The night after they got the Mind Flayer out of Will...

"Jonathan, wake up! Wake up! Jonathan, it's okay, it's just a dream! Jonathan!"

Finally he stirs awake and blinks his eyes open. She stops her hollering, and stops shaking his shoulders like she had been. He stares wide eyed at her and tries to catch his breath. Then he pulls her in close, hugging her, clinging to her for dear life.

"I'm sorry," he mumbles.

"Don't be sorry," she insists. "It's okay. You just had a nightmare. I have them too."

"I dreamt that it didn't work, that Will… the heat… that it k-killed him…" he croaks out. She hugs him closer.

"It's okay, it was just a dream. It did work. We got it out of him. Will is okay. He's safe," she reminds Jonathan and caresses his cheek.

Jonathan nods and holds her even closer. Gradually, his breathing steadies, she can feel it as his face is buried against her neck.

"Okay?" She asks after a while.

"Okay," he confirms. "Sorry," he says again.

"Don't be sorry," she repeats. "There's nothing to be sorry about, it was a horrible nightmare. But it's okay. I'm here."

"You are. I'm glad you are," he mumbles, making her heart soar.

"I am too. I'm here for you Jonathan. Here to stay."

"Me too. Here for you. Always."

"I know. I'm so happy you are. I was a fool to retreat from you, from us."

"It wasn't just you. I should've… said something, come to you."

"We both could've done things differently. Water under the bridge now. Important thing is this, now," she affirms and grasps his hand, interlocking their fingers and lining up their scars against each other.

"Yeah."

"I have nightmares too. About Barb. Or… had, at least. I haven't had one since we… since we got justice. Since we've been together. But I'm not sure they'll ever go away. In the beginning I had them every night. I mean, once I was able to sleep at all again. Then it could go a couple of nights without one… but then it'd just hit me that much harder when I had one again," she confides in him.

"I'll be here with you, if it comes back again," he assures her.

"I know," she tells him and kisses his cheek.

He holds her closer and she cuddles into the crook of his neck even more.

The night after Vecna's gates opened...

"Nancy, wake up! Wake up! Nancy, it's okay, it's just a dream! Nancy!"

He breathes a sigh of relief when Nancy's eyes shoot open and she stops squirming. Her breathing is rapid and ragged. He keeps hold of her shoulders and tries to calm her with touch and words.

"It's okay. I've got you. It was just a nightmare. It's okay. Just breathe with me."

He accentuates his slow steady breaths and Nancy nods slightly and tries to match them. He pulls her closer into him, hugging her tight against his chest.

"I've got you, I've got you," he repeats the mantra that's helped calm her in the past.

It just came to him naturally that night in the woods three years ago when he pulled her from the tree, out of the Upside Down. A year or so later, it again just came to him when she first had a nightmare about Barb around him, after they started sharing a bed. She told him afterwards it helped her, that it made her feel safe. So he's stuck to it since, helping her through nightmares about Barb, monsters, zombie bosses trying to kill them.

Nancy's breathing steadies further. She clutches to him like it's life or death. He keeps hold of her and rubs soothing circles on her back.

"Better?"

"Yeah," she answers in a soft, small voice.

"Was it… what you told me about? That he showed you?" He asks, apprehensively. He suspects as much, and he knows she likes to confide in him about her nightmares, told him long ago it makes them feel less scary.

"Y-yeah… his visions. Monsters in Hawkins, coming into our homes. My family all… but even worse than what he showed me. You too, there. Nothing I could do… I coudn't get to you I… I wanted to… it was awful… then I woke up."

"It's okay. I'm okay. It won't come true. We won't let it happen. We'll stop him, together."

Nancy nods. He draws her in closer.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here," he tells her after they've laid in silent comfort for a little while.

"I'm still glad you were with them. But god, I missed you too, so much. Needed you."

"I'm here now," he affirms and raises her hand to his lips and presses a kiss to her knuckles.

"I love that you are."

"I love you."

"Love you too. Love that you disobeyed government agents for me," she answers with a little smirk.

"Got that from you," he grins.

They had caught each other up during the day. He told her how he could know a lot more than she thought he did, about what happened back in Lenora, El getting arrested, the agents telling them Hawkins was in danger, deciding to disregard the house arrest since he couldn't stand the thought of her in danger, the shootout and the crazy cross country trip. She filled him in on the stuff in Hawkins he didn't know about, like Fred disappearing, exactly what Vecna showed her.

But there's something he hasn't told her, that he knows he has too. He's been avoiding it but he can't any longer. Not when they're this tender and all he can think about is how all he wants is to be with Nancy forever.

