Night was falling quickly as the five them drive back to Hawkins. Everyone was anxious to get back home. Even though Jim didn't show it, he was growing very worried for Eleven, for their daughter. Hell, he was worried about Amelia as well. What she saw in her vision when she looked through Alexei's memories. How did that thing get inside her head? He couldn't help but wonder about that. This told him it was more powerful than he was expecting...and that scared him. But he didn't have time to be scared, he needed to be strong...for her. He grunts as he moves around to get comfortable, but he feels the box in his pocket poke around. He sighs softly, he wasn't sure anymore why he still carried it. It wasn't the right time to ask. He wasn't even sure when the time will come anymore. But...he was going to ask...one day.

Alexei and Murray were chattering back and forth in the backseat with Joyce, speaking to each other in Russian.

"What's he saying?" Amelia asks as she turns to look at them. Alexei was pointing at the drawings of the machine.

"He's showing me the location of the key to turn off the machine." Murray says and frowns as he listens to Alexei, "Sorry, 'keys'. Two keys. Two-man rule." He says as he translates.

"Two-man rule?" Joyce asks.

"Yeah, two men, two keys, like a nuclear launch. But, uh, to retrieve the keys, there is a vault." Murray explains and continues to listen to Alexei speak. "And to open the vault, you need to enter Planck's constant." He translates.

"Planck's what?" Jim scoffs.

"Planck's constant." Murray repeats.

"It's a very famous number." Amelia adds.

"You know it, babe?" Jim asks as he keeps his eyes on the road.

Amelia shakes her head, "No, but I've heard of it."

"All right, so we get the keys, and then we turn the machine off." Joyce says.

"That's what he says." Murray scoffs.

"All right, well, that shouldn't be too hard. We can do this." Joyce says with hope and faith.

"Joyce, did you hear the part where he said the place was like an impenetrable fortress?" Jim asks sarcastically.

"Yeah, but there has to be a way in." Amelia states.

"Yeah, there is. Our military." Joyce says.

"Who are coming." Amelia says, "At least, that's what you said." She looks at Jim.

"Well, we don't know that anymore because Joyce here yelled at them like it was a parent-teacher conference, and then you hung up on them, so we don't know what the hell's going on! You know, maybe we can find a payphone and call them back and ask them to meet at, I don't know...Enzo's at 7:00?" Jim says sarcastically and thinks with a mocking face, "Wait, wait, what are we do...Oh! Wait, that's right! We're on our way to rescue our children from the big, bad Fourth of July celebration!" He shouts.

"Okay! What is your damn problem?! You have been on my ass for days about Enzo's? For Goddess sake above...I..AM...SORRY!!!!" Amelia screams. "It's not my fault that we had to be picked for the mysterious magnet failure or the rat problem, but it happened! And we, out of everyone in Hawkins, we are picked to deal with the Russians and Mind Flayer and save this god-forsaken world instead of going out on a date with you! SO SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT ENZO'S, YOU OVERGROWN, EGOCENTRIC TWAT OF A BABY!!!" She screeches, making Jim jump at her tone.

"Children! Children! Children! This interminable bickering was amusing at first, but it's getting very stale, and we've still got a long drive ahead of us!" Murray shoves himself between them, meeting their tones. "So, why don't you two cut the horseshit and get to the part where you admit what you two are so ***damn afraid of?!"

"SHUT UP, MURRAY!" "SHUT UP, MURRAY!" Amelia and Jim both shout at him.

"Oh, spare me, spare me, spare me!" Murray wasn't done. He turns towards Amelia, "Yes, yes, he's a brute. I know. But you love him anyway! Which is incredibly shocking, so I'm guessing he's great in the sack! And it's so obvious you have some serious abandonment/daddy issues!"

Amelia's jaw drops in offense, but Murray cuts her off, "Oh, please! I saw that fear in your eyes whenever Hopper was going to go out that door, away from you. Again, obviously, you have issues with people leaving and I'm gonna take a wild guess that you have had several people leaving you, by death or by choice! Curve that shit! Everyone leaves either way! It only matters what you do and how you make the best of it!"

