Wow, thank you all again for the wonderful reviews! I'm glad everyone is continuing to enjoy this story! Not much to update, but that's usually a good thing.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

Her eyes follow the tall figure that is Mike as he nervously stands to his feet and announces that he's going to order some pizza. After Max's last comment, it wasn't difficult to understand why Mike was so flustered. For, she knows her cheeks must be glowing a bright red as well. And she quickly understands that Mike tends to take a lot of scrutiny from his beloved friends.

And it seems Dustin isn't the only one who enjoys taunting Mike in that matter.

"I'm going to see if he needs any help" Max throws her thumb over her shoulder gesturing to Mike as she stands and moves into the kitchen.

Dustin and Lucas are continuing to bicker with one another, so El sits complacently in her spot as she fiddles with the ends of her sleeves, her eyes still on Mike as Max startles him in the kitchen.

"You really like him, huh?" the smooth voice jostles El so suddenly that she literally jumps in her seat, her eyes going wide as she turns to see that Will, and his sleeping Anima come to sit in Mike's vacated spot.

"What?!" her voice squeaks out as she tries to assess Mike's friend.

His warm eyes are soft and endearing, and his half smile speaks a million words.

He scoffs at her as he leans in close, "Don't worry he likes you too".

El's mouth drops open in shock as she shakes her head furiously, "Wh-what...no, we just...we just met...I mean" she stutters inconsolably to the boy and his smile only grows as he laughs.

She can feel herself blushing a thousand different shades of red, as she seals her mouth shut, not wanting to embarrass herself anymore.

"Sorry" he starts, "Mike's really easy to tease, and it seems you are too" he shrugs.

El pulls her eyebrows together, frowning.

And at her expression, Will waves his hands frantically before her, "Oh! I'm sorry I didn't mean to-" but then El cracks and a smile pulls at her face. Will scoffs, "You were just kidding" he laughs.

El nods, "Well, it seems that Mike and I are the only one who can take the jokes" she teases.

Will lets out a huff of air, "Yeah, Mike's used to it from us. Sorry about that by the way, it's just-" and he hesitates slightly as if assessing what he's about to say is right or not.

El's impatience takes the better of her, "Just...what?" she muses.

Will sighs, "Well, we tend to give Mike a rough time about his lack of dating".

She nods to this, "I can see that".

"So, for him to be so enraptured by you...it's just a surprise, ya know" he shrugs his shoulders deeper.

This information surprises El slightly, "Wait, you mean he's never even had an interest in girls?" she can't help but ask.

"Uh, I'm sure he's liked girls, but I've known Mike for forever, and I've never seen him look at a girl like he does with you" his voice is soft.

El looks at him dead in the eyes, to see if there's any hint of lying or teasing. But, she can see that Will seems to be the voice of reason between the group of misfit friends. His eyes show the truth.

But, she shakes her head, "Look, I just think he's being nice, I mean, he did help me out, A LOT", she adds. "But, I don't know" she looks away, but can't help but flash a glance in Mike's direction.

She sees that he and Max have their heads bent together and their whispering wildly at one another. A sly expression is on Max's face, and El finds herself curious as to what they're talking about. However, Dustin and Lucas's bickering hides their conversation.

"You look at him the same way" Will's voice once again pulls El from her thoughts. She turns her head back to him, quirking an eyebrow in return.

Will nods to the direction of the kitchen, "I mean, just now, the way you look at him, it's something you don't see everyday".

El ducks her head, flushing once again.

She shakes her head at him, her emotions getting the better of her "Look just because we almost-" and she stops herself dead realizing what she's about to say, her eyes go wide.

"Just because you almost...what?" Will presses, his teasing smile only grew wider.

El sputters for a second, not sure what she wants to say, thankfully though Mike's voice breaks the awkwardness.

"Okay, pizzas have been ordered" he nervously smiles, clapping his hands together.

"Geez Mike, I've never seen you that excited about pizza before" Dustin says, finally ending his and Lucas' quarreling.

Mike gives him a fierce look, shutting the boy up immediately.

"Anyways" Lucas tries to pull the group's attention back. "What are we going to do about El's sister, I mean, she was taken, and it sounds like there are some pretty bad guys involved in all of this".

