Living in a town that only had two diners meant that there was always some friendly competition between the two. But regardless of the competition between The Wallflower Diner and Benny's Burgers, the two diners always supported one another.

Of course biking all the way across town to trade Benny Hammond a couple pounds of flour for some tubs on condiments wasn't ideal for Sam who was already tired from a long day of school. She normally didn't work Mondays but she simply could say no to her aunt. In fact her parents would probably see it as a crime.

Leaning her bike against the wall of the burger joint, Sam stepped inside where Benny was preoccupied giving some little boy a burger. She paused at the doorway looking at the boy, he seemed about Lucas' age but it was the medical gown that caught her eye. As far as she knew Benny didn't have any kids, but it also wasn't her place to ask him about his personal life and whatever was happening with his sick kid.

"Hey kiddo." Benny greeted when he caught side of her, motioning her to follow his to the back of the house.

"Hey Benny." Sam greeted in return as she followed the man into the kitchens. Today wasn't a particularly busy day at Benny's considering it was a Monday. But the day of the week wasn't really to blame, Sam suspected the real reason was Will's disappearance. It has the entire town on edge.

Even The Wallflower, which was at the center of town, was having an unusually slow day. Which was for the best considering that Sam couldn't exactly focus on anything at the moment.

Benny remained mostly silent as he took the flour from her arms and then picked up the box of condiments and helped her carry them to her bike. Silence was unusual for Benny who was normally a big talker, which was one of the reasons that she didn't particularly enjoy making these trips across town. Sometimes she would spend up to an hour have yo listen to Benny go one about multiple different things that she didn't care about.

Now was he placed the box in the front basket of her bike he sighed.

"Have you heard about Joyce's boy?" He suddenly asked, undoubtedly because he knew about her brother's friendship with the missing boy. News travels fast in an uneventful town like Hawkins and it seemed that only a couple hours after Will Byers' disappearance the whole town knew.

Normally Sam wasn't someone who enjoyed gossip, but in this case she was glad the entire town was aware that Will was missing. Hopefully, that would help them find him faster.

Sam nodded as she gripped the handle bars not really wanting to talk about Will. The kid was all she could think about all day at school. "Yeah hopefully the police are able to find him soon."

"Do you think he ran away?"

Immediately she shook her head knowing the Will just wasn't that kind of kid. He was different. Quiet, respectful and always kept to himself. The only time she ever saw him come out of his shell was whenever he was around the other boys. "I have to go Benny. Condiment emergency."

"Be safe out there kiddo." He said as she hopped on her bike offering a comforting smile.

"You too Ben!" Sam called out as she began to peddle out of the dirt road.

After dropping the supplies off at the dinner, Sam couldn't have been more happy to be home. Not only because her legs were sore from ridding her bike across town and back, but also because that meant she could be home with Lucas and Erica. Normally Sam complained about being stuck with her sibling while their parents both worked double shift to ensure that they could live in one of the nicer neighborhoods in town. But she thought of Jonathan and how he was probably driving himself insane not knowing where his brother was.

So now Sam couldn't help but feel incredibly grateful that she was sitting on the couch watching over her siblings. Knowing that they were safe with her.

Her content only lasted for a moment as she heard a soft footsteps around the corner heading towards the front door. Considering the Erica was currently sitting in the dinning room eating her mac n cheese that meant that the footsteps were coming from Lucas. Immediately she became suspicious as it was so unlike Lucas to sneak out. For the most part Sam trusted him enough to always let him go to the Wheeler's whenever he asked for permission.

That was before Will Byers went missing. Meaning the Lucas knew that there was no way in hell that she would give him permission to go out. Which also meant that whatever he was going to do was something that he wanted to hide.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sam questioned not bothering to look up from her stretch book, after all whatever answer her brother had for her would be met with a firm 'no' in response. "Lucas come here now."

A determined look came over Lucas' face as he held his head up a little higher as she heard him step into the living room. "I'm going out to look for Will."

Sam quickly looked up from her sketchbook in shock. Had it not been for the fact that this was a serious situation she would have laughed at her brother's absurdity. "No absolutely not."

"But Will could need our help." Her brother argued, and she scolded herself for not checking up on her brother the moment she got home. Of course this wasn't easy for him and she should have tried to comfort him.

"Look I'm worried about Will too but it isn't your job to go out looking for him." She tried to reason.

"But..."

