Season 2

January 1, 1984

The sun slowly rises through the snow-covered forest, shining the morning light on the sleepy town, Hawkins. It slithers its way through the home of Amelia, waking Theo with a warm sun bath. He lets out a big yawn and stretches wide, shaking away the sleep as he meows.

After celebrating New Years together, Jim and Amelia slept peacefully in each other's arms as the sun began to cover them. Amelia slowly stirs from her sleep and turns in Hopper's arms as he continues to sleep deeply.

After Jim found that bug in his trailer, he practically made it non-livable for him. Some of the damages couldn't be saved. So, he spends a lot of his time at Amelia's place. Even leaves some of his stuff there, as if he's now living with her. Some would say that's way too fast, after just knowing each other for two months, but their situation gives a good reason why. Who cares what people think?

She sighs softly and opens her eyes to see Hopper asleep. She smiles at the sight of his relaxed face. She couldn't resist to reach out and lightly stroke his cheek with gentle fingers. Trailing down his nose to his chin. He grunts and snorts in his sleep, making Amelia silently giggle. She continues to outline his face, as if she was making a memory of him.

Hopper moans softly in his sleep and mumbles as he slowly wakes up. He groans as he reaches and stretches wide, grunting softly. With a loud sigh, he drops his arms above his head and turns to look down at Amelia, who gives him a soft smile.

"Good morning, baby." He mutters huskily.

"Good morning. Sleep well?" She asks.

He smiles and reaches under the blankets to wrap his arms around her warm, naked body.

"Always since I've met you." He grins and holds her against his chest with a sigh. "Hmm, what time is it?" He asks as he buries his nose in her hair. First thing when he wakes up, he always needs to smell her hair. It was the best smell in the world to wake up to. Fresh roses.

Amelia looks at her little clock on her nightstand, "Almost 7:00. We need to get up and go to work."

"Nah, let's just stay in bed all day." He grins and tightens his hold on her, keeping her against his chest.

Amelia giggles, "So, tempting, but you know we have to get up. Plus, we have to go with Will to another one of his check-ups." She stops and scoffs, "God, I hate going there." She mutters.

Hopper's grin drops slowly, "Yeah, me too."

"And we should go drop off more food for El. If she's still out there in that area." She adds.

"There haven't been any reports outside that area. And no new ones either. That says she's avoiding contact as much as she can." He says.

"That's good, I guess. I don't want anyone other than us to find her. Maybe...she'll come to us when we're out there." She says as she begins to have a feeling. A good one. "We should go out there tonight."

Jim sighs and kisses the top of her head, "Ok. I'll pick you up after work and we'll head out there."

Amelia nods, "Okay." She sighs as she turns to sit up, the sheets falling off her naked body. "How about I go down and cook us breakfast and you go have a nice shower?" She suggests as she gets out of bed.

Jim grins as he eyes her up and down, "Or we could just have a shower and skip breakfast." He pushes the sheets away and gets up to stand close to her, wrapping his arms around her body, pulling her close against his own.

Amelia giggles, "Mmm, sure you're not too tired after last night?" She gives him a sexy smirk.

"Do I feel tired?" He grins and presses himself against her abdomen. She could feel the hardness pressing tight against her skin.

Amelia gives him a teasing thinking face, "Might need some more proof." She laughs as he bends down and picks her up. Carrying her towards the bathroom and shows her how 'tired' he was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Night has fallen over the town and Hopper headed towards the woods once more with Amelia. She held on to a few tupperwares as he drives them both towards the same spot where they've been dropping off the foods since Christmas Eve. He sighs as he pulls up to his usual parking area.

"Want me to come with?" She asks as he parks the truck, leaving the engine running.

"Nah, I got this. You stay warm." He shakes his head and takes the tupperwares from her. "I'll look around first then come back. Give me 20 minutes." He says as he grunts as he scoots out of the truck, carrying the wrapped foods.