El frowns at his words, knowing that they are true. It's one thing for Mike to have already volunteered his safety, but his group of friends with whom she's just met, something doesn't feel right about it.

She decides to speak up, "Look I-" she starts and everyone's eyes turn to her, she can feel her usual shyness washing over her, she fiddles with her sleeves going to speak again, "I really appreciate that you guys want to help but...I don't want to put any of you in danger" she said sincerely. Her eyes move across each of theirs until they settle on Mike's.

There's a deep worry written within his dark eyes, and he's the first to step in.

"El, we've already told you, we're willing to help you, no matter what" he states firmly.

"But-" she starts and a hand on her shoulder stops her, she looks to Will whose giving her a knowing look, "Hey, we've already agreed to help, you can't throw us out easily".

"Besides, when a party member is in need of assistance, we have to help" Dustin nods to her.

El feels herself soften, and a slight burning behind her eyes, she's never had people, let alone people she's just met be so sincere with words.

Mike moves around his coffee table and sits on the other side of her, he takes his hands in hers, giving her that warm smile that makes her heart stir. "We're doing this together El. All of us".

A stray tear escapes her eyes and she smiles at him and then the others, "Thank you" she whispers a silence falls upon them.


They choose to keep the topics light before the pizza appears about an hour later. Mike feels like his face is permanently stained red from his friends stories that they had been going on about since El's initial hesitancy towards them helping her.

Dustin, of course, kicking them off, wanting to calm El's emotions.

And, he starts with a doozy, about the one of many times Mike toppled down his parents wooden stairs at his childhood home and down into the basement.

"He was like a baby giraffe! Every month he seemed to grow an inch and just couldn't walk straight!" Dustin laughed as he told the story of Mike taking almost a nose dive halfway down the stairs carrying a plate of cookies his mom had made them.

"The cookies went EVERYWHERE and Mike just face planted the floor!" He continues, his body shaking with laughter as he sits on the armrest of the opposite couch.

He can hear El's delicate laughter from beside him, and he knocks his shoulder against hers.

"I'm glad you find my pain funny" he teases, and El wipes away a tear from laughing so much.

"I'm sorry, but you were pretty accident prone, weren't you?" she gives him a teasing smirk.

Even though it sucks having his friends relay some of his most unfortunate events to a very pretty girl, he's happy to see her smiling and laughing along with the rest of them. He knew with El telling her in depth life story wasn't easy. And jumping right back into it didn't seem like the best idea. So, when Dustin had begun to tell El about their childhood, it was a great tension breaker. Even if it was at his own expense.

But, he was thankful that Will had brought up the time Dustin had cried once when the fire alarm went off during school, that one shut up Dustin pretty quickly.

Finally, there's a knock on his door, and Mike heads to the noise greeting the pizza man and exchanging his money for the tower of pizza boxes that are stacked on top of one another.

Dustin is by his side immediately as he grabs half of the pizzas and heads for the kitchen.

"Chow time!" he shouts as he throws open the nearest box, and immediately, Animas and humans surround Mike's island.

Mike sets down the rest of the boxes with a huff, opening them as the fresh steam rolls out.

Mike picks up a piece of meat lover and hands it to Pitch who's staring at him with wide eyes.

"I swear, this is the only time I see you get excited" he teases his partner as the wolf takes it with a snap of his mighty jaw.

"Yeah, because you hardly ever order pizza" Pitch states, his words muffled by the pizza he's trying to consume.

Suddenly a warmth washes over Mike. It's so calm and pure it causes a shiver to run down his spine. It relaxes him immediately.

He looks suddenly at El who has shyly approached the kitchen, unlike his friends who just about bombarded the small area.

His eyes are wide as El moves her hands delicately from the top of Pitch's head and down to his upper neck.

He sees Pitch's eyes roll back into his head in pleasure, and Mike can totally feel it too. The complete wash of delicacy, and comfort. Usually, it's quite taboo for others to touch your Anima, but Mike is frozen in the feeling that El is sending through Pitch.

