El,
Well, you can't see it but I have a big smile on my face. I sat down to write this letter in the blanket fort, but for some reason… it didn't feel quite right. Like I needed to wait to call you first. I can't explain it. Anyway, I thought I would call first. I'm glad I did!
The day didn't start off good. Will is having these "episodes". Nobody will say anything but we all know it's related to the Upside Down. Anyway, we all showed up wearing GhostBusters uniforms. With working gear and everything. Of course Dustin went way overboard.
So we get to the school and nobody except us is wearing a Halloween costume. We might as well have been carrying big neon signs that said "I'm a Nerd". We got our regular teasing, but Troy was nowhere in sight. We got lucky I guess.
You probably didn't know this but for me Halloween is the best day of the year. I say that now, but I've never spent Christmas with anyone other than family. I think Christmas with you would be the best day of the year (big smile here).
I know I sound happy, but today wasn't a very good day at all. Not until I called you.
Max kind of took over our Halloween night, and then Will had a bad "episode." I walked him home. He thinks that nobody understands what he's going through and I guess I really don't, but I told him that you would. Anyway, I felt really depressed after that and went home to call you.
This is day 353. I miss you so much I can barely stand it. I find myself crying out of nowhere at the worst times possible. I mean, The Party knows why, but my parents are completely oblivious. Nancy kind of knows why but she's just being nice to me and not saying anything.
So anyways, I'm calling you telling you I had a bad day… and I swear El, I mean, I felt you in front of me. I thought I heard you calling my name, I thought I could smell how fresh you are. Oops, I think maybe I forgot to mention that. Um, one morning, when I came down to give you some Eggos, you smelled like, I don't know, baby powder or something? It was very nice.
You felt sad, El. I'm sorry if you tried to reach me. I didn't think about it at the time, I just got up and walked away, but the more I think about it now… It was you! I know it was. That means you're still out there… or down there. I was right not to give up on you.
You are such a strong girl, El. You deserve a lot better than me. But it's me that loves you. More than anything in the world.
There were several tear stains. Mike must have been crying hard when he wrote that. He really loved her! El felt all glowy inside. That must have been why he was so mad at her dad. She'd been hidden away for 353 days. El was sure that soulmates couldn't be kept apart for too long. The universe would start changing until two soulmates were together again. Maybe that was why it was so easy to close the gate? Is that where her real power came from? Mike's love? El was sure of it. More sure than anything else right now. Just like Mike was.
Please El. Come back to me... Please?
Mike.
More tear stains. A lot more. Right at this moment El loved Mike so much she thought she would shatter into a million shiny pieces, each one reflecting her love.
"Where is he?" She was starting to fret now. She got out of the sleeping back and started pacing back and forth, holding on to the tear stained letter. She needed to see him. She needed Mike now more than she needed air.
She needed him.
She heard a rush to the door, her sobbing had already started before Mike stepped into the basement.
Mike took one look at El's tear stained face and he was done. He started crying immediately.
They collapsed against each other in a tight hug. El couldn't catch her breath at first. Eventually she was able to talk through big gulping breaths.
"I missed you too. I want to be your girlfriend. I love you. We are soulmates."
Mike held her crying on her shoulder, rocking her from side to side. "I love you I love you I love you."
El hugged him tightly. She was never going to let him go. When they parted she said, "Get in your pajamas and get into the blanket fort with me.
"Your dad will kill us if he knows we are sleeping in the same sleeping bag. I mean me. I spent the entire trip here apologizing to him. I think I punched him pretty hard in the stomach at the Byer's."
"I told him I was falling asleep in your arms tonight. In the blanket fort. In the same sleeping bag." El giggled.
"That must be where the whole ' respect my daughter' speech came from. Um… I see you found my letters. Pretty wimpy, huh?"
"Mike… I read all of them. Most of them made me cry."
"I meant every word I wrote in them."
"I know. They made me realize that someone out there loved me. Even though we only spent a week together, it was enough. I love you so much Mike I could start crying again just thinking about it."
"You, um, talk a lot better than you did. Hopper taught you?"
"We had a word of the day and… I was alone a lot. I watched a lot of TV."
XXXXX
They lay facing each other. El heard Mike sniff, and saw that his tears flowed sideways onto the pillow. "Mike, it's ok. I promised you wouldn't lose me."
"I thought for sure that the Mind Flayer would be too much for you to handle. Even though you promised… I thought I'd lost you forever. I don't think I stopped crying the entire time."
Mike leaned closer to her head on the pillow and kissed her. "Feels good to kiss you… nobody watching, no worries… no worries right?"
