The sound of a phone ringing woke Eddie from his slumber the next morning. Turning over in bed, he noticed the sun was already shining bright in the sky and the clock on the bedside table read 10:43 just as he heard Nora answer the phone one the floor below.

Reluctantly getting out of bed, he padded across the the room and out into the corridor to the bathroom, making sure to keep an ear on the woman's conversation to ensure she didn't catch him walking around in just his underwear. Or rather, Nora's shorts that she had passed him the night before once Hopper and El had left, apologising for not having washed his clothes yet and assuring him she would do it today. Once his bladder was emptied and teeth brushed, he made his way back into his room, rifling through the small stack of clothes Nora had left him, ultimately deciding on a KISS shirt and another pair of Hopper's jeans that he had dropped off specifically for Eddie.

He made his way down the stairs, rubbing his eyes and returning Nora's grin as he walked past her and into the kitchen.

"Yes, I'm afraid I've had an accident so I've been banned from driving for the next few days." He heard her say as he grabbed the milk from the fridge to fill his bowl of cereal and started the coffee machine. The young woman laughed lightly at something the other person said and his eyes flicked to her. "Exactly, you know what they're like! The doctor said I would be fine, it's nothing to worry about, but Hop has me on house arrest. I'm working on the last few details of your order today and I'll have it delivered just as soon as I get my car keys back."

Unlike him, she was already fully awake and looked like she had been for a while. There wasn't a trace of tiredness in her eyes, no bags under her eyes, her hair was in a bun and clean bandages and Band-Aids covered her injuries. She didn't look anything close to how he expected after she had expended all that energy the day before saving them from the Flyers.

Eddie was deep into his breakfast when she ended the call with a cheerful goodbye. As soon as the call was over, the smile dropped off her face and she sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before walking towards him. Her smile returned when she looked at him, greeting him good morning and placing a soft hand on his shoulder when she walked past. Preferring to stay silent before he had his morning coffee, he reached a hand up to brush his fingers over hers before they disappeared, his gaze following her as she went to grab a bottle of water.

She was gone soon after, leaving him to his breakfast while she disappeared into her basement to work. Before long, music drifted through the door of her workshop and she would occasionally sing along, causing him to smile into his coffee as she belted the lyrics to Love Grows. She was an alright singer, he thought, and he could almost hear the grin in her voice as she sang.

Deciding to satiate his curiosity, the young man placed his bowl and mug into the sink and made his way to the basement door, opening it slowly and making his way down the stairs, lips curling over his teeth as he beamed at the sight before him.

Nora was sat cross legged on the ground in front of a beautiful dinner table that had intricate carvings running down its legs, running polish over it with a paint brush. The song had since changed and as the chorus to Now I'm a Believer came on, she closed her eyes tightly and threw her head back, pointing up at the ceiling with the brush, not noticing or not caring about the splatters of polish dripping everywhere as she bellowed out the lyrics with a wide grin. His laugh sounded around the room and Nora was jolted back to reality, turning to him in surprise before she began laughing with him, her eyes glittering as he approached.

"So this is the kind of music you're into?" He asked, taking a seat at her desk since it was unoccupied.

Nora shrugged in response, turning back to her table and continuing to polish it. "I like a bit of everything. Anything you can dance to, really. After the day we had yesterday, I thought I needed something to lift my spirits."

Eddie's smile faded and he turned serious, eyes roving over her body as if trying to see the wounds hidden under her clothes. There were plasters on her face covering the more minor cuts and she had a nice shiner on her chin, and a bandage peeked out of her sleeve at her shoulder, but the others were of course invisible.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

She didn't turn away from her project, concentrating on the path the brush took.

"I'm fine. Well rested. I feel like I've slept for a year. I'd only ever used that much power once before and it took a lot out of me."

"And your injuries?"

Once again she shrugged, still not looking at him. "They're alright. Pinch a little but Hopper stitched me up well."

Nodding, Eddie agreed to let the subject go, trusting that if she needed anything she would tell him. Instead he inspected the room, having been too focused on Nora the day before to look at the pieces she wasn't working on at that time.

On the desk there were multiple completed figurines, including the angel from from yesterday. He also noticed more rings like the one he wore; some large and bulky like his and some smaller, more simple circles of polished wood with intricate engravings around them. In various corners of the room were larger pieces: chairs, large vase-like containers, a Ouija board and other works that had been paused too early in their creation for him to be sure of what they were.

"Eleven?"

The woman's voice brought Eddie's attention back to her to find her staring at a spot in front of her, frowning slightly with her head tilted to the side.

"I'm alright." She said, and the young man's eyebrows creased in confusion.

