The Strangest is Yet to Come

14.

"I just want to know what the hell you were doing at the mall at that time of night."

"David, will you please keep your voice down? You're going to wake her up."

"She could have been killed, Caroline."

The three people in the hospital room fall silent when the girl in the hospital bed lets out a quiet groan, "Leave him alone, dad."

Seeing that she's awake, Jonathan moves to stand by her bed, quickly slipping her hand into her waiting one, "Hi."

Samantha smiles tiredly up at him, "Hey."

With his hand that isn't connected with hers, he starts running it over the top of her head, being mindful of her injury, "How are you feeling?"

"Okay. M'arm is definitely broken and I will be wearing this very attractive cast for the next six to eight weeks," she nods towards the bright pink plaster encasing her elevated arm and he lets out a spluttered laugh.

"And your head?" he leans over to take a look, completely ignoring the fact that her parents are still stood at the foot of the bed.

"Said it was minor," she murmurs, toying with his hand, "So I managed to get a little sleep last night."

They both look at her dad when he speaks, "What were you doing at the mall?"

Samantha looks at Jonathan with wide eyes but he doesn't hesitate in his reply, "There was a late night showing of Back to the Future. Will and the rest of the party wanted to see it and so wee took them."

Her dad wasn't convinced, "Nancy went to see Back to the Future?"

"It's a good film, dad," Samantha fibs as she continues to toy with Jonathan's hand, "What we saw of it anyway."

He nods beside her, "My mom said she heard them talking about a faulty gas line underneath the building."

Caroline puts her hand on David's arm, "Come on, honey. We'll go talk to Marshall and see when we can go about getting her discharged."

"That would be great," Samantha smiles, "Thanks mom."

Reluctantly following his wife, David looks at the two teens before she pulls him out the door, "This conversation isn't over."

As soon as the door closes behind them, Samantha lets out a deep sigh and hides her face in her hands. "I hate lying to them," she whispers, scooting over in the small bed so Jonathan can hop up beside her, "Keeping them in the dark about this, especially what happened in this very hospital - which by the way, I'm starting to doubt even happened because nobody has said anything about it! It just...it feels wrong."

"We can't say anything, babe," he reminds her gently, "The shit that would rain down on us..."

"I know," she rests her head on his shoulder, "So uh, the gasline story. Who came up with that? Was it Hopper? Sounds like something he'd say."

At his silence, she sits up to look at him and the teasing smile that was on her face drops, "He's not...is he?"

Jonathan clears his throat, "Mom said there was a confrontation. Didn't go into a lot of detail...he didn't get out."

Her bottom lip trembles. Hopper was dead? She couldn't believe it. Granted, they'd only really started speaking in these past two years but it was still gutting. Hell, he'd held her hand when she was getting her stitches on her first visit to the hospital. He was a good man.

"He was," Jonathan agrees and she realises that she'd said that last part out loud.

"Your mom?" she whispers, "Is she alright?"

"Couple of cuts and bruises. She's taking this pretty hard."

Of course she was. Although it had taken a little convincing, Jim Hopper was the only one who really believed her about Will being alive two years ago, the one who had walked into another dimension with her.

He was the man who adopted a kid with superpowers; asked for those papers with no hesitation just so Eleven wouldn't be alone and could have a normal life.

"Oh my god,"

"What?" he's instantly worried that she's in pain.

"What about Eleven?" she whispers, "She's alone. Again and-"

"Hey," Jonathan puts a comforting hand on her cheek, which she leans into, "She's not alone. She's got Mike, friends who love her and...my mom's gonna to take care of her. She's gonna live with us."

"She is?"

His thumb swipes under her eye, ridding her of the tear that's running down her cheek, "Yeah," he hums, "Means Will and I are gonna have to share a room but that's okay. Don't worry about her. She's going to be fine."

Nodding, Samantha hides her face in his shirt, "And what about Max?"

"She's quiet," he murmurs, "I think they tried to save him, Billy. But his injuries were too severe."

Yes, Billy was an asshole, a huge one but no one deserves to die like that.

"I tried to stop him," she whispers, toying with his fingers again, "I tried so hard to get through to him. I don't know, I thought maybe I could get him to snap out of it."

"Hey," Jonathan's forehead rests against hers, "I know what you're thinking and please don't go there."

"It's hard not to," she admits and he nods in understanding, both of them looking towards the door when her parents return.

David eyes the two teens with a frown on his face and Jonathan clears his throat before shifting over on the bed slightly which makes Samantha roll her eyes, "So we spoke to Marshall."

"And what did he say?"

"Though your head injury was minor, they want to keep you in overnight to monitor you just in case."

"That makes sense," Jonathan murmurs and she nods in agreement.

"So with that information, we're going to head home and grab you some stuff. Anything in particular?"

"A book?" Samantha asks hopefully, "My new one by Stephen King?"

Caroline shakes her head, smile tugging at her lips, "Of course, honey."

"Thank you," she beams, looking at Jonathan when he slides off the side of the bed.

"I'm gonna go tell Nance that you're awake," he murmurs, leaning down to brush his lips against hers.

"You'll come back?" she pleads.

His eyes flit towards David, "Of course."

When she reluctantly lets go of his hand and he leaves, her dad grabs one of the chair in the room and sits at her bedside, looking at her seriously, which makes her let out a quiet sigh.

May as well get this over with.