Could This Be Love...? {COMPLETE}

(part 6) Home

December 20th, 1987, For the past week, every morning at a similar time, Joyce has been vomiting. She hoped Hop didn't notice but he noticed everything. She looked up from the toilet to see Hopper standing at the door holding a pregnancy test for her. "You wanna take this to see if you're going to share your germs with me or add another munchkin to our family?" he said, smirking. He was excited to see the results, as he was okay with anything that happened as long as Joyce was happy. So she silently nodded, smiled, and took the test. "there's a 5 minute wait time on this one..." Joyce whispered after taking it. "then let's start baking some cookies" Hopper offered, smiling, trying to refrain from screaming of joy that there may be a possible baby. "You go ahead... I want to think for a minute Hop." Joyce smiled back at him as he nodded and leaned in to give her a soft kiss on the lips. He soon walked into the kitchen, leaving Joyce sitting on the edge of the tub, flashing through memories...

July 4th, 1962...  "There is no way we are swimming in that pool Hop! It's too cold! and what if we get caught??" Joyce argued "Oh come onnnnnn," Hopper said while slowly stripping "it will be fun!". Joyce bit her lip at the sight of him slowly unbuttoning his shirt. "fine" she smirked.  She took off her shirt and skirt, keeping eye contact with Hopper the entire time. "You gonna gawk at me all night or are you gonna jump in?" Joyce half-joked. He then walked up beside her, started kissing her, and sliding his hands to her waist to bring her closer to him, then with one swift movement made by Hopper and SPLASH, Joyce was thrown into the pool. "Hopper..." she growled, as Jim was trying to contain his laughter. He wasn't paying attention and suddenly something snatched at his hand, causing him to fall into  the pool. "that's revenge you jerk." Joyce laughed as he reemerged from the water. She floated over to him and slid one finger down his chest, slowly, and pulled at the hem of his pants causing him to gulp. Instead of going any farther she just poked at his stomach and laughed, causing him to sigh and say "good one Horowitz." while pulling her in for a kiss. The fireworks in the distance started, making them stop and admire them, so they sat in the water, hands intertwined watching the beautiful scene unfold in front of them.

beeeeeeeeeeep beeeeeeeeeeep beeeeeeeeeeep! the timer on the test beeped, bringing Joyce back to reality, smiling, she waited for Hop to walk into the room. "1.... 2......3...." they said together, quickly flipping the test. two lines... positive.. yes! it's positive, Joyce thought to herself.  They looked up at each other smiling. "I love you Joycie".. "I love you Hop.." 

A week later during Christmas dinner, they finally brought up the courage to tell people in a funny way. They sat down for dinner with all of their friends and family, Hopper had a beer and took out a bottle of wine, which he handed to Karen. As she went to fill up Joyce's cup on cue she said, "no thank you, Karen. I can't have wine until September." Joyce said calmly, smiling as the rest of the table sat in silence to figure out why. "September is 9 months away from now Mrs. Hopper..., are you sure you can wait that long..? I know you like to drink- OH MY GOD NINE MONTHS! YOUR PREGNANT OHMYGODOHMYGODHOLYSHIT" Dustin shouted as Joyce gave a confirming nod. Then the rest of the table flipped out and started debating the gender. Karen gave Joyce a big hug and Steve gave Hopper a high five and said "good job man! that must have been fu- OUCHH" Joyce hit his side. "I.. I meant.. ITS GONNA BE FUN ADDING ANOTHER BABY!" Steve saved himself while chuckling. El got up and whispered to Joyce "what.. does... pregnant mean..?", "It means that there's a baby in my tummy El, and it grows and in 9 months it will be born and you'll have a new sibling" Joyce explained, trying to simplify it so it wouldn't confuse her much. " "Woah.." El smiled, and curiously gave Joyce's stomach a quick pat, fascinated with the fact that there was a human inside. The group continued their dinner, and the kids stayed over for a sleepover at Karen's, and Hopper and Joyce headed home. Joyce tried to carry her gift from Karen inside and Hop instantly said: "nononononononononononono that's my job now princess". "It's just a box babe I've been pregnant before" Joyce chuckled. "I know, but I don't want you to get hurt," Hop explained. "the box weighs literally like.. 2 pounds honey," Joyce complained. "That's 2 pounds too much" Hopper laughed, holding Joyce's hand as they walked inside.

5 months later.. "HOPPER! HOLY- COME HERE!" Joyce screamed from the bathroom with an obvious tone of distress from her voice. Hopper's heart started beating rapidly as he made a bee-line to the bathroom, almost on the verge of tears, he ran into the bathroom to see blood.. and LOTS OF IT, dripping down Joyce's leg. Joyce looked TERRIFIED and Hopper froze, his heart dropped, unable to form words. He quickly grabbed a pad and gave it to Joyce, she put it on, sobbing and after she had pulled up her pants he picked her up, reassuring that it would be okay, even though he himself didn't even know if it would be okay. He kissed the top of her head to ease her sobs, carried her to the green pinto, and sat her in the passengers' seat. He gently cupped her face with his hand and wiped her tears with the other, then gave her a slight kiss on the nose. He shut the door and ran to the drivers' side, still rushing on adrenaline, he pulled out of the driveway with a quick skid of the tires and started speeding to the hospital. "are we going to lose the baby?" Hopper thought to himself, on the verge of panic mode. They pulled into the emergency parking side of the hospital parking lot, not giving two shits about his parking, he jumped out of the vehicle and took Joyce out, letting her slowly walk beside him this time. He held onto her with one arm as they walked as fast as they could to the emergency room. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Hopper... I see you guys reported some possible menstrual bleeding today?" the doctor said as he entered the room. Joyce just quickly nodded and Hopper reassuringly squeezed her hand. "Well.. after a few scans I am glad to tell you that it's not a miscarriage, just a rare case of bleeding. It shouldn't happen again." the doctor said while smiling. "oh thank god," the couple said in unison, smiling at the doctor. "Have a great day! and if this occurs again, give us another visit." the doctor said in a calm tone. "Thank you" Joyce smiled on their way out of the hospital. Before she could get into the car, Hopper grabbed her arm and wrapped her up into a cozy, warm hug, that felt like "home" as she would describe it, he softly kissed her and she smiled up at him, then got into the vehicle. They rode back in silence until the silence was broken. "You know how people say "home" is a place, Hop..?" Joyce questioned, quietly. "yes.. why?" Hopper confusingly answered, not exactly knowing where she was going with this. "Have you ever thought that home could be a person.. a person that completes you?.." Joyce whispered, a smile tugging at the edge of her lips. Hopper nodded, trying to think about what she was saying. "You're my home Hop," she whispered, almost inaudibly as she leaned to lay her head on his shoulder. "You're my home to Joyce" he whispered, giving her a kiss on the top of her head. As they continued to ride home in silence, just enjoying the lovely company of each other. Home.