He leaned forward and waved a hand in her direction. "Nora?"

Her eyes flicked to him but quickly returned to their previous position, staring at nothing.

"You're going today? ... Alright, keep me updated. Stay safe. I love you."

He could tell when whatever had happened stopped as her eyes fell to her lap, her teeth clenched and her grip on the paintbrush tightened. Before he had the chance to say anything though, question her on what was going on, she tossed the brush over her shoulder and let her head fall into her hands with a shaky breath.

"Nora?" The man asked hesitantly. "What's wrong?"

Lifting her head suddenly with a great and obviously fake smile, she reached back to grab her discarded brush and returning to her work after she blew a strand of hair out of her face.

"Nothing! Everything is great! Just a message from El."

"Wait, you can - you can talk telepathically?"

This was news to Eddie, as far as he had been told the girl's powers stopped at telekinesis, he didn't know she could read minds! And how far away was she? Could she reach out to anyone across town? The young man's question and bewilderment drew a genuine smile from Nora and he mentally patted his back, brought back from his frantic thoughts at the sight.

"Not quite." She responded. "On top of the telekinesis she does this thing where she can locate anyone in the world as long as she knows what they look like. In her mind she says it looks like complete black nothingness and there's just herself and the person she's looking for. The better she knows the person, the higher likelihood there is of them hearing her too from that place. It only works on a few people."

That sounded a lot like telepathy to Eddie, but he supposed she couldn't really read their thoughts... more like appear like a ghost at their side? And all over the world! That was mind boggling.

"What did she say?"

Nora's smile once again faded and he could practically see her vision tunnel to only include the table leg in front of her. Her expression had closed off and he couldn't read anything from her blank face.

"Hop is taking her to close the gates."

And therefore ruining Nora's chance at going back to fight Vecna, Eddie concluded.

At that moment the song changed once again and he decided to change the subject. She had said she wanted feel-good music, implying she wasn't necessarily feeling good at the moment and the last thing he wanted was to make it worse.

Raising an eyebrow at the young woman, he let the vocalist start singing the first lines of I Want To Know What Love Is before he spoke.

"You call this dancing music?" He asked, eyes glittering with humour.

As he had hoped, the young woman's expression lightened at the change of subject and she huffed a laugh, slouching a little as she reached the bottom of the leg.

"You can dance to it, just not alone."

Well, that sounded like an invitation if he had ever heard one. Smirking, he rose from his chair and took a few steps forward, until he was just in front of her and she had to crane her neck up to look at him. She froze when he held a hand out, eyes wide and mouth parted and he may have been hallucinating but he could swear her pupils dilated when he grinned down at her.

"Well then in that case, may I have this dance, darling?"

Swallowing thickly, she glanced down at the brush in her hand. "I'm working." She protested, but still put it down and clasped his hand, allowing him to pull her to her feet.

She smiled as he stepped closer, snaking an arm around her waist gently to avoid aggravating her injuries and they began swaying to the music. His heart stuttered at the contact and his stomach fluttered as she stared into his eyes and refused to look away, hooking her arm around his neck and resting a hand on his far shoulder as he moved them slowly.

Maybe it was the suddenly lighter mood, maybe it was the incredibly intimate moment they were sharing, or maybe it was because he knew that if she simply held him in her arms like this he would tell her anything she wanted to know, but he decided to address an important issue.

Twirling her and pulling her back to him, he revelled in her laugh before he risked ruining everything.

"I know why you wanted me to go first when we were at the gate." He admitted quietly, not taking his eyes off hers even as the sparkle of glee dimmed. "And I know why you're upset they're closing the gates now."

While she was no longer smiling, she didn't move away nor did she shut the conversation down, and they kept dancing closely.

"Yeah?" She licked her lips, and Eddie couldn't help the way his eyes tracked the movement before returning to hers. "What of it? It's irrelevant now, isn't it?"

"You really would have gone off alone?" The young man asked, keeping his voice at the same quiet level, as if speaking louder would break this connection they had. "Let us all come back from the Upside Down without you? You think we would have left you to die?"

"I did." She confessed. "Which was stupid of me. I know Steve and Robin well enough to know they would never have done that."

"And me?"

She tilted her head to the side, still looking at him with those solemn green eyes. "You came after me, didn't you? When I was drowning."

"Yeah." Eddie smiled down at her softly. "I did. And I would again, just like everyone else. I know this is personal for you, Nora, but I speak for everyone when I say we're with you the whole way. Whether that's traipsing through the forest and crossing gates into alternate dimensions or stuck on house arrest. Alright?"

