HAWKINS, INDIANA — 1983.

"THE FLEA AND THE ACROBAT."

Lucas, Mike Wheeler, and Dustin Henderson sat in front of the adults, Theresa and Jonathan.

"So it's called... the Upside Down," Theresa restated what the kids had just explained to them.

They nodded as if it were obvious. "Mr. Clarke said that the only way to get there is through a rip in time and space," Mike explained.

Tess raised a hand. "Hold on– Mr. Clarke? The middle school science teacher?"

Mike nodded again with impatience.

She halfway rolled her eyes, sitting back on the couch and folding her arms.

"So... how exactly are we supposed to create a 'rip in time and space?'"

"There already is one," Lucas told her. "At Hawkins Lab."

Dustin interjected, "We found it with our compasses."

Theresa, Jonathan and Joyce all stared at him.

"Okay," he continued, "so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field and that–"

"Can change the direction of a compass needle," Theresa finished, straightening up. Maybe these kids were onto something.

They all looked at her, puzzled.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Dustin asked.

She shrugged. "I'm not an idiot, obviously."

"Is this gate underground?" Hopper asked, finally adding into the conversation.

The girl, Eleven, gave a surprising response. "Yes," she said to him, giving him a sure look.

"Near a large water tank?" Hopper added.

El nodded. "Yes."

Dustin slowly shook his head. "H-How'd you know all that?"

Hopper did not give a response, but Mike spoke for him.

"He's seen it."

"Is there any way that you could– that you could reach Will?" Joyce inquired to Eleven. "That you could talk to him in this..."

"The Upside Down?" El finished for her.

Joyce nodded. Eleven nodded back assuringly.

Theresa thought for a moment, chewing her inner lip.

"What about my friend, Priya?" she asked. "Can you find her, too?"

Eleven almost looked like she was beginning to smile as she gave another nod.

Tess nodded back, looking up at the others.

"I like this little girl."

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     "THIS WAS THE ONLY PICTURE OF PRIYA I could find," Theresa explained, placing Priya's yearbook photo from last year on the dining table in front of Eleven.

She had cut it out from Jonathan's yearbook, promising to replace it for him. Eleven looked down at the photo for a moment, then began to close her eyes. On the table, Mike switched on a walkie-talkie that had nothing but static coming from it.

As Eleven began to focus more, Theresa noticed the lights flickering above them. She raised her head, her eyes widening a bit.

"Holy shit," she mumbled in a barely audible voice.

Suddenly the lights stopped, El opening her eyes. She seemed disappointed, her chin trembling.

"I'm sorry," she spoke softly.

Joyce frowned. "Wh– what do you mean, what's wrong?"

Eleven looked between her and Tess. "I can't find them."

Theresa let out a small, dejected sigh, trying to mask her disappointment from Eleven. She didn't want to upset the girl; she seemed to have tried her hardest.

Eleven got up to go to the bathroom, leaving the others to decide what to do from there.

"What do we do now?" Tess questioned, leaning against the table.

"Whenever she uses her powers, she gets... weak," Mike explained.

Dustin added, "The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets."

"Like– she flipped the van earlier," Lucas said.

"It was awesome," Dustin interjected.

Mike continued, "But she's drained."

Theresa tapped her fingers in deep thought, making a face of concentration.

"Maybe she needs a better place to focus," Tess suggested at once, looking up. "Maybe it's not working because this isn't the kind of place she's used to."

"The bath."

They all turned suddenly, finding Eleven standing there.

"I can find them," she continued, her eyes flitting between all of them. "In the bath."

Theresa suddenly stood straight up, pointing a finger at El. "A sensory deprivation tank. If she's really from the lab, then that's probably what she's talking about. I mean– they use those kind of things with therapy and psychoanalysis all the time."

Dustin turned to Lucas. "Since when is your sister a genius?"

Tess narrowed her eyes at him.

"I have a four-point-o, dipshit."

Hopper rolled his eyes. "Never mind that. How do you make said sensory deprivation tank?"

