Welcome back everyone! Thanks for the support and the new followers on the last chapter, I appreciate all the good feedback! This chapter I focused a lot of Mike and El, with some intimate parts between them, so I hope you guys enjoy it.

Jane Eleanor Wheeler: Thank you! That's what I'm going for. El is in love, but is also in going through a lot of personal struggle right now.

Jean Summerland: Thank you so much! I'm trying to nail the characters as well as I can; a lot of the issues I have with other fics is the characters not being portrayed realisitically or in ways that are inconsistent with their on-screen selves. I'm trying to avoid that.

Stranger Records: Thank you! I hope you enjoy this chapter too!

"Is everything okay?"

El nearly jumped out of Mike's arms, started from the voice coming from the doorway. It was Max. Without waiting for an answer, she stepped into the room. "The rest of them are outside loading boxes into the truck," she said. "What's going on?"

Mike bit back the urge to roll his eyes or give her a glare. He still had not quite moved past the fact that she had corrupted El and made her break up with him. He was happy for El that now she had a female friend to talk with, but part of him still resented the fact that she had caused him so much grief.

"Yeah, El's just upset about her powers being gone," Mike replied with a hint of snark.

Max picked up on this, but she ignored it. She wished that Mike would realize that they both loved El, (in her case, as a friend, obviously) and they both just wanted what was best for her. And maybe she had been a little bit harsh, maybe, but she had just done what she thought was best for El. She hoped that she had given El some new insights into life that Mike could not have. After all, there was more to life than "stupid boys."

"I'm sure they'll come back, El. Don't worry about it, your battery is probably just… really, really, really, drained," she stated with a light laugh. El smiled back. Maybe her friends were right. Maybe it would be fine.

Max stepped forward to hug El, and Mike watched, trying not to say something hostile. "Do you guys want help moving some of this stuff out?" Max asked, indicating toward all of her belongings on the shelves.

"Yes, please."

"My Mom was talking to me about maybe renting a truck to move some of the furniture," Jonathan told El, who was sitting in the backseat. "In case you want to change up the room a little bit."

El returned this comment with a polite smile. "Thank you." She was still a little bit awkward with Jonathan, she had not had many chances to talk or bond with him one-on-one. But she was hoping that would change once she officially moved in with them. This was something she was both nervous and excited for. It would be nice not having to be cooped up in a small basement, and maybe get some more proper food for a change. Even she could get sick of Eggos at some point.

They pulled into the driveway of the Byers', and Jonathan turned off the engine. "Okay, guys," he announced. "Final stop."

"Alright, let's grab those boxes," Dustin called out, clapping his hands together. Each of them grabbed one of the cardboard containers and started hauling it into the house, placing it onto the living room floor.

"Hey, guys," Joyce greeted them, walking in from the kitchen "Everything good?"

"Yeah, we're fine, Mom," Will replied. "We're going to need that truck for tomorrow, though. I think El wants to move some stuff from her room into here."

"Yeah, that's fine. We've already planned it, we'll go over there tomorrow."

"Thank you," El said, looking to Joyce.

"Oh, it's no problem, sweetie," Joyce said, and went in to hug her. "This is your new home, and we are going to make sure that your room is perfect."

El hugged Joyce back and squeezed her hard. She always thought of Joyce as a sort of motherly figure. She remembered when they had first met, how nice she had been to her. And now she was looking at spending the rest of her life with this woman, or at least the rest of hre childhood. And her sons. The thought warmed her heart.

After helping El get settled into the house, the gang had all left to go back to their respective houses. Mike had promised El to call her on the Super Com when he got home, When he left, she walked over to her new bedroom, grinning like an idiot, already looking forward to hearing from Mike.

And meanwhile, Will was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, lost in deep, deep thought. He must have lost track of how much time was passing, because the next thing he heard was El and talking to a staticky voice coming from her room. He could not make out the words but knew she was talking to Mike. She sounded so happy. She was laughing. Even after everything, this boy was able to make her happy.

