It seemed that no matter how many times Joyce had been in the hospital, she still couldn't get used to the over sterile smell. As soon as she walked through the front doors it always seemed to hit her in the face with the force of a two hundred pound brick and made her cringe. Wrinkling her nose, she dutifully followed Mary and Greg through the winding hallways of the hospital, trying to remember the course they were taking by heart and completely giving up after the seventh turn in a few short moments. When it seemed like they'd walked two miles, Hopper's room finally came into view. Mary and Greg pushed open the door and immediately walked inside while Joyce hung back. She wasn't sure if she could face him, not yet. Her words from the barn still echoed in her head, making her feel like the worst person in the world.

"Where's Joyce?" Hopper's hoarse voice called out from the dimly lit room, making her heart ache to go to him.

Saying a quick prayer to whoever was looking out for her, she slowly entered the room, and nothing could have prepared her for seeing him this way. His entire leg was wrapped in a cast, IV's were sticking out of the tops of his hands, his face was covered with stubble from lack of shaving and she knew she was to blame for every bit of it.

"There she is!" Hopper exclaimed from his bed, instantly trying to sit up at the sight of her.

"Jim, Honey don't move, you're not strong enough yet." Mary insisted as she worryingly tried to get her son to lay back down.

"But I gotta see my girl mom." He giggled, swatting at her when she pushed on his shoulder.

"Since when did you start calling me your girl?" Joyce tiredly laughed and made her way to his bed, carefully sitting down beside him. "How are you feeling?" She asked, not sure if she should try and touch him or keep her hands in her lap.

Her brow raised when that shit-eating grin she loved so much graced his chapped lips. "Girl, I'm high as a kite right now." He chuckled, motioning to the red button on the side of his bed. "It's amazing Joyce, I start feeling pain and I just mash that button, then boom! Pain be gone!" He said dramatically.

"I'm glad to hear you're not hurting." She offered and finally reached out to touch his hand.

"I feel wonderful, but you know what would make me feel even better?"

"What's that?"

"A kiss from the hot girl that's sitting on my bed." He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows to emphasize his meaning.

"Calm down there tiger." Greg laughed at his son as Joyce leaned down and carefully placed a kiss to his lips.

"Much better. Now, what's for breakfast?" He asked and laid back in the bed, patting his stomach like a five-year-old.

"You've already had breakfast," Mary commented, trying her best to hide the smile on her face.

"Well, what about a second breakfast, or whatever those hobbit guys said?" This caused the room to erupt in laughter, but the moment was quickly interrupted by a nurse knocking on the door.

"Hey everyone, sorry to barge in, but it's time to take Jim's vitals and give him a quick sponge bath."

Joyce frowned slightly and looked back at Hopper whose eyes had started to droop with the effects of his pain meds. "I have to get to school anyway Honey. I'll come back tonight okay?"

"Don't go." He pouted quietly.

Quickly leaning in to place a soft kiss to his forehead, Joyce stood from the bed and made a beeline for the door, not having the strength to look back as she forced herself down the hallway to wait for Mary and Greg. If Hopper was so high off his medication he could be flirty, how was he going to be without the drugs? How would he be once he remembered exactly why he was there in the first place? A million questions started plaguing her as Mary entered the hallway alone, instantly coming to her side.

"Come on Darlin', we need to get going. Greg's going to stay here with Jim for a while before he heads to work."

Joyce nodded and allowed Mary to lead her back through the maze of the hospital, and out into the parking lot where she felt herself breathe deep for the first time since her and Hopper's fight.

00000

"Thanks for dropping me off." Joyce mumbled as she grabbed her bag from the floorboard, her voice full of exhaustion. The visit with Hopper half an hour ago still had her stomach in knots, leaving her wondering if they were ever going to fix the uneasiness she could feel between them.

"Joyce?" Mary called from beside her, reaching out to touch her shoulder gently. "Everything is going to be okay Honey, I promise."

Joyce frowned and opened her door, giving Mary one last glance before slipping out of the car. "I hope you're right." She whispered and slammed the door shut, starting a slow pace toward the side entrance of the school.

"Joyce! Joyce, wait up!" A familiar voice shrieked from across the parking lot as she made her way down the stairs leading to the covered sidewalk along the building.

Shutting her eyes with a sigh, Joyce stalled and waited for Karen to catch up as she leaned against the brick wall. She hadn't spoken to her or Benny since they parted ways after her and Hopper's fight at the tree house, and to say she wasn't still embarrassed about the entire situation would be a lie.

