Everyone had went back to the Byers. The atmosphere was awfully quiet as everyone sat in different groups, not knowing the right things to say. Mary had been standing at the window, staring out through the blinds with her arms wrapped around her body when Jonathan approached her.

He put his hand on her shoulder gently but it still made her jump and he took it off, looking at her softly, "Sorry," He said and she sighed in relief at the sight of him. He was holding two towels underneath his arm, "The waters warm now — you can go for a shower." He told her, handing her the towels and she offered him a smile as she took them.

"Thanks, Jonathan. How did the trip with Nancy and Charlie go? What were you's doing?" She asked as Jonathan walked her to the dimly lit bathroom.

Jonathan scratched his head, "It's a really long story, but basically we think we know how to put an end to Hawkins Lab now and not only end them — expose them." He explained.

Mary rose an eyebrow, "You might not need to if there's no Hawkins Lab left..." She said, trailing off and holding his gaze.

Jonathan frowned, "There'll always be people like that. At least now, we have a rough idea on how to expose them," He told her and she shrugged her shoulders. She didn't care much for exposing the Lab. Jonathan put his hand on her arm cautiously, "Are you okay?" He asked with concern, realising she wasn't being as loud or as talkative as usual.

Mary pursed her lips and nodded but Jonathan's gaze didn't falter and she found herself sighing heavily, her shoulders sagging, "I can't stop seeing it — Bob's death. It — It's stuck in my brain and I can't seem to get rid of it," She admitted, stuttering a little, "A—And I know I didn't know him like you or your family but when I broke my Walkman two months ago, he was so patient with me and stayed behind at work to fix it because I was complaining about how much I needed it and I just — he didn't deserve that..." She shook her head, pushing her lips together and trying to stop herself from crying; she was so sick of crying.

"C'mere," Jonathan said, extending his arm and wrapping it around her shoulders, pulling her into a one-armed hug and she let out a deep breath. Jonathan rested his chin against her head, "Bob was a good guy and I really liked him — especially with my mom. But he didn't die for nothing, your dad told me how without him they would never have gotten out... They would all be dead. Bob was a hero." Jonathan whispered to her, stroking her shoulder with his thumb in circles.

"That doesn't change the fact that I cant seem to stop thinking about it — I watched him and a scientist being torn apart today just when I thought nothing could get as bad as the Upside Down," Mary swallowed hard, her throat tight, "Jonathan, I'm scared." She confessed, her voice breaking.

Jonathan nodded on top of her head, making her feel it instead of seeing it, "Me too." He admitted. Both of them were completely unaware that they had the eyes of Nancy and Steve watching them — Nancy was watching without pretending like she wasn't whereas Steve was watching from the corner of his eye.

Mary stepped out of Jonathan's hug, smiling up at him through her tears, "Nancy's really lucky to have you."

Jonathan laughed a little, ducking his head, "And Charlie's beyond lucky to have you, Mary." He told her, making the smile on her lips turn out to be a full on grin as she actually laughed, the gesture making her feel like an enormous weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

She turned her back, disappearing into the bathroom where the shower was running. She locked the doors, put the towels down and instantly took off the dirty scrubs, tossing them aside. Stepping into the shower was like utter bliss and she closed her eyes at the sensation, tipping her head back and allowing the hot water to wash over her face and body.

Mary stayed in the shower for a while before she finally got out. But even then, she just stood wrapped in the towel whilst looking at herself in the mirror glued to the cabinet above the sink. She had wiped off the condensation and could see her reflection in the steamy mirror.

She was clean now, with all the gore wiped off her face and down the drain of the bath. And her short hair lay damp and tucked behind her ears, curling in towards her face a little. Mary reached up, giving her hair a little shake to decrease the tangles before there was a light knock on the door and she turned her head.

"Mare, it's Charlie," The boy called inside and the girl walked towards the door and unlocked it, peeking out, "Jonathan gave me some of his clothes for you to wear. They'll probably be a little big but it's better than the scrubs, right?" He said, handing her them through the door.

Mary took them, offering him a smile, "I'll be out in a minute and then you can hop in." She said before closing the door and looking at the clothes Charlie had given her. They were very Jonathan — a sweater with horizontal stripes in different neutral tones and a pair of cargo material black pants; they were a small enough size so Mary assumed they must have been pretty old.

She got changed quickly and took the smaller towel to dry her hair a little more as she left the bathroom. The atmosphere seemed to have picked up a little and everyone was talking instead of sitting quietly. When she came out, she told Charlie it was his turn and the boy didn't waste a moment to jump into the warm shower to get cleaned.

Corina who sat on an armchair was already spotless since she had gone in the shower first. But she looked so incredibly different with her face bare, not wearing her usual dark eye liner and thick mascara. And instead of her long hair being in pretty curls down her back, it was in loose damp waves. And not to mention she wasn't wearing something fashionable, in fact, it was the total opposite. She was wearing a tight black top with the Star Wars logo and a pair of washed out jeans — she had tied them back with her hair-tie due to their larger size.

Mary gave a smile as she approached the redhead that groaned and rolled her eyes, "Don'g judge me — these pants are Jonathan's and the top belongs to his little brother, uh, what's his name, Bill?" She said, screwing up her face.

Mary gave her a flat look, "Will," She corrected, earning a shrug. The brunette sat down on the arm of the chair, looking down at Corina who looked annoyed, probably enjoying sitting by herself, "And I think it looks good on you, you look super edgy." She complimented.

