"Welcome to the party officially, Sarah Hopper," Mike congratulated One after she explained her recent discovery and the encounter with Dr. Brenner to the rest of the group. They were gathered at Hopper's cabin to strategize on how to save James.
Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, Max, and Eleven crowded around One and embraced her in a group hug. Joyce and Hopper hung back with smiles on their faces and Steve moved in for his own hug after the group dispersed.
"So, are you guys like a couple now?" Lucas asked, eyeing up One and Steve as their hug lingered. The two immediately blushed and put some distance between each other.
"What? I don't know what you're talking about..." Steve stammered. His voice didn't do well to hide his embarrassment. He had been hoping for a better time to reveal that information to the rest of the party.
"Dustin told us," Max spoke up.
Steve looked sharply at his little curly-haired companion in the corner, making it Dustin's turn to glow beet red. "Henderson," Steve scolded.
"Sorry, I was excited for you guys," Dustin tried to defend himself.
"Anyways," Hopper coughed in an attempt to steer the conversation back on track. "The only way we're going to be able to beat Brenner is if we draw him out of the Upside Down and onto our turf."
"How do we do that?" Joyce asked.
"Me," One answered. "I'll open a portal and act as bait."
"How do we know that will work?"
"He wants me," One continued to explain. "If I stand far enough outside the portal he'll leave it to get to me. And if he's reluctant, then El steps in to pull him out." One looked to Eleven, who gave her a decisive nod.
"And that's where we come in?" Will asked.
"Yes," One nodded. "We'll need help trapping him."
"But how?" Lucas asked.
"What if we rig a net above the portal?" Mike proposed. "And then when Brenner steps under it we pull it down on top of him?"
"Sounds pretty Scooby-Doo, but it could work..." Dustin mused.
"Ooh, we could stake it down like a tent!" Max suggested. "Each of us could grab a corner and hammer the net into the ground so he can't get up."
"And then I shoot him in the face," Hopper added, patting the gun at his side.
"Don't get too excited, Hop," Joyce cautioned him. "What if he's got James hidden somewhere? If he's dead we won't be able to find him."
Hopper wanted to argue but her point was too valid. "Fine, I don't shoot him...yet."
"We need to be careful," One advised the party. "Something tells me that Pa--Brenner is controlling James. I think he was the reason that James forced Will to choke me."
"But why would Brenner want you dead?" Steve asked. "He said he wanted you to join him."
"I don't know..." One sighed. "There's still a lot of this that isn't adding up, but either way we need to be prepared."
The rest of the party agreed by nodding their heads in unison.
"So we lure Brenner out...trap him with a net...and then what?" Lucas asked, recapping the plan.
One glanced around the group before confidently saying, "And then we rescue James."
"Oh geez, that means going into the Upside Down, doesn't it?" Dustin asked, picking up on where One was going with her plan.
"I'll go in," One responded determinedly. She couldn't deny that the idea of revisiting that hellscape terrified her, but she would do anything to save James. She had already broken a promise to find James once, she wouldn't make the same mistake again. "I spent eight years in there, I can handle another couple minutes."
"Me too," Eleven joined. She caught One's eye and gave her a confident smile.
"Well if you two are going, then I'm going," Hopper announced. "I've gotta protect my girls." Eleven and One both moved over to embrace him in a side hug. He pulled them in close as they leaned their heads against his shoulders.
"Count me in," Steve added. He made a move to join the team hug by One's side but Hopper gave him a glare that sent him backwards.
"Are you guys sure you're willing to do this? It's going to be dangerous. People could die." One pulled away from Hopper's side to address the room. Worry sewed itself into her features as she took another look at each and every person standing before her. She couldn't imagine losing a single one of them.
"That's an average Tuesday for us," Joyce said with a comforting smile, speaking for the party.
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After the party dispersed and everyone departed for their respective homes, it was just the Hopper family left. Their guests left behind a weight in the air that sat on One's, Hopper's, and Eleven's shoulders. Something big was coming, and while they should be utilizing what time they had left to rest, Hopper and One found themselves wide awake at the kitchen table with a bottle of bourbon between them.
Despite Eleven's protests, Hopper had sent her to bed so that he could have some time alone with One. He needed to figure out where she was at with everything and whether she was okay. He also felt like they hadn't been able to fully comprehend their newfound relationship and that this would present an opportune time to do so.
One sloshed the golden liquid around in her whiskey glass as Hopper poured one for himself. She lifted it to her nose and took a sniff, recoiling slightly from the sharp smell. It elicited a flashback of her sitting alone in the Upside Down, a bottle similar to what was in Hopper's hand at her hip, empty.
