A/N: Welcome back! Thank you so much for all the love and support "Lost and Found" received! I'm so proud of it and how far it's come. This sequel has been a blast to write, Season 2 is my favorite season, so I was so stoked to finally start writing for it. I will warn you now that chapters for this fic will be long. I got v passionate about this! Anyway, I don't know what else to say other than thank you again and enjoy this first chapter ❤️❤️

Warnings: very brief mentions of prostitution

Word Count: 4629

"Eleven. Eleven twenty-five. Eleven fifty. Eleven seventy-five. Twelve."

Quarter after quarter thunked onto the desk belonging to Doc Wheeler as she muttered her counting to herself. She was nearly reaching the end of her piggy bank by this point and she was becoming quite proud of the amount of money she managed to make. "Twelve twenty-five. Twelve fifty. Twelve seventy-five. Thirteen. Thirteen-"

    "Gator Bait, do you copy? This is Rug Bug."

"Shit!" She banged her hands onto her desk in frustration. Glancing over at the walkie on her bed, she huffed and stood to her feet before shuffling over to it. That would have marked the second time she had lost count and she was willing to just skip the counting and take a guess.

    "Gator Bait, do you copy? This is Rug Bug calling in."

A soft smile on her face, Doc picked up her walkie and stared at it for a bit, letting the voice continue on in its attempts to get her to answer.

    "Gator Bait... this is Rug Bug. Are you there?"

Returning to her desk, Doc sat back down with a chuckle.

    "(Y/N)...?"

"This is Gator Bait. What's your haul, Rug Bug?" She answered, running her free hand through the new length of her hair she had grown out over the past year.

    "Why do we have code names if you only answer to your real name?"

"Because it's cute listening to you say the names. Now, what's your haul?"

It went quiet for a bit before the voice answered, "I'm counting. You?"

"Well, I was counting, too, but you made me lose track."

    "Sorry..." The voice quietly chuckled. Her heart warmed at the sound despite it battling with the crackling of their walkie connection. "What number do you remember leaving off on?"

Doc let out a slow breath as her (e/c) eyes roamed over the coins grouped on her desk. "Uh... Like, thirteen-something?" She shrugged even though the voice couldn't see it.

    "Thirteen?! That's all from you selling hats?"

"Will, when I said I was starting a business, I meant I was starting a business," She dumped the remainder of her quarters with the rest before swiping them all off of her desk and into the bag she held at the edge. "Whatever, thirteen-something is more than enough." She muttered to herself.

    "I still can't believe you made that much. You're so dedicated."

She scoffed and reached her arm out to the walkie to answer. "It's nothing. I make stuff all the time. Now I'm just... making money off of it."

"When will you start selling shirts and dresses?"

Doc answered him as she picked up her bag, exiting her room and down the stairs. "Soon. I've got the sizing down, I'm just still focusing on my logo. I don't know if I want it to be 'Doc' or some kind of symbol. I'll figure it out."

    "I know you will."

"I'll see you there, okay?"

    "See ya, (Y/N)."

Doc pushed down the antenna to her walkie before sitting on the last step of the staircase. Reaching over, she picked up her skates and shoved her feet into them. After the events at Hawkins Middle School with Dr Martin Brenner and his people, Doc's yellow skates had mysteriously gone missing. She knew for a fact that she had left them in the cafeteria when the kids had to up and run, but when the police went back to retrieve them for her, there was no sign of them. Not in any classrooms, not in her locker. Nowhere.

This upset Doc immensely. She had gone about two months without skating until Will, her savior, gifted her the best Christmas present she could have asked for that year. Her new pair of skates, while not yellow and a little big for her (Will was ashamed that he couldn't find any yellow ones or any in her size in which he could afford), Doc treasured them. Even more so than the first pair, all because they were from Will.

She all but leapt for joy and into his arms when he presented them to her with a big cheesy smile. The boy was met with a big, wet kiss on both his cheeks in thanks. Doc could still remember how red his face had gotten. Of course, he had blamed it on the cold air.

And because of the icy and snowy climate, Doc had to wait another couple months before she could begin skating once again. She had always taken a break during the winter since she was absolutely terrified of attempting ice skating, but with the added time devoid of roller skates, the springtime had been her time to break out the new pair. Of course, Karen and Ted couldn't complain about the amount of time their daughter had spent out by herself; she had grown unhappy in the winter and they were pleased to see her as her usual self once again.

And indeed, Doc had gained back her cheeky grin, the pep in her step and the lilt in her voice. But she had also become more alert. She sometimes jumped at certain sounds, she lacked a good night's sleep due to nightmares, and she swore she was beginning to see and hear things. A voice at night, as soon as she drifted off to sleep, would whisper her name into her ear until she'd shoot up awake. Even then, she would not leave her bed to open her door.

