𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥〡STEVE HARRINGTON

18

Andy said thank you and with a smile slipped through the doors to the main working area. Immediately, she was met with a frowning Callahan who glared at her with his arms crossed. "You're back." He grumbled. "Any chance under arrest?"

"Afraid not." She teased, flicking a piece of fluff off her arm that remained from her coat. Andy's relationship with the dense officer hadn't blossomed or improved over the Christmas break. Rather than putting his time and effort into his job, Callahan had seemingly decided to spend it on growing a mustache, that sat upon his top lip like a hairy caterpillar.

"Just here to see my Dad, you know, the Chief... Where is he?" As Andy looked round the station she couldn't spot her dad and he was a very hard man to miss. "In his office working." Callahan responded, stepping into Andy's path to block her from walking forward. "So maybe you should leave."

Andy pursed her lips, pretending to be thinking. "Hmm... Probably not." Fooled by her actions, she slipped past Callahan and strided towards Hopper's office. "You can't go in there!" Callahan yelled after her, rushing behind to catch up with her, but Andy swiftly made it to the door and swung it open.

"And by the way, your mustache looks awful." She laughed, slamming the door in his face.

Callahan was left stroking his facial hair, that was littered with crumbs from his hamburger lunch, and wondering if it really was as bad as everyone kept telling him it was.

In his office, Hopper raised an eyebrow at his daughter who had just barged in. "Do you mind not abusing my officers, please?"

"But he wouldn't let me in!" Andy exclaimed at the outrage. "And I needed to know if you were home for dinner or eating at the cabin?"

For the last couple of weeks, Hopper had been renovating an old cabin that his grandfather, and Andy's great grandfather, had lived in before he died. Recently he had been spending more and more time there and often ate his meals there instead of at the trailer with Andy. She had grown sick of cooking him delicious food and him never being home to eat it.

"Home. I'll be at home." He answered, then went back to flicking through numerous sheets on his desk.

"Good, I'll make spaghetti and meatballs then."

Andy was good at cooking. Her mom had taught her in New York growing up and always enforced the importance of using fresh, organic ingredients. Andy tried to incorporate that into her dad's diet, but he just grumbled about how it all tasted the same. And don't even get her started on when she swapped his full-fat mayonnaise for low fat. It was carnage.

So, that night Andy sung along to her favourite Billy Joel track and made two portions of spaghetti and meatballs for herself and Hopper. They had been getting along better than ever since her permanent move, going from strength to strength. Hopper had learned how to deal with his headstrong teenage daughter, and Andy how to deal with her dad's stubbornness and rage. It was teamwork. They now enjoyed each other's company and often went out for food or had movie nights, although it would take them hours to agree on a film.

It was now eight.

The time that Hopper was meant to be home at. Andy had made sure the meal would be done by that time, so that he could home after all his hard work and eat, but it was now 8:15 and her dad was nowhere in sight.

Just give it twenty more minutes she told herself, he'd be home by then.

Twenty minutes quickly turned to thirty and the clock ticked at 8:50.

Andy pushed herself furiously out of her chair, which scraped with a painful screeching sound against the linoleum flooring, and threw on her coat furiously. She stormed out the door.

Hopper had basically forbidden Andy to go to the cabin. Constantly assuring her he didn't need any help decorating and wanting it to be a surprise for her. When she was younger she had loved the wooden cabin, or at least spending time there. They were the perfect nuclear family. Andy, her Mom, Hopper, and Sara. They would play board games, drink hot cocoa and then all snuggle up together under a blanket on the couch. Andy would read Sara bedtime stories until she fell asleep and sometimes Hopper would read one to them both. Therefore, when she found out her dad was doing the cabin up she was ecstatic and couldn't wait for her surprise, but right now her judgment had been clouded by her anger. She would slave around for her dad. Cooking for him, cleaning for him and getting nothing in return.

The snowfall had slowed as Andy trekked through the woods, but her boots still sludged through the white blanket on the ground. Twigs and rocks crunched and snapped underneath her feet and she pulled her coat tightly around her to try and block out the cold. After all this time she still knew exactly how to get to the cabin.

It was deep in the woods, hidden behind a vast amount of towering trees. Andy saw Hopper's truck up ahead and as she ventured nearer the cabin came into sight. It looked just as she remembered it, her favourite part being the swing chair on the porch. She walked towards it, climbing the stairs of the porch and closing her eyes, basking in the memories.

Andy banged her fist against the wooden door. "I know you're in there!" She shouted, trying to peer through the glass but it was all boarded up, barely leaving any room for light or to look out from. She sighed in agitation. "The least you can do is open the door after I walked all the way up here and you missed our dinner!"

The sound of a dozen unlocks being undone came from the other side and the door swung barely open to reveal her father, who pushed half of his body out the door. "Listen Andy, I'm sorry-"

"That's not good enough." She uttered. "You said you would be there and you weren't. This keeps happening all the time recently and-"

Andy noticed how Hopper kept shifting uncomfortably, throwing worried glances over his shoulder and doing his best to block the view behind him. "Why are you acting weird?" She asked, eyeing him curiously and trying to peer past him, but not being tall enough to do so.

"I-i'm not." He stuttered, failing to hide his disheveled and nervous appearance. "It's just meant to be a surprise for you..."

Andy knew when her dad was lying and now was one of those times.

"Bullshit." She declared. "Why won't you let me in? What are you hiding?" She questioned with a fierce stare and Hopper cursed his daughter's stubborn determination. "Nothing." He replied much more sternly as his desperation for her to leave grew.

A swell of rage rose in Andy at her dad's obvious lies. Betrayal had recently become her most hated thing. Her temper got the best of her and she barged by him, bursting the door wide open and stumbling into the room.

Andy had imagined many things to be inside the cabin that her dad would want to hide from her. A woman whom he had been secretly dating or possibly just hooking up with for the night. A large collection of alcohol and pills that meant a relapse. Or maybe even something much worse, like a body. But what she never imagined is what was actually there.

The girl stared at her with wide, terrified eyes, her lips parted in shock. She wore an old green coat of Hopper's and held scruffy teddy bear in her dainty hand. Andy's heart skipped a beat. She was looking at a ghost. Eleven hadn't died that night at the middle school, she was, in fact, standing in front of Andy in her brand new home.

A.N

OMG guys!! I can't believe we're on to season 2 of 'Damage Control'. Thank you all for your reads, comments, and votes. It means soo much! Are you all excited??? I can't wait to see Andy with Eleven and with Billy. The drama!!! Remember to keep commenting and voting, it means so much to me.

Lola 

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