Don't Stop the Devil / Steve Harrington 1

Chapter 29

Mike and the girl walk to each other and wrap one another into a hug. "Is that?" I hear Max ask from behind me. "Eleven." Steve wispers in shock. "I never gave up on you." Mike says as he breaks away to look into Eleven's eyes. "I called you every night. Every night for-" Mike begins before being cut off by Eleven, "Three hundred and fifty three days. I heard." She says with tears streaming down her face.

"Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?" Mike asks hurt. "Because I wouldn't let her." Hopper says and we all look at him. "What the hell is this? Where have you been?" Hopper asks as he walks towards Eleven. "Where have you been?" Eleven asks back angrily. Hopper wraps El into a hug and everyone except Max and I gasp.

"You've been hiding her. You've been hiding her this whole time!" Mike says angrily as he pushes Hopper. "Hey, hey let's talk. Alone." Hopper says as he grabs Mike's collar and pulls him into a room away from the group.

Dustin and Lucas walk forward and wrap Eleven into a group hug. I smile and walk into the kitchen to give them some privacy and Steve follows behind me. "So that's the famous Eleven?" I ask as I lean against the counter. "Yeah, I think you two are gonna get along just fine. You know you two are a lot alike minus the powers and being trapped in a lab since you were born and being hidden away. But you're both badasses and I think she's gonna love you." Steve rambles on and I smile.

El then comes into the kitchen and walks up to me. "Hi, I'm Bella. I've heard a lot about you." I say with a warm smile as I stick out my hand for her to shake. She offers a small smile and shakes my hand. "Pretty." She says as she looks at me. "Thank you. You're pretty too." I say with a smile. She then walks over to Joyce and wraps her into a hug. "Told you." Steve says as he turns to me. "I think that's probably the fastest she's ever warmed up to someone." Steve says with a smile. "Really?" I ask and he nods.

Joyce and El go into Will's room while Steve and I rejoin the others in the livingroom. I notice Max standing by herself so I walk over to her. "Hey, you okay?" I ask her as she looks up at me. "Yeah." She says with a small nod. "Max, you can talk to me. I'm not Billy." I say as I kneel down to be level with her. "I know." She says with a small smile. "It's just El didn't really seem to like me." She says with a shrug and I nod understanding why she was upset. "Hey, Steve said that it takes her a while to warm up to people. I'm sure you two will become friends." I say with a warm smile. "Looks like she warmed up to you pretty fast." Max mumbles and my smile drops. I take a deep breath because I don't want to treat Max like how Billy treats her. I sigh and stand back up and walk away.

El and Joyce come out of Will's room and go into the kitchen they look at something on the table and I walk closer to them so I can hear their conversation. ""Do you think that if we got you back there that you could close it?" Joyce asks as I look at the old notepad that has 'closegate' written on it. El looks at Joyce and then nods.

Joyce goes and gets Hopper and Mike while the rest of us stand around the dining room table. Steve stands to my left with El to my right. "It's not like it was before. It's grown, a lot." Hopper says referring to the gate. "And I mean that's considering we can get in there. That place is crawling with those dogs." Hopper says and Dustin turns around to look at him. "Demodogs." Dustin corrects and I sigh in annoyance. "I'm sorry what?" Hopper asks as he looks at Dustin. "I said, uh, demodogs. Like demogorgon and dogs. Like you put them together, it sounds pretty badass." Dustin explains and I see Steve roll his eyes from beside me while El tilts her head to the side. "How is this important right now?" Hopper asks with annoyance clear in his tone. "It's not. I'm sorry." Dustin says as he looks away from Hopper.

"I can do it." El says and we all turn to look at her. "You're not hearing me." Hopper says with a shake of his head. "I'm hearing you. I can do it." El says confidently with a nod. "Even if El can there's still another problem. If the brain dies, the body dies." Mike says from beside Hopper. "I thought that was the whole point." Max says confused. "It is but, if we're really right about this, I mean if El closes the gate and kills the Mindflayres army-" Mike begins before Lucas cuts him off, "Will's a part of that army." He says in realization. "Closing the gate will kill him." Mike says gravely and everyone share a worried look.

Joyce gets up and we follow her to Will's room. "He likes it cold." Joyce says quietly. "What?" Hopper asks confused. "That's what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold." Joyce says in realization as she closes the Window in Will's room. "We keep giving it what it wants." Joyce says as she points at Will who is laying on his bed above the sheets. "If this is a virus, and Will's the host then-" I begin before Nancy cuts in, "Then we need to make the host uninhabitable." We share a nod and turn to look at Joyce. "So if he likes it cold-" Nancy begins before Joyce interrupts, "We need to burn it out of him." She says confidently.