6. Chapter 6

Hopper comes home to find El curled around her radio, face twisted into an unhappy frown. She looks up when he shuts the door behind himself.

“Max.”

El isn’t the most verbose person that Hopper’s ever spoken to, but he figures she doesn’t need to be, because one word is more than enough to make his stomach go cold.

“She talked to you?” he asks, because he may know what she’s referring to, but he doesn’t know what she wants to ask, just yet.

“Yes.” El sits up. “Talked to all of us. Scared.”

Hopper sighs.

“Yeah, I bet she is,” he agrees. “She’s staying with Will and his family for now.”

El nods.

“Visit?” she asks.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea at the moment,” he says. “Like you said, she’s scared. She needs some time to settle herself.”

“She needs friends,” El says, shaking her head. “I’m her friend.”

And… that’s probably true, too. Hopper’s made a point of bringing El around more often nowadays, and she and Max have hit it off even better than he’d hoped they would. Still…

“I’ll call Joyce tomorrow and ask her what she thinks,” he says. “Okay?”

El thinks about it for a moment, then nods.

“Okay.”

*.*

“El wants to come see Max.”

“Oh. When?”

“I thought Monday would be alright, after school?”

“Max isn’t going to school,” Joyce says. “Billy’s going to stay home with her Monday.”

Hopper chews his lip, glancing over at El.

“Max’s brother is going to be there,” he says. “Is that okay?”

El nods without looking away from the television, taking a bite of her waffle and swallowing without really chewing.

“Same,” she says, and this time, Hopper doesn’t quite know what she means.

“She doesn’t care,” he says into the receiver.

“Alright. You can bring her over while the rest are at school,” Joyce says. “I know everybody’s going to want to visit if El’s stopping by but… I think that might be too much for Billy and Max. Jonathan can drive her home afterward, if you want.”

Hopper smiles slightly.

“No need for that, but thanks for the offer, Joyce.”

“No problem, Hop.”

*.*

“I can go, I’m fine—”

“I know you’re fine,” Joyce says patiently. “But Max isn’t, and I don’t want her to be alone in the house.”

That makes Billy pause, which is good, because that means that Joyce is well on her way to winning.

“Besides,” she says, putting her hands on her hips. “Hop’s dropping off his daughter to spend some time with Max. She heard about what happened and well… I thought it would do Max some good to have some girl time.”

“Max has a chick friend?” There’s another pause. “The Chief has a daughter?”

Joyce smiles slightly.

“It’s a recent thing,” she says. “She hasn’t started school yet, still needs some time to settle, but yeah. El.”

Billy shifts, rubbing his palms together thoughtfully.

“The Chief adopted a kid.”

Strange, how that’s what he focuses on.

“He did.” Joyce crosses her arms. “Be nice to her, please. She’s… she’s had it rough, too.”

Something flashes in his eyes, something dark and unhappy, and he gives her a sharp nod.

“Yes, ma’am,” he says. “I’ll do my very best not to be an ass.”

And he gives her a little smile, like it’s supposed to be a joke, but the slant of his lips isn’t quite right and the humor doesn’t touch his eyes.

Well, Joyce’ll take it.

“They’ll come by on Hop’s way to work,” she says. “About eight-thirty?”

“We’ll be awake,” he promises. “What did you say her name was? El?”

“El. Or Jane. She’ll answer to either.” Joyce smiles at him. “If you’re worried about what to feed ‘em, El likes Eggos. I stocked up today, so you should be fine.”

Billy wrinkles his nose, but doesn’t say anything about El’s choice in waffle brands.

“Okay,” he says. “Do you think…?” He trails off.

“What?”

“Never mind.” Billy turns away. “I’m gonna go have a smoke.”

Joyce lets him leave, because it’s clear he needs the space, and decides to get started on dinner. Jonathan’s going to be home tonight, after all, and they haven’t had a family meal in a long time.

She’s thinking chicken, tonight.

*.*

El is cute as a button and dressed in a long battered coat that probably belonged to Hopper at some point when Billy opens the door at eight-forty-three in the morning. She peers up at him from under a mop of glossy brown curls curiously, mouth slightly open as she takes in his freshly showered appearance with something like awe.

“Blond,” is the first thing she says, which, okay.

“Um, yeah,” he agrees, glancing up at Hopper. The man shrugs and he looks back down at El. “Max is in the kitchen.”

El nods and he steps aside to let her in. She makes a beeline for the kitchen and suddenly, Billy finds himself alone with a cop, which is never a good thing.

“I’ll pick her up around four,” he says, because he’s a no-nonsense ex-army man who’s about as uncomfortable as Billy is. “You can handle it?”

Billy shrugs.

“They’re girls, right?” he says. “Girls aren’t so bad.”

Hop snorts.

“Yeah. Sure, kid,” he says. “Just make sure El eats something other than Eggos, okay?”

“Yes, sir.” Billy pauses, glancing over his shoulder quickly before stepping out onto the porch. “Chief, can I talk to you for a second?”

Hopper blinks at him.

“Yeah, of course. What’s wrong?”

Billy shifts from foot to foot, looking at something just over Hopper’s shoulder before taking a deep breath and meeting his eyes.

“When— when is Susan’s body going to be released?”

“Oh.” Hopper grimaces slightly. “Soon. We’ve been trying to track down a family member who can—”

“There is no family,” Billy says. “Just Max and her. I can take care of it.”

Hopper stares for a moment, then frowns.

“Kid, that’s nice of you, but unless you’ve got four grand socked away somewhere—”

“I do,” Billy says, even as he winces at the price tag. “I just— I need to go, first. To Indianapolis.”

“Indianapolis? What for?”

Billy runs a hand through his wet hair.

“Lockbox,” he says shortly. “I’ve got one there. Should have enough money.”

“... Do I want to know how you got that kind of money?”

“Probably not,” Billy says with a humorless smile. “But— the point is, I can handle it. And I will. So, when can I, you know. Do that?”

Hopper is quiet for a long moment, long enough for Billy to feel his courage start to fail. Then, he speaks.

“Thursday, at the latest,” he says. “Probably Wednesday. Are you going to take Max with you to Indianapolis?”

Billy shakes his head.

“Don’t think that’s a good idea, if I’m honest, Chief,” he says. “I figure I’ll just cut out of school early and make the drive on my own.”

Hopper sighs.

“Don’t make a habit of it,” he says. “I’ll call the school for you so it doesn’t get added to your records.”

“I—” Billy looks down again. “Thank you, sir.”

“What are you thanking me for? If El comes home in one piece after today, I’m looking at another babysitter.” Hopper claps him on the shoulder gently. “See you at four, Billy.”

Billy shrugs off his hand and gives him a half-assed salute, a shadow of a smirk on his thin face.

“You got it, Chief.”