A/N: I was so annoyed we didn't get to see that missing 48 hours during volume two, because it has so much potential for angsty & fluffy mileven. Hope my take on it helps.

Mike grips El's hand tighter than he ever has. The room is quiet, everyone holding their breath. Mike suspects the others are looking at him, wondering what they should be doing, but he doesn't look back to check, his gaze solely focused on El.

Mike hates everything about this moment—the silence, the brightness of the lights, the stillness—because it all reinforces the fact that El hasn't opened her eyes yet. He knows she's alive, her heartbeat thumping against his grip, but it's not enough—he needs to see her eyes, hold her in his arms, feel her respond to him. Until that happens, all Mike can do is grip her hand and pray to whatever outside power might be listening that she will wake up.

It's such a strange sensation—being so physically close to someone yet feeling the distance of alternate dimensions between them. It's been minutes now since the lights stopped flickering, her body relaxing, the gasping of her breath evening out. Minutes that shouldn't feel like an eternity but do. It might as well have been weeks since he confessed his love to her, releasing the words that have been on the tip of his tongue for years now. He has no idea if she heard him, but he doesn't care at this point. He just needs her to wake up, and he'll gladly pour his heart out again.

Wake up wake up wake up wake up. What Mike doesn't know is that halfway across the country his best friend is thinking those same thoughts right now about the girl in his arms.

Wake up wake up wake up.

El knows she needs to let go, leave Max's lifeless body behind, and return to hers, but she doesn't want to. Because if she did it would be admitting defeat—that whatever she tried wasn't good enough. That Max Mayfield was gone. So she hesitates, watching Lucas's devastation and wishing so badly she could take the pain away. When she reached for Max's face, her final attempt to bring her friend back, she felt…something, but she knew it wasn't enough. Her best friend was gone.

And so she waits, not wanting to leave this moment, back to the others where their questions are bound to follow. But she knows she must. She can feel the worry of her two brothers resonate, their desperation to see her back evident. Even the fear from her new friend Argyle is palpable. But none of it compares to the intensity of how Mike is feeling. She looks at Lucas's heartbroken face and decides she has to go back. With one last squeeze of Max's hand, El ends the connection.

Back in the Surfer Boy Pizza kitchen El gasps, her eyes still clenched shut, and all four boys take a collective breath. Then El's eyes are fluttering open, and she barely has time to whimper "Mike" before he's enveloping her in his arms.

It doesn't take long before Jonathan and Will and even Argyle join in, and it's tender, all of them locked in each other's arms. That is until Argyle says, "that was some intense shit, my dude," and Jonathan, Will, and Mike look back at him, like, really? But El doesn't react, eyes still squeezed shut with tears running down her face, hands clutching Mike's shirt, and his attention quickly returns to his girlfriend. He holds her tight in his arms, just letting her sob, before finally tilting her chin back so he can look at her, really take her in.

"El, what…what happened?" Mike asks hesitantly, not sure if he wants to hear the answer.

But instead of answering, she just sobs and moves back into the crook of his neck. At this, Jonathan clears his throat and declares that he needs to go fill up the car and asks Argyle and Will to come with him, to double check on things, and Mike is grateful to his sister's boyfriend for giving them a moment alone.

As soon as the others have left, El lets out a deep breath. She finally meets Mike's eyes and says through her tears, "001 isn't dead. He's hurt, but I couldn't stop him. Max…" but she can't get the words out, her sobs take over. Mike doesn't need her to finish to gauge the situation, understanding that their feisty redheaded friend was most likely dead. He might not have been as close to her as El was, or even most of the others were, and they did have a rough onset to their friendship. But to say Mike didn't come to see Max as every bit a party member as Dustin or Lucas or Will, that he doesn't care about her, is bullshit. And to picture his friends' pain, especially El's and Lucas's…the pang in Mike's heart is undeniable.

It's not till later, back in the van on their way to Hawkins, with El leaning against Mike that she says, "thank you for being there."

He intertwines their fingers and says, "I'll always be there for you, El."

She looks up at him through her lashes and asks, "Do you promise?" and Mike feels himself transported back in time.

"Promise," he confirms.

He leans in then, not caring that the others are around, needing to reassure himself that she was safe and really there with him. El doesn't hesitate to return the kiss, though it doesn't last as long as either would have liked.

"I love you too, by the way," she says simply, a small smile on her lips.

At her words, Mike feels a hundred butterflies twisting through his chest. "You heard me?" He asks simply, feeling the heat creep up on his cheeks despite everything.

"Yeah," she confirms, her smile growing. She rests her head into his neck, as if she was made to fit there. "And you're my superhero."

Hope you enjoyed! I'd love to hear your thoughts.