Halley's comet | Steve Harrington

xxv. i'd prefer a shower

"𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒉𝒚𝒑𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍."

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It was dark by the time they got back. Aside from Hopper's comment earlier, the ride was completely silent. The chief wasn't going to start questioning until Joyce was there and Halley had no idea where to even start.

The kids clambered out of the car once Hopper had pulled into the driveway, and just as Halley was shutting the door, Nancy was bolting from the porch, where Jonathan and Joyce still stood, and practically tackled Mike in a hug. He stood there, and even with his back turned to her, Halley knew he was completely unsure how to react.

Nancy took his shoulders and stared at him, "I was so worried about you."

"Yeah. uh... me too," Mike said. Glancing around. Halley had taken the other two boys under her arms as she hadn't had a chance to really appreciate them being somewhat safe yet. Eleven, who was weary of the people around her, stood more off to the side, and watched how they interacted.

Looking past Mike, and at the girl she had never seen before, Nancy gave Eleven a calculated look. "Is that my dress?"

Reading the room, Halley let go of Dustin and Lucas and stepped forward, effectively taking away the attention from El. "We should get inside, it's cold and we don't need anyone seeing us if they drive by."

Joyce nodded, seeming to break out from a trance she had gone into after seeing the boys. Halley expected it was due to the lack of Will.

Noticing an unsure look etched across Eleven's face, Halley gently took her hand and led her toward the door. "Come on."

Halley and El were the last in the house, closing the door behind them, they followed the others into the living room, where the kids had taken a seat on the couch and Hopper and Joyce stared down at them.

Grabbing a blanket off the top of a chair and wrapping it over El's shoulders, Halley spoke up. "Alright. So obviously this is bad." El nodded with her small hands curled tightly around the soft fabric. "I've already explained the little bit of this," she gestured to the boys, "at least what I know. But what the hell were you guys doing out there. You said yourself that 'bad men' were coming and I don't see any man worse than the fu-" she stopped herself from cursing, not that her mother would care too much given the situation. "Why were you so far away in the middle of nowhere?"

"We were looking for Will." Dustin was quiet, and didn't look up from the ground, but it was loud enough for the five uninvolved in what had happened to hear.

Halley shook her head. "Try again. You and I both know we heard him on your radio thing."

"He's telling the truth, Halley." Mike was more confident than Dustin, and his eyes begged her to believe him. "Really." He stood up and grabbed a piece of paper from their kitchen table. No one said anything as he continued to draw a crude stick figure and what Halley assumed was a bug on opposite sides of a crooked line.