Amelia sighs and rubs her arms as the cold was getting worse. She could feel it even with the heat blasting in the truck. She watches him walk towards the path he always took that led him to the hunter's box. Jim sighs, his breath coming out in thick fog as he scans his surroundings, hoping and praying for a sign to find the girl. When he makes it to the box, he loads it up with foods that Amelia cooked for her. They were still warm, and he hopes El will find them before they get cold. So, she could have a nice, warm meal while being out there in the cold. He knows how bad the winters can be out there.

Once he had the food loaded up and he looks around once more before calling it. He sighs in disappointment, really hoping that this would have been the night to find her. But he couldn't see anything. He turns around and walks back to his truck, looking up to see Amelia getting out with a look of hope in her eyes.

"Anything?"

He sighs and shakes his head, watching her face that was full of hope fall in disappointment.

But, both of them perk up as they hear footsteps coming from behind him. Hopper turns and, to their surprise and relief, there she was. Eleven. Dirty, tired, and hungry. Wearing a very large hunter's jacket and a winter hat with ear muffs.

Amelia gasps softly and sends her a soft smile. She was happy and relieved that she was ok. She rushes to her and hugs her tight. Eleven sniffles as she holds on to Amelia, tears forming in her eyes.

Amelia sighs happily and pulls away, cupping the girl's face in her hands as she scans her, making sure she had no injuries.

"Thank god. I was so worried about you. Are you okay? Are you hurt?" She asks softly.

El shakes her head, a little sob escapes her lips.

"Oh, sweetie. It's ok. You're safe now. You're safe." Amelia says softly and wraps her arms around her. "And cold. Oh, my god, you feel like ice!" She exclaims and rubs her arms to help her get warm as a harsh shiver was made from her, her teeth chattering.

Hopper walks up to them both and helps Amelia guide her to the truck, "Come on. Let's go." He says.

"We're gonna take you somewhere safe. Okay? It's too dangerous out here." Amelia says as she opens the door and helps Eleven get inside.

Eleven shivers at the warm air blowing inside the truck and shoves her hand against the vents to warm up faster. Amelia gets inside to sit next to her and reaches in the back seat to grab a blanket. She wraps it around Elven's body and holds her close.

"I missed you so much. I'm so happy you're okay." She smiles at El.

"I'm sorry." El sniffles.

"Hey, why are you sorry? Never be sorry. It's okay." Ameila holds her close, kissing her forehead.

Jim hops into the driver's seat and watches Amelia be so loving and tender to El. It always made him smile to see Amelia act like a mother towards a child. She would make a wonderful mother one day. He frowns at himself for thinking that...sure they were dating but...oh screw it...if they go that far in their relationship, so be it. He would love to have a child with Amelia...one day. Marry her when the time is right. The thought of losing her scares him to death. And he rarely shows his emotions to anyone.

Amelia sighs and looks up at him with a worried look, "What are we going to do? Where can we hide her?" She asks.

"We can't risk going anywhere near town. They got nearly everyone bugged and the streets are crawling with agents searching for her." Jim sighs as he rubs his head, scratching it as he thinks of something.

"No place is safe for her. What about my place? They didn't bug me. I refused." Amelia says.

Jim shakes his head, "No, just because you didn't see them, doesn't mean they didn't. They could have planted a security camera outside your house for all we know."

Amelia makes a disgusted sound, "Perverts. If they saw us..." She places her hand over her mouth, shaking her head at how wrong it was to talk about that in front of Eleven. "We gotta find some place to hide her." She sighs.

A lightbulb forms over his head as he, suddenly, thinks of a place he hasn't thought of before, "I think I know a place. Yeah, the perfect place." He says as he starts up the truck and takes it out of park to drive, heading towards the other side of town through the woods.

It took them a few hours to reach the destination Jim had in mind. The sun was just beginning to rise from the horizon as he parks near a path.

Ameila frowns as he shuts the truck off and gets out, "Where are we?" She asks.

"Come on." He walks around and holds them both close, "We have a small hike to get to it."

"Where?" Amelia asks.

"My family's cabin." He says as he leads them through the woods. "No one knows about it. It's miles from town and perfect for hiding." He grins as he helps them both through rough paths.

