42. Open Arms

Chapter 42: Open Arms (by Journey)

"So now I come to you with open arms. Nothing to hide, believe what I say..."

. . . . . . . .

The voices around her seemed to quiet, become distant, as El's mind swirled like the chaos of a hurricane. She thought of Becky, of her mom, and her heart felt like it was disintegrating in her chest. She thought of the lab - faceless men in white that would do anything at her Papa's orders and the well-dressed men and women that could hide venom behind smiles that never reached their eyes. She felt like everything was on fire - her arms, her hands, her face burned with rage as her chest caved in from the weight of the information she was processing.

They'd killed her family. They'd killed Becky and maybe her mom? She didn't know what to think of Terry's disappearance other than to assume she may be dead as well which only fueled the destruction boiling inside her. And if the lab was to blame, then Becky's drinking was probably not. How strange it felt to have one weight lifted and replaced with another, heavier one.

Everyone was still staring at her, speaking words she wasn't hearing, wasn't listening to. She was fluctuating between devastation and fury and she didn't know whether to scream or cry or tear the entire house down in a grief-fueled frenzy.

As a single tear escaped her and she pawed it away, her brow set with determination and she headed confidently for the front door.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Hopper said, stepping in front of her and blocking her way as she looked up at him defiantly. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Kill them," El said in a low tone, her voice dripping with the need for vengeance.

Everyone's eyes widened a bit at that but somehow Hopper was unfazed. "Not yet," He said sternly, but he crouched down to meet the frustrated girl at eye-level. "We'll get them - they will pay for what they did to Becky and if they've done anything to Terry, they'll pay for that, too. I promise you that," Her gaze softened slightly as their eye contact remained steady. "But you can't just go marching up there like some kind of half-cocked cowboy, do you understand?" El paused, slightly confused at the reference but she didn't care to ask right now. She had more important things on her mind. "They want you to come back there and go after whatever kind of justice you think you're gonna get right now and believe me, I have no doubt you could take them all down in a second if you wanted to but if we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this carefully. Which means, you are going somewhere safe for the time being - that is top priority and I don't want to hear any arguments about that," He matched her determined stare with an intimidating one of his own. "Do you understand?"

El stared at him for a moment, glancing back at Joyce, Jonathan, and Will who were watching the intense interaction with wide eyes. She exhaled sharply, her shoulders deflating as she gave a reluctant nod.

"I meant what I said," Hopper said a little more gently but with a sense of authority that made it hard to hold onto doubt. He gripped her shoulders for emphasis as he maintained eye contact with her. "We will make them pay and they will never have a hold on you ever again, alright? But you need to trust me,"

El pursed her lips, her adrenaline ebbing and making her feel more tired and weighed down by the more heartbroken side of her emotions. She nodded, her eyes filling with tears as the undertow of her devastation swept her back like a wave at sea and she suddenly couldn't breathe. It was like the wind was knocked out of her and all she could feel now that her anger had been somewhat defused was the intense pain of loss that wracked every corner of her heart. She exhaled sharply, her eyes glistening as she stood in front of the chief.

"C'mere," Hopper said simply, gently, as he pulled her toward him and wrapped her in a comforting hug. Her shoulders shook as she began to cry, burying her face in the shoulder of his shirt as Hopper and Joyce exchanged doleful glances.

. . . . . . . .

It had taken quite a bit of arguing but Joyce had eventually convinced Jonathan to go to school. He'd wanted to stay home and help with whatever plan they needed to come up with but Joyce had insisted he not miss any more time in his senior year. That, plus Hopper's comment about keeping up regular appearances so as to not make the lab suspicious, was enough to send Jonathan on his way, albeit begrudgingly. It wasn't false, though; with the lab having eyes and ears all over Hawkins, it wouldn't be beyond them to take note of any unusual behavior amongst the people already associated with El.

