Hopper had just finished buttoning up his work shirt when the phone rang.
"Hello?" he answered. "Yeah, yeah, hold on." He took the phone from his ear and handed it to El. "For you."
"Hello?" El said.
"Hey El," Mike answered.
"Mike! Hi," she grinned excitedly. It was a Thursday morning in the end of January. Mike should have been leaving for school soon, and he didn't usually call her that early, so it was a total surprise to hear his voice.
"Hey, so I have a snow day from school today, and I was wondering if Hopper would let you come over for the day."
"What is snow day?" Hopper heard her ask and understood immediately why the boy was calling her so early in the morning.
"Oh, it's like when it snows a lot and they think it's too dangerous for us to go to school, so we get to stay home," Mike explained. "Do you think you can come over?"
"Let me ask!" El crossed her fingers and looked to Hopper who already knew what was coming.
Before she could even ask, Hopper groaned. "Yes, I don't care."
El squealed and turned back to the phone. "He said yes!"
"Okay, well, um, just come over when you can, alright?"
"Yes, see you soon!" She hung up the phone. "I can really go?!"
"Yes, I suppose. I'll pick you up after work if that's okay with Karen. Hurry up and get ready."
El looked down at her pajamas and ran to her bedroom to change. She was ready in 5 minutes, and they were out the door. The snow made their trek to the Blazer a little more difficult than usual, but El didn't care. She was just so excited that she was going to get to see Mike today.
"Don't be stupid," Hopper warned to her when she stepped out of the vehicle in the Wheeler's driveway.
"I know, I know," El griped. "Bye!" She slammed the car door shut and ran up to the front door. Hopper waited for her to get inside safely. Mike was at the door in a second and they disappeared.
"Oh hello, Jane." Karen Wheeler smiled when she saw her.
"Hi," El smiled sweetly back.
"We're going to my room, mom!" Mike yelled, quickly dragging El upstairs.
Karen was not as strict as Hopper, perhaps just because she was a little less aware of their relationship. She trusted Mike and El alone in his room, thinking that they were young enough to not get into trouble, whereas Hopper knew better.
They got to Mike's room and sat down on the edge of his bed.
"So, what do you want to do today?" he asked.
"I don't know. What do you want to do?" She didn't really care what they did. She was just so happy to be with Mike.
"Let's see. We could watch a movie or play games or-" Mike stopped mid-sentence when El turned to kiss him.
She pressed her lips against his, and though he was surprised, he kissed her back. El pulled away and smiled deviously. She climbed all the way on his bed and laid down, silently inviting him to join her. Mike glanced at his door. His mom was not a knocker. El noticed his hesitation, and she flipped the lock closed with her mind.
Mike carefully laid down over the top of her, straddling one of her legs with his. They'd never kissed like this before and he didn't want to hurt her, so he made sure that he wasn't putting any weight on top of her.
El curled both her arms under his and placed her hands on his shoulders. This time when they kissed, El opened her mouth slightly and flicked her tongue across his. Mike almost lost it. He opened his mouth a little more for her, inviting her to do it again. El's hands drifted from his shoulders down his back, and she pulled him closer to her body. He wondered if he was doing it right, and why it always seemed like El knew exactly what she was doing, while he felt like he was just fumbling around.
She really was perfect.
El slid her foot up, bending her knee between his legs so that there was no room between the two of them. She wrapped her arm around his waist and pulled him tighter, pressing her hips against his. Now that Mike wasn't supporting as much of his weight, he hesitantly put his hand on her clothed waist too. The more they kissed, the more El squirmed underneath him, until she finally turned her lips away to catch her breath.
She breathed out a sweet sigh and looked up at him, biting her bottom lip. She gave Mike one last light kiss, knowing they went a little too far this time. Mike climbed off her, trying to hide what he thought was a quite obvious, embarrassing, complication of being a teenage boy.
It seemed like these days, he could barely kiss her without it happening.
El sat up and crossed her legs, absently picking up his Rubik's cube. "Maybe you could teach me more D&D today?" she suggested, resuming their earlier conversation.
"Uh, yeah, sure. We could do that," Mike nodded, waiting for his problem to go away before he got up.
Mike's Supercom went off on his nightstand, and El jumped up to grab it.
"Hello. Over," she answered.
"Mike? Over," Lucas questioned.
El laughed. "No, it's El. Over."
"El, why do you have Mike's Supercom? Over."
"I'm at Mike's house for snow day. Over."
"Oh, okay, cool. We were thinking about going sledding today. Do you want to come? Over."
