A/N: STRANGER THINGS 4 VOLUME 2 SPOILERS. Do not read if you haven't finished volume 2.
I have so many thoughts and feelings about so many things that happened in those final two episodes. One scene that I truly felt was missing that I would have liked to see was El waking up in the Surfer Boy Pizza shop after her battle with Vecna and being with Max and Lucas during one of the most traumatic scenes Stranger Things has ever filmed. But, they didn't include a scene of El waking up after that, so I decided to write one. That's what this is. I hope you enjoy it!
Boris Yeltsin: Glad you liked it! You are welcome to send me one-shot ideas. I've written stories from reviewers' suggestions before. Send me a message, and we can talk about it!
Guest: No retconning necessary. Mileven is and will always be canon. Everyone is welcome to read my stories, but if Mileven isn't your thing, you probably won't find many of my stories to enjoy.
Guest: Thank you! I appreciate it.
Wolfgp: Mileven's volume 2 moments were wonderful. I'm glad you liked my letter idea, but I was very happy with what we got instead!
Shrike176: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I was very happy with the time they got together in volume 2. Of course, I'd always like more, but I'll take what I can get when there are 4+ storylines going on that need attention. I hope you like this one too!
Longislandgirl88: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it so much!
Arubagirl0926: I'm glad you liked it!
Dulb03: Thank you so much for saying that. I really appreciate it, and I'm glad you liked it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things or any of its characters.
0-0-0
"I know you're in there. Wake up!" Mike begged, gently shaking El's shoulder. "Wake up! Wake up!"
He could see the movement beneath her eyelids signifying she was still in there. But where was she? Was she stuck? She'd gotten stuck before. Mike flashed back to last summer when El had gotten stuck – well, trapped – by the Mind Flayer when she was trying to get out of the void. He had known instantly then that something was wrong, and when she had torn off the blindfold with a shriek and collapsed against him in tears, he'd vowed to never let her feel that scared again.
He knew something was wrong now, too.
"El!" Mike called. He looked up at Jonathan who was standing across the table from him. Jonathan's face was etched with concern for El, but he did not return Mike's gaze. Mike reached over and put one hand on each of El's shoulders to shake her a bit harder. "El! El, please, wake up. Just wake up!"
Finally, El's eyelids began to flutter, and Mike gasped sharply as he saw the brown of her eyes peering back at him.
"Oh thank God," Mike sighed, his shoulders slumping as he rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. "I thought you were trapped or something, I…"
Mike lifted his head, his face just inches from hers, and looked into her eyes, ready to confess his love to her face-to-face now that she was back. His heart nearly stopped when he saw the way she was looking up at him. El's eyes were filled with tears, and some were sliding down her cheeks. Anguish was written on her face, and she was suddenly taking short, rapid breaths as the tears flowed faster.
"El? El, what's wrong? What – what happened in there?" Mike asked.
El parted her lips to try and speak, but the lump in her throat refused to let any words pass. Instead, what escaped was a sob, and as she closed her eyes, she felt Mike pull her tightly against him, sitting her up on the table in the process. She rested her forehead in the crook of his neck and cried into his chest. El felt Mike's arms squeeze even tighter around her while her body shook with each sob in his embrace. She lifted one hand and rested it against Mike's chest, feeling both the growing wet spot from her tears and the beating of his heart underneath it. El closed her fist, balling up a handful of the fabric of his shirt, and squeezed her fist so tight her knuckles turned white.
"It's okay, El. You're safe," Mike said softly into her ear in between the soft kisses he was peppering the top of her head with.
He looked from Jonathan to Argyle to Will, and each of them returned his panicked expression. Mike didn't know what to do. He had never seen El break down this badly before. What the hell happened in there that did this to her?
"Shh, you're okay," he whispered soothingly against her temple. "I'm here, and I've got you. You're safe, El. You're safe."
Mike continued to whisper that she was safe, hoping that it would help to calm both El and himself. He never loosened his tight embrace, but he started rubbing circles on her back as she cried into him. Next to him, the other three remained stunned. All of them were terrified to see El in this state, but they all knew that whatever caused her to react this way had to be even worse than anything they'd faced over the last three years, and none of them knew if they would be prepared for whatever that was.
"You're safe," El heard Mike whisper again and again.
She clenched her eyes shut, letting them burn as tears continued to well up in them. She squeezed her fist tightly, the fabric of Mike's shirt being the only thing protecting her nails from digging into her palms, and she tried to force the sounds out of her head. All that kept repeating was the tortured sound of Lucas's screams as Max's life left her body in his arms. El could still hear Max's voice pleading as she confessed how scared she was and how she wasn't ready to die.
El's world had stopped turning in that moment. Other than Mike, Max was her best friend. Max had taken the time to bond and get to know her outside of her powers. Max had shown her what it was like to be a teenage girl. Max had introduced her to Wonder Woman and the mall and shopping and girl talk and sleepovers and… El knew she couldn't let Max die without a fight. If there was any possible way to bring Max back, El was going to do it.
