Hawkins was the perfect place for her; she had the idyllic life - not quite routine, but she was fine with that. Just enough happened in the small town for her to write her weekly journalism columns and normality was certain.
Until a certain chain o...
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ELEVEN AND MIKE COLLIDED IN AN EMOTIONAL HUG THAT MADE SHAY'S HEART ACHE. She'd heard stories, mainly from Nancy, about how upset the boy had been after Eleven's "death" and her theory that he just had a crush that he didn't want to talk about. The joyous moment turned into another tension-builder, however, as Hopper revealed that he'd been keeping Eleven's survival a secret from Mike and pulled the boy into another room to talk about it.
Shay made a point to look out of the window and keep herself busy as Eleven had her reunions with the other boys and Joyce. The other teenagers dispersed and made a point to do the same until they were needed so as to not feel so awkward just standing around. It wasn't until Joyce came back with Hopper that Shay allowed her mind to focus back in on the situation at hand, albeit reluctantly. The brief moment of mindlessness did wonders for her sanity just then.
Their group made camp in the kitchen again to discuss the plan. Shay made herself comfortable in the space between Steve and Max, who was propped up against the kitchen table with a more serious look than she'd had since Shay had met the girl. Hopper and Eleven were going to close the gate, but the man rightfully wanted to give the telekinetic girl a better rundown of the situation before they rushed headfirst into the fire. He must have really bonded with her in the time that he'd spent taking care of her.
The police chief sighed, "It's not like it was before. It's grown. A lot. And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs."
"Demo-dogs." Dustin spoke up. The rest of the table seemed to collectively roll there eyes about this topic again.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I said, uh, Demo-dogs. Like Demogorgon and dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass-"
Hopper kept a deadpan stare aimed right at Dustin. "How is this important right now?"
"It's not. I'm sorry."
"I can do it." Eleven looked up from across the table at Hopper, a confident expression on her face. Her makeover didn't really suit her personality, but damn did it make her look cool.
"You're not hearing me."
"I'm hearing you. I can do it."
Before that could lead to a full-blown argument between father-figure and child, Mike spoke up from beside Hopper, "Even if El can, there's still another problem. If the brain dies, the body dies."
"I thought that was the whole point." Max chimed in.
"It is, but if we're really right about this... I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayer's army..."
