Hawkins Sweethearts: An Eddie Munson Epic (Revised Edition)

Code Blue

Laney heard a knock on her door around midnight.

She got out of bed and put her robe on, before walking to the door.

She looked in the peep hole and saw Eddie standing outside.

"Edward, are you insane?" She asked. "It's fucking midnight."

She saw the look on his face. He'd been crying and crying hard.

"Oh, honey. Come in." She said, embracing him.

She told him to have a seat on the couch while she turned on the over head lights in the small apartment living room.

"Eddie, what happened?" She asked, sitting next to him on the couch.

"Lanes, she doesn't love me anymore." He said, tearing up. "She won't marry me. I swear she's cheating on me." He cried into his hands.

"Whoa. Rewind please. Are you telling me that you think Charlotte Coleman is cheating on...you?" She asked. "Why do you think so?"

"Because. She's not the same person. She won't let me touch her. She is...distant. And when I asked her about it, she didn't even have the guts to speak to me about it." He said. "I don't think she's in love with me. Not anymore."

"Baby, I have a very hard time believing that. She's over the moon for you. And don't get me started on how much she loves Abbie." She said. "Eddie, has she been taking her medication?"

Eddie sat there thinking.

"Eddie, has she been taking her damn medication?" She insisted.

"I--I don't know." He said. "I assume so. But I don't know for sure."

"Shit." Laney said. "I'm sure she's just a little imbalanced. Talk her into taking it again, regularly, and I'm sure she'll be back to her old self." She smiled.

"Lanes, she knows I was coming here." He said. "She thinks I was coming here to sleep with you."

"What?" She asked, shocked. "Eddie, what the hell!"

"I know." He said. "But I told her something I didn't mean. I kind of let her believe that I might...sleep with you."

Laney held her head in her hands.

"Eddie, you didn't. " She said. "Oh, my, God. Why did you even plant the thought? You know how insecure baby girl is!!! You fucking asshole!"

"I know. I messed up. I'm sure she hates me now." He said.

"Well, we'll just have major damage control to deal with tomorrow." She said. "But it sure doesn't look good with you spending the night. That doesn't help our case, like, at all."

"I know. I thought about calling Gareth and staying over there." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"No. It's late. You can crash on the couch, and we'll go talk to her tomorrow. " She said, holding his hand.

"Thanks Lanes." He said.

"You're welcome. But promise me you won't bring me up again to her like that."
She said. "Eddie she's my friend. I would never intentionally hurt her. I know I came on to you a few years ago, but I would never let that happen now. Ever."

"I know." He said. "And that's why I love you. Because you love her as much as I do.

"Love you too, you little asshole." She said. "Now go to sleep. We have a lot of shit to sort out tomorrow."

___________________________________________

Eddie drove home the next morning.

Laney decided to stay home, but he could call her if he needed her.

She told him he started this mess, he'd have to get out of it.

He walked inside and the house was quiet.

He walked to Abbie's room and she was still asleep. It was early and she would normally be up in an hour or so.

He walked down the hall and opened the bedroom door.

He saw Charlie still lying in bed.

Her arm was dangling off the bed, and her pill bottle was lying on it's side, on her nightstand.

He panicked thinking the worst.

He was right. The worst had happened.

Her pill bottle was empty. Not a pill in sight.

Her breathing was shallow and she wouldn't respond to his shaking and screaming.

Abbie began wailing in the next room, hearing the desperate cries coming from her father's mouth.

Eddie dashed for the phone, calling 911, and then back to Charlie, as they gave him CPR instructions over the phone.

He hung up when the operator said an ambulance was coming. He held her head in his lap as his helpless cries and CPR did nothing for her.

EMS came and took her on a stretcher.

Eddie grabbed Abbie from her crib and held her until Theresa got there.

She was going to keep the baby while her son went to the hospital.
__________________________________________

"I fucked up!" Eddie screamed.

Laney desperately tried to console him in the waiting room of the hospital. She was trying to talk him off the ledge, while she stood on one herself.

One of her best friends was dying and the other one, guilt-ridden because of it.

"Eddie look at me!" Laney said, shaking him. "You're scaring me!!!" She said, crying. "Please calm down. Please! For my sake, please calm the fuck down."

"Laney I can't calm down. I fucking drove her to kill herself. And the last thing I said to her was that I was off to fuck you. Her best fucking friend!!!" He said.

Security responded because he was being so loud. They escorted him out to a private counseling room, until he was able to calm down.

He and Laney both bawled in each other's arms. They were both inconsolable. This was the worst day of their lives.

___________________________________________

Three hours passed, and Charlotte wasn't improving.

No one was permitted to see her, as her condition was unstable.

Eddie and Laney were able to come back to the waiting area, hoping to hear from the Dr. sooner than later.

He'd walk to the reception desk and beg for updates, but they wouldn't give him any.

He thought he'd suffered enough until he heard Code Blue being announced from the hospital intercom, along with the description of a 21 year-old female.

He gripped his long hair tightly, at the roots, on the verge of ripping out a handful. Hell, it felt like his heart was ripped from his chest, in that moment.

Around an hour later, the Dr. surfaced in the waiting room.

He called Eddie and Laney back to the counseling room with the news.

Eddie sat down nervously and listened to what the Dr. had to say.

"Miss Coleman coded on the table." The Dr. said.

Eddie fell over the table, as Laney rubbed his back.

"Sir, we were able to resuscitate her, and her condition is currently stable. " The Dr. said. "Don't get me wrong, she's got a long road ahead of her, but I'm pleased with my team, who was able to revive her. I'm glad you got her here when you did, or we'd be having an entirely different conversation right now." He said, before leaving the room.

Eddie cried in Laney's arms.

Charlie might still be alive, but he felt the full responsibility of her reaction to him leaving.

He'd never forgive himself.