Well, since the previous chapter got such a great response, I decided to kick out Cliff Hanger earlier than he expected. He wasn't happy though and promised that he'd return when I least expect it. But that took time away from the next chapter for my other story ^^

Kaltanasio: Yeah, I'm a despicable pig. I also eat like one :D :D :D

Flyingtuna: Didn't quite work out. But why three days? ^^ Had something planned on Friday? ;)

Guest: Did Mike stumble through the portal? Well, read the last sentence of the previous chapter: "A pained yell made Hopper turn around and he saw Mike look at him with an expression of pain and confusion, three red spots appearing on his chest before his eyes glazed over and he stumbled backwards into the gate." Is that too ambiguous?

The chapter starts where the last left off.

Enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters and I write for my own pleasure and that of the readers.

"MIKE!" Hopper yelled and ran, launching another grenade before jumping into the portal without getting hit and as soon as he was through, Tom let go and stepped backwards, the gate immediately beginning to close, a muffled thump indicating the explosion that came from the bomb they had placed on the machine and a gust of flame shooting through the small opening of the gate that was still there.

Hopper knelt down and ripped the upper part of the hazmat suit off of Mike, seeing the three bullet holes in his white shirt, surrounded by red spots. Cursing, he pressed his hand on the wound closest to the heart to stop the bleeding while trying to find a pulse. To his relief he found one, weak but there and he confirmed it by pressing his ears to Mike's chest, where a slight bubbling spoke of damage to the lungs as well.

The other guy fumbled in his pockets and retrieved a syringe and several pads, handing those to Hopper who pressed them onto the wounds before putting large bandaids over them to keep them in place.

"Don't you die on me now, Wheeler." Hopper growled. "I still need to kill you."

"We got Hopper but Mike's been shot." Tom said, Hopper wondering why the guy stated the obvious, not knowing that Tom had a twin currently in Hawkins hearing everything Tom said. "He's still alive but in bad shape."

"But not for long." Hopper said, knowing from his time in Vietnam how long someone can survive with wounds like this.

"They got Hopper but Mike's been shot." Tim repeated in Hawkins, eyes wide and Eleven let out a strangled cry her body moving automatically in an attempt to get up and dive into the Upside Down to get to him. "He's still alive but in bad shape."

"Jane!" Bryan yelled. "Concentrate."

Eleven didn't even try to keep the tears back, her mind conjuring up images of her love with bullets in his body and she almost let go of the efforts in her head. She wondered how the others were supposed to know where to go, now that he was probably unconscious. Despite that fact, she kept her eyes closed and screamed out for her love to return home to her.

"Who are you people?" Hopper asked, back in the Upside Down, the Russian gate now completely closed.

"Introductions later, we have to get back." the guy said and pointed to the girl. "Take her, I'll take care of Mike."

"I can carry him." Hopper said and attempted to lift him but before he could, the guy rammed the syringe into Mike's chest who opened his eyes wide and took in a deep breath. "Whoa!" Hopper gaped in shock at the sudden action.

"Huh...huh..." Mike suddenly sat up and breathed hard, his face contorting in pain for a moment and he looked around to find El's presence to guide him home. "I'm okay!"

"Kid, you're really not!" Hopper said and helped the girl to her feet who almost fell back down. "What now?"

"Follow me!" Mike yelled and set off at a run.

"Jesus, kid." Hopper cursed and threw the girl over his shoulder before following Mike. "What the hell did you give him?"

"Epinephrine, lots of it." the guy said and ran as well. "We need him."

"For what?"

"He and Jane are connected, he sees her like a ship sees a lighthouse in the dark." the guy explained while running. "Without him, we'll be lost. I'm Tom, by the way."

"Jim." Hopper nodded and felt his muscles start to burn, given that he was carrying the girl. "Who is she?"

"Her name is Kali." Tom replied. "She's Jane's sister. I'm their brother."

"What?" Jim was confused.

"We'll explain when we're back." Tom promised. "But for now, run."

"Do you have another syringe for her?" he asked, panting. "I can't run fast for long with her on my shoulders."

"Here." Tom nodded and pulled another one out, Hopper setting down Kali so Tom could ram the syringe into her chest as well.

"SHIT!" Kali cursed as her eyes shot open. "What happened?"

"Less talking, more running!" Tom told her and they set off again, trying to catch up to Mike who ran as if his life depended on it, which it actually did given that he still had three bullets in his chest and the only person who could save his life was in Hawkins.

