On The Way To Hawkins

Hello lovely readers, please be gentle on me. This is my first attempt at writing in 6-7 years... but I just had to write something for our favorite ship: Jopper.
I hope you enjoy this.

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They stumble down out of Kantika bloody, bruised and beaten. Her feet touching solid ground was almost enough alone to make Joyce cry.

She quickly wipes at the tears threatening to escape her eyes, and Hopper slides an arm around her shoulders, sighing in relief.

Murray collapses on the ground below them. "Six freaking hours! If I had to stay in there one more minute with you two lovebirds, I was going to lose my mind!"

Joyce just shoots him a look and snuggles into Hopper's side, "You'll get to see El tomorrow, Hop."

"Yeah?" He asks, with a growing smile on his face. He still couldn't believe that all of this was real. That he was alive and safe, and Joyce was here by his side.

He leans down and presses a small kiss to the top of her head while reaching for her hand. "Hey Murray! Get your ass up. The sun is already setting, and we need to make it into town before it gets dark."

"Geesh! I help save a man's life and this is how he talks to me?" Murray asks Joyce, coming to his feet.

Joyce glances up at Hopper and squeezes his hand, "Hopper, he does have a point."

"Well excuse me for being ill. It's not like I spent the last eight months of my life in a cold, isolated Russian prison. Excuse ME for being rude."

Hopper feels Joyce's arm stiffen beneath him, and he looks down to see her trying to fight back more tears. But for a completely different reason this time.

"Hey now..." He softly says as he uses his free hand to capture her chin and lift her eyes to him. "I'm safe now, because of you."

She nods her head firmly and closes her eyes, burying her face in his chest. Not wanting to speak, for the fear of breaking down in front of Murray.

Murray glances over at them, and Hopper shakes his head. Mouthing to Murray, "She's okay."

"Okay," Murray begins, clasping his hands together, "Dmitri said that once we landed it should only be a few miles to town. If we start walking now, we can make it there within the next hour."

Hopper tucks a finger under Joyce's chin and lifts her head. Asking her gently, "What do you say? Another hour and then we can finally take a rest from all this hell."

"I would love that more than anything." She whispers back.

"I mean, we do have a date to be getting to after all." He says with a faint chuckle.

This brings a small smile to Joyce's lips, and she finally looks toward Murray, "Alright Murray. Let's start home."

Darkness is claiming the last rays of sunlight as the unsightly trio see the motel come into view.

"Finally!" Murray exclaims, "I love you two, I do. And I'm so glad that you're back Jim. But I need a break from being the third wheel."

Joyce and Hopper glance over at Murray, too tired to retaliate at his antics.

"I know you two have a lot to catch up on," He says wiggling his eyebrows, "But try to get a couple of hoursof sleep tonight. We do have an early flight home tomorrow."