Hey everyone! (I'm never gonna stop doing that)
Guess who's not dead? :D And if u wanted me dead? ...Rude. Anyways, this chapter was originally gonna be longer, but it's been ages so I thought I'd give you guys at least something. I'll try my best to update the next chapter ASAP, which, knowing me, might not be that soon... These take wayyy too long to write -.-
Huge thanks to STRANGER THINGS LEVOES AWARDS (and congrats to everyone else who won too).
Also, thanks so much to everyone who read my little Lumax one-shot, (much appreciation there).
Here we go again, chapter twelve, hoping u guys like it! :)
Nancy pulled Hopper's car up at the Byers' with a nervous twinge in her chest; the house wasn't looking too spectacular with its uneven boarded-up walls, and that was from what she could see. She could only imagine what the inside looked like.
"Boys, stay in the car," she shot at the two kids sat in the backseat, before climbing out. They surprisingly didn't protest, and simply nodded in acknowledgement. She slammed the car door, leaving them in strained silence.
Nancy wasn't sure why she felt such a necessity to go here. She'd decided that they had a right to know; they had been involved after all. Did she have the right to intrude though? Throw her problems onto them as well as her own? When no one answered her knock straight away, she immediately thought, what if they're not back from the hospital yet?
But it wasn't long before she was greeted with a familiar pair of eyes – which widened when they saw who it was – and a mop of brown hair.
"Nancy, hey," Jonathan smiled warmly, but then he remembered the situation. "I heard about Mike, I'm so s-"
"I have something to tell you," she interrupted quickly, not sure she could deal with anymore pity, even if it was Jonathan. "Can I come in?"
Jonathan listened with a solemn expression and his arms folded, while Nancy talked about what she knew, stumbling over her words in a rush, trying her hardest not to concentrate on the burn marks or torn wallpaper littering the house; she was aware of Joyce watching beside the door she'd just come out of – stood behind Jonathan – her eyes growing wide with concern.
But in the end, all it came down to was two things – Mike is alive, El is safe. Nancy knew that outcome wasn't enough, not enough for her anyway.
She wasn't aware she'd started spiralling. "…and I get it, I'm sorry for just turning up here uninvited, I didn't know-"
Jonathan didn't say anything; he simply stepped forward and pulled her into his arms, silencing her. Nancy automatically hugged him back, slightly startled – suddenly overwhelmed by his scent being so close to her nose – but she didn't try and pull away. Maybe she needed this. Maybe they both did.
Nancy shifted awkwardly as they parted, not meeting his gaze. "I was, uh, wondering if you wanted to come back with me, but I know that… with Will and everything…"
Joyce was decisively speaking up before he could come up with a sustainable answer. "You should go with Nancy," she insisted, stepping forward to put a hand on her son's shoulder, her eyes firm. "Will's gonna be fine with me. Besides, she was there for you when…"
"You sure, mom?" Jonathan asked, glancing uncertainly between Joyce and Nancy, but he couldn't contain the sense of glee he suddenly felt.
She nodded, with a smile that almost – almost – reached her eyes.
"Nancy?" a questioning voice piped up from behind all of them, breaking the silence. The three of them whipped round to see the newest associate to their conversation. Will snapped Jonathan's headphones off his head, in polite puzzlement. "What are you doing here?" He thought he'd heard new voices echoing in his small house, so he'd decided to investigate.
"Will, hi," Nancy waved half-heartedly at the fragile-looking boy with dark blue pyjamas, suddenly feeling quite out of place among the Byers.
"Will," Joyce sighed, her voice barely above a whisper as if she thought talking any louder would send the world crashing down, "you should be in bed, sweetie…" She attempted to guide him back into his bedroom.
Will payed her no attention, gently prising her hands off his shoulders, gaze fixed on Nancy.
After a few moments of careful consideration as to why Nancy was standing in his living room, his face fell in upmost horror. "Is Mike…-?" Will swallowed hard. "Is Mike…?"
