43. Right Here Waiting

[A/N: Two updates in less than two days?! What witchcraft is this?! XD JK, I am feeling SUPER motivated by you guys and your lovely reviews. Ahhhh you make my heart swell. Thank you all so so much for your thoughtful and encouraging feedback. You're so nice, my heart can't take it! I wanted to respond to a few people who reviewed recently:

Ella - That means so much! Thank you! This has been my vision of season 2 since I first started hearing fan theories last year so I'm so glad you're enjoying it! ^_^Assuming you are also Ella Holmes-Jackson, your reviews have given me so much life! lol I enjoyed every notification I got and can tell you you not only made me laugh out loud several times but also helped motivate me to get more writing done!

GeekofNature - You touched my heart! Ahhh. I even showed my fiance what you said because I was so touched. I can't tell you how humbled I am by your review and I'm so so glad that you think I am maintaining the essence of who these characters are. I love them and want to be true to them! I promise to finish it and have mapped out everything to the end so the only thing standing in my way is time and motivation and reviews like yours make me want to write more and faster so thank you!

wordsfromthefeatherquill and falltotemptationx - I am so so glad you guys are enjoying reading this! You have humbled me with your compliments and I look forward to hearing you and everyone else's reactions to what I have in store later in the story!

Resisting-Moonlight - You are such a faithful reviewer and I appreciate you so much. Glad you enjoyed the cutesy moments with our lovely couples and can't wait to see your thoughts on the rest!

You are all SO AMAZING. And I love that I am keeping you guys entertained. With that said, I wanted to let everyone know that I mapped EVERYTHING OUT from now to the end of the story! It should be 50 chapters total and I have a song and a detailed plan for each one. I am soooo excited, guys. Stuff is gonna go downnnnn and I can't wait to see your reactions! I love this, I love you, I love Stranger Things. Now let's cut to the chase!]

Chapter 43: Right Here Waiting (by Richard Marx)

"Wherever you go, whatever you do, I will be right here waiting for you. Whatever it takes, or how my heart breaks, I will be right here waiting for you..."

. . . . . . . .

As Will returned to the room and settled back down on the couch, Joyce headed into the kitchen to continue with the dishes.

Not realizing a moment had just been exchanged between his two friends, Will leaned forward, careful that his mom couldn't hear him. "I wish my mom knew she didn't have to help me get around everywhere," He whispered and Mike and El turned their heads around to face him. "I can walk," He chuckled, pulling his throw blanket back over his legs and digging around in the couch cushions for the remote.

"She's just being a mom," Mike shrugged with a sympathetic smile. "I mean, can you blame her?"

"Yeah, not really," Will conceded with a sigh and a shrug of his shoulders. "What do you guys wanna watch?"

"Doesn't matter to me," Mike shrugged and El wordlessly turned her attention back to the TV, leaning her arms back and resting her palms on the floor to support herself against the coffee table.

After a few moments of quiet amongst them, Mike decided to mirror El's position. He wanted to hold her hand but didn't want to make a big deal of it or make it completely obvious or awkward. The fact that her hand was on the floor right next to him set his mind to racing of all the ways he could make a subtle move and close some of the space between them. With Will on the couch behind them, he didn't want whatever he did to be noticeable so he shifted his body as though getting comfortable, leaning his back against the coffee table and scooting down slightly. Glancing back and forth between El's hand and the TV set, Mike gingerly crept his hand toward hers before delicately placing his overtop.

As inconspicuous as he'd been, El was very aware of the sudden contact and she turned to him with surprise but her face beamed with delight. When her brow then furrowed with concern, Mike quickly retracted his hand as though he'd hurt her.

"What is it?" Mike said quietly, assuming Will was paying attention to the TV and the characters on-screen were drowning out his words. "I'm sorry, I -"

El shook her head. "No, feel sick," She pointed to her stomach and looked up at Mike with worry in her eyes.

"Like you're gonna throw up?" He asked, subconsciously scooting away the slightest bit. "Like before?"

