31- I'm Glad You're Okay

Summary: The others greeting Hopper after his return to Hawkins.

Requested by: Section8grl


Steve sighed as he pulled away from the high school/shelter.

Dustin had been quiet the past two days, which was understandable, but right now, he was stone silent.

Steve thinks it's since Dustin had a heart to heart with Eddie's uncle Wayne.

Robin was smiling, completely oblivious of Dustin's silence.

Steve knew for a fact that this was because of a conversation with Vickie.

Steve turned into the hospital parking lot and turned the car off.

"Do you guys want to come in with me?" he asked, twisting in his seat to look at the two.

Dustin nodded and Robin shrugged.

"Alright, just don't get in the way."

They were there to get Lucas and Erica out of the hospital for a few hours.

This was going to be challenging.

Erica wasn't leaving Lucas alone for 5 minutes and Lucas wasn't leaving Max for 5 minutes.

The trio went up the elevator to the 3rd floor of the hospital and walked down the hall to Max's room.

Steve turned to the other two.

"One of them might be sleeping so be quiet." Steve told them, referring to the incident they had yesterday when Steve came into the room to find the Sinclair siblings and woke them both up from a much-needed sleep.

They sneaked in and found the youngest Sinclair sibling sleeping with Lucas's coat draped over her.

Lucas looked up and put a finger to his lips once he saw them.

Steve nodded then went over to whisper the plan to Lucas while Robin and Dustin visited Max.

"Did you see the snow stuff?" Steve asked.

"Yeah. Do you think?" Lucas whispered.

"I don't know what to think. Do you want to go to the cabin and discuss it with the group?"

Lucas's gaze landed on Max, and he hesitated.

He then glanced back at his little sister and said, "You should take Erica. She needs rest."

"No."

Everyone's head whipped to the corner of the room where Erica was groggily sitting up.

"I'm not leaving you here." she said stubbornly.

"You need rest." Lucas protested.

"Not more than you do." Erica stated. "Just the facts."

Lucas still looked hesitant.

"Come on Lucas!" Dustin declared suddenly, surprising Robin and Steve. "El and Will are home, we can spend some time with them."

Lucas and Dustin had a staring contest for a few moments before Lucas finally caved and nodded.

Erica lazily gave her brother a side hug and with one last glance at Max they all left the room, heading down to Steve's car.


When Steve's BMW turned onto Mirkwood Dustin looked up.

"I thought we were going to the cabin?" he said, confused.

"Before we left, I got a radio call," Steve told the group. "Johnathan said to meet them at the Byers."

Dustin nodded, falling silent yet again.

Steve turned into the Byers driveway, and they all saw El and Will near the garage to meet them.

Dustin, Lucas, and Erica all jumped out of car, running to meet up with them.

Robin and Steve climbed out of the car and walked to catch up.

After some more hugging, Robin looked around.

"Where's Mike?" she asked, seeing that they were missing someone.

El looked excited for a moment.

"He's back at the cabin."

"Does he have a ride?" Steve asked.

"Yeah."

They were confused.

El was excited that her boyfriend was gone?

"So," Robin said, deciding to try to figure this out. "He's riding with Nancy?"

Just then, Nancy, Johnathan, and Joyce stepped out onto the front porch.

"Hey guys." Joyce called. "How did volunteering go?"

"Joyce is back?" Lucas asked.

Will nodded.

"Wait," Dustin said, doing the math in his head. "Whose Mike getting a ride with?"

Just then, an old pickup truck pulled up.

Mike climbed out of it with...

"HOPPER?!" everyone who didn't get the memo shouted.

"Everybody's ecstatic to see me apparently." Mike joked, going up and hugging his girlfriend.

Though, nobody heard it, they all were still looking at Hopper, jaws on the floor.

Erica was the first one to go back to neutral.

"You died." she stated.

"Yep." Hopper replied.

"And you're alive now." she kept going.

"Yep." Hopper again replied.

"How?"

"That's a long story for another day." Hopper chuckled.

Dustin looked at El.

"I'm guessing you knew?" he asked. "Since you're not balling and rushing up to Hopper."

"I had my reunion with him at the cabin." she told them.

Joyce decided to stop all the gawking and herd everyone inside.

"Come on," she said. "Hopper technically is still dead and El's hiding from the government so everyone inside."

Everyone glanced and smirked at each other yet went inside.

They all gathered on the floor, some leaning up against the wall in the living rom.

"So, how are you alive?" Lucas asked.

"Honestly, you should just know that I survived, was captured by Russians, and was held in Russia for 8 months." Hopper explained in one breath.

There was silence.

And then, "You were captured by Russians?"

This was asked by Erica.

Hopper simply nodded.

Erica and Dustin shared a look, while Steve and a girl that he recognized from the mall looked like they gained even more respect from the older man.

After a moment, the kids started talking to each other, and Joyce brought out some fast-food dinner.

Everyone chatted into the night, talking about what had happened over spring break, what they were going to do about it, and some silly, normal things, like which movie they should watch next.

Hopper was getting a beer from the fridge when Steve walked in.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Steve started to get a bag of chips and 8 sodas.

He suddenly stopped and stared at the counter.

"Steve? You okay?" Hopper carefully approached him.

"I'm glad you're okay." Steve whispered.

Hopper stopped. He'd had a history with Steve even before the Upside Down, catching the kid drinking multiple times, each time Steve getting a sad look in his eyes every time Hopper mentioned his parents.

Hopper slowly wrapped his arms around Steve and Steve hugged back. They stood there for a moment, then pulled away.

Steve smiled, "Thanks."

"Anytime kid." Hopper said.

Steve left the kitchen, and Lucas and Dustin came in.

"Mike and El are making gooey eyes at each other again." Dustin said. "Had to get away from that."

Hopper chuckled.

"We're happy you're okay Hopper." Lucas said.

"Yeah," Dustin agreed. "Really happy."

Hopper remembered when he interrogated the two young boys when Will was missing.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay." he said. "You lied to the police?"

"Very badly." Lucas joked. "You should've heard Dustin."

"Well, you weren't saying anything." Dustin protested. "I had to jump in!"

Lucas just gave Dustin a look.

Hopper went and side hugged the two boys.

"Well, good job." Hopper said.

"Thanks, Hop." they both said in unison.

They all left the kitchen, Lucas going over to Erica, who gave Hopper a small smile and Dustin headed over to Steve, who gave a nod to Hopper.

Hopper went and sat by Joyce.

"What happened in there?" she whispered.

"Nothing much." Hopper responded.

But when he turned away, he was smiling.

AN: Hope you liked it Section8grl! Requests are open!