Mary tiptoed into Joyce's room, finding Jim fast asleep, his body leaning onto the side of Joyce's bed. He hadn't left Joyce's side in the six hours she had been away. Mary brought her hand down onto her son's shoulder, gently coaxing him awake.

"Jim honey, wake up. Come on bud, sit up."

Hopper opened his eyes and quickly sat up, looking at Joyce.

"Is she still okay?" He questioned, still disoriented from sleep.

"She's fine Jim. Go on home and get some sleep. I'll stay here with her. Your dad is at the house."

"I'm fine mom, really. I'm going to stay here." Hopper stated, running his hands over his face.

"Jim, you can't take care of her if you run yourself down. I'm staying here with her. If anything happens I promise I'll call. Do you want me to have Mark take you home or can you drive?"

"You're really going to make me go, mom?" Hopper questions, stretching in his chair.

"Yes, sir I am. You can drive or I can have someone take you. But you need sleep, food and a shower." She scolds, attempting to scoot his chair back from the bed.

"Alright, alright I'll drive. You got my keys?" Before the words are completely out of his mouth, Mary is dangling his keys from her fingers. Watching her son stand up, Mary notices how much taller he has grown in the past three years. He bends over Joyce, gently placing a kiss to the top of her head. This was the first time Mary had ever seen her son show any physical affection toward the young women she considered her daughter.

"I'll be back in a few hours mom okay? Just call if anything changes and I'll be back in a hurry." Jim states as he grabs the keys from his mother's hand. Stopping at the door for one last look at Joyce, Hopper reluctantly leaves her side.

—-

Hopper has to force himself to walk up the steps of his porch. He's not sure who washed Joyce's blood away from the wood beneath his feet, but the porch looks freshly cleaned and smells faintly of bleach. Carefully opening the front door, he walks inside, automatically sliding his boots off to leave by the rug. A light coming from the kitchen makes him stop and do a double-take. He figured his dad would be in bed at this time.

Walking to the kitchen, he finds his dad sitting at the table, Joyce's black box beside him. Countless pictures of Joyce's bruised and bloody body are scattered out in front of Greg who is sitting motionless, staring at a photo of Joyce pinched between his thumb and pointer finger.

"Dad?" Jim calls, walking into the kitchen. His voice brings Greg out of whatever thoughts are running through his head and he can tell his dad has been crying, the redness of his eyes proof.

"A one-time thing Jim?" He whispers, placing the photo back onto the table.

"You went to the tree house?" Jim questions from where he's standing.

"Yeah, the majority of her clothes and stuff are there. Then I realized that if she took all those pictures of the good times with you, she probably took them of the bad times as well. So I did some snooping and found this box. Also seen your .22 was off the rack. What was that about?"

"Joyce saw a flashlight in the woods one night. She knew it wasn't any of us, so she got it down just in case it was him." Jim admits as he takes a seat beside his father. They are quiet for a minute, Greg moving the photos in front of him around to look at the various stages of Joyce's tortured life.

"If I had told you, she would have stopped coming to the tree house dad. I couldn't let her stay at the trailer after everything he was doing to her. She made me promise not to say anything." Jim sighed.

Greg's hand suddenly slams down on the table, making him jump. "Do you see this Jim!? All of this could have been avoided the first god damn time if you would have just come to me for help! I could have arrested that son of a bitch and she wouldn't have been hurt like this!" Greg screams in anger. Anger that he's not sure is directed toward the kids or himself. "I've always suspected there was more, but I trusted you to tell me!"

"I was trying to protect her!" Jim counters, trying to keep his voice level. "What was I supposed to do? Tell you, have Travis arrested and then have the entire town talk about her? She gets enough of that shit at school as it is, why would I add even more to her plate?"

Letting his words sink in, Jim waits for his father to calm down. Finally, Greg speaks as he rubbed his temples.

"I don't know how she has survived all these years dealing with this. She must have been in constant pain. Not to mention she was keeping good grades in school and helping you out around here. I just…" Greg stops speaking, at a loss for words.

"She's too tough and stubborn for her own good dad, I know. I took all of those photos. You don't know how often I begged her to tell you or mom, or anybody who could help. But she insisted she didn't want to be a burden. No matter how many times I told her she wasn't." Jim finishes.

Sighing, Greg stands and makes his way over to the fridge. Pulling out two bottles of beer, he hands one to Jim, who carefully takes it in his hand.

