❁

and meadow took a small step back, looking over at steve anxiously. "stay inside." he warned her, moving towards the door. she nodded, remembering the fact that billy's current life goal was to be with her, for whatever reason.

"am i dreaming or is that you, harrington?" meadow heard billy ask once steve walked outside. one of the windows was open, allowing everyone inside access to the conversation.

"yeah," steve replied, "it's me. don't cream your pants."

meadow put a hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing. "what are you doing here, amigo?" billy asked, closing his car door.

"i could ask you the same thing.." steve trailed off, "amigo."

"looking for my stepsister." billy replied, making meadow look over to max. "a little birdie told me she was here."

"huh, that's weird." steve replied. "i don't know her."

billy frowned. "small, redhead, bit of a bitch."

steve shook his head. "nope, doesn't ring a bell, sorry buddy."

billy sighed. "you know, i don't know, this.. this whole situation, harrington, i don't know.. it's giving me the heebie-jeebies."

meadow furrowed her brow. "what the hell?" she mouthed, joining the kids in looking out the window.

"yeah?" steve asked. "why's that?"

billy dropped his cigarette. "my thirteen year old sister goes missing all day, and then i find her with you, in a stranger's house. and you lie to me about it."

steve nodded, a frustrated smile on his face. "man, were you dropped too much as a child, or what?" billy laughed at the comment. "i don't know what you don't understand about what i just said. she's not here." he shook his head.

"then who is that?" billy spoke, pointing his finger at the window.

"shit!" meadow whispered, pulling all the kids down from the window, though it was too late.

billy then barged through the open door as meadow pushed all the kids behind her. "well, well, well. oh, and henderson's here, too!" he said, looking at her. "you disobeyed me." billy then said to max, moving closer to her. meadow held both arms open to protect the kids, stepping back to make more distance between them and billy. "and you know what happens when you disobey me." he continued. "i break things."

he pushed meadow over, immediately charging for lucas. she fell onto dustin and mike, who helped her up, checking to see if she was okay. "you stay away from her." billy told lucas, holding him by his collar.

"does anyone have a weapon?" meadow asked, looking around the house for a way to hit billy. she spotted steve's bat, immediately grabbing it. "here goes nothing." she said under her breath, moving over to billy, who held lucas to a shelf.

meadow swung the bat, hitting billy. the nails didn't tear enough skin for him to actually be too hurt; fighting off the demodogs had taken away a lot of the sharpness from the weapon. he moved to the side, dropping lucas on the floor. lucas ran around them, moving back to his friends, and behind meadow. she held the bat threateningly.

"what are you gonna do, princess?" billy mumbled, unimpressed. "you gonna hit me?" she swung the bat again, hitting him in the leg this time, sending him stumbling into the wall. the bat then got stuck in the wall, and meadow didn't bother trying to get it out, knowing that if she made the move, she'd be in a more vulnerable position. "you are so dead." billy mumbled, standing up and moving as if to hurt her.

"no." steve said, pushing billy away. "you are." he sent a punch to his head, knocking him into the dishwasher.

billy laughed as the kids all began to cheer steve on. "looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh?" he asked. "i've been waiting to meet this," he gestured with his arms, "king steve everybody's been telling me so much about."

"get out." steve said, not wanting to start a fight. billy simply smiled in response, pulling his arm back for a punch. steve dodged it, sending a punch to billy instead.

dustin laughed. "yes! kick his ass, steve!" meadow pushed the kids all back, not wanting any of them to get hurt. "murder the son of a bitch!" dustin continued. steve landed more punches to billy, sending him further into the kitchen.

billy grabbed a plate, crashing it on steve's head. "steve!" meadow cried out, holding dustin back as he attempted to run towards him. steve held a hand to his head, caught off guard. billy hit him again, sending the two of them further into the house.

meadow fought the urge to step in, knowing that she wouldn't be able to beat billy by herself. she resorted to holding the kids back; specifically dustin, who wanted to help his friend.

"no one tells me what to do." billy suddenly said, head butting steve. he fell to the ground, and all of the kids began fearfully yelling for him to get up.

meadow looked around, frantic. "you're gonna kill him!" she cried, a tear running down her face. she knew that steve couldn't take punches very well; he'd nearly fallen over from the punch she'd given him a year before.

billy crawled on top of steve, just sending blow after blow to his face. meadow looked to the kids, frightened tears beginning to stream down her face. "there's gotta be something else we can use, some other weapon.." she looked around the room desperately. "come on!" she screamed, digging through drawers.

max found a syringe, grabbing it and pushing past mike and lucas. she approached billy, sticking it into his neck. he stood up, moving as if to hurt her before immediately falling to the ground.

"that'll work." meadow said, exasperated, finally moving and yanking the bat from out of the wall. she was glad she hadn't tried to do it earlier: it took multiple tries before it finally gave. she handed the bat to max, who held it up threateningly.

"from now on," max said, holding the bat above her stepbrother's head, "you leave me and my friends alone. do you understand?" billy laughed, making her land the bat between his crotch to prove her point. "say you understand! say it. say it!"

billy looked up. "i understand." max made him repeat it before he passed out on the ground.

meadow immediately fell to steve's side, checking to make sure he was still breathing. "he's alive, but we're gonna need some band-aids." mike tossed her a box that she caught with one hand, putting the hello-kitty bandaids onto steve's face. "his keys?" she asked, catching them as max tossed them to her. "help me get him to the car."