Chapter 8
"You two can come with us," said Jane.
"Our friends need us," said Eleven. "We saw it."
"Will," said Jane. "You've only just discovered your gifts. El and I have been freaks our entire lives. You'll always be a freak to everyone too. Come with us."
"Not to everyone," said Will as he thought about his friends. "Besides, I've been called a freak and a lot of other things most of my life. I'm learning to deal with it.
"No buses back to Hawkins tonight. They don't have anything going to Roane, Wamapoke, or Curly counties until tomorrow afternoon, " said Mick. "And those might be canceled if the quarantine isn't lifted by then.
"Are you two sure you don't want to come with us?" asked Kali.
"We want to go home and help our friends," said Eleven. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us?"
"We'd love to, but we're all wanted by the feds and you two aren't," said Kali. "You should probably go back to your family and friends while you still can. We'll give you some cash and drop you off at a motel for the night."
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"Alright," said Dr. Owens. "Your tests are both fine. You have clearance to go to Indianapolis and find your kids."
"Thanks, Doc," said Hopper as he put on his hat.
"Oh, you may want to take this, Joyce." Dr. Owens handed Joyce an envelope. She opened it and saw that it was a reversal of the court order forcing Will to go with Lonnie.
"How did you get this so soon?" asked Joyce.
"The judge overlooked the fact that Lonnie hasn't paid you any child support since 1981," said Doctor Owens. "He could go to jail if you push for it, but you might want to do something so Lonnie doesn't try this again."
"Thank you," said Joyce. She and Hopper got into the Hawkins police truck and headed down the dark highway toward the state capital. It was almost 1:30 in the morning.
"How are we going to find them if Lonnie doesn't talk?" asked Joyce.
"Hopefully El will see us in that head of hers and try to find us," said Hopper. "We'll bring them home, Joyce. Don't worry."
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Will finished his shower and plopped down on his stomach on his bed. "Can I see that file on the Upside Down, again?" he asked Eleven. She nodded, pulled it out of the box and tossed it to him. Then she pulled a tuna sandwich and an apple juice out of the grocery bag and tossed those onto Will's bed.
"Eat," she commanded. "You need to recharge your batteries."
"Recharge my batteries?"
"That's what Dustin said after I found you in the Upside Down."
"Oh," said Will. He'd always felt an odd sense of loss that he wasn't with his friends when they first met Eleven. He'd had his own crazy adventure with her now, though. Will flipped through the file trying to jog his memory. He knew there was a way to defeat the Mind Flayer once and for all and he knew it was spreading into Hawkins again, so it had to be done soon. "How can we get back to Hawkins if the buses aren't going there?" They didn't dare call their family as it was likely the phones were being bugged by some of Brenner's remaining allies.
"I don't know," said Eleven as she flipped through the file marked "Joyce (Preston) Byers." Maybe we can find a nice truck driver who can give us a ride.
"I don't think any of them will actually go into Hawkins, but they could at least get us a little closer to home," said Will ask he scratched his chin thoughtfully and tried to stifle a yawn.
"You should sleep, Will," said Eleven.
"I've probably gotten a lot more sleep than you in the last day, " said Will.
"You passed out from using your powers," Eleven argued. "Not the same as getting rest." She flipped through more pages. Eleven saw that her maternal grandparents had died before Jonathan was born, so she didn't ask Will about them. She did notice that Joyce had two sisters. "What are our aunts like?"
"Mom's sisters?" said Will as he rubbed his eyes. "I don't really know. I haven't seen them in years..." Will's eye's suddenly widened and he sat up.
"What?" asked Eleven.
"Jane told me that people have natural psychic links to their family members?" asked Will.
"If their family members have powers too," said Eleven.
"Do you think you can telepathically contact Mom or Jonathan?"
"They don't have powers, Will," said Eleven.
"No, but we have our powers because of Mom's accident and the file on Jonathan said that there was potential."
"I-I don't know, Will."
"When I was in the Upside Down, I could hear Mom calling me. And when she went there to find me, she heard Jonathan, but Hopper didn't. C'mon, El, it's worth a shot."
"Can you turn on the TV?"
Will nodded, got up and turned on the TV.
