"Maybe we can call you El, short for Eleven."

Eleven woke up to silence. The Policeman was gone. She wanted Mike. She sat up and scanned the room. 2 small dents in the wall, an unopened can of liquid, and a chair with a blanket on it. Thirsty, she opened the can and took a swig. It was disgusting, but she decided it was better than water and drank it anyway. She felt like she was on a high after the first can she didn't even realize that she had the other 2 in the fridge!

"..so in short: only you, your 3 friends, and I can know about her here, OK?"

"OK."

Hop parked his truck in front of his trailer. Mike jumped out at the speed of light towards the door. He knocked on the door fast and hard before Hopper pushed him aside and opened the door. The scene was not good. 3 empty beer cans on the floor and giggling coming from the kitchen. Mike tried taking in the whole place while Hopper went to locate Eleven. She was on top of the refrigerator with a drawer dropping silverware onto the floor.

"What are you doing?"

Eleven looked at him and smiled a big grin.

"Happy drink."

"No, not happy drink. Sad, depressing drink."

Hop said as he grabbed Eleven and set her onto the floor. She let out a large belch right as Mike walked in, seeing Eleven.

"El!"

"Mike!"

He went to hug her but she was a little tipsy and plopped into his hands before ruffling his hair and giggling some more.

"What's wrong with her?"

"She got into my beer while I was away! She's drunk."

Hopper tried to be angry but he couldn't help but smile.

"El, it's me, Mike. I'm here now, OK?"

Eleven left for the other room and reappeared with a can of beer.

"Mike, try. Happy drink."

Hopper slapped that beer out of her hand faster than he'd done anything before in his life. Great, now I'm housing a fugitive and an alcoholic.

"When will she be sober?"

"Well, she only drank 3 cans, so I'd say 6ish tonight."

"That's in 8 hours! Is there anything we can do to make her better now?"

Hopper sat her on the couch and told her to take deep breaths. In, and out. In, and out. It seemed to be working, as she stopped smiling and started to not look as crazy. He then handed her a glass of water which she drank a few gulps out of before dozing off almost instantly. Mike tried to wrap his head around what happened in the past 3 hours. He had seen Eleven for the first time in a month, saw her drunk, and watched as she dozed into a seemingly comfortable sleep.

"Can I bring the guys over today?"

"Later, after dinner. Say, 6:30?"

"Yeah. Great! Thank you. I'd better tell the guys she's safe and sound. Don't want them to freak out when they see her for the first time, yeah?"

Mike smiled at Eleven and grabbed her hand.

"I'll be back later, with Dustin and Lucas and Will, OK?"

And with that he flew out the door and grabbed his bike from the back of Hopper's truck, pedaling away to Dustin's house.

"Hey Mews."

Mike had to tell Dustin about Eleven, but not here.

"Dusty! Your friend is here to see you!"

"OK Mom!"

Dustin rounded the corner. The moment he saw his friend's face, he knew something had happened.

"Alright Mike, let's go. Bye Mom! Bye Mews! I'll be back later!"

Mike followed him and soon they were riding their bikes to Lucas's.

"So what's up?"

"Hopper found Eleven. We're going to see her at 6:30."

"Holy crap, Mike! Tell me the details."

"Turns out the thing I saw in the woods wasn't a rabbit. It was her. I followed the tracks and it all led up to Hopper."

They were passing Lucas's house as he was talking.

"Get your butt out here, Lucas!"

There wasn't anything Dustin wouldn't say. Turns out that was the magic word, because Lucas went flying out of his garage on his bike towards them.

"What's the deal, ladies?"

"Turns out Hopper has Eleven safe and sound and we're going there at 6:30."

"Oh my goodness am I in!"

They biked to Mike's house and called Will, asking if he could stay over. Surprisingly, Joyce said yes. 7 hours later they were finishing up some Pitfall! On Mike's Atari and drinking loads of Coke, waiting for Karen to call them to dinner.

"Boys, Dinner!"

Karen hadn't seen them this jumpy to finish dinner quickly since they wanted to see Return of the Jedi a few months back. They all excused themselves within 5 minutes and were flying down the street on their bikes towards Hopper's place.

"Time?"

"6:27"

"We'll make it on time!"

They were knocking on his door the second it hit 6:30. They poured into his trailer with smiles up their faces searching for Eleven. Mike pulled Hopper aside.

"Is she better?"

"A little out of it, she threw up a few hours ago and I lectured her for 45 minutes on why she can't drink beer."

"Where is she?"

"In here somewhere. She's been exploring."

Will yelled out an "Eleven!" and within half a second she poked her head out of Hopper's bedroom.

"Friends."