Amelia helps Eleven walk and keeps the blanket wrapped around her body. Soon, they reached the cabin. Amelia studies the condition of the small building. The wood was rotten and covered in hanging moss. He walks up towards the door and reaches up to find the hidden key his grandfather had stored in the doorframe. He grunts in triumph as he finds it.

Once he got the door opened, he grunts at the wave of dust hitting him in the face. Amelia and Eleven peek inside to see the dust infested, web covered, mothball smelling cabin. It was overridden with junk and covered furniture.

Hopper walks in first and begins to take some sheets off the furniture, "My granddad used to live here. Long time. I mainly just use it for storage now. Lot of history here. So, uh... what do you think?" Hopper asks as he watches the two of them look around in curiosity.

Eleven studies every inch of the place as Amelia walks inside with her. Scanning the place. Amelia could tell Eleven was pleased with what she sees. It was shelter. A safe place. Something she needed.

"It's a work-in-progress. You know, it's, uh...It takes a little imagination, but, uh...once we fix it up, it's gonna be nice. Real nice." Hopper assures them."

"Just needs a woman's touch and hard work. This is perfect." Amelia smiles and looks down at Eleven. "This is your new home. Just until we can get the lab off you. Okay?"

"Home." Eleven says softly.

Hopper nods and exclaims in triumph when he spies his old records and record player, "Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. All right, this...this is music." He says as he shows them a vinyl record and begins to turn on the player. As soon as he places the needle on it, Eleven both jump in surprise as music begins to play and a man's voice begins to sing. "You Don't Mess Around with Jim" begins.

♪ Uptown got its hustlers, The bowery got its bums ♪ ♪ 42nd Street got Big Jim Walker ♪

Jim smiles at the girls as he begins to dance to the beat, snapping his fingers. Eleven watch him with a weird look and turns to look at Amelia, who was laughing and covering her mouth.

"Jim, you're gonna frighten the poor child."

Hopper waves her off with a snort and claps his hands with a big sigh, "All right. Let's get to work."

Together, with the music going on, they all begin to clean the cabin with the music continuing to play in the background. Eleven helped Amelia pick stuff off the floor while Jim was cleaning up old furniture. Yanking the blankets off of them.

Amelia turns and sees a broom sitting in the corner. With a wiggle of her finger, she beckons it to come towards her. Eleven watches in wonder as the broom floats into Amelia's hand. Amelia smirks at Eleven, giving her a wink and moves to show her how to use it.

"Okay, to sweep, you do it like this. Lightly brush the broom and gather the dust into one area. See?" She shows her how to sweep. She gently takes Eleven's hands and shows her how to hold it and sweeps the floor for her. "See? It's easy."

She lets go and watches Eleven sweep the floor by herself, "Awesome job!" She smiles.

Jim was patting the furniture, making dust fly everywhere, trying to clean it properly. He coughs and sneezes a few times till he finally had the dust gone.

Eleven walks into her new bedroom and sees a small bed. Eleven yanks off the sheet that covered the bed and lets out fits of coughs as dust flies everywhere.

Amelia went to her place, which surprisingly wasn't far from the cabin, and grabbed every cleaning product she had in her cabinet. She washes the windows with Windex, wiping away the dust and dirt that coated the glass.

Soon, after the cabin was cleaned, but Amelia frowns as she studies the foundation.

"Hmm..." She tilts her head, studying one area of the living room and glares at the empty wall, and slowly waves her hand, chanting in Latin. Jim and Eleven both stopped what they were doing and watched. All of the sudden, a door forms in front of her. Amelia grins and moves to open it. Inside was a new master room. Since Eleven was going to be living in the cabin, she can't stay by herself. She needed someone to watch over her and care for her. She's going to need Jim and Amelia.

Amelia turns towards both of them, "We're gonna need a place to sleep if we're staying." She says to him.

Jim frowns and looks inside the new room, whistling in amazement. Inside there was a huge bed, a private stone fireplace, and even had it's own bathroom!

"Holy shit!" He exclaims. "This is nicer than the cabin."

Amelia turns towards Eleven, "You're not gonna be alone this time. We'll take care of you and always be there when you need us. We'll teach you everything we know so you can live like a normal little girl."

