From the moment Hopper arrived at Jace's place, Jace could tell something was bothering him.  And it wasn't the crops.  The way he gritted his teeth and his jaw flexed, he could tell his uncle was seriously pissed about something...or someone.  

"Ok, who pissed on your morning?" Jace asks.

Hopper lets out a sharp sigh, "Nothing.  No one." He clears his throat and tries to calm himself and focus on the road. 

"Unc, this is me you're talking to." Jace scoffs. 

"Just...trying to figure out about the crops.  Have you found anymore of that rot anywhere else?" Hopper asks. 

Jace snorts, "Ok, change the subject, but I'm not dropping it.  To answer your question, yeah.  The rot goes out further, but to find the source will be a problem.  We need to get the station and look at the map to find the source." 

When they arrived at the station, Hopper immediately buried himself in the mystery with the crops.  He had so much stress building up in his mind, it was about to drive him crazy.  The crops, the deal with the Lab, the girls, the town.  He was trying and nearly meeting the breaking point.  

Hopper, Jace, and his deputies gather around the map and marked off the areas of the rot. 

"And we found some more by Gilbert's farm." Powell says as the points at the location on the map. 

"Some real nasty stuff. It was sticky." Callahan says, grimacing in disgust. 

"All right. Where else?" Hopper asks them both. 

"That was it, Chief." 

Hopper scoffs at them, "That was it, or you get tired of looking?"

Stuttering, Callahan tries to explain, "It was getting dark. I mean, it was really dark."

"They're called flashlights, you dipshits." Hopper grits out and goes back to focusing on the map and the areas. 

"Woah, Unc."

"Oh, okay. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." 

"More lady problems, Chief?" Powell scoffs out. 

Jace waves them both off with a frustrated grunt, "In case you two haven't realized, we're having a major problem with the crops.  If we don't figure things out..." Jace picks up the carton of donuts and tosses them.  "No more donuts." He watches them both jerk in alarm. "Got it?"

Hopper, suddenly, eyes an area on the map.  He begins to circle the areas where the rot begin and drew around them to where it must have all started.  All farms had one thing in common.  They surrounded Hawkins Lab!  The lab.  He stabs the marker into the map and takes off. 

"Unc!" Jace calls out as Hopper begins to take off. 

"Hey, Chief! Where you going? You want us to go back out there?" Powell calls out and winces when Hopper kicks the door open. 

"Why's he gotta kick the door? Hey, Chief!" 

Jace rushes to grab his coat and hat to meet up with Hopper, "Hey, Unc! What's going on?" He calls out as he rushes to the truck when Hopper shuts his door. 

Jace begins to get inside, but Hopper stops him, "No, you stay behind." He demands. 

"What did you find out?" Jace ignores his order and gets into the passenger's seat.

Hopper glares at him, keeping his mouth shut.

"Unc, like it or not, I'm going with you.  Whatever crawled up your ass and died needs to be buried.  I'm not leaving you hanging." Jace declares.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Hopper knew he had no choice, "Fine.  But keep your mouth shut when we get there." He starts up the truck.

"There? Where are we going?" Jace asks and grunts as he braces himself when Hopper spins his tires to zoom out on the road.

"What do the farms have in common?" Hopper asks. 

Jace stammers as he tries to think, "Their crops are all rotting?"

"What else?  Think of location.  Where do they all meet up?" Hopper says as he reaches to dig into his glove compartment and pulls out the town map.  "Look for yourself." He slaps it against Jace's chest.

Jace frowns as he takes the map and begins to unfold it, eyeing all the areas where the rot has started.  He frowns as he follows the lines and scoffs, "Hawkins Lab." He says in realization as he folds the map up, "Those assholes again." Gritting his teeth.

"Yup.  They're screwing with the town...again." 

"And we're gonna give them the boot?" Jace asks, with a little hope in his voice.

"Right up their asses." Hopper snorts. 

