Trauma - Hopper Fan fiction

3. Contemplation

Jamie stood there as her dad entered his office and watched as his eyes scanned around the room until they met hers. Her mouth quivered as tears filled her eyes and Hopper took a few steps forward after realizing who was standing before him. Jamie ran full force into her dad enveloping him into a hug as she cried into his shirt while he held her tightly, tears threatening to fall down his face.

"Daddy!", Jamie's voice muffled as she started sobbing. She looked up to meet her father's watery eyes.

"I never gave up on you! Mom wouldn't let me talk to you anymore after she met David and I knew you called! Sh-She tried to hide your number and David hits M-"

"Shhh Shhh... it's okay", Hopper said as he rubbed her back reassuringly. He knew Diane tried to shut Jamie out his life after he turned to drinking as his coping mechanism after Sarah died. He knew that ultimately Diane would protect their only other living child. That was, until, he caught that last part.

Hopper cupped his hands around Jamie's face and at the same time used his rough thumbs to wipe away her tears. He looked deep into her eyes before asking,

"What did you say about David?", Hopper asked searching his daughters eyes hoping that she would confess to him.

Jamie looked into her fathers eyes with fear. She was afraid that if she told him the truth, he might do something stupid. She also remembered her fathers quick temper. This is her first time seeing him in nearly five years and she didn't want him to call her mother and alert her that she was in Hawkins and not at Stacey's house.

"Jamie... does your mom know that you're here?", Hopper asked questionably as he held both of her shoulders.

Jamie knew that she needed to say something. Quick. Something that wouldnt alert her father to immediately call her mom and send her back to New York and also something to not raise suspicion to his previous unanswered question.

"Yes... she knows that I'm here." Jaime said as her eyes dropped to the floor. She couldn't munster the courage to look her dad straight in the eyes and lie about something so big.

Hopper studied his daughters sudden loss of eye contact and her change in body language. He knew that she wasn't telling the whole truth, but now was not the time nor the place. He would have to try again later.

"Uhh.. you hungry kid?", Hopper asked, looking for another legitimate reason to leave work early.

As soon as Hopper mentioned hunger, Jamie remembered that she hadn't eaten in about 36 hours. It was almost instantly that she felt her stomach rumble and started to feel her headache return. She slowly nodded her head as Hopper grabbed her bag and made their way to the front.

Flo dropped Hopper's keys into his hand and shot him a look. Hopper returned the look before mouthing "I'll explain later." Flo silently nodded her head and returned to reading her newspaper.

Hopper threw Jamie's bag into the back seat of his blazer and climbed in. Hopper looked to his right and could see that his daughter was extremely exhausted.

"Hey kid... why don't you take a little nap?", Hopper asked shifting his gaze in between the road and his daughter.

Jamie reclined her seat and curled her feet under her. She snuggled into the seat as she removed her jacket to use it as a blanket.

Hopper stared at his daughter who was fast asleep. He gently rubbed his fingers through her hair as he studied her face. She has grown so much since he last seen her when she was 10. She's 15 now, and dammit does she take after him. Hopper exhaled as he slowly drove past Melvalds general store. He scanned the parking lot and saw that Joyce was working today. He needed to talk to her about Jamie. He didn't know what to do about his own daughter and he for damn sure didn't know what to do about the 13ish year old girl he's been hiding at his grandfathers cabin.

Jamie stirred in her sleep as the blazer came to a stop. Hopper looked over at his sleeping daughter and then back towards the empty diner. He thought about waking Jamie so that they could sit down and eat, but he feared that it may be to akward for the both of them. He wanted her to feel like she was at home. Hopper decided to leave the car running, go in and grab two burgers to go. Once he came back to the car, he crept in being careful not to slam the doors too hard. He set the food down on the floor in the backseat and drove towards his trailer.

During the 20 minute ride from Benny's to the trailer, Hopper heard a constant buzzing noise. It wasn't until he parked right outside of the front door did he realize the buzzing was coming from Jamies phone which was in the cupholder. He contemplated on looking to see who was texting her. What if it was Diane? Did she really know that Jamie was with him? Maybe it was just a friend?

Hopper let out a sigh as he decided to not check her phone. He got out of the car, went around to the passenger side door and took a deep inhale as he picked his daughter up and carried her into the house. Jamie's legs and arms swung freely as Hopper moved throughout the trailer and decided to place her on his bed. He tossed the blanket over her and made his way outside as he frantically dialed the number of someone he could trust.

"Thank you for calling Melvald's, this is Joyce how may I help you.", Joyce answered in her false customer service voice.

"God. Fuck. Shit", Hopper took a deep breath.

"Hop?", Joyce asked as she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"Yeah, its me. Look Joyce, I need to talk to you NOW!", Hopper spoke frantically.

"Yeah, sure I have a few minutes. Is something wrong? Is it Will? Is El okay?", Joyce said worryingly as she started to bite her fingernails.

"She's here Joyce. My little girl. Um, my other little girl. Jamie. She's here."

"Woah woah woah. Wait, what?! Why?". Joyce gasped as she started to think about El and everything that's been going on.

"I don't know. Something's up and she's not giving me the full story. We're at my trailer. El's at the Cabin. SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK! Maybe I should call Diane? What if she thinks I convinced her to do this? ", Hopper started to panic as he thought about how Jamie could be putting everyone's lives in danger.

"Hopper, calm down, okay? Here's what we're gonna do. I'm off in an hour, okay? I... I can go to the Cabin to check on El while you try to settle things with your daughter. We can figure this out in the morning, okay?"

Hopper rubbed his hands across his face and exhaled. "Yeah yeah yeah, okay. I need to calm down. Jesus." Hopper checked his wristwatch and looked to the window of the trailer. I uhh.. Shit. Okay, yeah. I'm gonna talk to her Joyce, and then I'll let you know. Thanks, a lot."

"No problem. Talk to you later. And Hop, please. Whatever she tells you about why she's here or what's going on... remember she hasn't seen you in 5 years. Just please, dont lose your cool in front of her and scare her off will you?".

Hopper let out a chuckle.

"Yeah. Will do."