the bathtub

✄ - - - -

SCARLETT STOOD IN FRONT OF CHIEF HOPPER, "Hopper come on. You know they're not gonna do shit with those things. It's Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers!" she tore her eyes off the box and stared at Hopper, who stared back, unimpressed.

Five minutes prior, they had discovered the box of weapons Nancy and Jonathan had purchased, and brought them inside to display to his mother and the chief. Even Scarlett had no idea what they were for, but she assumed maybe they were going back out to hunt the Demogorgon.

"Watch your language, Sinclair. And why are you even here?" Hopper questioned her, leaning back in his seat while lighting the cigarette in his mouth.6

"I- um. I don't know. I was there when the fight happened." She said slowly, clearing her throat.

"Okay, so. Do you know why the fight broke out?" Hopper sighed, sitting back up in his seat and resting his arms on the table.

"Well, Steve was being an asshole-" Scarlett began.

"Language!"

"Sorry." She stifled a laugh. "Steve was being.. rude, and was shoving Jonathan. So Jonathan simply defended himself." Scarlett shrugged, pursing her lips.

"Yeah." Nancy agreed shortly.

The storm cloud above Scarlett's head grew larger every time Nancy spoke. The feeling of Nancy's betrayal stuck to her like wet glue. Nancy seemed to not even be bothered, she didn't even apologize. But, Scarlett Sinclair never held grudges. Never had enemies or people she hated. Well, besides Carol. So she brushed it off, deciding to be the bigger person and be civil with Nancy. Accepting her upspoken apology.

"So, why did we find this in your car?" Callahan asked Jonathan, a smirk plastered on his face.

"Why are you going through my car?" Jonathan snapped, trying to stand up. Nancy was quick to pull him back down.

"Is that really the question you should be asking right now?" Hopper leaned towards Jonathan with a serious expression on his face. "You three. My office. Now." He pointed to the three of them, who exchanged anxious looks.

Jonathan turned back to the chief, "You won't believe me."

Hopper was already turning to walk to his office before Jonathan spoke up. Turning back around, his glare became lethal, "Why don't you give me a try."

The walk to the chiefs office was short, Jonathan walking close by Nancy for the entirety of it, Scarlett walking beside Joyce, who seemed quite scatter brained as she shook nervously.

Taking a seat in Hopper's office, Jonathan hesitated before pulling out the enlarged picture of the Demogorgon, displaying it and passing it around. Hopper held the picture in his hands, staring at it with furrowed brows. "You say blood draws this thing?"

"We don't know." Nancy stuttered.

"It's just a theory." Jonathan looked down at his hands, where they had been previously handcuffed. It was a good theory, they had seen it feeding on the bleeding deer.

"And.. it also makes gates wherever it goes." Scarlett mumbled just loud enough for them to hear. Everyone shared knowing looks before Joyce pulled Jonathan into the hallway. Just moments later, Hopper had left to deal with some screaming mother and her child, leaving the two girls sitting across the room from each other, sulking and avoiding eye contact.

Nancy turned to Scarlett with a sad sigh, standing up in front of her, "Scarlett. I'm so sorry." Scarlett let the girl continue. "What I did.. It was horrible of me to do. I should've told you, I was just selfish and inconsiderate. And I took far too long to apologize, and it's weighed on me ever since I left you in that- that world. I knew you would be smart enough to escape, but it was so wrong of me to just not talk to you, or tell you what I was going to do. My idea was so wrong and terrible and I can't imagine what it did to you. You don't ever have to accept this apology, but I just want you to know how sorry I am and how much I miss my best friend." And the tears that Nancy Wheeler held back fell.