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

Eleven sighs softly, bored in her room and anxious.  The ache for Mike continues to grow and she can't stand it.  She begins to go into the void again to see him.  She blindfolds herself, but in frustration, she sighs softly and snatches off the cloth.  She was tired of going into the void when Mike couldn't see her.  She needed to see him and needed him to see her.  Hug him.  Kiss him.  She needed him now!

Eleven opens her bedroom door slowly and peeks out to see where Fiona was.  Fiona was sleeping soundly on the couch with her book on her chest.  Eleven sighs softly and slowly walks towards the door.  

Fiona dreams of the past when Hopper and Gloria brought her and Eleven to the cabin for the first time.  

"Where can we hide them?  We can't take them to town.  They got nearly everyone bugged and the streets are crawling with agents searching for these girls.  No place is safe for them." Gloria says as she and Hopper sat in his truck with Fiona and Eleven huddled in the back seat.  Fiona held on to Eleven with all her might, feeling her sister and herself shiver from the cold, but Hopper had the heat blasting for them.  The sun was beginning to rise from the hills. 

Hopper thinks of some place they could use to hide them and one memory comes to mind, "I think I know a place.  Yeah, the perfect place." He says as he takes the truck out of park and into drive, heading towards the woods on the other side of town.

Parking near the path towards the safehouse, Hopper gets out and helps Fiona and Eleven out of the back while Gloria gets out of the truck.  Together, the four of them roam through the woods and begin to see a cabin in the distance. 

"Where are we?" Gloria asks. 

Hopper sighs as he guides the girls towards the cabin and begins to dig into his pockets, "My family's cabin.  No one knows about it.  Miles from town.  And perfect for hiding." He says and opens the door for them all. 

The girls and Gloria all peek inside to see a dust infested, web covered cabin that was overridden by junk and covered furniture.  

Hopper walks in first and begins to take some sheets off the furniture, "My granddad used to live here. Long time. I mainly just use it for storage now. Lot of history here. So, uh... what do you think?" Hopper asks as he watches the two of them look around in curiosity.

Gloria wraps her arms around the girls as she walks with them inside the cabin.  Fiona scans the area with caution, but she was pleased.  It was shelter.  It was help and they needed help.  

 "It's a work-in-progress. You know, it's, uh...It takes a little imagination, but, uh...once we fix it up, it's gonna be nice. Real nice."  Hopper assures them.  

"Just need a touch of love and elbow grease.  We can make it work.  This is perfect, Hop." Gloria says with a smile and gives the girls' shoulders a squeeze, "This is your new home.  Until we get you off the Lab's radar."

"Home."  Eleven says softly. 

Hopper nods and exclaims in triumph when he spies his old records and record player, "Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. All right, this...this is music." He says as he shows them a vinyl record and begins to turn on the player.  As soon as he places the needle on it, Fiona and Eleven both jump in surprise as music begins to play and a man's voice begins to sing. "You Don't Mess Around with Jim" begins.

♪ Uptown got its hustlers, The bowery got its bums ♪ ♪ 42nd Street got Big Jim Walker ♪

Jim smiles at the girls as he begins to dance to the beat, snapping his fingers.  Eleven and Fiver watch him with a weird look, but Gloria was laughing.

"Hopper, don't scare them with your dancing." Gloria chuckles. 

Hopper waves her off with a snort and claps his hands with a big sigh, "All right.  Let's get to work."

Together, with the music going on, they all begin to clean the cabin.  

♪ He's a pool-shootin' son of a gun ♪ ♪ Yeah, he's big and dumb, As a man can come ♪ ♪ But he's stronger than a country hoss ♪ ♪ And when the bad folks, All get together at night ♪ ♪ You know they all call big Jim "boss", Just because ♪ ♪ And they say You don't tug on Superman's cape ♪ ♪ You don't spit into the wind ♪ ♪ You don't pull the mask, Off that old Lone Ranger ♪ ♪ And you don't mess around with Jim ♪

Eleven helps with picking stuff off the floor as Five helps with taking blankets off the furniture.  She lets out a few sniffles and, soon, a big sneeze...which caused the lights to flicker wildly with a loud electrical surge.  Hopper and Gloria watches with caution and, soon, the lights return normally.  