Grinning, the young woman tightened her grip on his shoulder slightly. "Alright."

"So you won't go off alone on anymore suicide missions?"

"Promise."

"Good."

And then something changed. He couldn't tell what it was, but he was suddenly very aware of how close they were, how warm her body felt against his, how her eyes kept darting down to his lips just like his did to her. Before he could talk himself out of it, he was leaning his head forward, closing the space slowly to give her time to pull back, to say no, to do something to let him know that this wasn't what she wanted.

But she didn't. And then the phone rang.

Jerking back at the sudden interruption, Nora felt a blush creep along her cheeks as the pink haze faded from her mind. All thoughts of just Eddie, Eddie, Eddie disappeared and her eyes darted back and forth between him and the door. He had stilled, pulling his head back too as he watched her, waiting to see what she would do. She didn't want to, she wanted to stay here in this moment, but with the lack of walkies the telephone was the only method of communication the Party had and it could be important.

"I - I have to -"

She couldn't even form a full sentence but Eddie understood, and though she could tell he was disappointed, he wasn't upset. He smiled and stepped back, dropping his arms at his side. Running up the stairs, she could feel his eyes on her until she crossed the threshold of the basement, dismay growing in her chest the further away she got.

"Hello, Nora speaking!"

Her voice was cheery and welcoming in case it was a customer calling, but she was internally screaming at the person on the other end of the line to make it quick so she could go back down there and jump him.

"Nora, it's Hop."

"Oh, hi Hop, what's up?"

"Listen," he began, and she instantly knew that she was not going back down to that basement. "we need your help with these gates. They're fighting back and - El can do it, but we have three of these things to get rid of and I don't want the first one to tire her out, you know? Are you feeling better? Think you can help us out?"

"Yeah, no of course! Which one are you at, I'll meet you." She responded, trying not to let her frustration sound through the phone.

"We're on Keeley Road, where Fred died."

"Alright, I'll be there in 20."

"Thanks, Nora, you're a sweetheart. Bye."

The line ended and Nora sighed, keeping the phone to her ear as she slowly leant her head against the wall, closing her eyes and trying to get a grip on herself. It was fine. These gates needed to be closed and Eddie was living with her for the foreseeable future, she would have all the time in the world with him. She would be gone a few hours at most!

"You need to leave?"

Spinning around, the young woman saw the occupant of her thoughts leaning against the doorframe, looking at her with those big doe eyes. God, she wanted to kiss him. Shaking her head slightly to clear her thoughts, she sent an apologetic look his way.

"Yeah, El needs help with the gates."

Eddie nodded, crossing his arms and watching her run to get her car keys. She was halfway to the garage when she stopped and turned to look at him, biting her lip in consideration. The matter of potential unrequited feelings was resolved, he had moved to kiss her downstairs on his own, she hadn't done anything to precipitate that, and she would only be gone a few hours.

Nodding resolutely, Nora gripped her keys tightly in her hands and strode over to the object of her affection, a determined look on her face that had him straightening from where he had been previously leant against the door. She didn't wait, she didn't stop, she just pushed herself into his space and lifted herself onto her toes, pressing her lips against his urgently.

He responded immediately, arms snaking around her waist to pull her closer to him in a much more satisfying version of their earlier position, his lips pushing against her just as hard and hers. It was like her chest had exploded, she was short of breath and felt warm all over, and it was the most amazing feeling she had ever had. They fought for dominance, lips colliding passionately and she whimpered when his tongue made an appearance, pushing gently as if asking for entrance. She allowed it eagerly, pushing her own tongue forward to tangle with his while her hand went to the curls at the base of his neck.

They separated eventually; slowly, reluctantly, just resting their foreheads against each other and breathing heavily as their stared into each other's eyes.

"You have to go." Eddie whispered after a few moments, and Nora nodded.

"I have to go." She agreed.

Another moment passed and neither of them moved, until finally the young woman placed another kiss on his lips, this one shorter and more chaste - and oh so sweet - before she turned and left the room without a backwards look.

Her heart was beating fast, rabbiting in her chest and she had to bite her lip to keep from smiling for the entire ride. It took 15 minutes to reach the block in the road and she had to walk the rest of the way, shouting and raising an arm when her family came into view, stood by Hopper's police truck.

They met her half way and greeted her with hugs which she returned happily, still soaring high from the kiss.

"Hi Nora." Eleven welcomed, smiling up at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Good." Great, amazing, overjoyed, like I'm floating "I'm feeling better. Thanks for taking care of me last night."

"Yeah? You look better." Hopper remarked, watching her with a critical eye.

