El was quietly reading on the couch in the cabin while Hopper was making dinner for them. El was so engrossed in her book that when the phone rang she threw her book in the air and yelped. She heard Hopper chuckle as she stood to answer the phone. She reached for it but froze. "Dad? Can I answer it?" El asked Hopper, him now being her adoptive father. 

"Go ahead Kiddo." He replied. El grabbed the phone and put it up against her ear. 

"Hello?" She spoke. 

"El!" A very familiar voice exclaimed.

"Mike!" El smiled and did a little hop on the balls of her feet. 

"Hey, so I was wondering.." Mike started.

"Yeah?" El said to tell him to go on. 

"Well, my family is coming tomorrow for a little reunion because they live in California. I was wondering if you wanted to come? Hopper can to." Mike asked with eagerness in his voice.

"I'll ask." El pulled the phone away from her ear and against her chest. "Dad?!"

"Yeah?" He called back. 

"Can I go over to Mike's tomorrow?" El asked sweetly. "Please." Hopper was silent for a short period of time.

"Yeah, sure. Just be careful. we'll discuss rules during dinner." Hopper finally spoke up. El smiled and brought the phone back to her ear.

"Mike?" El said.

"Yeah?" Came his muffled voice.

"I can come over." El told him. "What time?"

"Great! Uh, 4-0-0." Mike told his girlfriend of almost eight months already. They've been dating since their kiss at the Snowball and it's now currently the end of August. 

"Okay. I have to eat now." El said.

"Okay, see you later, El." Mike replied. They stray from using 'goodbye'.

"See you later Mike." She placed the phone back to where it was on the wall. She then skipped to the table and sat down. "Thank you for letting me go."

"No problem." He ruffled her shoulder length hair. "Now rules." 

"Okay." El said seriously.

"1. No leaving Mike's house without telling an adult where you're going. 2. No using your powers around people who don't know about you. 3. No funny business. Understood?" Hopper said.

"Yes." El confirmed then took a bite of her food.

Line Break---

It was 3:50 and El was sitting on the ground, putting her white converse on. El decided on wearing her dark blue jeans, her black T-shirt with different colored polka dots, and blue suspenders.  (You guys know the outfit I'm talking about? Season three trailers?)

El put her hair half way up and half way down with a purple scrunchie. El waited by the door until Hopper came out of his room ready to drop El off. He was called to the station so he couldn't go with her.

"Alright, El. Let's go." Hopper said and they got into the car and drove off to the Wheeler's. 

They pulled up into the driveway. El opened her door to get out but Hopper put a hand on her shoulder. She turned towards him. "Be careful, okay?"

"Okay." El said and hugged him.

"Love you, have fun." Hopper pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"Love you, too." El said before hopping out of the car and running to the door. Hopper then drove away to work. 

El stood in front of the door and knocked. The door opened and Nancy's face appeared. "Nancy!" El wrapped the older girl in a hug in which Nancy returned. 

"Hey, El!" Nancy exclaimed when they separated from the sisterly embrace. Mike's in the living room talking to our cousin, Tim." 

"Okay. Thanks." El smiled at Nancy's retreating figure walking to her boyfriend, Jonathan. El stepped in to the house and waved to Mrs. Wheeler. 

"Hello, dear." Karen said to El, hugging her softly.

"Hi, Mrs. Wheeler. Do you want me to take my shoes off?" El politely asked.

"Yes, please." El took off her shoes revealing her black socks. "Thank you, dear. Mike's in the living room." El nodded and walked shyly, because of all the strangers looking at her weirdly, to the living room. 

El had just walked into the living room when anxiety hit her like a brick. Many people sat around the living room, adults talking loudly on the couches, kids playing with toys on the carpeted floor, Mr. Wheeler talking with an older man by the La-Z-boy, and teenagers sitting on one of the couches talking. It was overwhelming. She's never heard so much talking in her life. Not to mention there was music playing from the kitchen and even more teens and adults in there. 

El looked around with widened eyes and a slightly parted open mouth. (We all know what look I'm talking about.) She took a deep breath and looked around. 

"El!" She heard a voice yell excitedly. Most voices in the living room died down. El's head whipped to the couch where all the teenagers were and saw Mike hop up, wearing a bright blue T-shirt, navy blue shorts, and white bobby socks. 

He hopped off the couch right when he yelled her name and ran over to her, enveloping her in a huge hug. He ran into her that she tipped back a bit. El laughed quietly and wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly as they swayed from side to side. She could sense most eyes on them but she was with Mike so she didn't care. 

