The day had been shit, honestly. Starting with Jane slamming doors and screeching Hopper knew it wasn't going to get any better. And then shit hit the fan with Mr. Mercer down the street having a heart attack and his wife committing suicide within the hour…

Days like this were heavy on Jim. He felt like he was expected to stay in the hospital to see if Mrs. Mercer would survive the pills she downed, but he just couldn't do it. Hospital waiting rooms were not good for him; he couldn't stomach it anymore.

So he put Callahan on it and pushed his way out of those doors to the parking lot like his life depended on it.

Fuck, he needed a drink…

Jane wasn't answering on the Ham radio and it didn't really surprise him but a part of him just wanted to be there. He picked up some whiskey on his way home, grabbed some rotisserie chicken for dinner, and headed to the cabin.

He knew he should have gone back to work to do paperwork and Flo would probably be pissed. None of that mattered as soon as he stepped up to the front door. As he placed the key in the knob he noticed it was unlocked. Slipping his gun out of its holster he set the food and whiskey on the table inside.

"Jane?" he asked tentatively. No response. "El!"

Nothing looked awry as he searched the house, but one thing was sure: Jane was not there.

He felt pressure in his chest, felt like the walls were caving in. She hadn't left a note on the fridge to communicate like they sometimes did. He hadn't marked anything on the calendar noting that she was going to be out with one of her friends.

He ran out the door to check the woods though he knew she wouldn't be there.

"Kid!' he called to the nothingness and heard it echo back.

Frantically, he rushed back inside to pick up the phone and dial Karen Wheeler.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Hopper. Is Jane there?"

"No…why? Is everything okay?"

"Where's Mike?" Hopper ignored her question. He shouldn't have called – she was such a gossip – but he figured Jane would be with Mike if anyone.

"At Dustin's. Hopper-"

He hung up at that, dialing Joyce next.

No one answered and Jim just about ripped the phone off the wall.

Quick steps led him to his Blazer and he peeled out of there and back to the main road. Hopper's mind raced to the most painful possibilities but he tried to reign in his worries.

Maybe she was with the boys playing some bullshit game and forgot to let him know or she'd been trying to call and needed picked up from somewhere.

Or maybe Brenner was alive and came for her. Maybe Julie brought him here and his assumption was right all along. Maybe this was some elaborate ruse; those memories she'd given him weren't really what had happened. Maybe Julie and Brenner were working together. That or someone else from the facility. Now that Julie knew where Hopper's cabin was…kinda. Was she faking being drunk the other night? Had she played him?

His knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel as he drove to Claudia Henderson's place.

He'd been speeding, contemplating calling Callahan or something to ask if they'd gotten any reports of a little girl running around or a blue Sedan…

When he pulled up to Dustin's in a rush he rapped on the door, tempted to just break it down.

"Jesus, I'm coming…hold your horses!" came Dustin's voice. He opened looking stunned. "Oh, Chief!"

"Where is she?"

"My mom? She's not here right now…is that…" at this, Hopper barged in. "Oh…okay."

Hopper looked around only to find Mike and Lucas sitting in the living room.

"Where is El?" Hopper asked Mike, staring him dead in the eye.

"What? She's missing!?" Mike jumped to his feet, startled and pale. "When did you see her last?"

"This morning. You?"

"After school. My dad took her home."

"Were you there?"

"Yes."

"And she went inside?" his voice was booming in the small area.

"Yes," Mike nodded. "She wasn't there just now?"

"No." Hopper ran a hand down his face. "Look, call Will. Call whoever. Did she say anything to you about tonight?"

Mike shook his head sadly.

"She said you fought this morning," Dustin offered. "Maybe she took off?"

Hopper glared at the boy, stepping closer to him.

"I'm going to find her. And if you know where she is and you're covering for her…so help me."

He left with a slam of the door.

So that went worse than he expected. They had to know where she was, he was convinced.

