YOUR SONG | steve harrington

064

Steve drove to The War Zone with Beverly in the passenger seat, the others in the back. She wanted to try and start up a conversation with him, but didn't really know how after their last one didn't really end well.

Steve wanted to do the same.

"So...how's it handle?" Beverly finally spoke up to try and make some small talk before entering into the more serious conversation.

"Not half bad. Considering that this is a...house," Steve replied, causing Beverly to laugh slightly but not know what to say after that. Steve glanced over at her, trying to continue the conversation further. "Yeah, it's...it's silly, but I...I've actually, uh...I always had this dream that I'd have this — like this really...really big family. I'm talking, like, uh, a full brood of Harringtons. Like, five, six kids."

Beverly's eyes widened a bit, not expecting their conversation to lead into this. They had talked about future plans before, but never kids since they were so  young. "Six?" Beverly repeated in disbelief.

"Yeah. Six little nuggets. Three girls, three boys," Steve confirmed before he let out a short laugh. "And — and every summer, I figured all of us Harringtons, we would pack into something like this and...just see the country. You know, the Rockies, Grand Canyon, maybe Yellowstone. End up in some beachside town in California. Spend a week parked in the sand. Learn how to surf or something," he imagined with a small smile on his face before he looked over at Beverly. "Unless you're having different thoughts on...us."

"Steve..." Beverly trailed off.

"I just wanna know if you trust me or not, Bev. Because if you don't then...then we can just scrap these plans and try to build from the ground up," he told her.

"Me not telling you about the symptoms wasn't because I don't trust you, Steve. It's because I do trust you," she clarified, making his brows knit together lightly. "I knew that if I told you then you would go to hell and back to try to kill Henry. And I didn't want to distract anyone from what was really important: stopping him smartly. I couldn't have let you act on an impulse, okay? It wouldn't have worked. And I wanted to keep the attention on Max. She's younger, has more of her life ahead of her. I felt like she was in more help than I was."

Steve gave her a sad look at her willingness to sacrifice herself for the redhead. The two of them had really been the ones to make sacrifices lately. "Yeah, I...I understand. I'm sorry for yelling at you and, uh, Chris," he apologized slowly, shaking his head. "I should have listened to your side of the story before doing anything."

She smiled lightly. "Which is exactly why I didn't tell you in the first place," she joked, making him let out a small laugh. "But I love how you care about me, Steve. Really, I do. And I care about you, too. A lot. Which is why after all of this is over...maybe we can...fulfill that dream of yours."

Steve blinked in shock. "Really?" he breathlessly said.

She shrugged. "It sounds nice."

Steve still didn't believe it. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," she confirmed with a slight laugh. "Well, uh, except for the six-kid part. That sounds like a total nightmare."

"If only we had some practice," Steve sarcastically remarked, gesturing to the kids in the back.

"All right. Fair. That's fair."

"But if you don't want that many kids, then we don't have to," he assured her with a nod, not wanting to force her into her anything. "And not that soon either. I was thinking like in a few years."

"Oh, thank God," she breathed out, causing him to laugh. "I still kind of want a little bit of freedom, you know?"

"Yeah. Yeah, me too. Freedom with you." The both of them shared a loving smile, both imagining their futures together.