Chapter 14

Finding Safety

(A/N: Semi-interlude with a lot of actual show dialogue. Hope you enjoy!)

No one moved or even breathed for a long moment, until Hopper sighed in frustration and repeated his last instruction. "Let's go!" he shouted.

Everyone jumped up in surprise and scrambled for the exit. As the Doctor walked past Hopper, he said quickly, "Please don't yell at them. They've been through enough," before jumping down the bus steps. Hopper rolled his eyes and followed them out.

Jonathan and Nancy sat on the sofa with his mother inside their house. Nancy and Joyce were breathing heavily, while Jonathan was biting his nails and fidgeting. But they all stood up when they saw the headlights and heard the squeak of the brakes on Hopper's car.

By the time Hopper had parked, all three of them were outside. The first thing that the Doctor saw was a very relieved Nancy running toward them.

"Mike. Oh, my God. Mike!" When she got close enough to him, Nancy embraced her brother tightly. "I was so worried about you."

Mike didn't seem to know how to respond to that. "Yeah, uh...me too?" The Doctor and Rose chuckled at that. "You can tell they're siblings," Rose whispered. Both Rory and the Doctor smirked and nodded in agreement.

Nancy then looked behind Mike, her eyes locking onto Eleven. "Hey, it's you. The girl that was in the woods."

Eleven simply nodded in answer.

Inside Joyce's house, the Doctor was explaining the other dimension to them. "The dimension itself was likely always there. Or, at least, it has existed for a long time. The only reason you're just now noticing it is because a high-energy spacetime tear was created. Not to mention the creature that inhabits it. We tracked it to Hawkins Lab using a compass. It's underground, near a large...water tank. I think that's what it was."

He turned to smile at Dustin. "Dustin here is the one who figured out that since the entrance has a really strong magnetic field, the needle on a compass would point towards it rather than true north. And that other dimension is where Will is."

"Our name for it is the Upside Down," Mike said suddenly. "We asked El where Will was, and she flipped our game board over. Upside down."

"What about my friend...Barbara? Is she there too?" Nancy asked haltingly.

The Doctor nodded. "Most likely. Now, any questions?"

Amy spoke up then. "I've got one. How the bloody hell do we get inside that lab? You said it yourself- it's very well-guarded. Soldiers, cameras- and that crazy bloke would recognize you."

"Working on it," he replied with a sigh. "Anyone else?"

Nancy nodded. "Do you know what kind of creature lives in that other dimension?"

The Doctor sighed again. "I might. There are several different predatory creatures that exist in dimensions parallel to our own. To figure out what it is specifically, I'd need more information."

Dustin piped up, "Oh, we've been calling it the Demogorgon. Like in-"

"-Let me guess, Dungeons and Dragons?" Rose interrupted him. "I know all about that. Thanks to what Will said. That, and I tried to play it once when I was a kid, but...ah, never mind. 'S not important."

Joyce suddenly turned to Eleven. "Is there any way that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this-"

"The Upside Down," Eleven replied.

"There. Yeah," Joyce said softly. Eleven nodded in answer to her question.

"And Barbara?" Nancy asked. "Can you find her, too?"

"Yes."

Eleven sat at Joyce's kitchen table, a walkie-talkie and a photograph of Barb in front of her. She was concentrating as hard as possible, her eyes closed; but only static could be heard.

The volume of it increased briefly, but still no sound emitted. A few moments later, the kitchen lights flickered out for a few seconds before coming back on. The static from the walkie-talkie died out, and Eleven opened her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice barely a whisper.

Joyce stammered, "W-What? What's wrong? What hap...what happened?"

That was when Eleven's voice broke, and her face revealed how distressed she was. "I can't find them," she got out.

Rose walked over to the side of the table, bending down to meet her eye. "Hey," she murmured gently, taking her hand. "Don't get upset. You tried your best. It's not your fault, sweetheart."

Eleven said nothing in response. Rather, she hugged Rose tightly.

The Doctor allowed himself to look at Rose for a moment. He had almost forgotten how kind and gentle she was. But things like this made him realize that it was no wonder she had been able to help him deal with his own pain all those years ago. And she almost seemed to be acting like she was Eleven's...mother.

He wondered if Rose had had children in the parallel universe. With her age and circumstances, it was definitely possible. And…he didn't really want to admit it, but if he himself had been given the opportunity to have children with her, he very likely would have. And he left her with a clone of himself, who had the same feelings and memories as him.

The Doctor was broken out of those thoughts by the sound of Eleven's footsteps. She had pulled away from Rose and walked off towards the bathroom to wash her face.

