A/N: Alright, folks, this is the last chapter of steady updates because now I have to start writing more lol. I hope you'll forgive me as I try to catch up. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 27

I felt hungover when I woke up.

It took me a moment to remember where I was and I wasn't ashamed to admit that I checked my reflection in the mirror to make sure I was still me. Or Tammy.

I walked out of the room slowly and followed the sounds of someone moving around. Joyce was in the kitchen, muttering to herself as she cleaned something off of the floor. She jumped when she turned and saw me.

"Oh! Kate. Come, sit down. Do you want something to eat? Drink?"

"Do you have any coffee?" I asked, my mind still working slow in comparison to normal. I wasn't fully awake yet.

"Yes," she turned and grabbed a mug out of a cupboard. She poured me some and handed it over to me. I bent over the mug, inhaling the scent of coffee and trying to settle myself. I had a headache from crying.

"I'm going to make eggs. Do you want some? Some toast?"

I looked up at Joyce over the coffee cup. She looked like she was trying hard to act like everything was okay like if she could just make the morning go by with ease, everything else would too.

"Sure," I finally said, if only to get her back in motion. I knew what it was like to need to keep moving so your mind didn't focus on your grief.

She smiled at me and went for the fridge. As she opened it something large fell out. Joyce screamed. I stood up quickly, kicking the chair back so I would have room to move. Joyce scrambled backwards. It didn't move.

I stepped up closer. The adrenaline of a monster falling out of the fridge woke me up far better than any coffee could. Joyce was huddled against the wall as I reached out with my foot and kicked the thing. It still didn't move. I reached down and pulled at the blanket wrapped around it. Someone had put this in there.

"It's okay," I said. "I think it's dead."

At that moment, Jonathan came sliding into the room with a lamp in one hand.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Mom instincts took over Joyce as she stood up and went over to him. "It's fine, it's okay. Just a scare, okay? I wasn't expecting something to…"

"What happened to the fridge?" Jonathan asked, looking past her.

"An excellent question," I said. I had a vague idea as to who I could likely blame. The only one I knew who would think keeping a monster in the fridge was a good idea, were the kids. "Let's get rid of this." I took a step back and looked at the whole fridge. "I think you need a new...everything."

oOo

I helped Jonathan bury the body of the creature in the backyard. I suggested burning it, but we agreed that it would attract far too much attention. Especially as the government was getting more active in cleaning up the bodies in the building. That included Bob.

Tammy's parents were all excited to hear about the concert and what happened to the car. I nearly forgot that the Prince concert had happened. In a weird way, I was lucky that I had had the fight with Robin. It gave me a useful reason for my lacklustre response to their enthusiasm, and why I wasn't more hyped up about it. It wasn't like I could tell them I had been fighting monsters the night before. Thankfully, it was Sunday. I spent the rest of the day in bed trying not to think of what it felt like to have monsters run past me, ready to eat me, and what happened to Bob. He didn't deserve that.

When I got to school on Monday, I felt nearly ready to fight someone. Tammy's parents had been amazing in the fact that they mostly left me alone for the day. I spent a good part of it stewing over what had happened and part of me kept coming back to the fridge. There was no way that one of the kids could have shoved it into the fridge themselves, which meant I had a very specific target that morning.

"Steve!" I found him outside the school, catching him just before he went inside. He stopped and looked confused until he saw me. Then he looked like he was ready to run. I wasn't sure if it was because of my expression or he knew what I was upset about. He cleared his throat before he straightened as I got closer.

"Yeah?"

I poked him in the chest. "What the hell were you thinking, putting one of those things in the fridge?" I was trying to be mindful of what I was saying. I didn't want anything to come back to Tammy, even if it was just a rumour about monsters.

He blinked at me. "What?"

"The dog," I said slowly. "At the Byers." I watched as his face lit up with understanding...and then horror. "Yup."

"It was Dustin's idea!" He said quickly. "He wanted to keep it. Made me shove it in there for him."

"I see. Are you not grown? Are you unable to tell a child that it's a bad idea? Who the hell is going to pay for all of those groceries you ruined? Because it won't be Dustin."

"Shit."

"You're damn right. You better pay the Byers back for what you did. Maybe buy a whole new fridge just for sheer emotional trauma because let me tell you, it was no picnic finding that thing after the night we all had!"

I shook my head at him and walked away. I'd deal with him if he didn't pay back the Byers. I had a feeling though that he'd take care of it. Dustin on the other hand was going to be a whole other trial. He was probably going to be far more argumentative.

As I headed inside, leaving Steve to figure out how he was going to solve this, I saw Robin. She was standing across the lawn, watching me. I waved but she turned away. With nothing else to do, I went to class.

oOo

I stared out at the field as I sat on the bleachers.

