Joyce managed to pick Will up from school, she hated seeing how this depressed her boy, but she wanted to make sure he was ok. After finding out about his first episode that night, if that was his first, she grew worried and so frustrated that she felt helpless. She just wanted it all to be buried in the past, dead and gone. Now his episodes were growing worse. Mike told her that Will was acting funny while they were at the arcade last night. She forced herself to call the lab and inform them. So they asked her to bring him in.

Joyce informed Hopper and Amelia about it and asked them for support.

When Joyce pulls up into the parking lot, she sees Amelia and Hopper already there, waiting for them. She laughs as she watches Amelia struggling to grab the cigarette from Hopper, but with his tall frame, she was too short to grab it and he was too stubborn. He quickly enjoys it while he cans.

Will chuckles with his mom as they park close to Hopper's truck.

"Hey, buddy." Hopper greets Will as he puts out his cigarette.

"Hey."

"Oh, you'll put that out for others but not me." Amelia scoffs teasingly and turns to Will with a hug, "Hi, sweety." She pouts when Will briefly gives her a hug back. "I ain't letting you go until you give me a real hug." She laughs as he hugs her tight and smiles at her. "That's what I'm talking about." She lets go of him to hug Joyce, "Hey, everything okay?"

Joyce sighs, "Just don't want to be here right now."

Amelia pulls away to give her a understandable look, "I know. Neither of us do."

"Is there some way you can just 'magically' make this go away?" Joyce asks knowingly with a hint of hope in her voice.

Amelia chuckles, "Believe me, I've tried. But the only one who truly heal Will is Will himself." She says as she pulls away but rubs her back in comfort before moving away to slide into Jim's waiting embrace as they walk inside.

As soon as they walk inside, Will was taken to the exam rooms to be poked and probed by several needles, instruments, testing his vitals and weight. He hated it. Especially when they hooked him up to an EKG machine and the EEG.

Dr. Sam Owens walks into the room once the nurses were done and Joyce, Amelia, and Hopper were allowed in the room. Owens sighs as he turns to Will, "Sir Will, how are you?" He turns and greets Joyce, Amelia, Jim, "Mom. Aunty and Uncle."

Hopper glares at him as Joyce sends a nervous chuckle. Amelia moves to be closer to Jim as Owens sits on another stool to face Will.

Owens begins to go over Will's file, "Let's take a look, see what's going on here. I see you shaved off a pound since we saw you last. Must be making room for all that Halloween candy. What's your favorite candy? Desert island candy, if you had to pick one." He tries to strike up a conversation with him, trying to get his mind off of the tests.

"I don't know." Will shrugs.

"Come on. Life or death situation, what would you pick?"

Will looks over to his mom for help, "I guess..."

Joyce mouths, "Reese's Pieces." She nods, knowing her son so well.

"Reese's Pieces. But, I do enjoy Miss Holloway's homemade candies."

Amelia sends him smile, while Owens chuckles.

"Good call. Good call. I'm more of a Mounds guy, but I gotta say, peanut butter and chocolate. And Miss Holloway's cooking." He whistles, "Come on, hard to beat that. All right, tell me what's going on with you. Tell me about this episode you had." He says, going right to the point.

While Will explained word for word what happened, the scientists in another room watches and records everything.

"Well, my friends were there and then they just weren't, and I was back there again."

"In the Upside Down? All right, so what happened next?"

"I heard this noise, and so I went outside, and it was worse."

"How was it worse?"

"There was this storm." Will's brain waves begin to grow strong as he thinks back about the storm he saw.

"Okay. So how did you feel when you saw the storm?" Owens asks, noticing how high Will's waves were going.

"I felt...frozen."

"Heart racing?"

Will shakes his head, "Just frozen."

"Frozen, cold frozen? Frozen to the touch?"

"No. Like how you feel when you're scared, and you can't breathe or talk or do anything. I felt...felt this evil, like it was looking at me." Thinking he could have sworn he saw something in the storm, but wasn't sure.

"It was evil?" That concerned Owens, but only a little. He clears his throat, "Well... What do you think the evil wanted?"

"To kill." The waves begin to whirr rapidly.

"To kill you?" Owens asks.

"Not me." Will slowly turns to look at Owens with a scared look, "Everyone else."

Amelia frowns as she listens, a horrible feeling was building in her chest. She reaches and gives Joyce a supportive grip on her shoulder, feeling her reach and and squeezes her hand.

