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Chapter Six

A Promise

"Hey, I'm pretty sure you said you would tell us when you secretly befriended cool girls."

Lucas and Will had just carried Mike to Will's bed after he collapsed at the sight of said cool girl while Dustin held up Eleven who was still very weak and was worse when she watched Mike go down.

Will rolled his eyes in response and gestured for Eleven to take a seat on the end of the bed by Mike's feet as Lucas grabbed Will's desk chair to sit in.

Eleven's throat is scratchy and her lips sore from being dehydrated but it's not the biggest thing on her mind as her heart beat wildly at Mike's presence, even if it wasn't conscious. Will seemed to pick up on these smaller things, which while some were visible, a scratchy throat wasn't. Will brushed it off and got up to move around.

He quietly retrieved a glass of water from the bedside table and made his first priority taking care of his houseguest since he had officially crossed off two from his list.

"While that's a very blasé way of putting this," Lucas said tartly of Dustin's observation, "he makes a good point."

Lucas and Dustin both looked at Will pointedly as he directed El to drink, forcing her to take some fluids and she looked grateful for the intake.

Will finally answered their question when Eleven was busy staring at their overwhelmed friend, with a simple shrug. Clearly it wasn't a satisfactory response.

"Can't garner much from that Will."

"Well what do you want to know?" Will asked indifferently.

"Absolutely everything of course," Dustin spoke determinedly.

Will went into a very condensed and heavily edited version of the events that took place before Eleven broke through the gateway. Eleven could understand why Will left some things out that might not have been important in recounting, but she also saw some key elements missing from the story, like the fact that he could transport to the Upside Down through a sickening means and that they'd first met two nights ago.

Lucas blinked dramatically as he read further into Will's casual handling and manner and carefully looked to Eleven to see how she was interpreting his side. Lucas made a noise with his mouth and shook his head, as Dustin seemed to focus on asking questions from the upfront story provided. Lucas cut that off quickly.

"You know more than we realise, don't you?"

Will couldn't immediately think of a way to hide this but explained away the immediate concern.

"So I've known about her being alive since Wednesday night. I couldn't tell you straight away," he defended.

"Why not?" Dustin asked looking quite offended.

Will chuckled darkly, "I've been seeing shit for years Dustin. I figured that my brain got an upgrade in ridiculously accurate and painful hallucinations when I saw Eleven for the first time that night and I didn't have much to base her off of since I only got a glimpse when she found me."

Dustin looked away as Lucas watched Will carefully, knowing he didn't often talk about the Upside Down or its impact on him, to this day.

"Now," Will pushed, "if I'd told you and it turned out to be a figment of some guilt in my imagination, how well do you think you or you or he would have coped with finding that out?" Will violently waved over Mike's unconscious body.

Eleven briefly paused staring at Mike as she looked carefully to Will.

"I have enough going on without the possibility of being sent to Pennhurst one day. I had to do this by myself so that if I was wrong, no one would ever know but me."

Hesitantly, after processing this confession, Dustin and Lucas agreed, knowing that had they been in the same predicament, they might've kept quiet about it too until they had some substantial evidence or got her back entirely. What Mike and Dustin didn't realise was that they likely wouldn't have succeeded, not without a connection Will only shared with Eleven.

Lucas turned the conversation toward the only girl in their group, having given Will enough grief for the time being. He didn't seem to send the same interrogation vibe as he'd set for Will, a softness that came to Eleven after she saved him from a Demogorgon and also earned his trust after a few days.

"I can't believe you just turned up after all this time."

He reached out to her left arm and very gingerly touched it, careful not to make her feel anxious, only to swiftly turn it and check her wrist.

011

It was still there, plain as day and he gently touched her hand and placed it back in her lap.

"Sorry. Just because you look exactly like Eleven doesn't mean you couldn't have been some super intelligent shape-shifting Upside Down monster who left the original where we couldn't find her to trick us into believing she was okay. I won't pull anything else on you," Lucas spoke honestly, a small curve in his mouth as he slowly started to smile.

