"So, Chief Hopper is your dad?" Steve asked One from across the table at Enzo's. The restaurant was fairly crowded and they had had an uncomfortable fifteen-minute wait squished between the Wheeler family on one of the tiny benches prior to getting a table.

"Yeah," One replied between bites of a complimentary breadstick.

"Wow," Steve said. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you found your family, but I wish we could have gone on this date before you figured that out."

"He scares you, doesn't he?" One laughed.

"What? No...What are you--I don't even..." Steve sputtered as he tried to nonchalantly wave the notion away. He coughed into his fist before quietly following up with, "Yes."

One laughed again. "I'll make sure he doesn't kill you."

"I appreciate that," Steve said with a laugh. "So now that you know your birth name, what do you prefer to go by, One or Sarah?" he asked next.

One paused to think for a moment. She hadn't actually considered that question yet. She had responded to the number tattooed on her wrist for as long as she could remember. "I don't know...I guess either?"

"Not to sway your opinion, but I really like Sarah," Steve informed her with a smile.

One couldn't help but smile back as she momentarily got lost in his glowing grin. That goofy, corny, cheesy smile.

"So...tell me about Steve," One said after her smiled had faded enough for her to move her lips.

"Well, Steve is working part time at an ice cream shoppe to save money for college even though he doesn't know if he wants to go or if he'll even get in..." Steve begrudgingly answered.

"Better than living as an experiment in a Lab and then wandering the hellish landscape of an alternate dimension for fourteen years," One said to lighten the mood.

Steve couldn't help but crack another smile. "Well, I guess when you put it that way..."

The two shared a few awkward moments of silence while they tried to think of what to say next. One bit into another breadstick and Steve began playing with his fork. Thankfully, the waiter arrived with their food shortly after and they had something to occupy the next several minutes.

The silence quickly became filled with the sound of One slurping up her spaghetti. The end of one of the noodles smacked her nose, leaving a marinara splatter across her cheeks like red freckles.  Steve witnessed the whole thing and nearly choked on the meatball he was eating.

"You're cute," Steve laughed into his napkin after he could breathe again.

After One finished wiping every last drop of sauce off her face she said playfully, "You know I'm probably like two years older than you, right?"

"What can I say? I like cougars," Steve wiggled his eyebrows.

"Cougars?" One asked in confusion.

"It's when--uh, nevermind," Steve stammered before he ultimately decided not to answer.

"No, um, you should explain," One said. "There are so many references that I don't understand. I could only learn so much from the various non-rotted things I found in the Upside Down. I do know a surprising amount about puppet-related films, however."

Steve smiled and nodded his head before starting in on a long spiel about the origin of the term "cougar", which quickly turned into a conversation about other large cats, and then surprisingly became a discussion about the horrors of Broadway musicals.

"People who dressed like cats and sang about sacrificing themselves?" One asked with a wrinkled nose. "That sounds more terrifying than the Upside Down..."

"Yeah," Steve chuckled before his eyes glanced down and caught the time on his watch. "Oh crap!"

"What's wrong?"

"It's already 9:15, we should head back before your dad picks out a tombstone for me." Steve stood and dropped a few tens on the table before walking around to One's side and pulling her chair out for her. In the process of doing so, he accidentally dropped one of the legs on his foot. One held back laughter as she helped him hobble out of Enzo's.

When they arrived back at the cabin, Steve released the breath he had been holding for almost the entirety of the drive. It was 9:29 when the cabin was finally in sight and he swore he could hear the rack of a shotgun from the other side.

"That's weird...Hopper's truck is gone," One observed.

"So he's not here?" Steve sighed in relief.

"Apparently not..." One studied the rest of the driveway and the surrounding cabin to figure out where he went but came up empty. "Want to come inside?"

"S-sure," Steve stammered. He couldn't be entirely sure that the missing truck wasn't just some trick and that Hopper wasn't hiding somewhere waiting to see what they would do when they thought they were alone. But he was willing to take the risk if it meant more time with One.

"El?" One called out as her foot crossed the door frame. The resounding silence informed One that Eleven must have gone with Hopper wherever he went.

Unsure of what to do next, One and Steve sat together on the couch and stared at everything except each other.

"I had fun tonight," One said after the pattern of silence between them continued. "Thanks."

"Me too," Steve agreed with a smile.

