Birth Of A New Life

Ending: AM's Stranger Things 5

Written By: Andre Mouton

Plot:

It's New Year 1990, a few weeks after Mike's death. Mike has just been buried, and Eleven doesn't know how to go on with life. She always attends therapy sessions with the school counselor. The Hawkins Gang have been hailed heroes worldwide, yet she's always getting the most attention from the press. All she wants now is to be left alone for a while.

A while later, she feels a kick in her stomach. She thought she was just hungry, but it happens again and again. She howls in pain, while her friends rush to her side. They ask what's wrong, but she doesn't know what is wrong. She is told to rest for a bit.

While she rests, she hears a familiar voice. "El?" She slowly gets up, trying to find the source of the sound. She sees a white ghostly blur from across her bedside. It slowly takes a human form. "El?", the voice called again. El rubs her eyes, trying to make sense of what she is seeing. It's Mike Wheeler, but how? El asks, "Mike?" The ghostly figure replies, "I'm glad to see you again Eleven. It's been a while." El responds, "How? You are dead. I saw it happen." Mike chuckles and then says, "That is because you are looking at what you call a ghost. We come out of the afterlife occasionally to witness events, and to see our families grow and to experience new members being born. It is quite a beautiful place out here. I wish I could bring you along to show you, but it's not your time yet." El asks, "Unrelated, but I've been feeling sick recently. Just now I feel like something is kicking the inside of my stomach. It hurts. I feel like I'm…" Mike stops her and says, "I'm sorry, I don't know any other way to sugarcoat this, but you're pregnant, El." Eleven lunges at him, hugging him tightly, crying profusely. Mike wants to apologize, but El responds, "But what about the father? The child's going to grow up without one and I can't do this alone Mike! Please come back! Come back to me, please!" Mike comforts her, somehow wiping her tears away. He says with newfound gratitude and wisdom, "Sure I may be gone, but there are people who are willing to help you with this. Talk with anyone. Dustin, Lucas, Nancy, Steve, anyone, except for Jim. He'll kill me." Eleven chuckles. Mike continues, "I'm just kidding. He should be the first person to tell. Before you say he will disown you for that, I'm telling you that he won't. Besides, you've been through way worse, and you always got through it. You will get through this. I know you will, because I will be there the day you give birth." El replies, "Thank you." Mike smirks, before slowly vanishing into thin air. El goes back to rest.

The next day, she goes to Jim after he talked with Robert. "Dad." He turns to meet her. "Yes?", he replies. El says hesitantly, "I'm… I'm pregnant." Jim is taken aback. "Ok, what's the joke?", he asks. El replies, "There is no punchline. It's not a joke. Mike was the father." Jim is taken further aback by this revelation. He stumbles on his words. He finally says, "You know what this means?" El replies, "I'm grounded for life?" Jim responds, "Well yeah, but you definitely need help raising the child." El replies, "I know. Will you help me?" Jim hugs her and says, "Why wouldn't I? You are taking your first step into a new world. I love you. Your friends love you. Robert loves you. We will support this. (vainly holding back tears) I'm gonna be a grandpa." A teary eyed El hugs him tighter. She says, "Thank you."

9 months have passed. Eleven is helping Jim with groceries, when suddenly, she drops the groceries, grabbing her abdomen in pain. She collapses to the ground. Jim rushes to her side. He shouts to a nearby Robert, "She's going into labor! We have to go!" Robert shouts back, "I know! She told me first!" Jim replies, "I don't care about that, let's go!"

We see Jim's squad car blaring lights and sirens, barreling down the road, trying to avoid an accident. Eleven is in the back seat with Robert, who tries to calm her down from the excruciating pains, but to no avail. She screams in agony. She screams, "Help me!", repeatedly. No one has ever seen her in this much physical pain since '85. Robert keeps telling her, "It's okay, it's okay. I've got you. I've got you. Stay calm." El screams bloody murder, "I can't! It hurts too much! Make it go away please!" Jim responds, "It's okay. The doctors are good people. They will help you." El starts getting flashbacks to her time in the lab, and she's only screaming louder at the thought of going back there. She screams, "No don't take me back there! I'm not going back to that hell!" Jim responds, "This place is anything but the lab. They care for people like you. They will help you." Eleven is slightly calmed by this, but she's still in immeasurable pain.

