Facade-[1]-[Steve Harrington]

Epilogue

Song of the Chapter: Just What I Needed by The Cars (I listened to this while writing and couldn't help myself, it fits so well and just you wait.)

Warning: Unedited!!

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Hawkins, Indiana.

One Month Later.

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Lennon laughed, throwing her head back before pulling herself onto the marble counter-top. Steve had invited her to his house to make Christmas cookies, since both would be spending Christmas day with their families. She of course accepted the offer, never willing to pass up a chance to make cookies or hang out with Steve.

In his living room, an unwatched tv show played on the boxy television. The fireplace crackled, emitting a smoky smell throughout the house, accompanied nicely by the smell of their cookies just pulled out of the oven. On the boombox set on the kitchen island, a random radio station played.

"No, I've never met anyone who's actually gotten salmonella!" She exclaimed. Steve's mouth opened as he searched for the words to prove her wrong.

"Yeah! Yeah, well I don't know anyone either but it's all over the news." He explained, dumping the red, green and white colored frosting out of his arms and beside Lennon on the counter.

"You can't trust the news!" She lets out a laugh.

"Yeah-well. Well-"

"Aha! I'm going to keep eating raw cookie dough, and you can miss out. Your choice." She smiles, hopping down from the counter and onto her sock covered feet. Her socks had a busy Christmas pattern sewn onto them. The bottoms of her jeans where tucked into them and large Christmas sweater with an unmatching pattern to her socks, hung on her shoulders. "It's the wrong choice, but still your's." She shrugged, grabbing the green decorating frosting and a still warm cookie. She stood right beside the boy as he squeezed an unreasonable amount of red frosting onto a cookie, covering it entirely.

"How polite! I invite you to my house, offer hot chocolate while making cookies with you, and you insult me. What kind of a friend are you?" Steve feigns hurt, continuing to pile on the frosting.

"Your very best, so shut up and deal with it." Lennon bumps her hip into his.

"You're not even tall enough to bump my hip, that was my leg." He mutters, placing the cap on his tube of frosting.

"Blame my genetics. They succeeded everywhere but my height." She sighs as if she's let down. In the moment of silence, her ears pick up on the radio. She gasps, rushing to the boombox and turning the dial to raise the volume. "I love this song!" She yells over the voices of "The Cars". The song, Just What I Needed blared throughout the house. If his parents where home, she wouldn't dare turn it up this loud. Maybe that was why he wanted her to hangout, because his parents weren't home and it was Christmas Eve.

"Me too!" Steve yelled, watching as Lennon held her arms out, bouncing side to side. Lennon smiled, mimicking a popular dance of the 80's as she sung obnoxiously to the words. She pranced to the boy, ripping the frosting tube from his hand an tossing it onto the counter. She grabbed his hands, him obliging. With smiles on their faces, Steve held her hand while she twirled before he caught her, dipping her backwards.

Lennon laughed, leaning her head back as the world appeared flipped upside down. Steve pulled her back up, her hair flipping into her face as the two laughed. They danced until the song ended, smiling as they went back to decorating their Christmas cookies. Neither teen knew just the extent of which the other related with the song. They were just what the other needed, in that moment, and as friends- perhaps more.

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"You got your's?" Lennon asked Hopper as she slid into the passenger seat. She rubbed her hands together, letting out a shaky breath as she tried to warm herself up.

"Yeah, you?" He questioned after holding his tupperware of cookies and various other baked goods. He leaned to reach into the back seat.

"Yup." She smiled, lifting the lunchbox she used to bring to school in middle school. Inside, where some cookies she had made earlier with Steve and Eggos she made as soon as she got home, waiting for her dad to arrive. "And I made Eggos, still hot." She tapped the tin box. Jim grunted, sitting back properly in his seat with a blanket in his hands. He tossed it over his daughter's lap, earning a smiling 'thanks' from her. The two drove in a comfortable silence on their way, songs by people from her father's Vietnam era like Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix and Creedence Clearwater Revival. You could say Lennon was raised on good music.

Jim Hopper pulled the car into the side of the road, only a small area of grass before the wooded area began. Lennon sighed as she tossed the warm blanket in the back seat, missing the comfort already. She gritted her teeth as she opened her car door. Her boots crunched the snow underneath. They had gotten a good snow this year, more than '82 at least.

"C'mon." Jim called out, walking ahead. Lennon hugged her jacket to her tiny frame, shutting her door and running to catch up. With his flashlight pointed ahead, Jim lead the way, looking back every minute to make sure Lennon was right behind. She stepped over a fallen tree, planting her shoe on the log as she hopped over it. The two crouched beside the large metal box Jim had put there only weeks before. He dropped his plastic container in after lifting the lid. Lennon placed her tin lunchbox, decorated with a colorful image of the powerful Wonder Woman. The two stood, looking at woods surrounding them.

"Merry Christmas, kid." Jim smiled, throwing an arm around Lennon. A content smile spread on her face as well, a warmth spreading throughout her despite the cold and frigid air blowing at them.

"Merry Christmas, daddy." She spoke with satisfaction. Her life was in the best place it had been in a while. Her relationship with her dad was stronger than ever. He was weening himself off of all the beer and pills. She was friends with Steve, Nancy and Jonathan. Will was back and she got fourty dollars this month alone for babysitting Lucas and his sister. That girl sure had a mouth on her but it only made Lennon enjoy babysitting them more.

The only bad things were Barb dead and Eleven presumed the same. Lennon had hope. She always had hope.

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A/N: The dance in the gif is the dance I imagine Lennon does at the beginning of their dance party breakout haha. I loved writing this part! It was a nice shift from the dramatic, dark and dreary aspect. Lennon acknowledges that she has some bad in her life-Barb dead and El gone- but she is learning to keep going with her life and not become catatonic. It's the first step into moving past the abuse she endured but she's getting there. The first step is always the hardest. At least she has friends and her father to help her along the way.

Also, Ive noticed that I called them "Stennon" the whole time! I never even asked you guys! Stennon and Leve was all I could come up with. If you have any other ideas or preferences, PLEASE comment.

Im desperate.