"Change it to a channel just doesn't have a signal," said Eleven. Will turned the knob until he found a channel with nothing, but static. Eleven closed her eyes. Her nose started to bleed and she suddenly gasped for breath. Will jumped to her side and put his hand on her shoulder.
"El, are you okay?"
"Sh-she was moving too fast. I couldn't see her," said Eleven. "I think she was with my dad, but I couldn't tell."
"Mom?" asked Will, even though he knew the answer. Eleven nodded.
"I'm going to try Jonathan." Eleven took Will's hand and closed her eyes.
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Jonathan stared at the ceiling in Mike's bedroom as he lay awake in the spare bed. Karen had insisted that he stay there for the night. Mike had finally fallen asleep. Mike had been fretting over both Will and Eleven being missing and possibly prisoners of a mad scientist. Jonathan himself was naturally worried about his little brother, but he'd grown fond of Eleven and was worried about her too. He thought about all the times Will had hidden at Mike's room whenever Lonnie had done something to upset him. The thought gave Jonathan a surge of rage toward his father and a rush of affection toward Mike.
Jonathan had been part of groups when he was younger but became isolated around the time his father. It wasn't until he and Nancy worked together to kill a demogorgan that he connected with anyone. Will and Mike had bonded so easily from the moment they had met. They had later bonded with Lucas and Dustin, but Mike was the person that Will had trusted and confided in most of all. There was a point when Jonathan feared that Will would become isolated from everyone (including Mike, Lucas, and Dustin) like he had, or worse have crippling anxiety after everything that had happened in the past couple of years, but Will had pulled himself out of it. He even seemed to be making more close friends and standing up to the bullies who had tormented him for so many years. What if Lonnie taking him and selling him to some lab had undone all of that? Jonathan hated his father more than ever.
"Jonathan?" He must have imagined that. It sounded like Eleven. "Jonathan!"
Jonathan sat up. This was weird. He had to have been imagining it.
"I think it's working, Will. I think he hears me."
This was impossible. Could it really be Eleven?
"El?" Jonathan looked around the room.
"Yes, it's me, Jonathan. Will's with me. We need you to come get us. There aren't any buses back to Hawkins."
"Where are you?"
"We're at the Hoosier motel near Franklin."
"Okay, I know where that is. I'll be there in a little over an hour, hang on. Tell Will I'm coming."
"What's going on?" asked Mike.
"Sorry, Mike, didn't mean to wake you, go back to sleep," said Jonathan.
"You were just talking to someone and you told them to tell Will that you'll be there in an hour..." Mike looked over at his night stand and realized that his phone was there and not in Jonathan's hand. "Who were you talking to? How were you talking to them?"
"It doesn't matter," said Jonathan as he pulled on his shoes and sweatshirt. "It's a really crazy and weird thing."
"Well, I'm used to that," said Mike. "What's going on? I can stand in front of my door and keep asking until you answer me." Mike stood up, crossed his room and folded his arms.
"Fine. Eleven was somehow in my head telling me where she and Will are staying and I'm going to pick them up."
Mike's eyes widened. "Well then I'm coming with you."
Jonathan opened his mouth to argue, but realized it was pointless. Mike had earned the right to go. "Ok, hurry up and put something warm on."
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"SHIT!" Hopper exclaimed as a piece of shrapnel on the road caused a flat tire.
"Do you have a spare?" asked Joyce.
"Yeah," said Hopper. He opened his glove compartment and pulled out a couple of flashlights and handed one to Joyce. "This might take a while. I don't have any electric tools with me."
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Will rested his head on his pillow and clutched his side as he flipped through the files looking for an answer.
"Are you ok?" asked Eleven. Will nodded.
"My head and my ribs are sore from when that asshole punched my head into a locker and kicked me."
"You should sleep," Eleven insisted.
"So should you," said Will.
"I have to wait for Jonathan to get here."
"I can do that just as easily as you, and again, I've gotten more sleep than you."
"And again, you were knocked out the first time and passed out the second time. It doesn't count."
"I'll try to sleep if you do," said Will. "Or promise you'll sleep in the car on the way back."
"Promise," said Eleven.