"Karen, I'm so sorry I never called you-" She started to apologize, getting cut off when arms flung around her neck and smothered her face into a shoulder.

"Shhh, you don't have to explain anything to me," Karen said into her hair. "I'm just glad to see you. Where were you yesterday? Where's Jim?"

Joyce swallowed and awkwardly crossed her arms over her chest when Karen let her go to look around as if Hopper would magically appear.

"He um...he's in the hospital…" She stammered, feeling guilty.

"What!? What happened?" It was Benny who spoke this time as he came up behind Karen.

"One of the horses kicked him...we were arguing and he got scared... I'm sorry, I would have called, but there's been so much going on." Choosing to avoid their eyes, Joyce stared at her shoes, shifting her weight back and forth uncomfortably. "I'm also sorry about what happened at the tree house, you must think I'm a horrible per-"

"I already told you that you didn't have to explain anything to me," Karen said gently, giving her a second to catch her breath. "Is Jim okay?"

Joyce shrugged, her hand unconsciously pulling on a strand of her hair. "He broke several bones in his knee and has to wear a cast for the next few months, but the doctor said within a year or two he'll be back to normal."

"That's good then, right?" Benny said. "I mean, I know it's going to suck for a while, but it could have been worse."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Joyce adjusted her bag as she pushed away from the wall and started walking with them toward the entrance she'd originally been aiming for. Neither of them would understand her guilt, so she thought it best to keep her emotions pushed to the furthest part of her mind in an attempt to make it through the day without having a breakdown.

"Do you think we can go visit him?" Benny asked, his fingers wrapping around the door handle to open it for them.

Joyce eyed Benny over her shoulder as he followed her and Karen inside. "He'll be home later this week if you'd rather come to the house. They've had him on so many drugs the past few days that all he really does is sleep. He was pretty out of it when I saw him this morning."

Benny gave her a nod. "Send him our love for now then." He smirked playfully, bumping her arm with his elbow.

Joyce forced a small smile and leaned into Karen's side as they winded through the crowded hallway.

"No dress today Horowitz? What a shame." A crude voice sneered its way through the rest of the chatter around them right into Joyce's chest. Her breath caught as if she'd physically been hit when she took in the sight of Brandon and several other boys on the baseball team standing around the water fountain. His brow raised when they made eye contact. "And no dopey boyfriend hanging off your arm? Jim get sent to the jungle already?" He laughed.

The feel of a hand sliding across her back kept Joyce from saying something she'd regret as Benny pulled her against him briefly to shift their positions, placing her between him and Karen. He continued to lead them to their lockers until Brandon mumbled something under his breath, making him tense.

"Benny don't," Karen said, quickly grabbing his wrist when he dropped his arm from around Joyce. "You're giving him exactly what he wants."

Benny's jaw clenched and his hand balled into a fist, his body preparing for a fight Joyce hoped wouldn't come. More laughs drifted down the hall from the small group of boys, words of 'being pussy whipped by two girls' causing a heat of anger to creep up his neck.

"Honey, look at me." Karen pleaded, her hand moving from his wrist to his cheek. "Walk away."

Benny shifted his stance after a moment and growled. "Fucking asshole." He turned on his heel, looking defeated as he rounded the corner to his locker.

Joyce followed beside him, watching as he yanked the locker door open with more force than necessary. "Don't let him get to you."

Benny huffed and shoved a book he'd been looking for into his bag. "How does that not bother you?" He bit out, calming some when Karen wrapped her arms around his waist.

"It does, but it's not worth letting him win. Jim smashing his face into a table obviously didn't get the message across, what makes you think he'd listen to anything you or I had to say?"

"A fist to the face cleared things up pretty damn quick for me when-" Benny slipped, immediately silencing himself when he realized what he said.

Joyce sighed and rubbed a hand through her hair at the reminder. "You and him are not the same."

"I'm-"

"No." Joyce interrupted, moving to stand directly in front of him. "Your past isn't a secret Benny. I remember very vividly the things you said to me over the years."

Benny cringed at this.

"I remember all the things Brandon has said to me over the years as well. I remember all the terrible things this entire school has done to me. But the difference is, you're the only one that's apologized for any of it. You're the only one that's actually tried to make amends and show me that you're not that person anymore."

Joyce watched his Adam's apple bob, his eyes dropping to the floor.

"I know you still carry around a lot of guilt for what happened, but I forgave you. I need you to remember that."

"Okay..." He whispered, not sure what else to say.

00000

The mummers that had begun to circulate around the campus seemed to have come to a head as Joyce sat down at her usual lunch table by herself. Benny was probably catching a smoke before lunch, which meant Karen would more than likely be at his side.

