The ride back home was rough with Argyle and Jonathan's drugged out conversation. Non of the younger teens spoke entire they got home, pushing the door open.

"DP." Peter grinned as he dropped to the ground and lifted the dog. "Hello, my love."

El held his hand as Peter held DP with the other, the trio following the group as opera music rung through the house. Will called out to Joyce, the group rounding the corner to the kitchen.

"Well, well!" Murray greeted as he stood in the apron. Wesley's jaw fell slightly, sharing a look with Will. "Aren't you lot a sight for sore eyes, huh?"

"Hi, Murray." Jonathan grinned with a wave.

"You kids like risotto?" he held up spoon.

"Does one plus one equal two?" Peter smiled, walking into the kitchen first.

"He meant yes." Wesley nodded with a clear of his throat.

"So there I was, headed down the I-5, going to see a client in Ventura. I'm looking for a motel to stay in for the night and suddenly, bam, it hits me." Murray explained as they all sat at the table. "Didn't the Byers move here?"

"Small world, isn't it? It's a small world." Joyce awkwardly laugh from the other side of the table.

"So I thought, 'Hey, you know what? Why don't I drop in, say hello to my old friends?'" Murray laughed as he held his fork up.

"So sweet of you." Joyce gushed. Will gave Wesley an odd look, they clearly had been thinking the same thing.

"Sweeter of you to let me stay." he gushed in her direction, Peter cringed.

"And he cooks." Joyce motioned around the table.

"Does this mean I get to stay in El's room now?" Peter spoke up.

"Peter!" Wesley scolded him from across the table.

"I'm just asking since we have another guest." he defended himself.

"I clean too!" Murray payed the brothers no mind, fluffing his hair. "A regular little housewife."

"You should just stay." Joyce smiled fakly in his direction.

"I'd be tempted, Joyce, except you know, you have that, uh.." he trialed off, waving his hands around.

"Right." Joyce hummed. "That business trip."

"Business trip? What business trip?" Will spoke up as El gave her an odd look.

"Oh my gosh." she chuckled. "I almost forgot to tell you guys. This thing came up at work-"

"Peter!" Jonathan reached across the table to touch his nose. "Can you pass me the olive oil? Oh, you have a perfect nose. Will, did you know he's related to Steve Harrington?"

"Yes, Jonathan, I did." he said in return.

"Thanks, Jonathan." Peter gave a nervous laugh, touching his own nose. "But, that's wine."

"And it turns out I have to go to a conference tomorrow. In Alaska." Joyce went on with her previous conversation.

"Burr." Wesley shook his head. "Burr."

"Burr." Argyle agreed.

"Tomorrow?" Mike spoke.

"Alaska?" Will gapped.

"Will you bring me home a polar bear?" Peter looked past El's head.

"I think that's illegal, dude." Argyle shook his head.

"That's where they're based, the Britannicas." Joyce nodded, speaking of her job. "Joan and Brian Britannica."

"So do Eskimos, like, still live in igloos, or, uh, are they, like, fully-blown like, living in the..in the suburbs now?" Argyle looked to Murray for an explanation, Peter snuck a noodle down to DP.

"Who is this?" Murphy nodded over to Argyle.

"So, Jonathan, this means you're gonna have to, you know, take charge while i'm gone." Joyce nodded to her oldest. "And, you know, watch certain people here. At this table."

"She's talking about you." Mike whispered to Peter.

"Wait, what? What's going on?" Jonathan looked around the table. "Peter, you have a perfect nose. Did anyone notice he had a perfect nose?"

"You said it already." El stared at him.

"Your moms going to Alaska." Argyle whispered to him.

"You're going to Alaska?" he faced Joyce again. "What's going on in Alaska?"

"Polar bears." Peter hummed.

"The Britannicas are there." Argyle whispered to him again.

"The Britannicas?" he looked around confused again. Wesley dropped his fork and clapped his hand over his mouth to hide a laugh.

"Jonathan, what is wrong with you?" Joyce stared at him like he had eight heads.

"I think I know what's wrong with him." Murray adjusted his glasses.

"I want some." Peter confirmed.

"No." Will, Wesley, Mike, and El said on sync.

"We just had a super stressful day." Jonathan shrugged his shoulders.

"This girl got shmacked in the head today at the roller rink." Argyle explained.

"Shmacked?" Murray questioned.

"She deserved it." Peter mumbled.

"One of those vicious skate attacks." Argyle agreed.

"A shake attack?" the man at the end of the table gapped.

"Yeah, but it wasn't an ice skate. It was...it was a plastic skate." Jonathan waved his hand in explanation.

"No, it was, like, rubber." Argyle corrected.

"Rubber. Rubber." he hummed, Joyce gapped.

"You know what, i'm not sure." the long haired boy said honestly. "Anyway, she looked like she's gonna be fine."

"She didn't look fine." Mike mocked as he looked down at his plate. Peter dropped his fork as he turned his head to stare at him. El did the same, scooting away harshly.

