[A/N: Hello guys, just want to say something important before we get into this chapter. Since season 3 changed sooo many things, from now on all my stories from WEIRD STUFF and this one become AU. What does it mean? Well I'll leave to you guys to think these stories take place at a) an alternative universe; b) post season 2, pre season 3; or c) post season 3 but pretending that no one moved from Hawkins and Hopper never 'died' – basically they went back to the cabin and that's it. You guys choose what you want to believe from now on.
I gave this a lot of thought and I presented this on my instagram for people to vote because I didn't know what to do and this decision was the result of many, many days wondering how to continue given that, as you know, I have a list for the next chapters of WEIRD STUFF series and those stories have been imagined since a long time ago. Also because I want to keep writing fluffy/happy/funny stories because I think we all need that and, even if this story TAKE MY HAND is sad – and I mean really sad – I don't want to write angst aside from this one until I'm done with the Weird Stuff list.
When I'm done writing all that I mentioned, I'll start with canon post season 3 but at the moment we'll continue like this. I hope you guys keep reading and supporting my art. Thank you.
Now, enjoy.]
Stranger Things belongs to The Duffer Brothers and Netflix. I own nothing.
oOoOoOoOoOo
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TAKE MY HAND
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Ch. II
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xx
Suddenly a cloth of harrowing fantasy settled onto her as her mind remained numb, not quite understanding the things she heard but, at the same time, she could understand every word coming out of Max's mouth; she understood but she didn't want to.
El wanted to think her friend was wrong; that between the events of the bank robbery she kept telling her about with muffled voice and Karen looking for her purse and car keys in the back of the room, maybe they made a mistake and Mike ended up unharmed. Maybe he was done with everything for what he went to the bank, maybe he was coming home and stopped on the way to buy a wine bottle for dinner and he'd be back soon, walking through the door with a bag of groceries telling them that something happened right after he left.
Karen would hug him, happy and relieved. Max would make a joke about his great luck and then leave to help her work colleagues and he would hug Eleven because he'd knew she would have believed the same as everyone else did.
It'd be a moment when El would cry out of fear and also happiness because it'd all be just a false alarm; she'd take a deep breath in the arms of the man she loves and Mike would stroke her hair, kiss her forehead, the tip of her nose and then her lips before whispering "Don't worry, beautiful, I'm here."
But that never happened.
Instead Karen came to her wiping the tears out of her eyes and taking her hand, walking to the car as she whispered they should get going and her voice was so peaceful and horribly resigned. Max drove behind them too and Eleven would never forget the look on her friend's eyes; her nose so pink, her bright eyes so red since she wanted to remain calm and professional but couldn't hide her sadness because Mike was also her friend and because she knew how much pain was hovering over El.
In a blink of an eye the sky went covered by thick clouds, hiding the blue from the noon with a layer of gray. Snow-filled clouds that would bring joy to children, remembering them that Christmas was only a couple days ahead but then, for Eleven, that sky or the holydays coming or the people around them meant nothing. It was like if she couldn't react, as if the pain had grown so strong it passed any suffering and she couldn't feel anything, not even the car moving, the noise from the streets nor the howling from Max's patrol car; yet when they parked and Eleven noticed the building in front of her and the EMERGENCY sign on top of the door she opened her eyes again, blinked three times and squeezed Karen's hand as reality hit her hard.
Every step she made, every face passing by on that emergency hallway, every voice calling for them and asking if they needed any help, every nurse she bumped into, every litter, every sick person, every second as they turned left and right on the hospital wing and she could smell the characteristically scent of medicines, iodine, new lives beginning and death; all of that made Eleven fully aware of the reality they were into, of what happened.
Desperation clear in her eyes, her frown deep and her muscles tensed as they practically ran trying to find a familiar face. Karen asked her to slow down, to be calmed because they had to ask someone where they were and where they should be going but Eleven ignored her because she knew already. El just knew.