They pulled away from the embrace but kept their arms around each other.  "I missed you, El." Mike said with a small smile on his face. 

"We saw each other two weeks ago and talked on the phone almost everyday." El said more quietly then she would have because of all the people looking at them. 

"That's too long." Mike stressed. El laughed then stared into his brown eyes. 

Mike leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. El closed her eyes and kissed back. There were gasps from many family members around the room. 

"Michael!" Mike and El pulled apart and looked at Karen. "We have family and guests over, Michael."

"Sorry, Mom!" Mike called over to her.

"I invited the Henderson's and Sinclair's." Karen said with a smile. "Oh! Max is coming along with the Sinclair's."

"What about Will and Mrs. Byers?" Mike asked, now standing besides El with their fingers laced together. 

"Already on their way." Karen said while taking a sip of her wine. 

"Okay, thanks." Then Mike turned to El. "Let me introduce you to my family." 

"Uh, okay.." El drew out nervously. 

"Don't worry, El. They're all nice except my dad's side of the family can be a little sketchy." Mike said in a mysterious voice making El giggle. They walked into the living room and towards the couch with a bunch of teenage boys. 

"Yo, Mikey!" One of the boys with black hair, like Mike's, exclaimed. "Who's the girl?"

"Guys this is Eleven Jane Hopper, my girlfriend. El, these are my cousins, Tim who is my mom's sister's son." 

"Hi, Tim." El waved and he waved back.

"Ricky." A boy with brown hair and blue eyes. "He's on my dad's side."

"Hi, Ricky." El waved and he waved back with a straight face. 

"Paul, Ricky's brother." Brown hair and green eyes. 

"Hi." El smiled and the younger boy smiled back. 

"Lainee." A girl with long blonde crimped hair and blue eyes.

"Hi." El smiled. Lainee looked her up and down but ignored El's greeting. 

"Um, okay." Mike said, not liking how his cousin was treating El. "This is Stephanie but we call her Steph." A girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. "Oh, yeah, Lainee's sister." 

"Hi." El said uneasily because of how Lainee didn't reply in any way. 

"Hi." Steph smiled. Lainee bumped Steph and gave her a look. Mike sat next to Tim on the couch and they all scooted down after they convinced Lainee for El. 

"So, El, how old are you?" Tim asked.

"Fourteen." El replied. 

"Favorite color?" Paul asked.

"Wow, what an interesting question!" Ricky said sarcastically. 

"Yeah yeah." Paul waved him off. 

"Um it's purple." El said. "light purple." 

"Okay." Paul nodded satisfied. 

"How long have you two been dating?" Ricky asked.

"Probably two months at most." Lainee muttered while inspecting her nails. Mike rolled his eyes at his snotty cousin.

"Eight months." Mike said and Lainee's eyes widened and she nodded before looking away.

"How long have you known each other?" Tim asked.

"About a year and a half." El answered.

"Where'd you guys meet?" Ricky asked, very intrigued in the love story.

"Uh.." Mike and El shared an alarmed glance. 

"Chiefs adoptive daughter." A new voice said. "Chief Hopper and El Hopper." 

"Dustin!" Mike and El exclaimed. Mike 'bro' hugged Dustin then El hugged him.

"How's it going, El?" Dustin exclaimed.

"Good. I missed you. I haven't seen you in like a month."

"We're all gonna have a sleepover soon." Dustin said to Mike and El.

"I heard sleepover!" Lucas sing-songed. "So? When is it!?" He was acting like a girl.

"Shut up Lucas. You're not invited." Dustin joked.

"Why's he not invited? Won't he be left out?" El said sadly. 

"No, El. I'll be there. He's joking." Lucas assured. 

"Oh okay." El smiled.

"Come here." Lucas said and wrapped Eleven in a hug. "Missed you."

"Missed you too." El smiled and took Mike's hand as she pulled away. 

"Hi, Eleven." Max smiled at her best friend as she launched herself into her arms. 

"Hi, Max!" El pulled away. "Billy still leaving you alone?"

"Yup!" Max said.

"Good." El said seriously.

"Um, excuse me but why are you named after a number? What were your parents thinking? Are they mental?" Lainee asked. El rubbed her 0-1-1 tattoo. 

"Lainee.." Mike warned. 

"Shut it, Mike." Lainee snapped. "What kind of name is Eleven? It's like your a subject for an experiment or something." 

"Lainee!" Mike snapped. "Leave her alone."

"Okay. Fine." Lainee said. 

