Hello again everyone! Here is Chapter 7. Now this is probably the smallest chapter I have wrote so far. I've made a decision to shorten my chapters (I know I know, I said they'd be longer)... Honestly for me right now it's a lot easier to write these smaller segments then trying to fit in a several thousand word chapters. They take a long time, and I want to get something out to you guys more often. Not to mention the time it then takes to go over the chapter before publishing takes a while too (and I still don't catch everything lol)

Anyways... If a day goes smoothly then I may post as many as 2 chapters a day depending on how busy I get. I will make sure the story doesn't progress too quickly with these chapters so more content can be released.

Hopefully you understand and continue to read. I know a lot of people probably enjoy longer chapters better.

Lets get on with the story though! (That's why you're here ;)

Enjoy!

Hopper pulled into his yard. The light shining from the headlights faded when he turned and pulled the key from the ignition. "Okay," he sighed, "home sweet home."

"Home?" Eleven asked. "Small."

"Well I'm sorry princess, so what if it's small, not every house can be as big as Wheeler's." Jim responded, obviously offended by the rudeness of the child, though he knew it was harmless.

Eleven flashed a grin, she thought it was funny that she hurt a grown up's feelings. He walked around to the other side, feet crunching against the frozen yard and helped Eleven out of the car. She looked down at her ragged clothing. Hopper noticed it too. It wasn't going to be long before her clothes were useless.

"We'll get you some in the morning, can you hold out until tomorrow?" Hopper asked. Eleven Nodded.

Their feet moved together against the frozen grass up to the short flight of wooden steps. Jim's house was small and quaint, but it was home to him. You could really clear your head being out by the small quiet lake where he lived.

Hawkins Lab would never think to look for Eleven here at Hopper's house, which was why it was the best place for her to be. Plus, being the police chief would ensure that nobody would question why he took in a child, assuming someone found out. He intended to keep it a secret, until the right time came of course.

Hopper opened the door for El and they walked in. He was immediately regretful that he didn't just decide to clean up earlier when he had the chance. Beer cans on the coffee table, electronics piled in a corner, the smell of smoke. The place was as rugged as the hair on his face, which he never bothered to shave after last month.

"Sorry about the mess," he said.

Eleven sat down in one of the yellow chairs at the kitchen table, while Hop moved behind her and opened the freezer. "You must be hungry, want some Eggos?"

Eleven looked like someone had shot her with a high dose of adrenaline, the way she bounced up and moved over to him. "You have them!?"

Hopper grabbed a couple and placed them into his toaster, which luckily survived the genocide of electronics from last month. El watched anxiously with her hands on his counter top, studying the art of baking frozen waffles.

He looked over at her, wondering why she was so inquisitive of every little thing, it almost annoyed him. However, he had to be patient. This wasn't an ordinary child he was dealing with. Not that she would or anything, but he knew full well that she could shout him apart if he upset her. With that in mind he started to speak.

"This is a toaster," he began, "the wires inside heat up and cook whatever you put into it. You pull this lever down to start."

Jim motioned at the lever on the toaster and walked her through this simple process, but yet so astounding to Eleven. Her eyes, so focused, and fixed on every little thing he was saying and doing. This passed the time relatively quickly, or at least enough for the waffles to spring back up. It scared Eleven, her feet jumping at the shock.

"It's okay, that means they're done." Hopper reassured.

They walked over to his fridge, and he pulled out the almost empty bottle of syrup. Jim placed the now cooked waffles onto a plate from the wooden cupboard and glazed some sweet syrup over the warm surface of the waffles.

"Here you go kid." Jim said, his warm fatherly tone echoing in the room.

"Thank you." Eleven said innocently, looking up at Hopper before diving into the delightfully delicious treats.

Jim walked into his bedroom, luckily there were some clean blankets and sheets that he had yet to replace on his bed. He quickly changed them out and grabbed the old ones in one big ball. He moved back out into the living room and set them down next to his couch. Eleven eyed him, wondering what he was doing.

Eleven had this ability, and not the one where she could talk to someone without speaking, or travel through dimensions, or use her mind to move objects – Although she had those too. No, she had the incredible ability to speak by only using her eyes.

Words weren't necessary, just a warm gaze that let you know what she was thinking before you had a chance to ask.

To Jim, at that moment, she was asking him what he was doing.

"I'm bringing these old blankets out here. Lucky for you I had some clean ones. You can sleep in my room. It's safe there, plus I can stay out here and keep guard."

Eleven nodded, understanding what Hopper meant by 'keeping guard.'

"Just leave the plate, I'll get it tomorrow." Hopper said, pointing at her now empty plate of food. Not a crumb left in sight. "I don't know what you've been through, or where you've been, but it couldn't have been easy."

Hopper watched Eleven, her eyes tired and sleepy, deep in thought. She was thinking of the last month; and the darkness, and the monster, how evil Sean was… and Mike. Mostly Mike.

"Go on kid, get some sleep." Jim said, his voice warm and kind.

Eleven got up and walked into Hopper's room. His bed was larger than the blanket fort, that was for sure. She crawled into the clean blankets and stared up at the ceiling, resting her head on the soft pillow. Thinking of Michael she tried to reach him with her abilities. When she finished, Eleven closed her eyes, letting a tear fall down her cheek. Then she wiped it off and drifted into sleep, to a place where no darkness could hold her, where she was finally safe.

Before Jim turned in for the night he made sure to lock the doors and windows, then he closed his shades. When he fell into the couch his weary body relaxed. He couldn't help but think of Sarah in that moment, and her beautiful gentleness. At some point in his life, Jim thought he could forget. But there was one piece of him that he could never really control.

The part that didn't want him to move on.

Hey! We got some Hop and El time in this chapter. I always believed there was something going on between the two of them in the first season, but I have this feeling like Hopper would really take Eleven in like his own child.

Let me know what you think!

Please R&R! (It makes my day, for realz :P

Also, favorite or follow the story if you haven't already. A few chapters ago the story didn't update, but the chapter was posted so nobody knew :O

Thanks for reading and have a miraculous day!

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