( TW: a panic attack occurs and there's disturbing imagery in this chapter. proceed with caution. )

Adult Steph
May 29th, 1990
Derry, Maine

The taxi cab provided a rough and bumpy ride throughout the small town as it drove away from the townhouse that the couple was staying at. It didn't really bother Steph all too much, since it was able to distract her from her other thoughts at the moment; this was especially since she hadn't gotten much sleep on the plane flying over from England.

She was wide awake now, though, as she stared out the window at all of the buildings that passed by. She was almost unaware of Bill holding her hand in his but she was thankful he didn't break her out of her temporary peace.

When the two of them had arrived at the townhouse, they had received an overwhelming welcome from Bettyruth, the receptionist that seemed to be a ginormous fan of the couple. Steph did have to politely correct her when she had been referred to as 'Mrs. Denbrough,' saying that she went by 'Palmer-Denbrough.' Luckily, she had received a kind apology in the process and she even gave the sweet woman an autograph when she had been asked for one.

They were then led up to their room on the third floor and had been left to unpack the few suitcases they had brought along with them. While Bill had paused and walked over to the window, Steph had stayed by her luggage, nearly frozen in place as she stared at her trembling hands. She was tempted to move said hands to her long hair, which was flowing down her back today, and rip it out of her scalp. But she stayed almost inhumanly still as she closed her eyes.

"What the hell are we doing here?" Bill had asked with a deep sigh, turning back to face his paranoid wife. His eyebrows scrunched together out of concern and he feared that another panic attack could be on the horizon.

"Well... we promised," Steph responded as she glanced up at him. "Besides, we weren't going to miss out on the chance to see our friends again... even if it is at a cost."

"But I didn't even remember any of them until Mike and Amber called us," said Bill as he walked over to her, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "They all faded from my memory and I didn't even know who Mike was until he said his name."

Steph took a deep breath as she unzipped her suitcase, taking a few outfits out from the bag and laying them out on the mattress. "I always remembered Amber..." she admitted in a low whisper.

"What?"

"I never forgot her... or Justin..." Steph murmured as her eyes stung with tears. "I could never bring myself to let them fade away. I know Amber's around our age but... she always felt like a daughter to me... even when we were that young. And Justin.... Well, Justin was like my baby. I don't even remember how he died. I just know he did back then."

Bill noticed right away how painful the memory of the O'Connor boy was for Steph and he placed a hand on her back and leaned his head against hers. "I know..." he whispered, hugging her back when she moved to embrace him. "I know how much you loved that kid, honey. We all loved him a lot...."

And now they were in the taxi cab as they traveled through downtown Derry and Steph's concentration was broken when the driver spoke up loudly.

"And if you look over there, we've added a new bank right next to the police station," he said with a proud smile. "It'll be easier for them to catch stupid kids trying to grab cash from there. And over here we've added all sorts of new businesses throughout this street, from clothing stores to fast food chains."

"Is the library still here, sir?" Steph asked kindly in a smaller voice than normal.

"Yes, ma'am," the driver replied. "And please don't call me 'sir.' Makes me feel a hell of a lot older than I am."

"No kidding," Steph joked back, resulting in a laugh from both the driver and Bill.

"What about the Paramount?" Bill questioned after his laughter died down. "That still there?"

"See for yourself..."

The two of them glanced out of the windshield and, sure enough, there was the rundown Paramount theater, the words 'RETAIL SPACE FOR LEASE' printed onto the large sign out front. The both of them were hit with a sting of pain knowing that one of their favorite places to go to as a kid was no longer available to either them or the rest of the town. Steph, however, had a sliver of hope that someone would buy it and renovate it to open once again. She figured that would happen long after they both left Derry again, though.

Shortly after this, the taxi carefully pulled into the cemetery and Steph sat up a little as she began paying more attention. Her hand gripped Bill's even more tightly and he ran a thumb over her palm to keep her as calm as possible; but it didn't help him that he was also feeling a sense of dread.

When the car lurched to a halt, Bill opened his door and stepped out, already having paid the driver before they had even left the townhouse.

"You sure you don't want me to wait?" the driver asked genuinely.

"No, thanks," Bill answered gently. "We'll walk back."

"Have a nice day," Steph bid farewell, to which the driver tipped his hat off to her before driving away. She then instantly closed the distance between her and Bill and grasped his hand again, feeling relief that she was next to him.

As they walked through the graveyard, Steph felt unsettled by all of the tombstones surrounding her and it was something that always plagued her mind whenever she was in cemeteries. But she chose to ignore it as she pointed out a few of the inscriptions on the stones, such as Catherine Jones, Matthew Clements, Caroline Douglass, and Daniel O'Connor.

Daniel! Steph exclaimed in her head as her eyes widened.

"Wait..." she murmured, breaking from Bill's hold on her as she jogged over the last one she had spotted. She knelt down on the grassy ground and placed her hand on the gravestone, her mouth hung open in shock as she read the words etched into the stone:

DANIEL JAMES O'CONNOR

Born 1925          Died 1960

Loving Son, Husband, and Father

"How in God's name did you die, Daniel?" Steph whispered to herself, closing her eyes in an attempt to find an answer... but everything was blank. "You weren't a child... how did that thing get you, of all people?"

And then she saw the tombstone beside Daniel's...

RACHEL MARIE O'CONNOR

Born 1924 Died 1989

Loving Daughter, Wife, and Mother

Steph placed a ginger hand on that particular stone and somehow found the will to smile almost happily. "At least you two are back together now..." she mumbled. "I'm sure you missed each other."

Then she turned to where she had left her husband and saw what he was doing now. He was sitting in front of his little brother's gravestone and that made a frown form on Steph's face.

GEORGE ELMER DENBROUGH

Born 1954          Died 1960

Loving Son and Brother

"Hi, Georgie..." Bill whispered but Steph was still able to hear him and it made her walk over to him to place a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, kiddo," Steph greeted the boy that would have been well into his thirties had he survived and a bittersweet smile touched her lips.

"How... How could I have forgotten...?" Bill asked weakly as a single tear trickled down his left cheek; he squeezed his eyes shut out of pure emotional agony as he lowered his head. "I'm so sorry."

Before Steph could even make an attempt to comfort him, her shoulders went rigid at the strange sound coming from behind her. Both she and Bill spun around and were met with a surprising sight.

A figure around five yards away had just finished tossing dirt out of a huge hole dug into the ground. When the figure popped out of the ground and tauntingly posed with a grin, Stepth resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she sighed, lowering her gaze and trying to think of what her next move should be.

We haven't even been here two hours yet, she sarcastically thought.

"Take your pick," Pennywise the Dancing Clown proclaimed excitedly. "Buh-Buh-Buh..." It then fixed its jaw before grinning at them. "Billy Boy!"

"Jesus Christ..." Steph muttered, finally rolling her eyes. All the while, Bill sat next to her, frozen in complete horror.

"Oh!" It spoke up again before pointing towards the other dug up holes all arranged in a neat row. "Except for the one on the end. That's already taken. Sorry."

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?!" exclaimed Steph in a very exasperated manner.

