ilysb ; steve harrington

ll . e i g h t • the gate

"Eleven."

"Mike."

We all stood still watching as Mike and Eleven hugged. I felt my heart warm, I couldn't help but smile at the two of them.

"Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?" Mike asked

"Because I wouldn't let her." Hopper said stepping forward. I saw the angry look on Mikes face.

"The hell is this? Where have you been?" Hopper asked Eleven

"Where have you been?" Eleven retorted, before Hopper pulled her in for a hug.

"You've been hiding her. You've been hiding her this whole time!" Mike yelled as he pushed Hopper.

"Hey! Lets talk. Alone." He said grabbing Mikes shirt as they both walked off into a separate room arguing. I looked over to see the confused look on Steves face. Eleven hugged Dustin and Lucas, then made her way past Max towards me.

"Hey, El" I said smiling as I leaned in to hug her.

"Who is that?" She asked glancing towards Steve who had his bat in his hand.

"Steve. Hey" He said looking down at her swinging his bat in his hand.

"Hey" she responded sounding more like a question. She made her way over to Joyce as they began talking. Once Eleven was done seeing Will, her and Joyce went into the kitchen and the rest of us had trailed behind them. Eleven had begun explaining what she had seen and everything she did and we all caught each other up on the situation.

"I can do it." Eleven said, specifically to Hopper

"You're not hearing me." He told her shaking his head

"I'm hearing you. I can do it." She told him sternly

"Even if El can, there's still another problem. If the brain dies, the body dies." Mike said

"I thought that was the whole point?" Max asked confused

"It is, but if we're really right about this... I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayers army..." Mikes sentence drifted off and Lucas finished it

"Will's a part of that army."

"Closing the gate will kill him." Mike explained as we all looked at each other. Everyone went to Wills room and had decided what we needed to do. Everyone had left to do their own thing while Steve, the kids, and I all stayed back at the house, watching them all drive off.

"She's gonna be okay. They are all gonna be okay." I said putting my hand on Mikes shoulder, them we all made our way inside the house.

"What are we gonna do with this?" I asked while kicking the demo-dog Eleven had killed.

"Put it in the fridge" Dustin said

"What? Why the fridge" I asked, but before he answered, he had began pulling everything out of the Byers' fridge.

"Steve, grab it." Dustin yelled as Steve frantically grabbed the blanket off the couch and wrapped up the creature.

"Is this really necessary?" Steve asked holding the monster.

"Yes, it is, okay? This is a ground-breaking scientific discovery. We can't just bury it like some common mammal, okay? It's not a dog." Dustin argued

"All right, all right. But you're explaining this to Mrs. Byers." Steve said as he made his way to the fridge.

"Christ. Help me out Dustin" he called while trying to shove the demo-dog into the fridge

"What am I supposed to do?"