Mileven One-Shots

Nightmares Pt. 2

El woke up in the morning still feeling exhausted, mentally and physically. She was a little chilly, so she changed into a pair of flannel pajama pants and slipped a pair of socks on, but kept Mike's shirt on.

She went downstairs with her teddy bear in her arms. Joyce and the boys were already around the table, having coffee and eggs.

"Morning honey," Joyce said. She got up and gave El a hug.

"What time is it?" El asked.

"It's about 10. Not too late," Joyce said. El nodded and glanced over at the phone. She was holding onto the bear tight and her anxiety was rising.

"Come on," Joyce said. She and El went to the other side of the kitchen and Joyce dialed the Wheeler's number. El felt her heart flutter as Joyce asked for Mike. After a second, Joyce passed the phone to El.

"Hello?" Mike said.

"Mike..." El whimpered. She was on the verge of tears already.

"Oh my god El..." Mike said. He was just as relieved to hear her voice as she was to hear his.

"Are you okay?" El asked.

"Yes of course. Why wouldn't I be? Is everything okay?" He asked. El got choked up and wiped tears from her face.

"No..." she choked out. She fell against the wall crying, her trembling hand struggling to keep ahold of the phone.

"El what's going on? Are you okay?" Mike was worried sick by the sound of her voice, and the fact that he wasn't able to be there to protect and comfort her.

"I'm not okay Mike..." El cried. Will and Jonathan were staring at her with a mixed look of confusion, sympathy, and irritation.

"What can I do? Please just tell me how I can help."

"I need you...the nightmares are bad...I'm always scared..." El's cries were turning into hiccuping sobs as she gripped a bunch of her hair with her free hand. Joyce ran over to catch El as she fell down sobbing and grabbed the phone.

"Mike, it's Joyce. We'll be there in two hours," Joyce said. She hung up the phone and cradled El, trying to calm her.

"Boys, go pack a bag and get the tent. We're gonna go stay with the Wheelers for a bit," she said. They both nodded and got up from the table to go to their rooms. Jonathan was super excited to see Nancy. And Will was excited for all the guys to be able to hang out again for a bit, even if Lucas and Mike both had girlfriends and the only reason they were really going was for El.

"Hey hey El, listen. We're going to go to the Wheeler's for a couple days. You're going to see Mike," Joyce said softly. She knew that El had a weak spot and an emotional attachment to Mike, so she couldn't say anything about how El needed him when she was at her most vulnerable and weak. He was her escape. She knew how it felt. El slowly stopped crying enough to get to her feet.

"Hey, go pack a bag okay? You're going to see him in a couple of hours, okay?" Joyce said. El nodded and went upstairs. She got dressed for the day and tossed some stuff in a backpack to take with her. They loaded up the car and took off down the road. El was practically bouncing with excitement. The closer they got to Hawkins, the more excited she was.

They pulled up in front of Mike's house and she could see Mike as he opened the door. Before the car even came to a stop she swing the door open and ran up the sidewalk and jumped into his arms, crying tears of both happiness and sadness. Mike held her against him so tight she thought she might explode, but at that moment, she didn't care. Karen, Ted, Holly, and Nancy materialized behind Mike and El, but when Nancy saw Jonathan they took off running into each other's arms too.

"I missed you so much," El cried into Mike's shoulder. Mike had a few tears on his face too.

"I missed you too," he said, hugging her tighter, if that were even possible. They pulled away and Mike crashed his lips to El's. The entire world around them ceased to exist as they kissed passionately for the first time in months.

•••••

They all sat around the table for dinner.

"So El, you can sleep in the extra bed in Nancy's room. Joyce, the sofa up here has a pull out bed you can sleep on. The sofa in the basement does too for the boys," Karen said.

"I think that'll work. We brought a tent though. We didn't want to intrude," Joyce said.

"Nonsense! We've missed you. It'll be nice for you to hang out for a couple of days," Karen said. Ted simply nodded in agreement, too busy eating his food. Karen rolled her eyes and went back to feeding Holly.

•••••

"Goodnight," El said to Mike. They were standing outside Nancy's bedroom door, wrapped in each other's arms. El kissed him deeply and Nancy chuckled.

"Okay okay. Mike go to bed," Nancy said. He groaned and looked back to El.

"I'll see you first thing in the morning," he said and kissed El one more time. She nodded and went into Nancy's room, climbing into the bed across from hers.

"Goodnight El," she said. El looked at her and smiled softly.

"Goodnight Nancy. Thanks for letting me stay in here," El said.

"Oh, it's no problem," she said. She flipped off the light and got settled under the covers, falling asleep almost instantly.