A/N: We've finally reached Thanksgiving! I know a lot of your were looking forward to Nancy, so I hope this was worth the wait and lives up to your expectations.

I want to briefly comment on what's going on in the reviews. I am so appreciative that so many of you are reading this story and have such strong feelings and opinions, but if you are going to answer each other, please be respectful. Of course, my preference is that everyone leave one review (as long or as short as you want) with all your thoughts and opinions, because I truly so read every single one of them and they have impacted the story at various places. But if you are going to respond to each other, please do so respectfully.

That being said, I'm still doing my shout-outs, as it is something I've always done because I truly do appreciate everyone who takes the time to read and review my stories. But, I will only be addressing reviews that comment directly on the story.

Shrike176: I'm glad you liked it. You've waited patiently for Nancy, and she is finally here this chapter!

Reader: Agreed, Mike is definitely trying hard to lie to himself. I hope you enjoy this.

Guest: I'm glad you liked the Joyce/El scene! And yes, El's treatment of Mike could potentially have gone way deeper than she thinks.

Phieillydinyia: Just a little bit lol.

Guest2 . 0: That is an interesting idea about why Mike may stay with Lindsey. As for things getting worse, isn't it a saying that things always get worse before they get better?

JayneFawn: I do like your insight into the characters' feelings. It will all be coming to a point within the coming chapters.

Rhodiola: Yes, there are a lot of things yet that need to be addressed, and honestly, a lot more that will be happening. The ending will certainly be earned, and it is a good 10 chapters away at least.

Do Ya: Yes, Lindsey is definitely realizing some things. And you're right, Brad will be no where near as relevant going forward.

Stranger Records: There are still some things that need addressed (and more things that are going to happen), before any sort of timeskip could work, but I will tell you that in a few chapters, it won't be quite as day-by-day. There will be a bit of a skip, but not years down the road or anything. I'm glad you're liking the story so far!

UnoPeso22: I'm glad you liked it. Hopefully this chapter will explain a bit more of Mike's thought process.

Guest: Agreed, El doesn't realize how badly she has hurt Mike just yet. And this chapter has the long-awaited Nancy scene!

Guest: As you said, good things come to those who wait : )

Guest: Thank you!

PoltkeyHobb: Thank you, I appreciate that!

OdoMango: Thank you! I'm glad you found it to be realistic. I hope you like this chapter!

Exploding Helmets: I absolutely agree, the "breakup" three years ago and the breakup now are entirely different. This one is much more serious, of course.

Guest: It's totally okay that you feel that way!

Simon Samovar: There will likely be a small timeskip in a few chapters' time, but nothing major like years ahead or anything. But it will become less day-by-day.

Whats The Point: I do think El has learned/is starting to learn some things. But we'll see how the rest of it plays out.

IgNighted: Mike knows he and El have that bond, whether he tries to ignore it or not. And Joyce really is a lovely person, isn't she?

Dolittle: Interesting thoughts, and yes it's very true that a lot of relationships include breaking up and getting back together. It can certainly strengthen the relationship if handled correctly.

Jane Eleanor Wheeler: Thank you. I'm glad you're enjoying seeing Mike and El's journeys. And what a story! I'm glad things worked out for you and your husband!

Grievesforyou: Thanks for the follow! Glad you like it!

Alisea: I'm glad you liked the Joyce/El moment. I like that you pointed out how each El, Mike, and Lindsey are all somehow making mistakes. I hope you enjoy the path it goes. And thank you so much for saying that at the end. Writing is the only passion I've ever truly had, and being a writer has been my dream for as long as I can remember. I do have some original pieces that I work on outside of fan fic stories as well. I really appreciate that.

Jean Sumnerland: Welcome back! I'm glad you liked it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things or any of its original characters.

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That week at school was weird for Mike. Will had told him on Monday that El was doing okay but that she was taking the week off from school while his mom made arrangements for her to be placed into another English class.

"I'm glad she's doing okay. Thanks for letting me know," Mike had said. "But she might be putting on a strong face for you and your mom… Just, keep an eye on her, okay? And if she starts to have nightmares or anything, do your best… If you need help-"

"You'll come over again, right? I know she really appreciated that," Will had interjected.