She didn't need to ask anyone because her senses were on alert, because she was lucky to count with something special guiding her steps and telling her where she should go and that wasn't her powers; it wasn't the bleeding in her nose she hasn't experience since they were kids, it wasn't the special abilities of which Karen knew nothing about. No, it was something else, what guided Eleven was something invisible and, at the same time, it was known for every living thing on that planet: it was their love. The love she feels for Mike, the weak and paused beating of his heart coming closer to her with every step she made; the smell of his skin she knew so well after many nights she spent on top and under him touching her own, kissing her during intimacy as his voice filled her ears with deep passion and his lips marked her skin. It was their love what called for her because no one knew her as well as the feeling they created, like a magnet.
"Dad!" El yelled when they reach a white hallway and found Hopper and Ted Wheeler sitting near a closed big white door.
The Chief of Police and her father in law – who was resting his head in his hands, clearly upset – looked up to both woman and each one fell into their arms, both desperate to give and receive support.
"I'm here, kid, I'm here." whispered the Chief when El hugged him and buried her face on his chest. The man who gave her a family and only then El realized she started crying desperately, scared to death to even ask what happened.
Fortunately Karen found her voice first even when she felt as broken as El did. She hugged Ted and when they pulled apart, only then, Eleven noticed blood on the man's shirt, blood she knew wasn't his.
"Oh no…" she gasped, her voice muffled as she covered her mouth in an attempt to stop the scream crawling its way through her heart. Her eyes so big filled with a storm of endless tears as she shook her head not wanting to accept just how injured Mike was but Hopper grabbed her shoulders and shook her a little bit.
"He is alive. He is alive, you hear me?" he said, his voice severe as he forced his daughter to look at him in the eye and find her way back from the dark clouds hovering her own mind. He would apologize later for being rude but right now he needs her to pay attention. Jim patted her shoulders when her crying ceased. "He is in surgery right now."
Saying that the following hours were a torture is an understatement.
x
It was getting dark really fast that day. It was five o'clock and since it was winter the clouds she saw earlier covered all remaining sun in what it felt like a second, the night falling in a heartbeat but also every hour they kept waiting felt like an eternity, yet she wouldn't leave. Ted had to get back to the house since Holly was coming back from her sleepover and he had to make plans for her to stay at some of her friend's house and be taken care of since it was her brother who's in the hospital and also because Karen asked him to change; seeing the blood on his shirt was too much. Eleven was surprised to see Ted being so active and so 'awake' all of the sudden but then she imagined it wasn't a choice; Karen is Mike's mother and Eleven knows the storm of fears she must have because she feels the same way, after all no one loves Mike as much as they do.
Joyce showed up at the hospital only a couple minutes after Ted left. She came in looking as worried as she imagined and the woman hugged Eleven because she knew what she was going through. Mrs. Byers, (Mrs. Hopper actually, Joyce, whatever she might have call her before) it all resumes to 'mom' as she calls her now; a mother of the heart for her and she cried again in her arms.
"Hi mom." was all Eleven could say. It's been years since she called her like that for the first time and she knew that such small word had the power to touch the woman deeply because it gives her the strength to support everyone who needs it. Terry died a couple months before they finished high school and since then Joyce took very seriously the mother role towards Eleven.
She appreciated that, she will always appreciate it.
Lucas came after he was done with work. He came to the hospital wig running, desperate to find them since he had just find out: he had been in Indianapolis the whole day working with a client who used to live in Hawkins and when he came back to his office, his secretary told him his wife, Max, had been calling him non-stop. When he called back to the station he was informed of the terrible news by Flo.
Hopper had to come back to the station a little after El went to the hospital because they still had a lot of work and even if he didn't want to leave El there, she told him he should get back, that it was okay because he should do it for both of them; so he could find the criminals who escaped. She wanted her father to catch those who hurt Mike and lock them up and… and if the unspeakable happens to him she would take them down and kill them, slowly and painfully.
As they kept waiting Ted came back from the house after changing his blood-stained clothes and taking Holly to a friend's house, he also called Nancy in New York to tell her the dreadful news. Max also went there, Hopper send her because he didn't want El to be alone and between her and Ted they both told Eleven, Karen, Joyce and Lucas exactly what happened. Lucas stayed next to her the whole time, caressing her back and assuring that everything would be okay.