Speeding once again, he stopped at the arcade to make sure she wasn't there then swung by Melvald's. Joyce was working and upon seeing the look on Hopper's face she gasped.

"What happened?"

"Jane. She's gone."

"What!? Hop…"

"Those boys have to know somethin'."

"Want me to call Will? I know he'll tell me."

"Sure, yeah." Hopper felt defeated at this point, having checked in the expected places. "I'll be next door. Come get me if Will knows."

Hopper stormed out of the store and went stomping over to the coffee shop.

Julie was about to greet him as soon as she heard the bell but she hesitated judging by the look on his face. Jim was radiating rage.

"We gotta talk," he said.

Julie gave a look to her coworker and nodded, leading Jim to the back exit.

"What's going on?"

"I could ask you the same fucking thing, Julie. You brought them here, didn't you?"

She was genuinely confused. "Them? Who?"

Jim's eyes darkened as he looked pointedly at her. "Don't tell me you can't fucking read it from me," he spoke through clenched teeth. It was then that Julie finally dug into his thoughts.

"Jane's gone and you think I have something to do with it," her voice rose.

Hopper leaned against the brick of the building, pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

"I don't know what to think anymore, but I know that you were over just the other day and now Jane is gone. Adds up in my mind."

Julie pushed Jim's shoulder, trying to make a skin connection but Jim swatted her arm away, pushed her back. Anger crossed her face and she stepped even closer, pushing passed his defensiveness and pressing her fingers to his neck. She shared her memory of this morning: getting called into an early shift because someone called off and having to rush in before opening.

She pushed off of him harshly, wiping the blood from her nose.

"But I bet you don't believe me, think I'm faking my memories, huh? God, Jim…what else is it gonna take for you to trust me?"

Jim blinked through the fog, inhaled sharply then exhaled the smoke.

He sank down to the concrete below him, unblinking. He was stuck, he didn't know where else to look for her.

"I don't know what to think anymore, okay!?" his voice boomed. Silence befell both of them for a moment. "Fuck, Jules…" he hung his head, let the ashes burn his fingers before tapping them off.

Julie felt bad for the outburst but she didn't want Jim thinking she was still tangled in the web of the facility. Those people had done a number on her and her family. She'd rather die than be associated with them again.

"I understand the accusation, Jim. I do. Just…trust me on this one. I'm not involved." At her words Jim still didn't look up. "Let me see if there's anything I can do…"

Julie closed her eyes, focusing.

"What?" Jim interrupted and she lost it for a second.

Ignoring him, she regained her focus and let her senses run on overdrive. She felt everything – from the breeze to the rush of the passing cars a mile down the road to the busy people talking as they left Melvald's. Not to mention how loud Jim's thoughts were, how his heart raced, how much he ached. Yet no sign of Jane.

"Fuck," she sighed. "I can't get a good reading." She ignored Jim's thoughts running through her mind.

Hopper shook her off; reminded of the time they were drinking at her father's cabin and playing around with her senses and abilities. Things seemed so much lighter then.

"Can't stay in one place too long," he groaned, sitting up and puffing on his cigarette again. "Gotta get moving."

"Let me know what I can do to help," she offered before thinking about it. Was she allowed to help him? Would this be the time he let her step in and meet Jane?

Jim was silent as he rounded the building and went to his Blazer.

•••

It'd been hours since Jim payed her a visit at the coffee shop and she hadn't heard anything from him since. She was sure he was losing his mind at the moment but she wasn't exactly sure how to help.

She'd been in her head the whole drive home and it was always amazing to her when she ended up exactly where she needed to be simply by muscle memory.

Climbing the steps to her porch Julie startled when she felt someone watching her.

There, sitting on the patio furniture, was the young girl from Jim's memories: Jane…Eleven.

Julie was frozen for a moment. What was she supposed to say? All this time wanting to meet her and suddenly she was lost for words.

