Hopper was just minding his own business when he saw it happen. Once again, he was in the diner. He was going to go on a date with Joyce that evening, but her plans changed at the last minute. Instead, they were going out tomorrow night. This left Hopper without dinner plans. So, he was at the diner.

He was staring out the window as he waited for his food. He was watching a girl as she skated down the street. He couldn't tell who it was from here, but he could see she was pretty good. He wasn't really paying attention until he saw her trip over the curb. She tried to catch herself, but she ended up faceplanting into the sidewalk.

Hopper looked around to see if anyone else had noticed her, but it didn't seem like they had. He quickly stood up and told the waitress that he would be right back. He ran outside just as it was starting to rain. By the time he reached the girl, he was soaked.

"Hey kid, you ok?" he held his hand out to help her up.

When she took it, he saw that it was Max Mayfield, he had seen her hanging around Joyce's a couple of times. "Yeah, I..." she winced as she stood up. "I just took a nasty fall."

"Let's get you inside." He picked up her skateboard.

She nodded and went to follow him, but quickly stumbled again. Hopper grabbed onto her arm to keep her from falling. "Man... my ankle hurts..."

"You probably sprained it." He guessed. "Here let me help you." He held out his arm so that she could lean on him.

"Thanks." She grabbed his arm and the two made their way back to the diner.

Once inside, Hopper helped her into the booth he had been sitting at. He flagged down a waitress. "Can I also get a hamburger, order of fries, and a milkshake? Oh, and could you see if we could get a bag of ice? Her ankle's sprained."

"Sure thing." The waitress made her way back into the kitchen.

Max noticed that Hopper already had his meal, so she realized that the extra food must have been for her. "You didn't need to do that."

"It's no trouble." He said eating a fry. "Besides, you're not going anywhere on that ankle, and I thought we would wait out the rain before I took you home."

"Oh..." She blushed. "Thank you..."

He smiled at her, "No problem. Besides, El would be ticked off if I let one of her best friends walk home in the rain."

"Oh yeah," she looked up. "You're El's dad, or... she's staying with you, isn't she?" Hopper nodded. "What's that like?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well," she continued. "You recently took in a girl that has strange mind powers, you're dating a woman whose son has visions of other worlds, her other son helps fight monsters, and she recently took in another boy who up until now, was abused by his parents. Your family life has gotten a whole lot stranger in the last couple of months."

Hopper laughed, "I had never really thought about it like that. Yeah, my life isn't as normal as it used to be. But you know, I don't think I would ask for it to be any different."

She smiled "Me either."

"And what about you miss nosey." He asked. "You know my life story, so what about you. El tells me that you and that Sinclair have hooked up. Is everything going good with that?"

She blushed "Yeah everything's great. Lucas is great..." Hopper smiled to himself as her face continued to turn red.

A moment later, Max's food arrived along with a bag of ice. She put her ankle up on the bench and set the bag on top of it. The two finished eating their food, and by the time they were done, the rain had stopped. Hopper helped her to the car and the two drove off to her house. When they got there, he even helped her to the door. She thanked him again once they arrived and quickly went inside. Hopper smiled as he got back into his truck. He really loved his job. 

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