"that thing's got batteries in it, right?" steve asked, looking at dustin's walkie talkie.

dustin sighed. "i'm not even answering that question." after a moment of silence, he shook his head. "yes, it has batteries."

"yeah, i got it." steve replied.

minutes passed, and the four left in the car all got out, hoping they would hear her if max tried to call for help. "that was longer than 20 seconds." steve accused when she walked back, but he quickly noticed that she was upset. "hey, whoa, whoa. you all right?"

"i'm fine, just drive." she responded, throwing her backpack into the car and climbing in without another word. she began to speak only to give them directions, and no one was going to tell her no at this point. "turn here."

the car pulled into a cemetery, and meadow wasn't quite surprised. max had one final letter in her hands as she walked up to billy's grave. the rest of the group stayed behind to give her some privacy, but meadow anxiously eyed the girl.

"are you okay?" steve asked as he looked over at her. she was leaning against his car, fidgeting her fingers and seemingly distant from the world. "sorry, i feel like i keep asking you that."

she shook her head. "no, i don't mind you asking. and honestly.. no. no, this is.." she frowned. "i don't think i can forgive myself if anything happens to these kids."

his gaze softened. he understood exactly what she was talking about. "i know, i know. me neither." steve replied, putting his hands on her arms. "she's gonna be okay." he said after a moment, looking over at max. "and we're gonna find venkman-"

"vecna." she corrected. "venkman is from the ghostbusters."

"okay, vecna, yeah. we're gonna find him and we're going to stop him, okay? just like the demogorgon and the mind flayer." he almost had to stop himself as he took in all of the names. "we're gonna stop him together."

meadow nodded then, leaning into his touch. "i just can't help but see all of them as my siblings, you know? or my kids or something." she looked over her shoulder at lucas and dustin. "i know you said we're always stuck babysitting, but i think it's good that it's us."

he tilted his head. "yeah?"

"yeah, i think, in some ways, maybe they need us. maybe not, maybe i'm just hoping they do. but i think we need them just as much, you know?" she shook her head, looking down at her shoes. "they really look up to you, steve."

this made him smile, and he grabbed her hand. "yeah, well, you're probably their biggest role model." he said. "remember when wheeler was giving me a hard time saying you were the babysitter?"

meadow laughed. "yes, i remember this quite vividly. you were so jealous about it, too."

"i was not!" he laughed. "but they all wanted you to lead them, they trusted you to make the calls for them. and even since then.. you're the one max went to hug, the one she trusts most. even el, despite all the trust issues she has to have, trusts you. and don't even get me started on dustin, how much he looks up to you. you're the parent and the sister that most of them have never gotten to have."

she hid her head in his shoulder, smiling widely. "thank you, i really needed to hear that."

he smiled, putting a hand on the back of her head. "we all love you, don't forget that." he kissed the top of her head.

max sat there for a while reading the letter, and the group had been waiting to give her time, but steve was beginning to get worried.

"alright, it's been long enough." he insisted, beginning to walk over to her.

"steve, just give her some time-" lucas argued.

"i have, alright sinclair?" steve countered. "i'm calling it. she wants to get a lawyer, she can."

he jogged over to her, and meadow stood immediately as she saw him repeat her name. she was in the trance again. "shit shit shit." she mumbled, making lucas and dustin follow her to where steve was standing. "max, hey, wake up, please." she pleaded, crouching next to her. "call robin and nancy!" she then yelled to dustin, who scrambled to his feet.

dustin, after what felt like forever, made contact with nancy and robin. "what's her favorite song?" he demanded after running back to the group, dropping max's walkman and various cassettes onto the grass. "robin said if she listens... it's too much to explain right now! what's her favorite song?"

they then began browsing through the various tapes in search of her favorite song, which lucas had informed them was running up that hill by kate bush. "found it found it." meadow said, handing it to steve as lucas put her headphones on.

it felt stupid, almost, screaming for her and waiting for her eyes to open without seeing any of the horrors that she was undoubtedly going through at the same exact second. they thought they were getting somewhere, but all four of them fell onto their backs in shock when max lifted into the air.

