dustin henderson walked into the house panting. he was damp, confused, and a little scared. with the events that had transpired that night, he craved a little bit of normalcy. he made his way into the kitchen to see an empty pot of mac and cheese and a note.

out back with steve, not dead :)

the younger henderson walked to the backyard and found his sister and steve on a blanket, fast asleep. the two had gone outside to look at the stars and relax but underestimated how tired they were. lydia had steve's jacket wrapped around her and was out cold next to her friend who was also sound asleep. dustin walked up to the two and prodded steve's face repeatedly.

"what is it, henderson?" the tiredness evident in his voice. dustin rolled his eyes as he showed steve the time on his watch. "oh shit i should probably get home." when he lightly shook the sleeping girl in an attempt to wake her up, he received an incoherent mumble in response.

"you know that she's a deep sleeper, you should probably just leave her out here." dustin added before walking inside. there were very few moments where lydia henderson looked peaceful but at that moment she looked as peaceful as ever. wrapping her in the blanket, steve picked up his best friend and placed her gently on her bed despite the urge to toss her onto her mattress to see if she would wake up. he threw off her socks and pulled her comforter up before pushing the hair out of her face and turning off the lamp on her nightstand. as he got up to walk out she shifted and began mumbling.

"steve." he turned around and sat on the bed, waiting to see if she talked some more. "love you." he chuckled at the tired girl, squeezing her hand before turning off her light. he closed the door, but not before sticking his head in, whispering "love you too."