𝖕𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖔𝖗𝖒𝖆𝖑 || 𝘀. 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

S2E9: The Gate Part 1

"Eleven."

"Mike."

With teary eyes, the two exchange hugs.

"Is that..." Max begins, and Lucas nods in confirmation.

"I never gave up on you," Mike says, pulling away from El. "I called you every night. Every night for..."

"353 days," she says, smiling at him. "I heard."

"Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?"

"Because I wouldn't let her," Hopper says. He walks closer to the two. "The hell is this? Where you been?"

The thing Hopper does next shocks us all. He pulls El into a hug, and not just any kind of hug, it's a fatherly hug.

"Where have you been?" She shoots back, hugging him tightly.

Mike watches the two. "You've been hiding her," he realizes. "You've been hiding her this whole time!" He shoves Hopper in the back, the much bigger man not being affected by it.

"Hey!" Hopper grabs Mike's arms before he can shove him again. "Let's talk. Alone." The two of them disappear into another room.

Dustin, Lucas, and El hug next and exchange a few words. El's eyes land on me next. She pushes Dustin and Lucas aside, throwing her arms around me.

"H-how? Is this possible?" I breathe out, holding onto her tightly. "Doesn't matter. I'm so glad you're okay."

She sniffs her nose. "I'm happy to be home."

"I'm happy, too." I pull away and wipe my eyes, smiling at her. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too."

"Eleven?" Max asks, stepping toward her. "Hey. Um, I'm Max." She holds her hand out for El to shake. "I've heard a lot about you."

El rejects the handshake and ignores Max, instead walking over to Joyce and hugging her.

Max looks at me, confused and a little hurt.

"She just needs a little time," I assure her. "She's not good with new people." But I actually have no idea why El seems to not like Max.

El asks to see Will, so Joyce takes her back to his room. A few minutes later we all meet up again, El having come up with part of a plan.

Since she was the one who initially opened the gate, she thinks she can close it. So that's what we're going with—closing the gate in Hawkins lab.

"It's not like it was before," Hopper says, talking about the gate. "It's grown. A lot. And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs."

"Demo-dogs," Dustin corrects.

Hopper looks at him funny. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I said, uh, Demo-dogs. Like Demogorgon and dogs. Like, you put them together, it sounds pretty badass..."

"How is this important right now?" Hopper asks tiredly and annoyed.

Dustin looks at the floor, turning away from him. "It's not. I'm sorry."

"I can do it," El says with determination.

I've never heard her so confident and sure of herself before. She must've gone on quite the adventure after she disappeared.

Hopper shakes his head. "You're not hearing me."

"I'm hearing you. I can do it."

"Even if El can, there's still another problem," Mike says, leaned against the counter next to Hopper. "If the brain dies, the body dies."