Rose turned her attention to him, a small smile on her face. "You alright there, Doctor?" Her tone of voice told him that she was actually concerned.

"I'm fine," he replied easily. "Just a bit...distracted, today."

Dustin rolled his eyes. "He means that you're distracting him, Rose. Because you're hot. Oh, and it's obvious that he likes you."

"I never said or did anything to indicate that," the Doctor put in quickly, irritated.

Hopper grinned at that. "Oh, really?"

"Wipe that look off of your face," the Doctor snapped at him. Rose put her hand over her mouth to keep from smiling and laughing. Amy, however, lapsed into giggling.

Mike groaned in frustration. "Can you guys please have that conversation some other time? We need to help El."

"H-How do we help her?" Joyce asked.

Mike replied, "Well, whenever she uses her powers, she gets weak." Dustin added, "The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets."

Lucas continued explaining. "Like, she flipped a van earlier," he said with a tilt of his head.

"It was awesome," Dustin put in for emphasis.

Mike sighed. "But she's drained."

"-Like a bad battery," Dustin clarified.

"Well, how do...how do we make her better?" Joyce asked. She was desperate to find her son.

"We don't. We just have to wait and try again," Mike replied.

"Well, how long?" Nancy persisted.

Mike sighed again. "I don't know."

Eleven's voice suddenly cut in, still barely above a whisper. "The bath."

"What?"Joyce replied, confused.

"I can find them. In the bath," Eleven responded.

Rose sprang to her feet. "Are you talking about…?"

A nod gave Rose her answer. The Doctor, however, was almost as confused as everyone else. "The bath? What's that mean?"

Rose answered for her. "That's what she calls a part of the experiments they did. I saw it in her mem-"

"In her memories? But you-"

"You know better than anyone else in this room that I'm telepathic! Don't think that you're the only one who's seen some of her memories."

The Doctor nodded, though still slightly shocked. "I still don't understand what made you this way. The changes in your biology, I mean."

"Doctor, I looked into the heart of the TARDIS. I had control over the Time Vortex! And that power was in me for almost...five minutes? You had it in you for about ten seconds and it killed you. All I did was pass out. D'you really think I could've been completely human after that?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" That was Hopper. "Enough. This has nothing to do with finding them. So, what did she mean?"

"The 'bath', as she calls it, was a sensory deprivation chamber. Inside that chamber, Eleven would go into a deep psychic state. From there, she could locate a person, mentally, from almost anywhere," Rose replied. "Any sort of radio would pick up on whatever that other person was saying." She turned to Eleven. "You really want to do that again?"

"Yes," she replied.

Dustin jumped to his feet. "I'm calling Mr. Clarke!" Before he did anything, however, he paused and turned to Rose. "Can you tell us more about what happened to you? Like...why you're not human? Or at least what differences there are?"

Rose nodded. "Just briefly. Listen closely, Doctor. You wanted to know about this." She cleared her throat before continuing.

"'S like I'm...part Time Lord or something. I heal faster. I don't age- I mean, look at me. I look about twenty or twenty-five, maybe thirty. But guess what? I'm three 'undred years old! When I die, which has happened, mind you, I wake up after a minute. My mind works more quickly. I'm a little less sensitive to extreme temperatures. I could go on, but there's not a lot of time."

"Okay. Wow. Uh...what power did you have?"

"It's...rather hard to explain. I could see every single timeline that ever existed. All that is, all that was...all that ever could be." Rose had a strange vacant look in her eye as she said that last sentence. "I disintegrated a bunch of aliens that were trying to destroy Earth. Oh, and I brought a friend of mine back from the dead."

The Doctor grinned. "Told you she was brilliant."

Dustin, Lucas, and Mike's mouths were wide open. "Holy shit..." Dustin gasped. "But why'd the Doc have that power for a few seconds? And it killed him? But you lived? Awesome!"

Rose sighed. "If he hadn't taken it out of me and put it back where it belonged, that power would've killed me. Any other questions? If you've got 'em, make it quick."

Dustin shook his head, though he suddenly turned to glance at something in the living room. "Uh...j-just a couple. Number one: What the hell is Bad Wolf and why is it painted on Mrs. Byers' living room wall?"

Rose and the Doctor both suddenly turned pale enough to pass for marble statues. "What?" Rose gasped, running into the living room; with the Doctor at her side. Confused, everyone else followed them.

Where the alphabet on the wall had once been were two words in black paint, the same as the other letters had been.

