Jopper - Beyond Love

It's about damn time

Hopper thought about much things lately. How life treated him the last fourty- something years. There were many bad memories in it. For example his draft to the vietnam war and what he had to sacrifice for. It made him rough and some kind of emotionless. Or the death of his daughter. His little Sara. For a long time, he was in a cave, which swallowed him whole. The only way he could escape from those dark places were drugs and alcohol. And then, there was the russian prison. The torture, the pain he had to experience there. Not just the physical pain, the mental pain too.

But if there was something, he learned from all those horrible things, it was that after every fall comes a rise again. No matter how long it took, he managed to get out of the dark hole every time. Thanks to all his good memories. The birth of his daughter and the years, he had with her. His wife Diane, who he loved with all his heart at some point of his life. And of course El, the one who taught him patience, and to live again.

And there is one person, who let him forget all of his pain and grief. Every mental scar seemed to disappear around her. Her unambiguous unconditional, pure love for him. Joyce, the person who loves with every fiber of her body. The one he reached for in his darkest times, the war or the prison. She knew him, before he left to Vietnam, before he was another James Hopper. She knew every Hopper after that and she loved all of them. He felt it.

It was the way she sometimes scrunched her nose, when she laughed so hard. Or her beautiful big brown eyes, which looked right through his soul when they made love or she just wanted him to know, that she is there, forever and that she loved him. The fact, that Joyce Byers was a force, a mother by nature, she would have done everything for her kids. She was the bravest warrior he knew.

And he loved her so much, he couldn't put it into words. It seemed like he fell harder for her everyday, if this was even possible. She was his soulmate and both knew that. She was his cure and he was hers. There was no doubt about that. He loved her with all her flaws and in all her darkest days.

It was one of those lazy days, he rarely had in a house of 4, sometimes 5, when Jonathan visited for a weekend. Joyce was at work and the kids were in school. He had the day off and on these days he often thought about stuff like that. But that day, he suddenly was sure about it. He couldn't wait much longer, so he decided to do something about it. Hopper went to the phone and dialed Jonathan's number. Thank god he was home. „Hello? Jonathan here."

„Hey kid! It's me, Hopper. Uhm I wanna talk to you about something. Do you come home for the weekend?" Hopper stammered in the phone. „Uh actually, I didn't plan on coming home this weekend, but if it's something important I could arrange it." Jonathan said in a concerned voice. „Yeah, actually, it is one of the, huh, biggest things I've ever done in my life. Can you meet me on Saturday at the cabin? But, Jonathan, it is very important, that you don't tell anyone, that I called you or that you come to visit. Not El nor Will and definitely not your Mom, can you do that for me?" He fiddled with the phonecord and shifted from one foot to the other. „Suurreee.. ah, I think I know, what you're up to, and I definitely help you. Uh Hop? It's about damn time. You got this. See ya on Saturday." they said their goodbyes and hung up.

On Saturday he took the day off, but didn't tell Joyce about it. Before he left in his uniform, pretending to go to work, he kissed Joyce and promised to come home early.

When he arrived at the cabin, Jonathan was already there. „Hey Jonathan! Thanks for coming how was your drive?" Hopper greeted Jonathan. „Hey, Hop! It was good, thanks. So how do you wanna propose to Mom?" Jonathan asked exited. „Huh yeah, You know your mom. She doesn't like much attention and all this shit, but there is something, I figured out, that would be special to her, but I need your help, since you're all in this photograph stuff and all that." Hopper explained his plan to him and Jonathan was amazed by the effort, Hopper put in this whole thing.