From Hell to Home To Back Again
Summary: At the talent show, Chrissy Cunningham is so hungry that she nearly collapses. When she's found by Hopper, her parents ended up losing custody of her. She ends up being placed in the care of the Hendersons, and she finally finds the family she so desperately needed. She also ends up falling in love. What other changes are made in this alternate universe?
@emen-98 @1lostsoul0fishbowl
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chrissy was putting her books in her locker, humming a Bob Dylan song under her breath as she did so. She slammed her locker close, jumping when she saw Eddie leaning against the other side of her locker. She glared at him.
"Hey, Witch," Eddie grinned.
"Hey, Freak," she said and slapped his shoulder. "You scared me."
"Sorry. . .so, you're a fan of Bob Dylan?" Eddie asked.
"Who isn't?" Chrissy asked with a grin.
"Hmm, my mom was a fan. . . not as much as she was of Muddy Waters, though," Eddie said and paused. "I still have some of her records. Hey! I got a good idea!"
"What?" Chrissy asked.
"You want to come over this evening and listen to them?" Eddie asked.
"Um. . .yeah, I would love that!" Chrissy exclaimed with excitement, her eyes lighting up, and she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.
Eddie grinned bashfully at her, pulling a lock of hair in front of his face to hide behind it. They stared at each other for a moment before Eddie cleared his throat and dropped his hair.
"So, how was your Christmas break?" Eddie asked.
"It was good. Quiet meal with my mom, my brother, and the Byers'," Chrissy said.
"The Byers'?" Eddie asked.
"Oh, yeah, Will wanted to have Christmas dinner with us, but I honestly think he wanted to escape his mother's cooking. There's a lot of things that Joyce Byers can do, but cooking is not one of them. Luckily, for them, Dusty and I love to cook together," Chrissy grinned. "Plus, I think Will wanted to spend some more drawing time together."
"You draw?" Eddie asked.
"Yeah, I'll bring by my sketchbook and show you," Chrissy said. "You're going to have to tell me where you live."
"Or I could drive you after school," Eddie said. "If you don't mind."
"You're lucky I have my sketchbook in my bag," Chrissy said. "See you after school."
Chrissy couldn't stop grinning for the rest of the day. She grinned all the way to lunch, plopping down at the table with a wistful smile on her face.
"You look like you have a hanger in your mouth, Henderson," Steve said.
"You do. What's got you so happy? Did you do something slutty?" Robin asked.
"I'm going over to Eddie's house to listen to records after school," Chrissy replied.
"Oh, so you're going to do something slutty," Robin said.
"Not necessarily, Robin," Nancy said, but she was grinning.
"You guys are taking something completely innocent and turning it into something dirty," Chrissy laughed.
"Doesn't sound so innocent to me," Jonathan said. "Are his parents going to be there?"
"His dad and no," Chrissy frowned. "I doubt we're going to do anything, and just because I like him doesn't mean that he likes me back."
"He'd be crazy not too," Steve scoffed.
Chrissy scooped some peas into her spoon and held it up threateningly.
"Enough, anyone who says anything else about it gets the peas," Chrissy said.
"Well, I'm terrified," Steve said sarcastically, and Nancy laughed.
Chrissy couldn't help but let her thoughts get the best of her as the rest of the day moved at a snail's pace. Finally, the end of the came around, she waved at Steve and Nancy as she walked towards Eddie's van. She found him walking towards it with a long-legged girl wearing a baseball cap. She looked like she could be his sister. That must be Ronnie, his best friend since he was eight or so Eddie had told her. She bounced over to them.
"Hi!" Chrissy exclaimed, startling Eddie.
"Jesus! Are you getting me back for this morning?" Eddie asked, putting his hand to his chest.
"Yeah," Chrissy replied.
"Don't be such a witch, Henderson," Eddie said teasingly.
"Don't be such a freak, Munson," Chrissy replied.
"You must be Chrissy," the other girl said.