"Would you like to go again...sometime?" One asked nervously.

"Yes, absolutely!" Steve answered almost too quickly. He tried to tone down his eagerness by following up with, "I mean, that sounds cool. I'll check my calendar."

One tried to minimize the ever-growing smile on her cheeks. "Maybe we can see a movie next time? I don't really have any memories of going to the movie theater..."

"I can't stop him."

"I'm sorry, is that a movie?" One asked in confusion. When Steve didn't answer, One waved a hand in front of his strangely vacant face. "Steve?"

"No."

"No?"

Steve turned to look at One with a glassy gaze. His eyes were still the same chocolate brown she remembered, but somebody else seemed to be staring at her through them.

"Steve, what's going on?" One tried to scoot further away from him on the couch but was stopped when Steve grabbed her wrist.

"I'm not Steve," Steve answered. Like with his eyes, she recognized his voice, but the words seemed to be coming from someone else. "Not right now."

"Then who are you?" One was growing increasingly angry. She didn't like whatever game this was, regardless of who she was playing it with. A blue tinge grew on her fingers but immediately dissipated when "Steve" answered.

"James."

A chill surrounded One like a wintry blanket and ferociously burrowed its way through her skin and into her veins. Teeth chattering, she could only manage three words: "But you're dead."

"No, I survived," James/Steve answered.

"But how?"

"I don't have time to explain, he's coming, and I can't stop him."

The word "coming" resonated with One. Could this be the answer from the lights? "Papa?"

"Yes."

"What does he want?"

"You."

You. That word echoed in One's mind. "Me? Why? When is he coming? What is he going to do?"

Her questions went unanswered however, because just then Steve came back to. "Holy shit, what just happened? My spine felt weird and then my mouth was moving but I wasn't controlling it. It felt like I was trapped in my own body!"

"James," One answered with a deep sigh.

"James?" Steve suddenly remembered the previous night when he had found her running around the Byers' yard yelling for someone named "James". Was this the same guy?

"I'm sorry, Steve, this was a mistake," One apologized. "You should go home."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"I can't pull you into this. It's too dangerous."

"Dangerous? This isn't my first rodeo with the Upside Down," Steve argued. "I wield a pretty mean spiked bat."

Even with the dire circumstances hanging above their heads, One couldn't help but laugh. "I don't know..."

"Look," Steve began as he turned to look her in the eyes. "I won't lie, all of this scares the shit out of me. But I would fight off a thousand monsters and evil scientists if it meant I got to spend more time with you."

"Okay..." One caved with a bright blush on her cheeks.

"But, like, you do have powers though, right?" Steve asked playfully. "I'd be more of a back-up?"

One laughed again and batted him on the shoulder. Steve joined in on the laughter before pushing himself forward and pressing his mouth against hers. One was too shocked to close her eyes until several moments later, but once she finally did, she got lost in the softness of Steve's lips.

One felt ripples move down her arms and legs as tiny goosebumps formed across her skin. Her surroundings all melted and blended together into a blurry blob, with her and Steve at the center. Everything was happiness and perfection and...déjà vu?

One's eyes shot open and she broke the seal between their lips to look wildly around the room.

"What's wrong?" Steve asked.

One swung her head towards the bookcase in the corner and scanned the books until she reached the top shelf. Her finger shot forward and Steve followed it to find a tiny whirring portal between a copy of The Shining and Murder on the Orient Express.

"Oh shit," Steve whispered.

Inside the portal, they could see a tiny One staring back at them. Past One. The portal had only showed them a week into the future.

"That means..." One's sentence trailed off as a low rumbling began to shake the cabin. One and Steve instinctively reached for each other's hands and clasped them together tight.

The shaking intensified and the rumbling sound got louder and louder. Loose items began to tremble and clatter until they fell over or fell off of whatever they were sitting on. One could hear several dishes breaking in the cupboards and the shattering of photo frames dropping to the ground.

When One looked back at the portal she saw the party clustered around Past One. This was her cue. One grabbed a chair from the kitchen and dragged it over to the bookshelf. She clambered up onto it and stared into the portal.

Now she understood why her eyes had looked so different when she was staring at herself from the other side of the portal. They had looked changed. Ancient. It was because she remembered. She remembered her family, her former life.

Once Past One and the Past Party were staring back at her, she gave them her warning:

"Coming."

★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★