Hospitals weren't really the best when it came to getting rest. For the patients or the visitors. Hopper unfortunately had experience on both sides, but more as a visitor. He'd spent more nights than he could count at Sara's beside, holding her hand as she struggled with her illness or just watching her sleep and hoping she would get better. Hopper wished he'd never be in a position like that again, but here he was. Neither of the boys he was sitting between were in danger of dying, but it was still hard.

Hopper checked his watch, groaning when he saw barely any time had passed since the last time he checked. Time felt like it was dragging. He was stupidly exhausted, but also too wired to fall asleep. It felt like something was keeping him awake, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what. There probably wasn't any danger to worry about. He should've been getting as much rest as he could, since the nurse had just been by to check that everything was still as it should be. But his eyes wouldn't close. And when Steve started stirring a few minutes later, he was glad for it.

Steve shifting a little in his sleep wasn't out of the ordinary, but Hopper still paid attention every time. He usually didn't fully wake up, just moved into a different position and let out a long sigh as he settled in again, so when Hopper saw the movement but didn't hear the sigh, he knew something was off. And when the sound he did hear was more of a gasp than an exhale, he knew he had to do something.

"Steve? You alright?" Hopper asked, leaning over to try to get a better look at the kid's face. The lights were low, since everyone was trying to sleep, but he could see the outline of Steve's profile. He was trying to keep his face tucked away, but Hopper could see him biting his lip. "What hurts? Do you need me to call a nurse?"

"No, I'm okay," Steve replied quietly. Hopper could hear a slight waver in Steve's voice and he was determined to get to the bottom of what was wrong with him. The kid still wasn't a fan of doctors, but Hopper wasn't going to let him suffer in silence.

"There's no need to be stubborn. If you're in pain, we can get you help."

"It's- that's not it," Steve whispered, biting his lip now hard enough to split it. As if the kid needed another wound. Hopper was about to ignore him and call for a nurse anyway, until he heard a mostly concealed sniffle.

"Are you crying?"

"No," Steve mumbled, before sucking in a sharp breath. "I'm sorry. I'll be quiet."

"Aw, Steve."

"It's okay. I'm okay," Steve choked out, covering his eyes with his hand. Hopper forced himself up out of his chair and stood next to Steve's bed. He could see the tears Steve couldn't hold back sliding down his cheeks.

"Kid," Hopper sighed, looking around the room. For what, he wasn't sure. It wasn't like Joyce was going to pop out of the corner to handle this. She would've been much better at it. But Hopper had been confident that he'd be able to look after two sleeping teenagers. Steve waking up and breaking down hadn't been something he saw coming.

"I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing. Just tell me what's going on."

"It's stupid."

"It's not."

"It was a nightmare."

"About all this?" Hopper asked, hoping the answer would be that it was just some run of the mill dream about falling into a volcano or creepy clowns. But when Steve silently nodded his head, he knew he was dealing with something more complicated. This was trauma. "Shit."

"It shouldn't be a big deal, right? This isn't the first time we've dealt with stuff like this or the first fight I've gotten into."

"Steve, what happened to you wasn't a fight. It was- it was not a fight." Hopper couldn't even bring himself to use the word torture because the thought of something like that happening to a kid was more than he could take at the moment. The evidence was laying in front of him and that was hard enough.

"But I survived it, so it doesn't matter. I should move on," Steve said in frustration, raking roughly at his leaking eyes.

"It's only been a day. Struggling with what happened is normal," Hopper insisted. They were all due for some sort of mental break, if they hadn't had one or multiple already.

"It's not for me!" Steve argued. "I have to be fine to help the kids. Crying about what happened to me is a waste of time."

"Do you understand how much these kids care about you?" Hopper wondered. Steve opened his mouth to make some sort of argument, but Hopper cut him off. "You think they want you to suffer just to help them? That how you feel doesn't mean anything?"

"My burdens aren't theirs to bear."

"Then lay them on me," Hopper said, holding his arms out wide. "I can handle anything you throw at me and I want to. With everything this group has gone through together, we're a family. And if you think I'm going to let any member of this family deal with their problems alone, you're mistaken. You deserve comfort just as much as anyone else." Hopper could see Steve's chin trembling as he tried valiantly to stay in control, but either exhaustion or Hopper's words won out because soon enough, he broke.

"I was so scared," Steve sobbed, clutching his chest as his movements aggravated his bruises. "I thought we were gonna die down there."

"Shit."

