Not Just Another Number

Crap, He's Here

Sarah's POV

"Eleven."

"Mike." Mike and Eleven slowly walk towards each other, embracing one another once they meet. El cries a little as she holds him tight. "I never gave up on you." Mike says. "I called you, every night for-" El pulls away from the hug to look at him. "353 days." She laughs. Wait a minute. El, you weren't supposed to let him know.

"Why didn't you tell me you were there?" He asks, voice a little heartbroken. I look down, guilt overtaking me. I step forward, reaching out to them. "Mike, about that-" I try to explain, but before I can start, Hopper interrupts me. "Because I wouldn't let her." I look from him to Mike. Mike moves away from Hopper, staring at him shocked.

Hopper walks up to El. "Where have you been?"

"Where have you been?" El counters. They embrace. I smile a little and walk up to them. El looks at me from inside Hopper's arms. "Don't think you're not giving me a hug, kid." She smiles and hugs me too. I run my hand through her gelled hair, messing it up, but she doesn't mind.

"You've been hiding her." Mike says, making us separate. I lose my smile and look down at El's head, not wanting to see the pure hurt and anger on his face. Mike begins to lash out on Hopper, hitting his arm. Hopper stops him, grabbing his arm before he could hit him again. "Let's talk." He directs Mike down the hall, leaving the rest of us in the living room.

I squeeze El a little tighter as I look at her face. "Who the hell did your make up? It looks good. Looks pretty."

"Pretty bitchin'." My eyes widen a little at her language. I laugh, brushing it off, and mess up her hair even more. "Yeah, pretty bitchin' I guess." I let go of her so she could reunite with the rest of them. I wipe at my eye a little, wiping away happy tears.

In the corner of my eye, I can see Steve walking up to me. I roll my eyes and put one hand out. "Before you even ask, I'm fine." He laughs and puts his hands up. "I wasn't even gonna ask that."

"Yeah right, that's all you've been asking me the entire night. I'm just happy to see her again." He walks over to me and puts his arm around my shoulder. "Is she the one that....you know..." He trails off, obviously not trying to make sad. But I get what he's hinting at. I nod and wrap my arms around myself. "Yeah, she's the one that I lost last year."

He just nods and tightens his hold on my shoulders. I watch Eleven reunite with Dustin and Lucas, smiling wide at her confusion regarding Dustin's front teeth. "Eleven?" Max asks, walking up to her. "Hey, um, I'm Max. I've heard a lot about you." She puts her hand out for El to shake, but she just pushes past her to get to Mom. Max looks hurt.

El and Mom hug tightly, glad to see each other again. "Can I see him?" El asks, referring to Will. Mom nods and leads her down the hall. "Hey Max." I call to her. She looks over at me, still looking hurt. "She'll come around. I bet by summer, you two will be attached at the hip." She smiles, looking hopeful.

I rub my arms, feeling cold. What's with the random cold air? I heat up my body and sigh at the change. After a while, El and Mom come back and walk over to the table, where the notepad's at.

"You opened this gate before, right?" Mom asks, pointing at the message. El nods somberly. "Do you think if we got you back there, you could close it?" Another nod.

"Close what?" We hear Hopper say from the hall. We all look over at him and Mike. I gesture for them to follow me over to the table, where we all huddle around it. "The gate."

He sighs and shakes his head. "It's not like it was before. It's grown. A lot. And that's considering we can get there. The place is crawling with those dogs." Dustin turns to him. "Demodogs."