A/N: This chapter tried to balance horror along with way more character moments than previous chapters. Thanks for reading!

In her head, things looked different. It was still dark, nothing but darkness all around her. That wasn't the change. It felt different. It felt like something had shifted, like the winds of change were blowing through. El wondered where she had heard that phrase before, because it didn't sound like something Hopper would say. Maybe she had gotten it from Joyce.

She stepped forward into the darkness, peering for her father. She didn't need a picture; she didn't need any kind of physical representation for him in the real world like she did when she was looking for others. Her connection to the man she called dad was too strong for something like that.

"Hello?" she called out, and her voice echoed in the emptiness. "Are you there?"

She didn't know what came over her. Maybe it was the heaviness of the silence, maybe it was all the emotions she had been trying to deal with, maybe it was the shock of learning that her guardian might still alive—whatever it was, she started to talk. She started to say things that she had never said to Hopper before, things that were true and that she should have said long ago.

"I miss you. I've missed you since before you disappeared. I missed you when I was too busy being selfish. And ignoring that all you really wanted for me was the best. I'm sorry. I know you would tell me to shut up and try to apologize instead, but that's wrong. I'm sorry. I would have been a better daughter. I would have listened. We're just all… mouth-breathers when we're young. I think."

She frowned. It was probably the longest speech she had ever given to Hopper, and he wasn't there to hear it.

Then she heard a voice. It was quiet, like it was coming from far away. It was confused and it sounded lost, almost like a child.

"El?"

"Dad!"

It was him; she could hear him. He was still alive! Her dad was still alive! Her heart pounded so hard that she thought it might burst from her ribs.

"Dad, I'm here! I'm here now! My batteries recharged. I can save you! I can save everyone!"

"El…"

And then the voice trailed into silence, even weaker and quiet than it had been the first time. She could see him, just barely, in the distance. Her view of him was fuzzy and distorted, like a bad television picture. She could see his surroundings, too. It didn't look like a Russian jail cell. It looked like he was outside, surrounded by rotting, twisted trees.

"Dad! Where are you? I'm here!"

The vision of Hopper faded as quickly as it had appeared.

There was no reply. El's heart began to break. She was so close! Where had he gone? Why couldn't she hear him anymore?

"Eleven."

The voice that spoke then was not Hopper's. It was neither male nor female, and it rang loudly in El's head. It was a voice she had heard before, but never while she was awake. It was the voice of her dreams. The voice of her nightmares. It was the voice that had been taunting her at night and causing her to sleep so restlessly. It was real.

"Who are you?" she whispered, and there was fear in her voice.

"I am everything. I am the sky under which you breathe and the ground on which you walk. I am the keeper of this prison. I am the watcher with one million eyes. And you do not belong here."

El looked up, to where the sky would be, if she were still standing in the real world, and she saw nothing but darkness. "I need to find him!"

"He is lost. And you are nothing. Leave now and hold your loved ones close. Soon all will become one."

El clenched her fists and stood as tall as she could. She was not the sky, nor the ground, and she only had two eyes. But she would tear apart anyone who got in the way of her family. "No."

The voice began to make a strange noise, one that bounced around the inside of her head and made her jaw and temple ache. It took her a moment to realize that the voice was laughing at her. "Then open your eyes and see."

The blackness that she had come to know so well dissolved into something else, and El's head was filled with a terrible spinning sensation that drove her to her knees. She shut her eyes as tight as she could and covered her ears with her hands, attempting to restore some sort of balance and equilibrium.

The feeling was gone after a moment, and El opened her eyes to see she was no longer in the darkness. She was standing in Mike's basement. Her blindfold was off, and the radio was silent. But those weren't the only changes. Her friends were gone as well. She was standing by herself in the Wheeler's basement.

The air was thick and smelled of burning. She was instantly reminded of the vision she had received of Billy, back when he was flayed and had known he was being spied upon. This was not reality, nor was it the world of darkness. This was somewhere in between.