Eleven sent him a sad smile in return, which soon went wobbly as she teared up.

Lucas's eyes widened and Dustin shook his head exasperatedly.

"Way to go Lucas, you made her cry."

"No," Eleven denied through a small sob. Wiping at her tears she looked back at them with an expression that told them she was more than worried.

"I hurt Mike, didn't I? That's why…"

They all immediately began to try and explain at once, which might have heightened her anxiety more than assuaged it.

This was an unpredictable phenomenon, but they wished Mike had partaken in the theme, for the sake of the girl who had literally lived under a rock her whole life.

His eyes fluttered open slowly when he could hear voices. Mike scrunched up his face at the light coming in through the window. He'd had the weirdest dream and his stomach was tightening at the vividness and the fact that he'd imagined Eleven to be back – and older. Maybe he needed to see someone or find a more useful means to get this obsession out of his head, if his experience the night before wasn't enough.

"This isn't your fault Eleven."

Mike froze in his spot. He could feel the extra weight now, by the end of his bed. His heart beat so fast as the reason for all this melodrama flashed in his mind.

"But I – but I-"

"He'll wake up soon, you'll see."

"If he doesn't we can just pour water on him or slap him in the face – always see it in the movies, and I've never had a chance to try it, so this could be a great opportunity."

Mike groaned – if his mind were to play cruel tricks he wished it hadn't have been today of all days. The last thing he needed was for his friends to participate as well.

All the voices went silent as his head turned to look at them on the other side of Will's bed. Lucas sat on Will's desk chair as Dustin sat on Will's chest of drawers, unbelievably calm considering what revelation had just been thrown in their faces that morning, and Will himself was kneeling in front of the person that caused Mike 3to faint in the first place. Her eyes were bloodshot and her cheeks were glistening with the tears that ran down her face. He sat up against the pillows but still couldn't seem to pull himself away from her.

"Oh good, you're awake," Will said, both relieved and suddenly apprehensive when taking in Eleven's stance.

Dustin scowled in the corner and muttered something about missing out on his moment.

"Are you okay Mike?" Lucas asked cautiously as his eyes darted between him and Eleven.

Mike didn't know what to do or what to say because all he could do was stare at her.

"Well that answers our question," Dustin coughed awkwardly.

Mike swallowed a thick lump of discomfort down. It did nothing to alleviate the pressure in his heart.

It had been torture. Not knowing what had happened to her, whether she was safe, whether she was hungry or cold.

Mike should've been utterly happy. That sentiment was there, but what hit him the most was the wound being reopened because he finally found out the truth after years of no solid answers and being desperately alone in his mind with his thoughts. She sat there, with problems yes, but she sat there, sane and ready to start her life afresh as the human being with eccentricities but nevertheless wanted an ordinary life.

And now, all he could do was cry.

The three boys looked taken aback and Eleven's heart broke all over again.

She moved from her place and sat much closer to him, and placed her hand on his while he was distracted with his tears with his other hand.

Mike gasped a little and watched as she gave him a small, watery smile, which said something more distinctly than could've been put into words for her limited communication.

Softly, Eleven proclaimed, "It's okay, Mike."

It might have been her touch; the cool of her hand sending goose bumps all over and flushing out the heat of building shame that came to so openly crying as a teenage boy. The sincerity of her words and the way she was now carrying herself made his heart swell with pride and a little infatuation was clearly beginning to grow where the root had almost shrivelled lifelessly down.

He moved toward her like a lightning strike but he held onto her tight. Mike couldn't trust himself to believe this for all the physical evidence in the world.

Eleven hadn't quite expected this but was probably the last person on Earth who would ever decline Mike's affections. At first, she had never been comfortable with touch, associating it with the pain or manipulative tactics Papa and his many legions of workers and muscle against her. Affection was a last resort to get her to do something.

