I hope everyone is sound and safe :) Here is another week and another chapter. Super special thanks to AnnieRavenclaw707, my beta reader for her infinite patience with me ;)

Chapter 27: A killer on the loose.

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The return trip was very silent. Hopper was not amused to know that he was released without reason, because things did not work that way, not with people like Hartman.

Joyce stopped the car just in front of their new house. It was still rare to think that she could have another brand new house, in such a short time.

"Hop," She started to say, but he just growled grumpily and got out of the car heading towards the house. Joyce sighed, trying to be patient, although he wasn't making it easy for her.

When Powell had appeared at her house that morning, Joyce couldn't believe what the officer had been proposing. She could help Hopper as long as someone apologized, in a very humiliating way and biting their tongue, nodding at everything the new chief said, without question.

Since Hopper didn't have any interest in it, Joyce would have to be the one to do it. Yes. The conversation with Hartman had been pretty embarrassing, but she had done it for a reason, bringing Hopper back home. She couldn't believe he was taking it so poorly, after all, it had worked and she was sure she would do it again if necessary. Why was he so upset about it?

Hopper strode into the house, in pressing need of a damn shower and praying to the heavens to not curse him anymore. He just asked for a chance to escape from the rest of the world, just for a couple of hours. His sanity was a stake from the lack of sleep. Too naive to think that.

El ran to him as soon as his feet stepped inside, barely having time to catch her in his arms.

"Hey, little yellow duck! Be Careful," He exclaimed as she tried to surround his body between her short arms. She had been able to confirm that with Hop's weight loss, now it was possible, and she liked doing it.

Hopper looked up to find all the boys peeking out the door to the living room. Oh no. He hadn't even thought that the group would have broken into his home so soon. Damn, they had entered his house even before him. He couldn't help rolling his eyes at that thought, damn kids. For a few moments, nobody said anything.

"I told you, he was alive!" Dustin announced proudly to have been able to count that scoop. Lucas hit him on the arm. It was not the time to make jokes.

Hopper looked at them, one by one, until the last, yeah, behind everyone, was... Mike. He was in no mood to go through that now. He just wanted to get away and have a party of troublemakers beyond the wall next door was not going to help him not lose his mind. Immediately the boys began to make room and to push Mike, who reluctantly went ahead to face Hopper, although that, avoiding glances.

"On behalf of everyone. We would like to say that we are happy that you are... not dead," Hopper stared at them. If looks could kill...

Mike glanced back for help, but the group just motioned with their hands to keep the boy talking. They had rehearsed it all morning. Now the Byers' lived in the chief's house, well, the former chief, so they had to suck up to him, or they wouldn't be able to go there often. "And, we wanted to welcome you to Hawkins. We helped with the move, look, we've put all the furniture in! And we just wanted to say that we can help in whatever you need. Yes. That's it."

"Yeeeeah," Hopper said wryly, he wasn't in the mood for that crap. For heaven's sake, he came from spending a night in a cell, without any sleep. "Do you know how you can help right now?" Yes, he was going to kick them out, he had the face of wanting to kick them out. But then he looked down at El, she was smiling, beaming. They had been through a lot in the past month, and at least she was truly delighted. God, life is so simple when you're a teenager. Hopper had no desire to argue, nor did he have the heart to take away that moment. So he quickly thought of an alternative plan. Everyone out of the house. Wonderful, isn't it?

"And what are you all supposed to be doing here? Don't you want to go out for a walk?" He asked, hoping that all the screaming and high laughs would go very far away from him.

"We're solving a crime," El replied, convinced.

Hopper didn't take it seriously. He was too exhausted to try to find out about what stupid new game they had invented. "Riiiiiight," He snorted as he released himself from her. "Don't make too much noise, please,"

"Of course not. You aren't going to hear to us." Dustin responded quickly.

"Not a single word," Lucas added.

"Absolutely none!" Mike continued, hoping he could stay there.

Hopper looked at them in disbelief, for kids who say that they wouldn't speak, they sure didn't shut up. The man rolled his eyes and without another word went up the stairs to the second floor, where the rooms were supposed to be.

Joyce walked in right after and looked at the boys who just pointed in silently to the stairs.

Joyce entered the bedroom and closed the door behind her, slamming the wooden frame a little louder than she intended. Her gaze went to the man as she crossed her arms.