"Hello?"

She moved slowly, as if in a dream. Her limbs felt heavy and her pulse sounded slow and far too loud. She climbed the stairs, tasting the air and blanching. It reminded her of the smell of death. The smell of the lab. The smell of the closet she had been locked in, time after time, by the man who claimed to be her papa.

"Mike?"

She pushed open the door to the upstairs and peeked out. There was no one in sight. A heavy layer of dust had settled over everything in the house, as if years had gone by without anyone touching anything. She swallowed hard.

As she emerged from the basement, she saw that the dust had not only settled on the interior of the house, it was floating in the air too. A closer look caused her stomach to drop. It wasn't dust at all. It was ash. Thick, heavy ash floating in the sky. It looked like the sickening air of the Upside Down, and it caused her to shudder.

She tiptoed through the house, making her way towards the front door. She felt like she was on the verge of throwing up without knowing why.

The front door was swinging open slightly. The door handle was snapped off and the lock mechanism was destroyed. El looked at it with apprehension, then gingerly pulled it open. She realized that she was doing everything as silently as possible to avoid breaking the oppressive lack of sound.

Outside, there was no sound either. No cars, no birds. No wind. El still felt like she was walking through molasses, unable to move at any sort of speed. "Hello?" she called out again. "Mike? Dad? Joyce? Someone?"

Her voice didn't echo. It died as soon as it came out of her mouth.

She looked down the sidewalk, hoping to see some sign of life through the ash that was drifting through the air. Her breath caught in her throat as she made out the form of a figure in the distance. Whoever it was happened to be walking her way. El straightened up and began to close the gap, taking in her surroundings as she went.

It was like the world has stopped working. There were cars, but they all looked like they hadn't been started in years. Many had holes in the windows and the tires were flat. Many more were rusted all the way through. Almost every single one looked unusable in any degree. The ash was everywhere, falling gently from the sky, the sky that was a painfully bright grey, even though no sun was visible. The homes all looked empty; there was no life to be seen in any of the windows.

"Hello?" she said. She wanted to say more, but the words kept getting stuck in her throat.

The figure was more visible now. It was someone that she recognized, the way they walked, the shape of their body. She couldn't place the name at first, because something was wrong. Something was wrong about the way they moved, about the way they stared straight ahead as they limped forward—

Hopper. It was her dad.

His right leg was dragging, and he was staring at El with no recognition on his face. There was blood all over his clothing, and his eyes were red from exhaustion. "D-dad?" she stuttered.

Hopper stopped walking only a few feet in front of her. She tried to feel relief. She had found him. He was here! But the look on his face—the lack of expression, the deadness in his eyes—chilled her to the core. She felt more unsafe than ever.

Hopper looked at her, saying nothing. Then, slowly, he opened his mouth. "W-where were you?"

"I don't understand," she said, as the ash continued to fall, some of it sticking to her hair. "What do you mean?"

"When it came. And took us all away. Where were you?" Hopper coughed and wiped flecks of blood from his mouth.

"You're not my dad," El said, suddenly feeling very small. "You're not real."

Hopper looked down at her, and now there was life in his eyes. Life—and anger. "They all died. Or worse, they were taken. Because you were never good enough, were you? Everyone that touches you dies. I should have never taken you in. Should've just let you die in the cold." He spat at her feet.

El drew backwards, shivering. "You don't mean it. You don't mean it. It's not real."

She looked up at the sky and screamed so loud she thought she could taste blood.

"El! It's okay! What is it? I'm right here!" Mike grabbed El, pulling her into a tight hug. She had screamed louder than he had ever heard a human being scream and the lights had flickered for a good five seconds before everything returned to normal.

El ripped off the blindfold, her eyes wild and red, tears pouring down her face. "He's alive," she said. "But not in Russia."

Then she got up and ran to the nearest trashcan and proceeded to become violently ill.

