bitchin'

Chapter 54

"Max!"

She suddenly descends to the ground, Lindsay breaking her fall.

"Max! Max!" Lindsay shouts, cradling her smaller girlfriend.

"Oh my god," Dustin gasps.

"It's okay, it's okay," Lindsay pants. Max grasps onto her shirt, breathing heavily. Tears run down both of their faces, "I thought we lost you."

"I'm still... I'm still here," she gasps, "I'm still here."

***

"We'll take shifts," Nancy says in the basement of her house. Max sits on the couch next to Lindsay with her headphones on and playing Running Up That Hill.

"I can watch her myself," Lindsay says defensively.

"You can't pull an all-nighter, we need everyone rested. As much rest as we can get anyways. You can start the shift," she tells her. The girl nods, but knows no one can force her to sleep, "I'll go get extra blankets and stuff."

"I'll come with," Robin offers. The two older girls walk up the stairs and try to quietly walk around the house. Dustin and Lucas sigh as they start to wind down for bed. It's ten thirty, but with today's events, it seemed like it had been days since they slept.

"You should elevate your leg," Max tells Lindsay. The brace broke when the brunette caught her fall.

"I'll be okay," she tells her. Max frowns. Her girlfriend then puts her leg on the table, satisfying Max. The redhead lies down, putting her head in Lindsay's lap.

"I hate these headphones," she complains. She can't get comfy enough to rest with them on.

"I know, I'm sorry," her girlfriend answers. Lindsay begins to stroke Max's hairline with her fingers, lulling the girl to sleep. It's been forever since Max has gotten a good, quality sleep. Tonight would be no different, but at least Lindsay was there, keeping her safe.

When Nancy and Robin come back downstairs with armfuls of blankets and pillows, Lindsay shushes the girls who were quietly talking. She didn't want them to wake Max. When they reach the bottom of the stairs, they notice Dustin and Lucas already asleep too on the floor.

Robin covers them each up with a blanket, "sweet dreams, children."

Nancy sets a pillow next to the boys incase they wake. She hands one to Steve and one to Lindsay. Robin then comes by and puts a blanket over Max carefully before giving an extra to Lindsay.

"Thank you," she whispers. Robin smiles and sits down in one of the chairs. Nancy takes the other, while Steve joins the boys on the floor.

"If you get tired, even for a second, wake me up next," Nancy tells Lindsay, even though the girl was intent on being Max's sole watcher.

"I will," she lies.

"Promise?"

"Promise," she agrees. She didn't plan on waking anyone up, but if she falls asleep with no one watching Max it could be fatal. Within minutes, the others fall asleep from pure exhaustion leaving Lindsay up, sitting in mostly darkness except for the dim light of a lamp in the distance.

She looks down at her girlfriend; her face is still for once. No frown, no smile, just still. Her chest rises and falls slowly and she is angled slightly, so she's facing Lindsay.

In less than an hour, Max has her first nightmare. She jolts awake.

"Max! Max! It's okay," Lindsay whispers. Her girlfriend clutches to her body, breathing heavily. She's disoriented, checking her surroundings, "I'm here. I'm right here."