"Hopper. Stop this nonsense right now, okay? It's not important!"

He groaned. "It does matter to me, Joyce. I will not let anyone..."

"Shut up," She had enough. "Yes. I had to beg Hartman, and yes, I had to insult you several times, acknowledging how stupid you are, and that something like this would not happen again, and you know what? I hardly regret the latter."

"You shouldn't have done it." He said dryly, his face serious.

"And what did you wanted me to do?" Joyce's hands came to her hips. "Leave you there?"

"I would have managed by now." It was clear that he was not going to give up.

"Oh, yes, of course. I see how well you managed, what was your plan? To insult him again so he could file more charges against you?" She was yelling now, that attitude was outraging her. What was wrong with him?

He approached Joyce to face her, was she yelling at him? Seriously? He was the angry one. "Well, in the end, he is going to arrest me again anyway, because I'm going to kill Powell!"

"Hey, he wanted to help you, and so did I. Forget Hartman for God's sake, we have more important things to think about!" She replied incredulously. "I don't understand why it bothers you so much. He's just a jerk. Why do you care what he thinks?"

"Of course, you don't understand!" His hands waved wildly. "I'm a man who doesn't have anything left!" Joyce stopped her banter, a bit shocked by that statement, so he continued, "They've taken everything from me, Joyce. All my damn life! I haven't even been able to bring anything on the move other than what I wore! The only thing I had left was my dignity, Joyce. MY DIGNITY!" After a pause, his voice low down. "And thanks to you two, I don't even have that anymore." He stated, exhaling tiredly.

Joyce was speechless. She knew that Hop was a proud man, but she never thought that this nonsense could affect him so much. But it was perfectly clear it wasn't about Hartman anymore.

Hopper shook his head. Once again, the universe was against him. Joyce was right, that was a trifle, but it made him angry anyway. His life was falling apart, again, and the closest person to shouting at was her. He rested his head on his hands. It wasn't fair, and he knew it. Unfortunately, he'd been through that once before to learn from his mistakes, when.. well, when he still had a wife. He closed his eyes. He didn't want to go through that again. Big fights always started with those little things.

"Sorry," He spoke honestly after a pause, "I know you only wanted to help me, Joyce, but," He trailed off, didn't know how to finish the sentence.

The woman nodded. "But any little humiliation, no matter how ridiculous it is, reminds you of your time with the Soviets." She finished the sentence for him.

Hopper looked down, defeated. Sometimes he thinks that Joyce knows him better than himself, and that scares him.

She took his hand, trying to support him. "I'm sorry you were disappointed with the return to Hawkins, maybe I could include an 'I told you so' here but I won't,"

"Technically, you just did." He pointed out.

Joyce squeezed his hand. "Hop, I know that nothing can ever be the same as before, but I want you to know that you have us. A new house and, I know it's not much, but you also have some of your things in that box." She said, turning him around to show him a package with his name in capital letters.

"I know it's not much," She insisted, "But we tried to keep some things from the cabin."

He blinked, surprised, and a bit shocked too. "Why did you keep it? I mean, you assumed I was dead. Why keep my things?"

"Hop. How can you think that we wouldn't keep memories of you?" Joyce could not believe that he was held in such low esteem. "Do you really think we cared so little that we didn't want to remember you?"

The man smiled fondly as he practically launched himself to open the box as if he were a child with his Christmas present. There were many little things, things that he had almost forgotten. He was surprised to see the first storybook he read to El before sleeping or the box of the first puzzle they made together. But what surprised him most was seeing a photo frame. The image took his breath away. It was Sara, his daughter. He took it in his hands, and with his thumbs caressed the glass that reflected the photo of a baby. She would barely be three years old when he took that photo.

"Why did you keep this?" He asked, putting the frame back carefully in the box. "Neither you nor El knew Sara."

Joyce rubbed his back with tenderness. "We knew it was important to you. And if it was for you, also for us." She admitted.

"Thank you." He replied without further ado. After a minute of silence, he turned to Joyce. His eyes were glassy. "I don't deserve you."

Joyce nodded, taking his head between her hands. "We agree on that. Hey, come here, you idiot." She reached over and kissed him slowly and deeply.

