Owens came over early to drop a document off to Jonathan and to take Will to school for Joyce who decided to pick up a few hours at Melvalds to get herself out of the house. Joyce left Jonathan 'in charge' Hopper who needed to rest, and to also make sure that he didn't try to leave the house.
Jonathan knocked on Jamie's door who was still buried somewhere under the mountain of pillows and covers. He saw the mound shift a little bit, so he knocked harder.
"Rise and shine!", he said cheerfully.
Jamie lifted her head and quickly dropped it back down as the light from outside blinded her
"I don't have school anymore, remember?", she groaned.
"I know. It's also almost 1:00, but that's not the reason I came in here. We gotta go get the supplies."
"Supplies?"
"Yeah. Owens is leaving it to us to get the supplies for the gender reveal."
Jamie's head popped up from under the covers as El appeared in the doorway.
"Gender reveal?", she asked, now sitting up in the bed and swinging her legs over.
"Yes! Come on! I'm gonna be a big sister!", El shouted as she pulled Jamie's arm and dragged Jamie out of bed.
Luckily Jamie still had her hoodie and sweatpants on, because El literally dragged her to the front door to where her shoes were. Jonathan laughed watching the two, and opened the front door.
Hopper's face appeared from the dark bedroom as he cracked the door open and stuck his head out into the hallway.
"Where are you going?", he asked, looking at El.
"I was just gonna... go with them to the store", she responded quietly.
"With that hickey on your neck? Nah, I don't think so."
Jonathan and Jamie's smiles dropped as they looked over at El. El fiddled with her shirt as she stood near the door and kicked off her shoes.
"It's okay, El. You're still gonna help with the decorations", Jamie said placing her hand on Jamie's arm.
Jamie nearly had to look away as memories of her comforting Sarah came to mind. She smiled and then headed out the door behind Jonathan who slid across the hood of his car to the driver's side.
Jamie raised an eyebrow as she got inside and laughed to herself.
"El", Hopper called out from somewhere near the back of the house. "Come on, let's get some work done."
El rolled her eyes as she closed the door once they pulled off. She walked towards the back of the house to find the back door open and rolled her eyes again.
It didn't take long to reach the party store, but the drive would've been even shorter had Jamie not seen the 50 cent hot chocolate sign being advertised in the window of a nearby ice cream parlor. Jonathan pulled into the parking lot of the party store, put the car in park, and reached for the envelope on the back seat. He opened the folder and slowly pulled the black and white picture out. He held it upside down, and then turned it right side up.
"What is it?!", Jamie said exicitingly as she leaned in and pulled the sonogram towards her.
The two of them sat there in confusion as they tried to figure out what the gender was. Jamie was first to spot it and covered her mouth as she gasped. She pointed at the black and white image, causing Jonathan to gasp a few seconds later.
"Poor dad", Jamie said jokingly with a sigh. "All he wanted was a boy."
"Well, on the bright side at least mom got her girl so someone's happy", Johnathan chuckled as he put the image back into the folder.
They both got out, went into the store, and headed straight for the baby section. Jonathan pushed the cart as Jamie slid her arm across the shelf, knocking every pink and blue decoration into the cart.
"Hey, hey! We have a budget here", Johnathan said laughing.
"Budget?!"
"Yes, a budget", Jonathan replied holding a $20 bill that Hopper had given him.
"I'll do you one better", Jamie smiled devilishly and pulled her dad's credit card from her back pocket.
Jonathan furrowed an eyebrow and Jamie put it back into her pocket.
"For emergencies", she said with air quotations. "Seems like an emergency to me since dad only gave us $20, which is only going to get us like... not even a third of this stuff", she finished as she gestured to the half full cart.
Jonathan sighed and shook his head.
"Yeah, well when he see's the bill this is all on you."
"Yeah yeah yeah", Jamie mocked him and continued throwing things into the cart left and right.
Back at the house, El huffed as she set the last of the medium sized boxes down on the floor inside the shed. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, then put her hands on her hips.
"Are we done now? There are spiders in here", she said wiping her hand on her coat in disgust.
Hopper rested against the door with his arms crossed and on his 5th stick of gum, having not touched a single box. He chuckled at her disgust in spiders.
"Um, I think this is it. For now."
"For now?!"
"That's what I said."
"Didn't mom tell you to clean up in here? Why do I have to do this?"
"Because you decided that you wanted to be grown and let Mike do that to you", he said as he pointed to the reddish-purple discoloration on her neck.