They all sat down on the floor and started chatting about random things. 

"They are not dolls!" Lucas exclaimed. "They are action figures!" 

"I think they're dolls." Dustin replied hotly.

"Action figures!"

"Dolls!"

"Action Figures!" 

"Action Figures!" Dustin tried to confuse Lucas.

"Dolls!" Lucas said, falling for the trick.

"Ha!" Dustin shouted victoriously. 

"Dolls? Uh, what are dolls?" El asked from her spot beside Mike. Her head rested on his shoulder while they held hands. 

"Actually? You don't know what a doll is? Did you have any toys as a child?" Lainee asked incredulously. 

"I had one toy and paper and a couple crayons." El replied, unsure of where this conversation was going. 

"Seriously? Where did you live? In the woods?" Lainee asked.

"Lainee! Stop. That's her personal business." Mike defended. 

"How about Truth or Dare in the basement? All the teenagers." Ricky suggested.

"Yeah. Sure." Mike shrugged and stood and helped El up. All the teenagers who were sitting on the couch or near it sat in a circle in the basement. 

"Okay. Who's going first?" Dustin asked. 

"I will." Came a new voice. 

"Will!" The party members shouted and ran over to give him a hug. After the affectionate embrace, they all sat back down. 

"Okay, let's begin." Paul said. "No chickens and no kissing family."

"Alright.." Will looked around too see who he wanted to ask. "Dustin, Truth or Dare."

"Dare." Dustin said all confident.

"Go upstairs and grab a dixie cup then come back down and I'll explain the rest." Will instructed and Dustin did as he was told.

A couple minutes later, Dustin came back down the stairs and sat back down. "Okay, now what?"

"Fill it with toilet water and drink it." Will said and the rest of them laughed mockingly while El just said,

"Ewww." El stuck her tongue out in disgust.

"Alright." Dustin came back with toilet water in the cup and they new it wasn't sink water because they saw him scoop it up from the toilet. "When I get sick, you're taking care of me Will."

"Okay. Now drink it." Will said. Dustin brought the paper cup to his mouth a drank it in one big gulp. 

"Yuck." Dustin spluttered and ran to the bathroom to wash his mouth out. They all laughed. 

"Okay my turn." Dustin said. "Lucas, Truth or dare."

"Dare." Lucas said confidently and buffed out his chest making El giggle which made Mike smile. 

"Alright, Sinclair. I dare you to kiss Max." Dustin said in a girly way.

Lucas's face fell. "Really? That's the best you got?" Lucas leaned over and pecked her lips. 

"Okay, Lainee. Truth or Dare?" Lucas asked. 

"Truth." She said.

"How long was your longest relationship?" Lucas asked, not knowing what else to ask.

"Um. About two months. But I've only been in two relationships so.." Lainee shrugged. "Okay, um, Eleven, Truth or Dare?"

"Um, truth." El replied.

"Is Chief Hopper your biological dad?" Lainee asked.

El glanced at Mike before answering. "No, he's my adoptive dad."

"So you're adopted?" Lainee asked with a small smirk.

"Yes, what's wrong with being adopted?" El defended.

"Nothing. Just wondering why they gave you up. You must be a freak or something." Lainee shrugged. El flashed back to all the times she's used her powers and to all the times she's been called a 'freak' or 'weirdo'. 

"I was taken a way from my mom. She wanted me." El said quietly.

"Huh? What did you say?" Lainee asked.

"I was taken away from my mom! She didn't give me up!" El said louder.

"Then your mom must be a drug addict or something." Lainee said.

"I was literally stolen from her, Lainee. Stolen from my mom at the age of a few hours." El said, squeezing Mike's hand tighter. 

"Oh, so you've known Hopper for your whole life then?" Lainee asked.

"No. He adopted me last Christmas and I knew him for a year before that." El explained. 

"Who'd you live with for twelve years then?" Lainee asked, wanting to know more stuff about her to tease her with.

"Personal information." Everyone in the Party said quickly.

"Uh, okay.." Lainee said unsure.

"Okay, uh, Mike. Truth or Dare?" El asked.

"Dare." Mike said.

"I dare you to eat a spoonful of ketchup." El giggled.

"Ew but okay." Mike stood and quickly ran upstairs to get a spoonful of ketchup.

He came back downstairs with the spoon and ate all the ketchup on it. He made a weird face as he gulped it down. "Ugh, yuck." He shook out his arms. "It's uh, dinner." 