Mike nodded, so El agreed. They planned to meet at their secret sledding spot at 12:30.
"I'll get you some of Nancy's old snow stuff to wear," Mike told El, since she came a little under dressed for sledding. El was also a little nervous about sledding, but Mike promised her that it would be fun.
They went downstairs, and Mike hauled out his D&D books to read to El for the rest of the morning. She curled up on the couch, and snuggled up next to him, turning the pages for him as he read. She really wasn't that interested in it, but she knew that it was important to Mike and the Party. Plus, she secretly just liked cuddling and listening to him read to her. They stayed there all morning until Karen called down just before noon, "Lunch is ready!"
They ran up the stairs and sat down at the kitchen table with Holly. Karen had made chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.
"Thank you for lunch, Mrs. Wheeler," El politely said when they had finished eating. Mike complained to El about his mom a lot, but she never really understood why. She thought that she was a very good mom.
After they got done eating, they raided the coat closet for something warm for El to wear sledding. Mike found one of Nancy's hats, a pair of mittens, and her snow pants. They all fit El just about perfectly. Mike gave her an extra pair of his socks, and they put their gear on.
"I feel like the Marshmallow Man," El giggled once she got it all on. She was already way too hot.
Mike laughed at El all bundled up. She looked so adorable.
"I promise, you will be happy you are wearing it all once we get out there," he smiled at her, pulling on his yellow hat. "Ready?"
El nodded and reached up to give him a quick kiss. It suddenly seemed like one day Mike had grown a foot overnight, and now she had to stand on her toes to kiss him. And for some reason, today she couldn't stop kissing him.
"Bye, mom," Mike called, trying to get out the door before she had a chance to talk to them.
"Have fun you guys," Karen said, coming around the corner before they had closed the door. "I'm making lasagna for dinner, so be back by 6. And Jane, you and your dad are welcome to stay, okay?"
El smiled. "That sounds really good. Thank you."
Mike tried hard to contain an eye roll at his mom, but El thought she was sweet. And she gave them the most freedom out of all the parents without all the extra worrying and dumb rules.
El followed Mike to the backyard and waited while he hauled their sleds out of the shed. He handed El a plastic mat to carry because it was light, and he dragged his wooden sled behind them to their secret sledding spot. There were a few hills in Hawkins, but the kids had found this spot a couple of years ago. It wasn't an official sledding hill so there were a few complications, such as trees, but at least they didn't have to deal with a whole bunch of other kids being there too.
It took about 10 minutes to get there, and El was glad that she was wearing all the snow clothes just like Mike told her.
Between all the kids, they had collected a good variety of different kinds of sleds through the years. Of course, Max had also brought her new snowskate along too.
"Do you want to try?" Mike asked, sitting down on the wooden sled he had brought.
El nodded and sat down behind him, tightly wrapping her arms around his waist. She loved the way the wind rushed past them as they flew down the hill, and it was a lot of fun just like everyone promised.
The kids decided to pack some snow together in the middle of the hill and made a small jump for some added speed.
Mike tried showing off with Max's snowskate by being the first go over it, but he stopped trying pretty quick after he fell off both times- once not even getting all the way up jump, but just tripping over it instead. Even though he was embarrassed, El giggled and told him "good job," because she thought he was so cute when he tried to show off for her.
"Hey El, do you think you could like use your powers to make us do some tricks off the jump? I volunteer to go first," Dustin smiled, raising his eyebrows.
"Dustin, you know she's not supposed to," Mike warned him; he hated when they asked El to use her powers.
"It's okay," El replied, ignoring Mike's warnings. She didn't get to do much with her powers anymore, so she liked trying new things when Hopper wasn't around to be mad about it.
"El, really, you don't have to. Dustin's just being an idiot," Mike said, glaring at him.
"I want to try," El countered.
And so she did. She warned Dustin to hold on, and she made him go fast enough over the jump to flip his entire sled upside down one time, planting him safely at the bottom of the hill.
"That was awesome!" Dustin shouted up to them.
The rest of the group took turns making special requests, until Mike made everyone stop when he could see that El was getting too drained, even though she didn't mention it.
"Our turn," El smiled at Mike, climbing on the back of the sled again.
She accelerated their speed so that they naturally flew over the jump. Except it went much faster than she expected, and she closed her eyes, hugging Mike tightly. Unfortunately, they also weren't prepared for the amount of speed the sled would still have at the bottom of the hill.