Everyone looked at her with deep concern. Mike crossed the room to her, helping her hold her back while she threw up. He had never seen her react like this to using her powers before, not even when things had gotten bad.

"What was it?" he said softly, after she had lifted her head up and was sitting curled against him. "What did you see?"

"I know where he is," said El, who realized she was shaking and couldn't make it stop. "He's in the upside down. He needs out help." She had recognized it instantly. The rotting trees, the sickly air, the twisted version of the real world. There was no doubt at all where Hopper was.

Everyone in the room felt their jaws drop. "How is that possible?" asked Lucas. "You remember what Mrs. Byers said. There was nobody left alive even near that thing."

Dustin's face was one of dawning realization. "No… I wasn't there but I think I know what happened. You're right, no one was alive near it. But what if the Chief wasn't near it when it exploded?"

"Where would he have gone?" asked Will. "He couldn't possibly have made it out in time."

And then Max understood as well. "Yeah, he could have. But not up to Mrs. Byers. The only way out would have been the other way."

They all spoke at once, having figured it out. "…The Upside Down."

It made sense. Hopper must have known that he was never going to make it out of that room alive. He could have easily jumped into the Upside Down via the portal before it shut. It wasn't a great chance of survival, but it was certainly better than getting vaporized by the explosion that had rocked the lab only seconds later. They knew he was alive now, which was great. But how were they going to get him out of a dimension that was now permanently sealed off from their world?

"That means my mom was wrong," said Will. "We have to tell her."

"Uh, she's gonna know you told us then, you know that, right?" asked Lucas.

Will shrugged. "I don't really see another option here. And besides, she'll understand. There's no way she thought we were really going to keep that to ourselves. Bauman on the other hand…"

"Bald eagle?" piped in Dustin.

"… Bauman," continued Will, "might be a different story. But we know the truth now."

El was starting to calm down, if only a little. She just couldn't get that image out of her head, the thing that she had seen in the sky that had jolted her so badly it had thrown her back into the real world. And what had that been? A vision? A dream?

"There's something else," said El. "I saw something else."

Mike pulled her close to him. "What was it?"

"Everything was dead. It was like this world, but empty. Ash, everywhere. And then I saw Hopper, but he was wrong. He was sick. He told me it was my fault. I looked up to the sky… and I saw it."

"What was it?" Mike asked, his voice hushed. No one in the room was speaking, everyone was practically holding their breath.

"I felt like I wanted to die," whispered El. "I felt like I would never be happy again."

Steve turned to look at Dustin, who first looked confused, and then an expression of slow realization spread over his face. "You know, I'd really like to say I told you so, but it just doesn't seem appropriate right now."

"What do you mean he's not in Russia?" asked Joyce. "How is that possible?"

Will shook his head. "I don't know who Bauman heard them talking about, but it wasn't Hopper. He's in the Upside Down, and we need to find a way back in."

Joyce bit her lip. It was at times like this that she missed Hopper more than ever. It wasn't that she couldn't handle things by herself. She was more than strong enough, as she had shown time after time. It was that Hopper knew how to take charge of situations with a certainty she never felt, other than when it came to keeping her family safe.

Hopper is family too, she thought, involuntarily. You need to protect him, too.

"El's visions have been wrong before though, right?" Joyce asked. "Like with Billy. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying we need to be careful."

"We need to reopen the gate," said El. That was the problem. Without the machine in Hawkins lab, she had no idea how they would do that. The amount of energy it would require was staggering.

"We'll figure something out, honey. We always do," said Joyce. "And I'm going to keep everyone safe. I promise."

In Russia, the gulag was on fire. The time had come for action to be taken, and the American had stepped out of his cell. No, that was the wrong word. He had not just stepped out of his cell. He had arisen, knocked the door off its hinges, and begun to make his way towards the exit. There would be no survivors. They had all served their purpose, and now it was time to die.