Hopper had no idea how long they had been running for when he heard the telltale sounds of Demogorgons or the dog versions of them in the distance. Kali looked around, the fear written on her face and Hopper tried to discern the direction of where the howls were coming from. At that moment, Mike gave out an exultant yell and drifted leftwards where Hopper saw a red dot in the distance, the same he had seen before he had climbed into a Russian prison camp.

"We're close to the gate." Tom said, again stating the obvious. "Get ready, it could become hot, creatures are on their way."

"They're close." Tim relayed. "Get ready everyone, it could get messy."

Around them, the group readied their weapons, all of them still unused to the weapons that weren't guns, despite their training and the news that their friend had been shot was messing with their concentration as well. Funshine hefted the largest weapon, a long pipe with the harpoon sticking out of it while Mick held the replacement harpoons. Next to them, Axel and Dottie held their crossbows with long steel-tipped bolts, the mohawk sporting man visibly shaking with nervousness but determined not to show his fear in front of those teenagers who were also showing signs of fear but no indication that they would run away. He could never live down that embarrassment and the others wouldn't ever let him forget it either.

Will especially was shaking, his fear of encountering the mind flayer or his minions almost making him run away, with only his loyalty to his friends and the strength of his family around him keeping him in place. Above them, Lucas, Max, Dustin, Steve and Robin had set up position, the same weapons in their hands and pointed at the gate. All of them still marveled at the fact that they knew how to use them, the strange ability that Bryan had displayed giving them the knowledge to operate these weapons.

"Come on guys." Dustin pleaded and in that moment, the first howl came through the gate. "Shit!"

The gate pulsed once, twice and a third time before a demodog exited, followed by a second and a third before a fully grown Demogorgon came out, screaming. Tim, up from where he was standing and holding the gate open, tried to appear as innocuous as possible to prevent the monsters from noticing him. Axel screamed in terror and shot his crossbow, missing by a mile, while Dottie hit her target, skewering one of the dogs as the two others bounded up the walls.

The group shot but only Joyce hit one, the other still jumping upwards and finally onto the gantry, hissing at the teenagers trying to get away. Dustin screamed when the demodog jumped towards but before it could impact, it was violently dragged away. On the ground, El held out her hands and screamed, ripping the dog apart and her display of powers got the attention of the Demogorgon who began stomping towards her.

Funshine pulled the trigger and let the harpoon fly, hitting the monster in its sides and nailing it into the wall where it stopped moving. With a whoop of triumph, Mick reloaded the pipe as the others put new bolts onto their crossbows. More howling came from the gate and a dozen more dogs came out, the place erupting in pandemonium. This time more prepared, every group shot as one, a wall of bolts slamming into the tightly packed dogs who all got hit, most dying on the spot and only two moving slowly away, bolts sticking out of their bodies. Everybody quickly reloaded and Jonathan killed one of the two surviving dogs, Axel finally finding his courage and slaying the other one, whooping in exultation.

Another demogorgon came screaming out of the gate, Funshine immediately firing his harpoon, hitting it directly into its mouth since the petals were still open. It fell backwards into the gate, its feet still in the real world and another horde of demodogs came through. Although the team tried another volley shot, only half of the dogs were hit, the other half running into the middle of the room towards El but Bryan stood ready to defend her, brandishing two curved blades, one in each hand.

As if he was calling them to him, the dogs took a run at the man. While the group was trying to reload and shoot at dogs without hitting the agent, Bryan began whirling in place, his weapons appearing to be everywhere at once. Dogs were dying left and right, some cut open, others having limbs or their heads chopped off. The whole encounter took less than two minutes but at the end, Bryan was breathing heavily, his display of swordsmanship very taxing to his body, his clothes covered with the blood of the dogs.

More dogs came out, the group shooting again but hitting only a few, the others bounding up the walls or running at Bryan again. The CIA agent killed his adversaries in quick succession but the others had trouble hitting the dogs that were running up the walls. One jumped on the upper gantry and screamed at the people kneeling there. Robin, who was closest to it trying to turn her crossbow on it but it jumped at her before she could pull the trigger.

"NO!" Steve screamed and pushed her to the side, Robin barely able to stop herself from rolling off of the gantry and the dog landed on Steve, who quickly grabbed two of the flower leaves that made up is head to keep its mouth away from him as it tried to bite him.

