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

Happy reading.

Patchwork Family

Chapter Five: Hopper and Joyce – Doing It Together

"Morning Chief." Flo commented as Hopper entered the police house. The older woman still looked surprised to see him arrive before noon even though he had been doing that for almost two years now.

"Flo. Guys." Hopper greeted his secretary first and then his deputies that were, as usual, sitting with their feet up on their desks and playing cards. It was still Hawkins after all and just because he had finally gotten his act together it didn't mean there was an awful amount to do in the town – besides the annual saving of the world type stuff.

"Joyce Byers is in your office Chief." Flo told him quietly, as if it were a secret. "I told her I didn't know how long you'd be or what your morning schedule was but she insisted on waiting. She didn't say what it was about."

"Okay thanks Flo." Hopper replied casually as if that were a completely regular occurrence. It wasn't but it also didn't mean that something catastrophe had happened like it might have meant once. Flo gave him a knowing look that made him want to roll his eyes but he resisted. Besides, she wasn't wrong.

Hopper entered his office and saw Joyce sitting the other side of his desk, her back to him, and staring off into the distance, clearly lost in thought. That was Joyce – always thinking, always stewing about something. Her hair was pulled up into a loose ponytail at the top of her head. He loved her hair like that –it reminded him of how she used to wear it in High School and consequently reminded him of all the things they used to get up to in High School which he never shied away from reminiscing about if he could help it.

As she heard him enter the room she swung her head round to look at him and offered him a small but genuine smile as she did so. He smiled back.

"Hey." He greeted as he closed the door behind him.

"Hey. How did it go?"

"Yeah fine. Good. As soon as we arrived and she saw Mike and Will and the others she rushed away, barely looked back. It will be me that'll be a nervous wreck all day." Hopper explained as Joyce gave him a sympathetic look.

It was Jane's first day of school today – the first day of High School for all of the kids. Hopper had taken Doctor Owen's advice and waited a year, or the best part of it, before letting Jane out into the world. She was raring to go of course and he couldn't blame her – she'd been shut up in that cabin for the best part of two years and in a much worse prison for eleven years before that. The last year since Joyce and the party had found out she was staying with Hopper had been better for her – there'd been gatherings at the cabin with the group, family movie nights at the Byers, and weekly tutoring from Nancy to help get her up to speed with schoolwork. Not to mention quite a few sleepovers at the Byers more recently. And she was ready, Hopper knew that, but it still scared him shitless that she was out there without him to protect her twenty-four-seven.

If there was one person that understood all of that it was Joyce. He was touched she'd come in, on her day off no less, to check how things had gone.

"Well don't tell on me but I've brought you a present." Joyce told him as she took out a packet of cigarettes from her pocket. She laughed aloud when she saw how much Hopper's eyes brightened at the sight.

They had both agreed to cut down on how much they smoked after mounting pressure from both of their children. Will had learnt about how bad smoking was for you in school and had quickly passed that information onto Jane. They had ganged up on the pair of them and they really hadn't stood a chance. Still today was a stressful day so Hopper figured they deserved this treat. He took a cigarette from the packet that Joyce was holding open in front of him and quickly retrieved a lighter from the top drawer of his desk. He sighed deeply as he inhaled the first drag.

"You're an actual angel." He said sincerely as he exhaled the smoke dramatically. Joyce blushed slightly as he passed the cigarette to her and watched her take her first drag. She coughed a little as she always did the first time – she had brought the especially strong sort that he enjoyed so much and they were always a little much for her.

"What?" Joyce inquired softly as Hopper continued to gaze at her silently.

"I missed you last night."

The blush on her cheeks deepened and she looked down to avoid his eye. He loved how easy it was to make her bashful, almost as much as he loved how very unbashful she was at certain other times.

"You know what we agreed." She told him as she passed the cigarette back to him. He remained silent as he took another drag, still eying her mischievously. "It's not fair on Jane now she's started school… she needs to be in her own bed so she can get a good night's sleep. If she's in a steady routine it will help her settle in more easily." Joyce explained as if he may have genuinely forgotten what they had previously agreed on.