Will rested his head on his pillow. He was still looking at the file trying to figure something out again. Eleven knew he was still obsessing over how to defeat the Mind Flayer.
"Will?"
"Hmmm?"
"Can you tell me a story about Jonathan? He have me a picture album with lots of pictures of you and Mike, but not any of him. I know he likes to take the pictures, but.."
"Yeah, he's never really liked being in them," said Will. He thought for a minute. "Remember the story Mike told about the first time we went sledding?"
"Yes."
"That morning, Mom and Da-Lonnie-still had to go to work. Jonathan was going to shovel snow out of people's driveways to make money. I wanted to help Jonathan and Mom said it was okay, but not to tell Lonnie. I didn't understand it then, but I do now-Lonnie would have taken the money we made."
"Why did you want to shovel snow out of people's driveways on a cold day?" asked Eleven.
"Lucas had a birthday coming up and so did Mike. I wanted to get them nice presents. I was just really happy that they were my friends. Anyway, Jonathan and I spent all morning shoveling snow. He never complained that I was slowing him down and I don't remember if I was or not, but Jonathan just kept telling me what a great job I was doing.
"When we got home that evening, Dad-Lonnie- saw that we had made some money and tried to take it. Jonathan refused to give it to him. Mom came home and started telling him off. Jonathan took me into another room, but we still heard them arguing. Lonnie was saying that we had to pitch in-even though Jonathan was nine and I was five, but in all fairness almost six. Then Mom said 'Lonnie, let me explain something to you and I'll speak slowly so you can understand: we are their parents. We take care of them without charging rent." Will smiled as he remembered his mother telling his father off.
"Jonathan seems like a great brother," said Eleven.
"He's the best," said Will.
"But that story seemed to be more about Lonnie.."
"I know, sorry. It's just that...I want you to understand Lonnie isn't worth knowing. He sold you to some lab. He stole you from Mom and put her through hell trying to make her and everyone else think she was crazy. He cheated you out of your childhood and he made my childhood and Jonathan's childhood crap. Just promise me you won't try to contact him. He doesn't deserve to know you."
"Will, I promise. You don't have to worry about that."
Will seemed to be satisfied with that. His eyelids grew heavy and much to Eleven's relief, he drifted off to sleep. She stood up and walked to Will's bed. She removed the file from his hands and draped the blanket over him. Then she got back into her own bed and drifted into a restless sleep.
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"It's so much warmer here than it is in Hawkins," said Mike as he opened the car door after he and Jonathan pulled into the motel.
"Yeah," said Jonathan. "It's weird."
"Do you know which room they're in?"
"Um, no... she didn't tell me."
"Ok," said Mike. "How do we find out, ask the front desk?"
"Maybe.."
Fortunately, Eleven has been sleeping very lightly and the walls at the motel were pretty thin, so the familiar voices of her newly discovered older brother and her boyfriend woke her up. She felt a surge of excitement that Mike had come with Jonathan. Eleven looked over to see that Will was still sound asleep. She quietly got up, put on her shoes and jacket and tiptoed outside.
"Mike! Jonathan!" she called in a loud whisper. Mike turned and his face lit up as he saw Eleven. They ran up to each other an met in a full embrace.
"Where have you been? Are you ok? Where's Will?" Mike rapidly fired the questions.
"Long story, I'm fine, and Will's asleep. The bad people hurt him with one of those electric sticks before I got him out and head head still hurts from the mouth breather hitting him last week."
"I'm going to kill Dad," said Jonathan through gritted teeth. "How could he do that to Will?"
Eleven looked over Mike's should at Jonathan. She felt even more resentment toward Lonnie as he had cheated her out of years with her brothers and her mother. She suddenly rushed to Jonathan and gave him a huge huge. "You, came!" she sobbed happily. "Will said you would be her and he was right!"
"Hey there, kiddo," Jonathan chuckled. "I'm happy to see you too. How were you able to contact me-well telepathically?"
"There's things I have to tell you, but let's wait until Will wakes up. Come inside, you two look like you had a hard day and you should get some rest," said Eleven. She took Mike's hand and gestured for Jonathan to follow.
"We had a pretty crazy day," said Mike. "But you and Will probably had an equally crazy day."