El considered this but shook her head. "Don't think so," She said. "Feels… weird. Like bubbles. And here," She put a hand over Mike's heart and his breath caught in his throat. "Really fast. Something's wrong,"

Despite the concern on her face, Mike couldn't help the way his own heart flipped at what she was describing. He knew exactly what those feelings meant. "You're not sick," He said quietly, leaning close to whisper. "That's um, that's what happens when you have a... crush,"

"Not sick?" El pulled away slightly to look at him and Mike forced himself to lean away a bit more. They were way too close.

"No," Mike shook his head, grinning so hard he felt his cheeks might pop. "Y-You call them 'butterflies'," He said quietly. "Like butterflies in your stomach,"

"Oh," El said, sitting back against the table again but still looking concerned. "Will they stay?"

Mike couldn't fight his blush at his point and the only way he was maintaining any sense of composure was at the idea that Will probably couldn't hear them. They were whispering, the TV was on and a little loud, and he was sitting a couple feet behind them on the couch. "Maybe," He answered, hoping they stayed for a long time. "It's a good thing; you don't have to worry," He gave her a reassuring smile and she reciprocated before turning to face the TV once again.

Jonathan got home around eight and sequestered himself in his bedroom, mumbling something about a photography portfolio that was due for school before disappearing for the rest of the evening. Joyce finished up in the kitchen and came out to the living room after a while to watch TV with the kids. While it felt like a facade, it still felt good to have these moments of peace. They weren't frantically planning anything and aside from the anxious thoughts running through her own head, everything almost seemed normal. She didn't want the kids to worry and she wanted El to be able to enjoy her limited time with her friends. Who knows where she would end up at the end of this mess. The best thing for her right now was some semblance of normalcy.

"Have you talked to your friends about what happened?" Mike asked at one point during a commercial. "Gabby and Trish and… Emma, right?"

"No supercoms," El shook her head and exhaled heavily. "I miss them,"

"They don't have radios or anything?" Mike clarified. "What about the phone?"

El stared at him curiously.

"You haven't learned how to use the phone yet?" Mike interpreted and El shook her head. "Okay, well, I could show you," He turned around to look at Will who was dozing in and out against the arm of the couch. Joyce had left the room a couple minutes ago to take the dog out to pee and have a smoke. Besides, she was expecting Hopper any minute at this point. "Will, do you mind?"

"Huh?" Will replied groggily. "What? Sorry, my medicine makes me kind of sleepy,"

"It's okay," Mike waved him off. "Where's your phone book? Can I show El how the phone works?"

"Sure," Will yawned, then pointed under the coffee table. "It's under here,"

"Cool," Mike said, reaching under the table to pull out a giant book with thin white pages and laying it across the floor between them. "Who do you wanna call?"

El stared in bewilderment at the expansive book in front of her. "I don't know," She said, thinking. "Trish,"

"Okay…um, do you know Trish's parents' names?" He asked, pausing. This might not work if she didn't.

She'd heard Trish refer to her mother by her first name before but what was it? Jenny? Janet? "Joann," El answered after a moment.

"Okay," Mike nodded. "Do you know her last name? That's how you figure out which section to look in in the book,"

"King," El replied confidently. She vividly remembered the name written on their mailbox and thought it was something out of a fairytale until Trish had cleared up that it was only their last name. Her dad was far from a king and according to her, 'this house is the last thing I'd think of if we're talking about fairytales,"

"Okay, 'King'..." Mike said under his breath as he flipped through the pages. "There's a lot of them so we just look through all these columns until we see 'Joann' or 'Clarksville' - something so that we know it's them. Make sense?"

El nodded and sidled up to him to help look as Mike ran his index finger down the pages, column by column.

"Here we go," He said after a minute. "I think this is it," He pointed to a listing with the initial 'J' and the city listed as 'Clarksville'. "Okay, so, we just take this over to the phone," He instructed, standing up with his thumb marking the page in the book so they didn't lose the listing as they walked over to the phone. El was just tall enough to reach the newly-attached wall phone and she pulled the receiver to her ear, blinking at the sound of the dial tone and waiting for Mike's next instruction.

