It was a Monday morning when Hopper walked into the station. "Chief." He looked over at Flo. "You have a visitor."

He was confused by what she meant, but it made partial sense when she pointed over to a desk and he saw a boy in handcuffs. However, the part that didn't make sense was the fact that he recognized the boy.

He walked over to the desk and saw Powell and Callaghan questioning him.

"Come on kid tell us what happened."

"I told, you nothing happened!"

"Steve Harrington?" The boy looked up and saw Hopper. However, he was surprised to see that his face was covered in bruises. His lip was split, and he had a black eye. Blood was also dripping from a cut on his forehead. "What happened to you?"

"I tripped..." Steve mumbled.

"Uh-huh..." Callaghan said sarcastically. "Likely story..."

Powell looked over to Hopper. "We saw him walking down the street like this and we figured that he must have gotten into a fight."

"You know he has a reputation for getting into them." Callaghan added. "So, we thought we had better bring him in to find out what happened. But he tried to run away."

Steve rolled his eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you, there was no fight!"

"Then tell us how you got scraped up so bad!" Powell yelled at him.

"It's none of your business!" Steve yelled back.

Callaghan sighed and looked to Hopper. "It's been like this all morning. Think you can talk some sense into him."

Hopper nodded. "I'll give a try. You two go cool off." They both nodded and went back to their desks. Hopper pulled up a chair and sat down. "Can I get you anything? Coffee? Bottle of water? Coke?"

"You can get me out of these damn handcuffs." Steve glared at him.

Hopper nodded "I'll get you a Coke." He walked off and came back a second later with a coffee for himself and a can of Coke for Steve. He set it on the desk in front of him, but Steve gave no indication that he was actually going to drink it.

Hopper sat back down, "I think the three of you might have gotten off on the wrong foot." He gestured to the two other cops that were still glaring at him. "Let's start this over. How about you tell me what happened."

"Nothing. Happened." He continued to glare at Hopper.

"Kid, you don't just wake up one morning beaten black and blue. So, something had to have happened." Hopper continued. "You'll be in a lot less of trouble if you tell me what it is now, instead of me having to find it out on my own. So, what happened?"

"Nothing!" He yelled again. "I was walking down the street, I tripped and fell in a ditch. That's the whole story."

"You fell in a ditch huh?" Hopper asked. "Where were you headed?"

"I was on my way to Jonathan's." He replied. "Him, Nancy, and I were going to watch a movie and order pizza. Their brothers are spending the night at Nancy's house so we thought we would hang at Jonathan's."

"Do the three of you ever hang out at your house?" Hopper asked.

"No!" Steve said quickly. "No, they... they never come to my house..."

"Why not?" Hopper asked. "When all the Upside Down stuff was happening, you invited Nancy, Barbara, and a couple of other kids over."

"That's because my parents were out of town." He answered.

"Why don't you invite them over when your parents are in town?" he asked.

Steve looked down at the desk. "Look, I didn't do anything wrong. There was no fight, I just tripped. You have no reason to keep me here."

Hopper nodded "Yeah... I guess you're right... Well, you're in no condition to go home on your own. Let me just call your parents to pick you up..."

Hopper started to reach for the phone, but Steve knocked the phone away. "You're NOT calling my parents..." Hopper could see the fear in his eyes.

"Why don't we move this to my office?" He stood up and motioned for Steve to follow him. He unlocked the door and showed Steve in. Steve took a seat in the chair on the other side of his desk. When Steve sat down, Hopper undid the handcuffs before sitting down in his own chair.

He pulled out a cigarette and lit the end. "How long?"

"What?" Steve asked confused.

Hopper looked at him with seriousness in his eyes "How long your dad been hitting you?"

"What?!" Steve's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?! That's insane!"

"Steve, look at me..." Hopper looked Steve dead in the eye. "How long, has  your dad been hitting you?"

Steve looked down. "S-sense I w-was a kid..."

Hopper nodded. "You ever tell anyone?" he shook his head. "Why not?"

"I..." He wouldn't meet Hopper's eyes "It was my fault..."

"What?!" Hopper was about to get really mad if Steve was thinking what he thought he was thinking.

"My dad..." Steve continued. "He only hits me when I've done something wrong. This morning, I forgot to take out the trash. A few weeks ago, I flunked a chemistry test. So, it's really my own fault when you think about it..."

Hopper got out of his chair and walked to the other side of the desk. He knelt down in front of Steve so that they were at eye level. "Steve, I don't care what this monster has told you. But none of this is your fault. You hear me?" Steve nodded and started to tear up. "I'm going to get you some help ok. You can trust me I promise."

Hopper kept his word and arrested Steve's parents for child abuse. Steve still had one more year before he could live on his own, so one of the neighbors offered to take him in. Hopper goes and checks on him a lot and he is doing much better. 

(A/N - Hey guys. Thanks for reading. Happy Halloween!)