"Yeah, and you look pretty tired yourself," said Jonathan as he ruffled Eleven's hair. They entered the motel room and Jonathan immediately walked over to Will and kneeled by his side. Jonathan thought that his little brother looked pale, but mostly ok considering what he'd likely been through since Friday afternoon.
Eleven sat on her bed and Mike sat next to her. His face was full of concern as he looked at Will. Jonathan noticed a folder sitting on the nightstand next to Eleven's bed. a piece of paper stuck out with the words "Preston, Joyce" on it. He reached over to grab it.
"Jonathan, wait!" said Eleven, trying to keep her voice low enough that she didn't wake up Will.
"That's my mom," said Jonathan. "Why is there a file on my mom, what did they do to her?"
"Jonathan, please, wait until Will wakes up," said Eleven. She didn't know why, but she was scared to tell Jonathan that she was actually his sister without Will there to help her explain it.
As it happen, Will began having a nightmare at that very moment and distracted Jonathan from asking questions. "Mom! Mom! It's coming!" Will screamed as he began thrashing. Although Will's voice had grown deeper in the last two years, Mike and Eleven were well aware that Will was experiencing the memory of contacting Joyce while he was trapped in the Upside Down. Mike remembered very clearly the terror he'd heard in his friend's voice when Eleven was channeling him in the A.V. room.
"Will, it's ok!" said Jonathan as he grabbed Will's shoulders and shook him away. Will's eyes snapped open and focused on his older brother standing above him. He seemed disoriented for a moment.
"Jonathan!" Will sat up and hugged his brother. Although he's been trying to be tougher recently, he started sobbing into Jonathan's shoulder. Soon two more pairs of arms were wrapped around him and he realized that Jonathan hadn't come alone. "Mike?"
"Mom had me stay with the Wheelers while she and Hopper came to find you and El," Jonathan explained. "I woke him up when I was answering… Eleven's voice in my head, and he wouldn't take no for an answer when he found out where I was going."
"Not a chance!" said Mike as he rubbed circles on Will's back.
"How did you do that again, El?" asked Jonathan.
"There's something we have to tell you," said Will. "Something huge. Dad-Lonnie-is an ever worse father than we thought."
"He did just kidnap you and sell to a mad scientist," said Mike. "He really showed how terrible he is."
"He did so much more than that," said Will as he looked at the file near Eleven's bed. Jonathan followed his gaze. He was curious, but Will had just woken up from a nightmare and he was visibly shaken. He'd clearly been through a lot in the last 36 hours.
"Are you sure you're up to this Will? We can wait and let you get a little rest." Will looked his brother in the eyes. He then leaned on Jonathan's shoulder like he had so many times when he was younger.
"I've has two nightmares in two days and the Upside Down has been on my mind constantly since that storm the night of homecoming," said Will. He glanced at Eleven asher hand squeezed his. "I'm kind of freaked out right now, but this is more important."
"What is it?" asked Jonathan. Will got up, picked up his mother's file and sat back down.
"I've been wondering why Dad-Lonnie-was always trying to convince Mom and everyone else that she was crazy and imagining things. Last year, she told me something had happened to her when she was in labor with me...that there was a period of several hours that she couldn't remember."
Eleven fidgeted nervously with her shirt. Mike noticed and put his arm around her. "What did they do to your Mom?" he asked.
Will looked from Mike to Jonathan, then noticed that Eleven was starting to cry. He decided to just say it directly. "They took El from her. They planned on taking me to, but the labor was going on too long and decided they would attract less attention if they left one baby with her."
"Do you mean…?" Jonathan lost his words mid sentence. Mike was completely stunned. Will nodded. Eleven pulled her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs.
"Yes," said Will. He felt the anger at his father and Dr. Brenner pulsing through him. He opened his mother's file.
"Mom got exposed to some sort of electrical surge from Dr. Brenner creating the demogorgan when she was fourteen. The people at Hawkins lab were watching her for years. They took her medical results when she was pregnant. Apparently there was potential in you Jonathan, but they saw that El and I would have powers. They offered Lonnie money and he took he. He sold his own daughter to some evil men. He took her childhood. Hopper found stories on Terry Ives looking for her daughter and assumed that Eleven was Jane Ives. There weren't any stories about mom looking for her daughter because they screwed with her memories, but Mom always knew that something had happened. That's why she had all that anxiety. It's why Lonnie was trying to convince everyone she was crazy!"