"Jamie literally got expelled and she still got to go to the store! All I wanted was to go to the store!"
"Lower your voice", he said authoritatively. "Did she get expelled for letting a boy suck on her neck like a vampire?"
"Whatever", El mumbled under her breath.
She rubbed her neck and rolled her shoulder as she followed Hopper out of the shed and towards the house. Sammy ran around the backyard and squatted to poop causing El to groan and stay behind.
"Big dog, big poop I guess", she said as she grabbed a grocery bag and scrunched her nose at the smell.
She kneeled down while Sammy licked her cheek as she scooped the poop and tied a knot in the bag.
"Yeah yeah yeah, you're welcome", she said sarcastically as she tossed the bag into the open trash can and wiped her cheek.
She headed in the house as Sammy behind followed her. She started to make her way down the hall when she heard Hopper yell for her as she walked past the door.
"Ugh, what now?", she mumbled under her breath as she rolled her eyes.
Her arms dangled as she swung her body and appeared in the doorway. Hopper laid in bed and stared at her long face and then cracked a smile.
"What- I mean yes?", she asked.
Hopper tossed a tennis ball in the air gaining the attention of Sammy who ran into the room and sat at attention at the bedside.
"At ease, partner", Hopper chuckled and tossed the tennis ball into the hallway.
"I have a proposition for you", he said shifting his attention to El.
"Propo-...?"
"Let's make a deal. Well, not a deal. More like a uhh.. I'll explain it later, okay. Look, maybe if you help me out with something I'll reconsider your punishment."
El raised an eyebrow.
"Something like what?", she asked.
Hopper reached in the bedside drawer and pulled out a plastic bag labeled "EVIDENCE". El came over and sat next to him, peeking over his shoulder in curiosity.
"I need you to find this person", he said as he pulled a single black glove from the bag.
"But mom said-"
"It doesn't matter. I just need you to find them, that's it. That's all I'm asking", he replied slightly aggressively.
"Whose glove is that?", she asked, reluctant to touch it.
El slowly picked up the glove and held it in her hands. Hopper didn't answer and instead went to the dresser and pulled out a pair of Joyce's thick pantyhose, tossed them to El, and pressed a random button on the tv remote causing it to play static.
"Dad, mom said for you to not-"
"I know what mom said, and I'll deal with the consequences later."
El held her head back in surprise as she raised an eyebrow.
"Ok so... what's in this for me again?"
Hopper took a deep inhale, held it for a second, and then exhaled.
"You help me out, say you find this person", he said pointing to the glove. "Then I'll forget about your punishment. BUT, when you're around mom you need to act as if you're still on punishment, you see what I'm sayin?"
"Hmm, let me think", El said as she rubbed her chin and looked to the sky as she thought about it.
"What is there to think about? That's like totally a no brainer?!", he replied throwing his hands in the air.
"Under one circumstance", she finally said. "In addition to that offer, I need money."
"Money? For what? You don't even go anywhere."
"I don't go anywhere because I don't have any money."
Hopper sat there for a second and raised his eyebrows in agreement.
El folded her arms, looked at his wallet on the night stand, and then looked back at him. Hopper caught on and rolled his eyes. He reached in his wallet, held up a $10 bill, and placed it into her awaiting hand.
El eyes widened as she tilted her head and scruched her eyebrows in disapproval.
"What?", he asked.
"Don't be cheap", she said disgustingly. "You're the chief of police, remember."
Hopper rolled his eyes, pulled out a $20 bill, and placed that into her hand. El did the quick math, and and folded one arm with her hand still waiting.
"Are you serious?!", he asked in disbelief.
El sat there with a straight face. She looked at him and slightly wagged her neck.
"What's $30 going to get me? I'll still need money for food so technically I only have $20."
Hopper huffed and leaned to the side as he reached into his back pocket. El's eyes widened as he pulled out a huge wad of cash. He neatly slid a $100 bill from the pile and placed in into her awaiting hand.
"I can't believe I'm getting pimped by a 13 year old", he groaned as he put his money back into his pocket.
El held the money in the air to check if it was real. Hopper smacked his lips and gestured his hand towards her.
"How do you even know how to tell-"
"Mom taught me", she responded with a wink before moving to the floor and putting on the blindfold.
"Mhm. Keep the change", he replied sarcastically.
Jamie and Jonathan loaded the car and made their way back to the house. It got a bit quiet on the ride back, so Jonathan decided to spark a conversation.