Steve screamed in pain as the dog's claws ripped through his shirt and into his skin. Robin scrambled up and grabbed Steve's nail bat, screaming herself as she slammed it into the dog's head, the animal becoming quiet when one of the nails bored into its brain. Robin gave it two more whacks before the dog collapsed on Steve, its lifeblood dripping on his clothes and skin, mixing with his own blood before he managed to push it off himself.

"Oh my god, Steve." Robin screamed, seeing Steve on the floor covered in blood. "Don't die on me, I love you!"

"Wha...?" Steve looked at her in confusion as he tried to fight himself to a sitting position. "I thought you liked girls."

"I did and still do but I've begun to feel the same for you." she cried but noticed that he wasn't expiring like she thought. "Aren't you dying?"

"No, most of the blood is from it." he pointed to the carcass.

"Uh... I..." Robin blushed hard, currently forgetting that they were in a battle for their lives.

"Hey mom and dad!" Dustin brought them back from their private conversation. "Resolve those sexual tensions later, there are more dogs here!"

"Right." Robin nodded, still shedding tears and hefted her crossbow again, seeking a target and finding one close to them, quickly dispatching it with another bolt while the others killed the remaining dogs.

More loud howling announced the arrival of more creatures and to everyone's dismay, a new horde of dogs came through the gate, along with several fully grown gorgons. Bryan screamed at the others over their howling to concentrate on the big ones as the dogs were all running towards El and Bryan as he began moving again with his blades swinging, skewering more and more dogs. For everyone, Bryan's feat was almost impossible to behold, something the boys only knew from movies where scenes like that were rehearsed for months but the CIA agent was almost dancing around El's pedestal, not allowing any dog to get up to where she was sitting.

"They're almost here!" Tim shouted from his spot half inside the gate.

Another wave of dogs come through the gate, Bryan sighing in exasperation and trying to lift the blades again. This time, none of the dogs even tried to get onto the gantries, all of them making a straight line to El. Everybody shot at the dogs, all of the bolts hitting a target since it was impossible to miss the packed creatures but only a few fell. Bryan lifted his blades, sweat running down his face but just as the first dog was about to jump at him, the entire pack stopped dead in their tracks and lifted into the air. Bryan looked behind him and saw El holding out her arms, her face contorted in a deep rage at those creatures, her concern about the man she loved fueling her powers and with a scream, she ripped every single dog apart, their fleshy remains flopping wetly to the ground.

To everyone's relief, Mike came finally jumping through the gate, bandages over his chest which were already bled through. Shortly after him came Kali, quickly followed by Hopper and Tom whose appearance signaled Tim to let go of the gate. As he stepped forward, the gate began to close rapidly, Hopper turning around and firing his last grenade through it before it closed fully, a loud thump followed by screams telling everyone present what had almost followed the team out, the legs of the demogorgon that had fallen backwards into it cut off from its body now.

The few injured but still alive creatures in the room collapsed immediately, their connection to the Upside Down now severed and Marcus entered the room, taking one of Bryan's blades and beheading every dog that hadn't been killed yet in case another temporary gate opened. Bryan collapsed in exhaustion, falling softly on the collected carcasses of the dogs around him and took several deep breaths before fighting to get back on his feet.

"Mike!" El screamed, jumping up and down from the pedestal before running to the man she loved, hugging him tightly.

"Argh!" Mike screamed in pain, causing El to let him go immediately.

"They said you were shot, I thought you died." El cried heavy tears.

"I'm fine." Mike panted hard but before he could say anything else, he bent over and coughed up large amounts of blood, followed by him collapsing to the floor, not breathing.

"MIKE!" El let out a bloodcurdling scream and fell down to her knees, right at his side.

"Out of the way." Bryan shouted and pulled El away from him, making room for Brandon who had entered the room after keeping himself out of the fight.

"NO, I NEED TO BE AT HIS SIDE!" El cried but even Hopper helped holding her back.

Brandon ripped the bandages off of Mike's wounds and pressed his hands against his chest. He let his talent work, his consciousness feeling as if he was shrinking to go inside the wound, seeing the bullet sticking against the inside of Mike's upper spine, having ripped through the lungs to lodge in the bone, having narrowly missed one of the discs.

In his mind, he kept pressure on the heart to keep it pumping while also inflating and deflating the right lung to keep the oxygen flowing to avoid brain damage. Still in his minds eye, he put forceps around the bullet and began pulling. The tissue that the bullet left behind began knitting together, the tiny chunks of bone from his spine reattaching themselves and the hole in the back of his left lung closing while he pulled the bullet through the soft tissue.

