Seeing the chief's Blazer in the driveway had become so commonplace at the Byer's house that as Jonathan pulled in, he was worried by its absence. Although with what had happened in the past couple years, he was always worried by the slightest thing out of place. He shrugged it off, walking into the house.

"Hey, Mom, I'm home," Jonathan said, dropping his bag of books that hadn't quite been studied even though that had been his excuse when he said he was going to the Wheelers'.

Joyce poked her head out of the kitchen, shushing him and pointing to the couch where Will and his friends were all slumped together under a blanket like a dozing six headed monster, a cheesy horror movie playing quietly on the TV.

"You got them all knocked out by midnight? Impressive." Jonathan said, sitting down in front of the dinner plate Joyce had covered in plastic for him. He noted another, untouched one across from him. "El's here, where's Hop?" He asked.

"Work emergency, he said," Joyce explained, biting her nail. Much like Jonathan, she got worried at the slightest thing out of place now. She liked to complain about the messes Will and his friends made but Jonathan knew she would let them all live at the Byers' house permanently if it meant she could keep them all safe. Jonathan reached out, patting his mom's hand. She relaxed a little, giving him a soft smile.

It wasn't "official", but the kids, as well as the whole town, knew that for all intents and purposes, Hop and his mother were together in every sense that they could be without actually being married. They tried to keep it from their children, but Jonathan knew Hop hadn't exactly been sleeping on the floor when he stepped out of Joyce's room in the mornings.

Their calm moment was shattered by the loud turning of gravel outside. They heard the kids on the couch wake abruptly as a car door slammed shut. Joyce and Jonathan hurried outside, motioning a warning to the kids to stay put which Jonathan knew they wouldn't heed.

Jonathan was relieved, albeit annoyed, to see it was only Lonnie's car parked crookedly and dangerously close to his in the driveway. Lonnie braced himself against his Oldsmobile, vomiting onto the grass. Joyce sighed, clearly just as glad that it was just her ex husband sloppy drunk and not a bunch of government suits there to take one of her children.

"Lonnie, what are you doing here?" She asked, pushing Jonathan behind her. He knew she was trying to tell him to go back inside, but much like the little faces peeking through the window, Jonathan wasn't going to listen.

"I'm here," Lonnie slurred, wiping sick off his face with the sleeve of his jacket. "To see my son." He shot a quick glare at Jonathan but turned back to Joyce.

"You drove all the way to Hawkins in the middle of the night to see your son?" Joyce asked, half laughing. "Where were you the last year, Lonnie?"

"I'm here now, alright? Where is he?" Lonnie asked. He clearly was too drunk to notice Will watching them from inside the house.

"Go away, Lonnie," Joyce said, crossing her arms. "If you want to see the boys you can come back when you aren't hammered."

"I just want to see mine," Lonnie said, once again glaring at Jonathan..

The headlights cut off Lonnie's anger for a brief moment as Hop pulled in. "Figured this is where you'd head, Lonnie." The chief said, stepping out of his Blazer.

"Of course I would, this is my house, ain't it?"

"Not anymore," Hop corrected.

"No, I suppose not, huh, Hopper?" Lonnie said, a wicked grin on his face. "I heard from Old Joe you're here all the time. Wasn't enough for you to just fuck my wife, you gotta stake your claim on my house too?"

"I'm not your wife anymore," Joyce said, stepping closer to Lonnie as if her tiny stature might frighten him back into his car. Instead, it seemed to just strengthen his resolve. Jonathan put his hand on his mother's shoulder, pulling her back. Lonnie had been known to be violent.

"Sorry, Joyce is right, but then again, you'd already been fucking my wife."

"Christ, Lonnie," Hop said. "The kids can hear you, stop it."

"Just go home, man," Jonathan said.

"I don't want to hear it from you," Lonnie said, boring into him with that hateful stare once again.

"We don't want to see you," Jonathan continued, sounding much more confident than he felt. "Will doesn't want to see you. He's been fine without you. Better."

Lonnie lunged at him, moving like he was going to grab at his throat, but Hop grabbed the much smaller man by the collar and slammed him against his own car.

"Don't you fucking touch him," Hop growled, his face inches from Lonnie's.

"What, Hopper, got a special interest in the little shit?" Lonnie spat with a resentful grin. "He's all yours if you want him."

"Jesus, Lonnie, I know you're a fuck up," Hop said. "But that's still your kid."

"Oh, is it?" Lonnie asked with sarcastic surprise.

"Just go home, I don't want to arrest you."

"Yeah, you do."

"You're right, I do," Hop said, shoving Lonnie's shoulder back against the Oldsmobile. "But I'm not going to because your kids are watching. Now go the hell home and stay there."

As Lonnie got into the car, Jonathan felt a lump in his throat. Lonnie had never been Father of the Year, and he clearly favored Will (if you could call missed birthdays and half assed presents weeks later favoring), but Jonathan always thought it was just because he stood up to his father and defended his brother when Lonnie decided to turn on even his favorite son. Now, though, Lonnie's question of "is it?" rang through his head as he followed his mom back inside.

"Come on," Hop said to the kids as they scrambled back to the couch to pretend they weren't listening. "It's way past your bedtimes."

"It's a Friday, Chief," Mike complained.

"I'm not afraid to cuff you, Wheeler," Hop said, hands firmly on his hips. "Now. Bed."

The six grumbled but dragged their blankets into Will's bedroom where they would most likely stay up for another hour telling stories.

"I'll heat your dinner up," Joyce said, touching Hop's arm gently. He gave her a tight grin.

Jonathan sat on the couch and Hop plopped onto the other end, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. "Thanks for getting him out of here," Jonathan said after a moment.

"No problem, kid," Hop said. "I'm sorry you had to deal with him like that."

"I'm used to him like that," Jonathan laughed sadly. "But about what he said-,"

"I'm sorry about that too," Hop said. "He's an ass. You and your brother are good boys. He should be proud you're his kids but instead he treats you like that."

"No, I mean," Jonathan breathed in. "What he was saying. Why he was saying it."

"That he wanted to see Will?" Hop asked. "Yeah, after a year and a half, he shows up, I was wondering that too."

"That's just his typical bullshit," Jonathan said, losing his nerve. Hop clearly wasn't getting his question and Jonathan wasn't going to spell it out for him. Even if he had known Hop his whole life, 'hey, are you actually my dad?', seemed a bit heavy to just drop on someone.

"Yeah, he used to be just one of your run of the mill douchebags," Hop said. "But he's really blossomed since high school."

"You and my mom were dating back then, right?" Jonathan asked. He had never heard it from either of them, just small town talk that got around.

Hop laughed. "Nah, I wish. I wanted to date her, but she wasn't about that kind of thing. We were just-," Hopper stopped short and cleared his throat, remembering who he was talking to. "We were just good friends."

"That's too bad," Jonathan shrugged, getting up. "You would've been better for her than Lonnie."