Will and El quietly watched a movie in the living room. Joyce had put a Disney movie on in the hope they could have a few hours of peace before going into action mode regarding El's whereabouts. While they watched, she made breakfast in the kitchen as Hopper brought her up to speed on everything he knew.

"Why don't you let me do that," Hopper said, hovering behind Joyce as she stood at the counter cracking eggs into a bowl. "You just had surgery; you shouldn't be doing all this,"

Joyce looked over her shoulder at him with an amused expression. "I'm fine, Hop," She insisted with a grin. "And I didn't just have surgery - it was a week ago,"

"And you're supposed to be recovering for four to six weeks," Hopper countered pointedly. "Or do you wanna put yourself back in the hospital?"

"Hopper," Joyce turned around and gave him a pointed look of her own, though her smirk never disappeared. "I appreciate your concern but I can make breakfast," She lifted her eyebrows, waiting for him to argue some more but to her surprise, he backed down and stepped away. "So what are we gonna do about El?"

"I know you wanted to keep her, Joyce, but we've gotta find another place," Hopper said, standing a few feet away as Joyce pushed eggs around in a pan on the stove. "If they knew about Becky and Terry, it's only a matter of time before they figure out she's with us - if they haven't already,"

Joyce glanced back at the living room. "I know, I just," She exhaled. "Ugh, I just hate this, Hop. She-she doesn't deserve this - she's just a little girl,"

"I know," Hopper agreed empathetically. "Do you know of anyone out of town that she could stay with for a while? Anyone you trust?"

Joyce sighed, pausing to think as the eggs became solid in the pan. "I… no, not really," She shook her head as she turned the burner off and set the pan on an unused burner. "My parents are out of state now, just like yours," She said, grabbing a bottle of Shake n' Pour and adding water to it before shaking it vigorously. "I've got girlfriends but… I don't think that would work," She opened the cap to check that the ready-made pancake batter was free of lumps. "Ha," She scoffed to herself. "The only person near enough but far away enough is Lonnie and there is no way in hell…"

"Obviously," Hopper nodded.

"I mean, do you know of anyone?" Joyce asked as she poured vegetable oil on a skillet and allowed it to heat up. "You seem to have all these connections, don't you?"

Hopper paced behind her, wracking his brain for ideas. "I know a guy down in Finksburg but I haven't seen him in years," He watched as the pancake batter Joyce had poured on the large square skillet began to form three decently-sized pancakes. Bubbles quickly spread across the top of each as a brown tinge appeared on the bottom edges. "I'm gonna look into it but we can't just send her with anyone,"

"What about her friends in Clarksville?" Joyce asked as she delicately flipped each pancake, some of which didn't fall so gracefully back onto the pan and left batter smeared across the skillet. "She's been to their houses before, hasn't she?"

Hopper stopped his pacing and shrugged. "I guess so, I'm not sure," He shook his head, his face scrunching up with discernment. "But here's the thing: the lab already knows something is up in Clarksville. I mean, they took out Becky and who knows what they did with Terry,"

"Do they know about her friends?" Joyce inquired, checking the underside of the pancakes to see if they were done yet.

"That I don't know," Hopper admitted as he took a seat at the kitchen table. "I was all over that place last night, Joyce," He sighed. "I checked every room and hallway I could get access to without running into some pimple-faced researcher wanting to ask questions. If they have Terry, I don't know where she is but I'm still not convinced she isn't somewhere in that lab,"

"You don't think -" Joyce glanced back at the living room, lowering her tone. "You don't think they killed her, too?"

Hopper shook his head slightly. "If they were gonna do that, the simplest thing would've been to put her in that car with Becky. I don't know what they're doing but they've got something else up their sleeve with Terry,"

Joyce gently slipped her spatula under each pancake, moving it to a plate next to the stove so she could make another batch. "Did you find out anything while you were there?"

Hopper leaned his elbow on the table and rubbed his forehead. "Nothing at the lab. Like I said, I checked every corner of that place I could without drawing attention and nothing. The most I got from last night is what I already told you about Becky,"

"Right, she had some sort of needle mark in her neck?" Joyce replied, flipping pancakes.

