claudia had decided to go and get new sheets to make it feel more welcoming when they all came back. It was a project, something they could do together and something Ted could focus his time on with the kids being at Karen’s. 

“Um, that’s this weekend right?”

Claudia stopped painting, mentally doing a calendar check before she hummed to herself nodding, 

“I suppose you’re right, it is this weekend. Why’s that?”

“Just thinking out loud.”

She hummed again, going back to painting. In the past three days, the two had gotten used to each other's idiosyncrasies, which had proven to be something helpful. 

Ted had gotten good at picking up her lost trains of thought, able to direct her back to her original thought if she got lost on a rabbit trail, he had also picked up on her favorite topics to talk about, and often brought things up she enjoyed talking about just to hear her talk to him.

Claudia had picked up on some of his quirks as well. The way he would react to loud sounds, how he watched people interact, his fidgeting hands and the way he’d fold his arms so he could suppress the urge to fidget, how he’d pace if he was trying to clear his mind or the way he’d talk out loud as if to better understand what he was thinking by using the walls, or in the case of these last few days here,  as a soundboard. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” 

“I wonder where that saying came from,”

She could hear him brushing the paint into the corner as the silence stretched for a moment or so as she waited patiently for him to warm up enough to share what he’d been fixating on.

“So Karen’s gonna be there too, right.”

Ah.

She had a feeling it was about this,

“She did say she’d be here so yeah.”

“Right. That makes sense, she is involved in this all too.”

“How are you feeling about it all?”

He shrugged again, still painting the trim before he stepped off the small stool to put more paint on his brush, while Claudia took the conversation to stop for a small break.

“Are you anxious? When was the last time you saw Karen?”

“Um, a few days ago when I dropped the kids off. I’m not anxious, it’s fine. Everything’s fine. I was just curious I guess and was wondering if she’d be there or not, that’s all.”

She watched him reload his paintbrush before going back to the stool, stepping back on cautiously before he started the trim again, deliberate strokes in steady lines.

“You don’t have to talk to her Ted, you can just let her do her thing and you do yours.”

“Everyone will notice how bad that looks. Besides it’s not that I don’t want to talk to her. I could talk to her if I wanted to or not talk to her,”

“You’re worried she’s going to start something with you, aren’t you?”

His silence was telling enough. She sighed, putting her paintbrush down on the newspapers spread on the floor before standing up and walking over to stand by him as he finished the top trim on the wall beside the window. She looked up at him, patting his hip to get his attention on her, waiting until he was looking down at her.

“You can just hang out with me, or if she does try to start anything you can just ignore her. No one is gonna bat an eye if you ignore her. She’s going to be there for one reason alone; she is your kids' mother, and she should be informed on everything.”

He blinked at her, clearly wanting to say something but not saying it before he opened his mouth to speak as the phone rang, catching them both off guard. 

“I got it,”

He got off the stool, getting the phone with one hand before he leaned against the wall with his back to Claudia, asking who was calling. 

Claudia looked him up and down once, a small part of her happy to see him in casual clothing in comparison to how he usually dressed (she about melted into the ground when he greeted her that morning with a pair of faded jeans and a grey t-shirt) and it wasn’t until he reached up to rub the back of his neck that she saw something peek out from his lower back as his shirt rode up slightly.

She waited until he hung up, sighing as he turned back around, 

“It was some telemarketer, I let them know that the owner of the home wasn’t here so he’d have to call back- what?”

“You have tattoos?”

She balked, unable to keep the shock (read as excitement) out of her tone, and a small part of her regretted how blunt she came off as his cheeks burned red before he cleared his throat, 

“I um- a few yeah, why?”

“What!? How come I’m just finding out about that now!?!”

He shrugged a nervous chuckle bubbling out of him as he rubbed the back of his neck again, 

“I don’t go around shirtless? I don’t know- I got them back in the Air Force,”

“No way! Well don’t let the kids know about it, they’ll flip,”

“I mean, no one knows except for Karen… and now you,”

She wanted to know what they were, what the significance of each one was, what they looked like on him, and where they were placed, but for now, she giggled and made a zipping motion to her lips, before saluting him,

“You’re secret’s safe with me Captain Wheeler,”

He rolled his eyes, unable to suppress the laugh as he shook his head before walking past her to go back to the window.

“So have you gotten any closer to finding a new house?”

The two were sitting side by side on the floor, backs against the couch as they ate Chinese food, the walls finished and drying and their clothes stained golden yellow, 

“I haven’t really, no. There’s a place on Morehead, but I’m not too sure about moving there,”

Claudia gasped before whipping around the noodles dropping off her fork, 

“Isn’t that where Henry lived right before his Dad snapped and killed them all?”

Ted nodded, pushing around the rice in his container, 

“Yeah, kinda why I’m not really into the idea of living there, what if it’s cursed or something?”

“Ted, you are not going to snap and kill all your kids,”

Ted made an unsure noise in the back of his throat as he took a bite of the rice, continuing to play with it, 

“Well I’m not anxious to test the theory so I think I’m just gonna steer clear of that area. You said there’s someplace on Cornwallis?”

She nodded, taking a bite of noodles as she tried to not look too excited about him looking into the area, 

“Yeah there’s a few people moving out end of summer, you should check it out,”

“I will, thanks.”

“No problem,”

The silence was comfortable as they continued to eat and decompress before the conversation railed off into how to best tackle the kitchen tomorrow.

“I’m gonna mow the lawn.”

Claudia looked away from where she had her head in the cabinets rearranging the dishes, raising an eyebrow at his sudden announcement from where he was finishing the wall by the table, 

“Ok? Right now?”

He stopped brushing the paint on, looking outside before going back to painting the wall, 

“No I want to finish this first, but I am gonna do it after.”

She felt the small smile that crept onto her face as she went back to her organizing, 

“Sure thing Ted, thanks for letting me in on the know,”

He hummed in response, before going back to silently working, occupied by making sure that the job looked professional or as close to it as it could get.

"Did you read Nance's article about the Mall?"

"I did! She did such a good job, I'll have to let her know tonight,"

she could see him beaming at the acknowledgment of her brightness and at the ability to talk about her and her achievements,

"I think it's a good start, she's got a great head on her shoulders."

“I can’t believe Nance is graduating next spring,”

“Mmhmm,”

“She’s such a bright girl, she has a lot of opportunities ahead,”

“She does, yeah.”

She listened to his brush strokes for a moment longer, waiting for him to follow up with something else, 

“I don’t like it.”

“What the paint?”

“Nancy growing up.”

Oh.

Claudia closed the cabinet door, looking over at him as he finished the corner of the wall, 

“Is it hard?”

“It’s bullshit.”

She snorted at the blunt response, leaning on the counter. Bullshit was something like the Wheeler family word, everyone used it at some point or another.

“I mean, it’s everything I wanted to see and everything I’ve been dreading. She’s all grown up, she grew up so fast- and then with all this upside-down nonsense added on it’s almost like she matured far faster than she should have, and now I’m realizing I only have what, a year left before she goes to college? I don’t like it. At all.”