The day sucked. It was the only way I could explain it. Robin avoided me. She didn't sit in her usual spot near me in class and when I saw her at lunch, she turned away to her other friends. I just left the cafeteria and went outside. There was nothing in between the school and the woods at the edge of the field.

Bob was gone. My friend, the one person who truly knew who I was, who had vowed to help me find a way home...was gone. What was I going to do? I could not rely on Joyce, not fully. She was a wonderful woman, but I was pretty sure she had just lost a man she was in love with. And gruesomely if he got eaten. Gods, what if she saw it?

I leaned down, pushing my elbows into my legs as hard as I could as I put my head in my hands. I felt like I was going to be sick if I kept thinking about it.

"Hey kid."

I looked up at the voice accompanied by hard footsteps rattling the bleachers. Hopper was walking towards me in full uniform. I rested my head on one hand and watched as he sat next to me.

"Hey." I didn't feel like I had the energy to be upbeat or flirty or anything.

"You alright?"

I turned back to the field. "I don't know." It didn't really feel like I was ever going to be alright ever again. I wanted to blame the whole teenage angst but there was a lot more involved.

"Yeah, I get that." He leaned back and pulled out a cigarette. I watched him lit it out of the corner of my eye.

"You know that shit's going to kill you, right?"

"So would getting hit by a car, but you don't see that stopping me from driving."

"Yeah, but at least that would be a lot quicker than emphysema or lung cancer. Unless you want to sound like a robot when they have to replace your voice box."

"What?"

"Nevermind," I sighed.

"Cancer's already taken the best thing in my life, it can't hurt me more than that."

I looked at him to find him staring out at the field. "That doesn't mean it can't hurt everyone else around you. You want to give the people that care about you that same pain of watching you die?" He made a scoffing noise and I felt myself grow angry. "You really think Joyce or the guys at the station or Flo won't mourn you?" I stopped myself before I snapped more and said something I couldn't take back. I was already on edge. Hopper was just proving an easy target.

There was a moment of silence but I caught sight of him rubbing his throat. "Look, if you're interested in quitting and going cold turkey isn't easy, just reduce your intake. Give me one." I motioned for him to pass it over. He kept the pack with him but handed me one. I tore off the tip. "Just reduce, more and more until it's nothing you can't handle by sheer will." I gave him the cigarette back. He looked a little disbelieving at the fact I ripped it but he put it back in the pack.

It was silent again before he broke it.

"That girl, the one who attacked you here...she's getting charged with assault. Not manslaughter since she didn't actually do the things she said she was going to, but I doubt she's going to stick around even if her family is. Last I heard, she was going to have to see a shrink."

"Huh?" It took me a moment before I clued into what he was talking about. "Oh! Carol. I totally forgot about her." I touched my arm where she scratched me. The scabs were still there, but it felt so inconsequential compared to everything else going on.

"What, no cat fights in the future?"

I snorted. "Despite all appearances, I really wasn't this tough back home. At least, I didn't think I was. Everyone, well, most people generally had the same beliefs that I did and the only fighting I ever planned to do was punch a couple of Nazis if I had to."

"There are Nazis in the future?"

I gave him a look. "There are probably Nazis now, they're just hiding it." He swore under his breath. "Don't worry, we all felt the same way when we found out. Well, those of us who aren't Nazis."

"Shit. Got any other bad news from the future?"

"You really don't want to know." He looked like he was about to start smoking again, so I tried to reassure him. "It's not all bad. I mean, some of it sucks, but there's a lot of good too. Technology advances faster than you expect and people make connections across the globe. Women are more equal and are less afraid to actually stand up for things. It's pretty amazing in some aspects."

"It's hard being here, isn't it?"

I felt a lump in my throat. "Yeah," I nodded. "Sometimes more than others."

"Yeah, that I get." He cleared his throat. "Listen, if you have time, I was wondering if you'd do me a favour."

I looked up, intrigued. "A favour?"

"Yeah, look, you can obviously keep a secret. This would be a different one. Can I trust you?"

I was more interested now. Another secret? If it was going to be about more monsters, I was going to refuse. "Yeah."

He stared at me before he nodded. "Do you remember the girl from the other night? The kid?"

"If I recall, there were many kids and more than one girl. You talked about Max? Or…?"

"The other one. El."

"Ah, okay." The one the Wheeler kid kept going on about in the tunnels. "The punk kid. What about her?"

He sighed, the type of long and tired sigh that all fathers tended to make. "Yeah, the punk kid. She needs to stay low, keep out of town, not be seen. There are...bad people who would love to find her." He gave me a look over his sunglasses. "The same type who would love to get a hold of you if they knew the truth about you too. Got it?" The government then. I nodded. "If you could come by, keep her company a bit...give her someone to see other than me. Maybe you could teach her a little bit about being a confident, calm and...sensible girl."

