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

A glimmer of hope

Hopper rolled over, disturbed by the incessant ringing coming from the phone, "alright, alright" he grumbled, trying to get his bearings. His flailing hand finally came into contact with the handset and he picked it up, "Hopper" he stated.

"Jim, it's Leo, there's been a...a change, I think you'd better get over here."

"What is it?" he asked, now sat bolt upright and scanning the room for his clothes.

"I think it's best you come to the hospital" was the reply.

"I'll be there in an hour" he said, slamming the handset down.

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

"So?" Hopper said upon seeing Leo, not bothering with social niceties.

"Come with me" he said cryptically. Hopper followed the well-trodden path through the hospital to the secure wing, currently guarded by a sleepy looking Callahan.

"Go home, Cal" Hopper said, "get some sleep, then normal duties later, ok?" The deputy nodded and walked back down the corridor.

"This way Chief, here" Leo directed.

Hopper looked through the window into Eleven's room where she was sat at the table just staring at the wall. "So...what am I meant to be looking at?"

"She has stopped responding to any of us" Leo said, "she does as she's told but it's like someone has just flipped a switch in her head...there's nothing."

Hopper shook his head slightly, watching as a nurse tried to get Eleven to eat. Like a child, the nurse had to feed her, telling her exactly what to do with every forkful of food. He couldn't help but think of her mother, Terry Ives, sitting unresponsive in that chair, her mind ruined.

"What happened?" Hopper asked, his jaw clenching at the disturbing memory.

Leo closed his eyes and sighed loudly, "we needed to do another blood test and she was...reluctant..."

Hopper just knew he was going to say something unpleasant, "and?"

"She didn't really want to, and we had a locum as one of our staff was ill, and he..."

"He what?" asked Hopper through gritted teeth, hating that his instinct was correct.

"He grabbed her and pinned her down" Leo said looking down regretfully with his eyes closed, "he thought that because El's in a secure room that she's just some mental patient that needed restraining." He gulped, clearly ruing everything that happened, "I was so conscious of not telling any more people about her...but I...I just didn't think that would happen."

Hopper sighed loudly and shook his head. He understood exactly what Leo was saying, the amount of times he'd reiterated how important the need to know knowledge was, and most people didn't need to know, for her safety as well as their own. "It's not your fault, Leo, you couldn't have known what would happen" he said, putting his hand on his shoulder and trying to reassure the slightly broken looking doctor. "So, what did she do?"

"That's the thing" Leo said, "she didn't do anything, she just let it happen, and when he left the room and told me what happened I raced over there. She was sat under the table facing the corner and just...staring."

"And she's been like that since?"

Leo nodded, still staring at El. "I asked her to get up and she did, then I said sit down and...she did, but I realized it was all pretty robotic. She wouldn't look me in the eye, so when I told her to look at me she did" he looked at Hopper uneasily, "it was like there was nothing there behind her eyes." He gulped again and looked down, "I'm sorry Hop" he added, shaking his head.