"Hey! Government dweebs! Somebody tell us what's going on!"
Dustin, illuminated by the porch light of the Virginia safe house, stood half out the open door with the early evening wind bristling through his curls. He waved a sharp hand, forcing one of the two security officers' attention.
"Go back inside," the taller of the guards gruffed.
"You say that every time, Terry," Dustin whined.
The bald man's lips pursed together. "You know my name's not Terry."
"It's not like you're going to tell me, so I might as well make one up!" he retorted before swinging the door shut between them. He mumbled to himself as he stalked back into the living room.
Nancy lowered a well loved book from her face, leisurely sprawled out on the couch with her legs over Jonathan's lap. "Any luck?"
"Are you shitting me?" Dustin replied flatly. "You'd have to get the stick out of his ass and beat him with it to have any luck."
Jonathan's brows raised despite his eyes never leaving his own book. "Nice and colorful, Dustin."
"Thank you, that's what I'm here for," he replied in a mocking tone on his way to the kitchen.
"Oh, there you are, honey," Joyce said from the stove as she juggled several pots and pans, only able to cast a short glance over her shoulder. "Could you grab everyone from the backyard? Dinner's nearly ready to go."
Two days. Two days since the kids ran screaming through the safe house in the middle of the night, "She's alive! Tatum's alive!"
Two days of no new information. Two days without confirmation.
Dustin stepped just out of the kitchen to crane open the door to the porch. "Dinner time, ladies and gents!" he called, barely able to spot the cluster laid out on blankets under the stars in the backyard.
"Does anyone want a coffee?" Elena asked as she rounded into the kitchen from the living room. The bags under her eyes seemed to get worse everyday but there was always a smile present for the kids. She ruffled Dustin's hair as she passed. "Or a tea?"
"One for me," Ben requested as he ducked through the back door with Nina in tow. "One for Nina, I'm trying to culture her."
"Meaning he forces me to drink tea at least once a day," the tiny brunette added as she plopped down at the dinner table. "And I've been telling you I don't like it for at least three months."
Elena laughed softly as she poured boiling water between three mugs, little tags poking over the rim of the assorted colors. "Give it a year."
Nina whined, resting her chin in her palm as she tracked the flow of new occupants.
Max plucked a leaf from her hair, regarding it distastefully before throwing it back out the door and sealing it behind her. Last to enter the kitchen, she squeezed in next to Lucas at the table. "Isn't tea just leaf juice?" she asked.
"And coffee is bean juice," added Lucas.
Elena set two mugs down in front of Ben and Nina with a grin. "And what's in cola is much worse."
Lucas let out a sound of disbelief as he waved his hand. New Coke would always be his baby.
Joyce's eyes narrowed as she did a head count of the room, an absent finger bouncing between them all. "We're still missing some."
"Will's still napping," Jonathan announced from his leaned spot in the doorway. "Should I get him?"
"Let him sleep," she replied. "He's been exhausted."
Elena clicked on a radio on the kitchen counter and let a modern rock station play low as the kids started to cycle through to make their plates. Warm but fairly absent chatter filled the house - they'd started to run out of things to talk about the night before that weren't plagued with uncertainty.
Their lives were the same as they left them three days before, but it had proven helpless to prod the bag of bricks hanging over them that could change everything.
The Hawkins bunch, always fearful of hope.
And for the first time since their arrival, a knock on the door.
Conversation dissipated out of the kitchen in an instant, only the murmurs of Freddie Mercury's drawl seeping from the radio as they listened in close.
Had they dreamt it?
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Elena put up a calm hand as she rose from the table, all eyes wide on her. "Just keep eating," she said coolly on her retreat out of the room. She took a deep breath in as she crossed the living room, briefly placing a hand on her chest to assist as she let it out. A hesitant hand pulled the door open, able to hear the pounding of her heart in her ears as the wood creaked.
Doctor Owens offered her a bright smile under the porch light. "Hello, Elena."
She let out an uneasy breath but smiled none the less. "You really know how to keep a room waiting on you."
"It'll be worth it." He nodded over her shoulder. "Are they right there?"
Elena leaned back just enough to see into the living room, the once empty space now clustered with everyone who had been seated at the table. She took a step back as she nodded, unable to shake the upturning in the corners of her mouth. "Come in."
As Owens entered the cabin and passed Elena, she let out an exasperated breath as Jordan appeared up the walk with Billy in tow. "You bastard," she murmured as she looped her arms around Jordan's neck.
Jordan squeezed her back tightly before guiding her into the living room where Owens was being pestered with a dozen questions.
