Part Two: Apple
Gone But Not Forgotten.
Eddie Munson x Reader
Part Two of five > Masterlist for it >
HERE
(Special thanks to @syddsatyrn for being my beta reader, love u so much)
AN: IM SO INCREDIBLY SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG TO GET OUT. I KNOW THERES A FEW OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN WAITING SO PATIENTLY AND I THANK YOU FOR THAT. I HOPE YOU ENJOY PART TWO
Wordcount:3000
Warnings: fem!reader, mom!reader
APPLE.
Panic. Panic was the best word you could describe how you were feeling, maybe a little nauseous, also nervous? How else were you supposed to be feeling right now? Flitting around your apartment from room to room trying to tidy everything, and organize things in preparation for Eddie to come over for dinner.
Robin sat on the kitchen counter, feet swinging back and forth, stopping softly each time to prevent her heels from hitting the cabinet door. She watched Elora from her spot, keeping an eye while she babbled to herself quietly, playing with her toys in the gated off living room, safe from anything that could cause her harm, other than herself. She was clumsy just like her dad.
You smiled at your daughter, lost in her own world before returning your attention to the task at hand, which was for some reason organizing under the kitchen sink. You frowned looking at the two different cleaners in your hands.
"Why are you cleaning places he won't even see?" Robin asked, as if reading your thoughts.
You shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm panicking Robin" you said looking up at her.
"Yeah I know," She laughed lightly. "You've been basically vibrating for over an hour already"
Your shoulders slumped slightly and you put the two bottles back under the sink, locking it with the child proof lock and standing back up facing Robin.
"It's just Eddie babe" Robin said softly. "You know he doesn't care about all that stuff"
Rubbing a hand over your tired face you sighed, taking a quick glance at your daughter. "I know Robs I just" You trailed off. "I feel like I have to pretend I have my life together, that I've been doing this so easily on my own, like I have to prove something to him? I know it's not his fault he got hurt, or that he was afraid to come back, but it still really hurt, and my kid has been growing up without her dad when he was just a touch out of reach this whole time" tears welled up in your eyes and you rubbed them away quickly, annoyed for getting emotional about it.
"He'll understand I promise, this is probably killing him more than he'll show, and you just know, that he still loves you, you were his world" she said coming over to you, wrapping her arms around you in a hug. You buried your face into her shoulder slightly, hugging her back. You could practically feel her love for you pouring into every part of your body, and it warmed you almost instantly.
"Thank you" you whispered.
"Ahh please, it's what I'm here for" Robin said laughing, quickly being interrupted by Elora, babbling passionately towards you, her hands holding onto the bars of the baby fence. "Mama!" she said with a small bounce of her feet.
You and Robin broke your hug apart so you could turn your attention to your sweet little girl. Walking the short distance from the kitchen to the living room, reaching down over the fence and under her armpits to lift her up onto your hip. "What's up buttercup?" You asked, pushing her dark curls away from her face, trying to tuck most of them behind her tiny ears. "Nack?" she said with a tilt of her head.
"You want a snack? Mama will get you a snack princess" You said bringing her with you towards the fridge. Reaching inside while still holding her tight on your hip you brought out a green apple, some cheese, and figured you'd give her a couple of crackers as well. Smiling at robin as you moved around your apartment, dragging the borrowed highchair from Mrs. Wheeler, loudly into the kitchen before buckling in the tiny child. Her feet moved wildly in excitement, uncharacteristically unfazed about being buckled in. You squinted at her briefly with a smile. "You are being so good today baby, what's your angle huh?" You said poking her cheeks, fingers wiggling just under her ear as you tickled her until she laughed. "You waiting for Eddie to get here before you start being bad? Gunna save a tantrum for him?" you teased her for a little longer until she was a happy mess of giggles and drool. Swiping your finger across her chin to catch the wet mess of her mouth, wiping it on your jeans as you returned to your snack duty.
"You're so good with her" Robin said smiling, resuming her position on the counter, only closer to Elora this time.
"I kinda have to be" I said, glancing over at the two of them fondly.
"I dunno, I know some pretty shitty parents" She faked a cough. "The Harringtons" Another cough.
I frowned. "Poor guy. Least he has us I guess?" You said scrunching your nose with a smile. You went back to facing the counter, peeling the skin off before cutting up half of the apple into tiny pieces, small enough that you knew Elora wouldn't choke on them. Cutting the cheese into the same small size, and chucking a few tiny baby wafers into a small bowl and placing it on the tray in front of her, knowing she would just end up pouring everything out onto the tray anyway.
"Can you say Thank you mama?" You asked, wiping your hands onto your jeans.
