"I can't believe we're dealing with this Upside Down bullshit again," Dustin complained as he walked the street curb like a tightrope. He nearly lost his balance a few times and had to lean against an annoyed Lucas to ensure that he didn't fall onto the rough pavement.

"Nobody said you had to help," Lucas reminded him with a roll of his eyes.

After Dustin pushed against him for the third time, Lucas shoved him off the curb and Dustin completed a motion that looked eerily similar to Michael Jackson's moonwalk to ensure that he didn't eat dirt.

"Well, of course I'm going to help," Dustin retorted after he regained his footing and moved to the other end of the group away from Lucas. "I just thought we'd have a little bit longer between the craziness. It's only been fourteen weeks since El closed the gate at the Lab."

"One is our friend, she needs us," Mike said. His hands anxiously ran up and down his backpack straps as he tried to brush aside the impending danger coming their way.

"You mean Sarah," Will corrected him.

"Yeah, shit, sorry." Mike shook his head as if to shake off the mistake. "Sarah."

"That's pretty cool that El has an actual sister now," Max changed the subject.

"And that Hopper found his daughter," Lucas added.

"Yeah, he's been such a pain lately," Mike said. "Maybe having Sarah back will help him to cool off."

"I can't imagine what it's like for Steve, dating the Chief's daughter," Lucas laughed as he attempted to picture Hopper reaming Steve out.

"I can," Mike muttered angrily.

"Did you see how they interacted at the strategizing session?" Dustin chuckled, ignoring Mike's response. "Hopper totally gave Steve the cold shoulder."

"He's just being protective," Will argued. "He just got his daughter back, it's got to be hard. You guys all know how crazy my mom was when I came back."

The group silently nodded their heads in agreement as they continued to walk towards Mike's house. Today was their last day of normalcy before they were going to initiate the plan and they wanted to spend it working on their D&D campaign.

Hopper had insisted on Eleven and One staying at home so that he could keep a watchful eye on them. While their plan was to take the fight to Dr. Brenner, he didn't trust that the doctor wouldn't make an impromptu appearance beforehand.

"Where's Jonathan and Nancy with all of this?" Dustin asked the group. "They helped last time, are they going to help again?"

"Jonathan has been spending a lot of time with Nancy lately and my mom doesn't want to pull him into it, so we haven't told him," Will answered.

"Ditto for Nancy," Mike responded. "I hardly ever see her anymore. She's too busy making out with Jonathan." Mike proceeded to make sloppy kissing noises, much to the disgust of the rest of the group.

Once they reached Mike's house and were settled into the basement, the conversation once more steered itself towards the topic of One and Steve.

"Guess who else is probably making out a lot?" Lucas asked with a wiggle of his eyebrows. "Steve and Sarah."

"Speaking of, you guys owe me for calling that one so pay up," Dustin reminded the group.

"I'm not paying up just yet," Max declared, defiantly crossing her arms. Mike, Dustin, Will, and Lucas looked to her in surprise.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't think it's going to last," Max explained. She tilted her chin up and stared down upon her fellow group mates with an all-knowing look.

"Oh, come on, they're totally in love," Dustin argued. He wouldn't hear such blasphemy about his friend. Especially after Nancy dumped him for Jonathan. Steve deserved a win in Dustin's book.

"Please," Max scoffed. "If she's so in love with Steve, then why are we running into the Upside Down to save James? You can't go all that time in an empty dimension with another person and not fall in love with them."

"Guys, tell her how crazy she's being," Dustin pleaded with the group. Each individual looked away when Dustin tried to meet their eyes.

"I don't know, she makes some pretty good points..." Lucas said. "Plus, we all know you had a hand in getting Steve and Sarah together so I don't think the bet is entirely fair."

"A hand in it?" Dustin scoffed and waved off the notion. "A toe, maybe. But not a hand."

"I hate to be that guy yet again," Will interrupted their squabbling. "but can we please get on with the campaign?"

"We can once Max admits that I'm right and she's wrong," Dustin answered, alighting a series of groans from the rest of the group who began to set up for the campaign anyways. "Guys?"

☆ ★ ☆

"Nervous?" Eleven asked One as they sat together on the couch in the living room. Hopper had quarantined them inside all day while he searched around the cabin for the supplies they'd need to capture Dr. Brenner and save James. He wanted to make sure they were within reach if something were to happen.

One stared ahead at the floating dust particles dancing in the sun beams that fell through the window and nodded her head. Nervous wasn't entirely the right word though. Terrified was more like it. There were so many things that could go wrong. So many people that could get hurt.

Eleven scooted closer to One on the couch so that their legs were touching. She watched One's face closely, noting the precise curves of her profile and counting every flutter of her eyelashes. A girl of few words (mostly because she didn't have that many to say), Eleven preferred to observe. She had done the same thing with Hopper several times before, and studying One now she could see traces of him within her features.

They shared the same eyes. And the same nose. But not the same mouth. Eleven had found hidden pictures of Diane in the mess of boxes that had once occupied One's new room and she could tell that One had inherited her smile from her mother. Along with her golden blonde hair. Eleven was still working with a limited understanding of beauty but she knew that One was pretty.

"How are you doing?" One turned to ask Eleven, presenting Eleven with a new angle to study.

"Good," Eleven answered thoughtfully. "Ready."

"To take down Papa?"

Eleven answered with a small but determined nod. One began to grow curious about Eleven's time in the Lab. She assumed that Eleven had been subjected to the same torture that she had, but nevertheless she needed answers.

"Did he...did he ever give you drugs that made you forget things?" One asked slowly, unsure of exactly how to word it. A confused look spanned Eleven's face as she slowly shook her head no. One felt the need to further clarify, "To forget your life before he took you?"

"Didn't have a life before," Eleven answered innocently. "I was a baby."

A sudden memory struck One of an earlier experience in the Lab; Dr. Brenner carrying a crying infant down the hallway outside her door. She had met Eleven before. Could that be why she knew to ask her for help on the night she had returned to this world? Or was it because of the familiar pain she had recognized in Eleven's eyes? A pain that can only be accrued from living under Dr. Brenner's wrath?

"I saw you," One said. "Before, in the Lab."

"You did?" Eleven asked in surprise.

"Yeah, only for a moment," One continued to explain. "But I know it was you."

Eleven reached her hand out for One's, which was fidgeting anxiously in her lap. "Destiny," she said with a smile.

The sound of Joyce yelling at Hopper outside broke their profound moment and sent them into a fit of giggles.

"Hop, put that down!" Joyce's voice yelled. "You're going to stab yourself! Or worse, you're going to stab me!"

"I'm fine, Joyce!" Hopper shouted back. "The only one who is going to hurt themselves is you after you give yourself a fucking heart attack."

"The only one who is going to hurt themselves is you after you give yourself a fucking heart attack," One imitated Hopper. She adopted a stern look on her face and put her finger beneath her nose to mimic his moustache.

Eleven fell off the couch and rolled onto the ground clutching her stomach from laughter. "Just like him," Eleven said between laughs.

One joined Eleven on the ground and the two continued to smile and laugh until Hopper came inside to find them like that. "What's so funny?" he asked with a confused smile.

One and Eleven looked at each other before bursting out in laughter once again. Hopper just rolled his eyes and made his way into the kitchen once he had given up on getting an answer, their giggles following him the entire way.

One reached out and intertwined her fingers in Eleven's as they continued to get lost in their happiness. It became one of One's favorite memories. And one of her last good ones.

★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★