THE BEST THING I'VE HAD !

☀︎

THE NIGHT WAS SOON GOING TO BE COMING TO A CLOSE AS JULY 5TH HAD NEARED. The Starcourt Mall had become a base for the group as they officially had come together, sharing their separate stories and attempting to formulate a plan that could potentially save the world.

Alex had stood alongside Joyce, who had taken a wet cloth underneath her nose, cleaning her up as they listened to the others discuss.

"The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins, to stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world," Mike explained. The others who didn't get to bear witness to the newest form of the Mind Flayer had all looked at one another with their eyebrows furrowed and a spike in their heart rate. Both Joyce and Alex had given one another a wide-eyed glance as she had continued to clean her face. "What an asshole," Alex whispered, hoping to make Joyce at least laugh. And it was that easy. A smile had twitched on her face, knowing that it wasn't something to be making jokes about, but it was a relief to know they could still find a sense of humor in such a nightmare. Pressing a finger to her lips, she fought back a smile as she shushed Alex to keep quiet.

"And it almost did. That was just one tiny piece of it," Nancy continued. Hopper's eyes shifted over to Alex before falling back onto Nancy's. "How big is this thing?"

"It's big. Thirty feet at least," Jonathan stated.

Giving a guilty shrug, Lucas looked to Hopper, "It sort of destroyed your cabin. Sorry."

"Okay, so, just to be clear, this... this big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, it's some gigantic weapon?" Steve looked around for confirmation, truly banking on the hope that maybe it wouldn't be as bad as they hoped. When the group had nodded along, he gave a small sigh. "But instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon... with melted people."

"Exactly," Nancy said.

Giving a few nods of agreement and understanding, Steve crossed his arms with a frown. "Yeah, yeah, I-I'm just making sure."

Pulling away from Alex, Joyce looked around the group. "Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?"

"Totally," Alex spoke up. "El may have beat the shit out of him, but he's still out there. What we should be worrying about is closing the gate and finally killing it."

Everyone's eyes had flickered around. It sounded like a start of a plan, but to move forward with it seemed difficult. It wasn't going to be easy, they just needed to find a way. That's what they were good at, finding a way even in the most difficult of situations.

One person with a plan had been on his way in, waving around his stack of papers, loaded with the information he had gotten from a very helpful Russian man— Alexei. "Yoo-hoo!" Murray Bauman had come walking back into the center of the mall, ready to share his ideas of a plan.

Joyce handed off the cloth to Alex and headed off with Hopper to discuss with Murray. As she passed by, she gave a nod to Steve, signaling for him to take over in looking after Alex. Thankful it was his turn to have some time with her, he jumped on the opportunity before anyone else could slide in.

Placing a hand on her back, he guided her over to a bench for them to take a seat. He knew she didn't need support, but he felt he was doing something if he could do one small thing for her. When he had taken a seat, she had taken it upon herself to lay across the bench, placing her head in his lap.

She held the cloth to her nose as she looked up at him with a laugh. "I feel like I'm El minus all the cool shit."

He ran his fingers through her hair with a soft smile pointed down at her. "You're sort of cool still."

"Watch. I'm gonna make Lucas piss himself," Alex said quietly, staring over at the young boy, unaware he was being talked about. Raising her hand at Lucas, Alex thought long and hard as El had done many times. With no kind of reaction from Lucas, Alex dropped her hand in annoyance, "Son of a bitch. Thought I'd be cool for once."

Steve kept his eyes on Lucas as his smile turned to a frown, one he could no longer hide. "Alex," he began softly.

"Please don't worry. I'm not dead, am I?"

Steve shook his head as he looked down at her. "I love you, I have the right to worry. What would you do if the roles were reversed? Let's say it's me with the voices and have some jealous ex that happens to be a monster."

"Oh, easy, I'd kick that things ass. I mean, this thing is sort of made of melted people which won't be so easy, so, if it came down to it, and it was you standing in front of that thing, I'd just... I'd step in. Give you some time to run while it melts me and adds me to its collection. It could be kind of awesome."

"Yeah, maybe it would," he chuckled. "I would rather walk out of it with both of us alive though."

Alex pulled the cloth away from her nose as she looked up at him with a small smile. "We will. A certain guy reminded me I happen to let a lot of people walk all over me because I let them. I messed up with Billy by forgiving him for everything. You were right, you always are. He's an asshole, and I chose to forgive him because I love Max and that one moment he was nice to me, I let him walk all over me. I let my guard down for a second and said yes to hanging out with him just to hear him out some more. I felt guilty and it reminded me how much I loved you because you aren't him. You're so much better and what he did to you, it's unforgivable. Maybe he could change, maybe not, but I shouldn't give him that chance."

Alex paused, forcing out a laugh as she wiped away the few tears that fell from the corners of her eyes. "Which is why I won't let this thing walk all over me. Even if he's inside my mind and I have the chance of dying here, I'm not letting this thing get the best of me." Alex swallowed hard, growing choked up on her words as she spoke. "Because I will be damned if I let this thing ruin the best thing I've had in a long time. So, we're going to live. I'm not going to let anything else happen."

"I'm not either," he whispered. "You're one hell of a girl, Henderson."