Owens thinks about that, but wasn't sure if he should take it seriously. After all, these were just flashbacks. Nothing to worry about.

After Will got dressed, he was waiting outside while Joyce, Hopper, and Amelia sat in Owens' office as he explains what he has diagnosed.

"All right, I'm gonna be honest with you. It's probably gonna get worse before it gets better."

Joyce scoffs at him, "Worse? He's already had two episodes this month."

Owens tries to calm her, "He'll likely have more before the month is out. It's called the Anniversary Effect. And we've seen this with soldiers. The anniversary of an event brings back traumatic memories. Sort of opens up the neurological floodgates, so to speak." He says.

"So what does this mean for the kid? He's gonna have more episodes, nightmares?" Hopper asks.

"Yeah, that. Maybe some personality changes. He might get irritable. He might lash out." Owens says as he lists the possibilities.

"What do we do when that happens?" Joyce asks.

"Okay. Well, from what we know about post-traumatic stress...And we're still learning, okay? Just treat him normally. Be patient with him. Don't pressure him to talk. Just let him lead the way." Owens says.

Looking at him in disbelief, Joyce need to hear that again to get that right, "I'm sorry, what you're saying is it's gonna get worse and worse and we're just supposed to pretend it's not happening?"

"It sounds counterintuitive, I know. But I assure you that is really the best thing you can do for him. Listen. I understand what you went through last year. I get it. But those people are gone. They're gone. Okay? So if we're gonna get through this, I just... I need you to realize I'm on your side. I need you to trust me."

"'Trust me'? Are you kidding me?" Joyce exclaims as the three of them walk outside through the parking lot. Joyce lit up a cigarette with Hopper, despite Amelia's protest.

"Yeah, I know. But, you know, university gives out a degree, this guy's got it." Hopper scoffs.

"Joyce, I hate to say it, but Dr. Owens is right about PTSD. What he experienced in there isn't something a child should see. But, he's home and he's going to be ok. We're gonna be there for him." Amelia says.

Joyce sighs and nods, "I just want this to be over."

"I know. Just one day at a time, ok?" Amelia gives her a side hug. "By the way, how is everything with Bob?" She coos, making Joyce blush and laugh.

A few months after Christmas, Amelia heard from Joyce that she reconnected with an old friend from school. Bob Newby. He recently moved back to Hawkins and decided to look up the past. Joyce and Bob began to date a month later and have been together since then.

"Yeah, how's Bob the Brain?" Jim asks.

Joyce scoffs at him as Amelia rolls her eyes, "Don't call him that." Joyce says.

"Sorry. Old habit." Jim grins at her.

"He's good. We're good." Joyce says.

"Good. I'm happy for you. Really." Jim gives Joyce a supportive smile.

"Thank you. And you know, I'm happy for you and Amelia." Joyce smiles at them. "This has got to be the longest time I ever seen you so happy." She says to him.

Jim grins and pulls Amelia into his arms, kissing her head, "I honestly can't remember the last time I was this happy." He smiles down at Amelia as she looks up at him. He leans down and kisses her lips gently.

Amelia blushes and licks her lips after the kiss, then looks over to Joyce, "Hey...Things get worse, you call us first."

"I agree. Call me or Amelia." Hopper states.

Joyce nods and throws her ciagrette away, "Okay. I will." And she gets into the car with Will.

Jim knocks on the window, gaining Will's attention, "Take care of yourself, Will."

"Bye." Will says from the window.

Amelia leans down on the window, "I'll see you and the boys for Halloween, right? I made some Ghostbusters theme cookies and candies. And..." She gives him a teasing disgusted look, "Slimer Cupcakes. Bite into 'em and he 'slimes' you." She laughs at his excited face.

Will laughs, "For real?"

"Yup. So, I'll save you boys plenty for tomorrow night...and extra in case you boys invite new friends into the party." She winks at him with a knowing look.

Joyce and Jim laugh as Will sat with excitement rushing through him. Joyce was grateful for Amelia, helping him feel better after that.

Jim and Amelia waves goodbye to Joyce and Will as they drive off but Jim turns and sees Owens watching them from the entrance. Owens waves at them, but Hopper simply glares at him as he wraps his arm around Amelia.

"He seemed way too interested in Will's episode." She says. "I don't trust him." She sighs and turns to get into the truck.

"Welcome to the club." Hopper scoffs and gets into the drivers side, heading off.

