33. Thank You

A/N: This one shot was written for tank03, who submitted an awesome prompt idea, which turned into this! I hope you enjoy it!

Also, the freaking ST3 trailer completely wrecked me and I'm still in shock over everything that we got, the Mileven kiss not withstanding! Soooooooooooooooooo absolutely pumped for the season ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

El hadn't exactly been planning on being soaked as she walks into the Wheeler house that Friday afternoon, but she couldn't care less as she and the boy she loves stumble through his front door, still giggling playfully at their antics during the walk over.

They honestly hadn't expected it to start raining on their trek from Dustin's to Mike's, but she whipped out the umbrella she had in her backpack the second she felt a raindrop and Mike has quickly joined her underneath it as the spring shower descended upon Hawkins. They'd strolled arm in arm in a comfortable silence, enjoying the sound of the soft rain around them, when she'd suddenly noticed the mischievous glint in his eyes.

"What're you thinking?" She doesn't ask it in an affectionate way...no, she's seen that look enough times to know that he's got an idea and he's going to follow through with it unless she explicitly forbids him to do so. He's plotting something and while she should be worried, she's curious, wondering what he's cooked up this time.

"Do you trust me?" he asks with a grin and she squeezes his arm where she's holding on to him. "Always," she replies, softening at the way his face lights up, before he quickly rearranges his features to look innocent. "Good," he says nonchalantly and he continues walking as if he'd said nothing, leaving her slightly baffled. She watches him carefully, but after a few minutes, she lets it go, figuring he's just planning something for later.

Which turns out to be a mistake, because as soon as she stops watching him, he tugs them closer to the sidewalk where the rainwater is running by the curb. She frowns as they approach the flowing water, opening her mouth to warn him, when suddenly, he jumps, so quickly she almost doesn't catch it, and lands directly in the stream, splashing both of them.

"Mike!" she shrieks, feeling the water seeping through her clothes and the grin on his face shows he totally meant to do that. She kicks at the stream without a second thought, sending a wave towards him and the shocked look on his face is priceless. She throws back her head and laughs, and suddenly, they're chasing each other down the street, jumping into every puddle they find and splashing the other as much as they can. The umbrella comes down quickly and is hastily shoved back into El's backpack, leaving them completely exposed to the falling rain, but she could care less as she dodges the splash Mike had just sent her way with a giggle, stomping in the next puddle to get her revenge.

They're drenched by the time they get to Mike's house, but she's filled with so much joy and laughter that she could care less and one look at Mike's face shows he feels exactly the same.

"Mom, we're home! Could you bring us some towels, please?" he hollers into the house as they stand gingerly in the entryway, kicking off their wet shoes and sharing playful glances as they wait for her response.

"Of course honey, why..." Her response trails off as she rounds the corner and sees the two of them standing there sheepishly. "Oh, you're soaked! Stay there," she exclaims and rushes upstairs. "This is your fault," El teases him once she's gone, nudging his shoulder and he chuckles. "Hey, I never heard you protesting," he tells her, taking a step closer. She shakes her head, grinning like a fool. "I had fun," she tells him softly, the words just for him. "I've missed the rain." "I've missed you," he responds softly and she sighs, matching his step as she lifts her chin and he lowers his lips to her, pecking her once, twice before Karen comes flying back down the stairs, unceremoniously interrupting their moment.

"Here, dry yourselves off," she tells them, handing them both a towel. "And Eleanor, here's some dry clothes, feel free to go change in the basement." "Thank you Mrs. Wheeler," she says, taking the clothes and turning to Mike. "Meet you down there?" "Yeah, sure. We can watch a movie or something," he responds and she reaches out, squeezing his hand before she heads for the basement door.

It's only when she's in the bathroom that she notices the clothes Mrs. Wheeler had handed her.

She gasps softly as she unrolls the navy blue sweater and the gray sweatpants to match, feeling a lump form in her throat. She hasn't seen these since back in '83 and it's startling to be thrown back to that moment when a young boy gave her her first comfortable pair of clothes ever. Rarely does she dwell on the events that transpired over that week—excluding the moments with Mike, of course. With a sentimental sigh, she tugs her top off and pulls the sweatshirt on, finding it sweet that he had kept this outfit lying around after all this time.

