Jailbird || Stranger Things

eighteen ➵ criminal

By the time Teresa made it home, a lot more had happened at home than she'd expected.  The tension was palpable the moment she stepped in, and most of it was coming from the only real bedroom in the cabin.

    So much so, in fact, that things still hadn't managed to calm down by the morning.

    "I checked with you like five times," Teresa said as she put two more Eggos into the toaster. "I checked out books at the library, brought her candy."

    "I lost track of time," her father attempted again.

    "Multiple times!" she raised her voice just a little.

    "I don't need this right now, Reese," he turned to her, eyes sharp enough to cut glass. Teresa rolled her eyes for the third time that morning, passing over the maple syrup that he'd been looking for for the past few minutes.

    "You have rules for a reasons, dad. You can't be exempt from them."

    "I know," he sighed, taking the hot egg flavoured waffle from his daughter's hand and putting it on top of the towering breakfast. Adding the rest of the toppings and the maple syrup, he turned it towards her.

    "Perfect," she nodded, chancing a small smile.

    Hopper knocked on El's room's open door, attempting to coax her out. "So that's it, huh? You're still not talking? All right," he glanced at Teresa, who was shaking her head, but unable to keep a smile from slipping onto her face. "I guess Reese and I are just gonna have to, uh... enjoy this triple-decker Eggo extravaganza on our own."

    As they turned to walk towards the dining table, El suddenly appeared in the door, eyes wide. Smiling, Hopper placed the plate onto the table and started cutting into it. El sat in her seat beside Teresa.

    "Mmm!" Hopper exaggerated, watching as El tucked into her specially made breakfast. "Good, right? Know the great thing about it? It's only 8,000 calories," Teresa gave him a look as she picked at the one waffle on her own plate. She could tell El was upset. Perhaps more than she had expected when Jim told her everything when she turned up on the dot at midnight.

    "You visited him again last night?" she asked, looking to El.

    "He says he needs me," the girl nodded, the conversation about Mike almost a daily occurrence by then.

    "Want me to go check on him?" Hopper asked, but the girl shook her head. "I know that you miss him, all right? But it's too dangerous. You're the last thing he needs right now."

    Feeling how bad the moment could turn, Teresa pushed herself to sit properly, leaning on the table. "You're gonna see him, El. Soon. And not just in that head of yours."

    "Yeah, you're gonna see him in real life. I feel like I'm making progress with these people," Hopper agreed.

    "Friends don't lie," El looked up at him, Teresa leaning back to get out of the way. This was between her father and El.

    "What?"

    "You say soon on day 21. You say soon on day 205. You now say soon on day 326?" El continued to ask, her temper flaring. "When is soon?!"

    "Soon is when—"

    "When it's not dangerous anymore, El," Teresa finished, not wanting her dad to be the only one in trouble with the girl with psychic powers. Not that she'd seen the extent of what El could do, but she knew the stories well enough by then.

    "When?!" El snapped her eyes to the older girl.

    "I—" she glanced at her father, needing backup. It had never been up to her.