He's working from home for the day, bent over some different storyboards he's going over for the magazine when his concentration is broken by a loud cry.
"Daa-aaa-ddy!"
Emily's shout is mixed with sobs and the five year old runs into the room with tears streaming down her face. She's clutching her favorite stuffed animal, a fluffy bunny, tight against her chest.
"H-H-Hopper is hurt!" She cries and holds out the bunny towards him. There's a noticeable tear in a spot where one of its legs meets the body, with some of the stuffing threatening to spill out.
The bunny was a gift from Will. In fact it was the first gift Emily ever received, in a way her first possession in the world. Will had given it to her the day after Emily was born, when they brought her home from the hospital. Which meant he'd had it ready for weeks, both he and Nancy were really touched by that. So the bunny had been there for as long as Emily could remember, when she grew she just grew more attached to it, she took it with her everywhere she went. He and Nancy hadn't given it a name, only referring to it as Fluff-Bunny ("Did you remember to pack Fluff-Bunny?"), feeling it was Emily's job to name it when time came. And when she'd learnt to talk she soon did. Hopper. They still weren't sure how, but Nancy of course has a theory. That Emily overheard them calling his stepfather Hopper, and at the same time Nancy was reading a picture book about a bunny family for Emily, in which the rabbits of course hopped around.
When they first heard Emily call the bunny Hopper they both doubled over laughing. As soon as they had collected themselves Nancy went to the phone and dialed the number to his childhood home while he listened in. It was Will, home from college at RISD on a break, who answered. He burst out laughing as soon as Nancy told him and then they could here him calling over to Hopper, the real life Hopper, what Emily had named her bunny. Hopper's groan had been loud enough for them to hear over the phone. From then on his dear stepfather was known by Emily as Bunny Grandpa, to differentiate him from Hopper the Bunny and her other grandpa. He and Nancy both of course referred to the bunny as Hopper too – that was its name after all, and whenever the three of them were visiting back in Hawkins they said Hopper and Bunny Grandpa to avoid confusion. Both Will and El soon joined in, and even his mom, to his stepfather's chagrin.
His heart aches at seeing his daughter so upset. He bends down on one knee in front of her and carefully looks Hopper over.
"It's okay Sweetheart, he can get better," he assures her and wipes away some tears from her face.
"C-c-can he?" She chokes out, looking up at him with wide, wet eyes.
"Yes, I promise, I can fix. May I?"
Emily nods seriously and places Hopper in his hands. He clears away his work stuff from his desk and lays down the bunny on it. Then he gets his sewing kit out of a drawer. He had made sure to get it when he moved away from home. He still remembers the first time it had came to use, during freshman year of college.
"Aw, you ripped the hem of my skirt last night," Nancy notes while sitting up in bed one lazy Sunday morning after a passionate Saturday night, picking the garment up off the floor.
"Oh, crap, I'm sorry," he sits up too and looks over the damage to the skirt she's holding in her hands. "I'm so so sorry," he profusely apologizes.
"It's fine," she shrugs but he can tell from the look on her face that she's a little bit upset.
"You love that skirt," he notes.
"Not as much as you do it seems," she smirks at him.
"That's fair," he answers while blushing. "I can fix it," he offers.
She looks at him quizzically. He goes to his desk drawer and takes out his sewing kit, then sits back down and takes the skirt from her.
"You have a sewing kit?!" She asks in disbelief.
"Yes," he answers while looking over the damage to the hem more closely.
"You know how to sew?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Learned it from my mom," he answers while threading the needle.
"Well, my mom showed me how to sew too, but I never learned."
"I had to."
"Why?"
He's quiet for a second while he begins to repair the damage as the memory comes flooding back to him. The words start to spill out of him as they always do when it's just Nancy there listening. He can tell her anything, he knows. He wants to tell her everything.
"Jonathan!" Will comes running into his room, crying and clutching his favorite stuffed animal, Chester the dog. "Dad destroyed," his five year old brother gets out between sobs. He looks closer at Chester and sees that the stuffed doggy has a big tear along its side. "I-I left him on the floor when I went to get my crayons and dad stepped on him and said I'm not supposed to leave my stuff all over the floor and he tore Chester look!" Will cries.
He feels anger bubble up in his chest. He hates dad when he's like that. Which is all the time, really. Why does Will have to watch where he puts his things? Can't he watch where he's walking? Mom never steps on any of their stuff.
"It's going to be okay," he tries to calm his brother down, putting an arm around him and hugging him.
"No it won't," Will continues to cry.