That was when Pennywise glared in her direction and the clown's eyebrows raised in an over-exaggerated way. "Oh, Stephanie, I didn't even see you there! No wonder, since you've grown so old now. In a few years, Billy there's probably going to leave you for a prettier woman than your freak self!"

"No, I won't," Bill finally spoke up confidently. "I'd never leave her. I remember you, and I remember we beat you, mostly thanks to Steph... I'm not afraid of you. We're not afraid of you."

While Bill cringed away from It hissing at both of them in an attempt to scare them, Steph just stared at it with a deadpan look in her eyes. "So fucking pathetic..." she muttered towards the creature. And that was enough for the illusion to vanish before her eyes.

"It's gone..." she whispered to Bill, rubbing his back carefully. "We're alright now."

Bill instantly believed Steph and leaned into her touch as he nodded, sighing in relief.

_____

A little while later, the two of them found themselves arriving at the public library from their childhoods; they stared towards the building in wonder, Steph tilting her head to examine the features even further. For the first time since arriving in Derry, a true smile was on her face as her shoulders seemed to fully relax. She wasn't aware of how Bill noticed her complete peace and how he grinned in response to it.

"I think he's here..." she spoke up, glancing over to Bill with a raised eyebrow.

"You might be right," he replied as he shrugged his shoulders before leading her towards the library, his hand still holding hers.

As they entered the lobby and looked around the more modernized layout of the main room, Steph was overwhelmingly glad that none of the citizens stared her down because of her fame. She was grateful to appear invisible for the time being, since she hated being in the spotlight in the way she didn't want; it was only when a movie of hers was being promoted that she truly cared about that.

Everyone in front of her was minding their business instead, reading from either novels from the shelves or newspapers that had arrived at their homes earlier that morning. It reminded her of how she would read a book every night before going to bed as a form of relaxing after a long day of either rehearsing for films or making plans for the following week. Besides, it was something she'd much rather be doing at the very moment rather than doing this.

She then spotted a younger woman reading the fairy tale of Jack and the Beanstalk to a bunch of what seemed to be second-graders, who responded with happy giggles and smiles of delight.

The sight of this made Steph a little envious of the woman, since she wished she were the type of woman who could get along with children like it was nothing. But, ever since one of her best friends had lost his life thirty years ago, she had grown worried about having bonds with children around that age; it didn't help that she and Bill had tried having kids multiple times but she could never become pregnant for some reason.

Then she looked up and saw someone who looked both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time; while she smiled upon seeing him, she did frown at the gray spots that were now in his hair as she stepped over to him. He wasn't looking in hers or Bill's direction and that made her more timid as she crossed her arms tightly.

"Mike...?" she murmured ever so quietly.

Mike Hanlon froze in his process of organizing some papers on the main desk and stared up at the couple with linked hands. He then walked around said desk with a shocked expression in his deep brown eyes; and then his surprise was replaced with a humorous smile.

I can't fucking believe it, Steph could hear him mumbling in his mind. They actually showed up.

"I know how old I look," Mike joked as he glanced back and forth between them.

"Surely, I've got to look older than you," Steph retorted with a small chuckle, especially when Bill playfully elbowed her.

"I would have assumed you were twenty-five or something."

"Forty-two...."

"It's just... I only remember you as a kid," Bill finally spoke up in astonishment, realizing just how much time had flown by in the past three decades.

"Welcome home, you two," Mike said as he first hugged Bill before doing the same with Steph. When he pulled away from the blonde, he let out another laugh. "When did you get so tall, Steph?"

Steph shrugged as she smiled. "I couldn't tell you," she said. "I guess you could thank my dad for that."

Mike warily looked around and noticed that people were actually starting to pay more attention to their interaction. Feeling worried, he suddenly lowered his voice for them. "Come on, let's go out," he whispered before leading them out of the library.

As they made their way across the street, Steph just decided to listen to the conversation Mike and Bill were having; she didn't want to interrupt their reminiscing and she mainly wanted to admire the nicer-than-usual houses that went up and down Costello Avenue. After all, this was her chance to see just how much had truly changed since she and Bill moved away when they were eighteen; she didn't really recall any memory of returning to Derry to visit her parents or Amber because, if she had, those recollections were wiped from her mind.

"It occurred to me in there that I didn't need to create any more paranoia than I already have," Mike said with a quiet sigh as he fiddled with the watch around his left wrist.

"Oh, we got a taste of it ourselves a little earlier," Bill replied exasperatedly as he put his hands in his pockets, keeping his pace even with Mike's.

"Well, at least people seem to care now," Mike muttered. "Or maybe it's just that I'm a grown up now."

"I feel so thick, Mike," Bill sighed as he shook his head. "I don't remember much of it at all, what we did. I don't even remember why we came back except for Georgie... and Justin now."

"I only remembered my parents, as well as Amber and Justin," Steph finally contributed to the topic. "But I don't remember how Justin died. Hell, I completely forgot that Daniel died, too."

"Oh... Daniel..." Mike whispered as he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Yeah, he died back then, too. Rachel passed last year, I'm sure you heard. She had leukemia for three years and she went in her sleep last February. Amber was with her the whole time, never left her side."

"Poor kid..." Steph muttered. "How's she doing?"

"She's not a kid anymore," Mike corrected with a brighter smile. "She's the Sheriff now, has been for seven years."

Steph's eyebrows raised at this new bit of information as she paused on the other side of the street, staring at Mike. "I never took her for a police officer type, more of a teacher or artist type."

"A lot can change about you as you grow up, Steph. Especially if trauma's involved."

"You're right about that."

"Anyway, better it doesn't all come back at once," Mike subtly warned.

"Well, then, how come you remember it?" Steph questioned with a tilt of her head.

"I never left," Mike answered almost too simply. "How could I forget? All I'd do is look on the street corner, and there we were. Ten of us."

"The lucky ten..." Bill said before pausing in place in utter bewilderment. "Oh, man, that just came back. Something else... One of us lived around here."

"Right," Mike said.

A lightbulb went off in Steph's head before it could for Bill. "Beverly, right?" she murmured, to which Mike nodded.

"Right down the street."

"Her father... she was poor," Bill recalled with a curious expression. "Her father was the janitor. This was 'Poor Town.'"

"Yeah, still is," Mike murmured as he grabbed a key from one of his pockets and walked past them and up to the front porch of a pretty nice house directly in front of them.

As Bill and Steph watched him do this, they admired just how easily Mike was able to get around, especially without them in his life for so long. "Yours?" they both asked at once.

Mike took a deep breath as he laughed quietly. "Hey, I'm a bachelor, guys," he said proudly. "It's all I need. It's clean and, better yet, it's paid for."

When Mike invited them into his home, Steph made herself comfortable at the dining table while he went to the refrigerator to grab a few beer bottles for all three of them. "Getting hungry?" he asked them.

"Frankly, I haven't had an appetite since you called," Bill answered as he opened his bottle before taking a sip.

"Me neither..." Steph whispered as she traced the patterns of the table with her index finger.

"I've arranged dinner tonight for all of us," Mike announced quietly. "Preferably after Amber's shift is over. Have you two seen any of the others?"