Alcohol was no stranger to One. It was one of the few things that withheld the rot of the Upside Down. Her first experience with it included James. They had found a bottle of vodka in the pantry of one of the houses they crashed in. They had decided to try celebratory sips to congratulate themselves on defeating another demogorgon earlier that day. Upon touching their lips, the clear liquid was immediately spat back out and the two erupted into a fit of laughter. It was one of One's favorite memories.
After time it became a lot easier to digest the stuff. One had horded a stash of it at her cabin in Minnesota to quell the pain of losing James. The sweet release it brought was only ever temporary though. She drank anything and everything she could find until she was wading in a sea of glass bottles. So when Hopper offered her a glass, One said yes before she could even register that her mouth had moved.
Hopper and One each stared into their glasses, unaware that the other was also witnessing visions in the swirling substance. Death, pain, loss...They had yet to discover how similar they were.
"Cheers," Hopper said with a half-smile, lifting his glass into the air as One silently mimicked him. Hopper pressed the glass to his lips but before he could take a sip he stopped. "Wait, you're twenty-one, right?"
"You tell me," One responded, taking a sip and letting the familiar warmth of the bourbon trickle down her throat. "You're the one with my birth certificate."
Hopper decided not to question it and took a sip himself. "So, how are you doing with all of this? You feeling good about the plan?"
"As good as I can," One answered solemnly.
"You know, we don't have to do this. You don't have to do this," Hopper said, reaching out to set a hand on top of One's hand, which was resting on the table.
"Let's...just not talk about it." One slowly pulled her hand out from under his to take another sip.
Hopper tried not to take the movement personally. "What do you want to talk about?"
One stared down into her glass at the bourbon hurricane she had created with pursed lips and a thoughtful look. "Is there something going on between you and Ms. Byers?"
Hopper spat his whiskey back into his glass, eliciting a sly smile and a chuckle from One.
"You can't give me any shit for dating Steve if you weren't even going to tell me about Joyce."
"I can too, I'm your father," Hopper argued. The two laughed until their smiles sombered. "But I promise I'll try to be more open with you in the future if you agree to do the same."
"I promise," One agreed. The two clinked their glasses together to cement the agreement.
Another lull in the conversation presented itself while Hopper and One tried to think of what to say next.
"What do you think--" One began to ask before she stopped herself and shook her head. "Nevermind."
"No, go ahead," Hopper encouraged her.
"What do you think it would have been like if Brenner hadn't kidnapped me? If I had grown up with you and mom?" One asked absentmindedly into the cabin air. She wasn't sure if she was asking Hopper, asking herself, or asking the universe.
One still couldn't decipher her connection with Hopper. She had memories of him being her father but she also had memories of not having those memories. It felt like somebody had planted another person's memories in her mind. Perhaps they belonged to the real Sarah Hopper and she was just an intruder.
But deep down One knew that this wasn't true; there was a realness to the memories, to the connection she felt to Hopper, that told her she really was his daughter. Still another issue presented itself: time. So much time had passed and so many things had happened since those memories of her childhood. She wanted her reality to feel the same as it did in her memories but she wasn't sure if it did, or if it ever would again.
"Different," Hopper answered after a moment of contemplation. That exact scenario had been all he could think about for the past couple days.
"Better?"
"Definitely better."
One nodded her head and took another sip. And then another sip. And another sip. Soon the glass was empty and she reached for the bottle to pour herself another glass but Hopper beat her to it.
"I think that's enough for tonight," Hopper said, moving the bottle out of her reach.
One's fingers lingered in the air for a moment before falling back to the table. A vacant glare filled One's eyes and her hand began to tremble.
"Are you okay?" Hopper asked once he noticed that something was wrong.
"I-I need it." One choked on her words and her eyes never left the bottle.
Hopper looked back and forth between One and the whiskey before he made the connection. His face softened once he realized that she was dealing with the same issues that he did.
"Hey, hey." Hopper quickly moved from his chair to kneeling by her side. He grabbed her hands in his and looked into her wet eyes. "It's okay, it's okay. I'm here for you. We're all here for you."
"I need to do this, but I'm scared." A single tear rolled down One's cheeks and Hopper wiped it away.
"You're not the only one. I'm scared shitless. But this?" Hopper stopped to gesture towards the bottle of bourbon. "This isn't going to help you. Trust me, I know."
One opened her mouth as if to say something but decided against it. She knew Hopper was right but she didn't want to admit it. It was just easier to drink.
"Think of this bourbon as Brenner," Hopper began after he grabbed the bottle off the table. "It pretends to care about you, to want your best interests...but its only goal is to ruin you. To take away everything that actually matters. Everything that actually loves you. Understand?"
One nodded her head, shaking loose a few more tears before she collapsed onto Hopper's shoulder and the dam broke. Hopper felt his sleeve soaking through but he didn't care.
"We'll get through this together," Hopper whispered between his own tears as he stroked One's hair.
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