"Flo, could you call in Jacob Stratford? I wanna ask him a few more questions about his stolen car." Mary Hopper said as she passed by the lady that the girl had known since she were a child — she were her fathers brain sometimes, she supplied him with caffeine and updates on cases.

The elderly woman gave her the thumbs up and Mary offered her a smile as she headed to her fathers office. She slipped inside, managing to not drop any of the heavy binders she had piled in her arms — her father had asked her that morning to sort through some old files since they were trying to clean the station up a bit; Mary would never turn down the opportunity to read up and sort through old cases.

She plopped them onto her fathers desk who was already out on duty. She made her way to his coffee maker which Jim rarely used — he said he preferred Flo's coffee. So Mary tended to use it more than him, supplying herself with enough coffee to get her through school and her 'unofficial-official apprenticeship'.

The girl made her black coffee, tossing in a number of spoonfuls of sugar she didn't count. She were the opposite of her father, he preferred his coffee milky with no sugar. Mary on the other hand liked hers black with as much sugar she could have without giving herself diabetes.

Mary picked up her ceramic cup which had the words 'best daughter' in a cursive font on it and padded to her fathers chair before plopping herself onto it — usually, she sat beside Flo with her half of the desk they shared. But when her father was out on duty, Mary sat alone in his office, enjoying the quiet and comfort the office brought.

The girl tucked a small strand of her recently short cut hair behind her ear which had been tied into a low small ponytail earlier that morning as she picked up the first binder, swinging it open, "Alright, let's find out what you bad boys have in you." She said, picking up her mug with both hands, soaking up the heat and reading handwriting she noticed as her fathers and Powell's — she didn't know Callahan's handwriting since he barely did written work.

The girl was quite content, the sun setting through the window behind her, sending an orange glow through the office giving no reasons to put the light on. The steam from her coffee rose up, keeping her face and hands warm as she intently read the pages, occasionally holding the cup with one hand to turn the page.

She had started with the reports of 1983 and planned on working backwards from there. Jim had wanted any reports from under 75 stored away in the basement instead of clogging up space in the drawers spread throughout the station.

Mary's face softened at the sight of the report she had came across. She was almost shocked it were there, having trying to push the thought of the case coming up soon in the reports — she had just thought there would have been more incidents in 84 before she got to 83.

At the top of the page the date was November 6th, 1983 — the night Will Byers went missing. The report described the incident with the best details they were given, the false ones at least. That after a week, Will was found in the woods, not The Upside Down. Everyone involved in that incident had to sign documents swearing they'd never speak of what happened — all but Corina who was a ghost to Hawkins Lab, having no idea of her return.

The following report were the ones that struck more to home. On November 8th, 1983 Charlie Williams and Barbara Holland went missing. Though, Charlie's case spoke more of a runaway  than Barb's, since he had left a note — however, other scenarios were taken into consideration.

Mary had never saw the report, she didn't have the opportunity until that moment. But it was her fathers handwriting that had wrote that Charlie Williams had left a note before running away from home. Mary sometimes wished that were all that happened, that Charlie grew tired of the small town and left, instead of what he had actually gone through.

And Barb, she hadn't been as lucky as Charlie or Will, she hadn't survived. It was unfair that one of them had to suffer whilst the rest got out — it wasn't fair that Barbara Holland, Hawkins most quiet and kind girl had just died. But, yet again, due to the confidentiality Hawkins Lab demanded, Barbara was written off as a runaway too.

Mary sighed, settling down her now cold half empty coffee as she flicked the pages. From that and onwards, the reports were mostly boring with the occasional robbery or attempted bank heist — the suspects were usually caught or never seen again.

Hours had passed before Florence was barging into the office, almost making Mary spill a fresh cup of coffee down her dungarees and old "Hawkins Girls Baseball Team' top, "Mary," The woman said, slightly out of breath as she had practically jogged to the office, "Gillian Williams just got off the phone — she said that it was urgent that you head over. She said that Charlie was having an episode?"

The woman didn't know what that meant, but the frantic tone of Gillian's voice had made her hurry to give Mary the news. Mary however, knew exactly what it had meant, "Shit." She cursed as she got out of her fathers spinny chair, almost knocking it over.

She left everything the way it was, quickly rushing out of the office, "Thank you, Flo." She said, weaving in and out of the desks in the office as the woman patted along behind her.

"What will I tell Mr Stratford? He was on his way over." Flo said from behind her and Mary stopped, thinking it over — the stolen car was a high priority for the man, since at the time he'd had his wallet, his medication and a watch that had belonged to his grandfather inside it. Mary wanted to put him first, but she just couldn't.

She tapped her foot impatiently as she thought before snapping her fingers, "Tell him something urgent came up on the other side of town — tell him that I'll reschedule to see him tomorrow. If not, my dad will. Or one of the idiots."