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

The sun was entering the Twilight and Amelia was getting ready to close up early so she can get an early start on the treats for Halloween. And not to mention, cook dinner for Jim and Eleven.

As she was carrying groceries, she noticed two familiar boys hiding in the bushes in front of the arcade. Lucas was using binoculars to spy as Dustin was scouting.

"Still no sign?" Dustin asks.

"Jack shit." Lucas sighs out in disappointment.

Dustin checks his watch and his eyes widen in alarm, "Oh! Damn it. My mom's gonna murder me." He says worriedly, but he couldn't abandon his post.

"So go home. I'll radio if she comes." Lucas says.

Dustin scoffs, "Oh, yeah, nice try. You just want me out of here so you can make your move."

"Oh, 'cause you're such a threat." Lucas rolls his eyes.

"That's right. She will not be able to resist these pearls." Dustin smiles big, showing off his new teeth and purrs, which startles Lucas and disturbs him.

The boys freeze when they hear laughter behind them. When they turn they see Amelia giggling.

"What on Earth are you two doing?"

They both started stuttering and talk at the same time.

Amelia frowns as she tries to catch it all, but she looks up as the loud sound of a car engine is made as a late 1970s Chevrolet Camaro pulls up, tires screeching. She sees a young girl with red hair, yelling at an older teenage boy with a blonde mullet.

With a knowing smile, she turns back towards the boys.

"Boys. Shhhh...if you both want to make friends, it's less creepy to not hide and more brave to swallow the pride." She nods at them as she looks back at the brother/sister feud.

They both turn fast and watch to see Max and her brother, Billy argue. Lucas quickly looks through his binoculars.

"They're arguing. They're arguing." Lucas says as he elbows Dustin.

Dustin rolls his eyes at Lucas, "Oh, my God. I see that. I don't even know why you need those. God. You're so stupid." He says.

Amelia sighs and shakes her head, "I'll see you boys tomorrow night." She walks towards her car that was parked across the street.

Billy takes off without waiting for Max to shut the door. Max flips him off as he leaves a trail of dust behind him. She goes inside to get away from the world and escape into the video games. First thing she plays is Dig Dug.

Billy screeched to a halt when Amelia was walking across the street, avoiding hitting her.  Amelia yelps as she was nearly hit.

"For the love of Christ, slow down!" She yells and scoffs as she continues to walk.

Billy lowers his sunglasses at the beauty in front of him.  Ever since he and his father moved here with his stepmother and...Max.  He spent his time screwing around... mostly with the girls at the high school...and a few teachers as well.  But he never seen...her before.  And he likes what he sees...very much.  His tongue rolls the toothpick in his mouth as he continues to watch her move towards her car, he tilts his head as she bends over to load her groceries in the trunk.  Very nice view. Her ass was shaped perfectly in those tight jeans of hers.  And that sweater gave him a great outline of her body.  

When Amelia straightens and turns, she frowns when she sees the boy, Billy Hargrove, the new guy of Hawkins...and the bully of several people.  She could see right through that tough guy appearance.  He carried a lot of anger and a lot of sadness. 

Billy grins at her, sending her a wink and speeds off.

Amelia watches him drive off way above the speed limit.

"Ew."

Lucas and Dustin rushed over to her, "Are you okay, Miss Holloway?" Lucas asks, still in shock that she was almost killed.

Amelia smiles and lightly pinches his cheek, "You boys are so sweet and caring.  I'm okay. Remember... Halloween.  You know, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to have more people in the party, don't ya think?  I got plenty of treats for everyone, probably too much. So, bring in all the friends you can." She gives them a knowing look and watches them have an idea pops in their head and rush back towards the arcade to watch Max. 

Amelia giggles and shakes her head as she gets in the car and drives off.

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

Night has come and gone when Hopper makes it back to the cabin.  He sighs deeply as he walks through the woods towards the door. Knowing who was waiting for him inside, he knew she wasn't going to be so happy. Walking up the wooden steps, he lifts a hand and begins to knock rhythmically.  2 - 1 - 3. 

Soon, the door unlocks, and he makes his way inside. He was welcomes by the sound of the tv and a heavenly scent coming from the kitchen. Sniffing the air, he could smell a home cooked meal. He quickly shuts the door and locks it up tight.

"Oh, my god, that smells amazing." He sighs as he takes off his coat, hanging it up.

