The night stormed on outside of the Wheeler house as Mike stared at the mysterious girl who was wrapped in his jacket in his basement. She was breathing hard and shivering.

When they had stumbled upon her, he had simply assumed she was lost. Wyatt stood behind Lucas as he stared at the girl.

He felt stumped. The last thing any of them had expected when looking for Will was to find a strange girl in nothing but an oversized shirt.

"Is there a number we can call for your parents?" Mike asked carefully.

"Where's your hair?" Dustin, as usual, had zero tact. "Do you have cancer?"

"Did you run away?" asked Lucas, already suspicious.

"W-why were you in the forest?" Wyatt stutteringly asked.

Mike continued the interrogation as the girl looked between the four of them. "Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"Is that blood?" Lucas reached toward her to remove Mike's jacket in order to view the dark stain on her shirt. Wyatt stepped back for a moment, fearing something would happen.

She drew away in alarm and Mike slapped Lucas' hand down. "Stop it! You're freaking her out!"

Lucas gestured at the strange girl on Mike's basement couch. "She's freaking me out! Hell she's freaking Wyatt out as well!" As Lucas looks over to Wyatt, exclaiming, the boy only gave his friend a small smile as both continue to face the girl.

"Dustin, what about you? Is she freaking you out?"

"I bet she's deaf," suggested Dustin. He clapped his hands loudly in front of the girl and she flinched away, frowning at him. Dustin looked over at Mike and Lucas and stated the obvious, "Not deaf."

"This was getting out of control," said Wyatt

"All right, that's enough, all right?" Mike told his friends. He gestured at the girl with his left hand. "She's just scared and cold."

Wyatt knows she's obviously not a threat and was clearly frightened but something told him that he needed to get out of here and away from her. It just ached at the back of his neck roughly.

He watched Mike spin around and ran over to a laundry basket on top of the dryer. Thank goodness his mom always forgot to bring the clothes up after folding them.

The thunder continued to rumble in the night, making Wyatt nearly flinch on the inside. Mike pulled out the outfit he had worn the day before, a navy blue sweater and khaki pants, which his mom had just laundered that morning.

Monday was always laundry day in the Wheeler household.

He returned to where his friends were staring in bewilderment and held the clothes out to the girl.

"Here," Mike offered. "These are clean. Okay?"

She took them slowly without uttering a word. Then, very strangely, she rubbed her cheek against the fabric of the sweater, making Wyatt along with the others baffled.

But nothing came close to when she put the clothes down next to her on the couch and attempted to remove Mike's jacket and grab the hem of the yellow shirt and-

"NO, NO, NO!" Wyatt shouted, quickly turning around to not look at what he was gonna be seeing.

Everyone else shouted to look away as Mike yelled, jumping forward to grab the girl's hands and prevent her from undressing.

"Jesus! What was she doing?!" Lucas exclaimed.

Dustin and Lucas quickly turned around to face the stairs so as to not catch a potential eyeful, Wyatt following not close behind.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!" exclaimed Dustin with his hands in the air while Lucas muttered in shock.

"See over there?" Mike stammered as he pointed at the bathroom in the corner of the basement. "Th-that's the bathroom. Privacy. Get it?"

Wyatt would've felt a bit uncomfortable about what she was gonna do but judging by the look she had, he could tell she did not get it. A rush of relief passed through him as she grabbed the clothes and ambled slowly over to the restroom anyway with Mike leaving the door just a thin gap away.

As Mike left her there, he signaled the boys to meet him by the stairs. And Wyatt sighed in relief, personally wanting to find any chance at getting out of there and away from the girl. And they definitely needed to discuss the issue before hand.

Dustin proclaimed, "This is mental."

Getting the first word out and Wyatt couldn't agree more, Lucas nodding in agreement too.

"At least she can talk," Mike pointed out.

"Yeah but technically, she said "no" and "yes". Like a toddler," Lucas also pointed out.

"She is odd Mike," Wyatt argued. "She didn't want the door closed and she tried to take her clothes off. Who doesn't like privacy when changing? Especially with a girl?"

"Exactly!" Dustin exclaimed. "Like you weren't standing there when it happened."

"At least he had the decency to try and stop her." Mike pointed out.

"Anyway, the possible outcome is I think she escaped from Pennhurst." Wyatt said, believing in the more simple and more realistic outcome.

"Bet!" Lucas agreed.

"From where?" Mike frowned.

"What the hell was Pennhurst?" Dustin asked.

"You know, the asylum? In Kerley country?" Wyatt explained to him.

"Bet Lucas got family there am I right?" Dustin grinned at Lucas. Wyatt rolled his eyes once more at Dustin's comment as Lucas glared at him.