Corina appreciated the compliment but she wasn't going to tell Mary that and so she laughed, raising an eyebrow, "Edgy is your thing, Hopper. I think I'll stay far away from it." She said, turning her head away but Mary wasn't insulted and instead, continued to smile.

Silence washed over the girls as they looked ahead, watching the group that were surrounding the kitchen table and having a discussion, "What're they talking about?" Mary asked Corina that inhaled sharply.

"Strategies or something — your dad called the military for backup but I don't think anyone believed that Hawkins was in danger from, well, whatever the hell this is. And I think they're just trying to come up with more ideas and figure out what this thing Will spoke about actually wants... Especially now that he's infected."

Mary furrowed her brows, "Infected? I know he could see what the shadow monster was thinking or whatever, but since when was he infected?"

Corina sat up straighter, looking over at Will that was unconscious on the couch beside them, "This thing, it's consuming Will. It's taking over his mind and soon it'll have full control unless they find some way to fix it... And from the looks of it, it's getting pretty bad — Will was the one that walked your dad and everyone else into the trap at the Lab, because its taking over." Corina explained what she had been told whilst Mary was in the shower.

Mary rubbed at her temple, "Great." She mumbled as she stood up and walked across the living room and to the kitchen, surprisingly, Corina got up and followed after her.

The pair joined the table that were deep in their strategising, "I thought we were waiting for your military backup!" Mike was exclaiming at Hopper.

"We are!" Mary's father yelled back.

"How are they gonna stop this? You cant just shoot them with guns!" Mike argued.

"You don't know that!" Jim yelled back and Mary sighed, looking across the table to exchange a tired glance with Steve that seemed to be having a hard time keeping up with what was going on and looked incredibly confused.

The arguing went on for a while longer and it made Mary's head ache, "We know that it's only a matter of time before the tunnels reach the town!" Mary wished Mike wasn't right because if he was, then that meant that the monsters would have full access to every square inch of the town and it would be destroyed. Mary always wanted to leave Hawkins but she didn't want it to be completely wiped off the grid.

"They're right," Joyce's voice suddenly spoke up. This was the first time Mary had seen her since they got there. Everyone turned to look at the woman, "We have to kill it. I want to kill it." She said and Mary frowned sadly. It was obvious she was looking for vengeance for Bob.

Jim rushed to the woman, "Me too. I — me too, Joyce. But how do we do that? We don't exactly know what we're dealing with here." He said, desperate for a plan that would work.

"No, but he does," Joyce said, pointing across at her son, "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing it's Will. He's connected to it, he knows it's weaknesses."

Corina looked at the woman, "It's risky," She spoke up, "I've seen this thing —"

"You've seen it?!" Dustin, Mike and Lucas yelled.

Corina nodded, "Me and Charlie warped into the Upside Down a few days ago and we seen it. It tried to take him, probably wanting to do what it's done to Will and I managed to hold it off but — but it's strong, really strong. I've never felt power like that before." The look on Corina's face was worrying because she actually looked afraid. It was also that moment the Mary realised that's why Charlie has been with Corina; because they were going to the Upside Down. Mary didn't even know Corina could warp there — or that it even still existed until then. But she supposed, how else would the monsters still be in their world?

Mike's mouth was wide open, "You held it off? How did you do that?" He asked with shock — he wasn't even sure if El could do that if she were still around.

Corina looked at him, "I just did," She said, "But like I literally just told you, it's strong and we barely got out of there alive. Are we really gong to risk using Will and possibly bring it here?" She asked, looking across at Joyce that was silent for a long moment.

Joyce looked up, "Will cant spy if he doesn't know where he is."

Joyce's plan was smart — but it required a lot of work. But luckily for them, there were a good bunch of them to help. And so, they began Joyce's plan which was moving Will into the shed but boarding it all up and taking everything out of it so he wouldn't know where he was — it was genius really; it just needed a hell of a lot of heavy lifting.

And after what felt like forever, they were finally done. All the windows were boarded up and the whole shed was covered, looking like it could be a room instead of a shed.

They had put a chair centre of the room, below the bulb hanging from the ceiling. And then they had tied Will to the seat — Mary herself tied them in the knots her father had taught her over the years and so, they would have been impossible to break free of. Mary was glad to be contributing to something because it was taking her mind off what had happened.

When Will woke up, he was confused and disoriented. He had searched the faces of everyone in the room with wide eyes, his face pale white from the bulb above his head. Joyce instantly began asking questions and trying to get through to Will that took a turn for the worst, screaming at the top of his lungs whilst thrashing around in the chair. Mary had stepped back and into Jonathan, covering her mouth with her hands at the sight of the boy screaming for them to let him out.

But then Joyce began talking to him, begging her son to come back to her and let her know he was still there, "Will baby, if you're in there, just please, please talk to us." Joyce begged, crouching down by his knees.

Mary watched with her arms folded at her chest and her brows knitted together. She had spotted something just then, something that Will was doing. She stepped closer and tugged on her fathers sleeve, "Dad, look." She whispered, nodding down at Will and it took Hopper a moment, but then he saw what Mary did — Will was tapping his fingers against the side of the chair in rhythmic motions.

Jim looked down and his eyes connected with his daughters, both of them knowing what that meant. Will was trying to communicate with them using morse code. He was still there.

( authors note )

       Alright guys, hear me out for a moment! It's been so long since I watched season two and I'm just going by what I'm reading in a script website, but it doesn't tell you who says what and so, I'm just guessing and missing out bits where I'm not sure! Just in case anyone thought I was going through the scenes pretty fast, I am, there's just a decent reason for it😂!

        Anywho! Thoughts on this chapter?