He dipped the brush in the paint cup he was holding before going to the top of the wall, starting over again to give it a second coat, 

“And yet it's one of my proudest moments too, seeing her all grown up and independent, it’s every parent's dream to see their kid successful, and Nance is more than that, she’s so bright and ready to take on the world. She’s all the best parts of her mother and I, and I can’t wait to see what she does with her life,”

Claudia hummed in response, watching him work. It was evident how much he adored his children, not just in the way he talked about his kids but in how he watched them how he gave up so much to give them whatever they wanted, to how much he’d beat himself up for the shortcomings he did have as a parent.

She wished Dustin had a father who loved him even half as much.

“You know, regardless of what she does or doesn’t do, you raised a beautiful and intelligent young woman, you should be proud.”

She saw the smile that spread on his lips as he continued to work, nodding in response to her praise, 

“She is. And I am so proud of her.”

"I like it."

They were standing in the middle of the living room looking over their work. It had taken them three days and two all-nighters to pull it off, but by God it looked good.

He nodded in agreement, folding his arms as he rocked onto the balls of his heels, looking around, 

"I think it looks different, but in a good way."

She hummed, looking up at him before putting her hand out. He looked at her outstretched hand for a split second before reacting and giving her a high five. 

"Score for team Whenderson,"

She snorted, the feeling of his palm burning into hers as she put her hands on her hips, and he refolded his arms, 

"Whenderson isn't too bad of a team name,"

"Well, it was between that and Tedia, and I liked Whenderson better. It sounds like a last name,"

"Ah, then team Whenderson it is."

Joyce burst into tears when she walked into her home, before pulling Claudia into a tight hug as she thanked her, letting the other woman go only to do the same to Ted who looked like he'd been struck by lightning at the sudden contact.

"Not much of a hugger,"

Jim joked as he stood beside Claudia, the two watching Ted pat Joyce awkwardly while looking thoroughly panicked.

"He's not a huge physical touch guy, in general I guess,"

Jim looked at her with a raised eyebrow before she looked up at him with a shrug, crossing her arms in a way that looked strikingly similar,

"You learn a lot about someone when you work with them for over 72 hours."

Jim hummed in response, thinking about his own 72 hours that changed his whole life at the beginning of this month before going back to watching the two talk, Ted wringing his hands out as Joyce gushed over the way things were set up, 

"Yeah, you do."

The weekend came around faster than anyone had been ready, and suddenly Claudia was preparing to go to the Wheelers' house for the meeting.

"So what are we even going to talk about? you guys know everything, the Government hasn't come after us yet, and so far we haven't seen any Upside-Down creatures."

Dustin asked as he helped Claudia make breakfast for the four of them considering Robin had spent the night,

"I guess about what comes next sweetheart, this has been a reoccurring problem so I'm sure everyone's just wanting to be on the same page for next time."

Next time. 

That made her stomach flip in a way that made her feel sick.

She didn't want a next time, she was lucky enough to have seen her kids out of this time. One wrong move and there could have been a very different story.

"Is Mrs. Wheeler gonna be there too?"

"yes sweetie, she's coming down with the kids today actually, why's that?"

"no reason, just curious."

Dustin whisked the eggs in silence as Claudia toasted the bread for French toast, listening to Robin and Steve bicker about what to wear to their first day at The Family Video next Tuesday.

"Did Dad ever come around once you guys got divorced?"

Claudia looked back at her baby, caught off guard at the question but not having enough time to process an answer before he was talking again,

"I- I don't really remember him, I think I do a little but it's like an old movie that I don't remember anything but vague shadows and voices."

not for the first time, Claudia found herself hating Walt for leaving them. Not for the last time she would remember that it was a blessing in disguise no matter how much Dustin had lost out on in terms of having a father figure.

"He wasn't interested in being here, no. Why's that sweetness?"

Dustin shrugged, before pushing the egg mixture over so she could dip the bread and put it on the pan, 

"I hope Mike doesn't feel bad if Mrs. Wheeler gets a new boyfriend and stops coming around."

Oh. Bless her sweet child's heart, 

"I'm sure they'll figure it out, sweetheart,"

she flipped the French toast, speaking before she could think better of her question

"What if Mr. Wheeler starts dating? Do you think Mike or the girls would not like that?"

Dustin looked at her as if he was reading right through her, and for a split second she wondered if he was before he shrugged, flipping open his comic book, 

"Honestly, I don't think he'd abandon them for a girlfriend. So they probably wouldn't mind."

By the time they'd pulled up to the house on Maple Street most of everyone else had come. 

With the Sinclair's living so close they were presumably the first to show up, Max and Susan in tow, and from what she'd heard the Byers and Jim were the next to show up. She and her kids had showed up just a moment after Karen and the kids had, and from the sight of Ted holding Holly in the parking lot as he listened to whatever it was Karen was saying to him she could tell all he cared about was having all his kids back under his roof again. 

However, something did send a prickling feeling to the sight of Karen almost reprimanding him in the front yard of a house she didn't even live in anymore.

Before she could think better of it she pulled into park and pulled her keys out, popping out of the driver seat faster than usual but slow enough that she could hear her kids getting out,

"-nd the least you can do is talk to Mike, I am constantly getting attitude from him and no matter how I try to talk to him he acts so cold. I don't think it's fair Ted, it's one-sided and I don't deserve my kids to be treating me like I'm a villain. Don't think I didn't notice how Nancy stayed back this time, once we have this settled in court you can't just persuade them to stay with you, it's not fair they are my kids too-"

"Ted!"

Her voice instantly snapped him out of the zone he was locked in, looking up to see her walking up the driveway as she waved at him. He gave her a small smile before half waving back while still holding Holly, and Karen also whipped around to see her and the kids joining in last, 

"Oh, Hello Claudia, it's been a while since I've seen you, how are the kids?"

she bit back every harsh comment she wanted to make as she gave her a fake smile, 

"We're all doing great, I hope you are too, Holly! how have you been cupcake?"

Holly smiled bashfully as she buried into Ted before peaking back out momentarily, 

"I went to the zoo, it was fun."

"I bet it was sweet-cheeks, you'll have to tell me all about it,"

She looked up at Ted, noticing he hadn't stopped looking at her the entire time. He was wearing a plain faded blue t-shirt and jeans, and for some reason that had her feeling her heart pounding out of her chest as she actively ignored her feelings to keep eye contact with him, silently asking if he was ok, 

He nodded before shifting his hold on Holly, turning around to go inside, 

"I guess that's everyone. We should probably get this talk started."

Claudia watched from her spot against the wall as everyone continued to shout their opinions on what had to be done as far as the gates went, brushing her hand through Steve’s hair from where he was sitting next to her.

“All I’m saying is we know more about this shit than you guys do, you should listen to us!”

He sighed as Jim groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose, 

“Kid, it’s not about who knows what, I know a fair deal about it too-”

“Ok but you know what you know, not about the upside down, you just know about parts of it. We’ve been in the trenches with it,”

“Mike snapped as  Dustin nodded, 

“Besides it feels like you guys never want to hear us because we’re the kids,”

“And you all should never have been there in the first place,”

“OK Mom, but we were, so that’s past it now-”

“ERICA!”

She sighed, looking across the room to Ted. he was spacing out from his spot on the floor beside Holly, the little girl happily drawing at the coffee table, trying to get him to interact with her, and something set off in the woman.

Claudia patted Steve’s shoulder before pecking his cheek, moving from her spot behind him to go sit on the couch behind Ted, trying not to draw attention to herself as she did, leaning down to look at Holly’s work, 

“Oh it’s pretty sweetheart, what is it?”