"Woah, woah, woah," Mike yelled, planting his feet to try to stop them before they crashed. But they were going too fast, and it was too late. The sled flipped to the side, throwing both kids off. El slammed hard into a tree.
"Oh shit!" Max yelled, running down to see if their friends were okay.
Mike immediately stood up, running over to El.
"El, are you okay?!" Her eyes were closed, and she didn't respond. "El!" he yelled, shaking her again, wiping the cold snow from her cheeks.
"Oh my God, Mike that was mental!" Dustin exclaimed when he got down to them.
"El won't wake up!" Mike panicked, looking to his friends for help.
"She did hit the tree pretty hard," Max worried.
Before her friends could worry any more, El opened her eyes and looked around, confused as to where she was and how she got there.
"El," Mike sighed, pulling her up into a sitting position to hug her. "Are you okay?" El cradled her right arm between the two of them. "Did you hurt your arm?" he asked.
Everything was kind of spinning and she felt confused, but she did know that her arm and head hurt a lot.
"I'm just going to take your jacket off to see, okay?" Mike instructed, removing her mittens and gingerly unzipping her coat. His right arm was killing him too, but that didn't matter. He just wanted El to be okay.
El hissed in pain when Mike helped pull her arm out of the sleeve.
"Oh. OH, that's not good," Dustin cringed when he saw El's arm.
"Yeah man, I think that's broken," Lucas agreed.
"Hey! Do you think you could fix a broken bone with your powers?" Dustin suddenly thought.
El managed to shake her head no. She could only break bones, not fix them.
"Can you just help me get her up so I can take her home?" Mike asked.
Dustin helped lift El up, but she felt dizzy and fell over against Mike. "Do you think you can make it back home?" he questioned.
After a minute, El nodded, so they tried again. Mike wrapped her jacket over her shoulder, not making her put her arm back in the sleeve. The kids gathered their sleds and slowly followed the two back to Mike's house.
"Hi kids. You guys are home earlier than I expected," Karen called from the kitchen, when she heard them all piling in her living room.
"Uh, yeah. Me and Jane kind of had a little accident on our sleds," Mike called back to her.
"Oh no. Are you guys okay?" she said, coming around the corner.
"Well..." Dustin started. "We think Jane broke her arm."
"Oh my goodness. Let me see." Karen rushed over to examine El's arm.
"And she also kind of hit her head and passed out for a minute," he added.
"I'm going to call your father to have him meet us at the hospital," Karen immediately replied, leaving to use the phone.
Mike tried to sneakily pull his arm out of his jacket to examine the damage that had been done to his arm too; it didn't look any better than El's.
"Jesus! You too?!" Dustin exclaimed when he noticed Mike carefully pulling his sleeve back down.
"Mrs. Wheeler, Mike broke his arm too!" Dustin yelled, sensing that Mike was going to try to downplay his injury.
El looked at Mike's arm, concerned. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. It doesn't even hurt," he lied.
Mike slid El's jacket off and helped her get out of all of the extra snow clothes. When they were both undressed, El grabbed Mike's good arm. "Mike, I'm fine too. I don't think we should go to the hospital," she told him softly.
"Your wrist does not look fine." He looked down at her arm. "And I guess mine doesn't either," he admitted, putting his arm next to hers. "Maybe we can get matching casts."
"I don't want to go to the doctor," El repeated again, suddenly blinking back tears. She didn't want to cry in front of all their friends, but she almost couldn't help it.
Mike finally understood; she was scared.
"El, it's going to be okay," he reassured her quickly. "These doctors are different from the ones in that place. They are just going to look at our arms and maybe take some x-rays to see if we broke anything. It's really no big deal," he explained. "They aren't going to hurt you." Mike made her look him in the eyes. "El, I promise."
Meanwhile, Karen called Hopper and explained the situation. He agreed to meet them at the hospital ER, so she called Nancy down to watch Holly and then helped the kids get their boots and jackets back on.
Their friends wished them good luck before they left.
Mike and El climbed in the back seat of the Wheeler's station wagon. El slid her left arm around Mike's elbow, taking care not to touch his wrist where he was hurt. She laid her head on his shoulder, feeling sick. She really didn't want to go to the hospital, and she didn't want Mike to be hurt. She wished she hadn't been so stupid.
El closed her eyes and tried not to get sick on the ride to the hospital. "It's okay," Mike promised her softly one last time as they stepped outside to go into the emergency room.
"You two go have a seat. I'll be right back," Karen instructed, pointing at a row of chairs inside the hospital's waiting room. Mike sat down next to El, and Karen returned with some paperwork. She filled out Mike's information and brought it back up to the desk.