"So, I guess it's fair to say that you're excited to be a big sister again."
"Yeah", Jamie smiled. "I kinda missed out on watching Sarah grow up."
Jonathan wanted to smile to reassure Jamie, but thought it'd be inappropriate for some reason.
"Can I tell you something, Joanthan? Just between you and me?"
"Uh, yeah? Of Course", he responded.
"I know this probably won't mean anything to you, but I just need to get it out and tell someone."
Jonathan nodded his head to indicate that he was all ears. He gave her his full attention as he pulled up to the house and put the car in park.
"This is stupid, but I feel kinda... I don't know, I guess like jealous or... envious? I don't know."
"About what?"
"About the baby- And I'm not saying it's the baby's fault but like... I don't know why I thought that he would never have another child again after Sarah. I mean I kinda got mad about El at first but then I learned to move beyond the past, and I love El. But up until recently something's been making feel... I don't know. Hatred? I guess because this baby is actually a newborn baby. I don't know why she's making me feel like this", she chuckled to attempt to lighten the mood and wiped the inside of her eye on the tip of her sleeve.
"She? Who is she? I thought you were excited about the baby, no?"
"I am excited I guess, but I just thought me and him were in this together you know... he was technically all I had after that even though he was gone after she died", she responded quietly as she dropped her shoulders.
"Wait, but who is the she that you're talking about and what do you mean in this together? You mean you and Hop both being sad together about Sarah?"
"Yes, and ever since that day I saw her I swear it was real but no one will listen to me. I've been seeing her more after that but I've been too scared to tell anyone."
Jonathan tilted his head in confusion as he tried to think of who the hell Jamie was talking about. Before he could ask, Jamie read his face and responded.
"I've seen her in the... upside down? But I also see her here", she said, ponting to her temple, indicating the void. "And sometimes when I sleep."
"Sarah", he whispered to himself.
Does she- Sarah, does Sarah ever say anything to you, like she misses you or anything? Maybe it's PTSD?"
Jamie shook her head. Her breathing became shakier now as she fought to keep her emotions in check.
"That's what dad is trying to convince me, but no. It's different because when she speaks it doesn't sound like her... and she shows me things...", she said after a deep breath.
Jonathan felt a bit uneasy and looked towards the house as he saw El coming over. He looked back at Jamie and feared that he knew exactly what she was talking about.
"Hey, we can talk about this lat-"
"The things she shows me turn out to actually happen, and because of that I'm scared for Joyce and the baby, Jonathan", Jamie interrupted, grabbing his arm desperately with tears in her eyes.
Jonathan sat there in a trance and came back to the real world as El knocked on the back window. Jamie sat there for a second as Jonathan unlocked the car and went to help El with the bags.
"What took you guys so long? You all left like two hours ago and mom's gonna be home soon", El said carrying multiple bags at a time.
Jamie quickly got herself together and grabbed the remaining bags. She went inside and dumped them on the couch as she started ripping open the easier decorations.
Hopper rose from the dead to lend a hand and nervously watched El stand on her tippy toes as she stood on top of the chair reaching for the ceiling. He handed her a piece of tape as she taped the balloon to the ceiling while keeping the chair steady.
"Is everyone still coming? It's already like 3:30", El asked.
"Yeah, but we still need to get as much done as we can right now before it becomes a mad house in here."
El climbed down from the chair, and Hopper took a look at all the unopened decorations around him. He placed a hand on his hip and did a slow 360° turn before scratching his forehead.
"Jamie?", he called out.
"Yes", she replied from the kitchen with a dill pickle covered in chocolate syrup in hand.
Hopper looked at her choice of snack, and gave a disgusting look. She must've taken a liking to one of Joyce's cravings, he thought.
"Why do we have so much shit? How much did all of this cost?"
"Um... not a lot", she said with a shrug before taking a huge bite of the pickle.
"Where's the reciept?"
Jamie looked across the room at Jonathan who held his hands up and walked out of the living room. She reached in her back pocket and slowly handed him the reciept that was neatly folded around his credit card.
As he unfolded the reciept, his eyebrows went up as the receipt was folded over a few times. Jamie set her pickle down on the counter and headed towards the bathroom to avoid the bomb that was about to explode in the kitchen. She closed the door just in time to muffle the sound of his yelling.
"TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY FUCKING DOLLARS FOR PARTY DECORATIONS?!"