“My imagine friend, Alfred! He’s a dog and a unicorn.”

Holly shoved the picture up to Claudia, beaming as she cooed over it before handing it back, 

“You should draw some more, can you make a picture of Alfred having a tea party?”

Holly nodded before going back to her art, humming happily as Claudia looked up at the fight going on, making sure everyone was locked in on each other before she carefully placed a hand on Ted’s bicep to get his attention.

He jumped slightly, but didn’t shrug her hand off so she knew that touch wasn’t out of the conversation, 

“Is it too loud?”

She asked in a low tone, rubbing his arm comfortingly. He hummed in response, concentrating on tapping the tabletop to do something with his nervous energy.

“I’m gonna try something, let me know if you don’t want me to,”

“Ok,”

He mumbled, still not fully paying attention. She sat forward slightly before she placed both her hands on his ears, canceling out the noise in the room. 

“Oh,”

He said, a slightly pleasant sound to his tone as he shifted to sit with his knees up so he could rest his elbows on them, getting used to the muffled sounds around him before he reached up to put his hands over hers, adjusting to the position they were in.

She took that as a good sign, leaning forward so her elbows were resting on her knees as she tuned back into the conversation above.

“I think we just let sleeping dogs lie, why go poking around if nothing’s happening,”

Charles sighed, 

“Because the last three times we did that something ended up happening, this month being a prime example,”

Jonathan groaned, folding his arms in frustration, 

“So what would you guys suggest we do? As people who have done this three times what do you think is gonna be different if you go poking around?”

“Mom, we aren’t saying we want to poke around. We’re saying we need to somehow be prepared for the inevitable chance that this will happen again, so maybe we put up markers or traps or something where these things have happened before”

Lucas explained beside Claudia, Max resting her head on his shoulder.

“I get that honey, I hear you, but I don’t want you kids poking around anymore. You got lucky the last few times, you may not this time.”

“Your Mom’s right Lucas, this should be something we deal with,”

Jim added, sitting beside Steve with a sigh, 

Ted had moved his head to tilt to the side, resting the side in her hold as she absentmindedly moved her fingers in his hair. The tension had somewhat left his posture the longer they sat like that, and a small part of her wondered if it was because of her canceling out the sound or her presence, or a mix of both. 

Dustin caught her eye from where he was sitting by Nancy’s feet on the floor, giving her a raised brow as if to ask what was going on. She mouthed that it was too loud and it clicked in as he made a silent ah and then smiled at her, giving her a thumbs up before going back to doodling in his book as a way of ignoring the chaos around him as well.

“Does that work?”

She looked over at Jane who was sitting on the opposite end of the coffee table, the girl looking at the couple- two adults with curiosity, 

“Canceling out the noise? It helps a little I think, why’s that?”

She nodded before scooching over to sit by Dustin, whispering something to him before he nodded with a big grin, patting the floor so she could sprawl out, resting her head in his crossed legs as he covered her ears. She smiled up at him, clearly happy to have some of the sound out as he nodded in a form of saying you’re welcome before looking over at his mom with a huge smile.

A rush of pride and happiness flooded Claudia who would have given him a thumbs up had it not been for the two hands holding hers in place.

“-m sure that the rest of the parents are going to agree,”

Claudia tuned back in, looking at Joyce who had just been talking, as the rest of them made noises of agreement. 

“So that’s it? You guys just know and are gonna take over? You’re no better than the government trying to tell us what to do.”

Mike snapped as Will grabbed his arm.

“Mike, it’s not the same. They’re trying to protect us, not box us in.”

Mike inhaled sharply, looking at Will as a thousand things ran through their eyes in silent conversation before he deflated, throwing himself back into the wall dramatically, 

“I don’t want to be out of the loop, I can’t just be oblivious now that they- you guys are involved.”

“And you won’t be. Kid, all we’re saying is that we are gonna try to be the ones on the frontline, and you guys can fill us in, make sense?”

Charles asked, pulling Sue to his side to rub her shoulder, easing tension out of them with a simple touch.

“I guess, but I don’t like it.”

Claudia felt Ted tap her hands in a way of showing he was good now, shifting to sit forward as she moved her hands, her hands suddenly feeling empty without his head in them as she watched him softly interact with Holly. She could see Karen watching them from the corner where she was before turning away, and part of her wanted to look at the woman but she held back, simply sitting back on the couch,

“I think we’re all on the same page now. How about we work out dinner and then everyone can go their separate ways for the night, we’ll revisit this in a couple of days.”

She suggested, hoping they could move on for the night. Joyce nodded in agreement before gently patting Jim’s arm, 

“Nothing is pressing right now, maybe we just try to breathe for a little.”

She said it in a way that was like a suggestion but Claudia could see how she was practically begging for a minute that wasn’t surrounding this supernatural shit.

Joyce Byers had lost loved ones, her son being one of them almost forever,  countless sleepless nights, and her sense of security to all this shit, and for one damn minute she wanted her biggest worry to be what she was going to feed her kids for dinner.

Jim bit back a sigh, before looking up at her with a nod, 

“Sounds good Joy.”

“How’d you know that would work?”

Claudia accepted the wet dishes from Ted, the two washing and drying the dishes as the kids ran downstairs to “play” as they said, but more or less talk about the conversation. Joyce and Jim were smoking on the porch, Sue and Charles were talking with Susan in the living room, helping her with her moving plans and Karen had gone back to the apartment she was staying at. 

“What, covering your ears?”

He nodded, eyes fixed on washing the plates as a way of keeping himself distracted while talking about his struggling.

“Oh sometimes when Dusty was a little thing he’d get overwhelmed with noise, start screaming and crying, so I started covering his ears or taught him to do it when it got too loud. He does it to this day if there’s too much going on, it helps to bring you down before you fully spiral,”

“Oh…”

There was silence for a little longer, her thanking him whenever he handed her a dish but not much more as she waited for the follow-up questions,

“How’d you know I was overwhelmed? No one else did.”

“I could see how you were sitting, and sometimes when you’re overwhelmed you tap on things.”

“Sorry,”

“For what?”

“I was distracting.”

“You were not. I just happened to notice it, that doesn’t mean you were distracting or annoying honey, it’s completely normal.”

The silence that followed was a little uncomfortable, more than anything because she could feel how upset he was with himself about reacting at all, she did her best to remain as completely neutral as possible so he didn’t pick up any negative energy from her and misconstrued it for her being annoyed with him,

“You say that a lot, that Dustin and me are alike…”

“I do yeah, it’s because you are.”

“How?”

Oh boy.

She was wondering when this would come up.

She took the plate he handed her, drying it before putting it beside the other dried dishes as she moved to turn off the water, handing him her towel. He looked at her confused but took it anyway, drying off his hands as she leaned against the counter, waiting for him to finish, 

“Have you ever heard of Asperger syndrome?”

He stopped drying his hands, looking at her with a furrowed brow before shaking his head and going back to drying his already-dried hands. He had to make sure they were dry as possible or else he could still feel the bubbles from the soap on his hands.

She took a breath, looking out the window that was in front of the sink, the sun had gone down, but it was a summer night so it looked inviting.

“Let’s go for a walk,”

“Huh?”