Scarlett let a few tears fall as well, as she got up and embraced the girl, letting a sob out into her shoulder. "I don't hold grudges. And I'm a very forgiving person. But I'm never forgetting about this, you owe me a milkshake." The girl's words were muffled as she spoke into Nancy's shoulder. Nancy was aware she wouldn't forgive her, maybe not right away. And although Scarlett didn't hold grudges, that didn't mean she had to accept Nancy's apology. What the girl did to Scarlett that night was unforgivable and of course, unforgettable. The tower of trust the two had built with each other for the past ten years they'd been friends had been broken down, crumbling into just ruins. It would take a while for Nancy to regain even an ounce of trust from Scarlett, and maybe Scarlett would never trust her again. But hell, it was worth a damn try. But for now, Scarlett enjoyed being civil with Nancy, and the hug was a nice touch.

"Anything." Nancy and Scarlett's laughter escaped through their sobs, causing them to laugh even more. And when the door swung open to reveal Jonathan, they didn't jump away from their hug right away, instead holding each other tighter until the boy told them that they had to leave.

Wiping their tears, they rushed outside after Jonathan, who seemed very insistent on leaving the station. "Get in the car!" Hopper yelled from the drivers seat. The girls quickly nodded, squishing in the back with Jonathan. They had no clue where Hopper was taking them, all they knew was it seemed extremely urgent.

The chief didn't waste a second before whipping out of the station parking lot, and driving up a nearby road. The ride was short, because they stopped on the top of a hill. A hill that lurked over Nancy and Scarlett's neighborhood. "What are we doing here?" Scarlett asked, visibly confused.

Hopper shushed her as he stepped out of the car, observing the Wheeler's household through a pair of binoculars. Nancy caught on to what he was doing and lept out of the car, "I have to go home."

"No you can't." Hopper simply stated, still watching through the binoculars.

"My mom... my dad are there!"

"They're gonna be okay." Hopper tore himself away from the binoculars, but still stared at the house. Nancy shook her head and began walking away from the car, and Hopper chased and grabbed her, "Hey, hey, hey, hey!"

"Let go." She struggled against his grip, glaring at him. "Let go!"

"Hey! Listen to me. Listen to me! The last thing in the world we need is them knowing you're mixed up in all this." Hopper pointed to the house, or to the people infiltrating it.

"Mike.. is over there!" Nancy cried.

"They haven't found him, clearly." Scarlett poked her head out the window, nodding to the sky where a helicopter whizzed by.

"Not yet at least." Hopper watched the helicopter as it flew by.

"For Mike?" Nancy said in disbelief before she was practically dragged back into the car.

When they all were sat back in the car, Joyce and Hopper turned around in their seats, facing the three teens staring at them anxiously. "Look, we need to find them before they do. Do you have any idea where he might have gone." Hopper asked, then turning to Scarlett, "Or Lucas, any idea where he went?"

"No, I don't." Nancy answered.

"I need you to think."

"I don't know! We haven't talked a lot. I mean lately..." Nancy sighed. She wished she could help, but turned to Scarlett for support.

"I- I don't know. Mike and Lucas had a really big argument this morning, and Lucas stormed out of the house without them. I don't even know if they're together right now but hell, I hope they are." Scarlett rambled on, dropping every piece of information she had.

"Is there any place that your- your parents or relatives don't know about that they might be?" Joyce stressed to the two girls, flailing her hand around.

"I don't know!" The two girls answered in unison.

Jonathan, who had been oddly quiet finally spoke up, "I might." Everyone in the car exchanged glances. "I don't know where they are, but I think I know how to ask them." And with that piece of information, they were off to the Byers household.

Hopper had barely put the car in park before all four passengers got out, rushing to the front door and swinging it open. They needed to move quickly if they wanted to keep the kids safe. Nancy stopped in the living room, taking a moment to stare at the lights that were strung all across the ceiling and walls, "Whoa.

Scarlett pulled her arm, "I know, cool right? But we gotta get moving and get this walkie-talkie thing." Jonathan was already tearing through Will's room when everyone arrived, and he urged them to search as well.

