November 5, 1984 (Monday) – Almost noon. The same day as the gate was closed.

Eleven feels tired. Dead tired. She doesn't think she can move. She proves herself wrong by shifting from her side to her back lying straight down on her bed. She tries opening her eyes and as her vision unblurs she sees a familiar wooden ceiling. It even has that dark stain that, now that she thinks about it, kind of looks like the gate she closed. Her curtains are down and there's barely any natural light in the room. The feeling of softness and warmth around her is also familiar. She sits up. She's in her bed. The cabin. She's in the cabin.

Home.

She doesn't know how she got here. She remembers falling asleep in the truck on the way back from the gate. She remembers Hopper hovering around a blue car and talking to somebody inside it. She remembers entering the house getting a hug from Mike first and then Dustin and Lucas, following quickly. It was a good hug.

She remembers an older boy, around Nancy's age, with recently cleaned cuts on his face. Hurt. The older boy stands up from the couch and tells the others to bring her to the couch so she can rest. She sees a girl with red hair carrying a bowl with a towel on it to the kitchen. The towel is stained with dried blood and she suspects the bowl is the same. The girl avoids her gaze.

She remembers holding Mike's hands as she listens to Dustin and Lucas recount the events to her. Of fighting monsters in the junkyard, fighting mouth breathers in the house, and burning vines in the tunnels to help her. They keep mentioning Steve and Max so she asks. They point to the older boy, using a bat to stand straight, and the red-haired girl looking out the window at Hopper and the blue car.

She remembers the girl with Mike in the gym. She remembers pulling her off the board she was riding and dropping her to the floor. She remembers her trying to take her place in their group and stealing Mike away from her. She remembers the girl stretching out her hand after she arrived at the house for the first time that night. She's glad she didn't take shake it because she's nothing but trouble. She put everyone in danger last night with her mouth breather brother and her taking the wheels and driving a car even though she can't reach the pedals yet.

She remembers the older boy offering her a tissue for her nose after she talked with Will when she first came to the house but she did not know who he was. They told her how he saved Mike's sister and Will's brother by fighting the Demogorgon from before. They told her he fought demodogs and Max's brother and lead them in and out of the tunnels safely and saved Mike from the vines. It was impressive. She's seen the monster go through a group of adults last year and he knows that he's hurt this time but he still kept her friends safe. She's thankful. She'll keep him safe too.

She remembers hearing one car driving away and another driving towards them. Will's brother enters the house carrying Will in his arms. The boys rush to go see Will but Hopper waves them off. She catches Steve and Max looking at her as her eyes slowly get heavier by the minute. She feels someone putting a blanket over her and someone putting a pillow underneath her head. She must've fallen asleep on the Byers' couch.

That doesn't explain why she's back at the cabin. Maybe Hop knows. She can hear the TV playing at a low volume outside the door. She pulls off her covers and heads outside her room. Bright lights assault her eyes and the strong smell of food hits her nose as she exits the room. She grunts because of the brightness and her stomach growls because of the food. She doesn't remember the last time she ate.

"Hey there sleepyhead," she hears Hop's voice and shuffling as her eyes adjust to the brightness.

Hopper looks at the girl with relief. He didn't know when she was going to wake up. He was prepared to call up Owens if it looks like she wasn't going to wake up. Closing the gate must've taken a lot out of her.

"Food?" Eleven says.

"Yeah, it's over there on the table," Hopper replies.

Eleven heads to the table and opens the container on it. Inside is waffles, some scrambled eggs, and some bacon. Eggos are still her favorite. Not for the taste but for the sentiment. It's what Mike gave her when she was hiding in his house. It reminds her of relief and safety. That said, taste-wise waffles from the diner aren't in the same category as Eggos. She didn't think she's ever been that hungry before. She puts the container in the trash and heads to the couch to sit with Hopper putting her head on his shoulders.

"You good? Still hungry? We can heat up some Eggos and I think I can cook up some eggs," he asks.

"All good. Full. Thank you," she replies.

"Don't mention it, kid. You deserve a hero's breakfast after what you did. I didn't know what you'd need after closing the gate so I opted for food," Hopper says with a smile on his face.

She lifts her head off his shoulders and looks at him, "What happened last night? I remember being at Will's house..." she trails off.

"You dosed off on the couch after Will came home. Joyce wanted to move you to her room so you can sleep comfortably but the government might come by their house because Will was a patient at the lab and the labs were a mess so I had to bring you home just to be safe. I'm sorry you couldn't spend more time with your friends," Hopper offers.

Eleven nods accepting the explanation laying her head down his shoulders again. Hopper stirs a bit extending his arms to putting them around her. This is nice. Safe.

"I hate to ruin the moment, kid, but we have to talk about you skipping out," he says in the most soothing voice he can muster. He feels her stir to look at him and he does the same.

"We have leverage. We closed the gate and cleaned up their mess. Owens seems like he's willing to help. I just… I need you to be safe until Owens can do what he can. No more sneaking out, okay? If you want to go somewhere, we can talk about it. See if it's doable in a safe way. If not, we compromise," he says hoping she doesn't react violently.

Eleven nods again. Understanding. Acceptance. Sadness. "Can Mike come over?" she asks.

"No, I'm sorry. None of your friends can come. Not yet anyway. We have to wait until everything in the lab cools down. We still haven't signed NDAs this time around." he says. Hopper doesn't like where this conversation's going. He hopes it won't lead to another fight.

"Half-way happy?" she asks hopefully.

"I don't know what halfway happy is at this point, kid. It's too risky. Maybe a couple of weeks after the NDAs are signed. One step at a time, yeah?" he tries again.

She nods sadly and places her head back on his shoulders. Hopper can feel his heartbreak for the kid. It's not easy being stuck inside the same place. It's almost like a prison. Maybe she can start having guests once everything settles down? Not the kids alone. Maybe one kid with a chaperone? Maybe a walkie so she can talk to the others? He doesn't know.

Maybe there's a road to halfway happy. He hopes he can find it. And maybe if they wait long enough, it stops being halfway and just becomes happy. He can hope.