Chapter Text
November 1987
She never thought that this would be her life, a boy who was ridiculously devoted her and she never understood why.
Lucas Sinclair had given her so much even when she couldn't so much as give him the light of day, he stayed with her every day for 18 months, what boy would do that, especially after they had fought several times, they had broken up several times yet this boy stuck by her.
Max Mayfield is a lot of things, fearless, loud, reserved but emotions were never her strongest point, after Billy dying, her best friend moving away and then never getting to say goodbye when said best friend killed herself, being traumatised in the mind of a madman, scared about Holly Wheeler not escaping the mind of Henry Creel.
But this boy stuck through it with her, she was awake now, everything has stopped yet she is still living those horrors, the scars and the pain, the feeling of weakness.
Every day she is plagued by the noises, by the screams, by the scenes she had seen not just from the coma and that evening
It was now a few days after November 6th, Max still in the hospital but awake, she could not wait to leave but knew it would take time, that's what Lucas was constantly saying, what the nurses were saying, Vickie was her saviour as well as Lucas, Vickie constantly checked up on her when her shift at the hospital allowed her too, it was soon recommended that she starts physical therapy which scared Max, Lucas however was right by her side whether she liked it or not.
Lucas had been wanting to talk about what happened to them, to her but did not want to push, he was happy that she was awake, he could hear her voice whenever she spoke and her voice was a melody even if Max rolled her eyes if he said it but would take it to heart anyway.
Their relationship was something they wanted to talk about, Lucas remembers what happened before her coma, they broke up but he offered that movie date and he was going to keep that promise no matter what happened. Max on the other hand was more none the wiser perhaps forgetting they had even broken up in the first place, that was what she explained to Holly, she referred to him as her boyfriend.
During those few days he never asked, Max only said a few words about it at a time, most of the time it was the occasional, "are we okay?" , "Yes" , "good" .
It was nighttime at the hospital, the nurse won't check up on her for another two hours allowing them the chance to talk, properly.
"Max, when you escaped what happened, what did you see?"
"I saw you, Vickie, Robin, I saw everyone, me and Holly were talking about how to escape, how she needed to find her portal. I told her to think of happy things, something important, 'cause that's what I did."
Lucas nodded.
"When I escaped, it was so scary, when I was waking up I could feel you and I was at rest even if I couldn't move at all. You saved me Lucas."
"You saved yourself, you saved Holly."
"I feel guilty for Holly."
"She's okay, she's a little scarred but she is going to be okay, she was able to go home after her checkup."
Max smiled, something about hearing about Holly and maybe because of the time she spent in the mind of Henry Creel has changed some part of her.
"I feel sad I can't move."
"You will, you will get there, the physical therapy will help."
"What if I'm not ready?"
"They will work with you, they're not going to force you to start doing extreme physical activity, they're going to build you up."
"It sounds it will take some time."
"It will, you didn't move for 18 months."
"You were with me for 18 months, why?"
Lucas didn't know how to answer that, he felt like it was an obligation but also the right thing to do, he felt guilty for what happened but also thought she would need company.
"Because you weren't here, I felt sorry for you."
"So you felt guilty? You thought I was some sort of sad puppy?" She inquires.
"No, I didn't feel guilty or think that. I just wish you didn't have to deal with that."
"But you still felt like you needed to prove something."
"What did I need to prove?"
She didn't really have answer, she looked at him, he looked handsome she then chastised herself for thinking that.
"I'm not sure."
"Then you've answered my question, I didn't need to prove anything, I just wanted to be there for you."
Max smiled.
"Thank you."
Lucas held her hand tightly, the warmth of his hand warmed her inside, it was a new thing for him, she didn't understand why he did it but she was glad he did.
She was falling in love with him again, because of course she was. She was still scared of saying "I love you" but one day she will say it, she loved the chase of those days of her breaking up with him but even she didn't expect him to act like he did with her.
She regretted the way that she pushed him, Dustin and Mike away after Billy died, she regretted all of that and wished she hadn't done it, especially with Lucas, it could have gone so worse than it did.