"I figured after the day you had, you need a good meal.  Roasted chicken, roasted potatoes, and roasted vegetables." Amelia says from the kitchen as she cooks. 

Eleven makes disgusted sounds when she said vegetables.

Amelia and Jim laughs as he walks up to Amelia, kissing her neck and moves to the fridge to get a beer.

"Now, El, I know you didn't like the Brussell sprouts, but that was just testing your taste.  These vegetables will be different and so much better." Amelia says.

Hopper grimaces at the memories, "Ugh, don't remind me about the sprouts." He walks over to the small dinner table and sees it set up for three, but one plate already had half eaten Eggos on it. "Hey, what'd we talk about?" Hopper frowns as he scorns.

"No signal." Eleven says.

"What?"

"No signal. It's 8-1-5. You're late." She says.

Hopper sighs, "Yeah, I lost track of time. I'll signal next time, all right? Uh, and it's 8:15. It's not 8-1-5."

"Eight-fifteen." Eleven repeats.

Amelia walks to the table, placing the food down, "Sweetie, I told you, sometimes Jim's job keeps him busy. It's not his fault.  He's a protector. A protector is always busy." She picks up the plate with Eggos, "And don't be slick.  My cooking is so much better."

"Now, what did we talk about?" He asks again as he sits down for Eleven to join him. "Dinner first, then dessert." "Dinner first, then dessert." Hopper and Amelia say together.

"I told her. But she was impatient." Amelia says as she goes through the fridge for a tea pitcher.

"Amelia is slow with cooking." Eleven says as she moves to sit with Hopper. Her brown short curls moving as she slumps in the chair.

"I don't care. Dinner, then dessert, always. That's a rule. Yeah?" Hopper asks as he scorns Eleven gently, knowing she still has to work on her behavior.

Eleven sighs but nods, "Yes."

Amelia places glasses full of tea for them all and sits next to Jim and turns to run her fingers through Eleven's locks, happy that her hair was getting longer. 

"Wow, this looks amazing." Hopper exclaims as he eyes the perfect food presented to him.

"And you wanted to keep her on TV dinners." Amelia gloats.

"Mmmm! So much better than TV dinners. So much better." Hopper says as he happily chows down. For four years, he was dependent on TV dinners, he thanks God everyday and night for meeting Amelia.

Eleven and Amelia giggle together as Jim was munching his meal, getting a few pieces of food stuck in his beard.

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

Amelia groans softly and stretches as the morning sun began to rise. But when she turns to Jim's side, she frowns when her hand meets his pillow. 

She sits up and looks around to see where he could be. Suddenly, she hears a pan scraping and smells something cooking.  She smiles warmly and gets up from the bed. Dressed in one of his plaid shirts and panties that were covered by the shirt, she walks into the kitchen and sees Jim cooking breakfast. 

She walks up behind him and wraps her arms around his waist, she could feel his smile.  Like the sun was shining over her.

"Good morning, babe.  Hungry?" He asks.

"You're so sweet.  I never expected you to actually cook for me and Eleven." She says with her cheek against his back.  

He chuckles, "Hey, I can be a decent cook when I want to be." He scoffs and gets the eggs off the stove.  He turns in her arms and leans down to kiss her lips.  "Mmm." He smiles against her lips and slowly breaks the kiss, still smiling and holding her close. 

But when he turns, he jumps at the sight of Eleven standing by them, dressed in a sheet with holes for her to see.

"Oh, Jesus!" Hopper exclaims as he jumps back with Amelia. 

Amelia gasps in shock, pretending to be scared and laughs, "Oh, my god! That's so terrifying.  And so cute!" She coos and cups Eleven's face as it remains covered under the sheets, kissing her head.  

"Ghost." Eleven says under the sheet.

"Yeah, I see that." Jim sighs in relief as he struggles to get his heart rate down. 

Amelia giggles and holds a hand up for Eleven to give her a high-five, "You got him good." She cackles as Eleven giggles and gives her the high-five. 

Jim scoffs, rolling his eyes as he turns and fixes three plates full of scrambled eggs, toast, Eggos, and bacon. 

 "Halloween." Eleven says as she follows him towards the table.

"Sure is. But right now, its breakfast, okay? Come on, let's eat." He says as he gestures them to sit with him at the table.

"They wouldn't see me." Eleven says, making Amelia drop her smile when she realizes what Eleven wanted.