"Will… I can't. I can't do that again," Mike had said quietly, shaking his head. "It's too complicated, you know… with Lindsey."

Mike had avoided Will's eyes, and Will had suspected there was more to Mike's refusal to come over again, but he decided not to push it. Will had nodded his understanding and promised to keep an eye on El.

The rest of the week passed, and even though Mike knew El wasn't at school, he found himself disappointed when she wasn't in the hall when he would normally see her. Of course, Brad was still there. Every time Mike would catch a glimpse of Brad, he could feel his blood start to boil. He wanted nothing more than to march down the hallway and wipe the constant smug look off Brad's face. Of course, Mike knew better than to approach a star basketball player like that. He hadn't had his ass beat in a few years since middle school ended, and he was certainly not going to end that streak his senior year.

Things with Lindsey had mostly returned to normal. They hadn't discussed Mike's dishonesty anymore since Monday morning, and Lindsey didn't bring up anything about El. Mike wasn't even sure if Lindsey noticed that El was missing from school. If she did notice, she didn't say anything. Of course, Mike didn't point it out to her or tell her that Joyce was keeping El home for the week to mentally recover. The last thing Mike needed was Lindsey thinking that Mike was still involved in any way with El behind her back.

What Mike didn't know was that Lindsey wasn't oblivious to the frown that would briefly cross Mike's face when he glanced toward El's locker, or the hatred that would flash in his eyes when he saw Brad, or the way he would clench his teeth or ball his fist when Brad's voice would float down the hallway. Lindsey noticed all of it.

"So what are your plans for the week off?" Lindsey asked Friday afternoon as she and Mike walked toward her locker after chemistry.

"My sister Nancy is visiting from college for Thanksgiving. She isn't coming home until Wednesday, though, because they still have classes Monday and Tuesday," Mike said. "So I'll probably spend a lot of time with Lucas, Dustin, and Will."

"I wish I could meet your sister," Lindsey pouted. "And I wish I didn't have to spend the whole week in Ohio."

Lindsey's grandparents lived in Columbus, Ohio, and she and her parents and brother were leaving tonight to spend the week with them.

"I know, but you'll have fun with your family," Mike assured her. "Besides, you'll have plenty of time to meet my sister in the future."

Lindsey's face noticeably brightened at that, and she closed her locker and slung her backpack over her shoulder before reaching forward for Mike's hands. She pulled him close to herself and wrapped her arms around his waist, holding him against her.

"I'll miss you," she said.

"I'll miss you too," Mike replied, brushing her auburn hair away from her face. "Call me when you get back, and we can do something."

"It won't be until late next Saturday," Lindsey frowned.

"Okay, then we can plan for next Sunday," Mike suggested.

Lindsey nodded in agreeance and sighed, knowing she had to get going so she wouldn't keep her family waiting. She and Mike kissed goodbye, Mike told her to have a safe trip and a Happy Thanksgiving, and then she was gone for the week.

The first half of the week of Thanksgiving break flew by. Lucas, Dustin, and Will came over every day; they watched a lot of movies, played a lot of video games, and went to the arcade a couple times. Max opted to spend most of her time with El rather than with the boys, and Mike couldn't say he was bothered by that at all. In fact, he found himself really enjoying spending time just the four of them again. It hadn't been like this in years.

Wednesday afternoon, Nancy arrived an hour before dinner. Jonathan dropped her off before heading to the Byers house. The plan was for Nancy and Jonathan each to spend Wednesday night at their respective family's house, and Jonathan was coming to the Wheelers' house the following afternoon for Thanksgiving dinner. He and Nancy also planned on going Black Friday shopping early the following day. So all in all, Nancy's Thanksgiving visit with her family was going to be rather short.

"It's so nice to have you home," Karen beamed at her oldest child at dinner that evening. She turned to her husband who was focused on cutting his meatloaf. "Isn't it nice to have Nancy home, Ted?"

"Yeah, of course," Ted agreed half-heartedly, taking a bite and earning an eye roll from his wife.