When El had placed her hand on Max's chest, she had felt a hollow nothingness where there should have been a heartbeat. She had no way of knowing if it would work, and truthfully, she hadn't even been sure of what she was trying to do. She had simply done what had come naturally; she had channeled every positive feeling and memory with Max that she could. She had focused all of her energy and all of her power on filling Max's heart with those feelings and memories, and El could have sworn that by the time she was pulled out of the void, there was a faint beat beneath her hand on Max's chest.
"You're safe," Mike was still whispering when El finally opened her eyes. She released her grasp on Mike's shirt and wiped the tears from her eyes and blinked until her vision wasn't blurry. "El?"
Mike's hold on her finally loosened, and he pulled back enough to look down and see her looking back up at him. She offered the weakest smile he had ever seen, and his heart still skipped a beat.
"El, what… what happened?" Mike asked. El's gaze fell to the floor. "El, you're scaring me. Come on, y-you know you can tell me anything."
"M-Ma-" El croaked before a fit of coughs interrupted.
"Here, let me get you some water," Mike offered. He started to step away, but El reached out and clung to his arm, startling him.
"Stay," she said softly, her eyes pleading for Mike not to leave her. He nodded his understanding immediately and took her free hand in his.
"H2O coming right up, my dude," Argyle offered quickly, happy to excuse himself from the situation, even briefly.
El laid her head against Mike's shoulder and silently waited for Argyle to return. She felt Mike squeeze her hand and kiss the top of her head.
"Here you go, bro," Argyle said moments later when he returned with a glass of water, handing it to Mike.
El lifted her head from Mike's shoulder and accepted the water, taking long and slow sips while everyone waited silently to hear what she had to say. She set the glass next to her on the table and took a deep breath.
"Max," she whispered and then paused for several moments. "I don't know if she…"
Mike and Will exchanged a glance, both with wide eyes and fear for their friend.
"I was in a California memory… from when she was little," El continued softly. "But then I… I noticed something out of place… It was a table. I recognized the table, and… then I started to hear a song."
"A song?" Will repeated, and El nodded her head.
"'Every Breath You Take,'" El stated and looked knowingly at Mike. "I found them at the Snow Ball from two years ago."
"The Snow Ball? Why were they at the Snow Ball?" Mike asked, furrowing his brow.
"I don't know," El shook her head. "It was empty. One… he was destroying it. He was… he was ready to kill Max."
"Is that when you fought him?" Mike asked after El was silent for a moment.
"Yes," she nodded. "But then… then we were somewhere else. We were in some sort of lair, some sort of… hell. Vines… He trapped me. I couldn't move."
Mike nodded as he listened, wondering if this was what was happening when they saw El go into distress. Almost as if she knew what he was questioning, El squeezed Mike's hand and looked straight into his eyes.
"Then I heard you talking to me," she said.
Mike diverted his eyes to the floor as a soft blush spread over his cheeks.
"I was able to… to break free," El continued. "I stopped One before he was able to… to finish Max, but… but I-I was too late."
Mike felt his stomach drop at El's words, and he saw her eyes brim with tears again.
"Too late?" he repeated, and El nodded her head.
Clear as day, she saw Max's mangled body laying in Lucas's arms. She heard Max's pleas and Lucas's reassurances that she would be okay. She watched as the life left Max's body, and she heard Lucas's sobs ringing in her ears as if for the first time all over again. El felt her heartrate start to increase, and her breathing became shorter and more rapid again.
"El, it's okay. You don't – you don't have to tell us everything," Mike said quickly, assuring her she doesn't have to relive anything to them that she didn't want to.
El nodded and took another sip of water, thankful to spare them the details of what she saw and heard.
"I tried," she whispered. "I tried to… to save her, to bring her back."
Mike looked at Will again, but Will's focus was on El, the color drained from his face as he tried to process her words.
"I tried," El repeated thickly.
"Does that mean… is Max…" Will trailed off, unable to ask the question.
El looked back and forth between Will and Mike, both of them reading the pain in her expression.
"I don't know," she finally whispered.
"We have to get to Hawkins," Will stated immediately.
El's shoulders had slumped when she finished talking, and her face was resting in her hands.
"Guys, we have to get to Hawkins," Will repeated himself when nobody responded.
"Just give her a minute," Mike said, placing his hands on El's shoulders and squeezing them supportively.
"Fine. Come to the van when you're ready," Will said and then walked out of the kitchen, avoiding making eye contact with Jonathan who watched him until he was out of sight.
"I'm gonna go wait with Will," Jonathan said.
"I'll box up the rest of the pizza I made so we have some sustenance for the road," Argyle added.
When they left, Mike and El were all that remained in the kitchen. El was still sitting with her face in her hands. Mike looked over at the freezer, still filled with saltwater. He never could have imagined El getting into that tub would have led to this reaction.
"What if she's not okay, Mike?" El's small voice asked, and Mike turned back to see his girlfriend looking up at him again.
"Well, we can't think like that," he said.
"But she might not be okay," El said.
"But she might be okay, too," Mike said. "We'll figure everything out when we get to Hawkins."
El nodded, but she hardly seemed comforted.
