3- The Apologies of Jim Hopper and Mike Wheeler
Summary: Mike keeps thinking about what had happened the last week. And what he had found while cleaning Hopper's cabin. Hopper and him have a chat in Hopper's truck. Post Vol. 2
Requested by: Guest
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters. If I did Eddie would have gotten to meet Eleven.
He didn't mean to knock it over.
He had been clearing out a high shelf in the cabin, one that had miraculously hadn't been broken last summer.
The box had been shoved in the far corner of the shelf. He'd been taking boxes off the shelf, ones that when they cleared the cabin 8 months ago, they couldn't bear to take them off, most of them being Hoppers. They all said that after a few months they'd come back and get all the other boxes, yet they never did.
He was running his hand over the shelf, feeling if there were any more boxes, when suddenly he hit the box, sending it down towards the floor.
The box tumbled open, pictures spilling out. Mike quickly dropped to the ground, picking up the pictures.
When he took a closer look at the pictures, they were of a little girl.
There were ones that the little girl was looking at picture book of outer space, ones where she was running through the woods, and some where... she was with Hopper.
Mike's eyebrow furrowed, but he didn't want to meddle. He began to put them all back, when he noticed that in one of them, she didn't have hair.
There was a name on the box. Sara.
Suddenly it all clicked into place. Sara was Hopper's daughter.
Mike's hands were suddenly moving to put them all back.
He started to clean the rest of the boxes of and for the next two hours, he acted like he hadn't found anything.
Hopper huffed after plopping down another box of crap he wasn't sure why he kept.
El and the others left 10 minutes earlier, planning on meeting the others at the Byers to figure everything out.
Hopper still had a few things he needed to do so he let the other head toward the Byers.
Mike stayed with him, since there wasn't a lot of room in Nancy's car.
The kid was currently sitting in his truck, waiting for him to be done.
The kid looked deep in thought. The type of deep in thought a kid his age shouldn't be in.
Hopper sighed, striding toward the kid.
He opened the driver's door, ducking in.
Mike barely glanced at him.
"What is it kid?" Hopper asked.
"Nothing." Mike said immediately.
"I know something is." Hopper shot back. "You can't just keep everything to yourself. You-"
"What if she doesn't need me anymore." Mike interrupts quietly.
"-What?" Hopper asked.
"When she was taken by the lab, I was scared for her. So scared. When we got there, I thought she'd be dead or really hurt. But there she was, handling herself, doing everything she could to save Max. She didn't need me. She will never need me."
"Wheeler." Hopper stated. "El needs you."
Mike looked at him in surprise.
"You know what she told me? She told me that you saved her. She was losing to Vecna. She was about to die. Max was about to die. But you swooped in and told her you loved her. You saved her. And I also heard on the ride home, you never left her side. And she really needed that. She really needed you. She still does."
"El told you that?" Mike asked.
"Yeah, while we were fixing the window. I would also like to tell you that I am sorry for last summer. I should have never done that to you, and I regret it. It took me a while to realize that you guys are the real thing."
"Really?" Hopper nodded.
"Thanks," Mike responded. "I'm sorry too. I was super disrespectful and a huge jerk. I realize why you are protective of her now."
Hopper nodded. "You found the box."
Mike spun to face him. "How did you know that?"
"I put it in my truck for safe keeping. When I opened it, I realized that the pictures were mixed up. I usually have them in order."
"I'm sorry, the box fell, and the pictures fell out."
Hopper said nothing, grabbed the box, from the back seat and plucking a few pictures out of it.
He smiled. "She loved galaxies and all that sort of stuff; she knew all about them." he spoke quietly.
Mike nodded, not knowing what to say.
"She loved running around in the woods, playing and imagining." Hopper was smiling, tears in his eyes.
"One day, while she was playing, she hyperventilated. She soon was diagnosed with cancer. She was living in the hospital." Hopper's voice cracked. "Sara died when she was seven."
Mike's breath hitched. Nobody should die that young.
"I'm sorry."
Hopper looked at him. "I don't want to lose my daughter Mike. Not again."
"I don't want to lose her either."
Hopper nodded, wiping the tears away, placing the box back.
He chuckled, "Do you remember the last time we were in here?"
Mike smiles at that. "Yeah. We were a bunch of hooligans."
"I'm glad we could have civilized conversation for once."
"Me too." Mike chuckled.
"Alright kid, let's get out of here." Hopper said, turning on the truck.
"Sounds good."
And with that, they headed towards the Byers, planning to put all the pieces together.
To start wondering, could stranger things happen?
AN: I hope you liked it! Requests are open!