FLASHBACK
-'If you walk to me I'm gonna give you a cookie' Mike flashed his son a huge smile,
El frowned from her sitting place on the kitchen counter -'He can't even eat cookies, Mike'
-'Just shhh! He doesn't know that...come on baby! First steppies!'
The front door of the Wheeler house opened and Dustin, Lucas, Max and Will poured in, -'Did I just heard Mike say "steppies" ?' Max asked with a shit eating smile,
Mike rolled his eyes, -'I'm trying to get him to walk'
Dustin searched inside his backpack and pulled out a bar of Three Musketeers,
-'Aww! Come here Mini Paladin! If you walk I'll give you nougat-'
-'Nougat is disgustiiiiiing' El yelled from the kitchen with her mouth full of Karen's macaroni leftovers,
-'IT IS NOT! I'm trying to make a good man out of your son, Jane, shut the hell up!'
-'A good man like YOU?' Max said sarcastically,
-'Hey! I'm his favorite uncle'
-'He's one year old, Dustin. He probably doesn't even know who *I* am and I clean his butt every day' Mike sighed deeply,
-'Don't lie Mike, do you know how much pee I wipe on the daily' Will protested from the kitchen table.
-'And do you know how much shit *I* wipe on the daily, Will?' He fired back with a chuckle,
-'Don't even tell me'.
As the night went on, the friends continued having fun and trying to teach the baby how to walk or take a few steps.
Usually, Mike was very short-tempered and sharp. He always had something to spit back, but when it came to El and his son, he was the most patient person in the world.
Whether it was helping El with pronunciation (She was great at writing and reading in her mind, but out loud was another story sometimes), or dealing with Levi's occasional tantrums because he wanted a dairy-packed treat that would probably make his little belly upset, or maybe even when he had to spend half of the money he made that week from tutoring on Levi's special powdered milk or medical treatments. He would do anything for his tiny family, all with a huge smile on his face.
-'Come on, son, I know you can do this!'
El watched Mike holding Levi's little chunky hands as he helped him take one step after the other.
She had never seen anything so perfect.
He was still learning how to be a dad. Every day he learned a new lesson, but he was a great one already.
END OF FLASHBACK
-'I am going...to kill every single person I encounter...for what they did to me, first. And for what they kept doing to Levi'
-'What's making you-what did they do to you' Joyce held El's leg AND RUBBED it gently.
El took a deep breath and wiped some tears,
-'Other than using me like a weapon and punishing me for not obeying? Just...things...like touch me and everything...things that I now know are not...really appropiate, for a 10 year old', Joyce was listening attentively;
-'And the first time...the first time Mike and I tried to have sex or whatever, I totally freaked out. I punched him and slapped him, I was so...terrified, of somebody touching me again' she was full on crying about how she had been sexually abused by the people in the lab,
-'And I just wanted to run away but he stopped me and hugged me...but it's still in the back of my mind every day, Ma. So-So I wanna kill all of them...for what they did to me. And for keeping my baby captive doing god knows what to him'.
UNDERGROUND FACILITY
-'We have no readings. Nothing! I think we should just, let him go sir'
-'Don't be an idiot, Allen. I'm sure, if he's the son of our most valuable asset, we will take something out of him'
-'Mr. Schmitt...I understand you wanna keep studying him but we've put him under enough stress. If-if we keep this up we may lose him, sir'
-'Yeah, the chronic pulmonary illness is a problem. A weakness and an obstacle for us, but we must work through it and push the potential out into him'
-'But how is he useful to us connected to a ventilator which only prevents him from asphyxia? It's not curing him! I say we let him go'
-'Can he walk? Dr. Allen?'
-'...I think he can't'
-'Exactly. So you wanna leave him around in the forest, to die of exposure or starvation. Or asphyxiated'
-'It worked before, with the Byers boy in the quarry, If only for a little while...a cover up...people will just think the kidnapper let him go'
-'...No. we keep trying. Prepare him for the next test'.
-'Hi dad' El mumbled as Hopper went into the house again.
-'Hey...nothing. We patroled for what, five hours? Six hours?' He asked Lucas and Max who had joined him (even after him telling them it was too dangerous)
-'Six hours...no vents, no doors...we have to keep trying'
El nodded gently and stood up. She started to pace. Something she used to do when she was nervous or thinking.