"Bite me," Lucas snapped back. Mike rolled his eyes harder as his friend continued, "Seriously though, think about it. That would explain her shaved hair and why she's so crazy."

"Why she went like..." Dustin again dramatically threw his arms up as if stripping.

"She's an escapee is the point. She's probably a psycho," Lucas emphasized.

"Like Michael Myers," Dustin flashed a look at him.

"In eyesight, I can believe that." Wyatt nodded.

"Exactly!" Lucas agreed, and Mike rolled his eyes a third time. It was starting to become his signature move. "We should've never brought her here."

"So you just wanted to leave her out in that storm?" Mike asked, angrily.

"Yes! We went out to find Will, not another problem."

"I think we should tell your mom," Dustin added while staring at Mike.

"I second that," voted Lucas.

"I third." Wyatt voted.

"Who's crazy now?" Mike was in utter disbelief. "How is that crazy?"

"'cause we weren't supposed to be out tonight, remember?" Mike stared at Lucas like he was stupid.

"This wasn't rocket science. To be fair." Wyatt pointed out.

"Yeah and besides, if I tell my mom and she tells your mom and your mom and your sister...."

"Oh man," said Dustin, eyes wide.

"...Our houses become Alcatraz," Lucas finished.

"We'll never find Will if we do." Wyatt said.

"Exactly," Mike confirmed before doing the usual and taking command. "All right, here's the plan. She sleeps here tonight."

"What?" Wyatt raised his eyebrow.

"You're letting a girl-" Dustin started but Mike cut him off with his hand.

"Just listen! In the morning, she sneaks around my house, goes to the front door, and rings my doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do. She'll send her back to Pennhurst or wherever she comes from. We'll be totally in the clear. And tomorrow night, we go back out. And this time, we find Will."

"Sounds like a plan I suppose." Wyatt shrugged.

A few minutes later, after they had all agreed, Wyatt, Dustin and Lucas headed out, the three walking up the stairs as Mike got the girl settled down in the fort.

"You really think she's a psycho?" Dustin asked the two boys.

Wyatt shrugged, "It's totally possible."

"Wouldn't want her in my house," Lucas spoke coldly before they proceeded up the stairs.

"Right back at you." Wyatt agreed. "Sides, girls make me anxious."

"What's wrong not interested in boobies?" Dustin teased him.

"No." Wyatt quickly shook his head, lowering down a bit. "I...well...I don't mind liking girls, but it's just feels weird having to talk with them, you know. Especially if I like them."

"That's fine. A lot of kids get nervous around girls." Lucas told him, patting his back. "Besides, you got us. Who needs girls, right?"

Wyatt let out a laugh, "Right."

After the search party failed that night, Hopper and Sidney arrived back at the Byers house. Hopper did the honor by knocking on the door. A few moments of noise stopped for a moment as Joyce then opened the door,

"We've been waiting for six hours," Joyce began to complain as she backed away and let him inside, only to turn to see Sidney and her face grew into a relived smile.

"Sidney!"

Sidney smiled, "Hey there Joyce. Back in town." Joyce quickly jumped into Sidney's arms in an embrace, both giving each other a smile of relief.

Note worth to say that ever since they first arrived at Hawkins, the Jones family were known to be close with the Byers family. It was sorta like a whole family-friend thing. It's how Jesse met her eldest son, Jonathan and how her son, Wyatt met the Party through Will, though mainly Lucas did the work before he did.

Both Sidney and Joyce were known to be pretty close with one another, so it was a seemingly saving grace that Hawkins' wild card was back and on the case, hoping that Sidney would find Will.

However, they were met with bad news,

"Well I don't know what my partner here did to give some upset looks but I can assure you Joyce, we're still searching. And I got everyone around looking all the way to Cartersville." Sidney placed her hand on her shoulder with a concerned look.

"And?"

"Nothing."

She put her hand over her mouth in sorrow, turning to Jonathan who was just as lost for words as she was. "God."

Hopper stood here while Sidney used her hand to rub the back of Joyce, "Flo said you got a phone call?"

"Oh yeah." She pointed to the wall and Sidney turned to watch as Hopper investigated the charred remains of what was once their telephone.

"Storm barbequed this pretty good."

Sidney went up to take a look at the phone while Joyce was in disbelief,

"Storm?"

"Burned marks and fried spots," Sidney frowned, glancing at Hopper. "Bit odd and weird if you ask me."

"What else?" Hopper asked.

"Fair enough, besides, been here numerous times and never once had a storm roast such a phone like a marshmallow." Sidney told him, "So there's definitely something wrong if something unoridinary happens."

"You might have a point on that Jones." Hopper smirked at her before placing the phone back on the wall.

