Chapter Three
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Not-So-Secret Spies

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Olivia and Robin were at the parlor trying to figure out the rest of the code, while Steve and Dustin were in the middle of the mall being not so secret spies, looking for any sign of an evil Russian. Totally normal work day, right? On top of translating, she also had to deal with Erica, who would not stop trying the free ice cream samples. Olivia loved the girl to pieces, but sometimes she was just a little hard to deal with. Olivia was now in the break room listening to the tape over and over again, and she wasn't sure if she could listen to it one more time. She was starting to go a bit crazy hearing the same thing repeatedly, but she knew she couldn't give up on trying to crack the code. She had to figure out the mask behind those words.

            "A trip to China sounds nice..." She whispered to herself. She had figured out that part of the code, while Robin figured out if you tread lightly.

            A trip to China sounds nice, if you tread lightly. 

            What the heck did that mean?

            Since she was so focused on translating, she didn't even notice Robin sliding the window open, which startled her a bit. "Keith is here to see you. He said that he wants to talk to you." Robin wiggled her eyebrows and Olivia rolled her eyes at the girl.

            "Well," Olivia exhaled, shutting her translation book. "Did you tell him I'm busy translating Russian?"

            "I did," Robin nodded. "But he said it was really important."

            Olivia let out a sigh. She adored Keith as her friend, but she really wanted to try to crack the code. "Alrighty," She handed Robin the translation book, took her headphones off, and made her over to the counter, where Keith was patiently waiting on the other side. Olivia giggled when she noticed he had a bag of Cheetoh's in his hands as usual.

            "Hi Keith," She smiled genuinely at her friend. "What brings you here today?"

            "Well," Keith let out a deep sigh. "We haven't been on another date since Sinclair set us up last year. I was wondering if you wanted to go on another one?"

            Olivia sighed. Last year, Lucas did set them up. Lucas apologized to her by saying it was the only way he could to talk to Max. Olivia reluctantly agreed to going on a date with Keith after the snowball once everything was somewhat back to normal. She did end up enjoying the date, but it made her and Keith's friendship awkward after that. Plus, she had fallen in love with Steve over time, and she didn't want to hurt Keith's feelings. When did her life become so complicated?

            "I know, and I'm really sorry," Olivia apologized genuinely. "I've just been really busy working here. I haven't even had time to see Nance." She said honestly. She truly missed Nancy. Especially with everything going on right now, she really needed her best friend. They chatted on the phone occasionally and had Mike pass on messages, but it wasn't the same. Olivia hoped that Nancy was liking her job at The Hawkins Post but she never really brought it up over the phone, and if Olivia brought it up, Nancy would just change the subject. It made Olivia worried.

            "Well, maybe we could go to the Imperial Panda sometime," Keith said, snapping her out of her thoughts and pointed to a restaurant that was just across from Scoops.

            "The Imperial Panda?" Olivia repeated slowly, standing on her tippy toes to glance over Keith's shoulder.

            "Yeah," Keith shrugged. "I heard it has really good Chinese food."

            "A trip to china sounds nice..." Olivia muttered. She gasped as realization hit her. "Keith!" She said suddenly. "You're a genius!" She walked over to his side and kissed his cheek.

            Keith furrowed his eyebrows at the girl, but smiled faintly. "Yeah, I mean, I've just heard it was really good, sooo..." He rambled.

            "I'm so sorry Keith, but can we possibly go another time?" She asked. Before he could even answer, she started to sprint off. Just as she ran out of the parlor, she accidentally bumped into Steve and Dustin who were just entering Scoops Ahoy.

            "Liv, you're not gonna believe who Dustin thought was a Russian." Steve told Olivia.

            "You did too!" Dustin argued.

            "No I did not!" Steve huffed. He frowned when he noticed Keith standing there.

            "Harrington," Keith greeted monotonously with his mouth full of Doritos.

             "What is he doing here?" Dustin said through gritted teeth, pointing to Keith who sent him a glare. Dustin particularly didn't like Keith, especially since last year at the arcade when he wouldn't tell him who Madmax was unless he got to go on a date with Olivia. Dustin didn't really understand why his sister was friends with Keith, he thought he was weird and extremely awkward. And not to mention, he was ruining his plan of getting Olivia and Steve together.

