Rescue me

7

I proceeded to tell them everything, starting when I started dating Josh and finishing with what happened today and why I’m here with Eddie. Neither of them spoke for a minute, just looked back and forth between themselves and Eddie and me. Steve was the first to react, which entailed him walking out of the trailer and slamming the door behind him. I went up to go after him, but Eddie stopped me. “I’ll go.” he said, following Steve outside.

“Y/n, I had no idea what you were going through. I wish you could have told me, or anyone for that matter. We could have helped you. Your dad’s the Sheriff for christ sake. You didn’t have to go through that alone.” Robin said, sitting next to me and hugging me.

“I tried, numerous times. Once he caught on to what I was doing, it ended badly for me so I just stopped trying. He cut me off from everyone except for him. He almost cost me my job numerous times. Hell, I’m sure I lost my job now. And that’s exactly what he wanted, to ruin my life and anything good that’s in it.” I said, full on sobbing by the time I was done.

“Jesus, it was that bad? I’m sorry. I knew something wasn’t right when you suddenly stopped hanging with all of us. Even the kiddos were confused. We didn’t know what to tell them.”

“I’m sorry Robs, I really am. I wanted to reach out, I really did but I couldn’t. He threatened to hurt or kill anyone I tried to contact. I was more afraid of him than anything that the upside down spit out at us.” I said, finally calming down a bit. Steve and Eddie came back in shortly after, and I jumped up to hug Steve.

“Please don’t be mad at me Steve. I wanted to tell you, tell anyone I just couldn’t” I said, burying my face in his shirt. He hugged me back, tightly. I could feel his body shake, and that’s when I realized that he’d been crying. 

“I’m not mad at you bit. I’m mad at myself, mad that I let this happen, that I couldn’t protect you.” Steve said, resting his head on mine. 

“It’s not your job Steve, please don’t feel like it’s your fault. I’m ok now, can we all just focus on that? I don’t wanna deal with this anymore.” I said, leaning back to look at him. He nodded, but I could still see the tears he shed. 

“So, you and Munson huh?”  he asked, rolling his eyes. I slapped his chest and he laughed.

“You could definitely do worse.” Steve said, shaking Eddie’s hand, a sign of understanding between the two men. I pulled away from Steve to embrace Eddie, thankful that he was able to talk Steve down from whatever he was planning on doing and bring him back.

“We still have a movie left to watch. You guys wanna join us?” Eddie asked, and they both jumped onto the other couch, making themselves comfortable. I returned to my spot in Eddie lap, curled up into his chest, watching Robin and Steve bicker about the snacks they brought.

I felt myself getting tired again, so I shifted to stand up. Eddie looked up at me, curious.

“I’m going to bed, I can’t seem to stay awake. Have fun and enjoy your movie, guys.” I said, yawning and waving goodbye. Robin jumped up and ran to hug me.

“I’m not gonna lose you again, am I?” she asked.

“Not a chance, Robs. I’m not going anywhere, well except to bed haha.” I replied, hugging her hard before she skipped back to the couch, jumping on Steve, making him groan.

“Jesus Robin, I’d like to have kids someday!” Steve grunted out, hunching over in pain.

“Yea, we know. 6 little nuggets. You’ll be fine, quit complaining.” she replied, grinning from ear to ear. God how I missed them. They pretend to hate each other, but they’re inseparable and better people for it.

“Want some help making up the bed?” Eddie asks, getting up from the couch and following me to my new room.

“No, but you can keep me company until I fall asleep. If that’s ok?” I asked, not entirely sure I could fall asleep without him. I was so used to sleeping alone, even when Josh was around. He would crash on the couch, claiming my bed was too uncomfortable. A year together and he would sleep on the couch, even after sex. 

“It would be my pleasure. Anything I can do to help, I’m more than happy to do it. Plus I get more snuggles with my girl? Just a bonus for me.” He replied, smiling his dimpled smile at me.

After finally getting the bed made, taking longer than it should have since Eddie thought a pillow fight was a good idea, I finally crawled into bed with Eddie crawling in behind me. I turned so that we were face to face, just staring at each other. Eddie lifted his hand to move a piece of hair from my face and I flinched, completely involuntary. He froze, hand in the air, before carefully moving his hand back down.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I did that.” I whispered, embarrassed. 

“Hey, no apologies. It’s a trauma response, and after what you’ve been through I’m actually surprised it didn’t happen sooner. I’ll be more careful, ok? I want you to know you’re safe with me. It’ll take time to process all of this, but I’ll be here every step of the way, ok?”

“Trauma response? What does that even mean?” I asked, having never heard that phrase before.

“It’s something your brain does to process, well trauma. It comes in many forms, like an abused woman flinching when someone moves too quickly or unexpectedly around them.” 

“But I know you won’t hit me, why would I flinch around you?” I asked, not really understanding.

“I know that you know that, but your brain doesn’t yet. Like I said, it’ll take your brain time to process all of this. It might get ugly, but I’ll be here to help you, no matter what.” Eddie said, kissing my forehead lightly.

“How do you know about all of this?” I asked, looking up at him again. He took a deep breath and sat up before he told me.