December 1987
Max was now out of hospital and had been out for a week, now relying on her wheelchair, she was slowly building her strength again.
It would take her weeks more and months more before she can truly be herself again, but what made her keep going was the relentless devotion of one Lucas Sinclair, she noticed herself blushing more when he spoke to her, when he would care for her, which she almost wished he didn't have to do though she was now going to be living with him so she almost appreciated it too.
Every time she went to physical therapy, it was her and Lucas, occasionally Mike, Dustin or Will would come along but always Lucas, always standing at the end of the parallel bars as he watched Max gain strength in her legs. Every time she went further than she could previous, soon enough she was getting to the middle of the parallel bars, seeing this made Lucas happy, when Mike or Dustin or Will were there it would make them smile too. It was too early for non-supported walking, the physical therapist Anna explained that her strength is not quite there yet and once she graduates from the wheelchair and parallel bars she would likely need crutches for a short period before having a cane that is if she continues on the path that she is on.
Her wheelchair almost became an extension of her, it enabled her to move, her arms were still weak so actually pushing the wheels was tricky but Lucas took pride in helping her move around, he would carry her, despite her protests but quickly she stopped protesting because of how safe she felt in his arms.
He was so athletic, still a huge nerd but the way he never stopped loving her even if they still were not back in their relationship at least fully, she hoped with Christmas that it would change, that Lucas would come through and kiss her already.
Still, every day Lucas would carry her up and down the stairs with wheelchair in tow, not once complaining, not once talking negatively about it or her, it was like caring for Max was his duty, something he has to do because he wants to, not because he feels he needs to, there is an alternate reality where it's Erica or Lucas's parents or even Hopper or anyone else doing this, she was glad to be in a world where Lucas Sinclair was the best person she could ask for.
"I won't give up on you." Lucas had said at 3am in the morning when Max had another nightmare, the nightmares were a constant occurrence, leading to her waking up in the middle of the night screaming.
She would see Lucas dying, Lucas being taken from her, his bones shattered.
She would see El, dying all over again. She would see El defending her and dying for her.
She would even see Dustin, Will or Mike die in front of her eyes.
She would hear Billy, see him threatening her, see him threatening Lucas.
She would see Henry Creel's face when she was in his memories.
She would hear voices.
Lucas was always there, holding her down, comforting.
She hated it, even when she loved it.
She hated how she felt like she was a patient, she felt like she was fragile, despite Lucas' constant "you're not fragile, you're Max Mayfield."
Christmas was meant to be a cheerful celebration but here she was crying over her nightmares, her mom had gone and her location unknown, Billy was dead, her stepdad and her bio dad both gone, she was all alone at the Sinclair house, she hated how she couldn't do everything, how she had to get help.
There were days that she was in her bed and wanted to take something off the nightstand that she would fall out of bed because she could not support herself, she's knocked things over, she hated the clumsiness.
Sue would help her clean herself, she hated being 16 and not being able to properly clean herself, she hated the pity that was in Sue's eye even though she could appreciate she was trying.
Sue and Charles were not aware of everything that had happened, why Max was in a coma, why Lucas had to be patched up, a shirt that was bloody what they didn't know it was a mix of Lucas' blood and the blood of an interdimensional being.
That was until a few days before Christmas and they both decided to talk about what had happened in the last four years, all they asked for was for them to be prepared because they may not believe that half of the things they talk about were actually real and did happen to them and to their friends and loved ones.
Sitting them down in the living room, Max and Lucas were next to each other, Lucas bringing a chair next to Max in her wheelchair but not too close to make her feel uncomfortable, Max desperately wishing he had come a little bit closer but he was in front of his parents so she expected it "god he's handsome" she was thinking, they smiled at each other before talking.
They started by explaining what the parents already knew, Will had gone missing back in '83, but then it was for what they didn't know, what happened next was them finding a girl who had a buzz cut and telekinesis and telepathy, the girl disappears when she kills this monster.