Quietly listening to the sounds of the bickering from the other group, Alexs ears perked up from the sound of the youngest girl. "Did you just hear Erica say 'bald bastard'?" Alex asked, starting to force herself into a sitting position until Steve gently pushed her back down.

"The real adults can handle that," Steve whispered, "You do know we really aren't their parents, right?"

Alex gave him a frustrated smile, "Don't act like you don't love the fact that they actually like us. You're not going to lose cool points to me, Harrington, because I love it too."

Steve pursed his lips together and gave in, nodding his head in agreement. Before all this, he would have thought it was the worst thing to happen to his reputation to care for these kids as much as he did. Now, it felt different. He didn't care what anyone thought because he cared for them only. Even if they were a tad chaotic, didn't care to listen, and always found themselves involved in end of the world events. It just meant that there was a bit more excitement and adventure in his life.

Ready to inform the two of the next life-threatening adventure, Dustin had made his way over with a bright smile and tossed a set of keys on Alex's stomach. "We got a plan. Scoop Troop is headed to Weathertop to use my Cerebro. We'll be able to reach Hop and guide them to the gate." When Alex had held the keys in her hand, beginning to sit up, he pointed to them before she could get too excited. "Steve's driving though. We actually need to live to help."

Holding out the keys to Steve, Alex shook her head. "One day all of you are going to be dying and need me to drive to the hospital and I'll say hell no."

"One day," Steve repeated, patting her back reassuringly. What she had failed to see was the look he had flashed Dustin, shaking his head just out of view of her sight.

Coming up to the three, Erica and Robin had joined, ready to head out. Dustin was confident in his plan, looking at all of them with a bright and excited smile as he ushered them along. Taking the keys from Alex's hand, Steve took lead to check out the car that Hopper had passed to them.

Pushing open the doors to the parking lot, a grin had continued to grow on his face the moment he had spotted the car. "Oh, man, now this... this is what I'm talking about!"

Reading the license plate, Robin scrunched up her face as she looked over at Alex. "Toddfather?"

"Oh, screw Todd," Steve laughed. Making his way to the driver's seat, he guided his hand along the car in awe. "Steve's her daddy now." Jumping into the front seat, he had never felt more comfortable in a car than this one. It was perfect and an absolute dream come true to drive.

"Did you just talk to yourself in the third person?" Robin asked in disgust.

Walking over to his side of the car, Alex had leaned forward, checking out the inside of the car. "Did you just call yourself daddy?"

Running his hand across the wheel, he didn't even care to feel embarrassed about what he said. He felt it and felt that it was the only thing he could say to express how much he had loved this car. "Hop in, we're getting the hell out of here."

"So you can show me who's daddy?" She teased as she pulled herself up off the car. Everyone else had begun to pile in while she had stood there, holding onto a smile that wasn't genuine. "Would it be so bad if I maybe didn't come?"

"Shut the hell up and get in, nerd," Erica snapped. Despite her attitude, this was how she had shown that she cared. Getting out of there and far away from the the mall meant they would be safe and it wasn't all for nothing.

"Yeah, she's right, get in," Robin said.

"You can't stay here," Steve said, the thrill from the car washed away. "You have to come. That thing will come here and you know that."

"And I also know he's in my mind still. Going there with you all puts you guys in jeopardy. At least with the others, they're already in danger with that thing coming for El. And they're heading to Illinois which is far away from here. If we're going to both live through this, then I have to be with them."

"You know I don't feel great about this."

"Just trust me then," she said, but she had looked around at all of them. "Help Hop, Joyce, and Murray and I'll help Nancy and Jonathan with the kids. Take care of each other and if anything goes sideways, stay away. I love you all too much and I might actually throw myself in front of a flesh monster to protect you all. Don't make me do that."

"Are you threatening us by saying you'll be a hero and sacrifice yourself?" Dustin questioned. Sitting back in his seat, he shook his head. "Let's get the hell out of here. She'll do it, she's crazy."

"I will," she whispered through a smile. "Please go. Stay safe and please don't drain the goddamn battery." She raised a single finger at Dustin, narrowing her eyes at him as he began to sink lower in his seat. Making her way towards the doors, she had to keep herself moving, knowing that if she had stopped, she'd follow after them. "I love you all," she called back to them, feeling that lump in her throat begin to form as they all looked over at her.

Sticking her head up above the windshield, Robin saluted Alex with a sad smile. "Good luck, Henderson. Get the hell out of Hawkins!"

"We love you!" Dustin yelled out as Steve began to back away.

"If you die, I still get all your free ice cream," Erica called out next.

Pulling the car to a stop, Steve ran his fingers through his hair. He was tempted to hop out of the car and let the rest go on alone. It would've been the right thing to do, he felt. But it wasn't what she would have wanted. So he had settled on meeting her eyes as she held the door open, waiting for him to pull away. "We're both gonna live, right?"

"I wouldn't let anything else happen."

He gave a small nod as he forced himself to show he was okay through a smile. "I love you, Henderson. Just stay safe for us!"

Flashing him a bright smile, she waved him off. "I love you more, Harrington!"

With that, he had hesitantly pulled away. It was enough to know she would be surrounded by the rest to keep her safe, and if they needed help, he knew she would step in for them all the same. Either way, they had their jobs. When it came down to it, they would find each other again just as they always had.