BAD WOLF

"A message..." Rose murmured. "A message to lead myself here."

"Well, what does that mean?" Dustin asked.

Rose shrugged. "Something I said when I had that power. 'I take the words, I scatter them in time and space. A message to lead myself here'. Bad Wolf was...well, it was me." For a brief moment, Dustin swore that Rose's eyes flashed gold.

Stepping closer to the wall, Rose placed her palm on the painted words. When she removed it, the words Bad Wolf faded away. In its place was the alphabet Joyce had painted on the wall.

Dustin's eyes bugged out of his head. "Holy...how'd you do that?!" Eleven also seemed to be watching her with great interest.

Rose shrugged her shoulders again. "I don't know. It was like...there was a whisper, in my head...that told me to do it. So I did."

The Doctor moved closer to Rose, so that he was standing directly in front of her. He took one of her hands in his own. He whispered softly, "Rose Marion Tyler, you impossible thing...we really need to figure this out."

Amy suddenly spoke up, "Oh, so her middle name's Marion, is it?" She broke into a grin. "Any particular reason you know that?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "I know what you're thinking, Pond, and believe me, it is not that. Mind out of the gutter, if you please. He knows 'cos I told him. I lived with him for two years; 's perfectly logical for that to come up. He asked."

"Yeah, well, I've known him just as long, if not longer, and he's never asked me," Amy shot back, though her tone wasn't angry. More...teasing.

Dustin suddenly interrupted, "One final question, and then we get back to work. Rose, how'd the Doctor take that power out of you?"

Rose smirked and gave the Doctor a pointed look before turning to Dustin. "He thinks I don't remember, but I do. He just told himself that so we could avoid talking about it."

Joyce rolled her eyes then, clearly impatient. "What'd he do?"

"Kissed me," Rose replied with a grin. She then turned to face the Doctor, who was looking rather uncomfortable. She winked at him before glancing back in Joyce's direction. "Dunno why he's so shy about it," she said, laughing. Rose made eye contact with the Doctor before continuing, "After all, you're a very good kisser. Even if you only did do it to keep me from dying."

With that, she walked back into the kitchen. "We'd better figure out how to build a sensory deprivation chamber," Rose called out over her shoulder. Joyce, Amy, Rory, Mike, and Lucas followed her.

"Calling Mr. Clarke right now! He's our science teacher, he'd know." Dustin exclaimed, running for the rotary phone. As he grabbed the receiver, he turned to face the Doctor. "Psst! Doc, come here!" he hissed.

Sighing in frustration, the Doctor moved closer to Dustin. "What?"

Dustin leaned close to his ear before whispering, "You do realize what just happened, right? I'm like 99% sure that Rose just hit on you," he replied, his expression serious. "She's totally into you, man. And I know you're in denial, but it's obvious that you like her. You want my advice?"

"No, not particularly. I-"

"-I'm giving you advice anyway. Just four words, Doc. Four simple words. Listen closely: do not blow it. There. That's my advice. Or 'don't blow it', but that's three words, even though it's essentially the same thing-"

"-Oi, can we please focus, Dustin? Science teacher?"

"Wait, you don't know how to build a-"

"No, I don't know how to build a sensory deprivation tank! That's never come up before, ever. So just...call your teacher, please?" With that, he walked back into the kitchen where everyone else was waiting.

When he sat down at the table, he (and everyone else) could overhear Dustin's rather awkward conversation with his teacher.

"Yeah, it's just...I have a science question..."

"Do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks? Specifically how to build one?"

A rather confused "W-What is this for?" could be heard on the other end.

"Uh...fun," Dustin replied.

A few moments later, everyone fought to keep from laughing as Dustin tried to guilt his teacher. This concluded with, "Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?"

Soon enough, Dustin was writing down Mr. Clarke's instructions in a notebook. "Uh huh. Uh huh. How much?"

A brief pause. "Uh huh. Yep, alright. Yeah, we'll be careful. Definitely. Yeah, alright, Mr. Clarke. Yeah, I'll see you on Monday. I'll see you on Monday, Mr. Clarke. Bye," Dustin said before hanging up the phone.

Once he disconnected from the call, he looked up at Joyce, pointing his pencil in her direction. "Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?"

Joyce nodded slowly. "I think so, yeah."

"Good, then we just need salt. Lots of it," Dustin replied, giving everyone a pointed look.

Hopper turned to look at him. "How much is 'lots'?"

Dustin glanced back down at the notebook. "1,500 pounds."

Nancy raised her eyebrows, a bewildered expression on her face. "Well, where are we gonna get that much salt?"

