THEY REACHED THE LAB, FLASHLIGHTS IN HAND. 

"I haven't been here in a while," Kat murmured.

"When was the last time you came?" Steve asked drily. "No offense, but you'd gotta be wild to go to a creepy-ass place like this,"

"Hey, I was a curious kid. Used to climb up the trees and stare into the windows. Sometimes I'd see people in there, but the glass is really tinted, so you can only see their silhouettes,"

"Wow, you really had a ton of free time before Mike," Lucas remarked.

"Yeah, I did," Kat sighed. "I'd never blame him for anything, but, uh, after I turned five and he was born, looking after him took up all my time,"

"But what about Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler?" Dustin asked.

"Well, uh, my dad was busy working a lot of the time. Mom was only twenty when she had me, so she was still figuring stuff out, and I guess since I was with her for so much of her early housewife days, she made me her partner-in-parenting,"

"But isn't parenting her job?" Steve asked in confusion.

"Hello?" A harsh voice sounded from nearby. "Who's there?!"

"Who is that?" Kat muttered, stepping forward a little faster.

They shone their flashlights in the voice's direction, and as they came out of the woods they saw Nancy and Jonathan standing alongside the road.

"Steve?!" the duo said at the same time.

"Nancy?" he said in confusion.

"Love how you forgot about me, Nance," Kat stepped forward from behind him.

"Kathy! What happened to your arm? What are you doing here?" she said, disbelievingly.

"What're you doing here?" Kat asked, scanning Nancy up and down for any potential injuries, before her eyes flicked purposefully to Jonathan, to say 'what're you doing here with him'.

"We're looking for Mike and Will," Nancy said, rolling her eyes slightly at Kat's jab at Jonathan.

"They're not in there, are they?" Dustin asked, indicating towards the lab.

"We're not sure," Nancy said. 

"Why?" Jonathan asked cautiously.

As if waiting for a cue, the parade of monsters inside the labratory wallsscreeched at once, making the party jump and look to the building, where yellow lights were now flickering.

And just like that, the dam of questions erupted once more.

"How'd you guys find out about this?" Jonathan said.

"Were you guys planning to break in?"

"What happened to your hand?"

"Where's Will and Mike?"

"We haven't seen Will," Steve said.

"We haven't seen him since-"

"-the power's back," Nancy interrupted, walking towards the lab. And indeed, golden yellow lights reilluminated the windows of the building in front of them.

The seven of them raced to the guardhouse, Jonathan frantically pressing the 'open door' button.

"Let me try," Dustin pushed past him. "Let me try, Jonathan!"

It didn't work.

"Son of a bitch!" Dustin cursed. "You know what- Hey! I got it!" 

The gate opened easily, too easily, revealing Hawkins Lab in all its deathly glory.

"Sh- should we go in?" Kat motioned at it, feeling a bit woozy.

"Probably, yeah," Jonathan replied.

"Not you, though," Steve pointed at her, his hands on his hips.

"Why not?" Kat asked.

"I dunno, maybe cause of the huge wound on your arm,"

"It's a long scratch, and it's barely half an inch wide!"

"Half an inch?!" Nancy gasped, before grabbing her arm and looking at it. "Jonathan, get the first aid,"

"Right," he said, and walked towards his car trunk.

"Uh, we'll need more rubbing alchohol, cotton pads if you have them, maybe some wrap," Steve said, following him.

"Nance? I don't think you should go in there," Kat said, leaning against the guardhouse.

"Mike is in there," Nancy argued.

"I know, I know, just-"

"Guys!" Max called, looking down the road in front of them.

Two cars sped down the road, wheels screaming in effort at the turn, before heading straight for the group.

"Guys, guys, let's move outta the way!" Kat said, voice growing louder with each word.

"Move, move!" Jonathan yelled as he pushed Dustin into the grass on the side of the road where it was safer.

"Kat! Go!" Nancy shouted at her as Kat heaved herself up and ran unevenly towards them. 

"Here, I gotcha," Steve said as he wrapped his arm around her so he could hold her left hand upright as they tumbled to safety. Kat could feel the material of his denim jacket pressing into her neck and hair as she struggled. God, did one scratch wound do all this? 

Steve cradled her body up to the end of the road, the duo barely making it in time before one of the cars blasted close to them and screeched to a halt.

"Let's go," a dude in a hospital scrub said.

"Who are you?" Kat questioned.

"No questions- no time, just get in the car," he said urgently, and watching how the others scrambled inside the van, Kat pushed herself in as well. 

"Come on, come on!" Steve hollered, pushing Lucas and Dustin inside before shoving himself in last and slamming the door shut as they took off.

Jonathan mumbled heartfelt apologies to Will, who was sleeping on a matted couch, as Nancy stood watching nearby, fingers fiddling sadly with her outside jacket. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, though Jonathan didn't notice. Jim Hopper had been on the phone ever since they got here, barking at a woman on a night shift through the line. They were at the Byers' residence, a brown-looking, single floor home that would feel more like a home if there weren't pieces of paper taped together wrapping all around the floors, walls, and ceilings. It was like if the vines formed by the drawings on said papers were nerves, and the people inside were sitting in a brain.

Kat tried to tune out Hopper on the phone, rapidly stirring the hot chocolate mix into the pot. Her arm was wrapped in gauze, and at her insistience, she wouldn't need to be taken to the hospital until Mike and Nancy were willing to leave (which was never, since Mike obvsiously wanted to stick with Will and Nancy with Jonathan). She poured another packet of cocoa mix into the milk that had been boiling a second ago, leaving it to dissolve for the next minute or two.

