𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐲

v. good boyfriend.

IN THE waiting room at the hospital, James was starting to slowly feel anxious, sitting in silence with Lucas, Mike and Nancy. He was sitting with Mike on one side as Nancy and Lucas both sat alone in other chairs. He kept glancing over at the hospital sign near them, thoughts of Sara coming back to him.

Suddenly, he was eleven years old all over again, waiting and waiting for his parents, only to be told by a social worker that his little sister didn't make it. He stared down at the floor now, zoning out and fidgeting with the blue elastic on his wrist. He had called back to the Squawk a while ago, when Nancy was in the washroom, updating Robin what was going on.

Nancy sighed, "this is our fault." Her words brought James out of his daze, looking up at her. "This is all our fault." She continued as James looked over at her. He didn't even know what to say, because what could he even say? "We got there as fast as we could." Mike told his sister, looking over at her. "I'm not talking about tonight." She looks up at him.

"We could have acted yesterday, last week, last fall. We could've tried to get them out of Hawkins, or... or at least told them the truth." She got up. "We could have done something, anything." She spun around, looking at Mike who James now glanced over at. "We couldn't have known, Nancy, we couldn't have known any of this would happen." He told her. "Do you really believe that, Mike?" Nancy asked.

Mike scoffs, looking away. "After all this time, it comes for Holly? Holly, who has nothing to do with any of this." The Wheeler boy said, glancing at Lucas and then at James. "I mean, it makes no goddamn sense." He added. "It makes perfect goddam sense." The oldest Wheeler said, making James look over at her. "Vecna told me this would happen. He showed me. And not just the four gates. Holly, mom, dad dead. And we just... we just chose not to believe him. But now it's all coming true. Like, don't you get it, Mike? Vecna's come back, to realize his vision, to punish us. He did it with Fred, and Chrissy, and Max," at the mention of her, James glanced over at Lucas who simply looked down.

"And now it's our turn. And he's not gonna stop. He's not gonna stop until we're drained of every last ounce of suffering." Nancy told them. "I'm not so sure this was about punishment." Lucas said, making the girl look over at him. "Vecna doesn't leave things unfinished. He doesn't hold back. Because if this was really about making you guys suffer, why leave your parents alive? Why take Holly into the Upside Down and not leave her body here for you to find? Why not come here himself? Why send one of his... his pets?" The Sinclair kept going.

"What are you saying? It's not Vecna?" James asked the boy who looked over at him right away. "What I'm saying is I don't know, and neither do you. There are just too many questions right now. I--I just know I'm having serious déjà vu," at those words, James furrows his brows, "because this is exactly what happened to Will at almost exactly the same time." He continued going on.

When Will went missing. November 6th, 1983. Four years ago. "You know what date it is, right?" The Sinclair now asked, glancing around at the other three. "November 3rd. Will was taken on the 6th. We are less than 3 days away. Three days away from the day that changed everything. I don't know about you guys, but..." Lucas inhales sharply. "I don't believe in coincidences. Not anymore." He said.

"But we got Will back." James said, looking up at the boy who nods "And we're going to get Holly back 'cause she's not alone." He turned to Mike, grabbing his shoulder, "El is in there with her. And if anybody can save her--" "It's El." Mike turns to look at him, nodding. "It's El." Lucas repeated, glancing between the two.

Meanwhile, Steve had just set hooking up some jumper cables to the van, before turning around, dusting off his hands. "So, like, how long is this gonna take?" Luna asked, her arms crossed. She had been driving by when she saw the broken down van, with Steve in it. "Oh, uh, not too long." He gave her a small smile. "We just gotta let this sucker charge for a few minutes, then hopefully..." He waves a hand, "vroom vroom." He said, smiling at her again and all she does is roll her eyes, looking away from him.