"Well, I think it's great to have you home for a few nights," Karen repeated. "Tell me everything about how school is going."

The dinner conversation quickly became about Nancy's classes and how things were going with Jonathan. Ted completely zoned out, Karen was fully engaged, Holly interjected periodically to ask Nancy to elaborate on what certain things meant, and Mike was only half-listening. He was startled by the sound of his name, bringing his full attention back around.

"But how are things here? Mike, how's school?" Nancy asked.

"It's fine," Mike shrugged.

"Hear back from any colleges yet?"

"Yeah. I applied to four, and I got in to all of them."

"Have you decided which one you're going to?"

"I think so," Mike replied.

Before Mike could say anything more, Holly chimed in to tell Nancy all about how school was going for her. She made the honor roll her first quarter and was on track to make it again second quarter. Mike went back to only half-listening as his little sister rambled about the joys of fourth grade.

Twice more during dinner, Nancy redirected her attention to Mike, asking repeatedly how things were going with him. He continued to tell her everything was fine and that nothing exciting was happening. He started to wonder if she was fishing for something specific, but he was unsure of what that could be. After all, Mike and Nancy hadn't spoken since she left for college at the beginning of fall semester.

After dinner, Mike was sitting on his bed, his back leaned against the headboard, working on some of his homework that he was assigned to be completed over break. He heard someone tapping on the doorframe of his open bedroom door and looked up to see Nancy.

"Hey, do you have a few minutes?" she asked, and Mike nodded, pushing his schoolwork to the side.

"What's up?" he asked as Nancy took a seat on his desk chair.

"I haven't seen you or talked to you in three months. So, what's been going on?" Nancy asked casually.

"Nothing really," Mike shrugged, avoiding her eye contact. "Everything's pretty much the same. Nothing-"

"Mike," Nancy interrupted, and he finally met her gaze. "I've been trying to get it out of you all evening, but since you seem to not want to tell me, I know you and El broke up."

"Oh," Mike said simply. He thought for a moment and furrowed his brow. "Who did you hear that from?"

"Jonathan," Nancy replied. "He heard it from Will. But what I want to know is why I didn't hear it from you."

"I don't know, Nance," Mike sighed with a shrug. "It never really crossed my mind to call my older sister at college to tell her the love of my life left me."

"Well, it should've. Didn't we promise years ago not to keep secrets from each other? To tell each other things?" Nancy reminded him.

"You don't really keep up your end of that either," Mike scoffed. "You just said we haven't spoken in three months. The phone goes both ways, Nancy."

"I know, I know. I'll get better about calling," she promised. "But, now that it's out in the open, do you want to talk about it?"

"There's nothing to tell," Mike shrugged. "She doesn't want to be with me anymore."

"I find that hard to believe. I've seen you two together a lot over the years, and El is head over heels in love with you," Nancy said.

"Then tell me why she broke up with me out of the blue so we could date other people," Mike countered a little harsher than intended.

"She what?!" Nancy exclaimed, taken aback. "What exactly did she say?"

"It was a couple weeks after she went to some college party at Indiana State with Max and Robin and Robin's roommate. I guess at that party she was dancing with some guy and he started making moves on her, and she shut it down… but Max and Robin's roommate got in her head," Mike was surprised to feel a lump starting to form in his throat. He shook his head; there's no way he was going to relive that. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. It's over."

Mike stood and started toward the door, but Nancy scooted the chair she was sitting in to block his path. He sighed and pursed his lips in annoyance.

"Seriously?" he asked in frustration.

Nancy crossed her arms over her chest and gave Mike the look that let him know she wasn't going to let up until he told her what happened. He sighed and turned back to his bed, sitting on the edge of it to face his sister.

"What do you mean they got in her head?" Nancy asked.

"I mean, they were telling her how important it is for her to be with other guys to make sure that she and I are really meant to be," Mike explained. "And that she can't really know for sure unless she sees what's out there."

"And El took that advice seriously?" Nancy asked, confused.

"Yeah, obviously, she did," Mike replied. "Two weeks later she told me that she thinks it would be best for us… to see other people… She said she didn't want to wake up in twenty years and wonder if she made the right choice."