"But nothing. Go up to your room and study or something." Sam quickly dismissed as she used the charcoal in her hand to point up at the stairs.

Lucas groaned dramatically as he began to stomp his way up the staircase.

Sam rolled her eyes at her brother's dramatic tendencies, but deep down Lucas had to know she was right. That it was dangerous for him to go out when they didn't know what happened to Will. She didn't want to think the worst, but she couldn't help it.

But all she could do was hope that Will would get home safe.

"Lucas is gone!"

Erica's voice rang through the house. In the last three hours Sam had made her way to her room to take what she had told herself would be a short nap. Her little sisters yelling instantly waking her up as she scrambled out of bed and towards Lucas' room.

Her heart dropped at the sight of the empty room and she immediately began searching the entire house for her brother until she ended up back in his room where Erica was still standing at the doorway.

Surprisingly even Erica seemed a little bit worried. And up until now Sam had refused to believe that Lucas had snuck out of the house. As annoying as her brother could be he always listened to her. But as she looked at the night stand where Lucas' walk-in talkie sat she knew he really had left.

Because the radio wasn't there anymore.

And now her little brother was somewhere out in Hawkins looking for his missing friend in the middle of a storm.

Samantha was sure that the moment she saw her brother's face that she would kill him on site.

But the thought of Lucas going missing just like Will Byers had her peddling even faster toward the Wheeler's house. By the time she arrived at their street her legs were burning and her clothes were completely soaked through.

In a matter of seconds it had begun to rain down so hard that Sam was sure she hadn't seen rain like this in years. Usually she welcomed the rain, but now was not the case.

It wasn't because she had ridden through the rain for fifteen minutes and was sure she would get sick as a result. It was because she knew that this rain would make it impossible for the search parties to find Will. All the remaining clues would be washed away by the rain. And the thought of anything happening to that kid made her sick to her stomach.

Stopping in front of the Wheeler's home she let the bike fall to her feet as she got her flashlight out of her backpack. Not only was it dark but the rain was coming down so hard it was difficult to even see a few feet in front of her. Even as she walked towards the door of the Wheeler house, Sam couldn't wrap her mind around how insane her brother had to be for sneaking out at a time like this.

A thud and some rattling bushes caused Sam to jump as she frantically turned her flashlight in the direction of the sound. Sam usually wasn't the kind of person who frightened easily, because really what was there to fear in Hawkins? But with Will missing their quiet little town didn't seem as safe anymore.

Even though she could only see the person's silhouette, she still knew immediately who had jumped out of the second story window of the Wheeler's house.

It was Steve Harrington.

Something about him made him unmistakable even now. And it shouldn't have been a surprise that he was coming from Nancy Wheeler's room. The new pair was all the teenagers from Hawkins High were talking about. It was a surprise to Sam hearing about them, because even though she didn't knew Nancy very well she did know that she could do better than Steve Harrington.

"Your brothers not here." Steve stated his voice low, very cautious of the fact that he could easily be heard by the Wheeler's who surely wouldn't be okay with him climbing out the window of their daughter's room.

It took Sam a moment to react, surprised that he knew exactly the reason why she was here. Though in reality what other reason was there? Nancy Wheeler didn't run anywhere near her social circle. "What?"

"I saw Mike sneak out about two ago." He clarified as he took a couple of steps closer to her until she could finally get a clear view of his face.

"Damn it." She muttered realizing that she really didn't have any other options to continue her search. The panic was beginning to set in at the realization that her brother could go missing too.

Steve took another step closer as he ran his fingers through his hair pushing it away from his face. His hair was wet from all the rain, and Sam had to mentally scold herself for finding the gesture attractive. Apparently even she was completely immune to Steve Harrington. "It's late and it's raining."

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious." Sam said through gritted teeth as she turned around and started to walk back to her discarded bike. She wasn't mad at Steve, or her brother, or even how uncomfortable she felt in her completely soaked through clothes. She was mad at herself for having let her guard down. She should have done a better job of looking after her brother.

Now she couldn't find Lucas and she was sure she was moments away from crying of frustration.

Sam hadn't realized that Steve had followed her to her bike until he also bent down to help her pick it up from the sidewalk. She was sure she had to have a look of disgust on her face as she met his eyes.

"And about..."