The work they were doing in the base had been negligible at best, but it had been enough to begin opening cracks between the two worlds. Just enough so that when Eleven, when that troublesome girl began poking her nose where it didn't belong, he could sense it. It was time to put an end to this back and forth once and for all. Yes, the girl had defeated some very powerful enemies. But she had never seen anything like him. Never even come close. And the delicious scream she had let out when he had revealed only the barest fraction of his true self to her… it was all the evidence he needed of her weakness.

The gates were beginning to open across the globe. He could feel them on the periphery of his consciousness. It was funny. There used to be another self inside this body, he knew that. But that self was gone, long gone, and it would never return. It had begun to die just two years ago, when one of those creatures had sunk its teeth into the body. The corruption had taken root then. Over the next two years, as the American was kept in captivity and more gates opened, the body became the perfect host.

The perfect host to forever link two worlds and shatter any barriers that remained.

A soldier screamed as the blood vessels in his brain burst and blood began to stream out of his eyes and ears. The American smiled. These people were so weak. So fragile. They would be the first to change in the new world that was coming. A new world full of madness and beauty, one that would redefine the rules of existence.

But before that could happen, he needed that girl. After he was done in Russia, Hawkins would be next. He would need some time to recoup his strength to be able to deal with the girl. It meant nothing. They could do nothing to stop him. She was on the other side of the planet, vomiting into a trash can because she couldn't even look at him.

The war was already as good as won. It would just take a little bit longer.

Mike couldn't believe he was seriously going to have to go to school when it felt like the end of the world was just around the corner. His mother refused to budge. No matter how hard he tried to explain that El needed him, that his friends needed him, that if they didn't have to go to school, he didn't see why he had, she just would not listen.

"You can see your friends when you get home," she had said to him. And that was the end of the discussion.

So Mike was sitting in his first period Literature class, wondering what he had done to deserve this kind of hell. It wasn't that he didn't like school. He was still a nerd after all. It was just… I mean, El was probably sitting around all by herself. She was so close and yet so far and it was driving Mike mad.

High school had started off as a bit of struggle. Not academically, he was usually pretty good at things in school. He just hated how bigger everything was, he hated being even lower on the totem pole than he had been in middle school, and he hated how new it all was. Not being able to see his friends all the time hurt too.

More and more Mike was starting to wonder what it would be like to not have to be in school. Or at least this kind of school. He had heard stories from Nancy about what college was like—she had decided to go to the local community college for two years before moving somewhere else. She knew plenty of new people already and the level of freedom sounded great. Mike wondered idly what he was going to do in the future. His best subject in school for the past few years had been science. He thought about why that might be and decided that in all honesty, it probably came back down on Mr. Clark. He considered the idea of standing in front of a classroom, just like Mr. Clark, and immediately realized the problem with that—he'd have to deal with kids just like himself.

There's not enough money in the world for that!

Still though. Maybe one day, when he was older and had his life a little more worked out.

"Mr. Wheeler? Maybe you can enlighten the rest of us on the point of this passage. After all, Romeo just met Juliet. So how could he possibly be in love with her?

His Literature teacher was looking at him with a pointed expression, and Mike knew he was busted. Slacking off was so much harder in high school! It didn't help that studying Romeo and Juliet irritated him. Not because he didn't like the story—there was nothing wrong with it. Rather, he didn't like the dismissive way everyone talked about their love. Just because none of them had ever really loved someone didn't give them the right to laugh about it.

Mike couldn't help but draw comparisons between himself and El to Romeo and Juliet.

"Yeah," said Mike. "I can. They both have some sort of trauma going on. Romeo just had his heart broken, even if it was kinda in a stupid way. But he's young and doesn't know better. Plus he falls in love easily. And then Juliet got told that she has to marry someone that she has no interest in. I mean, I know that's what happened back then but that doesn't make it any easier for the people who have it happen to them. So they see each other, and they don't know each other at all, but they're both beautiful. And things just progress from there."

