Smoke -- Jim Hopper

3. IT'S CHIEF TO YOU

Wow thank you for all the votes and read! Please continue to give me feedback! :)

This chapter is sort of long and not edited so there may be grammatical errors sorry!

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With a sigh, Natalie returned back to the clinic and continued working till about four pm, and she approached Elle, "Hey, Elle. I think we're going to have to close early unless there's an emergency give me a call," she said grimly.

"What happened, is it from that thing with Chief Hopper earlier today?" Elle asked her while removing her reading glasses.

Natalie pinched the bridge of her nose, "I'm not sure that I'm able to say anything yet, but it's not good."

Elle gave her a sad smile, "okay, well go do whatever you need to do."

"Thank you, Elle." She smiled at her secretary and pulled on her winter coat and got into her truck. Natalie put her head against the steering wheel and inhaled deeply, poor Will. He was so little and fragile the last time she saw him. So innocent. She started her car and drove home in silence, her thoughts were consumed with what could have happened to Will. She parked her car and walked into her home to find the phone ringing.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Yes! Natalie, I've been calling for ages." Joyce cried over the phone.

"I'm sorry I was at the clinic," she apologized, "what do you need?" she asked.

Joyce took a shaky breath, "have you heard?" her voice cracked in sadness.

Natalie leaned against the wall, "yeah, Hopper came and told me. I was by your house last night around the same time Will..." she trailed off.

"Okay that's good," Joyce mumbled to herself, "Isn't your dog a retired police dog?" she asked her.

Natalie glanced at Bucky who was lounging on the couch again, "yeah he is, do you want me to come over?" she asked lightly.

There was a pause before she spoke, "Yes please come, anything to help find my boy." her voice shook over the line.

"Okay, I'll be there as fast as I can," she told her and hung up the phone. "C' mon Buck," she called to her dog and the German Shepherd leaped off the couch and followed her to the truck. Natalie shut the door and turned on the car before speeding down the road, almost flooring it. Cars honked at her as she sped around them and soon she saw the flash of red, white, and blue behind her.

"Come on!" she growled and pulled over to the side of the road.

It was Hopper again. He walked slowly over to her window and looked up. His eyes widened in mild surprise, "Natalie? were you aware that you were going thirty over the speed limit?" he asked as he pulled out his ticket pad.

"Yes, I was. Chief, I really have to leave," she tapped her fingers impatiently on the wheel.

Hopper tilted his head, "Where are you going?" he asked, his voice deepening with suspicion.

Natalie glanced at her watch, "Joyce Byers. Can I just come into the station to pick up my ticket?"

"Why are you going to Joyce's?" He questioned while stepping closer to the car and his blue eyes landed on Bucky, "why do you have your dog?" he asked, but she had a sneaking suspicion that he might already know why she was heading over to the Byers.

"I'm helping them find Will," she stated and looked him directly in his light blue eyes.

Hopper leaned back on his heels, "You don't need to do that. If you want to help, there's a search party going on later tonight." he told her while furrowing his eyebrows in mild irritation.

"Listen, Jim." Natalie snapped at him, "My friend's son is missing, and I'm going over there to help. Last time I checked I have every right to do that since I'm not directly interfering with the investigation." normally, Natalie is very composed, but with tensions so high she's a little snappy.

Hopper clenched his jaw in anger, "fine, and it's Chief Hopper to you, not Jim." he growled and shoved the ticket into her window before swiftly walking back to his car and passing her with a honk of his horn.

Natalie rolled her eyes, how petty of him. She started her car back up and drove to the Byers house and let out a sigh when she parked behind Joyce's car. She quickly got out her car, grabbed Bucky and walked to her front door and rang the doorbell.

"Natalie!" she pulled her quickly into the house and grabbed one of Will's flannels off the couch, "here, maybe this will help." she glanced down at Bucky, "does he, doe he know." she waved her hand around, "uh does he know how to track people."

Natalie nodded, "yeah he does." she grabbed the flannel and put it in front of Bucky's nose, "find Will, okay Buck?" she told the dog.

Almost immediately Bucky put his nose to the carpet and led them out of the house and to the shed and stopped. Natalie patted his back, "I don't know why he is stopping here?" she told Joyce who was starting to get antsy.

"Chester was barking at the Shed earlier, I wonder if he..." she paused, tears pricking at her brown eyes.

"Its okay Joyce, why don't we go back inside and I'll make you some tea?" she offered.

Joyce nodded and followed Natalie back into her house. Joyce sat down at the kitchen table and lit a cigarette, her hands shaking as she brought it up to her mouth. Natalie looked at her friend sadly and grabbed a pot and started to boil some water and leaned against the counter. A green car rolled into the driveway and out stepped Johnathan, his eyes cast down on the muddy earth as he walked into the house.

"Mom?" he called out and took a double-take when he saw Natalie making tea, "Natalie, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I thought her dog could help find Will," Joyce said glumly from the table.

Johnathan nodded and took a seat across from his mother, "I was thinking we could start making flyers." he trailed off and looked to Natalie for help.

"Yeah, we could make some flyers for him," she said as she set Joyce's tea in front of her.

Joyce took another drag on her cigarette and nodded, "okay."

Johnathan nodded and went to grab some paper and pictures from the den. Natalie and Joyce moved to the couch and Johnathan sat in between them and pulled out some pictures.

"did you take these?" Natalie asked as she grabbed a picture of a tree.

Johnathan nodded, "yeah," he said quietly as he looked through the pictures.

"Johnathan, wow." Joyce paused and looked at Johnathan, "I know I haven't been there for you, I've been working so hard, and I feel bad. I don't even know whats going on with you. I am sorry about that." Joyce admitted.

Natalie shifted a little, feeling a little out of place, especially when Jonathan started crying.

"it's okay, I know he is close. I can feel it. You just have to trust me on this okay?" she told him

Johnathan sniffled, "okay."

Joyce smiled sadly and picked out a picture of Will, "this is the one."

Natalie smiled at her and Johnathan, "Yeah that's the one."

Suddenly, the phone rang and Joyce leaped from her seat, "Hello? Hello? Lonnie? Hopper?" she gasped, "Who is this- Will? Will? What have you done to my boy! Give me back my son! Hello! Hello?" she gasped as the phone shot out sparks and Joyce quickly dropped it.

Natalie and Johnathan ran over to her and Johnathan grabbed the phone, "Hello? Hello?" he looked at his mom, "Mom, who was it?"

"Was it Will?" Natalie asked.

Joyce looked at her with wide eyes, "Yes."

"What did he say?" Johnathan asked.

"he just breathed, "Joyce cried out, "I know it was his breathing, I know it was him." she stated.

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