Hopper rushed in moments later and immediately saw the two kids still in the waiting room. Of course he had assumed the worst on the way over, so when he saw El conscious and in one piece, he let out a sigh of relief.
"Are you alright?" he asked, approaching them.
El nodded and stood up to hug him, ignoring the pain in her wrist and head. "I want to go home," she told him softly.
He pulled her back and looked her over, briefly considering it. He didn't like having her here either; it felt too vulnerable.
But when he further examined her arm, he noticed the way her wrist was swollen and angled and knew that she had to stay.
"I know. We will go home soon. Just gotta get that looked at. Jesus, kid," he sighed, eyeing the bruises that were already forming. "And you hit your head?"
El shrugged, trying to get him to see that she was fine so they could leave.
Karen came back from the front desk. "Hi Jim," she sighed, giving him an apologetic smile. "I'm so sorry to call you here from work. It sounds like these two had a pretty decent accident though. After you fill out Jane's paperwork, I can take over for you if you need to get back to work," Karen offered.
"No, it's a slow day anyway," he quickly excused, sitting down with the clipboard of papers that she handed him. He wasn't about to leave El here all alone.
Since Mike's paperwork was already finished, he was called back to an exam room first.
"I'll see you soon, alright?" Mike promised, flashing a confident smile.
El gave a slight nod and curled up next to Hopper. Even though Mike had promised that she would be okay, she still didn't like the inside of this building. It was too bright and too sterile. She didn't like the way it smelled, and it made her feel even more sick to her stomach.
"You have any allergies?" Hopper asked, trying to fill out her medical history as best as he could- things that a father would normally know about their own kid.
"Allergies?"
"Uh yeah- so it's like if you touch something or taste something that your body is allergic to you might get a rash, itchy eyes, or all swelled up," he tried to explain.
El shook her head no because she couldn't remember that ever happening to her.
"And uh, when was your last period?"
"Thanksgiving time," El told him, not sure why the papers on the clipboard needed to know that.
When Hopper read the next line, he checked a big 'no' in the box next to sexually active; he didn't even need to ask her that question.
Hopper handed the completed papers back to the front desk receptionist, and soon El heard her name called. She gripped Hopper's hand tightly with her uninjured left hand, refusing to let go.
"Have a seat, Jane," the nurse said, closing a curtain around them in an exam room.
El looked at Hopper nervously, but he nodded to her, so she did as she was told and climbed up on the small hospital bed. Hopper could sense that she was incredibly nervous, so he stood next to her instead of sitting down in the visitor's chair.
"I see you and your friend had an accident while you were sledding. Looks like you hit your head and injured your arm?" the nurse asked, flipping through her medical history.
El managed a small nod. The nurse placed a hospital gown on the end of the bed. "If you could just take everything off and get changed into this, I'll be back in a few minutes to take your vitals."
"Thanks," Hopper nodded, before the woman pulled the curtain closed and disappeared.
El sat motionless, staring at the white and blue gown next to her, and Hopper immediately realized the problem.
"It's alright," he said, moving to stand in front of her. "They just make you put that on so that they can look at you easier."
El couldn't slow down her breathing, and she really did not want to put it on. "I want…to go…home," she repeated her earlier plea. "Please?"
"I know. I know." Hopper put his hands on her shoulders. "And we can very soon. I'll be right here with you. I'm not going to let anything happen to you," he promised her sternly. "These doctors aren't like the ones in the lab. They are- they're kind of like the doctors on General Hospital," he decided, trying to compare them to characters on her favorite show. "They are just here to help people who are sick or hurt."
Hopper waited a second for her to calm down and then he helped her the rest of the way out of her jacket, not giving her much of a choice. He untied her boots and slipped them off. "You got the rest?"
El sniffled and gave a small nod of consent. Hopper turned around, so she could finish undressing. He heard her clothes hit the floor and then heard the bed sheets rustling. "You good?" he asked.
"Uh-huh," El whispered. He pulled a chair up next to her and sat down, while El chewed her bottom lip and blinked fast, attempting to ignore her rising panic. She looked around at the devices on the walls and the machines next to the bed. Her mind was telling her to get out, that she needed to run.
Hopper immediately noticed another problem- her tattoo was quite visible now. He quickly got up and searched the cupboards until he found a bandage that would cover it up. Just as he finished covering it, the nurse asked permission to open the curtain and come in. She removed one of the machines off the wall and grabbed El's left, uninjured arm, wrapping a blood pressure cuff around it. El pressed her eyes closed while it tightened, and Hopper patted her leg, sensing her discomfort.