Slowly unwrapping the sandwich Mary had made for her this morning, she attempted a bite, but found that it tasted like dust in her mouth. Which was no fault on Mary's part. With how the last few days had played out, she wasn't at all surprised when even food failed to bring her some sort of satisfaction.

"Mind if I sit?" A familiar voice asked, causing her to lift her head to see Lonnie standing a few feet away with his hands in the back pocket of his jeans staring at her.

"Sure." Joyce motioned for him to sit in front of her, and he wasted no time in making himself comfortable.

"I heard what happened to Jim. How's he doing?"

"I saw him this morning and he was so high he actually said a quote from Lord of the Rings." Joyce giggled, still picking at her sandwich.

"Jim quoting something from a book? Yeah, they have him on the good stuff then." Lonnie smiled and reached into the pocket of his denim jacket, her eyes following his hand with a curious expression when he pulled out a stick of gum. "It's not the nicotine I miss, but having something to do with my hands." He admitted as he popped the pink mass into his mouth and began to fold and refold the wrapper between his fingers.

"You're quitting? Well good for you!" Joyce congratulated him, reaching out to give his forearm a light squeeze.

"Not by choice I can tell you that. I figured it would be easier to quit now than at boot camp. I don't exactly want to be having withdrawals and getting my ass handed to me by a drill sergeant at the same time."

"Oh shit Lonnie, I'm so sorry. I completely forgot about you getting drafted too... I feel like such an asshole now."

Lonnie shook his head and leaned forward in his chair, his elbows resting on the table. "Don't be sorry Joyce, you're not the one who's forcing me to leave the wonderful town of Hawkins to fight in a pointless war in the middle of nowhere."

"I know, but still, I need to make sure my friends are taken care of."

This brought another smile to his lips. "You got enough going on right now, don't worry about little old me."

"Who's worrying about who?" Benny asked as he slid into the seat next to Lonnie, giving him a punch to the shoulder. Karen took the seat next to Joyce and grabbed a piece of the shredded sandwich in front of her before popping it into her mouth.

"Just Joyce being Joyce and worrying about everyone but herself." Lonnie chuckled and grabbed another piece of gum from his jacket when the scent of Benny's freshly smoked cigarette hit his nostrils and made him twitch.

"How's the no-smoking thing going? You caved yet?" Benny asked, also stealing a strip of Joyce's sandwich. He remembered Lonnie mentioning quitting a few days ago, and from the amount of gum he seemed to be chewing, it didn't seem to be going as easy as he'd hoped.

"Not yet, but I'm jonesing like you wouldn't believe. I wish there was some kind of patch or something that could dose you with a full cigarette and slowly wean you down to nothing." Lonnie stated as he once again folded the newest wrapper between his fingers.

"Yeah good luck with that. Might be waiting well into the 90's before something that futuristic comes around."

"Hey, you never know. It could happen." Joyce piped up. "They could also have phones that you can carry around in your pocket."

"Did you happen to get into Jim's pain meds before you came here?" Benny laughed as he turned to Lonnie and began conversing about whatever sports game had happened last night. The mention of Hopper's medicine reminded her that while she was in the cafeteria, laughing with her friends, that Hopper was laid up in the hospital in who knew how much pain. The thought turned her stomach, causing her to push what was left of her lunch in front of Karen to finish.

00000

When the bell rang signaling the end of the school day, Joyce groggily made her way to the office to gather the work that Hopper would be missing over the next week. Obviously the story about his accident had made its rounds, at least with the faculty. Walking into the office, she was greeted by the secretary who immediately stood and tentatively pulled her into an awkward, quick, hug.

"Miss Horowitz, how are you holding up? How is Jim?" The secretary asked in a rushed breath as she let Joyce out of her embrace.

"He's going to be okay as far as we know. It'll just take some time for him to recover. I'm going to the hospital once I get all of his work, figured it would give him something to do besides watching all those soap operas during the day."

This earned a laugh from the older woman who quickly flowed back behind her desk and picked up several, thick, manila folders. "This should keep him occupied at least for the rest of the week. Just bring back what he finishes when you can and I'll make sure it gets put into his teacher's boxes".

"Oh...thank you." Joyce said with a raised brow at the amount of work and carefully took the folders from the woman.

The secretary nodded and took her seat to answer a perfectly timed phone call. Stuffing the numerous folders into her book bag, Joyce made a beeline for the office door, trying to get out of the building as quickly as possible.