-'It's not even about-about the people in the lab. We're running out of time',
Joyce tried to catch her hand but she brushed it away,
-'This problem in his lungs...has given us enough scares to Mike and I. Things got so bad, the nurses at the hospital taught him how to do CPR when Levi was born because...it's risky. It was risky back then, still risky now' she explained the situation with such eloquence and clearness, there was no doubt the race against time was absolutely real.
Hopper nodded and laid a hand on her shoulder,
-'El, go get some sleep. We'll keep looking tonight'
-'Summer nights are freezing' Mike said from the corner of the living room,
-'...That's true but in case you haven't noticed,we are against the clock here Michael'
Mike looked baffled
-'Do you think I don't know that? You think I don't know what to do? I'm as desperate as you are, Sir!'
-'I don't wanna argue with you today Wheeler. You and El should both try to get some sleep'
-'Sleep's not gonna solve anything' Mike responded sharply,
-'It may help your paranoia, and some food may help your anger'
-'Don't tell me what to fucking do! I hate that!'
The door recieved three knocks and Karen's melodious voice resonated from behind it.
-'Who called my mom?' Mike asked, bitterly
Joyce stood up and went to get the door, -'I did' she mumbled.
Karen Wheeler stepped in. She always managed to look radiant and spectacular. Like the smiley cheerleader Joyce had befriended in middle school.
-'Hi' she hugged Joyce tight and let herself in.
-'Hi Hop' she greeted him with a side hug. The guy a whole foot taller than her.
She scanned the room for her only son, and spotted him under some blankets on the coucj.
-'Mike, Mike are you okay?' She held his face in her hands and examined him.
-'Why wouldn't I be? Why did they call you?!'
-'Joyce did...you're not feeling well, aren't you?'
Mike's lip quivered. He kinda needed a hug from his mom.
-'No. I feel restless and anxious but I don't think I wanna talk about it'
-'That's okay honey...we aren't doing any better at home'
Mike nodded, -'I can imagine' he grasped her mom's cardigan and buried his face into the crook of her neck,
-'My sweet baby. You'll see, we're gonna be fine...everything's gonna get resolved and we're gonna find him soon', Karen's hopeful eyes looked into Hopper's blue ones with just one questions. How's the search going.
-'We are getting there, Karen' Hopper responded, trying to sound sure of himself.
The woman nodded gently and sat on the couch, practically holding Mike onto her lap.
After a few hours, El coaxed Hopper into letting her go into the void again.
-'Won't it drain you?' The concerned father asked,
-'Probably...but every second we sit here putting together the next round of exploring, it's a second he gets sicker and sicker...'
at the sight of her dad's doubting, El decided to do some refreshing,
-'Do you NOT remember, dad? That night a few months ago? How it almost KILLED ME? I was so stressed about losing him, dad'
FLASHBACK
Michael Wheeler's bony hands trembled violently. His breathing was irregular and cheeks were blushing in anticipation.
-'I almost crashed on the way here' he confessed to his girlfriend, who looked equally disraught.
-'What did you said happened again?'
El sighed deeply and almost rolled her eyes but figured it would be too rude.
-'I was asleep and he was on the crib beside me as always and I heard a sound so I woke up, and I peeked into his bed and saw him wheezing trying to breathe so I woke every body up and came here...get it?'
Mike nodded and laid back on a chair,
-'What are they doing to him now?'
-'They said they were gonna put him in a ventilator because he can't breathe on his own right now'
-'So wht is this, is it like asthma or something?'
El thought and tried to remember the word the fdoctor gave her.
-'Bronchopulmonary dysplasia I think...'
—&&&—-
-'Hello there little sunshine, you scared me' El almost started crying, she was so stressed about his health she was bottling her worries up...
'What if I hadn't heard him making noises' she had wondered to Mike. The thought of losing her baby was unfathomable.
-'Come here, my sweet little peanut' she made sure the oxygen mask wouldn't move off his face, and then decided to bring Levi to the place he felt safest. Feeling the welcoming warmth of his mom's beating heart.
A heart that lived FOR him, every second of its existence.
The heart of the person who loved him the most in this world, no matter how many sleepless nights, health scares or tantrums.
The love was unconditional, and the energy—calming.
She kissed his head softly and made sure he was warm for the thousandth time. She truly believed affection could help his recovery go faster,
-'You're gonna be fine and out of here so quick, you'll see...'
Anyone with eyes could see El's undying, flaming love for Levi.
It was like a part of her was missing, and he was it. He completed her.
She had felt guilty for admitting she loved her son more than she loved Mike. But she really did. The baby was a part of her. The first puzzle piece of her little family. Her universe revolved around him and she wasn't a tad bit ashamed to let every body know that.