"Can we, like, trace who made the call?" Jonathan stepped up, Sidney turned to look at Joyce son. She obviously knows the boy was willing to try anything. "Contact the-"

"No, it doesn't work like that." Hopper quickly shut him up. "Now, uh, you're sure it was Will? Because Flo said you just heard some breathing."

That was the wrong move, and Sidney knows it. And to prevent Joyce from getting defensive like she would if Wyatt or Jesse was ever put into the position Will was, she stepped up infront of Hopper.

"Hey hey," Sidney glared at him. "Breathing or no breathing, the fact that Joyce here is panicking and the fried marshmallow over there, tells us that something's happening. So we gotta add that to our notes. Might find us some intel on where Will is."

Hopper sighed as Joyce gave her a thankful look. He'd say this was a prank call but Sidney made her point. It's might be better for them to use as evidence despite thinking that he thought the Byers' mom was too emotional.

But at last, he decided to take Sidney's advice and add that to one of their theories on where Will could be as he went on to his next theory,

"You hear from, uh, Lonnie yet?"

Sidney frowned, looking at Hopper with a questionable look. That man already did enough damaged to the Byers' family Why put through more of that by asking about him.

"No." Joyce answered curtly.

"It's been long enough. I'm having him checked out." Hopper put his hat back on his head and quickly made his way out the house.

"Oh, come on. You're wasting your time!" His mom yelled after Hopper. Sidney stopped her midway,

"Nevermind him. He's bit grumpy as usual. Accordingly my son and Will's friends been clustering his brain with Mirkwood."

"That's what he calls his bike." Joyce told her

"I know but it's something that Hop ain't gonna understand. But I will assure you that I'll look into the phone thing when I get a shot. Just right now hang on tight." Sidney gave her an assuring smile, helding Joyce's hopes high.

While something in her stomach told her that she was wrong, she shouldn't give up hope. At least not today.

"Hey, Sidney. Let me come with." Jonathan offered, taking Sidney by surprise.

"What?" Sidney gave him an incredulous stare.

"Let me go with you to Lonnie's if you know, Will's there. It means he ran away and....i-if the cops see him he'll hide. You know he's good at hiding. Let me come with you so that Will can be assured that he's alright."

Sidney frowned, "I'm not sure I'm getting the bigger picture here? Besides I doubt the chief would allow-"

"Mrs. Jones please!" Jonathan begged, "I need to go to Lonnie's with you. In truth, I...you know what Lonnie's like. He hated Will because of him being different than others and his abuse towards mom."

Every blood in her boil remembering Lonnie's mistreatetment towards her friend and her kids, he was lucky all he had was a punch in the face for bullying her son one time.

"If you ask me ma'am, there was no way Will ran away to Lonnie. If he was there, Lonnie took him. And if Lonnie had taken Will-"

"Then I'll kill him," Sidney stated with a serious tone. Will was almost like a second son to her, and she'll be damned before Lonnie put his hands on him or any of the Byers ever again. "Look I still-"

"Mrs. Jones please! Will needs a family member with him and he'll be more able to be found with me with you."

Sidney looked at Jonathan's determined eyes, letting out a sigh as she knows that Jonathan won't stop until she says yes.

"Hopper's gonna kill me for this," Sidney muttered before walking out, motioning Jonathan to follow. Jonathan quickly said goodbye to his mom before grabbing his coat and walking off.

Hopper waited for his partner, only to find her walking outside with Jonathan behind him.

"The hell's he doing here?" Hopper asked, his eyes forward at the teen.

"He's coming with us to Lonnie." Sidney told him, turning and telling him to get in the car, "Kid got some useful sighting that we can use to find Will turns out. Figured we'd need him to show us for proof."

Hopper groaned in annoyance, "What proof does he even give us?"

Sidney only gave him an innocent smile before getting inside the car. Hopper grumbled before getting in as well and driving off.

Jonathan stayed in the car most of the time, Hopper and Sidney decided to check around in the cliffs first before doing anything else. Jonathan was frustrated as first but Sidney convinced them that as soon as they are done looking around the cliffs, they'll go to Lonnie's.

Hopper and Sidney first checked on the other two cops, Callahan and Powell. Two cops who Sidney had a...fond taste of, only different type for each of the two and certainly not a good one for Callahan, whose always had a habit of stepping into personal boundaries. And not in a good way.

Sidney looked over at the edge of the cliff to the water below as Callahan approached her, grinning.

"Whoa, woah there beautiful," Callahan flirted. "Need you alive for the few days there for our future date."

Sidney rolled her eyes, "I didn't really agreed to that you know. Besides, I know what I'm doing. As if I'm stupid enough to jump or fall off a cliff this hight."

Callahan snorted, "Oh I can survive that."

