Chapter Fourteen
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It's Always Been You

Olivia sat in the front seat of the trailer home this time by Steve as they drove to the creepy Creel House once more. She fiddled with her hands nervously, glancing behind her at Max every now and then. The sun was beginning to set as they all sat in an intense silence during the drive. Steve had one hand gripped on the wheel, while he extended his other hand to hold Olivia's hand to calm her down.

Max was following through with the plan, she was going to distract Vecna. Olivia didn't like the idea of Max facing Vecna on her own at all, but she knew that if their plan works, then hopefully they will be able to defeat Vecna once and for all.

Erica, Lucas, and Max hopped out of the trailer one by one, but before Max could climb out, Olivia stopped her. "Max, sweetie, are you sure you want to do this?" Her voice croaked.

The red head nodded and immediately pulled her into a hug, taking Olivia by surprise but hugged her back. "Be careful. Please be careful," Olivia begged her.

"I will," Max responded, her voice muffled as she hugged Olivia tighter. "And hey, don't miss Vecna. Kill that asshole, Liv, I know you can do it."

There's hesitance in Max as she breaks their hug and climbed out of the trailer home along with Lucas and Erica and closed the door behind her. The three of them stood in front of the Creel House that stared back at them in all of its glory.

Olivia sat back down in the front seat and Steve looked to her for assurance before they drove back to Eddie's trailer to finish their plan.

𓆩♡𓆪

            "Okay. I want to run through this one more time," Nancy instructed. "Phase one."

            "We meet Erica at the playground. She'll signal Max and Lucas when we're ready," Robin explained.

            Nancy nodded approvingly. "Phase two."

            "Max baits Vecna," Steve answered next, holding hands with Olivia protectively. "He'll go after her which will put him in his trance."

            "Phase three."

            "Me and Eddie draw the bats away," Dustin stated as Eddie looked at him proudly.

            "Four."

           "We head into Vecna's hopefully bat-free lair and...." Robin gestured to her bottle of kerosene fuel. "...flambé," She finished confidently.

            "We kill this asshole, once and for all," Olivia added, determination laced in her eyes.

"Now that's what I'm talking about, Lady Henderson! Come on, give me five," Eddie grinned, extending his hand out for a high-five. Olivia laughed at his enthusiasm, returning his high-five with just as much.

             Bemused by the odd duo, Nancy shook her head at them before moving on. "Nobody moves onto the next phase until we've all copied. Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what. Got it?"

𓆩♡𓆪

            After scrambling into Eddie's cluttered trailer, Steve was the first one to climb back down the rope. He was now upside down as he looked up at the others expectingly with a shrug, signaling that it was safe to go down.

              Robin looked to Olivia with amusement. "Liv, your boyfriend should get his ego in check. I mean, what does he want us to do, applaud?" The blonde snorted.

            Olivia shook her at head at Robin, who always had a knack when it came to teasing Steve. Her eyes travelled back to the rope uneasily. She was hesitant to climb the rope as the last time she climbed it, she was locked in a nightmare by Vecna. Noticing that the Henderson girl was on edge, Nancy and Robin both gave her assuring nods that she could do it.

Olivia closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. Robin helped give her a step up on the rope, and as she climbed up it, she could feel her hair lift up due to the gravity. Her head landed on a soft, fluffy mattress and her body immediately relaxed, knowing that she made it this time.

"I got you," Steve told her softly, holding his hand out for her take. She gladly accepted it, and once he helped pull her up, she blushed at their close proximity. She hated how much of an affect Steve had on her. No matter how long they had been together, her heart made a leap and her stomach fluttered with butterflies every single time they were together. No one had ever made her feel this way before, not even Jonathan. And she knew the affect that Steve Harrington had on her would never go away.

Steve was looking at her with a loving gaze, and as he began to slowly lean in, Robin just had to interrupt their moment. "Hey lovebirds! You guys are cute, really. But can you maybe kiss later when we're not trying to save the world here?" She snickered at them while leaning over the ceiling as Nancy gave the couple an apologetic smile.

Nancy was the next one to climb down the rope, followed by Eddie, Robin, and Dustin. Once they all made it safely through the gate, the six of them collected all of their supplies and gear they brought with them before rapidly heading out of the trailer.

            Steve abruptly stopped waking and swiveled his head around to Dustin and Eddie. "Listen, if things here start to go south, I mean, at all, you abort, okay?" He instructed firmly. "Draw the attention away from the bats, keep them busy for a minute or two. We'll take care of Vecna. Don't try to be cute, or be a hero or something. You guys are just—"

            "Decoys!" Dustin exclaimed. "Don't worry, you can be the hero, Steve."

            "Absolutely! I mean, look at us. We are not heroes," Eddie added slowly, glancing to Dustin with a chuckle.

            A soft laugh escapes Olivia's lips and she looks at Dustin one more time before they began to part their separate ways. "Hey Liv?" Dustin stopped her, causing all heads to turn around. "Please, don't die."

            Olivia's eyes soften and she ran towards him, enveloping him into a warm hug. "I told you already Dusty, I'm not going to die." Dustin was the person who she loved most in the world, there was no way she would ever leave him.

            As Dustin hugged her back tightly, he looked at Steve, who was standing behind the siblings. "Steve, promise me you'll protect her?"

            Steve nodded at him assuringly. "You already know I'd do anything to protect her."

           The Henderson siblings pulled apart from their hug, and Dustin quickly wiped a tear away from his cheek so Olivia wouldn't see him cry.

            "Hey Steve?" Eddie asked. "Make him pay."

