"I suppose I should probably give you this back." One joined James on the step outside the front door. He was staring absentmindedly into the woods, and her sudden appearance jolted him out of whatever he was daydreaming about.

James looked up to see One holding his jacket out to him. He traced the smooth leather with his fingers before pushing it back to One. "You can keep it."

"Are you sure?" One asked, trying to keep her eagerness at bay. She loved the jacket and did want to keep it for herself but she figured the polite thing was to offer it back, as hard as it was to do so. There was a lot of sentimental value in that old, dusty leather. She had been hiding it in the back of her closet for the last couple days while she tried to fight the urge within her to tell James that she had lost it in the Upside Down.

"I can't believe you kept it after all this time," James chuckled.

James patted the step next to him and gestured for One to take a seat. One slowly dropped onto the stoop and cradled the jacket in her lap.

"It's a nice jacket," One defended herself with a smile. "How are you holding up?"

"As well as I can, I guess," James answered as he continued to stare off into the trees.

"It's a hard transition, but it gets easier," One tried to reassure him. "The most difficult part is learning to let your guard down and trust others. I still haven't mastered that..."

"You trust me, don't you?"

James turned to look at One and she had trouble meeting his gaze. Did she trust him? She wanted to so badly, but there was still something gnawing at her on the inside.

"Y-yeah, of course," One stammered. She quickly tried to hide her hesitation with a smile and as far as she could tell, James seemed to accept it.

An uncomfortable silence lingered in the air and provided an opportunity for One to address what had happened to James last night but she struggled with how to word it. "Did you...did you slip out last night? You weren't at your door when I tried to come talk to you."

James looked at her funny for a moment before answering, "No, sorry, I passed out early and completely forgot! I also wasn't sure you were going to try again after your dad busted us the last couple nights."

"Oh yeah, got it..." One responded. He was lying to her.  She was positive that she had seen an empty bed! She wanted to push him to find the truth but she was scared about what she may unearth.

"Wanna hang out today? Maybe go for a walk?" James asked after the silence continued.

"Actually, El and I are going over to Mike's after they get done with school," One answered.

"Oh cool, can I come with?"

"Sorry, Mike's basement is pretty small and we barely fit as it is...maybe another time?" Now it was One's turn to lie. She needed some space from James in order to sort everything out and she was beginning to worry what kind of threat he may pose to her friends. If he was still under Brenner's control and just waiting for the opportune time to strike, One was going to make sure that the opportunity never presented itself. She wouldn't risk her new friends, even for an old one.

"Yeah, sure," James answered.

One picked up on the disappointment in his voice and part of her almost wanted to go back on her answer and invite James along, but she stayed strong. She would sort this mess out eventually...

☆ ★ ☆

"Stop hogging the Doritos, Mike," Dustin snapped as he pulled the bag from across the table towards him.

The party had gathered at Mike's after school to hang out and relax for what felt like the first time in forever. They were waiting to start the series of board games they had piled up in the corner until the Hopper's arrived.

"I'm not hogging them," Mike argued and grabbed the bag back. "You ate like half the bag!"

"Well they're mine anyways, I brought them over," Dustin pointed out. He reached for the bag once more but Mike slapped his hand over it defensively and a large crunch echoed through the basement. "Come on, man! They're going to all be broken now!"

"Would you two shut up?" Lucas snapped his fingers in front of Mike and Dustin's faces to interrupt the daggers they were staring into each other. "You guys can be such babies."

"You can be such a baby," Dustin mumbled under his breath.

"Do you think Sarah will bring James over?" Max asked after the two had finally stopped squabbling.

"I hope not, I don't trust that dude," Dustin answered with a shiver. He began to pick through the crumbs of the broken Doritos and was met with an eye roll from Mike.

"Why not?" Lucas scoffed. "Because you want Steve and Sarah to be together?"

Dustin ignored the second part of Lucas' question, although he couldn't deny that it was true. "He was in the Upside Down all this time, who knows what kind of shit he did just to survive. Especially as Brenner's prisoner."

"Sarah was in the Upside Down and you trust her," Max pointed out.

"Yeah, but she's different," Dustin added. "She's cool."

Max and Lucas collectively rolled their eyes.

"I think we should give James the benefit of the doubt," Max announced.

"You're just saying that 'cause you think he's cute," Dustin argued.

Lucas gave Max a sharp look that she tried to shrug off but the blush on her cheeks gave her away.

"Not as cute as you though," Max patted Lucas's head with an embarrassed smile.

Lucas's glare softened but he still glanced at her out of the corner of his eye every couple minutes.

"I kind of agree with Dustin," Will piped up and all eyes turned to look at him. He had been struggling with whether or not he should bring it up since he didn't even know if the figure outside his window had been James, but something in his gut told him that his suspicion was warranted.

"Why's that, Will?" Mike asked, giving his friend the floor to explain.

"Well..." Will began when he had to pause. He took a moment to choose his words wisely before speaking again. "It could have just been a hallucination, but...last night...last night I'm pretty sure I saw James standing under the lamp post in front of my house."

"What?" Lucas, Max, Dustin, and Mike said in unison.

"Like spying on you?" Dustin tried to clarify.

"I don't know..." Will answered. "He was there...and then he wasn't. He just disappeared. And something about him seems familiar, although I don't know what..." Something had felt off about James from the moment he came through the portal, but Will hadn't been around him enough to sort the feeling out and it had been bothering him ever since.

"I'm not sure about the disappearance, but the familiarity kind of makes sense in a way," Mike said. "If you think about it, Eleven, Sarah, and James all kind of act the same; like always looking over their shoulder, never facing their back to the door, and jumping at small sounds. They even kind of all sound alike, if you listen close enough. Probably from their time in the Lab."