"I should have… I should have moved faster or-or fought harder," El said. "Maybe I could've helped her more if I-"
"No. No, Eleven, don't do that to yourself," Mike interjected. He took both of El's hands in his and rested their joined hands on her lap. "You – what you did… That was one of the bravest things you've ever done. You fought as hard as you could, and I know that. We all know that."
"Then why do I feel like I could have done more?" El asked, and Mike smiled sadly at her.
"Because someone you care about might not be okay, and you feel helpless to the situation," he explained. "I felt that way when you got stuck in Billy's mind last year, and I felt that way just a little bit ago tonight."
El's big brown eyes filled with guilt.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"No, that's – that's not – I mean, don't apologize," Mike said quickly. "I'm just saying I know how you feel… sort of… I mean, it's obviously different because you were in there with her, and every time I feel helpless around you it's because I'm stuck on the outside just waiting and hoping you make it back out. It – it's not the same, actually… It's stupid of me to suggest it was the same. I just – I get scared, El, that one of these times I'm going to lose you forever, and I can't stand the thought of that happening, but tonight… tonight, when I didn't know if you could hear me, and I didn't know what One was doing to you…"
When Mike trailed off, El lifted one of her hands and gently brushed tears from his cheek that he hadn't noticed had fallen.
"Thanks – er – sorry," he sniffled and quickly wiped the back of his hand over his cheeks to dry them. "I didn't mean to make this about me."
El studied his face for a moment, silently taking in every freckle, every eyelash, the smallest detail.
"You know, when I realized I was back at the Snow Ball tonight, I almost lost my breath for a minute," she said.
"Yeah?" Mike asked, and El nodded.
"I've been back there so many times in my head, but… to actually step foot there again, and to see One destroying… destroying the place of my happiest memory," El continued. "That is what motivated me to be strong."
"The Snow Ball was your happiest memory?" Mike asked, and El nodded once again.
"It was the first time we were allowed to be in public together," she said. "It was the first, and only, time we've danced together… That was the first time you called me beautiful, and our first kiss in a whole year… and the night you asked me to be your girlfriend. So, yeah… my happiest memory."
Mike gaped at her; he was stunned. How was she able to articulate her feelings to him so flawlessly, while up until tonight, he hadn't even been able to stammer out three simple words to her?
"Wow," he said. "Yeah, that's one of my favorite memories, too. You really did look beautiful that night. And, I mean, you're still beautiful, of course."
El couldn't help but smile at Mike's rambling. Without thinking, she lifted a hand and ran it over her head, through her buzzed haircut where her long locks had been just a week ago.
"Even without the hair," Mike said gently. "Remember? You don't need it. You're still pretty."
El squeezed his hand and could feel a lump rising in her throat once again.
"Look, El, I know you said you heard me talking to you earlier tonight when you were… well, you know," Mike started.
"I did," El nodded. "And you don't have to say anything. I know how you feel about me, Mike."
"Well, I want to say it. I want to be able to look you in the eyes and tell you how I feel about you," Mike said, raising a hand to cup one side of El's face. "I love you, El. I love you so much."
"I love you, too," El replied almost instantly. "I love you, and I need you, and I'm not going to stop needing you."
Mike chuckled nervously as she referenced the fear he admitted just earlier tonight.
"I hope you're right, El. I just find it hard to believe that a superhero like you will always need some average nerd like me," he admitted.
El's mouth dropped open in disbelief. Mike was the only person who she called out for when she was scared; the only person who could calm her down during panic attacks; the only person who truly knew about her past; the first person who showed her what love and friendship were. He taught her new things every day; he was the person she wanted to experience every new thing with; he was the only person she trusted with every bit of herself. Did he not see that?
"Well, I guess I will just have to prove it to you, won't I?" she said. "Friends don't lie, and before you were my boyfriend, you were my best friend."
Mike smiled and kissed the tip of El's nose.
"Are you feeling any better?" he asked her, and El nodded.
"I'm still scared for Max," she said. "And for Hawkins, and for everyone… but you made me feel… better in other ways. Does that make sense?"
Mike nodded, but before he could speak, the front door of the pizza parlor opened, and Argyle's voice filled the empty room.
"Dudes, it's been ten minutes," he called from the front. "Wrap it up. You can talk more in the van. We gotta go."
"Coming!" both Mike and El called up front.
"Come on," Mike said and took El's hand as she hopped down from the table. He started to walk toward the front of the building, but El pulled him back.
"Mike," she said, and he turned to face her.
El stepped closer, closing the gap between them. She reached up and wove her fingers into Mike's thick, dark hair and pressed her lips against his. Mike kept his one hand joined with El's and placed his other hand on her waist, holding her against him. The kiss wasn't long, but it said everything they had expressed to each other all over again. Mike felt how much El needed him, and El felt what she knew was a deep love.
"Now let's go," El said softly when they had pulled apart, and Mike nodded.
El squeezed his hand as they walked toward the door. She was still terrified for what may be awaiting them in Hawkins, but she knew now more than ever that she wouldn't be facing anything alone.
0-0-0
A/N: This was obviously longer and cheesier than a real scene would have been if they had included one, but I hope you enjoyed it. Leave a review and let me know what you think, and I'll see you next time!