END OF FLASHBACK
El watched the scene before her. Karen had managed to make Mike sleep, his body practically on top of his mom's lap. He needed closeness. His own mother comforting him in harsh times.
She thought about her mama. How Terry couldn't take care of her, or even speak to her. Tears pooled in her eyes.
Then she thought about her own beautiful boy.
How she herself was a mamma now.
Looking at Karen cradling this seventeen year old young man made El remember the first time she held Levi.
It was like magic. Like her chest felt full of a thousand butterflies, a sense of love so strong it literally took her breath away.
From that day last May up until two and a half weeks ago, El had had peaceful alone time every single night with the baby before bedtime, just to tell him how much she loved him.
-'Nobody ever held me like that' she whispered at his dad,
-'What'
-'...I had no mama, dad...remember? Nobody ever—comforted me. When I was scared, when they touched me...I never had someone who cared about me enough' she was sobbing now,
-'And now my own baby doesn't have his mom and he's alone and sick and afraid and I honestly...I should've seen the car tailing us'
-'Oh Ellie, no no come here' Hop hugged her tight and she just fell into his arms;
-'I'm sorry dad, I'm sorry I lost him, I'm sorry this is all my fault'
She was letting out all the weaknesses she hid for Mike's sake.
If El had showed these emotions around Mike, the young man would probably be even less functional than he is right now.
Hop hugged her tight and kissed her head,
-'We'll find him soon, Ellie. I promise'
She took a breath like she was just tired of promises.
-'Soon isn't good enough anymore'
-'What do you mean?'
-'I wanna go find him now, dad. Now'
Hop made sure Karen wasn't listening,
-'...Can you see him in the-the-'
-'Void. The void? Yes. I-I think I can try again'.
Hopper convinced Mike to just stay and catch up on sleep. The heaviness in the teenager's eyes was deeply noticeable and he succumbed to slumber quickly on El's bed.
The sight of the white crib with little teeth marks on the wood, the occasional stray small sock, a baby blue paci laying on the bedside table or last year's family photo dated Dec. 25 could've triggered him somehow but he was just so exhausted he just SLEPT.
This night had been one of the first nights Mike had slept over at the Hopper-Byers household since him and El's big fight.
The fight had been due to a fairly innocent thing, but El was already so over the edge and in the threshold of madness due to exhaustion, she had gathered every ounce of patience to avoid hurting the father of her child with her powers.
FLASHBACK
El had been tryung to catch up on some rest on the following nights after Levi's big health scare. The pediatric neumologist had given the baby the go to be at home with his parents as long as they administered the oxygen therapy religiously.
The whole hectic ordeal had made Levi even more clingy and needy in every way, but El knew how to handle him. She was too tired though so she asked Mike if he could skip some classes with her to stay at home and watch over the baby more closely. Not that she didn't trust Karen Wheeler, but when it came to her sick child, she knew best. Even if she was just sixteen.
The beginning of summer also heralded the start of Mike's exhausting and annoying allergies and colds. For whatever fucking reason.
After days and days of being stuck in a hospital, watching her son struggling to breathe, El was kind of done with everybody. She was irritable, easily annoyed with anyone except the one year old baby before her.
So when Mike had gotten a little allergy, and El realised her stuffy-nosed boyfriend was hanging around their sick baby, she fucking lost it.
It was about 8pm when Mike was getting Levi ready for bed that he had sneezed around him, his pale nose red, freckles darkening.
El turned to him with an angry glare.
-'Mike are you sick?' She asked, while putting on her pajama shirt.
-'Just a little allergy, it's no-'
-'...Then get the hell away from the baby! Seriously Mike, he just fucking got home from the HOSPITAL. DO YOU WANT HIM TO BE SICK AGAIN?!'
Her voice thundered all around the Byers house.
Mike looked at her with a surprised stare,
-'El-'
-'DO YOU, MIKE?! OR ARE YOU JUST FUCKING STUPID?! GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HIM YOURE GONNA GET HIM SICK!'
-'You're being irrational!' He tried to calm her down by holding her hands but she swatted them away,
-'I AM THE ONE SACRIFICING MY LIFE FOR HIM, I'M THE ONLY ONE TRYING! I STAY UP NIGHT AFTER NIGHT JUST TO MAKE SURE HES STILL EVEN BREATHING, OKAY?! I LIVE STRESSED EVERY SECOND, AND YOU?! I WAS THE ONE WHO-WHO WAS SICK ALL THE TIME, THE ONE WHO HAD TO GO THROUGH SURGERY AND LIKE TWO MONTHS IN PAIN WHILE EVERYONE EXPECTED ME TO BE OKAY AND CARE FOR HIM ALONE...AND YOU MIKE?!'