"Let's try and keep you from sneezing again." Gloria says as she moves Fiona out of the way.  

Eleven walks into her new bedroom and sees a small bed.  Hopper has given the girls the approval of picking out their own rooms or if they want to sleep in the same room, they could, but Gloria mentioned that it would be best to sleep separately for privacy.  Eleven yanks off the sheet that covered the bed and lets out fits of coughs as dust flies everywhere.  

Soon, they had to help clean the living room.  Gloria hands Eleven a broom while giving Fiona a rag and Windex.  Neither of them knew what to do with them.  Eleven scrapes the broom over the floor, pushing it instead of brushing it.  Fiona eyes the bottle of blue liquid, sniffing it and grunts at the scent.  

Hopper sighs and helps Eleven understand how to use the broom and Gloria walks over to Fiona to show her how to wash windows.  She sprays the window and wipes it down.  She smiles as Fiona gets the hang of it.  

Soon, after the cabin was cleaned, Hopper gets out his old HAM radio and begins to teach them about Morse code.  

♪ Well, outta South Alabama, Come a country boy ♪ ♪ He said "I'm lookin' for a man named Jim ♪ ♪ I am a pool-shootin' boy, My name is Willie McCoy ♪ ♪ But down home they call me Slim ♪ ♪ Yeah, I'm lookin' for The king of 42nd Street ♪ ♪ He drivin' a drop top Cadillac ♪ ♪ Last week, he took all my money, And it may sound funny ♪ ♪ But I come to get my money back" ♪ ♪ And everybody say, Jack, don't you know ♪ ♪ You don't tug on Superman's cape, You don't spit into the wind ♪ ♪ You don't pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger ♪ ♪ And you don't mess around with Slim ♪

After they had everything ready in the cabin, Hopper and Gloria agreed that they should have security around the property.  So, Hopper begins to set up trip wires around the area.  Hopper shows the girls how he sets up an alarm with wire and a mouse trap that had ammo attached to it.  

"Give me those." He mutters as Eleven hands him what he needs. "Okay. Now, this is called a trip wire. It's like an alarm. You, uh, set it up like this. And then, anybody gets close, it's gonna make a loud noise like, uh, gunfire. Bang! Those bad men aren't gonna find ya. All right? Not way the hell out here."  He grins at them both. 

Fiona sighs softly, relieved that they were safe now.  And together.  Gloria rubs her back in comfort and helps them both into the house.  The cabin was set and the traps were set.  All the girls need now was food.  

"We'll take some precautions. There's gonna be a couple ground rules.  Rule number one: always keep the curtains drawn."

Eleven broke rule number one.  

"Rule number two: only open the door if you hear our secret knock." Hopper continues the rules and makes a rhythmic knock on the table.

While Fiona continues to dream, Eleven begins to unlock the door and opens it wide for herself.  

"And rule number three: don't ever go out alone, especially not in the daylight. That's it. Three rules. I call 'em the, uh...Don't Be Stupid Rules. 'Cause we're not stupid. Right?" Hopper's voice echoes from the past. 

"I'll go to the market and stock up the fridge for them.  I want to make sure they got enough to last for, at least, a month." Gloria states.  

Hopper hands her some cash, "Better make it two months.  Just be safe.  We'll keep stocking up every two months to avoid people from getting suspicious.  Get TV dinners and plenty of Eggos for Eleven." 

Gloria nods, "Got it." She chuckles as Eleven perks up when 'Eggos' is mentioned.  

Eleven closes the door behind her and walks towards where the trip wires were.  She sighs softly, knowing that this was stupid...to Hopper, but she wasn't stupid.  She was in pain.  Deep, emotional pain.  She needed to see Mike.  Now.