Tess opened her mouth to speak but Dustin's face lit up.

"I can call Mr. Clarke. I'm sure he'll know."

Theresa closed her mouth, slowly folding her arms as she leaned back against the table and tilted her head.

"Who said you have to call Mr. Clarke?" she asked, Dustin pausing.

They all turned to her.

"Do you know how to create a sensory deprivation tank?" Mike questioned, staring at her in disbelief.

She halfway smiled. "In theory, yes."

Tess looked down at the table, grabbing a notepad and a pen. She began to write as she talked, saying, "If I remember correctly, isolation tanks should contain ten inches of water with enough dissolved salt to create a specific gravity of about... one point twenty-five to one point twenty-six. Basically, enough for someone to float without struggle."

The three boys seemed astounded. Hopper looked up at Theresa, snapping his fingers.

"How much salt do we need?"

She looked up at the ceiling as she began to do the calculations in her head, squinting a bit.

"I'd say about... fifteen hundred pounds."

Jonathan scoffed. "Where are we gonna get that much?"

That was where Tess was out of ideas. She looked around the room, waiting for someone else to answer this one.

Finally, Hopper did.

"Alright, everyone get to the car."

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          THERESA PULLED UP TO HAWKINS Middle School in her car, loaded up with Lucas, Dustin, Mike and Eleven.

"I never thought you would be so cool," Dustin remarked to Tess as they entered the school, earning an eye roll from her.

"Get the kiddie pool to the gym. I'm gonna go help Joyce get Eleven ready. El, you coming?"

She paused, looking over at Mike for a moment. He gave her a reassuring nod, Eleven turning back to Tess. Taking a few steps forward, she began to walk alongside Theresa down the hall.

They walked in silence for a few moments before Theresa looked down at her, analyzing her.

"I know this must be pretty scary," she spoke up, slightly clearing her throat.

Eleven glanced up at her, then back down. She nodded softly.

Tess chewed her inner lip. "You don't seem scared, though," she continued. "As a matter of fact, you seem pretty damn fearless to me."

The girl looked up again, frowning a bit.

"Fearless?" she questioned, as if she were unsure what the word meant.

Theresa nodded curtly. "It means that you don't have any fear. You're not scared of anything. And even if you are scared, you're doing a lot better job at hiding it than the rest of us."

Eleven stared at her for a moment until a small smile crept onto her face, Tess surprisingly smiling back. She stopped at a classroom doorway, looking in to see Joyce was there.

But not only Joyce. Nancy Wheeler stood there as well beside Joyce, throwing Tess off for a moment.

"Wheeler? What are you doing here?"

Nancy's eyes widened a bit at Theresa, equally as confused.

"I-I'm here to help. What– what are you doing here?"

Tess eyed her, poking her tongue in her cheek.

"I'm here to help," she mocked, halfway rolling her eyes as she walked over to Joyce.

Nancy stared at her, bewildered. She had never understood Theresa's dislike towards her. She supposed she never would know, either.

Tess grabbed some duct tape from whatever teacher's desk the classroom belonged to, taking the pair of swimming goggles Joyce had brought along and beginning to cover it with the tape. She tore the end of the tape with her teeth, deciding that it was good enough.

"Here," she said to El, taking a seat in front of her. "This should make it dark enough for you to concentrate. Okay?"

Eleven met her eyes, nodding softly at once. Theresa offered a small smile, standing up at once.

"Well, you ready to go?"

El stood up a second later, giving a curt nod.

"Ready."

Tess guided her out of the classroom, leading the way to the gym. Joyce followed while Nancy went ahead to help Mike with the water hose. Theresa was still a bit annoyed that she was there, but she did not say anything.

"How much salt do we have?" Theresa asked as her heels clicked across the gym floor, walking toward the center.

Hopper and Jonathan exchanged a look as they peered down at the wheelbarrow full of de-icing salt.

"Enough," Hopper confirmed.

