Chapter 3 You Won't Care When I'm Happy Again
"Sorry, Buddy, we gotta keep you awake," said Hopper as he nudged Will who was starting the drift off. "C'mon, let's get you on your feet."
Will gave a small grunt and stood up before Hopper could help him. Hopper nonetheless, took Will's arm and started walking him back and forth in the small room they occupied with Sarah, Alice, and Josie.
"I'm feeling really cranky right now, everyone," said Will. "Sorry if I lose my temper. I just really want to sleep."
"Don't worry about it, kid," said Hopper. "You're in for a long 24 hours, but I'm going to make sure you get through it. Especially since your Mom's on the way. I wouldn't want to get on her bad side."
"You can't get on her bad side, Hopper," said Will. "She'll be happy to see you."
"Not if I let you fall asleep while you've got that concussion. You've never been on her bad side and you'll never be there, Will. Anyone who messes with you is going to know what a formidable force your mother really is before they know what hit them."
Will smiled a little. Growing up, he had always felt like the odd one out of the party because his mother couldn't afford all the nice things that Mike, Lucas, and Dustin's parents got for them; but he always felt like he had the best mother of the group.
As Will and Hopper passed Sarah, she recoiled a little.
"Sorry," said Sara. "It isn't you. I just- I can't control my visions yet and that stuff that happened to you-"
"Don't worry about it," said Will. "I understand. It's not your fault." Sarah certainly wasn't the same as the people in Hawkins who stared at him when he walked down the halls at school.
"So who is my mother," Josie asked Alice.
"Someone who worked with me to try and stop Brenner once we found out what he was really up to," said Alice.
"Where is she now? Is she still alive? does she know about me?"
"She knows about you," said Alice. Will thought he saw Hopper looking a little anxious from the corner of his eye.
"Has she tried to find me?"
"Oh, she found you," said Alice. "Brenner just fried her brain before she could get out of the lab."
Hopper stopped. "Wait, is Josie here the real Jane Ives?" he asked Alice. She nodded.
"What?" said Will. "El isn't Jane?"
"No," said Hopper. "Brenner told me- more like he taunted me. That's what I wanted to talk to you and your fam-"
The door in the room burst open and Will's family and Hawkins friends poured in. They all stared in awe at Hopper. He met Joyce's eyes. She looked torn between running to him and running to her youngest child.
She didn't know yet, but Hopper knew he'd have to tell her-tell them all- soon. El made Joyce's decision for her when when broke from the group and ran to Hopper. The girl was crying tears of shock and joy. Will stepped out of Hopper's grip to allow him to fully embrace El. As he did, he was quickly engulfed in a hug by his mother and brother.
"Are you alright, Baby?" asked Joyce. "Dr. Owens said you have a concussion. How do you feel?"
"I'm just tired and my head's sore, Mom," said Will. "But that doesn't matter right now. Brenner... He's working with the Russians, they have a demogorgan and they're trying open a new gate."
"We know," said Joyce. "But try not to worry about that right now. You need to heal."
"Mom, I felt it.. I felt him trying to come out and wanting to kill everyone... or at least control us."
"C-control us?" asked El. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know," said Will. "But we have to do something."
"We're working on that, Will," said Dr. Owens. "Right now, you have to work on staying awake for the next 20 hours then getting some rest."
"We can't wait for me to get rest," said Will. "We have to do something now!"
"Will," said Joyce as she gently, but firmly held his face. "We're all going to do something, I promise, but please focus on healing that concussion. Please!"
"I can have some doctors stay with him to make sure he doesn't fall asleep," said Dr. Owens.
"Thanks," said Joyce. "But I can handle it."
"We can all handle it," said Dustin.
"You should probably do it in two hour shifts," said Dr. Owens. "You'll need to be well rested and fully alert."
Dr. Owens warned everyone that Will would probably get irritable was he was very tired and fresh off of yet another traumatic experience. Joyce and Jonathan took the first shift while everyone else rested. Hopper sat with Sarah as she finally fell asleep. Alice and Josie (the real Jane Ives) rested in another room. Hopper made up his mind to wait until after Will got some sleep before telling the Byers family the full truth.
After her two hour shift with Will, Joyce entered Hopper's room.
"Can't sleep?" asked Hopper.