"Who wouldn't see you?" Hopper asks.

"The bad men." Eleven says.

Hopper frowns as he sets coffee and orange juice on the table, "What are you talking about?"

"Trick or treat." Eleven says.

Jim's frown deepens as he turns to face Eleven, "You want to go trick-or-treating?" He asks and watches her nod with excitement. He sighs deeply, "You know the rules."

"Yes, but--" Eleven says but Hopper cuts her off.

"Yeah, so you know the answer." Hopper says.

Amelia sighs, "Jim, she's got a point, if she can remain covered up..." But Jim cuts her off.

"No, Lia.  It's too risky.  I'm sorry." He says. 

"No, but they wouldn't see me." Eleven protests.

"No. Hey. I don't care." Hopper says as he kneels to meet her height and grips her arms through the sheet.

"But they wouldn't see me." Eleven continues to protest and beg.

"I don't care, all right? You go out there, ghost or not, it's a risk. We don't take risks. All right? They're stupid, and..." Hopper states and Eleven cuts him off at the end.

"We're not stupid!" Amelia and Eleven both say in unison.

"Exactly. Now, you take that off, sit down and eat. Your food's getting cold." He says, keeping his foot down. Eleven hated the rules. She hated being locked up in this cabin. She wanted to be free. To be with Mike. She should know the danger and consequences. Eleven snatches off the sheet and tosses it to the ground, slumping in her chair as she pouts. 

Amelia sighs and sits next to Eleven, rubbing her back, "Hey, starshine." She gains her attention with the nickname Amelia blessed her with.  "How about we make a compromise?" 

Eleven frowns at her and stutters that word, "'Co-compromise'?" She asks. That was a new word for her.

"C-O-M-promise. Compromise. How about that's your word for the day? Yeah? It's something that's kinda in-between. It's like halfway happy." Jim explains.

"Like making a deal as well so both parties are satisfied.  Tonight, after I hand out treats at the shop, I'll bring back cookies, candies, cupcakes, pizza, and junk food.  And I'll swing by the video rental and get a bunch of scary movies for all of us to watch.  We'll stay up all night and have fun." Amelia says. 

"And I can get off early.  We can sit around and get fat." Jim adds, making Amelia giggle and Eleven gives him a small smile. "How's that for a compromise?" He asks.

Eleven sighs, even though she wasn't completely happy with it, but it was something. "By 5-1-5?" She asks.

"5:15. Yeah, sure." He nods.

"Promise?" Eleven adds with a hint of unsureness. 

He nods again, "Yes. I promise." Giving her a small smile. 

Eleven nods in agreement, "Okay." She sighs.

"Okay?" He asks, making sure she truly agrees.

Eleven sighs, "Halfway happy." She says.

Hopper sighs softly, relieved that he has won, but he still feared for the next time when she begin to get cabin fever.

Together, the three of them begin to dig into their breakfast. To cheer her up, Hopper ruffles Eleven's hair, making her giggle. Earning a chuckle from himself. But silently, he hates himself for holding this poor girl captive, but he cannot let her out of the cabin. He can't risk exposing her. No matter what, she must stay hidden from the world, but as Eleven grows older. He knew sooner or later she'll be rebelling against him and Amelia. He fears it might happen sooner than later.  

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

After sending Will to school, Joyce immediately called Hopper and Amelia. Once they arrived, she tells them about what she found in Will's room.  Will drew a picture of a large monster with red lighting around it and noticed how familiar the setting around it looked like. Claiming the setting was the same as her front yard.

Hopper holds up the picture for him and Amelia, seeing similarities. Only thing that was missing...was the huge monster in the picture.

"See? It's an exact match." She points out.

Amelia frowns and points at the creature, "But what is that?" She asks. A horrible feeling builds up in her chest as she looks at the picture, as if she has seen it before.

Hopper shakes his head, "I don't know."

Joyce sighs, clearly distressed with the picture and the fact that Will never told her about it.  She leads them all towards the house and walk in.  Joyce slumps in a chair at the small kitchen table as Jim and Amelia joins her.  Hopper starts to light up a cigarette as Joyce continues to try and figure out why Will kept this from her, but he watches Amelia frown at him.  He sighs deeply.  He's really trying to quit.  

"But... why would he lie to me?" Joyce frowns in confusion, snapping him out of his thoughts.  

Hopper inhales deeply, "He's a kid, Joyce." He says as he puts his cigarette pack away.  

