It was 4:45 A.M and Hopper was struggling to fix his tie due to his nerves. He huffed for the third time before Joyce came over to assist.
"Hey, you okay?", she asked as she straightened Hopper's tie.
He ignored her question and instead focused on the uneasy feeling in his stomach as he watched the clock. She saw the worry in his face, and pushed the knot of his tie against his neck to gain his attention. He looked down at her, and then she decided to unloosen it.
"What's bothering you?", she asked again.
"Just... nervous is all."
"About what, Chief?", she asked jokingly to lighten the mood.
Hopper stuffed his hands into his pockets and started pacing the floor.
"I don't know, just... I'm just overthinking. I feel like I have butterflies in my stomach."
Hopper stopped in his tracks and looked at Joyce as if he had just gotten a bright idea.
"You know what?!"
"What?", she asked as she tucked her shirt into her unzipped pencil skirt that she hadn't worn in months.
"I'm gonna take a crap before we leave. Maybe that'll help", he said as he started unbuckling his pants and headed towards the bathroom.
Joyce chuckled as she started to zip up her skirt. She only got the zipper up only a few inches before it wouldn't budge.
"Shit", she whispered to herself as she looked in the mirror at her stomach. She furrowed her eyebrow and wondered how she gotten so big in such little time. She made a mental note to mention that at their next appointment as she searched the closet for a dress instead.
All of a sudden, screaming could be heard coming from the girls room causing Hopper to run out the bathroom with his pants half way down along with Joyce half dressed.
They both rushed in the room to find Jamie panting in bed while vigorously scratching her arm.
"What's going on?!", Hopper asked breathlessly as he looked at El who was just as clueless as them.
"I don't want to go!", Jamie coughed while starting continuing to scratch.
As Hopper reached in to comfort her, Jamie backed in to the corner of the bed and started scratching at her legs.
"No! Don't touch me!", she shouted at him causing El to get off the bed and move closer to Joyce. "Get away!"
Hopper stopped and furrowed his eyebrows. He held his hands up in surrender and stood there as she sat panting and wheezing in the corner. He quickly searched through her messy bookbag that was on the floor and found her inhaler.
"Here. Here's your inhaler. I'm gonna set it down by your foot, okay?", Hopper spoke softly as he huffed in annoyance.
Jamie anxiously reached for it and struggled to take two puffs as she was too focused on trying to relieve the itchiness of her body. Joyce watched as the blood on her nose slowly dripped down to her upper lip.
"I knew this fucking shit would happen sooner or later", he whispered to Joyce as he turned and left the room.
"It's okay, Jamie. Everything is alr— JIM, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!", Joyce exclaimed as she started to soothe Jamie when Hopper reentered the room with a syringe filled with a clear liquid.
"Trust me, it's the only way", he responded as he quickly held Jamie in his arms tightly and pulled up her sleeve.
Joyce wanted to cover her eyes as Jamie started kicking and screaming. As the lights started to flicker, El covered her ears and hid her face in the the pit of Joyce's arm while Hopper pinched Jamie's arm stuck the needle in.
As he emptied the syringe, Jamie suddenly became less hostile and her breathing became much calmer. Hopper allowed her to slump into his arms as she mumbled under her breath.
"He's b-... he's bac...", she attempted to speak as her eyes grew heavy.
"Shhh", Hopper whispered before leaning forward and placing his lips on the top of her head.
Once Jamie was out, he looked up to see the terrified faces of his fiance and daughter.
"What the fuck is that?!", Joyce asked in disbelief.
"Something I got from Owens. Don't worry, she'll be fine. We need to get going", he replied as he slumped Jamie over his shoulder.
"Jesus. Can you atleast hold her like she's not a sack of potatoes?", Joyce whispered as she threw her hands up and followed Hopper out of the room. She grabbed her purse and a large envelope as El stood in the middle of the living room.
"Can I... am I going?", she whispered.
"Are you out of your mind too?!", Hopper asked as he opened the front door.
"She... she said that she wanted me to g-"
"I don't care what the hell she said she wanted", he replied with an attitude as he tightened his grip while maneuvering out of the door.
Joyce stood in the doorway contemplating for some time. The sound of the car door slamming and Hopper called her name startled her from her deep thought.
"Babe!", he called out from the driver's side.
"Yeah?", Joyce replied as she quickly shook her head to clear her thoughts.
"...You alright?", he asked with a concerned look.
"Im fine."
"You sure...?"
"I said I'm fi-", she started to reply before El started speaking.
"Mommy", El sniffled knowing that Joyce had a soft spot for that name. "I really think that Jamie would want me to g-"
"Me too, let's go", Joyce replied as El quickly bolted out the front door before she changed her mind.
Hopper was on the phone and gave Joyce a 'wtf, really?" look as El made space for herself in the back seat. He rolled his eyes as Joyce batted her eyes at him and cleared his throat.
"Yeah, I'm still here. I got it. Yup. Mhm. I'll see you soon", he said before hanging up and pulling off on to the main road.
"Who was that?", she asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Joyce... do you want to tell me why El is coming with us to court for a custody hearing out of all things we could introduce her to?"
"Okay, Jim", she replied sarcastically. "Do you want to tell me why you pulled off anyways if you had a problem with it in the first place?"
"Im just saying...", he mumbled. "I don't think its smart that... nevermind", he stopped talking midsentence as he glanced over and saw Joyce giving him the side eye.
"I believe I asked you a question", she said smartly.
"What did you say?"
Joyce stared at Hopper immediately causing him to feel uncomfortable. He knew no other way to better diffuse the tension in the car other than what he was about to say.