Will tried to shake off the uncomfortable feeling that had settled in his stomach and accept Mike's answer but the strange familiarity still lingered. He didn't have time to question it further when the clomping of shoes coming down the stairs announced the presence of One and Eleven. Will waited anxiously for James to loom into sight but he never appeared.

"James didn't come with?" Max asked with a tinge of disappointment in her voice. Lucas once again gave her a fierce side-eye until she gave him a reassuring smile back.

"No, he's still adjusting to being back and wasn't quite ready to leave the cabin," One answered and tried to ignore the guilty feeling that crept along her limbs. She had lied to James and now she was lying to her friends but she didn't want to worry them until she could prove that there was something to be worried about.

Will's ears perked up at One's answer and several thoughts began to swarm through his mind. Had James been ready to leave the cabin last night? Or was this a sign that Will had really just seen a hallucination?

"What game are we playing first?" Eleven asked the group with a smile.

"I vote for Monopoly!" Dustin announced.

☆ ★ ☆

Hopper flipped on the array of lights he had temporarily stolen from the police department and let the white glow cut through the darkness. They illuminated the room that One had once called her own at the Hawkins Laboratory, but this time it held a new occupant. Dr. Brenner's shadow stretched across the cracked floor as he stood to meet his visitor, a set of solid metal bars separating the two.

"What will it be today, Chief?" Dr. Brenner's voice curdled the silence. "Another cheeseburger?"

"Lucky guess," Hopper mumbled as he opened the latch to the makeshift cell he had created for his prisoner and slipped the greasy bag through. Hopper had suggested that they just leave Brenner to starve but Joyce had been adamant that they not stoop to his level. 'Geneva Convention', and all that. "Eat up, I've got more questions."

"Of course you do," Brenner laughed between bites.

While Hopper had reluctantly agreed to keep Brenner fed, Joyce had never said anything about frequency and Hopper had only been bringing Brenner one meal a day. Within minutes, Brenner had scarfed down every last crumb of the burger and fries.

"You're going to give me straight answers this time, none of that abstract riddle-me-this bullshit," Hopper demanded with a straight face. "Or that will be the last burger you'll eat for a while."

"What would you like to know?" Brenner asked, his lips curled up in a smug smile.

"Why her?" Hopper asked without hesitation. He felt the top of his lip begin to twitch as a fierce scowl stretched across his face. This question had been haunting him ever since he learned what had happened to Sarah. "Why did you take my daughter?"

"Oh, come now, Jim." Dr. Brenner paused before asking, "Can I call you Jim?"

"No."

"You don't remember the incident?"

"What incident?" Hopper growled.

"The incident, the one that occurred on October 12, 1970," Brenner said as if it were obvious.

"What are you talking about?" Hopper seethed.

"In your own backyard? Back in New York? Oh wait..." a chuckle arose from Dr. Brenner once he recalled the events that had transpired afterwards. "Of course you don't remember. Your cancer screening before she passed..." Dr. Brenner let his sentence trail off to get under Hopper's skin.

"What about it?" Hopper snapped.

"The shots you and your wife received were not to boost your immune system. You didn't even need to be checked for signs of cancer, it was just an excuse we made up to inject you with a serum that would make you forget."

"You son of a bitch!" Hopper ran towards Brenner and rattled the bars between them. His bloodshot eyes burrowed into Brenner and even in the darkness, his face glowed a bright red. "You better tell me everything right now or else--" Hopper was stopped short when a familiar howl echoed from down the hallway and brought goosebumps racing across his skin. It was accompanied by three more howls that weren't much farther behind. Demodogs.

"Friends of yours?" Brenner asked with a smile.

Hopper ignored Brenner and cursed to himself as he ran to shut the door to One's old room and fasten the bolt. In all the craziness with reuniting with Sarah and capturing Brenner, Hopper had completely forgotten about the rest of the pack and now it was coming back to bite him in the ass. Literally.

"You brought them here, you can send them back!" Hopper shouted at Brenner as the howls got closer.

"You think this was my doing?" Brenner scoffed. "Maybe you should ask your new little friend to help you out."

Hopper turned to look at Brenner with a confused look in his eye. "James?"

Brenner was about to answer when a series of ear-piercing scratches cascaded down the metal door and a large thud followed after. Hopper watched the door visibly shake as the demodogs threw their weight against it and he knew that it would only be a matter of minutes before it was ripped off its hinges. Hopper cocked his gun in preparation but he realized that there was only one way that he could get back to Eleven and Sarah in one piece. Hopper fumbled in his pockets for the key to the cell and shakily inserted it in the lock.

"If you're planning on feeding me to those demon dogs I won't be enough to satisfy them," Brenner said while he watched Hopper work at the lock. "They'll get you too."

"Shut up and move over," Hopper directed Brenner as he pushed himself inside the cell just in time for the door to blow down and four demodogs to crawl into the room. He snapped the lock back in place and jumped back right before a demodog lunged at the bars. Its grotesque mouth snapped at them through the small opening it had nudged its head through but the rest of its body wouldn't fit.

The demodogs continued to throw themselves at the cell and claw at Hopper and Brenner through the bars but thankfully the structure didn't budge. They were safe, for the time being. Once Hopper felt content that the demodogs were no longer an immediate threat, he slowly turned to look at Brenner and realized the new danger he had placed himself in.

The shadows accentuated the scar where Brenner's eye had once been as a discomforting smile crept across his face. "Lucky me, I get a new roommate."

★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★