Lili felt like crying. She felt like taking her calendar and ripping it up into tiny pieces. She felt like her life was turned upside down, if it wasn't already.

"Lili?" Nancy knocked on the door. Lili sat on the floor, crying. It's just a mistake, it's just a mistake, it's just a mistake, she kept telling herself. She never wished for her period to come so soon.

"Lili?" The door opened a little bit. Lili shot her hand out and slammed the door shut.

"I'm fine!" Lili shouted.

"What's wrong?" Nancy asked. Lili didn't answer. Her hands balled into fists as she let her tears fall onto the hardwood floor. She heard Nancy sigh and lean against the door.

"I'm sorry," Nancy sighed. "That was insensitive. We'll find a way around this. I'm sure we can get the Mind Flayer out of him."

She was talking about Billy. Lili started to sob when she thought of him. He didn't even know that she was... god, she couldn't even think about it. He was in some cave standing like a zombie. He was a slave to the Mind Flayer.

It seemed that problems kept on piling up for Lili. She couldn't catch a break. She couldn't sit down and breathe. She couldn't go one second without having to look behind her shoulder or be scared of what lies ahead.

Lili tried to see that there was a happy ending. But her mind couldn't go past tomorrow. If there was a tomorrow.

I'm not ready, she thought. Not now. Please not now.

She couldn't bring a child into this messed up world. One where their father is just a cocoon of the man he used to be. And it wasn't even his fault. It was all torn away from him.

What if that happens to the child? Lili couldn't stand the thought of doing that to a baby. She couldn't stand the thought of having one.

"Lili?" Nancy knocked lightly on the door. This time, Lili didn't even try to close the door again. Nancy walked in and when she saw the girl on the floor, she raced over to her and wrapped her arms around Lili.

"It's okay," Nancy said in a hushed voice. Lili couldn't help but think of Billy. His smile, his eyes. His gentle touch, his soft words. The way he made her smile and the way he made her heart skip a beat. How he was amazed and fascinated by her every time he saw her.

And now it's all gone. She'll never see him again. Well, she'll never see that Billy again.

"It's not fair..." Lili sobbed. She gripped Nancy's arms. Nancy started to rock her back and forth. She didn't really know Lili that well and whenever they hung out, it always seemed to be when the end of the world was near. It made her think of Jonathan and how they used to only be together when monsters were attacking.

Nancy thought about Jonathan for a while. About how if he were Flayed, like Billy, how would she handle it? She didn't think she could. She suddenly felt an immense pain in her heart and a ten ton weight on her chest just thinking about how Lili must've felt.

"I know it's not fair," Nancy said. "We just need to keep playing the game until we win."

"You're starting to sound like Steve," Lili laughed, thinking about last year in the Byers' house.

"Oh god," Nancy laughed. "Kill me now."

Lili let out a chuckle and detached herself from Nancy. She looked at the girl with the awful perm and smiled. "Thanks."

"It's no problem," Nancy grinned. Lili smirked at that and Nancy grabbed her hands to help her off the floor.

"We'll get through it," Nancy assured Lili. "I promise."

"Don't make any promises you can't keep," Lili shook her head.

"I'm not," Nancy looked at Lili. "I promise, I'm not."

Lili smiled. Nancy looked around her room. "Hey, do you have any spare clothes? My dress and heels aren't really ideal for fighting."

"Yeah, um, whatever's your style," Lili opened up her drawer and Nancy peered in. "I'll leave you to it." Lili closed the door of her room to let Nancy change in peace.

"It can't be good for her to be in there for that long," Mike said as he paced the room. Lucas and Max were sitting on opposite couches.

"Mike, you need to relax," Max said in an annoyed voice. Lucas picked up a Cosmo from the coffee table and Lili walked to him and snatched it out of his hands.

"Hey!" Lucas whined.

"No." Lili chided him as if he were a dog.

"What if she gets brain damage or something?" Mike asked, ignoring Lili and Lucas' interaction.

"Oh shit," Lucas looked up from his cereal box. "Is that like, a real thing?"

"No, it's not. He made it up," Max shook her head.

"What are you guys talking about?" Lili asked as she dug her hand into the cereal box that Lucas was holding.

"El," Max said simply.

"She's in there, trying to find five people at once-" Mike started, but Lili cut him off.

"Hold on, El's trying to find them?" They all nodded. "Guys, I can locate people. That's one of my abilities."

"Really?" Mike asked excitedly. Lili nodded. "That's great, I'll just tell El to stop-"

"No! She wanted to do it, so let her do it," Max hissed. Mike rolled his eyes.

"Oh really? And tell me, best friend, how long have you truly known El?" Mike questioned.

"I know enough to know that she can decide her own limits!" Max shouted at him.

"That's crazy!" Mike shook his head.

"Crazy? What's crazy is you trying to run El's life!" Max shouted back.

"Children!" Lili raised her arms. "I am her sister. I'll tell you if she can or can't handle something."

"Really? You're starting to sound just like Mike-" Max looked at Lili.

"I wasn't finished!" Lili said. "And I decide that she can handle whatever she thinks she can handle."