El immediately freezes and pulled her hand away from Pitch as if she had touched something hot. Her eyes swivel to his quickly, a guilty look on her face.

"I'm...I'm so sorry" she whispers shaking her head, as if ashamed by her actions.

With her hand pulled away from Pitch, Mike finally shakes himself out of his moment of pure bliss.

"No, no, don't worry about it" Mike approaches her quickly.

"I...I didn't mean to just pat him, he's just...so fluffy" she hides her smirk as she ducks her head.

Mike reaches out and gently touches El's forearm, and she hesitantly looked him in the eye.

"El" he breathes, "Don't worry about it, it's...uh… it was-" but he didn't want his words to come off as weird or creepy. As he wanted to say how nice it felt, but he felt that those words didn't seem appropriate.

Pitch looks up at her, "Yeah, don't worry about it, you've got a nice touch, it felt nice" he gives her a wolfish grin.

Mike wants to facepalm himself as he watches El's face pinken at the wolfs words. She flicks her eyes back to Mike, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Uhhh-" he honestly has nothing to say.

"Yeah Mike", Dustin moves over to him patting him roughly on the shoulder, his mouth full of food as he speaks, "It seems you really enjoyed that".

He seriously wished he had better friends.

"Dustin!" Mike growls angrily at his friend who only turns away with his hands in the air.

Uncertain, he turns back to El who's still giving him a shy look, "I really am sorry, I know it's not appropriate to touch someone's other Anima without asking".

Mike's a bit relieved that either El doesn't seem to be put off by Dustin's words, or, she has merely grown to accept the fact that his friends are kind of assholes and they will tease him mercilessly till the day he dies.

Mike softens, "No really, it's okay, honestly, it's not the first time" he shrugs.

El gives him a pointed look. He can't help but smile at her look, her face is turned in a way that he finds very cute.

"For some reason, people find Pitch adorable and pattable" and at this he pats his partner firmly on the head, Pitch growls in return as he makes his way away from them.

"I just know that it doesn't always...feel...right" she shrinks away.

Mike knows that she's talking about her own past history with people not just touching, but torturing her and Veda, he can only imagine what trauma they must have faced.

But, he understands too. Since Pitch isn't that small, it's fairly common for a passerbys hand to skim Pitch's fur. Most of the time Mike just lets the feeling flow through him. However, there are times where even if the touch is light, he can feel the malice, or anger or any other negative feelings that flow from the person accidentally touching Pitch and straight into himself. It usually takes him a minute or longer to shake those feelings.

And, even though his friends and family members have touched Pitch, which he doesn't usually mind, he's never felt the way he did when El touches Pitch. Because it wasn't her first time, and he secretly hoped it wouldn't be the last.

He reaches for her again, for some reason, he liked the physical contact between them.

Lowering his head he whispers to her "El, please don't worry about it, your touch is really nice, I didn't mind it".

Her eyes widen at his words, and her body relaxes, she nods in understanding, and Mike flashes her a grin as he points to the boxes of pizza, "So, what would you like?"


She feels content at the warm contents that now fill her stomach. Even though she didn't say anything, she was quite hungry. Especially since they had missed lunch due to Mike's friends arriving out of the blue.

Now, they once again gravitated towards the living room. Mike moving around his kitchen as he pulls multiple coffee mugs from his cabinets and arranges them on his kitchen island. The warm aroma of coffee wafts through his apartment, closing her eyes, El sighed in contentment at the smell.

Mike's voice breaks her from her daze, "Coffee?" he asks holding out a mug towards her.

She opens her eyes slowly and meets Mike's dark gaze. Smiling, she takes the cup from him as he sits beside her, his new weight causing her to shift a bit closer to him.

The rest of the group reaches forward towards the steaming mugs of coffee from the tray Mike has placed before them. She gingerly reaches forward to grab some sugar and milk as she swirls it into her mug.

It's fairly quiet as they sit in a comfortable silence, allowing for their dinners to digest.

But, it doesn't surprise her when the silence is finally broken.

"So-" Lucas starts and all eyes are on him, and El knows what he's going to ask.

"What's the big plan? I mean...we can't just assume that things are going to get better" he shrugs his shoulders.