"I mean, you heard him describe these episodes. It's not like he's describing a nightmare. He talks about them like they're real." Joyce says in distraught. She was so worried for Will.

"Yeah, because they're not nightmares, they're flashbacks. I know a couple guys who have had these things, and it feels like you're there, like it's happening." Hopper says.

Amelia looks at the picture, feeling a cold, dark chill rolled up her spine. There was something about this picture that bothered her.  Whispering of her ancestors begin to fill her ears, she remembers from her grandmother: When you hear the past, evil is coming.  

"Then what the hell is this?" Joyce snatches the picture out of Amelia's hand, making her jump, and slaps it on the table in front of Hopper. She demanded for answers even though Hopper couldn't give her the ones she wanted.  Suddenly, the whispering halts and Amelia sighs as she listens to them.  

"Owens said it would get worse." Hopper simply says.

Joyce sighs and shakes her head, thinking how horrible it must have been for Will when he was in that place for a week. All alone. She grits her teeth and grunts in annoyance with the lab.

"That place..." She growls out.

Amelia places a comforting hand over hers, "Joyce, I know you don't want to hear it and I don't like saying it, but the lab is the only source of help we got.  God, that left a bad taste in my mouth." 

"Exactly. What do you wanna do? You wanna take him back to Chicago?" Hopper scoffs out as he switches chairs to sit closer to her.

Joyce sighs, "Well, there's that guy in Boston that's supposed to be--"

Hopper cuts her off, "They're all a bunch of quacks. They'll all tell you the same thing, just cost you more money. I think he's right... about trauma. And we're coming up on a year, you know. I think everybody's on edge. Me, you... Will most of all. I think we just gotta get through the next few weeks." He sighs out.

Joyce hated it when he was right.

"Nothing's gonna go back to the way that it was." Amelia sighs.

Hopper nods, "Not really. But it'll get better. In time."

Joyce sigh heavily and moves to gets a cigarette, but she was out. She mumbles in frustration and looks to see Hopper handing her his own pack.

"Here."

"Thank you." She says as she takes it, letting him light it up for her and inhales a puff, but she wasn't expecting it to be so strong. She chokes and coughs out a cloud.

Hopper couldn't help but chuckle, knowing how disgusting that must taste.

"Jesus! Hopper..." She grimaces as she pulls some of his whiskers out of her mouth.  How did his whiskers get in an unlit cigarette?

"Brings me back to old times." Hopper couldn't help but smile when he thinks about the past.

Joyce frowns, "What?"

Hopper sighs, "Sharing my cigarettes between..."

"Fifth and sixth period." Joyce chuckles as she begins to think of the old days when her and Hopper were teenagers.

"Yeah, under the steps." Hopper smiles, "Mr. Cooper caught us that time, remember?" He asks and watches Joyce's face grimace as she laughs, "He was like," He changes his voice into a gruffly tone, 'Hey, assholes'." He says as he mimics his old teacher.

Joyce giggles, "We ran. We just ran."

Amelia giggles, "Sounds like you two had a great friendship."

Hopper chuckles, sharing a smile with Joyce, "The best.  And still great.  Even though I can be an asshole." 

Joyce snorts at how true that was, "A big one, but I wouldn't change it.  And I can tell you wouldn't either, right?" She asks Amelia.

Amelia looks over to Jim with a smile, "Only thing I would change is the smoking." 

Jim and Joyce chuckle, "Good luck.  Why are you so against it?" Joyce asks.

Amelia's smile slowly drops, and she clears her throat as pain light up in her eyes as she looks back over to Joyce, "Um...my dad is the main reason." She sighs heavily.  "Lung cancer.  April 15, 1955.  Ever since my mom died during childbirth, he...did everything he could to numb his pain.  He really loved my mom, but I wasn't enough to help him." 

Jim frowns at her, she never told him about her parents, but he remembers seeing the pictures in her house. He reaches under the table and takes her hand in his, giving her a comforting squeeze.  

"I'm so sorry.  Now I see why you want Hop to quit." Joyce says as she gives Jim a gentle look and sighs as she thinks about Will again, afraid of losing him again.  She sighs heavily as tears begin to form in her eyes, "God, I want this to be over."

"I know."

Joyce wipes her nose as she sniffles softly, and Amelia gets up to give her a gentle hug.  Joyce hugs her back tight, grateful that she had friends and support during this hard time.