Chapter Six: Safe

Hopper and Joyce had led Elizabeth and Will back the way they had come, all the way to the lab on the outskirts of town. There were so many times that Elizabeth thought she wouldn't make it, but every time she stumbles Hopper wrapped an arm around her shoulders and helped her forward. Joyce had Will in her arms, and hadn't put him down the entire time.

When they went through the gate, Elizabeth turned to Hopper. "This is it, right? We're home?"

Hopper nodded in response. "Yeah, kid. You're home."

Elizabeth didn't say another word, she just dropped to the ground and finally let herself sleep. The last thing she felt was being gingerly lifted off the ground before she let her body shut down like it had wanted to for so long.

—

When Will woke up, he was in a bright white room. He had to blink a few times before his eyes adjusted, and even then the room felt almost too bright. He didn't like it.

Joyce immediately leaned forward in the seat beside his bed, brushing his hair out of his face. "Hey, sweetheart."

Will looked a few times between his mom and brother before settling on Joyce. "Where… where am I?"

Joyce chuckled and looked to Jonathon, who reached forward to hold Will's hand. "You're home. You're home now. You're safe."

"Jonathon?"

His brother laughed and sniffed a little, trying to hold back his tears. "Yeah, it's me, buddy. We missed you. We really missed you."

Will smiled at his family for a moment before looking around the room. "Where's Lizzie?"

"She's safe," Joyce answered. "She's in her own room. She isn't awake yet."

That made Will frown. "Is she okay?"

Jonathon nodded and squeezed his brother's hand. "Yeah, she's okay. She's just resting."

"She didn't sleep a lot," Will commented. "She said she did, but I knew she wasn't. She just kept watching."

"We know, honey," Joyce said with a small smile. "And we're so grateful."

"Can I see her?"

"I'm sure you can, just as soon as she wakes up."

"In the meantime," Jonathon cut in, lifting a box from the side of the bed. "We brought you some stuff, so you don't get bored in here. I, uh, made you a new mix tape. There's some stuff on there I think you might really like."

Will's smile grew as he accepted the tape from his brother. His eyes were shining as he looked to Jonathon. "Have you ever listened to Journey?"

—

Elizabeth felt something touch her back and immediately shot up. She reached for her axe, but she couldn't find it. She couldn't see, it was too… bright? That wasn't right, why was it so bright? It was always dark here.

"Hey, it's okay," a voice said from behind her. The person moved to stand in front of her, placing their hand on hers. "It's okay, Liz, it's just me."

Elizabeth blinked until her eyes focused and she saw her father standing in front of her. She almost didn't believe it. Her voice was nearly inaudible as she whispered, "Dad?"

David's face broke out into the biggest smile she had seen on him in years as he nodded. "Yeah, it's me, kiddo. You're okay."

Elizabeth looked around the room she was in, trying to remember. She remembered seeing Will on the wall, the tendril down his throat. She remembered standing in front of him as she heard the monster approaching. She remembered the yellow people and… Then the gate. Hopper, and Joyce. They had actually come for her. They actually…

"Will," she said, mostly to herself, before reaching for the tubes and needles embedded in her arms. "I have to find Will."

"Woah, woah, hey," her dad chastised, grabbing hold of her hands to stop her. "It's okay, Will's okay. He's with his mom and brother in another room. You can see him soon."

"Now," she insisted, tugging against her dad's hands.

"Soon," he repeated, more firmly. "Let's just wait for the doctor to take these needles out before you hurt yourself first, okay? I'll call for them."

Elizabeth hesitated before nodding her head in agreement. "Call them."

Her dad pressed a blue button on the side of her bed, and within seconds a nurse had appeared at the door. "Good morning," she called cheerfully as she waltzed into the room. "Glad to see you're awake, your friends were getting antsy waiting for you."

"Friends?" Elizabeth questioned. Who all was there?