The robbery was made by a gang of ten criminals from another city that had been planning the felony for a while: some of them infiltrated as painters, fake guards, fake clients and two others criminals have been following the values truck. When they got there all fake guards, infiltrated criminals and the ones in the other truck shot their guns in the air and ordered everyone to lie down. They pushed people to the floor, kicked and forced some of the bank employees and killed anyone who disobeys their orders without second thoughts. Ted explained how in the middle of the robbery one of them pointed his gun to an innocent old man who apparently didn't listen their commands and he, from his office on the top floor, saw with desperate eyes how Mike jumped in between the old man and the bullet, trying to save him; at the same time a couple police men who were on their day off and wearing regular clothes, jumped to reduce the criminals and just then all hell broke loose. Five criminals in the bank were killed, two of them got wounded, the other five escaped; five innocent lives were taken too (two clients, a guard and two bank employees) and even if El felt sorry for all those innocent people and their families, she just couldn't stop thinking about Mike and what happened to him.
Knowing that Mike got shot because he tried to save an old man's life and because of the shooting he fell off the stairs and hit his head against the marble border of the water fountain had been a little too much for her. Lucas held her by the shoulders and she hid her face on his chest feeling all hopes leaving and panic and pain running in her veins as she asked herself over and over why didn't she go with him. Mike went there to finish the transaction of the house they would both live in, the house they were both planning on building a life and a family in. Why didn't she go with him?
Why, of all days, did she choose to stay and eat cookies with Karen? If she would have been there, shit, she should have been there! She should have been there and use her powers to protect him.
It's been so long since she doesn't use her powers, it's been so long since she doesn't need to use them; but they were there, they were there and she should have been there to help him.
He has to live, he has to survive.
El needs to hold his hand and tell him how much she loves him, how irreplaceable he is. She need to tell Mike how sorry she is, that she would never, ever, leave him alone to do something important and as Lucas kept hugging her and Max caressed her back and whispered that it wasn't her fault, Eleven was choking on her own tears and remorse wishing for Mike to get through the surgery.
Please, please let him live through the surgery.
x
The silence in that hallway was crushing her.
Eleven was sitting with one leg up to her chest, resting her cheek on her knee and staring at nothing, her eyes burned from crying.
"Why haven't we heard anything from anyone yet?" asked El, she had been quiet for a long time; her voice was groggy as if she had been sleeping for days or as if she had the weight of the entire world stuck in her throat.
Everyone looked at her; Karen was leaning on her husband's shoulder, Max was leaning against the wall and Lucas was next to her, his hand firm on her back. Joyce was on her other side, holding her hand.
"They can't take much longer, sweetie."
"But how much longer, mom?" she asked without looking at her. "Why hasn't anyone came here to tell us s-something, huh? Not a n-nurse, o-or a doctor had come h-here to… to tell us anyt-thing." she snapped more to herself than to everyone around her. That silence, that tightness was eating her, it was suffocating her into endless crying and letting her fears take all of her because she didn't know what was going on.
How bad was Mike? How injured was he really for them to be in there for so long? She didn't know much about medicine but she did know that having someone under general anaesthesia for a long time was actually quite dangerous. Dustin once mentioned something like this when he talked about his patients.
"When does Will's flight land?" she asked again, this time she tried to place her mind far from where she knew it couldn't escape, away from the fears haunting her heart.
"He is probably about to land, I guess." mentioned Joyce patting her hand. "I left a note in the fridge for when they get home so I believe they'll see it and come here."
El nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure they will. Not only him but Florian is also Mike's friend and he'll be worried." she said before blowing her nose on a tissue. She gasped again, almost dehydrated from all her crying. "We have to call Dusty…"
"I took care of it." answered Lucas. "I called Mrs. Henderson and she told me as soon as Dustin gets there she'll let him and Jennifer know. I'm sure he'll be here soon. She also told me she's praying for Mike and you can count on her with anything you need."
El felt a bit relieved and nodded. Karen thanked Joyce and Lucas as well for making sure the boys know about everything. They remained silent a couple more minutes until El spoke again when Max gave her a cup of water.
"Thanks." she softly said as she blew her nose once more. El sighed; her head was chaos at the very least and she knew everyone else noticed. Her friends and family knew that too, not only because of her tears but because of the occasional blinking of the hallway's light bulbs. She frowned a lot, her tears coming back with full force, her eyelids so swollen and she shook her head as if saying 'no' to the idea of what happened. "It shouldn't be like this… W-we shouldn't meet again i-in the h-hospital, not like t-this."