She hears Mike huff beside her and sees that he's giving his friend an incredulous look. But now it's El's turn to comfort Mike as she reaches out her hand and plants it softly on his wrist.

He turns his head quickly towards her and she gives him a gentle look.

"Lucas is right. Things aren't going to get better, he's still going to be looking for me" she gazes about her new group of friends who nod at her words.

"How did he find you guys in the first place anyways?" Will questions.

This particular questions freezes El in her seat. Truthfully, she had been so scared about her own life and Kali's that she hadn't even thought of that notion.

She can feel everyone's tense gaze upon her and as El moves between each of their eyes, she just shakes her head.

"I...I don't know" her voice is soft as she looks down into her lap, feeling slightly ashamed for not knowing the answer to what seems to be a very simple question.

"Yeah. I mean, it's kind of weird that he just showed up out of nowhere after many years, and besides, you were from Hawkins, and he just kind of disappeared after the lab got shut down" Mike reasons.

"Wait" and at this Max holds up her hand, her blue eyes widening almost comically.

"Hawkins lab, you mean that weird place from our hometown?" she stresses.

El nods, "Yes, that's where I was born...experimented on" she can feel the heaviness in her voice.

"So, you were in Hawkins, that lab!?" Dustin exclaims leaning forward in his seat.

"Yes Dustin, she was there the whole time we were" she can hear Mike's voice is full of sadness.

"Holy shit, how does that even happen!? We...we could of-" Dustin shakes his head as words fail him as runs an unsteady hand through his curly hair, his face contorting wildly. While Max, Lucas and Will sit up straighter in their seats, their eyes widening in realization.

"Dustin, we get it, it's crazy, but let's not-" and Mike stops suddenly, and El peeks her eyes up just so. She can see that Mike is giving Dustin a hard stare. And she knows what he's trying to communicate to his loud friend, 'Don't upset her more'.

And El feels grateful for the man sitting beside her. Because she's already been through it once with him, she'd rather not get into it with the rest of his friends.

Dustin takes a steadying breath, and nods slowly.

"So, this asshole Brenner, he kidnapped your sister?" Dustin asks firmly.

El nods, "Yes, we moved away from there five years ago after we escaped. We knew he'd be tracking us down but...we were careful, we never…" and her voice fails her.

Her mind begins to go into overdrive as she thinks about her sister and how she had allowed herself to escape. And now, now Kali was probably back somewhere, locked away, Brenner just waiting for the right moment to start his testing once again.

A silent tear escapes her eye, and she tries to hide it, but it's almost impossible because...she's scared.

It doesn't take long for the tears to keep dripping down onto her dark jeans. A light splattering noise echoes against the silence that now surrounds her as her tears fall.

She can feel the anxiety, worry and fear creep up within her, and she begins to experience the wall of darkness swoop in around her as she hunches forward.

However, her body doesn't go very far as a pair of warm, strong arms envelop her.

Her breath caught in her throat and her tears stop. The arms squeeze tighter, and she realizes that Mike is holding her firmly in his embrace.

"It's okay El. We promise, we'll figure this all out, you don't need to be scared" Mike's voice is slightly muffled as his mouth falls to the side of her head, buried in her thick hair.

It's as if he read her mind. Felt every emotion that was coursing through her veins at an alarming rate. But, just his simple embrace halted the onslaught of what she knew could have developed into a full blown panic attack. And for some reason, just his simple touch stopped it all.

She raises her head slowly and she sees the faces of her newfound friends looking at her. And, instead of seeing pity or sadness, she sees fierce determination, and dedication there instead.

"El, you don't need to worry with us around, we'll be sure to protect you" Will states firmly as he adjusts his still sleeping Anima in his grasp.

"No, you're safe with us," Mike's voice is gentle as he slowly pulls away from her, but not fully retrieving his arms from around her, instead, he holds her gently, as if he were a warm security blanket.

She relaxes in his comforting grip.

Max looks to her, "So, how do we even begin looking for your sister. I mean, she could be anywhere" she shrugs while the others nod.

El sighs, "I have a way, it's just...it's a little weird" her voice is quiet.