Blushing at the thought of the observant Chief of Police knowing what had happened barely a half hour ago, what she had done, why her eyes were sparkling with happiness, Nora cleared her throat and broke eye contact, turning instead to stare down the road at where the gate was.

"You said it's fighting back?"

El nodded, taking her hand and leading her away, towards the glowing tear in the asphalt.

"Yes, I can close the gate but it would take too much energy to close it and hold the vines back at three different places."

"Not a problem, I'm happy to help." The woman reassured before twisting her neck to look at their father figure. "Do you have diving gear for the lake gate?"

"Can't she do it from the boat?"

Shaking her head, Nora came to a stop by the gate. "No it's too deep."

"Alright, I'll arrange to have the gear brought in. It might take a day or two, though." Hopper sighed.

Closing the gate wasn't difficult. Eleven was positioned at one point of the crack and Nora at the other. They nodded at each other and the youngest held her hand out, scrunching her eyebrows in concentration. Instantly, the edges began to creep closer to each other and vines slithered out of the portal, snaking their way towards the girl, only to screech and retreat when Nora threw fireball after fireball at them.

Overall, it took less time than the ride over.

Hopper made the young woman stop by his truck to feed them both cereal bars, insisting on keeping their energy up, especially considering the state Nora had put herself in the day before. She may have eaten plenty and had a good night's sleep since then but she knew he worried about them and allowed him to stuff her hands full of food until he was satisfied.

It was almost an hour later that they made it to the trailer park where Eddie lived. It was still boarded up and secured and Hopper had to unlock the heavy chain and padlock at the door before they could go in.

Suddenly, a door slammed not too far away and the trio turned as one to see Billy storming his way across the yard towards them. He looked furious, the snarl on his face reminiscent of the days before his possession when he would lash out at everyone, and Hopper moved forward to intercept him with a hand on his chest.

"What the hell are you doing?" He growled, staring straight at El. Nora stepped forward slightly to shield her from his gaze, even as Hop shifted his own body. "What have you done!?"

"What are you talking about Billy?"

"She did something!" The man growled, pointing over the Chief's shoulder. "I can feel it!"

"Yeah, we closed a gate, what do you mean you can feel it?" Hopper asked urgently, but the other ignored him, continuing to stare straight at the girls. "Hey! Look at me! Billy - what do you mean? How can you feel it?"

Finally hearing the older man's words, Billy jolted to attention, the angry expression on his face being replaced by confusion. He frowned in thought and shook his head slightly.

"I don't - I'm not sure." He said. "I just - it's like - like last year when that thing was in my head. There's just... anger and frustration."

Nora and El exchanged a look, remembering the days when they were chasing Billy all over town trying to stop him from killing someone, only to have the chase reversed and have to run for their lives as if they were prey being hunted. But that was the Mind Flayer, that had nothing to do with Vecna, so why was Billy feeling like this?

"Ok, alright. And do you feel like doing something you don't want to do, right now?" Hopper continued.

"No. No, just, feelings - emotions in the back of my head."

"Alright. Here's what I want you to do, ok?" Hop placed both his hands on the young man's shoulders and hunched slightly to look him in the eye. "I want you to go home, look the door and put some music on until you calm down, alright? You don't come out, you don't come near Munson's place, you hear?"

Nodding, Billy shot one last look at the trailer behind them and the girls on the stoop before turning away, trudging back to his own home. The trio watched him go until the door closed behind him, and the Chief turned to them with his arms on his hips.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but Vecna doesn't have the ability to possess people or make them feel things that aren't theirs, right?"

Nora shook her head slowly, thinking back to her earlier years back in the lab. "He didn't, no. It has been years since then so possibly, but I doubt it."

"The Mind Flayer can." El added, looking up at them both. "And he has a connection with Billy already."

"Yeah, just what I thought." Hopper sighed, kicking the ground with his foot. "So, we're dealing with the Mind Flayer now? What, Vecna's just another puppet that he's controlling?"

"Dustin asked why Vecna wasn't here before." The youngest pointed out.

"Right, and if this is the Mind Flayer, it could be because he didn't think he'd have to bring out the big guns. Maybe Vecna's only doing this because the Demodog army and the piece that came out of Will weren't enough."

"No." Nora interrupted. She was stood stiff on Eddie's porch, face pinched with anger as she listened to them debate. "Number 1 doesn't need an excuse to kill people, he does that fine on his own."

Sensing that this was perhaps not something that she wanted to argue about, Vecna and his past being a sensitive subject, Hopper just exchanged a glance with El and nodded his head slowly.

"Alright, well, whatever is going on, if Billy was feeling anger then you can expect this gate to put up a bigger fight, so get ready."

