[COMPLETED UNTIL SEASON 5]
Ana Thompson always seems to wind up in the strangest predicaments...
A perpetual victim of Murphy's Law, Ana finds herself arriving in Hawkins, Indiana just prior to the events of November 6th, 1983.
And, just prior to f...
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THE LAST DAY before Spring Break started like every other, with Ana preparing meals for the day as she sipped casually from her coffee mug, Robby's bottle warming gradually on the stove. She was midway through cutting lunch meat and cheeses when Chris stumbled out of the guest bedroom, viciously rubbing his eyes of any remaining sleep.
"Not a restful night, then?" She questioned, briefly looking up from her ministrations to gaze over his rumpled clothes and exhausted appearance as he made his way towards her.
The look she received in response was less than amused, with his lips pursing in affront. "It happened again," he said, pinning her down with a reproachful stare. "Are you sure we shouldn't get him checked out or something?" They'd had this discussion enough times already that Ana was certain he'd eventually stop asking—but he still hadn't.
"It's fine. Dr. Owens checked him out and said everything was regular. I told you, it's fine," the agitation of her words was punctuated by the slamming of a metallic lunchbox, the afternoon's meal firmly locked in place.
The action only elicited a shared huff of indignation from Chris, who swiped her coffee mug and drank from it greedily as though it had been crafted especially for him. "Whatever, I still don't think it's normal," he snipped before draining any remaining caffeine and ambling off towards the bathroom.
It wasn't normal. She knew that, they all knew that, but Dr. Owens had assured her countless times that the newborn was developing as expected, even if his behavior was anything but, and she'd chosen not to question it further. The worry remained, however.
Robby just acted...differently. It wasn't bad, per se, just unusual. There were times, like the night before, when the house was awoken by the sounds of his crooning, his underdeveloped attempts at communicating. This wouldn't have been a problem if, when they went to check, they hadn't always found him alert and alone, babbling to something only his eyes could perceive. It was undoubtedly strange, but why would she have expected anything different? Strange had taken hold of Ana's life in a steel grasp and refused to relinquish its grip.
She and Dr. Owens had discussed it exhaustively, the latter running endless tests with no definitive answer, and it all came out the same. Ultimately, nothing was wrong with Robby, but something wasn't right with him either. They shared secretive whispers about the cause, and her stomach churned with the culminating answer each time. Whatever had made him unique, peculiar, whatever they wanted to call it, had to extend from the Upside Down. It was the only reasonable conclusion, but one that was crushing in its disheartening nature. Neither the doctor nor Ana knew how like Eleven Robby would grow to be, not until he was much older, but it would undoubtedly make raising him more of a challenge than it already promised to be.
Thankfully, her anxious musings were interrupted by Chris' reappearance in the kitchen, and despite the water dripping steadily down his neck from where he'd splashed his face in an effort to wake fully, he still appeared tired and annoyed. "You know, you'll have to tell me the truth eventually, right?" He proposed, leaning his hip against the counter beside her.