"Okay, next we just dial these numbers," He pointed to the phone number listed in the book. "One at a time, up here," He pointed to the rotary dial. "So the first number is '3' so you just put your finger up against the number you want and circle it around to the end," He explained, demonstrating. "Here, I'll do it for you this time and then maybe we can call someone else and you can try," El nodded as Mike dialed and as the phone began to ring, the front door opened and a fluffy white dog came barrelling into the house with Joyce close behind.

"Hi," El said uncertainly when a woman's tired voice answered the phone and she looked to Mike for guidance.

"Ask if Trish is home," Mike whispered encouragingly.

"Is Trish home?" El parroted, a little more confident.

"There you go, good boy," Joyce said as she stepped into the living room, though the dog was not paying attention at all. He ran around excitedly checking out what everyone was doing. "Go lay down,"

Hopper followed behind Joyce but when he saw El standing in the kitchen with the phone receiver to her ear, he yelled, "Put the phone down!"

El froze at the sudden exclamation and Mike quickly scrambled to take the receiver from her and hang it up.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Hopper demanded as he flew into the kitchen.

"I-I was just teaching her how to use the phone!" Mike exclaimed innocently.

"I told them they could use it!" Will chimed in from the couch.

"God damnit," Hopper groaned in frustration, putting his fist to his forehead. "The lab has this whole town bugged. What the hell made you think it was safe to use the phone?"

"I-I -" Mike stammered but any words he had died in his mouth. Had he royally screwed up? Had he potentially put El in danger with something as simple as a phone call? "I didn't think it would hurt anything, I didn't -"

"Just get outta here," Hopper ordered gruffly, sighing as Joyce entered the kitchen behind him. Mike grabbed El's hand and pulled her into the living room, his head swimming with regret and anxiety.

"Sorry El," Mike whispered sadly as they sat back down, their hands still connected, and El squeezed his briefly in response.

"Calm down, Hopper," Joyce said quietly once the kids were out of earshot. "It's gonna be hard enough when you tell them the plan anyway. It was an honest mistake,"

"An honest mistake that could put this whole thing in jeopardy," Hopper retorted, but he forced himself to relax by exhaling sharply through his nose and taking another deep breath in. He understood Mike was just trying to do something nice for El. How was he supposed to know the phone could be bugged? Still, Hopper felt protective of El and he could see everything falling apart with the slightest misstep and her being put in danger which made it difficult to keep his temper in check.

"Okay," Hopper sighed. "You wanna tell 'em now?"

Joyce paused, glancing at the clock on the wall. It was getting late and Mike needed to be heading home soon. "Yeah," She sighed. "We shouldn't wait,"

Hopper scanned her face, registering the hesitation and dismay in her expression. "You want me to do it?"

Joyce shook her head. "We can tell them together. I'm fine," She said before leading him into the living room. "Will honey, could you turn the TV off, please?"

"Sure," Will replied, pushing a button on the remote and instantly bringing the room to silence as three sets of eyes turned to the adults in the room.

"Okay," Hopper began. "I've been out running around figuring out a plan for where El is gonna go from here," He paused, noting the way El was hanging on his every word. "It's too dangerous for her to stay with people that the lab knows she is connected to so that means just about everyone in Hawkins isn't an option. At least not until we find a way to stop the lab and whatever the hell it is they're trying to do,"

"So where's she gonna go?" Will inquired.

"First priority is keeping El safe," Hopper said as a disclaimer. "I want you kids to remember that, alright?" He waited for the three to nod or supply some sort of expression of understanding. "Okay, so, El," He directed his attention to her and she sat up a little straighter. "I talked to your friend Emma's parents and you'll stay with them over the weekend. I'll take you up there on Friday and then come Sunday I'll pick you up and drive you down to Finksburg. I've got an old friend down there who's agreed to take you in temporarily. I'll fill you in on the backstory later but as far as he's concerned, you're my niece, got it?"

El hesitated, looking between Mike and Joyce before reluctantly looking back at Hopper and nodding.

"Wait, Finksburg?" Mike shook his head and blinked, incredulous. "Where is Finksburg?"

"It's about two hours south of Indianapolis," Hopper replied flatly. "Two and a half from here,"

"She's going that far?" Will exclaimed.