"Sweetie, everything will be okay." Joyce said.
El shook her head. "How can you be so sure? I more than a-anyone want that everyt-thing goes well b-but… But his birthday is in four d-days! He wasn't supposed t-to spent his b-birthday oh o-or Christmas in h-here, mom. Mike was so happy now, so calmed now his master degree was over and he had the p-place he always w-wanted. We were all going t-to celebrate it and…"
"We will, Jane. We will." interrupted Karen from her seat in front of her. "Even if we have to celebrate Christmas in here we will celebrate because he'll be okay. All he needs now is to get through surgery."
"He will get through it." Lucas said holding her shoulder, she looked back at him. "Mike will be okay, he is a fighter and he won't give up. He never gave anything up so why do you think he'll change now? This is just a little bump in the way but everything will be okay, El. He is our leader, remember?"
El smiled at him. It was no secret that Lucas and Mike always had that leader thing going on, even though it was pretty obvious that it always been her husband the one leading the party even when Lucas never admitted it, it was also true that together they pushed each one in the best way. Every time they set their minds together they came up with the best ideas, the best concerts to go to, the trip to the fun fair in Michigan when they came back from college during Christmas in 1991 or, thinking back in the past, they faced danger together with the rest of the party and always survived because as a team they have always been stronger. Hearing Lucas finally saying out loud that Mike is the leader of the party gave her a warm, nice feeling and at the same time it caused her even more pain; it felt as if Lucas wanted to pay homage to his friend in the way he deserves it. It felt as if he was saying goodbye to Mike.
El moved her hand and cupped Lucas cheek with a tiny smile but then her eyes burned, her faced contracted into a torturous frown and she could barely be held by Lucas's arms as she started crying her heart out. The mage finding comfort in the arms of the ranger while her paladin fought his final battle.
Mike had to survive; he had to because without him, Eleven simply doesn't want to live.
x
After two more hours of feeling the stomach in her chest and her heart on the floor; of seeing doctors passing by but none of them saying a single word, of Hopper coming from the Station to keep them company and saying they still had no clue of where the criminals have gone while Joyce kept giving Karen support since she is also a mother and she knows what that woman was going through, only then after two more hours the door at the end of that hallway finally opened.
The footsteps of a fifty year old man alerted everyone that a doctor was finally coming to talk to them but Eleven knew he was coming probably before he even opened that door. She knew her powers must have been on edge, making her a bit more sensitive than usual. It wasn't weird because she was extremely upset and unable to identify the different noises and sensations in her body; she felt anxious, broken, desperate and all of that was an understatement.
Max, Lucas, Ted, Karen, her father and Joyce stood up next to her, ready to receive whatever news coming. El realized from the way the doctor looked that what he had to say wasn't good news.
She wanted to throw up.
"Michael Wheeler's family?" asked the man holding a notepad in his hands.
Ted talked in behalf of them all.
"We are his parents and she is his wife." he said loud and clear causing Eleven to look at him rather amazed. She noticed he had never spoken like that before, not at least in her presence; it was different from his usual tired, almost whispering voice. He was another man.
The doctor sighed. "I'm Dr. Marcus Syler; I'm your son's medical surgeon. We received the patient Michael Wheeler with two gunshots, one in his left thigh and the other in his back, close to his right kidney. We have been able to remove the bullet from his leg during the surgery but…"
"Is he okay? Is he alive?" Eleven interrupted.
Dr. Syler looked at her in the eye, his jaw clenched but he wasn't looking at her with anger or exasperation, but despair.
Oh no.
"He is alive, Mrs. Wheeler."
Eleven heard everyone sighing and relaxing at his words but she couldn't. The doctor has his eyes fixed on Eleven's and she knew he wasn't done talking.
"Mrs. Wheeler your husband came with two gunshots but one of them, the one near his kidney, had in and out wounds which tells us the bullet went right through your husband causing some major injuries such as internal bleeding." he explained. "Fortunately, giving the size of the bullet as we've seen in the one we found on his leg, the projectile didn't touch any of his organs which is extremely lucky but he lost plenty of blood, I mean, a lot."
Karen bawled and everyone looked at her; hearing how serious Mike's state really was was harder since they thought he was going to be okay just a second ago. Eleven didn't turn to look at her tho, she knew there was more.
