Mike watches from the couch as his sister hugs Steve.

Steve melts into her embrace, their cheeks pressed into the crevice of the other's neck.

Jonathan hovers by the doorway, Steve's duffle bag hanging limply over his shoulder.

Mike sees the moment that Jonathan thinks the hug has gone on too long. He shuffles his feet, looks down.

"Steve, God, you're shaking," Nancy says and her voice is thick with emotion as she pulls away.

"I'm okay," Steve says, kind of breathy, and he doesn't look okay at all. "My back - just uh - it really hurts."

"You should go lie down," Jonathan tells him. "I'll get you some Advil."

Nancy nods in agreement. "Yeah, Steve. You should get some rest. You've had a… a tough day, I'm sure. And I shouldn't have… I'm sorry I just showed up here. I just really wanted to see you."

Mike cringes at how contrite his sister sounds.

Steve doesn't let it last, though. "You don't have to apologize for coming to your boyfriend's house, Nance," he says genuinely. "I'm glad you're here."

Nancy blushes. "Really?" she asks.

Steve raises an arm to run a hand through his hair. "Yeah. You're… You're the only one who ever even met my dad and…" He blows out a shaky bit of air, swallows hard.

Jonathan puts a hand on Steve's shoulder. "Let's go to my room," he suggests softly. "You can lie down and… you two can talk."

Steve and Nancy nod in agreement and disappear down the hall.

Jonathan glances at his brother. "You guys okay? Will?"

"We're good," Will confirms.

"The other two still coming?"

"They should be," Mike says.

As if on cue, Dustin and Lucas knock on the door, having ridden their bikes over from school.

"It's open!" Jonathan calls, then gives Mike and Will a wave before disappearing down the hall.

xxx

Dustin stumbles in the door first, hat askew and huffing for breath. "Sorry it took us forever and a day to get here," he emphasizes, "but Billy was late and Lucas wouldn't leave until Max got picked up."

"She's part of the party!" Lucas defends.

"Debatable," Mike says under his breath. He still hasn't fully warmed up to the idea of the self-proclaimed zoomer.

"Well, we're here now," Dustin says, flopping on the couch next to Will. "How're you doing, buddy? How was your day with good ol' Steve? Where is Steve? Is he doing okay?"

Will raises his eyebrows with a smile. "Which one of those questions do you want me to answer first?"

"The first one," Lucas answers for Dustin, taking a seat in the armchair. "How are you, Will?"

"I'm doing okay," Will tells them. "I miss you guys, though."

"We still see you almost every day," Mike reminds him. The Byers' place had become somewhat of a permanent hangout after school with the sole purpose to include Will.

"I know, but it's not the same. I want to be back at school."

Mike snorts at that. Will is probably the only kid on the planet who has said that.

"Your mom won't cave, huh?" Dustin says.

"Not even an inch. She's making me wait until Monday."

Mike puts a hand on Will's knee. He wants Will back too. "It'll be here before you know it."

"Yeah, look at this way," Dustin says. "You get some quality time with Steve."

"And Billy Hargrove, apparently," Mike adds, folding his arms across his chest because he still doesn't know how that happened.

"What do you mean?" Dustin asks.

"Tell them, Will,' Mike encourages, giving his friend a nudge with his elbow.

"Okay, um… Billy Hargrove kind of… drove us over to Steve's house to pick up his car today."

"What?!" Dustin exclaims and stands up in spite of himself.

Mike smirks, satisfied that Dustin had reacted the same way he did. "Told you," he says under his breath to Will.

Will holds up his hands to placate them. "Look, I know you guys really hate Billy…" he begins.

"Hate him?" Dustin repeats, incredulously. "It goes a smidge beyond hate, Will. We told you what he did. To Steve. To Lucas."

"He's a jerk, Will. I thought he was going to kill Steve," Mike adds quietly, shuddering slightly at the memory.

"I know," Will says sincerely. "I'm not saying that he's not a jerk. Okay? I'm not. I'm just saying… he wasn't a jerk today."

Dustin sits back down. "I don't get it. Why was he even with you guys?"