It had been a year now that she had gotten over her fear of being in closed off spaces. Every night, she forced herself to sleep in her dark and silent room, no crack of her door allowing the light from the hallway to seep in. She already assured her family that she could do this, and while they all understood if she couldn't, she wanted to prove it to them.

She wanted to prove to herself that she was moving on.

As Doc began lacing up her other skate, she could hear the thumping of footsteps on the stairs behind her. Rolling her eyes, she scooted closer to the edge so as to not get trampled by her siblings.

"Mike!" Nancy screamed as she chased her brother down the stairs. "Get back here!"

As Mike shoved past Doc, his foot accidentally kicked over her bag of quarters, sending the coins scattering across the floor. "Dammit, Mike!" She gasped, dropping down to gather them back into the bag.

"Hey. No running in the house." Ted called out to Mike and Nancy as they ran through the kitchen.

"What is going on?!" Karen shouted after them. Meanwhile, still in front of the staircase, Doc quietly muttered to herself and she steadily got to her feet with her bag in hand. With a growl of an exhale, she skated through the kitchen, waving to her parents and little sister as she went. "(Y/N), no skates in the house! And be careful out there!"

Once Doc was outside, she could see that Nancy was still chasing Mike, who was now hurriedly biking down the road. Nancy stopped abruptly when she realized it was no use in following. "Asshole!" She shouted, raising her arms up in exasperation and disbelief. Not a second later, Doc was at her side.

"What did he do this time?" She huffed.

"He stole from me. God, he's been more of an asshole than usual lately." Nancy shook her head and began walking back to the house. Doc watched her go with a saddened expression. All three of the older Wheeler siblings had changed from a year ago following the events of Eleven's disappearance.

Nancy had been down since finding out her best friend, Barbara Holland, had died after being taken by the Demogorgon and into the Upside Down. She had been blaming herself for leaving Barb alone the night she was taken and took it upon herself to check in on Barb's parents when she could. But it seemed her boyfriend, Steve, was keeping her in better spirits than she could've asked for.

Mike was a different story, though. After finding out about her powers, Mike had been just a bit standoffish towards Doc. Not in any way that had been obvious; he still included her in group hangouts and she played D&D regularly with the Party, but their sibling time had been cut shorter and shorter as time went by. Doc knew it was partially because Mike was keeping himself in the basement every single night, sitting in El's old fort and trying to find the girl through his walkie.

Doc also knew that the other reason was because she had lost some of Mike's trust in her. She had never told him about her powers and where she had come from (though knowledge of the latter was limited), and that somewhat hurt him. The two had always, always been honest with each other and she had kept a huge secret from him for years.

And while he could understand why she never told him, he still felt somewhat betrayed by his sister.

It also didn't help that Mike was extremely emotional about El's disappearance. He cared deeply for the girl and she quite literally vanished with nothing but black ashes in her wake. But Doc couldn't get a word out of him about that situation. He would just brush her off and leave her to her own devices.

She couldn't really blame him, she supposed she would do the same if she were him. It just pained her to know that she put a strain on their relationship by being dishonest. However, she knew he still loved her, otherwise he would've given up on her entirely. So, she had to hold onto that and keep moving forward.

By the time Doc caught up with her brother, Lucas had joined Mike's side and they were now on their way to Dustin's. When she silently reached them, Lucas grinned at her. "What took you so long?"

"Mike kicked over my haul, so I got a little behind." She answered, shooting a look at her brother, who only shrugged.

"Sorry..."

"So, what's your count?" Lucas asked as they neared the Henderson residence. Doc lifted up her bag and hummed as she assessed the bottom of it that hung low with the weight of the coins.

"About... thirteen-something."

"Thirteen?!"

After picking up Dustin, the four were off to the arcade. Pulling into the parking lot, Doc waited by the rack as the boys parked their bikes. As they did so, a familiar car pulled up near them, honking their horn.

Turning around, the four saw that it was Will and his mom. Joyce had become more protective than ever over Will since he returned home from the Upside Down. He now had a very strict curfew and he wasn't allowed to walk or bike anywhere. At least, not without Jonathan or Joyce with him.

From within the car, Will sent Doc a smile, causing her stomach to do flips as she returned the expression. After speaking with his mom for a bit, Will exited the car. Immediately, the two rushed over to each other, their hands finding a place in one another. "Hey." Doc grinned as they moved toward the entrance.

"Hey. I-I like your hair clip. Is that new?"

