Nancy Of Lenora

Disclaimer: 'Cause Nancy not going to California with her brother was clearly done just for drama and to have her around for the whole Vecna thing. This, this ignores that. I don't know if by this point El would know what birthdays are or not but I'm going with that she should by now at this point in time.

Nancy Wheeler is both nervous and excited as for the first time in months, she's getting to finally see her boyfriend, one Jonathan Byers, in person. She hadn't even told him she's coming with Mike as she had wanted it to be a surprise and one she hoped would be enough to get him off center so that he'd actually talk to her about why she's been feeling him pull away. It doesn't help that his mom uses the phone a lot for her job and using the Walkie only did so much. And once her and Mike arrive and El, gorgeous El, calls out to Mike and they all see her with him, Nancy can easily see the surprise on their faces. Though for some reason, Jonathan looks a little panicked and that worries her and the fact his long haired friend is groaning and telling him to calm his ass down only adds to that worry. And after her long awaited reunion with Jonathan is had, she embraces Will warmly while her brother and El have their reunion. "Happy birthday, Will." Nancy tells him and everyone looks their way in surprise.

"Wait… It, its your birthday?" Jonathan asked in shocked surprise and Nancy can hardly believe he's even asking that given how he's long been so hyper focused on his family.

"Yeah, it is." Will said quietly and Nancy can clearly see how bothered the younger of the Byers brothers is that his birthday was forgotten by his own brother.

"How come you never said it was your birthday!?" Wondered El in confusion while Mike is looking oddly guilty and Nancy has the horrible feeling he'd forgotten too.

"I umm… I knew how excited you were about today and I just… Didn't say anything. I didn't think I needed too at all." Explained Will weakly and quietly and Nancy's heart breaks for him while the whole thing is also making her worry that Mrs. Byers of all people might have somehow forgotten if Will's reaction to everything is any indication to go by while her boyfriend's friend, Argyle, is pretty much celebrating Will's birthday and drawing in looks from various people. "Then today will be about you, Will, because Mike will be here all week and the plans I want to do with him can all be done during all that." El told her brother.

Whom tried to argue against it but El was not having any of it and unknowingly, preventing a Rink-O-Mania situation from happening in the process. "Hey, maybe we can introduce you to Desert Golf as a birthday gift!" Added Argyle and getting a few confused looks in the process.

"Oh, basically, Jonathan and I go out to this place outside of the city and hit Golf Balls at old cars and shit. Course we have to go down there and get 'em ourselves since Golf Balls are expensive shit. And I have to say, Nancy, I've heard a lot about you."

"Well, this just got awkward." Muttered Mike a few seconds later after everything went silent in the little group.

His words got murmurs of agreement and after an apology from Argyle, the group make their leave and Nancy's a little surprised by the fact they'll be leaving in a Pizza Delivery Van of all things. But hey, she can roll with it! Jonathan even gives up the passenger seat for Will so that he and Nancy can sit on the floor of the van together and despite how her boyfriend is acting, enjoys the closeness she's so missed with him as Argyle drives to the Byers household to drop off their stuff before going out into the city to celebrate the arrival of the Wheelers and as well as Will's birthday. The fact Murray shows up minutes after they get to the Byers household is a little weird and a part of Nancy even wants him to do his thing on Jonathan but that's somewhat derailed by the fact that it gets mentioned to Joyce about it being Will's birthday and she's so horrified to the point of tears that she had somehow forgotten that, that she begins to plan an impromptu party for her baby boy. Even glaring at Murray when he unthinkingly remarked that if he could, he'd give Will some Vodka to celebrate the occasion.

"What? It'd be watered down obviously!" Defended the man but Joyce's glare doesn't let up and he apologies to Will.

"Its okay, not like its the Upside Down or the Mind Flayer or anything like that." Will points out with a small shrug before he can really stop himself.

And while Argyle is curious about those things he doesn't ask and also keeps silent about how he could be getting offered to get high instead of drunk. And when Joyce asks Jonathan and Argyle if they could go out and get a few things for the party, the boys agree while Will, Mike, and El are occupied elsewhere in the house. Nancy expresses some interest in coming with but Jonathan says its fine and that he needs to talk about something important with Argyle while they are out. Nancy's a little confused and even hurt by this since she figured he'd want to spend time with her but tamps it down and opts to leave it be for the time being. Thinking that maybe she can ask Joyce about her oldest in the hopes she might have clues while he and Argyle are gone. Unfortunately, much to Nancy's dismay, Joyce has little she can tell her and when the boys finally get back an hour and a half later, Jonathan's got bags under his eyes and is acting odd. She's even certain he's got a much different if nicer smell about him and it makes her ask him about it to make sure she doesn't have the wrong line of thought.

"Oh, we ended up near a bad spill and it smelled pretty bad so we got some air freshener." Explained her boyfriend while Argyle mutters something about a Palm Tree.

Something that gets him an elbow in the side much to Nancy's confusion but for now, she leaves it be. Not wanting to ruin the first day of her's and Mike's being there and it being Will's birthday as well. Who she can tell is pretty happy as well for that matter. Later on, after a wonderful Birthday dinner for Will, the group gets the surprising bomb dropped on them that Joyce has to leave for Alaska for a meeting there and something about it just feels off to Nancy. But she doesn't press on it since its not really any of her business while Jonathan is oddly failing to keep up on the whole thing. Its a few days before Nancy finally decides to confront Jonathan about everything, in between all this, El and Mike get into a fight after an encounter with some girl she and Will knows that didn't go too well due to how nasty this girl was. Nancy would end up learning of the struggles El and to an extent, Will, were going through and spend some time with her honorary siblings as both clearly needed it. The fact that Mike was apparently incapable of saying 'I love you' to El saddened Nancy and she reasoned it likely had a lot to do with the lack of love between the elder Wheelers.