She bit back the laugh that wanted to come out of her chest at his response before she nodded to the window, 

“It’s nice out, and this is going to be a long conversation,”

He looked outside, staring out the window for a second longer before nodding, fixing his glasses as he looked back at her, handing her the towel again.

“I just have to let the kids know I’m going to be out,”

“Ok, I’ll wait on the porch.”

She said, patting his arm gently, happy to see he didn’t squirm away today. She likes the days he’s ok with a little touch.

She watched him go to the basement, presumably calling Nancy up to let her know before she put the towel over the sink and went outside, taking a deep breath of the summer evening air before looking at Joyce and Jim who were mid-drawl, both with a cigarette hanging from their lips and their hands on each other.

They moved away from each other like two teenagers who had been caught making out behind the bleachers (something she’d bore witness to before) and both took their cigarettes out of their mouths in sync. She had to hold back a chuckle as she exhaled.

“Gonna take a walk, I have something to talk about,”

She informed as both of them raised an eyebrow in confusion 

“But you’re alone?”

Jim asked in a tone that made it sound like she was crazy. Just as she opened her mouth the door opened again, Ted slipping out quietly as he closed the door behind him, looking over at the couple and then at Claudia in confusion as to what he’d walked into.

Claudia nodded her head in his direction as Jim made an ah sound and Joyce nodded at her with an encouraging smile, 

“Take your time guys, we’ll still be here if the Sinclair's and Susan leave.”

She said, snuffing out her cigarette on the wall before nudging Jim to follow her lead, the cop gruffing before he did so, nodding at both of them, 

“Just stay safe out there kids,”

He warned before going back in, Joyce smacking his arm playfully.

The two watched them walk in before Ted rolled his eyes with a sigh, turning around to walk away, Claudia following chuckling, 

“He’s like a couple of months older than us, I don’t know why he insists on calling us kids.”

Ted grumbled with no heat behind his words as he stuck his hands in his jacket pockets,

“Well, he’s almost half a year older than you, and a couple of months older than me so,”

“Alright,”

She laughed a his griping, still enjoying to remind him he was on the younger end of all of them. 

Joyce and Ted’s birthdays fell in December, making them the younger of the bunch, a fact that they were reminded of by the group of friends every once and a while, while Jim’s birthday was in June and Claudia’s was in September.

The only two that were almost perfectly matched in age and birthdate were Sue and Charles who shared a birth month and week in August. 

The sound of the crickets was soothing as they walked in the backyard leading to the woods. Claudia hadn’t realized how everyone was somehow living on the edge of or in the woods until now, and in a way, it made the connection to the upside down a little more eerie, but she pushed it aside as she inhaled the night air again, deciding to not avoid the topic anymore, 

“So, about my question,”

“Yeah, about that….”

The silence stretched for a moment longer as she looked over at him, giving him time to see if he’d break the silence before she did, 

“Have you ever heard of Asperger syndrome?”

“No?”

She hummed, kicking some rocks as they walked, thinking of how to explain it to him without coming off clinical,

“So it's a mental thing, not like something that affects the way you talk or think per se, but it affects some of the ways you socialize and communicate. Does that make sense?”

He didn’t answer at first, looking hard at the ground as they continued to walk, 

“Not really, what- how? And how does it have anything to do with me?”

She bit the inside of her cheek, something in the back of her mind saying this could destroy their relationship but another part of her saying she’d gone too far to go back now, 

“So you know how you have a hard time understanding people’s social cues sometimes? Or the way you get overwhelmed and don’t know how to react to it?”

He nodded, still not looking at her, as she continued, 

“Those kinds of things, same as how you sometimes move around a lot or how you don’t like touch or eye contact, and how you try to fit in by mimicking the way people act but it makes you feel worn out, or have to do things a certain  way and everything has to be in order or it feels like something’s wrong.”

“So you think I have this problem?”

She stopped walking, waiting until  he’d stopped, and turned around to look at her as she offered a hand, waiting until he took it a moment after, 

“I do not think it's a problem. It’s just what makes you different.”

“Different isn’t good.”

“Different is wonderful.”

He looked at their hands, turning them over once or twice before stopping, looking up at her, 

“Does Dustin have this too?”

She nodded, allowing him to play with their joined hands without drawing attention to it, 

“He does yeah, I took him to get a diagnosis when he was little, he’s had it all his life,”

“How does someone get it?”

She shrugged, looking down at their hands again as he did the same, 

“We still don’t know, but testing is a little easier now, and research is going into it instead of just labeling it retardation so I think it’s a step,”

“Oh.”

The silence stretched for a minute as she waited, knowing he had more to ask but was more or less just trying to decide which was the most important question to ask first, 

“So if I have it… could I have given it to any of the kids? Is that why people don’t like them? Did I- Did I infect them with it?”

She tugged on his hand, waiting until  he looked at her as she reached out and took his other hand staring deep into his eyes, 

“It is not an infection. And if the kids do have it, that doesn’t make them any more or less likable. People dislike people because they’re assholes.”

“You’re just saying that because you think I’m different,”

“I’m saying that because it’s true, regardless of you being different or not.”

He made a noise, something between a hum and a groan, as he wiggled their joined hands slightly, 

“So maybe that’s why Karen used to get mad at me? Because I didn’t understand her?”

“She used to get mad at you because she didn’t understand you.”

She rephrased, 

“But you do?”

She felt like something sent a bolt of lighting through her at the simple question, 

“I like to think I do, yeah,”

She answered without hesitation, getting him to look at her again, 

“Well, I feel understood by you.”

She smiled, catching the small smile that danced on his lips as he looked back down, moving to his next slew of questions,

“Is that why you explain things to me? Because you know I don’t know?”

She nodded, letting him swing their arms, feeling like there was a sun burning in her chest at their proximity, 

“And if I did have this…. Is there a way to stop it?”

“No, it’s just a part of you.”

“I hate it.”

She frowned, bending to the side so she could catch his eyes, 

“I don’t.”

He frowned at her, humming in a disbelieving way, 

“Ted, all the parts of you that you hate are the parts I love about you,”

“Why?”

“Because they’re what make you you.”

“You’re the only one that feels that way,”

“Does it matter if I am?”

He tipped his head to the side, looking her up and down as if trying to read her intentions, 

“I just think it’s different, that’s all.”

“What is?”

“That you like me.”

A million things rushed to her mind, a voice screaming at her that now was her chance to say something, that the timing was perfect for her to confess that she didn’t just like him. She hated telling Bob to shut up but he wouldn’t stop yelling in her ear,

“I like you a lot Ted Wheeler, quirks and all,”

He half smiled at her, the light not quite reaching his eyes but a smile nonetheless, 

“I like you too Dee.”

They stood looking at each other for a moment more, and for a brief second she let herself imagine that she did tell him how she truly felt, but then she nodded in the direction of the house, tugging on their joined hands, 

“Let's go home,”

He nodded, letting her pull him along until he let go of one hand to walk the rest of the way by, the other pair of hands still clasped as they walked, 

“Do you want me to call about a test?”

“What will it do?”

“Not much,”

She shrugged, looking ahead as the fireflies danced around them, 

“It’ll really just be confirmation on it and then we can look at therapy or something if you wanted,”

“What for?”