"Oh," Her hand instinctively reached up to the yellow flower clip in her hair, her face heating up. "Yeah, it is. Thanks."

As the duo passed the boys, Will opening the door for the giggling Doc, they all rolled their eyes at them.

"They're so gross."

"Seriously."

"Get a room, honestly."

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    "To slay the dragon, use the magic sword."

The animated woman of the Dragon's Lair game breathily spoke. The Party was gathered around the machine, watching as Dustin played. "Oh, Jesus! I'm in uncharted territory here, guys."

"Down! Down! Down!"

"I'm going! I'm going!"

The four shouted to Dustin as his fingers smashed on buttons. As the game intensified, the kids' shouting became insistent. Dustin's smile slowly fell as he became more irritated with them. "I'm going! I'm going! I'm going! Okay. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!" He screamed, continuing to smash down on the buttons. However, the music that signaled his defeat soon played, causing him to start taking his anger out on the machine. "No! No! No! I hate this overpriced bullshit! Son of a bitch! Piece of shit!"

"You're just not nimble enough," Lucas calmly spoke. "But you'll get there one day. But until then, Princess Daphne is still mine."

"Whatever. I'm still tops on Centipede and Dig Dug."

"You sure about that?"

Turning around, the kids were met with Keith, one of the employees of the arcade. He wore a smirk and held a bag of cheese puffs in his hand.

"Sure about what?" Dustin asked. When Keith only responded by shoving a puff in his mouth, Dustin quickly shoved past his friends to another row of machines. "Move! Move!" He exclaimed. After checking Centipede and seeing that he still topped the game in his highscore, he moved towards Dig Dug. "No, no, no, no, no. Hey, no! No! No!"

There on the screen at the top of the highscores was a player named MADMAX, holding a score of-

"751,300 points!" Will gasped.

"That's impossible." Mike shook his head in disbelief.

"Well, clearly not." Doc chuckled. Dustin shot her an annoyed look before turning to Keith, who had followed them out of amusement.

"Who is Mad Max?"

"Better than you."

"Is it you?" Will asked.

Keith scoffed. "You know I despise Dig Dug."

"Then who is it?" Doc raised her brows, now standing between Will and Mike.

"Yeah, spill it, Keith!"

"You want information, then I need something in return." His disgusting smile made its way to the Wheeler siblings. Dustin, Lucas and Will turned their attention to them, Doc's face contorting to disgust as Mike was completely shocked at the implication.

"Absolutely not!"

"No, no, no. No way! You're not getting a date with her."

"Guys, come on. Just get him the date." Lucas tried to reason.

"Hell no!"

"We're not prostituting our sister!"

"But it's for a good cause."

Dustin stopped the argument. "No, don't get him the date. Know what? He's gonna spread his nasty-ass rash to your whole family, then Doc'll spread it to the Byers."

"What?!"

Keith's smirk dropped. "Acne isn't a rash and it isn't contagious, you prepubescent wastoid!"

"Oh, I'm a wastoid? She wouldn't go on a date with you. You make, like, what? $2.50 an hour?"

"Nice perm."

"Gonna make fun of my hair?"

Doc watched the argument with a smile, crossing her arms in amusement. She turned to see what Will's reaction was, but her smile dropped when she saw he wasn't there anymore. Turning around, she didn't see him anywhere near them. From the glass doors of the exit, she could see the distant figure of Will standing in the parking lot. Without a word to her friends, Doc made her way outside. Once outside, she could see that Will stood there, staring up at the sky in silence. "Will?!" She called out.

Startled, Will snapped his head to her, eyes wide in terror. "(Y/N)?! H-How did we get here?!"

"What...?" Doc frowned in confusion. Will began to stumble his way toward her, but the closer he got to her, the more her stomach began to twist and the harsher the bile in her throat began to rise. "Y-You just walked out here, Will. Are you okay?" When he was close enough, she reached her hand out, gently touching his arm.

If Doc had blinked, she would have missed the very quick flash of a different setting. She couldn't make out much of it, but it was dark, it was cold, and Will was still staring at her with those wide eyes before everything was back to normal. The two stared at each other in confused silence before a voice sounded from the entrance.

"Hey. Stop sucking face and get back in here."

Flinching, they quickly turned to Mike, who stared at them with narrowed eyes. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah. I just... needed some air. (Y/N) wanted to come with me."

"Come on," Mike walked up to Will and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling the boy with him. "You're up on Dig Dug." Without so much as a glance to his sister, Mike led Will back into the arcade, the boy's eyes stuck on Doc's. Even when they were inside and she stood alone in the parking lot, Doc couldn't find it in herself to move.

