Hawkins Oneshots

September 1985

*WARNING: SPOILERS FOR SEASON 3*

"Hey, El?"

Will shyly peered into his mother's bedroom, where Joyce had set up a mattress for El to sleep on for the few months they were still in Hawkins. 

El was sitting on the edge of her mattress, sniffling and wiping at her nose. Her fingers caressed a small, light blue hairband. She glanced over her shoulder at the doorway.

"Yes?" she replied quietly.

Will hesitated. So many times since they'd taken her in he'd found her like this. It seemed like she usually tried to be strong and suppress her mourning when Joyce was around. They were both going through so much since the loss of Hopper, and maybe El was trying not to burden Joyce with her emotions as well. But when Joyce was gone, El would periodically seclude herself and let the tears flow freely. 

"Hey, um, I...I wanted to know if maybe you'd want to watch a movie with me? Everyone else is busy tonight so I don't really have anything else to do. Lucas says he has homework, but I think he's just making an excuse to spend alone time with Max."

El chuckled a little.

"And, uh, Mike told me his mom is taking him shopping for new school clothes. He really wanted to come over but his mom won't let him."

"Dustin?" El asked.

"Oh, uh, he also said he had a lot of homework but I think he's just busy talking to Suzie again," Will said, rolling his eyes. 

"And you...don't have homework?" El asked. 

"No, not really." Will might have been lying a little, but he felt bad for El and didn't want her to be alone. It was a Friday night, after all. Before Jonathan had a girlfriend, they always used to have movie nights on Fridays. Things had just changed a lot. Jonathan was constantly out with Nancy now, especially since they were moving away so soon. Joyce didn't continue movie nights with Will after October of that last year, and he never questioned it because he suspected it reminded her of Bob. Will accepted that things were different, but it didn't mean that he didn't still miss it. 

El slowly began to smile. She stood up. "Yeah, let's watch a movie." 

Will smiled, happy to see that he could distract her from her sadness. "Awesome! What movie do you want to watch? Sorry I didn't think of asking Mom or Jonathan to get anything from the video store, but we have a few movies here at home." 

"What movies do you have?" 

El followed Will into the living room where he started to show her their modest collection of videocassettes. They finally settled on watching Indiana Jones. 

El seemed intrigued and distracted from her mourning for a while, and Will did his best to engage her in the movie. But when Indiana Jones started heroically climbing through tunnels, fighting off monsters and bad guys, and saving people, both Will and El were reminded of Hopper. Indiana Jones was a fictional hero. Hopper had been a real, loving, protective, strong, brave hero. One that none of them could ever forget. 

Will realized that the heroic adventures they were watching on-screen may have translated to a distinctly emotional connection in El's mind when he noticed her staring, not at the T.V., but instead down at the blue hairband in her fingers again. He noticed her blinking back tears as she played with it. 

"El?"

"Yeah," she said delicately, as if suppressing sobs. 

He was considering asking her if she was ok, but that was a dumb question. He knew the answer. Instead, he noticed the blue hairband she held. 

"What's that?" Will asked, looking at the hair tie in her fingers.

"This?" El asked, holding it out towards him. 

"Yeah. You always seem to have it with you."

"Hopper. Dad. He gave it to me," she told Will, very softly. 

"Oh." Will didn't know what else to say. 

They both paused in silence. Will glanced back at the T.V., but now he was really more intrigued to hear from El than to watch the movie. 

She finally decided to explain. "This was Hopper's daughter's. He gave it to me and told me I could keep it. She used to wear it."

Will's eyes widened. "Hopper has a daughter?"

"Yeah. But...had a daughter. She's..." El hesitated. 

"She's what?" Will gazed curiously at her.

"...gone." El pursed her lips, gazing at the hairband. 

"Oh. Like, gone gone?" 

"Gone. Dad was very sad when he told me." El took a deep breath. When she released, she was blinking more furiously. 

"Gone. Like he's gone now." She started to choke back sobs. 

Will glanced nervously at the T.V., then quickly grabbed the remote and turned it off. 

"Hey, hey. It's ok. It's ok. I miss him a lot too. And so does Mom. Hopper was...a hero. Just like Bob. And everyone else. It really, really sucks sometimes, I know, but sometimes people have to go because they...they..." Will didn't know what he was saying. There was nothing he could do to comfort her. 

El looked at him, tears in her eyes. Her look was loving, appreciative, even despite his inability to really make anything better. 

Will did the only thing he could think of. He reached his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a big hug. Even with his small frame, he held her tight, trying to convey as much love and comfort as he could in the embrace. 

"...because those people really, really love us. Hopper cared about all of us so much..." Will trailed off, choking back sobs himself now. He was just coming to realize how much Hopper, and Bob, and so many others had sacrificed for him, his family, for El, for all of them. "...he cared about us so much that he knew he had to this. When it came down to it, he chose to save us instead of worrying about himself. And that's a what makes a true hero. A real hero."

Will pulled out of the embrace, looking El in the eyes. "Real heroes aren't the ones like Indiana Jones who get themselves out of trouble and save everyone and make everything perfect in the end. Real heroes are people like Hopper, who know that no matter what, no matter how bad it gets, they will always put the people they love first and make sure they're ok. Your dad saved all of us, more than once actually. And I think he would want us to remember that. Not to be sad because we're here and he's not. But to be happy because he sacrificed himself so that we can be here, together. Safe and happy and living like normal again." 

El slowly nodded up and down. "Yes. You're right. He loved us. He loved us." She sniffled. 

Will offered a weak smile.

Then El surprised him by lunging forward to hug him tight again. "And I love you. You and Joyce and Jonathan. Thank you for being my family. Thank you."

Will blinked back more tears, though this time of a more sweet sort of happiness and gratitude. "And we love you too El. We love you lots."