"Hey, I heard that!" Callahan yelled over during a mouthful of a cheeseburger but Mary didn't spare him a glance.

"Alright, Mary," Flo said, willing to lie for the girl. Mary rushed in the direction of the door, "Wear a jacket!" The brunette had already been out the door, her arms bare but with Flo's words she had stuck her upper body through the door, reaching over to the coat rack — she grabbed her sweater and then left as Flo chuckled to herself.

When Mary had got in her car, she hadn't waited even a moment for old Patricia White with her dog to cross the road. Instead, she had swerved professionally around the woman, making her let our a startled yelp as her ankle biter began barking loudly at the roaring engine.

Mary drove like a mad woman. She seemed to have lost care for big red stop signs and zebra crossings, just going straight by them, determined to reach Charlie as soon as possible; it wasn't the kind of responsible she should have been, but Charlie needed her.

When she reached the Williams' she didn't bother locking her car door, just jogged up the steps. Gillian had been waiting for her, thus seeing her coming up the steps and the woman had opened the door and Mary walked straight in.

"Where is he? Is he alright?" She demanded, her ponytail had long fallen out and she pulled her hair out of her face as she searched for him.

Mrs Williams gently put her hand on the girl's shoulder, "He had been working at the garage with his father all day. He'd only went to nap for half an hour — he woke up screaming. He was screaming your name, Mary. Just like every other time." The woman explained as she led her upstairs, but Mary didn't need her assistance around the house, she had been there too many times.

"Has he calmed down?"

"Gerard ran him a cold bath — it seemed to do the trick. He's at ease now, but he's still shaken up. He refuses to sleep again." The woman was frowning deeply, beginning to wrinkle with stress before her time — she'd had Charlie at a young age and wasn't very old herself.

They stopped outside his bedroom, in which the door had been shut. Gillian smiled softly at Mary, "Thank you for coming, sweetheart. We'd never want to disturb you, but sometimes it's hard for us, we don't quite know what to do. You calm him down." The woman explained and Mary nodded in understanding.

With a small smile to Gillian, Mary then turned her back, knocking twice on Charlie's door before entering; her boyfriend was hunched over the edges of his bed, his head in his hands, his curtains drawn and room in darkness.

The girl approached slowly, looking at his bare back from not wearing a top and only pyjama bottoms, "Charles," She called over to him softly, "Charlie, hey. It's me." She said as she stopped in front of him, crouching down by his knees and looking up at him though she could barely see in the dark.

Mary didn't speak, instead she waited for him to talk and eventually he did, "I don't know what's real anymore, Mare." His voice had been exasperated and tired, his tone low and filled with defeat.

Mary frowned, leaning on her knees as she reached up, pulling her hands on each side of his face before raising her head a little and pulling Charlie's to her. She kissed his lips sincerely, her mouth was warm against his cold and slightly chapped lips.

She pulled back, stroking his face with her thumbs, "That was real," She whispered, caressing his face as he watched her with vulnerability, his eyes red, "You and me? Mary and Charlie? That's real — this room of yours, those trophies on your cabinet, they're real. Your mom and dad, they're real too — everything you're seeing, hearing, feeling in this moment is real."

Mary tilted her head, "That place? It's gone now, it's just a nightmare. Nothing about it is real, it can't get you anymore, Charlie. You're home and you're safe." She assured him and after a long moment, the boy breathed out heavily and nodded his head.

"How about I stay here tonight?" She suggested, smiling at him, "I'll keep you nice and warm and in the morning I'll drive you to Hawkins Lab, alright? You don't have to do this alone." When Charlie's nightmares of The Upside Down had started, Jim had to inform the men inside the lab — due to the damn forms they had signed and he had to visit twice a month; though, if he had nightmares he were to immediately go to the lab.

Luckily, the people working under Dr Brenner were all gone, either dead or jailed. And so, newer scientists and doctors were brought in to keep the laboratory up and running. Charlie had to frequently visit to make sure his vitals were still alright, as were his brain activity. And the realistic nightmares both Charlie and Will shared — they both had to attend sessions with Dr. Sam Owens, Mary didn't think he were so bad but she still didn't trust him.

After a moment Charlie nodded and the girl clambered in bed with him, pulling the covers over them. Charlie were the little spoon with Mary behind him, her arm wrapped over his waist and her face buried in the crook of his neck where she placed a quick kiss.

She leaned on her elbow, keeping her head up as Charlie lay down and closed his eyes. She held an expression of doubt and worry as she said her last words before going to sleep, "You're going to be okay."

                             ———

      Finally, I'm posting some of this! This book won't have an update schedule like all of my books ( because I lose motivation so fast ) but I'll definitely try not to have the gaps of updating being too long!

      I hope you all enjoy Mary, Charlie and Corina on their journey through season two and I can't wait for you all to read about them this season!

This is just a little teaser, I'll post chapter one later!