Just as fast as Hopper can reach the passenger door, the Wheeler kid is already in front of him opening it. "Is she okay?" Mike demands, when he doesn't immediately see her move.
"She's alright, she's alright," Hopper repeats, pushing him out of the way. He slides his arm under her legs and his other behind her back to pick her up. "She's just exhausted," he states for the kid's benefit, but also trying to convince himself that that is all that's wrong with her. She hasn't really been conscious since collapsing immediately after closing the gate, but he saw how much energy it took out of her, so he figured this must be normal.
The other kids weren't too far behind all clamoring to see her too. "Just back up, she's just really drained," Mike tells the others, forcing them out of Hopper's way before he has the chance to. Hopper looks for some place clean to lay her down at, but the couch hasn't been fully cleaned of the broken glass yet.
"In here," Mike tells him, gesturing down the hallway to Joyce's bedroom.
Hopper attempts to lay El down, but she whines, pressing her face into his chest; it's her first conscious move since leaving the elevator. "It's okay kid, it's okay," he tells her, instead sitting down on the edge of the bed not letting go of her.
The kids all crowd around until Mike yells at them all to seriously "just give her some space."
When the others reluctantly leave the room, Hopper looks to the Wheeler kid, who he can tell isn't about to leave her side. "Go get a cloth and something to clean her up, will ya?" he instructs instead.
"Yeah, yeah, sure," Mike agrees rushing out of the room.
"Mike," Hopper hears softly from his arms when El finally realizes where she is.
"Yeah, he's here," Hopper answers in confirmation with a sigh.
Mike is back in record time with a wet washcloth and a hand towel. Hopper attempts to adjust El so that he can at least see her face, but she cries out again, turning her face back towards his body.
"I think it's the lights," Mike senses, immediately flipping the switch on the wall to turn them off. The room is now dimly lit by only the light escaping in from the hallway.
El sighs, relaxing a bit when the room goes dark and Hopper realizes that the damn kid was right. Hopper tries again and successfully lays her down on the bed. He starts to wipe the blood off her face, and Mike removes her shoes. It takes a few minutes for Hopper to thoroughly clean her face and hands of blood and the black smudges under her eyes, but eventually he's satisfied. Mike is sitting on the edge of the bed, and Hopper notices that his hand never leaves her leg.
When Hopper stops touching El, she forces her eyes open. "All clean, kiddo," he tells her, though his hand finds her forehead again. "How are you feeling?"
"Bad," she whispers. Her voice is hoarse and quiet. Before Hopper has a chance to respond, in her next breath, she asks for him. "Mike?"
"I'm here El," Mike promises, squeezing her leg. He was obstructed by Hopper, but now that she sees him, Hopper catches that the edge of her lips curl into a slight smile, like she can't help it, no matter how terrible she was feeling.
Hopper audibly sighs in annoyance. "You need to sleep," he instructs, and El nods in agreement, curling her face towards his hand.
"Don't go," she whispers to neither of the two in particular, but Hopper could guess who she meant it for.
And, hell, the exhaustion was settling in for him too.
El curled up on her side, nuzzling closer to Hopper. Mike noticed the way El was with him and it softened his anger at the Chief just a little bit. She was obviously comfortable with him, despite the fact that he had lied to her and kept her from all of her friends for so long. But if El could forgive him, maybe he could to. Maybe, Mike thinks.
Mike was tired also, but he wasn't going to leave El alone until Hopper forced him to.
And in the next second, there is another kid, the older one, standing in the doorway. "It's for you," Steve says, holding the telephone in his hand. Hopper examines his face briefly wondering why in the hell the kid was always beat up and bloody every time he saw him, but he doesn't care enough to ask.
Hopper goes into the hallway to take the call, and Mike hears it end with a frustrated, "yeah, yeah. I'll be there."
Hopper reenters the room and practically rolls his eyes at the clear anticipation coming from the kid.
Not his kid. The other kid. His kid is now covered up under the blankets, and Mike is sitting up on the other side of her.
"I have to go back to the lab, take care of some things," he speaks quietly to the boy. Hopper shakes his head and rolls his eyes knowing what's coming next. "Yes, you can stay with her, but you stay where you are, here, on top of the blankets," he gestures. Mike shoots him a what do you think we are going to do look, but Hopper ignores it, not caring. "And she has to sleep," he adds.
"I know. I'll take care of her," the boy says earnestly.
Hopper sighs audibly. "Yeah, yeah. Just… I'll be back soon," he tells him.
El wasn't sleeping just yet, even though her eyes were pressed closed. "Love you," she mumbles realizing that Hopper was leaving.
"What was that?" Hopper asks, turning back towards the bed.
"I love you," El enunciates a little clearer.
This day had been emotionally exhausting enough, but to hear those words come out of her mouth, words that he's pretty sure she's never said to anybody in her life, meant everything to him. He kneels next to the bed and bends down to press his lips to her forehead. "Love you too kid. I'll be back soon okay?"
"'Kay," she whispers.
And though Hopper doesn't know it yet, this is just one of the first times that he would have to leave her entrusted in the Wheeler boy's care.