"Not stupid." She mutters and walks over the trip wire and heads off to find Mike.

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

Steve grunts as he plays basketball in Hawkins High School Gym.  As he was trying to get to the goal, Billy blocked his way.  

"Harrington, right? I heard you used to run this school. That true? King Steve, they used to call you, huh?" Billy smirks as he taunts him, seeing his anger rise.  "Then you turned bitch." He snarls. 

"Hey, maybe you should just shut up and just play the game." Steve grits out and tries to make the basket but Billy steals the ball from him and scores.  

Panting heavily, Steve wipes his sweaty brow as he watches Billy smirk in triumph.  Most of the female student body was in the gym, mainly watching Billy with his shirt off.  

"Whoo! That's what I'm talking about! Whoo!" His classmates cheers for Billy, making his annoyance rise.

"Steve?"

Steve turns and sees Nancy from across the gym with a confused look.  His annoyance just turned in anger as he sees her.  Remembering all she said to him last night.  Taking a towel from the bench, he drapes it over his shoulders and walks out the gym, confusing Nancy even more with his attitude, especially when he just brushes past her to walk outside.  

"What are you doing here?" 

Nancy scoffs at him, "What do you think? Where were you this morning? I missed first period." She says, completely in shock that he never met with her like always for school.  

Steve simply shrugs it off, "I figured Jonathan would take you."

Confused, "Wha...What are you talking about?" She frowns at him. 

Steve scoffs at her, "Jesus, you really can't handle your alcohol. Uh...You remember going to Tina's party last night, right?" He asks.

Nancy thinks back, "Yes." She nods. 

"And then what?" He asks, sending her a glare.

Nancy tries to think about what went on during the party, but it was a little fuzzy, "I remember dancing, and...spilling some punch. You got mad at me because I was drunk...and then you took me home." She says.

Steve scoffs out a laugh, then continues his glare at her, "No, see, that's where your mind gets a little bit fuzzy. That was your other boyfriend. That was...That was Jonathan."

"I don't understand."

"It's pretty simple, Nancy. You were just telling it like it is." He shrugs again, giving up with this, with her.

"What?"

"Uh...apparently, uh...we killed Barb and I don't care, 'cause I'm bullshit...and our whole... our whole relationship is bullshit, and...I mean, pretty much everything is just bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. Oh, yeah, also, you don't love me." 

"I was drunk, Steve. I don't remember any of that." She protests. 

"So that makes everything that you said...It's what? Just bullshit, too?"

"Yes."

"Well, then tell me." He demands. 

"Tell you what?"

"You love me."

She looks at him in disbelief, in complete shock that he's asking her that, "Really?"

But before either of them could say more, the gym door busts open and a teenager was scouting around for Steve.  He looks down the alley and sees him. 

"Harrington! Dude, we need you, man. That douchebag's killing us. Let's go!" The boy shouts. 

"All right!" Steve shouts. 

"Come on!"

Steve stands and waits for Nancy to say the words.  But Nancy was in deep thought.  'Did she love him?' To be honest...she wasn't sure anymore...and...she wasn't sure if she could tell him. 

Steve could see right through her thoughts and scoffs at her once more with a snarl.

"I think that you're bullshit." 

He snatches the towel off his shoulders and stomps away in anger.  Leaving a confused Nancy.  Even though she was hurt, but deep down, she was relieved this was all out in the open now.  She didn't want to hide it anymore.  She did love Steve...just not like she use to.  

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

Lunch time finally came around and Dustin lead his friends into the AV room.  Despite how Mike wanted Max out of the room, Dustin kept his foot down that he wanted everyone there.  He grins as he takes out his ghostbusters trap and sets it on the table.  He eyes everyone with anticipation and, finally, he opens the trap.  

Everyone leans over with wide eyes as they see what's inside.  D'Artagnan chittered softly as he looks up at the humans around him.  Dustin gently picks him up in his hands and holds him for everyone to see.  They all look in wonder, caution, and curiosity.