"Obviously you can't either," said Joyce with a small smile. There was an awkward silence before Joyce crossed the room and embraced Hopper. He returned her embrace full force.
"I thought I'd killed you!" Joyce sobbed.
"It wasn't you," said Hopper. "It was those bastards who stole all those kids and opened the damn gate. They caused everything that's happened to us and our kids."
Joyce glanced at Sarah asleep in the bed. Brenner had faked her death just as he had faked Will's. He must have intended to get Will from the Upside Down and keep him as a guinea pig as well. Joyce remembered Will contacting her while he was trapped there. The Mind Flayer had used him and now the demogorgan had somehow been able to re-open the gate by touching Will.
"What are you and Sarah going to do now?"
"I don't know," said Hopper. "I just want to keep her safe."
"Do you want to go back to Hawkins?"
"Not especially."
Joyce pulled back from Hopper and looked him in the eyes. "Then stay with me...stay with my family. El's already there anyway." Joyce thought she saw something odd flash in Hopper's eyes- like he had something important to tell her. "We can only trust each other to protect our kids and we'll be stronger together.
Hopper smiled. "That's true. We never did get that date... What do you say? Enzo's at 7?"
"I think we should try a different place," said Joyce with a small laugh. "We haven't had much luck there."
"Deal," said Hopper.
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Eleven briefly peaked inside Sarah's room to see Joyce and Hopper in a private conversation after she and Max sat with Will. She decided to let them talk longer in the hopes that they would stay together and she'd have both of them with her.
She made up her mind to find a room to see if more of her powers had returned. She hadn't wanted to leave Will because he seemed upset while trying to hide it, but Dr. Owens had insisted on shifts.
El peaked into the room where Alice was talking to Josie-or the real Jane Ives as it turned out. Will had told her. El decided to let them talk alone.
"I need to tell you something, El," said Will.
"Do you want me to leave?" asked Max.
"It's up to El," said Will.
"Max can stay," said El. "What is it, Will?"
Will took a deep breath. "You aren't really Jane Ives, Josie is."
"What?" Max exclaimed. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, apparently Brenner has taunted Hopper with that information and Alice confirmed it. She tried to take down the lab with Terry Ives."
"If Josie is the real Jane, then who am I?" asked El.
"I don't know," said Will. "But I think Hopper might. He said he wanted to tell us all something."
Eleven was tempted to go into the room where Hopper was talking to Joyce and ask him, but she felt scare. She found an empty room with a radio and tied a bandana around her head. She couldn't decide who she wanted to find.
Max entered the room. "Maybe you should rest before you try to use your powers again. Oh crap, I'm starting to agree with Mike."
El smiled a little and pulled the cloth off of her eyes. "You're probably right, I feel frazzled right now."
"Yeah, well, a lot has happened," said Max.
"I'm not who I thought I was," said El.
"You're still the same person, El," said Max. "You just have a different birth mom than you've always though you've had. You still have the same family. And now the man who became your father is alive."
"And he loves the woman who became my mom," said El.
"See?" said Max. "You family is coming together."
"Yeah, coming together," said El. "I have to help them, I have to help Will. He's been trying to help me, but he needs help."
"Of course he needs help," said Max. "A bunch of evil scientists and an extra dimensional monster just used him to try and open the gate."
"Not just that," said El. "Will thinks he doesn't matter."
"What do you mean?" asked Max.
"He made me promise not to tell," said El. "But I know he still thinks it. He doesn't like to go to Hawkins because he thinks no one really wants to see him.. that they don't miss him."
"That isn't true," said Max. "But I can't blame him for feeling that way."
Mike happened to be looking for El at that moment. He overheard the conversation and decided to volunteer for the last shift of sitting with Will- and he decided he would take his shift alone.
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"This'll all be over soon, Will," said Lucas as he and Dustin sat with Will. "You can go home and see the present we made you."
Will leaned against the wall and folded his arms over his chest. "I meant it when I said I didn't want it."
Lucas glanced at Dustin. "Look, it's a model of Minas Tirith. We've been planning it for months."
"Sounds cool," said Will as he stared out the window. "But I still don't want it."
"We built it for you," said Lucas desperately.
