Play// Stranger Things

014

"Well, we didn't catch a monster but you definitely kicked ass scaredy boy." Valerie chuckled as she held an ice pack against Charlie's knuckle, his hand held in her own.

"Yeah, I guess I'm a bit more of a fighter than a lover." Charlie laughed, bumping his knee against Valerie's. "God, mom is going to kill us." Charlie called out over to his sister as Hopper, Rachel, and Joyce Byers entered the precinct.

"Hey, Jonathan? Jesus, what, what happened?" Joyce cried out. "Ma'am." The deputy tried. "I'm fine." Johnathan assured his mother. "Why is he wearing handcuffs?"

"Well, your boy assaulted a police officer. That's why." Callahan explained. "Take them off." Joyce insisted. "I am afraid I cannot do that."

"Take them off!"

"You heard her. Take 'em off." Chief spoke up. "Chief, I get everyone's emotional here, but there's something you need to see." The older deputy led the Chief outside as Rachel approached her daughter.

"I knew there'd be a day when I'd eventually have to bail you out but this is really bad timing." Valerie let out a sigh of relief before letting out a breathy laugh. "You're alright, right?"

Rachel examined her daughter from top to bottom, straightening out her cardigan before running a hand through the girl's hair and tucking it behind her ear. "Yeah, I'm alright."

Before Rachel could get another word in, Hopper returned, placing a box in front of them. "What is this?" Joyce questioned as Rachel gave her daughter a sharp look. "Shit." Charlie mumbled.

"Why don't you ask your son? We found it in his car." Hopper spoke. "What?" The woman puzzled, giving Johnathan a look. "Why are you going through my car?" He barked. "Is that really the question you should be asking right now?"

"I wanna see you in my office." Hopper instructed as he held onto his holster. "You won't believe me." The older man leaned in close, speaking softly. "Why don't you give me a try?"

✦

"You lied to me." Rachel spat as she and Valerie stood in the bathroom of the police department. "We don't lie to each other Valerie!" Valerie nodded, keeping her eyes glued anywhere but on her mother's. "I know. I'm sorry."

"Those kids aren't like you Val, they don't live in the same world as you. If they find out about you, everything will change. People can't handle people who are different." Rachel continued.

"I know. I know, okay. I know that I can never tell anyone who we are and what we can do, I know that they'll never understand. But that thing took Johnathan's brother and Nancy's best friend." Valerie cried out.

"So, you're just going to kill him? And then what?" Rachel questioned her daughter. "And then we go back to New York, we go back home." Valerie shrugged. "You're being reckless. Causing too much noise." She warned. "If he hasn't found us already, he will soon."

"Then let him. We can kill him too. We aren't the weak ones, we shouldn't be the ones hiding."

"We're not finished." Rachel spoke after a long moment of silence, Valerie nodding before exiting the bathroom. "Come on." Charlie motioned for Valerie as he stood up straight from where he had been waiting outside the bathroom.