After the night she had, Nancy roamed through the halls of Hawkins High as a new woman.  But she felt like all eyes were on her.  As if they knew what secrets her body held.  Did Steve tell the whole school about their night together?  She prays he didn't.  What they shared was so private and intimate.  She didn't anyone blabbing that could reach her mom's ears.  She frowns as she looks for Barbara.  She couldn't see her.  Normally, she meets Nancy at the lockers or at the front of the school.  But she wasn't there.  She shakes it off, thinking she must still be mad at her for blowing her off to be with Steve.  

She heads for her locker and opens it to gather her stuff, and jumps when a figure pops up.

"Hey!" It was Steve. He leans on the locker next to hers and gives her a greeting grin. 

Laughing nervously at her jumpiness, "Hey!" She welcomes him with a smile of her own. 

He frowns at her nervous vibe, "Is everything okay?" He asks. 

Nancy waves it off, "Yeah! Yeah, totally. I just..." She looks around at the people walking by them, "I feel like everyone's... staring at me." She laughs softly.

"Oh, I didn't... I didn't tell anyone." He assures her. 

"I know. I know. Of course not.  But what about, like, Tommy, and Carol and them?" She asks with cautioned. 

Steve scoffs it off, "You're being paranoid." He laughs.

Shaking her head with a sigh, "I'm sorry." She blushes at how she must sound like.

"No. No, it's cute. Hey...I had a good time." He gives her a seductive grin as the memories of their night together roams through his mind. 

Nancy blushes and smiles back, "Yeah." She agrees.  "Yeah.  Me, too."

Both of them chuckle softly as Steve leans in to give her a soft kiss, "Mmm. Hmm." He slowly breaks the kiss and moves to head to his class.  Leaving her blushing and breathless.  

She chuckles and snaps out of the fog to head to her first class.  She walks inside and goes to her regular desk and turns to talk to Barbara, thinking she was sitting next to her.  But...she wasn't.  Nancy frowns as the first bell rings and turns to her friend who sat in front of her. 

"Hey, Ally. Where's Barb?"

Ally turns to look at Nancy over her shoulder, frowning at her question, "Um, shouldn't you know?"

"You haven't seen her anywhere...at all?" Nancy asks in pure shock and Ally shakes her head.  

Nancy was confused.  Barbara wouldn't just skip school.  Did she hurt herself that bad enough to skip?  Did she go home and get into trouble with her parents?  She needed to check on her once class was over with.  

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

Jace watches his Uncle pull up towards the Department of Energy, AKA Hawkins National Laboratory.  His heartbeat picks up as they get closer and closer to the security booth.  He was anxious to get inside and find some kind of proof that Five was there.  But he knew he was going to be hard.  

"There she is. Emerald City." Powell jokes. 

"I heard they make space weapons in there." Callahan says in wonder. 

"Space weapons?" Powell scoffs at him. 

"Yeah. You know, like, Reagan's Star Wars." Callahan says. 

"I guess we're gonna blow the Ruskies to smithereens." Jace mutters sarcastically.

Jim pulls up towards the security guard and stops, he rolls down his window as the guard moves towards the truck. 

"Hey, can I help you?"

"Uh, yeah. We're here for a tour." Jim says casually. 

"Oh, we don't give tours." The guard shakes his head. 

"Okay...A quick look around." Jim says. 

"You have to get clearance for that. You can contact, uh...Rick Schaeffer at the Department of Energy." The guard states. 

"Maybe you seen it on TV. We got a local kid that's missing. We have reason to believe he might have snuck in here." Jim makes his own statement. 

The guard sends Jim an uncaring look, "Like I said, you have to speak to Mr. Schaeffer."

Jim cuts off the engine and gives the guard his full attention, "What's your name?"

"Patrick."