Slowly she had discovered that not everyone's touch had a sinister motive and Mike was the first one to let her feel that when she was twelve. A curious regressive period happened when she desired physical affection from well intending human beings after being stuck in the Upside Down, but had forgotten its tenderness, and so Eleven had reacted when Will held her hand, but inevitably she kept it in her own for as long as she could have it.

She'd been wishing for this moment for years and now that she'd got it, Eleven was going to make it last. Her arms wrapped around his neck, which made him squeeze her torso gently as he cried into her hair.

Will gestured with his head to the door to Lucas and Dustin who readily followed him. It was nice to see that Mike was allowing himself to be more vulnerable with his emotions in front of them again, but even they knew when the tension had risen, things could happen or be said that they oughtn't be privy to.

The door to Will's room closed and the resounding click said that they were now alone, but neither one was ready to break their hold on each other.

Mike shook within Eleven's embrace and she could feel her own tears freshly shedding from this magnificent yet openly emotive affair. She was taken in closer to his body so that they weren't so oddly stretched away from each other, Mike surprised by his own strength and Eleven willing to let him do so.

Eleven was back and alive, in the flesh. Just thinking about that stabbed harder at Mike's heart, strangely enough with joyousness foreign to him for some time. His disbelief was diminishing and finally his whole being had soaked in the hard truth.

She may have smelt like Satan's asshole and looked as though she had tunnelled through a monster's oesophagus. She was thinner than he would have hoped for her upon return, and she felt battle weary – but she was back and more encapsulating than ever.

"I will never be able to express how happy I am that you're back."

It was a gentle whisper, an honest opinion of this truly wonderful occasion.

She closed her eyes and sighed happily, "Me too."

Mike laughed through his tears and held her tighter, trying to remain careful of her body's capacity for his intense hug.

But for Eleven, freedom felt just like this.

They had hardly said a word to each other afterwards, but through absorbing this rediscovery, Mike knew they had all the time in the world now. And Eleven had a lot of healing to do, so conversation could be declining her immediate progress somewhat.

She wasn't asleep, but her eyes were closed and resting, as she now sat next to him on the bed against the pillows, her head leaning against his shoulder, legs spread out with his.

Eleven was holding his hand and didn't seem to be bothered with this proximity to him, having made her head excellently comfortable on his shoulder after adjusting it. Mike wasn't remotely bothered at first, too wrapped up in bliss, but once he started to delve into old feelings, he could sense a social cue or two trying to nudge its way back into Mike's very spluttered and awkward soul. He just wanted this one non-judgemental moment to be with Eleven without the concerns of the outside world to sink in to question their intentions.

All of it was too sweet and innocent and Mike intended to keep it that way for as long as the world asked for it.

Mike didn't know how long they'd been separated from the guys in Will's room, but he was grateful they'd given them some space too. Having let everything out, Mike was prepared to let himself think of the future, adjusting it to add the potential Eleven would lead, no longer believed to be in the ground or stuck in another dimension.

But nothing could be more immediately concerning than Eleven's recovery. And one of the many solutions to her many likely problems were served in three square meals and clean drinking water. Will had been taking care of that while they were busy silently catching up and Mike could smell Jonathan Byers' take on pancakes. Will had inherited the recipe once his brother left, but neither Will or his mother quite had the same touch as Jonathan did with one of his staple dishes.

Eleven sniffed the air and her eyes shot open.

Before she could even suggest a change in location, Mike helped her up from her spot on the bed, and having watched her struggle to stand on her own for long periods of time, Mike linked her arm through his.

"Hold onto me, El. I won't let you fall."

Indeed she had accepted this request through a shy nod, holding onto Mike's arm as he led her out of the room, now rewrapped in the blanket like some of the old ladies in the old folks home that his paternal grandmother now lived in.

Upon entering the living room and eventually the open kitchen and dining area, the aroma was stronger and Eleven was almost taking off without him. He would've found it amusing had he not realised how desperately sad her situation must've been.