"Friends," the nurse repeated with a smile. "If you're feeling up to it, we can get you in a wheelchair and move you to Will's room. He asked for you earlier, I know he's very eager to see you."

Elizabeth nodded, letting the nurse approach and help her out of bed. She flinched at first being touched, but reminded herself to stay calm. These people were here to help her.

Once she was safely in the wheelchair, her father took the handles and pushed her out into the hall. On their way to Will's room, they passed by three large windows that led into what looked like a waiting room. Inside, Elizabeth saw a few adults speaking to each other or reading magazines. Then she saw Nancy, who was staring at the floor like it might jump up and bite her. Next to her, she saw Steve. He looked like shit, with a swollen eye and busted lip. She almost wanted to go in there, but she had to see Will first. Everyone else could wait.

Her dad continued pushing her down the hallway to an open door. When they entered the room, she saw three kids with their backs to her surrounding the bed talking about some kid who had peed his pants in front of the whole school.

She looked up at her dad and said, "I can take it from here. Can you go back to the waiting room? I won't be long."

Her dad looked wary to leave at first, but at the sight of a bunch of middle schoolers talking about pee he shrugged his shoulders before leaning down to kiss Elizabeth on the top of her head. He ignored the fact that her whole body stiffened at the touch, attributing it to what she had been through and not the fact that he was showing her affection. "Just tell a nurse if you need me."

Elizabeth nodded, her eyes never leaving the bed she knew Will was in even if she couldn't see him. She waited for her dad to close the door behind himself before wheeling herself forward, to the side of the bed the other kids weren't crowding. "Hey, kid."

"Lizzie!" Will nearly shouted, attempting to sit up in the bed. He went into a coughing fit, causing him to fall back on the bed with a hand over his mouth.

Elizabeth instinctually pushed herself from the chair, leaning over him. "Are you okay?"

Will looked up at her with a strange mix of sadness and gratitude. "Yeah. I'll be okay."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, not caring if anybody else in the room heard. If they didn't know what happened already, they would soon anyway. "I'm sorry I didn't protect you."

"You did protect me," Will said with a sad smile. "It's not your fault. I shouldn't have argued when you told me to run. You were trying to save me. The Demogorgon was just too strong."

"The demo-what?"

"The Demogorgon," the kid with curly hair chimed in. "That was the monster from the Upside Down."

"The Upside Down?"

"That's where we were," Will explained. Elizabeth just nodded as if she understood what they were talking about. Maybe she had been asleep long enough for everyone else to know what was happening.

"It's dead now," one of the other kids wearing a bright orange jacket said. "The Demogorgon. We made a friend. She stopped it. She saved us. But she's gone now."

"Her name was Eleven," the curly haired one said.

"But we call her El for short," the one in the orange jacket said.

"She's basically a wizard."

"She has superpowers!"

"More like a Yoda."

"She flipped a van with her mind!"

Elizabeth remembered the girl she had seen in passing in the Upside Down. The one who told her that help was on the way. She had called herself El. Elizabeth had only talked to her for a minute, maybe two, but she found herself feeling sad knowing that she was gone.

Elizabeth let the kids ramble on about their lost friend, slowly lowering herself back into her wheelchair. She still felt weak, and didn't want to push herself. She had done enough of that lately.

It wasn't long before Jonathon and Nancy came into the room, smiling patiently at the kids who never seemed to run out of breath. Elizabeth offered both of them a small grin and a wave that they each returned. Even though she wasn't really friends with either of them, somehow just knowing that they had all been through similar traumatic experiences made her feel closer to them.

"You should have seen Lizzie in there!"

Elizabeth perked up when Will mentioned her name, smiling at her with a glimmer in his eye before turning back to his friends.

"She was so cool, you guys! She stayed awake all the time, and she had an axe, and she didn't even have any food or water, and she carried me on her back, and sang songs to me, and she even hit the Demogorgon! She made it bleed!"

"Woah," the other three boys said in unison, staring at her in awe. They started listing off questions for her rapid fire, and she could barely keep up.

