Shutter [Jonathan Byers] Stranger Things I

LVII: Love

love

noun

an intense feeling of deep affection.

Nancy and Steve had convinced Jonathan to sit tight, to wait for Hopper and Joyce to find Will and Emilia. It was definitely easier said than done, though. At first Nancy simply sat with Jonathan in the driveway, dirt staining their clothes but none of them cared. She wrapped her arm around Jonathan's shoulder in a comforting way that would offer no comfort whatsoever to Jonathan, but managed to make Nancy feel a bit better. After hearing Jonathan admit that he loved Emilia, Nancy felt a sense of agony at losing so much. She refused to give up hope, in fact it was not in Nancy's nature to give up. Not after everything that they had been through, and knowing what Emilia had gone through now her whole life, she knew that Emilia was a fighter, and a survivor.

After what felt like hours but was probably only minutes, Nancy's legs began to seize. She gestured for Jonathan to come back in the house where it was warm and they'd have a place to sit. When Jonathan didn't move, Nancy glanced over her shoulder at Steve and silently asked for his help. In that glance was also a forgiveness, showing that she accepted his apology not only because he stayed to fight, but because he was still here now. After seeing what he had, any normal guy would have split, but Steve was there to protect Nancy. And if helping Jonathan onto his feet was going to do that, he would do it in a heartbeat.

Walking over, the crunch of dirt and gravel under his shoes, Steve crouched beside Jonathan. "Come on, let's get you inside."

Jonathan was about to protest, his head rearing back to look up at Steve and his obnoxiously tall hair. But instead, he saw Steve's hand outstretched and friendly. So Jonathan reached up with a shoulder joint that felt like an unoiled hinge, neglected for years and unprotected from the rain. His legs were tense, but he managed to get to his feet with Steve's help. The shuffle of Nancy rising from the ground momentarily distracted him, and the three of them walked back towards the house. It was hardly a house anymore, not without the joy that Will and Emilia brought into it. He wondered, what sort of family would him and his mother be? At the end of all this, if they lost Will and Emilia, would they still be able to look at one another? Would they talk? Would they heal? Or would they separate slowly until speaking no longer came naturally, and looking at one another just reminded them of what happened.

Inside the house, Steve and Nancy got Jonathan onto the couch. She stood at the side, nibbling her nail with nervousness. She winced as she bit down and realized she hardly had any nail left, and that's when she walked into the kitchen to get Jonathan a drink of water. The house reeked of smoke, sweat, uncleaned floors, cigarettes, and agony. But there was something else that Nancy sensed as she filled a glass of water; she sensed something far more powerful than anything. Unable to put her finger on it, she turned back and walked into the living room. Steve was sitting on the arm of the couch, his hands resting in his lap, eyes glazed over as he stared at the half-covered hole in the wall.

She realized what it was then.

It was love.

Now, Nancy wasn't naïve enough to think that love could solve any problems, let alone one this grandiose. However, she knew that it was love that was pushing everyone to the limits these last few days. Joyce only heard Will's breathing on the phone because she loved him enough to understand what she was hearing; the impossible. It was love that allowed Joyce to decode what Will was saying to her by putting up the tremendous amounts of Christmas lights. It was love that helped Jonathan see what Nancy saw in the pictures, to believe in monsters under the bed once again. She stood there, holding a glass of semi-cold water, and realized that love might actually bring back Will and Emilia.