-'Jane don't even fucking go there. You know damn well I do my part' he was trying so hard not to yell back
-'YOUR PART IS NOT FUCKING ENOUGH, MICHAEL! IT IS NOT ENOUGH! GET OFF HIM, YOURE BEING SUCH AN INCONSIDERATE MORON RIGHT NOW! LEAVE!'
Hopper wanted to interrupt. He had never seen El so angry. It was like all 5ft 98 pounds of her were on fire.
-'IT'S JUST ALLERGY, EL!'
-'I DONT GIVE TWO FUCKS IF ITS THE FLU OR FUCKING HEART DISEASE MIKE! DO YOU SEE WHERE I-'
-'I'd understand you better if you stopped fucking yelling at me and blaming me for shit I have no control over'
El buried her face in her hands when she heard her son whimpering. Normally she would fly to comfort him but she wad just absolutely drained.
-'I can't...can't tend for him-'
-'Then let me' Mike offered,
-'WHAT PART OF LEAVE DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND!' She made the front door bang open and the BMW turned on its own. Just go, Mike.
Mike stared at her...she really was kicking him out.
The couple hadn't even noticed when Joyce went into the room and craddled the baby into her shoulder to pull him out of the situation.
El sat on the middle of the living room, her hand reaching for the PJ onesie Levi was wearing the night before he disappeared. A very small thing with a red dino in the middle; Mike had gotten it because "It reminds me of Rory". Ah yeah, that damn toy, El was happy Levi managed to fry the speaker, it would wake her up at night only to find her son playing with it at 2 in the morning.
She chuckled slightly at the memory.
At how she would wake up, take the toy from his little hands and playfully tickle him until he was too tired to think about rummaging around for more toys. He would then focus on touching his mother's face like he was trying to memorize with his small fingers. Caressing every crease, every ridge, paying close attention to the dimples that appeared when she smiled. She let him, of course. He would be so concentrated on discovering everything about El's face he would fall asleep without noticing. And then she wouldn't have the heart to move him, so she would let him share the bed for the rest of the night.
El felt as maybe she had cried so much she didn't have any tears left. It was weird sobbing without wetness following shortly after.
Hopper decided not to intervene, she had to et in touch with her emotions to find her son again.
Joyce watched the scene from afar. She had never tried to replace El's biological mother and now she was starting to question if she should've had.
The steady drip of red liquid had started to stain her upper lip.
Hopper saw his daughter hold onto the dinosaur pajama shirt so hard her knuckles turned white. Her painted nails grasping desperately, as if the child would materialise into the onesie if she tried hard enough.
El walked through a hallway.
This hallway was panelled with glass walls and wooden doors.
She started reading each of the tags that adorned each door.
'Logistics'
'Administration'
'Equipment'
'Medical Supplies'
'Biologic material'
'Hazardous'
'Chemistry department'
'Hospital'
El took a deep breath. She couldn't feel her son's energy, but logic told her to go in there.
The glass doors slid open.
The small hospital was cold. And sterile.
She was looking around, trying to catch up on every single detail that could help her in the quest to save her baby.
She walked further and saw him. Connected to a ventilator, and various IVs.
Levi Michael Wheeler had been born small and stayed small through his first year of life.
When he was born he was so tiny Hopper could hold him in one hand, which at first made El nervous but eventually she understood it was safe.
Now that he was one and a half, he was barely 22 pounds. Light enough for Mike to multitask in taking him out of the crib with one arm and preparing a bottle with the other.
El didn't know what they had been feeding her child, if at all. The baby looked lethargic, like they didn't know how else to keep him alive but through fluids and a fan for his lungs.
She wanted to cry. Scream. Kill whoever had done this.
She had spent the last year and a half of her life completely devoted to keeping her baby boy safe and well. She had skipped weeks worth of school, had gotten a few Fs in some tests because she had been too tired to study after endless nights watching her son sleep.
Mike's family had spent a small fortune in hospital bills and medicines for the littlest Wheeler, constantly worrying over his well being.
And now her son lay on a bed, barely alive. She almost missed the third figure rolling in her field of sight.
The clink of a wheelchair made her flinch. Her breath caught in her throat and she almost used her own hands and nails to murder the person before her.