"Yeah, they injected her with something," Hopper nodded, scratching the side of his face. "With what, I don't know but we'll see if the coroner figures it out. I told him to call me with the results. I'm just waiting for him to figure out what I already know,"

Joyce sighed, listening, and the two fell into a solemn silence for several minutes as she finished one more batch of pancakes.

"Maybe we should look into the idea of El staying with her friends in Clarksville for a couple days," She said quietly. "I hate to keep moving her around but it's probably safer if she doesn't stay in one place too long," She piled pancakes onto two plates and scoffed when she scooped the eggs from their pan. "Damnit, they're cold," She grumbled, scraping the eggs onto one of the plates and popping it into the microwave. "Let's talk to El and see what she thinks of the idea,"

Hopper exhaled and shrugged. It was their only option for the time being. It seemed like nowhere was safe at this point. The Wheeler's, the Byers', even his own home wasn't necessarily off the lab's radar. They knew she was connected to all of them so while he didn't know exactly what they knew, he felt pretty confident in his assumption that they at least knew she wasn't in the Upside Down and that her biological family had somehow gotten involved. The best thing he could do at this point was keep playing dumb and hope that bought him enough time to keep snooping around and learn as much as possible so could somehow end of all this for good.

Joyce retrieved the plate from the microwave and put individual plates of pancakes and eggs together for both Will and El, then carried them into the living room.

"Alright," She said, putting on as chipper a "mom" voice as she could muster for their sake. "Who's hungry?" She asked with a smile and Will stopped the movie as El stood up from her place on the floor by the TV set.

. . . . . . . .

Deep in the restricted corridors of the Hawkins National Laboratory, an already catatonic woman was strapped to a hospital bed, her wrists and ankles bound as the light above the bed flickered. Orderlies checked on her periodically, peeking through the window of a metal door to ensure the unconscious woman was still immobile and that the medications they'd given her were still effective. She needed another dose every few hours to keep her from waking up, to keep her brain quiet and inaccessible.

Dr. Brenner stood outside the room, peering through the glass as Agent Kramer stood alongside him.

"Our friend has been snooping around again," Agent Kramer said calmly without taking his eyes off the slump of a woman on the other side of the glass window.

"Did he find anything?" Dr. Brenner asked flatly, his voice casual.

"No sir," Agent Kramer shook his head. "But I suspect he will eventually attempt to breach the restricted areas,"

"I'm sure of it," Dr. Brenner said with a slight nod. "He must have made the connection regarding Ms. Ives,"

"With all due respect, Dr. Brenner," Agent Kramer asked confidently but cautiously. "At what point do you intend for us to intervene?"

The white-haired man inhaled deeply, stepping away from the door and as he began to walk down the hall, the agent obediently followed. "Secure the girl first," Dr. Brenner instructed coldly. "Once Eleven has been recovered, eliminate all witnesses,"

. . . . . . . .

Mike had barely been able to sleep the night before and between his concern for El and his exhaustion, he'd trudged through the school day like a zombie. He hadn't wanted to go to school that morning but his mom had insisted with the promise that he could go see El again that afternoon. Besides, he needed to fill the guys in on everything that had happened. By the time the final bell rang and the boys retrieved their bikes from the bike rack outside, Mike felt like he was running on fumes. His eyes were bloodshot and heavy and his senses a little more dull than they should be.

"So we're goin' straight to Byers'?" Dustin clarified as he stood perched on his bike.

"Yup," Lucas nodded, then looked over at Mike who was staring at the grass in front of them in an exhausted stupor. "You ready, Mike?"

"Yeah," He replied, snapping out of it and shaking his head. "Yeah, let's go. I'm fine," He pushed off the ground with his foot and began to lead the way.

. . . . . . .

