-8-

"A….what? A bath?" Someone sneered, joined by the collective cries of disbelief, claiming Eleven was a charlatan, a freak.

Seeing the girl close in on herself, Joyce yelled out, "SHUT UP! WE'VE SEEN HER DO IT BEFORE, USE A BATH TO HELP HER FIND PEOPLE!"

Eleven doubted that would make a shred of difference, and she turned to Hopper, a hopeful expression on her face that couldn't have said please get me the hell out of here any more eloquently. Hopper sighed and led her away. "Open the doors," he snapped at the cops protecting the doors.

"Chief, we can't."

"They'll get in."

Hopper sighed as he realised they now had a problem; right now, Eleven was the only one truly stopping the Demogorgons from getting in, and turning the Town Hall. Hopper truthfully didn't have a clue why his charge wanted to use the bath like she had before; his best guess was she wanted to use it to track down the Demogorgons, or something.

If they left, they'd be vulnerable and they'd have to make the trip all the way…anywhere they could find something big enough for her to deprive her of her senses; he had done some checking into sensory deprivation baths, knowing they aided relaxation and could relieve stress, anxiety. While she could use her powers without a tank, the tank would augment Eleven's powers, and considering how much strain she was under right now, the bath would help her get her strength back.

And, judging from the nervous and anxious looks Eleven was sending to the crowd, who were going to lash out at her out of fear, Hopper had a sneaking, horrible suspicion that she would welcome the chance to leave. Not just leave the Hall, but Hawkins entirely. It did hurt him, but he could understand her reasons.

And besides, she had just been exposed….and she had seen for herself that everyone was frightened of her. It broke his heart to see her go through all of this, seeing as Eleven was a child, a sweet, slightly annoying, child who'd had a rather shitty life.

"If we get hold of a paddling pool like we did last year, do you think that would be enough?" He asked her.

Eleven would have preferred to get away from the town hall and everyone in it. "I don't see why not," she replied quietly, "but couldn't we get inside a house, and I can use the bathtub there?"

"You could," Hopper wondered how much time it would take for them to find a house, check if it was empty, start a bath from there and let El do what she needed to do.

"Why do you need a bath anyway?" Max asked. It was the first time she had spoken around Eleven; she had needed to ask Dustin and Lucas if it really was Eleven, the girl she'd heard about; after seeing what she could do, Max realised whatever she had thought of her, the other girl was way more awesome in real life.

Eleven turned to Max, stiffening noticeably when she realised who'd spoken. Her reaction didn't go unnoticed by Joyce, who wondered why she was being like this. She didn't admittedly know Max very well but it was not like Eleven to be like this, she was usually extremely friendly.

All Eleven could see was the girl who'd been taking Mike's attention, but after seeing Mike and the others staring at her, the telekinetic let out a breath.

"I can…see things with my mind," she explained. "If I had a photograph of a person, I can use it to focus on them, and see what they're doing, and find them; if I'm in the presence of someone, I can enter their mind and read their thoughts." Eleven knew she was lousy at explaining what she was doing, but she kept trying, "If I'm in a bath, I can better focus my mind on my powers."

"Okay, but why do you need to do all that?"

"Because I need to know who this One is, and what he wants. I need to know what I've done," Eleven was privately preparing for the opportunity to focus in on her own mind, see if there was something there, deep within her subconscious….and she realised she genuinely was not looking forward to the experience.

There were so many horrors in the back of her mind and she had no real desire to see them again.

She bit her lip and turned to look at Will, already wondering if she could find a way of tearing the Mind-Flayer out of his mind, but she wasn't sure what it would or could do to Will, and she didn't want to hurt him any more than he already was. Jonathan and Joyce hadn't left their son/brother during this entire time, and she couldn't blame them, nor was she surprised even if it worried her to see their worried glances towards the crowd. Most of them were huddled together, sitting on the ground, chatting to each other. Occasionally suspicious glances were sent back towards the Party, but other than that, they were left alone.

"It's great to see you, El," Dustin's voice made her turn, and she grinned at Dustin and Lucas.

"It's great to see you, too, Dustin, Lucas," Eleven wrapped her arms around both boys and they hugged for a long while. "I missed you both. It's been too long."

"We missed you, too, El," Dustin said.

"Yeah," Lucas agreed, "it wasn't the same without you."

"Oh, you had her," Eleven was relieved that she was able to say her so neutrally.

"Maybe, but we'd have liked both of you there," Lucas eyed her strangely before it dawned on him that Eleven was jealous of Max. "She's not a threat, y'know."

"What do you mean?"

"Max. She's really nice."

Max was a little bit peeved and yet she was surprised that Eleven was jealous of her, but why? If she had some amazing powers, why would she be worried about her?

Eleven bit her lip, wondering if she was being unfair. She had never been like this before, never. "I saw her. With Mike."

"You did?" Dustin blinked. "Where? When?"

"At the school. She was on her…thing, Mike was with her."

Max bit her lip, the whole picture coming to her. "You've got nothing to worry about, Eleven," she said, startling them, "I was only showing off a few tricks to Mike. I'm not interested in him, although I do like him and the others."

