I have no idea where I'm going with this story and I'm also not the best writer, but I love this show and the wait for season 2 is killing me so I decided to do this. Please leave positive comments if you can and tell me to keep going because it takes me forever to write.

Also, I'm putting a lot of flashbacks on this chapter so that we can get right to the story later on. However, there might be more flashbacks eventually so I'm sorry if you aren't into them.

Oh and this will eventually be Mileven but it's gonna be a slow burn so I'm just warning you and this story will foremost focus on friendship/family than romance.


Hopper stands outside the door to the dingy motel he's been renting for the last two weeks under a fake name and paid in cash. Enough to make sure the owner doesn't ask questions. He makes sure she never stays too long in one place.

He knocks 3 times and waits 5 seconds. Then he knocks twice. Waits 7 seconds and knocks one final time.

It's their code.

At least for now.

The door opens slowly and big brown eyes stare up at him.

Hopper is always relieved to see her safe and sound every time. He feels lighter somehow.

Sure he's still a piece of shit. But he's a piece of shit that's keeping her alive.

El gives him a smile. She's wearing a light yellow shirt and dark denim jeans. Hopper picked them out himself at a mall outside of town.

Which was a whole ordeal on its own.


The first time he brought her some clothes was after he got them out of Hawkins.

She was still wearing that pink dress, it was torn and filthy and bloody.

Hopper had taken one look at her and known what he needed to do next.

So he had bought her a basic assortment of clothes that he thought she would need.

She had taken one look at them and started crying.

Hopper thought he must have screwed up and she hated the ones he picked out, he didn't know what a girl Eleven's age would like, so he just guessed.

But apparently, he did just fine.

"I'll take them back and buy something else." He had said immediately feeling a bit panicked staring at the crying girl.

He almost wanted to hug her but she still looked so fragile.

"No." El had said in that weird way of hers.

"No?" Hopper asked trying to get her to explain.

"I like them. They're pretty." El had said rubbing tears away from her eyes.

Hopper understood then.

He could still remember that room back at Hawkins lab where he found that drawing, it was where they kept her.

It was cold, plain, and sterile.

It wasn't a normal little girls bedroom. Nothing like Sarah's room...

They never made her feel like a real girl, like a real human being with feelings. She was just a test subject to those bastards. She never had normal things growing up.

Hopper felt that old anger creeping on again. He wanted to change everything for her but he couldn't.

He wanted to make things better.

Maybe one day he could.


El gives him a tight hug, she's always happy to see him.

Hopper was shocked the first time she had put her arms around him, put the feeling soon passed. And even though he wasn't a hugger, he was the only person she had.

So he always hugged her back.

"Are you okay?" El asks nervously.

Hopper knows what she means,

Were you followed?

Do they know about me?

Did they try to hurt you again?

Do we need to run?

Are they going to hurt you if they find out you've been hiding me?

"It's fine, El. We're safe here for now."

El bites her lips, a nervous habit that she developed over the last couple months.

"You were gone longer this time." She said, almost accusingly.

Hopper almost wants to laugh.

She's nearly a teenager now and seeing her be a little moodier make him feel like he's doing something right. She's not afraid to be angry at him. She's not afraid of him.

"Sorry, they were keeping their eyes on me. I couldn't get away without looking suspicious. But I'm here now " he reassures her.

He doesn't want to tell her how bad it really is.

He'll pretend everything is fine for now.

"How about we go out for a walk in the park and maybe get some ice cream?" Hopper says in hopes to distract her.

El cheers up immediately.

"Strawberry ice cream?" She asks hopefully.

"Whatever you want," Hopper says.

El smiles and for now, everything is okay.

He wishes he could give her more days like this.

He wishes she didn't have to be stuck in a crappy motel room all the time.

But El says she understands.

Especially after last time. When they almost caught her... El tells him that she still has nightmares about it.


It was the day after they had their first fight. She had screamed at him, and Hopper had screamed back. He had to remind himself to take a deep breathe and act like the grown up but he was barely hanging on.

It had been a couple months since Hawkins and he had set her up in a small cabin in some random woods outside of town.

She had wanted to go back immediately.

"I want to be with my friends," El had said.

"I told you it's not safe right now, they're looking for you. I don't know how, but they know you're alive,"

El had frowned and tears had filled her eyes.

Hopper was scared she'd start crying again. She cried a lot the first couple months.

But she wasn't scared or sad.

She was pissed.

"You can't make me stay here! You're a traitor! They only found me because you told them where I was!" she had yelled, angry tears streaming down her face.

Hopper finally broke, mostly because she was right and he was tired.

"You listen here, kid. I am risking everything for you! Everything! Do you really think I wanted any of this? I have those assholes breathing down my neck every day. They follow me constantly. They make me do they're dirty work and lie for them! And if they find out about you, everyone could be in danger. Is that what you want!" Hopper had yelled.

He had watched her face become frozen as his voice got louder.

Then she had gotten up from the thin bed she was sitting on and walked towards the corner of the small room.

Away from him.

She curled down on the floor and covered her face with her hands.

She started sobbing.

Shit, Hopper had thought.

He didn't know how to make it right anymore.

"Listen El, I'm sorry. I really am, but this is our only option right now. I'll try to find another way, okay. But for now, this is the only way I can keep you and everyone we know safe," Hopper said trying to make things better, but it was too late.

El didn't look up or stop crying.

Hopper wanted to stay and find something to say to make things better but what could he possibly tell her.