So Will breaks it down for them. He says that Billy came looking for a necklace that got lost in the fight and it ended with him offering to give them a ride to get Steve's BMW.

"And you guys just agreed to that?"

Wills shrugs. "Yeah. I mean… Billy acted like he didn't care what Steve decided, but… it was almost like he was trying to do something… I dunno… nice?"

Mike raises his eyebrows. "Did he apologize?"

Will shakes his head. "No. I don't think so."

"It doesn't matter," Dustin says. "What Billy did… it's unforgivable! Right Lucas?"

Lucas - who had gone quiet when Billy was mentioned - hesitates at that. "I dunno…" he says, unsurely.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Mike practically explodes. 'It's because you're listening to her isn't it?"

Mayfield. Freaking Mayfield.

"You mean Max?" Will asks curiously as Lucas recoils a bit at Mike's accusation. "What does she say about Billy?"

"She doesn't say anything to us anymore," Mike tells him, thumbing over to Dustin. "If we bring him up, she shuts it down real quick."

Dustin nods. "Yeah, she'll just say, 'I don't want to talk about Billy.'"

"But what has she told you, Lucas?" Mike challenges.

Lucas drops his head and runs his hands over his face. "Look, she just told me there's a reason, alright?" he says wearily. "There's a reason that he can be a jerk sometimes."

Dustin raises his eyebrows. "And that would be…?"

Lucas sighs. "She won't say. She just says that we got what we wanted. 'We leave him alone, he leaves us alone, so just drop it.'"

"Except he's not leaving us alone!" Mike yells. "He was here. C'mon, Steve doesn't need that bullshit right now."

Mike can feel his face warm with rage, and he wonders when he started caring about Steve Harrington so much.

"Mike, just calm down a little, okay?" Dustin says, an unlikely source of reason, despite emotion catching in his throat. "Steve didn't have to go with Billy, but he did. And I don't like it either, but Hargrove isn't the one we need to be focused on." He turns to Will. "How was Steve today, Will?"

"Yeah," Lucas echoes. "Where is he?"

"He, Jonathan, and Nancy are all in Jonathan's room," Will tells them. "We just got back."

"He seemed really upset, Will," Mike says.

Will nods. "He was. I mean, he is. It was hard for him being back at his house. He's sad about his dad and worried about his mom. But I swear to you guys, Billy was good for him today. He helped distract him. He took care of him."

Dustin huffs a breath of disbelieving air. "That doesn't change anything," he says. "Billy is the scum of the earth. Whatever he was doing today, it wasn't out of the kindness of his heart."

Mike agrees with that. "Yeah. There must've been some ulterior motive."

"Maybe he's just sorry," Will suggests timidly. "Maybe he was trying to make it right."

"If he's sorry, he should just say so."

Lucas snorts. "Can you seriously picture Billy Hargrove apologizing?"

"No. I can't," Mike says stubbornly. "And that's the exact reason why we shouldn't forgive him."

"Yeah, but maybe—"

Whatever Will was going to say is cut off by a knock at the door, and then Chief Hopper is stepping across the threshold, along with a man that Mike doesn't recognize. The man is wearing a sport coat; he looks to be in his forties with dark auburn hair and wide-rimmed glasses. Jim is in his officer get-up and, wearing a forlorn expression on his face.

"Kids," he greets. "I thought you all would be here. Where's Harrington?"

"Jonathan's room," Will tells him, eyeing the other man suspiciously. "What's going on?"

"This is Mr. Thompson," Jim introduces the man.

"How do you do?" the man says, tight-lipped with a nod.

"He is one of Mr. Harrington's associates at his firm," Hopper further explains. "We have something we need to discuss with Steve."

"What?" Dustin asks.

I'll fill you in later," Jim assures them. "We should really speak with Steve first. In the meantime…" He reaches into is back pocket and pulls out an envelope. "Here,' he says, holding it out to Mike.

Mike's heart leaps.

A letter from El. It's the way they had been communicating the past few weeks.

Strange man forgotten, Mike jumps up to retrieve the envelope from Hopper.

He tears it open and his friends gather around.

Hopper squeezes his shoulder, and he and Mr. Thompson disappear down the hall.