"Like a Mama and a Papa?"

Jim flinches at her words and Amelia caught that. She takes his hand into hers and holds it tight, giving him comfort and support.

Amelia sighs and turns back towards Eleven, "If you want us to be, we can be. But Papa...this Papa will be different than the one who took you, the bad man." She looks up at Jim with a smile, "This Papa would protect you...always. He's a big Papa Bear who protects everyone he cares about." She smiles, watching Jim giving her a loving grin and pulls her into his arms, kissing her forehead.

Eleven studies them, never seeing two people so...tender towards each other. So gentle. Papa would be gentle with her sometimes. Other times, he would be so mean and have others do mean things to her.

Amela snuggles in his embrace and gives Eleven a smile, then she looks up at Jim, "We should start making this a safe place for her."

Jim nods, "Yeah. I got a few ideas with booby traps. And we should figure out a way to keep in contact with her while we're in town."

"How do we do that?" Amelia asks.

Jim sighs and looks over towards a door that held old storage of electronics from his younger days. He had an idea. He lets go of Amelia and gets out his old HAM radio and begins to teach them about Morse code.

After they had everything ready in the cabin, JIm begins to set up trip wires around the area. Hopper shows Eleven and Amelia how he sets up an alarm with wire and a mouse trap that had ammo attached to it.

"Give me those." He mutters as Eleven hands him what he needs. "Okay. Now, this is called a trip wire. It's like an alarm. You, uh, set it up like this. And then, anybody gets close, it's gonna make a loud noise like, uh, gunfire. Bang!" He chuckles as Eleven jumps, "Those bad men aren't gonna find ya. All right? Not way the hell out here." He grins at them both.

Eleven gives him a grin back and sighs as Amelia hugs her tight. She liked Amelia's hugs. Never has she ever felt care like this.

"Come on, let's go back inside and go over everything." Jim says as he gets up and helps Amelia and Eleven to their feet. "We'll take some precautions. There's gonna be a couple ground rules. Rule number one: always keep the curtains drawn." He states as the three of them sit at the small kitchen table. "Rule number two: only open the door if you hear our secret knock." Hopper continues the rules and makes a rhythmic knock on the table. First, he makes 2 knocks. Then 1 knock. Then he knocks 3 more times. "2-1-3." He says.

"Like a math problem." Amelia smiles at how smart that was of Hopper and looks down at Eleven as she looks at her in confusion. "When you take away 2 with 13 you get 11. Which is you." She takes grabs a paper and creates the math problem for Eleven to see. "See? 2 - 13 = 11. That's the secret knock. Always remember that."

Eleven nods, understanding a little. Amelia sighs and kisses her head, making a promise to teach her more about math.

"And rule number three: don't ever go out alone, especially not in the daylight. That's it. Three rules. I call 'em the, uh...Don't Be Stupid Rules. 'Cause we're not stupid. Right?" Jim states.

Amelia chuckles and sighs as she gets up from the table, "We better pack up the fridge with foods. I'll go grab some stuff from home and the bakery to keep her stock up for a while. Maybe...every 2 weeks, we restock the fridge." She suggests.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Won't give people much to think about. And with you as a baker, they'll just see that as you buying stuff for your shop." Jim says.

Amelia nods and turns towards Eleven, "Don't worry, I won't forget your Eggos." She grins as Eleven perks up in excitement. She giggles and turns towards the door but stops and holds on to the door frame. "We should also grab some stuff at home and keep it over here since we'll be sleeping here from now on." She adds.

Jim nods, "All my stuff is practically at your place anyway since I basically destroyed my trailer after the lab hit it last year." He scoffs.

"True. I'll pack up as much as I can." Amelia says, but Jim stops her.

"I'll come and help you." He says as he gets up, but they both turn to look at Eleven.

"We can't leave her alone." Amelia says softly.

"I got an idea." He says and goes through another room. He comes back with a TV and places it on a table, pulling it closer to the couch. "This will keep her entertained while we're gone."

"Are you serious?" Amelia scoffs.

"We both have to work and we can't keep an eye on her 24/7." Jim points out.

