AN: Blake's outfit is the same as the previous two chapters.

♚

"Do you know your name?" Dr. Owens asked the boy, checking his pupils. They boy answered, "Will."

"Your full name?"

The boy almost hesitated for a moment, "William Byers."

"Do you know who I am?" Owens questioned. Will looked down for a second, "A doctor?"

Everyone nodded, watching the boy in anticipation, "Have we met before?"

He shook his head, "I-I don't remember." Owens noted this questioning, "You don't remember me? Okay, what about these two?"

He pointed towards Mike and Blake, who were standing right next to each other. Will turned, narrowing his eyes at the girl before going over to Michael who waved, "It's alright... take your time."

"That's... my friends. Mike and Blake."

Everyone, including Blake, gave a small smile, and Hopper said, "How about me, Kid? Do you remember me?"

Will turned to Hopper, looking at him for a second before shaking his head. The man's smile dropped, "They told me that you helped save me last night, you remember that?" 

Will shook his head again.

"Do you remember anything about last night? About what happened?"

"I remember... they hurt me." Joyce put a hand on her face, turning slightly to Bob as the doctor questioned, "You mean the doctors?"

Will's eye twitched, "No. The soldiers."

Blake looked over at her Dad, shaking her head telling him that they didn't hurt him. Hopper discretely nodded, showing he understood and Owens raised a brow, "The soldiers hurt you?"

"They shouldn't have done that. It upset him." Will simply replied. Dr. Owens brought a picture out to show Will, "You say it upset him. Is that him?" 

The boy turned to him, nodding.

"Okay... I want to try something. It's going to seem a little odd at first but I think it's really going to help us understand what's going on here. Is that okay?"

"Okay."

After a few moments of awkward silence, Blake jumped up on the counter next to Hop and Mike followed her, leaning his head on her shoulder. Another doctor came in, wheeling in a fragment of the vines from the tunnels and a blowtorch. "Now, Will. We just want you to let us know if you feel anything. Okay?"

The man ignited the torch, a blue fire erupting from the nozzle. As the flame moved forward, Will visibly tensed, starting to sweat. "Do you feel anything?

"It's a little sting..."

Owens nodded, "Stings, where?"

Will sat up, holding where his heart would be, "My chest."

The heart monitor that was on the side started beeping loudly. The man brought it up closer, a slight squeal coming from it, "How about now?"

"It burns." Will told. The flame moved in and Will sat up more, clutching his chest and letting out a yelp, "It burns!"

The monitor was sky rocketing as the doctor questioned him, "Where?"

"Everywhere!" He roared as the vine started going crazy.

"Turn it off!" Blake yelled, hopping off the counter as Joyce joined her protests.

"Turn it off! That's enough!" Hopper demanded, stepping off the counter and coming to Will's side. The boy relaxed, letting out a breath of relief and slumping down into his bed.

"I'd like to talk to you," Dr. Owens nodded towards Joyce.

"Them too," She pointed at Hopper and Blake since they knew the most on the situation. They all walked out, leaning against the wall and Owens sighed.

"Our best guess is that it's a virus. Which is causing this... neurological disorder. Now, when a typical virus attaches itself to it's host, it duplicates. It spreads, essentially hijacking the host. A virus is alive, it has an intelligence-"

"-Thanks for the sixth grade science lesson. Get to the point," Blake rolled her eyes. The man sighed, "What's unusual here, is this virus... the affected host and it seem to be communicating. It has some sort of a hive intelligence-"

"-Like a hive mind?" Blake interrupted, crossing her arms. He nodded, "Could be, it's connecting all the hosts. Good news is, the virus can be cured. We are going to continue running tests and we are going to see what we find."

"What happens when he can't remember anything? When there's nothing else there?" Joyce questioned, taking a step forward, "What happens when my boy is gone?"

The woman put a hand over her mouth, leaning into Hopper who wrapped an arm around her.

♚

"Alright, so let me get this straight," Steve started, throwing the raw cubed meat on the railroad track behind Dustin. "You kept something you know was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl? Who... you just met?"