"No..." Steph said as Bill passed her another bottle Mike had handed him. "But... all afternoon, I did somewhat sense them arriving."

"Me too," said Bill. "But I don't think we're all here yet."

"No," Mike agreed.

"You, too?"

"Whatever it is, it's powerful stuff..." mumbled Mike.

"It's not an outside force for me," Steph explained. "I can just tell... in my mind."

"Right," Mike said before pointing to his temple. "Your mind power thing. I didn't forget."

"Here's to remembering," Bill said with a bittersweet smile before all of their bottles clinked together; that was when they both caught the smirk on Mike's face. "What?" Bill then added before he could take another sip of his beer.

That was when Mike led them out to his backyard and slowly opened the door to the shed as he said, "Maybe this will stimulate those old memory banks a little."

Steph moved forward on instinct and her eyes brightened when an old and rusted Schwinn bicycle was brought out of the large shed. As Mike rested it on the grown and adjusted the kickstand, the blonde woman was unable to prevent the nostalgic smile from creeping onto her face, especially after she heard Bill's gasp of pure surprise.

"Silver," Bill murmured, the memory of his childhood bike instantly coming back to him like it had always been in the back of his mind.

"Yup," Mike said happily. "I ran across it in a pawn shop about a year ago. I don't know, something made me buy it. It's got a flat tire but that's all is wrong with it. And here's the real kicker." He then stepped back to the shed and grabbed a hold of a tiny yellowish box to present to them, mainly Bill. "I bought this tube repair kit... on impulse... about three months before I saw this bike."

He handed the box to Bill and he took it, peering up at Mike from where he now sat next to the bike in confusion. Meanwhile, Steph briefly glanced into Mike's mind and found said memory of him buying that repair kit almost a year and a half ago and she smiled distantly at that concept.

"There was some kind of force guiding us that summer," Mike began to explain with a taut look in his eyes. "A part of that is due to Steph... thanks to her powers."

"What do you mean about my powers?" Steph asked in puzzlement.

"Well, after all... it was you that helped truly stop It that day," Mike answered. "You used whatever kind of power you had in your being to defeat it. Had it not been for you setting that son of a bitch on fire... we would have all died."

That was when a very vague memory washed over Steph, but it was so blurry that she almost couldn't recognize it at all. All she could point out was a faded figure engulfed in tons of flames in a pitch black room and then another vision of said figure being crushed by a ton of rubble.

All thanks to her...

Did I use my telekinesis on It? she thought briefly.

"I guess so..." she murmured.

"But the other force..." Mike continued, "...I don't know if it came just to help us or if we created it. But maybe... Maybe it's still here." He then perked up and stood straighter with a shrug of his shoulders. "I'm gonna go change clothes."

Steph finally sat down next to Bill and fiddled with one of the still okay-looking tires as she hummed quietly to herself; she heard her husband laughing a little at the humming and it made her recall a small memory.

In the memory, Steph was using her humming skills as a way to remain calm as she used her mind to lift a flower into the air and she watched as it moved by itself to where a younger Bill sat in the Barrens.

She was so immersed in the recollection, however, that she didn't even notice Bill tensing up out of dread for just a few seconds before returning to normal and standing up to go over to the shed.

_____

Four and a half hours passed after that, during which Bill, Steph, and Mike all took a newly renovated Silver out for a spin around town. Throughout the bike ride, Steph had taken a small tumble and that resulted in a light scrape on her arm; Bill had been extremely concerned over her being hurt but, the moment she had burst into laughter, he was just relieved that she hadn't broken a bone or anything like that.

They had suffered through a small scare when the Bicycle deck of cards spilled from the box that Bill was given and a clown was on the back of each of them. Despite her attempt to stay unafraid of whatever the hell was haunting all three of them, she didn't prevent the goosebumps that had erupted on her arms as a result of what she had seen.

But now, since Mike had already left ahead of them, Steph and Bill were making their way to Jade of the Orient, the Chinese restaurant that Mike had made a reservation for when it came to all nine of them. The blonde had made a stop at the townhouse to change into a much nicer dress that was sleeveless and a gorgeous shade of burgundy; since it naturally went well with her face, she had decided not to put on any makeup for the occasion. The dress went down to her knees and flowed around almost too easily in the gentle breeze.

When she had exited the bathroom in her getup, she was immediately hugged by Bill as he showered her with compliments like he always had.

"Are y-you feeling better?" Bill asked in a quieter voice than normal.

Steph nodded slowly. "Better than how I was last night," she said. "So, I would say so, yeah."

Bill hummed in reply, smiling from the assurance that his wife was perfectly fine for now. "I'm glad..." he murmured. "You've always been tougher than me, for sure."

"I wouldn't say that..." Steph protested as she shook her head but Bill halted his walking, making her come to a stop as well. They were in the parking lot of the restaurant at this point.

"I'm suh-serious," he whispered with scrunched eyebrows behind his glasses. "Like... at the cemetery, you barely even flinched when that thing showed up. I could have sworn I huh-huh-heard you laughing as opposed to my fear."

"Well, clowns are difficult to be afraid of," Steph admitted with a weak chuckle. "Besides, I was never really scared of It as much as I was mortified of what I was... and still am capable of."

Bill frowned deeply as he pulled Steph closer so he could look at her better, not having a care in the world that they were out in public. "And what you're capable of is greatness in the world, baby," he assured her. "I've told you time and t-t-time again. You're not the monster you think you are. Your powers... you always use them to help people, not to bring harm to them. Th-That's why I was never afraid of you like I often tell you. You're too sweet to hurt anyone, really."

I wish she never put herself down like this, Steph heard in Bill's mind as she slowly nodded her head.

"I know..." mumbled as she shyly lowered her gaze. "But what if I lose control...? I don't want to end up accidentally hurting you just because I got too emotional and couldn't control what I can do... Like my telekinesis... or worse...."

Bill cupped Steph's face in his hands as he looked at her meaningfully. "You could never hurt me..." he promised her. "I know you can control your powers the best you can. You're not a freak like that thing called you. You're the sweetest woman I've ever known and I know you wouldn't willingly hurt someone."

When Steph nodded with a small smile, that was when Bill leaned in and gave her a short but loving and passionate kiss that she enthusiastically responded to. After it was over, she couldn't help but giggle. "What was that for?" she pondered playfully.

"Just felt like it," Bill smoothly replied before slipping an arm around her waist as they continued walking, and she followed this by resting her head on his shoulder.

As they walked further into the parking lot, another presence suddenly filled Steph's mind and she faltered in her walking for just a second. The only thing she could hear for the time being was all sorts of important gibberish, but she stopped entirely as her eyes became dazed and nearly gray, making Bill concerned.

She searched all throughout this person's mind, pinpointing certain memories that stood out, such as her graduating from high school in 1968, remaining by her mother's side as she passed on to the other side, and then a really distant one of her crying in Steph's arms when they were much younger and directly after a severe tragedy had taken place.

And then the random thoughts were back into play.

