Warnings: I say "hell" like once in this chapter.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Thank you to everyone!
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Chapter 9
"Let me go!" Eleven demanded as she struggled against Lucas and Dustin. "Come on boys, this isn't funny! Where the hell are you taking me!?"
"Ouch!" Dustin whined, glaring at Mike. "She just pinched me. Will you stop laughing and come help?"
Mike came over and pulled Eleven's blindfold off. She glared at him. "Very funny, Michael Wheeler. Having your friends kidnap me! What's the joke, anyways?"
"No joke!" Mike insisted, whipping something out of his back pocket. "Isn't something important going on tomorrow?"
Eleven's eyes widened as she took the two tickets from his hand. "Mike you didn't!"
"I did!" Mike answered.
"This is way too expensive!" Eleven protested. "Tickets to New York City!? And right before New Year's Eve!? However did you manage to pull it off? However did you manage to afford it?"
"Don't you worry about it," Mike placated, smiling at his friends. "Thanks for all the help, guys! I can take it from here. We'll see you when we get home!"
"You should have just sung another song," Eleven told him. "Not done all this!"
"Maybe," Mike agreed. "But after the way I've been acting, I didn't think a song was going to cut it this time. Besides, when was the last time you went outside of Indiana?"
"It was the time we took the trip to Disney World in our senior year of high school. And it was a disaster, if I recall correctly. I almost killed a guy after he knocked you down in line and refused to apologize. This might be ten times worse. You've seen Time Square on television."
"Well, we won't go to Time Square then! We'll do whatever you want!" he replied. "Please, let's do this. I won't let anything bad happen, I promise."
"And there he is," Eleven said.
Mike frowned, puzzled. "Who's there? What are you talking about!?"
"The boy I fell in love with," Eleven replied. "Okay, I'll go with you but I don't know what we're going to do about clothes and stuff."
"Already taken care of!" Mike answered. "We can go shopping for clothes when we get to New York City. We can charge it to the credit card. I went over all the bills. It'll be a little tight for a few months but we can make it work."
"Make it work?" Eleven repeated.
"We might not have steak for a while or we'll have to cut back on going out to eat on weekends," Mike clarified.
Eleven shook her head, looking slightly stunned. "That's okay. We don't have to eat steak for a while. I could never cook it that well, anyways."
Mike laughed and took her hand. "Come on, let's go and get checked in. We don't want to miss our flight."
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Eleven was in wide-eyed wonder as she clung to Mike's side as they made their way through JFK. He could tell she was having a hard time with all the people around her. All these years later and she still didn't do well around crowds or strangers.
"It's okay," Mike assured her gently as he grasped her hand and led her through the throngs to the exit. "I'm right here."
Eleven smiled up at him. "I know. You always are."
He hailed a taxi and helped her in it, narrowly avoiding a pissed off traveler, who gave them the finger even though they were first in line.
"Well, he wasn't very nice!" Eleven observed as she peeked out the window before settling down in her seat.
"He's just in a hurry to get somewhere," Mike assured her. "Don't take it too seriously."
"You never told me you came to New York while you were in med school," Eleven said, looking at him curiously.
"I. . ." Mike trailed off, remembering this wasn't his life. Eleven wouldn't have known about the medical conferences he went to as a pediatrician. "I didn't. I read some tour guides at the library the other day."
Eleven nodded, not realizing for a second he was making it up. She'd never read a tour guide in her life, she'd never really wanted to leave Indiana for travel. She said she had all the adventure she needed between the pages of novels and the scenes of a movie.
As the cab started to pull away from the airport, he realized that's why her offer to go with him to med school had been precious. The whole world scared her. But she would have left her comfortable little bubble for him. Guilt chewed at his stomach, he hadn't realized how precious her offer had been. How much she had really loved him.
"I'm sorry," he said aloud, without meaning to.
Eleven frowned. "For what?"
"Oh, um, for taking you to New York. I forgot you weren't much of a traveler," Mike stammered. "I guess I didn't think it through well enough."