The doctor continued. "Right now he's being prepared for intensive care... He is receiving a blood transfusion and we are keeping an eye on him and how he evolves during the following hours."
She was afraid of asking but she had to. She needs to know.
"That's not it, isn't it?" El wouldn't have recognized her own voice in a crowd. She sounded so broken, so scared.
He shook his head. "We believe it must have been because he lost plenty of blood or because of how he fell, since he was probably unconscious at the moment his body hit the floor and the border of the fountain, but since he was most likely unconscious when he landed he couldn't have hold onto anything, which is why he presents to us with other minor injuries like a broken arm, dislocated knee, and skull fracture as well. In fact it is almost a miracle he hasn't broken his clavicle or his ribs which could have gone through his lungs. This gives me the idea that he was in fact a little conscious at least to put his arm in between the floor to prevent that from happening." he explained, moving his arms as if showing Eleven how Mike had fallen without being too graphic. "Even so the biggest most serious of his wounds isn't his broken leg or the projectile's injuries but his head. Mr. Wheeler has a head trauma, a big concussion on his skull between the union of his right parietal and frontal area, here." he said touching El's head so she could understand where the injuries were at.
"The fracture is not as big as it is expected from the way he fell since hitting his head against marble can easily kill someone only because of the impact itself, still he is very delicate and we have been trying to lower the pressure on his brain. In time he is stable but we can't guarantee anything yet, not with his brain so compromised. The next 48 hours are crucial to see if the brain swelling goes away and especially if he wakes up. At the moment your husband is alive; he is extremely delicate but he is alive."
He was done explaining what he did with Mike and focused on Karen, Ted and Hopper's questions while Joyce placed her hands on El's shoulders and time stood still. Eleven touched her own head imagining every wound Mike has and suddenly the floor started moving as if it was made out of liquid. Every voice around her sounded distorted, her heart and his mind told her to resist and don't pass out; she has to be strong because he needs her and maybe it was the way she started sweating which alerted Joyce. Her mother dragged her to a garbage bin a couple feet away and Eleven started vomiting everything she had in her stomach.
A part of her knew that this nightmare has just begun.
After the first post-surgery medical report Eleven, even if she did not want to leave the hospital in case something happens while she isn't around, she was forced to get back to the house with Ted to pick up some things. Mike had his ID in his wallet but El had to get back to their luggage and take Mike's health care card and pack some personal items. Karen didn't go with them and that pissed her off actually; she said she wanted to stay there until her son gets settled in his room and they allow her seeing him. That was what pissed El off, it was something for what she wanted to fight Karen about for the first time in her life, forgetting about the great mother-daughter in law relationship they always had but, at the same time, she understood.
She had to understand because when Eleven came back from the house and knew Karen was with Mike and, for the time being she had to wait a couple hours for her own turn, it was Joyce's tender voice that calmed her down. Her step mom had to remind El that Karen was his mother and therefore she must understand and have patience, she shouldn't think of her as a selfish woman because she didn't wait for her to be back; because El must understand that in Karen's mind she only had Mike and nothing more.
El nodded and felt like crying again because she had been trying to get pregnant since Mike got his Masters Degree and even if they haven't succeed yet, she couldn't even imagine what she would feel if her own baby had to go through this. She thought about Karen watching Mike's baby pictures and remembered every anecdote she ever told her; how the woman smiled at every memory and felt so emotional and proud as she talked about him, how happy she was when he graduated from school, college and when Mike and El got married. Thinking about all helped her understand the woman a lot better because that was the woman who gave him life, who brought him into this world.
Karen is the one who felt Mike's heartbeat before she even knew he was a boy. The one who felt him moving inside of her as he grew every day a little more. His mother; the one who loved him before even knowing how he looked like, the one who dreamed about him every night about the day when he'd be in her arms.
Who else if not her could love Mike as much as El does? Those are different kinds of love but both equally strong, endless. Eleven cannot live without Mike and Karen was the one who gave him life and now such life would possibly come to an end.