Tears fell down Eleven's as Will reached over and squeezed her hand. "That's why I could hear Mom when I was in the Upside Down. It's why she heard you when she was there, Jonathan. It's why El and I can communicate telepathically and how she was able to contact you to come get us."
Mike absorbed everything Will was saying. He'd always hated Mr. Byers for all the times he's hurt Will, but the fact that he'd sold Eleven to Hawkins lab and cost her all that time. Mike wondered how their lives would have been different if Eleven had been raised with her family. He thought back to the first day of Kindergarten when he saw Will playing alone on the swings and asked him to be friends. What if Eleven had been with Will that day? Would Mike have approached the two of them? Mike then had a much more horrifying thought, What if Dr. Brenner had taken Will too? Mike shuddered as he thought of Will being in that place all those years. It was bad enough that Eleven had been stuck there, but Will too? Mike shuddered and pushed that thought aside.
Jonathan stood up and knelt next to Eleven who was still staring at the floor with tears pouring down her cheeks. He took her hands. "Hey, El, look at me." her eyes met his. "I'm sorry that our so-called father and some corrupt lab stole you from us. I wish I could go back in time and change that, but I promise, you're not going to be cheated out of any more time with your family."
"Thank you," said Eleven as she hugged Jonathan.
"I guess this makes you two Luke and Leia," said Mike. Will rolled his eyes, but his mouth twitched into a small smile.
"We're not He-Man and She-Ra," as he tapped his arm and indicated his lack of muscle.
"You just need your swords...Brenner is absolutely Hordak, though," said Mike.
"Yes," said Eleven. "Papa was Hordak."
"You two really can't help yourselves, can you?" Jonathan asked Will and Mike, though he was smiling. "And you've corrupted El now too."
"Well, Mike has always wanted to me Han Solo," said Will with a grin.
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"Is this the place?" asked Hopper.
"I think so," said Joyce as she read the address on the piece of paper Jonathan had given her. She'd never actually seen any of the places that Lonnie had lived since their divorce six years earlier. "There's his car."
"Are you ready?" asked Hopper. Joyce nodded. Hopper had decided to stay out of sight at first so he stood off to the side as Joyce knocked on the door. The volume of her knocking continued to increase until Lonnie finally answered.
"Joyce, what are you doing here, it's 4:30 in the morning," said Lonnie. He looked like he'd been out gambling all night and his breath reeked of stale beer.
"You know exactly what I'm doing here. Where's Will?"
"Lonnie, who is this woman and who's Will," asked a younger woman with disheveled hair who was wearing a trashy shirt and a denim skirt.
"I'll take care of this, Cynthia, go take a shower," said Lonnie hastily.
"You're Cynthia?" asked Joyce.
"Yeah, who are you?"
"I'm Lonnie's ex-wife. He came to my house with a bunch of police threatening to arrest me Friday afternoon if our-my son Will didn't go and stay with him for the weekend. And you have no idea who Will is?"
"Look, Joyce, the kid was out of control. You've really done a number on him. I had to check him into a psychiatric hospital."
"Don't LIE to me, Lonnie. What did you do with Will?"
"Joyce, you're irrational right now. I'm going to have to call the cops if you don't leave," said Lonnie.
"Go ahead and call them," said Hopper as he stepped into Lonnie's view. "I have a few old friends on the force. Why don't we mention the fact that you haven't paid child support in over four years?"
"What is this, Joyce? Do you want money, is that it?" Lonnie pulled a small suitcase out from a corner and pulled some cash out. He handed a stack of bills to Joyce who threw it back at him.
"I don't want any money or anything from you ever again, Lonnie. I want my son back, and I want to to stay away from Will and Jonathan!"
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Mike and Jonathan had told Will and Eleven about being abducted to be used as hostages, then being chased by Billy into the school.
"Brenner said he was going to torture you two and Julie if I didn't do what he wanted," said Will.
