"You ok in there?" A woman's voice said.
El frowned at Mike. "Who's that?" Her voice had no suspicion in in it, just curiosity.
"Uh, El, there's um, someone I need you to meet, she'll be able to explain everything to you."
"Explain what?" She saw the pained looked in Mike's face. "Mike… you're scaring me a little."
She saw the worried look, the kind he showed her when he needed to tell her something but was unsure she would understand.
Their love was strong, she wasn't worried about that, but something was going on and she needed to know.
He took her hand and stood up from the bed. Mike led her out to the kitchen.
El was impatient, and even while holding his hand she walked slightly ahead of him. When she stopped in her tracks Mike did also, but still a little behind her.
"What's she doing here?"
Mike's eyes went wide looking at Max, he gave his head a little shake in an effort to avoid disaster.
"You've never forgiven me for that day have you?" Max said, giving Mike a quick glance to let him know she understood.
"Can I at least explain?" Max asked. Mike saw she was being a lot more humble than he thought her capable of, El was having none of it. The look she gave Max was withering.
"El, you didn't like me, you ignored me the entire time after you closed the gate. I was nothing to you, you thought I'd stolen the the boy you loved. So when you reached out to me I took advantage of that. I thought I'd found another friend that wasn't one of the guys. We could do girl things together, go shopping, all that stuff"
Max looked down, "It was one of the best days of my life. My opinion of guys wasn't very healthy at the time, even though Lucas and I were together, at least that day we were. But believe me El, I did not expect you to dump Mike. You were miserable after that. I mean, nobody really thought you'd actually dumped him, the rest of us figured you didn't know what it meant. Mike did though, and that hurt a lot, we all knew how much he loved you."
El's face softened. She went over to Max who was standing now, and gave her a hug. "I've seen you with Lucas, I knew you weren't interested in Mike… eventually I knew that anyway. I had a lot of fun that day, I got to be a girl, doing things boys just don't want to hang around and do. And you are right. At the time I thought dumping was just something you said when you were mad at a guy if he lied. I hope you didn't feel bad all these years?"
Max shrugged, and told a little white lie herself, "Off and on." She didn't look at El because she didn't know if El would be able to tell.
"So," El said as if the matter were done, "you aren't here to tell me why you are here. Max, Mike came into our bedroom, saw me and was crying like…" she took a quick look at Mike, "sorry Mike… like I'd been lost to him for years." She took his hand again.
Max gave off a big sigh. "I think you'll understand, because you dealt with the Upside Down, you remember how frustrating it was trying to tell the Party about it?
El nodded. "Ok," Max said, "This is a little like that."
Max did her best at explaining what a particle accelerator did, what collapsing particles and incoherence were, and how Mike's story and love for her fit in.
When she got to that part of the explanation, El hung her head.
"Are you telling me I'm not real?" She leaned over to Mike and gave him a slow, sensuous kiss. "Tell me that doesn't feel real, Mike."
She took his hand and put it over her heart. Mike could feel it pounding. "Because I feel real Mike, I've known you two since we were twelve or thirteen. You two only know me through Mike's story…"
"Max, how do I know another run of the accelerator won't change things back to the way they were?"
"Because Mike, the first time was a one in a billion trillion chance, your love for El, brought her into this reality."
Max looked at El, "and your love for Mike… it's going to keep you here."
"Max, I can't lose her, not now."
"You won't lose her Mike," Max said.
"I promise," El said, "if my love is what is keeping me here, then there is zero chance. I'm not a scientist but I was experimented on by one." She gave a half smile in an attempt to be humorous.
"Yeah, about that." Max said, "In this reality, you don't have any abilities."
"I lost them for awhile, but I have them back." El said.
Max looked at Mike, "Help me out here Mike."
El frowned. She looked at Max's laptop. The lid closed. Max and Mike looked at each other wide-eyed.
"Holy shit." Max said.
"You guys know my ability came back. I don't know why you are surprised." She said looking back and forth between them.
"Uh." Mike said.
"I'm in your's," El said.
"How do you know?" Max said.
"I saw the spare bedroom, you are Mike's roommate. That's ok, but I'm sure Lucas would rather you sleep in his bed."
Max shook her head. "Lucas is not here, I never heard of him before reading Mike's story."
"Max," El said, sounding a little condescending, "you guys live right across the hallway."
Max looked up at Mike at the exact same time there was a knock on the door.
"That will be Lucas, Dustin, and Suzie. I can tell by the way you two are dressed that you forgot we were going dancing tonight. At Hawkins Middle. They are recreating Snowball '84 for the reunion."
"Did you write that?" Max asked Mike.
"Uh, no. This is all new to me. I wrote that we were all married, but I didn't flesh out a lot of details."
Max looked hopeful, "Don't ask Wheeler, but I think I fell in love with Lucas."
"Of course you did, silly." El said to them.
Max went to the door and opened it. When she saw Lucas she threw herself at him. Planting kisses all over his face.
Mike wiped the back of his hand over his eyes.
"You ok?" El said quietly to him.
"I'm just really happy right now. Even if it doesn't last, this is the best thing that ever happened to me."
"It's going to last Mike. We made promises to each other. Forever type promises."
This time Mike didn't wipe his tears.
"Look at me," El looked into his face, "you won't lose me Mike. Our hearts belong to each other. I'm not sure even the others know how much we love each other."
Mike kissed El.
Max whispered to the rest just inside the door. "We wait until their done."
Lucas looked at Max.
"We all know this Max. We wait. We're used to it."
"His heart loves hers."