"I got it!" Joyce called from under the bed, sliding out with the device in her hand and holding it up triumphantly. They all cheered before Jonathan grabbed it from her, playing with the dials on it.

"Try this." Scarlett gently took the walkie-talkie, turning the dials and flipping the channel switch, handing it back to him.

"Our best bet on reaching Mike is Nancy, I mean.. she's his sister." Jonathan stated, handing Nancy the device as they filed out into the living room. "Give it a go."

"Mike, are you there? Mike? Mike it's me, Nancy. Mike, are you there? Answer." Nancy spoke into the walkie-talkie, receiving no response.

"Mike, we need you to answer. This is an emergency, Mike. Do you copy?"

No response.

"Mike, do you copy?" Nancy cried, beginning to grow frustrated.

"Let me try." Scarlett shrugged, reaching out for the walkie-talkie. Once she got it in her hands, she held down the button, "Hey Mike, it's Scarlett. Do you copy?"

"I copy. Over."

Scarlett let out a laugh, along with everyone else. "How did you.." Jonathan started.

"It's a secret." Scarlett grinned, drawing her attention back to the device in her hands. "Good, now listen. I'm with Hopper, Joyce, Jonathan and Nancy, and they all know about El. And don't stop responding now because I know you're there. Over"

"How do they know about El? Also Lucas says hi. Over."

"Eh, I don't really know. That's a question for another time. But for now, wherever you guys are we can help you. Protect you. We just need to know where you are. And hi, Lucas. Over." Scarlett sighed, staring at Hopper while hoping his plan would work out. The silence had them in the edge of their seats as they anxiously waited for Mike to respond.

"The junkyard with the old school bus."

"Okay, help is on the way. Over and out." Scarlett nodded vigorously, pushing the antenna in and placing the walkie-talkie back on the shelf. Hopper nodded to them, putting his hat back on his head and hustling out out the house, on his way to go rescue the kids.

Scarlett, Jonathan, Nancy and Joyce sat on the couch for hours, staring at the window as they watched it get darker and darker outside. When headlights flooded the house, their expressions lifted up as they ran outside, greeted by four kids. Scarlett immediately rushed up to Lucas, enveloping him in a tight hug to which he returned without hesitation. "Glad to see you and Mike made up." She whispered into his hair with a laugh.

"Glad to see you and Nancy made up." He replied back, laughing along.

"That's a bold assumption. I'm only here for Jonathan." She said with a straight face, pulling away and staring at the boy who had a puzzled expression. "I'm just kidding."

"You would never believe what happened at the junkyard." Lucas exclaimed, looking up at his cousin.

"Oh try me." Scarlett laughed, slinging an arm over his shoulder.

"Is that my dress?" Nancy called out, pointing at Eleven who looked scared, and confused. Mostly confused.

"Yes. Now, we have a lot to explain." Mike told her, grabbing her arm and dragging her inside, everyone else following behind them and taking a seat. Mike grabbed a pen and paper, drawing a small picture of a tightrope, flea and acrobat. "Okay, so. In this example, we're the acrobat. Will, Barbara, Scarlett and that monster, they're this flea." He moved his pen to below the tightrope. "And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding. Mr. Clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip in time and space."

"A gate." Scarlett blurted, causing everyone in the room to stare at her in silence. She laughed nervously, sinking back into the couch.

"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab." Lucas finished for his cousin.

"With our compasses." Dustin added. Everyone looked around the room in confusion. Dustin sighed, "Okay so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field and that can change the direction of a compass needle."

"Is this gate underground?" Hopper questioned in a monotone voice.

"Yes." Eleven replied timidly.

"Near a large water tank?"

"Yes."

"H-How'd you know all that?" Dustin stuttered, not quite putting two and two together.

"He's seen it." Mike realized, looking from his hands to Hopper.

"Is there any way that you could.. that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this-" Joyce pushed out, struggling against tears.

"The Upside Down." El said with a nod.

"-Down. Yeah."

