Eleven stiffened, gripping the edge's of Hopper's massive flannel tightly around her.

"Mike?" she asked, eyes suddenly fixed on the floor. A flush had appeared on her cheeks behind the smears of dirt.

"Yes, Mike," Hopper said. Eleven might have had the lexicon of a small child, but they both knew she understood 'Mike.' "Are you using your… thing to try to communicate with him? Are you trying to talking to him?"

"Maybe," Eleven answered. Hopper sighed and got down on his knees to face Eleven eye to eye.

"Eleven," he said, gently placing his hands on either of her elbows. She looked at him with eyes full of fear and need, and Hopper pulled away quickly. "I'm sorry. Eleven, you have to stop trying to- to reach Mike. You need to stop. You're hurting him."

Instantly, Eleven's whole face changed, lips pressing together, eyebrows raising up, eyes widening like moons.

"No," she said, stepping backwards. "No, no, no, no, no!" She turned to run from him, but tripped on a turned over chair and went sprawling on the floor. Hopper raced over to her, but simply stood above her, unsure of what to do, while she sucked in breath and sobbed.

"I'm sorry, Eleven," Hopper said, gazing down at her like a giant. "You have to stop. You have to let him go."

Eleven looked up at Hopper with her teeth bared like a violent wild beast; so much so that Hopper took a staggering step backwards to put a defensive space between the two of them.

"No," Eleven said firmly, tears still flooding down her face, but her lips were fixed in a determined line.

"No?" Hopper repeated.

"No," El said. "I won't. You're lying to me."

"Lying?" Hopper's eyes were fixed on her. "Why would I lie to you?"

El's face froze like an arcade game loading the next level. Then her eyes narrowed victoriously.

"You don't want me communicating with Mike," she said, voice practically a hiss. "You said it's not safe, but you don't want me ever getting out of here! You want to keep me- prisoner!"

Hopper didn't answer, just looked at her and frowned. Eleven breathed heavily, her rage making her out of breath, but Hopper just looked and looked with his natural scowl. Eventually, he turned his back to Eleven, opened up the fridge and took out a milk carton, then closed the fridge door and stepped directly over Eleven to make his way back onto the couch. He popped open the milk and drank it directly from the carton. Then, he sat in silence, Eleven trailing cautiously behind him.

"You're lying to me," she said again, but she sounded less sure of herself this time.

"Okay," said Hopper, taking another swallow of milk. "Whatever you say."

Eleven frowned and shifted on her feet. "I'm… you said I'm hurting Mike. That's not true."

"Fine," Hopper said. For a moment, they existed together in perfect silence and stillness. Then, Eleven took a slow breath and sat down on the ripped up cushion beside Hopper. She took the milk carton out of his hand, tipped it back into her mouth, and passed it into Hopper's waiting arm.

"Honey," Hopper began, throat sticking on the word after not having a reason to say it for years. "It's the worst thing in the world to know somebody you… care about is hurting." With a hesitant hand, Hopper put an arm around Eleven's shoulders and pulled her closer to him. "I don't want you to have to suffer any more than you've already had to. I wouldn't lie to you."

"You say… I'm hurting Mike?"

"Yes," Hopper took a shaky breath. "You're going to kill him if you don't stop, Eleven."

She stiffened under his arm. "I don't want to stop," she said, refusing to meet Hopper's eye. "I'm close- to him. I'm close."

Hopper made a sudden noise of realization. "You're reaching to him right now, aren't you?"

Eleven shifted and pulled away from Hopper's arm. "Yes," she said, after a long pause. "Sort of… in the back of my head."

"Let me guess," Hopper said, standing. "You used to only… look for him at night, is that right?" El scowled at him, then nodded. "How long was it- a week or a little more when you started going full time?"

"Ten days," Eleven said. "I'm getting stronger."

"You're killing him!" Hopper shouted, the sudden raise in volume making Eleven jump. She sat on the couch as still and stiff as a doll. "You have to stop or you're going to kill him," Hopper said, softer and with a more apologetic tone.

"No," Eleven said, willfulness returned by his shout. "I don't believe you."

Hopper opened his mouth as if to speak, but all that came out was a wild shout. He turned his back on her and marched into the kitchen to toss the milk back into the fridge. When he returned to the living room, he grabbed his jacket from where he'd tossed it when he'd entered the trailer, slipped into it, and felt the pocket to make sure his keys were still there.

"I'm going out," Hopper said gruffly, mouth barely moving as he said the words. "Don't burn the place down."

He yanked the door open, only to have it immediately pull closed by a quick, invisible force.

"I won't believe you," Eleven said quietly from the couch, staring at the blinds covering the window as if she could see out onto the frozen lake, "Unless."

Hopper waited for her to continue, then turned around and leaned his back against the door, rubbing his shoulder absentmindedly. "Unless what?" he asked.

Eleven's tongue poked at the inside of her cheek, a long pause in the air while she figured out how to explain her feelings.

"Unless you take me to him," she said at last.

Hopper's leg twitched and he nearly fell to the floor, if it weren't for the door he was leaning on keeping him up.

"What did you say?" he demanded.

Eleven got up off the couch and walked towards the adjacent window. With a steady hand, she yanked the blinds off their hook, revealing the half frozen lake that lay beyond the window for the first time since Hopper had brought her back to the trailer and covered up every window in the place.

"Pretty," she whispered to herself, eyes scanning the trees weighed down with snow and the three deer tentatively making their way across the frozen lake.

"Eleven, what did you say?"

"Take me to Mike," Eleven demanded, turning away from the window to face Hopper. "Prove you're telling the truth and take me to him."

"He's in the hospital, he's in a public place, I can't just walk you in there."

"Take me to him," Eleven said slowly, narrowing her eyes as a challenge. "Take me to Mike."

Hopper swallowed audibly, then started to speak, describing to El all of the reasons why it was impossible to bring her to Mike, why she couldn't see him, why she couldn't enter the hospital, why she couldn't leave the trailer, why she couldn't do anything.

But Eleven wasn't listening anymore. She turned her back to Hopper, and walked down the hall towards the small storage room where she spent most of her time on a raggedy futon.

"Take me to Mike," she said, one last time. The door in front of her opened on its own, then closed behind her when she stepped inside.

Hopper forced the front door open with a grunt and slammed it shut behind him. He jammed his keys into the ignition, hands shaking from something other than the cold, and started up the Chevy. Suddenly, a roar made its way up past his throat and left him screaming and banging on his steering wheel.

Then, he backed up the car and drove away.

A/N: Big thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter 2, speedermeen, Alikattt, and Christmasfairy. Y'all rock!

If you're interested, come give me a follow on tumblr at save-will-byers. I'm also on ao3 as fillmoredawn.

Thanks for reading and please review! As always, reviewers will receive a pic of my dog! Just specify in your review :)