Murray snaps his head towards Hopper, "And you. Ha!" He throws his head back in mockery. "Well, you're just a big manbaby who'd rather act tough than show his true feelings, because the last time you opened your heart, you got hurt. Owie." He gives him a mocking hurt face. "And now, sure, you've opened up, but not completely with this woman. She loves you, you idiot! If a woman like her loves you, quit pushing her away with your childish pouting. So, please, for my sake, either quit your bickering, or pull over, tear off those clothes, and get the makeup sex over with already!"

Amelia and Jim sat quietly in shock after Murray was done. Jim looks over to Amelia a few times, thinking about what Murray said about her. Amelia was so embarrassed, her face felt hot. She hated that Murray was right on the dot with about herself, but she didn't want to admit it.

Murray sighs deeply and sits back in his seat. Alexei asks him a question in Russian.

"What was that?" Alexei asks.

Murray looks over to him, "I told the two lovebirds they should have make-up sex."

Alexei looks at him in surprise, "The beauty is dating the fat Rambo?" He asks as he points at Amelia and Jim.

"Da." Murray nods.

Both men frown as they hear a hissing snicker coming from Joyce's lap. There, Theo, was having a hissing fit, rolling in Joyce's lap as he laughs. Alexei begins to snicker which causes Murray to join him. Soon, the three begin to laugh heartily together.

Amelia covers her face and sighs. Joyce mutters uncomfortably. Jim grits his teeth, hating that he was the butt of the joke. He sighs and looks over towards Amelia, catching her looking at him. He reaches and takes her hand in his. Giving it a soft grip. Silently apologizing. She sighs softly and accepts his hand, giving a grip in return.

Alexei, Murray, and Theo continue to laugh. Alexei speaks in Russian which causes Murray and Theo's laughter to grow. Theo squawks which make Alexei and Murray to point and laugh. Theo makes muttering sounds that was clear for Murray and Alexei to understand, obviously in Russian.

"Oh! Oh!" Murray clutches his stomach and continues to laugh with them.

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

Jim turns the steering wheel sharply as he pulls up towards the entrance of the fairgrounds. Since everyone was basically here already here, it wasn't hard to get through and park the car. He shuts off the engine and sees Murray and Alexei moving to get out.

Jim yells, stopping them both, "Stay here, go over the plans with Smirnoff." He states and gets out of the car.

Murray frowns and sits back with Alexei, "I can help look."

"No, you'll scare the children." Jim snorts.

"It's too risky for him to be here anyway." Amelia says. "Theo, stay. Please. Protect Alexei and Murray." She says.

Meow...

"Jim, if this is about earlier..."

"Stay put, Freud! You hear me? Stay put!" Jim sharply and walks with Amelia and Joyce towards the fair while Murray sits with Alexei and sighs, pouting.

Theo moves and sits on Murray's lap with a soft meow. Murray scoffs and scratches Theo's head, "Yeah, yeah, I feel ya, Theo."

Theo turns and looks at Alexei, making a grunt sound and Alexei snorts.

"It is strange. The more time we spend with the animal. The easier it is to understand him." Alexei says in Russian.

"Da. But remember...he's not an ordinary animal." Murray nods.

Theo meows softly, soft whispering is made in the air. Most in English and most in Russian.

"So... you choose who can understand you?" Alexei frowns.

Whispering is made again, blending with meows, "Does Hopper understand you?" Murray asks. Meow... "Ah, okay." He nods and snorts. "'Fat Rambo man is a compilation'." He laughs with Alexei. They both laugh together. "Theo, I really like you."

Amelia walks side by side with Jim and Joyce scouts around. As they walk through the crowd, all they could hear was children and parents screaming in glee from the fast rides.

"I'm gonna go check this way." Joyce says and breaks away.

"Joyce, we should stick together." Amelia protests.

"We could cover more ground, though. But, Joyce, stay close. Don't go too far. And be careful." Jim says.