"No worries, Mike."
"I like that your hair grew in curly. Makes you prettier if that's even possible."
"I like that my hair grew in, I've never had it longer than you saw before. I won't do that punk look again Mike. That was a bad chapter in my life. Completely out of place for me. I met my sister, but she was obsessed with revenge. I'm obsessed with my friends. Mike? What's wrong?"
Mike was crying again. "I'm just so happy to see you El. I really missed you."
"You never gave up on me Mike. Do you have any idea how that makes a girl feel?"
Mike couldn't talk and El moved in closer in the sleeping back to give him a long, tight hug.
"I'm a little wimpy tonight El, I mean, not usually this wimpy, but wimpier than usual."
"It's because we are in love. That will make any boy wimpy, and any girl happy about it."
"It's like I can tell you about my true feelings, and you won't laugh, or make fun of me."
El hugged Mike tighter. "My dad is not going to like my new rules."
"Rules?"
El explained to him the cabin rules.
"Those were good rules El. He was keeping you safe."
"I know that now Mike. I was never in any real danger… only when I was closing the gate. That seems like so long ago, but it's only been a few hours."
"Get closer. I want to put my arms around you, you can fall asleep on my shoulder."
The rustled around a bit and then El said. "This is perfect."
XXXXX
Hopper looked at Mrs. Wheeler.
El looked back and forth between the two of them.
"I wanted you both in the same room while I explained things to you."
"I'm not going to like this am I?" Hopper asked his daughter.
"No, probably not. I don't think Mrs. Wheeler is going to like it either. But it's going to happen."
Hopper rolled his eyes and said to Karen, "You'll be meeting the real Jane Hopper aka Eleven."
Karen looked slightly confused but took a sip of wine and then set it down.
"Mrs. Wheeler, Mike and my dad…"
Hopper's eyes already started to mist over.
"...already know that my… um… foster life was not very good." El took a quick look between her dad and Mike. They understood what she was saying.
"I had to escape. That didn't stop my… foster parents… from putting a lot of effort into finding me. You've already had-" El air quoted "-FBI agents asking you stupid questions with even more stupider facts. Sorry I know that's not a word, but it's what I mean."
"Mike found me. He gave me a safe place and a home. Later, my dad found me and gave me an even safer place and home."
El looked between Mike and Hopper, and they both nodded their heads.
"Almost a year passed… and… Mike and I fell in love."
Mrs. Wheeler gave Hopper a look, and he gave a subtle nod.
"Not just love… we are bound as soulmates. Call it Lovebound, Soulbound. Whatever works for you. Ok, this is what you need to wrap you head around. Mike and I will be spending the rest of our lives together."
She gave Mike a trepidatious look. He nodded and smiled.
"This is the compromise I've come up with. I've spent a long time thinking about this. Mike and I are going to sleep beside each other from now on."
Karen's eyes went wide, but Hopper just rolled his eyes.
"No, Mrs. Wheeler, it's not what you think. Mike is not anywhere near ready for that. So don't worry. But we need to be together. All the time."
"We spend a week here, and then a week at my dad's as long as he's not working at night."
El looked back and forth between her dad and Mrs. Wheeler.
"Karen," Hopper said, "I'm totally ok with is way beyond what both of us understand… but it's real. One of the things I've learned in the last year is to not lie, to compromise, and to love my daughter more than my own life."
Karen turned to El, "If you are making my son happy, then yes. I get the feeling that both of you will be true and not do anything too silly. You both have my blessing with your plans."
"We do? " El was expecting a lot more resistance.
"Mike has had a terrible year, as his mom, I could see that. Now I know why. If you are making each other happy… I'm overjoyed. You should be too, Jim."
El started to cry, Mike immediately put his arms around her. "Thanks Mom… Chief. You have no idea what this means to us."
Hopper nodded, barely keeping his emotions in check. "I just don't want to lose you."
El burst out crying, heavier than before. . "Y-You won't dad… I love you…."
Mike said, "it's ok now. We are together, we are safe, the world is safe," he said the latter part in a lower voice, only the Chief and El would have heard it.
"Where tonight? The cabin is cleaned up." Hopper said.
"I want Mike to see where you kept me safe. The cabin."
"Ok, but that bed is not big enough for the both of you."
"We'll get the sleeping bags." El said, her dad didn't have to know that they'd be zipping them together.
Hopper looked at them as they walked to the Blazer hand in hand.
"You know Jim," Karen said with the wine glass in her hand. "At some point you are going to have to tell me what happened… some of it sounded… dangerous."
Hopper looked at her.
"At some point."