"Yeah I know all that. And I agree… doesn't mean I didn't miss you last night." This time his words produced a little smile from her as she took the cigarette from him again. He smirked at his achievement.

"We're not very good at taking things slow are we?" She asked him after a moments' pause. He looked at her in confusion so she continued. "When we first started…" She made a vague gesture between the two of them – apparently she was too shy this morning to even say the phrase 'sleeping together'. Hopper smiled once more. "We said we'd take things slow, just see what happens…"

Jane and he had stayed at her house six out of the last seven nights so no they weren't exactly keeping things casual but Hopper was more than happy with that. No one knew of their relationship, not even the kids. Well Jonathan did after an unfortunate incident in which he caught Hopper sneaking out of his mom's room but he was keeping his mouth firmly shut – Joyce still didn't know that he knew. Still, they'd gotten into a routine over the last couple of weeks of the summer that was entirely domestic and familial. The five of them (sometimes more if Nancy or Mike or some of the others were round) would eat dinner together every night and then the kids would watch movies whist he and Joyce cleared away. After the kids had gone to bed they would find themselves falling into Joyce's bed, half the time not even to mess around just to cuddle and talk and doze until Hopper would make his way out to the couch at some point in the early hours and pretend that he had been there the whole time. And then in the morning they'd all have breakfast together before he and Joyce went to work, leaving the kids to enjoy the last few days of their summer break.

It was a far cry from the verbal agreement he and Joyce had had in the beginning to keep things casual and light but it had happened naturally and he had no desire to fight it. Perhaps Joyce did though.

She passed him back the cigarette and he turned to stub it out in the ashtray on his desk. He could do with the nicotine distraction right now but he needed a clear head for the conversation he may be about to have.

"Are you saying things are moving too fast for you?" Hopper asked seriously, trying to keep the slight panic he was feeling out of his voice.

"No." Joyce answered immediately and he couldn't help the sigh of relief that followed her answer. It was Joyce's turn to smirk at him. "It's just that's a little scary in itself."

"Come here." He requested, opening his arms to her. She rose from the chair and buried herself in one of his all-encompassing hugs. He left a couple of solid kisses to her hairline before seeking out her mouth to kiss her firmly there. His embraces made her feel so utterly comforted that she couldn't help but relax. "It's okay to be scared about how absurdly attracted you are to me. That's natural." She snorted against his chest before pulling back.

"I should go… let you get on with some work." He made a face at the prospect of having to do said work and she smiled. Joyce lifted herself onto her tiptoes to kiss him goodbye. "See you later."

"Could you maybe call me later when Jane and Will get back to yours." He asked her uncertainly just as she had reached the door. She turned back to face him. They'd agreed Jane would go back to hers after school each day so she wasn't alone in the cabin and that he would come and collect her on his way home from work each evening.

"Sure."

"And maybe do it… you know… so they don't realise that you're calling me." He continued, still sounding unsure. He knew he was being protective to the point of overbearing with Jane but he also knew he'd go crazy if he had to wait all day without confirmation that everything was okay.

"I'll throw some treats into the back yard and then sneak away whilst they're distracted." Joyce teased, laughing a little at her own joke. "Hey if there's one person that understands wanting to know where and how your child is all of the time it's me. I'll call you as soon as they're back." She promised and Hopper nodded.

"Thanks… not just for today but for everything. I don't think Jane and I would have survived this last year without you." Hopper told her sincerely. He truly meant it – raising a teenager, a teenage girl when you're an unmarried middle aged single father no less, was an absolute mine field. But having Joyce at the other end of the phone was a lifeline to both him and his daughter. She always seemed to have the answers that calmed them both and soothed everything over. She had become a literal lifesaver to both of them and he wanted her to know that. She smiled widely at his remark.

"Yes you would have, you'd both have been fine."