It shocks her just how familiar the shirt feels. She'd worn it for a little less than three days and yet, slipping it on and feeling it's delicate softness wrap around her body, surrounding her in his scent, seems so right, like she should always be wearing this. Numbly, she pulls on the gray fleece sweatpants, amused at how they barely reach her ankle.

Amusement quickly turns to...to an emotion she barely recognizes, but it overwhelms her swiftly and silently as it occurs to her that she had grown. She knew she had, biologically it was impossible for her not to, but to think that this used to be a little too big and now...

When she stands up, she catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror and the small part of her that was expecting to see a scared, naive child with a shaved head reels, because the person looking back at her is not scared or lost or hopeless.

She's strong. Independent.

Beautiful.

She's weeping before she can even think to stop it, tears pouring down her cheeks as she suddenly remembers the person she used to be, the person who clung to these clothes like they were the only thing in the world that wouldn't hurt her. Knowing she very well could still be that fragile and wide-eyed girl frightens her and she grips the edges of the sink abruptly, praying all this wasn't some grand illusion that would end in an instant, too good to possibly be true.

How on earth had she gone from being worthless and belonging to an evil mastermind to a happy, carefree adolescent with a life she adored, one with a family, friends, a home and...

"Hey El? I was thinking we could..."

Mike.

His head pokes through the crack in the doorway, his sentence dying off as he catches sight of her and she shoves down a sob at the way his face softens, his eyes all tender and warm, reflecting every emotion she's feeling in his gaze.

She bites her lip as he steps into the bathroom and comes to stand behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and placing a soft kiss on the skin right underneath her ear. He slowly looks back up, meeting her gaze in the mirror and she sinks back into his arms when she sees he's just as affected by this as she is.

For an infinite moment, there are no words, memories heavy in the air around them. She breaks the spell first, needing to ask him something, trusting completely that he'll give her an honest answer.

"Why did you save me?"

He blinks, his brow creasing slightly, before he answers her. "Why wouldn't I have saved you?"

"Mike, you brought a kid...a weirdo you didn't know into your house. That's...very dangerous. What were you thinking?" she asks incredulously. He shakes his head, squeezing her just a little bit tighter. "I wasn't. To be honest, it never crossed my mind that it wasn't a good idea. You just..." he stalls, searching for his next words and she turns herself around in his arms so she can face him, linking her fingers behind his neck as she waits patiently for him to finish his thought.

"It's just always felt like we're connected, you know?" he says in a much softer tone than before. "I couldn't explain it, but it just felt like you were supposed to come with me. There was...there was something about your eyes that pulled me in, I guess. I could tell you were scared and lost...but I saw strength and kindness in them too." He skims a thumb across her cheek, wiping away her tears and she shivers. "They were beautiful," he all but whispers.

She ducks her head, something inside her glowing at his words. A pair of lips presses against her forehead and her smile grows so wide, she knows he can see it.

"They were beautiful?" she teases him as she raises her head up, reaching down to link their fingers together and heading for the door. "Mmhm...and getting more beautiful everyday," he tells her as she leads them back into the basement. She glances back at him, trying to send a pointed look, but she knows her cheeks are flushed and the effect is lost on him as he grins.

She tugs him into the blanket fort, scooting back so he can fit his tall, lanky frame inside the small space. It's quiet for a moment once they get situated as she gathers up her thoughts, exhaling slowly as she wonders how best to articulate them.

"You're right, though," she starts, taking both of his hands and inching a tiny bit closer to him. "I was scared and lost. Did you know I'd never been out in the rain before?" He shakes his head, his eyes growing wider and she nods seriously. "It was...so cold. I'd never been so cold..."

Not even the bath they'd lower her into had froze her as much as the storm had that night. They always kept the lab relatively warm and her showers had always been hot and steamy, so the shock of the drops that pelted her skin was almost enough to make her run back to Benny's.

But she couldn't do that. That would've been suicide. So, drenched, shivering and frightened, she ran and ran and ran until she heard voices that caused her to stop in her tracks. She inched closer and closer until suddenly she was standing in a beam of light and their story began.

