Mileven Stories

Thinking of a Place (1998)

Attempted to channel my inner angst queen here, (you know who you are, angst queen), and failed because I thrive off of fluff. So, prepare yourselves for some emotion, (followed by lots of fluffy goodness as per usual).
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Waking up on the wrong side of the bed was an understatement for how El felt the morning of July 4th, 1998. She had tossed and turned all night, finally giving up on falling back asleep sometime around five in the morning.

Two hours after she had woken, she could not shake the feeling of anxiety that coated her skin. She did not want to overthink anything, so she settled on assuming that she felt this way due to how far along in her pregnancy she was.

Being eight months pregnant during the summer's relentless heat felt unbearable. The only relief she found comfort in anymore was when she was holed up in her bedroom, which thanks to Mike, now had its own air conditioning unit.

Another half hour of her staring at the ceiling had ticked by when she suddenly felt the body beside her stir. She first saw two long arms searching beneath the bedsheets until they successfully found her form. Then she watched as a head of raven colored curls swished closer to her side before disappearing out of sight. The last thing she took note of was a pair of lips kissing their way up her stomach until they reached the slope of her neck.

"Good morning, love. Bad night of sleep?" Mike groggily spoke against her exposed collarbone.

Eleven sighed in effort of exhaling out all the exhaustion she was carrying, "yeah, but it's okay. I'll get better rest tonight."

Mike did not believe her for a moment. He knew she was only saying that to put up a strong front for him. He laid a hand on top of the swollen bump between her hips, seeking the vague flutters that their little boy had to offer.

"Maybe we should stay home for the day and relax. You need to rest more and I can take care of you," he spoke into the crook of her neck.

She quickly shook her head, "no, no. Today's been planned for a long time and I know it would let everyone down. I can rest tonight."

Mike bit back his worries, "okay. Then we'll go to the parade as planned, but only for two hours. We can watch fireworks here so that you're comfortable."

El furrowed her brows, ready to deny his lamely polished plan, "no, two hours isn't enough. You know the fireworks will look better there. What about W—"

Her sentence was soon interrupted by a third body that had crept so quietly into the room that her presence went unknown until she found herself snugly pressed to her mother's side.

"Mommy!" Willow squealed, clutching tightly to her mom's arm.

El grinned and placed a kiss on her daughter's mop of curls, "good morning, sweetie. Are you excited for the parade?"

She could feel her daughter's head rapidly moving up and down as her toddler sized form exuded pure joy. Willow was edging age three now and her parents were fascinated by how quickly she had grown. Not just size wise, but her cognitive development had sky rocketed. She was absolutely brilliant.

"Mama, ice cream will be there?" the little girl sternly asked.

"Yes, ice cream will be there. As long as you remember to stay by mommy and daddy or grandpa and grandma the whole time, then you'll get rewarded with ice cream. Understand?" El pressed, wanting the assure her daughter took safety seriously.

Once again, the ringlet curls went flying as she nodded enthusiastically, "yep! Grandpa told me he was going to put me in the sky for the parade."

While her wording made El mildly confused, she chose to assume that what her daughter had meant was that Hopper was going to raise her up highly on his shoulders to assure she had the best view.