Joyce nods and turns to take off to search for the kids.

Jim and Amelia walk the other way together, scanning through the crowd, "You know, say what you will about Kline, he certainly knows how to throw a party." Jim scoffs and sighs, "I'm sorry about him, by the way."

Amelia frowns at him, "Who?"

"Murray. He's a sick individual who likes to get under people's skin. So, let's not let him, you know, get under our skin." Jim states.

Amelia scoffs, "It's pretty obvious that got under your skin, babe." She laughs suddenly, making Jim frown at her.

"What's so funny?" He asks.

"It's just..." She stops and giggles. "I'll tell you later." She sighs. "It's the wrong place, wrong time." She looks up at him with a soft look, "Let's find our daughter."

Jim nods and takes her hand, "Yeah." He sighs and leads them on through the crowds, searching for them all.

Meanwhile, Larry was smiling around with the crowds, playing the test your strength game.

"I'll give it my best shot." Larry smiles.

With a strong slam of the hammer, he sends the weight towards the bell, ringing it loudly. Larry exclaims in triumph.

"You won yourself a bear!"

"Thank you." Larry smiles and turns towards three beauty contestants.  They all wore sequin dresses.

Larry hands the stuffed teddy bear to a girl in a fancy gown, "Here you go." He moves and stands behind the women as a photographer moves to take their picture.

"Mayor Kline! One more, one more. Big smile."

Kline smiles big for the camera, but it slowly falls as he sees Jim Hopper and Amelia Holloway in the crowd. He was so sure that those Russians had them by now. But, no, here they were. And he assumed they were looking for him! He gently breaks away from the family and rushes towards his car. Bumping into several people.

"Watch it!"

"Happy Fourth, dick."

Panting heavily, he reaches his car and grabs his car phone, he quickly dials a familiar number and waits impatiently as it continues to ring.

"Come on, come on, come on! Pick up, pick up, pick up, you commie bastards!" He grits his teeth.

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

*This part I hate because I really loved Alexei's and Murray's new discovered friendship*

Still waiting at the car, Alexei tells Murray more about the machine and he tells him a way to destroy it.

"And why all this? If I just turn the keys, it's like turning off a car. But then the car still works, does it not?"

"Yes."

"And do you want the car to still work, or do you want it to explode?"

"I want the car to explode."

"Good. Then do this. Just make sure you are nowhere near it when it does. It is not pretty. Turns people into dust. And then It's over." Alexei chuckles and looks out towards the fair, hearing those people have fun. "And I become an American citizen and join in the fun, yes?"

Murray grins and places his hand on Alexei's shoulder, giving it a friendly grip, "Who said you had to be an American to join the fun?"

Despite how Jim and Amelia warned them both not to move, Murray wanted to give Alexei a taste of American lifestyle.  So he takes Alexei into the fair, showing him what it makes to be American. 

"It doesn't get more American than this, my friend. Fatty foods, ugly decadence, rigged games..." Murray says, smiling as he busy himself and Alexei tickets.  "Fifteen tickets, please." Murray switches to English to pay for the tickets.

Alexei frowns as Murray pays, "They are rigged, these games?" Alexei exclaims in disbelief as he gestures at one booth. 

"Da." Murray nods.

But Alexei frowns, if they were rigged, why were people cheering and clapping for those who were playing them? "They do not looked rigged."

"That's just it, my dear Alexei. They have been designed to present the illusion of fairness! But it's all a scam, a trick, to put your money in the rich man's pocket. That, my dear friend, is America. But, hey knock yourself out." Murray says and gives Alexei the tickets and walks off.

Alexei frowns and stops him, "Where are you going?"

"To get us the closest thing to food I can find." Murray says.  "Come on, Theo." He says as Theo follows him.  Maybe Theo can sniff out the good stuff. 

Alexei frowns as he looks at the tickets in his hands.  All these tickets...to play any of these games? He grins and takes off to play.  To finally be...American.

