Everything is Going to be Okay.

more nightmares than dreams

It was very clear Joyce totally underestimated her powers because she completely neglected the idea that she would drain herself due to her using so much power at once.
Who was she kidding? She was still new to this, Joyce still didn't fully comprehend her own power.
After she collapsed, Jonathan caught Joyce and carried her through the house, down the hall to her room.
Jonathan made himself some dinner in the kitchen while waiting for her to wake up.
He tried to eat it quick because he knew his mom would feel awful for not making her son dinner and feel worse than she did before, so he took her feelings into consideration and ate fast.
Once he was done he hurried back to Joyce's room to find she was still asleep. With a sigh of relief he sat on a nearby chair and waited to make sure she wasn't alone when she woke up from that dark place in her mind.
Jonathan didn't always know what his mom was going through but he did know that she always drew the short straw in life. From her terrible boyfriend who somehow became her husband and a father of two. Her shitty house, her shitty job, her shitty life really.
Joyce had always struggled with anxiety too. It was terrible being nervous of leaving the house and never knowing why. Although keeping her mind busy with work or a conversation usually helped a lot, which is why she always came off as a helpful hardworking woman.
Hopper knew the truth though, there were so many times she would call in the middle of the night about the nightmares she would have. It never bothered him though because she was his oldest friend and to tell the truth, his favorite person in the world.
What did worry him though was when she told him once that she didn't call him if it was something she or Jonathan could handle.
This basically told him that she had more nightmares than he thought and Jonathan would have to help her relax and go back to sleep half of the time.
Once it was really bad.
She had been hyperventilating for 10 minutes straight until hopper could get there and nothing seemed to wake her up.
It got so bad she started punching the air at nothing. Jonathan knew whatever it was she saw, it was trying to hurt her.
Hopper pulled up in the driveway and ran in not bothering to shut the door which Will took care of silently.
Hopper ran to her room where the yells and cries were coming from. He had tried everything to wake her but nothing seemed to work so he told the boys to try and sleep and he said he would stay the night making sure to tell El later.
Hopper didn't know what else to do than to go up to Joyce and hold her tight while trying to doge her punches. He just held her while she was sobbing and even though hopper would never admit: he began to cry too. It was the fact that there was nothing more he could do to save her from the hell she was in except wait it out by her side.
In the morning Hopper tried to talk to her about the previous night but no matter what, she wouldn't say what happened.
Jonathan began to dose off but still being aware of his surroundings until he heard his mom cry.
She had woken up from a bad dream and Jonathan rushed to her side.
"It's okay, you're okay mom. I'm here. You're safe."
Looking around she asked," what happened?"
"Well I was about to ask you the same thing..I don't know, you just fell. Like you were exhausted or something." He answered.
She breathed out "shit.."
"Look Jonathan, I have to tell you something and you have every right to not believe me because I know I wouldn't either but if you just listen-" she was cut off.
"Mom..after everything that's happened with this family?" He asked like a question.
"Try me." He said with a smile.
"Okay...I can..I..." Joyce started.
She had no idea how to even phrase this kind of situation.
" I have powers and I can go through time." Joyce said it quick and immediately looked away from his face.
She waited for a response.
"Wait..seriously? I mean that's kind of cool but how does that even work? I mean.?" Jonathan didn't really know how to respond either but it was nice to think that there was something to talk about other than what happened that night at the mall.
"I don't know I don't know. I don't get it either but I'm definitely going to need some help controlling it. I don't want to accidentally leave and end up sitting by a dinosaur..if that's even possible." She said.
"Look mom. I'm here with you the whole time. Okay? And I promise I'll help you so you don't have to make friends with a dinosaur, I promise."
They both laughed a little.
"It's about 7:00pm, I gotta go pick up El and Will from the Wheelers but I'll be back in 20mins just try to rest and stay calm and I'll be back and we can try to control whatever this is tomorrow. I promise." Jonathan reassured her and left her to get his siblings. Tomorrow is going to be a weird day.