I tried not to laugh at the frustration I could see. He was trying. I had to give him that. "Sure, introduce me. It's not like I don't have the time considering my friend isn't talking to me and I've been banned from my job until an investigation is concluded."

"That should be over soon."

"Yeah, with my luck by summer."

Once Hopper left, I forced myself up off of the bleachers. As much as things sucked, I knew myself well enough to know that if I wallowed in self-pity, it would spiral and I would drag myself down deeper into a depression. If I was going to be depressed, I was at least going to be a functional one...maybe. There was only so much one could control one's mental state.

I had already reamed out Steve about the fridge. It was time to find my other target.

oOo

I waited until the end of the day. I had study hall for my last period and I used that opportunity to duck out early enough to catch the younger kids getting out of school. I knew enough from babysitting Lucas and Dustin to know they all biked to school. So I leaned up against the bike racks and waited as the bell rang.

The kids came out together, laughing and pushing each other as they exited the building. They seemed like typical kids. Like we all hadn't nearly been eaten a couple nights ago. Maybe that was something about being young. They could bounce back quicker.

Max saw me first. She burst out into a grin and ran towards me. Not the reaction I was expecting but I smiled back at her.

"Hey!"

"Hey," I replied. The others looked more wary as they approached slowly. "You guys all good?"

"Yeah," Lucas answered. "Why are you here?"

I pushed myself off of the bike rack. "I need to speak with Dustin for a minute."

"He doesn't have to speak to you," the same kid who was a bit of an asshole the other night, said. He moved towards the bikes.

"I don't know you. Who are you?" I asked, tilting my head at him. I was determined not to give in to the snot-nosed brat or give him a reaction he was expecting.

"Mike," he said. "Mike Wheeler."

"Nice to meet you, Mike. I'm Kate. To respond to your comment...you're right. He doesn't have to speak to me." I looked over at Dustin. "He has a choice. But if he doesn't, I am going to have a long chat with his mother about how a reckless science experiment of his destroyed someone's fridge and weeks of food." I watched as Dustin's eyes widened. Seemed he forgot about that.

"Fine," Mike said. "But we're all coming."

I shrugged. "Fine by me. Maybe you'll all learn something."

The kids brought their bikes, and skateboard, around the building. It wasn't too far out of the way but it did give us some privacy. It sort of made me feel like a drug dealer, which was not something I was aiming for.

"I'm going to make this simple and quick," I said as I turned to face all of them. "You put one of those things in the Byer's fridge, tearing out the food in there and contaminating what was left. Do you honestly think that was a good idea? To put a monster in there, not tell anyone and essentially destroy it? Who's going to buy them a new fridge, Dustin? Because we don't know what those things are made of and how it will affect the human body."

"They'll get a new fridge with the money we make from the discovery!" He seemed excited.

"No, they won't!" I snapped. "I was the one who found that thing and do you think for one second they kept it?"

"What did you do?"

I tried to take a deep breath. He was just a kid. He didn't realize the potential damage he could have caused, more than he already did.

"Listen to me carefully," I lowered my voice. "Do you honestly think the government would have let you keep it? Or claimed it for discovery? If they wanted those things known about, the world would already know. We got rid of it for the same reason you keep quiet about what happened in this town. Because there are people out there who would do anything to keep others from knowing, including murdering families with a so-called accidental gas leak."

They looked stunned.

"Oh." Dustin finally responded.

"Yeah, oh. Think about what you're doing and the consequences of those actions. They don't just affect you. If they found it in the fridge, who do you think they would have blamed?"

Mike seemed to clue in first because he hit Dustin in the shoulder. "Will!"

I recognized the name of one of Joyce's sons. I figured they were friends. "Exactly. Now, I'm not your mother, and I don't plan on telling anyone else about this, but you damn well better go apologize to Joyce for destroying her fridge and giving her a heart attack after the night we had."

I gave them all the best patented disappointed look until finally, Max smacked Dustin across the back of the head.

"Hey!" He spun to glare at her. She made a face back, widening her eyes.

"Don't worry," Max said looking at me. "They will."

I nodded. "Alright, thanks." I glanced around to see the rest of the teens from the high school leaving the building. "You guys good or any of you need a ride?" I asked them all despite aiming for Max. I wasn't sure where Billy was and I didn't care, but I wouldn't leave the kid to find her way home alone.

"We're good," Mike said. He sounded like he was just saying it to get rid of me. I rolled my eyes. I waited until Max nodded slightly.

"Alright, I'm around if you need me." I left it at that.

[tbc]