"You did good, kid. You did so good." Hopper could barely keep his voice from cracking as he held the young girl he'd come to love in his arms. She couldn't speak. Her nosebleed was out of control this time and her body was completely limp. Hopper held her as tightly as he could, amazed at her. Eleven was incredible, and Jim Hopper never could have predicted a girl like her falling into his life the way she had. But here she was, and he was never going to lose her. That black hole wasn't going to take her like it had taken Sara. El was his second chance…and maybe it wasn't so crazy to think that he was hers.
Jim picked up the girl and cradled her in his arms, walking out of the lab. She was drifting in and out of consciousness and he didn't pressure her to speak. He knew that she would be okay, she just needed rest. A lot of it. Gingerly, he laid El in the back seat of his truck and went back in for Dr. Owens. Normally, Hopper would have called someone else to take care of it and focused on getting his girl home and in bed so that she could recover, but this was a special scenario. Owens had the power to change El's life- that is, give her a normal one. Hopper needed that to happen, so he would go the extra mile for the doctor just this once.
After dropping Dr. Owens off at the hospital, though, Hopper drove back to the cabin in the woods. He'd thought about taking her back to the Byers' place, but he knew those kids wouldn't give poor El any air. He wasn't going to keep her apart from her friends anymore; he'd learned his lesson, so hopefully Mike Wheeler wouldn't kill him for not bringing her back to socialize right away.
Joyce Byers opened the front door, having seen Hopper approach from afar carrying El. "It's closed," he announced, stepping inside. Glancing up, he saw Will and Jonathan huddled together on the couch, Nancy Wheeler hunched over on a chair nearby with her head resting in her hands. Will looked even worse than Eleven, but he was alive. Joyce looked lhaunted, but she was okay too. Hopper felt tension release in his chest; they had lost Bob Newby tonight, that was true. But everyone else had made it out alive, and now it was finally over.
"Hopper, is she okay?" Joyce asked in a panicky voice, hovering over El. "El, sweetheart, can you hear me?"
"Damnit Joyce, leave her alone," Hopper said gruffly. Then catching his tone, he let out a sigh. "I'm…I'm sorry. Yes, she's alright. Just exhausted." He took her to her room and laid her down on her bed, gently taking off her white tennis shoes and setting them next to the bed before covering her up. Leaving for a moment, he returned with a warm damp cloth that he dabbed under her nose, cleaning up the crusted blood that had accumulated there. She wouldn't wake until morning, and that was okay. But Hopper already knew he wasn't going to sleep a wink tonight.
"Jim." He glanced up and saw Joyce standing in the doorway, a small smile on her face as she watched the two of them. "We're going to take Will home." The police chief nodded. Placing his hand on El's slicked back hair, he leaned forward to press a scratchy kiss to her forehead before standing and joining everyone else in the living room. He left El's door open, just in case she needed him.
Will was standing now, with Jonathan's arm wrapped around him for support. The teenager's other hand was taken by Nancy, whose hair hung limp around her shoulders as if she'd just showered. Now that he was looking, he noticed that everyone appeared to be soaked with sweat. Damn.
"Alright," he said. He looked seriously at Joyce, furrowing his brows together and studying her face. "You gonna be okay?" Joyce grimaced, but she managed a nod.
"My boy's back," she told him with a pained smile. "Will's back. We're…" she glanced back at her family and Nancy, "we're going to be okay."
"Hey." Hopper reached forward to put his hand on Joyce's shoulder. "You need anything, you call me. Understand?" Joyce nodded and rubbed her eyes, obviously trying not to tear up too much. Hopper looked to Nancy next.
"When you see him, you can tell your brother he can see El tomorrow. That's if she's feeling better. But I'll call, I don't want him coming over here at four in the goddamn morning." Nancy nodded. She knew that Mike would want to see El right away- he wasn't very patient and he was already furious with the chief for keeping El from him for so long, but she'd do her best to keep him under control.
"Alright, good." He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at Will last. The poor kid had been through hell and back these past couple days, and Hopper didn't have the words to comfort him. His family would have to do that. They all had a good bit of healing to do, and Hopper couldn't imagine what was to come. But the Mind Flayer was gone, Will and El were safe, and the gate to the Upside Down was finally closed. His town was safe again. "Okay, champ. Go home and get some rest, okay?" Will nodded. He looked like he was about to pass out, but he had just enough strength to lean over just slightly, looking past Hopper into El's room.
"That's Eleven?" he asked hoarsely. He'd heard so much about her, but they'd never met. She was like a mythological creature to him, a legend, but now…there she was. Hopper followed his line of sight and huffed, a tiny smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Yeah, that's her. And when you're feeling better you can see her, too. Sound good?" Will nodded.
"Tell her…thank you." Will could hardly speak, but he forced out the words anyways. Hopper nodded solemnly.
"I sure will, kid."
Thank you for reading! This is my first fanfic in like...two years, but I still have so many feelings about S2 that I just had to write about! I don't know what this story will be- could just be lots of oneshots or maybe an actual story will unfold. No clue, but stay tuned and feel free to leave suggestions in reviews or PM's! I love chatting :)