Nancy had barely seen Jonathan all day. She'd thought at first that he hadn't come at all given everything that had happened last night but she'd seen him in the cafeteria at lunch and they'd made eye contact in the hall between classes. Both times, however, he'd somehow managed to disappear before she could get to him.

It wasn't until the last bell had rung and students were milling out of the school in pursuit of home that she saw the back of his denim jacket and the camera strap across his shoulder as he headed for the student parking lot.

"Jonathan!" She called, trotting to catch up to him as he turned around and waited for her. "Hey," She said, slightly winded as she fell into step with him.

"Hey," He replied easily as they walked up to his car and she went around to the passenger door.

Nancy quirked an eyebrow. "What's up with you? I barely saw you all day and when I did, it was like you were avoiding me,"

Jonathan's eyes widened for a moment. "I wasn't -" He looked around and sighed. "Get in,"

"No, tell me why -"

"Nancy, come on," He said with tired impatience.

Nancy reluctantly obliged and plopped into the passenger seat as he got behind the wheel. "Okay, so what is it? I know you saw me today and I thought… I dunno, we could eat lunch together or something,"

"I… was going to but you were sitting with those girls -"

"Because you were nowhere to be found," Nancy interjected. "I mean… if you saw me why didn't you… I dunno, come sit with me? Or at least talk to me? The two times I saw you today you acted weird,"

"Well, sorry, I'm just a weird guy, okay?" Jonathan snapped defensively.

"Jonathan, cut it out," Nancy admonished. "You know what I mean. I…ugh, I mean, was yesterday just a fluke because if I'm wasting my time -"

"A fluke?" Jonathan turned to her incredulously. "You think me kissing you twice is a fluke?"

"Why else would you avoid me all day?" She asked pointedly.

Jonathan groaned. "I just… I figured it would be easier,"

Nancy's brow furrowed in confusion. "Easier? What would be easier?"

"Like," Jonathan paused, collecting his thoughts as he tilted his head back against the headrest. "I dunno, maybe it would be weird for you to have all your friends see you hanging out with Jonathan Byers all of a sudden,"

Nancy paused, soaking in what he was saying. "Wait a minute, you think I'd be embarrassed to be seen with you? Come on, Jonathan, it's not like we've never been out in public together before,"

"But as a couple?" Jonathan countered, his heart rate instantly speeding up as the words flew out of his mouth faster than he could think about what he was saying.

It must have had a surprising effect on Nancy as well as she paused for a moment, her eyebrows lifted. "Is...is that what we are now?"

Jonathan shrugged, gripping the steering wheel and tapping the top with his fingers. "I dunno, do you want to be?"

"You know, if you're trying to ask me to be your girlfriend, this is a really strange way to do it," Nancy said. "You ignore me and avoid me all day -"

"I wasn't - Ugh..." He groaned, cutting her off. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I wasn't sure what you expected when we're here," He gestured to the school building and Nancy shook her head in frustration.

"I mean, did I misread everything that happened yesterday? Because if you're not actually interested -"

"Oh my god," Jonathan laughed loudly at that. "Are you kidding? Nancy, I've liked you since we were kids - it's not that,"

"You… really?"

Jonathan pursed his lips and his gaze fell to the steering wheel in front of him. "Yeah," He shrugged.

"Oh… okay, well…" Nancy said, processing. While she was excited and flattered to hear that he'd had feelings for her for so long, it was still surprising. "Okay, then what were you doing today?"

Jonathan sighed. "I dunno, I mean… Hopper came by again early this morning and told us some stuff about El's aunt and so that was on my mind when I got to school and then just… I dunno, I mean, you're... " He shook his head. "It's stupid,"

"No, come on, just tell me," Nancy pressed, her intrigue a bit more gentle now. "What is it?"

