Mileven One-Shots

Nightmares

"Nooooooo!" El screamed, sitting up. She tossed her covers off, gasping for air and crying. Within a minute her bedroom door was opening and Joyce was there, flipping on the light then sitting on the edge of her bed, with Will and Jonathan in the doorway.

"Eleven! It's okay it's okay! You're safe! Hey, look, you're safe!" Joyce said, holding onto El's cheeks. El finally looked at her with wide eyes, tears pouring down her face.

"Joyce..." she cried. El started sobbing again and Joyce pulled her into a hug.

"It's alright honey. It's alright," she said, trying to sooth her. El couldn't stop having nightmares about Hopper's death, the mind flayer, Mike, and what happened to Billy. It had become nearly an every night thing, her waking screaming. But something about that's night was particularly frightening and El couldn't stop panicking.

"Boys go back to your rooms," Joyce ordered, still trying to calm El.

"Mike..." El mumbled, tears still pouring down her cheeks.

"What? What's wrong honey?" Joyce asked. She continued to mumble stuff, and Joyce couldn't make out what she was saying.

"Hey, Eleven, look at me. Why don't you go take a quick shower and I'll get you some tea or something and you can tell me about it, okay?" Joyce said. El nodded, still trying to regain control of her breathing. Joyce nodded with her to get her to focus. She got up and grabbed El a pair of pajamas from her dresser and started the shower for her.

"I'll be in the kitchen when you're ready," Joyce said. El nodded and Joyce shut the door gently. El climbed in the shower and put her head directly under the water, letting the stream simply fall down her body until the hot water ran out. She got out and put on her clean pajamas and dried her hair until it wasn't dripping anymore. She looked at herself in the mirror and almost cried again as she saw her condition. Dark circles under her eyes from night after night of interrupted sleep. Red eyes and puffy cheeks from tears. Her fingernails were cut short so she couldn't claw her scalp when she awoke screaming from nightmares. She sighed and went down the stairs to the kitchen. Joyce smiled at her sympathetically and put a coffee mug in front of her.

"It's got vanilla and honey, with a little bit of chamomile," Joyce said, sitting next to her at the table with her own mug. El put her hands on the mug and took in the warmth. She realized she was trembling as she held the cup to her lips, taking a sip.

"What's going on honey?" Joyce asked.

"It was rough tonight," El choked out. Her voice was raw and scratchy from screaming

"Want to tell me about it?" Joyce asked. She knew how to talk to El about her nightmares without making her panic; she'd become accustomed to it since she lived with them. She didn't mind though. She knew El had a troubled past and had a lot of trauma because of it.

"I...It was Mike...you know how the mind flayer would have a host? Like first it was Will and then Billy? Well this time it was Mike. I had to fight him. I had to...I had to kill him. And to see him...to see him like that..." El choked up, wanting to curl up and sob again. Joyce put her hand over El's softly. El was having an especially hard time with that nightmare. It was a nightmarish combination of that monster from her past that nearly killed her, made her lose her powers, and hurt her family and friends; as well losing the person she loves the most.

"The mind flayer is gone honey. It can't hurt you, or Mike, or Will, or any of us anymore. Mike is totally fine. I promise you he's okay. How about we call over there in the morning? Karen can put him on the phone. How does that sound?" Joyce said. El absolutely loved having Joyce in her life. Joyce was the mother figure she never had.

El nodded and tightened her grip on her mug.

"I really miss him," she said softly. It'd been over three months since she'd seen him. Since the move, it'd been really hard to find time to get together, especially since they moved almost two hours away.

"I know. We'll work on getting you two together as soon as possible," Joyce said.

"Promise?" El asked.

"I promise," Joyce said. El nodded and the two sat in silence together for a bit.

"Joyce?" El said.

"Yea?" Joyce asked.

"Thank you for taking me in. For being patient with me. I know I'm a handful," El said.

"It's okay. I love having you here. And it isn't anything that I can't handle. Besides, I always wanted a daughter," Joyce said and winked. El giggled and she finished her tea. She felt her eyelids getting heavy and Joyce laughed.

"Let's get you back to bed," Joyce said. El nodded and they went upstairs. Joyce tucked her in to her bed like a toddler.

"Sweet dreams...about Mike," Joyce teased as she turned off the light. She left the room, leaving the door open 3 inches. El got up and went to her closet, grabbing the t-shirt that she took from Mike. She took off her current top and put it on. She climbed back in to bed and hugged the bear close to her that Mike had won her at the county fair. She closed her eyes and tried to picture good things-memories of him that made her smile. Eventually she drifted back to sleep, the memory of Mike's lips on hers in her mind.