A/N: I have been waiting. WAITING. for us to reach this chapter. I can't wait to hear what you think. Please tell me everything. Thanks for all of your patience and enjoy!

Chapter 50

Flo eventually sent both of us home, with a command that Billy get some actual sleep. Hopefully, he listened. I doubted he was able to fully concentrate at this job like this and considering he was a lifeguard, that seemed pretty important.

I went home to an empty house. It was glorious.

With no one else home, I didn't have to pretend or try to maintain the facade of being Tammy. While I had taken a lot of leeway in public, I tried my best to be as much of their daughter as possible with them. I hadn't even realized how much tension I was carrying until I walked in and remembered there was no one else here and there wouldn't be for the entire week.

It was great.

At least…it was for a total of two days before I woke up in the middle of the night to someone ringing my front doorbell incessantly. Suddenly, I felt very much like I was eighteen. Mainly because I remembered that I was alone in the house and had seen too many horror movies that involved a home invasion. Then again, usually they didn't announce themselves. Irritation helped force me awake. Who the fuck was waking me up?

I walked down the stairs, turning on the lights as I went. They were now banging on the door. I peered out of the window in the door, trying to see who it was. I unlocked it and pulled it open.

"What the fuck Billy?" Just because he couldn't sleep, didn't mean he could ruin the few times I was actually able to.

"Help!" Billy looked panicked and yanked someone forward from behind him. I frowned, trying to get a look at the person. They looked like they had been rolled in garbage. They smelt like it too.

"What happened?"

"I found her like this!"

I looked at him. He looked sincere and panicked and confused. He was telling the truth. I nodded. Okay. Not like weird things didn't happen in this place.

The person behind him reached forward. I moved back. I didn't know who they were but I definitely did not want them touching me.

"Tam…me." It was a woman. Or a girl. And she sounded like this was the first time she had spoken in ages. She clearly knew me…well, Tammy.

I glanced at Billy, who looked as surprised as I felt and nodded. "Yeah, I'm Tammy." I softened my tone slightly. "You alright? Have you eaten?" I felt like I was channelling my babka. I moved back. "Why don't you both come in?" I glanced over both of them as I held open the door. They didn't look hurt, just filthy. I looked out at the street once they came inside, trying to see if there were any signs this was a trap or they were followed. I didn't know what was going on but I definitely didn't need any other attention on me.

I closed the door and turned to face the two of them. "Where…you're going to need to explain." If this was going to make any sense, I needed to know what was going on.

"I found her in the woods."

Well, that sounded alarming. "It's two am, Billy. Why were you in the woods?" I headed for the kitchen. The girl looked like she hadn't eaten in ages from what I could make out under the dirt. I grabbed the peanut butter and jelly automatically.

"I don't know, alright? I just…woke up and had to go there."

I looked over at him and waited. He moved into the kitchen and brought the girl with him.

He continued speaking. "She found me in there. Asked who the fuck she was, all I got was a letter. Hasn't left me since. I figured you'd know what to do."

Well, that was nice. It was good to know that some people thought I could help, or at least knew what to do when the situation called for it. I never felt that way. I put the sandwich on a plate and moved it to the table. I motioned for the girl to eat it. "It's for you," I said. I got her a glass of water and heard Billy tell her to eat. I put the water down and watched as the girl offered some of the sandwich to Billy. Shit. I hoped she didn't have a peanut allergy. I didn't even think about that.

"No thanks, B. You eat."

She stuffed it in her mouth and I couldn't stop from scrunching up my face at the sight. She definitely hadn't eaten for a while.

"What the fuck are we going to do?"

I looked back at Billy who was staring at me like I had all the answers. "Well, first we're going to get her cleaned up," I said. I needed to get rid of the smell and she might be more recognizable when she's not covered in dirt. "Then we'll call Hopper."

Billy scowled. "The cops? They're going to drag me in saying I did it."

"No, they won't," I assured him. I could understand the hesitation. "If he tries, we'll say I found her in the backyard."

He didn't look convinced but I knew it would be ok. Weird shit happened every month.

I grabbed a trash bag for the girl's clothes. I had no desire to keep any of it, but it could be useful. At least, that's what I told Billy. I grabbed some clothes from my room. The girl was close to my height, which was a nice change.

The problem came when we tried to close the door to the bathroom with Billy outside of it. The girl freaked out. It took everything I had to avoid getting hit and trying to calm her down. At one point she shoved me hard enough into the towel rack that it broke. I swore as it bit into my ribs and Billy opened the door to find out what the fuck was going on. She calmed down instantly once she saw him. Clearly, she needed Billy nearby to feel comfortable. Which…posed a problem since I was trying to get her into the shower.

It took a bit of negotiating before we finally reached an agreement that we could all work with. The girl would get into the shower and get clean and Billy would sit outside the door that was left open a crack and read from some of Sam's Time Magazines. Just to show that he was there and waiting.