They rush through the entrance of the hospital, telling the doctor that she's going into labor and that they need to take her in immediately. She is carried to a room on a stretcher, as she simply can't walk. She eventually faints from the terrible pain. Everything goes dark for her. She thinks she is about to die.

She wakes up a day later in a hospital bed, with her friends and family by her side. She screams in pain, while the doctor tries to deliver the baby. (The doctor is played by MICHAEL CAINE) The doctor says, "Calm down ma'am, it will be over soon." Eleven shakes her head side to side. The doctor continues in a soft voice, "It will be over, it will be over. I just need for you to listen very carefully. I need you to push." Eleven asks curiously, "P… push?" The doctor replies, "Yes push. Push the baby out. That's the only way this will be over." She whimpers, "I'm scared Dad. I'm scared." Jim continues for the doctor, "Please listen to him. Be daddy's big girl." Eleven asks, "Big… big girl?" Jim replies, "Yes, be daddy's big girl. You can do this. You can do this. You are a brave soul Jane." Eleven calms down slightly, but the pain still hasn't gone away. Somehow it's worse. She's giving birth. The doctor calmly tells her, "Push, push. It's okay. You can do it. Do it for them." Eleven does so. The pain keeps getting worse and worse. She screams louder than she ever has before, so much so that surgical tools start floating and the room starts shaking, as if there were an earthquake. The doctor wonders, 'What the hell is going on?', but he brushes it off. This goes on for what feels like forever to her, but it really was only half a minute for the others. Suddenly, she sees a ghostly hand caressing her face and wiping away her tears. It's Mike again. He doesn't say a word. He just smirks at her, continuing to comfort her. The pain starts easing a bit. Not much but it's starting to go down slowly. She stops screaming. The tools fall back to their original place. The room stops shaking. Suddenly, the pain stops, but her legs are sore, and still hurting like hell. She's panting like a tired dog. The doctor raises something up. It's a baby, and a healthy one too. The baby cries, showing it is breathing. The doctor says, "Congratulations. It's a girl. What would you like to name her?" Eleven hesitates for a moment and then weakly says, "Sarah. Sarah Wheeler." She's gasping for air. Hopper's eyes go wide. He tries to hold back tears. He missed his first daughter. 'This has to be the sweetest thing she ever did.', he thought. The doctor hands her the newborn Sarah, and she holds her in her arms like a loving mother. She wheezes, "She's beautiful. She has your eyes. She has my nose." She's talking to the ghostly Mike, who responds with a calming and soothing voice, "I know. I know."

They say nothing for a moment. He then fades away, not to bother them again. Jim asks to hold little Sarah Wheeler. Eleven slowly hands the child to him, and he cradles the baby, humming the love theme from The Godfather, soothing the child. He softly sings, "Speak softly, love and hold me warm against your heart. I feel your words, the tender trembling moments start. We're in a world, our very own, sharing a love that only few have ever known." As he continues to sing to the child, the song reminds Eleven of more of the times she had with Mike. From watching films with him, laughing with him, talking with him, crying with him, being scared with him, and overall just being with him. Those were the best times she ever experienced, and they sadly ended, but he still lives on, from a certain point of view. He made her life worth living, and he saved her many times, and she returned the favor.

We see flashbacks of them watching Star Wars, particularly the scenes with Han and Leia, because they had something in common. They were both so in love with each other, that they would die just to save the other, as Mike ended up doing. We also see them nearly die laughing at the movie Airplane!, as well as mourning at Max Mayfield's funeral.

(NOTE: After Max went into a coma, she went into a vegetative state, and a Terri Schiavo like court case ensued, but would be overshadowed by the Mortifer attack on Hawkins. Eleven was the one who pulled the plug, letting Max finally die. This was why she left and started drinking.)

We cut to a few months later, and Eleven is now a crisis counselor and part time novelist. She has changed her last name to Jane Wheeler, and has just published a book series named, "The Life of 011", a trilogy of full length novels about her life in the lab all the way up to the birth of her daughter. The book's popularity spread across the nation, and eventually the entire world. She became a rich woman and a philanthropist, donating to charity and helping rebuild places affected by the attacks in '89. The Cold War ended on Christmas Day last year, and the superpowers of the world have entered an era of peace and prosperity.

THE END