"There's gotta be another place," Mike shook his head. "How will any of us see her? How will we even know if she's safe?!"

"Like I said, he's an old, good friend of mine," Hopper said evenly, patiently. "She'll be okay and I'm gonna check in on a regular basis,"

"No way," Mike replied defiantly. "You can't send her that far. She doesn't even know this person!"

"The decision is final," Hopper said sternly, holding onto his patience. "This is the only way to keep El safe at this point. We've got to get her as far away from the lab as possible. There is no alternative,"

"But that's not -" Mike started to argue, then glanced at El who had sat back on her bottom and was staring at the floor, crestfallen. He could feel the weight of her disappointment and sadness on his own chest.

"Mike, we promise you, this is the best option for El," Joyce said empathetically, coming forward and kneeling on the floor by the coffee table. "None of us like this but sometimes we have to do things we don't wanna do if it's best for the people we care about,"

"Will you visit?" El looked up at Joyce, then around the room to make sure they knew her question was directed at everyone.

"Of course, sweetie," Joyce said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. "We won't be able to see you a lot but you'll see us again," El pursed her lips as her eyes began to water and Joyce rubbed her thumbs against El's hand comfortingly. "Don't be scared, El. I know this is really hard but I promise you, we're gonna make sure you're okay. Okay? You're not losing any of us,"

El nodded her understanding as a tear slipped down her nose and dripped onto her lap. Doleful, Mike exhaled sharply and glanced at El before patting her on the back.

"It'll be okay, El," He said for her sake, though he hoped it was true. "You can still talk to all of us on your supercom, remember?" He offered, trying to put on a more positive tone. "You've got your own long-distance range built in,"

El turned her head to look at him and the pitiful expression on her face almost made him lose his ability to stay calm.

"But remember, that's not til next week," Joyce said, pulling El's attention back to her. "You'll be here a couple days and then you'll be with Emma for another couple days,"

"We can play whatever games you want on my Atari tomorrow," Will offered, trying to cheer El up. "Or I could teach you how to draw a dragon,"

El couldn't help but smile at Will's sweet offerings. "Okay," She nodded and Joyce wiped a tear from El's cheek with the back of her finger.

"Why don't you get ready and take a shower, okay?" Joyce said. "It's getting late and I think we could all use some rest,"

El nodded obediently and Joyce released her hands before standing up.

"Can I come back tomorrow after school?" Mike asked as he stood up and Joyce nodded.

"Of course, Mike," She smiled. "You know you're always welcome here,"

"Okay," Mike nodded, hesitating. He didn't want to leave even though he knew it was getting close to the time his mom wanted him back anyway. "Uh," He waited until Joyce and Hopper had exited and Will pretended he wasn't paying attention. "I'll see you tomorrow, El,"

El nodded, her face still dejected, but she offered him a half-smile. "Tomorrow,"

Knowing Will was right behind them and not wanting to engage in any other interaction that could be potentially embarrassing or awkward, Mike took a step back and smiled at El before walking over to Will.

"I'll see ya later," He said, attempting to sound as normal as possible. He didn't want to act weird in front of his friend but if there was anyone he felt comfortable around, it was Will. His quiet, gentle demeanor made it easy to be yourself and Mike knew that Will understood, in some way, how he was feeling.

"See ya tomorrow, Mike," Will said with a smile.

"Okay, um," Mike said as he gathered his jacket and backpack from the floor where he'd left it hours ago. "Bye,"

"Get home safe, Mike!" Joyce called from the next room as he let himself out the front door.

Once outside, Mike walked around to the side of the house where he'd left his bike in the grass. With the sun having gone down, the air had a chill to it and he quickly zipped his jacket up to his chest. Why did everything have to be so hard? Why couldn't El just stay in Hawkins and go to their school like a normal girl? Why did those stupid government people need to be after her? It wasn't fair and he hated it. In frustration, he kicked a fallen tree branch that was lying in the grass next to his bike. It didn't go far and the smaller extensions of the branch tangled with his shoelaces, frustrating him more as he kicked the lightweight branch away. In a huff, he climbed on his bike, finally feeling the heavy weight of his exhaustion from earlier today settle back on his shoulders as he rode home.

