A NEW AND IMPROVED VERSION
Ryan Fordman has lived next door to Steve Harrington her entire life. Her entire life, he'd always been a window away, occasionally shouting across the space between their houses. They were inseparable... at least, they we...
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Ryan let out a small sigh of relief at the sight of her little sister walking into the house, granted she was dressed like a little punk rocker, makeup and all. With everything going on, she hasn't had a chance to properly worry about El's whereabouts, but now the worries had evaporated. She was here, she was safe. However, it didn't stop the tears from stinging her eyes.
Mike stepped forward, hugging El tightly, "I never gave up on you. I called you every night, every night for—"
"Three hundred and fifty-three days." El nodded as she pulled away from him. "I heard."
"Why didn't you let me know you were there? That you were okay?"
"Because I wouldn't let her." Hopper spoke up, stepping forward. Mike moved aside, staring at him in shock as he stopped in front of El with a stern expression. "The hell is this? Where have you been?"
"Where have you been?" El shot back.
Mike's expression changed from shock to anger as Hopper pulled El in for a hug. Ryan moved forward, placing a hand on Mike's shoulder that he angrily shrugged off, glaring up at Hopper, "You've been hiding her!" He exclaimed loudly, lunging forward to hit Hopper repeatedly in the back. "You've been hiding her this whole time!"
"Mike!" Ryan shouted, trying to pull him away from Hopper. "Mike stop!"
Hopper turned around, grabbing Mike's wrist before he could hit him again, "Let's talk!" Ryan moved forward to follow them as Hopper shook his head, "Alone!"
They walked into the hallway, followed by the slamming of a door as Ryan stood next to Peter and Steve in shock. She knew Mike was going to react like that, she just wasn't expecting it to be so soon. She didn't even have time to prepare the kids for El's return. Hell, she didn't have time to prepare herself.
El was home. Ryan had spent the last twenty-four hours trying to focus on the battle at hand, but in the back of her mind, all she could think about was the fact that she hadn't been at the cabin when she called.
"Where the hell have you been?" Ryan exclaimed loudly, taking a step forward before anyone had the chance to speak. "I called the cabin using the code, and you didn't answer, do you have any idea how worried I was? El, you could've been hurt or worse!" El gave her an apologetic glance, shuffling her feet across the floor. Ryan pulled the girl to her, hugging her tightly, "C'mere, don't you ever do that again. I was so worried about you."
"I'm sorry." El mumbled into Ryan's jacket. "I won't do it again."
Peter stepped forward, wrapping his arms around the girls, "Kid, you are such a handful."
"Wait," Lucas exclaimed from behind them. "You guys knew?"
"I was going to tell you the minute I found out." Ryan started as she pulled away from El, keeping her arm around the smaller girl's shoulders. "Hopper made me swear not to tell you, but that's why I always told you guys to hold out hope that she'd come back. I knew. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you."
