Lean On Me

Sometimes in our lives
We all have pain
We all have sorrow.
But if we are wise
We know that there's
Always tomorrow.
Lean on me
When you're not strong
I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on.

After a morning of grieving and memorizing statements given by the military, and then feeding them to the local police and newspaper as they snapped pictures of the still smoldering mall, Nathan made sure Billy and Eleven didn't actually need a trip to the hospital. Billy had more wounds thanks to the Mindflayer, but the EMT's easily cleaned him up, bandaged him properly, and even gave him some antibiotics to fight off and prevent any infection. Fortunately for him, the gunshot wound was only a graze and didn't need more attention than necessary.

One of Nathan's co-workers offered to give Nathan a ride home, and he made sure to keep Eleven and Billy close. Everyone then got dropped off at Nathan's house and Billy took his sweet time leaving.

He lingers by his car where Dani's own car should have been and he only moves when Nathan claps the teen on the back. "Listen to me. If your father gives you hell, you get your ass back here. Call the house any time, day or night. My door is always open." Billy's hand clench at his side before he reaches for his door handle, but pauses when Nathan then squeezes his shoulder. "I'm serious, Billy. My door is always open."

A moment passes and then Billy shakily exhales. "Yes, sir." Looking over his shoulder, he says, "I'm sorry again. Dani-"

"Is alive," Nathan tells him, wisely choosing to not mention Billy's watering eyes. "A father knows these things. We'll find her. We have to."

"We will." They both glance down to see Eleven standing there, she hugging herself tightly as a sad smile makes itself known on her young face. "My batteries need to recharge, but I can find her when they do."

Billy tersely nods before throwing himself into the driver's seat, rolling down the window. "I wanna be here when you try. My number's up on the fridge."

"Yeah. I'll call. Be careful, son."

PAGE BREAK

Two days pass and Eleven is all moved in to Mr. Lewis' house. She didn't have much to begin with, but what she did have was hers. She even snagged several of Hopper's plaid shirts to take with her and settled in quite nicely in the third biggest room of the Lewis home.

To this day she's still struggling with her powers. The most Eleven's been capable of is briefly shaking a can of Coke with her mind, but even doing that puts a strain on her and she's anxious to hurry and heal. Mr. Lewis keeps telling her to be patient, but she can see in his eyes how desperate he is to start the search for Dani. Everyone refuses to believe she's gone for good.

The town ends up hosting a funeral for Jim even though there's no body. They bury a black casket and flowers beneath a headstone with his name on it, and it's on this particular day that the town comes to find out that Jim had another daughter. Everyone was shocked, but Nathan spun that story that Jane/El's mother had kept her a secret after she was born because Jim had moved on with his new wife. Although when Jane's mother became severely ill, Jane's aunt sought out Jim and told him about his daughter. He recently got full custody which is why no on really knew about her yet, and the town folk could only watch with sad eyes as Jane Hopper was escorted by Nathan Lewis as they said their final goodbyes to Jim.

PAGE BREAK

Joyce Byers deciding to move her family out of Hawkins was a blow to mostly everyone. The kids didn't know how to let go of Will, and Jonathan didn't want to leave Nancy. But there was nothing left in Hawkins for the family and Joyce was tired of her boys being in danger. She had tried to stall as long as she could since the boys were keen on not leaving Nathan while Dani was still out there, but as the days passed Joyce began losing hope.

"It's okay," Nathan tells her the night she decides that it's time to relocate. "I understand. Dani would understand."

"Thank you." Sipping her Scotch, Joyce grimaces before saying, "I, uh, I want to finish getting Hopper's cabin in order before I start on my house. Do you think you can help or..?"

"Shit. I'm really sorry, Joyce, but the station really needs my help after.."

"It's okay." She shakily exhales, chuckling softly as she takes yet another sip. The silence stretches between them until she breaks it once more. "How's El handling everything?"

Nathan sighs. "She's.. coping. It helps she has all her friends coming and going to keep her busy."

"Have her powers come back?"

"She's getting there. She's quite anxious for her batteries to fully recharge."

Joyce smiles sadly. "I would be too if I relied on my powers as much as she did."

He huffs and sips his own drink. "Yeah. No kidding."

Tears unwillingly spring to Nathan's eyes and he wipes them away with a sniffle. Joyce immediately reaches out to grab his knee. "Hey, it's going to be okay. When Will went missing, everyone kept telling me he was dead. But I knew better. A parent knows when his or her child is gone."

"Yeah. I know. It's just- God I really want her batteries to recharge faster, but El's just a kid. I can't- no, I won't pressure her. I won't ruin what's left of her childhood by pushing her to locate my child in her weakened state."

"It'll all work out in the end, Nathan. You just have to have faith."

PAGE BREAK

When Eleven found out Joyce was going to finish cleaning out the cabin, she volunteered to help. There was still some stuff of hers left over that she didn't know what to do with, but now that Joyce was going to be there Eleven figured this was as good time as any to finish cleaning out her old room.

Joyce is in Hopper's room, boxing up his clothes that she had threw into a pile on the floor. She's haphazardly folding his uniform shirts when one in particular catches her attention, she digging into the front pocket and pulling out a piece of paper with a frown. When she opens up the folded piece of paper, she smiles sadly. It's the big heart-to-heart speech she and Hop had planned for Eleven and Mike when he was getting aggravated with how much time the two kids spent alone together.

"Donation box?"

Joyce turns around to find Eleven holding a teddy bear that's seen better days. "Uh, yeah, sure." She clears her throat, folding the paper back up in her lap.

Eleven sees it and gestures towards it. "What.. is that?"