Eventually, she had to, though. She had to keep moving forward. So, with a shuddering breath, Doc glided back into the arcade. She made it a point to steer clear of her friends and find something else to do just for a bit. She soon found herself in front of a crane machine, stuffed animals of all shapes and sizes pressed up against the glass. A small smile making its way onto her face, Doc decided to station herself there.

By the time she had regrouped with her friends again, they had moved onto another game. Dustin looked up at her from where he was watching Mike play. "Where've you been?"

"Crane."

"Don't tell me you wasted your money on that piece of shit, Doc."

"Hey it wasn't for me," She smiled and walked up to Will, presenting to him a blue plush bug, its several legs dangling as she held it out to him. "For you, Rug Bug."

Will's grin widened as his face darkened with a blush. "T-Thanks, Gator Bait." He chuckled, gently taking it from her. "You really didn't have to."

"I wanted to."

Dustin and Lucas heavily sighed in annoyance.

The following day at school, opening his locker, Will scanned the inside for anything he needed. A bashful smile crept onto his face at the photo booth strip of he and Doc, taped just beside a drawing of his. Moving his gaze up, he caught sight of a piece of paper that had to have been slipped into his locker by someone else.

Taking it into his hands, he saw that it was a newspaper article about him after he had returned home. The picture of him had his eyes x'ed out by marker, the words ZOMBIE BOY written just beside the photo. His skin crawling, he looked around at any sign of the culprit.

"Hey, Will."

Jumping a bit, Will slammed his locker shut and turned to see Doc standing there with a smile on her face. "O-Oh... Hi, (Y/N)."

"Sorry about that... What's that?"

"Huh?" He glanced down at the paper in his hands before hurriedly crumpling it up before she could see. Little did he know, Doc had already gotten a good look at it and was now internally fuming at whoever had been behind it. "It's nothing..."

"Okay," She nodded, not wanting to force him to talk about what she already was aware of. "Let's go to class?"

"Y-Yeah." He smiled, grabbing a hold of her hand before the two made their way down the hallway.

-------------------------------------------------

"Meet the human brain," Mr Clarke set a model of a brain down on his desk for the students to see. Unlike the rest of the students, the Party grinned up at their teacher, eyes sparkling with curiosity and wonder, genuinely interested in everything he was saying. Except for Will. The boy stared down at his desk in unease. "I know. I know, it doesn't look like much. A little gross even, right? But consider this. There are a hundred billion cells inside of this miracle of evolution. All working as one. No, no, I did not misspeak. I did not stutter. A hundred billion."

The sound of the door opening and closing caught everyone's attention. Their principal walked in with a girl. Her red hair was what drew Doc's eyes first, then it was the freckles decorating her face.

"This must be our new student."

"Indeed. All yours." The principal nodded before exiting the room. Without a word, the girl attempted to walk to the back of the classroom, but Mr Clarke stopped her.

"Alright, hold up. You don't get away that easy. Come on up, don't be shy," He directed her back to his side, where she begrudgingly returned. "Dustin, drum roll."

Closing his book, Dustin drummed his hands upon the hard surface as the girl tried to awkwardly hide her face from everyone.

"Class, please welcome, all the way from sunny California, the latest passenger to join us on our curiosity voyage, Maxine!"

Dustin ended his drum roll.

"It's Max."

"Sorry?"

"Nobody calls me Maxine. It's Max."

Lucas widened his eyes at his friends. "Mad Max."

"Well, all aboard, Max." Mr Clarke smiled. And with that, Max began to make her way to the back of the room. The four boys turned in their seats in order to watch her every move, staring in shock. Even when she sat down and caught their stares, they hadn't yet looked away. Doc, still turned forward, glared at the boys out of the corner of her eye.

"Stop staring, weirdos." She quietly snapped, the boys quickly doing as they were told and turning forward again. Later on, the four boys all stood behind the gate of the baseball dugout behind the school, watching as Max skateboarded.

"There's no way that's Mad Max." Mike spoke.

"Yeah, girls don't play video games," Will frowned, but rapidly blinked upon thinking of Doc. "W-Well, (Y/N) does, but she's different."

"She's not good at them."

"She still plays them, though."

"Well even if she was good at them, you can't get 750,000 points on Dig Dug. It's impossible."

"But her name is Max." Lucas stared longingly at the redheaded girl.

"So what?"

"So, how many Maxes do you know?"

"I don't know."

"Zero. That's how many."

Dustin nodded. "She shows up at school the day after someone with her same name breaks our top score. I mean, are you kidding me?"

"Exactly. So, she's gotta be Mad Max. She's gotta be."

"And plus, she skateboards, so she's pretty awesome."