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

Amelia and Jim continue to search, unaware of Murray and Alexei roaming free in the fair grounds. But finding El and the other kids were more important.  Amelia gasps and grabs Jim's arm as she spies a familiar face.

"Hey. Hey.  Look." She points, gaining Jim's attention.  "It's Karen." She says. 

Jim and Amelia watches a smiling, happy Karen getting on a UFO ride with Holly and Ted.  The two of them rush to get inside, causing several people to yell at them.  But they didn't care.  Amelia paces inside, dodging people out of the way.  Joyce sees them rushing into a ride and runs to follow.

"Karen." Amelia calls out. 

"Amelia! Joyce! Oh, my gosh! How funny to see you all here!" Karen smiles at the three of them. 

Joyce gives her a fake smile, "Where are the kids?"

"I...I haven't seen them. I don't think they're here yet." Karen frowns.

"You three, up against the wall!" The Ride Barker yells at Amelia, Jim, and Joyce. 

"No, where are they?" Amelia asks. 

Karen takes her sweet time, making the three of them grit their teeth, "Oh, my gosh, I can hardly keep track these days. Uh, they were at, uh Dustin's, then Lucas's...Then Max's."

Joyce mutters, "Max..."

Karen laughs, "You know how it is. Summer!"

"Probably getting into some kinda trouble." Ted scoffs as he leans on the wall with Holly.

Suddenly, the door on the ride whirs and shuts and the lady who sat at the control booth yells at the three of them once more.

"Last warning, you three. Up against the wall!"

"Hold the ride!" Jim shouts.

"On your life, Magnum." The barker scoffs and slaps the button to start the ride. 

Amelia shouts as she's forced to fall against Jim's body and Joyce grunts as she hits the wall.  The ride takes off, forcing everyone to press against the wall.  Amelia grunts and struggles against Jim's chest while Karen was laughing with Holly.  All they could do was hold on and let the ride take it's course.  Jim grunts and holds Amelia close.

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

Murray and Theo were chattering away as Murray was paying for corn dogs.  "So, for over 100 years, you lived deep in the underworld, and you had how many siblings?" He exclaims. Meow... "Wow!  And what happened to them?"

Theo looks down sadly, meow...

"Aw, I'm sorry, Theo." Meow... "So, your whole family is gone?" Meow... "Hey, at least you got Amelia and Hopper.  They may not be demons like you, but they care about you.  And you have friends.  You ever heard of the saying 'You can't pick blood'?" Meow... "Ah, smart ass, I see.  But it's true.  You pick family.  And you pick friends.  Friends have each other's back.  And I'm buying my friends some corn dogs." He grins.

Meow....

"I don't think they sell whipped cream at this booth, but we'll go to another after we eat the corn dog, okay?  Look, they got funnel cakes and ice cream over there.  I'm sure one of them has got to have some cream."

Theo rubs against his ankles, purring loudly. 

"Like I said, Theo.  Friends have each other's back." Murray says with a grin, and pays for the corn dogs, taking them from the booth. 

"Murray!"

Murray looks up and sees Alexei walking towards them with a big smile and a huge Woody Woodpecker. 

"Look! It's not rigged!" Alexei says, holding up the toy with pride. 

"Ah!" Murray exclaims, happy for Alexei and begins to laugh like Woody. 

"It's not rigged."

Theo wheezes in laughter, but stops as he senses something.  Hissing and growling, he watches a familiar figure makes his way towards Alexei and lifts a silenced gun at him.  REEEOOOOWWWWW!

Murray frowns as he watches the smile from Alexei's face drop and he slowly drops his arms, touching his chest.  His eyes widen in shock as he watches blood begin to pour from Alexei's chest.  Theo yowls loudly and rushes towards Alexei. 

"Alexei!" Murray yells, dropping the corn dogs,  and rushes to him, catching him before he could fall. "Alexei! Oh, my God. Let's go." Murray says and rushes him away from the crowd.  Last thing he wanted was to have attention drawn on him.

