Serve & Protect

Chapter 13- if this is goodbye...

"After Sara I had to get away." Hopper suddenly started to say breaking the silence.

You remained curled up against his side, your face buried against his chest while he held you.

"I had to get away from that place. Had to outrun those memories, I guess." He continued to say quietly. "I mean, why do you think I ended up back in this shithole town?"

You didn't respond, but he didn't expect you to either. Your tears had long ago dried, but he kept holding you. And for the first time in a long time, you felt safe. You felt safe in his arms.

"What I'm trying to say is... I understand why you came to Hawkins to get away from that. I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you when your past followed you here."

You tilted your head up towards him, but he was staring straight ahead looking anywhere but at you.

"It's not your job to protect me, Hop."

"Yeah, it is." He argued, sparing a quick glance down at you showing off the tears still shimmering in his eyes. "You're my Deputy. I'm responsible for you, but above all that, you're my best friend and I made a promise to not let that asshole hurt you again, and I failed."

"Hopper-"

"I should have protected you." His voice was heavy with shame, the same way his guilt weighed down upon his shoulders. He wiped his eyes with his free hand and let out a deep shaky breath before resting his head back against the brick wall.

Neither of you said anything for a few minutes after that. You didn't want to move out of Hoppers arms, and he clearly didn't want to let you go either, but you both knew that you had to go back inside and deal with this whole opening gate in Hawkins that Alexei knew about.

"Is it safe to come out?" Murray's voice suddenly shouted in the distance.

Hopper glanced down at you in his arms before looking in the direction of the man's voice.

"Yeah." He shouted back and a few seconds later Murray walked around the corner with two glasses of clear liquid.

"Figured you'd both could use a drink. Vodka?"

Hopper took one of the glasses without a word and skulled the mouthful of alcohol before you unwrapped yourself from around his side and took the other glass which Murray handed over with a gentle smile.

You nodded your thanks and down the drink welcoming the familiar burn of vodka.

"There's more inside if you guys are ready to come back in? Alexei has more details to share." Murray explained, turning on his heels and walking back towards the front door.

A few minutes later you were back on Murray's couch with another shot of Vodka while Alexei and Murray explained things in more details, including how to shut the opening gate.

Hopper re-laid all the information back to Doctor Owens... well, it was the phone number Owens had given him for emergencies and it wasn't Owens that answered. But Hopper told the person everything and requested military backup at Starcourt Mall. Whether the person on the phone believed everything he had just said is one thing and whether or not he passes it on to Doctor Owens was an entirely different thing.

"I should call Joyce and tell her what's going on." Hopper suddenly said, reaching for the phone on the table once again.

"What? Why?" You asked in confusion watching he grab the phone already dialling her number that he knew by heart.

"She's involved in this. She should know what's happening."

"No, you should keep this phone line open for when Owens calls." You argued not understanding the urgency for Joyce to know these details.