Meeting Steve

El's POV

Its been a week since I had closed the gate. Things had gone slowly back to the way they were. Today I was helping Hopper, clean up the cabin. Since Will had been here and had the monster taken out of him, it had gotten a bit messy.

Luckily, there wasn't much to be cleaned up since Nancy and Jonathan had cleaned up a lot of it already. Soon it was all done and everything looked back to the way it was supposed to. I was relieved when we had finished 10 minutes before we had planned. Today I was able to go see Mike, and I was going to help and watch the boys play a campaign. Although I couldn't stay for all of it, I was excited I got a whole 5 hours with Mike.

I snapped out of my own thoughts and said goodbye to hopper. Grabbing my coat, I ran down the stairs and into the forest. Let the 10-minute walk begin.

Mike's POV

I was getting everything ready for when El arrived. The boys were already here, although they weren't being any help. Dustin was snacking away on some pretzels. Lucas was on the phone, trying to convince Max to come over and join them. He wasn't succeeding. Will, had gone upstairs to talk to his mom, since he had forgotten something. I was almost done though, preparing the game board and putting the seats around the table. Soon I hear the doorbell ring and my heart jumps. I hear Nancy above answer it. all I hear is "MIKE!" before I and rushing up the stairs. El is standing there in her nice new blue jacket that Hopper had got her. She looked beautiful, in her jeans and her gray top with red stripes on the side.

"Hi El, how are you?" I say slowly taking her hand in mine. She looks at me with a huge smile on her face.

"I am wonderful, I am so happy that hopper let me come over today," she says with a little aggression in her voice.

"I am so happy, he finally let you out of the house as well, it has been so boring around Hawkins without you," I say while leading her down to the basement. All 3 boys were sitting in their chairs but sprung when they saw El coming down.

They all each said hello before sitting down again, to start the campaign. Soon though someone came through the door, it wasn't Max though.

"Steve?"

El's POV

Some guy I don't know walked in through the basement door. I instantly take Mike's hand for comfort. I didn't know whether to be scared or not; he looked so tall and not so kind. I slowly got the confidence to whisper in Mike's ear "I'm scared," while looking at him with tears in my eyes. I didn't want him to hurt me or any of the other party members.

"Hey, Wheeler, you know where my bat went?, I need it for... um a project I'm working on," the man said. He didn't seem like he wanted to hurt her or the boys. I loosened my grip on Mike. Mike though then let go completely and got up.

"I believe it's with Max, I told her she could have it, since you know, Billy." Mike says while giving Steve a fist bump. "I will go see if she has it for me to borrow for a few days. Thanks, Wheeler, and um, who is this?" He says while inching closer to me, a little too close. I push him away with a force, but not too powerful to hurt him.

"Woah, what the, WHAT WAS THAT?" Steve says frantically, looking at me and then the rest of the boys. Dustin and Lucas are laughing in the background, which makes me smile a small smile.

"Steve, I would like you to meet El, she is the newest member to our party, she is Hopper's new daughter," Mike says introducing me. He then offers his hand to shake mine. I quickly turn to Mike and then to the other boys, and they all nod. Without any more hesitation, I shake Steve's hand.

"Hi, Steve," in a welcoming tone. "I am so sorry for pushing you away, I just didn't know if you were going to hurt me or not. It's an instinct, and I'm sorry." I say before going up and hugging him. He is surprised by the hug, yet accepts it. I then go into detail about how I have powers and how I came to be El. Before I know it, I feel his arms around me, and suddenly I know that I have someone else who is a good person. I feel tears on my shirt from him tearing up. Slowly though I let go of Steve and smile up at him. "It's okay, I'm okay now, I promise," I say.

"Well thanks again Wheeler for letting me come in and crash the campaign, and El Hopper, it was a pleasure to meet you, keep wheeler and the rest of the boys in check would ya?" he says jokingly before walking out the door.

Slowly sitting back down, they returned to their campaign. I sat back down last and took Mike's hand into mine. "I like Steve, he's nice. Can we have him over for the next campaign?" I ask doing the puppy eyes that always work.

Mike rolls his eyes and laughs. "I guess we can try to convince him to come, just for you," he says before kissing my head. I rested my head on his shoulder. Maybe Steve wasn't as bad as she thought.