The sight of Greg sitting on the tailgate of Hopper's truck in the same place Mary had dropped her off that morning surprised her as she slowly made her way across the parking lot. The man who had claimed her as his own was swinging his feet back and forth like a child, lost in deep thought, and startled when Joyce climbed up onto the tailgate to sit beside him.

"Hey Darlin', how was school?" He asked, shifting slightly to face her.

"Oh you know, stress, bullies, and talk about the end of the year, the usual." She said with a sigh.

Greg frowned at the mention of bullies. "Who's doing it this time? I can't personally kick their ass, but I have a few deputies that still need to be initiated to the force." He smiled as he put his arm around her back, pulling her into a one-arm hug.

Joyce sighed and leaned her head onto his shoulder. "Just Brandon."

"That Steven Greenes boy? The same one from the diner? " Greg asked, getting a nod from her in response. "Figured he would be a dick just like his dad."

Joyce tried to hold back a laugh. She hardly ever heard him say a word that would be considered inappropriate, and naturally when he did it always made her giggle.

"You ready to go to the hospital and see our boy?"

Without hesitation, she jumped down and grabbed her bag, sliding into the passenger side of the cab as Greg slammed the tailgate shut.

"How has he been today?" She asked once he'd turned the engine over.

"He's still in and out. They have him on some pretty strong pain meds, but I figure him resting most of the time right now isn't necessarily a bad thing." Greg confirmed as he pulled out into traffic.

"I got most of the assignments he's going to miss the next few days. At the very least it'll give him something to do when he's actually awake." After settling her bag in the floor between her feet, she lifted her eyes and caught sight of her picture on the dash, remembering they weren't in his Blazer. "Why are you driving Jim's truck?"

"I was wondering when you were gonna ask that. It's been a while since I drove this old girl and figured I needed to get a feel for her again. I'm going back to work next week, and with everything that's happened with Jim, I thought it would be a good idea if we got started on getting your license. Obviously, you won't have to go anywhere you don't want to besides school, but figured the sooner the better. Is that okay with you Darlin'?"

Joyce nodded, knowing she would have to step up with Hopper being out of commission. Chores were going to double up, both in and out of the house, schoolwork and exams were getting more difficult as they neared the end of the year, and still worrying herself about the draft was going to be mentally and physically exhausting, but she could do this. "Yeah dad, that would be great actually."

"Good, we can start this weekend if you'd like. Drive around the farm a bit before we take her out on the main road."

"Okay." She whispered, trying to keep the nervousness she felt out of her voice.

Greg squeezed her knee lightly for encouragement and turned his eyes back to the road, throwing up two-fingers in a way of greeting at an oncoming truck. Joyce leaned her head against the cool glass of the passenger window and prayed that she would be able to fill the shoes that had been placed in front of her. The last thing she wanted to do was let down the only family she'd ever had.

00000

Hopper was ecstatic when Joyce walked through the door of his room, but his smile dropped almost instantly when she placed the stack of manila folders onto his bedside table.

"The teachers say they hope you feel better soon." She giggled at the look on his face and leaned down to place a kiss on his forehead.

"Gee thanks. I don't see how I'm not back on my feet already with all these good wishes." He commented sarcastically as Joyce pulled a chair closer to his bedside and took a seat.

"What have the doctors said today?"

"That I should be able to go home tomorrow. But I'll be stuck with this for at least ten to twelve weeks." He sighed and knocked on the hard cast that ran from the middle of his thigh all the way down to his toes. "They suggested that I invest in a good yardstick or clothes hanger because I'm going to be itching like crazy once it begins to heal. I'm also going to need physical therapy for about six months once it's gone."

Joyce felt her heart sink. "Honey I am so sorry I did this to you."

"I didn't realize you were a horse who could kick like a son of a bitch." He teased, trying to bring back the smile she entered the room with.

"You know what I mean Hop. If I hadn't made you upset, Clyde wouldn't have kicked you and you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"It's fine honey. I'll be back to normal in no time, I promise. I just might need a bit of your help over the next few weeks with getting dressed and taking showers since I'd rather no one else see my dick if you know what I'm saying." He chuckled with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

Finally cracking a small smile, she rolled her eyes. "How long ago did you hit your magical red button? Ten, fifteen minutes ago?"

"Something like that" He grinned, moving to take her hand into his own.

Knowing his meds made him drowsy and he wouldn't be able to stay awake for very long, she kissed his knuckles and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "Why don't you get you some rest and I'll see you in the morning."

"Stay with me until I fall asleep?"

"Of course."

"Joyce?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you to the shire and back."

Letting out a soft giggle, Joyce once again kissed his hand. "I love you too Hop."