Soon he would be gone. Gone from her life, gone from his life… Okay, maybe not completely gone, but still. The point still stood. They would be moving away, and Mike and El would be able to see each other more than what, a couple of times a year? Maybe a little bit more if they tried?

And he was going to be leaving the Party, too. And Jonathan was leaving Nancy. They were leaving everyone. And for what? Nothing. At least it seemed like nothing. Why did his Mom feel that moving was a good idea? If El wasn't in the picture, maybe he could understand it, but with El? Absolutely not. After being raised in a lab as a human experiment for twelve years, she had come here. To Hawkins. She had formed a strong attachment to this place, to the people and places here, and then it was all going to be ripped away from her.

Was there a chance that he could work together with Jonathan to maybe change her mind? Probably not, she had seemed pretty confident in her decision when they had talked about it before. But maybe all it took was something that could really prove to her how important it was to them that they stayed. High school was coming up, and that was going to a huge transition for all of them.

God, his mind was just a whirlwind of anxiety right now.

He was not looking forward to the day where they would have to tell El that they were leaving. At least he was not the one who would have to do it, that was his Mom's problem.

Those were his final thoughts before he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.


"How do you like your new room?"

El smiled. "It's really nice. It's going to be more similar to my old room when we move the furniture in. The walls are just a different color, that's all."

"I like the color of the walls," Mike said. "Or maybe that's just me. I've spent so much time in that house, I probably just learned to like it."

El laughed. "No, they are nice," she agreed, and then paused. "But I still miss my old room though." She was still sad about losing her old home. She didn't think anything would ever replace what she once had with Hopper.

Her Dad.

She sniffed, realizing that she felt a growing presence in the back of her throat. She tried to swallow it back, but it kept on rising.

"El?" Mike's concerned voice crackled through the speaker on the Super Com. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

How does he always know what I'm thinking? He can't even see me! 'I'm...I'm fine Mike. I just miss him."

"I know, El. I miss him too." Mike was silent after that for a couple of seconds, not knowing what to say or do. What could he do? He couldn't bring Hopper back. He couldn't snap is fingers and make El's pain go away.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked, desperate to alleviate some of the emotions that were currently crushing his girlfriend.

"No…" she said, in between little hiccups.

"Hold on," Mike said, his tone changing suddenly. "I have an idea."

"W-what?" El said, her heart lifting slightly at his words.

"Just hold on, like, ten minutes, okay? Just give me a second."

"But-"

The Super Com clicked off, and suddenly Mike was gone. El frowned. What was Mike doing? And why had he left her? She was hopeful that whatever he was planning would actually help. She had faith it would.

She fluffed her pillow and put her head down. She puffed out her cheeks with a huge exhale and closed her eyes. Now she was alone with her emotions, with no one or nothing to distract her. With every second that passed, her surroundings drifted away. She felt as though she was back in her old bed, at the cabin. She could almost hear the sounds of Hopper in the kitchen, making breakfast for the two of them. She could smell the faint scent of cigarettes and coffee wafting through the bedroom door. She could almost see him. Right there in the doorway, telling her to get up, because Mike would be here soon.

And then the image was shattered. Gone. No more than a fleeting memory that would never be realized again. And then her cheeks became wet with fresh tears, that were falling down her face silently. She struggled to hold in her gasps and cries and hiccups, but she did. She did not want to wake the rest of the house, because that would be the worst way to thank them for letting her live with them.

So she lay there, curled in a ball, and just continued to quietly sob into her new sheets, alone.

Then there was a noise.

A faint tap on coming from her right. And she looked over and saw Mike, peering through the window, his palm flat against the pane.

"Oh, my God," El muttered under her breath, but she could not deny the smile that was finding it's onto her face, through her tears.