She felt like she was trying to comfort a startled cat – like Jane would take off again. But she got the sense that Jane had planned this all along, wasn't out running around town – she'd been waiting here all day.

"Would you like to come in?" was all she could muster.

Jane nodded sternly, eyes curious but she could tell she was guarded.

As she stepped closer and Julie could see her in the moonlight, memories flooded to her mind. Julie had to hold onto the doorframe simply to stand upright.

Jane's memories were screaming of the facility. Of Brenner – 'Papa' – keeping her close and guarded. His secret weapon. His special treasure.

The image of Brenner in her head once again brought her back to her own thoughts – of Brenner with a blood-covered forehead from where she smashed it against the steering wheel. Memories of how eager he was to get out of the facility – just the two of them.

Forcing herself out of her thoughts Julie unlocked the door and let the girl in.

•••

Having her in the same room felt like a long-awaited moment, yet this circumstance was not how Julie assumed it would be.

"I…know we met before, but…I feel like it wasn't a real introduction," Julie stated, sitting down at the table with her. She pulled her sleeve up and showed Jane her '017' mark on her wrist. "I'm Julie."

Jane stared for a long while and then glanced up at her. Extending her arm as well, she revealed her '011' mark. "Jane," she said.

"Jane, I'm…I'm going to be honest, I have been wanting to meet you and I'm glad this finally happened but…Jim has been looking for you. He's worried sick."

"I know."

"And you don't care?" she asked softly. Jane hid her reaction, looking away. "I'm going to call him, okay? We can talk but I don't want him worrying anymore now that we know you're safe."

Jane didn't protest. Not when she got up or when she picked up the phone and dialed, and not when it rang.

Answering machine.

"Hey, Jim. It's Julie. I got home from work and…Jane was sitting on my porch. I…I'm unsure where you are but I hope you get this soon." She hung up. Awkwardly sitting back down in the room with Jane, she sighed. The tension in the room was overwhelming. "What questions do you have?" Julie found herself saying without thinking. Wouldn't Jim get pissed if he found out?

"A lot."

"Okay," Julie spoke calmly. "Let's start at the beginning…"

•••

Most of what Jane wanted to know had to do with her history – background, how she got to be where she ended up, how long, what experiments. Just when she'd gotten done with the history part she was getting the nerve to talk about the experiments when there were loud footsteps on the porch.

All the talk of Brenner made her mind play tricks on her at first – like she'd been watching a horror movie and was now paranoid – but after taking a breath she sensed Jim. She was still cautious when she opened the door.

Jim's eyes were bloodshot, jaw tense as he clenched it at the sight of her. She stepped aside, letting him in then locking the door behind him.

Jane looked frightened but defiant when he came in.

"You are in deep, kid," Jim practically growled. "What the Hell were you thinking?"

"I need to know," Jane snapped. "You wouldn't let me."

Hopper tried not to let it get it him, to let his anger subside but damn it she ran.

"I'm trying to protect you!" the anger released anyway.

"From what? The bad men. But she is not the bad men." Jane's statement struck Jim.

"You two have a nice chat? Huh? We're leaving." His reaction didn't surprise Julie. Neither did Jane's. She sat perfectly still in her seat. "Now."

And then she did the most curious thing: she scooted a chair across the floor with her mind and used her powers to sit Jim down. Jane wiped the blood from under her nose.

"Listen," she warned then turned her attention back to Julie.

The uprising made Hopper want to freak out on her – yell, cuss, get red-faced, but he knew that was just going to push her away more. It had in the past. He felt deflated. Angry, but deflated.

"What did you tell her?" Jim asked, voice monotone.

Julie still felt the fury radiating from him, but she also felt the defeat he was grappling with.

"I told her what you know about my past, how you helped me when I got out before, and now…" Julie paused. "I was asked about the experiments…what they did on me."

Jim sat silent, arm on the armrest; hand on his cheek, looking unamused.