(it's gonna be so weird seeing them all again i wish i had a pack of cigarettes i hope the officers are doing well without me tonight i wonder how everyone's doing at the chinese place such as mike stan eddie bev bill richie ben and steph)

Steph then snapped out of her trance and stared directly ahead to where a much shorter woman was climbing out of her 1987 Ford Ranger that had the Derry Police Department symbol emblazoned onto the driver's and passenger's side doors. Her long, straight brown hair that reached the middle of her back as well as her dark brown eyes were dead giveaways as to who she was. Noticing this made Steph's face visibly light up as she took a step forward.

"AMBER!" she shouted at the top of her lungs as she moved herself from Bill's hold.

The forty-year-old Amber O'Connor spun around after locking her truck with the key and she saw the blonde woman that towered over her by nearly a whole foot. That confirmed to Steph that this was who she thought it was and she let out a joyful laugh as she jogged over to her, seeing that Amber was moving to meet her halfway.

The two women collided in a tearful hug, Amber laughing with pure happiness for the first time in what seemed to be decades. Steph held the smaller woman carefully, making sure not to lose control of any part of her being at the moment.

"Holy hell..." Amber muttered in awe before pulling back and staring up at Steph. "You actually did show up. Son of a bitch..."

"I see nothing's changed," Steph replied jokingly. "I couldn't resist coming to see you, after all."

She then saw tears filling the other woman's eyes and she pulled her back into a furious hug as she chuckled in a bittersweet manner. Her heart slightly broke at the sounds of Amber's quiet sobs and she held her just like a mother would hold her daughter after a terrible nightmare, murmuring that it was okay repeatedly as she comforted her. Even she was overwhelmed at the concept of getting to hug her closest friend once again, having thought she would never get to do so again. But here she was now, in a moment where she was happy for the first time since arriving back in Derry.

"I can't believe you're here..." Amber mumbled as she released herself from the hug, glancing behind the woman in front of her and then chuckling. "And Bill as well. I didn't think you guys would actually show up."

"Well, wuh-why wouldn't we?" Bill said as he stepped closer to the two. "Especially since we get to see you again."

"How're you doing, kiddo?" Steph asked quietly as she peered down at Amber.

"Doing the best I can considering..." she replied in a somber tone. "I'm sure you've heard about Mom... from Mike."

"Yeah, I did," Steph murmured. "I'm so sorry about Rachel."

"At least she went peacefully," Amber said. "She had it better than most of the others in this town." While she kept her tone of voice as even as possible, Steph was able to detect how tensed up she seemed and she knew it had to do with all of the craziness happening over God knew how long.

"On that note, I agree," Steph responded with a small nod.

"How are you guys doing?" Amber asked, swiftly changing the subject. "Congratulations on getting married by the way, even though I'm almost twenty years late."

Bill chuckled as he shook his head. "We're doing just fine considering what we're back here fuh-for," he mumbled. "And our marriage is going really well, thank you."

"That's good," said Amber. "Well, why don't we go inside? I think Mike's already here and waiting for us."

After nodding in agreement, the couple followed Amber into the restaurant and regarded just how many people were there, either just having casual dinner with families or celebrating high school students' graduations. Steph was happy that some people in Derry were able to make light of the danger happening around them and she only wished she were able to do such a thing.

She gently grasped Bill's hand again as she heard a small commotion coming from the biggest room in the place that was definitely reserved for all of them. She froze for a moment but Bill had moved his hand to rub her back to offer solace.

"It's alright," he murmured as Amber walked ahead of them.

"I'm just nervous..." Steph whispered. "I haven't seen them in years and years. We haven't."

"I know," Bill said. "But we're gonna make the best of it."

After she was successfully comforted, the two of them stepped into the doorway of the reserved room and stared at the scene before them in utter shock. Amber was right next to them as she seemed to also be in deep surprise.

Mike was already in the room and embracing two other men around their age, and Steph was able to notice how emotional their group hug seemed to be. Her mouth slightly dropped open as her eyes began to sting with the inevitable tears that would arrive.

"What happened to the rest of you, Ben?" one of the 'unknown' men asked in a tearful voice as he laughed.

"Gone but not forgotten," Ben replied in a joking way.

Mike then spun around to face the other three in the doorway as if he had suddenly sensed their presences. "We have more visitors," he subtly announced as the two other men finally spotted Steph, Bill, and Amber.

All six of them stood in silence for an exaggerated moment, a single tear trickling down Steph's left cheek in the meantime.

"Where's Richie Tozier when you need a good line?" the man with the beard spoke up as he chuckled.

"Ben..." Bill murmured.

"Ben Hanscom?!" Steph exclaimed, baffled at how different he looked compared to how he did as a child.

"I'm afraid so, guys," Eddie Kaspbrak said as he also started laughing, but he then froze as he actually noticed Steph. "My god, if that isn't Stephanie Palmer..."

"The one and only, but it's Palmer-Denbrough now," Steph murmured before almost lunging forward and crushing Eddie in a bear hug as she began crying once again. "Hey, kid, how're you going?"

"Never better," Eddie answered as he got a good look at Steph. "You haven't aged a day, Steph... You don't even look thirty."

"Oh, stop it," Steph said bashfully as she laughed and wiped her tears away. "I could barely pass as thirty-five these days."

Steph then moved over to embrace Ben as Amber greeted Eddie and had a casual conversation with him and Mike. Bill, in the meantime, made his rounds hugging every new person he saw with a biggest grin on his face as he did so.

Ben offered a glass of wine to Steph, which she happily took and thanked him for, and that happened to be when another voice entered her mind.

(come on tozier don't let 'em see you like this get a grip man that was a hallucination it was a flashback deal it was too much fun in '67 just get a hold you working too hard kid)

"I got a toast," Ben declared as he raised his glass of whiskey but, before he could say anything else, he was interrupted.

"Alright, who got bald, who got wrinkled?! And how many God's children got wings?!"

"Beep Beep, Richie!" both Steph and Bill shouted simultaneously as they turned around to look at him with amused smirks. The blonde couldn't help but grin as she stepped forward to hug a newly recognized Richie Tozier, and she even laughed when he practically squeezed her to death in their embrace just like he would do when they were younger.

"My, Stephie, how you've grown!" Richie proclaimed as he chuckled cheerfully.

Steph's head moved back and forth as she smiled. "How you've gotten fucking old," she replied sarcastically before patting him on the shoulder. "You look good."

"Eh, you look alright, I guess," Richie said, laughing hysterically when Steph punched him in the arm for saying that. He then turned to the much shorter woman and hugged her as well. "Amber! Still tiny as hell like you were."

"Beep Beep, Richie," Amber muttered as she returned the hug.

"Seriously, how did Steph get so damn tall? She towers over you, kid."

"I'm not a kid anymore, Rich," Amber corrected.

"Yeah, she's Derry's local Sheriff," Steph said for her with a proud smile.

Richie's eyebrows raised in bewilderment. "That's impossible. She's still a child."

"I'm forty..." Amber muttered out of embarrassment before jokingly placing a hand on her holster. "And I have a gun so I wouldn't say anything else."

