After the bell rang for the last class of the day, Ross's teacher asked her to stay behind for a moment. A million reasons as to why ran through her head. They found Will and the search was off. She was being sent to the office for drawing on desks in class again. Someone saw her flip off Troy Harrington after lunch and reported her. They found Will dead somewhere in the woods. They found evidence proving her to be the reason Will was gone, that some how here taking a ride with her dad was the irrevocable trigger that had set Will's fate in stone.

However, when the teacher simply told her she was to go home with Mike Wheeler, she wondered how she could have gotten so worked up. She supposed she was on edge now. Jumpy and worried, for Will. He was actually missing. Those kinds of things only happened in the movies. Just a few days ago life had seemed normal, like nothing as bad as a missing or kidnapped boy could ever happen to them.

They were obviously wrong.

Ross waited at the bike rack for the boys to come out, watching the other kids to by and wondering how they would react when their parents told them that a boy from their class was missing. Did he run away? Did he get lost? Or was he kidnapped? Was he dead? Was whoever tool him still out there, searching for his next victim? Could they all be in danger, at risk of being stolen away on their way home from school?

She looked up as she heard the familiar voices of the boys, and shielded the sun from here eyes as Dustin called out to her.

"So? What did he ask you?" he questioned eagerly. Him, along with the other boys, had tried to ask her many times throughout the day, but either they were interuppted or she told them she would tell them later. "Why did he have to talk to you alone?"

She didn't say anything, didn't even have time to respond before Lucas was asking her if she was in trouble at all.

"No," she shook her head, not bothering to roll her eyes at the accusation which she would have normally done. "Not in trouble. They just asked if I was with Will and stuff, since Mike said we take the same road."

The four of them didn't say anything for a moment, all of them wrapping their head around the fact that Ross could have very well been there with Will when he went missing, although the three boys for a different reason than Ross. Ross was thinking how she could have maybe prevented Will's disappearance. The boys were thinking how she could have very well been included in that disappearance, too.

But no one was willing to mention it.

Instead, Dustin offered Ross a hand and heaved her to her feet.

"Mr. Coleman stopped me and said you were coming home with me," Mike said, although his time suggest it was more of a question rather than a statement. Ross nodded, wiping off any dirt that might have stuck to the back of her pants.

"The Hopper guy told me to call my dad and have him bring me home instead of going by myself, but my dad's off at work, so they called your mom and asked if I could stay with you tonight."

"Your dad's off at work again?" Lucas asked curiously. Ross nodded. None of them actually knew what kind of job her father had. She had a vague understanding of it, but she had never bothered to ask him for more detail or to explain it to the boys.

"Mr. Coleman didn't seem too happy to find that he usually left me home alone," she told them all, shrugging. "So I told them that I usually stay at Will's, but...you know."

Again, they lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, all think of their friend and resisting the sudden urge to cry. None of it seemed quite real, but the fact that it was already taking affected on the things they did only seemed to pull them out of the clouds a bit. And those clouds were beginning to rain.

Ross climbed on to her bike, and the boys all followed suit.

Will should have been there with them. He would probably be talking about the quiz they had today, or the new equipment for the AV Club. Dustin wondered if Will would be asking for the comic book that he had stowed away in his backpack, ready to give him.

They all looked at each other, their thoughts begging the silent question that they all seemed to understand but didn't know the answer to.

Mike was the only one to guess at what it was, his hope offering them a sense of security they all knew wouldn't last as long as they wanted it to. "He's okay," he whispered, and yet in their ears it all sounded like a scream.

"We should be out there right now!" Mike exclaimed. "We should be helping look for him!"

Ross shoved her food around with her fork, mildly regretting the decision to sit on the end of the table next to Mike and his father. Mike was angry and his dad's nonchalant attitude was getting on her nerves. It was like the man didn't care. She should have sat on the other end next to Holly and Nancy.

"We've been over this, Mike," Mrs Wheeler told her son, spoon feeding her youngest daughter some food. "The chief says-"

"I don't care what the chief says!"

"Michael!"

They had been over it. Practically as soon as they had gotten in the house Mike had been all over his mom, begging her to let the boys come over so they could all go out to look for Will. Mrs Wheeler had hugged them both, ignoring Mike's demand, and asked them to explain what happened when the cops questioned them. They both mentioned Hopper telling them not to go out, and it was enough to nail the decision of not letting them leave the house into her brain. She said no to Mike leaving the house, and said no to the boys coming over if it meant they would just plan to leave the house, and told them to go do their homework.