Mike frowned at him. "Awesome? You haven't even spoken a word to her."

"I don't have to. Doc skates and she's pretty freakin' awesome. Maybe it's just something about girls with wheels."

"Where is Doc?" Will scanned the area for his girlfriend.

"Ah, shit."

"God..."

"What is she doing?"

Catching sight of the girl, the boys saw that she was now talking with Max, the two girls skating around each other. Max was practicing kick flips as Doc skated backwards, simultaneously talking to her. "I like your skateboard."

"Uh... thanks?"

"You know, it's nice having another skater girl around here. Someone who can keep up with me," Stopping abruptly, Doc stuck her hand out. "(Y/N) Wheeler."

Doc was afraid that Max would simply scoff and walk away, leaving her to look like a fool in front of everyone, but thankfully, Max took her hand and stiffly shook it before going back to skating. "So, you know the four stalkers?"

Fully aware that her friends were indeed watching them, Doc sighed out. "Well, one's my brother and another's my boyfriend."

"Yikes. I feel sorry for you."

"Eh, they're not all bad. They're actually pretty cool."

"Really? Because they seem pretty weird to me."

"Yeah... They are. But it's endearing." Doc chuckled, watching as Max began writing on a piece of paper that she hadn't even noticed she had in the first place. Afterwards, Max tucked her skateboard under her arm and walked towards the stairs. Doc quickly began to follow. "Hey, uh... So, I'll see you around?"

Max climbed the stairs before dropping the now crumpled paper into the trashcan below. "Yeah. See you around, Wheeler."

"See ya, Mad Max." She winked. Max gave Doc a very small curve of her lips before heading inside. As soon as the girl entered the building, Doc could hear the rapid footsteps of her friends rushing towards her. Turning around, she was met with the sight of Dustin bent over the trash can, rummaging around for the paper Max dropped inside as the other three boys stood in front of him as cover from wandering eyes. "You guys are unbelievable."

"Well, what did you two talk about? Did you find out if she was Mad Max?" Lucas crossed his arms with a raised brow.

"Uh, isn't it obvious that she's Mad Max? And no, we didn't talk about that. There are other things for girls to talk about, Lucas. Besides, I was genuinely trying to make a friend."

"And?"

"Well, she smiled, so-"

"Got it! There we go." Dustin pulled himself out of the trash. The boys huddled in order to read what the paper said:

    "Stop spying on me CREEPS."

Doc snorted into her hand before they turned to glare at her. She just shrugged. "I'm sorry, but you weirdos had it coming."

"William Byers," The principal approached the group. "Your mother's here."

Any trace of happiness on Will's face washed away into the usual hollow look he had nowadays. At the shift in mood, Doc skated over to him. "I'll go with, okay?" She whispered, their hands clasping as Will silently nodded at her in response.

There had always been times when Doc walked-- skated down the hallways at school and she could have sworn that everyone was staring at her. That they all knew what she was trying to keep hidden, that they thought she was a freak. Of course, those had just been her insecurities telling her that everyone was out to get her.

But she knew everyone was staring at them. Moreso, at Will.

Hand-in-hand, the two walked with their principal down the hallway. Every single student they passed stopped what they were doing and stared at Will with judging looks, most of their eyes had traveled down to the clasped hands of the couple and then the look in their eyes would gain some disgust. At this, Doc's hand would always tighten around Will's. A reminder that she was there for him, that these kids shouldn't matter to him. She was right here.

Exiting through the front, they were met with Joyce, who leaned against her car, smoking a cigarette. Upon seeing her son, she straightened up and excitedly waved at him. Will weakly waved back with his free hand as they descended the stairs. When they approached Joyce, the woman warmly smiled at Doc. "Hey, (Y/N). Thanks for walking with him again."

"Of course, Mrs Byers."

"You guys have a good rest of your day," The principal nodded. "Safe driving."

Joyce nodded. "Thank you. Bye, (Y/N)."

"Bye," She and Joyce embraced before Doc turned to Will, bringing him into a hug. "I know it's scary and I'm sorry. But I'll see you tomorrow and we'll have the best night of the year." She whispered in his ear as Will hugged back.

"Yeah... Thanks, (Y/N)." He watched in adoration as she pulled away and pressed a kiss to his cheek before he got into the car with his mother. "Bye."

"Bye, Will." She waved, watching as the car pulled off. Taking a deep breath, Doc smiled up at her principal before skating towards the back of the school. As she did, she noticed that Mike, Dustin and Lucas had been watching the whole thing from the side of the school.

Mike looked from where Joyce's car once was and then to his sister. "How was he?"

Doc shrugged and lowered her head. "Quiet."