Happily Ever After

by ishiptoast

"Hopper, what does marry mean?" "Well, it's something people do when they really love each other and want to spend their lives together." He sees the twinkle in his daughter's eye and hurries to add further clarifications. "But ONLY when those two people are adults and are mature enough to do so." Or, the one where El learns about marriage over the course of her life.

4. 1987

A/N: Another short section, then one more before the BIG one. Originally these were all gonna be one chapter but I thought it would be fun to break them up (and it gave me more time to finish the later parts). Enjoy!

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1987

El had seen a lot of weddings on TV. It was one of her favorite things to watch. The elaborate decorations, the beautiful dresses, the delicious cakes, seeing the newly wed couple kiss and beam in happiness-it always made her heart flutter. She couldn't help but picture herself-and a certain dark haired boy-in a similar situation someday. She would often wonder when she'd be able to attend a wedding in person. Somehow she didn't picture her first one being her adopted father and mother's.

Sitting here now, watching Joyce in her beautiful white dress walking down the aisle to Hopper, El can't imagine feeling any happier. She's wanted them to get together ever since she saw how flustered Hop would get anytime someone mentioned Will's mom. Their relationship was put on pause when all of Hawkins thought Hop was gone, and El moved in with the Byers. When the awful time of thinking Hopper was dead had passed, and El felt perfectly inserted into the Byers' family, the two getting together made even more sense to her. Now, as she sees Joyce and Hopper grab hands at the altar, looking so in love and happy, El feels tears streaming down her face. Finally, her family was uniting.