"Patrick, I got a panicked mayor, and I got reporters breathing down my neck and I got a very upset mother. Now, I know the kid's not in there, but I gotta check off this box. Patrick, would you do me a favor? Would you speak to your boss and see what you can swing for us? I'd really appreciate it. I'm talking ten minutes, tops." Jim says. 

The guard sighs and turns to make a call.

Jace looks at his uncle, impressed, "Nice." 

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

Bored and alone, Eleven decides to entertain herself by using her energy to control the toy Dustin held to get her to make it fly.  It hovered in the air as she kept her glare on it.  But she was growing restless.  She sighs and takes her eyes off of it, letting it go to clatter on the floor.  What else could she do while waiting for the numbers on her bracelet to change to three-one-five.  She grabs the comm, hearing it crackle but stops.  She was so bored!

She looks up at the stairs and grins.  Maybe a little exploring wouldn't hurt.  She gets up and moves to walk up the stairs and makes her way towards the living room.  She eyes everything around her.  Touching it.  Examing it.  Everything was new to her.  She sits in the Laz-Z-boy Mike showed her and frowns at the phone next to it.  She picks it up and hears a noise.  A tone.  She mimics the tone and hangs it up.  

She remembers Mike telling her about the television.  Whatever that was.  She walked over to it and kneeled in front of it.  She presses the buttons and gasps softly as she sees pictures moving and voices speaking or singing.  

"...was occupying a large part of Lebanon. Today, Syria has become a home for--" Ronald Regan was giving out one of his speeches.  

Eleven changes the channel, a cartoon comes on, "I have the power!" He-Man shouts.

Click!

"...gift that will last forever. From the Harmony Treasures' collection--"

Click!

Gospel music plays.

Click!

Eleven gasps as a familiar sight comes on.  It was a commercial for Coca-Cola.  She eyes the red can on the screen with wide eyes. 

♪ On the beach and in the sun ♪ ♪ The real thing is so much fun ♪♪ All the times of your life ♪♪ And the things that you do ♪ ♪ Coke is right there with you ♪

The jingle fades as she falls into the past.  She thinks about the time when Papa had her in the room with the window.  He watches her while she had an EEG strapped to her head.  

Eleven watches for the signal to begin and turns to glare at the Coca-Cola can.  The devices hum and the machines around her beeps as she strains to push all her energy out on to the can. 

The monitors begin to beep rapidly as she calls the energy.  Dr. Brenner watches in wonder as Eleven forces the can to crumble with her mind.  

Releasing the energy, Eleven breathes heavily.  She looks over to her Papa as he smiles proudly at her.  She frowns when she feels something running.  She gasps in realization that her nose was bleeding again.  

Soon, Dr. Brenner was holding her hand as she stood next to him and watch Five together.  The table was removed and Five stood in the middle with computer.  Dr. Brenner grips Eleven's hand tight as he watches. 

Five holds up her hands and calls forth the energy.  She gasps as her eyes roll and bolts of electrical currents erupt from her hands and begin to shoot towards the computer.  Dr. Brenner eyes and grins as he watches the computer fizzle, but bionic numbers rapidly scanned over the screen.  

"She's in the system, Doctor.  She has taken control of chosen hard-drive." 

Five pants heavily as she continues to use her powers.  

"Incredible." Dr. Brenner says softly. 

"Hard-drive has been completely wiped out.  She absorbed everything." 

Five moves her arm and makes the bolt shoot to another computer.  The computer fizzles, but soon it begins to download information into it.  The current was carrying all the vital information from the first computer and transferring it into aThe download bar rapidly fills to 100%.

"Transferring complete.  Time...15 seconds!"

Dr. Brenner grunts in triumph as the room erupts in cheers.  Eleven stood confused and concerned for her sister.  Five grunts as she pushes the energy back and falls to her knees in pain.  She breathes heavily and slowly looks up as blood drips from her nose.  Dr. Brenner just continues his shit-eating grin at her.