The hole in the front of the lung also began closing as soon as the bullet was out as well as the damage that the jagged edges of the bullet caused in the canal as he pulled it slowly out of Mike's chest. Everyone was gasping wide-eyed at what they were seeing, watching the bullet closest to Mike's heart slowly move out of his body until it jumped away, landing with a metallic clang on the floor. El could barely believe her eyes when the wound closed and Mike took a gasping breath in, his eyes fluttering open and his face contorting in pain.

"Mike!" El yelled and tried to get to him again but Hopper kept holding her back.

"Let him work." Hopper said in a low voice to get her to calm down.

"Bite on this." Brandon said to Mike, holding a leather strap against his mouth, the doctor already tired from the ordeal that had felt like he had run long distance while only two minutes had passed.

"Why?" Mike groaned, still feeling extreme pain.

"Because this will hurt." Brandon explained, already breathing hard himself. "Badly."

"Kid, if you need to scream, scream." Tom knelt down, patting his uninjured shoulder and pressing it down to prevent Mike from moving too much, while Bryan did the same on his legs. "Nobody will think less of you."

Nodding his head, Mike bit on the strap, waiting for Brandon to get to work. Now that he was awake, he could feel it when the first of the two bullets left in him began moving outwards, following the same path it had taken when going in. Its ragged edges cut against the flesh inside him and he started whimpering, biting on the strap hard enough to leave deep imprints of his teeth in it. He managed until the first bullet was halfway out before he spit out the strap and began to scream.

While El cried heavy tears with him, feeling every bit of his pain, his friends all covered their ears, unable to listen to him screaming in agony. Even Kali's friends couldn't watch or listen, Mick pushing her head against Funshine's chest while Dottie crashed against Axel's body, the bigger man surprised by the action but holding her nonetheless while at the same time trying to block out what they were hearing.

It took Brandon almost eight minutes until the two remaining bullets were out and another two to heal the wounds Mike had sustained. The pain finally stopping, Mike started crying tears of relief, having never felt pain like this. Brandon got up and almost fell backwards, only not falling down because of Tim standing behind and catching him.

Tom laid him gently down to the floor where Brandon breathed hard as if he had just ran a marathon, Tim grabbing a tissue and wiping away the blood seeping from the man's nose and ears. Mike fought himself upright and stopped crying, running his hand over the area where the bullets had hit and wincing when he touched them.

"It will hurt sporadically." Brandon said from his prone position. "You're completely healed and you won't have any lasting problems apart from the occasional pinch from when they hit you."

"Go." Hopper said to El who jumped against Mike like he was a buoy in the ocean and she was drowning.

"You're alive!" she cried, hugging him tightly.

"Yeah, I'm here." he sighed in relief, holding her like he never wants to let her go again, tears running down his face again at feeling her. "I promised I'd be back with Hopper even if it killed me, didn't I?"

"Not funny." El chuckled, tears still running down her face.

"Let us hug him too." Dustin interrupted them, having come down from the gantries.

As El made room for everyone to welcome Mike back in the land of the living, Joyce had another target in mind. Walking slowly towards Hopper, as if fearing he might disappear again, she stopped when he turned towards her. With tears falling down her face, she took the last three steps, wrapping her arms around the large man's body and crying into his shirt.

"I'm so glad that you're alive." she sobbed and Hopper hugged her back, despite the fact that he too was in great pain from his long ordeal.

"Me too." Hopper held her tight, despite the pain it caused him.

"Let me take a look at you." the man who had healed Mike approached them. "I'm Brandon, by he way."

"Jim." Jim shook his hand. "Thanks for saving Mike."

"My pleasure." Brandon nodded. "Open your shirt, please."

"What for?" Jim asked, but still pulled at the ripped seams of his prison uniform.

"So I can examine you for injuries and heal those that are more than superficial." Brandon explained and put his hand over Jim's heart, closing his eyes as he did so.

"Do you feel something?" Joyce asked Jim as she watched the man's hand on her friend's chest.

"Not really, except the warmth of his hand." Jim shrugged.

"Alright, you had a few cracked and two broken ribs that didn't heal properly, otherwise, all your other injuries are superficial, so time will heal them." Brandon told him. "If you like, I can fix your ribs tomorrow, after I finished recuperating from healing Mike."

"Will it hurt?" Jim asked.

"A lot." Brandon nodded. "I'll have to break your ribs again to put them back together properly and you will feel that pain."