She slid open the window for him and he stumbled through. "It's almost midnight!" she whispered at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to be here with you," he said, giving her a toothy grin. But after looking at her for a couple more seconds, he noticed that her face was red and puffy and wet. "Come here."

And El crashed into his arms, wrapping her arms tightly around his torso, not daring to loosen her grip on him, for if she did, she would just start crying even more.

"Thank you for coming," she murmured. She felt his hand tangle into her hair, and he lightly massaged her head.

"You don't have to thank me," he said. "I'll always be here for you." El caressed his back and along his shoulder blades, breathing in his scent.

"Can we lie down?" she asked him, stepping away but still keeping her hands on his shoulders.

"Yeah, sure," he said. El pulled him toward her and lead him to the bed, where she crawled under the sheets. She held them open for Mike, inviting him in. Mike's mind paused for a fraction of a second, suddenly a bunch of thoughts rushing through his mind. This was the first time sleeping with El in a proper bed, not just a dingy couch in the basement. What did that mean? Did he have some kind of obligation to fill? Did El want him to do something, or just to sleep?

But before he could figure out for himself, El had already grabbed his hand and yanked him toward her. She wrapped her arms around his body and got as close as possible to his warmth, and rested her head in the crook of his neck. Mike tentatively reached for her hair and stroked it gently, while rubbing her neck with his thumb.

"Is everything okay?" he whispered.

El breathed. "Not really," she answered. "Nothing is ever okay anymore."

It broke Mike's heart to hear words like this come out of her mouth. All he ever wanted to do as her boyfriend was to help her and make sure she was happy and loved. But right now she was hurting, hurting a lot. And there really wasn't anything at all he could do about it. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Yes," she murmured, without hesitation.

"What? What can I do?" he said, sitting up slightly. "I'll do anything."

El rolled over on her side to face him and gave him a sweet smile. "Just keep doing what you're doing."

Mike just nodded slowly. "Okay."

He laid back down beside her and pulled her close, and El pressed her back against his chest, so that now they were spooning and there wasn't a single part of her that was not being completely absorbed by his body. The heat emanating from his figure gave her comfort, security, pleasure, and above all… a sense of home. Happiness. A feeling that no matter what, everything would always be okay.

She suddenly felt a tickle on the skin of the side of her neck, a blow of breath. Like a refreshing puff of wind on a hot day. And then there was a connection, and Mike was planting tiny pecks on her skin, slow and gentle and lovingly. El sighed through her nose and reached behind her to tangle her fingers into his hair and she pressed his head deeper into her, and the kisses grew more heated, like a fire. A fire that was melting away all of the sadness within her as if it were snow.

The more she stroked her digits through his hair, the more the kisses grew in passion and intensity, until El was fit to explode with desire. She rolled onto her back and snatched Mike's head in her hands and pulled it down to meet hers, and their lips met, sending a series of sparks flying through their bodies as they moved and meshed into one.

Mike had adjusted himself so that he was on top of El, putting some, but not all, of his weight on her. And El loved the feeling of being pressed so close to him, in between his body and the mattress, with no room for anything else but their passion. She separated from his mouth with a gasp for air and then brought them to the side of his neck, stroking the skin with her tongue and sucking it lightly. She moved her attention around his neck, and he moved his head upward to allow better access for her, and she continued to trace a line of burning heat all around his jaw, Adam's apple, and nearly everywhere else that her current position would allow.

And then Mike drew away from her and dove back in to return the favor, delivering the sensual contact of his lips on her neck that she was craving desperately. She lightly moaned, giving Mike the much-appreciated signal that what he was doing was perfect. As his need for her grew, he became more aggressive with his actions, using a little bit of teeth and a lot more tongue. It felt almost ridiculous for him to be licking and sucking her skin so much, but it felt so right at the same time, and El's gasps and moans drove him onward.

As his courage grew, he let his hands wander further down from her neck. They reached the bottom of her shirt and his fingers began to slowly move it upward, as if testing the waters to see what was okay and what wasn't.

