Karmen instantly pulled the smaller girl into a hug, feeling tears running down her face, but she didn't care. Eleven was back.
"You're really here" Karmen sighed in relief, as Eleven hugged her back, tightly.
"I'm sorry I let you think I was dead…I…I had to" Eleven stuttered.
"What?" Karmen frowned, as they pulled away.
Mike quickly took her place, as he wrapped his arms around Eleven, a big smile on his face. He told her how he had called her everyday since she disappeared, and Karmen couldn't help but feel bad. Why did Mike believe Eleven was alive, when she hadn't?
"Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?" Mike inquired.
"Because I wouldn't let her" Hopper announced.
"The hell is this? Where have you been?" Hopper asked, taking in her appearance.
"Where have you been?" Eleven retorted, as he gave her a one-armed hug.
"You've been hiding her…you've been hiding her this whole time!" Mike realised, as he shoved Hopper.
"Hey! Let's talk. Alone" Hopper advised, as he and Mike left the room.
"I'm so sorry, Eleven. I really thought you were dead" Karmen admitted, ashamed.
"I know…I saw you. I didn't want you to be upset but it was too dangerous to contact you" Eleven explained.
"I'm not mad at you…Hopper is another story" Karmen stated, as she glared towards the room Hopper had entered.
"What happened to your arm?" Eleven questioned, her eyes widening.
"Hm? Oh yeah. Guess it proves your stronger than me. One of the demo-dogs got me" Karmen exclaimed.
"Will you be okay?" Eleven queried, starting to get panicked.
"I'll be fine" Karmen insisted, placing her hand on Eleven's shoulder.
"Your hair however…now that is past saving" Karmen giggled, as she ruffled Eleven's hair, who playfully shoved her off.
Once Mike and Hopper had finished their talk, it was time for Karmen to say her two cents.
"You know what? Not telling Mike…I get it. He's a kid. But me? She's like my sister!" Karmen accused, the moment Hopper had closed the door.
"You're sixteen, you're not an adult yet whether you like it or not" Hopper argued.
"I could have handled it" Karmen retorted.
"It would have put your life in danger, and everyone you care about!" Hopper pointed out.
"That's just the thing, Hopper…I don't have any family. Eleven at one point was literally my only friend" Karmen exclaimed.
"Well not anymore" Hopper replied.
"A bunch of thirteen-year olds and ex friends don't really count" Karmen sighed.
"What about Harrington then? He certainly seems to care" Hopper said, raising an eyebrow.
"It should have been my choice to make. Not yours" Karmen insisted.
"Fine. I'm sorry, okay? I'm making this up as I go, just like the rest of us" Hopper confessed.
"You're lucky I feel like I'm about to pass out, or I'd be kicking your ass right now" Karmen warned.
"Sure thing, kid" Hopper chuckled.
Karmen sat down at the table, as the group went over what they knew. From when they had tried to interrogate Will he had told them they needed to close the gate to the Upside Down, which was much bigger than before and now swarming with demo-dogs.
"I can do it" Eleven announced.
"You're not hearing me" Hopper told her.
"I'm hearing you. I can do it" Eleven insisted.
"No way. It's too dangerous" Karmen shook her head.
"If I don't do this more people will die" Eleven argued.
"And if you do this then you could die" Karmen pointed out.
"I'll be there to protect her" Hopper exclaimed.
"…Well then I'm coming to" Karmen suggested.
"Hell no. You can hardly stand" Steve interjected.
"She's right. You'd just get in the way. I'll keep her safe. I promise" Hopper stated, as Karmen sighed.
"Even if El can, there's still another problem. If the brain dies, the body dies" Mike began.
"I thought that was the whole point" Max frowned.
"It is, but if we're really right about this…I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayer's army…" Mike trailed off.
"Will's a part of that army" Lucas realised.
"Closing the gate will kill him" Mike clarified, as Joyce looked like the ground had fallen away beneath her.
"Then we have to disconnect him. Pull the plug?" Karmen went on.
"How?" Mike questioned.
"He likes it cold" Joyce mumbled, as she began walking towards Will's room, as everyone followed her.
"What?" Hopper inquired.
"It's what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold. We keep giving it what it wants" Joyce insisted, as she shut the window in Will's bedroom.
"If this is like a virus, and Will's the host then…" Nancy trailed off.
"Then we need to make the host uninhabitable" Jonathan suggested.
"We have to burn it out of him" Joyce grimaced.
"You'll need to do it at the same time they're closing the gate. So this 'mind flayer' thing is distracted" Karmen advised them.
"We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time" Mike reminded them.
"Yeah, somewhere far away" Dustin added.
"I think I know just the place" Hopper announced.
"Swear to me you'll be careful" Karmen pleaded, as she said goodbye to Eleven on the front porch.
"I will. Promise" Eleven nodded.