"His name is d'Artagnan. Cute, right?" Dustin grins as he trails his fingers over D'Artagnan's skin.  

"D'Artagnan?" Mike asks, he couldn't believe Dustin actually named this thing.

"Dart for short."

"And he was in your trash?" Max asks.

"Foraging for food. You wanna hold him?" Dustin asks, seeing how she was eyeing Dart in curiosity.  He was hoping since Max was into stuff that boys like, maybe with Dart, he can get her to like him.  

Max's eyes wide as she shakes her head rapidly in protest, "No, no."

"He doesn't bite."

Before Max could protest more, Dustin places Dart in her hands, "I don't want to--Oh, God, he's slimy!" Max exclaims in disgust and shoves Dart into Lucas' hands.

Lucas groans in disgust at the feel of Dart in his hands, "Ugh, he's like a living booger." He shoves him into Will's hands.

Will gags in disgusts, "Ugh, oh, God!" He yelps and shoves him into Mike's hands. 

Mike holds Dart up, even though it felt disgusting to hold him, he couldn't help but wonder..."What is he?"

Dustin grins, "My question exactly." He says  and he takes Dart back to place him down on the table.  Dustin moves to get the books he took from the library out of his book back and flips through the pages, "At first, I thought it was some type of pollywog."

Max frowns at him, "Pollywog?"

"It's another word for tadpole. A tadpole is the larval stage of a toad." Dustin explains.

Max cuts him off before he could give her the whole dictionary, "I know what a tadpole is."

"All right, then you know that most tadpoles are aquatic, right? Well, Dart, he isn't. He doesn't need water." Dustin explains more about Dart. 

"Yeah, but aren't there nonaquatic pollywogs? Terrestrial pollywogs?"

"Yep. Two to be exact.  Indirana semipalmata. And the Adenomera andreae. One's from India, one's from South America. So how did one end up in my trash?" Dustin asks, confused as they are. 

"Maybe some scientists brought it here, and it escaped?" Max suggests.

Before anyone could make anymore theories, Mike notices something about Dart, "Do you guys see that? Looks like something is moving inside of it." He moves the table lamp to help everyone see better, but Dart didn't like it.  He screeches out at them all, causing them all to jump.  Dart takes off, trying to escape the heat source, but Dustin catches him before he could fall off the table. 

"Whoa. It's okay. It's okay. I got you, little guy." He says softly, calming him down as he sooths him.  Dart chitters softly at Dustin.  "I know you don't like that. It's okay." He says softly, then looks up at everyone, "And there's another thing. Reptiles, they're cold-blooded. Ectothermic, right? They love heat, the sun.  Dart hates it. It hurts him."

"So, if he's not a pollywog or a reptile..." Lucas trails off.

Dustin grins big in excitement, "Then I've discovered a new species."

While everyone was having mixed feelings about this, Will was the only one who looked at Dart in fear as the chittering he made opened old memories of Upside Down.  That screech, that chitter it made.  He knew those sounds so well.  It brought pure terror in his heart that made it stop and the ice-cold chill run up his spine.

He jumps in fright as the school bell rings, meaning it was time for the next lesson. 

Lucas says as they all walk out of the AV room, "We gotta show him to Mr. Clarke."

"What if he steals my discovery?" Dustin protests.

"He's not gonna steal your discovery." Lucas scoffs, waving him off.

"You know, I'm thinking about calling it Dustonious pollywogus. What do you think?" Dustin asks Max with a grin. 

"I think you're an idiot." She scoffs at him.

"When I become rich and famous for this one day, don't come crawling back, saying, 'Oh, my God, Dustin, I'm so sorry for being mean to you back in 8th grade. Oh, my God'." He imitates a girls voice.  

None of them realized that Will was barely following them.  He was trying to figure out how can he tell his friends...that Dart could be from Upside Down?