"I will be here," Hopper said firmly, extremely irritated, as he hung up the phone with extra vigor. Steve joined her place leaning against the sink.

"They didn't believe you, did they?" Dustin asked coldly.

"We'll see," he muttered back.

""We'll see"? We can't just sit here while those things are loose!" Mike burst out, face contorting in anger and distress for his friend.

"Mike," Kat chided.

"We stay here, and we wait for help." Hopper said, in a voice so controlling Kat was a little intimidated. "That's the plan. For now, you stay here, drink Kathryn's hot chocolate. No questions,"

He then stalked away down the halls to the sound of Jonathan's faint crying. Kat looked down at her crossed arms, before turning and walking over to the stove. She could feel Steve walking with her, probably wanting to help out with the hot cocoa. They passed Nancy and Jonathan kneeling together beside Will, and Kat noticed how Steve stiffened uncomfortably and a little sadly. She remembered how they had never offically broken up before Nancy started hanging out with Jonathan, and although a supernatural demogorgon was a good reason to leave a relationship undecided, Kat knew Steve still needed some form of closure.

"I'm sorry," Kat mumbled to Steve as they reached the kitchen.

"It's all good," Steve replied, though she knew it wasn't. "I guess I wasn't right for her after all,"

"And she wasn't right for you," Kat argued gently. "Yeah, people grow apart, but don't blame yourself if it feels like shit,"

"Right, yeah. I'll keep that I mind," Steve said, with a small smile. "Oh- careful with the pot-"

"I'm fine," Kat said, straining as she lifted the large pot with one arm. "Gimme a mug, quick,"

Steve grabbed a dandelion-patterned mug from the ones she'd laid out on the counter earlier, catching the hot chocolate as it was being poured out, swapping the mugs out each time one of them filled up. They filled up a grand total of eight mugs of hot chocolate, Steve carrying them out to the living room where the kids were.

"Thanks, Kat," Mike mumbled as he scooted a mug towards himself and started chugging the liquid inside as a distraction to their situation. The rest of the kids followed suit.

"Here, this one's for you," Kat said, passing a mug to Steve, who gladly accepted it, holding it in his hands to feel the warmth from the clay. Kat left two on the counter for Mrs. Byers and Jonathan, who were both busy at the moment, but she took a dark blue glass towards Nancy, who was looking sadly at Jonathan comforting Will.

"Hey," Kat said, placing a hand on her younger sister's shoulder and passing her the mug. "This one's yours,"

"Oh. Thanks, Kathy," Nancy smiled, taking a sip. 

"So, how was traveling with Jonathan Byers these past few days?" Kat said quietly.

"We tried to help Will, looked for clues in Barb's case, spent the night at a detective's house-"

"-together?"

"-Uh, yeah..?" Nancy said, her cheeks pink.

"Nance! You're getting naughtier by the day,"

Nancy rolled her eyes, though her sister's bright attitude in the hellish atmosphere was rubbing off on her, scraping out the melancholy and refilling it with a less tense emotion.

"I still feel a bit bad about the whole thing, though," Nance admitted. "I know with Will, Jonathan needs extra help, but I still feel bad about how this is affecting, y'know, Steve,"

"Maybe you should talk to Steve?" Kat said gently. "I think he feels the same awkwardness as you; try to sort it out sooner than later. Talk about how you feel?"

"Yeah, maybe I will," Nancy smiled, knowing her newfound direction. "Thanks,"

"No problem," Kat patted her back, before moving back into where the kids and Steve were.

She leaned herself against the cold china of the sink, looking at the scene in front of her. Steve was still holding his cup of hot chocolate, not having drunk any of it yet. Max had gotten up to rinse her now-finished mug, and Lucas had gone with her.

"Hey," Steve looked at her, brows furrowed. "Where's yours?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your hot chocolate,"

"Oh," Kat laughed. "I don't have one, it's okay,"

"Whaaat?" Steve asked, genuinely concerned. "You made a huge pot but you didn't give yourself some?"

"I'm fine, Steve," Kat smiled. "It's just a drink,"

"No, no. Here, I didn't drink any of mine," he said firmly, and pressed the mug into her hands.

"Oh, I can't- this one's yours," she said, holding her hands up in a 'no' gesture.

"It's hot cocoa! It's the best thing ever- c'mon, and you made it too! You can't just forget yourself but do something for everyone else,"

Kat rolled her eyes.

"Nah, we're splitting this. I don't have cooties," Steve said, and pranced back into the kitchen.

"No- god, fine," Kat said, embarrassed as Steve opened cabinet after cabinet, looking for more cups.

"Jeez, where are all the mugs," he muttured, opening his fourth cabinet. "Ah!"

He held up a baby blue plastic cup with a plane on it. "Perfect,"

He poured some of his hot chocolate into the plastic cup, which suprisingly didn't melt. Kat wore an exasperated expression, but as Steve crouched lower to give her some hot chocolate, Kat's heart rang out in innate gratitude, touched by Harrington's kindness.

"Here," Steve said proudly. "Take what's yours,"

"You don't have to make it so dramatic," Kat whispered, holding half a cup of hot chocolate.

"But it's true," Steve stuck out his lower lip just the slightest, lifting his cup in a small 'cheers' gesture before taking a sip.