Despite the fact that she'd slept on the Byers' couch before, El was restless for the entire night. She tossed and turned and mumbled nonsense, waking Hopper multiple times when she kicked her blankets off and lost her bear but shivered and whined without them. Shortly before dawn, their longest stretch of sleep-almost two hours-was interrupted by a loud, hard, thud. Jim sprung awake immediately, rushing to the tiny moaning figure on the floor beside the couch.
"El? Are you okay?" he asked worriedly, cradling her shaking form.
The child's eyes were wide open when she clutched him back tightly, scared tears threatening to overflow. "Hoppa?"
"I'm right here, I'm right here. Are you hurt?" She couldn't be, right? The couch was less than two feet off the ground.
Eleven shook her head, gazing around in confusion. They were sitting on the floor, and it was dark, darker than it ever was in her room at the cabin. At home. "Where…"
"We stayed at Joyce's house, remember?" It took the girl a moment, but soon she nodded. "You rolled off the couch, kiddo."
Oh. That actually made sense; she'd been having a dream where she was riding on the back of Mike's bike again-something she hadn't done in over a year-but it ended very abruptly when Mike rode them off the cliff and into the quarry. A chill went up her spine and she shivered in Hopper's arms, hugging him tighter. Why would she have a dream like that?
Jim helped her back up to the couch and turned on a lamp for the girl, knowing that being able to see her surroundings would better help ground her. He sat beside her on the couch and she melted into him, trying to match her racing heart to his strong, steady one. A few minutes later, footsteps shuffled down the hallway, and Joyce rounded the corner in concern.
"Hop? Is everything alright?" The woman asked.
"She fell off the couch." he explained.
"Oh no, honey!" Joyce said, sitting on the other side of the girl and examining her in the light. "Is she okay? Did she hurt herself?"
"I think she's fine, it just scared her. Both of us."
"Yeah, I'm sure." Joyce said, running her fingers through El's hair. "I thought I heard something, and then I saw the light turn on."
"Sorry we woke you up." Jim apologized.
"Don't worry about it, Will's probably going to be out here watching cartoons soon anyway."
"Kids, right? Always keeping you on your toes." Hopper replied, trying to hide the exhaustion from his tone. Joyce just agreed with a smile.
Though he'd meant it lightheartedly, it felt like a punch in the stomach to Eleven. She didn't like keeping Hopper on his toes, an expression he'd explained to her before. He was already up with her so many nights, and now Joyce was too, all because of a stupid dream about Mike that she knew would never really happen. The child's watery eyes overflowed and she buried her face in Hopper's chest.
"What's wrong, El?" The man asked when he felt her warm, wet teardrops soak through his shirt.
"I'm sorry." she mumbled into the fabric, only audible to Jim.
"Hey, no sorries." he replied. "You didn't do anything wrong."
"I woke you up." the girl said with a sniffle, finally pulling away from his chest and glancing shyly at Joyce.
"It's okay, sweetheart, I would've been awake soon anyway; I'm actually surprised Will's not up yet." The woman assured her. "I'm gonna start some coffee for me and Hop, do you want hot chocolate, El?"
The child nodded with a small smile as the man wiped her falling tears with the pad of his thumb. "Thank you, Joyce."
"No problem." she said as she stood, moving first to the thermostat with a shiver. "God, it's freezing in here. I wonder how cold it got last night."
Jim stood up as well, moving to the window and peering through the closed curtains before opening one of them completely, revealing the Byers' snow covered front yard. Huge flakes were illuminated by the rising sunlight, falling in near silence alongside the morning birdsong. "I'd say pretty cold."
Eleven gasped, a wide smile quickly spreading across her face as she jumped from the couch and raced to the man's side. "Snow!"
"Oh, wow." Joyce said in astonishment, meeting Hopper and El at the window. "That's over half a foot already, it's a good thing you two came over last night."
"Yeah," Jim replied, suddenly grateful as well. If it was this cold in Joyce's house and she still had power, how cold did it get at the cabin last night?
The girl looked up at with concern. "But I didn't.." she started, looking down at her pajamas and thinking of what she'd packed-her overalls and gray and red baseball jersey. "My clothes aren't good."
"What's wrong?" the man asked, not quite understanding.
"For the snow."
"Don't worry, honey, Will has clothes you can borrow if you want to play outside." Joyce said, quickly understanding the child's distress. El's concern was lifted immediately, and a sparkle the woman hadn't seen before sprung into her eyes.
"Let's go!" the girl said, tugging on Jim's arm, suddenly wide awake.
The man chuckled. "I need some coffee first, and you should wait for Will, I'm sure he'll wanna go with you."
"I'll get him!" El replied excitedly, practically bouncing on her toes.