No, El couldn't hate her or be mad at her and when her mother in law left Mike's room Eleven went and gave her a big, tight hug so she would know they would support each other because they were together in this. They would present battle together, hand in hand, heart to heart to bring him back.
xx
She never thought about it, just reached her hand out and used her powers to open the door, visualizing the keychain slide on the other side until it fell loose and then, she stepped in. She was serious; her face hard and her nose bleeding, ready to do anything in order to help them after saving them from those creatures surrounding the house.
They were all staring at her and she was in shock after the massacre of those demo dogs; she felt numb, like a robot not even caring about the pain that using her powers causes her. Maybe it was like Kali said, getting her maximum powers from the anger bubbling inside and the anger she felt by seeing her friends in danger was big, so big.
She felt cold, frozen in anger and fear, barely conscious of who was who with that entire crowd in front of her but then, when a thin figure moved in between that group of people and stood in front of her, she had eyes for no one else.
That person, his mere existence made her world so tiny erasing every single human in the planet so it could only be them and no one else. Eleven felt like waking up after a long, endless nightmare when their eyes locked and those beautiful chocolate eyes filled with tears. He was so surprised, mouth hanging open and heart pounding on his chest like a hammer.
It hit her hard and yet it felt like a caress, like an explosion of tingles coming from her stomach and crawling up to her chest until it reach the tip of her fingers and ever hair in her head. It was Mike looking at her as if she was a dream came true, just like she was looking at him.
Eleven felt warm again; the same warmth she knew so well erasing the coldness and loneliness and life became good again because his eyes are so pure and eternal that it erased every mistake she made in the city and she knew she did well by coming back to Hawkins. There were no monsters, no Brenner in her mind or in real life, there was no Kali, and there was no fear; all she could see was a year of yearning, burning love finally becoming true: the boy for whom she breathes and dreams in the cabin after visiting him in the void. She drove Hopper crazy every day talking about him, talking about how wonderful Mike is and how she missed him so desperately.
Was he really there? Yes, he was. She wasn't standing in the void looking at him calling for her under the fort. It wasn't day twenty one, nor it wasn't day two hundred and five or two hundred and twenty six; it wasn't 'soon'. It was now. She was finally there, he was standing right there. Her heart was hammering in her chest and her breathing became erratic, the floor waving as an ocean of feathers and Mike's smile illuminated her path from here to eternity and beyond; it was the path to his arms and she went for it hugging him like a life saviour who pulled her up from a year of drowning pain and Eleven could finally breathe again.
She came back to his warmth, she came back to him.
She came back home.
x
A sob stuck in her throat when she went through that white door and stepped into that sterile, cold intensive care room; she could see him again as if she hadn't seen her husband for years.
For some reason her mind had travelled momentarily to that faithful night of November in 1984 when she saved their lives, only this time every step she gave didn't take her to Mike's arms and the tears in her eyes weren't joyful.
Mike wasn't standing in front of her, smiling in between relief and immeasurable happiness because they were together again. He wasn't looking at her as if he cried for her for almost a year as their fears became something from the past and warmth and love gave every beat of their hearts a new meaning; this time he wasn't reaching for her and holding her tight but he was lying on a hospital bed surrounded by machines and covered to his chest with clean bed sheets on top of his hospital robes.
"…" she couldn't speak. Eleven took both her hands up to her mouth to stifle the loud whimper trying to escape from her broken heart. She wanted to scream because that's just a nightmare and at the same time it isn't, because it is real. The silence of the room barely cut by the 'bip' from the heart-rhythm control machine showing with a green steady pulse that he was alive.
She sat next to him carefully, afraid that every movement she'd made can cause him distress. She could feel how fragile he was, she could almost see his life hanging from a thin wire when he was always the one who took care of her more than he did with himself. Eleven had tears running down her cheeks, her heart in her throat and she took Mike's hand that didn't have a cast.
She felt him.
"…" El opened her mouth again but words wouldn't come out, only tears. The bip in the room got her nervous, edgy but it also reminded her that he was there, that he wasn't dead and her tears fell heavier than before as a mixture of pain and joy: joy because he was alive and pain because she didn't know for how long.