"And my friend, Barbara. Can you find her, too?" Nancy asked Eleven hopefully, leaning forward in her seat.

The corner of Eleven's mouth turned up on a smile, causing Nancy to clap her hands together in relief. "What do you need?" She wanted to get Eleven whatever she needed, because she needed to find Barb.

"Picture. And that." El pointed to the walkie-talkie on the shelf, Scarlett immediately grabbing it because she was nearest. Nancy rummaged through her bag, pulling out a picture of Barb, "Got it."

They set Eleven up at the head on the dining table, turning the device on so only the static was heard. They put the two pictures in front of her, one of Barb and one of Will. El sat in silence, everyone surrounded her, anxiously waiting for her to say anything at all.

Everyone but El snapped their heads up to the light as they watched it flicker rapidly. Eleven's eyes blinked open, and she was visibly upset as her bottom lip was trembling. "I'm sorry." She apologized to Joyce and Nancy.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Joyce stuttered, holding onto Hopper's hand and expecting the worst.

"I can't find them." Eleven's voice broke, and she excused herself to the bathroom. Everyone at the table shared glances of sympathy and slight disappointment.

"Listen guys, whenever she uses her powers, she gets weak." Mike began.

"The more energy she uses the more tired she gets." Dustin continued off Mike's statement.

"Like, when she flipped the van from earlier." Lucas jabbed a finger on the table.

"She flipped a van?" Scarlett exclaimed, amazed by what she had learned the girl could do with just her mind. "That's pretty badass."

"Yeah, it was awesome." Dustin grinned at Scarlett, then at the rest of the table.

"But she's drained."

"Like a bad battery."

"Well.. H-how do we make her better?" Joyce asked, using excessive hand motions in an attempt to explain herself better.

"We don't." Mike sighed, "We just have to wait and try again."

"Well, how long?" Nancy was annoyed, she was impatient when it came to this type of stuff. Barb was in danger, and that was the only thing on her mind.

"I don't know."

"The bath." A voice spoke out from the hallway, causing everyone to turn in the direction of it. Eleven stood in the darkness, "I can find them. In the bath."

✄ - - - -

"Uh huh, yeah Mr. Clarke. Yep, all right. Yeah we'll be careful." Dustin continued to talk on the phone as he wrote a list down on the paper in front of him. "Yeah, I'll see you on Monday. I'll see you on Monday, Mr. Clarke! Bye." He hung up and turned to Joyce while pointing his pencil at her, "Do you still have that kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?"

"I think so. Yeah."

"Good. Then we just need salt. Lots of it." Dustin placed a check mark next to one of the two items on his list.

"How much is 'lots'?" Hopper questioned, staring at Dustin.

Dustin scanned his sheet for the necessary information, "Fifteen hundred pounds."

"Well, where are we gonna get that much salt?" Nancy shook her head, barely even believing this would be possible.

"The ocean or something? I don't know." Scarlett rolled her eyes, blowing a bubble with the gum she had been chewing.

"I think I might know where." Hopper stood up, "Follow me." He dashed out of the house, getting in his car after shoving the kiddie pool in the trunk. Everyone split up between Jonathan and Hopper's cars, Jonathan trailing behind Hopper on the road, following him without really knowing where they'd end up.

They pulled into the Hawkins Middle School parking lot, working quickly by filing out out of the cars as soon as they parked and into the school.

They split up into teams of two and three, each with different goals. Jonathan and Hopper would acquire the salt, Mike and Nancy would get the hoses, Dustin, Lucas and Scarlett would set up the pool in the gym, and Joyce and El would make the eye covering.

Dustin slowly rolled the pool into the gym, "This damn thing is heavy." He grunted, causing Scarlett to send him a disappointed look.

"You guys are impossible. What happened to big and strong Lucas and Dustin?" She laughed, picking the pool up to her chest.

"I'm still growing, okay!" Dustin defended himself. She shook her head with a grin, untying the rope that held the pool together, keeping it wrapped.