Without letting him take this from Jane, Julie dove into the information without another look back to Jim for permission.

Hopper sat silent, stuck in his head about the uprising from Jane.

He'd heard Julie's story before and he remembered most of it from back when he was trying to piece everything together – when he knew nothing about MKUltra or Brenner. Now everything fell into place Now it was even more painful to hear. Maybe that was why he didn't want them to meet – as if protecting Jane from this information would change anything. From what he knew, Jane was kept relatively safe…sort of. But no surgeries or ripping her apart to piece her back together. Not like Julie. Jane had these powers. Julie was some science experiment for them.

Jane still referred to Brenner as 'Papa' the few times she spoke about him when prompted. The anger she felt toward him probably hadn't started until after all of this came out. To her, growing up in the facility had been normal. She didn't know any other versions of 'normal' – had nothing to compare it to until now. Until she dug and realized about her mother – found out the truth.

"And I stayed here because…well, I'm still worried that something might happen. I'm still worried that Brenner isn't done torturing me. That somehow things are going to get bad again. It's been so long since I've had normal." Admitting these things to Jane…Eleven…was so much easier than saying it to someone who hadn't lived it – didn't understand.

Julie was tempted to show her what she'd done to Brenner – how she'd hit his head on the steering wheel and crashed the car – but she knew that Eleven saw him as 'Papa'. Julie couldn't imagine the pain of Eleven's anger turned toward her for hurting her 'Papa' – even if he deserved it.

Jim sat slouched in his chair, eyes narrowed, looking pensive.

"Papa…is…dead," even the way she said it made Julie wonder how torn she felt about that.

Julie wanted to cling to that sentence for dear life, but without having seen it herself she wondered how truthful it was. Brenner was like a cockroach.

"I hope you're right, Eleven."

•••

As Jane and Julie talked, she noticed Jim start to nod off in the chair – head lolling forward on his fist balled up against his cheek only to startle awake again.

She could only imagine how exhausting the day was for him, how emotionally draining.

Jane had a lot of questions about her abilities; how things worked, when it started, what things made her nose bleed – the basics of what Julie's life was at that point. And she found herself asking Jane things too. She got a rundown of the visit she made to Chicago where she met Kali, a summary of the events that took place with the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer.

Jim leaned forward in the chair, yawning. He ran a hand down his face and leaned his elbows on his knees.

"We gotta go, Jane." His anger had subsided at least an hour ago, Julie noted.

The young girl narrowed her eyes at her guardian, changing from calm to frustrated in a matter of seconds.

"No. Stay."

Jim groaned. "I need sleep, kid…"

"I can bring her home," Julie offered to which Jim just stared unblinking. "Or she could stay."

"She's not staying," Jim yawned, trying to sound controlling but it came out pathetic.

"We need to talk," Jane spoke matter-of-fact. "Please."

Hopper could feel the irritation clawing its way up his spine again. He needed rest after a day like today and this just wasn't gonna cut it. Pick your battles, right? But he didn't feel comfortable leaving Jane here all alone. Not yet.

Yet, pick your battles it was. Hopper yawned, groaning.

"Damn it…fine." He huffed back in the chair.

Jane looked proud and smug when she glanced back at Julie.

"I have a spare bed down the hall if you like," Julie mentioned. "If you want to rest while we finish up, that would be fine."

She could tell Jim was debating, but finally sighed as he stood. "Fine," he said in a huff then started down the hall.

•••

The meeting was much needed and once they were done talking, Julie felt a mixture of exhaustion and relief. Jane was sweet and the talk made her realize that she craved that understanding from another, that commonalty they shared: they'd been through the belly of the beast and they survived.

Eleven was drifting off on the couch so Julie figured it was a good time to grab Jim. It was 11:26 already and she felt guilty for the talk lasting that long.