At least he was unconscious and wasn't in pain. She remembered what the doctor said; the broken arm, dislocated knee, skull fracture. She remembered all of that as she looked down at the man who, only that very morning, made love to her and held her every day; now that wonderful, passionate man looked so fragile as he sleeps unaware of the casts and bandages in his arm, leg, torso and head or the mask in his face helping him breathe. His hand in hers but he wasn't locking fingers with Eleven; it was as motionless as he was, his eyes closed and his long eyelashes from his right eye caressing his bruised, swollen cheekbone.
Suddenly hate washed over as she thought about those criminals who did this interrupting the new begging of their life by putting him in that state. She also thought about the bullets those bastards put in his body and she hated that the police couldn't find them yet. She felt her blood boiling; she hoped they'd find them alive and, if something happens to Mike, if he dies then Eleven would make them pay for it. She hasn't been using her powers since so long but she has them and if she loses her husband then those criminals would witness that no hell would hold as much rage as the one she'd unleash upon them.
But now she didn't want to think about that, she couldn't afford herself and her mind to travel around hate and revenge while Mike is resting beside her. He must be surrounded by love and positive energy where he can absorb the strength to heal and get well and Eleven was going to give him what he deserves.
"I l-love you…" she whispered; her voice broken, her eyes pouring.
She wouldn't take her eyes off of him, she wouldn't leave. Her hand had Mike's cold one and she wanted to caress those soft locks of hair but the bandage in it made it impossible. She settled for his shoulder, caressing him just a bit because the doctor and a nurse warned her that he shouldn't be bothered and she should be extra careful for at least the first couple of hours since the surgery.
But that didn't mean she couldn't speak and maybe if she did, he'd find his way home.
"Mike… Mike, can you hear me?" El asked, her voice thin since she thought he probably couldn't. "Honey I'm here, I'm with you. Y-your parents are outside, so it's Joyce, Lucas and Max. H-Hopper is looking for those who d-did this t-to y-you…" she had to stop because it hurts too much, because the fear it too great.
She frowned again as she looked down at his injuries and how he remained asleep. She imagined the way he fell, the wounds now covered and she tried to picture the look on his face as he received those gunshots before he met the marbled floor. She thought about what happened again and how she wasn't there.
Guilt was eating her alive. Why wasn't she there?
El begun sobbing uncontrollably because she couldn't hold back anymore; because he shouldn't be like this, because that wasn't the holiday they planned, because their lives couldn't end like this.
"You're gonna get t-through this, my love." Eleven spoke so softly; she was shaking, hardly breathing. "We are gonna g-get th-through this and… and don't w-worry okay? All you n-need to do is heal and I'll b-be right here holding your hand, keeping you w-warm." she was sobbing, it was heartbreaking. "Mike please… I'm here, I'm h-here honey and I n-need you to fight, okay? I need y-you to heal and l-live and… Oh Mike please, p-please just come b-back to me baby please!"
Her little speech was one out promises, desperation and a grief she didn't wanted to experience. It was Eleven crying her soul out as she touched Mike's hand with her cheek to kiss it and keep it warm, reminding him that she was there and he wasn't alone.
The next 48 hs are the most important hours of their lives and the only ones holding any hope because that's what the doctor told them. If Mike doesn't wake up during that time, if anything comes up and he gets worse of if he doesn't get better then after that time, every minute would detract any possible hope that he'd ever wake up. The cerebral oedema must cease, his heart must resist.
But she would fight next to him, she wouldn't leave.
She didn't care about the orange couch, she didn't care about his birthday party, and she didn't care about the house anymore or anything else that wasn't the young man, the wonderful boy with whom she married.
All she ever wanted was that in the next hours Mike would open his eyes so she could breathe again.
All Eleven wanted was for him to survive, to get through this.
Oh God, please, please let him live.
oOoOoOoOoOo
Hi again, I hope you guys don't hate me much after this chapter. If you think this was painful then you have no idea what's coming.
Anyway, I'm sorry to keep you guys waiting so long, many things are going on: one of them is that my baby is turning one year old on Saturday and planning a party is so emotional for us. I hope with my heart that I can count on your reviews to know you are still here and that the time it takes me to write and translate so you guys can read too, is time well spent. So please, pleaaaaase, leave a big REVIEW.
This takes me a lot to write and a review only takes a minute and it means the world to all authors.
Oh I sometimes write or publish stuff on my instagram account celes_genesis. If you don't mind to help me grow and reach more fans, please share.
Until next chapter!