"Uh.. it's- it's the speech Hop wrote for you and Mike," she answers with a smile.

"Speech?"

Joyce's eyebrows furrow. "Yeah. You know, the heart-to-heart?" Eleven looks as confused as ever and Joyce shakes her head. "He never talked to you, did he?"

Joyce then scoffs as Eleven shakes her head. "Can I read?"

Taking a stand, Joyce Byers hands over the paper to Eleven. "I'll just be out front."

Eleven waits until she's alone before settling on the floor, she laying on her stomach as she opens the paper up.

"There's something I've been wanting to talk to you both about. I know this is a difficult conversation, but I care about you both very much. And I know that you care about each other very much, and that's why it's important that we set these boundaries moving forward so we can build an environment where we all feel comfortable, trusted, and open to sharing our feelings."

Eleven frowns at all the crossed out words and sentences, and runs her fingers over a few stains. Was that mustard?

"The truth is.. for so long I'd forgotten what those even were. I've been stuck in one place, in a cave, you might say. A deep, dark cave. And then, I left some Eggos out in the woods, and you came into my life.. and for the first time in a long time I started to feel things again. I started to feel happy. But lately, I guess I've been feeling distant from you. Like you're.. you're pulling away from me or something."

Tears fill Eleven's eyes and she lets them fall as she reads on.

"I miss playing board games every night, making triple decker eggo extravaganzas at sunrise, watching westerns together before we toss off, but I know you're getting older. Growing. Changing. And I guess, if I'm being really honest, that's what scares me. I don't want things to change. So I think that's maybe why I came in here, to try and maybe stop that change. To turn back the clock. To make things go back to how they were.

I know that's naive. It's just now how life works. It's moving. Always moving whether you like it or not. And yeah, sometimes it's painful. Sometimes it's sad. And sometimes it's surprising. Happy. So you know what? Keep on growing up, kid. Don't let me stop you. Make mistakes, learn from them. And when life hurts you, because it will, remember the hurt. The hurt is good. It means you're out of that cave. But please.. if you don't mind, for the sake of your poor 'ol dad, keep the door open three inches."

Eleven laughs, wetly, she having to gulp down the lump lodged in her throat. She misses him so much and to read this.. to have this last piece of Hopper.. it's everything to her. Her chuckling tears soon turn into grieving sobs, but they're quick to taper off when there's a knock on the opened door.

Wiping her tears, Eleven glances up at Joyce standing in the doorway. "You okay?"

"Yeah." She sniffles. "Time to go?"

"Yeah, sweetheart. It's time to go."

PAGE BREAK

It's been nearly four days and still no sign of Dani.

Everyone had been waiting for Eleven's batteries to recharge, but without telling anyone Eleven chose to search for Hopper in the Void before even looking for Dani on the previous day. No one knew she was going to attempt it, but she did, and what she found had her uncontrollably sobbing and Nathan holding her for the rest of the night.

She found nothing.

Jim Hopper no longer existed.

It felt horrible to know that Jim was actually dead, but it was also a relief to have that closure.

Now they had to wait even longer until Eleven felt up to it to search for Dani and Billy was pissed. He was so pissed that he forgot who he was talking to and mouthed off back to his dad one night, and Neil Hargrove took pleasure in teaching his son some respect by beating him.

So sporting a few new bruises and a cut near his hairline from where he'd fallen and hit the corner of his bedside table, Billy speeds down a dark road with his music blaring angrily.

He's bleeding, sweating, and has sticky tear tracks down his face as he grips the steering wheel tight in hand. His emotions are all over the place, so when his headlights flicker and his engine sputters, he flies into a rage.

"Goddammit! God-fuckin'-dammit!" He screams, slamming his palm into the steering wheel with each word. The lights continue to flicker and he quickly pulls off to the side under a lighted pole. His engine sputters again and he quickly cuts it, popping open the hood and grabbing a flashlight from his glove box.

Shoving his door open, Billy then paces the length of his car before shoving open the hood with an annoyed grunt. Everything feels so out of control and he's.. done. He's just done. Fate's dealt him a shitty hand since he was only just a kid, and just as he's found something that actually made him feel an ounce of happiness it gets taken away.

Then again, he's not only pissed off at Fate. He's pissed off at Dani. Instead of getting herself out, she pushed everyone through the portal and left herself to die all alone.

He clicks on the flashlight just as the light on the pole goes out, followed by his headlights, and then the flashlight itself. Feeling beaten down, Billy huffs and hangs his head in resignation.

"Billy..?"

His head snaps back up, eyes squinting to adjust to the darkness. He knows that voice. "Dani?"

"..Billy."

"Dani!" He pushes away from his car, boots crunching gravel beneath his feet. "Dani!? Where are you?"

The headlights to the Camaro flick on and Billy ceases breathing all together and he stumbles to a halt. Lying in the middle of the road is Dani, still wearing the white peasant blouse and cuffed jeans. Only now she's pale and her face gaunt, and she's covered in blood. She looks directly at him and her expression crumples. "I wanna come home."

"Baby, you are home." But just as Billy gathers his wits to move towards her, his headlights cuts out once more. When they turn back on, along with the light on the pole and his flashlight, she's gone. "No. No, no, no." He rushes to where Dani was just laying and glances around in a panic. "Dani?" There's no answer. "DANI!"


Author's Note: So the Byers' have officially left the building and.. Hopper is dead. I'm sorry. I had planned on El looking for Dani, but then I realized she could have easily done the same for Jim. I didn't know how to work in Russians keeping Jim (because I refuse to believe he's actually dead in canon), so I just.. killed him off. But on the bright side, El gets to actually live with her sister.