"Have any of us actually considered what we're going to do once the gates are closed?" Nora asked as the man stepped around her to get to the door. "I mean that's not going to stop Vecna. It's just going to prevent us from reaching him and stopping this once and for all."

"It'll also stop the Mind Flayer from sending whatever the hell he wants into Hawkins to kill us all. I guess this is why you wanted to get to that gate yesterday, huh?"

"It did occur to me." She admitted as the door finally opened and they stepped inside.

Now, Nora had never actually been to Eddie's trailer, but she imagined that it didn't quite look like this before Chrissy's death. The now familiar image of the gate was above them on the ceiling of the lounge and thick winding vines had poured out of it and completely overtaken the room. There wasn't a single space of clear floor, the furniture was covered and the vegetations slithered slowly, constantly moving, reminding the woman of millions of snakes just slithering around her feet.

"Yeah well, that's one of the reasons I'm closing the gates." Hopper replied, lowering his voice as he stepped gingerly into the room.

The vines didn't react to his presence and the girls stepped in hesitantly behind him, Nora shuddering at the sight of them.

"You don't have to worry about that. I promised Eddie I wouldn't go alone."

"Eddie, huh?"

The man glanced back at her with a raised eyebrow and she tried to contain the blush and small smile that wanted to appear while El stared at her with glee. Instead, she averted her eyes to the gate above.

"I'm going to have to burn this entire place to the ground, you realise that?"

"Just protect El." Hopper responded. "Try not to damage the place too much but do what you have to."

"You don't have to get all of it." Eleven commented, taking her place right below the tear in the ceiling. "As soon as the gate closes they'll die."

Nora nodded in understanding and prepared herself, coming to stand as close to her sister as she could, unnerved by the sheer amount of vines that could come and trap them within moments. Her hands glowed red, then orange, burning hotter until they shone bright white light around the room and the air around them was shimmering in the heat.

"Oh, and Nora." Hopper added, calling their attention back to him. "For what it's worth, after yesterday, as long as Eddie gives up dealing and finally graduates high school this year, I have no problem with him."

Refusing to blush, the young woman focused on the task at hand and nodded once to her sister, begging her to stop giggling and to get to work. Eleven sent her one last smile before turning her face upward and morphing her expression into one of concentration. Thrusting her hand up, she grunted and Nora marvelled at the sight of the corners of the crack melding together faster than she had seen before.

Instantly, the vines began moving with purpose. One as thick as her arm fell from the ceiling to wrap around El's arm but Nora grabbed it first, burning it to ash. Another shot straight towards them from the far wall and went down in a blaze of fury just like the three after it. More were winding their way up the girl's leg but the gate was already half closed by then and Nora decided that as long as El was uncovered from the neck up, she should focus on other threats.

Hopper was beating the whipping vegetation back with his gun and the young woman kept a close eye on him, regretting her decision not to bring her axe with her.

Again and again, Nora blasted the things back, shooting columns of fire or grabbing them with scorching hands until finally, the last traces of orange mucus disappeared and the vines around them disintegrated, leaving the trio panting in the original version of Eddie's living room, excluding a few black scorch marks here and there. She would have to send his Uncle money for the damages, she thought.

A low groan had her head swivelling to El, who was swaying in her spot, blood pouring from her nose. Rushing forward to support her with an arm around her waist, Nora gasped as pain shot through her side. Looking down, she saw a small spot of blood on her shirt and realised that one of her stitches must have burst during the fight.

"You alright?"

The pair glanced over at Hopper and nodded tiredly.

"Just tired. Need food and rest." El responded, shifting in Nora's arms.

"Nora? You're bleeding."

"Just ripped my stitching." She replied, leading her sister back towards the entrance. "I'll deal with it later."

Hopper kept a close eye on them both as they took a seat in his truck and began scarfing down a multitude of snacks. Nora lifted her shirt slightly to see her wound from yesterday that had reopened but was pleased to find only a few specks of blood pearling around it. It was sore though, and any slight movement made her wince. She looked forward to getting home and getting back to her woodcraft, a relaxing activity that didn't require too much motion.

Allowing a kiss on the cheek from both El and Hopper, Nora eventually moved back to her car, pausing when she had one leg in the driver's seat.

"Hop?" She called, and the other man peeked out from the side of his truck. "We're going to talk about Vecna and that last gate once we've rested."

She didn't give him time to reply before she entered her car fully and slammed the door closed behind her.

She had promised Eddie no more suicide missions, but as soon as she was healed enough she was going into that gate. They had unfinished business and she had questions that needed answering.