Tess pursed her lips, looking down at Lucas who kneeled by the pool. He had a thermometer submerged in it, trying to find the right temperature.

Theresa eyed it carefully, making sure it was exactly as it needed to be. They were following her instructions after all, and she didn't want to be wrong. Not with a situation as dire as this.

She ordered Nancy to change the temperature about five different times before she got it exactly as she wanted it, but there was still not enough salt.

"You sure it's enough?" Tess asked Hopper, who shot a look at her.

"It's enough."

She raised her hands innocently, glancing away. Theresa watched Eleven, who simply stood there as the process was being done.

Finally, after the buoyancy was enough so that it was certain Eleven would float, Theresa handed over the goggles.

"You got this," she reassured.

A few moments later, Eleven was in the pool face up, simply floating there. It was not exactly how a sensory deprivation tank was supposed to look like, by any means, but it would have to do.

The static from the walkie-talkie was the only noise in the room. Everyone kneeled around Eleven, waiting. Almost instantly, the lights in the gym flickered and dimmed.

She was really doing all of this.

Tess was not finding anything hard to believe at this point, but she was beyond fascinated with Eleven. A little girl with superpowers. It was astounding. It went beyond any science she had ever known.

Suddenly, Eleven began muttering something. Tess leaned forward, realizing that she was saying a name.

"Priya."

Theresa's eyes widened. "P-Priya? You found– did you find Priya?"

The lights surged once more, Tess ignoring it. El began to twitch, seemingly discomforted.

"Gone, gone, gone," she mumbled before her words grew louder. "Gone, gone!"

Her visible distress was upsetting.

"No," Tess whispered, shaking her head.

Theresa sat back on her heels, trembling a little. She suddenly felt her blood run cold, unsure if it was a state of shock which she was in.

Eleven was pulled from the water after a few more minutes, but Tess did not register a single thing that happened. Jonathan had noticed her sitting there with her arms wrapped around her knees, her chin quivering as if she were about to burst into tears.

She got up finally, taking a few uneasy steps toward the gym exit. Tess found her way out into the hallway, stopping at once and collapsing with her back against the wall.

Tears began to roll down her face, Theresa clasping her hands together and resting her forehead on them. She heard a set of doors close just then, quickly bringing her head up to see Nancy standing there. She wiped her tears away as she raised her head high, blinking a few times and sniffling while trying to make it seem like she had not been crying.

"Oh– sorry," Nancy apologized, starting toward the gym once more. Tess did not say anything back, but Nancy stopped abruptly and turned back around. She drew in a deep breath, stepping toward Theresa slowly.

"Are you... okay?"

Theresa stared at her with an unreadable expression, Nancy unsure of if she was about to snap.

"Just– leave me alone."

Though an irritable response, it was better than Nancy had been expecting. She swallowed, clearing her throat awkwardly.

"Right."

Turning, Nancy walked away and out of sight. Tess let out a sigh once she was gone, rubbing her temples.

"We need to go back to my house."

She looked up once more, seeing that it was Jonathan this time. He approached her, taking a seat beside her without hesitation. He looked at her tearstained face which turned to confusion.

"What?"

Jonathan fiddled with his hands. "That thing is still there. It's still alive."

Theresa leaned her head back slowly, thinking. All of their weapons and other things had been confiscated at the police station. Not that it really mattered now, because Jim knew what was happening.

"Then we're gonna kill it," Tess replied a moment later, meeting his eyes with a slow nod.

"We're gonna send that bastard back to hell."

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IT WAS EASIER TO SNEAK INTO THE police station than Theresa thought.

Which was also slightly concerning, but she dismissed it nonetheless. She and Jonathan got their box back, also managing to snag a fire extinguisher in the process.

They had left Nancy behind with the kids at the middle school, not giving an explanation before they disappeared. If they wanted to kill that thing, they were going to have to do it as quickly as possible.

Tess swerved into the front yard of the Byers house, placing the car in park and shutting off the engine. She and Jonathan went to the trunk, taking out everything they needed.