"They kept asking me questions I couldn't answer and hitting me when they didn't get what they wanted. And I was terrified the same was happening to Robin. And that Dustin and Erica weren't safe. But there was nothing I could do," Steve cried, hiccupping as his breath caught in his throat. Hopper cupped the back of his neck, trying to ground him. "My parents are never around, but I'd never felt as alone as I did in that room."

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that on your own. If I'd known, I would've raised hell to get you out."

"Then they had us in the room with the doctor and he brought in all these tools. Even with the drugs, I knew it was bad. If Robin hadn't spoken up when she did, I don't know what would've happened. But now it's all I can think about. What if Dustin and Erica hadn't shown up when they did? Or if they got caught and the same things happened to them? They all could've died while I sat there useless," Steve choked out, closing his eyes in despair.

"Hey, nothing that happened or could've happened was your fault," Hopper insisted, squeezing a little until Steve looked up at him. There would be a lecture coming for everyone about going off without an adult knowing what they were up to first, but that would wait until everyone was healthy. Right now, Steve needed reassurance more than authority. "Nothing can justify what they did to you. They were the bad guys."

"But-"

"You didn't deserve what happened to you. You never deserve to be hurt."

"I was so scared," Steve said again, looking up at Hopper with so much vulnerability on his face.

"I know. But you're safe now. I've got you." Steve closed his eyes and wept, letting out everything that he'd been holding back, probably since the first encounter with the Upside Down. Hopper could feel a burning in his own eyes at the sight of Steve letting go, but he blinked the feeling away. He could wait until he could curl around a bottle alone.

Hopper ran his hand through Steve's hair like he'd seen Joyce do, trying to soothe him through his emotional moment. It wasn't much different than comforting El or Sara, if he didn't think about it too hard. Most of his parenting came from trial and error and instinct, so he just did what felt natural.

He wasn't sure how long he was standing there before he could see Steve finally calming down and dropping off. Hopefully this round of sleep would be more restful for him, but Hopper was going to stick close by, just in case. He carefully pulled his hands away and backed up, ready to get off his feet again during this lull, when the sound of Billy's heart monitor caught his attention. It wasn't much, just the smallest uptick in pace, but Hopper was on high alert.

"Billy?" Hopper whispered, peering over at the other bed. Billy's head was turned to the side, facing away from him. It was pretty much as far as he could comfortably move in his condition, without risking messing anything up internally. He'd learned that lesson when his dad had been in the room earlier. "You okay?"

"Leave me alone," Billy muttered. And Hopper really wanted to. He wanted to be immature and petty and tell Billy that he wasn't going to deal with his attitude. Before today, he hadn't had any good interactions with the kid and knew he had been mostly bad news with the others. Billy wasn't truly his responsibility.

But then Hopper thought back to the little bits he'd witnessed. From Billy asking for his mother to helping distract the doctors from Steve. And everything that happened with his dad. There was more to this kid than met the eye and the standoffishness was a defense mechanism. Hopper knew all about pushing people away to protect himself. He wasn't going to allow the kid to isolate himself.

"Not gonna happen. I know you've been asleep for a lot of this, but I'm sticking around. You don't have to talk to me if you don't want to, but you aren't going to get rid of me."

"I wasn't."

"What?" Hopper asked in confusion.

"Asleep. Not for all of it." Hopper tried to think back to anything that might've been said that should've been private, but Billy continued. "I was awake for some of it. While that thing was inside of me."

"Oh God."

"All I could do was watch as something else controlled my body. I was screaming, but no one could hear me."

"I can't imagine," Hopper mumbled. Will had gone through something similar, but he hadn't asked any questions after everything was dealt with. It didn't feel like his place to do so. He wasn't sure how much Will remembered from the time he was being controlled. And in the unfortunate circumstance that he recalled a lot, at least he'd been kept away from most of the action. Billy couldn't say the same.

"It's what I deserved though, right? For being such a shitty person," Billy ground out, turning to look up at Hopper with a challenge in his eyes. "Should've been the first victim really."

"Don't talk like that. No one deserved what happened." No matter what Billy did before, he hadn't earned this trauma. Even Neil, for all that he'd done. Prison, yes, but not being turned into a puppet for murder. The punishment didn't fit the crime.

"It would've been better for everyone if I'd died too. Should've left me on the floor of that mall," Billy spat.

"That's not true."

"I've been hearing all my life that I'm worthless and a waste of space. Taking myself out of the equation could've been the one good thing I've done with my life," Billy laughed.

