002 - Steve Harrington

One Month Later

"How's the leg?" Hopper asks smugly.

Gesturing to his leg, Dr. Owens says, "Better. Pretty sure my football career is over."

We let out a chuckle and his small joke.

"You guys want some?" Dr. Owens points at the food on the table. "No way I'm gonna finish it."

"No, thank you." I say.

"No. I'm, uh... on a diet." Hopper says pushing the plate away.

"Well, you're a better man than me. Hey, I got a little something for the both of you." Dr. Owens says and reaches inside his bag.

He gives Hopper his item first. Dr.Owens slides an envelope across the table and Hopper takes it, opening it up. Leaning over a little so I can see, he pulls out what is inside. It's a birth certificate.

"Congratulations, Pops."

The two of them exchange looks across the table. The birth certificate is for Eleven. Jane Hopper, the certificate reads.

"I thought-" Hopper begins to say.

"Sometimes, I even impress myself." Dr. Owens cuts him off.

Hopper puts the certificate away. "Still, I'd let things cool off for a while, if I were you." Dr. Owens says.

"How long is awhile?"

"Want to be safe? I give it a year."

"A year?" Hopper says and snags the other half of Owen's sandwich, and takes an aggressive bite.

"Why a year?" I cut in. "You put me up for adoption right away."

"It was different for you, Danielle. Everyone thought you were dead. Brenner even held a small funereal for you. I knew that no one would look for you."

"Oh."

"Anyway." He says and reaches back into his bag. He pulls out a giant yellow envelope and slides it over to me. "This is for you."

I take the thick envelope and open it. Inside, is a huge stack of papers. I pull a sheet out and see that a polaroid is paper clipped to top left corner. It's a picture of me when I was in the lab. However, on the picture is a red stamp that days 'terminated'. I pull the sheet of paper all the way out and it's a lab sheet. It has every detail about me on it. Everything from my age to my blood type.

"What is this?" I say looking back up at Dr. Owens.

"It's everything from the lab. Records of every test that was performed. It was just collecting dust in my attic, so, I figured you might want to know a little more about your past."

Nodding my head, I put the page back in the envelope. Hopper is still munching down the sandwich. The next thing Dr. Owens says cuts me completely off guard.

"A file of your birth mother is in there as well."

"My-"

"Your mother." Dr. Owens says, nodding his head. "Along with a picture of her."

Immediately, I start to thumb through the papers, but Dr. Owens stops me.

"I think you should wait to look at it later. You might not like the things you read in there."

I, understandingly, nod my head again and place the file back down on the table.

"One more thing. Danielle... your father... Brenner is still alive, he's still out there. I just think that's something you should know."

I look up at Dr. Owens, worried. "But don't worry." He says, after seeing the look on my face. "He's not in Hawkins. In fact, he vanished to the other side of the country somewhere. He won't find you, I've made sure of that." He states reassuringly.