            Steve nodded again, and him and the three girls part their separate ways and walk the opposite direction of Dustin and Eddie.

𓆩♡𓆪

A half hour or so of quietly trotting in the upside down version of the woods had passed by. Every now and then, the sky would roar with thunder, almost rhythmically. Steve and Olivia were walking side by side, their hands brushing against each other every so often. Olivia hadn't had the chance to really talk with Steve since she accidentally overheard him talk about his future and having six little nuggets, and Olivia desperately wanted to bring it up with him and tell him that she had the same dream as him, but she was too shy. Steve kept looking over at her with hesitance, almost like he wanted to talk about the same thing.

"I don't mean to freak anyone out, but I swear we've seen this same tree before," Robin announced.

"Rob, all the trees look the same. How could you possibly know we've passed this one already?" Olivia questioned her while sharing a curious look with Steve.

"Call me crazy Liv, but I swear this tree has more vines than the others do. That's how I think I've recognized it," Robin observed.

"That's impossible," Nancy interjected.

"That would suck, right?" Robin asked rhetorically. "If Vecna destroyed the world because we got lost in the woods?"

Robin laughed awkwardly while beginning to run ahead of them. "Rob-Robin! Watch out for the vines. Hive mind, remember?" Olivia warned her.

"You worry too much Liv!" Robin chuckled, ignoring her and continuing to speed passed them while bouncing over the vines.

"Don't worry about her," Steve assured the two girls who stayed behind with Steve. "She's just stressed. Scared. And she's a super klutz."

Nancy laughed softly. "She did tell me that it took her longer to walk than most babies, so..."

"I really shouldn't laugh, when I was a baby, I actually crawled backwards," Steve confessed wholeheartedly.

"Crawled backwards?" Olivia repeated slowly, both her and Nancy tilting their heads at him in confusion.

"You know, I'd push with my hands backwards," He made a gesture with his hands and Olivia shared a quizzical look with Nancy as he spoke. "Beep. Beep. Always in reverse, you know? Come on, it makes sense. You push to move, right?"

"No, it doesn't," Olivia snorted, not understanding at all what he was trying to say to her.

"Well, it did to my tiny little Harrington brain," Steve continued on playfully. "That is of course, until I reversed my baby but down a flight of stairs and thumped my head really good."

"Wow, that explains so much," Nancy chipped in with a giggle as Olivia laughed along with her.

"I think it kinda does," Steve agreed, stopping in his tracks to look at Nancy. "I think right out of the gate I'm like, super confident. But I'm also like, an idiot. I mean, it's a brutal combination. But the good news is, I get a big enough thump on my head I can change, you know. I can learn. I can... crawl forward. Listen, I guess what I am trying to say in a really round-a-bout way is, um... is thank you."

Olivia knitted her eyebrows together as she watched the two in front of her, suddenly feeling like she shouldn't be a part of their conversation, like she shouldn't be listening to them. Steve and Nancy had a history and Olivia fully well knew that. While she knew that their relationship was all in the past, a part of her couldn't help but wonder if Steve still had some hidden feelings for Nancy.

"Thank me?" Nancy repeated, taken aback.

"For giving my head the biggest thump of its life, two years ago, " Steve answered seriously. "I needed it. It's changed my life, and now I'm crawling forward," He told Nancy before striding over to Olivia and taking her hands in hers, which took her by surprise. "I'm crawling forward with you, Olivia. Sometimes I wonder... if Nance hadn't given me a proper thump on the head, then I would have never properly met you and never had you in my life, Liv. Like, if we were meeting together right now for the first time, a part of me wonders if you would have even given me a chance? I know I used to be a douchebag, but you've changed me, Olivia. And you have no idea how crazy in love I am with you. For whatever reason, I was lucky enough to have you brought into my life."

Nancy smiled at the couple, more than happy for the two that they found each other. Steve gave Nancy a look and she took that as her cue to leave, and she ran ahead of them to catch up with Robin, leaving the couple to have their moment alone.

"Steve..." Olivia looked up at him with glossy eyes. "D-do you remember when you were talking about your dream, a-about seeing the country with your six little nuggets?"

"I, uh, I don't know what you're talking about..." Steve lied, not wanting to make a complete fool out of himself in front of the girl of his dreams.

"Steve," Olivia said knowingly, walking closer to him. "I wasn't asleep, I heard you say it. And I just... I wanted to let you know that I want the same dream, Steve. I've always wanted it. Every single part of it, including our six little nuggets."

The thought of having six kids with Steve made her giddy inside. She wanted that life, and she wasn't afraid to admit anymore that she wanted to be Mrs. Olivia Harrington someday and start a family with him.

Steve ran his fingers through his hair and smiled widely, the biggest smile Olivia had ever seen on him. "Really?" He asked, wrapping his arms around her waist. "You'd really want to marry me someday?"

"Really," Olivia nodded with just as big of a smile as him. She leaned closer to him and laid his head on his shoulder.

"It's always been you, Liv," Steve confessed. "I have always loved you. Once we defeat Vecna and get out of here, I want to start are future together."

            "Hmm... future Mrs. Harrington? I mean, that definitely has a nice ring to it," She smiled from ear to ear and Steve pulled her into a loving kiss that once again erupted her stomach with a swarm of butterflies. The couple stayed like that for a while until Robin frantically rushed back over to them, interrupting them again.

            "Hey guys!" Robin shouted unnecessarily, panting out of breath and seemingly oblivious to the fact that she had just interrupted another moment of theirs. "Looks like we weren't going the wrong way after all. Come on, let's go!"