Could This Be Love...? {COMPLETE}

(part 10) 𝕃𝕒𝕕𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕤

Jonathan, Will, and El were snowball fighting, and Joyce and Hopper we're decorating because in a week, it would be the most joyful (and cold) time of year.. CHRISTMAS! Hopper had grown to accept Christmas, he had stopped celebrating it after Sara and usually spent his Christmases blacked out on the couch from popping pills and drinking to numb the pain. But over the past few years he had almost completely sobered up, only drinking a little glass of wine here and there with Joyce. His journey to sobering up was.. hilarious as Joyce would call it. When he was first starting to quit she would pick at him by pouring herself a glass of wine and drinking it in front of him. But he was a family man now. He had a perfect wife, and three kids now. He wanted to be the strong father figure they deserved, not a alcoholic blackout drunk. They deserved better than that and he loved them more than anything.

He and Joyce were hanging up Christmas lights on the house. Joyce was on the ladder, and he was handing her the lights. Joyce suddenly got a wave of nausea. "Hopper.." she groaned, "quick.., I'm gonna.." she fell off of the ladder. Hoppers heart dropped, and out of instinct he caught her, but the force of her falling onto him, though she was light as a feather, knocked him out and they fell into the snow. The kids saw Joyce fall and Hopper fall with her and rushed over to Hoppers side. Jonathan held his mom up and made sure she was okay while the kids tried waking Hopper up. "sonofabitch" El rambled, and Will's jaw dropped, he had never heard her curse before. El started lightly smacking Hopper "dad! dad! dad! Get up! Please..," she cried. She allowed herself to fall off of her knees and bury her face onto his chest and cried. El didn't know that was wrong and that Hopper would be okay because she didn't know what "knocked out" meant. "please.." she cried, slightly muffled from her sniffles. She suddenly felt someone playing with her hair, so she looked up to see Hopper smiling at her and twirling her hair around his finger. "What's wrong El?" Hopper confusingly asked, not knowing exactly why she was sobbing. "I..I.. you.. went to sleep.. I thought you were hurt.." she managed to get out while collecting herself. "You won't lose me that easily" Hopper chuckled and ruffled her hair. Will gave him a hand to get up and he stood and quickly walked over to Joyce and gave her a bear hug. "you okay Joycie?" Hopper said, concerned. "I just need to lay down.." Joyce slurred her words. Hopper picked her up bridal style and walked to the front door, only stopping to tell the kids it would be okay and to just continue playing.

He carried her inside and laid her on the couch, covering her with two or three blankets to warm her up. He curled up beside her and cuddled her. She was curled up against his chest, and their foreheads were together. They both fell sound asleep holding eachother. An hour later the kids walked inside the house to find it relatively quiet besides for Hoppers subtle snoring. They peaked into the living room to see the two love birds cuddled up. Jonathan smiled seeing how peaceful and happy his mother was with Hopper. He knew that she would be okay when he went off to college. El and Will stumbled into their rooms, almost ready to pass out. And Jonathan went and tucked Hopper and Joyce in. "Night mom, Night dad" Jonathan whispered, kind of hoping nobody could hear him. But Hopper did. Hopper grinned like an idiot and silently mouthed "YES!" Trying his hardest not to disturb Joyce's sleep. He curled back up beside her, and fell asleep with a big smile on his face.

The light peering through the living room windows made Joyce stirr in her sleep, she quickly awoke and yawned. She saw Hop, still sound asleep, smiling in his sleep. He could hear his heart beat and how slow and peaceful his breathing was. "I wonder what he's dreaming about" Joyce thought to herself. Though Hopper hadn't had a dream that made him smile all night. She snuggled up to him and buried her face into the Crook of his neck, falling back asleep. Hopper awoke 30 minutes later, he gave Joyce a kiss on the nose with stirred her awake and then he started cooking breakfast. While cooking he found a note on the fridge "We will be home this afternoon. Spending the day at the wheelers. Love, Jon and the kids <3" Hopper smiled at the note and continued cooking. He put the bacon and eggs on two plates and then put them on the coffee table in-front of the couch. He poured some coffee and handed Joyce a cup while she slowly but surely made her way out of her sleepy daze.  They ate breakfast and watched an episode of Magnum P.I Joyce and Hopper decided to clean the house. She worked on the downstairs and he cleaned the upstairs, often leaving eachother little notes to joke around. They had a dance party in the kitchen and by 8pm they passed out watching a romantic comedy, which Hopper had disagreed too at first but soon got even more hooked than Joyce. They cuddled up in the bed and Fell asleep watching the stars from the window.

A/N: Heyyy! I'm so sorry that this one is shorter than normal. I'm preparing for a really good chapter and I don't wanna make this chapter too extra because I'm gonna spend a lot of time on the following chapter. <3 I hope everyone is staying safe and staying healthy. I love y'all!