Besides, he also had to get back to Hawkins before they noticed he had left.

So with one last look at El, he left.

He should have stayed.

He came back early morning the next day, having not gotten a lot of sleep because he couldn't stop thing about El crying all alone in the middle of the woods.

He had brought her breakfast from a small dinner he found on the way there, he made sure to get her waffles as a peace offering.

However, once he got to the cabin, he saw that the front door was wide open.

Which meant something had gone terribly wrong.

They must have found her. But how?

Hopper still didn't know how in the months following. He was sure that they didn't know that he was in contact with her, they would have tortured him for information by now, they would have found her by now.

But no. So far this was their only attack. And they had failed.

Hopper had grabbed his gun and he silently went inside the cabin.

He could hear El. She was whimpering.

She's alive, was all Hopper could think.

As Hopper looked around, he saw that everything was in disarray. Things were broken and thrown around the small cabin.

Two dead bodies laid in the middle of the chaos.

El was still sitting down on the spot where Hopper had left her yesterday.

"El? El? It's me, it's okay. I'm here now." Hopper had said once he saw her horrified face.

She couldn't talk, she was so scared.

"El, sweetheart, it's okay your safe now," Hopper said gently.

He put his gun back in its holster and slowly walked closer to her.

She stared at him like a wild animal.

For a moment Hopper thought she was going to kill him too.

But no.

Once Hopper was crouched down in front of her trying to make sure that she wasn't injured, she quickly latched on to him. Her thin arms going around his neck and her face hidden in his chest as she started sobbing.

Hopper held her tightly.

"I'm the monster," she had whispered brokenly.

"No El," Hopper had said, "They are the monsters."


"We'll kill all of them. Even the kids. Even their parents. And then we'll kill you." They had told him.

"We've done it before and we'll do it again if you give us a reason to. You just have to do as we say."

Hopper had no choice.


El was sitting on a swing in the small park he had taken them. She was almost done with her ice cream cone.

He had made sure no one had followed him out of Hawkins. He made sure no cars had followed him from the motel room. Made sure there were no bugs or tracking devices on him. They were safe, and he'd soon start looking for a new place to move her to. He always tried not to keep them outside too long but he hated having to keep her inside, as though she was still trapped in a prison. He tried to give her some sense of freedom in any way he could.

"Did you finish the books I left you?" he asked.

El's eyes lit up.

"Almost, can you bring more please?"

Hopper grinned.

"Sure kid, have you been doing the math lessons I left you too?"

El frowned.

"No...I don't get it," she said sadly.

Hopper wasn't really expecting her to, especially with no one around to help her and teach her. He had quickly learned that she had a small vocabulary, but she knew how to read. So he had started bringing her children's books and had her practice her writing.

Eventually, he bought her a children's dictionary for when she didn't understand what a word meant.

She had improved greatly during the last few months. And he started bringing longer books with more words in them.

It made her happy to escape into different stories and adventures she found in the pages of a book.

However, math was a different story. One that El hated. It was no surprise to Hopper that she only had the basics taught to her in the lab, and it left her struggling with everything else.

"I'll try to stay a couple more hours and help you with math and then you should get ready for bed. Remember to brush your teeth. Be on the look out for any cars or weirdos hanging around. If you feel like something's wrong you call me as soon as you can" he said.

El actually had the nerve to roll her eyes at him.

"You say the same thing every time I see you. Do you think I'll forget?" She said teasingly.

"Watch the sass, young lady. Respect your elders." Hopper told her sternly.

El giggled.

Hopper couldn't help but smile at the sound.

Eventually, the conversation slowed down between them.

They were both quiet creatures.

Happier to sit in silent contemplation, than meaningless chatter.

However, El spoke up as she noticed a group of kids playing football near the playground.

"Hopper?" El asked quietly. Sadly.

"How are they doing?"

Hopper sighed.

"They're safe, if anything happens to them I'd tell you about them. You know that."

El looked at him until he caved and gave her more information. He almost always caved.

"Last time I checked, they were working on the science fair," Hopper told her reluctantly.

El smiled slightly.

"I think they'll win this year," she said thinking of how smart the boys are.

She missed them.

And Mike... She never knew that it was possible to miss someone so much.

"Is he happy?" El asks despite herself.

El's not even sure she really wants to know the answer. She wonders what would hurt the most?

If Hopper said "yes he's happy without you" or "no, he's not happy."

Hopper doesn't need to ask who "he" is.

Hopper knows she thinks about the Wheeler kid all the time. And he doesn't know how much longer he can keep lying to everyone. How many secrets can he keep?

Every time he sees the kids huddled together back at Hawkins, he feels the guilt rush back in.

And that Wheeler kid...

Hopper tries to avoid his face the most.

Is he happy?

Sure, he seems happy sometimes.

But he has circles under his eyes. And he looks so damn pathetic sometimes like he wants to turn back time to happier days.

He's way too young to look so old, Hopper thinks.

He looks lost sometimes like somehow he knows that she's close but out of reach.

He thinks about her all the time too.

Hopper doesn't need superpowers to know that Mike misses her terribly.

But he still laughs. He's loved by his family and friends. He sure knows how to put on a brave face and pretend he'll be okay.

Maybe one day they'll both move on.

Or maybe one day Hopper will explode and shake them both until they stop making him feels so miserable.

So he lies.

"Mike is safe and happy. You don't have to worry about any of them."

No, Hopper thinks, none of us are safe.