I

January 1984

ex·al·ta·tion

noun

a feeling or state of extreme happiness.

The small rancher that once only housed Jim Hopper was cleaner than it had ever been, it had been filled with something only people could bring with them; exaltation. Emilia parked the car that Hopper had helped her buy, with the promise that she would pay him back. Joyce had gotten Emilia a job at the store, and so she took a sum of every paycheck to pay back Hopper, and she had not failed to do so, keeping true to her promises.

The sound of the engine died, the weird whirring noise the ancient car made faded, and she was left with only the sound of her own breathing. Snow fell upon the windshield, and without the wipers moving back and forth, it piled up quickly. Bracing herself for the cold, she pulled on a toque and zipped her winter jacket up to her chin. With a hustle to her movements, she ran -as quickly as she could over ice and snow- to the front door. Only the porch light was on.

It was not unusual that Hopper wasn't home when Emilia got off of work, but she had been seeing a lot less of him. Something like this, coming home alone, was not unfamiliar to Emilia, but she was beginning to miss Hopper. Entering the house, forgetting the keys in the door absentmindedly, she collapsed on the couch and turned on the TV. Her and Hopper, for a week or two after she had moved in, would watch the evening news -always boring. He'd have a beer, she'd have some orange juice.

Now it was like she owned the house, it was hers alone to live in.

Hawkins wasn't exciting enough for Hopper to be out late every night, but she wondered if perhaps it had something to do with Hawkins Laboratory. They were not gone, even after everything that had happened. They were very much still present, and still at work; including giving free psychiatric care to Will and Emilia -who refused the treatment.

Emilia rolled onto her side and tucked a pillow underneath her head, staring at the commercial for VCR's. Every day she worried about what was inside of her, what was brewing there. Was she some sort of breeding ground? Since she had thrown up the slug-like creature, she had not had any more issues aside from nightmares that haunted her. But that did not mean everything was going to be okay, and the events were still too fresh in her mind.

Being alone scared her, where as when she lived with her father, it had comforted her.

Reaching over and grabbing the phone -a new one since Hopper had destroyed the last- she phoned the Byers.

Jonathan picked up on the first ring, "Hello?"

"Hi, Jonathan," she nibbled her nail.

"Hopper not home again?"

"I'm worried about him, it's like his thoughts are always somewhere else, when I ever do see him."

"He's still cleaning up the mess Hawkins Lab made, I'm sure things will smooth out sooner or later," Jonathan soothed. "Why don't you come over? We're watching movies, mum is making popcorn."

Emilia sighed, rolling onto her back, the springy cord wrapping around the couch arm, stretching to unimaginable lengths. As much as she wanted to head over to the Byers' again, she decided she really needed to talk to Hopper about what he was doing every night. She knew he came home, later than she could stay up, and he would leave around the same time she did every morning. There wasn't time to talk, and Emilia got the feeling that he was trying to avoid talking to her. She needed to know what he was hiding.

"Are you still there?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah," she confirmed. Hearing gravel and snow crunching under truck tires, she jerked to a seat, the cord of the phone springing wildly now. She exclaimed, "He's home, I'll call you tomorrow?"

"Sure, I lo-" Emilia hung up the phone before Jonathan could finish.

The door opened and in came Hopper, two pairs of keys in hand. He looked right at Emilia, who was untangling herself from the cord of the phone. "How do you even keep track of anything if you can't keep track of your keys?"

Emilia shrugged, finally free of the phone cord, "Who says I keep track of myself?"

He chuckled, closing the door with his foot. It slammed out the cold air trying to get in, like hooked claws scraping their way inside. Shaking snow off of his jacket, he pulled it off and hung it up on the coat rack. They'd bought it together when they put the house back together after Hopper had ripped it apart. The place looked a lot nicer with Emilia in it, although the home was never meant to house a family, Hopper was happy with what he had accomplished. He looked at this young lady in his home, and thought about his other home, and the young girl who was living there.

He had two lives now. Two homes. Two daughters. It was more than he ever intended to take on, but not long after El, or Jane, had disappeared, he had somehow found her again. A hunter who'd come in frantic about magic girls, flying branches and stolen jackets made Hopper realize that El was still out there. Since he had found her, he'd been doing a juggling act of work, Emilia and El.

"You're home, I'm surprised," Emilia tried to sound casual, but came off as snarky. She reminded herself that she was a guest in this house, Hopper had chosen to take her in, and that she was not his wife. She corrected herself then, "This place feels empty without you."

Hopper's expression went from defensive to tired. Rubbing his temples, he said, "This mess at the lab... They always have questions, I have to sign waivers day after day, I have to make sure they aren't putting anyone in danger, ever again."

She sensed he was lying about something, but couldn't put her finger on it. Squinting at him, she said, "You're not telling me something, don't close up on me now, Hop."

"How's your new job going?" Hopper kicked off his boots and walked into the kitchen.

"Nice deflection!" She replied, but laughed either way. She couldn't be mad at Hopper, it was impossible. As he grabbed something to eat from the fridge, she sat on the ugly stools. "It's going well, long days. I should catch some kip."

"Good night, kid," Hopper said solemnly. It was good to have a kid again, but he was pushing her away to make room for El.

"Hey Hopp?" She asked from down the hall, "Don't box yourself in, okay?"

He opened to his mouth to tell her, to tell her everything. But all that came out was, "Okay."

Welcome to my slow burn sequel to Shutter! You guys have shown tremendous support, Shutter is gaining reads by the thousands! This story, like the last, is going to move along at a pretty slow pace. Just a warning. It's going to be harder to write, because there is no build and development between Emilia and Jonathan now, or less so, as they've been together for about a year.

I will focus a lot on Hopper and El, while I wrap my mind around how to place Emilia in among the events of Season 2. Thank you for reading, drop a vote or a comment if you liked it!

Question of the day: what is something from season 2 that you want to see Emilia involved in?