Elena reached a hand out for Billy and pulled him in, resting only when she stood between the two.
The entire room focused its attention on Owens, the space nearly humming from the energy. Where is she? Where is she?
"I know I've kept you here long enough and you might not be happy to see me, but..." Owens glanced over his shoulder. "I bring a peace offering."
Tatum tucked a wave of black hair behind her ear as she stepped beyond the foyer and into view of the living room. A smile glinted on her lips, distracting enough to ignore how much paler she was than the last time. "Hi, guys," she said meekly, her voice like honey to their ears.
Gasps filled the cabin, soon followed by tearful laughter.
She was bruised and exhausted, but she was the most beautiful thing they'd ever seen. There she was.
Eleven was first to break the rigid line, charging head first at Tate with tears streaming down her face.
Tate caught Eleven with ease, squeezing her tight despite the wind knocked out of her chest. She rested her chin on El as she cried against her, her own eyes beginning to blur as she ran a hand along her curls. "I told you to just give me time," she whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek as she closed her eyes. "I..." She let out a shaky breath as she raised her head to the rest of the room, El still kept close. "You guys got the drop on me but I still have something up my sleeve."
The floorboards in the foyer creaked slow in succession.
Tate tucked a lock of El's hair behind her ear as she lifted her from her chest and tilted the psychic teen towards the entryway.
All six feet of Hopper stepped around the corner with a grin. He ran a hand along his jaw before offering a dramatic shrug. "Ta da."
Joyce clasped a hand over her mouth as she stifled a laugh, the other gripped tight on Jonathan's shoulder. "How is this possible?"
As soon as El launched from Tate's arms and into Hopper's, she was encircled by the rest of the freshmen that grappled around each other until they could lock her in place.
Tatum laughed, no option left but to give in. She shot Nancy a tearful wink as her hands moved around to squeeze each of the kids. "Best hug ever."
"About two weeks ago I was minding my business when the electricity in my office started to flicker," Owens said to Joyce. "And my digital typewriter asked if I was listening."
Ben ran a hand down his face as he laughed gently. "You really are Jordan's kid."
"Tatum began to tell me in her own voice over the course of several days that she was being held in a Soviet facility in Siberia."
Tate bit her lip as the kids started to peel off from her in order for their horrified expressions to be revealed. She brushed a knuckle along Nina's jaw with a hint of a smile. "I was asleep for a long time but I've been awake since November." Her eyes flickered along the back of the room where Nancy, Billy, Steve and Jonathan stood. "We were both taken from Starcourt. We were kept apart but once I woke up I made them take me to his facility and we started to figure out a way to get home." She wiped a tear from Nina's cheek. "I didn't know if it would work. I didn't want to say anything if it didn't..." She sighed, only able to form a smile. "We've been trying to get back to you all this whole time."
"Tate kicked some Soviet ass," Hopper said as he set Eleven down from a long bear hug. He wrapped his arms around her and held her back to him. "Those douchebags running the base under Hawkins were trying to recreate Brenner's experiments. She figured out a way to use it against them and get us out of there."
"We picked them up off the coast of Japan and, well..." Owens shimmied his hands in the direction of Tate and Hopper. "We had to make some identity adjustments given that we all attended their funerals last year, but here they are. They can go anywhere but Hawkins."
El's eyes widened as she craned her head back to look up at Hopper. "Anywhere? You can come to New York with us?"
Hopper tilted his head towards Joyce with a lingering smile. "If you'll have me."
A tear slipped down Joyce's cheek as she laughed. She nodded furiously. "Of course. Of course, Jim."
A soft hum of silence coated the room as all eyes averted to Tate.
"I..." Tate scanned the room as she brushed a wave of hair over Nina's shoulders. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet."
Steve slapped Billy's chest, his own brain still floored from taking in Tatum's image. "What about with us? IU like you wanted?"
Owens was first to shake his head. "It's too close."
"And they know who she was," Billy added gently, having already connected the dots himself. "If you tell someone you're from Hawkins at IU they'll ask if you knew the girl that died in the mall."
"I wanted to talk to Nina before I decided." Tatum smiled over at Nina then up to Ben, Elena and Jordan. "But I've got time to figure it out now."
Nancy let out a soft whine as she crossed from the back of the room and wrapped her arms around Tate. She gasped gently as she made contact, half expecting to walk right through her.
Tatum broke out in a laugh as she squeezed her back. She groaned a little from the pressure but her smile couldn't be broken. "I missed you so much, Nance."
"Easy," Owens warned coolly.
Soft looks passed around the room as Nancy carefully released Tate. Before she could clear her throat to explain, floorboards creaked from above.