"El, aren't you gonna finish your-" Joyce started, being cut off by Peter smacking Mike upside the head.

"Why do you always have to be such a dick?" he asked him in disbelief, standing up to follow.

Will sighed as he held his face, Wesley patted his back. Joyce looked around. "What is going on, you guys?"

"Joyce, it's better you don't ask." Wesley patted her hand.

"Okay, I, uh, I sense tension." Murray cleared his throat. "Is it the risotto? Everyone hates the risotto?"

"I love the risotto." Wesley shook his head, taking both El and Peters plates.

"Absolutely not. No, it's incredible." Jonathan agreed. "Wesley is true."

"Oh my god." Will squeezed the bridge of his nose.

"This risotto is shmackin', dude." Argyle looked into his direction. "Wesley is true."

Down the hall, Peter pulled El's door open a few seconds after she shut it. She huffed from the bed. "Go."

"No." he shut the door, standing at the edge of her bed. "El, Mikes an idiot. Haven't we figured that out already?"

She was quiet. He sighed. "I'll go away if you really want me too."

El pressed her head into her pillow. "You can stay."

He crawled over her legs, nudging his forehead into her arm that covered her face. El gave a muffled laugh, making him giggle in return before sitting up. "I bet she's never gonna mess with you again now. That's the bright side."

"Bright side?" she rolled on her back to look up at him, not aware of the saying.

"The good side of a bad situation." he explained, messing with one of her belt loops around her dress.

El smiled. "Mind blowing."

"Yeah, mind blowing." he agreed with a grin down at her. "Tired?"

"Very." she agreed, holding her arms out for him to lay down with her. "DP likes to sleep with Will now."

"What a traitor." he grinned, their nose touched as she stroked the top of his head. "I don't ever wanna go home."

"I don't want you to go home either." she admitted.

"Oh, hello." Wesley spoke when DP pushed into Wills room.

"He doesn't like to sleep with El anymore." Will said as he moved his things around for Wesley to make the extra bed Joyce rolled in. "Probably because she's up so late."

"I have to smack the wall to tell Peter to go to sleep." Wesley nodded, giving a snort. "Or should I say shmacked?"

Will laughed, grabbing the other sheet to pull to the corner of the bed. "I can't believe El did that today."

"Bullies totally suck, I can't say I blame her." he said honestly, trying to hold his balance. "I sometimes wanna hit people in the face with a rubber skate too."

"Yeah." Will agreed, they both stopped messing with the bed and sat side by side. "I figured people liked you a lot at Hawkins."

"It comes and goes." he shrugged. "Use to, I had this...friend, and he was a secret friend though. But, he got his friends to leave me alone. Then we had a falling out."

"A secret friend?" Will looked in confusion.

"A...different type of friend." he explained. "Special friend."

"Oh." Will realized what he meant. "That type of secret."

"I didn't even know why I liked him. He was a mega douch." he said honestly. "But, he was older, and we ran into each other but he paid to get my car fixed. Weird, but you know, it happens."

"So, what happened?" Will was curious how it played out.

"So he got a girlfriend and thought it was okay to keep sneaking around with me." Wesley had to laugh as he looked his way. "I had bad taste in guys back then."

"Yeah, Mike isn't so bad." Will explained with a small frown.

"Mike?" Wesley frowned his eyebrows, looking in his direction. "Wheeler?"

"You guys seem..." Will trialed off.

"Like friends. Just friends." he nodded at him quickly. "He's just a friend. It's not like that."

Will tried to hold back a smile. "Got it."

El jumped when Peter sat up with a gasp, trying to fix her project. She gave him a crazy look toward the bed. "Okay?"

"Okay." he held his heart a moment. "I had a dream about Max."

"Max?" she frowned her eyebrows. "What about?"

"I don't know. She was really upset, said she needed me. But, I don't know where I was. She was alone." he sat up fully, squinting his eyes from the window. "I miss when it was the three of us."

"Me too." El frowned, walking over to fix his messy hair. "Wish she came with you."

"I know. But, she didn't wanna fit in the suit case." he shook his head, El's finger ran down his scar. He yanked his head back so she wouldn't touch it.

"Fading." she nodded, because the scar hadn't stood out nearly as bad as it once did.

"Bradly helped." Peter configured. "Coconut oil."

"Pretty." she held his face before leaning down to kiss him. "Horrible morning breath."

"Mm, I know." he rolled out of her bed to get the tooth brush from his bag. "Can I use your tooth paste?"

"Top drawer." El confirmed as Peter headed down the hallway, hearing a few voices in the kitchen. As he used El's toothpaste, he saw her pass the bathroom. After a minute of scrubbing, he hurried to go down the stairs.

"El." he gapped, seeing her getting arrested. He moved forward as Wesley held him back. "What the hell is this? Why are you arresting her?"