Eleven slowly comes back into the present and opens her eyes, not realizing she had them closed.  The jingle continues, but the TV was fizzling and crackling.  Her emotions were taking over her, controlling her powers.  

♪ Coke is it! Coke is it! ♪

She quickly shuts off the TV with a whimper and sighs at the blank screen. She cries softly as she thinks about Five.  She wanted her sister back. 

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

Joyce was getting no where with the lamps, so while Jonathan was at school, she had an idea.  She goes through the Christmas decorations and finds the Christmas lights.  She goes all around the rooms, hanging up the lights.  Nailing them to the wall.  Wherever Will goes in the house, she wanted to be there and hopefully, make contact.  And bring him home.  

But, when she tries to go further through the den, she grunts when the lights were at their limit and she didn't have anymore.  She had no choice.  She went down to Melvald's and grabbed a new phone and more Christmas lights.  Her boss eyes her with concern and disbelief that she was planning to purchase these after the advance.  

He looks at her, her tired eyes with bags under them.  He knew she was going through a hard time, but he could not let her have an advance on these items.  

Sighing softly, "Joyce..." He begins to inform her, but she wasn't in the mood. 

"Just ring me up, Donald." She states.

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

Patrick, the guard of Hawkins' Lab managed to get in touch with Mr. Rick Schaeffer and Schaeffer came down as soon as he hears the police were at the gates.  He guided them to where they wanted to see.  The storm drain where they found the piece of hospital gown.  Jim and Jace both exam the drain, shinning their lights through the hole to see if there was anymore clues.  

"And you think this missing boy may have crawled through there?" Schaeffer scoffs. 

"Well, that was the idea." Jim grunts as he gets up from where he knelt.  

"Yeah, I just don't see how that'd be possible. We've got over 100 cameras. Every square inch covered, plus all my guys. No one breaks in here. Certainly not some kid."

"Kids.  A girl and a boy." Jim corrected him as he eyes him. He moves and looks around the area, "Those cameras, you keep the tapes?" He asks as he spies security cameras. 

Schaeffer was growling internally in anger.  Last thing he wants is some hick town police force to discover their secrets, so he must do as they ask, yet hide the truth.  He leads Hopper and his men through the halls of the lab.  Leading them towards the security room.  Passing by the hallway that was covered in biohazard warnings and zipped up tarp.  

"If you don't mind me asking, what do you guys do in here?" Jace asks. 

Schaeffer chuckles, "You're asking the wrong guy."

"Staying one step ahead of the Russians?" Jim asks. 

"I expect." Powell scoffs. 

"Something like that." Schaeffer says. 

"Who's in charge here?" Jace asks. 

"That'd be Dr. Brenner." Schaeffer asks. 

"And he builds the space lasers?" Callahan asks excitedly. 

Schaeffer looks at him weirdly, "Space lasers?"

"Ignore him." Jim rolls his eyes and waves it off. 

Soon, they had the security tapes running and fast-forwarding to the night where they suspect Will and the girl were hiding. The tape makes whirring sounds as they view the video. 

"This is the night of the 6th and 7th we're seeing here?" Jim asks. 

"That's correct."

They could see the drain, but soon, there was a big static and white noise.  Then the tracking went back to normal.  Jim frowns when the tape stops.

"Is that it?" He scoffs.

"Like I said, we would have seen him." Schaeffer states. 

But Jim could smell something funky going on as they all walked out of the lab towards the truck.  

"The night of the 7th, we had a search party out for Will.  You remember anything about that night?" Jim asks. 

"Mmm, not much to remember. Called it off." Callahan says, shrugging.

"'Cause of the storm."

"Yeah, a lot of rain that night."

"And there was no rain on that tape." Jace says as he faces Jim. 

Jim nods, "Mm-hmm." 

"What are you thinking?" Powell asks. 

"I don't know. But they're lying." Jim states as he gets into the truck and starts it up.  Tires screeching as he takes off. 