Alexei grunts and coughs as Murray leads him to hide between booths, slowly lowering him to the ground.

"Easy." Murray whispers and yanks off his button up shirt, leaving him in a white tank. "Keep pressure on it. I'll get you help. I'll get help." He says as he presses his shirt against his wound, rushing to get the others. 

Theo runs in front of him, dodging the crowd with him.  Murray scans around, but he couldn't find Jim or Amelia. Not even Joyce.  He snaps his head up as he hears Theo yowling, gaining his attention.  He looks and sees Jim, Amelia, and Joyce exiting a ride. 

"Jim Jim. Jim! They got Alexei, Jim!" Murray yells from across the lot. 

Jim, Amelia, and Joyce look up as they hear him yelling.  Amelia frowns as she hears Theo yowling with him.  Her heart dropped in her stomach as she hears Theo screaming that Alexei was dead. 

"Jim! Amelia! Alexei! They got Alexei, Jim!"

Jim exhales sharply and scans the fair.  He freezes as he sees the Russian thug coming towards them, carrying a gun by his side.

"We gotta go. We gotta go." Jim shudders and grabs Amelia's hand. 

Joyce frowns, "What?"

"Let's go." He urges Joyce and Amelia to run. 

They take off running, but Jim stops them as he sees another thug heading towards them.  He turns them both and they run another way.  Amelia pants and holds on to Jim's hand, running as fast as she could.  But they go reached another exit, there was another.  Jim turns towards Joyce and gives her the keys to the car. 

"Find Murray, get the car, bring it around back." He says.

Joyce nods, gripping on to the keys, "Okay." She turns and runs for it.

Amelia turns with Jim, but gasps and sees another thug.  Panting in fear, she looks and sees people throwing baseballs at a booth.  She holds her hand up at the thug and speaks ancient Latin.  With a shout, she waves her hand and makes one of the baseballs fly out of a man's grip and hits the thug right in the head with a loud thud.  Sending him to the ground. 

"Nice shot." Jim says and grabs her hand again, "Come on!" He says and pulls her to follow him towards a fun house called Big Top. 

One of the thugs begin to follow them both inside, "Heading to 'Big Top'. Northeast side of the fair." He says into the COM. 

Amelia runs around the funhouse with Jim, struggling to escape from the thug.  "Why did we run in here?" She asks. 

"Only place I could think of to corner this guy and get his gun." Jim pants and follows her, "Hey! Get your kids outta here! Police! Get 'em out of here! Go!" He shouts at a small family, urging them to go to safety.

With the thug hot on their trail, Jim and Amelia rush inside a room that had dozen of punching bags.  Amelia and Jim hid in a corner while the Thug slowly walks inside, holding his gun in front of him. 
"Do you dare enter the cave of horrors? You never know what you might find around the corner." A recording speaks in a eerie voice, giggling, "Don't show your fear in the presence of the tiger. Or you may never escape this cave alive."

Jim sees his chance and charges out from the corner, slamming into the thug and fighters for his gun.  Grunting and punching, the guy maybe smaller than Jim, but he was tough.  Jim wasn't going to give up until he gets that gun.  He slams the guy against the way and punches his face.  The guy had a few good punches, but once Jim had the thug on the ground, he picks up one of the punching bags and slams it against the guy, knocking him out.  Panting heavily, he grabs the gun and snaps his head up as he hears a radio.  He holds the gun up in alert and sees a COM nearby. 

"Babe.  Come on.  Grab the radio." Jim says, urging Amelia. 

Amelia makes a grab for the radio and rushes towards him.  Jim gently pushes her to go on while he made sure they were safe.  He turns and rushes to follow. 

Outside, Joyce manages to find Murray and rushes back to Alexei, but it was too late.  He was gone.  Murray was ridden with guilt for leaving him for a stupid corn dog.  Joyce didn't want this to happen.  He wasn't a bad person. Just with the wrong people.  She weeps over his body in sadness but they didn't have time to mourn, they needed to get the car and get back to Jim and Amelia to get out of here and find the kids.  When the two of them were walking towards the parking lot, Joyce spots Kline.  She stops as anger rushes through her veins. 