"And I was miserable," she whispers as the bitingly cold memory fades. "I thought...I thought I'd never be warm or happy ever again. And then..." She trails off, bashfully looking back up at him to see that his eyes are full of understanding, because he knows.

A sudden thought occurs to her. How much does he know, really? How many ways does he know he saved her in? How well does he actually understand what he did that night? Does his brilliant, yet humble mind know the magnitude of his actions? Has she ever bothered to thank him?

Oh no. Has she ever properly thanked him?

Hysteria rises in her and she can't stop the tears that slip down her cheeks, barely registering that the boy across from her is frantically asking if she was okay, reaching for her as if he's done it a million times before, because he has, and can't he see how impossibly caring he is and the life that heart of his built for her? Doesn't he get it?

"Mike," she sobs as she crumples against him, into the arms that have been wide open for her since the second she stepped foot in this house. Vaguely, she hears, "El, you're okay, please talk to me," so she does, letting a jumbled mess of words spill out into the world as her mind races to catch up with the weight of the gratitude that sits on her chest.

"Mike, you could've l-left me there. You could've moved on...no, you should've moved on a-and kept looking for W-Will, because you were out there for him. And I...I think I would've gone b-back. They would've found me and..."

The thought terrifies her. She wouldn't have been able to run forever like Kali did. She wasn't that strong and when they caught her, they never would have let her go again.

"And I n-never would've known what an Eggo was or what it's like to have hair or how soft these clothes are or wh-what the stars look like. I wouldn't be able to talk like this or know how to write or know what music sounds like or what a movie is." She sucks in a shuddering breath and he squeezes her tight, pressing his cheek against her hair. "And...and I'd never get to be held like this o-or kissed or tucked in at n-night or hold someone's hand..." His hand wraps around hers firmly, resting it against his chest beside her head and she forces herself to keep going. "I never would've had a friend. Or a f-family. Or a happy life. Or a h-home. But M-Mike," she raises her head to look him in the eye, finding them brimming with tears. "You were stupid enough to bring me back here and n-nothing I can ever say or do will be able to tell you how th-thankful I am that you built me this fort and h-hid me from the bad men and gave me a l-life. Don't you understand what you did? You gave me a h-home."

"El, I-"

She cuts him off with a kiss that holds more meaning and passion than she can ever explain and he kisses her back with a tender desperation that takes her breath away, making her feel infinitely small amidst the sheer enormity of their feelings for one another.

She's shaking when she pulls back, clutching onto him with everything she has as her gaze slowly goes up to meet his to find that he's just as much of a mess as she is. Her heart aches as she watches him bite back a sob and she goes kiss him again, but his words stop her.

"I don't think y-you understand what you did either," he murmurs, his voice thick with tears and she furrows her brow. "Mike, I haven't done hardly anything," she protests, shaking her head, but he scoffs in disbelief, effectively silencing her rebuttal.

"I jumped off a freaking cliff. I shouldn't have survived that, El, I was stupid enough to willingly jump to my death. Do you understand what would've happened?" Her sobs come back with a vengeance, because she does, she does understand, but he continues anyway, his voice dropping almost to a pained whisper. "I would've...I would've been pulled out of that lake like...like Will's fake body was. Remember that? That...that would have been me, if you...if you hadn't..."

It breaks her. Imagining it being his body being lifted out of the water completely destroys her and she cries out at the image, falling back against him and clinging to him with every ounce of strength she has, her tears soaking her face.

She can't lose him, she suddenly realizes. Ever. Death is inevitable but she swears to herself in that moment that she'll delay it for as long as she possibly can because she needs him. Maybe fifteen is too young to be making these decisions, but screw it, he's a part of her now, has been since their eyes first met on that fateful night.

His arms are tight, strong around her and she lets go completely, feeling more vulnerable than she has in a while, but letting her thoughts and her emotions be what they are—sharp and overwhelming. She cries for the what-could-have-been's, the unknowns of the lives they could've lead without the other. She cries for the possibility that she maybe never could've met this wonderful boy and the possibility that he could've left her out in the rain. She cries for the warmth he surrounds her with, for the very fort they're sitting in, the very clothes she's wearing.