El was cooperative while the rest of her vitals were taken, and even managed to respond to some small talk, though Hopper tried to step in for her. The nurse misinterpreted El's discomfort and high vitals as a sign of pain and promised that she would be back with some pain medication for her soon.
Both Hopper and El sighed when the nurse left. "You're doing great, kid," he encouraged.
He felt awful knowing that El could walk into, what could literally be called hell, to close the gate, but something relatively normal like having to see a doctor, managed to be even more terrifying for her.
"Hey, why don't we play I spy while we wait," Hopper decided.
"I spy?"
"Yeah. It's sort of a game where one person picks something in the room and the other person has to guess what it is by just knowing the color of the thing. So like, I would say- I spy something blue, and you would have to try to guess what it is out of all the things that are blue in this room."
Sure, maybe El had been a little too old for I spy, but he used to play it with Sara in all the hospitals and doctor's offices to keep her mind off things, and he hoped that maybe it would work for El too.
"Is it the chair?" El asked, understanding the rules.
Hopper laughed. "Yeah, yeah, you got it. That was an easy one. Okay, so now you get to pick something."
It turns out that El was quite proud of her I spy skills and her technique of picking out minuscule details, like the white stripes and stars in the flag patch on Hopper's jacket sleeve. He gave up before ever guessing it correctly.
It seemed to keep her mind busy, and the two got through just a few rounds before the doctor asked permission to come in.
Doctor Coppens, as he introduced himself, was older and he wore a white lab coat. He looked just like the doctors El knew in the lab, the ones Papa had called her "friends." El was wary of him the second she saw him.
A few minutes into the exam, Hopper realized that he didn't like him much either.
The doctor sat down on a rolling stool and flipped through the history in El's chart. "Well Jane, I see you hit your head and injured your arm while sledding," he said. "Did you lose consciousness at any time?"
El looked to Hopper. She didn't know what that meant, and she didn't really want to talk to this person.
"From what I've been told, she did. Briefly," Hopper added.
The doctor wheeled his stool close to El, touching her without any warning. She flinched when his hands pressed on her head, and Hopper had to restrain himself from picking El up and taking her home; he hated seeing her so afraid of something so benign. The doctor touched her head in a few places and then took his penlight to her eyes.
"Any pain in your head?" he asked.
El wasn't sure if she should tell the truth, or lie in hopes of going home faster. But her head did hurt, and Hopper said the doctors were going to help her, so she decided to answer with a truthful, "Yes."
"Confusion? Vomiting?"
El shook her head no.
"Probably only a mild concussion in that case. Unfortunately not much we can do about that. It'd be a good idea to keep her home from school for a few days, so she can take some extra time to rest. Rest will be the most important aspect of her recovery, even up to a few weeks out. I'd also like to take an x-ray of the wrist," he added simply, though he hadn't really even examined it yet. He flipped through the papers in her chart once more. "I see the last time you had your period was around Thanksgiving. Any chance of pregnancy?"
"Uh, no. No," Hopper choked out, answering for her. He was almost offended that the doctor would even ask; El was still just a kid herself.
The doctor turned from El to Hopper. "If you wouldn't mind just stepping outside for a moment- you know how teenagers are. Sometimes it's uncomfortable to talk about things in front of their parents," he explained softly, in a patronizing tone. "Especially when your father is a police officer." He nodded to Hopper's clothing.
El looked like she was ready to cry at the thought of Hopper leaving her, so he knew he wasn't going to do that. "Yeah, I get that. But we are pretty open. I tend to believe my kid when she says she's not pregnant," Hopper replied back in the same tone.
The doctor turned back to El. "Are your periods irregular?"
El's heart was still beating too fast at the thought of Hopper leaving her alone in this place. "What?" she asked softly, not understanding his question and trying hard not to cry.
"Do your periods come around the same time every month or do you regularly skip months?" the doctor clarified.
El shrugged, unsure. She hadn't ever really thought about her periods other than when they were happening.
The doctor flipped the pages back down on the clipboard with a frustrated sigh. "We will be taking some blood for a pregnancy test before she goes for x-rays." He spoke as if he didn't believe a word El had said. He stood to leave. "The nurse will be in shortly."
Once the doctor was gone, Hopper tried to remain calm for El's sake, though it was difficult.
"Pregnant? Like I have a baby inside me?" El finally asked after a minute.