Hopper grunted as Sidney rolled her eyes,

"What? George Burness made the jump. And he was drunk as a skunk. He did it on a $10 bet."

Sidney let out a laugh, "Callahan how gullible are you? George is a fat liar. The water will turn cement from this height and will cursh every bone in your body."

Callahan looked down below and shrugged, "Nah."

Sidney rolled her eyes, reminding herself that Callahan is an idiot...and a creep at that. Then they heard Flo's voice come in the radio.

"Chief, do you copy?"

Sidney watched as Hopper picked up his radio to speak to her, "Yeah, Flo, talk to me."

"Hey, Chief, we got a call from over at Benny's. I think you need to get there right away."

Hopper nods as he dismisses the radio and walks over to Sidney, informing her of the recent news, "You take the kid and go to Lonnie's."

Sidney shakes her head, "If this is about Benny's then I'll come with. Something might've happen that could relate to Will missing. We'll have to take that chance."

Hopper nods as they both walked away from the sight and back to the car.

Sidney stood staring at a table.....well not the table. But more so the body that slumped across the surface of the table. Sidney watched as Hopper walked forward slowly, her face shocked as they recognized the body.

Benny Hammond.

While public restaurants were not Hopper's vibe, he'd only go so in favor for Sidney, who was pretty close with Benny. They sat at the table during their first case being solved together, both realizing how well they were as a team. Then Benny came along and gave them their orders. The three began talking and joking around, then became friends.

So to find Benny's dead body brought a sense of shock and lost to the two's eyes, both glancing towards each other as Hopper looked at the body once more.

His bottom half was seated in a chair at the table, and a gun lay under his right hand. A gunshot wound, with blood spilled, showed on his right temple, and flies swarmed over his body, which made Sideny's stomach hiss at the sight.

If Sidney wasn't mistakened, the amount of flies would state that Benny was dead for two days or three.

With what happened to Will and now Benny, she can officially say that they were in bad luck shit right now.

"Ugh, Jesus!" One of the officers exclaimed, circling the table. He turns to the Chief with crossed arms. "Suicide?"

"Mmm-hmm," the Chief replied vacantly.

Sidney would say yes given to the signs but she took a deep look at the body. In her time with Hopper, she was gifted with the ability to know a person's words, feelings and thoughts.

And nothing about Benny had indicated that he was suicidal. And unlike most who claimed it, she would have known head-on.

"Missing kid. Suicide...you must feel like a big city cop again, huh, Chief?" Callahan said.

"Well, I mostly dealt with strangers back then. Benny was my friend." Hopper looked away, Sidney came close and held him by the hand, giving him a comforting smile.

After the cops left the restaurant, Hopper and Sidney walked back to their cars.

"You okay?" Hopper asked his partner, who had a worried look across her face.

'Yeah, I'm fine Hop." Sidney told him, "Just thinking about how odd all of this happens in a matter of days."

"Now that you mentioned it, it does seem suspicious but,"

"I know you don't think that Benny would ever be suicidal and as two people who knew him more than anyone spreading the cases, he wouldn't be the type of do it, not even here. And judging by the body-"

"Are you suggesting he was murdered?"

"Yeah," Sidney nods. "And most likely I have a feeling the someone was connected to the girl that Flo mentioned, as well as Will missing. Now I'm gonna deal with Loonie and the Byers, you go and look more into Benny's death and about this girl, if we search into both of these, they could give us intel on where to find Will."

Hopper huffed, crossing his arms. "Aren't I the chief?"

Sidney smirked, crossing her arms as well, "And I'm your partner and is dubbed the brains of the investigation. As well as being the reason we might be closer to the bottom of this."

Hopper sighed, "Fine. Look just take care of yourself."

"I'm always alright." Sidney assured him. "Also before I go. One tip of advice."

Hopper turns to her curiously,

"If you want to convince Byers that we're on their side then maybe you should start actually listening to what they say instead of catergizing them."

She knows this sounds crazy but what Hopper was about to do this morning nearly costed them Joyce's trust and make them finding Will much harder than it is. If there's anything she thought her children is to make sure those you want to trust you, feel relieved and included, only then will you get what you're looking for. For the good reasons, that is.

"You seriously not telling me you believe in that craziness?" Hopper forward his eyebrows, "Come on, Sidney?"

"Don't 'Sidney' me," Sidney glanced "You wouldn't believe the mess I've seen and they remind me that I gotta keep open minded for the future." Sidney gave him a smirk, "Maybe you should, too."

Hopper let out a huff and Sidney gave off an annoyed look, "Her kids missing. For crisis sake, show some little class."

Hopper watched as Sidney walked off into her car with Jonathan getting in the passenger seat, watching as his partner drove off.