            Olivia ignored them, too focused on what she figured out. "Sorry boys, I can't talk right now," She muttered, pushing past Steve and Dustin gently, with Robin not too far behind her. The both of them stood up in the middle of the mall, where they could get a view of the whole mall.

            "You figured it out too?" Robin asked, and Olivia nodded excitedly. "Silver cat has to refer to the Lynx transportation here," Robin explained to her.

            "You're a genius Robin!" Olivia grinned, and scanned around the mall again. "A trip to china sounds nice," She told Robin, pointing to the Imperial Panda restaurant. "That has to mean The Imperial Panda!"

            "You're a genius Liv!" Robin grinned back and looked back down on her notepad, putting the pieces together. "If you tread lightly..." She muttered, scanning around the mall. Her eyes lit up and pointed to Kaufman shoes. "If you tread lightly!"

            "When blue and yellow meet in the west," Olivia and Robin recited in unison, and the both of them smiled when they spotted the clock that had blue and yellow hands. Of course! It all made so much more sense now.

            "Um, Liv, what are you doing?" Steve asked with a confused look.

            "Robin is a genius!" Olivia grinned excitedly, hopping back down on the ground.

            "I wouldn't have figured the code without Liv's help though," Robin piped up. "We actually cracked the code!"

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            It was now precisely 8:45 p.m., which was the time where the blue and yellow hands met in the west on the clock. Despite it being dark and rainy outside, the gang was huddled on the roof of the mall. Olivia really didn't want to be on the roof when it was dark and rainy outside. She would've much rather been at home with Steve getting cozy and watching their favorite movie. However, she promised that she would help Dustin, and she certainly didn't want him out on the roof without her by his side. Dustin was looking through his binoculars, seeing if he could find anything.

            "Look for imperial panda and Kaufman shoes," Robin reminded him. The rain was pouring down harshly, and Olivia wrapped her pink rain coat around her tighter.

            Olivia could barely see anything through the darkness. She squinted her eyes to try to get a better look and she saw some men in bright yellow rain coats carrying lots of boxes. "They're with that whistling guy, ten o' clock." Dustin pointed out.

            "What do you thinks in there?" Steve questioned the younger boy with curiosity.

            "Guns, bombs," Dustin trailed off.

            "Chemical weapons," Robin added in.

            "Whatever it is, they're armed to the teeth," Dustin stated.

            "Great, that's great," Steve mumbled sarcastically as the sky roared more thunder. Olivia patted him on the back, knowing how Steve was feeling. She leaned closer into his side and Steve hugged her tight. Olivia didn't know how Steve did it, but he always managed to make her feel safe and comforted, even in times like this.

As the gang continued to watch the boxes being transported from the Lynx van, silver doors opened in the building. "Hey, what's in there?" Robin piped up.

            "It's just more boxes," Dustin answered.

            "Let me check it out," Steve asked Dustin, trying to take the binoculars away from him. But Dustin would not give them to Steve.

            "No I'm still looking," Dustin said.

            "Let me see it!" Steve pleaded and tried to snatch the binoculars again, only for Dustin to pull them away again.

            "Hang on!" Dustin told him.

            As Steve and Dustin fought over the binoculars, it made a loud bang as it hit the roof. "Nice going boys," Olivia whispered to them. All of them immediately ducked, hoping that they hadn't been caught. She was so afraid that they might have been caught, she didn't notice that she grabbed a hold of Steve's hand. Her and Steve glanced down at their contact and blushed. Olivia's heart started to beat fast when she took a note of how he never pulled his hand away. Dustin noticed this small contact between the two, and smiled to himself. Maybe his plan of trying to get them together was working after all. It may have been slow, but still, it was working.

            "We need to leave now," Olivia whispered after a while of hiding.

            Steve peeked his head over the wall to make sure that the armed men weren't looking. When he quietly signaled that the coast was clear, they crept back to the dungy steps of stairs that lead them back down inside the mall. "Well I think we found your Russians," Robin stated once they successfully got down.

            "So what should we do now?" Olivia questioned with worry in her tone.

            "Liv, I think you and I should go back tomorrow and watch them some more so we can really find out what those Russians are up to." Dustin suggested.

