Chapter Twenty-Eight

Father, Daughter

Veronica couldn't explain the emotions that were going through her at the moment. All the emotions flowing through her made her body feel like it was electrified. Tears moved down her round cheeks when she pulled back and stared down at the girl that felt like her little sister. Veronica had felt lost the last few months without her sister beside her. The one true person to know what she was going through was taken from her. Veronica pulled back and caressed her hands over El's face, seeing that she too was crying with streaks moving down her cheeks. Veronica noticed the dark makeup circling around the younger girl's brown eyes along with her hair slightly grown out and slicked back. It was odd for her to see Eleven with longer hair since she'd only seen her with a shaved head.

For a moment Veronica forgot about everyone else around her till she heard Dustin curse loudly at the sight of Eleven coming through the door.

"H-How...I-I don't...I don't understand...I've been calling for you. I thought that I'd lost you forever...w-where did you come from?" Veronica's questions came at rapid speed from both the excitement and confusion she felt.

Eleven reached forward and placed a comforting hand on Veronica's cheek. "I know, I heard you."

"Heard me?" Veronica's brows pulled together, and now she was even more confused, "W-What do you mean you heard me? Y-You knew I was calling?"

It didn't take much to see that Veronica was confused along with a little panicked with the look that crossed her face. The abandonment and guilt that she felt when it came to El's disappearance was something that she hadn't worked out. Instead ignored. Veronica took a couple of steps away from Eleven as she stared down at her. She could see there was a scared look swimming in her dark eyes. For a split second, Eleven's gaze darted past Veronica's shoulders towards Hopper, who was standing amongst the group. It was quick and soon Eleven was looking back at Veronica. But it wasn't fast enough – Veronica caught it. Her head spun around quickly and looked back towards her father and could see a conflicted look on his face. A deep and heavy sigh passed through her lips as the tension started to fill the room.

"Did you hear me call, El?" Mike asked stepping forward, his steps a little more tentative

Tears moved faster down the girl's cheeks as she nodded her head, "I heard you too. But I-I couldn't...I-I...Not safe."

"Not safe?" Veronica shook her head and looked between Hopper and Eleven again. Her gut twisted knowing there was something that she didn't know. A secret. "Eleven what is going on!?"

The lights flickered around the destroyed Byers' home causing everyone to step back slightly. Except for Steve. He pushed through the barrier of people and moved to place a gentle hand on Veronica's shoulders. He didn't like seeing the scared look on her face.

"Hey, hey...it's ok..." Steve whispered softly in her ear.

A small wave of calm did settle over Veronica as she stood there with Steve behind her.

"If you heard me too, why didn't you tell me that you were ok?" Mike asked, his voice wavering slightly.

"Because I wouldn't let her," Hopper spoke, moving to set the gun in his hand down on the couch that was shoved against the far wall beside him.

Veronica watched as her father walked across the length of the living room and towards Eleven. Steve couldn't miss that pain that spread across her features as Hopper pulled Eleven into his arms, muttering something to her softly. Everyone around them had a look of shock and dumbfound as they watched the exchange. It only took seconds to realize why the two were so familiar.

"Y-You knew where she was this whole time," Veronica whispered, her face now void of any emotion as stared at them. "...t-the whole time? You kept her hidden away from me?"

"Ronnie...honey, you have to understand..." Hopper started

But before the sentence could fully leave his lips, he found himself flying across the living room and into the area that was the dining room. A force lifting and pulling his body away from Eleven. The loud sound of his body slamming into the wall could be heard through the room and was enough to knock the wind out of him.

"Veronica!" Joyce called out in shock.

Everyone watched as the over six-foot tall Chief of Police was sent flying, so fast it was over within the blink of an eye. Steve stumbled back from Veronica as he seemed to feel the hurt, anger, and betrayal rolling off of him. Hopper stumbled for a moment but was back up on his feet. He stared at his daughter and saw the drop of blood that came from her nose and slowly traveled down to her upper lip. Her thick dark brows were pulled together tightly with anger. Veronica's body was stiff with her fists clenching and unclenching at her side. He held a single hand out to stop Jonathan from moving toward him, letting him silently know that he was fine.

