While Mike and Hopper argue behind closed doors, Jane leans over Frankie, observing her sickly form.

"Sick," she mumbles.

"Very sick," Dustin corrects. "Does it have to do with her cool super powers?"

He doesn't really ask this seriously, but is surprised to see 011 nod her head in response. Steve doesn't notice her talk as he's too busy pacing the kitchen, talking mostly to himself.

"I knew I shouldn't have let her go in there!" He grumbles, breathing deeply as he paces.

"Steve, calm down," Nancy tries, using a soft tone with him. "She's gonna be okay, I promise. Frankie is strong, and you know that! She's gonna fight this— whatever it is."

Steve stops pacing, nodding his head.

Lucas, Max and Dustin burst into the kitchen.

"We know why she's sick!" Max exclaims.

Steve looks at the three, urging them to continue.

"011 said it's because of the gates! Both of them being open at the same time is messing with everything," Lucas explains.

"What?" Steve confusedly questions.

"So like basically, since the shadow monsters gate is open, and the ghost dimension gate is open too—" Dustin spouts.

"They are feeding off her," Jane jumps in."Her energy."

"Both gates are using her energy. The shadow monsters gate isn't usually open when Frankie's is, which explains why her gate hasn't shut yet— there's so much energy generated out of control that it can't close. It's messing with the annual norm!" Nancy finishes, completely understanding the concept.

Steve looks at them all dumbly.

Nancy sighs and shakes her head.

"If we close the shadow monsters gate, Frankie will be okay," She dumbs down.

"THEN WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?!" Steve exclaims.

Before he knows it, everyone is crowded around the table, discussing what's going to be next. Steve is caring Frankie, refusing to leave her ANYWHERE alone at this point.

Once the plans are agreed upon, everyone scavenges for heaters and says their temporary goodbyes.

Jonathan thinks about taking Frankie, but stops himself when he catches Steve whispering to her sleeping figure while holding her protectively.

He honestly feels weirded out by the sight, never having seen this side of Steve before. As far as he's concerned, Steve is just an asshole— or maybe he wasn't.

Or maybe he was, and set fire to the world around him, but just never lets the flame touch Frankie.

Eventually, everyone is sent on their way, leaving Steve to stay and watch over the kids.

Mike keeps pacing the room, while Dustin and Steve refrigerate the demo-dog.

Eventually, Lucas gets fed up.

"Mike, would you just cut that out already!"

"You didn't see it," he argues. "That place is swarming with those dogs!"

"Demo-dogs!" Dustin corrects, coming from the kitchen with Steve.

"The chief will take care of her," Lucas assures.

"Like she needs protection," Max mumbles.

"Listen, dude, a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. All right?" Steve steps in, swinging his wash cloth around with hand gestures.

Mike rolls his eyes.

"Okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game. Second, we're not even in the game. We're on the bench. Third—"

"R-Right, exactly. So my point is...." Steve stammers, interrupting the kid.

There's a moment of silence as they all stare at him expectantly.

"Right, yeah, we're on the bench, so, uh, there nothing we can do."

"What if they took Frankie!" He tries. "What would happen then?"

Steve's eyes widen.

"DID THEY?! I swear to god, I turn around for one second," he grumbles and rushes to the living room.

He's relieved to find the girl still resting peacefully on the couch. Color seems to slowly be returning to her cheeks.

"We could help," Dustin points out. "I mean, these demo-dogs they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away."

"So, if we get their attention..."

"Maybe we can draw them away from the lab!"

"And clear a pathway to the gate!"

"Yeah, and then we all die," Steve scoffs.

"That's one point of view," Dustin mumbles.

"No, that's not a point of view, man. That's a fact," Steve sighs.

Mike gasps, an idea suddenly coming into his mind. The other stare at him with confused looks, waiting for an explanation to the sudden gasp.

As they all seem to get out of hand, Steve begins to yell and wave his dish cloth around before setting it back on his shoulder.

Meanwhile, Frankie slowly wakes up, feeling icky but better than before.

The sudden realization that she's alone in the living room scares her, and she immediately feels dread sink into her veins as she thinks of the worst.

A soft cry leaves her mouth, and every one in the kitchen perks up at the noise. They don't move until a full sob can be heard from the living room.

All of them rush towards the room, Mike surprisingly beating Steve.

"Hey, hey, hey," the boy calms. "What's wrong? Are you hurting? Steve I think she's hurting—"

"I-I'm not hurting," she states.

But it's too late, Steve is already panicking, throwing things out of the first aid kit trying to find anything that might help her.

"Steve," she sighs.

He doesn't listen.

"STEVE."

He snaps his head up to look at her.

"What?" He cocks a brow.

"I'm fine!" She laughs. "I thought you guys died and I got sad."

"Glad to see you're alright," Lucas grins, sitting beside the girl. "You really are like Frankenstein!"

This almost upsets her, until Dustin elaborates.

"In a cool way, though! Like you can't be killed and you're like super strong," he insists.

"Ignore these idiots," Max laughs. "How're you feeling."

"Better," Frankie admits, sitting up more.

Mike reaches over, touching her forehead. The gesture makes Frankie roll her eyes even more than before.

"She still has a fever," Mike states.

"Go back to sleep and don't wake up till you're better, damn it!" Steve grins.

Frankie giggles at this.

They're all suddenly distracted by the sound of a car engine.