"Oh come on Jim, if you can drink what was left of that Whiskey, then you can share a beer with your old man."

Jim nods before opening the beer with his shirt. Taking a sip, he makes a face and sits the bottle on the counter. Greg is trying his best not to laugh as he too sat back down.

"So if you took all of these photos, would you be able to help me make a timeline? I need to see if there are any patterns here, see how the beatings progressed." Greg states, moving the photos around so they aren't laying on top of each other.

"Do you think you'll be able to have him convicted dad?"

"With all this evidence, his priors and what happened today with Joyce, there's no way he's getting out of prison this time. The sooner we get everything in order, the sooner we can make him disappear."

—-

Pain. Everywhere, it's all Joyce can feel. She attempts to open her eyes, but only one of them follows her command. She tries to sit up to no avail and she starts to panic as memories of her father come flooding back to her. Somewhere, a beeping is becoming faster. A shuffle of feet come beside her.

"Joyce, honey it's okay, I'm here, you're safe." She hears Mary's familiar voice. Looking to her right, she sees the closest thing to a mother she has ever had. "You're in the hospital darlin, but everything is going to be okay. Just try not to move, you've got a lot of things holding you together. I'm going to go get the doctor, just sit tight." Joyce tries to speak, but her words come out in a hoarse mess.

"Shhhhh, don't speak honey, just save your energy, I'll be right back." In a flash Mary is out of her line of sight. Panicking, Joyce tries to take an inventory of her body.

An unfamiliar face came into her line of sight, making her heart rate increase. It's not until she sees Mary over the mystery man's shoulder, that Joyce realizes he's a doctor.

"Joyce, I'm doctor Perkins, I'm taking care of you this evening, can you follow my finger with your eyes?" Joyce does as she is asked, carefully following the doctor's finger. Reaching down, he takes Joyce's left hand in his.

"I need you to squeeze my hand as hard as you can, come on squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, there we go." He encourages as Joyce focuses what little strength she has into squeezing his hand.

"Alright, now I'm going to listen to your lungs is that okay? Squeeze my hand two times for yes." She squeezes twice, knowing he is just doing his job. Joyce jumps when the cold stethoscope touches her skin. The room is silent with the exception of their breathing.

"Good, alright Joyce, I know you're in pain and I promise we're going to give you a little something to help with that, but not as powerful as what you have been on okay? Now. Mrs. Hopper is still here with you, if you are in any discomfort, just give her hand a squeeze and she will get one of the nurses or myself." Joyce nodded, already feeling exhausted from the little movement she's done.

"Mom? Is she awake?" Jim's voice fills the room. Before Joyce can turn her head, he is at her side.

"Oh god, Joyce, I was so worried about you." He starts to cry as he leans down and places a kiss to her hair. His hand is gently touching her head and Joyce feels like she is going to cry in relief that he's okay.

Putting a straw to Joyce's lips, Hopper helps her drink.

"How long have I been here?" Her raspy voice barely above a whisper.

"Three days. I'm not gonna lie Joy, I thought I'd lost you." Hopper confesses, pulling a chair up beside the bed.

"What happened? Where's Travis? I remember jumping out of my window and running, and he was trying to follow me."

"You don't have to worry about him ever again darlin, Greg is taking care of everything now." Mary's voice comes from her other side.

Joyce starts to get that anxious feeling in her stomach. If Greg was handling everything that means the police were involved, which became a matter of public record. The whole town was going to know what happened.

"Joy it's okay, Dad had Judge Cooper seal the case file. No one is going to know anything we don't want them to." Hopper soothed, trying to keep her as calm as possible.

"Don't you worry bout a thing. We've got you Joyce. Now I'm going downstairs to get a cup of coffee, I'll be back in about thirty minutes or so." Mary informed the two as she got to her feet and patted Joyce on her knee.

When she's out the door, the tears Joyce has been holding back start to fall. Hopper was safe. Greg and Mary were safe, that was all she could ever ask for.

"Joyce what's wrong? Are you in pain?" Hopper frantically asks, already making his way to the door to grab a nurse.

"I'm fine Hop, can you just…can you hold me for a while, please?" Joyce questions, trying to scoot over in the hospital bed.

"I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Please Hop, I just want you close."