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

Five walks around Jace's home.  Scanning her eyes over the weird golden figures on a glass shelf.  She could read some of the words.  She knew the number 1 and place.  She saw blue ribbons. 

"Syyyence." She says slowly as she reads.  "Ffffaiiirr." She frowns at those words.  

"Science fair." Gloria says as she sits on Jace's couch.  "Jace is a brilliant boy.  Always been top of his class in high school.  School is a place where kids go to learn." Gloria sighs.  "It's such a shame those bad people took that from you, sweetie." She says sadly. 

"School." Five repeats in curiosity. 

"Maybe when we can get you away from them, we can home school you.  Teach you from scratch then you can go to college.  Maybe you'll go to college with Jace." Gloria suggest and gives her an encouraging smile.  

"College." Five says slowly.  

Gloria nods, still smiling, "I can see you're a smart girl.  You were smart enough to help your sister and find Jace." 

Five moves towards the pictures again and studies the photos of Jace.  She eyes his smile.  His eyes.  They were nice eyes.  Gentle.  Unlike the eyes she has seen at the bad place.  The cold eyes.  Jace's eyes were so...warm.  

(HE'S SO HOT I JUST WANT TO CRY!!!!) 

Five reaches out and traces Jace's smile with her fingers gently.  Gloria watches her and smiles knowingly.  

"You like Jace?" Gloria asks. 

Five frowns and looks over to her.  Not understanding what she asked.  

"You know...like." Gloria says and gets up to stand close to her.  She grabs her purse and pulls out a very small photo album on her wallet and opens it to show a photo of when she was young and standing next to a man by a beautiful mountain.  

"This is me when I was your age.  And this was my husband." Gloria smiles as she watches Five study the picture in wonder and curiosity.  "A husband and wife.  It's a man and a woman who unite in holy matrimony to seal their love until death.  Or divorce." Gloria scoffs.  "My husband was killed in the war 8 years ago.  War is a terrible thing to experience.  He gave his life for his country.  For his family.  I'll always miss him.  And I'll always love him." Gloria chuckles at the warm memory.  

"What is...Lo...love?" Five stutters slowly.

Gloria sighs as she thinks of how to explain it, "Love is..." She stops and chuckles.  "Love can be defined as many things.  For example, food.  I love to eat pizza." She laughs.  "I love music.  That kind of love is for things you enjoy.  Now...I love my husband.  That is something that comes from the heart." She places her hand over Five's heart.  "It's a feeling deep inside your soul.  For someone you truly care for.  Now, you care of your sister.  Which also means you love her.  But Jace...that's a different love as well." She lets go over Five's chest and moves to sit back down.  "You'll find out what I mean." She smirks.  

Five turns to look at Jace's picture, studying him.  She could feel something warm building where Gloria touched.  It was a feeling she never had before.  She slowly smiles softly at his picture as the feeling grows.  

While Five was still waiting around for Jace to come home.  Eleven was  roaming around the Wheeler's house again. She walks through Nancy's room and looks around.  She sees a box and opens it.  A little person was spinning as music plays softly.  Chiming as it turns.  She shuts the box and the music stops.  She looks around more and finds pictures of Nancy smiling and laughing with others.  Especially, Barbara.  Eleven studies the smiling pictures of the girls.  Thinking about her and Five.  

Remembering her hugging her as she sleeps.  Holding her hand when she was scared.  Protecting her when others tried to harm her, but it always got her into trouble.  

"Zap." Five's voice echoes from the past as she holds her pinkie up for Eleven. 

Eleven slowly brings her pinkie up as a tear falls from her eyes, "Zap." 

It was always Five's promise to her.  Protection.  

