Nine Comes Home

Chapter 1

It was early August, as Nina drives towards Hawkins Indiana singing along to the rolling stone 'start me up'. Hawkins is not just a random small town to Nina but a town full of horror and tragic memories all surrounding Hawkins Lab, specifically Papa. She had to come when her sister Kali told her about Jane. She has to help.

Nina's first stop is the police station, well that was her only clue that Jane had mentioned to Kali about her policeman. Nina enters the station with a smile, her attempt at being on her best behaviour. She greeted by an older lady.

"Good morning mam." Nina greeted her with a smile. "What can I do for you sweetheart?" The lady replied but is interrupted by a tall man storming through the doors, a cigarette in his mouth almost looked like a chimney with the amount of smoke coming from him.

The lady grabs his cigarette out of his mouth quickly returning her attention to Nina. "Sorry hun, you were saying?". Nina gathered her thought and let out a sigh "I'm looking for the and officer who is a guardian of a young girl called Jane." As soon a jane's name came out of Nina's mouth the tall officer quickly turned toward her with a shock plastered on his face. He played it off replying to her in a very composed manner "why don't we talk in my office."

Nina followed him into his office. The officer grabbed another cigarette and offered one to her as well. After lighting both, he questions her "so what brings you to the station?".

"I'm looking for Jane." She restated.

"Jane who?" He asked her. Nina felt like she was running around a circle. He had to know who Jane is. His reaction to Jane's name spoke more his ignorant act.

"Look I saw your face when I said, Jane. So you either know her or you know what she can do. So let's not play dumb... chief hopper." She read his tag on his desk with attitude.

Hopper knows he can't continue the lie anymore. She could be from the lab coming for el "Who are you?" he questions her.

"My name is Nina." She states while raising her sleeve to show Hopper her tattoo, 009. Hopper studies her tattoo before letting out a sigh.

"So you're the same as el? You have powers?" He asks her. Nina gives him a nod, "not the exact same but yes I do have powers." Hopper takes a second to fully grasp everything that he is being told.

"Why exactly are you here in Hawkins?" Hopper's integration continues. "Look, part of my ability is that I get visions of the potential future. My most recent vision involved a shadow creature in Hawkins and el. Is wasn't good."

"Potential future?" He asked with a tone of curiosity. "My visions aren't always set. Different factors and choices can alter the future. That's why I'm here. To help. Hawkins is just the starting point for this thing, it gets a lot bigger, more than you can imagine."

"Meet me back here at the station at 2:30. You can meet El then." Hopper gets up and opens the door.

"I see you then."

Nina made her way outside the station. As she walks to her car she releases a sigh. That conversation was the most polite she had to be in a long time. Yes, that was her version of politeness, coming from a girl filled with attitude, wit and sassy. That is how she survived on her own so long.

Now she just has to wait till 2:30 to meet Eleven.

Nina decides to go grab a coffee at the diner she had passed earlier. She took a seat in the last booth order a black coffee and pulled out a book she started to read 'Firestarter' by Stephen King and killed time till 2:30.

2:30 came by quicker than Nina thought it would, she paid her bill and made her way back to the police station. Pulling into the parking lot she sees Hopper waiting by his car with a cigarette in his mouth.

Nina put on her fake smile and walked over to Hopper, who gave her another cigarette. "Do you have a place to stay?" He asked her. She hadn't thought that far ahead. "No, but I'll figure it out. A motel or something."

"You can stay with us. I'm sure when El meets you, she'll beg me to let you stay with us anyway. There will be some conditions but we can discuss them when we get home. You can follow my car and head there now." Hopper said with a friendly smile.

Nina nodded in response. She did not have enough money for a motel and was not looking forward to sleeping in her car. She walks back to her car and began to fall Hopper 'home'. She could help but smile at the word. She never had a place to call home and no one had ever gone out of their way to offer her a place. As soon as reality set in, Nina's smile instantly vanished; she knew it wouldn't last and she shouldn't get used to it.

Hopper pulled into a driveway of a dark blue two-story home. He got out of his car and made his way toward Nina, grabbing her bags and leading her into the home. I was a lot bigger than it looked from the outside, there were boxes in many of the rooms.

"Sorry about the mess, we just moved in and still working on unpacking." Hopper continues to lead Nina up the stairs and to a room that looked to be an unfinished office with a large coach. Hopper sets the bags down "we don't have a guest bedroom right now but this is a pullout couch, nothing fancy. I'll set it up later tonight. El's friends come over pretty often so I'm sure you will need your privacy."

"Thank you, Hopper." Nina mumbles.

"Come on, you can come with me to pick up El." We leave the house and hop into his car. The drive was silent until we arrive at a culdesac.

"This is El's friend's house, the Wheelers. They actually have a daughter around your age." Hopper tries to make small talk while he pulls up in front of a picture-perfect family house. The only thing that was missing was the white picket fence.

"Do you want to come in with me and meet all of her friends?" Hopper asks while facing Nina.

"Maybe I should meet El first before meeting the rest of the Scooby gang." Hopper lets out a laugh. " Yeah, you're right. I'll be right back." He said before leaving the car. The butterflies in Nina's stomach went wild.

After a couple minutes Hopper exits the house with a younger girl with short hair, as the two near the car Nina hops out to officially meet El.

"El this is Nina," said Hopper.

"Sister?" El asks while raising her sleeve showing her '011' tattoo. Nina does the same showing her '009' tattoo. "Yes, sister."

El jumps into Nina's arms giving her the biggest hug. With both girls smiling, all 3 of them get into the car "Let's go home" Hopper says through his smile.