"holy shit holy shit holy shit." meadow hid behind steve. "what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck." she continued, looking up as max levitated.

suddenly, she dropped, and everyone moved to catch her. max crumbled into lucas' arms, and the group collectively slumped into a pile of relief. "i'm okay, i'm still here." max assured them.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

after the eventful day, they had all crashed at the wheelers. meadow woke up groggily to the sound of eddie's voice on the walkie talkie. "dustin? earth to dustin?"

she grabbed it from the table. "it's meadow."

"older henderson! hey!" eddie replied. "um, i'm gonna need a food delivery. like, really soon, unless you want me going out into the world."

meadow shook her head. "yeah, i think we both know how bad of an idea that is. stay where you are, we'll be there as soon as we can. we're kind of preoccupied here."

"too preoccupied for me?" he teased.

"definitely too preoccupied for you." she replied.

eddie laughed. "very flattering. do you think you could pick me up a six-pack?"

"that's your food delivery?"

"i know, it's stupid as shit, drinking right now, but a cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves." he insisted.

meadow nodded. "yeah, right, that's totally.." she trailed off as she noticed that max's corner of the basement was unoccupied. "hey, eddie, i'm gonna have to call you back.."

"no. no. henderson. no, meadow-"

"dustin!" she pushed him in the chest. "wake up."

"what?"

"where's max?"

"what?"

"you had one job." his sister groaned.

dustin looked to the corner, where max certainly wasn't. "i swear, i only dozed off for.." he looked at his watch. "an hour."

"you're kidding me."

the two walked upstairs, and meadow stopped in her tracks as she saw max sitting at the kitchen table, safe, and drawing something with her headphones playing a loop of her favorite song.

"morning guys!" karen wheeler greeted. "everything okay?"

meadow turned to look at her. "oh, yeah, yeah, everything's okay. i was just wondering if you had any breakfast?" she found that excuses and lies were coming to her quicker and quicker these days. "dustin and i are super hungry, if it's not an issue."

she smiled. "of course! help yourself, please." she gestured to the pancakes she'd made. "i think it's so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this."

"could try sticking together at a different house for a change." ted spoke in his usual monotone.

"some things never change." meadow mumbled under her breath.

nancy soon followed them into the kitchen, and she sat with max, who was drawing (just as will had) what she'd seen during her trance. "do you think vecna's just trying to scare you?" nancy asked.

"with billy? yeah." max nodded. "but when i made it here," she pointed to the drawing, "i don't know, something was different. he seemed surprised, almost. like he didn't want me there." she explained.

"maybe you infiltrated his mind." dustin suggested when meadow sat down. "he invaded your mind, right? is it that big of a leap to suggest you somehow wound up in his?" he paused for a second. "like freddy krueger's boiler room."

"freddy krueger?" holly, mike's younger sister, asked.

dustin nodded. "he's a super burned up dude with razors for fingers. and he kills you in your dreams-"

meadow shook her head as holly became visibly concerned. "seriously, dude?"

"sorry. it's.. it's a movie." he said. "it's not real. at all." he then turned back to max. "what if you somehow unlocked a backdoor to vecna's world? like, maybe the answer we're looking for is somewhere in this incredibly vague drawing." he analyzed it for a second before cursing. "god, we need will."

"no shit." max agreed. "but i tried them again his morning, and it's the same busy signal."

"california dreamin'." meadow said to the tune of the song. eleven, will, and mike were uncontactable, apparently.

nancy reached for one of the papers. "is this a window?" she asked.

"yeah." max nodded.

"stained glass with roses."

"yeah. see, i'm not so terrible after all." she then said to dustin.

nancy nodded. "yeah, well it helps that i've seen it before." she folded the paper, and began rearranging the others and folding them.

meadow watched as she put them all back together and outlined them. "wait, is that.."

"pieces of a house." max said.

nancy shook her head. "not just any house." she put the door on the front. "it's victor creel's house."

meadow fell back into her seat. "great. haunted house, here we come."