"What color was its blood?"

"What songs did you sing?"

"Was Will heavy when you had to carry him?"

"How did you go so long without sleeping?"

"Okay!" Jonathon chimed in, finally announcing his presence in the room. "I think that's enough for now. We should let Will and Elizabeth get some sleep. You can all visit again tomorrow."

"But I wanted to hear about stabbing the Demogorgon," one of the kids muttered in disappointment.

"Tomorrow," Jonathon insisted, wrapping his arms around the kids shoulders and leading them out of the room as Nancy followed close behind. They all chimed goodbyes, promising to be back in the morning.

Elizabeth waited until Jonathon had led the other kids far enough away that she couldn't hear them anymore before turning her attention back to Will. He was already looking at her when she spoke. "Are you actually okay?"

"Promise," Will nodded. "I mean, I'm still tired and I really want a burger, but other than that."

Elizabeth laughed quietly, reaching out to tousle the boy's hair. "We'll get you a burger soon."

Will beamed at her for another second before his expression became more serious. "Thank you, Lizzie."

She considered apologizing again, but she really didn't feel like arguing. "You're welcome, Will."

"Will you come back tomorrow?"

"You couldn't keep me away if you tried."

There was a light knock on the door that made Lizzie and Will both turn their heads. Will wasn't sure he recognized the boy that stood there, but Elizabeth did.

"I don't mean to interrupt," Steve said shyly, looking like he was second guessing coming at all. "I was just gonna offer to take you back to your room, if you're ready."

Elizabeth stared at Steve, several different feelings warring inside her at the thought of talking to him again after so many years. But here he was, speaking. And she had to respond. She looked back to Will and asked, "You gonna be okay until Jonathon and your mom get back?"

"I'll be okay," he assured her. "We're home now, Lizzie. You don't have to protect me anymore."

While she had a faint feeling in the back of her head that wasn't true, Elizabeth simply smiled and gave Will's hand a small squeeze before looking back to Steve. "I'm ready."

Steve stepped into the room, moving behind Elizabeth to grab the handles of her wheelchair. "Feel better," he offered awkwardly to Will as he pushed her out of the room and into the hallway.

Elizabeth tapped her fingers against her thighs as Steve led her to her room. She attributed how hot she was feeling to being used to the cold of the Upside Down and definitely not her being nervous. When they made it back to her room, Elizabeth half-expected Steve to just turn and walk out. Instead he waited patiently while she pushed herself next to the bed and turned to face him. She wasn't sure if she should speak first or wait and see what he wanted to say. She wasn't even sure how much he actually knew, or if he was just there because Nancy was.

"Nancy told me what happened."

Well, that answered both questions.

"She told me she found you, in the other place," he continued. "And that you stayed there. On purpose."

"Okay, see," Elizabeth chuckled, though not because it was funny. "That's not really exactly what happened."

"Why don't you tell me what happened, then?"

Elizabeth huffed, blowing a stray piece of hair out of her face. "First, why don't you tell me why you're here?"

"I asked you first."

"I asked you second."

"You're acting like a child."

"Boo-hoo, Harrington. I'm the one in a wheelchair, so I win."

"That isn't fair."

"Neither is me being in a wheelchair."

Steve opened his mouth to argue further, but instead closed it as a strange grin settled on his lips. It almost looked sad. "I — I missed you, Lizzie. I'm glad you're okay."

She… didn't really know what to say to that. She remembered thinking about Steve in the Upside Down, and how much she regretted pushing him away. She remembered wishing she had the chance to reconcile with him, but now that it was right here in front of her, she couldn't think of any words. Well, maybe just two. "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for? The way everyone has been talking about you, at least everyone who knows the truth? You're basically a hero."

"I — I'm sorry that I, that I," she mumbled, looking back to her lap. She had taken on the Demogorgon face to face and still this felt like a challenge. "I'm sorry I stopped being your friend."

