Chapter 37

It wouldn't do to have her muscles tighten up now and hurt Jonathan, since both he and Nancy needed the strength they had left to continue working together and overcome whatever danger lay ahead of them. After struggling violently in Jonathan's grip for a few more seconds, Nancy stopped moving and sank helplessly into Jonathan's embrace, her head resting on the curve of his shoulder as she cried. Jonathan did everything he could to calm her down.

"N-Nan?", he managed to stutter through trembling lips. "Are you... crying?"

"No", sobbed Nancy, hiding her face in his neck. "I'm not crying."

But her tone betrayed her true feelings. Jonathan pressed his lips against her temple and stroked her back gently, trying to comfort her, and whispering words of love and support against her skin.

"Please don't leave me" she sobbed, "please don't leave me."

It only then occurred to Jonathan that this was a side of Nancy he had never seen before. Ever since their confrontation with Jonathan's parents at dinner - ever since he had told Nancy his real name for the first time - she had behaved as if she could barely control the emotions she felt. Now he saw what those emotions were: desperation, pain, fear, and despair. What was worse, though, was that they seemed to be directed towards someone else. Someone whom he didn't even know, someone who hadn't existed until just now.

And yet Jonathan could understand that, if there was anything which could cause Nancy to behave in this manner, it was her fear of losing Jonathan, and, more importantly, losing the man she loved. If Jonathan hadn't known otherwise, he certainly would have fallen madly in love with Nancy then and there. But that didn't mean he had the right to take advantage of her weakness or to let himself sink deeper under her spell. So he tried to reassure her.

"Of course I won't", he whispered, kissing the top of her head once more and tightening his arms around her. "I'm never leaving you, my beautiful, precious wife. Never. And if I have to stay with you every minute of our entire lives to assure you of that fact, so be it".

A tear rolled down the corner of Nancy's eye, but she didn't move nor speak, merely letting Jonathan hold her and reassure her. After a few minutes spent in silence, she slowly lifted her head and looked straight at Jonathan, her expression showing nothing but pure affection.

"Thank you", she whispered.

Nancy and Jonathan woke up to find themselves laying down on the couch in the living room. The events of last night came rushing back to them and they quickly realized that Jonathan must have carried Nancy back to their home when they both had lost consciousness in the car. When the two of them realized the time, they quickly jumped up and rushed upstairs to their bedrooms to grab their things, eager to go as far away from Hawkins Lab as possible. They hurriedly packed their belongings into their bags, grabbed their coats, ran outside to the truck, climbed inside it and drove off as fast as they possibly could.

It seemed the whole journey back home was completely uneventful. Jonathan drove Nancy's mother's car and he kept glancing at Nancy occasionally, wondering what she was thinking and whether it was safe to ask what she'd been dreaming about during her sleep. Although he still wondered what exactly Nancy's dreams were, he refused to bring the topic up. No matter how much he wished he could know; no matter how much it pained him to remain oblivious; no matter how much it made him wonder if something horrible awaited him back at the lab – something which made him believe the worst – for the time being, Jonathan simply knew not to push her too far. Not now, when she clearly needed him most. Instead, he simply drove along and listened to the radio while Nancy sat silently next to him.

After spending the whole afternoon in front of the television watching reruns of a show called 'The Price Is Right', Jonathan suddenly felt exhausted after driving the entire morning without getting more than five hours of rest. He had driven straight to their house from Nancy's house after breakfast, intending to drop the girls at school and then head straight back here. He also thought it might make Nancy feel better to get out of the house for awhile. And it did – at least, it helped for a little bit, at least to an extent – but that didn't stop Jonathan from worrying endlessly about what had happened at the lab and whether he had done enough to protect the town from whatever danger they might be facing. He just hoped that the nightmares wouldn't come back tonight.

Jonathan parked the truck on the street outside their house and turned to look at Nancy.

"How does pizza sound?", he asked.

To Jonathan's utter surprise, Nancy gave him a faint smile and replied:

"That sounds great".

"Good", smiled Jonathan, climbing out of the pickup.

Before he reached the door, however, Nancy suddenly yelled at him to stop. Jonathan spun around to look at her quizzically.

"Why?" he asked.

"Oh, no reason", she chuckled nervously. "Go on ahead. I'll catch up in a second!".

Jonathan shrugged his shoulders.

"OK", he replied as he walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. A moment later they both heard Mrs. Wheeler yell "Who is it?".

"Delivery!", shouted Jonathan through the door.

He could practically hear the woman rolling her eyes and muttering under her breath about stupid delivery boys and stupid orders. Then Nancy spoke.

"Mrs. Wheeler," said Nancy, "Jonathan's here to pick us up".

"Okay. Just hang on for a sec", shouted Mrs. Wheeler again.

Jonathan heard footsteps retreating down the corridor and the creak of the staircase leading down to the kitchen. A couple of moments later the same old woman returned and greeted Jonathan.

"Welcome home", she said politely.

"Hi Mrs. Wheeler", said Jonathan, shaking her hand.

"I've got your order ready upstairs", she informed him and then disappeared from the landing.

Seconds later, Jonathan heard Mrs. Wheeler yelling, "Hey, Jon!". Jonathan sighed and shook his head lightly as he followed Nancy up the stairs.

When they arrived upstairs, the sight that met their eyes was one that caused Jonathan to groan loudly in disgust. In the living room was none other than the entire family, including Will and Nancy's father, sitting together watching TV. All four people were grinning like crazy, laughing hysterically when a funny commercial came on. They ignored Jonathan's entrance as they continued to stare at the screen. When Jonathan noticed his friends' behaviour he decided to ignore it for the time being.

As Jonathan walked past all four of the people in the living room, he glared hard at each and everyone of them.