The opened it up, confused where the walls were. Lucas gasped, "It's upside down. We gotta flip it over."

"Okay, spread it out." Scarlett instructed. They did exactly that, but the walls continued to collapse inwards.

"Okay um.. How does this even work?" Dustin groaned.

"Each of us grab a side and pull up." Lucas told them, explaining the directions throughly. They nodded and tried again, failing once again.

"Son of a bitch!"

"Kiddie pools are not my area of expertise." Scarlett placed a hand on her forehead, letting an exasperated sigh escape her lips. "Okay, try again. Try again." She twirled her finger in a circle, grabbing her side again.

"Pull it back, pull it back." Lucas told them, "One, two, three!" They pulled it back, and once again, it flopped over.

"Okay, instead of waving it around like a bunch of damn maniacs, let's try a different approach." Scarlett stopped the two boys.

Scarlett's approach of laying it on the floor and gently straightening out the sides worked, and they got the pool to stand just in time for Hopper and Jonathan to walk through the door with fifteen hundred pounds of salt. She cheered, high giving Dustin and Lucas with a wide grin on her face.

Everyone else slowly filed into the gym with their assigned items, immediately getting to work. Mike attached the hose and ran it out to the pool, Nancy controlled the water flow, and Lucas kept track of the temperature. Scarlett, Jonathan and Hopper were on salt duty, and Dustin and Mike checked the density of the water with an egg. Once the egg successfully stayed afloat, Mike set up the static noise through his walkie-talkie.

Now, it was Eleven's part of the plan. She took off her socks, returned Mike's watch and put on the goggles. She stood for a moment, mentally preparing herself for what was about to happen. Joyce and Hopper led her into the pool, which she laid and began floating in.

As soon as she was afloat, the electricity surged and the power went out. Everyone observed the outage for a moment, then directed their attention back to El, anxiously waiting for results.

Scarlett didn't know what was going on in El's head right now, but all she knew was that El was putting herself in potential danger to help them.

El drew a short breath, "Barbara?" Nancy immediately looked up at El in hopefulness. Eleven saw Barbara.

Suddenly, El's breathing got heavier and the electricity began pulsating, flashing on and off. Nancy gasped, "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" Mike answered truthfully.

"She's hyperventilating." Scarlett exclaimed, reaching for El's hand, but she calmed down.

"Is Barb okay? Is she okay?" Nancy asked while leaning over the pool, grabbing onto the wall.

"Gone. Gone, gone, gone, gone. Gone." El repeated, hinting that Barb was gone, dead. Nancy let out a choked sob, Jonathan beginning to comfort her.

Scarlett placed a hand over her own mouth in an effort to stop any indication of sadness in case it stressed El out even more. Both Scarlett and Joyce sat with El, comforting her and letting her know they're here for her.

"Castle Byers." El said suddenly, everyone's breath hitched as they waited in anticipation for what El would say next. "Will?"

Joyce gasped, reaching out for Eleven and more answers. Everyone's eyes widened, observing El. Scarlett swallowed the lump in her throat as she tried to hope for the best.

"You tell him.. tell him I'm coming. Mom is coming." Joyce's voice broke as she bit back tears.

"Hurry." Will's weak voice was faintly heard through the static of the walkie-talkie, confirming that he was there, alive.

"Okay. You tell him to stay where he is- we're coming. We're coming, okay honey?" Joyce struggled to speak, trying to form sentences but yet feeling so overwhelmed.

Eleven jolted out of her trancelike state, ripping off the goggles as she heaved. Joyce wrapped her arms around the girl, comforting her with tears rolling down her cheeks. "It's okay, I've got you. I've got you."

✄ - - - -

3779 words

second to last chapter of season one 😜 (well besides a little bonus for u guys😄)
my question for you guys is, do you like each chapter as a entire episode or should i split it up more and make more chapters for seasons 2+