"You must be Ronnie, Eddie's told me so much about you," she said, as she reached out to shake her head.
"And Eddie simply won't shut up about you," Ronnie said. "Even told us all about how you have a little brother who plays D&D whom you simply adore."
"Shut up, Ecker! Speaking of your little brother, is he getting a ride from someone?" Eddie asked.
"He usually rides his bike home with his party, but he's being driven home by Jonathan Byers today," Chrissy shrugged. "You haven't even met him yet, and you're very concerned about his well-being."
"Well, he's a future member of Hellfire," Eddie grinned. "Can't let potential like that get away."
"Hopefully, Hellfire will still be there by the time he gets to high school," Ronnie said. "Bet Higgins is going to get rid of it once you graduate."
"God, I hate that guy. He always calls me Miss Cunningham," Chrissy rolled her eyes.
"Why?" Ronnie asked.
"It was my name before I got adopted," Chrissy said. "It doesn't matter how many times I correct him, he still does it."
"What an asshole," Ronnie said.
"I hope you don't mind, but I promised Ronnie here a ride back home," Eddie said.
"No. I don't mind, I can ride in the back. . .unless you changed your mind about me coming over," Chrissy said.
"Never!" Eddie grinned.
"You're more than welcome to sit up front with Eddie," Ronnie said, smiling knowingly.
"No, I'm good," Chrissy grinned. "Seriously."
Ronnie punched Eddie in the arm, laughing at him, before climbing into the front seat. Eddie opened the back door for Chrissy, bowing.
"Milady, you're horribly drawn carriage awaits," Eddie said.
Chrissy giggled and climbed into the back, settling in on the floor. She leaned against the back of Eddie's chair to look at Ronnie.
"So, you got any embarrassing stories about Eddie to tell me about?" Chrissy asked.
"No!" Eddie exclaimed.
"Oh, I got tons!" Ronnie exclaimed Eddie drove off.
"Nope! No! No way!" He yelled.
"Shortly, after we met, there was this caterpillar that Eddie had befriended, but of course, in his haste to tell me his story, he stumbled and fell upon his dear old caterpillar. . .of course, killing the poor thing. Distraught, Eddie had to throw the caterpillar - ,"
"Well, if you're going to tell the story, Veronica, then you should at least tell her the name of my fallen friend. Ah, good, Ser Lawrence - a dear and sweet friend -"
"Anyway, Eddie had to throw Ser Lawrence a funeral. He made me attend, as well as his uncle," Ronnie said.
"Aww, that's not embarrassing. That's so sweet," Chrissy said.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of police sirens, and Eddie sighed before pulling off to the side. Ronnie scowled when a police officer tapped on the window. Eddie quickly rolled down it and put on a forced grin.
"Officer Moore, always a pleasure," Eddie said sarcastically.
"I thought that was you, Munson. Going awfully fast there," Officer said. "The roads are dangerous this time of year. . . Icey. Anything could happen. Wouldn't want anyone to get hurt."
"Well, yeah, I know that considering I have snow tires on, and I wasn't speeding at all," Eddie said dryly.
"Well, you can't be too careful," Officer Moore said. "You haven't been drinking today, have you?"
"Considering I came from school, no," Eddie sighed.
"If I search the car, am I going to find any illicit substances?" He asked.
"You never do," Eddie replied.
Chrissy popped her head in between the seats.
"What seems to be the problem, Officer?" Chrissy said cheerfully.
"Just making sure Junior over here isn't speeding," Officer Moore said.
"Well, allow me to introduce myself," Chrissy said as she wrapped her arms around Eddie from behind, her hands on his chest. "I'm Chrissy Henderson."
"There's a picture of you with other kids on Chief Hopper's desk," Officer Moore realized.
"Oh, well, that's because Hop's practically my uncle," she said with a grin. "And he would just love to hear about his cops doing their duty. Especially hearing about how they're not making any illegal stops and searches. He so loves hearing all about his cops doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing. He hates having to fire people for incompetence."