"You're Nancy Wheeler," He said, as though those words were enough to explain everything. "I'm Jonathan Byers. You were just dating Steve Harrington. Do I really need to explain how odd that shift will seem to all your friends? I'm sure you've thought about how they'd react to knowing you're dating the resident freak of Hawkins so I just didn't want to, I dunno, put you in an awkward position,"

"No, actually I haven't," Nancy said pointedly. "And I don't care, okay? Honestly, ever since Barb…" She paused, stuck in her words. "Ever since everything that happened, I don't… things at school aren't the same, okay? I don't care what anyone says or does or thinks… not anymore..." She glanced up at him. "But I do care if you avoid me all day and disappear when I try to catch up to you,"

"Okay," Jonathan sighed, looking over at her. "I get it. I'm sorry,"

"I mean it," Nancy said, tilting her head and though she tried to look stern, she couldn't help but smirk at the way he was looking at her. "Don't do it again. I like you and I want to hang out with you,"

Jonathan's lips widened into a grin. "Okay,"

. . . . . . . .

Despite Joyce's attempts at keeping El and Will's minds off the current dilemma with the lab, El could think of nothing else than how badly she wanted to hurt everyone at the lab for what they did to Becky. Becky was a good person, she was innocent, and the lab had taken her life away like it meant nothing. When she wasn't getting swept up by bridled anger, she was trying desperately to connect to her mom. When she and Will were watching their third Disney movie of the day, when she was washing her hands in the bathroom, when she was quietly watching Will draw in the living room - every moment was an opportunity to try and establish a connection to Terry but each time, she found only darkness. Each time she entered that place, she was alone with nothing but the echo of her own voice calling out for Terry. Each time she came back, she felt more upset than she had before, as if each failed attempt was more conclusive proof that Terry was not okay. Whether that meant she was dead or hurt, El's mind raced with the possibilities and it was enough to overwhelm her and make her wish she could disappear or sink into the couch and escape from all the bad things that seemed to follow her.

Hopper left for the police station a little while after breakfast but not before telling her that they were looking into the idea of her going to stay with one of her friend's in Clarksville and he'd be back later that afternoon. Gabby wasn't an option since she lived so close to Becky and Terry's house but maybe Trish or Emma could quietly take her in for a couple days. Hopper needed time to scope things out and he didn't want to rush into any idea without first making sure the lab wasn't already a step ahead of them. She was safe at the Byers' for now but there was no telling for how long. Without knowing the extent of the lab's knowledge of El's whereabouts and everyone else's involvement, it was hard to say if any place was truly safe.

Everything was silent in the house come mid-afternoon. Jonathan hadn't gotten home from school yet and Joyce was in the kitchen cleaning. Despite Hopper's nagging, she hated to just sit still and do nothing. She was slower than usual but movement calmed her when her nerves were frazzled. Will and El were in the living room - Will on the couch with a sketchbook in his lap and several crayons balanced on the folds of the blanket over his legs while El was sprawled on her stomach on the floor with a crayon in hand as a much more crudely drawn creation was coming to fruition on the pages in front of her. The silence in the house was broken by a rapid knocking at the door and all three of them nearly jumped out of their skin at the sound.

Knowing Will wasn't supposed to move around much, El stood up to look through the window and see who it was but Joyce quickly came into the room and ushered her away and out of sight. After peering through the peephole and exhaling with relief, she opened the door to a trio of familiar faces.

"Hi boys," Joyce said warmly. "Come on in,"

"Hi Mrs. Byers," They all greeted politely before excitedly rushing over to El and Will.

"Dude, you're home!"

"That was so crazy,"

Following their momentary excitement at seeing Will out of the hospital, they remembered El's situation and their moods instantly turned more somber.

"I'm really sorry, El," Lucas said, patting her on the shoulder.

"Mike told us your aunt was in an accident," Dustin added heavily.

El shook her head. "Not an accident,"

"What?" Mike did a double-take. "What do you mean it wasn't an accident?"

"Bad people… the lab…" El said quietly, glaring indiscriminately at the floor. "Killed her…"

"Holy shit…" Dustin breathed, then remembered Joyce was standing right behind them. "Sorry, Mrs. Byers," He said, turning around sheepishly but Joyce gave him a mildly disapproving look since she didn't really care that much. There were worse things in the world than a pre-teen using a swear word and with everything they'd been experiencing lately, a free pass wasn't that much to ask.