"Thank'ew mama" She munched away on them happily, leaning over to offer every few pieces to Robin, who took them with the same enthusiasm.
"Can't forget about my lovely parents" You said, forcing an excited voice for your daughter who was beaming back at you.
"Don't remind me" Robin groaned. "That's kind of how you and Eddie became friends isn't it?"
You laughed a little at the memory. "Yeah, shit I forgot about that"
Endless nights of your parents fighting, sometimes about you, sometimes about each other, but always about something. You tried stepping in, but it never ended well when you did, resulting in many bruised arms from quick aggressive hands that grabbed at you, and cheeks a little too rosy from a swift back handed slap, once leaving you with a thin cut from your mothers wedding ring she still wore.
On many nights Eddie had found you sitting on the table of the picnic bench, knees tucked up to your chest with your chin resting on them, arms wrapped tightly around your legs. Sometimes your face was tearstained, lines of mascara and eyeliner smudged everywhere, and on a few occasions mixed with the blood from your cheek. It took every ounce of control Eddie had to not stomp over to your trailer across the street and give them a piece of his mind, not to mention how badly he wanted to beat the shit out of your father. Instead he put his focus onto you, helping in any way that he could, and for a while it wasn't much.
He would sit quietly next to you, his shoulder leaning against your knee from where he sat on the bench, chain smoking until he physically couldn't take it anymore. The two of you would sit for hours if that's how long it took for your parents to stop screaming at each other, and when the house was finally quiet, you would thank Eddie with a kiss to his cheek and hurry back inside, to get as much sleep as you could before having to wake up for school and start the whole cycle again.
Eventually it led to you falling asleep on Eddies couch, tucked up into the armrest until Eddie would gently wake you, sometimes to walk you back home, or to lead you to his bed depending on how tired you were. You stopped fighting him on sleeping over after only a few times, finding that you slept better with him in your vicinity than in the comfort of your own bed.
In the short few months of your life continuing like this, the minute you turned eighteen Eddie convinced Steve to let you stay in one of his spare rooms, even offering to pay him or his parents rent. He would have offered for you to stay with him, but the two of you weren't dating, let alone even remotely close to that and for you to share the only bedroom in the trailer it wasn't very ideal.
So you stayed with Steve for a while and he helped you get a part time job at family video to get you some extra cash in your pocket, and some sense of stability other than relying on your friends, no matter how many times they reassured you it was fine. Eventually leaving family video to work at a record store alongside Eddie, the two of you became inseparable, and you worked well together, bouncing off of each others energy.
When the two of you finally started dating no one was surprised, although you both thought you had kept your crushes for each other hidden well, everyone else had a bet going on about how long it would take for it to happen. (Robin won, she observed the two of you the most, logging every interacting into a notebook built into her head)
Then a few years later, once again, Hawkins turned to shit. For the others, this wasn't the first time they basically had to save the world but for you and Eddie it was, bringing the two of you even closer together. All of that happened while you were in the early stages of your pregnancy, completely unaware, and scared shitless of the state of your small town, but Eddie did everything he could to comfort you. Despite maybe even being more afraid than he let on, you were his priority, and he was going to keep you safe no matter what because he promised you that.
He kept that promise, he kept it so well that for the last two years you thought he was dead, and almost all of your friends did as well. He kept himself away from you for so long, that you had a baby, his baby, your baby. A tiny bundle of joy that looked at you with the same brown eyes as Eddie. Although at first it was hard to look at her, seeing so much of him in her, you knew that what you did was the right thing, and that if Eddie had been around the two of you would have been amazing parents, but for now you'd do it alone, and you did and you do. Thankful for your friends, and their families, bringing you into their homes and lives. Giving you that sense of comfort, knowing you and your little girl were always going to be safe with these people, and that they were her family just as much as they were yours.
Shaking your head from the memories, Robin looked at you with a knowing smile.
"I guess I'll head out and leave you to it yeah?" She said softly while hopping off of the counter.
"I mean you could stay and we can all-" she cut you off before you could finish.
"Nope! I've got places to go and people to see'' She said while skipping over to grab her bag and shove her feet clumsily into her shoes before coming back to leave a wet kiss on Eloras cheek.
"Call me later!" She yelled running out the door.
Looking back from the door to your daughter she had the same look on her face you assumed you did. "Aunty Robin is a weirdo isn't she?"
"Yeah" She said back as if she understood what you said, continuing to munch on her crackers.
You were able to get almost a full hour of cleaning in before Elora wanted you to give her more attention, getting extra whiny when you said "Just one more minute babe promise" you said scrubbing down the counter for a final time.
Looking at the clock, you noticed you had a good amount of time to get yourself and your child ready for Eddie.
