She laid her head on the kitchen table and watched her dad grab a shotguns and ammo.
As fucking IF he was gonna act as her shield.
Will convinced Mike of eating a yogurt coated granola just so he could have something more than water and stomach acid during their quest.
El felt sorry for yelling at him earlier. She has been angry. For good reasons.
-'Hi' she said weakly at her boyfriend, who was leaning against the counter.
-'Hey you' he grinned sadly.
El sighed and just looked at him. All freckles, and black curly hair, and full lips and gentle eyes. God she loved him. She really was hopelessly, mercilessly, aggressively in love with him.
She hugged him tight. Tighter than they'd hugged in the last few days.
She held his face, and looked up. UP. Mike towering over little 5ft1 EL, at a 6ft2 stature.
She pulled him down and kissed him firmly. Nothing too passionate or innapropiate. Just FIRM.
You are mine. I am yours. We will get through anything that comes in our way. We are forever.
A kiss and a promise.
-'Sorry I was a dick' she mumbled into his shirt. He chuckled and kissed her head, -'You're not a dick...you're scared. And I am too. Sorry I can't be strong, like you would want me to be right now'.
Such bullshit. El knew Mike was susceptible to depressive episodes. Weakening ones, that made him almost useless. No, useless was not the right word. It was an ugly word.
Episodes were he wouldn't eat for days, OR all he would do was eat. Like it could feel the void in his soul. Episodes of insomnia, or complete lethargy that could leave him bed-bound for weeks.
Poor anger management, causing him to hurt some feelings without even thinking. As if Mike wasn't sharp and stubborn enough.
They had been less and less frequent ever since the baby was born. Its like he could channel his frustrations and filter them through this little being. This beam of absolute sunlight shining through the darkness. Levi was all love, life and light. He was healing.
Mike put El on the counter and stood between her knees, holding her hands tight, -'What's the game-plan, general?'
El chuckled at his nerdiness, and sighed so deeply she thought her lungs were gonna deflate forever.
-'...I know where the lab is. It's a long drive, and it scares me. We'll need to go to the hospital afterwards'
The sole thought of having to rush gave Mike a migraine.
-'...We'll seriously have to fly...you can't make us fly, can you?'
El shook her head, -'Let's not think about what I can't do...we should load a first aid kit, and his nebulizer, okay? At least...in case we need to, I don't know...heal some battle scars'
-'Okay, okay' he ran a bone thin hand across his thick, ebony curls and bit his lip...
-'And this place. The lab...have you seen how it is?'
El nodded and sipped some water from a cup before continuing,
-'It's mostly all glass'
All glass. When glass broke...tiny knives. Dangerous. Sharp.
-'Glass'
El nodded in confirmation...
-'...We should get going...'
-'Wait, how are we gonna get in?!' Mike asked, a tone of worry and desperation tinted his deep, usually sure voice.
-'I'll fry the lights. The rest, we'll figure it out as we go'.
In the living room, Max and Lucas looked at the portraits littered around the tables and chimney tops.
-'Look, Max. Remember this day?'.
FLASHBACK
It was an unusually hot day of spring. Very pleasing. Not too cold or chilly, and not unbearably hot. Perfect for a child to play outside.
Mike had invited the party over at his house so they could have some barbecue food and maybe, MAYBE some lite beer, while also watching for little Levi.
Mike felt like a damn loser. He must admit, seeing El in bikinis got more amusing as time went by. She was slender, small, thin and her movement looked purposely graceful.
-'Oh noooo' she cooed at the baby inside the very tiny inflatable pool, -'You're something else, son, you DO know water goes IN the pool, right?'
Mike chuckled from the shade, while he was working on a new campaign.
-'Quit chuckling, look at all the mud he's making' despite wanting to seem angry, El's lips formed into a huge grin.
-'Are we sure it's mud and not poop?' He laughed, and El rolled her eyes.
The jokes were interrupted by the sound of Max and Lucas approaching the Wheeler backyard.