Mike and El laced their fingers together as they followed the rest of the teenagers up stairs to the dining room. El and Mike sat down by their friends and dished up their plates with delicious food. 

"So, Mike, who's the lady?" Mike's grandma, Florence, asked. 

"Um, this is my girlfriend, Eleven Hopper. We call her El." Mike smiled at his grandma.

"A girlfriend? Karen!" His aunt, Kelly, shouted. "Your son is thirteen!"

"Fourteen." Karen corrected. "And he's responsible and mature. He can have a girlfriend. Especially one like El. She's an amazing young woman, Kelly." 

"Still, just wait till they lose their innocence too early then break up. They're too young for all that mess!" Kelly pressed on.

El leaned in and whispered into Mike's ear, "What is losing our innocence?" 

"Don't worry about it." Mike muttered then turned to his aunt. "We aren't interested in that intimate stuff."

"You will be when you're older." Kelly said. Kelly doesn't have any kids and is still single. 

"Well what do you think a reasonable age is for dating." Karen challenged. 

"Sixteen." Kelly took a bite of mashed potatoes. 

"They're two years younger than that! And they'll be turning fifteen this year." Karen defended her son and his girlfriend. 

"I still think it's too young but whatever." Kelly took a drink of water. Karen rolled her eyes.

"I'm just surprised our son picked up a girl like El. Much less get a girlfriend." Ted said, chewing on a piece of chicken.

"Ted? What?" Karen looked at her husband with a shocked expression.

"Well, Mike's scrawny and nerdy. Girls are supposed to like muscular men who aren't nerdy." Ted said. 

Mike felt his eyes start to tear up. His dad didn't think he was good enough for a girl?

"What the hell, Ted?" Karen said louder. "Be supportive of our son!"

"Well, Karen, he isn't really boyfriend material! He can't even play a stupid sport!" Ted said. Mike's eyes watered even more. Why was only his mom defending him and not anyone else in his family.

"You really are a piece of-" Dustin started.

"Little ears, Dustin." Karen said pointing to Holly.

"Oh, yes, sorry Mrs. Wheeler." Dustin said.

"Yeah, I can't believe you would even talk about your son like that." Lucas stared at Ted.

"Yeah, uncool." Max said.

"And I thought my dad was bad." Will and Jonathan said.

"Yeah, Dad, what Max said." Nancy said.

"Ted, our son is everything a girl could ask for. Not that you would know what he's like because you never pay attention to any of our children." Karen said.

"Yeah a girl wants a scrawny, nerdy, not good looking kid." Ted took a bite out of his chicken.

"Ted!" Karen yelled as Mike stood from his seat and ran upstairs. El knew she wasn't supposed to but she stared at Ted's hot coffee, picked up the mug with her mind, and poured it on his lap. The table went quiet and the Party members, Nancy, Jonathan, Joyce and Karen all stared at her. 

"If Hopper finds out, El." Joyce said.

"Sorry, I uh.." El wiped her bloody nose "Lucas and Dustin, you guys can tell them but they have to swear they won't tell. " Then El ran upstairs.

"What the hell just happened!?" Kelly yelled. "She just did something with her mind and.."

"Um, Holly, go upstairs and find El and Mike, okay?" Karen told her youngest daughter who walked her way up the stairs. 

"Okay, so as we told the teens downstairs, El or Eleven was taken away from her mother at a very young age." Dustin started.

"How young are we talking about?" Karen's other, nicer, sister asked, worried about the young girl. 

"A few hours old." Lucas said. "They told her mother, Terry Ives, she wasn't breathing when she gave birth."

"They? Who's they?" Florence asked.

"You guys know Hawkins Lab?" Most the people at the table nodded. "The people who work there."

"Why would they want her though?" Lainee asked. 

"For her.. abilities." Max stepped in. 

"So Hawkins Lab is like a wonderful fantasy school for children with abilities." Lainee rolled her eyes. "Wish I could go there and get away from all these idiots."

Lucas sighed. "Trust me Lainee. You do not want to go there." 

"Why?" Lainee asked.

"We'll explain just hold on.." Lucas said then yelled, "DETAILS, EL?" 

"I DON'T CARE. GO AHEAD JUST MAKE THEM SWEAR!" Came the response.

"Oh, yeah. You guys can not tell anyone." Dustin said and everyone nodded.

"Okay, then let's begin." Lucas said. "Her name is Eleven because she is subject 011 in the lab." 

"EL!" Will yelled and pattering footsteps came down the stairs. 

"Yeah?" 