"But I saw that you had escaped," said Eleven. "We were really scared they were going to hurt you. But Will was able to make me invisible too and we tricked to agents and locked them in the big room, just like you and Steve did to Billy."
"I guess great minds think alike," said Jonathan.
"How is Julie?" asked Will. "Is she okay?"
"She's fine," said Mike.
"Maybe I should break up with her," said Will.
"What? Why?" asked Mike.
"She's in danger if she's my girlfriend, that's why. We've been dating for like a month and she's already been kidnapped because of me."
"Do you like her?" asked Mike.
"Yeah, and I want her to be safe."
"I'm pretty sure El wants me to to safe too and I'm no different than Julie. Look, she was with us during all that crazy stuff that happened yesterday and she just wanted to make sure you were okay. Why don't you ask her how she feels?"
"Yeah, don't be a mouth breather, Will," said Eleven.
"You really need to learn some new insults, El," said Will.
"You really need to learn to not be a mouth breather," said Eleven.
"Will," said Jonathan. "Other than a few incidents, you've been enjoying yourself the last couple of months. Don't let a few mad scientists ruin things for you."
"It is a lot colder in Hawkins than it is here," said Mike. "When we get back, you and Julie should find and nice warm fire and talk things over, trust me.:
"It's colder in Hawkins than it is here?" asked Will as he picked up one of the files that the four of them had been looking through earlier.
"Yeah, a lot colder, it's crazy," said Mike.
"And Billy was practically mutated from whatever virus was going around?"
"Yes. People all over town were starting to get covered with fungus until they heated it out of them."
"We have to get back there and stop this. Brenner must have thought he could control it and make it into a weapon, but it's spreading and it's going to start killing again."
"Dr. Owens and the other scientists are getting it under control, Will, it's okay," said Mike.
"We've thought it was under control twice before, and it keeps trying to come back.. When it starts getting cold because he likes it cold."
"Will, El closed the gate last year. The Mind Flayer can't come back, it just can't," said Mike earnest.
"Closing the gate just stalled him. He wanted to get through and there were dead demodogs and vines and whatever came out of me when they got the Mind Flayer out." Will was getting visibly upset. "That's why it's getting so cold. He's finding a way and we have to stop him. Please, believe me, Hawkins is in danger."
"I believe you," said Jonathan.
"You do?" asked Will. "I know I sound crazy."
"People thought Mom sounded crazy for years and she was right about a lot of things," said Jonathan.
"We have to get a hold on Mom and Hopper," said Will.
"They're probably at you dad's place giving him hell," said Mike. Eleven closed her eyes for a minute.
"They are," she said.
"We need to contact them without Dad-Lonnie knowing," said Jonathan.
"Did Hopper bring his truck?" Will asked Eleven.
"Yes," she answered.
"Mike, did you bring your supercom by any chance?" asked Will.
"I did, actually," said Mike.
"Do you feel up to giving it a power boost, El?"
"I think so," said Eleven.
"What are you thinking, Will?" asked Jonathan. In response, Will picked up the notepad on the nightstand and began writing a series of dashes and dots.
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"For the last time, Lonnie, where is Will?"
"I don't know, Joyce, okay?"
Hopper noticed some flashes inside his truck. He muttered to Joyce that he'd be right back and headed out. He was getting a Morse code signal. Could it be Eleven. Hopper began to write it down. When the message finished, he put the paper in his pocket and ran to the house.
"Joyce, we gotta go!"
"What is it?" asked Joyce.
"I'll show you, trust me," said Hopper.
"What's going on," asked Lonnie. Hopper wanted to say a lot of things, but he was much more eager to find Eleven and Will. As much as he wanted to punch Lonnie in the face, he didn't want to cause problems for Joyce. He simply ignored Lonnie for the moment.
Hopper and Joyce got into the truck. When they were a safe distance from Lonnie's place, Hopper pulled out the paper and began transcribing the message. "40C Larkin Street 54F, there is no 40 C Larkin," said Hopper.
"Wait," said Joyce. She grabbed the paper from Hopper and began doing a little math. "Is there a 104 Larkin Street?"
"That's the Hoosier motel, if I remember correctly," said Hopper.
"They must be in room 12," said Joyce.