Eleven smiled and shook her head. "Mike, it's okay. If you're going to go back to medical school, I suppose I have to get used to traveling. You're going to try and get back into Tufts? Or some other prestigious medical school, right? And we're going to have to leave Hawkins for you to do that. This is good practice."
"About medical school. . ."
"Oh, so you're thinking about writing a fantasy novel again?" Eleven teased.
"I don't know what I want to do," Mike said.
I don't know how long I'm even going to be here.
"That's okay," Eleven said. "You don't have to have everything figured out. It isn't like we have kids to think about. We still have time to do whatever we want."
Mike grinned. "When was the last time somebody told you that you were wonderful?"
Eleven beamed. "It's been a few weeks," she answered.
"You're wonderful," he told her. "And I think I forgot for a while. But you are. . . you're amazing."
"You're pretty amazing too," Eleven said, taking his hand and resting her head against his shoulder.
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"Are you sure we can afford this?" Eleven asked as she stood in front of the three way mirror at a very expensive store. "I just saw the same dress for a fraction of the price at a discount store in the mall in Indiana."
"I told you, money isn't an object this week. Don't worry about it!" Mike answered, coming up behind her. "You look fantastic. You deserve it."
Eleven turned around to look at herself sideways. "Where else am I going to wear it though? We don't go out that much in Indiana."
"We might start," Mike said.
"Yeah? When?" Eleven challenged, smirking at him.
"Just buy the dress! Okay, El?" Mike replied. "You look great in it! It would be a shame to let it go to waste."
Eleven sighed. "Okay. But you're going to have to do it for me while I wait outside. I can't justify doing it myself."
"Okay," Mike agreed.
She disappeared into the dressing room and handed him the dress through the curtain. A few seconds later, she came out, pulling on her coat. "I'll be outside waiting for you," she told him.
A few seconds later, he came and found her, swinging a fancy bag in his left hand. "For you, my dear," he said, giving it to her. "You're going to need shoes your Doc Martins won't go with this dress."
They spent the rest of the afternoon shopping, Eleven ducking out of various stores so she wouldn't know the total of their purchases because she really didn't want to know that they'd spent more than they could afford.
They checked into their hotel and got ready for dinner and the Broadway show Mike had gotten tickets for.
"I don't feel like myself," Eleven admitted, frowning at herself in the vintage, red cocktail dress she was wearing, it had cost the least amount of money out of anything they had bought but she still felt out of place in it. It was too elegant for her she usually wore loose skirts and her husband's sweaters.
"You still look beautiful," Mike answered.
Eleven turned around. "Did you just say I look beautiful?"
Mike nodded. "Did I say the wrong thing again?"
Eleven shook her head and put her arms around his neck. "No. No, you said exactly the right thing!" she gave him a quick kiss on the mouth before dashing into the bathroom to get the tights she had forgotten. "How are we for time?"
Mike checked his watch. "You still have time! But only a little. Hurry up!"
"I'm ready!" Eleven answered, coming back out as she tied a choker with a faux mother-of-pearl pendant around her neck.
"Beautiful!" Mike repeated.
She blushed. "Thank you."
He took her hand. "I don't know if I want to take you out anymore."
"Mike! Come on, I want to see Les Miserables on stage, not just on PBS!" Eleven said, glaring at him.
"I'm only joking," Mike answered, draping her coat over her shoulders before putting his arm around her. "I can't wait to show everyone in New York how lucky I am!"
Eleven's smile shone brighter than all of Time Square.
TBC. . .
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Author's Note:
Happy Christmas Eve, Eve! Tonight I will be watching the Family Man FINALLY!
So, I hope you like the transition that I've made and that it wasn't too fast or anything. Two more chapters left! I hope you're in it until the end. I'm actually adding something to the last chapter because. . . well, you'll see on Christmas!
Until Tomorrow!
Love,
Holly, 12/23/2016