"Don't worry I won't tell the Wheelers." She quickly dismissed as she got back on her bike and headed down the street. The last thing on her mind was telling the Wheelers that Steve Harrington was sneaking out of their daughters room. The only concern she really had was finding her brother and the other boys. Her first instinct was to go tell the parents but she didn't want to worry them just yet. At the end of the day she would be the one who would be in trouble for not taking better care of her siblings.

Sam had no idea where she should begin her search or whether she should get the parent's involved.

But as she continued to peddle faster down the street leading to her house she caught sight of a figure also peddling a few feet ahead of her. Without thinking she put all her remains energy to catching up to whoever was ahead of her and she suddenly began to realize exactly what happened.

Lucas was coming back from the Wheeler's. Somehow between the last two hours the boys went out and returned back home with Mike. Those little brats all had snuck out under everyone's noses.

As she got closer to Lucas he finally turned around, eyes wide as he met her angry ones. There was a mix of surprise and fear in his eyes as the rode back home in silence and it wasn't until the had both dropped their bikes off inside the garage that Sam allowed herself to being scolding her reckless little brother.

"What the hell Lucas! I've been running around the entire town looking for you!" Sam yelled as he followed him through the door and although she was seeing red from how angry she was seeing her brother brought her instant relief. It was like she could finally breath again knowing that he had made it home safe. "Do you how worried I've been?"

"We were looking for Will." He argued as if that excused that fact that he snuck out late at night in the middle during one of the worst storms she had every seen. Lucas let his backpack fall in the hallways with a thud as he finally turned to face Sam.

"I know you're worried about Will but you kids can't go out there looking for him. Especially not on your own. That's what the police are for!" Sam exclaimed realizing that she had begun to raise her voice. She hadn't realized that there was a shakiness to it until now. There was no mistaking just how afraid she had been only moments ago.

Her tone didn't seem to faze Lucas as he raised his voice in return. "The police aren't doing anything!"

"You have to let them do their job." She replied doing her best to keep her voice even as she shrugged off her coat that was now weighing heavily on her shoulders. "Mom and dad are not going to be happy with the shit you pulled tonight."

His posture changed immediately at the mention of their parents. But for some reason she had the feeling that being punished wasn't exactly what he was worried about. Only now did she begin to realize that her brother was also afraid, and she couldn't shake the feeling that maybe the boys did find something tonight. "Please don't tell mom."

Sam shook her head in disbelief knowing that there was no way in hell she wasn't going to tell their parents. She was aware that Lucas did respect her, but he feared their mother. And right now she needed him to be afraid of attempt to pull off anything as stupid again. "I'm definitely telling mom."

Lucas' eyes widened immediately, just the reaction the she was hoping for. "You can't. Then she'll tell Mrs. Wheeler and Ms. Hendricks and then all our houses become Alcatraz."

"Go to your room Lucas Sinclair." Samantha ordered, she hated having to play the bad guy. But tonight wasn't the case, her tone was firm and left no room for arguments.

There was no mistaking that hatred that flashed in her little brother's eyes as he stormed off. And even then she was gladly take his hatred over him being missing.

"What an idiot." Erica muttered under her breath after a long moment of silence. Her voice causing Sam to jump having not realized that she was currently in the living room playing with her My Little Pony dolls. She had exported her sister to be in bed. She had put Erica to bed before she had left in search for Lucas.

"Erica language." Sam scolded her nine year old sister, not that it would do much of anything. There really wasn't telling Erica what to do, the girl was stubborn and too smart for her own good.

Erica finally looked up from her dolls an annoyed look on her face. Sometime Same couldn't believe that she was non when sometimes she acted like she was older than Lucas. "What? You know it's true."

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" She questioned her younger sister, who opened her mouth undoubtedly to talk back to her never willing to let the other person have the final say. Only this time she must have finally realized the state that her older sister was in.

Without another word Erica picked up all her toys and headed up the stairs to her room. It wasn't until she was alone that Sam finally allowed herself to take a deep breath as she sat down on the couch running her fingers through the strands of her wet hair.

She hadn't realized just how tired she was until she was finally able to relax. And now she had a whole other problem to deal with.

Should she tell their parents about the boys sneaking out?

They were all worried about their best friend. If Jules had gone missing she would do the same thing without question. So could she really fault her brother and his friends for being worried about Will?

No. She couldn't.

So she decided that she wouldn't tell her parents about what Lucas had done that night. But that just meant that she would have to keep a closer eye on Lucas to make sure that he didn't pull anything like that again. Because there was no way in hell that she would let either one of her sibling get hurt.