Even Stranger Things

Mom and Dad Are In Trouble

"One? One, wake up."

"Steve?" She mumbled.

"I'm here," he said instantly.

Her heart started beating quickly as she looked around the dirty almost empty room. Something about this place felt. . . familiar.

"Where are we?" She stuttered.

"I don't know," Steve sighed. "The last thing I remember was trying to fight off those guys. What language were they speaking?"

"Russian."

"Did you understand them?"

"Let's just say, since I was forced to leave the lab, I've had a lot of time on my hands."

"And you decided to learn Russian?" Steve chuckled.

"Russian, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, a little Calculus," she listed off. "Amongst other things."

"That's kind of cool," Steve hummed. He looked over his shoulder to see One's head down. She took a shaky breath, trying to calm herself down.

"What are we going to do?" One asked under her breath.

"The kids probably know we're missing by now," he shrugged.

"Steve, they're teenagers."

"So? They know we had the late shift at the mall. They'll notice when we don't make it home or to the diner. They'll figure it out and they'll find us."

"Great," One scoffed. "We're leaving our fate to a group of teenagers."

"Don't underestimate them," Steve chuckled. "When those kids set their minds to something, they don't give up."

* * * * *

"You still awake?" One whispered.

"Yep," Steve sighed.

"What are we going to do? Why hasn't anyone come by? What do they want?"

Steve's heart sank when he heard the defeat in One's voice. He stretched his hand until he found One's. She took a shaky breath as he intertwined their fingers. It was awkward the way they were holding hands, but it was oddly comforting for both of them.

"We're going to be okay," he said gently. "We'll find a way out of here."

"How do you know?"

"I just do," he answered almost immediately.

"Steve," she said, her voice breaking.

"Hey," he said instantly. "You're going to be okay. I promise. We're going to get out of here."

"But. . ."

"I won't let anything happen to you."

"This is my fault," she whispered.

"What?" Steve asked as he sat up straighter. "This isn't your fault."

"When those men broke into the mall and grabbed us," she said, her voice breaking, "they were there for me."

"One, this isn't. . ."

"It is!" She cut him off. "Это ее. Захватить ее. That's Russian for 'That's her. Grab her.' See? They were there for me. The only reason they grabbed you was because you were trying to stop them. You were protecting me and it got you kidnapped. If I hadn't come to the ice cream shop after work, you wouldn't have been put at risk, and they wouldn't have had to take you too."

"Hey," Steve cut her off. "I'm glad they took me."

"But. . ."

"No," he said gently. "I'm going to protect you. I promise."

* * * * *

"Have you ever been in love?"

Steve was shocked by One's question, but he instantly knew his answer.

"Yup," he sighed. "Nancy Wheeler. First semester, senior year."

Steve laughed but One didn't when he made the sound of a gun going off.

"Oh," she whispered. "No offense, but she seems like. . . A priss."

"Turns out, not really."

One cleared her throat before asking, "Are you still in love with Nancy?"

"No," he said quickly.

"Why not?"

"I think it's because I found someone a little bit better for me." He laughed and she could almost picture his smile. "It's crazy. This girl, the one that I like, it's somebody that I don't think she would even notice me if we had gone to school together. I don't even know why. Maybe because Tommy H would have made fun of me. Or I wouldn't be prom king. It's stupid. Because when I think about it, I should have been hanging out with this girl the whole time."

"Tommy H?"

"Just some guy I went to school with," Steve shrugged. He smirked when he remembered who her first interaction was with in Hawkins. "And he's the guy who hit on you when you were waiting for El outside the school when you first got here."

"You were there?" One asked with a small stutter.

"I was," he chuckled. He laughed harder when he remembered One's and Tommy's conversation. "You were ruthless."

"He deserved it," she shrugged. They paused for a second before both started laughing. Once they stopped laughing, One paused.

"And the girl?" She asked hesitantly.

He cleared his throat before continuing, "First of all, she's hilarious. She's so funny. I feel like this summer, I have laughed harder than I have laughed in a really long time. And she's smart. Way smarter than me. She's. . . She's incredible."

He paused. Right as One was going to apologize for asking something too personal, Steve continued.

"You want to know something else?" He said, his voice soft. "She is incredibly strong. Not just physically, but mentally. I've seen some crazy shit in my life, but nothing compared to what she's been through. And you know, she's honestly unlike anyone I have ever met."

One was shocked. Her mind was running in circles as she connected the dots.

Steve glanced over his shoulder, wishing he could see the look on her face.

"One?" He whispered. "You still awake?"

"Yeah," she said softly. She tried to think of something to say but was a little worried that she'd come off sounding stupid.

"One follow-up question," she said finally breaking the silence.

"Shoot."

"You were prom king?"

The two started laughing again. As they started to calm down, One leaned her head back against Steve. They finally stopped laughing as Steve leaned back against her.

"The girl sounds too good to be true," One said under her breath.

"Seems like it," Steve chuckled, "but she is."

Steve stretched his hand until he found One's hand. This time, she was the one to intertwine their fingers.

"You really think we're going to make it out of here?" One asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"I'll make sure of it."

* * * * *

Dustin ran down the stairs, anxiously trying to find his friends.

"Guys!" He yelled, making them jump. "We have a problem."

"Bigger than you scaring the crap out of us?" Lucas laughed.

"Steve and One never made it home from work."

"What?" Eleven gasped.

"What do you mean?" Mike asked Dustin.

"They're gone."