"You will not," Hopper said, palming the child's head like a basketball to still her. She pouted and groaned in protest. "The snow isn't going anywhere, El. Besides, you haven't even had breakfast yet!"
"Sweetheart, why don't you watch TV while I make your hot chocolate? Will's gonna be up soon, then you two can have some cereal and go right outside." Joyce said.
To Hopper's slight annoyance, El immediately complied without question to the woman's request and plopped back down on the couch. He switched on the TV for the girl, wrapped a blanket around her and ruffled her hair playfully, he met Joyce in the kitchen, where he began pulling out mugs for the three of them while she started the coffee maker.
"Of course she listens to you without whining." Hopper grumbled.
"You know, the hallmark of a well behaved kid is one that listens to everyone except their parents." Joyce fired back.
The man felt a swell of pride bubble in his chest; it was the first time someone had referred to him directly as El's parent. "And you count as everyone?"
"Damn right." Joyce replied, eliciting a laugh from the both of them.
By the time the woman brought El her hot chocolate, Will had woken up and wandered into the living room, curling up next to the girl on the couch after briefly gazing out the front window. He declined his mother's drink offer and made himself a bowl of cereal instead, the girl following his lead soon after. The kids chatted excitedly over breakfast, planning what they'd do in the falling snow. Will insisted they build a snowman, and El asked where their sled was, making Hopper laugh when she assumed that it was something everyone owned. Luckily they had two, and the hill out back near Castle Byers would work perfectly, especially given that it was within sight of the house. The kids finished their quick meal while Joyce hunted around for suitable clothes for them, and while El looked absolutely tiny in Jonathan's winter coat, Will's old pair of bibs fit her perfectly, as did Joyce's boots.
For the majority of the morning, the kids could be heard shouting and laughing from the backyard, which quickly became covered in snowmen, snow angels, and a half completed snow fort, ditched midway through construction when El finally nagged Will enough to go sledding. They used two red circular disks, a form of sled El wasn't used to but quickly came to enjoy, especially when she barrelled down the hill while spinning, Will giggling from somewhere behind her; she always went down first.
Joyce and Hopper watched them with smiles from the kitchen window as they prepared the food. It had been years since Jim had cooked on Thanksgiving, and luckily, Jonathan was more than willing to step in and take over when he observed the man having trouble with the stuffing. Hopper stepped aside gratefully and alternated between checking on the kids outside and washing the dishes as they came through rather than letting them pile up. Joyce's kitchen wasn't very big, and while she bumbled between the boys, unaccustomed to having three grown people in it, somehow it still felt right and very familiar, as if Hop and El had always joined them on Thanksgiving.
The kids came in and out of the house periodically throughout the morning and afternoon, tossing their snow soaked hats and gloves into the dryer and drinking bottomless cups of hot chocolate until they were warm and dry enough to go back outside. Around two, about an hour before the food was ready, Will declined sledding with El and instead worked on finishing what he hoped would become an igloo. He was so fixated on molding the roof that he didn't hear Eleven's warning cry until it was too late.
"I can't stop!" she shrieked, and when he looked up, the boy spotted El careening towards him at an uncontrollable speed.
Will dove out of the way seconds before El crashed through the half constructed igloo, sending snow flying around them. For a few moments all she could do was lay on her back with her eyes squeezed shut, too scared to look at the destruction she knew surrounded her. Her limbs were freezing, her nose was numb, and her lower lip was throbbing in pain. Eleven finally sat up when she heard Will rushing towards her, his dark eyes filled with concern.
"Oh my God, you're bleeding. Are you okay?" he asked with worry.
The girl touched her lip gently, and her gloves were coated in blood when she removed it. She peeled it off and held her bare fingers over the gash. looked at Will, at the ruined igloo, and tears welled in her eyes. "I'm sorry."
"For what, getting hurt?" Will extended his hand and helped her stand. "You don't have to apologize." El was dizzy when she stood, blood snaking down her chin and neck and soaking into the collar of Jonathan's coat.
"The fort." she replied, her words garbled by the blood in her mouth.
"I don't care about that!" Will said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Come on, let's go inside."
"Mom? Hopper?" the boy called as he opened the back door and kicked snow from his boots. A drop of blood from El's lip splattered onto the white kitchen tiles, expanding as snow from her hair dripped on top of it.
"You two back for more hot chocolate?" Joyce said from halfway inside the oven, testing the turkey's temperature. Jonathan, who was at the sink, turned around first, and his gasp immediately told the woman that something was wrong.
"Shit, what happened, you guys?" the older boy said, dropping his dishrag and approaching the children. Joyce spun around as soon as her son spoke, and took in the sight of El with a similar gasp. The child's hand was clamped tightly over her mouth, blood seeping through her fingers and adorning her borrowed clothes.