"Oh, Mike, I'm so sorry," Nancy said gently.

"It is what it is," Mike shrugged, trying to remain nonchalant in hopes that Nancy would let him stop talking about it now that she knew what happened.

"Mike, it's okay to still be upset about it," Nancy assured him when she saw him struggling to maintain composure. "I know how much you've always loved her."

Mike shook his head; he didn't want to talk about this. But he felt his eyes begin to burn, and he felt the words coming up. He knew he was about to spill everything he had been holding in, everything he had stopped himself from saying to his friends. Nancy reached forward and placed her hand on top of his when she saw the first tear sneak down his cheek.

"I just… I don't understand how she could do this to me," Mike said, the rawness in his voice breaking Nancy's heart. "I literally begged her to stay with me, Nancy. I told her how much I loved her and that I knew I would never have any regrets… that I didn't need to see what else was out there. But she looked me dead in the eye and fucking ended it."

Mike wiped the tears from his cheeks with his sleeve, something that proved to be pointless because of the steady stream of tears that kept coming. He felt Nancy squeeze his hand as she watched silently while he broke down. He was crying too hard to worry about feeling embarrassed right now.

"H-how could she s-say she loves me, then in the n-next breath say she wants to date other guys," Mike managed through the tears.

"It sounds like she was confused by the advice she got," Nancy said gently. "She was being told that being with only one person is abnormal. She was being told that to be absolutely sure about you, she had to be with someone else to realize what she really wanted was you. Those types of thoughts are enough to cast doubt into anyone at seventeen… and given El's upbringing, can you blame her for being confused about relationships?"

"She didn't seem confused, Nancy. She seemed like she had put a lot of thought into it, and she wanted to break up with me," Mike argued. "But even if she was confused, if it's about our relationship, why wouldn't she just talk to me?"

"I don't know, Mike. That's something you should probably ask El… Have you talked to her at all since the breakup?" Nancy asked.

"Sort of… Not about us… It's complicated," Mike said. Nancy cocked her head in confusion, and Mike sighed, knowing he had to explain everything about Brad. He'd already come this far anyway.

Mike told Nancy everything. He told her about El openly checking out Brad in the cafeteria the day after they broke up. He told her about El accepting a date with Brad deliberately in front of him. He told her about their brief exchange at the party after homecoming before Brad had whisked her down the hallway. And of course, he told her about the night when Will called him in a panic and he had gone over to comfort El after Brad had nearly forced himself onto her.

"Wow," Nancy shuddered. "That's a lot to take in… I can't imagine how hard it was for you to be there for her like that."

"I had to. It's El. Seeing her so vulnerable and scared and hurt almost broke me again. I'd been so hurt and confused and lost since she dumped me, but that all flew out the window when she asked me to hold her. I had to do whatever she needed to help her feel better," Mike explained quietly. "And it killed me. I was sitting there with her in my arms, and she was sobbing into me… And all I could think, other than what a jackass Brad is, was that this never should have happened. We shouldn't be in this situation, and that we wouldn't have been in that situation… if she would've just stayed with me."

"Do you even realize how much it says that you went immediately to her side when she needed you? Or how much it says that even after everything, you are still the person that El needs?" Nancy pointed out.

"She, uh… she asked me to stay the night with her, but I obviously couldn't because of Lindsey-"

"Wait. Who is Lindsey?" Nancy asked confused.

Mike quickly ran his and Nancy's conversation through his mind. Had he really not mentioned Lindsey at all yet?

"She's my, uh, my new girlfriend," Mike replied.

"Your new girlfriend," Nancy repeated, and Mike nodded. "And does she know about El?"

"Yes. She's actually the one who has helped me the most in getting over El," Mike replied.

"Mike," Nancy sighed. "I'm sorry, but you are not over El. If you were over her, you wouldn't be crying and asking yourself how she could've done this to you."

"Okay, so I'm not completely over El," Mike relented. "But Lindsey helps me forget about everything."

"That isn't moving on, Mike. That's just distraction," Nancy stated. "It sounds like you're in a rebound relationship."