"What if I kept my ribs as they are now?" Jim wanted to know.

"You will have pinching pains for the rest of your life." Brandon shrugged. "Your choice."

"Alright, lets do that tomorrow." Jim agreed, nodding.

"You, come here." Brandon pointed to Steve, who had been standing on the side, Robin's arms around him as if she was trying to keep him from disappearing or collapsing. "Let me have a look at you."

"Okay." Steve nodded and lifted his shirt, Brandon putting his hand on Steve's chest as well.

"The cuts are deep and you got an infection." Brandon said. "Try not to bite your tongue."

"Why would I?" Steve asked but then began screaming in pain when he felt his wounds burn as if someone had pushed a flaming hot fireplace poker against every inch of his skin, the feeling going away again after roughly ten seconds. "What did you do?!"

"I burned the infection away." Brandon panted, almost collapsing again, the few seconds of treatment still taxing. "We still need to clean and bandage the wounds, so take the shirt and your pants off and lay down on the cot in the antechamber.

Steve did as he was told and walked into the other room, taking off his pants and shirt and laying down on the cot that Brandon had pointed to. Robin's eyes roamed across his body and Steve saw her looking, his confusion about her statement still rushing through his mind, though he had known from the beginning that Robin was a beautiful girl.

Brandon joined them and took his medical kit, opening and laying out gauze and several rolls of bandages along with a medicinal stapler to keep the bandages on. Brandon sprayed iodine on the wounds to clean them, Steve hissing in pain when the liquid entered his wounds and put gauze on it before pressing bandages on them and holding them in place with adhesive tape while doing the same with Steve's leg wounds but there he rolled bandages around his thighs and using the stapler to keep them in place.

"People, I have secured a house for us to sleep in, at least for those who don't live here." Bryan began when everyone had come back into the large room, several more agents in suits appearing outside the antechamber.

As the CIA team began securing the gate room, the herded the group out of the room. Kali wasn't sure if she and her friends should go along but ever since the epinephrine shot had begun to wear off, she felt extremely tired, unable to use her powers to hide them all so they could flee. With some apprehension, they piled into the vehicles but to her relief, the agents put her friends into different cars with Jane's friends, indicating that they wouldn't haul them off to jail.

They traveled for half an hour, driving into and through town before ending up on the other side of it, a few miles away from the children's home. They all piled out of the vehicles, the agent who had introduced himself as Marcus leading the way to the building, which he opened and entered first, revealing a clean room with somewhat stale air.

"You may wanna open the windows." Marcus told them. "This is a house that belonged to the lab before we took it over but it hasn't been aired since the lab has been closed."

"We can live with that." Funshine said, opening all the windows in the living room.

"The rooms are furnished, there are five bedrooms. You may have to double up in the beds, though." Marcus remarked.

"No problem." El smiled and wrapped her arms around Mike.

"You could come with me to my house." Mike offered.

"I think you should hold off on that for tonight." Marcus interjected. "Your parents may wonder why you come back feeling like you've been shot and there will be a lot of questions when news of Mister Hopper's reappearance spreads."

"Right." Mike nodded. "Our cover story is camping, so we should be good."

"We've brought your tents, sleeping bags and air mattresses." Marcus told them. "So, some of you could sleep in the backyard, if you want. It's secluded, so if anybody walks by the house, they shouldn't see the tents."

"We don't have a tent." Steve said. "Dustin didn't tell me about the camping cover story when he called me to the meeting."

"You can take Mike's." El told him. "I don't think he should sleep on an air mattress tonight."

"Thanks." Steve smiled at her. "Robin, wanna help me put the tent up?"

"Sure." Robin nodded and left with Steve through the back door.

"We're gonna put ours up as well." Lucas said and left with Max, Will and Dustin.

"We're going to sleep in my tent as well." Nancy nodded, pointing to her packed tent, since her cover story was chaperon for the kids.

"Mike, drink this." an appearing Brandon handed him a bottle.

"What is it?" Mike asked.

"It's basically a cleaning compound to flush the remains of those pills you took out of your body." the doctor explained.

"Are they that bad?" Mike wondered and took a sip, spitting it back out. "Jesus, that tastes vile."

"I know, but down it anyway." Brandon chuckled. "Don't worry, at least it doesn't have an aftertaste."

"God." Mike winced and downed the bottle in four swigs, feeling the urge to vomit for several seconds before the feeling disappeared. "Hey, the rotten egg taste is gone!"

