Mockingbird -- Jim Hopper

18. GENTLE WORDS

listen, folks, this chapter may be a bit rusty/not make much sense cause I'm getting back into writing from a longgg hiatus and I forgot all my original ideas sooo yeah here we are lol
***Also please check out my new book Sun Fire if you like werewolf/fantasy stories! :-)

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Allie instantly leaped away from Jim with flaming cheeks and wide eyes. Her mouth dropped and she failed to find any explanation for Joyce, who was still glaring at them with wild eyes.

Jim, however, that cocky S.O.B grinned widely and rested his hand on her shoulder, "I was just having a one on one conference with Ms. Wheeler."

Joyce threw her cigarette to the grown and stomped it out, her arms still tightly crossed, "Why the hell are you here, Hopper?"

Jim quickly found a notepad and pulled a pen from his pocket and uncapped it with his teeth before scribbling down, 'they're watching us'. Joyce's eyes grew wide and she ushered them into the house where all three of them began frantically searching for bugs. The only problem was that Joyce had literally a thousand Christmas lights strewn about the house.

After at least an hour they were all seated around the breakfast table. Allie's foot was furiously tapping against the linoleum tile, her face had been red from embarrassment since she stepped foot in the Byers house.

"Okay, tell me again. What did you see?" Joyce said, her hand shaking as she ran it through her hair for the thousandth time.

"Um-" Allie began but her voice gave out and she looked at Jim who softly smiled at her and patted her knee to reassure her.

"We saw some shit," Jim began and then explained the whole inside of the lab as well as the drawings that he had come across while they were in there.

"We saw this drawing too, it was so morbid. Why would anyone think that was okay to keep a kid in there," Allie added while shaking her head.

Joyce's eyes snapped to her, "a drawing? What did it look like?"

"It was like a stick figure or something?" Allie said and look to Jim.

He nodded, "yeah, typical kid drawing."

Joyce sighed and took a drag on her cigarette and exhaled slowly, her eyebrows furrowed with worry, "wasn't Will's."

The three of them sat in quiet silence for a bit, just pondering over what had been seen and heard. Allie let her gaze drift around the kitchen where she saw many of Will's drawings taped to the fridge, and her heart clenched with grief. She hoped he was safe where ever he was.

"Earl," Jim said, breaking the silence. He sat up straighter in his seat and then he looked at Allie with a sheepish guilty smile, "that night Benny died Earl said he saw some kid with a shaved head, and you did too, Allie."

Allie narrowed her eyes, "you know we probably could have avoided a lot of angst if you would have just listened to me, Jim."

He leaned in closer to her, "I know, I'm sorry. You literally were right the whole damn time. So there's another kid out there," he looked at Joyce before continuing, "when Allie and I were at the library we ran into some news articles about a woman named Terry Ives and how she went through this whole shit show with Hawkins Lab. She claims that she lost her daughter, Jane, and sued the Lab and Brenner. The claims came to nothing but what if I mean, what if this whole time we've been looking for Will, we've been chasing after some other kid."

Allie leaned back against her seat and rubbed her temples, "this is crazy. What is even happening here."

Joyce nodded, "okay, okay, so maybe this Terry Ives can tell us about her daughter and it could lead us to Will."

"That sounds like a plan, a good one finally. I'm going to go get some more information on Ives and then we can go. Just stay put," he said as he stood from his seat, "C'mon, Al lets go."

Allie silently stood from her seat and followed a very excited Jim out of the Byers house. She held her shaking hands close to her chest as she watched Jim jog to the cruiser like a bloodhound who caught a scent. Allie inhaled shakily, this was becoming too much for her. After last night she was feeling more paranoid than ever and having her heart rate never dip below ninety beats per minute that whole conversation did not help her anxiety.

With a slight tremor in her legs, she got into Jim's cruiser and tucked her hair behind her ears, something she always did when she was nervous.

"Hey," Jim said softly as he pulled out of the Byers driveway, "you okay? "

Allie looked at him with wide eyes, "I'm," she sighed not really wanted to let him know that she was scared because she would look weak, but she decided to tell him anyway, "I'm scared."

Jim slowed the car down and pulled over to the side of the road. He put on the hazards and turned to face Allie in his seat. His stormy eyes met her hazel ones and he grabbed her small hands in his large ones, "you know, I'm not going to let anything happen to you right?"

She shook her head, "I trust you Jim, but this is all moving so fast. We literally just met and up until a day or so ago we were at each other's throats. Add all the supernatural things on top of that problem we just fall into a huge mess. Not to mention I still have to teach a class tomorrow? So many things are happening," she looked at him briefly before glancing down at their hands, "that probably didn't make sense, but nothing is making sense to me right now."

Jim rubbed his thumb over her knuckles, "hey, look at me,"

Allie looked up at him with a worried expression.

"We can't change the cards we've been dealt, but we can sure as hell work our way through it together. I'm pretty sure you can push your way through any problem life has pushed in your face, I mean look at what you did to me, the biggest asshole that ever lived has gone soft, that's gotta count for something right?" he said with a crooked grin.

Allie chuckled and nodded, "thank you, Jim."

Jim pulled his hand from her and placed it on her cheek, "no problem, sweetheart."

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hmm don't really like this chapter but oh well I'll come to like it later(????)