Tatum turned over her shoulder and craned her head up to the second floor landing. She flashed a wide smile. "Now who's late to the party?"
"You're here!" Will's hand gripped tight around the second floor banister as all the air flooded out of his lungs. He bolted down the stairs at top speed, all the sleep banished from his eyes in an instant.
Tate ran to the bottom of the staircase and caught him at full force, able to spin him once before setting him down. She held his face as he kept his arms around her. A tear slipped down her cheek as she laughed. "Thanks for not giving up on me," she said quietly.
"Never." Will buried himself against her and squeezed tight.
Joyce clasped a hand over her mouth, eyes pinched shut as she struggled to contain herself.
"I'll leave you all for the night," Owens announced. "I promise I'll be much easier to contact from now on. You're welcome to take your time here together before heading home, just give us a heads up and we'll arrange your transportation." He cleared his throat. "Tatum, a minute?"
"How about everyone heads for the dinner table?" Elena requested. "Hop, I bet you're hungry for some real food."
Tate gave Will a last squeeze and side stepped the group as they started to filter out of the living room. She tucked her arms to her chest as she lingered in the foyer with Owens. She tracked the teens as they moved out, locking eyes with Mike for the briefest of seconds before she turned to Owens. "Thank you for this," she said. "For everything."
Owens smiled. "I'm honored I could Tate, truly." He reached into the lining of his suit jacket and pulled out an envelope. "I had this made up while you were getting your hair done just so you could look at the options for yourself."
"Options?" she asked with a raised brow as she turned over the unmarked envelope in her hands.
"Locations, really," he assured. "It's a list of all the facilities that we could work together in as well as the universities near by. For this to work at all it needs to work for you, all right? Just tell me where and I'll figure the rest out."
The corners of Tate's mouth curved inward. "Thanks, Doc."
"The world is yours, Tate. Enjoy it." He squeezed her shoulder as he turned towards the front door. "And don't let your friends get a hold of those phones," he added, motioning to the two duffle bags in the foyer. He offered her a last smile as he craned open the door. "Let me know if you need anything."
Although Tatum expected the door to close as she looked down to the newest envelope, her eyes raised back up. "Owens?"
Soft gray curls illuminated by the porch light bounced as he turned her head over his shoulder. "What, uh...what was in the envelope the President gave you?"
"Um, I haven't..." Tate shook her head gently. She reached for her duffle bag and slung it over her shoulder carefully. "I haven't opened it yet." She slid Owen's envelope into a side pocket and zipped it shut. "You'll hear from me soon. I'll let you know if it's anything important."
Owens laughed gently. "Anything important," he repeated. He waggled a finger in her direction. "Your hearing is otherworldly but I wonder if you hear yourself sometimes." He gave a last wave before pulling the door shut between them.
Tate raised a single finger towards the knob of the front door and flipped all three latches at once. She took a deep breath, using the same finger to tuck a wave of hair behind her ear as she turned over her shoulder.
"I- oh," Nancy stopped short in the entryway of the living room, "sorry. I was going to see if you wanted to borrow some clothes." Her eyes flickered to the door and back but no further words came.
She heard. Tate took Nancy's hand as she passed out of the foyer. "Which room are you staying in?"
Although hesitant, Nancy took the lead up the staircase. She glanced to their intertwined hands and back, almost sure she was imagining it. She pushed in the second door on the left, letting go of Tate only so she could shut the door. "You..." Nancy ran the back of her hand along her forehead. "Soviet prison? Japan? You - you spoke to the President?"
Tatum waved a cautious hand. "I know it's a lot, Nance. I know, and I'm sorry. Nobody else is supposed to know about that last part. I mean it. Not even Hop."
Nancy's brows furrowed. "What?"
"Owens is the only one and, well you heard him."
She glanced to Tate's bag. "Reagan gave you something?"
"I don't know what it is," Tatum quickly assured. "I'm not...I'm not ready to look at it yet. All he said was that it was just something he thought I might like to have."
Nancy's eyes were the size of saucers as she stared dumbly at Tate. "I have to be sleeping or on a stupid amount of drugs."
"That might be more preferable than a friend back from the dead," she offered lightheartedly.
The brunette sighed, a clear attempt made to fight off the smile that creeped onto her face. "Tatum." She closed the few steps between them and wrapped her arms around her. "You coming home is the only thing I've wanted since the night you..." She pulled back just a little. "You did...die, right?"
Tate nodded gently, a soft tightening of her throat warning her of the chance of tears. "I did."