There were places set for five people but there was one at the end of the table where a few dandelions sat in a small vase.

"I picked the flowers," Dustin said with pride.

"They're weeds," Lucas snickered.

"Thank you," Eleven's small voice carried out which made Dustin smile wide.

Mike let her stand on her own for a moment, to pull the chair out for her. Taking her hand, he guided her to her seat, where she shrugged the blanket off her shoulders and over her lap.

She looked Dustin up and down and narrowed her eyes, unable to figure something out. "You're different."

Dustin frowned, unsure how to take this, until he realises that there is the unavoidable condition he's had to deal with most of his life. He smiles and responds easily.

"They grew in," he points to his mouth with a grin. "About a year after…well, you know."

"Didn't make you any cooler," Lucas said with a smirk.

"Says the guy who turned up looking like one of The Village People first day freshman year," retorted Dustin smoothly to Lucas.

They began to bicker before Will whistled them in to the kitchen to help.

El smiled at the familiarity and started to analyse the bigger differences from what she remembered of them where she can see them from her place at the table.

They're all much taller, but Will remained the smallest, just beating her out in height. Dustin is the broadest, but Lucas looks like the fittest of the lot. Lucas' hair has grown only so much, retaining much of the shorter style she could recall him having, and Dustin's curly hair was a little longer than she could remember. Dustin liked to wear baseball shirts now and the hat he used to wear isn't on him today. Dustin wears a lot more denim too. Will has transitioned the most since she met the small boy in Castle Byers. He wears darker clothes, possibly to match the burden, and takes after Jonathan in his clothing choices, currently wearing a white band tee of The Cure. His hair is less of a mop and more of a well intended mess.

She could say the same for Mike. While his style is very reminiscent of her first days with him, endlessly simple jeans and a thick maroon sweater (that Eleven liked the feeling of underneath her finger tips), his hair is also no longer a mop and a consistent mess, with wisps going this way and that, most of it gently swept out of his face to one side in eager manipulation to make him look less like a child. It looks so touchable, but there's something holding her back.

Had she not caught him unawares, she would have seen more of a seriousness that was only attached to an angst-ridden teenager, which made him feel like he was totally out of bounds to Eleven in some new way she hadn't thought of until this urge to touch him.

It would evaporate now though, his handsome thinking face, when he realised she was staring at him.

Mike blushed deeply and his heart thundered when she smiled sweetly at him. This did nothing to calm the feelings she had about touching his hair.

Dustin and Lucas walked out with utensils and condiments to see this exchange and while Lucas rolled his eyes, his grin remains, and Dustin tries to hold in his snorting laughter.

Will came out last and carried a large plate covered in a pile of steaming pancakes. Eleven's pupils practically dilate at the very sight. Will places them in front of her plate and takes a couple off and straight onto hers with just a spoonful of butter dolloped on top and pours the syrup on them for her.

"I know they're not Eggos, but they're homemade, and I figured you could do with trying some other breakfast foods now that you're back."

Eleven doesn't seem to hear him as she's too hypnotised before she picks up her knife and fork and starts cutting into them. The others watch her with baited breath and see her swallow the warm pancakes with a satisfaction they will probably be lucky never to feel.

She closed her eyes in bliss. Mike looks at the others and sees a similar pain he feels. It's been too long since normalcy has been a paradise in their lives, seeing it as a chore to get on. Now that's all they want for their extraordinary friend.

When she opened her eyes again, Eleven doesn't hesitate to half stuff herself. She would like to fit in, and most days she would've recalled dinner scenes from books and how behaviour and manners was such an important aspect but all she can think of is "food is here, it is good." It's this minor shame that stops her briefly and she looks at the boys, who are all sort of mesmerised and sad. She thinks they might be disgusted with her but they are far from it.

Eventually Lucas speaks up.

"There's no way you're ever leaving us again Eleven."

