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

Author's note: Here's the last chapter. Thanks for all the love

Happy reading.

Time After Time

It was becoming increasingly ridiculous that whatever the situation, whatever the emotion, it always seemed to lead them here – to him pressing her against the nearest flat surface and kissing her like his life depended on it, (he was beginning to think that it did), and then pretending it never happened and starting all over again. Post 2x09 Joyce/Hopper angsty fluff.

Chapter Five: Joy

It felt absurdly domestic – staying in on a Friday night, Will and Jane asleep down the hall, Jonathan out at the movies with Nancy, the radio playing softly from the counter as Joyce stood at her sink washing up the remnants form their pizza and movie night, and Hopper standing beside her drying the plates as she passed them to him. It felt as if they had been doing this for years and that both terrified and thrilled her all at once.

It has been less than a week since she had lied her way into the hospital after Hopper had been shot. They had finally confessed how they felt but had done nothing about it since and certainly hadn't told anybody else. Having two full-time jobs and three children between them did tend to get in the way a bit.

But then Joyce had suggested the movie night for Jane who was getting agitated being cooped up alone in the cabin again. That had somehow been turned into a sleepover so Mike and no doubt the others could come over tomorrow and play their games that Hopper didn't understand. He had been firm in telling them they couldn't go outside but no one had seemed to care about that, apparently they'd rather spent their day huddled around a board in semi-darkness anyway. He really didn't get it.

He had to admit the thought of leaving Joyce's nice, warm house to return alone to his cold and empty cabin was less than appealing. Especially with all of the long and meaningful looks Joyce kept throwing his way throughout the film and afterwards. But he wasn't going to suggest he stayed. He had to take this slow – there was too much at stake and he really, really didn't want to fuck it up.

Hopper began to hum along with the song playing on the radio and saw Joyce glance at him from the corner of her eye. The sides of her lips curled up into a smile as she watched him. That was all the encouragement he needed. He sang along a little, relishing in the light giggle it produced from her.

"Enjoying yourself?" She teased him as she passed him the last plate and began to drain the water.

He was. He had done nothing that evening but simply be with her and their kids and he had enjoyed himself more than he had in a long time. He just hoped it was sign of things to come. He placed the plate on the draining board, threw the tea towel over his shoulder and began to dance to the music. He was acting like a fool he was sure and his dancing left a lot to be desired but he didn't care. She was looking at him with such a playfulness bursting in her eyes and when she threw back her head and let out a laugh at his expense it sounded so utterly joyous. He could have listened to that sound for the rest of his life.

"Care to join me?" He offered her his hand.

"I really don't." She replied, clearly teasing.

He lunged forward and grabbed her anyway, enjoying the slight squeal of surprise she made at the move. He had his arm around her waist, his chest pressed into her back, and he lifted her off of the ground and spun her round and round just to hear that laugh again. It worked. They span and danced and span again until suddenly they were kissing. They were breathless to start with and the kisses were hard, rushed, frantic. They were acting like nothing short of horny teenagers. It was just as it was in the Wheeler's bathroom a couple of weeks ago; where her hands had felt like they were everywhere at once as they did now and his head was spinning and he couldn't think straight, couldn't even tell his lungs to breath until he was gasping against her open mouth. There was no finesse or grace to their movements, if anything he was sloppy with the need of it all, but she kept giggling between the kisses and the gulping breaths. She sounded so damn happy he figured he must be doing something right.

He led her backwards until her back hit the kitchen counter and then scooped her up onto it to make them the same height. His aching back thanked him for the decision. Joyce spread her legs wide so he could stand between them and it was embarrassingly close to all being over then, just from the invitation.

He stepped closer to her and put his head on her chest as he caught his breath and tried to calm the hell down a bit. He wanted this to last for longer than two seconds. And besides it was them – wasn't this about the time that something usually went horribly wrong and ended with one of them storming out?

"What's the matter?" Joyce asked, breathless against the top of his head as her hands came to rest on his shoulders. There was genuine concern in her voice hidden somewhere under the heavy desire that dominated it.

"Nothing…" Hopper groaned. Get it together. Get it together for Christ sake. He told himself over and over again in his head for several moments. "Nothing, I just… isn't this the point where one of us usually gets cold feet or we get interrupted and everything stops again?"

She kissed the top of his head in response and he felt her smile against his hairline.

"Jonathan is out for the night, the other two are sound asleep and there is not a chance in hell that I'm getting cold feet tonight. Are you?"

He finally raised his head to face her and the look in his eye, the intense longing and need, told her his answer. She kissed him again, just as strong and passionate but much less rushed. His hands wrapped around the underside of her thighs as he brought her to the worktop's edge to be closer to him still. Her denim glad crotch rubbed against his in an exaggerated, calculated move on her part. Hopper bucked his hips involuntarily as he felt her smile against his lips. There was no denying who was leading this. She hooked her ankles around the back of his thighs to keep herself pressed against his ever tightening groin. She rubbed herself on him selfishly taking exactly what she wanted from him and threw her head back in pleasure. He placed lazy kisses to the side of her neck as she arched her body to give him better access, all the while still moving against him.

"Hop, take me to bed." She whispered frantically above him. He paused and groaned openly against the side of her neck.

She was actually trying to kill him.

"We go in there I don't think I'm going to be able to stop myself." He explained, taking big puffs of air. She stopped moving against him at once. He missed the delicious, head-spinning friction immediately. She placed both of hands on the side of his head and forced him to look at her, displaying a surprising amount of strength.

"Do you still think I'm not sure about this? That I'm going to suddenly change my mind?" He got the instinctual feeling those were rhetorical questions so he stayed quiet. "I get it. I get that this thing between us is going to be messy and complicated and about as fucked up as we both are. And the timing is probably horrible and you probably think this is some weird grief thing over Bob or some kind of thank you/apology for saving my child when you couldn't save your own…" Hopper swallowed uncomfortably. It was unnerving how well she had his current feelings sussed when they hadn't discussed any of that. "Well you're wrong." In any other situation he may have laughed at how matter-of-factly she said that. "It's not any of those things. It's just you and me. And I love you. And I feel like I might actually die if you don't just shut up and ki…"

Hopper crashed his lips upon hers before she could finish speaking. All the heat and fire from moments ago was there again as if they had never stopped. She made a compelling argument and he trusted her – if she said she wanted this then she wanted this. Besides which, he whole-heartedly agreed, he may very well die if he didn't get to be with her soon.

And so they went back to kissing and laughing and spinning as he picked her up and twirled her around as if they were in some god-awful romantic comedy film. And if every emotion had seemed to lead them to the same thing – to an uncontrollable passion, an unbreakable bond between them, he was glad they were finally surrendering to each other on this one – pure, unadulterated joy.