To many people Nancy Wheeler was a plain, quiet girl that liked to focus on her studies, these many people drew judgements from brief observations, these people didn't know the real Nancy Wheeler. Jonathan Byers was one of the few people who really knew Nancy Byers. To Jonathan, Nancy was not only a gorgeous girl that he got along with, she has issues that affect her being heavily. He knew her fears and understood her emotional imbalances. He knew that she has deep anxiety problems and they make her prone to overreaction when facing adversity. Jonathan could clearly see the build up of a Nancy Wheeler anxiety attack happening at the moment.
For the past fifteen minutes Nancy had been impatiently pacing around the room. She was cursing under her breath and her hair was frizzled and messy. Jonathan had tried to distract her from the main issue at hand and delay her breakdown but she instantly dismissed him.
Joyce, Will, Jonathan and Nancy had recently returned from the cabin after they had banished the mind flayer from Will's body with the heat. They had no clue whether Hopper and El had managed to close the gate or not as they did not have the walkie talkie. Worst of all, Steve and the kids where all missing. Nancy's mind began to think the worst, she thought the demodogs might have got them. There was a mess everywhere and broken furniture which could indicate a struggle against the demodogs and there were blood stains all over the floor.
The sound of wheels driving along the gravel echoed through Nancy's ears as an unknown blue car pulled up outside the Byers' house. Nancy's grabbed the gun that was sitting on the counter to her right and armed herself against the unknown the vehicle the approached the house. The car came to a halt and five recognisable figures left the car in the shadows, there were four smaller figures and one larger figure. Nancy instantly recognised one of the smaller shapes as her little brother Mike.
Nancy sprints out the door, tears streaming down her face as she wrapper her arms around her shaking brother in a tight embrace. After many moments holding her little brother close to her chest with a goal of never letting go she finally releases.
She turns to the larger shape who's face is still hidden in the shadows which she knew to be her former boyfriend Steve Harrington. Her arm quickly raises and strikes down against his cheek, leaving a bright red hand mark where the slap had occurred.
"Steve you fucking asshole!" Nancy uncharacteristically yells at him. "You were supposed to stay here and keep these kids safe." Whilst screaming at Steve he steps forward and she notices his bruised and bloody face.
"What the hell happened to you?" Nancy sympathetically asks.
Steve explains everything that happened with Billy and the fire. They all eventually proceed inside the house and when Mike realises El is not inside the living room.
"Where is El? Is she alright? Does anyone know anything about El? Did she close the gate? Is she safe?" Mike was interrogating everyone in the room about El's safety and whereabouts.
After his friends manage to calm him down and prevent an anxiety attack he just sits in Will's room contemplating everything that had happened tonight.
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Hours had passed and El and Hopper had still not returned home. Whilst he didn't show it, Mike was internally freaking out. It had been 353 days since he thought he'd lost her, 353 days since he'd seen her. She miraculously shows up tonight and he feels more complete than he had ever been since she'd left and straight once she returns El is sent back there into even more danger.
He couldn't stand the fact that she's in danger, over that week they spent together last year they had developed an unbreakable bond, he had grown to care for her immensely and would do anything to protect her. Whilst she was away he felt like a broken man, he liked her so much and he wanted to be with her to hold her close to him as they deal with the stress of these traumatic events.
Mike was sitting on the stairs out front of the house when he saw the the bright headlights of the chief's SUV. He couldn't care less that the car hadn't stopped yet, he didn't care about anything else except El. Mike ran up and opened the passenger door before Hopper could even pull up, he grabbed Eleven by waist and pulled her from the SUV.
Dry blood was clearly visible under her nose, she had tears flowing down her face. El melted in Mike's embrace as time seemed to stop and their hearts raced for each other. Several silent moments passed until Mike and El released each other.
Mike turns to face Hopper, a glare of hatred forming in his eyes. "Where have you been? I thought I had lost her again."
Hopper looked down to the angry little boy and responded "Calm down kid, we had to go see Dr. Owens. He's recovering in the hospital but we needed to talk to him."
Once hearing this Mike lost all self control he thought he had and instantly grabbed El's hand before beginning his abusive rant.
"You took her back to those bastards at the lab, they will come back and take her from me, I mean us." He yelled whilst staring directly into Hopper's face.
El felt bad hearing Mike shout abuse at the chief and tried to stop him. "Mike." She softly says but he either didn't hear her or just ignored her.
"She had finally, finally comes back to us and you're risking everything." He said accusingly.
"Michael." El softly interrupts again with the same result.
"I thought you, of all people would realise how stupid it is to take her back there." Mike continues to rant to the chief.
"MIKE!" El yelled harshly, finally gaining the attention of Mike.
Mike becomes instantly frightened from El's screaming. She was never angry with him and he'd never heard her take that tone with anyone except Brenner.
"What is it El?" He stammers.
"I go to school." She beamed.
Mike had always loved hat she didn't know that much, he loved being the one who could explain things to her. He felt important teaching her social skills and explaining different words to her. Mike could usually understand what she meant when she talked but he did not understand any of her previous sentence.
Mike turned to face the chief with a questioning look plastered on his face as he struggled to decode what she meant.