“Oh you know, helping you with understanding social cues and fitting in better I guess,”

“But you already do that for me, Why would I need someone else to tell me what you already do?”

She smiled up at him before looking ahead again, 

“I guess you don’t do you,”

“Not really. But I… if a diagnosis helps with other things, I don’t mind…”

“It’ll give you some peace of mind, you know so you aren’t wondering if you do or don’t have it,”

“Yeah.”

The silence stretched for a bit, comfortable as the air was as they walked hand in hand, and for the first time in years, Claudia felt at peace, 

“Will it change how you feel about me?”

“Nothing could change how I feel about you,”

He looked down at her, and for a second she thought she saw something in his eyes as he smiled at her, before he looked ahead again, 

“I hope not.”

Chapter Text

Claudia never told a soul about her complicated feelings regarding Ted Wheeler. 

For a while, she thought it would be easy enough to ignore, but as the summer went on, she found that was easier said than done.

Ted had, in many ways, become her closest friend. And while no one would ever replace Bob’s spot in her heart, she found he somehow created a completely different role in her life.

A confidant, but also someone who leaned on her in a way she hadn’t felt she was ever needed or valued.

“I think we’re going to wind up with the same custody switch-off we’ve been doing for the last month.”

He sounded about as mournful as she would feel if she were in his shoes. It had been working so to speak, to have the kids stay at one parent's place for a week and then go to the others the following Sunday. Mike was still agitated about having to go, and Nancy found occasions that she could sneak out of having to comply, but Holly didn’t seem to mind the bouncing around. 

Ted hated it. Claudia could see it on his face, she could see it in his eyes when she’d see him on Mondays after the kids left, she could feel it in the shift of his energy through the week that they weren’t there. She hated it as much as he did.

“How do you feel about that?”

He shrugged, reading the label on the back of the cereal before tossing it into the shopping cart, 

“It’s better than them giving her 75/25. So I’ll take 50/50.”

She nodded in agreement. At first, she was worried that he’d become a weekend parent, she knew that would tear him apart. But for now, Karen was ok to settle on 50/50. 

Claudia also picked up a box of cereal, tossing it in without question, already knowing it was a favorite of her boys.

On Wednesdays, they went grocery shopping together. It had started as a way for her to get him out of the house when the kids were gone, and then the next week he had asked her if she needed to go, and with two teenage boys under her roof she had so they went again, and then again the following week…

She liked it. It was nice shopping with someone else, it was good to have someone to bounce her thoughts off of and to find a way to keep him busy enough with his hands that he would talk to her about what he was currently thinking or going through.

One of those things he was going through was looking at changing his job.

He hated working finances, he’d told her that at some point on their shopping trips, but it was a comfortable job and he was able to settle in after he got back from the war so he took it. She hadn’t gotten a chance to ask him what he’d do otherwise, because they ended up on a different topic about yogurt.

“Next week is her week right?”

He hummed, taking a loaf of wheat bread down for himself and rye for her, putting them both in the cart before he also took a loaf of white for Dustin. The seeds in rye irritated him, and he wasn’t a fan of the way wheat bread tasted.

Ted had memorized what basics she got, so she only ever brought a list of the random things she needed at the time of their shopping.

“Yeah, why?”

“Oh nothing, just wondering if you wanted to do something,”

“Like shopping?”

They walked down the aisle of canned foods, Claudia stopping to grab a few canned soups and some canned corn before crossing it off her list, 

“Well, yes but not necessarily,”

He raised an eyebrow, putting the few canned goods he needed in the cart beside hers. They continued to walk on, side by side in a way that if people hadn’t known who they were in town, everyone would more or less assume they were a married couple of many years.

“Well, I was thinking about doing something more along the lines of just for fun,”

“Oh,”

“Yeah,”

They walked in silence for a second, and for a heartbeat, Claudia wondered if she’d said something wrong, or been too invasive, 

“You like music right?”

“Hmm?”

She looked up at him as they continued to walk, and maybe she was dreaming but it looked like he was a little flushed as he half shrugged, 

“They’re having live music in Indianapolis next week, there’s an outdoor patio at a bar and they have live musicians, I’m not sure who’s playing but you used to be in a band back in high school so I assumed you liked music,”

She knew she wasn’t imagining the blush that crept up her cheeks as she smiled at him, before going back to looking ahead as she directed the cart, 

“I do, that sounds like fun. Wanna drive together?”

“It’ll save some gas money, and will make coming and going easier,”

“Is that a yes?”

She asked her tone slightly deadpanned. He huffed a laugh before putting his hands up as if to defend himself, 

“I’m just agreeing with you by listing reasons that it’s a good idea,”

She laughed, before bumping his hip against hers, getting a sputtering noise out of him that went from shock to a chuckle.

“Alright, Mr. Analytical, then we’ll go together,”

“Only if I can drive,”

She raised an eyebrow at him before turning to go down the frozen food aisle, 

“You can drive there, I’m driving back.”

“BOYS! BE CAREFUL!”

Sue shouted ahead at the four boys running to the lake screaming, Dustin and Mike shoving each other to try to get to the water first before Max tore past all of them, El in hand as the girls screamed and raced into the water.

“You should’ve just said kids at this point,”

Charles laughed as Erica also took of shouting obscenities before she made it past the four boys shoving each other, all of them  now in the lake.

“I hope none of them do anything stupid,”

Susan said more to herself than anyone else as she put the basket with lunch in it on the ground where Jim and Joyce were setting up camp,

“You mean any more stupid than housing an otherworldly creature in their basement?”

Claudia shoved Ted, the man laughing at her reaction,

“Oh because housing a whole child with powers who is being sought after by the government right in your own home is a lot smarter,”

“In my defense, I never claimed Mike was the smartest kid to walk the earth,”

“You shouldn’t, especially not when he gets almost everything from you,”

“Hey!”

She laughed, flipping him a discrete finger as she helped Joyce pin the sides of one of the blankets down, the other woman looking between the two bickering with a fond smile as she giggled, before shaking her head, 

“You guys sound no better than the kids over there,”

She quipped before sitting down beside Jim on the blanket, her boyfriend pulling out the small radio so he could keep tabs on what was going on with the station, 

Ted shrugged, not bothering to hide his childish smile as he walked past the three on the blanket, tugging on the end of Claudia’s hair getting her to yelp a laugh before she spun around and slapped his butt, the man laughing before taking Holly by the hand to go help her get ready to play in the water. 

Susan watched the two with a bashful smile before sitting on the blanket with Charles and Sue, pulling out her cigarettes to smoke. She’d cut back on the amount she’d been going through lately, but she still smoked occasionally. She offered it to Joyce and Jim, both taking one before she put it away, knowing the other three weren’t as big smokers.

“So you two close?”

She asked casually as Claudia pulled out a book, giving her a confused look, before looking back at Ted and then the single mom, 

“Oh me and Ted? I mean, a little yeah, why’s that?”

She shrugged, taking a drag before letting out a breath, 

“You make him smile. He seems relaxed around you, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him relaxed. He always looks so stressed out.”

“Oh,”

Claudia opened her book to read, pretending she let the comment go but she couldn’t stop thinking about the implication behind her question, 

Where they close? Did Susan think they were secretly together? Did Susan know how she felt?

“-nt any Claudia?”

“Hmmm?”

