The Deal [Eddie Munson] 1

055

"And, that's how I'm still here. I still don't know how I survived and escaped, but somehow it worked." He finishes telling me the story of how he survived the blast, and how he managed to escape Russian prison. His story sure was way worse than mine, but I don't think we're in any place to be comparing.

"I can't believe this. I can't believe you're here. I wish you would've gotten to meet Eddie." I say. I told him the whole story of how we met, and how everything happened. Of course I left out a few details, but it's not anything that he needs to know.

"You know, actually I would've liked him too if he made you this happy, but I'm not too certain I would've liked him. He's the bad boy type." He jokes, making me laugh, and I softly hit him. "He was a sweetheart. I'm talking he wanted to get married and have kids." I reply, and he looks at me weirdly.

"No, no kids. I'm not ready to be a grandfather." He continues to joke, making me have uncontrollable laughter. He's the source of happiness that I needed right now, and I'm really glad he's here. "You really loved him, huh kid?" He asks, and I nod my head, closing my eyes and thinking about him,

I miss him every second, and this is going to be so hard. I want him here, I want to lay next to him every single night, I just want him back.

Joyce walks into the room, knocking softly on the door bringing in flowers and snacks. I can see Will, Mike, El, and Jonathan behind her. They all walk into the room, awkwardly waving at me. "Hi guys." I say, and they all look so timid like I'm a sick patient or something. "I'm fine guys, loosen up." I continue, and El walks over to me hugging me.

"We're really sorry about everything. We brought you a cupcake." She says, reaching her hand put and handing me a cupcake. Joyce reaches over and hands me the flowers and snacks as well. "Thank you guys, honestly, you don't know how much I appreciate all of this right now." I say, trying to stop my emotional self from crying.

"I hope Hopper wasn't bugging you too much." Joyce jokes, and I smile, shaking my head. "No, I just almost had a heart attack when I first saw him." I joke back, and he rolls his eyes, reaching on the bed and grabbing one of my snacks. Joyce smacks his hand, and they begin to playfully banter.

I smile at them, I know Joyce was overjoyed when she got to see him again. I'm so happy for her, she deserves it, and everyone knows that they have a thing for each other.

"So, how are you feeling?" Mike asks, and I shrug, sitting up. "As best as possible. At least physically, I only have a few cuts and bruises, so I think I'm doing okay." I reply, and he comes over to me, giving me the most awkward hug.

Joyce comes back over to me, sitting on my bed. "We haven't heard from your mom. I've been trying to get in contact with her, but nothing." She says, and I nod my head looking down. She's probably somewhere having the time of her life, but now she has everyone worried about her.

"We're going to be here for a while until we figure things out, and we were thinking that you could stay with us." She continues, and I look between her and Hopper to see if they were being serious or if they were just trying to be nice. He nods his head in agreement, touching my arm softly.

"That would be great, yeah." I say, and she smiles and begins to talk about how we're going to have dinner every night. I smile at her and looking around the room at everyone. It's nice to have everyone back, it feels like we've all been apart for too long.

We begin to catch up on the smallest things, and I can tell that everyone in the room is trying to take my mind off of Eddie, and surprisingly, it's working. We begin to talk for hours, and I was losing track of time as we kept finding new things to talk about.

The nurse walks in, interrupting our conversation, and she looks around the room at all of us. "Hello everyone, Samantha, I have some good news." She says, and I look at her confused. "Unless I can leave, it's not good news." I reply.