His mind is racing. Mom could fix this, he's pretty sure. She can fix most things. But she's not home. She's working a double-shift. When she does that she's not home until well past Will's bedtime. And Will won't be able to go to sleep without Chester, he knows that. So Chester has to be fixed now. So it's up to him, he realizes. He's watched his mom fix stuff many times, sewing up holes in his pants, rips and tears in his sweaters. She had even let him try, letting him help her sew up a tear in one of his most well-worn pairs of jeans. He's pretty sure he can do this. Well, he hopes so at least.
"Come on," he says and tugs Will with him out of his room and into mom and dad's bedroom. He opens the drawer in the dresser where he knows mom keeps the sewing kit and grabs it. Then they go to the kitchen. Dad is passed out in front of the tv with a beer in front of him, as usual.
He puts the sewing kit down on the table and beckons for Chester. Will hands him over, not crying anymore but still looking very worried. It takes a couple of tries but he manages to thread the needle and gets to work. Remembering what mom has told him he looks closely and works slowly and patiently, making a lot of small stitches since it's better than a few big ones. When he think he's done he takes a really close look of his work. Knowing he can't do it any better than that he cuts of the thread and hands Chester back to Will.
"What do you think?"
Will looks over Chester with wide eyes, then gets up from his chair in a hurry and hugs him tight.
"Thank you."
"No problem," he says while huggings his brother back.
Later he helps Will get ready for bed as he does when mom works late. As usual he sits with his little brother for a while telling stories before Will is sufficiently sleepy and dozes of with Chester clutched to his breast. He goes into his own room and reads for a while and does his math homework. He's getting ready for bed himself when mom comes home. He hears her open the door to Will's room first, checking that he's asleep, then she pokes her head inside his room. She looks tired.
"Hey Sweetie, all good?" She asks with one of those smiles she gives him when she looks really exhausted like she can barely muster up the energy for it but still always does.
"Yep," he answers. "I just did my homework. I'm going to bed."
"That's great Sweetie. Goodnight."
"Night."
It's when he hears her footsteps walk towards the kitchen that he remembers that he forgot to put away her sewing kit. And also when he remembers that he's not allowed to use it when she's not home. Sure enough, soon he hears her footsteps rapidly coming back towards his room.
"Jonathan! I've told you, you aren't allowed to use the sewing kit without me! The needle is really sharp and you could have your eye out and I don't have a lot of thread and we need it for-"
"I'm sorry mommy, I'm sorry but I had to, it was an emergency," he apologizes.
"What emergency?" She challenges.
"Dad tore up Chester and Will was crying and he can't sleep without Chester and I knew you worked until after Will's bedtime so I had to fix it."
His mom's facial expressions softens at his explanation. Then she walks over to his bed and hugs him.
"You're the best big brother in the whole world, Jonathan," she says. "I love you so much."
"I love you too, mommy."
He finishes stitching up Nancy's skirt at the same time as he finishes telling the story. He looks up when he hears a sniffle and to his surprise sees Nancy wiping away tears from her eyes. Then she flings her arms around his neck and hugs him.
"You're the sweetest person in the whole world, Jonathan."
"I don't know," he says while hugging her back.
"Well I know. You are," she says firmly.
He shrugs and hands back the skirt. She looks it over, nods approvingly and tries it on for good measure.
"Still fits," she notes. "Are you sure about photography as your major? Think you should consider transferring to fashion design," she jokes.
Emily stands next to his desk, wringing her hands together nervously and watching with still wet worried eyes while he sews up Hopper with the utmost care. When he's done he hands Hopper back to Emily. She carefully looks him over, then hugs her dear bunny tight. Then she climbs up into his lap and hugs him.
"Thank you thank you thank you daddy, you saved Hopper!"
"No problem, Peanut."
"I love you daddy."
"I love you too Sweetheart."
They hear Nancy's key in the lock and Emily immediately runs out to the hall to greet mommy as usual. He follows.
"Mommy! Mommy!"
"Hey Sweetie," Nancy smiles at Emily running up to her but it disappears when she sees the remnants of tears on Emily's cheeks and her red eyes. "What's wrong?" She asks while picking up their daughter.
"Hopper had accident but daddy saved him, look," Emily tells Nancy and shows her Hopper's stitches.
"Oh, wow, I'm sorry Hopper. But how lucky are we that daddy is great at fixing," Nancy says and smiles at him while she wipes away the remaining tears on Emily's face.
"Yes, daddy can fix everything," Emily nods seriously before clinging her little arms around Nancy's neck, hugging her.
"I know, he really can," she answers before mouthing "No pressure" to him over their daughter's shoulder.
He smiles at her. Nancy sets Emily down on the floor again and takes off her coat before coming over and giving him a quick kiss and a knowing look while stroking his back.
"Well, what else did I miss today?" Nancy then asks and Emily launches in to a dramatic retelling of their day.