"Oh you piece of shit!" Mike went up to her and hit her stomach. Something inside of Lili flipped a switch and suddenly, she was filled with rage and the need to protect. She grabbed Mike's arms and held them to his sides. She dug her knee into his chest and made him fall onto the floor. She pinned him to the floor and got close to his face.

"You do not disrespect me," she said in a low voice.

"Let go of me!" Mike screamed.

"Say you understand," Lili kept calm.

"Fine! I understand!" Mike wiggled under her grasp. She finally let him and he inched away from her. Nancy walked over to Lili.

"What was that?" She whispered. Lili looked at Nancy.

"I have something to tell you," she said as she grabbed Nancy's hand and led them to her room.

***

"So what you're saying is... that you're pregnant?" Nancy replayed their conversation over and over again on her head. She suddenly felt bad about telling her that everything would be okay.

"Well, I don't know for sure. But I've been feeling nauseous and I've been going to the bathroom a lot. And," Lili stood up from the bed and walked over to her calendar and showed Nancy the circled date. "I missed a period."

"Well, those are all signs of being pregnant," Nancy nodded. "But why did you act all... ninja on Mike when he hit you?"

"I dunno, I'd usually let it go," Lili furrowed her brows. "Maybe it's because he hit my stomach?"

"The baby isn't in the stomach, it's in the uterus," Nancy pointed out.

"I know, but you know what I mean," Lili rolled her eyes. Nancy suddenly hugged her. Lili froze because she wasn't expecting it this time. After a second, Lili hugged Nancy back. It felt good to finally have a friend in this crisis.

The knock on the door made the pair get up from the bed and open the door. Max was there with an annoyed face and Mike just looked pissed off.

"We need you guys to settle an argument or us," Max said. She and Mike walked to the kitchen and Lili and Nancy followed. "Who do you think should decide El's limits? Mike or Eleven?"

"The way that you framed that is such bullshit," Mile scrunched his not.

"It's not bullshit, Mike! This is exactly your whole problem! And it's also the precise reason she dumped your ass!" Max glared at him.

"El dumped you?" Nancy asked with her eyebrows raised.

"Yeah because she's conspiring against me. She's corrupting her!" Mike pointed to Max.

"I'm enlightening her," Max corrected. "The fact is, she's not yours. She's her own person who's fully capable of making her own decisions."

"She's risking her own life for no reason," Mike said.

"For no reason? Mike, Flayed are out there doing God knows what!" Nancy said to her brother.

"Killing, flaying," Lucas chimed.

"Transforming into monsters," Will said.

"Ruining lives and ripping families apart," Lili said quietly. Everyone momentarily stopped and looked at her before Nancy spoke again.

"And El's not stupid, she knows her abilities better than any of us," Nancy shook her head.

"Exactly, thank you," Max nodded.

"And she is her own person," Nancy continued.

"Exactly."

"With her own free will," Nancy finished.

"Exactly," Max nodded once more. "El saved the world twice and Mike still doesn't trust her."

"You want to talk about trust? Really? After you made El spy on us?" Mike shouted.

"Wait, what?" Lucas stood up.

"Oh, she didn't tell you this?" Mile raised his eyebrows.

"No!" Lucas said in confusion.

"Your girlfriend used El's powers to spy on us," Mike said.

"No, no, no, I didn't make her, it was her idea!" Max sighed. "Why are we even talking about this, seriously?"

"Yeah, who cares?" Will said.

"I care!" Lucas turned to him with Mike agreeing.

"I guess girlfriends don't lie, they spy," Mike turned to Max.

"We were just joking around!" Max shouted.

"Wouldn't it've been so funny if I was taking a massive shit or something?" Mike spat.

"But you weren't!" Max defended.

"But what if I was?" Mike questioned.

"Seriously, Mike?" Nancy raises her arms.

"I'm just trying to demonstrate how careless Max is with Eleven's powers," Mile explained.

"It doesn't matter, Mike, El knows her limits!" Lili argued.

"You're all being careless!" Mike went on. "You're all treating her like a machine when she's not a machine."

"I know what being treated like a machine feels like and that's not what's happening here!" Lili shouted at Mike.

"You don't get it!" Mile shouted at the girl.

"I don't get it? Do you know anything about El and I?" Lili spat.

"I just don't want her to die looking for the Flayed when they've obviously vanished from the face of the earth-"

"You don't know that!" Lili put her palm to her head.

"Can we please just come up with a new plan because I love her and I can't lose her again!" Mike finished. Lili looked at him.

"What the fuck did you just say?" Lili stepped towards him.

"N-Nothing!" Mike stuttered.

"You don't have the right to say that you love her after everything you just said!" Lili shouted at him.

"You can't tell me how to feel!" Mike shouted at her.

"Yeah, well you better not tell her how you feel otherwise you'll feel my foot up your ass!" Lili finished as El walked out.

"What's going on?" She asked with her blindfold hanging from her neck.

"Nothing! Nothing!" Mile said quickly.

"Just as family discussion," Lucas explained.

"Oh," El nodded. "I found him."

"Found who?" Nancy asked. Lili knew the moment El looked at her.

"Billy," Lili said.

[UNEDITED]

sorry for being gone so long but im going to philadelphia last minute lol

plz dont sue me