            "Dusty!" Olivia groaned, not wanting to go back up there again. "We just almost got caught by them. I'm not sure it's a good idea to go back up there."

            "Well, I have to go back up there," Dustin informed her. "And I know you don't want me there unless you're there with me. You don't want me there by myself, am I right?"

            "You're right," Olivia sighed in defeat. "I hate how well you know me Dusty." She paused for a minute, and glanced at Steve. "So I guess that settles it. Dustin and I will spy on them some more tomorrow. Steve, you and Robin will stay at Scoops, and me and Dustin will inform you on what we find out afterwards."

            "No Liv," Steve insisted her. "Let me at least come with you. You heard what Dustin and Robin said, those boxes are filled with weapons. They were armed with guns! It's not safe for you guys to go back up there alone."

            As Olivia was about to protest, Robin chimed in. "I can't believe I'm actually about to say this, but Dingus is right. What if those Russians actually did catch us? We'd probably be dead by now."

            "Liv and I will be fine, alright," Dustin assured them. "We only almost got caught because Steve wanted the binoculars."

            "Oh really? That was not my fault," Steve defended himself, raising his hands in the air.

            "Yes it was!" Dustin retorted. "If you hadn't tried to take the binoculars away-"

            "Alright boys, that's enough." Olivia scolded them. "It doesn't matter who's fault it was. What matters is that we were able to get out of there safely. And look, I'm not totally on board with the idea of spying on them again either. But me and Dustin are going back up there tomorrow, and that's that."

            Steve sighed and glanced worriedly at Robin, who looked as worried as he was. One thing Steve had come to learn about Olivia was that she was protective over the people she loved, and that she was also very stubborn. He knew there was no point of trying to convince her anymore for him to come with her; it would be of no use.

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            Later that night, Olivia was in Steve's arms as they laid comfortably on her bed. The fairy lights hanging on Olivia's wall were reflecting on their faces. Since the snowball, Steve often spent the night at the Henderson's. He felt more at home there more than he ever had in his own. Sure, he might have had rich parents and a super nice house, but his parents were never home, so his house often felt lonely. Claudia Henderson loved Steve like her own son, and he received more affection and care from her more than his own mom had ever given him.

            Olivia had a difficult time falling asleep— not now when she knew that evil Russians were lurking in her town. Steve seemed to notice this as he held her closer to him.

            "We're going to be okay," Steve assured her, as if he could read her own thoughts.

            "But how do you know that?" Olivia queried, her mind racing with worries.

            "Because it's us, Liv," He said gently. "This isn't the first time we've been in a life or death situation. Just look at what has happened to us the last two years— we've somehow managed to survive."

            "I know, but that was different. El saved us, both times," Olivia sighed. "We don't know what these Russians are up to and what they're capable of." The two stayed quiet for a moment until Olivia spoke up again. "I used to think Hawkins was the safest town. But now, it's like I don't even know Hawkins anymore. Things have changed since that night in 1983 when Will went missing. Hawkins has never been the same since."

            "Maybe you're right," Steve exhaled. "But I think we'll be okay. And just know that I'm not going to let anything happen to you or Dustin."

            "But-"

            Steve interrupted her. "Liv, I think you should get some sleep. It's getting late."

            Olivia hesitated. Usually Steve slept on their couch, but she wasn't sure if she could sleep alone that night. "Will you stay with me?" She said quietly.

            "Of course," Steve nodded.

            "Steve?" Olivia whispered. "I don't think I've ever told you this, but I'm so glad we talked on Halloween night last year. It kind of changed my life. I can't imagine my life without you now."

            Steve smiled at her, and kissed her forehead. He wanted to tell her how he felt at the moment, but he couldn't bring himself to do it, too afraid of ruining what they had. Steve had already experienced heartbreak and he didn't want to go through it again. He was able to get over Nancy, but he wasn't sure if would ever be able to get over Olivia. She was too special to him. "You mean so much to me Liv." Steve decided to say instead, hoping that there was a hint to his words. "You've changed my life too. I'm the happiest I've ever been when I'm with you."

            The two finally drifted off to sleep. When they had each other, it was like all of their worries slipped away just for a moment, and it was only them in their own world, despite the danger that was about to come.