Dustin is the first to start his pancakes after her, and just as eagerly tucks in because they want her to feel comfortable. She relaxes when Mike is the last to grab a couple leaving about three more on the bigger plate.

Eleven had the last three all to herself.

They had all gathered in the living room and Will has brought out Eleven's bag with her permission. Dustin and Lucas eagerly rifle through it on the floor in front of the couch where Eleven sits with Mike.

Despite the curiosity behind the items Eleven obtained while in the Upside Down, Mike only has eyes for her, albeit discreet side eyes and careful glances. She's drinking hot cocoa, after Will found some leftover and Dustin insisted that Eleven try it despite her looking overwhelmed after several trips to the bathroom thanks to Will's incessant need for her to drink as much clean fluids as possible. There's a pink tinge to her cheeks now and she's still wrapped up warm.

Dustin comes across something he probably shouldn't and tried to slip it back away for Eleven's decency when Lucas tugs at whatever Dustin is trying to hide. Both are incredibly crimson while Eleven hardly blinks at its sudden appearance.

"Oh…right…well at least we know you're healthy," Lucas struggled to speak.

Mike's pulled out from his Eleven reverie when he hears this uncomfortable conversation.

Dustin slapped Lucas' hand but Mike saw what he held in it just seconds before. A pad.

While Mike was sure he would normally react like an immature boy, as he had when it came to Nancy and her feminine hygiene products, to which she'd simply roll her eyes at how predictably 'douchey' he'd been about it, this was too entirely sore to question.

Eleven was on her own when she got her first period. And that thought terrified him.

Lucas was right, it meant that the Upside Down hadn't impacted on every aspect of her health, but that didn't mean she wasn't frightened nonetheless. From reading enough health books for early Sex Ed classes, and venturing into the girl's side of the book, Mike understood a little more than he let on. But Eleven didn't even get that opportunity. He was sure she would have struggled without some help, without some instruction once she got her supplies.

What Mike didn't know was if the blood had attracted whatever lived in the Upside Down to her whenever her time came around, if she feared it even more because not only didn't she understand it nor could she stop it, but it put her in even more danger than just living there did.

The thought of already just coping in that environment and adding blood thirsty monsters made Mike grab Eleven's knee and made her look at him. She picked up her pad and asked timidly, "How is it healthy?"

While Lucas and Dustin looked severely uncomfortable, Mike seemed to push aside any of his own, and despite being pink in the face, all he could picture was Eleven freaking out and totally alone when it first happened.

"We don't know enough about it because we're male and they don't teach us much about it because of that fact alone."

"Yeah, but maybe you could talk to Mrs. Byers about it," Dustin mentioned casually. "All we know is, is that it's actually normal and has a lot to do with your reproductive system."

"Re – repro – repro what?"

Now Mike was alert and glared at Dustin.

"On second thought we'll leave it to Mrs. Byers."

"Leave what to my Mom?"

Will had just come in with the pile of Eleven's clothes that he'd collected, throwing one with an aged bloodstain on it immediately in his laundry hamper.

"Explaining…" Dustin couldn't find the word until he gestured down below, "All that stuff."

Will looked deadpanned.

"You found the pad didn't you?"

"Yeah."

Will looked to Mike who was blushing scarlet but he didn't think it was due to the scarlet nature of Eleven's system, or rather the rest of the stuff that came along with it.

"Look, as much as I'd like to get my Mom involved…I don't think it's an option."

They all looked immediately at Will with furrowed brows.

"But your Mom is like the best person to be involved," Lucas admitted, "She knows everything."

"Maybe more than we ever did," Will sighed, only to receive more confused frowns and decided it was better to explain as he gestured to Eleven's stuff.

"It's great that Eleven had all this and a constant flow of necessities. It kept her alive. But it kept her there. It kept her secret which was the guy's intention."

With that Will grabbed the jacket next to the pile of thermals and layers.

Unceremoniously he threw it at Mike who caught it in surprise. Before he could protest Will's awful memory when it came to Mike and hand eye coordination, his eyes were glued to the jacket.