"How do you know that?"
"The Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion. It's a game Will used to play. That means that Will's with her!"
"Let's go get out kids," said Hopper.
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Will ran outside as soon as he saw the headlights of Hopper's truck through the Window. "Mom!"
It had been less than two days, but Joyce felt like she hadn't seen her younger son in ages. Will threw his arms around his mother and buried his face in her shoulder. Joyce held him as tight as she could without squeezing him. "Are you alright Will. I'm so sorry, I should never have let Lonnie take you."
"It's okay, Mom. I'm fine."
Eleven ran out of the room and hugged Hopper, who started crying. "I'm so glad to see you, kid, but what were you thinking coming here all alone?"
"I'm sorry, Dad, but I had to," said Eleven. "It was my fault that Papa took Will. He was going to hurt Mike and Jonathan and Julie. He would have hurt you too."
"What do you think he would have done to you? Bakes you a cake? Where is a son of a bitch?"
"He's dead," said Will. "Jane killed him."
"What?" ask Hopper. "Did he hurt you or Will, El? Was it self defense?" Eleven looked at Joyce whose face was full of concern.
"Not El," said Will. "The real Jane Ives."
"What do you mean, 'the real Jane Ives,' sweetheart?" Joyce asked Will. Jonathan and Mike stepped out of the motel room. "Jonathan? Mike? How did you two find them? Did you call your brother?" Joyce asked Will.
"El called him, but not with a phone," said Will.
"What? How?" asked Hopper.
"Come inside, there's something we need to tell you before we go back to Hawkins."
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Joyce stared at the file that Dr. Brenner had kept on her since the day of her accident.
"Mom?" asked Will tentatively. "Are you okay?" Joyce sniffled and wiped her eyes. She then caressed Will's cheek with her other hand.
"I'm fine baby..It's just I knew that something happened before you were born, I knew it… but this? Lonnie is definitely never getting near any of you again."
"Are you happy about me?" Eleven asked timidly as she sat next to a quiet Hopper. Joyce kneeled next her and took her hands just as Jonathan had done earlier.
"I am so, so happy that you're my daughter, sweetheart," said Joyce as she pulled Eleven into a tight embrace. Hopper stood up and walked over to the bathroom, he put his hand over his eyes. "Hopper, wait!" Jo walked over to him, followed by Eleven.
"I'm not going to keep her from you anymore, Joyce," said Hopper.
"Keep her from me? The only people who kept her from me are Lonnie and some mad scientist. You love her and care for her. You're her father in every way that matters. Lonnie sure as hell isn't."
"That's true, Dad," said Eleven. "Lonnie sold me, and he just sold Will. Papa hurt me and tried to make me hurt others. You're the only father I want." She hugged Hopper and hugged her back.
"What about her identity, apparently, there's a real Jane Ives," said Hopper.
"She told it's okay to keep pretending. Besides, I'm Jane Hopper," said Eleven.
"That sounds good," said Joyce. "Everyone who needs to know is in this room anyway. I sure as hell don't want Lonnie to know, ever!"
Will sood up to say something encouraging to Hopper, then suddenly dropped to his knees, clutching his head. Mike and Jonathan were instantly at his side.
"Will, what's wrong?" asked Mike frantically.
"We have to get back to Hawkins. I saw Chester. He's hurt. It's spreading again."
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AN: I think that there's a slim to nil chance that my theory about Eleven and Will being twins is true. It started with them having the same stuffed lion. From there, I noticed several similar visual similarities in their scenes. I do think that Eleven was experiencing now memories in season one as a result of her contact with the demogorgan that led to the gate being open. The scene where she flipped the board upside down to show where Will was, for example, she closes her eyes like she's looking in her now memories. Will does a similar thing to find Hopper in the tunnels in season two.
There's a theory about Eleven not being Jane on you tube
watch?v=qx2j1hp22DE
There's also a video that shows some of the visual references. They seem to be as symbolically connected is Jon and Dany on Game of Thrones-though I don't see their relationship ever turning incestual- gross- and Mileven forever, even though as far as fan fiction goes I prefer Byler fics. No more freaking love triangles on the actual show.
watch?v=QEBGg0KvZUU