Giving in to what he knows is going to get him into trouble, Hopper agreed. Scooting Joyce over as carefully as he can, he crawls into bed with her. Laying on his side, he gently places one arm under Joyce's head, the other over her stomach.

"I don't know what I would have done if something worse would have happened to you." He whispers as Joyce sighs at the feel of him.

"I don't know what I would have done either Hop." She snuggles her head onto his shoulder, careful not to hurt her bruised face. Feeling completely safe for the first time she can remember, Joyce closed her eyes and just laid with him.

Mary, along with Greg, returned about an hour later wanting to give their kids as much time together as possible, so they had a quick lunch. Upon opening the door to Joyce's room, the Hoppers were struck with a beautiful sight. Jim and Joyce were fast asleep in bed. Jim's arms were protectively wrapped around Joyce, their hands folded together.

—-

A week passed before Joyce was able to return to the farm she called home. Obviously, all three Hopper's refused her pleas to stay in the tree house.

"Absolutely not young lady. There's no way for you to climb that ladder without hurting yourself and it's twenty six degrees outside! Not to mention we've already had flurries and it's on the second week of November! You're staying in the house and that's final."

Joyce waited until Mary's back was turned before she rolled her eyes. Catching Hopper smiling at her, Joyce cracked a painful grin herself.

"Will you at least let me help clean, or with chores or something? I feel useless just sitting here like a potato." She protested, not used to being babied.

"You can help by staying in the bed or on the couch. Jim only has one week left of school before Thanksgiving and then it's time to decorate for Christmas."

"Do you know if Dad is going to be participating in the Christmas parade this year?" Jim questioned, wanting to steer the conversation away from chores and cleaning.

"I figure he's going to, he's been keeping out of the public eye lately working on the case. It would do him some good to throw some candy and wave at the kids." Sliding a pancake on the plate in front of Joyce, Mary continues her spill about Thanksgiving menus and outdoor Christmas decorations.

It's a quarter till eight when Hopper stands up from the table. Joyce hates this time of the morning now. He leaves for school and she has to spend the next eight hours without him by her side.

"Come on Joyce it's not that bad, I'll be home before you know it. Besides, you get to hang out with mom. I'm super jealous honestly." He teases, placing his plate in the sink. Jim goes to Joyce's side, placing a quick kiss to her temple.

"Have a good day and I'll see you soon okay? Love you." He whispered into her ear, not wanting his mother to hear him say those words just yet. Joyce gives his hand a squeeze before mouthing those words back to him. She watches as he places a kiss on his mother's cheek before grabbing his keys and leaving for the day.

"Well Joyce, I'm just going to be piddling around the house today, you're more than welcome to sit down here or you can hang out in Jim's room, whatever you want to do." Mary makes small talk as she begins to wash the dishes from breakfast.

"If it's okay with you I may just lay in bed and read. Jim got a new book from the library for me and it's pretty amazing." Joyce grins, thinking about the blooming love of her current fictional interests.

"That's perfectly fine dear, if you need anything at all just yell for me okay?"

Joyce nods as she places her plate in the sink and heads up the steps. Maybe she can clean the bathroom or something upstairs when Mary isn't around.

—-

The drive to school for Hopper was a quiet one. It had been a little over a week since the fight between Joyce and Chrissy. Obviously, with a small town like Hawkins, gossip about fights was a continued topic for months. This would be his fourth day back at school when all he wanted to do was be at home with Joyce. Pulling into the student parking lot, Hopper noticed Chrissy's corvette, parked close to his usual spot. Guess Hawkins golden girl was back in her daddy's good graces. Throwing his truck in park, Hopper got out, adjusting his coat and ignoring the tiny snow flurries that had begun to fall.

His day went about like normal. Three classes, followed by lunch. He ignored the whispers as he walked the hallway and tried his best not to listen to the outrageous theories of why Joyce has yet to return to school. They varied from her being committed for beating the shit out of Chrissy, to her moving away from Hawkins. Grabbing a sandwich and a chocolate milk from the line, Hopper snuck out the back door of the cafeteria, a cigarette calling his name.

His and Joyce's spot under the bleachers was lonelier than ever and he missed her like crazy. More than any sane man should miss a woman who was barely seven miles down the road. Bringing a camel to his lips, he quickly inhaled, letting the smoke fill his lungs. The flurries that had been falling this morning had grown in size, becoming huge white snowflakes. Pulling the hood of his coat up around his neck, he crushed out his cigarette under his boot, dreading going to biology where he would have to sit with Chrissy and work on that stupid project.

