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You met your husband thanks to Nancy Wheeler. Shortly after the military finally left Hawkins. The town returned to... Whatever constituted as normal for a strange place like Hawkins. Alot of people that were kept out of Hawkins didn't care to return, and a good amount left as soon as they could. The small town becoming even smaller in terms of population. There were plenty of jobs that needed doing with much less bodies to fill those positions.
So you were working two jobs. One at the elementary school with 1st graders, and one at the hospital, assisting nurses.
It was during a rotation of caring for Mr and Mrs Wheeler when you met Nancy, she appreciated the quality of care you were giving to her parents. Becoming quick friends, even going so far as to divulge onto you the true cause of her parents extensive injuries and the reason the military had infiltrated your little nowhere Indiana town. You'd had an inkling since Will Byers 'death' and unexplained resurrection that something was amiss but never took the deep dive to figure it out.
Nancy was due to leave for college out of state, while her parents still needed hospital grade care, but she was sure they'd be fine as long as you were caring for them. She promised to stay in touch, but she had to try her hand at match maker, making a very obvious effort to introduce you to Steve Harrington before she left.
You were a smart kid in highschool, busy with your studies and academic clubs, so of course you weren't on Steve's radar back then. Now though, with puberty having done a significant number on you, Steve was hooked. Had someone told you in highschool that Steve 'King Steve: The Hair' Harrington would fall head over heels in love with you within a month of dating and ask you to marry him after another month of being exclusive, you would've laughed in their face, loud, ugly, stomach cramp inducing laughter. But here you were at the courthouse, three days after the wedding, signing paperwork that would change your last name to Harrington, with just a barely there bump concealed beneath your blouse.
The Harrington family grew quickly, not really planning it out just letting whatever happened happen. Luckily you were both on board with having multiple children, and especially after seeing Steve hold your firstborn daughter for the first time, the tears he couldn't hold back, the wonder, the awe, the instant love in his eyes when he looked from her to you and back again. Being a mom was natural, easy, but seeing Steve fully embrace being a dad? You know it wasn't possible but it made the eggs in your damn ovaries flutter.
By the time you saw Nancy again, at her brother's graduation, Steve had your six month old daughter sat in his lap, and you were quickly round with the second.
Your two jobs reduced to one: stay at home parent. Steve kept you afloat as the Sex Ed teacher and baseball coach. Never voicing a complaint because he had none, his dreams were coming true. Now the only thing needed to complete the dream was the camper, the cross country road trips, but with only one income that might take a while. Again, not that he was complaining because he loved you, all of you, he loved that he was outnumbered by his girls.
It was spring break. Steve was face down on the bed, the five year old, Janie, was trying her best to treat him to a spa day, pretending to file and paint his nails on the hand that was hanging off the bed, the three and a half year old, Barbie, was busy playing with his hair, and the one year old, Edie, was splayed across his back, poised to fall asleep any second. It was 7:45 in the morning, Steve very well could've still been asleep from the nonsensical chattering happening around him, but then you spoke up from where you were perched on the other side of the bed. Because an idea had been rattling around in your brain when Steve came home yesterday and he said he wished he could spend more time with his girls, he missed them so much during the day. He said that almost every day but this time an idea hatched.
"Hey Steve?"
A muffled grunt came in reply, his face turning towards you with sleepy eyes and a sweet smile.
"What would you say..." You began, but apparently Steve's anxiety had to interrupt, not loving the sound of that arrangement of words.
"Please don't say you're done having babies."
"What?" You laughed, you couldn't help it, of course that was the only thing on his mind, "No. Of course not. Growing humans in my body? 10 out of 10, aside from the nausea and vomiting and sometimes constipation, rad experience, love it, super fun. And it goes without saying that making the baby? Ugh, can't get enough of it."
"Glad to hear I've still got it."
"Five stars, babe."
"Thank you, honey. Now you were saying...?"
"Oh yeah, I was saying, what would you say to being the stay at home parent?" Your prepared speech started to tumble from your mouth without seeing the truly gobsmacked expression shifting Steve's face. "I mean, the school year's nearly over. You could take a year off, see how you like staying home, I'm sure I can get a job at one of the schools, Janie's going to start kindergarten this year, so you'd really just have the two to handle -"
Your words came to a halt when a chorus of tiny voices screeched and giggled in delight as they were all jostled when Steve abruptly shifted to crawl on his hands and knees across the bed towards you.
"I love you." Steve murmured against your mouth before tugging you down, your torso lay on the mattress while your hips and legs were dangling off the bed.
You squeaked at the odd position. The sudden affection? Common, that would never startle you. Steve was a lover after all.
"So-" you tried to speak between kisses, "Is that - a yes - it's a - a good idea?"
"It's the best idea. You're a genius, honey. You really are the brains, beauty and brawn of the relationship."
"Well, I do do a lot of body building." You snarked, and before Steve could roll his eyes at your joke you both groaned when you were dog piled by your three daughters.
The conversation was paused when Janie reminded them of Steve's promise to take the girls to a park every day during spring break, Barbie and Edie loudly voicing their agreement.
"While, yes, I did promise that, ladies, I did not take into account the unreliability of Indiana weather because it is actually supposed to snow today." Steve realized his folly in hindsight, wincing before the girls all chorused. "SNOOOOOOW!"
You could only chuckle as the girls hounded their helpless father, because the girls would always get their way, he was a total pushover for his girls.
"Alright, alright!" Steve crowed above the chaos, gathering the three girls in his arms and making his way out of the bedroom calling over their raucous giggles, "Honey, perfect idea. I love it. I love you. I'm quitting tomorrow. Now let's go make some of Daddy's famous not burnt pancakes!"
His and the girls voices quickly grew distant as he rushed down the hall and toward the stairs.
"Wait! What?! No! Steve! You've gotta finish out the school year!" You called after him.
"Sorry, can't hear you over how happy I am!"