. . . . . . . .

Nancy heard Mike come home and slam his bedroom door shut but she was otherwise preoccupied. After her conversation with Jonathan earlier that day, she couldn't help but reflect on everything that had happened since November. He had had a point - there was a time when she put way too much thought into what the people at school thought of her. Most weren't even her friends and yet she still tried to please everyone as if being herself wasn't enough. The way Jonathan had read her like a book during their walk in the woods settled in her mind. She wanted so badly to not end up like her parents, in a loveless marriage with a boring, predictable life. So she'd broken from the cookie-cutter mold of the "good girl" and that was great for a while, except until it wasn't.

Why did it matter what people like Steve and Tommy and Carol thought of her? Steve wasn't so bad but everyone at school seemed to have these categories that everyone was supposed to fit into. What if she didn't want to fit in a category anymore? What if that made her feel claustrophobic? She wanted to like who she liked, regardless of what other people thought. She wanted to be herself and that should be good enough. It should have been good enough all along but she didn't give herself the chance.

Barb had been completely right. The heavy weight of mourning settled onto Nancy's chest as she lay back against her neatly-made bed. What was she supposed to do without her best friend? Barb had known her better than anyone, better than she knew herself. She was stupid for not listening to her in the first place and even if El was right and it wasn't completely her fault that Barb was gone, guilt was a difficult thing to shake.

"This isn't you," Barb had said at Steve's house and god, why hadn't she listened? Why hadn't she understood what Barb already knew?

Even though she had Jonathan to talk to about her grief with Barb, it didn't completely fill the hole. Sure, she could talk to any one of the people who had been involved in last fall's craziness but no one really understood this kind of loss. Mike found El again and even Jonathan had his brother back. In a way, she almost felt a little jealous. Why had Will been able to survive but not Barb? Not that she wished anything terrible on Will, not in the slightest, but why did Barb have to die? And when would she stop feeling so alone?

. . . . . . . .

The next day came and went too quickly and before El knew it, it was Friday morning. Joyce had picked up a box of Eggos yesterday that were specifically for El but no one was awake yet to make them for her. She'd already gone through half the box yesterday but she'd never attempted to make them on her own. She pulled the box out of the freezer, careful to avoiding waking Joyce who was asleep in the living room.

Will had been sleeping in his own bed the past couple nights and Joyce had taken the couch to ensure El could stay in a big, comfortable bed while she was here. She didn't mind sleeping on the couch - with the location of her incision she was actually able to find more comfortable sleeping positions there than in her own bed. Plus, she knew El would likely be on a couch or at least, without her own bed for a while during all these transitions. Two nights on the couch weren't so bad.

The sun had barely peeked over the horizon but El was up and about. She'd come out into the kitchen as quietly as she could so as not to disturb anyone. Jonathan would be getting up for school in an hour but Will and Joyce were still off from work and school so they could sleep in.

El had seen Mike and Joyce and Becky all make Eggos for her before and it didn't seem that difficult. Spurred by the hunger rumbling in her belly, she pulled the toaster away from the back of the counter and checked that it was plugged in. She dropped two Eggos into the two-slot toaster, already planning on making several more, and pulled the front lever down. Peering over the top, she watched as the metal inside heated up and turned red and she could already smell her delicious breakfast cooking.

If Mike were here, he'd probably be pulling out the butter and syrup for her to drizzle all over her waffles but El had eaten them so many times without any sort of embellishment that she actually preferred them that way. As she waited for the Eggos to pop up, she paced impatiently around the kitchen, picking up random objects she'd never seen before and inspected them with minimal interest as her stomach continued to growl.

After a couple minutes of continuous checking and rechecking, the Eggos didn't seem to be cooking fast enough. Maybe something was wrong with the Byers' toaster and it needed a little help so El focused her mental energy on the wires inside the toaster, increasing the heat until smoke began to come out of the slots at the top. El broke her mental stronghold but it was already too late - the little toaster couldn't handle the intensity of the electrical current El had initiated and a few sparks flew out of the slots before a flame ignited and El jumped back from the heat.