The boy huffed, "Alright, that's grossly over simplifying things."

"Why would some girl like some nasty slug anyway?" Dustin's eyes widened as he scoffed, "An inter dimensional slug, because it's awesome!"

"Well, even if she thought it was cool, which she didn't, uh- I just think... I don't know I just think you are trying way too hard, Man." Steve told, throwing more uncooked beef. "Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, alright?"

"It's not about the hair, Man. The key to a girl is just acting like you don't care." Dustin turned to him, "Even if you do?"

The teenager shrugged, "Yeah, exactly. It drives them nuts."

Steve could almost hear Blake telling him he was dumb in his head as Dustin said. "And then what?"

"You just wait. Till ah- till you feel it," He slapped the boy's shoulder. "Feel what?"

"It's like approaching a storm, ya know? You can't see it but you can feel it, like this... electricity," He tried to tell leaving the boy more confused, "If you mean the electromagnetic field in the clouds when the atmosphere-"

"No, no, no, no, no. Like- like a sexual electricity." Steve told. Dustin's eyes widened, "Oh..."

"You feel that," Steve pointed to the ground, "Then you make your move."

"So that's when you kiss her?"

"What? Woah, slow down, Romeo. Sure, some girls... yeah, they want you to be aggressive, strong, hot and heavy- like I don't know, a lion. But others, you gotta be slow. Gotta be stealthy, like a ninja." He explained. Dustin took all the information in, "What type is Nancy?"

"Nancy's different. She's different than the other girls-" Dustin interrupted, "What about Blake?"

Steve felt his heart race at her name and covered it up with a laugh, as if Dustin could hear it, "Blake... she's a whole different spectrum. Blake has a lot of stuff she doesn't talk about. I mean... she's badass, she doesn't care what other people think. She's incredibly smart, funny, and beautiful. She does this thing when she laughs or smiles it's-"

"-Do you like Blake?" Dustin stopped in his tracks, looking over to Steve who was now turning red. Steve's eyes widened, "What? W-w-why would you even ask that? Nancy and I just broke up."

"So? That doesn't mean anything. You can still like Blake, hell, I like Blake-"

"-You are way too young for her. And anyway, this is about you. Not me," Steve changed the subject.

"She's pretty special."

"Yeah, yeah, she is."

The curly haired boy started walking again, "This girl is special too, you know? It's like... something about her."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're not falling in love with this girl are you?" Steve stopped. Dustin shook his head, "No, no."

Steve raised a brow, "Okay, good. Don't. She's only going to break your heart and you're way to young for that shit."

It was silent for a few moments, both boys going back to throwing the meat when Steve decided to talk again, "It's Faberge."

"What?" Dustin looked up confused And Steve rolled his eyes, saying, "It's Faberge Organics." He pointed to his hair before continuing, "Use the shampoo and the conditioner when your hair is damp. It's not wet, okay? It's damp and use four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray."

Dustin chuckled, "Farrah Fawcett spray?"

Steve turned around threateningly, "Yeah, Farrah Fawcett. You tell anyone I just told you that and your ass is grass, Henderson." He pointed a hand at the boy, "Do you understand?"

"Yep."

Steve let out a breath, "Okay."

♚

Blake and Hopper found themselves in his truck, using his radio to signal to El. After a while of nothing, Hop decided to speak to the silence, "Hey... it's me. I know that we've been gone too long, it's not- I want you to know it's not about you and it's not about out fight. Something came up, Blake is here too and we will explain it all when we see you."

"I just want you to know that I'm not mad... I'm just sorry."

Blake tilted her head, sitting up to see the man getting teary-eyed. "About everything. Blake was right. I don't want you to get hurt, at all. And I don't want to lose you."

The teenager sighed, putting a hand on his arm and leaned her head on her shoulder. She didn't normally show this much affection to her father, but he needed it.

The man smiled, "Just heat up some real food, okay? Not just Eggos and  I want you to eat all the peas, even if they are mushy and gross... we will be home soon."