Hopper knew that when this truth was going to come out that it was going to have severe consequences when it came to Veronica. He hated the fact that he had to lie to her for nearly a year about where Eleven was. But he'd been only able to secure the safety when it came to the nature of the Hawkins Lab. When he found Eleven in the wood over the winter, Hopper wasn't sure that Eleven was as safe as Veronica. Hopper's gut told him not to trust the Lab and with everything coming forth – his gut was true. But keeping Eleven away from Veronica was a sacrifice he was willing to face on his own.

He protected Eleven knowing how important she was to his daughter. He knew that if anything were to happen to the younger girl, and he was able to stop it, the guilt would eat him alive. But the guilt of this was already killing him. Especially with seeing the anger, hurt, and betrayal crossing over Veronica's face.

"Joyce gets everyone out of here," Hopper spoke, keeping his eyes locked on Veronica. Joyce opened her mouth to argue, but Hopper shook his head and spoke louder, "No!"

Behind Veronica, she could hear everyone quickly leave out the back door of the home, away from Veronica. She didn't care that everyone could be scared of her now. Her only focus was on Hopper.

"You kept her from me," Veronica nearly growled, her teeth tightly clenched "You knew! You knew and you kept her from me!"

"Veronica..." Hopper started to speak.

But once against, Veronica waved her hand across and slammed her father into the nearest wall, causing pain to shoot up his body.

"Seven! No!" Eleven spoke, holding her hand out to keep her back.

"Eleven..." Veronica spoke slowly, in a way monotone and firm. "Back off."

"No..." Eleven shook her head,

"Veronica...I did it to protect her," Hopper stood behind Eleven

"Protect her! Protect her!" Veronica screamed causing the lights around her to flicker wildly "What about me?! What about protecting me?"

"That's all I've done," Hopper answered confused "I made it so that you could stay in this town, and live a normal life, as much as I could."

"A normal life?" Veronica laughed with false humor. "You pushed me away and handed me off to be someone else's problem. I am your daughter! And you took care of her when you should've been taking care of me."

Veronica's voice cracked as she spoke, large tears quickly falling down her cheeks, making her vision blur. Veronica stumbled back as she felt her body weaken with her knees starting to buckle slightly. The anger was quickly dissipating and replaced now with hurt and pain.

"Y-You don't love me...you don't love me..." Veronica sobbed, her hand cupping over her mouth.

"No, baby..." Hopper moved around Eleven and quickly stepped toward Veronica, his arm coming around her waist to catch her before she fell to the ground.

Hopper held her tightly against his chest as his small frame shook with the violent sobs that racked through her.

"I do...I do love you, I love you so much," Hopper spoke, cupping the back of her head as he held her.

"No, no, no" Veronica cried repeatedly

Eleven whimpered softly as she watched the scene in front of her.

Veronica felt the burning sensation of ice cold moving through her body, enough to make every nerve ending of her body scream out in pain. Her breath came out harsh and labored as soon the control of her body was gone. Hopper felt her body weight in his arms before soon it was gone.

"Shit," Hopper cursed

The tear stains on his chest were the only evidence that she'd been there.


Veronica screamed out in pain as it felt like her body was slowly being torn apart before it was replaced with a burning sensation. Her body slammed into the forest floor of the Hawkins forest and she quickly rolled onto her sides. It had been a long time since she'd teleported. Her nails dug into the forest floor as she tried to will the pain away knowing that it was going to take a moment for it to settle.

It felt like forever, but was only a few minutes when the pain finally did dissipate. But the heartache that she felt didn't leave, instead, it felt like a giant hole was punched through her chest. The happiness of finally having Eleven back in her life was snatched away from her in seconds as everything else came to light. For once, Veronica was starting to feel like she was a part of something when it came to Byers and her father. But Veronica now knew that security was false and everything she'd known was a lie.


"What do you mean she's gone!" Steve yelled the moment that Hopper had everyone come back into the house.

"Exactly that...she's just...gone..." Hopper sighed and rubbed along his jaw as he paced around the living room. "One second she was there, the next she was gone."

"She teleported," Eleven spoke up nervously "I-It happens when she's scared...hurt...tired..."

"I would say her emotions being high is an understatement," Jonathan spoke up, glaring at Hopper.

"Jonathan," Joyce scolded, shaking her head as her oldest son.

"As much as I'm worried and care about Veronica," Dustin spoke up "We have another issue that we have to worry about...the Mindflayer...Will."

