Hopper's Monday morning alarm clock went off at a time that felt much too early, though it was the same 7:30 AM as every other day. Without even opening his eyes, he sat up and reached towards the clock on the side table at the end of the bed, smashing all the buttons on the clock to get it to stop.
He swung his legs over the side of his tiny bed and planted his feet on the floor. He rubbed at his far too tired eyes and stood up with a groan. As he took a step towards the bathroom, his foot got caught on something, tripping him and sending him stumbling towards the couch in attempt to avoid injuring the tiny human that he now noticed was curled up under a blanket on the floor.
"What the hell? I just about crushed you, kid! What are you doing on the floor?" Hopper demanded, now fully wide awake as his heart was beating a little too fast from their near accident.
El didn't answer, and he reached for the lamp on the end table that he had just collided into.
He knelt down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She was curled up on her side facing his bed, and he noticed that she had been trembling ever so slightly.
"Did you have a bad dream?" he tried again, his tone a little bit gentler now.
He searched her face for blood that usually accompanied the really bad ones, the ones that actually led her to seek out and accept his company after she woke up. However, he was a little surprised because those ones always woke him up, and her nightmares had actually been getting less intense and less frequent over the past few months.
"El, you know you can always get me up no matter what time it is," he reminded her.
"You wouldn't wake up," she finally answered softly.
"I see," he sighed. "Well if you have to, you can jump on top of me next time," he offered with a slight laugh to try to get the kid to look at him. "I don't want you to sleep on the floor like this."
Other than a light tap on his shoulder and a few whispers of "Hop," El hadn't actually tried very hard to get him up; she he had no energy to and so she just curled up on the floor next to his bed instead.
Plus, El was never willing to talk about her dreams anyway. Sometimes she'd ask him to turn on some music or for him to read out loud another a chapter of whatever book they had been reading together. And sometimes they'd just sit in silence together in her bedroom until she drifted back to sleep.
It didn't really matter what her request was; Hopper had always just agreed to whatever she needed from him when she woke up in the middle of the night like that. He knew she wasn't just doing to it to take advantage of bedtime like other kids sometimes did. Hopper let her guide him in whatever direction she needed to feel safe. He knew it was an important part of building a relationship based on trust; he wanted her to know, without a doubt, that she could trust him.
One night, El had scared the absolute shit out of him as every light in the cabin turned on at the same time. When he woke up, she was standing in the middle of the living room, pale and terrified, blood dripping from her nose. She looked at him with such a panicked expression that he didn't know what else to do besides collect her in his arms, feebly promising to her over and over again that she was safe, that he'd never let anything hurt her ever again. El didn't cry very often, but that night she sobbed so hard against him that she almost couldn't breathe.
They spent the rest of the night on the couch together. El was so terrified that she had curled up in his lap under a blanket making sure that absolutely no part of her body was left exposed, as if whatever horrible monsters she'd seen that night would be able to get to her if she wasn't covered up. Hopper never felt so sick and helpless as he did while attempting to hold El together that night. It reminded him of the long nights he spent with Sara towards the end, and nothing could have been more painful than that.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" Hopper asked her now anyway.
"Not a dream," El explained quietly.
"Oh," Hopper replied in surprise, his hand moving to brush the hair from her forehead.
The second he touched her far too warm skin, he understood why she had come to him in the middle of the night. She was sick, and he felt even worse knowing she had been sleeping on the cold, hard floor for who knows how long now.
"El, it feels like you have a fever. Do you feel sick?"
She gave a slight nod and closed her eyes. The light was making her head hurt even more, and her nausea seemed to be getting worse by the second too.
"Yeah, okay. Let's get you back to bed," Hopper sighed, trying to help her stand up.
"Sick," El whimpered in warning as her mouth started to water.
"I know. We're going to get you back in bed," he promised, not fully understanding what she had meant.
But El didn't even have time to clarify before she started retching. She tried to make it to the bathroom before making a mess, though she didn't quite get there. Instead, she threw up into her hands in a useless attempt to stop it from getting all over. Hopper heard a splash hit the floor and when he found her in the bathroom, she was already covered in her own vomit.
That's also when he realized this hadn't been the first time she'd gotten sick either. A pair of her pajamas laid on the floor in a crumpled heap next to the sink, where, though she clearly had tried to clean up after herself, she had obviously gotten sick there earlier too.
"Over here," Hopper said, directing her to sit on the floor in front of the toilet. El retched and tears streamed down her cheeks for the next few minutes, while Hopper sat down on the floor next to her. Eventually her tears slowed, and she managed to look down at herself. Her flower pajamas were covered in wet stains. Tears started falling again and she couldn't even wipe them away because her hands were messy too.
"I'm sor-sorry," she cried even harder.
"El, it's okay. Really, it's alright," Hop promised, rubbing a hand against her back, one of the few spots on her clothes that had remained clean. "Here," he said, standing up to start the water in the shower. "You feel okay to try to get cleaned up real quick?"
El nodded in agreement. She didn't feel much like showering, but she really wanted to be out of her gross, wet clothes. El stood up and rinsed her hands in the water before carefully pulling off her soiled shirt and pj pants, not even caring that Hopper was still in the bathroom with her. She stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain closed.