He made it to class before she did. Taking his seat, he crossed his arms over his chest, already feeling the tension in his shoulders. When she walked in the room, Chrissy acted like she didn't have a care in the world and sat down beside Hopper, reapplying her pink lipstick.

Hopper felt her staring at him before she spoke.

"So that's it huh? You're just going to ignore me for days and not even apologize over what that boyfriend stealing whore did?" Chrissy asked loud enough for people directly around them to hear.

Rolling up the sleeves of his flannel, Hopper turned his body every so slightly to face Chrissy.

"There's nothing for me to apologize about. You were being a bitch and Joyce handed your ass to you on a silver platter."

He didn't miss the inhale of his classmates, all of which were waiting on Chrissy's response.

"You're seriously going to sit there and defend the trash Princess, who not only broke one of my teeth, but completely bruised my face and have the nerve to call me a bitch?" Her voice rose in volume.

"Yeah I am. Because you are. You've been harassing Joyce for six years. You all have been." He addressed his classmates. "When you broke her camera all that anger she's been holding in finally broke free. So yeah, I'm going to defend her. You're nothing but a bully Chrissy and in the end, karma always comes around. That goes for all of you." He stated before facing the front of the class, his hands folded on his chest. Their biology professor chose that moment to enter the classroom, silencing the whispers that were escaping from the mouths of his peers. Just one more hour and he would be heading back home to Joyce.

—-

Joyce stood at the front door, watching Mary drive down the driveway as she headed toward the grocery store for some last minute provisions in case the snow really started to come down. Joyce gave her an entire minute after pulling out onto the main road before she was making her way to the horse barn. If she wasn't allowed to do anything to help out while Mary was there, she would do what she could when she wasn't. Opening the barn door, Joyce greeted the horses, all of which would be needing a blanket on their backs tonight.

After rubbing four different noses, Joyce grabbed the brushes from the far wall and headed toward the first stall. She finished the first horse and ignored the exhaustion she was already feeling with such a little task.

A sudden chill ran down the back of her neck when she felt like she was being watched. Putting her back to the stall door, she searches the barn, looking for something she could use to defend herself with in her non dominant hand since her right arm was still useless. Finally her eyes landed on a hatchet and her heartbeat began to quicken. Her fight or flight reflex having a battle inside her body. The sound of quickly approaching footsteps met her ears and she raised the hatchet in front of her, ready to defend herself if necessary. Suddenly the barn door opens, revealing a very sleep deprived Greg.

"Jesus Joyce, what are you doing with that thing?" He asks stepping into the barn and closing the door to block out the weather. Greg notices her quick breathing and defensive posture. Holding his hands up in front of him, he takes a step back from her.

"It's okay, I'm sorry if I snuck up on you or anything. Just breath darlin." He instructs, not wanting her to go into a panic attack on his account. Joyce is still standing, hatchet at the ready.

"Joyce honey, you know I'm not going to hurt you. Just put the hatchet down, we can go back into the house and warm up a bit before dinner."

Joyce begins to take control of her breathing, her mind slowly coming back to her once more. She moved carefully, not trusting herself to outright lay the hatchet down.

"Mr. Hopper I'm so sorry." She begins to cry once her weapon of choice is safely on the ground. Greg's heart breaks for the broken girl in front of him and with his hands still up, he walks toward her, eventually pulling the girl into his arms. He breathes a sigh of relief when she returns the hug.

"Shhh it's okay honey, you have nothing to be sorry about. It's natural for you to be jumpy. It's just a sign that you've been stronger than you should have had to be."

A small groan escapes Joyce's lips when her shoulder starts to cause her discomfort from being held and Greg is quick to let her go.

"Come on darlin, lets get inside before Jim gets home." Greg says, leading Joyce away from the horse barn. Walking beside the man she considered a father, Joyce made her way back to the house just as Mary's car was pulling down the driveway.

"Let's keep this between me and you okay?" Greg states as Mary opens her car door.

"Please tell me she wasn't out trying to do chores?" Joyce hears Mary ask as she loads Greg's arms full of groceries.

"Nah darlin, she was just out walking around with me. I needed to check on the horses before the weather got too bad."