"This…this was mine."

Eleven tugged on it lightly and said, "My favourite."

Mike couldn't help but grin.

"Well that's a huge coincidence," Lucas said moments later.

Mike had it in between him and Eleven now only for Eleven to go searching in the hidden pocket and pull out a plastic sealed pouch.

She handed it over to Mike. He paled once he saw it and slowly looked back up at her. She seemed a little sheepish but honest.

"Kept me going."

Dustin's eyes widened once he caught a glimpse of Eleven's plastic pouch item and saw the newspaper clipping of the four boys at the State Science Fair. Second place was a minor tragedy for them but this was hitting all new feelings.

"Jesus Christ, whoever was sending El this stuff knows us."

They looked to Will for an answer.

For once he could provide it and he hated the feeling whenever it came into his mind, but Will knew that he couldn't pretend that this was okay.

"Mrs. Wheeler asked Hopper to take the box of Mike's clothes to the Winter Drive at the church near the station, two years ago. I remember because he looked at the clothes for a moment, maybe for too long which makes him highly suspect, before we took off home."

"He never took them to the church," Mike said quietly in thought. The original atmosphere of curiosity and happiness deflated quite quickly upon crossing this revelation.

"And my Mom could be potentially helping him...hence the pad."

Lucas hadn't looked so furious in years. "We looked, for nearly two years…El…we honestly believed that you were dead…we gave up."

"And he let us."

Mike let this slip. His face was much the same of painful memories and new, angrier feelings as it had been before he beat up Troy, but there was a dagger that struck at his core at the ultimate disloyalty of one of their own, someone who knew the truth, knew their struggle at her loss and met Eleven before she was gone. He didn't have any anger toward Joyce Byers though, something told him that her utter despise for the lab and their treatment of Will's "dead body" and Eleven's upbringing was irrefutable. The Chief of Hawkins Police on the other hands had been sketchy at mentions of Eleven over the years. He'd figured this was a discomfort for him to talk about because he was rough and everything that masculinity had ever dreamed up, sans dead daughter. But he was beginning to see things that made it more likely to be him too.

Dustin's head shot up from out of his hands, holding it up originally due to the sheer bewilderment that was this day and realised something very sharply from memory.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god!"

Alarmed they all looked at Dustin.

"It was Hopper!"

"Yeah that's kind of what Will just told us," Lucas said unbelievably.

"Not what I meant!" Dustin rolled his eyes and shook his head. "He told them where we were that night, at the school, when El defeated the Demogorgon."

"Lando," Mike said as it all became a lot worse.

While the four were absorbing this new realisation from their earlier revelation, Eleven was the only one who didn't look entirely let down. She'd taken the jacket into her lap and was touching it tenderly as she put the newspaper clipping back in the pocket.

Eleven understood that she had been betrayed, but she knew the same man did it for Will. There was no other reason for Hopper to have sent them after her, the boys reactions were clear that he cared or was enough of an adult to look up to in this situation that it just hurt worse.

But he kept her alive. He sent her food and books and all the things that made her feel that little bit of hope in the Upside Down. And Eleven wasn't one to judge others for their actions if they ended up paying their dues too.

It was time in the lab that showed her this. Papa was trying to get results, fame and some legitimacy in his field, draining her of life without thought. Hopper was trying to save a life, even if it cost Eleven's, a girl who'd created the mess to begin with. But he was paying it forward, every second day for the last three years.

She placed her hand on Mike's and he looked to her, still a furrow in his brow, but the tension receding into himself, maybe to undertake later.

"I know you're upset…all of you," Eleven shakily began as the three others watched her now.

"But…what he did…the stuff he sent me…" Eleven took a few seconds to think. She'd never spoken this much in front of anyone before, but couldn't find another way to get her point across.

"-it kept me going…made me want to live…"

"But you were in the Upside Down," Dustin spoke hesitantly.