Amelia sighs, how true that was but an idea pop in her head. She places her fingers in her mouth and whistles.

Suddenly, Theo appears, meowing as he comes through one of the doors and hops on the couch. He looks up at Eleven in surprise and purrs loudly, rubbing against her in excitement. He was so happy to see her again.

Eleven smiles big and giggles as she scratches his neck, holding him close against her.

"He'll watch over her for us while we're gone. Ok, Theo?" Amelia says and looks at him in question.

Meow... "I know you're not a babysitter, but she needs us. Please protect her when we can't." Meow... "I can see she missed you, too. Remember she helped you with the Demogorgon. Think of her as your partner and friend than someone to babysit." Meow... Amelia chuckles and looks at Eleven. "He says 'he'll protect you like you protected him that night'." Meow... "And that he'll work for whipped cream." She rolls her eyes.

"So, we got everything covered." Jim sighs and turns to look at Eleven, making sure he had her attention. "We're only gonna be gone for a couple of hours. When we come back, we'll have everything you need to stay safe."

Eleven gives him a soft look, "Promise?"

Jim sighs softly and nods, "Yeah. Promise." He walks over towards the TV and hooks it up for her. "The cable should still be working." He clicks it on, and a soap opera plays.

Wasn't long till Eleven was glued to the TV, watching in wonder. She liked the TV a lot.

"I'll get some clothes and bring them. And soaps so you can take a nice hot shower. I bet you feel dirty after being out there for so long." Amelia says, but Eleven wasn't paying much attention.

She sighs and looks over to Jim, "We might have to limit the TV or her brain will rot. I'll bring her some books and we need to teach her how to read."

Jim nods, "Yeah, I agree." He grabs his coat and gets it on as he follows her outside. "Most of the locks aren't that great, I'll swing by the hardware store for some to install."

Amelia nods and follows Jim to his truck. He helps her inside and shuts the door for her as he moves around and gets into his seat to drive them back to town.

Night has fallen once again. Jim and Amelia finally had everything set up at the cabin for Eleven. Amelia helped her with a shower and fixed a nice homecooked meal for them to enjoy. With an Eggo cake for dessert.

In fresh clothes used as pajamas, Eleven laid in her new comfy bed with Amelia lying next to her and Jim was reading a story for her. Eleven uses Amelia's arm as a pillow as she listens to Jim read.

"'I would feel so sad if I thought I was a disappointment to her...because she didn't live very long after that, you see. She died of a fever when I was just three months old. I do wish she'd lived long enough for me to remember calling her mother. I think it would be so sweet to say 'mother.'" Jim reads from a book as Amelia strokes Eleven's short hair and scalp. Running her nails in a very relaxing way.

Eleven, suddenly, speaks up. Interrupting Jim's story, "Do I have a mother?"

Amelia snaps her eyes to Jim in worry, knowing as well as he does about Eleven's mother. She wondered if they should tell her about Terry. It didn't seem right to lie to her.

Hopper was hesitant, "Yeah, of course you have a mother. You couldn't really be born without one."

"And that's a question that will be answered during another time." Amelia speaks up before Eleven could asks about how could she be born.

"Where is she?" Eleven asks before he goes back to reading.

Hopper sighs, "Well, the truth is...um...I'm sorry, but your mother isn't...she's not around...not anymore."

Amelia looks at him in shock, why did he lie? She stops herself and realizes, if they told her the truth, she might not take it so well and probably demand them both to take her to see her mother. But it was too risky.

"Gone?" Eleven asks sadly.

Amelia sighs deeply and strokes her hair again, "Yeah. She's gone, sweetie. This was around the time when you were born." In a way, that was the truth. Mentally, Terry was gone, and never will return. She'll never be able to hold her child, hug her, love her, or teach her things only a mother could teach her child.

"Yeah. I'm sorry about that, kid." He sighs and goes back to reading, "'And, uh, father died four days afterwards from fever, too. That left me an orphan and folks were at their wits' end, so Mrs. Thomas said to me, what to do with me. You see, nobody wanted me even then. It seems to be my fate'."