"No, I suppose he wouldn't enjoy it," Officer Moore muttered.
"And he'd want you to know that if anyone has a problem with my dear friend Eddie, that he would definitely want to know about it. I would hate to have to tell him about that," Chrissy said. "Gosh, I hope I don't have to do that. He hates when his precious niece gets upset."
"Have a nice day," Officer Moore said and walked away.
They waited until they drove off before they turned to Chrissy. Eddie hugged her tightly.
"Holy shit! That was awesome!" Eddie exclaimed.
"Yeah, I definitely like you," Ronnie said.
"It was no big deal. Seriously though, if any cop bothers you, I'll make sure Hop knows, and he can fire their asses," Chrissy said. "He hates when cops do shit like that."
"I highly doubt that idiot is going to come back after that speech," Eddie said. "I feel like I owe you something. Oh, I could cook for you!"
"Eddie, she deserves to be thanked not to be killed," Ronnie said.
"Oh, ha, ha, Ecker," Eddie rolled his eyes. "I just never bothered to learn to cook. Surely, it can't be that hard."
"It's basically like making a potion sometimes," Chrissy said.
"I never thought about it like that before," Eddie gasped.
"Well, once you drop Ronnie off, maybe we can go to the store, and I can pick some easy starter meals for you to make," Chrissy said. "I can teach you how to cook."
"Good luck with that," Ronnie chuckled.
After dropping off Ronnie, Eddie drove them to the grocery store. Of course, shopping with Eddie wasn't easy. She lost him on multiple occasions, and when they finally did get the things she needed to help him make vegetable soup, he ended up revealing that he had nothing to make it in. The next stop was Melvald's. Chrissy wasn't too surprised to find Hopper in there chatting to Joyce.
"Hiya, Hop, Joyce!" Chrissy greeted with a grin.
"Hey, Chrissy, didn't know you were friends with Junior," Hopper said.
Chrissy looked over at Eddie and she could tell that he didn't care for that nickname.
"I'm not friends with Junior. I am, however, friends with Eddie," Chrissy said.
"What are you up to?" Hopper asked.
"I'm teaching Eddie how to cook," She said brightly and looked at him with mirth in her eyes. "What are you up to, Chief?"
"I stopped by to pick up something," Hopper said.
"I'm sure," Chrissy said with a knowing grin.
"Oh, I think you lost your friend," Joyce said.
"Every time!" Chrissy exclaimed, and then she saw him perusing the aisles.
"How was your first day back from break?" Joyce asked.
"Really good," Chrissy grinned.
"I'm sure it was," Joyce said with a knowing grin of her own.
"I better make sure Eddie's okay," Chrissy said, blushing and pausing. "You should probably keep an eye on one of your officers. Officer Moore."
"What did he do?" Hopper scowled.
"I don't think Eddie wants to make an official complaint or make a big deal out of it. He did stop Eddie without provocation. He wasn't speeding at all, and he kind of threatened to search his vehicle for drugs. It doesn't seem like this was the first time either," Chrissy said. "He seems to have it out for Eddie. I wasn't sure but I thought you ought to know."
"Yeah, I'll look into it. I know Moore has bad blood with Al Munson, but I didn't think he'd go after his kid," Hopper said.
"You don't think he'd make it even more difficult for Eddie because I told you, will he?" Chrissy asked with a frown.
"I will make sure he won't, but in the meantime, maybe you should be riding with Eddie after school and tell me if he does it again," Hopper said, thinking out loud. "Meanwhile, I'll make sure Powell rides with Moore."
"Did you just give me permission to ride with a boy, Hopper?" Chrissy asked teasingly and Joyce laughed.
"No, that is not what I did. You know what, never mind, I shouldn't have asked you do that anyway," Hopper scowled.
"Really, I don't mind," Chrissy said and skipped away. "Me alone. . .in the back of his van. . .anything could happen, Uncle Hop!"