Mike, of course, had been angry. He dragged Ross up to his room and they tried to work on their math together, but didn't get anything done because every few seconds Mike would curse out about his mom's ignorance to Will's disappearance.

He seemed to abandon the thought of Will being okay nearly as soon as Dustin and Lucas left their side, and began to admit that Will would be in danger. He could have a limited amount of time left, and if they didn't go out to find them they might never see him again. He started to cry after saying that thought out loud, and him and Ross had hugged it out for a good twenty minutes until he clarified that he was okay. He had gone from angry, to sad, to decidedly calm all in one go, but now that they were sat at the dinner table to anger had come back.

"We have to do something!" Mike pleaded. "Will can be in danger!"

"More reason to stay put," Mrs Wheeler claimed. "Why do you think Mr Coleman called to have Ross stay? If I won't let Ross go home in broad daylight by herself, what makes you think I'll let you go out at night by yourself?"

"Mom!" Mike complained.

"End of discussion," Mrs Wheeler said firmly, leaving Mike with a disgruntled expression. She glanced to Ross, who was avoiding eye contact; to Nancy, who only raised her eyebrows in return; then to her husband, waiting for some back up that never came.

There were a few moments of silence before Nancy spoke up, her voice hesitant and trying. "So...me and Barbara are gonna study at her house tonight. That's cool, right?"

Mrs Wheeler closed her eyes and took a moment to herself, before looking to her daughter and shaking her head. "No. Not cool."

Nancy looked surprised and offended at her mother's response, like she had genuinely thought she wouldn't deny Nancy the right to go out and study.

"What? Why not?" she demanded, suddenly very annoyed.

"Why do you think?" Mrs Wheeler snapped. "An I speaking Chinese in this house? Until we know Will is okay, no one leaves."

"This is such bullshit!" Nancy exclaimed.

For the first time since they stumbled upon the conversation, Mr Wheeler spoke. The input he had decided to offer was to scold Nancy over cursing. "Language." He didn't even sound like he cared about that either.

"So we're under house arrest?" Nancy asked angrily. "Just because their friend got lost on the way home from school?"

It was the wrong thing to say. Mike's head snapped in Nancy's direction so fast he probably gave himself whiplash, and Ross dropped her fork straight into her food.

"He's not lost, he takes that road all the time!" Ross exclaimed the same time Mike asked, "Wait, so this is Will's fault?"

Mrs Wheeler fixed Nancy with as stern look. "Nancy, take it back."

"No!" Nancy exclaimed.

"You're just pissed off cause you wanna hang out with Steve!" Mike said, immediately tensing up at the whithering glare Nancy fixed him with.

Mr Wheeler was suddenly interested in what his kids had to say. "Steve?"

"Who is Steve?" Mrs Wheeler asked.

"Her new boyfriend!" Mike told them quickly.

"You are such douchebag, Mike!" Nancy snapped at him.

"Language!" Me Wheeler reprimanded.

Nancy groaned loudly, and stood up from the table to storm out of the room. Ross glanced at Mike to see him grinning behind his fist at her departure.

"Nancy, come back!" Mrs Wheeler called out. "Come back!"

She sighed, the weight of parenting weighing down on her not for the first time but in a decidedly different situation from normal. She turned her attention to Holly, who was looking nervously around the table. "It's okay. It's okay, Holly. Here, have some juice, okay?"

Mr Wheeler looked up from his chicken and to Mike. "You see, Michael?" he asked. "You see what happens?"

"See what happens when what?" Mike yelled at his dad. "I'm the only one acting normal here! Me and Ross are the only ones who care about Will!"

"That's really unfair, son," Mr Wheeler said, gesturing to Mike with his chicken. "We care."

If he did care, it certainly didn't show.

Ross decided she wouldn't trade her own alcoholic, angry, and dysfunctional father for Mike's boring, careless, deadbeat dad for a million bucks.

She watched as Mike gave Mr Wheeler an exasperated look, suddenly feeling bad about the thought as he slammed his hands on the table and left.

"Mike!" Mrs Wheeler called out, much like she had to Nancy.

"Let him go," Mr Wheeler said flatly. Mrs Wheeler turn and gave him an incredulous look before turning to Ross.

"I'm sorry, Ross, honey," she said kindly, glancing from the girl to the two empty seats at the table. "This isn't how we wanted you to spend your night here. You can go to the basement, if you'd like."