Mary eyes him suspiciously, but didn't say a word as Joyce holds open the front door, allowing The Hoppers to file into the kitchen and begin to unload the groceries. The sound of the front door opening again grabs Joyce's attention. Turning to the right, she sees Jim, a tired smile on his face.

"Hey everybody, what's going on?" He questions, making a beeline for Joyce's side. His hand is in hers in seconds, giving it two quick squeezes. I love you their code said. Joyce was so relieved to have him back at her side that she didn't notice the pile of school work he had placed on the table.

"These are for you. It should keep you occupied for a few hours at least." He grins, going to the fridge to grab some milk.

"Jim you better not drink out of that carton." Mary scolds from her spot near the sink where she's already starting to make dinner.

"Come on Joy, I can help you with your homework upstairs so we're not in moms way." Jim called, gathering Joyce's work in his hands. Once inside his room, he flopped down onto his bed.

"I never realized how much school sucks when I can't look forward to seeing you during the day." Hopper says to Joyce who was carefully sitting down at the foot of the bed.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad Hop, it's the same as every other day."

"But it wasn't. I kept catching myself looking for you in the hallway when I knew good and damn well you were here at home."

"At least you didn't have to worry about people making fun of me."

"I don't know if I'm going to have to worry about that anymore. Chrissy tried talking to me today and I set her straight. In front of the whole class." He said proudly.

"You did what!?" Joyce exclaimed, moving closer to his side. She watched as his hand reached for her and landed on her upper thigh, where he soothingly ran it up and down her jeans before speaking again.

"It was nothing Joyce I promise. You don't have to worry about anything." Hopper sat up, resting his back against the headboard of his bed. "Come here, it's been a long day and I just want to hold you for a little bit."

Not being able to resist his plea, Joyce moved the best she could into his arms and laid her head on his chest. After a few minutes, she slid her uninjured hand under his shirt and lightly raked her fingertips over his tight abs, sides and chest as she closed her eyes and just relaxed. They laid that way for a while, Joyce just allowing herself to feel the man she had been missing all day, finding the whole thing oddly soothing.

When she finally stopped her movements, Hopper pouted with a groan. She smiled and opened her eyes, instantly noticing the undeniable bulge pressed against his jeans.

"Seriously Hop?" She huffed playfully.

He didn't move, his eyes still closed. "What?"

"You choose now to get a hard on?"

He shifted and looked down at his pants, a smirk on his face. "Yep."

Joyce slapped his arm. "What if your parents walk in here?"

"Well what do you want me to do Joyce? Cut it off?" He asked, rolling his eyes with a laugh. "I can't help it. You touching me feels good, geez."

Joyce took it upon herself to really mess with him then, since he wanted to be a smart ass. Two could play that game. Doing something she'd never done before, she bit her lip and reached down, sliding the palm of her hand over the front of his jeans. The sudden movement caused him to jump and he was quick to put his hand over hers. Shocked at her for making such a bold move.

Swallowing, he attempted to find his voice. "Joyce…you…"

Joyce gave him a mischievous grin and squeezed her fingers around him harder, feeling him twitch. A flood of arousal shook through her body at how big and hard he was under her palm, the only thing separating their touch just a few layers of fabric.

Sucking in a breath, Hopper bit the inside of his cheek nervously. He was about to grab her chin and pull her in for a kiss when he heard someone on the stairs. "Stop, stop…" He choked out, caught off guard when she started moving her hand back and forth against him.

Quickly adjusting himself, he sat up more with his knees bent, watching his dad walk past the open door and toward his bedroom without giving them a second thought.

Hopper sighed, rubbing his hand through his hair. "Jesus Joyce. You can't tease me like that."

Joyce giggled, looking cute as hell curled around her pillow staring up at him. "Why not?" She blinked at him innocently.

Scooting down further so he was laying on his side, eye level with her, he brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Because one day I'm not going to stop you and I really don't want to come in my pants like a thirteen year old."

"You could just take your pants off you know…" Joyce raised her brow and grinned at the look he gave her.

Before she knew what was happening, Hopper squeezed her leg right above her knee, using just enough pressure to make it tickle. "Be careful what you ask for Joyce, because as soon as you're better, I'm going to have my way with you." He threatened playfully.

Joyce laughed and shoved his hand away. "Oh really?"

"Really." He smiled, leaning forward to give her a kiss.