"Well maybe." He reluctantly agreed. "But I wouldn't have wanted to be. What I mean is… I'm glad we're in this whole parenting thing together. I'm glad I'm doing it with you, that we're doing it together."

Joyce's eyes widened at his remark. Were they doing this together? They were dating now, though that was a fairly new thing, but she still considered that she was raising her boys and he was raising Jane – separately. Whilst they may have helped each other out from time to time where parenting was concerned – Jonathan had gotten into the habit of going straight to Hopper if he had car trouble for example and not even bothering to ask Joyce who they both knew had no idea about cars. And sure Jane spoke to her about girls things she didn't want to talk to Hopper about… now she thought about it Will too seemed to seek Hopper out quite a lot and she could never get out of him what they spoke about beyond a very vague 'just guy stuff'. Not to mention the absurdly domestic, nuclear-family-like setup the five of them had managed to fall into over the last couple of weeks… fall into completely effortlessly. Hopper and Jane were round almost constantly but neither Will nor Jonathan had ever seemed put out by that in the slightest, not like Jonathan had been with Bob. It had all slotted into place so easily.

In an instant Joyce realised they were very much 'doing it' together. At some point along the line they had become co-parents to the same children and she knew it was long before they had started dating.

Hopper swallowed nervously at the prolonged pause.

"How's that for taking it slow?" He joked quietly, dipping his head to avoid her gaze. He was suddenly feeling mightily uncomfortable.

"I love you."

That made him look up. His head snapped up so quickly he was surprised he didn't break something. The exaggerated movement caused Joyce to smile at him, biting on her nail nervously as she did so.

"You just trying to outdo me or what?" He continued to jest. He had no idea what he was prattling on about or why he wasn't dropping to his knees and declaring his undying love back because he sure as hell did love her back. But in that moment the shock of her confession was paralysing him. "You've never said that to me before." He said eventually as if she wouldn't have already known that.

"Well there's a first time for everything."

At last her words seemed to spur him into action. He strode towards her, reaching her in two large steps, he grabbed the sides of her face in both of his hands and kissed her passionately. His energy caused her to knock into the door loudly and he had no doubt the sound would have been enough for the other residents of the building to look up from their desks. No doubt he'd be subjected to more knowing looks when he emerged from his office later. Joyce responded to the kiss with equal vigour; stretching up onto her tiptoes to meet his greedy mouth and leaning her body forward until all of her curves were pressing against him.

"I love you too… obviously…" Hopper all but gasped as he finally pulled back from her, just enough to breath properly and as soon as he had said the words his lips descended on hers again. She laughed against his mouth. Yes, she supposed it was quite obvious all things considered. "Does this mean…" He interrupted his own sentence by kissing her again. The kisses had turned rather sloppy by that stage due to all the laughing and heavy breathing in-between but he didn't stop. "Does this mean we can tell people now?.." Another kiss. "The kids at least if no one else?" Kiss.

"Let's tell them tonight. When you come to pick up Jane."

Those words finally made him pause. He'd agreed to keep it between the two of them at start because Joyce had been so adamant about it. He knew that she was still healing from everything that had happened in the last couple of years and that whatever this was between them needed to be on her terms. And selfishly he rather enjoyed having her all to himself in moments like this. But he was also desperate to tell the kids so he could stop having to physically restrain himself from touching her and kissing her when in their presence.

"Okay. Tonight." Hopper agreed quickly.

"I'm going to go now before you try and ravish me on your desk." Joyce told him, the playful spark in her eyes impossible to ignore. He raised an eyebrow at the suggestion – now there was an idea. "No way – the lock on this door is crap and I am so not getting caught by Flo and judged for forever more."

"Fair point." He smirked at her. He mentally noted that her only objection seemed to be the likely possibility of getting caught. He also mentally noted to go down to the hardware store at the earliest opportunity to pick up a new door lock. "See you tonight." He told her as she opened the door from behind her.

"Tonight."

She smiled at him and with that she was gone.