Title: Crazy, just crazy.
Author: Hopping Mad - Chrissy
Authors Note: Ugh, I'm so sick. I hope I haven't ruined the story with this chapter!
Chapter Three
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Two months after Will comes home.
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Bob. Fucking BOB of all people. Why on earth had he thought it would be a good idea telling him to ask Joyce out? Bob the brain, that's what he was known as in school. He hated seeing them together.
"Hey Hop," he looked up to see a smiling Joyce waving at him from across the room.
"Hey," he responded with a quick wave. Where was he going anyway? Before he was so rudely distracted by seeing Joyce and Bob holding hands across the street? He couldn't even remember. Where was his truck? Best to just head there and figure it out on his way.
He wanted her to have a stable relationship with someone who could take care of her. He now had to put Eleven first, and between hiding her and keeping up with his appearance as Chief of the Police, there was no way he could continue supporting her as he had. In order to do so, he would have to reveal that he was hiding El in his cabin, and the last thing he wanted was to put Joyce or her family in danger again.
Ultimately, he let her go for her own safety. He had no good reason for being as angry as he felt about the whole situation. He took a few deep breaths as he opened his truck door and lit his cigarette, sitting down heavily in the driver's seat. It was funny how he felt so protected being in the truck, but really everyone could see right through the windows. Good thing the town was used to seeing a grumpy Jim Hopper stomping around, no one would know his mood had anything to do with Joyce Byers.
If he really thought about it, Bob was a good choice for her. He was one of the kindest people he knew, and very intelligent. He also was well-off money wise, maybe he could help around the house. He would be a good stable man for the boys too. He would have to find a way to be happy for her. If he just found a way to hold onto the fact that for once Joyce had a wonderful, stable man in her life… not Lonnie fucking Byers, or a black hole like himself… maybe he could get through, get past the intense jealousy he felt towards any man in her bed.
The thought of Eleven drew his eyes to his watch and he decided it was late enough in the day he could go home. El would distract him, he had even found a new book for her. She wasn't the best at reading, but they must have taught her something at Hawkin's Lab. With any luck he could have her caught up and ready to be at school with her friends, that is if he could ever find a way for her to live safely in the public eye, but that was a problem to think on when he wasn't feeling quite so emotional. He wished he could speak to Joyce about it, she would know what to do.
Alas, he had made a decision that would protect the one he loved most – despite how terrible it made him feel to break her heart, again. He would just have to live with it.
The End.