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

At Hawkins High, lunch has rolled around the corner and Nancy continues to worry about Barbara.  It's been hours and she still has not shown up for any of her classes.  Where could she be? Is she home sick? Nancy walks to the table with Steve and first thing she sees is Carol asking Tommy about a weird rash she had on her ankle.  She decides to see if Tommy or Carol have seen her leave at the party last night.  But, strangely, neither of them noticed her leaving last night.  Carol made loud comments about her and Steve being so loud together and mocked her moaning and Steve's grunting.  Steve noticed how uncomfortable that made Nancy and got the two of them to shut up and continue their previous conversation.

"Listen... I'm sure she's fine. She's probably just...she's probably just, like, skipping or something." Steve says, trying to calm her.  

Nancy was unsure, but she nods anyway, "Yeah. Yeah, probably." She says and looks up as she sees Jonathan walking by the cafeteria.  He looks over to her as she perks up and walks away.  Still thinking about what he saw last night at Steve's.  Seeing her undress in the window.  

Meanwhile, at Hawkins Middle, Dustin, Mike, and Lucas were preparing for their search after school. To search for Will, El's sister, and, if they run into trouble, fight the monster that was out there.  So, to prepare themselves for a possible battle, they needed ammo.  During their break, they started search for rocks for the rocket.  

"How about this one?" Mike asks as he holds up a large rock.  

Dustin takes it and exams it.  He shakes his head, "Too big for the sling." He says and they continue to look for more.  Dustin couldn't stop thinking about Eleven's powers, "So, do you think Eleven was born with her powers, like the X-Men, or do you think she acquired them, like...like Green Lantern?" He asks. 

Lucas scoffs, "She's not a superhero."

"I wonder what kind of powers her sister has.  Do you think she could move things, too, with her mind?  Or something cooler.  Like maybe she could fly or she could be like Wonder Woman." Dustin continues.  

"Dustin, both of them are just weirdos." Lucas strongly protests. 

"You haven't even met her sister." Dustin scoffs.

"I don't need to.  If she's like the weirdo, then she's one, too." Lucas states. 

"Why does that matter? The X-Men are weirdos." Mike states.  

Lucas turns to glare at Mike, "If you love her so much, why don't you marry her?" He taunts. 

"What are you talking about?" Mike frowns at him. 

"Mike, seriously?" Lucas scoffs in disbelief.

"What?" 

"You look at her all, like...'Hi, El! El! El! El! I love you so much! Would you marry me?'" Lucas mocks Mike's voice, yanking him into his arms and kneels as if he was proposing.  

Dustin laughs while Mike shoves him away.

"Shut up, Lucas." Mike says, then turns when he sees Troy and James walking towards them.  He glares at them as the others rolls their eyes. 

"Yeah, shut up, Lucas." Troy says.  "What are you losers doing back here?" He scoffs. 

" Probably looking for their missing friend." James laughs. 

"That's not funny. It's serious. He's in danger." Dustin glares at them. 

"I hate to break it to you, Toothless, but he's not in danger. He's dead. That's what my dad says. He said he was probably killed by some other queer." Troy says and laughs with James. 

"Come on. Just ignore them." Mike scoffs and moves to walk away, but Troy holds his foot out and trips Mike.  Making him slam his mouth and chin into a rock.  They laugh as he goes down. 

Mike groans and grips his chin in pain.  

"Watch where you're going, Frogface." Troy scoffs and takes off with James.

Dustin and Lucas move and helps Mike to his feet.  They could see he was bleeding a little from his chin.  

"You all right?" Dustin asks. 

"Yeah." Mike sighs out and uses his sleeve to catch the blood.

"Hey. How about this one?" Dustin says as he bends down and picks up the rock that Mike hit.  

Mike chuckles and takes the rock, "Yeah."

"Yeah?" Dustin smiles.

"Yeah, this is it.  Oh, yeah." Lucas nods and takes the rock, holding it up to see it better. "Yeah, this is the monster killer!"

Mike laughs, he liked when his friends try to make him feel better.  Dustin pats his back and chuckles with him. 

"Whoo!" Lucas laughs. 

