Now or Never (a Jopper fanfic)

Insomnia

Jim

Hopper sped his way to the Wheeler's from Joyce's to get Jane. What was I thinking, letting her go out, practically every one of those snot factories has been sick and now my little girl. Hopper thought as he carried a cold and clammy Jane to his blazer. She didn't say much of anything the whole way home, just moans and groans of fatigue. Hopper didn't know if it was because of her period or sickness, but either way he felt helpless.

Hopper despised feeling helpless, he was a man, better yet, the Chief of police. He was supposed to be helpful, to know what was right, and kick anyone or anything's ass that got in the way. Sickness though, that thing that takes so many lives, including his mom and Sara's, Hopper hadn't quite figured out how to destroy that yet. I can't think about that now. He tried to put all his feelings of helplessness aside as he carried Jane to the cabin. There was nothing you could do about Sara's cancer, but you can do something for Jane's flu. He hated thinking that way, but that was reality.

“Here you go sweetheart, all nice and toasty in bed," Hopper confirmed, after putting three quilts on top of her and turned the space heater on. Jane smiled and tried to say thank you, but was too weak to say much of anything. “You're welcome kid. I'm gonna go get a couple more things for the room, I'll be right back.” Hopper grabbed a pan, in case Jane needed to throw up, a thermometer, pain reliever, cough medicine, and a pen and paper. “Anything else you need?" Hopper asked, when he set all the stuff down. She shook her head no and was a little confused when he put his hand to her head. “I'm just seeing how hot you are, when you're sick like this sometimes you run a fever. That's when you're body temperature goes up and if it gets too high you have to go to the doctor.” Jane nodded, she really didn't care for doctors, they looked too much like the bad men , but she trusted Hopper so she just nodded her head and shut her eyes. “Okay I'll let you sleep now, good night kid," Hopper said. Quietly he kissed her head, shut off the lights, left the door open just a crack, and walked out.

Hopper didn't know what to do now. Jane had never been sick like this before. He thought about just going to bed, but that seemed selfish and too similar to abandonment. Grabbing a beer from the fridge, he sat on the couch cushion right next to Jane's room. Reaching several times for the remote, but never really picking it up.

Joyce

If you need anything call. That had been her parting words to Hopper, much like he did when her life was in turmoil. Joyce knew that he was a good father, hell a great one! Compared to Lonnie, her own, and a couple of others she had experience with. However, just uttering the word sick made Hopper uneasy and took him back to a time he would rather forget. When Will was in the hospital, recovering from that place , Hopper kind of disappeared from their lives until Will was out. He wouldn't check-out on Jane though, would he? Questions like that kept entering Joyce's mind as she sat near the phone, biting her nails, waiting for it to ring. Until…

“Mom, I'm home!" an out of breath Will called, as he entered the house. Joyce jumped, almost hoping Hopper had come back. “Jesus Will! You scared me!" she yelled. “Sorry mom, but you said it was ok for us to ride our bikes to Mike's and..." Will explained, worried that he was in trouble. “No, no it's ok baby, I just wasn't expecting you." Joyce was embarrassed and ashamed,, when she realized that she was expecting her boyfriend to come through the door rather than her son. “Oh." Will trailed off then asked, “Are you and Hopper dating?" Joyce paused, taken by her son's bluntness. Were they dating? She figured it was best to be honest. “We're trying to, tonight we were going to tell you and Jane,” Joyce explained, paused, and asked, "Are you ok with this?” "Yeah, totally! Jane's already like my sister and you and Hopper are happier when you're together.” Wasn't that the truth? After Bob's death, Hopper was the only one who could put a smile on her face and in turn that made him smile.

Jim

The darkness of the night crept into the cabin, but Hopper was still wide awake checking on Jane, a little more than he should. She never ran a fever or gained any other symptoms, but he could sense them coming. Because that's what happened in Hopper's life, when it rained it poured no matter what. Damn! He thought, as another tear fell from his eyes. His emotions were starting to get the best of him. Before when he got this way, he would get a vice to make him forget, but in the first week of finding Jane, he quit all his self-destructiveness and focused on being a good man again. Hopper then thought about the nights he stayed in Sara's hospital room before he shut himself down to the world. On those nights Hopper would call his place, even though he knew Diane was sleeping, and just listen to her voice on the answering machine, or if he was lucky she would actually answer and talk to him for a little while. Damn! Another fucking tear! Hopper looked over at the phone, thought about taking Joyce up on her offer, then looked over at the fridge and thought about having another beer.

In the end he did neither, both options made him sound weak and weakness was another thing he despised. Eventually, sleep overtook him and he didn't wake up until his alarm sounded.

Joyce

Joyce didn't get that much sleep either, worrying about Hopper and Jane. She trusted Hopper to know what to do and to call when he didn't, but she wanted to be there to put a comforting hand on the two, tell them it was going to be ok, like they both had done to her.

Joyce lost count of how many times she grabbed the phone or keys. She wanted to, no she needed to know, but Joyce was first and foremost a mom who had a son to take care of on her own, it just wasn't right to leave him. I will call tomorrow. Joyce thought and not long after sleep overtook her as well.