Chapter Text
It could be assumed that Dustin Henderson had been coddled a fair bit.
Only child, missing father, doting mother.
But Claudia loved her son from the moment he’d squalled (so loud that baby!) in her arms and that love was strong as the world was wide. Strong enough to want him to be independent and to encourage his interests and dreams, but also to kinda want to protect him from every terrible thing life throws at people, sure.
When Dustin told her that his friend was stuck in an alternate dimension and too wounded to move, had been attacked by massive bats ::shudder:: Claudia couldn't stand bats, and by the way his name was Eddie Munson - yeah - *that* Edward Munson - and ‘he really hadn’t killed anyone, mom, I swear’ she had a mini panic attack.
Then she saw the tears streaming down Dustin's face… she couldn’t quite BELIEVE him, but she knew that they could get to the truth of it, together. Bats or no bats.
She drove with speed Dustin didn’t know she was capable of, her lead-foot to the floor of the station wagon all the way to the trailer park.
Claudia was always the "Safety Coordinator" at work and attended every First Aid training, even the "triage if there are no emergency services available" training which had kept her from sleep for a week.
She had been the one to teach Dustin how to check for vital signs.
How to:
-- watch the blood return to a squeezed thumbnail — to see how strong the heart was pumping the blood around.
-- tell if a person was in pain but *not* in danger of dying (e.g. 'Just making a fuss').
-- put pressure on bleeding until it stopped.
-- use superglue to close wounds.
-- perform CPR, and importantly, when not too. CPR wasn’t going to work without cracking some ribs because you were LITERALLY pumping the heart and that you’d need medical professional help to be on the way while you were doing it.
So she knew when Dustin said “we can save him if we go now” that Dustin had justifiable hope.
The hole in the trailer ceiling was very strange. But, Claudia had crawled into way grosser places during her past 12 years as a secreta ... Administrative Specialist. They piled up furniture and she climbed in after Dustin and fell onto a sad mattress. No time to get her bearings, just time to follow Dustin to his injured friend.
Eddie Munson had lost a lot of blood and his upper half looked like he’d been mauled by a bear, not bats. Dustin had said Eddie had no head trauma or spinal injuries so Claudia and Dustin raised gently him up and carried him out of the WHEREever and into her car.
---Mom, I found this stray out in the woods, can I keep him?---
Claudia was a cat person in a big way. She loved their ‘whittle grumpy faces’ and how they showed their love with “mew” noises they made just for humans. They were a bit manipulative but so sweet and fun. And purrs were therapeutic.
Mews had been a stray. Tews had been a rescue kitten.
Now they had a bit of both in the form of Eddie. He was very cat-like and chaotic. Claudia called him Eduardo when she wanted him to listen up and do as she said. He kept trying to get up and move around instead of resting. He was getting more and more antsy and showing some of the amped up personality that Dustin said was part of his charm.
Claudia set him up in the guestroom. She brought him comic books and chicken soup like she used to for Dustin when he was sick.
He was very polite to Claudia. He treated Dustin like a brother (he was an only child too). It was impossible not to care for him like another son. She’d always wanted a second kid.
And they had to keep him out of jail, so they kept his survival a secret, which was far too easy after the crazy seismic anomaly in Hawkins. As soon as she could tell Eddie was getting better and not worse, she told Dustin, go find his Uncle Wayne. He doesn’t deserve to be grieving for no reason.
When Wayne Munson hurried over - Dustin hadn’t given him the whole story. Claudia watched Wayne go through a whole mess of emotions in the guestroom and land on extremely happy.
They invited Wayne to dinner, and Claudia started to see how everything that was sweet and endearing about Eddie, had come from Wayne.
A government agency that was under the FBI had set Wayne up with a room at the 4U hotel while his trailer home was being ‘assessed’, and he said he could take Eddie to the motel too. He didn’t want to cause anymore “inconvenience’ for Mrs. Henderson.
“That’s ‘Ms’, and call me Claudia, please.”
Claudia and Dustin convinced Wayne, unless they had a really good lawyer for Eddie, he needed to be kept secret and safe.
“He’s not in the least an inconvenience, Wayne, he’s a dear.”
“If you are sure, Mrs. I mean Ms. Henderson.” Wayne had a little southern drawl in his voice that Claudia adored.
“Please, Just ‘Claudia’, and come over anytime to check in on Eddie, I’m sure this will all get straightened out soon.”
About the fourth dinner with Wayne Munson, when Eddie was feeling up to sitting at the table too, Dustin noticed... things... and made a running list in his head.
* How his mother would blush and giggle at Wayne Munson's jokes- his objectively not very funny jokes.
* That she made really complicated dinners and desserts those nights. That always the night before the Betty Crocker Cookbook was out on the table like it was homework.
* There were always leftovers in a container that she needed Wayne to take off their hands. Just too much food, even with two constantly starving boys in the house, what will we do?!
* That Mom suddenly needed help around the house with things she’d been able to manage well enough before. Like light bulbs in closets and loose cabinet drawer pulls.
* That an ashtray, a little table, and deck chairs with cushions were suddenly on the back porch.
* The record player, which had been under a pile of dust so thick that you couldn’t see through the melamine lid, was now out, dusted, had a new needle installed, and the country records were pulled to the front of their cabinet, the door open for Wayne to peruse and select his favorites.
---
Wayne gave Eddie a hug across the shoulders at the table and promised to bring his guitars next visit, since Eddie could sit up and presumably play/practice now.
That night Wayne kissed Dustin’s mom’s hand over the knuckles when he said goodnight and she walked around the house after he left holding that hand near her heart.
Dustin knocked on the guestroom door and Eddie said “Come in?”
He was sitting up and drawing in a notebook.
“Hey - have you noticed how my mom acts around your Uncle?”
“I did.” Eddie chewed a fingernail. “Also, can’t say I’ve ever seen my Uncle be this way about anyone... except Dolly Parton. Does it bother you?”
“No - it’s kinda nice to see her happy. How about you, any concerns?”
“Not a bit.”
“If they get married, we’ll be brothers.”
“Aren’t we kinda already?” Eddie grinned. “Wait till I’m back to full HP, it’s gonna be surprise wedgies, headlocks, and pink belly all the time for you, my lad.”