Now it was Steve's turn to be awkwardly quiet. "Oh," he muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets. His shoes were suddenly very interesting to look at. "Yeah. I get it. It's okay."

"Not really," Elizabeth sighed. "I, um, had a lot of time to think while I was, ya know, in that place. I thought about you a lot."

"You did?"

Elizabeth looked up and saw that Steve had done the same. "Yeah. I thought about how much I regretted… how much I still regret pushing you away. I was going through a really hard time, obviously, and I thought I wanted to be alone. And that was kind of true, for a while, but then it had been too long and I didn't know how to be your friend again or if you even wanted to be my friend anymore and I just knew how unfair it was for me to treat you the way I did and I didn't… well I didn't think… anyway. I'm just sorry."

Steve took a moment to take in everything she was saying. It was basically everything he had ever wanted to hear from her. When he went to Jonathon's house looking to apologize for what he did to Nancy and had been thrown into fighting a monster from another dimension, his whole world had turned upside down. And then Nancy had told him about everything, how Will was trapped in that other dimension, and that Elizabeth was there with him. That she'd had the chance to come back home, but stayed there to find Will. It had reminded him so much of the girl that used to be his best friend, and that was what made him turn around the first time he had walked back to his car. If Lizzie could stay in another dimension facing monsters for days on end to protect a kid she barely knew, how could he turn his back on them? It was her that made him run back into that house and fight the monster again. To kill it, so that she could come home.

But he didn't really know how to say all of that. So instead he settled on, "I forgive you."

Elizabeth smiled. A real, genuine, big smile. Steve returned the gesture, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I kinda feel like I should hug you, but…" he trailed off, gesturing vaguely towards her wheelchair.

Elizabeth didn't care. She jumped out of the wheelchair and rushed forward, wrapping her arms as tightly around Steve's middle as she could and burying her face into his shoulder. He returned the hug just as fiercely, holding her protectively against himself.

"I missed you too," she admitted against his sweater. He just rubbed his hand across her back in response. They both thought to themselves how right it felt to finally be back here, together, after so long apart.

The two stood like that until they heard someone clear their throat, and finally pulled apart. David stood in the doorway, one brow raised in question. "You're not supposed to be up, Liz."

"Right," she mumbled, reluctantly moving towards her bed.

"Sorry, Mr. Parker," Steve apologized quietly.

David looked between the two with the same stern expression for a few seconds before finally nodding his head. "Glad you two finally kissed and made up. Been long enough."

"Dad!" Elizabeth shouted at the same time that Steve said, "I have a girlfriend."

David merely shrugged his shoulders as he moved back to the seat next to his daughter's bed. "Mhmm. Lizzie needs her sleep. You kids can talk tomorrow."

Elizabeth looked towards Steve, the question stuck in her throat. She wasn't really sure how to ask it, but as if he read her mind he said, "Tomorrow. Definitely. Goodnight, Lizzie. Mr. Parker."

Steve turned to leave the room, but remembered one final thing. Leaning against the doorway, he offered Lizzie one final smile. "Oh, and I almost forgot. Happy birthday, Lizzie."

Elizabeth's heart did a funny flip, then. It jumped at the thought of Steve still remembering her birthday after all this time, right before it sank at the realization of just how long she had actually been in the Upside Down. Even though while she was there it had felt like months, she now knew for a fact. She had been there for 6 days. It felt so much longer.

No wonder she was so tired.

"So… you wanna talk about it?"

Lizzie groaned as she collapsed against her pillow. "No, Dad, that's actually the last thing I want to talk to you about. Ever."

She felt herself drifting off to sleep almost immediately. She imagined it would take a long time to fully recover from what she had been through, but she had no problems with sleeping it off. Before she fell asleep, she felt her dad's hand hold onto hers with a tight squeeze, and for the first time in a long time, it made her feel safe.

Just as she began to drift off, she heard her dad's voice one last time. "Happy birthday, sweetheart."