How did they know? The bickering. Incessant bickering.
-'What are you two arguing about now?' El asked the couple while looking up from the baby in the pool.
-'He forgot the damn chicken! And the corn!' Max yelled, making Lucas roll his eyes,
-'Let me live, woman! We'll tell Dustin and Will to bring it! Jesus!'
El rolled her eyes again and with a flick of her manicured hand, she opened the top of the grill and got the fire started, -'Just put the damn food in there, guys!'.
-'Tickles! Tickles for your belly!' Max tackled the tiny baby into a spot with especially soft grass and was now torturing him with raspberries and tickles.
-'You're gonna give him an asthma attack, Maxine' Mike grunted from his spot as BBQ supervisor (He was shit at it, the sauce in the pork ribs got burned under his surveillance)
-'Shut up, he fucking loves this!'.
El was sitting on a towel, talking to Lucas and Mark (Will's sort of boyfriend/date), when the dark-skinned boy spotted a puddle of mud just beside the kiddie pool.
He jumped to his feet and got an idea, -'Hey El, how mad would you be at me and this young man playing soldiers in the mud?'
-'Not mad at all' she said, absentmindedly while getting another light beer from the cooler box beside her.
Lucas put the baby on his back and started sliding against the mud, -'Are you ready to be a soldier, you freckly monster?!'
The child responded with a tiny scream of delight.
Mike ran into the house through the basement door, -'EL!' He screamed from the inside,
The young girl rolled her eyes and pulled up her shades, -'WHAT'
-'Where is the polaroid camera, babe?'
-'UPSTAIRS!'
And off he went. Climbing three steps with each stride, then knocking shit around his room looking for the device.
Jesus Christ what a damn junkyard. Wait, a pair of jean shorts? Mike knew DAMN WELL he-...Oh. Right.
He smiled briefly when he saw a pair of extremely tiny Nike sneakers next to his (the ones he used for track practice).
Shit, the camera!
Mike loved documenting every aspect of the little baby's life. He even had a board up next to his bed with all kinds of pictures, like Levi's first bath, the present year's Valentines day with El, and last year's Christmas photo in which the tiny man completely stole the moment.
He didn't even cared his AC DC shirt got stained with mud. He wanted to capture Levi's huge grin and mud covered belly as Lucas laughed at him.
After seeing how absolutely drenched in mud he was, he looked over at El who was still talking to Mark. And got a devious idea.
He came from behind and hugged her gently, and she jumped from the warm feeling and earthly smell.
-'MIKE! NO!'
-'El, El! My girl, the mother of my child, my beam of sunshine, the moon to my sun, the love of my LIFE! Come here and hug me and KISS ME!'
-'You're ruining my bikiniiii' she gave up with a whine and turned around, taking in his beauty. His cheeks were kind of blushing from the sun and from laughing at their child, his multiple freckles seemed to absolutely infest his face and god. His smile. She would pull down every moon, planet, galaxy and star in the whole universe if that meant she could see him smile every single day.
-'I love you' she mumbled while rubbing her blushing button nose against his freckly one,
-'I love you too' he kissed her deeply and patted her head of hair before bolting off into the kiddie pool, mud tinting it brown.
END OF FLASHBACK
-'I have to help them'. Lucas' tone wasn't a question or a suggestion. It was a fact.
-'I can offer my car!' He called, making El, Mike and Hop look at him.
Hopper considered it for five seconds.
-'We may need another car to escape, or...bring injured to the hospital'
-'I'm fast and safe...I can do it'
-'And I'll go too' Max held Lucas' hand and squeezed it. Also a fact.
El nodded without question. She would need all the help they could have.
-'Absolutely.'
Will frowned when he saw Mike shoving ammo into his jacket pockets.
-'...Who taught you-'
-'Nancy' his eyes met Will's huge green ones, a sad smirk across his face, -'For protection. I know it's nothing compared to being able to crush the brains of every single person in a room but...it's what I can do'.
Will couldn't argue with that.