"If anything feels too dangerous, you don't have to-" Karmen started, but she cut her off.
"I can do this" Eleven repeated, just like she had earlier.
"I believe you. You're stronger than all of us put together" Karmen smiled at her.
"I'll be back" Eleven grinned, as she began to walk away.
"Wait…was that a Terminator reference?" Karmen realised, confused.
"…I used my sight to watch it in theatres" Eleven admitted.
"Eleven! It's rated R!" Karmen exclaimed, slapping her arm, lightly.
"You're sixteen and you've seen it" Eleven retorted.
"Oh God, you're really thirteen now, aren't you?" Karmen laughed.
Karmen could barely contain her laughter as watched Steve pull the dishcloth off his shoulder and almost hurled it towards the kids, as he argued with them. She wasn't sure what it was about but seeing Steve act so motherly was almost the high point of her year. A moment later she heard a loud engine out front and wondered whether one of the groups had already returned. Max ran over to the window and almost jumped on top of Karmen and recognised a familiar car.
"It's my brother" Max gulped, as Lucas joined her on the couch.
"He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me. He'll kill us" Max warned them.
"What are we going to do?" Lucas panicked, knowing he would get the brunt of any attack from Billy.
"I've got this" Karmen announced, as she stood up from the couch.
"No way" Steve shook his head.
"I'll distract him" Karmen suggested.
"No. I'll go out there" Steve replied.
"You're not really his type, Steve" Karmen said, laughing lightly at her own joke.
"You can barely stand!" Steve exclaimed, as she went to open the door.
"I don't think that will really matter to him. Just get the kids out of here" Karmen grimaced, as she pulled the door open before he could say another word.
"Well, well, well. Karmen Dixon. Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" Billy grinned, as he saw her step out of the house.
"I wish I could say the same about you, Billy" Karmen sighed, as she approached him.
Billy stripped off his leather jacket, putting his barely buttoned shirt on full display. He's still interested then, Karmen thought to herself.
"The hell happened to you?" Billy frowned, taking in her bandaged arm, and ripped up trousers.
"I got in fight" Karmen shrugged.
"Bit of a bad girl after all, huh?" Billy suggested, coming to stand only inches away from her.
The kids and Steve watched this all from inside the house and were just close enough to be able to hear what was being said. Dustin noticed Steve's fist was clenched, on top of the couch, his knuckles completely white.
"You should see the other guy" Karmen smirked, not backing down.
"I'm here for my sister. I think you know her. Redhead. Bit of a bitch" Billy announced.
"You know when you speak so highly of women like that...it really turns me on" Karmen scoffed, her irritation at the comment piercing through her act.
"You know that's what I like about you, Karmen. You're feisty. That's hard to find in a girl round here" Billy went on.
"Please don't give me the 'you're not like other girls' line or I might puke" Karmen replied.
"Right, I forget…your more about action than words" Billy went on, as he snaked his hands around her waist.
"That's more like it" Karmen exclaimed, as she ran her hands up Billy's arms and over his shoulders.
"Wow, she's really going for it" Lucas stated, both his eyebrows raised.
"If they kiss, I'm definitely going to throw up" Max grimaced.
"It's just for show, Steve. All an act" Dustin insisted, as he patted Steve's shoulder, who looked almost ready to snap.
"I don't know man, she kind of looks-" Lucas began, as Dustin slapped him round the head.
"So…my sister. Have you seen her?" Billy mumbled, their faces close.
"Nope. Can't say I have" Karmen replied.
"Then you don't mind if I look around?" Billy suggested.
"Of course, not…but there's better things we could be doing with our time…" Karmen trailed off, licking her lips, as Billy's eyes followed this motion.
Not needing anymore hints, Billy pressed his lips against hers, and pulled her closer to him all in one swift motion. Karmen responded to this by tangling her hands into his hair, which led him to deepen the kiss. She felt his tongue against her bottom lip, letting her mouth part and give him entrance. She could feel herself getting lost in the kiss, until she felt his hand go lower and gave a quick squeeze of her ass, as she had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. A gentleman as ever, she thought to herself.
"That's enough!" A voice boomed from behind them, as they pulled away.
She turned to see a furious looking Steve storming over to them, and bit her lip. He had clearly been watching the whole thing instead of getting the kids out. And he looked pissed.
Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! So Stranger Things Season 3 is finally back July 4th, which I'm so excited about. However, I think we've got no more than five chapters of this season left so I will be going on hiatus a while until it airs. We're finally going to get somewhere with Karmen and Steve's relationship I promise, haha. Billy and Karmen definitely do have a connection, but he's just too much of an asshole for it to go anywhere tbh. Please leave a review:)
tazsgirl6969: I hope you like this update:)
Micky-Moo: Thanks for the review:) It's going to be fun seeing how Eleven and Karmen interact now they're a bit older.
The true Hero of Skill: Thank you! I hope you like this chapter:)