The teacher blinked twice and nodded slowly. "Yeah. I mean, most students definitely don't see it like that, but that could be a very good explanation for why they do the things they do. And remember, just because things seem strange to us, here in 1985, doesn't mean they were strange back then. Good job, Mike. I'm impressed."

The rest of the class was looking at Mike like he had three heads, but he didn't care. Getting that one off his chest felt good. He wished that Romeo and Juliet had worked out.

We'd have been smarter than that, he thought. That's the big difference. We never give up on each other.

School passed with agonizing slowness, like it always did, but finally Mike was able to leave. He knew he was going to need to get a ride to the hotel where the Byers family was staying so he could see El and he hoped that Nancy would be able to take him.

When he got home and asked him, she sighed. "Mike, I have a lot of work to do."

"C'mon," he whined. "Don't you want to see Jonathan?"

"I mean, yes," she said. "Of course I do. But I have homework! That doesn't stop after high school, you know. In fact, it might get worse…"

Mike gulped at the thought of that, then pushed it away. "It can wait. Love waits for no one!"

Nancy rolled her eyes. "Alright, Romeo. Let's get going. But you have to get your own ride back!"

"Deal," said Mike with a grin. Nancy had the capability to be annoying, but more often than not, she came through with him. The card ride would give him the chance to fill her in on everything as well.

Once they were in the car, Mike turned to Nancy. "So I have some things you really need to know about."

He spent the entire drive describing everything that had occurred over the last few days. Nancy listened grimly, her mouth set in a tight line. When he was finished, he noticed that her hands were gripped tightly on the steering wheel, and that her knuckles were white.

"Thank you for telling me," she said. "I just—does none of this ever end? When do we get to go back to regular again?"

Mike shook his head sadly. "I don't know if we do."

"Yeah," said Nancy. "You might be right." She looked at him fondly and smiled. "When did you get to be so smart?"

"I mean, I grew up at some point," Mike huffed.

"Sorry to say, but you'll always be my annoying little brother. That's just the way it is."

Mike rolled his eyes. "I'm sure I will."

Nancy kept going. "Even if you're not so little anymore! How are you and El doing? Still going strong?"

Mike had no real desire to discuss his love life with his sister, who had one of the most convoluted odd love lives of anyone he knew. "It's fine," he said shortly, feeling himself blushing.

"She is so pretty," said Nancy. "And smart. And brave. How did you get so lucky?"

Finally, something they could agree. "I ask myself that every day," said Mike.

Nancy laughed. "I'm just kidding! She's lucky too. Just because you're my annoying brother doesn't mean I can't see who you're becoming. The two of you belong together. Anyone can see that."

Mike looked at his sister with gratitude. "Thanks, Nancy." He paused. "You and Jonathan too. I think he's good for you. You guys balance each other out. Even if he is corrupting El's taste in movies."

When Mike got to the hotel, Mrs. Byers wasn't there. El opened the door with a huge smile. "Mike!" she threw her arms around him and gave him a tight hug. "I missed you!"

"You have no idea," said Mike. "Where's Mrs. Byers? I thought you were sharing a room."

"We are," said El. "She went into town. I think to see friends, but I think to see… my dad's grave, too."

"Why would she do that? He's not…" Mike's voice trailed off. Even if Hopper was alive, as he seemed to be, it was still an awkward subject to talk about.

El shrugged, her smile faltering for only a moment. "Come in!"

He came inside and she left the door open. It was only a crack—but he had noticed that she had started doing that ever since Hopper had disappeared. Out of respect or to honor his memory, he wasn't sure. It didn't matter. He was happy to go along with it.

She was listening to strange music, very loudly. There was a soft guitar and a very British voice singing over it, in a mournful manner. Mike made out some lyrics about an astronaut. "What are you listening to?" he asked.