"So wait, what happened exactly?" Lucas asked and El looked down at the floor, her face scowling despite the recurring glistening of tears in her eyes.

Noticing her fragility, Mike jumped in, "It doesn't matter," He said. "What are we gonna do?"

"Hopper and I are working on figuring out where El's gonna go from here," Joyce chimed in. "The most important thing right now is her safety,"

"What do you mean 'where she's gonna go'?" Mike inquired, mildly anxious. "Like back to Clarksville?"

"Possibly," Joyce said. "Until we know what the lab's intentions are and what they know, we have to be very careful,"

"Man…" Lucas exhaled. "This is crazy,"

"Why don't you boys do something fun while you're here, okay?" Joyce redirected. "Play on Will's Atari or watch a movie-"

"Mom, we've watched three and a half movies already today," Will moaned, leaning his head back on the couch cushion.

"Okay, no movies," She conceded. "But I don't want you kids getting worked up over this. Once Hopper gets back we'll make some decisions but for now, just be kids, okay?" They didn't say anything in response so Joyce took their silence as agreement and went back to cleaning the kitchen.

. . . . . . . .

Even after Dustin and Lucas left to go home and have dinner at their mothers' behest later that evening, Mike stuck around. They'd finished up the latter half of a TV showing of Monty Python and the Holy Grail before spending an otherwise uneventful evening talking and having dinner as though everything was normal.

After dinner, Joyce stationed herself at the sink washing dishes until Will needed an escort to the bathroom and she had to help him stand up and carefully walk the short distance down the hall. While they were alone in the living room, Mike took the opportunity to talk to El.

"Uh, El?" He said as they sat on the floor in front of the TV, their backs against the coffee table. He darted a glance at the archway leading to the kitchen and hallway. "I wanted to talk to you about something… kind of important,"

El peeled her eyes away from the TV and looked at him, causing him to momentarily forget what he was thinking.

"Um… so, do you remember when I gave you that Valentine and uh… you asked me about um, crushing?" He managed, barely keeping his voice an even tone even whilst he attempted to speak in a hushed voice. The last thing he wanted was Will or his mom to overhear what he was saying.

El nodded. "I asked if you crushed me,"

Mike couldn't help but smirk at her misuse of the term, despite the way he could already feel a blush creeping up his neck. He was suddenly aware of how close they were sitting even though there was still plenty of space between them. "Yeah, um… I actually wanted to tell you before but there wasn't really a good time and like… I guess I could have called you on the supercom but you're not supposed to have conversations like that on the phone or, supercom I guess, whatever. You're supposed to do it in person but then everything happened with your family and I…" He trailed off, looking up at her as she stared at him with fascination. "Sorry… um… so… I guess when you asked about… that… uh, I didn't really know what to say. I was kind of surprised, you know? I didn't know you knew that word. I mean… you do know what 'crush' means, right?"

El nodded again. "Someone you like," She replied and Mike could feel the heat in his cheeks building. "More than a friend,"

"Right," He squeaked, darting another glance back in the direction he knew Joyce and Will would be coming at any moment. "I um… okay, well, I just wanted to let you know that… um, I do. I mean," He paused, running a nervous hand through his moppy hair, "I like you more than a friend, like a crush," He finished, speaking so quickly El almost didn't catch what he said but she smiled and he could feel his heartbeat thumping in his chest.

"Me too," She smiled shyly and the elation he felt made him feel like he could burst. He didn't even care that his normally pale skin was tinged pink all over and he had a goofy grin that probably made him look like an idiot.

Before Mike could say or do anything else, they could hear Will and his mom coming back down the hall and their moment ended, though the nervous excitement between them lingered.

. . . . . . . .

"So here I am, with open arms. Hoping you'll see what your love means to me..."