Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me except the mistakes as this is un-beta'd.

Author's note: I guess this could be seen as a little sequel to chapter two.

Happy reading.

Patchwork Family

Chapter Four: Joyce and Will – Who Needs Him?

"Morning sweetie!" Joyce greeted her younger son brightly as she entered the kitchen.

Will sat alone at the kitchen table, eating his cereal with one hand and flicking through a comic with the other. They had got into some kind of morning routine in the Byers-Hopper house since they had all moved in together the year previously. They had had to – five people all trying to get out to work and school first thing and only one bathroom between them required a bit of order to even be possible. Things had got slightly less hectic when Jonathan had moved to New York in the fall but that had been the same time Jane had started school and she certainly took longer in the bathroom than Jonathan had. Will usually got in and out of the bathroom as early as possible so he could enjoy his breakfast in peace whilst the other members of the household rushed around to get ready.

"Morning mom." He replied not looking up from his reading.

Joyce paused for a moment to ponder him sitting there so chilled and carefree – they'd come a long way from all of the trauma and heartbreak of the last couple of years. And even with, or more accurately because of, recent revelations Will had never seemed so happy. As always Joyce was already running late for work so could not afford the time to stare adoringly at her son, an act for which he would surely rebuff her in a moment anyway, so she sprang into action and set to the daily search for her car keys.

"They're in the dish by the front door." Will informed her casually, still not looking up.

"And that is why you are my unofficial favourite." Joyce teased as she retrieved her keys from said dish. She returned to the kitchen to put on her coat and bag. "Hey did you manage to fix your bike last night?" She'd worked a double yesterday so he'd already been in bed when she got home and she'd forgotten to ask Hopper. She was too exhausted to do anything expect eat the dinner her husband had left for her and fall into bed. And now she was straight back on it – no let up.

"Err no, it's something wrong with the chain or the chainstays…" Will explained with a face that clearly showed he didn't really understand what was wrong with it only that is wasn't working. "…anyway dad said he'd look at it with me at the weekend."

Joyce froze at the mention of Lonnie. She hadn't heard from him at all since Will had been missing, bar one incident in which he had turned up drunk as hell on her doorstep when the boys had been out and had been forcibly removed by Hopper. She tried to calm the rising panic that erupted in her stomach at the mere mention of his name – she had thought they'd gotten him out of their lives for good. She knew Will was old enough to make his own decisions about Lonnie but she couldn't bear the thought of having to deal with him again. And she knew he'd only end up disappointing or hurting Will – that's all he seemed capable of doing when it came to his children.

Will, totally oblivious to his mother's sudden anxiety continued to eat his breakfast in silence.

"Dad?" Joyce questioned at last when she had found her voice again. She did her best to sound casual but her voice still came out high and tight. "You spoke to dad?"

At last Will looked up from the table to look in Joyce's direction. She was sounding all weird and panicked all of a sudden and he couldn't think why. When he saw the stricken look on her face his confusion only increased until he finally figured out she didn't realise who he was actually talking about. He smiled and rolled his eyes a little – as if Lonnie would casually be calling him up to give him bike advice.

"I didn't mean dad, dad, you know Lonnie. I meant Hopper."

"Oh." Joyce sighed in relief, a thankful smile breaking over her face. No Lonnie. "Oh." She said again in a different tone as she fully realised what Will had just said. Since when was he calling Hopper dad? The smile on her face doubled at the thought but Will only rolled his eyes at her again in reply.

"Please don't make a big deal about it, he's not." Will stated. He couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed by it and Joyce's wide, deliriously happy smile was not helping that feeling currently.

"I'm not!" Joyce denied, holding her hands up in surrender for good measure. She couldn't shake the smile from her face though.

"Anyway it's not as if dad – Lonnie I mean – would want anything to do with me now anyway is it? Not after everything that's happened recently." Will asked deliberately changing the subject. It was his turn to try and fail to sound casual in his question.

Joyce swallowed hard. She wasn't sure how to answer that. She knew exactly what Will meant – he had come out a couple of months before or more accurately had been forced out by the homophobic, dinosaur of a principal at the High School. It hadn't come as any big surprise to her; she'd always had her suspicions, a feeling she couldn't articulate but had always been there. And of course she hadn't cared in the slightest. She worried for him, worried that things might not be as straightforward for him as they would be for others, but they wouldn't have been straightforward for him either if he had pretended to be something he wasn't. And he had seemed genuinely happier since it had all come out, since he had realised everybody still loved him just the same.

Lonnie was another matter though. As she'd told Hopper when Will had first gone missing Lonnie was always getting at him for being different, calling him slurs such as 'fag' or 'queer'. Lonnie wasn't stupid and he was Will's father, he had picked up on the same thing Joyce had and his reaction to it clearly showed he didn't like it. There's no way Will could have forgotten what Lonnie used to be like but that didn't mean he wasn't trying to kid himself that things might be different now if Lonnie came back into their lives. It was only natural he sought the approval of his biological father – even if it was unlikely he would ever actually get it.

"I don't know baby. I don't know how he would react." She supposed she was kidding herself too that Lonnie might have changed despite any evidence to support that.