"El, honey," Joyce said as she picked up Jonathan's dropped washcloth and stepped closer to the girl. "Here, put this on your mouth. Hopper!" she called through the house, unsure of where the man was. She heard the toilet flush and the bathroom sink run, and a second later Jim was coming down the hall, his speed picking up when he noticed everyone huddled around his daughter.
"Jesus, what the hell happened to her?" Hopper yelled, his fear coming out as anger when he saw the blood.
At his sharp tone, El burst into tears again. "Don't be mad!" she said, her small voice muffled by her hand and the towel.
"Sweetheart, nobody's mad at you." Joyce said, ushering her to sit at the kitchen table. She'd dealt with enough injuries from her boys to know that staying calm yourself was the best way to keep a kid from panicking. "Will? Can you tell us what happened?"
"She was sledding and couldn't stop, she hit our igloo." Will explained.
"Lemme see." Hopper said, crouching down next to El's chair and removing the bloodstained towel. "Move your hand, kiddo."
The girl shook her head, tears still streaming down her cheeks.
His blue eyes were hard. "El, I need to see it."
"Hop," Joyce said, touching his shoulder. There were a million things she wanted to say to him-stop freaking out, you idiot, you're only gonna scare her more-but she led by example instead, hoping not to make tensions any higher than they already were. Joyce bent down beside Hopper and took one of El's shaking hands in two of hers.
"Baby, we need to look at your lip, okay? Otherwise we won't know how to help you." The woman said softly, looking her in the eyes. "It's okay, you're not in trouble."
Slowly, Eleven shakily peeled her blood soaked hand away from her mouth, exposing a stained lower lip and a swollen gash down the middle about the size of one of her front teeth. The cut was still oozing, but it didn't look long or deep enough to warrant taking her anywhere.
"I think she bit her lip, but it doesn't look too bad." Joyce told Hopper as he examined the wound. She was right; it looked painful as hell and was still bleeding, but definetely didn't need stiches. The man wiped tears from El's cheeks with his thumb and kissed her forehead, calming her with his gentle touch.
Thank God, the man thought. I don't even know where the hell I'd take her.
"Jonathan, honey, will you get me a warm wet washcloth, please?" she asked, tossing him the bloody one. He returned a minute later, and El allowed Joyce to gently wipe her chin and neck clean, and held it to her lip to slow the bleeding. The girl melted into her, leaning her head on Joyce's shoulder, El's eyelashes tickling the woman's neck as she blinked.
"Why don't we get you out of these clothes and go sit on the couch, huh? The food will be ready soon, let's relax and watch some TV." she told the girl, noting the drops of blood on Jonathan's jacket.
El saw it too, and her eyes welled with tears all over again. She'd ruined Thanksgiving before it even started; she wrecked Will's snow fort, scared Hopper and Joyce, stained Jonathan's coat, and now she couldn't even go back outside to play. "I'm sorry."
"Sweetheart, there's nothing to be sorry for, you didn't do anything wrong." The woman told her.
She helped her out of her boots and jacket and led her to the couch, and when she sat down, El climbed into her lap like she was used to doing with Hopper, resting an ear on her chest. Joyce's heartbeat was harder to hear than Hopper's, but she was warmer and softer, and smelled like clean laundry. The woman rubbed her back, kissed her head, checked her lip, and kissed her cheek. Hopper switched the TV on as Jonathan puttered around in the kitchen and Will set the table, while Joyce abandoned her kitchen responsibilities in favor of comforting El on the couch. Luckily, Jonathan was used to his mother getting distracted, and with some help from Will and Hopper, they got the turkey out of the oven and the ham on the table without any trouble.
Eleven was almost asleep on Joyce's lap when Hopper sat next to them, brushing the child's hair behind her ear. "You alright, kiddo?"
The girl nodded, looking up at him. "Is it time for Thanksgiving?"
Jim smiled and ruffled her hair. "Yep, the food is ready if you feel like eating."
"Yes." she replied, taking Hopper's hand as he helped her up.
He and Joyce shared a smile when El entered the dining room and froze, eyes wide at the sight of the Byers' dining room table. It was covered in more food than she'd ever seen at one time, and all of it smelled amazing. Jonathan kindly pulled a chair out for her next to Will, who smiled and passed her a bowl of rolls. She took one and bit into it gently, smiling at its warm sweetness. Hopper helped her scoop mashed potatoes and gravy onto her plate, Joyce dished up her turkey and stuffing, and every eye was on Eleven as she dug into her first Thanksgiving dinner, eyes smiling wider than he freshly busted lip.