"Chrissy!"
"Didn't you need to pick up something?!" She asked, and she could hear growling followed by the sound of Joyce laughing.
Chrissy knew that as much as he wanted to, he wouldn't do the same thing that Moore was doing, but he was thinking about it. She found Eddie at the back of the store, looking at the kitchen supplies.
"You need to stop wondering off," she said in amusement.
"I figured I would let you catch up with your uncle," Eddie shrugged. "Is that his wife?"
"Practically. She would be if Hopper ever got his head out of his ass," Chrissy said. "Before he knows it, someone else is going to see how great Joyce is."
"Hmm, maybe he's just scared to lose her," Eddie mumbled.
"There's a chance of that happening no matter the situation," Chrissy said. "Why shouldn't he make the most of it while he can?"
"He definitely should," Eddie said with a grin.
Gathering the supplies he needed and a few extra things, Chrissy left with Eddie back to his house. It was a decent looking house, smaller than her own, but it was nice.
"It's a piece of shit," Eddie laughed when Chrissy told him that. "You don't really mean that, do you?"
"Of course, I mean it," she laughed as she set the stuff on his kitchen counter.
"I hope your mom doesn't mind that you spent some of your money on this," Eddie blushed.
"It was my idea, I was happy to help. Besides, not all of it was my allowance. Some of it was when I worked at Benny's Diner," Chrissy said.
"Shit, you did work there. You didn't see. . .?" Eddie trailed off.
"I was supposed to work that evening, and when I arrived, the cops were already there. . . And I saw his body," Chrissy said sadly.
"I'm sorry, I'm guessing you knew him well," Eddie said. "I mean, I knew him too. Sort of. He was a good guy, funny, and generous too."
"Yeah, he was, and yeah, I did. He was amazing, and when I told him I wanted to save up to buy my own car, he was the first one to give me a job," Chrissy said and went quiet for a moment. "It's total bullshit that everyone is still saying he killed himself. He was murdered. Karma got his killer in the end, though. They got killed by a wild animal. . . Benny was supposed to go on a date with my mother that next weekend. . . Sometimes, I can still hear my mother crying about Benny. . . He was so great with Dusty too. . .he would have been a great dad."
The woman had actually got killed by El when they came for her. Chrissy tried not to think about how she was killed, and a part of her felt like she deserved it for what she did to Benny, but it also wasn't her place to judge considering how biased she was. She had been staring at an empty spot on Eddie's counter when she felt his hand slip into hers. He squeezed.
"Sorry," he said softly.
"Yeah, me too," Chrissy said, sniffling. "Anyway, let's get started! Eddie, what - "
Carefully, Eddie pulled her into his arms and hugged her gently. She froze for a moment before relaxing and hugging him tightly, letting the tears escape. Her body shook as she buried her face into his shoulder and cried. Everything had happened so fast that day, and the days after that, Chrissy hadn't really let herself mourn for Benny. Now, she was letting it all in. After crying into his shoulder for a while, she kind of just stayed there. . .not moving and not saying a word as she enjoyed the feeling of his arms around her. Slowly, Chrissy pulled back and wiped her eyes.
"Thanks," she whispered.
After a while, Chrissy managed to get herself together and began instructing Eddie to make vegetable soup. It was pretty simple, and when she told him that she measured by heart, he nearly dumped the entire thing of pepper into the soup.
"You told me to measure by heart," Eddie said.
"Within reason!" Chrissy giggled.
Eddie cackled and hip checked her. When they got the soup boiling onto the stove, Eddie threw his head back as he stirred, laughing madly.
"Yeah, I like this," he said.
"You're crazy," she laughed.
"Says the person who's choosing to hang out with me," Eddie said.
"Well, maybe I'm crazy too," she said and he paused to gaze fondly at her. "Stir the pot, Eddie."
"You look crazy too," Eddie replied.
"I meant, stir the soup in the pot!" She laughed.