"What do you mean?" Mike looks down at her, as she looks up to him.

She gives a small half smile, "Remember when I said I could look for people?"

He nods, and so do the others.

"That's how I find her".


Like a well oiled machine, Dustin, Luas and Mike move about Mike's apartment hunting for the supplies she asked for, as she settles herself more firmly into Mike's well worn couch.

Max and Will sit on the other couch, exchanging soft words, waiting for the others to return.

She's trying to focus on her breath, trying to calm the anxiety that stirs uncomfortably within the depths of her stomach.

Dustin, Lucas and Mike come out of Mike's room, each holding an item.

"Here's a box of tissues" Lucas places the item in front of El.

"And one of Mike's old ties" he can't help but throw a look to Mike who rolls his eyes in return. But El smiles as she takes the dark blue tie in her hands as she swipes her fingers over the smooth material.

"And here-" Mike starts as he places a retro, 80's something radio before her, "Is my old radio" he finishes as he fishes the bent antennae from behind the radio.

A smile forms on her face, a flash of remembrance going across her mind as she thinks of the very similar radio she had back at the hideout.

Mike fiddles with the knobs as the radio shrieks to life, causing the party to jump slightly.

"Sorry" Mike mumbles as he fiddles with the volume and then he begins to fish for a station.

El listens carefully, and when her ears pick up exactly what she needs, she holds out a hand when Mike lands on a stream of static, "No, stop there".

He looks back at her with a peculiar look. She nods at him, "Yes, that's what I need". With one last quirk of an eyebrow Mike simply nods his head, as he turns up the volume, static filling the apartment. He moves to sit back beside her.

El lets out a huff of breath as she fiddles nervously with the tie in between her fingers. She looks about her new friends. Suddenly Veda comes up next to her and she welcomes her Anima's comfort.

"So, this usually takes me a minute, but...with the static and my powers I'm able to go into this place, this...void" she begins to explain as the party leans in as if she's about to tell a scary story.

"Everything's black, it's empty. But, if I focus enough, I can find who I'm looking for and hopefully I can find out where Kali is" she explains.

"How long does it take?" Max asked worriedly.

El shrugs, "Depends on how quickly I can connect to her".

"And, what happens when you find her?" Lucas whispers, licking his lips anxiously.

"Not much, I can't usually talk to people in the void, but, hopefully I can see where she is" she finishes.

"Well, we'll all be right here" Mike states firmly as he rests a gentle hand on her leg. And even though it's not skin to skin contact, she can feel his warmth radiating within him.

"I know" she gives him a soft smile and she enjoys watching him flush lightly. It's the last thing she sees as she closes out the light as she brings the tie up around her eyes, tying it firmly behind her head.

She focuses on the static, her breathing, and a familiar scent that begins to overwhelm her senses as she falls into the void.


Her eyes flick open into the oh too familiar atmosphere that she had come to avoid the last five years. Even after being forced into the inky black hole that she herself dubbed the 'void' too many times during her years locked up in the lab, and avoiding it like the plague, it's like she never left.

The water beneath her feet is cool, as is the atmosphere around her. A shiver runs up her spine, recalling particular memories that she'd rather not revisit.

She forces herself to calm down and focus, "Kali...Kali" she mutters under a hushed breath.

"NO! You can't do this to me again!" her sister's screams echo into the empty space.

El spins, the water sloshing around her and spraying her bare arms with coldness.

"Kali!" El shouts as she sees her sister tied to a cold metal chair.

She begins to run towards the girl, "Kali!" she can't help but yell once again.

But, another figure appears, El freezes.

The familiar white jacket cascades about him, matching his snow white hair and silver Anima that sits perched in its usual spot upon his shoulder.

El feels bile moving up her esophagus as she sees the man who haunts her nightmares. Clear as day, as if five years never passed.

He moves around Kali who struggles against her restraints as if he were a lion stalking his prey. His arms folded perfectly behind his back, his eyes cool and evaluating.

He tuts, "My dear number Eight, it is so good to see you again".

His icy voice causes El to shutter.

Kali cries out, "Let me go!" her voice is raw.