She tuned back in to see Sue offering her a soda, which she took after staring at it for a moment, 

“Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,”

“No don’t be, we all came to relax, so you should be reading.”

She smiled at the other mom, thankful that she didn’t make her feel bad for not listening. 

It had come around to the weekend and the kids had wanted to go to the lake, and while they had gone plenty of times before on their own, it was a good excuse for the adults to sit together and relax and bond. While all of them had grown up friends in high school they had not kept in great contact, which led to everyone being friendly but not friends. That was until this whole shitshow showed up, and then Susan joined the group.

Claudia had often thought of it as she was the replacement Karen, but not as preppy and a lot more timid, all the same, she’d fit into their group well and had also become close to the Sinclairs. Claudia also had thought that if circumstances had been different, she would have fallen apart after everything, and was grateful that she had Charles and Sue to lean on during all this mess.

The older four had planned a day trip to Indianapolis, which had left it to the younger teens and Holly, but Claudia was finding that it was enjoyable that way just as much as if the older four were there. 

She looked back when she heard shouting, to see Dustin helping El onto his shoulders as Max got on Lucas’, clearly about to engage in a game of chicken while Erica shouted directions at them. Will had run out of the water to collect Holly, holding her hand as they played in the shallow part of the water, Mike also playing with them as he talked to Will, his eyes intently watching the youngest Byers.

She smiled fondly at the scene, wishing she had a camera along to snap a picture but instead deciding to just commit the scene to memory before she felt Ted sit beside her, 

“Will said he wanted to hunt for shells with Holly, Mike said he wanted to hang out with Will, but both of them said I could leave so I’m going to assume they’re talking about their undying love for each other.”

“It’s about time.”

Joyce echoed from where she was sitting between Jim’s legs, also reading as the man snorted, before taking a drag of his cigarette, 

“You guys are ok with that?”

Susan asked, looking between the parents of the boys in question, almost anxious as if she expected something else,

“What Will and Mike?”

Joyce asked, looking up from her book with a confused stare as Ted raised an eyebrow, 

“Those two have been inseparable since they met when they were in the first grade, Mike worships the ground Will walks on,”

“And Will’s had their wedding planned since he was like seven,”

“Called it the day I saw them on the playground,”

“Oh, it was a done deal on the swings,”

Susan looked at the two, the nervous glance leaving as she huffed a laugh, before taking a drag and exhaling, 

“Thank fuck. I thought you all would be bigots like Neil, he was so sure everyone here would feel the same as him since it’s a bible belt area, I was scared to bring anything up.”

“Oh don’t worry about that honey, none of us here are gonna burn someone at the steak for being different,”

Claudia assured as Sue knocked her elbow against the redhead woman’s elbow. 

“Told you you didn’t have to worry. They aren’t gonna mistreat you,”

There was a silent realization of what she meant amongst most of them before Claudia could feel Ted’s confusion as she also knocked her elbow against his to get his attention, 

“She likes girls,”

Ted looked down at Claudia before up at Susan, the realization hitting him a minute later than everyone else, 

“Oh- oh! Oh shit sorry, I don’t know why that took me forever to understand,”

Susan laughed, almost dropping her cigarette as she steadied herself with one hand behind her, waving her hand with the cigarette to wave off any worries.

“You taking forever to understand was the least of my worries Wheeler, but it sure did take the fear outta it.”

“Glad I could be of assistance?”

At this point the tension had completely dissolved among them, resolving in them laughing at the response.

“Can I ask you a question, Claudia?”

Claudia looked up from putting the food back in the containers as Susan handed her a bag of wrapped bread,

“Yeah honey, what’s up?”

“What’s going on between you and Ted?”

She felt her heart drop,

“What do you mean?”

Susan looked a little unsure as she watched Ted and Jim talking, Ted with his arms crossed and Jim with his hands on his hips, whatever it was being talked about something quiet enough that no one else could hear them, 

“It just seems a little closer than friendship, but maybe I’m wrong.”

“Oh, like how?”

“Can I be honest?”

Claudia nodded, already feeling like she wouldn’t be able to defend herself, so she may as well get it over with, 

“It looks like you two are dancing around each other, but not in a push-and-shove way, more like you’re ignoring that you like each other.”

Well, shit.

“You think so?”

She nodded, before looking at the men and then at Sue and Joyce as they sat closer to the water laughing and talking. Charles had gone into the water to play with the kids, picking them up and throwing them with no real force back in, 

“But I don’t think anyone else sees it, or at least no one else has said anything, but I don’t know maybe I’m wrong-”

“I’ve liked Ted since we were in high school.”

Claudia never told Karen that she had a crush on Ted back when they were in high school.

The only person that did know was Bob Newby.

And she was about to change that fact.

“He was dating Karen, they had started dating back in tenth grade, I had told myself the summer before that I was going to tell him I liked him, but when we all came back to school he and Karen were together, and I didn’t say anything.”

Susan sat down on the blanket as Claudia closed the basket, sitting beside the other woman, folding her hands in her lap, 

“I had a friend. Bob Newby, we’ve talked about him before. He was my best friend, he was also Ted’s step-brother, he was the only person who knew I liked Ted, and swore he’d never say anything because I knew he liked Joyce, it was a pact. But he knew, and for years we’d tell each other that maybe next dance, next semester, next year we get a shot. We never did, I went to college and Ted enlisted in the Air Force, by the time I got back he’d married Karen and had a Nancy. I never spoke of it again. They were happy, so I would let it go.”

She sighed, watching the kids play with Charles, but she could feel Susan watching her,

“And I married Walt, we had an on-and-off relationship in high school, and we decided to make it official and get married and have a kid, he ended up being a piece of shit, cheated on me, and was just hateful to Dusty, so I kicked him out and I’ve been single since I was fine with it. I never said anything to anyone about Ted because he was happy, I wouldn’t ruin that. And then…”

She stopped, biting back any remark she was about to make about Susan’s stepson, 

“Billy and Karen happened.”

Susan filled in, picking the grass beside her,

“Billy and Karen happened, and so did everything else. And suddenly we were all thrust into this new reality and Ted- he’s different.” 

She didn’t know how to say anything about Ted and what she assumed was his mental difference without putting him on the spot, she would never do that to him, 

“He’s different but not in a bad way, just in a way that most people don’t take the time to understand. So I did. I helped him understand that part of him, and I’ve been trying to  undo a lot of shit that was done to him if that makes sense,”

“It does yeah, I have seen you, helping him, and what not I mean.”

Claudia hummed, now picking the grass as well as she watched Ted listening to Jim speak, he wasn’t looking directly at Jim, she could tell, but she was almost willing to bet her whole house and then some that Jim wouldn’t have noticed, 

“Will you ever tell him you like him?”

Claudia blinked, looking at the woman sitting beside her, 

“Huh?”

“Ted, are you ever going to tell him you like him?”

She didn’t know. On the one hand, she wanted to, she was so tired of ignoring how she felt, but on the other, she valued whatever form of a relationship they’d built so far, and wasn’t willing to sacrifice it.

“I don’t know.”

“You should. I don’t think it’s one-sided. He’s not really good at hiding how he feels.”

Claudia blinked again, raising an eyebrow in question as Susan nodded before looking at the two men, 

“I mean he is, to the naked eye he’s great at it. But I told you before about how you make him look relaxed? He looks happy with you, he looks at you like you strung up the moon, you know, the same way he says Mike looks at Will.”