Thankful for your past self that convinced you to wash your hair last night, because it was much easier to manage today as you ran your fingers through it to get it decent looking. Elora sat in the middle of your bed, TV remote in hand babbling away to it, holding it up against her ear the wrong way pretending to be on the phone. You decided to dress yourself first, knowing that a toddlers outfit would only stay clean for so long so you figured you'd dress Elora at the last minute
Staring at yourself in your full length mirror you sighed. Not much about you had changed since Eddie last saw you all those years ago, but the butterflies in your stomach were making you feel like this was your first date all over again. A pair of black jeans hugged to your hips, and a simple red t-shirt over top, it was only dinner in your apartment so you didn't dress up too much. Added a simple pair of earrings, and the guitar pick necklace you adored so much before getting Elora dressed. Not wanting to fight your toddler and those quick legs when frustrated you dressed her in a pair of black leggings, and a pink love sleeve shirt with tiny cartoon frogs all over it, one of her favorites. A knock on your door made you jump just as you were tugging up one of her frilly socks.
"Wanna go see who's at the door?" You asked excitedly, reaching for your daughter, hands under her armpits to lift her up onto your hip.
When you opened the door, your breath hitched. There stood Eddie, almost timid looking, dressed in a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans, not a single rip in the knees, and a bouquet of flowers in his arms.
"Hi" He blushed, eyes flickering to Elora briefly, who held onto you tightly, eyes quizzical as she looked at Eddie.
"Well don't you clean up nice" you teased "Wanna come in?" You asked, moving away from the door to give him space. "I didn't expect you to be here on time" You said with a laugh, which he returned.
"Me either, but I just kept staring at the clock"
"Oh here, you can put those on the counter, let me put her down and I'll find a vase" you said walking towards the living room, placing Elora on the other side of the baby gate, picking up the closest toy you could reach and handing it to her to prevent any whining. It worked, she took the toy happily and stumbled her way over to the middle of the carpet before plopping down on her butt.
You skipped back to Eddie, looking between him and the flowers. Unsure of whether to hug him or not. Should you kiss him? maybe on the cheek? Questions racing through your mind while you busied yourself searching through one of the locked cabinets for the only vase you knew you had. "Ah ha!" You exclaimed, bringing the vase out and onto the counter. "Thank you, by the way" You said quickly, embarrassed that you forgot to give your thanks.
"Of course" he said with a shrug and a small smile.
You shoved the flowers into the vase as best as you could, cutting stems where needed and rearranging them until they looked perfect. Leaning back against the counter you crossed your arms over your chest, looking at Eddie with a smug look. "Cat got your tongue Munson?"
He was leaning up against the fridge, hands shoved deep into his pockets while he watched Elora play in the distance.
"That's my kid" he said in disbelief. "Our kid" he corrected.
"Yeah" You said, turning to glance at her quickly.
"Does she... Um" he trailed off, one hand coming to scratch at the back of his head.
"You can ask about her Eddie, she's your daughter as much as she is mine" You said hopping up onto the counter, hands landing in your lap.
"Does she know who I am?" he asked finally.
Your heart ached. "Of course she knows who you are Eddie"
"I just... Didn't know what you would have told her, I know she's too young to understand some stuff" he looked down.
You sighed, sliding off of the counter and over to him, tugging his hand out of his pocket and holding on it, pulling him along with you towards the living room. Unlocking the baby gate and re-locking it behind the two of you.
Leading him to the couch you sat down, tucking your legs up under you, patting the spot next to you encouraging Eddie to sit with you. Elora noticed the two of you had come to join her, standing up on wobbly legs and running full speed into the side of the couch, looking up at you with big mischievous eyes and a giggle.
"What's that look for, little miss?" you asked, poking her cheek and she giggled more.
"Up?" she asked. "Please?"
Unable to ever say no to her, you lifted her up and onto your lap. "Thank you for asking so nicely" she crawled up you, feet digging into your thighs as she leaned her chest against yours, pulling out your necklace to fiddle with. "Mommy?" she whispered, suddenly shy as she glanced between you and Eddie, who watched her fondly. "Um" her brows furrowed, trying to think of the words she knew to ask you the question she wanted.
"What's up baby?" you said tightening one of her pigtails, tilting your head down slightly to see her better.
"Daddy?" she said even quieter, pointing very quickly towards Eddie before bringing her hands back to your necklace.
You heard Eddie almost choke on his inhale and when you looked up at him, his eyes were as watery as yours. You smiled at him before looking back down, Elora already looking up at you. "Yeah baby, that's your daddy"
*** TAGLIST: @tayhar811 @hazydespair @bubblebuttwade @bimbobaggins69 @livslifeonline @babywinter ***
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