"Oh gosh! I…" Nancy rubbed her eyes in exasperation, realising he didn't yet know. "No, Will, no! He's… he's alive."
A weight Will didn't even recognise had been there finally lifted off his chest; his eyes lit up for the first time in… a long time. "Really?"
But that's all I know, Nancy coldly reasoned as an afterthought, as she watched Jonathan softly explain to his little brother where he was going.
Will's eyes somehow managed to expand with disbelief even more, as he pieced together the situation. "You've got El?" he gaped at Nancy. He'd heard all about El back at the hospital, and about what'd she done, for him, for everyone. (And what Mike had done for her).
"Uh, yeah, back at the cabin," Nancy replied slowly.
Will hurriedly spun round to address his mother, his expression hopeful. "Mom, can I go too?"
Joyce shifted uncomfortably. "Sweetie, you know the doctors said-"
"Yeah, but I can rest over at the cabin, right?" His excitement began to increase.
She inhaled through her teeth. "But you only just got…"
"I know, mom, I'm sorry, but I want-… I need to see El,"
"Hey, don't be sorry," Joyce persisted, dropping down to his level to make better eye-contact, "I'm just not sure if…"
"I have to at least thank her," Will explained sadly, his voice suddenly quiet, a voice Joyce couldn't possibly say no to. "She's the reason I'm… well, here."
Joyce paused, then straightened up again, sighing in defeat. "How about we all go?"
"O-Oh," Nancy stammered, "I don't exactly have that much room in the car, Lucas and Dustin-"
"It's fine, I'll bring them both in my own car," Joyce proposed quickly, before her attention returned to her son, "does that sound alright, Will?" He nodded eagerly in response, before racing out of sight to get ready.
"Okay… great," Nancy smiled, assuming Joyce just wanted to stay with Will.
And yes, Joyce did want to keep an eye on her son, but that wasn't all. There was also something else, something she found bothered her a lot more than she first realized, something she needed to resolve for her to have peace of mind: and visiting this cabin was the first step.
"MOM!" Will called, exuberantly from back inside his bedroom. "Where is my other shoe?"
Nancy tapped the steering wheel impatiently, her lips pressed together as she waited for the Byers to organise themselves. She thought she'd give them some privacy by waiting in the car with the boys.
"We'll follow you," Joyce had told her, "You just lead the way." So that's exactly what Nancy planned on doing. She knew she had to be careful like Hopper said; she wasn't stupid. No one else could follow her, she'd have to make sure of that. No one could find out about El. Especially not…
"So," Dustin's voice broke the silent interior of the car. "This cabin…" he learned forward. "How big is it?"
Nancy rolled her eyes and didn't reply.
"No seriously," Dustin continued, intrigued. "On a scale from Jabba's Palace to Yoda's Hut, how big is-?"
"Oh, they're coming!" Lucas proclaimed, spinning round in his seat to check out the back window, where the three Byers were leaving their house.
She sighed in relief and pulled the car into action.
"So, is it more like a-?"
"Shut it, Dustin."
It wasn't until Steve had guided Karen back inside her house and made her a cup of coffee (he went with the assumption that she wanted milk and sugar) did she finally manage to pull herself together, and explain what had happened, or at least what she knew.
What she said made Steve's blood run cold. Granted, he had taken Nancy back home safely on Saturday, but had no knowledge of what could have happened after. Had the Demogorgon come back? Had Nancy gone out looking for it alone? But still, both Wheelers?
Steve tried to keep his face one of concerned sympathy (this is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy!) while Karen sobbed out her story, as he sat patiently next to her.
"I'm sure they're alright, Mrs Wheeler," he finally managed to speak, patting her arm consolingly. "Maybe they just forgot to call…." Geez, what was he saying?
"I just want them to be okay," she wailed helplessly, all sense of composure lost, running mascara staining her cheeks. The coffee was forgotten and going cold. "I can't stop worrying about what could have happened!"