They ignored her, pulling El from the house and toward the cop car. The group followed. Peter frowned. "It's gonna be okay, El! Don't worry about it!"

She looked back at him with a pleading look, Peter frowned, wanting to go with her, wanted to comfort her.

A car door shutting got Wesley's attention. "Peter."

He looked over, seeing Bradly give a questionable look. "What's going on?"

Peter hurried to his car. "Drive me to the police station."

"Peter!" Will called.

"Just meet us there!" he called back, hurrying to get in the car as Bradly followed. "I'll explain everything, I promise."

"Are you okay? You totally abandoned the game." Bradly spoke as he drove behind the police car. "I mean, what-is that your girlfriend? What'd she do?"

"I'll explain after." he promised, Bradly went to speak again. "Bradly, can you just listen to me right now?"

He did, driving him to the station.

"Jane Hopper." the woman read from the computer as the group of boys crowded the desk. "Okay, yes, I see her now. It looks like she's still being processed."

"Okay. So, uh, what does that mean exactly?" Jonathan shook his head in confusion.

"That means they're putting her in the system. After which point, she'll be transferred to juvenile hall." she said in return.

"Juvie? Are you freaking crazy?" Peter asked in disbelief.

"Excuse me?" she gave him a look of disbelief.

"I'm sorry, it's been a hard morning." Bradly saved Peter.

"A detention hall for juveniles." the woman stared.

"That's jail." Mike mocked.

"All because a little rich girl got what she deserves?" Peter scoffed.

"Peter!" Wesley smacked him in the arm. "You're making this worse."

"Is there any chance we can just see her?" Jonathan asked calmly.

"Are you a parent or guardian?" she rose her eyebrows.

"Well, we're her brothers, and we're family." Will nodded his head in explanation.

"That's not enough. You have to be a parent or guardian." she laced her hands together.

"Well..." Peter trialed off, looking for an excuse. "I'm her Dad."

"You're her Dad?" the woman asked in disbelief. "You wanna see Jane? Find your mother."

"Thank you." Jonathan spoke.

"Are you crazy? You can't act that way in a police station, moron." Bradly pulled Peter with him out of the station. "We're not in Hawkins. You can't get away with everything."

"They have my girlfriend, Bradly. What do you want me to do?" he defended himself.

"Not act like that." Wesley spoke up from behind him.

"It's bullshit. I mean, she wasn't even trying to help." Jonathan ranted in annoyance.

"What do we do?" Will tossed his hands up.

"Is that her?" Mike smacked Peters arm, pointing toward the police van. Peter ran into the street to get a full view of it, staring back at him was El. He exhaled, his face fell as his eyes went sad. El leaned her head on the glass, being taken away.

Bradly drove Peter to the diner when the house phone rung, urging Peter to come alone to the diner to see El. He pushed the doors open. "El!"

She stood up from the booth, running to him to wrap her arms around him tightly. "Need you to listen to me."

"Listen? What's going on? Who is this dude?" Peter looked in disbelief at the older man in the booth.

"He will help." El grabbed his face. "I have to go."

"Go where?" he shook his head.

"Something bad is happening. Hawkins is in danger." she said in return. "I have to stop it."

"You're going to Hawkins?" Peter was beyond confused.

"No. I'm going to get my powers back." El's words made him shake his head. "I need you to trust me right now."

"I do trust you." he nodded at her. "I can't loose you, though."

"You won't." she made a promise she didn't know if she could keep. "Max, Dustin, Lucas, they're in danger. I have to stop it, to save them. But first I have to go, with him."

"What kind of danger?" he stared down at her.

"Bad." El nodded. "I wanted to see you before I go. To say goodbye, and will see you again."

"Of course you will." his eyes watered, because this felt weird. It felt like a permanent goodbye. "Let me come with you."

"You can't." she shook her head. "Need you here where it's safe. Understand?"

He nodded at her. El pulled him into a kiss, a long one, before pulling back. "It'll be okay."

"I trust you." he promised her, staring. "I'll see you soon."

Bradly looked up when Peter walked from the diner. "She okay?"

"She's okay." Peter got into the car, looking over at him. "I have a lot I need to tell you."

"Okay." He faced him.

"Not here." Peter shook his head, looking at the time. "I'll tell you on the way home. Max Mayfield...I think she needs me."

"Back at the Byers?" Bradly frowned his eyebrows.

"No, they stay. Will be safe here." he nodded. "Max, Lucas, Dustin, Steve, Nanc, Robin. I have to go to them. It's the least I can do for El for now."

"We're going to Hawkins?" Bradly blinked at him.

"We're going to Hawkins tonight." the Clarke boy nodded at him.

•

kylie speaks

i'm disappointed we won't
get to see much of peter
and el but i wasn't about to
keep him in california with
that storyline when max
needs him back in hawkins.
i added bradly to the cast
list, if you wanna go check it out, because i'm really obsessed
with his relationship with peter
and i think he can be a good
aspect to the story!!!!