"Tattoo." Max said and El showed everyone.

"Okay, uh, Mike needs me so.." She ran back up the stairs. 

"It doesn't go away." Will said. "A permanent reminder of the past."

"That girl has gone through so much." Joyce shook her head sadly.

"So, Lainee, the reason she never had a doll was because they didn't treat her right." Max said.

"What do you mean?" Lainee tilted her head.

"They had tests over tests. Once they made her crush a Coca Cola can with her mind." Lucas explained.

"She had a shaved head too." Dustin piped up. "She has Telekinesis and Telepathy. The head man of the lab, Dr. Brenner or Papa to El, gave her pictures of our past enemies so she could find them with her mind."

"Yeah, more than once they put her in a sensory deprivation tank to find things far away." Lucas said.

"That's horrible." One of the family members said. 

"It gets worse." Max took a bite of her food.

"I'll tell them." Lucas said. "They tried to make her kill a cat but she wouldn't do it. So Dr. Brenner had two men take her to this empty room as big as a small closet and threw her in there. No lights. No windows. And they locked the door. We don't know how long she was locked in there."

"Did they let her go?" Stephanie asked.

"No, she escaped. We don't know how." Dustin said. "We found her in the woods one day and now she's here with us."

"Poor girl." Florence said. 

"Yeah, you guys can ask questions and we'll answer as best as we can."

With Mike, Eleven, and Holly-

"Sorry, I, uh," El ran up the stairs and to where Mike's room was. She neared his door and heard him crying. She knocked. "Mike?"

"El?"

"Yeah, it's me." El said gently. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah." El opened the door and saw Mike sitting on the edge of his bed, face in his hands. El sat beside him and wrapped her arms around his waist. 

"I'm here Mike." El comfortingly said. Mike re-positioned himself so he hugged her back and his head was against her chest. He cried into her chest while she raked her fingers through his hair.

"My dad.." He couldn't finish because of how bad he was crying.

"Mike.." El sighed. "You might not have the best dad but you have the best dad figures ever. You know that?" 

"I do?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, Mr. Sinclair, Mr. Clarke, and even my Dad." El said.

"Hopper? That's funny." Mike tightened his grip on her.

"He just gives you a hard time because we're dating." El pressed a kiss to the top of his head and then laid her head on top of his.

"El?" Mike said, his voice muffled against her shirt.

"Yes, Mike?" She said against his hair.

".. You know I love you, right?" Mike said and El's heart fluttered.

"Of course I do. I love you, too." El said. 

They heard the door open and they pulled apart. Holly stepped into the room and shut the door. The four year old waved and skipped over to her brother. He hoisted her up onto his lap. "Hey, Holly!" 

"Hi!" The little blonde girl replied. "Mommy said to come up here."

"Okay." El said and smiled at Mike's little sister. Holly reached her arms out for El and she took the little girl into her arms and hugged her.

"Ellie!" Holly exclaimed using her nickname for El. Mike laughed.

"Holly!" El replied. 

"DETAILS, EL?" Lucas yelled.

"I ON'T CARE! JUST MAKE THEM SWEAR!" El yelled back, covering Holly's ears.

"Details about what?" Mike asked, lacing his and El's hand together while Holly played with Mike's toys strewn around the room. 

"They're telling them about me and the lab." El said, watching Holly play with Rory.

"What? Why?" Mike asked.

"I used my powers. Poured your dad's coffee on his lap." El said. Mike laughed and leaned his head on her shoulder. 

"EL!" Will yelled.

"Be right back." El stood and ran downstairs.

"Holly, you like the dinosaur?" Mike sat by his little sister and grabbed a robot.

"Yeah." 

"Wanna have a battle with the robot?" Mike asked and Holly nodded.

When El came back in the room she smiled at the sight of Mike playing with Holly. She walked over Mike's legs and over to his bookshelf. She took a X-men comic book off the shelf and laid on her stomach on Mike's bed and began reading. 

She was so happy right now for some reason. Maybe it was that it was just her and Mike and his little sister. No one else and she loved the sound of Mike playing with little kids. She could barely read because she kept watching Mike and Holly. 

El set down the magazine, picked up an action figure, and joined the battle.

"Oh, no! We're doomed, Holly! El's joined!" Mike jokingly said making Holly giggle and El smile.

"Oh no!" Holly giggled.

Yup, this made her happy and she hoped her and Mike could babysit Holly sometime.

Sorry If that was a bad ending. I was in a rush. It's dinner time and I'm hungry and wanted to finish this before I ate.