"Jim?" Julie whispered, peeking in the bedroom. The Chief was on top of the bedspread, lying on his belly, arms underneath the pillow. He'd taken off his shirt and slept in a wife beater. Slight snoring was heard and Julie felt guilty for waking him. "Jim," she tried again. Nothing. "Jim…" this time she pressed a hand to his bicep, feeling the warmth of his skin under her palm.

"Hm?" he asked in a groggy voice, turning his head but not opening his eyes.

"It's close to midnight, Jim," she whispered. No response. "You can stay if you like." Again, nothing. "…Is that okay?"

"Hm? Mhm. Yeah…" he turned over to face the opposite wall.

Julie grabbed a blanket for him and draped it over his sleeping form.

Walking back into the living room she woke Jane up to have her sleep in her second spare room.

•••

Hopper woke with a start, jolting up in an unfamiliar room. Where the fuck was he?

Oh, shit…right. Julie's.

Shit, he slept there? Jesus. He had to get Jane to school.

The loud footfalls didn't startle Julie – she knew they'd be coming. She couldn't help but smirk at the frazzled man standing in the doorway of her kitchen.

"Where's Jane?" he huffed, glancing around.

"I took her to school," she answered simply. "You're a deep sleeper."

Jim felt his cheeks heat at that. "Yeah," he grumbled, taking a seat at the table.

"I really tried to wake you but you just wouldn't budge," she stood to grab a coffee mug and poured him some. "Jane was gonna be late she said, so I let her borrow clothes and took her myself. I'm sorry if I overstepped…"

Jim's instant reaction was one of irritation. Who did she think she was? Yet…relief? He'd get to dodge that bullet of Jane getting pissed and throwing a fit.

Julie placed the steaming mug before him, trying not to look at him in his wife beater.

One sip and Jim felt more content.

"Don't worry about it," he hummed at the taste of the coffee. "Glad you got her there."

Julie couldn't help but feel great after finally meeting Jane. Not to mention her role this morning made her feel needed and important for once.

"You're not late for work, are you?"

Jim groaned at the thought of Flo bitching again.

"Christ…" he seethed. "I'm night shift tonight." Thank God. "So…" he leveled his eyes at her, lifting the coffee to his lips again after saying, "what'd I miss last night?"

"Oh, you know, we threw a huge party, I let her try wine for the first time…the usual." At this Jim seemed only slightly amused. "We mostly talked about the facility. We had very different experiences."

Hopper couldn't grasp that; they'd talked a little about some things but neither of them were open books. Maybe it was different with someone who had been there.

"Like what?" he tried to sound nonchalant.

Julie took a sip of coffee mostly to give her mind a second. This topic was delicate – to all of them – and she didn't want to step wrong. Jim was clearly tense enough.

"Well, you've…seen some of my experiences, I'm sure your mind can wander to some of the other glorious times."

Jim grunted, leaning back in the chair. He couldn't imagine, not right now, could he stomach it?

"And her?"

Julie stilled, realizing the weight of that question. Eleven hadn't told him. She read the deep despair from his gut; felt the need for information yet the fear of what he'd learn.

"Well…with her not knowing a typical upbringing? Growing up in that facility? She didn't realize how much she missed out on because that was her normal." As she spoke, she could feel the sadness creeping into Jim's chest. "We both got robbed of a really big chunk of our lives. But…I told her last night: it's not the pieces that matter; it's what we do from here that counts."

Hopper said nothing at first, just swallowed down more coffee and stared out the kitchen window behind her.

"It's my fault she took off yesterday," Jim admitted, running a hand through his hair. "I was so convinced that you had something to do with her disappearance – that you'd been lying this whole time, fibbing about these memories and the facility." He paused for a long while. "M'sorry."

Julie nodded slowly at that, taking a breath. She got the feeling that Jim didn't usually apologize for anything. Ever. She let this moment hang in the air for a few beats.

"I get it. It's hard to trust after everything. But, again, Jim…it's about what we do from here."

There, in that kitchen, Hopper had a new understanding of what it could take to start over.