"I need to tell you something. If you're up for it now I mean, it's kind of… messy," he asks to make sure she's ready considering she just woke up from a nightmare. He doesn't want to worry her more but somehow the time feels right.

"Okay…?" She answers warily.

"I just want to apologize for kind of pulling away from you, recently. I was being incredibly stupid, again. I promise I'll never do it again. It wasn't because of anything you did, or that my feelings for you changed. They could never change, I love you so much Nancy, I think I feel it now stronger than ever, I didn't think that was even possible. Being apart from you was hard, but it made me feel that even more," he tells her honestly.

"Why did you pull away then?"

"Because I was worried about college," he finally tells her. It feels good to get it off his chest. He continues. "How I could afford it. And about my family. If they could manage without me, like, money wise, helping out at home, looking after them. I worry about Will, El. Mom. I still haven't heard from Emerson or any of the one's out east. Maybe the letter arrived after we left but we can't go back now. But I did get accepted to Lenora Community College. And for a little while, I thought I might… go there. It'd be cheap, and I could still look after them. I think I subconsciously started to pull away from you then because I didn't know what to do, because I worried you'd then throw your dreams away to come out there with me, and I don't ever want to stand in the way of your dreams. It was stupid. Argyle told me it was stupid. I never wanted to go there, I always wanted to be with you on the East Coast, Nancy. I mean, who knows about college or any future now, but. I had to tell you. I'm sorry for being so stupid."

He holds his breath as she studies him for a long moment in silence. She didn't show any visible reaction during his long, rambling apology.

"I wish you'd talked to me," she finally says.

"I know, I should've. I was being so stupid, I can't overstate enough how stupid I was," he says with emphasis.

"I hate when you shut me out like this," she tells him and his heart aches at that the thought of how he hurt her by being stupid.

"I'm so sorry I did. Truly."

"I know you are. It's just… I know I was insensitive last summer, I didn't consider how important the money from the job was for you and your family. I'm sorry about that. But I learned from that. I get that you want to be there for your family, of course I do, and I know money is an issue, maybe we didn't talk about that enough when we were applying, but I think there's solutions for that. But also, I thought we agreed then, last summer, that we had to just be honest with each other always. Talk to each other. "

"I know. I was just so dumb. I promise I'll never do anything like it ever again. I was just so confused, I didn't know what to do, it's like I wanted to be in two places at once and it just… ugh, I'm just so sorry."

"Okay. It's… it's okay. Because I think… I still think, still feel, that this," she gestures between them. "No matter what happens, if the world ends or not, that this is forever. Do you think that too?"

"Yes," he answers without hesitation. "I do, I really do. I'm sorry."

"Okay then. I'm still a bit mad at you. But I trust you. I forgive you," she tells him. He breathes a sigh of relief.

"Thank you. I'm still mad at myself too. I love you."

"Love you too. On the subject of that, and this being forever," she again gestures between them. "I have to tell you something too."

"Okay…?"

"When we were in the Upside Down, Steve told me he's still in love with me, that I'm the woman in this crazy fantasy he has of his future with a wife and six kids and a Winnebago," Nancy scrunches up her nose and shakes her head at the insanity she just shared.

"What?" He can only answer, totally incredulous.

"I know it's… yeah. I was shocked, I didn't know what to say. I mean what do you say to that? Robin interrupted us before I could come up with anything. I just don't get him, he's barely spoken to me since we broke up years ago and now this? Needless to say I don't feel the same way as he does, I don't feel anything for him. I mean, anything remotely romantic. I want you to know that."

"I know. Yeah that's just… thank you for telling me. What are you going to say to him?"

"I don't know, we haven't had a moment to talk about it since. And now there's uh, more important things going on let's just say."

"Yeah."

"But I guess I'll have to talk to him about it at some point. We'll need to fight together, all of us, to defeat this thing once and for all. I don't want it to be awkward between us then. But maybe it'll inevitably be. Like, not only does he come out of nowhere with that after not speaking to me for years but also… he knows we're together. It feels like he's not… respecting us? Our relationship? Honestly… Robin too. She was pushing me towards Steve. I get their close friends and she wants him to be happy but… it was so weird. And that was a really weird week on all fronts."

"Yeah. I guess we should talk to them about it if we get the chance, maybe it's too late now with you know, everything happening. But just so you know… all I care about is keeping you, my family and everyone safe, and I agree we need to all fight together for that. So… I know I've never been Steve's biggest fan and I don't know how he, or Robin for that matter, feel about me. But I just want to keep you all safe, so I don't care if it'll be weird, if they don't like me, I'll fight next to them to keep you safe."

"I know you will. I love that about you."

"Are we okay?" He asks again.

"Yeah," she answers and he can tell she's being 100 % sincere now unlike earlier in the day.