"Yeah," Hopper sighed. "It's nothing to worry about," he promised her.
"Why does the doctor think I have a baby inside?"
She didn't understand how having a hurt head and arm related to having a baby.
"Probably just because your period is a little late. But uh, I think that's pretty normal for you, yeah?" Hopper asked.
El could tell that Hopper was upset so she agreed with him, even though she wasn't sure if it really was normal for her.
"They just want to be sure you aren't pregnant before you have x-rays for your arm. It's-" he paused. "Not good for pregnant woman to have x-rays," he explained simply, annoyed about even having to discuss this with her.
El could sense that Hopper didn't want to talk about it anymore, so she laid back down on the bed and closed her eyes until the nurse came in to draw her blood.
Hopper had been worried about how she would do for it, but El was incredibly brave, not even flinching. When he commented on it, El replied with a shrug. "I've had lots of blood draws."
The more time she spent in the hospital room, the more comfortable she got, which was good because they had to wait a long time once her x-rays were finally taken.
The nurse informed them that El's wrist was definitely broken, and so she administered some pain medication to her while they waited for the doctor to come in to place the cast. El learned that she actually really liked the nurse lady- or at least she liked her much more than the doctor, especially because the medicine she gave her made her feel really happy. Hopper could tell when the medication took effect, because El significantly relaxed and got a little silly while they played more I spy at her request.
Between turns, El blurted out a sudden, worried realization. "You can't have a baby from kissing with tongues, can you?"
In that moment, Hopper was very glad that he was in a hospital, just in case he needed emergency resuscitation.
"What?" he managed to ask.
El smiled drowsily, thinking back to earlier that morning, but did not elaborate.
"No. No, you can't. And if you are doing that, I really wish you wouldn't," Hopper finally answered, trying not to lose it on the poor kid who just had too many drugs to have an appropriate filter.
"Oh, I spy Mike!" she giggled, looking behind Hopper.
"That's not really how it- Oh," Hopper finished when he turned and saw that she really did see Mike.
"I'm not really supposed to be in here," Mike said cautiously, glancing to Hopper who gave him a look, though he let him come in anyway.
"Your arm!" El exclaimed sadly, pointing to the cast that went up to just below his elbow.
"Yeah, it's broken," he shrugged. "What about yours?" He was hopeful that it maybe it wasn't, since he didn't see a cast on it.
"Yes, mine's broken too," El admitted. "And we had to wait to see if I'm having a baby," she added innocently.
Mike's face grew red, and he glanced to Hopper who squinted his eyes at the boy's reaction, not bothering to clarify El's confusing, medication-fueled statement to him. He'd let the boy sweat it out for a little while; Mike more than deserved it.
"What? But you- we- you couldn't- um, you aren't, right?" Mike stuttered, finally getting something coherent out.
"No baby," El answered, oblivious to his panic. She sat up to touch his cast. "Does it hurt?"
Mike swallowed hard, wondering what El could have said that would make them think that she was pregnant. "Uh, no, not really," he answered quickly. The adrenaline he was feeling made any sort of pain he did have immediately disappear. Mike looked back at the curtain when he heard his mom following behind. He did NOT want her to hear about why it was taking so long for El to have her cast put on, and thank goodness, El didn't mention it again.
"I knew I would find him here," Karen laughed. "Jim, would you like us to stay and keep you company? I know how boring it can be just sitting here waiting."
Hopper was about to say no thanks. Really, the last thing he wanted to do was make small talk with the boy's mother who somehow allowed the kids to kiss with tongues today, but El threw Hopper the saddest look she could manage. "Please?"
"Really, it's the least we could do," Karen said, pulling up a chair to sit next to him.
The doctor returned shortly after and aside from El's concussion, her and Mike had nearly matching injuries. And, after another 45 minutes, they had matching casts too.
"These two, always doing everything together these days, aren't they?" Karen laughed.
"Mm-hm," Hopper grudgingly agreed.
"Would you like something to sign each other's casts with?" the nurse asked the kids.
El didn't know that you could write on your cast, but since the nurse offered it, she figured it was probably okay to do. The nurse returned with a blue and a yellow marker. Mike picked the blue marker up with his left hand and wrote the best he could manage. When he pulled away, El saw that he had drawn a heart with his name after it.
El had the biggest smile on her face. She loved it and copied the same on his with the yellow marker, giggling at how badly she wrote with her left hand. Hopper saw how they had signed each other's casts and couldn't contain a frustrated eye roll. These kids...he couldn't wait for this snow day to be over.