Once inside, Theresa began to look around with her analytical mind, trying to decide the most strategic places to put their traps.

"Put the bear trap in the hall," Tess instructed to Jonathan. "I'm gonna start screwing in these lights."

He did as she said, and then moved on to something else. Jonathan hammered nails through a wooden bat while Theresa spread gasoline through the halls. Fire was her personal favorite weapon of choice.

Finally everything was set in place. Now, all they had to do was draw the monster to them. Tess retrieved a knife from the kitchen, meeting Jonathan in the living room.

"Ready?" he asked, looking up at her.

Theresa held out the palm of her hand, giving a curt nod. "I wanna see that thing go up in flames," she remarked bitterly.

Jonathan glanced down at his own hand. "You and me both."

They gave each other one last look before nodding, each individually taking a slice into their own hands. Tess barely even flinched, too focused on her own rage to feel any pain in the moment.

She grabbed a roll of gauze and bandaged her own hand, then offered to help Jonathan. Just as she began to wrap his hand, she heard what sounded like a faint hum of an engine.

"What was that?" she suddenly asked, raising her head.

Jonathan waited for a second, then shook his head. "I don't hear anything."

Theresa frowned, but finally dismissed it when she too did not hear anything else. She sat back on the couch, folding one arm under the other as she stared up at the ceiling. A flash of her memory showed her the thing coming out of Steve's ceiling those many nights ago, reminding her of where it all began.

And then, there was a loud knock at the door. Tess shot up, feeling her heart nearly drop out of her toes.

"Jonathan!" a voice called. "Are you in there, man? It's Steve!"

Theresa's eyes bulged, widely confused. She stood up with Jonathan, exchanging a look with him.

"You've got to be kidding me," she spat with irritation, starting toward the door.

Tess reached for the knob and yanked it open, scowling deeply.

"Tess, hey– Tess? What are you doing–"

"I could ask you the same question," she interrupted, tilting her head.

Steve stammered, "Look, I just came here to apologize, alright. I-I messed up. I messed up big time. Please just–"

He faltered, noticing the bandage on Theresa's hand.

"Hey, what happened to your hand? Is that– is that blood?"

"No, Steve, it's fine–"

"What happened?" he demanded. "Did Jonathan– did he do this to you?"

Steve pushed his way past Tess to get inside. As he burst through and entered the living room to search for Jonathan, he stopped and froze.

"What the hell...?"

"You need to leave," Jonathan broke the silence, quickly approaching Steve. "I'm not asking you, I'm telling you–"

"Woah woah woah!" Steve raised his hands and shook his head wildly amidst his confusion, having no idea what was happening.

Theresa raised her hands to her head, closing her eyes briefly.

"Jonathan, stop. Let him go," she ordered calmly.

He looked over at her, puzzled. Theresa kept the same stern look, clenching her jaw.

"Let him go–"

To her left, the lights in the living room began to flicker. Her mouth fell open, completely forgetting what they were here for in the first place. The monster had arrived, and it seemed to have snuck up on them during the chaos and confusion.

Theresa took a few steps back, Jonathan slowly releasing Steve. He grabbed the bat with nails, standing with his back against Theresa's.

"What's going on!" Steve exclaimed, throwing his hands up.

Tess turned her head to him sharply, shushing him with a deadly serious glint in her eyes.

"It's here."

notes.
here is a long chapter to make up for the lack of not updating, please forgive me </3

i had horrible writer's block for this fic for some reason, i guess it's just because i want it to be perfect because i have a kinda emotional attachment to steveresa lol

next chapter is the last chapter for season 1! can't believe we're almost to season 2, which will be the most dramatic season for their relationship but also theresa's biggest development

her little lowkey big sister bond with el is everything to me, she's not all big and bad all the time <3

and btw, tess being a closeted nerd is the funniest shit ever. homegirl is the class valedictorian (this will be canon) and no one even knows it

favorite tess & steve moment so far?