"You built it without me," said Will. "I'm sorry you worked so hard, but I'm not going to change my mind." Will was determined to not let his friends talk him into something he had made clear he didn't want again because he knew that if he accepted the gift, it would just start the whole cycle all over.
Dustin and Lucas muttered to Mike that Will wasn't in the greatest mood as they passed him in the hall on their way out.
When Mike entered the room, he watched Will pacing back and forth (and refused Mike's help a couple times) for about a half hour before he decided to speak.
"You're really just going to give me the silent treatment?" asked Mike. "Do you hate me that much?" Mike didn't actually think that Will hated him, but he had to goad him into talking somehow.
Will stopped and stared at Mike for a moment before shaking his head and continuing to pace. "You know I don't hate you, Mike, I'm just not in the mood to talk."
That was about 12 words. It was a start. Mike felt the pieces of the picture and drawing in his pocket. He always kept them with him when he visited Will, but never have the nerve to bring it up. He made up his mind at that moment, stepped in front of Will and held them in his hand.
Will looked confused for a moment before recognition dawned on his face. "Is that why you always get so easily pissed at me whenever we visit?"
"I don't-" Mike started. "Look, what happened that day Lucas and I found you at Castle Byers?"
"Doesn't matter," said Will. "And I'm not talking about it with you."
"It *does* matter," said Mike. "And why won't you talk about it with me? You used to talk to me about these things. You still can, I'm here for you."
"I used to think you actually cared," Will shot back.
"I did care!" said Mike defensively. "I do care! Crazy together, remember?"
Mike put his hand on Will's arm, but the other boy stepped out of his reach and glared at him.
"I remember you saying that, Mike. But everything you said that week was either a lie or just wrong!"
"What? It wasn't a lie. How can you think that?"
"Because I lived it, Mike. You needed a distraction from missing El and I provided it."
"Will, you're my best friend, you weren't just a distraction. You have do know that. What did I lie about that week? How was I wrong?"
"I was afraid the Mind Flayer would spy back and you said we wouldn't let it. Only it did. It took complete control of me and killed a bunch of people. I kept having nightmares about it for months. I still do sometimes."
"Why didn't you say anything?" asked Mike.
"I tried," said Will as tears formed in his eyes. "You never wanted to listen. Do you have any idea what it was like hearing you tell me that asking me to be your friend was the best thing you'd ever done and then after I was free from the Mind Flayer and El had closed the gate, you barely wanted to talk to me? I know you were happy to have El back and all, but you made me feel like I didn't belong in the same room with you. I tried to talk to you about things several times, but you made it clear you didn't want to listen. So I finally realized it was pointless and just stopped trying."
"Will, I'm sorry. I mean, you seemed happy when you got back from the cabin. I thought you were okay."
"Of course I wasn't okay. I had been used by an evil entity that was trying to kill everyone."
"We can talk about it now," said Mike.
"I don't want to talk about it with you anymore," said Will. "You won't care about me when I'm smiling again."
"How can you say that?" asked Mike. "After everything we've been through together, how can you say that?"
"How can I not say that?" asked Will. He started to pace again and Mike grabbed his arm. WHAM!
It happened before wither of them realized it. Will's fist collided with Mike's face. The taller boy stumbled backward and fell to the floor. Mike's nose was bleeding. Will stared in horror at what he had done.
"Shit! Shit! Shit! I'm sorry, Mike, I'm sorry," said Will as he started trembling and walking backward until he was at the wall. He slid down until he was sitting on the floor. His hands were folded in front of his face and he was hyperventilating into them.
Mike stared in shock. Will had never been a violent person.
Hopper was suddenly at Mike's side asking him if he was okay. Mike simply nodded. He saw Mrs. Byers kneeling beside Will. She pulled him into a hug and pulled a syringe out of her pocket and injected it into her younger son. Will was unconscious as his mother held him and El and Jonathan joined her.
"Let's make sure that nose of yours isn't broken," said Hopper to Mike as he helped him to his feet. El looked like she was about to follow, but Hopper held out his hand. "I'll take care of Mike. You just stay with your mother and brothers, kid."
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Sorry about the long time between updates, I've been buying a house and moving and also working long hours the last couple months. It'll probably be December before I update any of my fics again because I'm going to try the NaNoWriMo challenge.
