The lights suddenly burned brightly as they sat in Hopper's cabin, having just saved Will from the Shadow Monster. Joyce held her boys close, as Nancy looked on. They each believed that the brightness meant that Eleven was winning against the Mind Flayer but they couldn't be sure. Will leaned against Jonathan for support and comfort as they waited for the call from Hopper that the gate was closed.

Forty-five minutes later—although it felt more like a lifetime to Nancy—they received a message over the walkie-talkie from the Chief. "It's closed. We're safe." A collective sigh of relief washed over the current occupants of the cabin.

"Let's go home," Joyce stated, trying to sound up beat but exhausted from the week's events. Nancy nodded in agreement, relieved that the ordeal appeared to be over, at least for now.

"Are you up for a ride in the car?" Jonathan asked, studying Will for any sign that he was too sick to handle the trip.

Will replied softly, "Yeah, I want to sleep in my own bed tonight."

"Okay, then, let's go home," Jonathan quietly responded.

Nancy and Joyce began tidying up the small cabin for Hopper and El's return. When the last heater was packed in the trunk of Jonathan's car, Jonathan picked up Will, who was still too weak to walk on his own, and carried him to the car. Joyce joined Will in the back seat and Nancy climbed into the front passenger seat.

As Jonathan drove down the dark streets heading back to the Byers' house, Nancy couldn't help but think about the Shadow Monster exiting Will's body and flying away into the night sky. Nancy shuddered to think how it had possessed Will and had spied on all of them. What had it learned? What would it do with the information that it had learned? She wondered.

Jonathan remained quiet on the drive home, taking his eyes off the road only to steal frequent glances into the backseat to see how Will was doing. Nancy could see that Jonathan was feeling a tremendous amount of guilt in failing to protect Will from the Shadow Monster. She knew that he would carry that weight around for weeks to come—just as he had done last year when Will had been lost and finally saved from the Upside Down. Nancy wished there was something that she could do, but tonight had shown her that they were up against a Thing more terrifying and more cunning than a single Demogorgon. Nancy stared out the window, internally making a list of all the things that they had learned about the Mind Flayer so they would be better prepared the next time the Upside Down invaded their lives.

Jonathan made the turn onto his driveway. Having seen the car lights, the kids came running out the front door of the Byers' modest house, followed closely by Steve. Lucas was the first to reach the car with Max, Dustin and Mike right behind him. Lucas asked urgently, "Will, is he okay?"

Joyce responded as she climbed out of the car, "Will is safe. We got that Thing out of him, but he is really weak and needs to rest."

Nancy knew it would be a long time before Will was okay, or any of them for that matter, and she hated that fact.

Will responded with a slight smile, "Hey guys…, um, hey Max."

Dustin stepped in front of the gang to talk to Will, "Hey, buddy, we set fire to the tunnels in the Upside Down. It was awesome."

"Really?" Will questioned, looking surprised but happy.

Nancy immediately jumped out of the car and yelled, "What?" She looked at Dustin, and then at her brother before setting her sights on Steve. She stomped over to Steve and began yelling, "You were supposed to keep them safe, Steve."

Steve replied calmly, and in a causal tone. "I did keep them safe. See, they are all here," he stated as he pretended to count the kids. "…and they are alive. Just a few scratches." Nancy stared at Steve with more rage than she realized she was capable of. What if something bad had happened to Mike and she hadn't been there to protect him? How could she have lived with herself? Nancy suddenly realized at that moment the depth of Jonathan's pain at being unable to protect Will.

Dustin immediately came to Steve's defense. "Nancy, one of our party needed our help, and it is our solemn duty to provide that help. We couldn't sit around and do nothing. We lured the demo-dogs away from the lab so El and Hopper could close the gate. Our plan worked. We're fine. Besides, we kidnapped Steve. He didn't have a choice."

Steve, choosing to leave the explanation of how they had made their way to the tunnels for another day, asked Jonathan as he approached the porch with Will in his arms, "You guys okay?"

"Yeah. I think so." Jonathan replied.

Steve nodded, replying with a simple but awkward, "Good."

Nancy decided that she was too exhausted to get to the bottom of what Steve and the kids had been up to while Jonathan and her had been helping Will. She resigned that perhaps not knowing all the answers for once was better in this instance.

Turning his attention to the kids, Steve yelled, "Okay, shitheads, let's get inside and wait for Hopper and El before we all freeze to death out here."

As the kids followed Steve back into the house, Nancy walked over to Mike before he reached the front door. "Mike, are you sure you're okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah. I guess so."

Nancy pulled Mike into a hug. The Wheeler clan were not outwardly affection with each other and hugs were far and few between them, but tonight had shown Nancy that life was fragile. Mike didn't pull away from Nancy's embrace, his usual response to any affection that he received from his family, rather he returned her hug.

"Let's get inside." She responded when Mike finally pulled away.

Nancy sat in the living room with Steve and the kids, giving Jonathan and Joyce some time alone with Will. Everyone except Mike was quietly sitting and waiting for Hopper and El to arrive. Mike was pacing back and forth and checking his watch every couple of minutes.

"Where are they?" Mike yelled out in frustration. "It's been over an hour since El closed the gate. They should have been here by now. What if something bad happened?"

"I'm sure they're fine." Lucas stated. "Now will you stop pacing. You're driving me nuts!" Mike shot Lucas an incredulous look before returning to his pacing in the living room. Lucas was about to say something when Dustin said, "Let it go, man." Lucas sighed and nodded at Dustin.

Seconds later, the lights from Hopper's truck filled the living room.

"Finally." Mike yelled as he ran out the door. "El. El." The rest of the group looked on from the porch.

