Crush Culture [M.Wheeler]

[35] I'D DO ANYTHING FOR FAMILY

"El." Nori runs up to the girl, wrapping her arms around her. Eleven smiles, hugging the girl back. "Is that.." Max asks in amazement.

Dustin and Lucas nod. Nori cries in joy onto Eleven's shoulder, not wanting to ever let the girl go. "I never gave up on you. I knew you were too much of a badass to die." She chuckles, a tear rolling down.

Eleven smiles. "Why didn't you tell us you were here? That you were alive?" Nori questions. "Because I wouldn't let her." Jim responds.

"The hell is this? Where you been?" He asks as Nori backs away from El, leaning into Mike's shoulder. "Where have you been?" Eleven responds.

Jim pulls her into an embrace, happy to have her back. "You've been hiding her. You've been hiding her this whole time!" Mike realizes, angrily shoving the man.

"Hey. Let's talk. Alone." Jim says, pulling him into another room. While you could hear them yell in the other room, Dustin and Lucas make their way over to their friend.

"We missed you." Lucas says as they are pulled into a group hug. "I missed you, too." El smiles. "We talked about you pretty much everyday." Dustin adds.

Eleven looks to Dustin, then furrows her eyebrows, reaching forward and reaching towards his mouth. "Teeth."

"What?" He asks in confusion. "You have teeth." She explains. Dustin smiles to Lucas and Nori, chuckling. "Oh. You like these pearls?" He purrs, causing Lucas and Nori's smiles to drop.

"Dustin, no." Nori shakes her head. Eleven then looks to Nori, who was oddly the exact same height as Dustin, which was unusual compared to the last time she saw the girl.

"You're taller." She notices. Nori grins, nodding. "Yeah, I can actually reach the middle shelf now." She jokes, leaning her elbow on Dustin's shoulder.

"No, you can't." Dustin denies. "Okay, well, a short middle shelf." She defends. "Eleven?" Max speaks up. "Hey. Um, I'm Max." She holds out her hand.

"I've heard a lot about you." Eleven ignores the girl, simply walking past her and joining beside Joyce.

"Don't take it personal. She'll warm up." Nori assures.

"You opened this gate before, right?" Joyce asks, drawing everyone's attention away. "Yes." Eleven nods. "Do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?"

***

"It's not like it was before. It's grown. A lot." Jim says as they all sit around the table. "And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs."

"Demo-dogs." Dustin corrects. "I'm sorry, what?" He questions. "I said, Uh, Demo-dogs. Like Demogorgon and dogs." He explains. "You put them together, it sounds pretty badass—"

"How is this important right now?" Jim cuts him off. "It's not. I'm sorry." He sighs. "I can do it." Eleven chimes in.

"You're not hearing me." Jim shakes his head. "I'm hearing you. I can do it." She repeats. "Even if El can, there's still another problem." Nori points out.

"If the brain dies, the body dies." She reminds. "I thought that was the whole point." Max responds. "It is, but if we're really right about this..." She trails off.