el and hopper are sitting at the table, eating their dinner, which consists of peas, corn, and microwaved chicken.
el has been talking about her mother, terry, and how she met her sister, kali. a couple things she had said had caused hopper to raise an eyebrow, but he let it slide. the girl is young, and grew up in a laboratory as a science experiment, and barely knew the right and wrong thing to do.
she stops talking, which causes hopper to look up at her face and curly hair. it's been a year since the events of 1984, and nothing has ever been the same. yes, it got better, but nothing was ever normal.
hopper could see the look on her face as she took a sip of the fresh milk in the glass next to her. the look of want. she wanted something desperately.
"hopper, today is october 30," she says with a little question. "that's correct." he says to give reassurance, but also to play around a little. "i wanted to know if maybe mike and i could go trick or treating together?" her vocabulary had significantly increased. "please? i'll do anything! just one night!"
hopper knew nothing would happen to el, but still had a little bit of hesitation regarding the situation, considering everything that happened last year.
"one night. you have two hours to get as much candy as you want, but you must stay with mike and the boys the entire time. no wandering off," which he said calmly, but deep inside he was worried.
"thank you, thank you, thank you hop!" which she said which such a smile on her face. she started laughing, which cause hopper to start laughing. hers was more soft and giggly, just like a 5-year-old girl.
"no worries, kid. now finish your dinner, and no going into the void tonight. stay in your own head."
they silently finished their dinner and put the dishes in the sink. el grabbed a cup and filled it up with water from the tap, bringing it over to the couch. hopper was sitting over there waiting for her.
they started watching the tv, just like any other night they spend together. el started drifting off, and you could hear the sound of her breathing while asleep on the couch.
hopper picked her light body up and walked over to her room. el desperately wanted to redo it. he admitted to himself it was a little boring for a teen her age. he laid her down on the bed, and tucked her underneath the covers. he laid her head on the pillow, her curls bouncing when she turned over.
he loved el deeply, wanting to keep her safe from all the horrible people in the world. he knows he will have to let her go eventually, let her live a life on her own.
he let that thought out of his mind, which allowed another. sarah. his daughter.
he tried to shake it off, and climbed into bed. he has el now. he'll be ok.
-the next day-
"good morning, hopper!" she said with cheer, excited for tonight. she did have some questions about everything. "what am i going to dress up as? what candy will i get? oh my gosh i'm so excited!"
"slow down, kid. i'm sure you'll figure out what to dress up as with that wheeler kid, and i'm sure nancy will help you as well. i'll call him and let him know you're coming over soon."
it's a saturday, so the boys don't have to go to school. el is able to go over to the wheeler's house at 10:30 to talk with mike and start getting ready.
el knocks on the door, the only knock she knows. the secret knock between her and hopper.
mike opens the door. he has a look of love, you can see it inside his eyes.
"hey el! come inside!" he takes her arm and drags her inside, up to his room.
hopper had left already, he didn't want to see anything.
el and mike are now upstairs, and mike is babbling on about the boys and school, being careful not to mention max in the conversation.
"hey mike? could we maybe go trick or treating tonight?" she really wants to go and spend the entire time with mike.
"of course, el! the boys and i are dressing up as stormtroopers from star wars, so you can be our princess leia!" he exclaims with loads of excitement.
"princess leia? who's that?" el replies with confusion. of course she doesn't know, hopper is pretty protective of her with everything.
"let's go watch it right now! she's the princess throughout the movie. nancy can do your hair and get you a dress!"
mike yelled for nancy to come into living room while they were trying to find it on tv. he told her to put her hair into two side buns.
el had never seen a straightening iron before, so she was very scared when nancy brought one close to her.
"it's ok, i'm not gonna hurt. i'm just going to straighten your curls, ok?" nancy made sure to be calm with her throughout the entire thing.
nancy was able to slick back el's mane of hair into two tight buns, and managed to find a long white dress that almost exactly matched the characters.
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"you look beautiful, el! here's a mirror!"
nancy handed her the mirror and el was able to see the beautiful work nancy had done.
"pretty." el still loved that word. some of the first words she had spoken around mike.
over the next few hours, mike and el were watching star wars, and el was completely amazed by everything she saw.
as they finished up, el started asking questions about tonight.
"mike, will the bad men see me?"
"no, el. the bad men are gone. they won't hurt you," mike had said, with a sad look on his far. he just wants everything to be ok, everything to go back to normal.
"let's make tonight the best we can. the boys will be over later, and the. we can go get candy! we should be able to get a lot in two hours, and then i'll drop you off at home, ok?"
"ok. let's make tonight great!" she said with such joy, so excited to do a normal teenage kid thing.