These things keep coming back, there are gates leading to an alternate dimension of Hawkins, they explained the meat puppet and people dying including Max's brother Billy who sacrificed himself after being controlled and manipulated by a shadow figure called the Mind Flayer.
Again and again the girl with the no longer buzz cut had come back and was the reason they survived every single time, the girl goes to California and is then taken to Nevada and she gets her powers back while the strange murder of Chrissy Cunningham and others were due to Vecna, also known as Henry Creel also known as One, who was even more powerful than El. Max comes under his curse and is tormented and when they thought Vecna was gone, Max was taken from them being dead for a few minutes before somehow coming back to life before going into the coma which was actually a trance and she was stuck in the mind of Henry Creel.
Little Holly Wheeler gets taken by the evil monster and is trapped in the mind of Henry too, as well as the other kids and she and Max escape, the Abyss happens and the mindflayer is killed and Vecna dies before the special girl known as El dies as the Upside Down is destroyed.
They included all the details they could, how El lost and regained her powers, how El could close gates and was the reason Henry was banished to Dimension X, the Wheeler's house was totally destroyed by those monsters and Karen and Ted had nearly died.
They talk about Kali, El's sister, they talk about the experiments that El had been put through, how they've all been in the Upside Down and have killed these beings, how Will was possessed back in '84 and could feel the mindflayer and was used as a hivemind.
Sue and Charles had let them talk, as Lucas said not quite believing everything but having to because it was all true, all of it did happen, right under their noses, it was done but knowing that it happened was still a shock, partially the government's fault, partially the military's fault, it had all happened.
All of this explained why Max had nightmares, why Lucas often looked like he was seeing a ghost, when Dustin, Will and Mike all come over, they all look withdrawn, tired and exhausted.
Those four years had put such a toll on all of them, no more were they the young, carefree 12 years olds, they were now traumatised 16 year olds, soon to be 17 in the case of Lucas only a few days away from his birthday.
Mike looked like someone had taken his heart out of his chest and also looked like he had not slept for weeks, bags under his eyes and a drawn face.
Dustin looked tired and no more looked like the bubbly 12 year old that they had once known, he looked more mature, Dustin was still in there but traumatised.
Will looked like he has seen a ghost, he and Lucas both looked the same, their eyes constantly darting around the room, any room they would be in, like something was going after them, Will impulsively touching his neck.
They had only recently met Max properly, but knew before everything that she was a kind girl who kept to herself but now looked so broken not helped by the fact she is in a wheelchair and had been in a coma for 18 months.
They were almost glad that El was dead, they had no idea what she looked like, what she was like but knowing how they were feeling and looking and knowing El's whole life, they wouldn't have been surprised to find a shell of a human being who was traumatised beyond belief.
Sue and Charles didn't talk as they let Max and Lucas speak, but they saw them look a little lighter as if it was a huge weight bearing down on them, Lucas had held Max's hand the entire time, still they weren't together and Max was wondering what was taking Lucas so long to ask.
Sue immediately suggested they went to therapy before Max shut it down.
"They would ask questions, things they shouldn't know." She had said. "Beside how are they meant to deal with two teenagers who have seen supernatural things, it's not something they would find in a textbook."
"But you don't have to talk about the mindflayer and demogorgans or Henry if you don't want to surely." Sue questions.
"Too much of the trauma is reliant on all of those things."
"That lab…would they have anyone, or someone who has had history with those things?"
"Maybe, but I don't think we can find one."
"I think you'll be able to."
Lucas and Max both looked at each other, both not agreeing but not wanting to say it, something melancholic about the way they looked at each other, Lucas' parents could see it.
"We want to, really want to, but trying to explain these things is so difficult."
"Well you did it with us."
It was true, one day they'll be able to overcome it, together, because they love each other.
Max would, she would one day tell Lucas that she loves him, perhaps sooner than he would think, maybe even his birthday, a Christmas present for his birthday.
She could hear it…
"I love you Lucas."
"I love you Max."