"Lindsey's not a rebound," Mike insisted defensively. "She just happened to be there for me when El broke up with me."

"Okay, so tell me about her," Nancy said.

"What?" Mike asked, bewildered.

"If Lindsey isn't a rebound, and she's a serious relationship, then tell me about her," Nancy repeated.

"Well, she's… she's sweet, and she's smart. Really pretty," Mike stammered.

"Sweet, smart, and pretty?" Nancy repeated. "That is the most generic description I've ever heard. Mike, when you would talk about El, it was like you were trying to write poetry or something, but you just described Lindsey with the absolute bare minimum effort. Sweet, smart, and pretty could define just about anyone."

"Well what do you want from me, Nancy? She's not El. But I do like her," Mike insisted.

"Do you love her?" Nancy asked, and she could tell the answer by the look on her brother's face.

"I think I could someday," Mike replied, looking down at the floor.

"Are you sleeping with her yet?" Nancy continued.

"Why does everybody keep asking me that?" Mike asked, exasperated. "No, I'm not. We've done everything else, but-"

"I didn't ask for details," Nancy interrupted, raising her hands. "But did you ever think that maybe the reason you don't love this girl, despite how sweet, smart, and pretty she is, is the same reason you can't bring yourself to go all the way with her? That you still want to be with El?"

"Of course I still want to be with El!" Mike exclaimed. "But it doesn't matter what I want."

"What are you talking about? Of course it matters what you want," Nancy objected. "You could stay with Lindsey. Maybe you will develop some type of love for her. You could get married and have a family. But you would be living your whole life knowing that you aren't with the woman you're truly in love with. So how could it not matter what you want?"

"Because even if I were to go to El right now and tell her that I still want to be with her and beg her to take me back, and she does, I'd get to be with the woman I love, but then I would spend every day of my life wondering if this is the day she's going to leave me again," Mike explained. "And honestly, I don't know which scenario is worse."

Nancy was speechless; he had a point, and she knew it. She offered a sympathetic smile as Mike covered his face with his hands and wiped his eyes.

"I don't know what to do, Nancy," he said, sounding utterly defeated.

"Well, first things first, you need to take care of yourself. Don't let this stuff build up like this. Repressing these feelings for so long is not good for you," Nancy said.

"I know. It's just hard to talk about. Plus, Will lives with her, so he's already in a rough spot. And Lucas and Dustin were supportive, but I don't know, they really encouraged me to move on, so I never felt like I could tell them how much I was still hurting," Mike explained.

"I get it. So if you ever want to talk to someone and you don't feel like you can talk to your friends, call me. I'm serious," Nancy offered. Mike chuckled but nodded, genuinely appreciating her offer.

"Now, as far as what to do about Lindsey and El… that's ultimately going to be up to you," Nancy said honestly. "I think you need to be completely honest with yourself about what you want… and I think you already know what that is. I know that you like Lindsey, and that you don't want to hurt her. But sooner or later, if the relationship is bullshit, you can't pretend like it isn't. I know that better than anyone."

"So I should break up with Lindsey and be with El? How could I ever be secure enough with El to not think she's going to leave me again?" Mike asked.

"These are questions that only you will be able to answer," Nancy replied. "And don't think you have to choose either being with Lindsey or being with El. You're only seventeen. Don't be afraid of taking some time to yourself to fully heal before trying to make it work with anyone."

Mike nodded. He knew Nancy's advice had merit, but the idea of being alone honestly terrified him. He had never really been alone at all during his teenage years. Being in a relationship was all he knew… El was all he knew. Maybe that's one of the many reasons why losing her hurt so badly and why he didn't know how to cope with it.

"Do you feel any better? Did that help at all?" Nancy asked hopefully.

"You gave me a lot to think about. And surprisingly, I do feel a lot better… I'm still confused as hell, but letting that out feels really… refreshing," Mike replied. "Thanks, Nance."

"Any time," Nancy smiled.

She stood up and pushed Mike's desk chair back to where it belonged before leaving him to his thoughts once again.

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A/N: Next chapter will be El-centric and will focus on her break. Let me know what you think, and please leave me a review! See you again soon!