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

Now, that Joyce had her lights up.  She turns them all on, seeing her home light up with Christmas lights.  Every room carried the lights.  If Will makes contact, she will know where.  She also needs to prepare if that...thing in the wall comes back.  While she was waiting, she wasn't expecting for visitors.  Karen Wheeler along with her daughter, Holly, stopped by to give her a casserole.  Despite that Joyce didn't want visitors disturbing her in any way while she contacts Will, but this could also prove that she wasn't crazy. If someone sees what she saw, then she wasn't crazy.  

Karen sits with her while warming up the food.  Tending to her and offering her any sort of support while Holly begins to explore the house.  Joyce was trying to focus on the lights, but Karen kept interrupting her.  Neither of them noticed Holly following the lights towards Will's room.  The lamps all around the room begin to light up and rapidly blink.  Forming a twinkling circle around Holly. 

Holly gasps as the lights go out and she begins to hear growling.  She whimpers softly as she looks at the wall. Watching it move and expand.  As if something was trying to reach out to her.  

Before the monster could come forth, Joyce and Karen find her.  Joyce demanded her not to be in the room, but she noticed Holly's scared face and she couldn't stop looking at the wall.  Joyce tried to force her to tell what she saw, but Karen was concerned with Joyce's attitude.

Joyce decides to throw them out of the house so she could keep watch for Will or the monster.  She knew Holly saw something.  From her scared look, she deduces it could have been the monster.  If Joyce haven't reached to her in time, the monster could have taken Holly.  

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

Hopper didn't believe the people at Hawkins lab for one bit, so he decides to check out the archives about the laboratory.  There has to be some sort of information about that place in the papers.  Anything that could give him some sort of leverage.  Jace, Powell, and Jim all walk into the library and Hopper sees an old flame behind the counter.  

Sighing in guilt, Jim swallows his pride and walks up towards the librarian counter and stands before his ex.

"Hey, Marissa. How you doin'?" He gives her a charming smile. 

Marissa, however, gave him a furious glare, "You have a lot of nerve showing up here."

Jim frowns, "What?"

"You could have at least called, said, 'Marissa! Hey, it's not gonna work out. Sorry I wasted your time. I'm a dick'." She states.

Jace and Powell give him a weird look.  Jim chuckles awkwardly and rubs his neck, "Yep. I'm sorry. Uh...Maybe we could go out again next week?" He asks, trying to bribe his way.

Jace moves in between them, "Um, Newspapers?  Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt, but we need to go through the newspapers.  Please?" He asks. 

"You guys got newspapers around here?" Jim nods and asks. 

Marissa sighs, still giving Hopper and bitter look, but turns and gives Jace a kind smile.

"We have the New York Times, the Post, all the big ones." She states.  "Organized by year and topic.  You can find the corresponding microfiche in the reading room." She says.

"Okay, we're looking for anything on the Hawkins National Laboratory." Jim says.

Marissa frowns at him, "Well, shouldn't you be looking for that missing kid?" She asks. 

"Yeah. We are." Jim says and turns to Jace and Powell, "Uh, so, why don't you start with the Times, and we'll check out the Post." Jim states. 

Marissa scoffs and moves to get what he needs. 

Powell frowns at him, "The librarian?" He says in disbelief.  

Jim shrugs.

Jace groans silently in disgust.  Last thing he needed to know was about his family's sex life.  

"Want to run that by us again about dating game interfering with the job?" Jace ask sarcastically. 

Jim glares at him for using his past words. 

*Sorry for the long wait.  Classes are piling up.  I finally got Netflix back and I'm gonna work on Hemlock Chronicles as soon as I can.  It's hard to juggle everything right now.  The semester will be over when December gets here and I'll have a month off from school.  Will be working on the books around that time and hope I can get the last Hemlock Chronicles done and my first Stranger Things book done and work on part 2.  Please leave me comments and votes if you're liking my stories.  Lots of Love ~Song~*