"Is it okay if I clean up out here while you are in there?" Hopper called to her. Though El never really seemed to care, he tried to give her as much privacy as was physically possible in the small space that they shared.
"Yes," he heard her tiny voice answer in reply.
She heard Hopper moving around and then the sound of a spray bottle. El stood under the warm stream of water until she was clean and then sat down in the tub, leaning against the side, trying hard not to throw up again. To her, it was one of the worst feelings in the world, and she especially didn't want to do it again in the bath.
Once the bathroom was clean, Hopper grabbed the dirty laundry and left it in a basket waiting to be washed. He washed his hands and searched through El's dresser, finally finding her last clean pair of pajamas. He would have to get to that laundry sooner rather than later.
"All clean in there?" Hopper asked from the other side of the curtain after returning with her clean clothes.
El didn't answer.
"El, you okay?" he tried again.
Hopper realized now that the pattern of the water falling into the tub hadn't changed for a few minutes. He pulled the curtain back slightly and peered inside. He found El with her knees curled up to her chest, eyes closed, and head resting on the edge of the bathtub. Her cheeks were a bright pink, and he knew it probably wasn't the best idea for her to be sitting in a warm tub when she also had a fever. Hopper reached in and turned the water off.
El woke up with a whine and almost immediately started shivering, though she had no energy to get up to dry off. He found a clean towel and covered her, wrapping her up as best he could as he grabbed her under her arms and lifted her out of the bathtub. He set her feet down on the floor, and she almost instantly curled herself up against him.
"Time to get dressed and get you back to bed," he suggested softly though El still didn't move.
"Cold," she whimpered sadly instead.
"I know, kid. I know," Hopper replied, vigorously rubbing her arms up and down through the towel that was draped around her. "You've got some clean pjs right here, okay?"
"Don't feel good," El only answered in response. She collapsed against his chest, going so nearly limp that he had to wrap his arms around her to hold her up. Her eyes closed again, and he stood holding her dripping wet for a few minutes until it became apparent that he was going to have to help her get dressed or else they may just be there all day.
He adjusted his grip on her so that he was holding her up with one arm, while he reached for her underwear with his other.
"El," he called, rousing her just enough to get her attention.
She opened her eyes and whined.
"Here kid." Hopper held her underwear out for her to step into, bending over so that she could balance herself against his shoulder. Her legs felt like lead as she picked each foot up one at a time, the act almost too much for her exhausted body to handle.
Although El's bare skin under his hands felt like she was on fire, when the towel fell from her shoulders, she started shivering even harder and goosebumps raised on her arms. He quickly ran the towel over her skin once more, drying up the leftover droplets of water before finally helping her into her nightgown. Once she was dressed, he rubbed the towel through her wet hair.
"After we get you back to bed, I'm going to go to the store to get you some medicine," he promised her.
Hopper wasn't sure if she was even conscious enough to be paying attention, but she answered with a soft, "uh-huh."
"You want a sip of water or anything before you get in to bed?"
El desperately wanted the rotten taste out her mouth, so she nodded yes. Hopper sat her down on the lid of the toilet and poured a bit of water into the glass that they kept near the bathroom sink.
El took a small drink and almost immediately handed it back to him. The nauseous feeling instantly returned, and she just wanted to lay down and make it all go away.
Hopper poured the rest of the water down the sink and helped El stand up. She leaned against him all the way back to her bedroom. El grabbed her teddy bear from its spot where it had somehow gotten stuffed between her wall and the bed last night. She hugged it tightly in her arms as Hop tucked her back in. He pulled one blanket over her knowing that although she thought she was cold, he actually shouldn't be bundling her up in a bunch of blankets due to her fever.
Once he was satisfied that she was comfortable, he asked, "Do you want me to bring the tv in here for your quarantine?"
"Quar-an-tine?" El repeated carefully.
"Yeah, quarantine. It uh, it means that you are kept separate, like all by yourself and away from everyone else for a little while."
"I'm always quarantine," El reminded him softly.
"Yeah," Hopper sighed because he couldn't argue with that statement. "I suppose you sort of already are always in quarantine. Only this, this is a little different." He paused before trying to rephrase the definition. "Actual quarantine is for like when people are sick…They are kept by themselves so that other people don't get sick too. And then the sick people can get better faster because they're getting a lot of rest."
"I don't need tv for quarantine," El replied, rolling over in bed. Her eyes were already closing. "Tired."
"Okay, kid," Hopper answered, rubbing her back. He knew she really must have been feeling poorly to turn down watching television. "You just get some sleep. I shouldn't be gone for very long, alright?"
El gave a nod and snuggled into her blankets.
Hopper let out a sigh and went into the bathroom to change his clothes and brush his teeth. He quickly combed his hair, thinking he at least looked put together enough to make a quick run to Big Buy for some medicine and bland food for her.
Bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast.
That's what he remembered the doctors had recommended for Sara when she was constantly nauseous due to her chemotherapy. He was pretty sure there was no way El would eat rice, but he thought he could at least get some applesauce, bananas, and toast into her when she felt up to it.