"Oh, but, you and Eleven were very bad. You ran away from your papa, and now...now I need to make sure that won't happen again" his voice smooth and steely.

"You...you were never our father" Kali growls, her body now shaking with malice.

"But, I was. And you and your sister were not very nice to me" he shakes his head slowly.

"Bastard! You showed us no love, no empathy, just pain!" she tries to lunge at him, but the binds around her hold firm.

"Tough love, I call it" he says as he moves a long finger in her direction, pulling at her chin, but Kali yanked away from his touch.

"Listen, follow the rules and nothing happens, that's all I asked of you girls" he continues to pace around her.

"It took me years to find you, now I just need your sister" he grins slowly.

El feels her heart tug at his words.

Kali lets out a strained laugh, "You won't find her".

Brenner stops in his place and looks to her, "Oh, but my dear daughter, I will. Now that I have you, she'll come looking for you. She'll know exactly where to find you".

And then, to El's horror, Brenner turns and practically faces her. Their eyes meet, and as if he can feel her, he looks her dead in the eye, "Isn't that right...Eleven?"

El stutters backwards, as she shakes her head wildly, "No...no...NO!" she screams out, holding her head as every ounce of fear washed over her. The darkness fades as her screams chase her back into the light.

"El, El, EL! It's okay, it's okay, I'm right here!" a gentle voice pulls her back into what she knows is the real world. As she feels a gentle touch on her arm.

She can feel the scream dying in her throat as her arms thrash about, she's pulling at the tie around her head, desperate to be free of the darkness.

When the light meets her eyes she sees that the party is pulled back in shock, but Mike who is beside her reaches for her, immediately she dives into his embrace.

Her tears are hot and heavy as they cascade down her face. They meet with the blood that she knows is tricking out of her nose. She can taste the iron and salt as she tucks in her lips to hold back a cry.

She tucks her head into Mike's neck.

He's rubbing her back soothingly, "El, hey, it's okay, we're right here" he says softly, trying to get her to calm down.

El feels her breathing coming out quick and fast. She closes her eyes tightly as she attempts to calm herself.

"El, you're okay" Veda says gently as she nuzzles up against her.

And it's then with Mike's warm embrace and Veda's near presence when she feels herself finally calming.

She tries to bury herself in the feelings around her, "I'm safe, I'm okay" she keeps repeating to herself and finally, she tepidly pulls herself away from Mike's embrace.

He follows her as he pulls his head back as well. She can see his ebony eyes are filled with concern, but also a relief.

"I'm okay" she says slowly, reaching out a hand to pat Veda who moves into her gesture.

"Woah, that was intense" Dustin states, as he rubs his hands on his pants anxiously.

Max gives him a quick whack on the arm, "Dustin!" she glares at him as he says "Ow" and rubs the spot Max hit him.

El gives a small laugh, "No. I totally get it, it is intense".

The party looks at her.

She notices that Mike's hand is still wrapped protectively around her, and she sinks into the gesture.

"Did...did you see anything?" he asks tentatively.

She searches his eyes and she nods, "Yes, I found her".

As if everyone was holding their breath, a universal sigh seems to escape everyone's lungs.

"Well, that's good...right?" Lucas face brightens, but there's some hesitancy behind his words.

El shakes her head, "Brenner has her".

Max lets out a gasp, "Seriously?"

El nods in confirmation. "Yes. And...they're back in Hawkins".

"But, how did you know all that?" Will questions.

El closes her eyes as she remembers clear as day, the man who held her captive, his eyes locking straight with hers.

"He...he was there in the void. He had Kali tied up, he-" she started, but something held her back from stating what he actually did. "I could just tell, he brought her back to where it all began. No one would suspect him going back", at least she knew those words were true. She knew, she felt exactly where they were.

She rubbed at her tired eyes. Not sure what their next step was going to be.

"Well, that's a lot to think about" Will notes sadly.

El tries to hide the tiredness that surrounds her, but she can feel Mike's eyes on her.

"Yeah, today was a lot to take in and-" El looks up to see Mike moving his eyes about her, "And I'm sure that took a lot out of El. Why don't we reconvene tomorrow, you know, fresh brains" he suggests.

