Finding a Way Back Home - Mileven

Prologue

The relationship Jane "El" Hopper and Michael Wheeler had was never normal nor easy. From the very beginning it seemed utterly hopeless.

They went from fighting inter dimensional monsters to saying their very first I love you's at the worst of times. From overprotective parents to the stress of keeping a long distance relationship.

At times their issues caused arguments and made them say words they'd never want to repeat in a million years. At times they just wanted to love each other for eternity.

When Mike and El graduated high school, Mike proposed instantaneously. And on November 7th of 1989, exactly 6 years since they met, the pair were wed.

Everything was smooth sailing. Through buying their very own house on Maple Street together to going furniture shopping, they went through the trials of adulthood together.

Everything they did, they did it together. But sooner than later, their whirlwind of a relationship would become a tornado.

On May 23 of 1992, their daughter Sarah was born. They were absolutely in love with her. She was their baby.

One night, El entered the void in the night by accident,  as Mike cared for Sarah, who was now one year of age.

The things El saw frightened her to the core. She didn't want to believe the things she was witnessing.

Somehow, someway, Doctor Martin Brenner of Hawkins Lab (better known as El's papa) was alive, and his plans were set out blatantly.

"I've heard of subject Eleven having a child. What are we going to do, sir?" One of the men next to Brenner asked.

"Isn't that obvious? We can obviously track Eleven and her husband and child in some sort of way, and find a way to get the child." Brenner spoke, a misty fog running around him.

El shivered, pulling her hands into her wool sweater as cold air twirled around her legs. She continued to watch, seeing only Brenner and his few associates in the middle of the black, dark emptiness that was the void.

Her eyes were blown wide as she heard Brenner talk about her baby. He knew her by her name.

"We will get Sarah Eleanor Wheeler if it is the last thing I do." His voice was firm, it sent a shiver down El's spine.

Sarah Eleanor Wheeler.

Her baby. 

The next events happened in a frenzy. El leapt out of bed, her eyes filled with tears.

"Mike! We have a problem." Her voice was fast and frantic, trembly and panicked.

"Wh-what's going on? What happened?" Mike responded as he was putting Sarah back in her crib.

"He's alive. He's alive! What are we going to do?!" She sobbed as she spoke.

"Who-who's alive?"

"P-papa."

Mike's eyes widened. He tried to stay calm, holding El close to him stroking her hair as she continued to speak.

"I saw him in the void he's, he's coming for Sarah." Her voice had gone low.

That night, they didn't get any sleep. They sat in their living room they talked about their plan of action, and they knew the next move would be devastating.

El couldn't stay there. She could not stay with Sarah because if they found her and Sarah together that would be game over.

She'd go away for a little while. Just until it was safe enough. She'd stay in the abandoned cabin they had in the woods that once belonged to Hopper, and if things got really bad she'd go to Illinois and into hiding with her sister.

The first few weeks were more difficult than she would've thought. El was just destroyed over the fact that she couldn't be with Mike and their baby. She was heartbroken over it. But things soon worsened.

Mike had left Sarah with Max for the day, allowing him to work while she babysat.

He got home that day to the front door blown wide open, off of the hinges. The place was a mess. Electronics were open and the wires spread about the house.

It was horrific.

He knew that there was only one person, or really company behind said person that could've done this so quickly. That could've gotten in the house by blowing the door down without being questioned by authorities.

Hawkins Lab.

They weren't Hawkins Lab anymore. The Lab was shut down years earlier obviously, still, the power that came with Hawkins Lab associates was as strong as ever.

For the next few days, Mike dropped Sarah off at Max's. And when he left her home he saw the same man watching him in some sort of way.

The first time he was sitting at a park bench.

The second he was in a car.

The third he was right outside of the office where Mike worked.

The man was watching him.

Him and him alone. It was clear that it wasn't coincidental. This was completely on purpose.

Because he was Mike. Mike Wheeler. The boy who'd been involved with El from the beginning. The one of wasn't weary about her. The one who married her. The one who loved her.

From the beginning he was involved. From the beginning he was part of it and that he was when he realized that they couldn't keep Sarah safe if he was still with her. Because they would see them together. If they were together Sarah could be harmed.

It scared him to death that Sarah could be harmed because of him being with her. He loved his baby to death and the thought of being separated from her broke his heart.

But he would do anything if it would keep her and El safe.

The next few weeks went by at a quick pace. Which was opposite of what Mike wanted. Sarah kept growing, and within the next two weeks he'd be doing a lot of packing.

He was going into hiding with El, hoping to bring Sarah along with them. Not in Hawkins.

They'd leave Hawkins, and go away. They wanted to go to Illinois. They'd be close to Kali, but with some advice from Nancy and Jonathan (and Joyce) they knew where to go.

Murray Bauman was a journalist years in the past. After a while he just became a conspiracist who thought the government was out to get him.

They'd receive asylum with him. But they knew full well that someway or somehow they'd be continuously tracked if they didn't disappear off the map permanently.

It also did not help that they were sure Sarah was being tracked as well. But when they lost contact with her, for just a day as a test, they knew they should've stayed away.

Sarah was in absolutely no danger unless they were around.

After revealing this fact to everyone. The goodbye was even more heartbreaking.

Sarah was a year and four months old. They knew she wouldn't remember them in a few years.

They wept as they kissed her on the head before leaving. They left her with Nancy and Jonathan as they promised they'd protect her.

They got in the car. Scanning around the area to see if they were being watched. Knowing there were eyes everywhere in the day they didn't leave until the dead of night.

They didn't estimate that it'd be 12 years until they saw Sarah and their friends again.