"What are you doing?" Murray turns and frowns at her in confusion. 

Joyce grits her teeth as her hand balls up into a fist, she turns and storms up towards Kline. 

"Hey! Larry." She calls out.

Kline turns and smiles at her, "Joyce."

Joyce growls and grunts as she punches Kline in face....hard.  So hard, his healing broken nose cracked again.  He grabs his nose, wailing again in pain.  Growling again, she grips his shoulders and thrusts her knee right into his crotch, hearing that crack as well.  Kline shouts and grips himself, falling against his car. 

A few people cheered as they watched Kline get his ass kicked by a woman.  Joyce turns back towards Murray as people were calling out.

"Yeah, lady!"

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

The Russian thug managed to reach Big Top and heads inside, looking for his comrade.  But when he reaches the room with punching bags, he finds him injured on the ground.  Cocking his gun, he walks inside another room and finds several mirrors.  He carefully moves around the room, searching for the Americans and determined to kill them all to protect the secret.  They knew too much and needed to die. 

Amelia and Jim hid in the corners, panting softly as they hear the footsteps of the Thug drawing closer and closer.  Jim holds his finger up against his lips, making sure she stays quiet.  He moves gently around her and breathes deeply. 

The Russian Thug watches the mirrors, trying to see if the Americans expose themselves.  He snaps his gun up and fires as he sees the male American rush from the corner.  But he curses in his language  when all he hit was the mirror. He looks up as he sees his reflection, but he wasn't alone.  He sees the fat one behind him.  He turns fast and lifts his gun to shoot, but his wrist gets caught in a tight grip.  He grunts and struggles, but he frowns when the American was too strong for him. 

"What is this?" He was confused with the American's sudden great strength. 

Jim and Amelia both peeked out of the corner and see...Jim?  Jim frowns as his jaw drops in shock.  Amelia chuckles, "Theo, you genius!" She cackles. 

Theo, cloned as Jim, sends the Russian a smirk, "You mess with my friends..." He speaks in Russian, making the Thug's eyes widen and he begins to transform into his true form.  "You mess...with me..." He hisses and with a roar, he slams his fist into the Thug's face, sending him flying across room, crashing into several mirrors and knocking him out.  Theo turns and sees Jim and Amelia.   He perks up and hears more Russians.  "More coming." He speaks in English towards Jim and Amelia.

"Come on. Let's go!" Jim urges them out of the room. 

While the Russians tended to the big Thug, Jim urges Amelia and Theo towards their only way down.  A slide. 

"You've gotta be kidding."

Jim sighs heavily, "You got a better suggestion?" He scoffs and looks to see the Thugs, including the big one, heading out of the mirror room.  "Shit!  Go! Go!" He pushes Amelia to go first and Theo goes next.  He grunts and shoves himself down the slide.  "***damn! Son of a bitch!" He grunts and makes it to the bottom with Amelia waiting for him and Theo was in her arms, back in his cat form.  He runs with her towards the back of the fun house and sees Joyce driving the Cadillac. 

"Joyce!" Amelia waves to flag her down. 

"Hey!" Jim shouts.

The brakes screech loudly as Joyce slammed on her breaks.  Jim picks up Amelia and jumps into the backseat with her, "Hit it."

"Go! Hit it! Go! Go!" Amelia shouts with Jim.  Urging her to drive as fast as she could.

Panting heavily, Jim notices that they were short on a person, "Alexei?"

Joyce was about to cry and Murray hangs his head in sadness.  Amelia covers her mouth and sobs.  Jim sighs, feeling awful.  He admits it, Alexei wasn't a bad person.  And he was starting to regret for treating him so badly.  Jim pulls Amelia into his arms and holds her as she cries for Alexei.  But, suddenly, a voice speaks from the Radio.  He grabs it quickly and gives it to Murray.

"Murray, translate!" He says. 

