It's Always Been You {a jopper story}

Pain.

A month later, it was nearing the end of January and everyone knew Joyce and Hopper were dating. They were all suprisingly happy about it. It was around 5:30pm on a friday night, Will, El, Mike, Max, Dustin and Lucas were all at Mike's playing D&D. Steve, Nancy and Jonathan were doing homework at Steve's house and Joyce was making dinner in the kitchen at the Byers. Hopper should be home any minute now.

A knock on the door startled Joyce but she was happy, Hopper was home. She walked over to the door with a huge smile on her face and opened it. The smile quickly faded as the door opened it wasn't who she wanted it to be. It was Lonnie Byers, Joyce's ex. Joyce slowly backed away from the door and tried to close it before he could speak to her. 

TW=ABUSE AND VIOLENCE.

Before Joyce could close the door properly Lonnie snaked his arm open through the door. He opened the door wider and walked in the house. "hello Joycie miss me?" he said with an evil smile. Joyce grimiced at the nickname and replied with "Why the fuck are you in my house Lonnie?" she shouted although she was trying to keep her kids out of it.

"i want to see my boys" he said slurring, he was clearly drunk. This angered Joyce they weren't his boys, not anymore. "they aren't your fucking boys anymore Lonnie, you left us." Lonnie's eyes lit up with anger and he did something Joyce never thought he would do, he slapped her right across the face! Joyce let out a yelp of pain and walked backwards towards the couch. 

"now you fucking bitch where are my kids?" he said walking towards her again.  "you don't need to know asshole" she shouted trying to punch him. He grabbed her fist and hit her multiple times. Joyce began to lose vision and her balance when Lonnie said "so Joycie where are my boys?" 

She let out a weak laugh and said "i'm not telling you" she spat at him and said "go to hell you son of a bitch." That was the last straw for Lonnie, he pushed her against the wall just as Hopper walked through the door. Anger filled his ocean blue eyes seeing Lonnie stood over Joyce's unresponsive body. "you piece of shit, what the fuck did you do to Joyce?" Hopper said walking towards Lonnie.

"teaching her a lesson that she should let me see my kids" Lonnie said walking closer to Hopper. "they will never be your kids you are an abusive piece of shit" Hopper threw multiple punches at Lonnie and threw him out of the Byers house watching him scramble away. He ran over to Joyce shaking her unconsious body. "Joy, Joy please wake up" tears streamed down his face as he carried Joyce into the car. 

Hopper drove to the hospital, tears rolling down his face and going way over the speed limit. When he finally arrived at the hospital he ran inside to the front desk with Joyce in his arms. They carried Joyce away and into a room, not allowing Hopper inside the room at all. He rushed over to the phone to call Jonathan at Steve's. The phone rang a few times when Steve picked up "hello?" Steve said down the phone confused.

"Hi steve is Jonathan there?" Hopper asked wiping tears from his eyes. "yeah sure just a sec cheif" Steve handed the phone to Jonathan. "hi cheif is everything okay?" Jonathan asked slightly confused. Hopper explained the situation and said "pick up Will and El from the Wheeler's on your way please" before hanging up the phone. Hopper knew the kids wouldn't be there for atleast 25 minutes so he sat on a chair and just cried. 

Around 20 minutes later Jonathan, Will and El walked into the hospital waiting room. Jonathan knew exactly what happened but didn't tell the two younger kids due to Hopper's orders. "Hi dad what's wrong?" El said walking over to him with her smile fading. "Is it mom?" Will inturupted. Hopper let out a weak nod and looked away from the teenagers. "What happened?" Will asked looking over at Jonathan. Jonathan shook his head and gave his brother a 'don't ask' look.

El sat down beside her father and placed her tiny hand in his "she's going to be okay dad isn't she" Hopper looked down at his small daughter and said "i hope so El but i really don't know." This made El confused and upset, Joyce was like a mother to her, someone who actually cared about her and now she could be gone. El's eyes welled up with tears and she began to cry along with the three others in the waiting room.

Hopper saw El crying from the corner of his eye and pulled her into a hug. "it's going to be okay El." He took the blue hair tie from his wrist the one that once belonged to his daughter Sara, and placed it on El's wrist. "what is this?" she asked confused. Hopper let out a weak smile and said "just think of it as a good luck charm or something to keep you safe okay" she smiled at him and wiped her tears. "thank you"

------------------------------------------------AROUND 9PM-------------------------------------------------------------

At around 9pm El and Will were sleeping and Jonathan went to call Nancy when a nurse walked over to Hopper. "are you the family of Joyce Byers?" she asked with a kind smile "um yeah, yes we are is she okay?" he asked beginning to get worried. "yes she's perfectly fine and awake you may see her now" Hopper's face lit up and said "okay thank you we will be over in a minute." 

Hopper woke up the two teens and got Jonathan off the phone and they all walked into Joyce's room. Joyce was covered in wires and tubes connected to machines. She had what looked like a broken wrist and a broken rib. "hi mom are you okay?" Jonathan and Will said in unison. She let out a weak smile and said "i will be boys." Hopper and El stood back in the doorway until Will and Jonathan were done talking to Joyce.

"Hi Joyce" El said shyly still unsure and confused on what was wrong with Joyce and why she was here. "Hi sweetie" Joyce said smiling at the young girl in the doorway and noticed the hair tie on her wrist. After a small conversation with Joyce, Jonathan took Will and El back to the Byers as it was nearing 10pm, leaving Joyce and Hopper alone. 

"Hey Joy, i'm so sorry" Hopper said sitting on the chair next to her. "why are you sorry?" she asked confused. "because i wasn't there and look what happened" he said breaking eye contact. Joyce took his hand which made him look her directly in the eyes. "it wasn't your fault Hop, it wasn't anyone's okay don't take the blame" she gave him a smile which he returned "okay, how are you feeling?" Her smile faded and she said "i'm in pain obviously but other than that okay i guess, you?" she replied pointing to her arm. 

"i'm okay just worried that's all" he said stroking her hair. "don't be Hop seriously, i saw what you gave El that's really sweet" she smiled and his gaze met hers. "yeah she was worried and i figured it would always keep us connected or something, it sounds really cheesey" he said with a tear in his eye. "it's totally understandable Hop"

They continued talking for a while until they grew tired. They eventually fell to sleep Joyce lay on the hospital bed and Hopper on the chair beside her, hands intertwinned.