The Chief's Daughter

Chapter 12- leave the door open three inches

In the deep heat of the summer, you watched Billy lean over the hood of the Mustang, basking in the sun streaming down through the treetops above.

You stood off to the side, twirling the wrench in your hand and soaking up the beautiful day. Bees hummed as they darted past through the woods, the chorus of birds chirping in the trees filling the silence along with Billy's occasional string of curse words while he worked.

Your mother had taught you a lot about cars, but not enough to be able to fix the damage you caused when you hit those Demo-dogs back at the junkyard. Billy, however, seemed confident that he could fix it.

You tried helping where you could, but Billy refused to let you do any of the harder work because of your shoulder. The arm sling had long ago been ditched, but your shoulder still hadn't healed properly and was causing you some issues. Billy's stab wound had healed up nicely though. A thick pink scar now a permanent reminder of that night, but other than that he was good. Really good. You hadn't seen him this smiley or happy since... well, since ever.

Now that Neil Hargrove was no longer in the picture, Billy was finally able to let his guard down and be himself. The first thing he did was get a tattoo which shouldn't have surprised you as much as it did.

The tattoo was on his left upper arm and was of a skull smoking a cigarette. It was ridiculous, but it was it so Billy that it actually worked.

He was now wearing a pair of tight denim jeans and a white tank top that wasn't so white anymore and smeared with dirt and engine grease. The tank top hugged his sweaty body, leaving nothing to the imagination as he worked.

"You wanna keep staring or you do you wanna give me that wrench?"

Billy's voice startled you out of your thoughts and you found him now leaning back against the hood with a smirk on his face.

You rolled your eyes and silently handed him the wrench before he got back to work just as the front door to the cabin opened and Hopper stepped out. It was meant to be his day off today, but he was now back in his work uniform and making his way to the Chevy Blazer. He must have gotten called into the station.

"I gotta go to work. Y/N you're in charge and don't make me regret it." Hopper announced, stopping beside his car to look over at you. "Nancy is picking up Mike at three, but keep an eye on him and El and don't let them close that bedroom door, got it?"

You nodded, "got it."

Hopper stared at you for a moment before glancing over at Billy who was still working on the Mustang before he gave you a small nod and he climbed into the car, driving off down the dirt driveway.

"Son of a bitch." Billy cursed under his breath.

You glanced over at him to find him now shaking his hand, his knuckles bleeding a little after no doubt hitting them on something under the hood.

"C'mon, that's enough for today and we need to keep an eye on Mike and El." You announced, reaching up to close the hood.

"We ain't their damn babysitters." Billy mumbled, but still stepped out the way allowing you to close the hood and lock the car.

"Apparently we are."

He rolled his eyes, but didn't argue about it and followed you back into the house to find Mike and El sitting on the couch reading some kind of comic book together.

"See they're fine. Let's continue working on the car." Billy said, motioning towards the two kids.

"And let you bleed all over the paint job? I don't think so. Come here." You instructed, walking over to the sink and grabbing a cloth.