Five minutes into his drive to the store Hopper swore out loud, suddenly remembering that he forgot to bring something back to her bedroom for her to throw up into in case she got sick while he was gone. He just hoped she would stay asleep until he could get back home with some medicine.
He also found himself wondering how the poor thing managed to get sick when she didn't even leave the house? Maybe it was the hamburger in their spaghetti sauce last night? But he had eaten it too and felt alright. It was probably just some bug that he brought home to her, though the realization that he could have been the one to make her sick only led him to feel even worse.
The drive to the store was a bit slower than he would have liked due to poor visibility. It was April and it seemed like it had been raining for weeks now. On top of the rain, there was also a layer of fog that had been lingering around.
Once he got to the store, Hopper rushed through the parking lot and grabbed a shopping cart. He picked up a package of saltine crackers, fruit punch flavored Gatorade, and some bananas and applesauce, before finally stopping in the medication aisle.
Hopper was reading the packages of various boxes of children's pain relievers and nausea medication so intently that he hadn't even noticed Joyce standing right next to him with her own cart of groceries.
Monday was her only day off and she had just dropped Will off at school. She had just started their weekly shopping trip when she saw Hopper's familiar face. She found it odd that at this time of day on a weekday, he wasn't dressed in his usual work uniform. She also found it incredibly strange that he had been so focused on reading boxes of children's medications that he hadn't noticed or even heard her say hello when she had been standing just a few feet away from him. She curiously watched from the end of aisle as he threw a few different things into his cart before rushing to the checkout counter.
Despite the fact that their house was almost totally out of everything with nutritional value, she couldn't help but quietly abandon her cart to follow Jim out of the store.
Immediately after Will first got back, it almost seemed like her and Hop were approaching something more than just a friendship. He often stopped over to just check up on them, sometimes even staying for dinner or a couple drinks. But after Christmas, that all seemed to change.
Joyce didn't want to believe it, but it seemed like Hopper was purposely distancing himself from her, and frankly, it left her feeling confused and worried. Of course, she had probably just read too much into the situation, but there was another part of her that felt like he was hiding something from her. It seemed obvious to her, that if he was hiding something, it had to do with the lab. And if he was keeping it from her, perhaps it was something bad. She couldn't think of any other reason why he wouldn't have told her what was going on. Despite the contracts that they'd all signed, the two of them had been through a lot together, and she hoped he knew that he could trust her with anything.
Had Hopper been paying more attention and not preoccupied worrying over El, he would have noticed Joyce's car following behind his. He had always been pretty vigilant with making sure no one ever followed him here.
Hell, he was a damn cop, and he knew better than to get preoccupied when it came to El's safety.
Joyce had expected to just follow him back to his trailer like the paranoid idiot that she was, or for him to head up to the Lab. So when Hopper pulled over and seemingly parked his Blazer in the middle of nowhere, she was completely confused. Joyce slowed and parked her car on the side of the road too. Hopper got out of his vehicle, grocery bag in hand, and started to walk into the woods.
If it hadn't been raining so hard, maybe he would have heard her footsteps falling not too far behind him, but the sound of the raindrops pelting his hood made that next to impossible. Hopper remained utterly unaware of a single thing being out of place until he was nearly to the porch steps. Joyce also hadn't been paying enough attention to notice the trip wire strung between the trees, that is, until it was too late.
As the shotgun rang out, Joyce screamed in surprise, and Hopper dropped his bag to the porch, sprinting back out into the rain towards the intruder that had clearly been following him. He was in such a panic that he hadn't even recognized who it was until he was nearly tackling her tiny body to the ground.
"Joyce?! Je-sus! How did you-"
"What was that?" she asked, eyes wide and ears still ringing. She struggled against Hopper's arms to free herself from his too tight grip.
"Did you follow me?" he accused, ignoring her question.
"I mean, I guess so, yeah. What are you doing out here?" She was practically yelling as the heavy rain was quite loud.
"Damn it, Joyce," Jim swore letting go of her arms only to pace the ground in front of her. "You really can't be here. No one else followed you, did they?" he suddenly worried.
"No. And Jim, calm down! Why would anyone be following me?"
And in that moment, someone moving on the porch of the secluded cabin caught her eye. Joyce squinted through the rain to be sure.
"Oh my God. Is that-?" she asked, her voice now much softer, and her face looking as if she'd seen a ghost.
Hopper didn't have to turn around to know what, or more like who, she was referring to. Joyce pushed her way past him to approach the house, Hopper's arms falling uselessly to his sides knowing there was no point in trying to cover this up any longer.
El had heard the commotion, and though she was sick, and Hopper thought he had taught her better than to come outside no matter what she'd heard, the noises had concerned her.
After all, Hopper was all she had, and she had to make sure he was safe.
When he turned around, he saw that the kid was standing barefoot on the porch dressed in his cream, long sleeved Henley shirt that he had slept in and abandoned on the bathroom floor after he had changed his clothes earlier that morning. The sleeves pooled at her wrists, and the hem hung to her thighs. Her teddy bear was still clutched in her hand, dangling by her side. She looked between the two adults, obviously confused, before she whispered, "Joyce?"