"After a sufficient amount of time and studying, Owens told us that she will be ready for school and to finally be a normal kid." Chief answered the unasked question.
Mike's heart had been through a tough night with a range of different emotions being showed in a short period of time. He went from happiness to anger to frightened and these emotions continued on a loop with every new situation coming up. In full honesty, he was exhausted from these emotions, but to hear that El was finally going to live a normal life it was impossible for him to control his emotions.
A huge grin was developing all over his face, he turned to face El and saw an even bigger grin on her face.
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After the exhaustive events of previous days Hopper was pissed off at having to return to work the next day. He was tired and annoyed at answering all of El's question about school and Mike. All she wants to know is how Mike is, when she can see Mike and when she starts school with Mike.
Hopper still needed to sort out El's living situation, he was probably going to have to talk to Joyce about it. In his mind there were three different options for El, first of which is she stays with him, the second is she stays with Joyce and the third is she stays with her aunt Becky.
Luckily for the chief Flo wasn't here to correct his eating habits as he grabbed the chocolate chip muffin and proceeded to his office. Upon arriving at his office he noticed Steve Harrington in there.
"What are you doing here Harrington?" Hopper questioned.
Steve turned to face the chief, the bruises on his face were still incredibly clear and obvious.
"I was wondering if we could talk Hopper?"
"Yeah sure kid, what's up?" The chief answered.
Steve was quite nervous, he had practised this at home but it was still nerve-racking doing it for real. Steve had recently decided to drop out of high school, he wasn't getting goof enough grades and he simply didn't think it would do any good if he continued there.
Steve's parents told him if he wanted to drop out of school he needed to have a plan for his future and he needed his own ways of financial security and not just rely on them. Steve and thought a lot about what he'd like to do. Since looking after those kids he'd realised that he liked looking after people. At first he thought he'd like to work in a hospital and take care of patients. Another idea he had was to work in a child care centre, like a day care.
Steve finally decided on being an officer. He enjoyed taking care of people and believed in justice, Steve wanted to uphold that justice. He thought Hopper was a great role model, Hopper doesn't give a shit about many things but he works hard and is good at what he does. That is the mentality that Steve wants to have.
"Well, I've just dropped out of school and my parents said I need to get a job." Steve told the chief
"Yeah, go on." Hopper replied
"I want to be a cop, I want to work for you." Steve told him pleadingly.
The chief pondered over this for several moments, he wasn't in great need of more cops however Callahan was completely useless so it couldn't be too bad to have an extra pair of competent hands on the job. After much contemplation the chief told Harrington that he had a job.
The rest of the day was spent getting Steve adjusted to being a cop, Hopper was teaching Steve everything he knew about being a cop. He introduced him to Flo, Callahan and Powell and showed him all around the station. Steve even tagged along when Hopper had to go out and investigate a case.
Steve was ecstatic over the opportunity he was being given by the chief. Steve knew this was one thing he could not screw up like usual. This job will turn over a new leaf for Steve and will be the start of a successful life for him.
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After lunch Steve saw a little boy he recognised all too well walk in to the station, Mike Wheeler. He walked in and started looking around, most likely looking for the chief. Steve walked up and approached Mike.
"Hey wheeler, you need some help?" Steve asked the scrawny boy.
"I need to speak to Hopper, wait why are you here?" Mike asks.
"I work here now." Steve mentions
Mike looks up at him incredibly, what on earth was Hopper thinking when he hired this idiot. Mike thought that Hopper had made a huge mistake but he didn't have time to think about it. Mike needed to talk to Hopper about El. He wanted to organise a way that he could see her, he had waited too long to see her and he was going to make up for it.
"Chief's out at the moment, but he'll be back in about twenty minutes."
Steve grabbed out a deck of cards and asked Mike to play poker to pass the time. Mike had never played poker before and when he told him that Steve looked outraged. Steve was going to have a talk to Nancy about the poor quality of a childhood her brother had, to grow up without playing cards is unspeakable.
Steve taught Mike all the rules of poker, Steve even taught Mike how to bluff properly. When they had started Mike was a terrible bluffer but by the time Hopper had arrived back Mike was pretty good, he even beat Steve a couple times.
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"Wheeler, Harrington tells me you want to talk." Hopper faces the kid whilst sitting in his office chair.
"I need to talk to you about El. I need to see her and I want to organise times when I can come over." Mike tells the chief who's smoking a cigarette
"Alright kid, we don't know what El's permanent living situation is going to be, she's staying with me for a little while whilst we decide what to do. She's not allowed to go out just yet, but you and your friends can come over sometimes." The chief suggested
"When can I come over?" Mike asks.
"How about this, you stay here for another hour or so until I finish up and I'll take you over there to see her and we can discuss things then?"
Mike was extremely enthusiastic with this plan. He couldn't wait to see El, he missed her so much whilst she was gone and he barely saw her last night. He and Steve continued to play some poker as there wasn't much going on around the station.
The chief finally finished up his paperwork and grabbed Mike so they could go home. Mike hopped in that SUV with a huge smile on his face. He was going to see Eleven again.