"I'm gonna need a service animal in a second by the way you're killing me with those eyes, baby."
Joyce tried to stop her lips from twitching upwards and failed miserably as his dumb joke replayed in her mind.
"You're so stupid", she whispered with a laugh.
Hopper smiled and continued to do 80 down the highway until Joyce and El both decided that they should catch up on some much needed sleep, unlike Jamie who had no choice.
——————————
"Dude, what happened to your face?", Tommy asked disgustingly as he approached Steve at his locker and stared at his face with his mouth agape.
"Fuck off, Tommy", Steve mumbled as he slammed his locker shut and headed around the corner in a frenzy hoping to see Jamie despite Hopper's wishes.
"Fuck!", he whispered to himself as he headed back to his locker and caught Tommy who just started walking away.
"Hey, have you seen Jamie lately?!", he asked.
"Yesterday. Surprised you haven't seen her lately."
Steve rolled his eyes and continued to follow Tommy.
"W-what did she say?! Did she say anything?"
"Have you seen Steve?", Tommy replied as he mocked a whining, feminine voice. "Also heard she got suspended or something for kicking some girl's ass. Pretty bad ass", Tommy smirked as they both walked past their teacher and into the classroom.
"Suspended?! What the fuck, she's only been here a week?!"
"I know", Tommy chuckled. "I guess she's pretty cool after all."
As the bell rang and everyone assumed their seats, Steve pulled out his phone and slipped out the door as the teacher turned his back.
"Where you going?!", Tommy leaned forward and mouthed behind the teachers back at Steve.
Steve held his pinky and thumb towards his ear and shook his hand a few times.
"I gotta call her!", he loudly whispered and ducked as the teacher looked out the glass window of the door.
Tommy rolled his eyes, opened his text book and pretended to follow along as the teacher started reviewing the homework.
——————
"Daddy", Jamie whispered inaudibly as she shifted on the back seat. She squinted her eyes as the sun shone through the window blinding her. With the back of her hand shielding her eyes, she slowly sat up and noticed where she was.
"Mom?", she whispered before she noticed the empty front seats of the blazer.
She noticed the engine was still running, blew her breath on the window and wiped it clear to peek out the window. She saw a large farm house and became confused because they definitely weren't in Hawkins anymore.
A buzzing coming from the front seat caught her attention. She grabbed Hopper and Joyce's phone and saw that the buzzing was coming from elsewhere. She listened quietly and brung her ear closer to the glove compartment. As the buzzing became louder, she opened the glove compartment and her phone, along with a gun covered in dried blood fell out.
Jamie had a mini panic attack as she quickly picked the gun up between her thumb and forefinger and threw it back in the glove compartment and keeping her phone. She recognized Steve's number and immediately answered.
"Steve!"
"Jamie?", Steve gasped as he ducked in to the nearby bathroom for privacy. "I didn't think you'd answer. What's going on?! I heard you got susp-"
"You lied."
"What? What're you talking about?!", he whispered.
"Family problems?", she asked as if Hopper's lie would ring a bell to him.
"What? What family problems?! Jamie, I need to tell you something", he replied hoping to get her attention and change the subject.
After she didn't say anything, Steve assumed she was listening and started speaking anyway.
"I'm gonna make this quick. Long story short, Hopper threatened me with never seeing you again after sneaking El out of the house."
Jamie cocked her head to the side and squinted her eyes as she thought for a moment.
"So he lied?"
"Whatever he told you— family problems, whatever, isn't true, but that's besides the point. What I need to tell you is that I fucked up, okay, well... your dad mostly, but the point is that he's not dead", Steve spoke fastly as a teacher caught a glimpse if him standing in the bathroom and started to enter.
"What? What did you guys do? Who died that's not dead?"
"Jamie, listen to me. Tell your dad that those people will stop at next to nothing to try and find you."
"Who?! Who are you talking about?! Who's not dead?!", Jamie repeated herself louder.
"Dav-"
"Gotta go!", Jamie whispered quickly as she saw Hopper, Joyce, and El approaching the car with a golden retriever in tow.
El opened the back door as her and the dog jumped in. Once Hopper and Joyce got in the car, Hopper quickly sped off before checking the rearview mirror and noticed that Jamie was awake and confused.
"Hey, you alright?", he asked as he saw the dog lay comfortably on the seat between her and El.
"Sammy?", Jamie whispered as she read the bandana that hung around the dog's neck.
"Yeah, he's a service dog. Just graduated his doggy training a few weeks ago, too!", Joyce jumped in excitedly as she held up a certificate.
"I thought—, I mean we thought that he would be really helpful for you, especially today", Hopper corrected himself as Joyce tilted her head and raised an eyebrow as he started to take credit for the idea of getting a dog.
Jamie rested her arm on Sammy's back and gently ran her fingers through his fur. Her phone started vibrating loudly on the seat and she panicked trying to quickly silence it before anyone noticed.
"Is that your phone or mine?", Hopper asked Joyce as he glanced down at both their phones in the cup holder. Seeing that it was neither of theirs, Hopper looked at the glove compartment, and then raised an eyebrow as he saw Jamie scrambling in the back seat from the rearview mirror.
"Do you have your ph- Ugh!", Hopper started to ask Jamie before she mentally cranked the radio up to full blast.
Immediately upon doing so, Jamie felt light headed again and leaned forward while clenching onto the back of the seat for stability. Sammy sat up and immediately started nudge Jamie's leg.
"Woah", she mumbled as her vision tunneled and everything started to spin while she heard distorted barking and voices calling her name.
El quickly caught her as she fell forward causing Hopper to slam on the brakes and pull over to the side of the road.