Mike looked around the table at the content faces eating dinner. His mom sat at the head, with Joyce and Hopper on one side and Nancy (who was feeding Anna) and Jonathan on the other. Then it was Will and his boyfriend Kyle (he had just recently come out when he arrived. There'd been lots of hugging and Karen had rushed into the kitchen to make some more food) who sat opposite Dustin and Lucas. And finally, El, squished next to Lucas. She kept catching his eye through the meal, smiling at him. He could tell she was nervous, so he reached out under the table and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. The people around him now… they were (mostly) the people he'd grown up with. The people who'd been there through tough times. The people his child was going to grow up with as family. He was happy.
When everyone had finished their meal and thanked Mrs Wheeler for it, Mike nervously stood up before his mom could take away the dishes. Nancy smiled at him encouragingly, and he took a deep breath. "Um, guys, I just want to say something." All eyes were on him now. He gulped. "First off, I just want to thank everyone for coming. I've known you guys forever. Well, not Kyle," he nodded in the other man's direction "but the rest of you, I have. You've all been like family to me, and I wanna thank you all. Without your help… we might not all be here today. So yeah, thanks. I-We have something to announce." He reached towards El's open palm and held it there, their fingers intertwined. "We… We're going to have a baby."
For a while, everyone (apart from Nancy, who just smirked around the table) just sat in silence, taking in the information they had just been confronted with. Then Dustin stood up, hugged El, and gave Mike a pat on the back. "Congratulations, man!" He was quickly followed by Lucas, Will, Nancy, Jonathan, Joyce, and his mom. Finally, there was just Hopper left. For a moment, Mike shrunk back, feeling like he had all those years ago when Hopper had caught them kissing in the basement (which was petrified, though that would be a major understatement). However, his fears quickly vanished as the still-Chief walked over and shook his hand, tears threatening to form. He let out a breath that he had been unaware he was holding. Everything was good. Everything was okay. He was going to be a dad.
As everyone was chattering to one another, Karen went up to her son and gave him a hug. "I'm so proud of you honey. You're going to be a great dad. Your father, he would've been proud of you." Suddenly, all the emotion in his face fell away and he looked to the floor. His mom noticed. "Oh honey. Give your father a break. He really loved you." Mike looked her dead in the eye. "Oh yeah? The bruises on my face sure showed that, didn't they? Don't you remember? I couldn't go to school for two weeks. He kept on hitting me, and the only person in this house who seemed to care was Nancy. God, even Holly noticed. But you? You just stood back and let him." She smiled at him softly, trying her best to calm the situation.
"He thought you were queer, Mike. You have to understand that. And he was troubled during that time period. Work was stressful for him. You have to understand." Mike just glared at her. "You disgust me." He snarled finally, walking away from her and going outside. From across the room, Nancy saw him walking away and shot her mother a look that could kill before nudging El. "Hey um, I think you should go check on Mike. He seems pretty… upset." Nodding, the young woman slipped outside to him.
"Hey." El said, bending down to join him as he sat against the powerlines that ran behind his house. "What's up?" Mike sighed. He had never told El when he was younger the true reason he'd had the nasty bruises across his face. He hadn't wanted to worry her. Which also meant she had no idea why he resented his deceased father so much. "It's… nothing. It's nothing. I'm okay."
"Mike." She said softly. He looked at her, and her worry-filled eyes threatened to melt his heart. "Friends don't lie. What's wrong?" He laughed a little at their old saying, then sighed. It was obvious she wasn't going to give in. "It's just… my mom said something about my dad." He watched out the corner of his eye her face grew confused. "Do you remember when I was 15 or 16, and I had those bruises all over my face? I told you and the guys that I'd fallen off my bike, right? Well, I didn't tell you the real reason… it was him. My dad. He hit me. He thought I was queer, and shouted at me that he didn't raise a son to be gay. And he hit me. A lot." He saw her face twist in shock, but carried on. "And then I get mom telling me to 'forgive' him and pay him some respect. But I already did that. I went to his funeral. That's more respect than he deserved." She gently gripped his arm and rested her head softly on his shoulder. "Mike. I understand. I- I didn't know. I'm sorry." Mike carefully stroked her head. "No. No. It's not your fault. You couldn't have known. But I can't handle her talking about him like he was a good person. Like it wasn't his fault." They both look each other in the eye. "At least we have each other." She smiled and let out a laugh, patting her tummy. "And… Benny?" He smiled back at her. He knew what had happened the morning before they had found her, and knew that she felt guilty. This was her small way of making sure he was remembered. "Yeah. Benny. That's great."
Nancy and Mike both sat on the sofa, observing the scene. El, Lucas, Dustin, Will and a confused looking Kyle were all sat together, catching up on their years apart, and rehashing the events of '83 (though they kept some things excluded, for the newcomer knew nothing of the Demogorgon, the upside down or Eleven's powers). Jonathan and Hopper sat with Anna, hilariously trying to keep her entertained, and Joyce and Karen sat chatting away about baby nonsense and normal,un-monster related things. After a while of sitting in peaceful silence, Mike spoke to her. "Why'd you come back?"
"What?" she said in confusion, turning in her seat to face him. "What do you mean?"
"I mean why did you come back? To Hawkins? You and Jonathan… and Steve, you were all monster hunting." She shushed him, but let him go on. "You lived in Chicago. You'd escaped this place. You were free. Everything that'd happened, you'd escaped it. But then you get pregnant, and all of a sudden you're back in Hawkins. For good. All those bad memories, they are all here. And you just came to live with them." She sat in silence for a moment, contemplating his outburst. Then she spoke. "Tell me honestly, Mike. Did you ever really escape? Did the memories disappear from your mind? Did the nightmares ever go away for El? Or you? Were you ever really free? Because I sure as hell wasn't. They stuck with me, wherever I went. And sure, the pain became easier to handle. The nightmares became less frequent. But they were still there. One thing we all learnt that week was that you can't outrun the monster. The memories are the monster. If you can't outrun it, you face it. You destroy it. But that comes at the cost of destroying yourself. So I learned to live with the monster. But life was also a monster too. I stopped monster hunting… because of Steve. He didn't deserve that. He shouldn't have ever been there. But he was. And now he's gone. If I carried on, I'd be putting Jonathan at risk too. Plus, we had a child on the way. That was the most important thing. So we came back, not caring about this monster. I didn't care about the pain, Mike, because honestly? The pain was the thing that kept everything real." For a while, they both said nothing, Mike trying to register everything his sister had just said, and Nancy trying to figure out where that had all come from. Then Mike held her hand tightly, and looked at her. "I'm really sorry about Steve, sis. Wherever he's gone, you and Jonathan will get him back. I can look after Anna for you, if you ever feel the need to get out of this tiny town. Just call me, okay?" She laughed, wondering when he'd decided to become the big brother. "Thanks." It was quiet, but it was genuine, and Mike could tell. "Thanks."