The irony wasn’t lost on Claudia at the comparison as she huffed a laugh, feeling her cheeks burning.

“I don’t know Susan. This is all so complicated.”

“It is. The whole thing here is complicated, but-”

She sighed, sitting back and resting on her elbows, 

“Don’t let the complications stop you from moving ahead, who knows, maybe this was supposed to happen, maybe you two were supposed to happen all along.”

Claudia looked at the woman, her words bouncing around in her head.

When she was little, her Mom used to say no matter what, she would have always been her daughter, that whatever the case was she would have still been born and she would have still been her Mommy’s little girl. 

She wondered idly if maybe if she and Ted had gotten married instead the same would have been said about her Dusty and Ted’s kids, 

“I wouldn’t change how things have worked out, not if it meant my Dustin wouldn’t have been,”

She said rather bluntly. She bit back a laugh at herself for sounding as blunt as Ted in that moment, 

“I don’t think things would have been different, I just think that maybe this is the universe's way of  making things right in the end.”

Claudia hummed, before mirroring Susan’s position as the two watched the others on the lakeshore.

“I won’t say anything, your secret is safe with me.”

Claudia smiled at the other woman in thanks before sighing, trying to ignore the ensemble of voices in her mind.

Friday had rolled around a lot faster than she’d realized it would.

Blame it on the insane work week she’d had, it had been so crazy that she’d missed out on their Wednesday shopping. She hadn’t realized it until about 9:30 that night and called Ted to apologize. 

He’d assured her it was alright, and that he didn’t need anything so it was fine, but a small part of her knew she’d thrown off his rhythm and hopped it didn’t affect his evening too much, and he’d told her he was fine since they’d be seeing each other later that week. She had agreed and said goodnight without thinking much about it, 

But it was Friday morning and suddenly she remembered that they were going out that week, and the last comment of their conversation made sense. 

“Oh shit.”

Dustin and Steve both looked up in shock at her sudden swearing, Both boys mid-bite of pancake, 

“I forgot I was going out tonight,”

“Wow, Mom you had me thinking you put Tews in the washing machine or something with that outburst,”

Dustin quipped before taking his bite of food, but Steve just looked at her with a glint in his eyes, 

“Who is he?”

She felt her cheeks burn at the insinuation as Dustin about choked on his pancake, 

“It’s not a going out like that Steve, I have friends.”

She sighed as she stood up taking her plate to the sink. She wasn’t sure why she was feeling cagey about saying who, it wasn’t like the boys didn’t know they were friends.

“Well that kinda works out, I was gonna ask if I could stay at the Byers tonight, you know since Mike isn’t here and I’m sure Max and Lucas are up to something.”

“I was gonna see if Robin and Jon wanted to hang out too, is that ok?”

She nodded, finishing rinsing her dishes before she put them aside, 

“I think that’s a great idea, you kids have fun and keep in contact with me, I want to make sure you two call before bed tonight ok? I’ll call you both before I leave and when I get home. And if I don’t get an answer-”

“You’ll show up there we know we know,”

Dustin cut in with a groan before jumping out of his seat, going over to peck his mom on the cheek, 

“You’re the best Mom, thanks, I’m gonna go call Will and let him know,”

He tore out of the room to the phone, as Steve took a swig of his coffee before collecting both of their plates to bring to the sink, also giving his mom a kiss, 

“I’m heading to work, you be good now, use protection and all that- OW!”

He laughed as he moved out of the way as she pinched his side, before smacking him on the butt, 

“You get out of here you weasel, drive safely now and tonight ok?”

“Yes ma’am,”

He saluted her on his way out, ruffling Dustin’s hair as he went to work, the younger boy excitedly talking to Will on the phone about their plans.

They had agreed that He’d come to her house around 5 when he got off work to pick her up, and they’d drive from there. She’d gotten off around 4, so that gave her time to get ready. 

By getting ready she meant putting on one of her favorite knit shirts and a pair of jeans, trying to play it down as much as possible. 

She did feel her heart leap in her throat when she saw the feeling was mutual, and Ted had showed up at her door in a pair of faded jeans and a thin olive green sweater, 

“Hi,”

“Hey,”

The two stood there staring for half a beat, neither sure how to proceed, 

“I um, ready to go?”

She chuckled, nodding in response before she tossed the strap of her purse over her shoulder, closing the door with a click 

“Ready whenever you are Mr. Taxi driver,"

They drove in silence for fifteen minutes.
It wasn't uncomfortable by any stretch, Claudia had gotten used to doing long stints in silence with Ted, and ninety percent of them were not uncomfortable. 

It wasn't until Claudia mentioned something about the song on the radio that the conversation actually started, and by started it was more so she listened to Ted tell her all about ABBA, the fact that they started out of trying to avoid paying taxes, and other points of the band, and somehow that turned into Fleetwood Mac, the long contentious relationship of Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks and how Fleetwood is one of his favorite artist, and favorite artists turned into a long explanation of Simon and Garfunkel. 

And Claudia enjoyed every moment of it. 

As it turned out, the band playing was a folk cover band, and this is how he knew about it happening in the first place, He'd heard about it on the radio and figured that she might like it as well, knowing that she liked Joni Mitchell and Gordon Lightfoot. (She'd told him that fact when they heard Sundown in the checkout line.)

by the time they'd found parking, they decided to walk the rest of the way to the bar, by that point, she was telling him about how she used to dance on her Dad's feet to John Denver and how she knew every line of Rubber Soul.

He was right, she did love it.

More so the way there than the music itself, but the band wasn't that bad for a cover band.

What neither had been prepared for was the storm that hit them fifteen minutes away from the car.

At first, they tried to outrun it, but once they realized it was a fruitless struggle they walked (read as speed walked) the rest of the way. 

She wasn't sure who started it, but somehow the topic of their childhood came up, and by the time they were close enough to the car they were both laughing about past fails and oddly enough, Ted's childhood pet.

"I just don't get it! Of all animals, you went into the backyard and snatched a HEDGEHOG?!?! WHY?"

"I was lonely! And everyone else had a pet, I just wanted to fit in!?"

He laughed as he tried to defend his choice of animal companion, 

"Besides, firstly it wasn't my backyard, it was the woods, second I took good care of him, I don't know how but he must have fallen down the stairs because I got home one day from school and found him broken and dead the poor guy. And lastly what is so odd about a Hedgehog for a pet- he was great, he sat by me, he'd hang out under my bed so he never got caught and I even litter trained him- DIA STOP LAUGHING!"

Claudia had bent forward holding her knees as she laughed, waving him off as he stood in the pouring rain, arms crossed and pouting- pouting of all things.

"fine, I'm leaving you here, enjoy laughing while I get in the car,"

"WAIT! I'm driving home!"

By the time they got in all they could think about doing was crashing and sleeping, suddenly Claudia was glad Emily had coaxed her to take Saturday off.

“Bathroom’s over there, I don’t think I have anything that will fit you but you can look if you want, I’m gonna go change,”

He hummed softly, looking around her home as he stood against the door still wet,

Claudia went to her room, snatching a few towels before she went, closing the door to change but giving herself a moment to sit on the edge of the bed and think about everything that had happened.

She could feel the way her heart was racing as she tried to calm it down, finding it hard to control.