Nancy blew out a breath and wiped under her eyes as she let go of Tate. "Sorry. I, uh, let me get you some clothes." She pulled a suitcase from underneath the side of the double bed she'd claimed and began to rifle through it. "Owens, uh, he said "easy" when I hugged you earlier? What was that about?"
"I just got a little roughed up over there," she replied mildly. "I'll be all right." Tate took in a soft breath to calm herself, but the emotional wavering ceased as her eyes landed on a familiar pair of shoes on the opposite side of Nancy's bed. Her eyes narrowed as they flickered up to an orange flannel draped over a couple of books on the nightstand. "Are you...Is Joyce letting you and Jonathan share a bed?"
"Hm? Oh," Nancy laughed as she raised her head and tossed Tate a black cashmere sweater, "yeah, no, Joyce is pretty cool with just about everything these days that isn't supernatural."
She tucked the sweater against her chest as she evaluated the space.
Was it guilt that was creeping up on her?
Tate jumped as a pair of blue pajama pants printed with moons hit her in the face, quick to catch it before the silk material could slide off of her. "Thanks." She glanced over her shoulder after a moment. "Would you, uh, would you mind turning around?"
"Oh, of course not, T," Nancy quickly said despite the brief flash of confusion on her face. She never cared about that before. She sat on the edge of her bed facing the headboard and absently tapped her fingers on the duvet. "So, it was you with the ouija board?"
Tate agreed as she swapped the scratchy military sweater for the soft cashmere. She carefully ran her hand along the deep bruising to her rib cage before lowering the black material over it. "Yeah. I thought it was funny at first but then it actually started to work."
"November sixth?"
"That's the day I woke up from the coma. I...I didn't know that was the day it would happen, but I was tapping into something when I was communicating through the veil with you guys. It was strange because it was the exact time in Hawkins as the original gate rip that Nina and Eleven caused, but I woke up on the morning of the seventh in Russia because they're in a different time zone."
Nancy held back every urge to spin around. "You woke up in sync with the gate anniversary?"
"To the minute," she agreed as she hopped into the pajama pants and tied the waistband. She sighed and gave Nancy the all clear to turn around. She rested her hands on her hips absently as Nancy whipped around to face her. "There's...there's a lot going on that I don't understand about what happened to me when I died. I..." She laughed nervously and waved a hand. "And I've got time to figure it out. I do. I have time."
Nancy smiled as she rose from the bed and walked over to her. She grabbed her shoulders and squeezed them gently. "You do. You've got all the time, Tate. Let's go eat." She leaned in and whispered, "Then you can show me what the President gave you."
Tate laughed as Nancy looped her arm with hers and guided her back out into the hallway and down the stairs.
Lively conversation bubbled out from the kitchen, a mirage of dishes clinking and overlapping laughter. The girls were greeted with cheers, and added to the table without hesitation.
As Tate settled down between Billy and Nancy, she blew out a soft breath of nerves and tucked a wave of dark hair behind her ear. She listened to the conversation quietly, sipping on a fresh decaf coffee Elena had slid across the table to her. Her eyes flickered around the room, finding herself to be everyone's second interest, every set of eyes wandering over to her despite listening to Hopper and Dustin dispute ancient Magnum PI episodes.
Safe? Yes.
Observed? Incredibly.
Billy carefully set a hand on Tate's thigh under the table, offering her a gentle smile as she looked over to confirm the source.
Tate eased and leaned back in her chair, her fingers wrapped around her mug for warmth. She studied each face at the table, all just a hint older than she last remembered and even more beautiful. She smiled into her mug as she took a sip, her heart gripped just enough to make her chest flutter.
"Tate?"
Gray eyes raised from her coffee and landed on Ben across the table as she lowered her mug. "Hm?"
"You okay?" her stepbrother asked with a quirked brow.
Tatum grinned. "I'm perfect."
Although she knew she was far from it, she thought for the first time she might actually get there.
||
Often when Tatum couldn't sleep in her small Kamchatka cell, she listened. She eaves dropped on conversations and tracked movements on the other floors around her. She thought about what she might do if the time was right, or how it might go wrong. She thought about finding Zharkov's personal quarters and snuffing him out in his sleep.
Tatum flinched in bed as a single gun shot echoed through her ears. Her fist tightened around the comforter tucked up to her chest, empty eyes staring up at the ceiling as they had been since she first laid down to sleep. She turned her head to the side, Nina still sound asleep beside her. She slipped out from underneath the covers, careful not to wake her sister as grabbed an envelope from her duffle bag and tiptoed out of the room.
Sleep was still a stranger to Tate, it almost a forgotten memory.