Once Eddie managed to successfully make the soup, they sat down at the kitchen to eat it.
"Hey, I didn't do half bad," Eddie grinned.
"You did really good," Chrissy said.
"Well, I couldn't have done it without you," Eddie said with a smile and nudged her foot with his. "Nor would I have wanted to. It's kind of the perfect weather to have soup, you know."
"Yeah," Chrissy said softly.
After they finished eating, they put the leftovers away and started to clean up. Eddie insisted on helping even though he had been the one to cook. Chrissy figured he only wanted to help so he could flick water at her. He's such a menace. After putting the dishes away, Eddie brought her back to his room. They listened to Muddy Waters for a while and other blues music with Eddie telling her all about how he used to dance with his mom. Chrissy could tell by the look in his eyes that he really loved his mother, and even though he lost her when he was really young, he clearly missed her every single day.
He changed the record, and she smiled when she heard Bob Dylan start to play. He danced with her and spun her around the room, her laughter bouncing off the walls with the music. In that moment, it was just them and no one else. And when "Simple Twist of Fate" came on, he pulled her close to him. She knew what the song was about, a man having a moment with a woman, and all it took was him to fall in love with her, but it wasn't destined to work out. Chrissy was determined to have several moments with Eddie, and she hoped they would mean something to him as they did for her. And even though this song was about lost love and heartbreak, she could feel it in her bones that this was their song.
"Eddie?!" A voice from the living room called.
Eddie and Chrissy jumped apart pretty quickly, their faces red. Eddie shut off the music and turned to Chrissy.
"It's my uncle Wayne," Eddie said. "Sometimes, he comes to check on me."
"Aww," Chrissy said.
"Yeah, it's real cute," Eddie said, rolling his eyes.
"I wanna meet him," Chrissy said.
"What? No," Eddie said, and she gave him a look. "Alright, fine, but no asking him stories about baby Eddie."
"You know, I didn't think of that, but that's a good idea," Chrissy said, and Eddie groaned.
"Eddie?" Wayne called and popped his head into the room. "Oh, sorry."
"Hi, I'm Chrissy Henderson," she greeted and held out her hand.
"Wayne Munson," he replied, shaking her hand. "I didn't know Eddie had a girlfriend."
"What?! She's not my girlfriend," Eddie yelped. "I mean, she's my friend, and she just happens to be a girl. Technically, that does make her my girlfriend, but you know, guys and girls can be friends without it being romantic. Look at me and Ronnie except that we're not the same in the way. . .well, it's just different."
Chrissy bit her lip, repressing a giggle, and placed her hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"Eddie," she said and turned to Wayne. "He's my friend. . .for now."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Eddie asked. "Wait, how long were you going to let me go on for?"
"Until it stopped being funny, but that would have gone on forever," Chrissy said and Wayne snorted.
"I like her," Wayne said.
"It's hard not to," Eddie said, rolling his eyes.
"I brought by some food for Eddie, but it seems like there's proper food in there," Wayne said.
"Oh, Eddie made vegetable soup," Chrissy said proudly.
"Eddie cooked?" Wayne asked.
"I had a good instructor," Eddie replied.
"It's really good. You're welcome to have some," Chrissy said. "Maybe you can tell me all about baby Eddie."
"That sounds like a good plan, darlin'," Wayne said.
"No, no, nope! No way!" Eddie said, shaking his head.
"Don't be such a bad host, Eddie," Chrissy mockingly scolded him and Wayne laughed.
"I should tell you about the time I caught him hiding comic books in the freezer," Wayne said as he escorted her to the kitchen.
Eddie begrudgingly followed them to the kitchen and plopped down next to Chrissy after she fixed Wayne a bowl. She could feel Eddie's eyes on hers as Wayne talked about him. She could feel him trying to figure her out, and Chrissy's grin widened, wishing him all the luck in the world. Oh, she forgot to show him her sketchbook. Oh, well, plenty of time for that later.
Chapter Six
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