Steve nodded slowly. Of course, he was worried too, about
(Nancy)
The Wheeler kids. But there wasn't much he could do except stay here and take care of Karen.
Lucky him.
He just always seemed to be the guy that turned up at places at the wrong time.
Lucas winced as his once-red trainer sunk into yet another patch of deep mud he'd mistaken for flat ground. To his left, Dustin appeared to be having similar problems. It must have rained last night, much to their annoyance.
"God dammit, are we there yet?" Dustin complained loudly, concentrating hard on not losing his shoes to the brown sludge with every step.
"You've hardly been walking two minutes, get a grip," Nancy replied, idly. She seemed to be finding this hike a lot easier than them both, as she strided along nimbly, looking back over her shoulder occasionally to check Joyce, Will, and Jonathan were still only a few paces behind.
Dustin frowned at her, but quickly let it go since he was excited to see El. Besides, it was a good job this cabin happened to be so far out from the main town of Hawkins. It made quite a convenient hiding spot for her.
In fact, it was so well concealed, Dustin would have probably missed it entirely if Nancy hadn't vociferously pointed it out to him.
The two boys observed it closely as they approached it, eyes trailing over the deteriorating rooftop and friable wooden walls with artificial enthusiasm, as they followed Nancy up the creaking steps.
"It's… It's um," Lucas faltered, trying to think of a word that wasn't spiteful – lousy, wretched, pitiful, pathetic, crap…
"Homey," Dustin decided on, and Lucas nodded exuberantly in agreement.
Nancy paused at the door, suddenly unsure weather she should knock or walk straight in. Two seconds later, her question was answered for her when someone else yanked the door open from the other side.
The boys caught a quick glance at what was inside, before their vision was invaded by a blur of blue and El was upon them, enveloping them both into a wordless group hug. She felt her shoulders slacken with relief; finally, one more thing she could stop worrying about. They were here. He wasn't, but at least they were.
"Hey, El," Lucas said after a pause, his voice muffled by her T shirt, "you okay?"
El responded by grabbing their sleeves and pulling them further inside, while Nancy waited for everyone else to catch up.
"It's a… nice place you've got here," Dustin remarked, staring around at the contents of the cabin.
El nodded enthusiastically, missing the sarcasm. She was about to mention 'this is my home now' but stopped herself, because the words didn't feel quite right. And since she couldn't think of a different way to describe it, she said nothing.
"Hey, why are you wearing my bandana?" Lucas chuckled, poking at El's head. He remembered leaving it back at Dustin's house.
"She looks better in it than you," Dustin commented, while El laughed and swatted Lucas' hands away.
Hopper stood sullenly at the other side of the room, arms folded, silently watching El greet her friends. This was probably something he should stay out of, he reckoned. It's not like he felt a big urge to intervene anyway.
It wasn't long before Will was bustling through the door, followed by the rest of his family. His eyes strayed from his surroundings rather quickly and focused on El instead-
"Your mom… she's coming, Will. Just hold on a little longer."
-She was finally there! In person. Her brown eyes stared back at him with a mixture of bewilderment and uneasiness.
Throughout the entire trek of the forest, Will had been planning what he was going to say to the girl who'd saved his life, but now that he'd finally got here, he was entirely lost for words.
In all fairness, so was El, but that wasn't unheard of.
The awkward pause lasted for a few more seconds, where no one in cabin dared breathe too loudly.
Maybe they're just weren't any words. Before Will knew what he was doing, he'd unhooked his arm from his mom's grip (she'd subconsciously been holding onto him for the whole journey) and ran forward, throwing his arms around El.
El surprised even herself when she didn't even flinch, and instead hugged him back with just as much vigour. She wasn't sure why her face was suddenly wet because she wasn't sad. All she knew was that she'd succeeded; Will was finally safe. She'd wanted him safe. Mike had wanted him safe.
She heard a stifled "thanks" from somewhere in her T shirt, and to her, that was more than enough.
