Right Side Up (Steddie)

I'll Die Trying

Steve paced his jail cell nervously. After spending the night there, they'd finally given him his phone call and he'd called Nancy. That had been several hours ago. He was getting angrier by the minute. Where the hell was she? He needed to get out of here and get back to Eddie. He had no idea how Eddie was doing, no idea if they'd found out anything with all their tests, no idea about anything. When he got to the point where his anger was bubbling over and he was ready to explode, one of the deputies came and unlocked his cell.

"Come on, Harrington," he said. "You're out of here." He stopped pacing, confused. Why were they letting him go? "Your girlfriend is here. Says she was with you when Munson showed up and you took him directly to the hospital."

"My girlfriend?"

"Wheeler," he answered. "Nancy, I think she said." Steve stepped out of the cell and the deputy closed it behind him. "I guess we can't charge you with harboring a fugitive if you turned him over right away."

As they rounded a corner, Steve saw Nancy standing near the intake desk, looking nervous and upset. She rushed to him when she saw him and took one of his hands in hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Neither said anything as the deputy processed him out of custody and gave him his personal belongings back. Once they were outside, in Nancy's car, and driving away, Steve finally sighed in relief.

"Thank you, Nance."

"I'm sorry it took so long," she told him. "I sat there all morning waiting for someone to talk to me."

"Have you heard anything about Eddie?" She shook her head. "Shit."

"I called the hospital while I was waiting, but they wouldn't tell me anything."

"Take me back to the police station," he said suddenly. "I need to tell them Eddie was with me when Chrissy died." Nancy gave him a sideways look. "Nancy, turn around."

"Will that work?"

"How could he have killed Chrissy, or Patrick, or Jason," Steve asked. "He was with me. There's no way he could have."

"Do you think they'll believe that when I just claimed you turned him in when he showed up at your house?" Steve shook his head. No, they wouldn't believe it. He had to come up with something else. He had to get Eddie back. "Robin and the boys are at your house waiting. Let's go back there and figure something out. Okay?"

Steve nodded once. "I need to call Wayne," he said. "He gave me the number to his motel." He started digging through his pockets and found the motel business card with Wayne's room number on the back. "I wonder if they've given him any news about Eddie."

When they got to Steve's house, Steve waded through the group as they surrounded him, wanting to know what had happened. Nancy had only given them brief details, because that was all she really had. He waved away the flurry of excited questions, from Robin and Dustin mostly, and went straight for the phone. Wayne answered on the first ring, sounding anxious.

"Wayne, have you heard anything?"

"I just got a call asking me to come down," he told Steve. "The doctor wants to talk to me."