"Better than the lab," Eleven said strictly. "I was…the same…with those monsters...equal. In the lab, I was nothing…it was worse. I should thank him."

The anger that was felt, dissipated immensely, but Will still held onto the possibility that caused him to distrust his mother and potential father figure in the first place.

"But he shouldn't have hidden that from us El," Lucas explained, reining in some of his emotions.

Dustin squinted as he had to question the necessity to keep that information confidential when the four boys had proven themselves capable in one capacity or another when it came to the original incident.

"Why though…why did he keep it secret all these years?"

"Guilt, I suppose," Mike answered bleakly, and squeezed Eleven's hand. "Doesn't mean I'm not pissed at him, but it's an explanation after attempting to send a twelve year old to a lab to be nothing more than a weapon."

"That could be it…" Will spoke quietly, eyeing his friends warily. "Or it could be because they're still out there, waiting for Eleven to come back, and Hopper is helping to keep it secret until the time comes…were she to return."

Eleven hitched in a breath and clamped her hand tighter around Mike's whose eyes went wide at the sudden pressure. She was spiralling at the mere image of being dragged from the house, heavily sedated with needles full of liquid she despised and taken back into that lab.

Her finished mug of cocoa in her left hand shattered and her breathing was erratic. If anyone still had their doubts about her, the small uncontrollable display of telekinesis was enough to bring them to the present.

"Eleven!"

"Probably not the way to go about that sentence buddy," Dustin tensely yet sarcastically spoke to Will.

"El I'm so sorry," said boy apologised profusely.

Mike had her forcibly facing him and was telling her quietly and calmly to breathe in and exhale slowly, repeatedly. It got through to her at some point as her watery eyed troubles started to leave her, watching as Mike instructed her, with the three others in the near vicinity.

"No one is going to take you El, you got that? I won't let those people ever get to you again and that's my word," Mike said with a committed intent. She hadn't seen him this certain until now but was caught on his saying.

"Word?" she blinked uncertainly.

"My promise," Mike swallowed, almost remembering the same instant in time he'd explained that specific word to her years ago and failed her in its meaning in the end.

But Mike was determined not to let that happen again now that he had hindsight.

"I promise it won't happen again."

"We won't let it happen again," Will reaffirmed amongst the group. Eleven was shaking her head rejecting the idea that anyone should get themselves involved again after the last time, after what she had dragged them through as she started to tear up again.

"But if it's true-" Eleven choked.

"Then it will be dangerous," Lucas surmised perfectly. "We know that well after you flipped a van over our heads in '83."

"Unfortunately we've got about three years invested in you, El," Dustin joked. "And that's a lot of time wasted if we didn't plan on helping you now."

Her heart swelled to know that she wouldn't be alone again, and maybe the assertive affirmations from them had brought her to see that they were of their own minds at the end of the day. She didn't need to frighten them into this with a slammed door.

They were Eleven's friends, and they wouldn't stand to see her back there now that they understood her inside and out. They chose this path, regardless of what it may bring.

"We promise to keep you safe El, no matter what that takes," Mike reiterated, strong-willed and insistent as the night he pulled her into the school halls and out of harms way.

Her watery fear turned into that of a smile blessed upon her by whatever substance of spirit had brought Eleven something so good to her in these boys.

She wrapped her arms around Mike's neck, the broken glass of the mug cascading awkwardly from her lap onto the floor, but Mike didn't seem to notice. He was tinged pink by the gesture second time around and in the open, but took it in stride, pulling her closer to him as she seemed to whisper one last thing.

"Thank you Mike."

Going to make this a weekly/bi-weekly update from now on, since I've returned to my studies.

I'm going to keep the chapters to around 5,000 words, which is around how many words this chapter is, since a lot of the first chapters were all background information and really hammering in some character and foundation for the plot. There will be a lot more dialogue and pace now that it's really going.

Hopefully this will be a finished story before season two starts because I will be barely functioning on the 27th and during the month after that date.