He soon found his answer when El reached down herself and yanked the shirt upward, completely revealing her bare stomach. She sat slightly upward to allow her shirt to slide off her back, and she settled back down and pulled Mike with her, continuing to kiss him erratically.

Mike's mind was exploding with fireworks, knowing that he and El were making out and all she was wearing was a bra and her pajama bottoms. He could feel her perfect breasts touching his body through that thin layer of material, but there was something more he was craving. Something more intimate and serious. He grabbed one of El's hands and guided it to the hem of his shirt. She immediately understood the hint he was dropping. Both her hands found the bottom of his shirt and slowly pulled it up his back, and when it got to his head they quickly separated so she could finish removing it, and then they were back, except now there were no barriers between them on the torsos, except for that pesky bra that Mike was itching to remove. Their stomachs and arms, and the sensation of having El's smooth, delicious skin all over his body was driving him crazy with lust, and it was only being augmented by the gentle moans that were vibrating against his lips as they came out of hers.

He cautiously reached for her tits, and brushed his fingertips across one of them, and she responded by groaning into his mouth and bucking her hips upward to meet his. Taking this is a sign to continue, he became more adventurous, massaging them and gently squeezing them, utilizing his entire hand as he engulfed the entirety of them, placing his palm flat against them and squeezing lightly with his fingers.

They were so perfect; they felt like they were made for his hand; his hand alone. He diverted his attention to the other one, eliciting another sound of pleasure from her. Her fingernails raked across his bare back, scratching him. It felt so good, to be experiencing her this way, so close, so intimate, with no boundaries. With a spike of testosterone fueled by greed, he lowered his body down hers so that he was eye level with her breasts. He now had a moment to look at them, barely concealed by the undergarment that contouring their shape beautifully.

"Why are you wearing a bra to sleep?" he asked.

"I forgot to take it off," she said breathlessly. "Stop talking." She pulled him back down to her mouth and placed on of his hands back on her breasts. Mike ran his fingers along the flesh, soft and wonderful. Remembering what he had initially wanted to do, he inhaled and brought his mouth to her the corner of her right breast, just near the inside of her cleavage.

El gasped and weaved her fingers into his hair and pressed his head into her body even more. The feeling of having Mike suck and lick her breast was enough to make her melting. She desperately wanted him to just take her bra off, and just capture her nipple with his lips, but she knew that they had already taken a lot of steps this night, so she decided to just let Mike lead the way for the rest of the evening. He continued to tug and suction her skin, using just the right amount of everything. He latched his mouth onto another spot on her mound and sucked, hard.

"Oh, Mike, that feels so good," she moaned, and dug her nails into his scalp. She looked down, and saw his head buried in her chest, licking and stroking and massaging and sucking her, and was fucking hot.

He traced a line with his tongue across her chest from one side to the other breast where he did the same thing, and alternated between the two periodically at seemingly random intervals. It must have been ten minutes that he had spent pleasuring her breasts, applying his love to several different spots that allowed access, without removing the bra, but at times he tugged it a little out of the way, so he could get just a little bit closer to that special spot. But he didn't want to go fully in just yet. He wanted to take things slow and careful.

When he was done content with his job, he rose and gave El a single, passionate kiss that was only a few seconds long, but filled with love and meaning. "I think my job is done," he said, his voice deep and husky. El found it incredibly sexy.

"What do you mean?" she asked, biting her lip to suppress a giggle.

"We'll see in the morning, I guess," Mike replied, a hint of mischief in his voice.

Curious about his words, El raised her eyebrows. "Hmm," she hummed, and pulled him onto her and hugged him, holding him tightly. I love you. Was now the right time? She wasn't sure. She could never be sure. She still couldn't get that night at the cabin out of her head, that moment where she overheard Mike confess his feelings to her. If she was honest, she just wanted to hear him say it first.

But that was the last thing that she remembered crossing her mind before she drifted off to sleep, holding Mike while he held her.