Richie then raised his hands up in mock terror as he backed away. "Hey, you got it," was all he said.

"Beverly?!" Eddie then mumbled, making Steph turn in the direction he was looking at and the dumbest grin formed on her face.

Standing in front of her was a slightly shorter woman with much longer reddish-brown hair than Amber's, and it adorned her pink blouse and violet skirt in such a way that it made Steph suspect that she was more into fashion nowadays. Her blue-green eyes, however, made her confirm that this was none other than Beverly Marsh, who she remembered as the friendliest girl her age in Derry.

"How did you all get so good-looking?" Beverly asked in humorous puzzlement as she raised an eyebrow. "And... how did Steph get so tall?"

Steph predicted the moment that Beverly would faint, and she was already across the room before she slumped forward. Using what little of her powers she could, she easily lifted her up and placed her on one of the decorative sofas as she called for someone to get her a wet wash rag to place on Bev's forehead.

Luckily, Beverly was just fine when she opened her eyes mere minutes later and she was met with Steph's amused expression.

"It's always my height tonight, isn't it?" Steph sarcastically asked in greeting. "Not even I know how I got to be as tall as Bill and Eddie...."

"Stephanie...?" Beverly murmured before yanking her into a fierce hug. "Oh, my God, hi! It's been absolutely forever...."

"It sure has been," Steph giggled before breaking the hug.

Beverly then began embracing everyone around her in pure happiness, although she stopped for a moment to look up at Mike. "I just saw all of you standing there. So much came flooding back. It was like a tidal wave," she explained. "Oh, Mike, what are we getting ourselves into?" She then continued her stretch of hugs with Ben while she mumbled how proud she was of him. And Steph saw the undeniable blush on Ben's face at this and it made her smile.

Beverly then finally noticed Steph's hand linked with Bill's and an overwhelming smile stretched across her face. "I see nothing's changed," she said. "You two are as adorable as ever." She then got into a group hug with the married couple before rushing over to Amber and embracing her as well, unaware of the furious pink color on the shorter woman's face.

"Are, uh... Are you alright, Bev?" Amber asked almost shyly before carefully breaking the hug.

"Yeah, I am," Beverly answered with a caring smile before it suddenly faded. "No, I... I saw something today."

"We did, too..." Steph murmured as she glanced downward.

"Oh, man," Richie groaned as he laid down on the makeshift sofa, placing a hand on his forehead as though he had the biggest headache imaginable. "What I saw at the library. Whoa!"

"Was it Pennywise?" Bill spoke up as he placed his hands on Steph's arms, squeezing her shoulders to keep her at ease and it was working.

"With both barrels, it was Pennywise..." Richie muttered.

"He's workin' on us already..." confirmed Bill.

"He's trying to chip away," Ben agreed with a shudder.

"He's been doing that since before you guys showed up," said Amber.

"Maybe that means he's afraid," Beverly tried reasoning with a raise of her eyebrows.

"No, It's afraid," Steph corrected gently. "And it should be."

Richie dramatically sighed as he rubbed his forehead to rid himself of the imaginary migraine. "Oh, man..." he muttered. "It!"

"Help us remember, Mike," Ben kindly pleaded as he glanced over at him. "Help us fill in the gaps."

"Yeah, please, because I don't know what you guys are talkin' about," Eddie spoke up after taking a drink, facing them finally. "I can't remember much of anything. And when I try, it kinda clouds over. I mean, didn't you feel it?"

Steph let out a quivering sigh as she crossed her arms to prevent a random chill that came over her. "I did..." she murmured. "It was a little too... weird for my liking."

"See?" Eddie countered. "As soon as I crossed the county line, it was like this veil dropped over my eyes."

"Maybe it's the water," Richie said sarcastically, earning a small glare from Steph in return.

"The water?!" Beverly scoffed as she shook her head. "Maybe it's the sewer."

Steph then sensed Eddie's next moment, which was him going utterly rigid as he raised his right arm upward in what seemed to be a trancelike movement. She spotted the bright blue inhaler in his hand as he extended it outward and she dashed over to him; she sneakily placed a hand on the side of his face and closed her eyes in order to try and concentrate.

Searching through all of his memories, both recent and distant, most of them seemed to be crystal clear. Except for one.

(THIS IS BATTERY ACID YOU SLIME)

An extremely faded image of a tiny Eddie spraying the water vapor from his inhaler straight into their nightmare's face as it went to kill Stanley Uris appeared in her mind before being vanquished just as quickly as it showed up.

Steph's eyes popped back open just as Eddie could breathe again, noticing Amber's panic upon seeing this. "Eddie, hey, kid..." she mumbled to try and bring him back to reality. "Breathe, man, please..."

Eddie made sure to inhale deep gulps of air before even trying to continue what he had just been talking about; he even used his inhaler to be properly coherent again. "I'm okay..." he assured all of the others after having officially calmed down. "I think I remember who Pennywise was now.... Big, white guy... red nose. About seventy-five feet tall. Mouth full of razor-sharp teeth."

"That's right..." Steph dreadfully confirmed as she walked back over to Eddie, bringing him into a consoling hug. "It's alright, kid."

"Eddie..." Amber whispered as she joined the group hug.

"What the hell is happening, you guys?" Eddie cried out after removing his glasses, leaning into the hug that everyone had soon formed around him. "I mean, what is goin' on?!"

Steph placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a motherly stare of comfort. "It's okay, Eddie," she whispered. "It's gonna be alright."

(nothing's happening now you're just stressing yourself out no need to do that everything's okay right now)

Eddie nodded at the words repeating themselves in his head. "You're right, I'm sorry..." he muttered. "It was just a very vivid memory. I'd forgotten that I stared that creep right in the face. I forgot you could do that... with your powers."

"And you saved Stan's life," Bill added to his thought. "You remember that part?"

Eddie nodded almost sternly as he proudly gritted his teeth. "Yeah," he said as he broke from the group hug. "Yeah, now I do."

"Hey, speaking of Stan..." Richie finally spoke up as he moved away from Eddie, glancing out of the huge doorway. "Stan?! Stan?! Where is his royal straightness, anyway?"

"He wouldn't think out on us, would he, Mike?" Ben asked in an anxious tone. "You talked to him, right?"

Steph tried her hardest to go through Stanley Uris's mind to see just how far he was from the restaurant but, no matter how much she attempted to do so, she just couldn't manage to reach him. It was like she was extending her subconscious out and only receiving a blank radio frequency in response. So she pulled back for now just as Mike said, "Yeah. I think he'll be along."

"I think we ought to go ahead without him," Bill said as he crossed his arms. "When he gets here, we can fill him in. Come on, Mike, talk to us. Help us remember."

"Yeah, that would be great, Mike," agreed Steph as she walked back over to Bill.

"No, wait a minute!" Richie exclaimed as he faced the entire group with eyes that were wider than Steph had seen them. "I don't know about you guys but this is the first time since I got here that I feel good. I mean, I feel halfway safe." He then went over to the small side table and continued making the drinks that Ben had stopped the process of earlier, pouring himself a glass of whiskey. "Come on. Let's have a couple of drinks, huh? Chew on some good food, have a couple of chucks, and let's just leave the wolf out the door, huh?"