"She's fine, kid," Hopper guffed as he stepped out of his truck. "She's drained and needs her rest."

Mike ran over to the passenger side window. "El."

El was slumped against the door with her eyes closed. She opened her eyes slightly at the sound of his voice. "Mike," she smiled slightly. "I closed it."

"That's fantastic, El. I knew you could do it!"

Hopper, having made his way to the other side of the truck, lightly pushed Mike out of the way as he opened up the passenger door and scooped up El into his arms and headed towards the Byers' home.

Joyce was standing in the living room, directing Hopper to put the girl in her room. Hopper obliged heading directly for Joyce's bedroom as Mike followed closely behind. Hopper laid El down on the bed, telling Mike and the rest of the kids once again, "She needs to rest."

Mike ignored Hopper, and made his way to the side of the bed and grabbed El's hand. Mike gently whispered in El's ear. Hopper was about to intervene when Nancy touched his elbow. "Let them have a few minutes."

Hopper rubbed his face with his hands several times. "I'm going to smoke a cigarette… or two," he said before departing.

Nancy watched in wonder as her little brother continued to whisper words of encouragement at El, and gently brushed the hair out of her eyes. She had never seen him be so nurturing and caring before and Nancy realized that El wasn't just Mike's friend but something so much more to him. Suddenly feeling that she was intruding, Nancy stepped out of the room and ushered the kids to return to the living room.

While walking down the hall, Nancy looked into Will's room and saw Jonathan slumped over in the chair next to Will's bed, having fallen asleep. Nancy walked over to Jonathan and slightly shook him, whispering, "Jonathan. Jonathan." He sat up immediately, clearly startled, "What? Is everyone okay? Is Will okay"

"Will's fine. He's sleeping." Nancy stated. "You feel asleep. Go to bed. I can watch Will."

"No, I'm fine. I just nodded off for a moment."

Joyce walked into the bedroom. "You both need to go to bed. I'll watch Will."

"Mom, I can watch Will. You should get some sleep."

"I will. Hopper and El are in my room. I'll sleep in here tonight."

"You sure?" Jonathan asked his mom.

"Yes. Now go on."

"Okay." Jonathan said as he rose from the chair, grabbing Nancy's hand and leading her to his room.

Jonathan sat down on his bed, putting his head in his hands. Not knowing what else to do, Nancy sat down next to him, putting her hand on his shoulder. Neither said anything for several minutes.

Jonathan finally looked up at Nancy. "I've never been so terrified in my life. I thought for sure he was going to die." He choked, tears starting to well up in his eyes.

"But he didn't." Nancy replied softly. "Will is a fighter and he's going to be okay, eventually."

"Bob won't. Bob's dead. Will and my mom don't deserve this—Being possessed by an interdimensional monster. Having their boyfriend savagely killed by killer dogs. I don't know how they are going to get through this." Jonathan walked over to the closed door of his room before turning around and sliding down the door until he was sitting on the ground, returning his head to his hands.

"I never gave Bob a chance. My mom cared about him, and I never gave him a chance. And now he's dead. He loved my mom and he treated her well. She deserves to have someone like Bob in her life. He tried to get to know me, but I wouldn't let him. I didn't want him around and I made that pretty clear to him. I didn't want him around, because I didn't trust him. I kept waiting for him to hurt my mom or leave."

He continued, "God, Murray was right. I do have trust issues."

Nancy looked at Jonathan with concern. She wanted to say something comforting but she knew that the best thing she could do for Jonathan was to let him have a safe place to vent what he was feeling.

Jonathan closed his eyes. "It's hard to trust people when the person who is biologically hard-wired to love you and take care of you doesn't. If your own father hits you and leaves, how can you ever expect anyone else to stick around?"

Nancy was off the bed in an instance and kneeling before Jonathan. She had once heard her mother Karen talking to one of her friends over the phone about Lonnie being physical with Joyce before he had moved out. Jonathan came to school the next day wearing a long t-shirt even though the temperatures had soared into the 80s. She had suspected that Lonnie had been physical with Jonathan too and that he was covering up any bruises that he might have received the day before. To hear him confirm her suspicions, broke Nancy's heart into a million pieces.

Nancy pulled Jonathan into a hug. They held each other for a long time before Nancy gently kissed his forehead, then softly planted a kiss over each eye, and then each cheek. Nancy looked into Jonathan's eyes as she gently kissed his mouth. Jonathan returned her gaze, sighing softly when her lips touched his. The kiss started off sweet and innocent but quickly moved to heated and passionate between the two. Nancy straddled Jonathan's lap as their tongues dueled for dominance. Jonathan lifted them both off the ground; Nancy legs wrapped around his waist as he carried her to the bed. Jonathan laid her gently down. Jonathan began kissing her neck, eliciting a soft moan from Nancy. "Shhhh, Wheeler," Jonathan smiled, loving the effect that he was having on her.

"I can't be quiet when you're doing that to me, Byers." Nancy replied wistfully. "This probably isn't a good idea when everyone we know is only a few feet away anyway."

"Yeah, you're right," Jonathan sighed in frustration. "What the hell was I thinking yesterday when I made us stop?"

"I have no idea," Nancy responded dryly, smiling up at him. Jonathan chuckled chastely kissing her on the lips. "Me neither."

"Thank you . . . for everything," Jonathan finally whispered before burying his head into her shoulder. Nancy wrapped her arms around Jonathan, holding him tightly until they both feel asleep.

A/N: While I love Mileven, we seriously need more Jonathan and Nancy fics on this site. While this story wasn't originally going to be more than a one-shot, I thought it would be fun to explore Nancy's and Jonathan's journey through Nancy's POV. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Leave me a review and let me know what you think.