She was in too deep to ignore it now, she’d have to say something to someone at some time. (preferably him, but also preferably not him)

She dried off and scrambled into a comfortable set of pajamas, they were a pair that Steve had gotten for her last week, he saw them when he took Dustin and El shopping and had got them for her, claiming she deserved a little gift. She loved her oldest son.

After towel drying her hair she took a breath and stepped out of her room, walking around the corner to go to the living room, half expecting to see Ted still standing against the door and half expecting him to have snuck out. 

What she didn’t expect was to find him sitting on the floor in the living room, Tews in his lap as he stroked her head looking at one of the boy’s books, wearing nothing but a shirt that was oversized on her, and a pair of Steve’s shorts and socks, his usually properly fixed hair towel dried and curly like it had been back when they were in high school.

“I forgot I had that shirt.”

she’d won it at some fair that she’d taken Dustin to back when he was little, and it was the last size, she didn’t care because she used it as a nightshirt but it looked like it might have fit him just about right, (secretly she had been hoping if he did find anything it would ride up a little bit. She wanted to know what those tattoos were damnit)

He looked up at her, blinking once before going back to scratching Tews, 

“I found it in the clean clothes bin, I was originally just going to dry my wet stuff in the dryer and then head home, but I figured you wouldn’t want me naked so I found something that worked…”

On the contrary-

“Oh that’s fine hon don’t worry, besides it looks good on you,”

He raised an eyebrow, that damn pink tinge coming back to his cheeks before he looked back down at the book at hand, 

“So who’s into Shakespeare?”

“That would be my Dusty,”

She went over to sit beside him, leaning against the couch as she reached across to scratch her beloved Tews on the head,

“Huh. Didn’t know that, is he a reader in general or just into plays?”

“Oh, he’s a huge reader. I like to say his second home is the library,”

“Really? I would have guessed his second home was my house with how many times I’ll find him there,”

She snorted, scratching under Tew’s chin before sitting back, resting her head on the couch as she turned her head to look at Ted, 

“True. so the library is his third home,”

He looked up from the book, smiling at her in that soft way she was almost sure she was the only person on earth privy to.

“Whatcha thinking?”

She couldn’t stop herself from reaching out to tap on his forehead as if knocking to see what was inside. He snorted, his eyes softening even more before he blew on her wrist like it was one of the stray curls sticking out of his hair. She chuckled as she moved her hand, watching him look her up and down before answering,

“Nothing much, just… nothing, but in a good way.”

She smirked, as she raised an eyebrow, 

“Alright, keep your secrets.”

He snorted, before turning his head back around to scratch the cat, whispering softly to her, 

“You have a good owner, you know that? One of the best.”

Claudia giggled, before leaning down to the cat's face, pressing a kiss to her nose, 

“You make it easy, you’re so lovable,”

“ We almost got caught in the storm but we got back to Will and El’s house just before it started!”

Claudia chuckled at the excitement in Dustin’s voice as thunder boomed ahead, 

“Oh well good job love, you guys have fun with your sleepover, ok? I’m gonna head to bed,”

“ Ok Mom, have a good sleep! Oh, do you want to talk to Steve first?”

“I talked to him before you honey, but thank you, I’ll see you both tomorrow,”

“ Ok, see you mom, love you,”

The sound of the phone click told her that he’d hung up. She couldn’t stop the fond chuckle that bubbled out of her chest, she adored her boys.

She went back into the living room, plopping down on the couch beside Ted, who was still reading the copy of As You Like It that Dustin had rented.

“I forgot you were a bookworm,”

He hummed, turning the page,

“Yeah, I guess I am,”

He stopped reading to look at her as she bent forward, snatching Tews to put on her lap as she turned the TV on. Once she’d settled on an old movie he went back to reading, a content smile making its way on his face. 

The silence was comfortable, he read and she watched her movie, both of them just enjoying the presence of the other without mentioning it out loud, what was the need to when they already knew?

At some point in the night, he’d fallen asleep beside her, the bookmarked where he’d stopped by it being closed between his fingers. Claudia let Tews down before carefully taking his glasses off and gently tugging him, pulling him down so he could rest with his head beside her lap as she scooched to the far end of the couch. It didn’t amaze her that he didn’t wake up much at her jostling him, he was knocked out cold, and something about that made her heart swell that he felt comfortable enough to sleep heavy around her.

The movie continued on the screen as she looked down at his sleeping form, equal parts mystified and amused at him. She’d thought he looked younger without his glasses before, but he looked younger in his sleep. He looked at peace in his sleep, and she found that it was one of her favorite things to see. She carefully reached forward and ran her fingers through his curled hair, untangling some of the ends as she pulled her fingers out. She could sit here all night if it meant she got to watch this version of him.

“I don’t know what to do about you, Ted Wheeler,”

She said to herself, wishing she could just say how she felt about him, wishing it wouldn’t more or less end up being a mistake. 

She shoved the melancholy thought aside as she continued to play with his hair, the sound of the rain pounding on her rooftop and the movie playing in the background, and for a moment, she could close her eyes and pretend this had been their lives all along.

Claudia hadn’t remembered when she fell asleep, the last thing she remembered was watching Ted sleep. But sure enough, she woke up Saturday morning laying on the couch with a blanket thrown over her and one of her throw pillows under her head. She sat up rubbing her eyes, wondering if Ted had left before she woke up only to smell coffee.

She got up and went to the kitchen, rubbing her arms as she yawned and woke up the rest of the way to find Ted had gotten back into his clothes from the other day, and was making eggs as he hummed softly to himself, before presumably noticing someone was in the doorway without her saying anything or him turning fully around, 

“Coffee’s just finished, and I’ll have these done in a second.”

She smiled, walking past to pat his shoulder on her way to the coffee,

“Thanks, honey, you didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to, did you sleep ok?”

She poured herself a cup and then one for him as she nodded, handing him the cup of black coffee on her way to the fridge for creamer, 

“I did yeah, how about you?”

He nodded, taking a sip of his coffee as he leaned against the counter,

“When are your kids getting home?”

She took a sip of her now creamed coffee with a sigh, enjoying the first sip of the day. He made good coffee.

“Sometime this afternoon probably, you heading out to get your kids today?”

He nodded, taking another sip of his before going to the stovetop, turning off the heat to remove the food onto a plate before handing it to her. She took it with a smile and a soft thanks, and there was that damn flush in his face again, she was sure she wasn’t imagining it now as he turned around clearing his throat to finish off his coffee before taking the dishes to the sink, 

“I’m gonna head out now actually, that way I can go home and shower before getting them,”

“Oh ok, well stay safe out there and tell the kids I say hi,”

He rinsed the dishes quickly before going to leave, stopping to nod at her with a smile, 

“I always do. Hey Claudia, I…”

He stopped short, hand on the door as he searched for the right thing to say. 

“I had fun last night. We should do that more often.”

She smiled, her face feeling as warm as the plate in her hands, 

“I did too. We should do it again.”

He nodded one more time before opening the door and leaving, closing it shut softly behind him, leaving Claudia with her thoughts and the sound of Bob shouting in her head that she should have made her move. Claudia never told a soul about her complicated feelings for Ted Wheeler, but she was left standing in her kitchen wishing she'd had the guts to say something before he walked out the door.