Home ||~~Elax/Elmax~~||

Had to see you redacted

Max watched El the whole ride to the hospital, most of the time she just leaned her head against the window, looking at the passing world with a look of serenity on her face, but occasionally she would look and meet her eyes with a tired smile. As Hopper lifted her, Max couldn't help but worry at how easily he scooped her up.

As they entered the hospital, and the doctor was angrily confronting Hopper, Max could do nothing but watch her; she couldn't take her eyes off her, some small part of her still in denial that this was happening, that she'd come back. She numbly followed as Hopper led them to El's room, only just about picking up on Hopper's subtle head nod indicating she should take care of El.

When he left the room, she froze. She had no clue what to say or do, but when she saw the expression on El's face, looking so lost and vulnerable, she took control. "Y...you need to get changed...here" said Max, handing El a gown.

El raised her head slightly, "thank you" she said quietly, taking it. As she went to take her top off she stopped and looked up at Max, "can you...turn around?"

Max shook her head 'no'.

"Please" El almost begged.

Max hated this, to see El so ashamed, it hurt inside. She shook her head 'no' again.

El closed her eyes, "I don't want you to see me like this" she whispered.

Max saw a tear escape El's eye and didn't hesitate to close the gap between them, "no, I won't ever look away again" she said, reminding El of how they got together in the first place. Max helped El get changed, keeping a tight control over her emotions, suppressing every reaction to El's injuries and condition. She took an extra few seconds to fold the clothes, facing away from El, needing the time to gather herself. Turning back, she helped El get the hospital gown on, and then helped lift her, far too easily, onto the bed.

She was about to sit in the uncomfortable looking chair when she saw El move over in the bed, clearly wanted Max to join her. As she got in and faced El, looked into her eyes and smiled, Max finally felt as if it was real, she had El back. Eventually El lifted her head onto Max's shoulder and drifted off to sleep.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Max waited a few minutes before extracting herself from under El and getting off the bed, leaning over she kissed her gently, pulling away before the tears falling from her eyes landed on her. She backed away, her eyes never leaving the sleeping El, until her back hit the wall. All the self-control she'd had, holding in her feelings for months and months, crumbled as she slid down the wall sobbing, her mind completely overwhelmed.

Hopper and the nurse came through the door to find El sleeping and Max sobbing on the floor, they glanced at each other before Hopper left the room. A few seconds later he returned with Nancy, who immediately rushed over and held Max tight, "shhhhh, it's ok Max, she's ok, she's here, El's really here" she said, all the while rocking Max gently until she calmed down enough to be able to move.

"I don't want to leave her" Max managed to say as Nancy steered her towards the door.

"I know, Max, but we'll just be next door, and the nurse needs to put an IV in and the doctor will need to examine her" Nancy explained. Max nodded, taking a last look at El as she left the room with Nancy and Hopper.

They really did go literally next door, and as they entered the room Max looked around and found the whole gang was there, plus Karen, Joyce, and her own mom. "Hey baby" her mom said, giving her a slightly awkward hug.

"Hi mom" she replied with a croaky voice. She sat down between her mom and Nancy, and her gaze immediately settled on Hopper, "well?"

"Well what?" he said, feigning ignorance.

Joyce didn't even speak, instead whacking him over the head with her hand and giving him a pointed look, followed by Lucas saying "you know what the hell she means! How long has El been here? When did she get back? Why didn't you tell us? How..."

"Alright, alright" Hopper said, raising his hands in peace. "I found her yesterday. You know the blind bend near your house?" he confirmed, looking at Max and her mom, who both nodded 'yes', "she was at the edge of Mirkwood, just at the treeline, I spotted something and there she was. She was almost unconscious, in a bad way, I brought her here straight away and stayed with her."

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Hopper let them digest this information while thinking back to the previous day. He'd gone for a drive to clear his head, knowing the anniversary that was coming up. As he was driving towards the blind bend he saw something moving at the edge of the wood so stopped and watched from the car. Since the events from a few years ago he was understandably wary, and when he saw a dark figure moving strangely, he readied both his handgun and shotgun. Whatever it was, it wasn't fast, it was struggling, weak, he could tell that much from a distance, so he took a deep breath and exited the truck, clutching the shotgun tightly. As he approached, he realized it was a person on their knees, supporting themselves with their arms, and trying to crawl, for want of a better word, towards the road. Getting closer, he saw how small the figure looked, desperate to move forward, towards some unknown destination, but their strength was clearly waning. He sped up, to the point of jogging, and managed to get to the figure just in time to catch them from collapsing totally. Rolling them over in his arms, he swept the dirty, lank hair from their face and audibly gasped, covering his mouth in shock. Despite all the grime and mud and, probably, blood, it was unmistakably El.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

"So why didn't you tell us you'd found her?" challenged Mike, "you know damn well we'd be desperate to know."

"Honestly?" he asked rhetorically, feeling slightly embarrassed, "I managed to bring her here, but I was shocked, I couldn't think straight, and when I finally came to my senses the doc told me she was incredibly weak...what if I got your hopes up and she didn't make it?"

"But we'd have been able to say goodbye" countered Nancy.

Max just sat there, still feeling slightly numb. "She came back in the same place" she said quietly, more to herself than to the room.

"What?" her mom asked.

"Oh, uh...she...she came back to the same place as the first time, when I hit her on my skateboard, remember?" she asked for confirmation. They all just nodded, silently contemplating how the day had turned.

Lucas leaned over, "I told you" he said quietly with a smile. Max frowned at him in confusion, "I said she'd come back, she had something to fight for, she had you to fight for." Max smiled with a mixture of sadness and gratitude and hugged him.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

A/N  hey folks...just a quick thing I guess, firstly, thanks for reading if you've made it this far without giving up...I know this book is a bit different from others as I'm basically just playing with doing a non-linear plot (if that makes any sense).

If it is just too confusing or muddled then let me know, constructive criticism is best please (I've already had some feedback that it sux, so yeah...). Slow updates haven't helped this, I know, but I hope it makes sense, I've had this idea in my head but had trouble translating it to 'paper'.

Anyhoo, take care folks  ❤🙂