Dinner itself had been pleasant and void of most major questions. Elena and Joyce had both requested everyone keep their questions to a minimum while Tate and Nancy had been upstairs, something of which Tate was immensely grateful for. Just their presence was everything she needed on her first night home.
Tate crept down the stairs with silent steps, the living room bare and only lit with a single lamp by the sofa. Cautious of the wooden floorboards, she bounced her way over to the couch and listened for a moment as she settled to make sure she hadn't woken anyone.
She propped herself on her side to relieve the tension on her ribs, leaned into the cushy fabric of the couch as she slid a nail underneath the envelope's closure and opened it in one sweep.
As she pinched the paper inside with her fingers, a heavy board creaked in the distance.
Tate's brows furrowed and she withdrew her fingers, leaving the unopened document inside. She slipped the envelope into the band of her pajamas pants. She rose from the sofa quietly and angled her head towards the noise, unable to see through the doorway into the kitchen. She followed the dim lamp light around the room and stepped over the threshold to the second half of the house.
A long hallway split off from the kitchen, every door closed and no light to be seen from underneath.
Tate heard a flick flick flick of a lighter as she stopped outside the back door that led to the porch. She sighed before reaching for the door knob. She turned it quietly and pulled the door open, her presence causing a shuffle on the other side.
Mike craned his head around from his spot on the top step, easing as he took in Tatum's frame. "It's just you," he breathed out, light smoke escaping his lips as he let his eyes fall back on the treeline of evergreens.
The singe of weed hit Tate as soon as she opened the door but she was quick to close it behind her. "I can't believe you brought that to a government safe house," she said with a soft laugh as she lowered herself beside him.
"It was already in my bag before I knew we were being brought here," he defended with a sigh. He turned over a joint in his finger, the top roughly burnt out from the panic. "Thankfully the big guys didn't do bag searches."
"Have they caught you out here yet?" Tate asked as she snaked the roach from him and picked up the lighter from between them.
Mike watched dumbly as she relit the joint. "Not yet." He studied her face, well aware of the bruising around her jaw and the faded shade of her eyes.
Tate evaluated the joint as she blew out a stream of smoke from the side of her mouth. "Who taught you how to roll? Even Steve's are better than this."
Surprising even himself, a laughter bubbled up in his throat. He shook his head gently and took the joint as she offered it out. "Why are you being so cool about this?"
She hummed a little as she watched the trees. "I would check on you from time to time." She tipped her head towards him. "And sometimes you'd be smoking." Other times you'd be crying. "You, uh, you quit AV club, huh?"
Mike chewed on the inside of his cheek as he held out the joint to Tate. He shrugged. "I...I still like science, I just...fell out of it."
"And fell into this?" she questioned before raising the joint to her lips.
Brown eyes stared out at the trees for a long moment, absent elbows balanced on his thighs as a finger tapped to an invisible beat. "You really fucked us up, Tate."
Tate's eyes closed as she let out a soft breath. "I know," she murmured. "It really fucked me up, too."
Mike hesitated and turned his head to her. "I didn't mean-"
She shook her head gently with a light smile, offering the joint back out. "It's okay, Mike. I...I saw pieces from everyone. Everyone grieves differently, Mind Flayer involved or not."
Although he'd taken the joint, his attention was glued to her as months of despair wracked up into his throat. "Losing Hop was bad, but...to watch that happen to you? To...to be right there and just watch you...go?"
Tate's chin quivered as she looked to her bare feet. "I wish that was something I could take away. Something I wish none of you had to see." She caught a glimpse of the St. Christopher medallion dangling from her neck. "I don't remember much, not after I hit the ground. I'm thankful for that sometimes."
"It plays in my head like a movie," he said softly as he stared at the joint in his hand. "In class, at lunch, when I close my eyes at night." He took a deep inhale and as he let out a smoky breath he said, "All the time."
She turned her head to study his profile. "Is that why you're out here?"
Although he didn't give a verbal answer, his eyes met hers as he passed the joint. "What about you?"
"I haven't slept right since I came back. I haven't really slept at all." She took a deep puff and inhaled as her eyes trailed up to the sky. "I thought it was the prison, but nothing's changed yet."
Mike's eyes were stuck to her as his brain turned over a dozen questions he wasn't brave enough to ask. "Was it bad?" he asked gently.
Tate connected several stars with her eyes, constellations she thought she'd forgotten illuminating for her on the dark expanse. "Oh yeah," she sighed.
The freshman took the joint as she offered it and studied her for another moment. "It'll be okay now, right?"
"I really hope so."