Ross jumped to her feet, taking the invitation eagerly to escape the awkwardness that brimmed around the room. "Thank you, Mrs Wheeler."

She made her way to the basement door and closed it behind her, flicking the light on so she could see where she was stepping. She paused when she heard Mrs Wheeler's voice, angry and sarcastic.

"I hope you're enjoying your chicken, Ted."

"What'd I do? Hey! What'd I do?"

Mike had waited for his dad to retreated back to the living room to go down to the basement, lest he try and give him another lecture that held no emotion and no meaning other than I'm you're dad so I have authority.

When he dashed down his steps, his jacket already slung over his arm and his back pack on the other, he stopped at the sight of Ross sitting on the couch, let's crossed and an old picture in her hands. He watched for a moment, before tossing his jacket and bag on the table to sit next to her.

She'd been there when he had cried, so it was only fair he would be there when she cried, even if it took a bit for the dams to give way. They always had each other backs.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, watching as she ran her thumb over the picture. It was all of them on Halloween a few years back. They were all in front of Lucas's house, grinning with empty pillowcases over their shoulders.

She waited a moment before speaking, fiddling with the corner of the picture. "It isn't about me," she told him. "It's Will."

"I just talked with Dustin and Lucas," he said. "We're all going out to look for him together at Mirkwood."

Ross turned to look up at him, her seagreen eyes narrowing slightly. "But Chief Hopper-"

"We have to go look for him, Ross," Mike interrupted, already knowing what she was going to say. "Will could be in danger! I know you want to go help find him, too."

"I know," she sighed, looking away from him and back down to the photo. "But Hopper told me to keep you guys in line."

Mike laid a hand on her shoulder and smiled, but she didn't look up at him. "What better was to do that than going with us and making sure we don't get in to trouble?"

"We wouldn't have to go out if-" She abruptly cut herself off, the quick words biting into the air between them. She set the photo down and ran her hands over her face and through her hair.

"If what?" he asked her quietly, smile fading. "If what, Ross?"

There was a beat of silence and she sniffled miserably. And there were the tears.

"If I had gone with him," she said ruefully.

Mike leaned in to her and hugged her tightly. "Ross, it's not your fault."

She shook him off, though, and stood up, walking until she was on the other side of the table while saying, "If I had been there, maybe he wouldn't have gone missing!"

Her voice cracked and Mike felt like crying again.

"Or you would have gone missing, too!" He tried to reason, standing up, as well.

"But at least he wouldn't be alone!" she cried, throwing her hands up. "He's out there alone, Mike. Alone and scared, and I should have been there for him. I should have ridden on my bike anyway-"

"You're dad wouldn't have let you."

"Then I should have offered him a ride home," she said next, crossing her arms as he stepped in front of her.

"He wouldn't have taken it."

"I should have made him!" she exclaimed.

Mike stepped forward and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her rather roughly for a few seconds, like maybe that would knock the crazy ideas out of her head. "There is nothing you could have done, Ross. There is nothing you should have done, because it wouldn't have changed what happened. It is not your fault, and Will is going to be okay. We're going to find him."

Ross sniffed, uncrossing her arms so she could wipe some tears from her face.

"What if we don't?"

"We will, I promise you."

She stared at him for a moment before holding her pinky out between them. "Pinky promise?"

He let go of her to intertwine their pinkies together.

"Pinky promise."

Ross shook their joined hands, like that set the promise in stone, before letting go to hug him. He hugged her back, waiting patiently for her to gather her bearings.

When she pulled away and wiped her eyes one last time, he grinned.

"Alirght, now, grab a coat," he told her. "It's supposed to rain tonight."

Disclaimer: I do not know the characters, ideas, or plot of Stranger Things

candy95: Thanks for the review! And sorry for taking so long to update, again. Hopefully it'll get better. And thanks, yeah, I'm trying to expand more at my writing and on the story itself by adding more scenes that obviously didn't appear in the show. I'm glad you like it!

LIsa: AHHHHHHH! I don't know why you're screaming but I'll take it as a good sign. So yeah, thanks for the review!

A/N: And I'm back after...forever. Ish. Super sorry about the wait. I've not been doing much of anything lately, aside from homework and nothing. I really have no excuse as to why this isn't out sooner. Hah, whoops. I'm trying to get back in the grove and will hopefully have another chapter out soon, some day. In the meantime, please forgive me for any grammar mistake or spelling errors, leave any comments you might have, and enjoy!

- blockthewriter