Eleven stared at her, and Max had a sneaking feeling the girl was looking into her mind. Perhaps she was. "You and Mike, you're not-?"

"No," Max tried to hide her amusement about this whole situation from Eleven, and after seeing what she could do the last thing she wanted was to piss Eleven off. "I've heard so much about you. I just wish…. I don't have that many girlfriends," she admitted, "I'd like to get to know you better. Please give me a chance, but I can tell you now I am not a threat."

Eleven was visibly surprised and taken aback by Max's bluntness. But she nodded. She held out her hand, and Max took it slowly before pumping it warmly, making Eleven smile back.

To their surprise, the Wheelers came over, with Joyce and Hopper. Unable to restrain herself, Joyce gently wrapped her arms affectionately around Eleven's shoulders.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all of that, Honey," Joyce whispered so then only she and Eleven could hear.

Eleven looked down, but she hugged the older woman back. She loved this. She loved being with Joyce; her feelings this woman would have gotten along famously and fabulously with her mother had gotten stronger. "I think I'm used to it," she said, her soft tones breaking hearts around her. But she was curious. Why were Mike's parents here?

"Hop's told us why you need the bath, and….we've told him you can use ours," Ted said.

Eleven blinked in surprise. She looked between the Wheelers and the man who'd been the closest thing to a true father in her life, wondering what he had needed to do to get this consent before realising it made no difference. "Thank you," she said, hoping for some kind of acceptance from the Wheelers.

She found she didn't care about many of the others, but the Hollands, the Byers, and the Wheelers were more important; the Hollands because she wanted to dearly make up for her failure to get to Barb before it was too late since she had stalled last year because she had known the danger and because she didn't want her new friends to abandon her, the Byers because of how close she was to Joyce, and the Wheelers because she loved Nancy and Mike, especially Mike.

"You're welcome, sweetie," Karen smiled before she turned serious. "Thanks for helping Holly. I'm glad Mike found someone like you."

Eleven blinked, wondering what she was saying and where this was going. She wondered if Mrs Wheeler even knew the full details of how she and Mike had met because he had found her. She didn't know what else to say. "Thank you, Mrs Wheeler."

"Please, call me Karen. I've never liked the formality," Karen said, looking hesitantly at the girl for a second, seeing how at home she looked in Joyce's arms.

Karen was a mother, first and foremost, and after seeing Eleven, seeing how she helped Holly, how she had fought those monsters, she knew the girl was dangerous…but only to those who hurt those she loved and cared for deeply. She wasn't sure, but she just had this feeling the girl was not the dangerous monster those agents had described.

In truth, whenever she had thought about it afterwards, Karen had been surprised her eldest children would mix with someone like that. It just sounded too far-fetched; she could understand spies conning their way into families, and using what information they found and pass it on - just because something as innocent as a bank statement or a report in a company looked innocent didn't mean it wouldn't be gold dust -, but she knew her kids were sharper than what the agents believed.

But finding out they had stopped some kind of invasion from another world and saved Will Byer's life, and now it seemed they had unfinished business…

Karen felt it was so much of a burden for such a young girl. She only hoped she didn't come to feel that she was being used. She had been watching the expressions on her otherwise calm face, and while it surprised and even worried her a little that such a child could be needed for a job that shouldn't even be hers. She only hoped Hop, Joyce, Dustin, Will, and Mike didn't see Eleven as a weapon of some kind.

No.

She could tell that there was something between Eleven and Mike, and that was one of the reasons she had given her permission to use her family's bathtub, so she could get to know her better.

"Okay…Karen," Eleven said, shyly saying her name.

"We'd better be going," Hopper said, cutting through the awkward conversation.

"Who's going?"

"Well, Ted, Holly, and I are," Karen said, refusing to voice the fact she refused to let others into her home.

"So are we," Dustin said, glancing at Lucas and Max, who both nodded.

"Definitely," Max folded her arms, giving them a hard glare that stopped them even considering arguing against her. Eleven found herself respecting Max even more; she had that same kind of hard confidence Kali possessed, although Eleven still wasn't sure how Kali had gotten out of the Lab in the first place and how she had lived before they'd reunited.

(Thinking about that made Eleven think about her first meeting with Kali; her sister had been surprised by her lack of memory of their time together, and she decided to speak with Kali about it later; she still had so much to learn.)

Eleven quickly intervened before Hopper could refuse. "I want them to come. Besides, I want to catch up with Mike and the others," she spared them a smile, "and I also want to talk with Max," she added with a smile, "and we need to find somewhere peaceful where we can talk about finding a way about getting that thing out of Will," she finished with a worried look at Will. He was still unconscious and he was no longer sweating like mad, but they could tell he was sick. "But we need to get to a store."

"Why?" Lucas asked her quizzically.

"If I'm going into the bath, I need some food to give me a boost and I also want to get some hair gel," Eleven lightly stroked a hand down her hair. "I like this new look."

Hopper rolled his eyes, but he nodded. "Okay, but it will have to be quick," he said.