"Spoken like a real loser, Rich," Ben replied with a deadpanned smile.

Steph then picked up her glass of wine and slowly raised it up. "I speak up as the mother I remember to be of all of you rascals!" she said in a more stable voice.

"I'm right here," Bill countered sarcastically, although he was grinning.

"Shut up," Steph said playfully. "To the Losers Club!"

All of the others raised their glasses up in a makeshift toast.

_____

As Steph took a small bite of her food, her right hand holding Bill's under the table, she listened as much as she could to all of the surrounding chatter around her. She chose not to put herself in the spotlight and talk about her fame as an actress and just allow all of the others to talk about themselves. Besides, she didn't really feel like talking in the first place, instead focusing on finishing her food and being lost in her thoughts.

Bill, who had been concerned about her quiet nature at first, decided to go along with it and let her have her moment to herself while he talked to all of the others. This always happened in their house to begin with since Steph was the kind of person that kept to herself from time to time. He had grown used to her shyness as time went on despite often encouraging her to come further out of her shell; and she was making some decent progress.

But if she decided to remain timid for the rest of her days, Bill wouldn't have a problem with that. He would still love her whether she was shy or not.

Steph spotted Bill glancing in her direction and she smiled sheepishly as her face turned pink, and he grinned in response while tracing the back of her hand with his thumb in a soothing way.

"Are you talking about your wives?" Ben asked Richie in a flabbergasted way, breaking Steph out of her concentration. "How many times have you been to the altar, Richard?"

"Oh, four... five... Who the hell keeps count?" Richie answered with a chuckle.

"Sounds about right," Steph retorted with a snicker, making the whole table crack up into laughter.

"Well, women all want the same thing," Richie said. "No offense, girls!"

"None taken, creep," Beverly responded with a small smile. "Welcome to the fourth century."

"Besides," Amber continued from Beverly, "women don't all want the same thing... sex, if that's what you mean. Some of us are looking for that one special person with a kind heart and ambition in life. Someone who has goals."

"Well, then, aren't you married over there, O'Connor?" Richie asked with genuine interest. "I mean, surely, you've got to be winning over men and ladies alike with that ambition."

Amber froze in her seat for just a moment as she traced the rim of her bourbon glass with her index finger, not sure how to answer that. "Well..." she started with a slightly shaky voice. "Um... w-well, there is someone but... I don't know. I'm not sure it would work out with my job and all. Not sure I have any time for that. I'm gonna stay single for now."

"Hey, sometimes, staying single is the way to go," Ben said proudly as he patted Amber's shoulder, bringing her back to her calm and happy-go-lucky nature for the time being.

"How 'bout you, Ben?" Bill spoke up. "You married?"

"No," Ben said. "I've dodged the bullet a number of times now, though."

After Bill nodded, he then turned to Eddie with a small smirk. "How 'bout you, Eddie?"

"Me? Uh, well, yeah, I'm seeing this really wonderful woman. But with the business and all, I really don't have too much time."

"You take it from me, spaghetti man," Richie said in a joking context, "better dead than wed."

"Any low crumb snatches for you, Richie?" Mike asked.

"None that I know of," Richie replied.

"Well, damn, it seems like Steph and Bill over here are the only ones that tied the knot!" Amber exclaimed with a giggle.

"Yeah, how's that working out for you guys?" Richie wondered with the raise of his left eyebrow.

"I think I'll keep him," Steph said happily as she kissed Bill on the cheek, making him blush immediately.

"We're as blissfully happy as we could be," Bill agreed with a broad smile on his face.

"And you two are as disgustingly cute as I remember," Richie added on with a mock grossed out expression.

"Beep Beep, Richie," the couple said simultaneously as they chuckled.

"How about you, Bev?" Mike then asked Beverly, directing Steph's attention to the beautiful woman with reddish-brown hair.

"Oh, um..." Beverly stammered as she struggled to come up with an answer. "Well, I live with him. No, I'm not married."

After a few seconds of examining her mind from that response, Steph perked up and gave Beverly an assuring stare. "From the sound of that, it seems like you're hell of a lot better off without him," she told her in a straightforward manner.

Beverly gulped as she nodded slowly, struggling to fight away the tears as she subconsciously placed a hand over her cheek that had been violently struck by her boyfriend the night before. "You may be right," she whispered in return.

"Richie," Bill said in order to diffuse the somber atmosphere. "Whatever happened to those glasses?"

Richie rolled his eyes as he smirked, raising his hands smugly as he grasped a glass bowl. "Contact lenses," he answered matter-of-factly.

"Richie, for the number of times you broke those glasses of yours, you should've had stock in an adhesive tape company," Ben pointed out in a mock stern voice, making the whole table erupt in laughter.

Richie just chuckled weakly as he nodded. "Yeah... me and Henry Bowers...."

Steph quite literally went rigid at the memory of the son of a bitch named Henry Bowers and she even shivered, hugging her arms to herself. "Oh, that little bastard...." she murmured to herself. "I just remembered him."

"Somebody please tell me he was hit by a freight train and put out of his misery," Beverly pleaded with narrowed eyes as she sighed heavily.

"Don't we all wish that, Bev..." Amber said with a ragged inhale of a breath.

"Yeah, no such luck," Mike agreed with Amber. "You wanna see Henry Bowers, you'll find him up in Juniper Hills."

Steph then perked up as her eyebrows raised extremely high. "That's right!" she said almost excitedly. "He's been there ever since he murdered his father the night before... the night before..."

"Before me and... him... Justin... were abducted by It...." Amber confirmed with a shake of her head.

"Yeah, and ever since the trial, where he confessed to all the murders of all the children and his father," Beverly added with wide eyes.

"He was down there..." Ben continued, "...with us down there, in the sewers –"

"That creep was gonna kill Stan," Richie recalled with just a murmur.

"He was gonna kill us all," Eddie whimpered with past terror.

"Yeah, fat chance..." Steph said skeptically. "Not with me around, remember? I would have liked to see him try...."

"I remember when they pulled him out, his hair had turned white," Bill mumbled distantly.

"He was babbling about a bright light," Ben said.

"And a clown," said Beverly.

"And nobody believed him," Steph finished. "Who would?"

"Except when he said he killed all the kids..." Bill went on.

"And we said nothing...." Steph whispered. "I was tempted to. But then I thought, 'He nearly killed Stan. So fuck him.'"

"But It was the killer," Bill stated firmly. "And we stopped it...."

A long moment went on where all Steph was able to hear was the outside chatter of the people in the other rooms of the restaurant.

Suddenly, her arms seemed to lock in place as her eyes grew impossibly wide with petrification. And that was just in time for her to hear Mike say, "We thought we did." Her vision quickly became blurry as she couldn't see the other Losers around the table anymore. Instead, something else entirely entered her line of sight.

She was in a long hallway with tiny twin beds on either side of her; the windows that stared out into the pitch black surrounding wherever the hell she was were barred up so she couldn't get out. In fact, she couldn't even see her hands or feet no matter how much she searched for them. She wasn't able to move her head as her eyes were directly locked onto a specific target. All the while, she heard a sinister voice in her mind as her body carried her forward.