He wrapped his arms around her as they melted into an increasingly suffocating kiss. So many emotions in so little time. Their feet shuffled around the room, trying not to crash into the boxes still scattered on the floor. It was a complicated task when neither of them wanted to break the connection. Finally, it was Hop who pulled away, surprised as he hit the bed and looked at her with a questioning look.

"Are you sure?" He asked without breath.

"Uhuh…"

Will studied his old Lego toys again. He couldn't believe that after being stored in a crate for so many years, now they would be useful again. Suddenly he took one and noticed that someone had painted a very angry eyebrow with a black marker. "Hey. Who did this?" He demanded.

Dustin and Steve started laughing, giving themselves away quickly. "Well, we wanted to make the Hartman's Lego realistic. You know, to better visualize the plan." Dustin told him.

Will picked up another Lego, this one had sunglasses painted on it. "And who is this?"

"That's me, of course," Steve replied smiling self-reliantly.

Lucas rolled his eyes. "We won't be able to move forward like this, this is serious!" He exclaimed pointing to the small stage they had set up with those toys, simulating the police station.

"It won't work," Mike stated.

"Of course it will. El can open all doors with her mind. Now it's even easier," Dustin reminded him.

"Yes, but once inside, we don't know where to start looking. And we won't have much time. We don't even know where the file is!" Mike acknowledged as the others buffed disappointed.

El stared at the tiny Lego station. "We don't know." She started, "But Hop knows."

Dustin snapped his fingers. "That's true. The chief can draw us a plan of the station and tell us where the file could be." The boy replied enthusiastically.

El rose like a spring. "Where are you going?" Mike asked concerned.

She shrugged. "To ask him."

"No!" Mike exclaimed suddenly.

Hardly an hour had passed since the big bear had returned and he had already held them in contempt. If they angered him, he might kick them all out, him first. Mike couldn't allow it. But it was too late, El was already running towards the stairs, and what was worse, he was behind to try to stop her.

El was about to open the door to Hop's bedroom when Mike stopped her. "Wait!" Mike Whispered. "Better knock on the door, okay? I don't want the Chief to be mad and not let us come every day," he admitted.

The girl rolled her eyes. "That's not going to happen," But just in case, she knocked twice on the door. Too loud for Mike's liking. "Hop?" El asked, "Are you awake?" She continued, raising her voice. It was clear that if he wasn't, she wanted to wake him up.

"Fuck!" They heard Hop's curse on the other side of the door. Then a thud sounded. Has anyone fallen?

"Hop?" El asked, starting to get concerned.

"Coming!" The man exclaimed.

"Are you ok? Can we come in?"

"NO!"

"What? Why?"

Suddenly, Hop opened the door and before they could peek inside he closed the door behind him.

The three of them stared at each other very awkwardly.

"Is everything alright?" El asked.

"Yes," Hop replied dryly, then nodded and kept looking at them, hoping for some kind of explanation for that unexpected assault.

"Why aren't you wearing a shirt?" Mike asked puzzled.

"It's hot," Hop replied quickly.

"It's December." The boy pointed out.

Hopper pressed his jaw. "What the hell do you want? I thought I had told you to not disturb me. Does it ring a bell?"

The girl shook her head. "We need you to make us a map of the police station," She said bluntly.

Hopper opened his mouth, puzzled. "This is a joke, right?" The man stared at Mike. "A joke that is not funny by the way." Mike was definitely a bad influence on his daughter.

El snorted in annoyance. "Hop, we need it to solve the crime!"

The man rubbed his eyes in disbelief. "Hey, kid, I'm busy. This is not the time for your little games."

"It's not a game!" El protested exasperated.

"We have to solve the murder of Miss Hammond," Mike added.

Hopper opened his eyes wide, incredulous. "Suuuure." Then he buffed to the air and dramatically stared at Mike. "Hey, did you hear that? That sound?"

"No ... what?" The boy was starting to get nervous.

"That was the sound of my patience shattering in a billion little pieces!"

The girl grabbed his arm, drawing her attention. "Hop! As long as we don't figure it out, there will be a killer on the loose in Hawkins!" She told him.

Hopper chuckled. "A killer on the loose in Hawkins ..." He repeated with sarcasm. It was the most absurd thing he had heard in a long time. He was going to laugh but saw that the kids were still staring at him seriously. "Wait. Do you really mean it?"

"Yep." They answered in unison.

To be continued.

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