And she could only hope her brother managed to over come that as otherwise, he'd end up losing El and possibly for good. Even giving him advice she hopes he'll actually listen too for the situation. Nancy manages to convince Argyle to take her and Jonathan out to the Desert Golf spot and is bothered by the fact Jonathan doesn't seem to want to do this and is glaring at an agreeable Argyle for going along with what she wants. The ride there is a little on the tense and silent side and once there, things are still silent after Argyle leaves to give them a little privacy. And at first, Jonathan tries to deflect and not talk but Nancy doesn't let up in wanting to know what the Hell is going on with him and he finally cracks. Leading to him finally telling her everything and Nancy, to say the least, is stunned by it all and once she gets passed it, is unable to stop herself from hitting him upside the head. "OW! Why'd you do that for!?" He asked while rubbing his head.

"Be-Because! You are being a complete idiot for letting yourself get so sucked into your thought process that you can't really see anything else where the future's concerned! And also? You are seriously NOT giving ME or your MOM much credit as I'm pretty sure she AND Will would be okay without you! She'd even tell you that herself if she knew what was going on with you! Do you not realize you could still end up miserable if you never did anything for yourself where your future is concerned?"

He goes to say anything and ended up stopping as he gained a look of realization on his face, causing Nancy to nod. "Exactly. You really should've just talked to me and your mom instead of keeping it all to yourself!"

"Well… I did talk about it with Argyle and that kinda drove him nuts now that I think about it and why he always recommended I get high." Muttered her boyfriend.

Nancy raised her eyebrows at that as everything with Jonathan finally made so much damn sense with how he'd acted on occasion over the week. "And did that help any at all?"

"Uhh… No… 'Cause I kinda would just circle back to it later on once I was sober and thinking too much again." He told her and the aspiring Reporter couldn't help but shake her head while resisting the urge to hit him upside the head again.

"Oh, Jonathan… You and I are going to be fine no matter what, okay? You are NOT going to become like your dad or have a similar future to your parents and I am NOT going to end up resenting you. And when your mom gets back from Alaska, you are going to be talking to her about all this, okay? And I'm pretty certain she's going to say exactly the same thing I just did." Declared Nancy as she stepped up to him and kept his eyes on her so she could look into them as she talked.

Her boyfriend sighed heavily as their foreheads touched. "I'm an idiot, aren't I?"

"In this case? Yeah, but it can be forgiven." She assured him.

"Are you mad at me?" Wondered Jonathan worriedly.

"Now that I know what the Hell's been going on with you? Not at all, but you will be making it up to me, Jonathan Byers." Warned the young woman dead seriously.

"And I will, I promise I will. Whatever you want."

Nancy smiled softly at him and pecked him on the lips. "You feel better now that you've finally talked to me?"

"Oh, loads. God, I've been an idiot!" Groaned the young man and she had to agree there.

"You have, but I love you regardless."

"And I love you too, Nancy." He told her softly and the two shared another kiss.

And when Joyce finally got back from Alaska, or to be more accurate, Russia, with one Jim Hopper shockingly alive and with her and Murray, Jonathan and his mother would have a very long conversation once things calmed down. Leading to him yet again realizing he shouldn't have kept things to himself so much outside of Argyle and wanting to hit his head on something. Nancy would feel a little smug about it all and he'd be reminded of a certain elevator conversation they'd had sometime ago. "Never, ever, doubt you."

"You're getting there." She teased him.

Now while things were finally good again between herself and Jonathan, things weren't quite the same for her brother and El due to his hang ups and Nancy could only hope that situation got better. The fact she caught Will staring at Mike a certain way when he thought no one was looking did concern her as that could turn into an ugly situation if Will said anything or something or someone caught on and said anything. But that was a situation she was going to leave alone aside from herself and Jonathan giving him the support he desperately and clearly needed. And once her and Mike were back home, both would be pleasantly surprised, shocked, and happy about a few things that had happened there while they were gone. Namely that one Chrissy Cunningham had finally had enough of what life was throwing her way and with one Eddie Munson's help and support, had decided to go her own way. That Max had finally ended up breaking down while at Billy's grave and it helped her to start finally being able to heal and move on while also allowing for Lucas to be able to come back into her life after keeping him at arms length for so long following Billy's death.

The other thing to happen that Nancy wasn't expecting was Steve deciding he'd had enough of failed attempts where girls were concerned and decided to enlist in the Army. An action his parents had been surprised by and his dad more than his mother was actually pretty damned proud of him for it. His mom didn't want him doing that because she greatly feared for his safety. Hawkins would get its next surprise when Hopper showed up to declare he was alive and where he'd been all that time but had no intention of sticking around since Joyce and the rest of the family were living in Lenora and he wanted to be there with him. Funnily enough, Powell would try everything he could think of to get Hopper to stay and Nancy would hear rumors that Powell had actually cried when it all failed. And true to what Nancy and Joyce both thought, herself and Jonathan would be absolutely fine in addition to his family being absolutely fine without him as well. Regardless of whether or not there was distance between them where College and the like was concerned.

Later on causing Nancy to be prompted to smugly remind him about never doubting her and that keeping it all in was just a really bad idea. He'd roll his eyes good naturedly at her but would never go against what she said for it was all too true. Reportedly, Argyle himself was forever happy his best friend was no longer Mopey Dick thanks to Nancy showing up with her brother and often gave her hugs to show this happiness.

Author's Notes: Now that was enjoyable!