(you've gotta go back to derry and finish the job you've got to go back to derry and kill them all)

She then noticed the door with a small window built into it right across from her as she advanced towards it. And then a figure came dashing towards her with an angry expression, and she nearly flinched away before he was tackled to the ground by an unknown shape as he screamed deliriously.

And then dozens of flashes entered her mind where she could only point out a few images and scenarios before her:

A gun being lifted by someone as it was pointed towards another person....

A building having its entire interior ransacked and scattered about....

Blood... so much blood....

A figure standing before what seemed to be a gigantic mountain of fire that was about to engulf them in its grasp....

And finally, herself, advancing towards the real her and the other Losers with those terrifying ruby eyes of It....

And then she was pulled back into the reality of the moment as she let out a hoarse gasp, her hand flying to her throat.

_____

Amber's POV

Amber was the first to notice Steph's hand flying upward and to her throat, almost as if she were choking on something in her esophagus. Being familiar with the Heimlich maneuver, she instantly stood to her feet and began walking around the table to reach the blonde. "Are you choking on food, Steph?" she asked in a slightly worried voice, raising an eyebrow.

But it was when the blonde frantically shook her head as her hands began violently trembling that Amber became aware that it was something much worse.

"Steph...?!" Ben spoke up as he also rose from his chair.

"She's huh-having a panic attack!" Bill cried out as he immediately leapt out of his seat and went to Steph's side. "Steph, baby? Can you hear me?!"

All of the other adults were rushing over to the couple in a matter of seconds, expressions of fear laced in each pair of eyes. Beverly, thinking quickly, was instantly out of the room as she asked a nearby waitress for a glass of water for her friend.

Amber, now realizing the full reality of the situation, went to help Bill keep Steph stable as the blonde woman became further out of control. She noticed how her panic attack was fastly moving towards a full-on seizure as her friend aggressively quivered in her hold, her body unwillingly thrashing around as her dark blue eyes rolled into the back of her head.

"No, no, no..." Bill mumbled in a panicked voice as he put his hands on either side of his wife's face to keep her from hurting her neck due to the shaking. "Steph, look at me, baby, please! I'm right here..."

"Steph, please!" Amber whimpered as she desperately searched the other woman's face for any sign of sanity, but nothing was there. Her heart began picking up speed as she started noticing how badly Steph was sweating and how her shaking seemed to grow even more difficult to control and help die down.

"We need to do something!" Eddie shouted in a terrified voice, not wanting to see Steph in pain in any way.

"Amber, can you call an ambulance?" Mike asked the younger woman with concerned eyes.

Before Amber could even move, Beverly dashed back into the room with the glass of ice cold water, not caring how it was sloshing around thanks to her running. Knowing that nothing else was working with helping Steph, she did the only thing she could think of. She took the glass and tossed the water onto the taller woman's face, hoping that would come close to working.

Amber then saw some sense of sanity finally return to Steph's body as her quivering began to ease up; her eyes properly shut as she inhaled a deep breath of air, her muscles seeming to tense out of relief at being pulled back to the moment.

"Baby, can you hear me?" Bill pleaded as a relaxed smile etched itself into his features, his eyebrows knitting together.

Steph's shaking presumably stopped fully upon hearing Bill's voice and she opened her eyes and looked over at him. "Bill...?" she whispered in an extremely exhausted voice.

Amber sighed deeply as she went back over to her seat and buried her face in her hands out of pure consolation. "Oh, thank God..." she muttered to herself.

She then saw Bill pull Steph into a very careful hug as he eased her back into her chair and, for just a second, she found herself envying them and only wishing she had a connection with someone just as powerful as theirs was. She couldn't help but think about how perfect they truly were for each other, especially when it came to just how gentle Bill was with his wife, and she knew that he had never and would never hurt Steph or leave her side.

"It's okay, honey..." Bill quietly murmured to Steph as she took deep breaths in order to stay calm. "I'm right here. Do you need anything?"

"Just stay..." Steph weakly replied as she practically collapsed into Bill's arms despite still sitting in her chair. "Stay here with me until I'm really okay."

"O-Okay," Bill promised as he rubbed her arm ever so gently, making sure she kept breathing evenly. "I'll stay right here with you. Just concentrate on your breathing."

"Are you alright, Stephie?" Richie asked in a tone that was rarely serious as he also kneeled to Steph's level and placed a friendly hand on her shoulder.

The blonde cautiously nodded as she hummed in reply. "I'll be okay, Rich..." she replied in a tired voice, finally opening her eyes again. "This is just the worst one I've had in a hot minute. But I'll be fine soon."

Richie's head moved up and down before letting out a relieved chuckle. "Boy, I'm glad you're calming down now," he said in a way that was trying to lighten the situation. "I was afraid we were gonna have to get your sorry ass to the hospital."

"Beep Beep, Richie," Steph giggled as she shook her head, more deeply relaxed now as she leaned her head further onto Bill's shoulder. She then glanced over at Amber and she tilted her head out of worry, perking up more. "Are you okay, kiddo?" she added gently.

Amber nodded shakily as she sighed a little again. "Yeah, you just gave me quite a scare there," she truthfully admitted with an exhausted smile.

"I'm sorry..." Steph murmured in a rather ashamed voice but she was quickly shut down by everyone else as they assured her that it wasn't her fault in the slightest.

After twenty minutes of making sure Steph was completely calm and relaxed – she had taken a napkin and wiped the water off of her face in the meantime – Mike requested that the waitress bring out a plate of fortune cookies, as was the tradition at the restaurant. While Amber wasn't too fond of the taste of said cookies, she did always look forward to whatever the slip of paper read on the inside.

"I apologize for ruining the reunion, guys..." Steph spoke up in a truly stable voice as she cleared her throat awkwardly, squeezing Bill's hand under the table.

"There's no need for that, Steph," Mike replied as he shook his head back and forth. "You're not to blame for that. I understand. Something must have scared you and it triggered the panic attack. There's nothing to apologize for."

After Steph nodded, Richie took another swig of whiskey before speaking up. "Well, sports fans, this has been a real hoot..." he muttered, clearly on the verge of being drunk off his ass. "But I got a plane out at 6:00 A.M."

"Richie... you're not leaving..." Beverly responded in a surprised tone.

"Bev, girl..." Richie said exasperatedly. "What do you want? An adventure? You got some high toned idea that you're gonna go relive that old nightmare? I love you, but count me out. I'm going to a hotel, I'm gonna get some sleep. And in the morning, I get on a plane, and I'm out of here forever."

"That's not how it works, Rich," Steph protested. "You can't be here for less than twelve hours and then haul ass just because of traumatic memories."

"Richie, you and I both know leaving may not be the best option," Amber said, agreeing with Steph.

"No, Stephie, Amber," Richie said in the most affectionate tone he could muster despite how tipsy he was. "I will remember you and the rest of you guys very fondly."

"Hey, man, we're all scared," Ben pointed out in a confused voice. "It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Maybe he's right...."