El sags in relief, thankful that Mike can read her easily.

The others nod in agreeance. "That sounds good to me, I'm beat anyways" Dustin stretches his arms over his head letting out a loud yawn.

Everyone moves to stand to their feet, their Anima's following close behind as Mike and El guide them to his door.

Lucas holds the door open as Max, Dustin and Will make their way out into the hallway.

It hits El then, that it's a little weird in context. She and Mike stand on the other side of the doorway, she with her arms crossed loosely around her midsection, Mike with his hands in his pockets. It's almost as if this is a natural thing for them, as if this has happened a million times before. Their friends come over for food and a good time, Mike and El chauffeuring them to the door to say goodnight. Next, the door will close and it will be just the two of them. And even though that's all it's been for the last couple of days, she sees the knowing looks the rest of the party is giving them, and El can't help but blush.

"Well, it was great meeting you El" Max flashes her a bright smile as she holds her Anima within her arms. El gives her a grin in return, "It was so nice to meet you too, all of you" she moves her eyes to the rest of the friends.

They all give her winning smiles as they turn to head down the hallway.

And of course, Dustin's the one to end the night on an awkward note as he yells to herself and Mike, "Goodnight you two! Don't have too much fun!" and he dashes along with Dart down the hallway as Mike moves to yell at his friend, but the curly haired man disappears around the corner before Mike can get a word in edgewise.

A stream of giggles erupts from El as Mike comes back towards the doorway, his face more red than anything.

He gives her a look as she tries to hide her laughter behind her hands.

A frustrated huff leaves his mouth.

"Well, you certainly have some colorful friends" she cocks her also redface to the side.

Mike nods slowly, "Yeah, real colorful" he smirks at her as he steps into his apartment, and shuts the door behind him.

And now, it's just the two of them. Alone.

A silence befalls them as they shuffle awkwardly on their feet, El struggles to meet Mike's eyes, and she sees he's having the same problem.

Mike clears his throat, "Uhm, I'm just going to pick up the pizza boxes and then head to bed. I'm sure you're really tired to".

El nods in agreement, "Yeah, going into the void can be tiring".

Mike moves towards the kitchen as he moves all the spare pieces of pizza into one box. El watches from the side.

He looks up at her, "El, don't worry, you can head to bed. You look exhausted".

She narrows her eyes at him, teasingly, and he backs tracks slightly, his face faltering, "No, I didn't...I didn't mean it as a bad thing. I just…*sigh*" he stops as he runs a nervous hand through his hair.

El giggles at his awkwardness as she moves around the island, she places a delicate hand on his arm, and their gaze meets.

She tries to convey every feeling, every thank you to him because she doesn't think he understands just exactly how much he helped her today.

His eyes soften, "Mike, thank you" she says gently.

She watches as the corner of his lip pulls upwards slightly. "You don't have to thank me, that's what friends are for" he shrugs.

El squeezes his arm in a comforting way. A beat passes between them. And even though they're alone, they're both exhausted, she can see the dark rings beginning to grow beneath his own eyelids. The moment from earlier has passed, and she thinks she's okay with it.

"Good night Mike" she gives him a shy smile.

"Night El" he whispers back. And with that, she heads towards his guest bedroom, Veda in tow.

She can feel his eyes on her as she approaches the door, she turns as she moves to shut the door.

Their eyes catch, and they stay connected with one another as El slowly shuts the door. Feeling slightly sad as their gaze breaks, and even though he's only on the other side of the door, she wants nothing more than to be with him again.

AHHH! That one took me a bit longer, but I was also working on getting a chapter out for Watching Her Fall In Love as well. There's another part I wanted to add in here, butttt, I think it will fit and lead better with the next chapter, let's just say there's a lot of sweet Mileven fluff that will follow!

This chapter was also tricky because I had to lead into finding Kali and after many rewrites, I think I got it. It's a lot for the party to take in with their first time meeting El, but needed to get things rolling.

Anyways, thank you all for reading! I can't wait to get the next chapter out! And I hope you all enjoyed this one!

Till next time and as always REVIEWS ARE MUCH APPRECIATED! You are all awesome!