The fire alarm above her began to screech and El clamped her hands over her ears, panicked. She didn't know what to do but it was only a matter of seconds before Joyce was in the kitchen, screaming at her to stay away from the counter where the toaster was currently spitting flames. Clad in pajamas, Joyce grabbed a fire extinguisher from behind the fridge and sprayed the counter with white foam that instantly coated the toaster and surrounding area until the fire was out.

Breathing heavily, Joyce plopped the extinguisher on the table and looked at El. "Are you okay?"

El nodded, glancing at the mess on the counter. "Yes," She said in a small voice. "I'm sorry,"

"I-It's okay, sweetheart," Joyce said, walking over to inspect the damaged toaster. The Eggos inside were blackened and the edge of the toaster had melted and deformed from the heat. "We needed a new one anyway," She sighed, tossing the appliance back onto the counter and wiping the foam that had touched her fingertips on the legs of her pants.

"What happened?" Jonathan asked, stepping out of his room and down the hall, his hair bedraggled and his eyes half shut with sleep. "Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah, just a little kitchen mishap," Joyce said, noticing how frazzled and ashamed El looked and pulling her into a side hug. "Go back to bed; I'll get you up in an hour,"

"That's okay," Jonathan yawned. "I'm already up, I'm gonna take a shower," He said before heading back down the hall.

Joyce looked down at El and rubbed her hand up and down the girl's arm. "Don't worry about it, El," She said comfortingly. "It's okay. That thing's been on its last legs for a month now. I should've bought a new one a while ago," She glanced up at the open Eggo box on the counter. "I have an idea. I don't know if it'll be the same but maybe…" She walked over to the oven and checked that there weren't any pans or baking dishes being stored inside. "Maybe we can make them in the oven. You wanna try that?" She looked back to see El nod as she set the baking temperature and pulled a cookie sheet out of the drawer under the oven. "I'll get this put together for you and you can go check on Will in case the alarm woke him up, okay?"

. . . . . . . .

Will had slept like a rock through the cacophonous alarm and didn't wake up until mid-morning which gave El the opportunity to try and fall back asleep with a full belly as Joyce busied herself around the house. El couldn't help but think to herself how much of a fit Hopper would have if he knew how active Joyce was being but it was obvious the woman didn't like to stay still for very long. He had to know that about her.

When El woke up again, it was almost lunch time and Will was already in the living room watching TV from the couch. Still a bit groggy from sleep, El trudged into the room and plopped herself down on the opposite end of the couch. Will was flipping through channels, though there weren't many options to choose from, and El settled back into the couch cushions, yawning.

"Morning," Will greeted her pleasantly. "Mom said you had an Eggo accident in the kitchen?"

El nodded. "You were asleep,"

"Yeah, I can't believe I didn't hear it," He shrugged, continuing to flip through channels without pausing more than two seconds on each one. "I must have been really tired," As he cycled through the channels a second time, he sighed. "There isn't anything good on TV this time of day,"

El watched as the pictures on the screen flashed from one to the next without much thought until a nature documentary came up on the screen. Tall yellow creatures with brown splotches all over their bodies and long necks were eating leaves from trees as a man narrated their behavior. El found them fascinating and before Will could switch the channel again, she levitated the remote out of his hands and over to her.

"Hey!" Will complained, then laughed. "Do we really have to watch a documentary about giraffes?" He asked, looking from her to the screen and back.

"Yes," El smiled slightly and glued her eyes to the TV. "Giraffes," She tried out the new word, enjoying the way it sounded. For some reason, it felt like a good name for those interesting animals. It fit them somehow.

"They're pretty cool, huh?" Will said amicably. "If you want, I could teach you how to draw one before… before you go,"

El nodded happily at this and rested her arms and head over the arm of the couch, content to watch these fascinating new creatures until lunchtime. She didn't want to think about leaving right now. It was hard enough to imagine saying goodbye before when she was going to live with Becky. Now her future was much more uncertain and the longer she could enjoy the company of the people she knew and cared for, the better.

. . . . . . . .

"I took for granted, all the times that I thought would last somehow. I hear the laughter, I taste the tears, but I can't get near you now..."