Amber swerved her head around to face Eddie directly across from her, giving him a deadpan expression. "Eddie, pardon my attitude, but no the fuck Richie is not right," she countered sarcastically. Before he could say anything else, she held up her index finger to halt his speaking. "No, listen to me. I'm the sheriff of this town so that means I know the most of what's going on, so –"

"Does that even matter, Amber?!" Eddie exclaimed.

"Yes, I believe it does," said Amber.

"No, it doesn't! I mean... if you're talking about going back into the sewer –"

"We don't know what we're talking about yet," Bill interrupted the argument. "Mainly because we haven't talked about it yet."

"Yes, suppose we give Amber and Mike a chance to fill us in before we scatter to the fore winds," Ben offered with an entreating expression in his eyes. "Is that too much trouble, Richie?"

Steph nodded her head in response to this as she turned back to look at Richie. "Yeah, let's listen to them, it's okay," she murmured.

"All I'm saying is I'm gonna go get some sleep!" Richie shouted this time as he dramatically rolled his eyes. "Is that too much to ask?"

"Richie, shut up!" Amber screeched to finally silence him, giving him an intimidating and stern stare.

While all of them flinched at her yell, Ben quickly recovered and glanced back over at Amber and Mike. "Why don't we show Amber and Michael a little courtesy?" he begged at this point.

"Guys, guys!" Mike finally butted in as he sighed heavily. "Come on! It's alright, Ben, Steph. If Richie wants to go, he goes. Now, we all came here based on the strength of a promise. So... as far as I'm concerned, everybody at this table made good on that promise. Wherever we go from here... I have no expectations."

The entire table was silent for just a few moments before Richie broke the quietness. "Well said, Michael..." he mumbled while pulling a few dollar bills out of his wallet and throwing them down on the table as a tip offer for later.

"It's alright," Mike said, shaking his head. "It's taken care of, Richie...."

Both Amber and Steph turned their heads towards Mike at the same time as they began protesting. "Mike, that's not necessary," they said at once.

"You don't have to do that," Eddie said as he went to grab his wallet so he could pay for his part of the dinner.

"Guys, that's just the way it is," Mike shut down their arguments instantly.

"Alright, then..." Richie sighed as he reached for a fortune cookie to open. "A toast to Mr. Michael Hanlon and Miss Amber O'Connor. The people without whom none of this would've been necessary. I see my fortune now. 'You're gonna be eaten by a big, greasy monster. Have a nice day!'"

"Thanks a lot, Richie..." Amber jokingly muttered as she grabbed a fortune cookie for herself and one for Mike.

Resting her elbows on the table, she then raised up the cookie in order to try and crack it open, struggling a little at first. She figured that it was because she didn't have a good grip on it so she adjusted her grasp on it in order to pry it apart.

Out of nowhere, instead of the expected slip of paper, a severed skeletal finger plopped onto the table, making the brunette reel back in disgust and horror. "Oh, what the fuck is that?!" she cried out in repulsion, examining how the finger was still bloodied and twitching despite having the bone be exposed.

Beverly then screamed at the crimson blood that spurted out of her cookie and splattered onto her and the tablecloth.

A cockroach eerily crawled out of Eddie's cookie and across his hands, which made him wince and cower away, same with Richie when he saw an eyeball peeking out at him.

The biggest reaction was from Steph, who shrieked when a small snake slithered out of her fortune cookie and made its way towards her. She crushed her knees to her chest as she whimpered out of terror and tried not to look at it. Amber was about to get up from the table to see if she was okay when she spotted Ben's fortune cookie having sharp teeth protruding from it. She groaned in horror from the way the set of jaws chomped down on one another and she cringed from that.

Ben leapt out of his chair when the cookie jaws advanced towards him on the table and then Amber stared over at what Mike had, which seemed to either be a newborn or dying baby bird of some sort of species she couldn't decipher. Both she and Mike shut their eyes at this as they tried to suppress their individual traumas.

"Dummy up, everybody..." Bill instructed right away and that's when Amber heard footsteps just outside the room, and she immediately sat back down as she removed her hand from her gun holster.

She was reminded of that day at the quarry when she was ten, when she had heard Mike's screams of help and Bill had told her to gather rocks for ammo, to "dummy up" for protection. She recalled going to Justin's side right away and being prepared to run away with him in her arms in order to keep him safe and sound.

Everything would be a little better if he were here with us... she thought sadly as she spotted Beverly grabbing a napkin and trying to frantically wipe the sticky blood off of her hands despite knowing that no other adult besides them would be able to see it at all. Regardless, she grabbed her own napkin and tossed it over the bony finger so she wouldn't have to look at it again.

"What is it?" Rose called into the room as she stepped over to the table with concerned eyes. At this point, Steph had uncurled herself from the ball she had formed into while in her chair and did her best to not spare a glance at the snake. "What's wrong? Is something the matter?"

"Our friend had an a-a-asthma attack," Bill politely explained in a straight up lie, trying to remain as composed as possible despite seeing what looked like a spider leg poking out of his fortune cookie.

Eddie nodded wearily as he tried taking deeper breaths to stay in a tranquil state. "Yeah... I'm much better," he said untruthfully as he closed his eyes. "Thank you. Thank you...."

"Everything was okay...?" Rose asked hesitantly, sensing something was horribly off about the whole situation.

"Everything was just fine," Amber said in a kind voice, giving off the fakest smile of her life in order to sell the act. "We appreciate your concern, Rose."

"Yeah, thank you, Rose..." Mike added with a much more sincere smile since he was genuinely grateful for the nice waitress's worry about all of them.

Rose gently grinned in reply as she then walked out of the room, and that was just in time to avoid hearing Richie's humorless laugh of dread.

"Guys... I'm not so sleepy anymore..." he murmured in a quivering voice.

"Let's get the hell out of here!" Bill ordered after covering the twitching spider-cookie with his napkin.

Amber was immediately on her feet as she followed the other seven out of the room with as stable of an expression that she could muster. Her hand remained on her gun holster in case anything went wrong as she breathed deeply through her nose to stay cautious but normal.

A/N: that got intense real fast!

ANYWAYS, thoughts on this chapter? i know it was hella long but i wanted to fit both steph and bill's return to derry along with the reunion scene!

what did you think of the first scene with steph and bill? it's actually based off of the scene that would have originally started Part Two of the miniseries but it was cut out in the DVD releases.

what about the cemetery scene? did you like how steph barely reacted to seeing It unlike bill?

yeah, justin, daniel, and rachel are all confirmed dead in this chapter. at least rachel went peacefully and didn't have to deal with pennywise.

what did you think of the couple reuniting with mike? did you like the subtle hints of what's to come in the childhood portions of the book?

what about the scene where bill assures steph that she isn't a monster and that she's capable of greatness?

what about steph's reunion with amber?

did you like the entire chinese restaurant reunion scene? did steph's panic attack catch you off guard? what about the iconic moment with the fortune cookies?

did you like how i switched to amber's pov?

predictions for the next chapter?

hint: it will be entirely in amber's pov!

be looking forward to the next chapter!

-denbroughswife