Her tears are for their impossible journey, their beautiful story, their love that burns brighter than the sun, moon and stars.

He honestly hadn't meant for his words to hurt her so much. His intentions are never to hurt her, period, but the reality of what could've happened that day was one that hadn't really sunk in until she disappeared when he spent night after night combing through his memories of her. It was...intense, to say the least and her reaction when he'd painted the picture of his possible death had gone straight to his heart, tearing it open from the inside out, but he had a feeling she just needed to cry everything out, so he holds her tighter still and let his own tears come.

A memory from that day suddenly comes back to him, recalling the words El had said to him as they'd dusted themselves off and gotten ready to head back to his house.

She'd tugged on his sleeve as they began walking away and he remembers looking back into her warm, chocolate eyes to find them filled with worry. He'd watched as she pointed back to the cliff he had just fallen off of without letting go of his sleeve before turning back to him. "Never again," she had whispered fiercely and he'd solemnly nodded, reassuring them both that he'd never, ever do that again, although the weight of his actions was still lost on him.

Swallowing thickly, he lowers his lips to El's ear, kissing her temple before whispering those words back to her. "Hey, 'never again', remember? That's what you told me and I...I promise I'll never do that again." His sentiment seems to have the desired effect on her, because her sobs die down to mere whimpers, but her body still shakes uncontrollably against him and he cradles her face against his neck, playing with her brown wavy locks ever so gently.

He thinks it's the hair that did it for him. Seeing her standing in the same outfit she had worn the night he met her did something to him, causing an explosion of pride and affection in his chest, because she had grown. She wasn't stuck as the frail, naive child he'd pulled out of the rain and while he adored that child immensely, who she was now was the girl he'd fallen in love with—brave, resilient, strong. Happy. She was safe and happy and that's more than he could ever want in life.

El's shaking voice breaks him out of her thoughts, but he continues to stroke her hair as he listens to her. "Mike, you jumped because of D-Dustin. I know you love your friends, but I...I don't want you to put yourself in danger b-because of me. Ever."

Her statement startles him a little bit, because he's always prepared to risk his life for her. He supposes that he never, ever wants her to risk herself for him, but it's too late for that, his thoughts remind him wryly. It's a part of who they are—to look death in the face if it only means the other would get away safe and sound.

"El, I already did," he begins gently and he feels her stiffen. "You were unconscious, but that night at the school...you were on the ground and the bad men came around the corner and I knew, I just knew the one in the middle was the worst one of all. So I stood in front of you and told him that he would have to kill me first if he was going to take you." "Mike!" she cries indignantly, but he pushes on. "And I'd do it again in a heartbeat. But...as much as I hate it, I know you'd do the same thing. You have done the same thing. You...you put yourself in front of the freaking demogorgon for us."

He can tell she stopped listening as soon as he told her what he had done, but he hopes she'd registered his rationale anyway. His sacrifices were minuscule compared to hers, but of course, he knew her and he knew there was no way she'd ever agree with that. And she definitely wouldn't right now, because she's still staring at him with the disbelief swirling in her eyes.

"You stood up to the bad men? How stupid are you?" He grins. "Stupidly in love."

The way her face goes blank, a smile she tries to hide tugging up the corners of her mouth makes him chuckle and he leans forward to rub his nose with hers affectionately. She lets out a content sigh, before her eyes soften and meet his and he feels like she's gazing into his very soul, but he doesn't mind, because it's all hers, every inch.

"Mike?" "Mmhm?" "Thank you for saving me." Pulling her closer, he rests his forehead against hers, before whispering, "You're welcome."

"And thank you for saving my life more times than I can count. Thank you for coming back." He kisses her nose. "Thank you for understanding me." He kisses her forehead. "Thank you for trusting me." He kisses her cheek. "Thank you for believing in me." He kisses her temple. "Thank you for loving me." He kisses her lips.

Her finger comes up to press against his mouth when they part, silencing any further outpourings of gratitude. She smiles, cupping his cheek with her hand and strokes it lovingly, his heart singing as she whispers to him.

"Thank you for always being my Mike."