"Tell me about it." Kali shuddered as she entered, heading straight for the couch. "I thought I'd have to hurl."

"I'm going to need a lot of beer to forget that taste." Tom shook himself as if trying to shake the memory loose.

"So, how do we sort out the sleeping arrangements?" Tim asked.

"I guess the couch in this room is spoken for." Tom chuckled, pointing to the piece of furniture where everyone could see Kali out like a light, the exhaustion of their ordeal finally catching up with her.

"Me and Mike only need one bed." El stated.

"I can sleep on a chair if I have to." Axel said.

"We're going to head into a motel." Bryan interjected, pointing to Marcus. "We'll be back tomorrow morning with some breakfast for everyone."

"I'll take the couch in the room over there." Hopper pointed to the door to their left. "There's also another cot in there."

"I'll take that one." Joyce threw in.

"Then I guess we'll take some of the upper bedrooms." Mick shrugged.

"I need a bed as well, I desperately need a proper sleep so I can heal Jim's ribs tomorrow." Brandon stated and went upstairs, choosing a room with a single bed.

"That leaves us six." Tom said, looking at his twin and the four friend of Kalis.

"Then lets hope the three rooms have either king sized or twin beds, otherwise, Axel really might have to sleep on a chair." Funshine joked and the group went upstairs where they saw El and Mike enter the bedroom on the far end of the upper hallway.

Outside, the rest of the group had finished erecting their tents and were sitting on foldout stools and eating the remains of the food they had brought, enjoying the mild night. Steve was wincing frequently, the pain from his deep scratch wounds getting pronounced every time he moved the wrong way.

"This has probably been the weirdest day of my life." Robin said.

"Weirder than battling a giant flesh monster that consisted of the liquefied remains of people we knew?" Nancy chuckled.

"A bit, yeah." Robin nodded. "I had knowledge of using a crossbow directly put into my brain, I watched people walking into a wall, only to return a day later with someone we believed dead and seen more people do some impressive feats followed by strange creatures pouring into the room we were in with one almost killing me."

"When I saw Mike collapse with three bullet holes in his chest, I thought he was dead." Dustin said quietly.

"I can't imagine how El felt in that moment." Max sighed. "I mean, I watched my stepbrother die and I didn't like him very much in the first place but it still hurt after he somewhat redeemed himself to save El. But losing someone you really love?"

"Good thing that doctor guy was there." Will threw in.

"The question is, what will happen now?" Lucas wondered. "I mean, the chief was seen as dead by everyone, how do we explain his reappearance?"

"I'm sure that the CIA agents will think of a reason in regards to Hopper." Jonathan shrugged.

"And will El stay with him here in Hawkins again?" Dustin added.

"I doubt El will agree to ever leave Mike again, not after what happened." Max shrugged.

"Well, I'm beat, I'm hitting the sack." Will yawned and crawled into the second sleeping bag in Dustin's tent.

"Us too." Lucas stretched himself. "Firing that crossbow really hurt my shoulder."

"Ugh, wuss." Max scoffed and followed Lucas into his tent.

"Night mom, night dad." Dustin waved to Robin and Steve.

"Night, son." Steve waved back. "You're still an ingrate."

"Still miffed that I took her advice for dating?" Dustin grinned, pointing at Robin.

"No." Steve moped. "Ingrate."

"Love you, daddy." Dustin laughed and blew him an air kiss before climbing into his tent.

"So, what exactly is this mom and dad thing?" Jonathan asked, feeling out of the loop.

"For some reason, he and Dustin bonded and he gave Dustin hair style advice." Robin explained. "And we all had that thing with the Russians last year, so me and Steve somehow became mom and dad."

"Is that why Dustin appeared at the snow ball with that ridiculous hairstyle?" Nancy laughed.

"Screw you too." Steve huffed. "His hair was great."

"Sure it was." Jonathan chuckled. "We're heading into bed as well."

"Night, guys." Robin waved at them and looked at Steve, once they were alone. "So."

"So." Steve nodded. "I think we should talk."

"Yeah." Robin looked away, feeling a blush come on at the memory of her confession.

"Lets head into the tent, I'd feel better if there's at least one more layer between us and them." Steve pointed to the other tents. "Also, I need to lie down."

"Lets." Robin nodded and got up from her chair.

For all the confusion Steve still felt about Robin, he couldn't help but stare at her ass when she got on all fours to crawl into the tent.

I think this is the first time in all my writing since 2012 that I've written a chapter without a line break indicating a time jump ^^

Review please :)