El beamed. She was so happy when Mike took an interest in what she was doing. Since she had begun to build a life of her own, it had been exhausting to form… interests. There was just so much out there and she didn't understand how anyone had time to look at or listen to it all. Jonathan had been a big part in helping show her the world of art. Music and movies and paintings and television… it fascinated her. Even if her life could sometimes be even more interesting.

"David Bowie," she said. "Space Oddity. 1972 re-release. Isn't it nice?"

"It's sad," said Mike.

El hummed along to the melody. Mike heard the song mention someone named Major Tom.

"Major Tom is missing," said El. "They don't know what happened and he can't come back on his own. It is sad. But he doesn't seem sad. It seems like he decided it was for the best."

They waited until the song was over. El pushed stop on the cassette player and looked at Mike. "We're going to get him back," he said. "I promise."

"Major Tom?" asked El, a twinkle in her eye.

Mike pushed her and laughed. "You know what I mean!" Then the lightheartedness of the moment dropped away as he remembered what had occurred only just last night. "Are you okay?"

El looked at the ground. "I don't know. It was awful, Mike."

"It isn't going to happen, whatever it was. We'll stop it."

El nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

"What did Mrs. Byers say?" asked Mike. "How did she take the news?"

"She didn't say much," said El. "But she cried a lot when no one was looking."

Mike could understand why. It was a confusing time. "I wonder if she's going to talk to Bauman?"

"Maybe," said El. She paused and then leaned in close to Mike. "Mike?"

"Hmm?" said Mike, who was considering what the future might hold for him and the party.

"Can we not think about this for a little?" El asked. She leaned in close.

Mike smiled. "Of course," he said. And then he didn't have to say anything for a little while longer.

"Bauman, I don't care if this line isn't secure, I'm not driving out to you again! Listen to me!"

"No!"

"Hopper isn't dead and he's not in Russia."

There was silence. Joyce derived some satisfaction from the fact that she had managed to stun the normally verbose Bauman into saying nothing at all.

"You heard me," she said. "And I have good proof too."

Bauman sighed into the phone. "It doesn't matter. Because the people I was communicating with aren't there anymore."

Joyce paused. "They aren't there? What does that even mean?"

"I don't know!" said Bauman with frustration. "But they aren't responding. It doesn't even look like they're receiving."

"What could have caused that?" asked Joyce.

"Two options," said Bauman. "Either they turned off their transceiver or the transceiver isn't there anymore. I don't see any reason why they would turn it off, which makes me think something happened. There's nothing we can do about it and there's no way to find out the truth. Now what's this about Hopper?"

Joyce explained El's vision, leaving out the part about the soldiers coming to take her in. The last thing she wanted to do was increase Bauman's paranoia anymore.

"Jesus," said Bauman. "Do you think it's connected? Oh, who am I kidding, it has to be. What the hell is happening to this world? Did you know, Joyce Byers, that I used to be a downright optimistic and friendly man?"

"Hmm," said Joyce, very much doubting that either word could have ever been used to describe Murray Bauman.

"I'll keep looking into things," said Bauman. "But don't hold your breath. I think I might have gotten everything out of this that I'm going to get. And for the love of God… do not call here again!"

Steve was dejectedly walking into his shift at the Family Video when Robin came running out the front door, nearly knocking him over. "Steve!" she cried out as he stumbled backwards.

"Jesus, Robin, what's the rush? I thought you actually liked this place."

He looked a little closer and saw that she had just been crying. Or had suffered a severed allergy attack, but as far as he knew, she didn't have any allergies. "Hey. What's going on?"

Robin looked at him, appeared to be about to sniffle, then restrained herself. Of course. She didn't want him to see her cry. "Nothing, Steve. I'm just sick. Good luck today, okay?"

She started to walk away, but Steve grabbed her arm. "What happened? What did you see?"

Robin looked at him, her eyes wide and her expression confused. "How did you know I saw something?" she asked.

"Because you're not the first one. Now come inside and tell me about it."