Hopper sighed in frustration. "I happen to know where."

The Doctor grabbed ahold of yet another bag of deicing salt inside the middle school supply room. He was almost afraid that he would fall down or drop one of the bags. Or both. Suddenly, another thought came to him. "Hey, what'll happen if it snows?"

Hopper rolled his eyes. "Worst case, no school."

"Even if we find Will in there...how do we get him out? And I still don't know what creature is lurking in there." The Doctor glanced at the floor as he said this. "Right now, I don't know what to do. And I really don't like not knowing."

Hopper sighed. "Uncertainty is normal for humans. And I don't care that you're not human. I mean, nobody can know everything; whether they're human or alien or...whatever."

The Doctor sighed. "So you do believe me."

"Few years ago, I wouldn't have. But things have changed. Obviously," Hopper replied, looking down at his shoes. "I don't know what's possible and what isn't anymore."

"Yeah, me either," the Doctor said with a grin.

Another eye roll from Hopper. "If that statement has to do with Rose, I'm gonna shoot you."

"Please don't. It does, at least partially. I thought I'd never see her again; because crossing universes was impossible. And yet, here she is. The Bad Wolf is back where she belongs," the Doctor murmured, half to himself.

Hopper made a slight disgusted noise. "I'm not even gonna ask. Just...save the love confession, alright? Don't tell me you love Rose, tell her."

The Doctor said nothing in reply; only caught the next bag of salt Hopper threw at him.

Meanwhile in the school gymnasium, Dustin and Lucas were trying to set up the kiddie pool, with help from Amy and Rory.

"This damn thing is heavy..." Dustin grunted as he moved the deflated pool across the floor.

Amy gave him a concerned glance. "I could help you move-"

"No, Amy. I have to do this by myself, like a man," he replied, giving her a pointed look. Lucas and Amy rolled their eyes while Rory grinned.

"Boys," Amy muttered under her breath.

Nancy pushed a wheelbarrow full of hosepipes towards the gym. She had been conversing with Mike for a few minutes.

"Hey...no more secrets, okay? From now on we tell each other everything," she told him firmly.

Mike shrugged nonchalantly. "Okay. Do you like Jonathan now?"

"What? No. No, it's...it's not...it's not like that," Nancy stammered, shaking her head. Mike pursed his lips and nodded, accepting her answer.

Nancy then gave Mike a pointed look. "Do you like Eleven?"

He nearly recoiled at that question. "What? No! Ew! Gross."

Nancy furrowed her brow, smiling to herself. "Tell you what, though. Rose and the Doctor..." she smirked at Mike.

He gave her a confused glance. "Uh, what about them?"

She rolled her eyes, grinning at the fact that he missed the obvious. "Don't you think they like each other?"

"Eh, I guess? I dunno. It'd be kind of gross if they do."

"Why?"

He glared at her. "Because. She's human; he's an alien. They're not the same species."

Nancy laughed. "Who cares? I've seen the way they act around each other. It's actually pretty sweet. The Doctor's so nice to her." She smiled to herself, which Mike noticed, and he groaned.

"Seems like you're the one who likes him."

She shrugged, grinning. "I do like him. Sort of."

Mike made a "yuck" noise, and Nancy rolled her eyes. "What? I know you probably don't want to hear this, but I think he's cute, okay? A little...nerdy for my taste, and I know he's off-limits; but still. Like I said, he's actually nice. So yeah, I can't help but be attracted-"

"-Okay, too much information," Mike cut in. "Stop talking right now before it gets weird."

Nancy smirked. "Suit yourself, little brother." Mike rolled his eyes.

Joyce and Rose sat inside the science lab, Eleven across from them. Joyce handed Eleven a pair of safety goggles covered in duct tape. "This will keep it dark for you. Just like in your bathtub," Joyce explained.

Rose gave Eleven a comforting smile and squeezed her hand reassuringly. "You're really brave. You know that, right?"

Joyce nodded in agreement. "Everything you're doing for my boy...for Will...for my family..." she paused, sighing. "Thank you."

Rose and Joyce both met Eleven's eye as the latter took Eleven's hands in her own. "Listen. We are gonna be there with you the whole time. And if it ever gets too scary...in that place, you just let us know, okay?"

"Yes," Eleven murmured.

Rose put one hand on the girl's cheek. "Are you ready to do this, love?"

Eleven sighed deeply before nodding. "Ready."

(A/N: Not the best chapter imo, but the cutoff point felt right. I'll upload the next chapter ASAP. And that is when everything starts to happen. See you next time!)