"You're suggesting that we forget about her?" Lucas asked with wide eyes.

"Not forget about her, but just..." Dustin shrugged her shoulders.

"No, Dustin is right, we need to focus on the Gate and getting that thing closed."

Steve stood at the back part of the living room with his hands placed on his hips feeling torn. Knowing that it was true that the Mindflayer was a more pressing issue, the thought of Veronica being out there alone was enough to make him slightly panicked.

"Can I see him?" El asked, her question directed to Joyce.

Soon the two of them disappeared down the hallway where Will was lying to rest in his bedroom. Everyone else was silent for a moment with no one knowing exactly what to say. The kids disappeared one by one into the dining room leaving Jonathan, Nancy, Hopper, and Steve in the living room. Jonathan glared at the older man that was leaning against the wall.

"You got something you want to say, kid?" Hopper asked, "I can see that you do."

"She trusted you." Jonathan quickly spoke up, "She trusted you and you saw how much she struggled with Eleven being gone, y-you couldn't have told her?"

"Eleven wasn't safe, not like Veronica was."

"I think it's very clear right now that Veronica is far from safe!" Jonathan snapped "She's out there, alone, with this Mindflayer connected to her. We can only imagine how vulnerable she is right now!"

"I'm sure she's capable of handling herself," Nancy interjected "I mean...we saw what she did to Hopper...maybe Veronica isn't safe to be around right now."

Steve glared at Nancy as she spoke, "Are you fucking kidding me right now, Nance?"

"What?" She sighed and threw her hands up, "I'm only saying what everyone else is thinking."

"No one is thinking that," Jonathan spoke "Can you just...go and check on the kids?"

Nancy looked between Jonathan and Steve in amazement for a moment, astonished that neither of them was agreeing with her feelings. She rolled her eyes and walked past Steve and into the room where the rest of the kids are.

"I am hoping that no one else is thinking that Veronica is dangerous?" Hopper asked with seriousness to his tone. "I...I knew the possibilities that could happen if and when Veronica would find out about El. Her powers are ruled by her emotions. To think that this would end with her being fully ok with the situation would be crazy. I'm not happy with what she did, but I understand it."

"No one is thinking that she's dangerous," Jonathan spoke, Steve nodding his head in agreeance.

"Good. That's the last thing she needs right now." Hopper sighed

There was another tense silence between the three men.

"We figure out what to do with the Gate first. If Veronica doesn't show before then...we will go out and look for her." Hopper spoke

"And if she's in danger right now?" Steve asked

"I have faith that my daughter is able to handle herself. She will come home when she's ready." Hopper spoke before moving to disappear down the hallway towards the room Joyce and Eleven were in.

Steve sighed angrily as he looked down and watched Hopper disappear into the room.

"Can't fucking believe this," Steve spoke, mostly to himself

"Trust me, I'm just as pissed dude," Jonathan spoke, standing from his spot on the couch. "Veronica's tough...she can take care of herself."

"Nancy told me that the last time this happened, she ended up in the Upside Down. Isn't the last place we'd want her to be right now?"

Jonathan frowned slightly, "Nancy told you that?"

"She told me a lot actually," Steve sighed "I think more to be on her side about her feelings towards Veronica. Which I don't get, honestly..."

"It's fear, after Barb...anything to do with that place she can't help but dislike." Jonathan shrugged

"Veronica isn't the evil that she makes her out to be. She didn't ask for any of this."

Jonathan's brows pull together tightly for a second, "You really care about her...Veronica, I mean."

Steve paused, not sure how to answer that, before nodding his head. "How can you not care about her? She makes it pretty easy."

Jonathan smiled slightly and nodded his head, "That I can agree with you on. But...she's come to be like a little sister to me, and the last thing I want is for her to get hurt...by anyone."

"I would never do that." Steve shook his head "That's the last thing I want. I care for Veronica, a lot. She's becoming to mean a lot to me these last few weeks."

Jonathan nodded his head, "Good. That's exactly what I want to hear."


AN: This is more of a filler chapter, a little short than usual. But I wanted the moment of Veronica realizing where El's been this entire time to have its own moment. Please let me know your thoughts. I was, for a moment, gonna have her reaction be a little more violent – but that's not Veronica. She hurt him a little but...justified I think?