"Billy-"

"Shut the hell up." Hopper turned in surprise, finding a pissed off Steve awake and staring at Billy like he was ready to fight. "Don't you dare say that."

"You of all people should agree with me," Billy huffed, rolling his eyes. Hopper moved a little so they would be able to see each other better. He wasn't sure if letting them fight was the best plan, but Steve might be able to get through to Billy in a way he couldn't. He'd step in if it got out of control.

"But I don't."

"No one would miss me."

"That's bullshit!" Steve shouted, flaring his nostrils as the emotions he'd just gotten under control threatened to spill over again. "I don't remember a lot about what happened after we fought the monster, but I saw how devastated Max was when she thought you were gone. And she was here for hours at your bedside, even after everything. So don't you dare say no one would miss you."

"One kid who doesn't know any better. You think that matters?" Billy scoffed, but Hopper could see that Steve's words were having some effect.

"Well, now it's two people."

"Make that three," Hopper added. "And I think you'll find that if you put in a little effort, a few more kids will agree with us too."

"And I know a guy who won't," Billy said bitterly.

"Screw your dad!" Hopper barked, startling both boys. "I heard a story tonight about a guy who almost sacrificed his life to save a group of kids. You think that guy should care about what his poor excuse of a father thinks? You're already ten times the man he could ever wish to be."

"Ten times zero is still zero. And nothing is what I have to look forward to. Do I go back to that house with my dad who treats me worse than shit on the bottom of his shoe? Do I take off and try to scrape by while I'm fucked in the head from all this? See, all this stuff you're saying is nice and all, but it doesn't work for someone like me. I don't get the redemption arc. I don't get the happy ending. And the faster you accept that, the better. Don't waste your time."

"We just fought a monster from another dimension and you think giving you a chance is the impossible thing?" Steve asked incredulously.

"I arrested your dad," Hopper interjected. Billy tried to hide the flash of surprise that crossed his face, but the drugs in his system were letting things leak through.

"Because he hit you? And threatened Harrington?" Billy wondered, staring down at his blanket and flicking a loose thread.

"I don't care about him hitting me. And the threatening Steve part did piss me off, but if it had just been those two things, I wouldn't have bothered," Hopper shrugged.

"Then why?"

"Because he hurts you. And I'm not the type of guy who stands around and lets that happen. Not because of pity or because you almost died stepping in front of a monster for a group of kids I care about. Because you deserve better. You deserve to be safe. And I'm going to do whatever I can to make sure you are," Hopper said firmly.

"No one's cared before," Billy whispered.

"Well, that's not true anymore. And I'll tell you like I've been telling Steve, since he's a bit hard headed as well. You're not alone in this. I can't change the past, but I can damn well change the future. And I'm saying you're stuck with us. We may be a mess of a group, but that's what makes us work," Hopper declared, setting his hand on Billy's shoulder. "Welcome to the family."

Steve's quiet sniffles were the only sound in the room for a while. Hopper hadn't meant to set him off again, but there was probably no avoiding it. Billy's face was stony, but he could see the moisture in his eyes that he was forcing not to fall. Hopper knew he was probably replaying all the words in his head, picking them apart to try to find anything disingenuous. But Hopper would gladly keep reassuring both boys, for as long as it took.

Joyce nodded politely at the nurses she passed as she made her way back to Steve and Billy's hospital room. After a long night of tossing and turning for all of them, the kids had woken up bright and early, ready to head back to the hospital. She downed as much coffee as she could, wishing she still had the energy of her youth, then piled everyone into the car and headed out.

They were all currently waiting in the waiting room, since she didn't want to overwhelm the boys if they were sleeping still or just waking up. And she wanted to have a private word with Hopper first. If there were any not so good updates, she didn't want the kids to hear and be upset.

It was pretty much a miracle that everyone had survived and was on the mend. At so many points, it could've gone the other way. Losing Alexei was tough, but she hadn't really known him. And almost losing Hopper was forcing her to confront some feelings she'd been ignoring for a while. That talk would have to wait until everyone was back home again, but she was excited to have it. Hopper was a good man and she cherished their friendship, so the idea of something more made her smile.

Joyce's smile grew when she finally stood outside the door to the hospital room. All three occupants were asleep. Steve was curled on his side with one arm hanging off the edge of the bed. Billy was on his back, with his head turned toward the middle of the room. And Hopper was in the center with his chin resting on his chest and both arms stretched out, holding onto each of the boys.