Robin didn't argue and followed Steve back into the Family Video on shaky legs. The story she told him once they were inside was familiar. It sounded almost identical to the one that Dustin had told him only a few days ago. By now, of course, Steve knew that Dustin was telling the truth. It was still shocking to hear it happening again.

"Am I going crazy?" Robin asked when she was finished. "What's wrong with me?"

Steve shook his head. "No, you're not crazy. This is real and it's happening to other people."

"What is it?"

"We don't know. But if I had to put my money on something, it'd be the Upside Down again."

"This didn't happen last time," said Robin, who was beginning to calm down. "It can't be that, right? The gate was closed."

"A few days ago I would have said the same thing," said Steve. "But do I have a story for you…"

The gulag fell with ease. The American stood on the outside of the Russian prison and surveyed his surroundings with grim pleasure. The building was on fire and there was little to nothing remaining of what had once stood behind him.

His next move would need to be a drastic one and would likely set into motion events that would alert the girl to his presence, but it was a necessary risk to take. It was, after all, the only way to get his frail human body to where it needed to be in such a short span of time.

The American laughed to himself. Humans. With just one of them, he could wipe out an entire building full of armed men. But he couldn't even travel to a different country without evoking the energy of the next dimension.

Not that it would matter. The girl had seen what was coming and the gates were already beginning to crack open all across the world. He could feel the energy starting to spill out, infecting the psyche of anyone unfortunate enough to get close.

The American closed his eyes and concentrated. Around him, the fabric of the world began to twist and split, and the smell of the next dimension bled through. He stepped backwards into it, letting it close behind him.

The amount of energy it took to open even a portal of that size was enormous. That was why he needed to get to the girl. She would provide him with everything he needed to permanently open the firmament and return all of reality to its natural order.

As the darkness enveloped him, the American smiled. But there was nothing human left in that smile. Not a thing.

When Joyce got back to the hotel room, she saw El sleeping on the bed with Mike next to her. But Mike was wide awake, sitting up, just watching El.

Joyce looked at the clock, hoping it wasn't really that late. She didn't need to worry. It wasn't late at all. Mike smiled slightly. "She tried using her powers a bit. Just to see how much had returned."

Joyce was nervous. El's powers were something that she didn't really understand. If something went wrong, she knew that she'd do her best to protect the girl, but how much could a single mother do in the face of something like that? "And?"

"And they seem to be back," Mike shrugged. "She's just exhausted. I told her I'd stay for awhile longer in case she woke up."

Joyce set her purse down and sat on the adjacent bed. "You're a good boyfriend," she said. "I'm sorry El had to move so far away."

Mike looked glum. "It's okay. I mean, it's tough. I miss her like crazy. But I really do just want what's best for her. And if you think that's best, that's good enough for me."

"Maybe if we get Hopper back, things can change," Joyce said. "I can't tell you what's going to happen in the future, but I want everyone to be happy."

"What about you, Mrs. Byers?" asked Mike. "What would make you happy?"

She smiled warmly at him. "When everyone is safe."

And she added silently in her head, And when I can see Jim again.

If El said the man was alive, then he was alive. That was all there was to it. Jim Hopper had saved everyone. Now, Joyce would save him.

"C'mon," she said. "It's a school night. I'll drive you home."

Mike's shoulders sagged. "Ah… but… I was hoping…"

"You were hoping you weren't going to have to go to school, weren't you?" Joyce knew very well how kids thought.

Mike nodded.

"Well," Joyce said, her eyes twinkling. "If your girlfriend was sick, you couldn't just leave her on her own, could you?"

"No," said Mike, distractedly, not understanding. "Of course not."

Joyce picked up the hotel phone. "I'll let Karen know that El just isn't feeling well. And you're doing such a good job of taking care of her."

Mike's face broke out into a goofy smile. "Thanks, Mrs. Byers! That really means a lot!"

"Three inches, Wheeler," she said sternly. And then the two of them laughed. When they were done laughing, they both had to wipe tears away—tears of both joy and sadness.