"Yes you do, you're just being nice and trying to save hurting me. It's okay, I get it." Will told her, sounding despondent. He cast his eyes back down to his cereal as Joyce sighed. Screw that bastard that was still managing to hurt her family after all of this time.

"Well I doubt he would be open to it, no sweetie. But frankly fuck him." Will looked back up at his mother's use of language, his mouth hanging open slightly in shock. She never swore in front him or his siblings. "Who needs him? You've got me and Jonathan, Jane and Hop, and all of your friends. He doesn't want to be part of your life then that's his loss because you're doing fine without him. Good riddance."

Will smiled at Joyce's little outburst. He liked Hopper for many reasons – he had brought Jane into their lives, he took the time to be involved in his and Jonathan's lives and not just because he felt he had to, he had supported him unequivocally in the principal's office. But one of the things he liked most about Hopper is that he had given his mom a whole new lease of life, including a highly renewed sense of confidence. She walked around nowadays as if she could do anything and Will thought it was wonderful. He also knew it was almost entirely down to her new husband. It made all of the times Will had accidentally seen them making out (or worse) bearable. Hopper was undeniably good for his mom, even if they did need to learn to get a room.

"You're right, who needs him?" Will agreed with a nod of his head. Joyce continued to look at him intently, clearly trying to work out whether he was truly as okay with it as he was trying to sound. "I'm doing okay mom, I promise." He told her, an air of exasperation in his tone.

"Okay, good." Joyce replied, seemingly satisfied he was telling the truth. She walked over to him and kissed the top of his head. "I love you sweetie."

"Love you too, mom."

For the second time that morning Joyce froze in shock. It was occasions that were very few and far between these days that he would admit such a thing out loud. Not that she truly blamed him – he was a High School student now and everyone knew it was impossible to think too well of your parents when you were in High School, let alone admit it out loud. She chanced her luck with another kiss to his head but this time he ducked and swatted her off – ah well back to normal.

"The front door is that way you know." Will teased as she headed back towards the bedrooms instead of to the front of the house.

"Yes I know smartass – I just left something in my room."

Hopper was just finishing getting dressed as Joyce re-entered the bedroom. He looked up from adjusting his belt and said, without pausing:

"I think they're in the dish by the front the door."

"Got them." Joyce replied, holding up her car keys to prove it.

She really did need to sort out this whole car key thing – it had become a long standing joke with the rest of her family; Jane had even offered to blindfold herself and search for them telepathically once which Will and Hopper found hilarious of course. Even if Joyce had wanted to be cross about it she couldn't bring herself to be when she saw how proud Jane was of herself for making her father and brother laugh so much.

Hopper smiled at the keys being jangled in front of him, Will had told her where they were no doubt because there's no way she would have remembered herself, especially after working a double last night. He continued to get ready even as Joyce stayed put and watched him. When he was done he turned to look at her expectedly:

"So Will just told me his dad was going to help him fix his bike this weekend." Joyce told him once he had finished moving.

"Don't make a big thing out of it."

"I'm not!" She replied, louder than she had intended. Why was everyone accusing her of that? Besides which it kind of was a big deal. Hopper raised his eyebrows at her outburst but he didn't say anything.

"It just sort of starting happening, you know after the whole principal thing. I'm just letting it pass without comment. I don't want him to get self-conscious or embarrassed about it." Hopper explained and instantly all the annoyance drained from her. Hopper was so good with the kids, so natural at being attuned to their needs and feelings. He really was a wonderful parent and she felt privileged to be doing it with him.

"But you're okay with it? You're happy?" She already knew the answer but she just needed to hear it to be sure.

"Happy? I'm fucking ecstatic!" Hopper exclaimed and Joyce's smile expanded once more. "I'm just trying to be cool about it. Though I'm also pretty sure he saw me cry a little the first time he said it so my tactic may be failing already."

Joyce laughed and walked over to him, reaching on her tiptoes to place a solid kiss to his mouth.

"I love how much you love them." She told him sincerely before she kissed him again, longer this time. He indulged her, kissing her back with slow, lazy caresses until she pulled away from him.

"You're so late for work." He told her softly, nothing but gentle teasing in his voice.

"Shit I know! Donald's going to kill me."

"See you tonight." Hopper called after her as she rushed for the door.

"Yeah, have a good one." Came the echoed reply as she sped down the corridor.

He always said 'see you tonight' even though there was a good chance she would see him before. He had taken to turning up at the store around the time she was due lunch, usually with some kind of baked good in his hands that he had picked up on the way over. He knew she wasn't the best at insisting she had her break if they were busy and often couldn't be bothered to make lunch just for herself – she'd gotten so used to making lunches for the boys but now the kids were doing their own thing as far as that was concerned she didn't see the point in doing it for one. Hopper clearly did not agree and had started their little routine just to make sure she got a break and had some food.

Joyce was still smiling as she got into the car and started the engine. She didn't know why it made her so happy but then it was just further evidence of how well this whole thing was working. Somehow the five of them had fitted together like none of them had ever belonged anywhere else. It had almost been scary at the start, just how well it worked from the beginning. For the first time in her life Joyce had a happy, contented family. It was all she had ever wanted and she was desperately happy about it.

"Shit!" She exclaimed again as she saw the clock in the car and realised just how late she was. She sped out of the driveway, praying the roads would be clear.