"The Spy Scandal Grows," I heard Billy read. "Who believes this shit? Like there's really a bunch of Russians hidden as Americans. Give me a break. They'd be super fucking noticeable." He sighed. "There's been an…increase in movement.."

I tuned him out as he continued and shoved her clothes in the bag before scrubbing my hands clean. Who the hell was in my shower? And why was she in the woods? I had a bad feeling about this.

She looked more human once she got out of the shower. Her hair which had been covered in ash was now actually red and came down to her cheeks. We wrapped her hair in a towel and I gave her some cream to lather on. Her skin must have felt awful.

We left the bathroom in a cloud of steam and I made a mental note to replace the towel rack later. Somehow. "Let's go to the living room," I said as I tied off the garbage bag. I didn't need the smell spreading.

I led the way downstairs and dropped the garbage bag by the front door. I'd give it to Hopper later. I grabbed the glass of water from earlier that hadn't been touched and handed it over before heading for the phone. I had no idea how I was going to explain this but if there was anyone who wouldn't question me too much, it was Hopper.

It took a few rings before he finally answered. "Hopper."

"It's Kate," I continued quickly before he could question why I was calling so late. "I need you to get here as soon as possible. Something's happened."

I heard him start to move around. "What? Like with…you? It an emergency?"

"No, more along the lines of…" I didn't know how to explain it. "Well, I think it's closer to what you're used to here."

"Really?" He swore slightly as I heard him hit something,

"Yeah."

"Okay, I'm coming."

"Okay, please hurry."

"Just wait for me." He hung up. I put the phone back on the hook and turned to the others. They were pressed together on the couch. Billy looked uncomfortable but resigned. "He's coming." He nodded back.

I sat down in Sam's armchair. Now that we were waiting and I had nothing to do, the anxiety of the situation was building. I dug my nails into my thigh, trying to calm down. I had no clue what was going on or who this girl was, but I had the feeling that at the very least it was going to involve a lot of paperwork. I hated paperwork. I wished I could close my eyes and go back to sleep. I had a feeling it wasn't going to happen though.

The girl picked up the comb I had brought down with us and tried running in through her hair. After watching her struggle, Billy took it from her and proceeded to do it himself.

"You alright?" I heard Billy ask the girl. "Wanna talk about it?" The girl shook her head, glancing between us. "Not yet? Okay." It was sweet.

Billy looked over at me.

There was a knock on the door. Hopper must have broken some speed limits but it was surprising considering what I told him. I went to open the door, peering out first to make sure it actually was him. It was. He looked unimpressed. I opened the door and glanced around again to make sure no one had followed or that Steve wasn't out there waiting and wondering why I had so much company.

Hopper walked in. "What the hell is so urgent?" He sounded upset but he usually did when someone woke him up. It wasn't new.

I closed the door behind him and motioned to the couch.

Hopper turned and I watched as his mouth dropped open. "Holy shit." He didn't look away. "Barb Holland?"

The girl looked up and she smiled. The name was familiar and it took a moment before I realized she was the Hollands' missing daughter. "Holy shit."

The discovery of Barb Holland was a shitstorm in the making.

They had declared her dead, had a funeral and everything. The fact that she was alive and well, mostly, was going to not only draw in media attention but the government's as well. Especially since the government had given the Hollands a bullshit story of accidentally killing Barb with some chemical spill.

I was already tired.

"Tell me everything," Hopper demanded. I offered him my chair as I went to make coffee for us and hot chocolate for Barb. We were going to need it.

I heard Billy explain it over again to Hopper. Once the coffee was brewed, I grabbed a comb and sat Barb down, working through the tangles in her hair as the four of us decided what the fuck to do now. Barb seemed content to let us work things out ourselves instead of talking and adding in her opinions and when we paused so she could go to the bathroom, Hopper got to witness just how much Barb insisted on Billy being nearby.

"She been like this the whole time?" Hopper asked, pulling out a cigarette.

"Don't smoke in here," I told him. "But yeah, she's like…imprinted on him. Broke my towel rack trying to get her in the shower."

"We need to call her folks."

"Yeah." I sighed and sipped at the cooled coffee. I made a face but kept drinking. I was going to need to stay awake to deal with this. "And the station."

Hopper sighed and ran a hand over his face. "I should call the kid. Tell her I won't be back soon."

"Ugh, this is going to take a while, isn't it?"

"Looks like." He got up and headed for the phone. Hopper paused before he looked at me. "Your house is about to become very popular."

I scrunched up my face. "Can't we go to the station? Work our way from there? I'll lock up and we can all go together. Maybe you should take El to the Byers or shit, wait, no. They'll be wrapped up too, won't they? What about Beth Callahan? She's trustworthy and then El's not alone and away from the upcoming circus."

"Good idea. You should probably call your folks. Let them know what to expect. How are you going to explain we found her?"

"In my backyard but if anyone comes snooping, I'm siccing Buster on them." Hopper and I both looked down at the dog who was fast asleep and snorting. "Well, maybe not Buster," I admitted.

[tbc]