Murray takes it and listens, "'On the lower level...'" He mutters in English and his eyes widen as he looks at the three of them, "'We've found the children'."

Amelia gasps, "Where are they?"

Murray holds up his hand and listens, "'The mall'. They're at the Mall!"

Joyce slams her foot harder on the gas, determined to reach the Mall in time.

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

Murray continues to translate.  They found the kids, but soon...dead air.  Nothing but dead air for miles. 

"Still nothing?" Joyce asks.

"Nothing."

"Food court? You sure they said food court?" Jim asks.

"I'm sorry, have my translation skills been letting you down?" Murray asks sarcastically.

Amelia and Jim both hold each other, not in the mood to say anything smartly at Murray.  They were too worried for Eleven. 

Murray sighs, "We don't know it's your kids." He says gently.

"Yes, we do." Amelia says strongly and grunts as Joyce turns sharply down a road that leads straight towards the Starcourt. 

They wasted no time as they arrived at the Mall.  Jim grunts and throttles the doors as they were locked before them.  Amelia shouts in Ancient Latin, making the doors burst open, glass shattering everywhere.  As soon as they rush in, they hear screaming. 

"Starshine!" Amelia exclaims and runs towards the screaming.

They reached the food court and see all the kids surrounding Eleven as she uses her powers to rip some sort of slimy creature from her leg.  Eleven wails in pain as she keeps using till the creature was free from her body. With another scream, she sends it across the court.  Jim watches the creature slither away, squeaking as it moves.  With a grunt, he slams his foot over the creature.

The kids look up and sees the grownups.  And a bald stranger in shorts and a tank top. 

Amelia sighs in relief, but gasps as she sees movement at the corner of her eyes. A Russian lifts his gun, pointing it at Jim! 

"JIM!" She screams and shoves him out of the way. 

Everyone shouts as the gun goes off.  Amelia cries out in pain as she feels she was hit in the arm.  She falls to the ground, clutching on her her wounded shoulder.  Screaming and crying in pain.  Everyone was shouting around her.

"Amelia!" "MOM!"

Before the Russian could shoot again, a loud growling was made beside him.  With a furious roar, Theo holds the thug in the air.  The Russian shouts in fear, screaming in terror.  Theo slams him behind a booth and growls furiously.  In the shadows, they could see Theo ripping the thug apart, digging his face into the flesh.  Blood splashed over the white walls as Theo feasted.  Growling, Theo snaps to his feet, wiping his mouth clean. 

Jim falls to his knees by Amelia and presses on the wound, "Oh, god.  Give me something to keep the pressure on it!" He shouts. 

Johnathan and Nancy rush towards one of the clothing stores and rip up a shirt.  They run back towards Jim and gives it him. 

"Here." Max hands him her bag that was full of peroxide and alcohol they stole from a store to help Eleven when the flayer wounded her. 

Jim carefully lifts Amelia up to see the wound better, "Okay, the bullet went through.  Doesn't look like it hit any major arteries.  We need to stop the bleeding."

"Mom." El cries. 

Grunting in pain, Amelia turns and looks at Eleven, "I'm okay, Starshine.  I'm okay." She puts on a brave smile, but her lips trembled as she bites back her tears.  She grunts out a yelp when Jim tightens the shirt over the wound. 

"You're going be okay, Baby.  You're going to be okay." Jim says softly and cups her face, pressing his forehead against hers.  "I'm sorry." He whispers.  "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too.  For calling you a twat baby.  And missing our date." Amelia sobs. 

Jim shakes his head, "Don't be.  I am a twat.  I'm sorry for being so pissed about something so stupid.  There's plenty of time for other dates.  Once we're done here, I'm taking you to Enzo's myself.  No more meeting there."

Laughing out a sob, "Deal."   Amelia gives him a trembling smile and grunts when he helps her get on her feet and find a better place to rest.  And for the children to finally tell them what all has happened here while they were gone.  And Amelia and Jim had so much to tell them what they discovered.