El had done it, she managed to do it once again. The pizza van was riding into Hawkins with in the next two days, welcomed with their home destroyed. Jude looked out of the window in worry, Mike leaning on his shoulder as they got closer and closer to the Wheeler house. Corey shook El slightly after she'd been passed out in his lap, letting her know they're here.

Jude opened the car door, seeing Nancy, Robin, and Steve loading things into the car. Jonathan ran to her immediately as Karen did the same to Mike, already started to rant and yell about how he's never leaving the house, not even for college.

"Judith!" Dustin dropped his box, jumping over it as he ran down the hallway. "Holy shit, I was freaking out about you!"

Jude met him half way in a huge hug, gripping him tightly as Dustin hugged him back. "It's good to see you, Lady Killer."

"Yeah." Jude laid his head on his shoulder and inhaled deeply. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"I'm glad you're okay." Dustin pulled back, then hugging El and Will. Corey held into Nancy a moment longer, Jude took a second to give Robin a hug and thank her for protecting the ones here.

"Oh, Jude." Karen grabbed his face with a frown. "I think you need to go see your Dad."

"My Dad?" Jude frowned his eyebrows. Dustin stopped his conversation with the others to look over, Mike walking to stand by Jude's side. "Is he okay?"

"He is." she nodded. "Let me drive you over there."

Gone.

His home, his entire life was gone. Jude stared at his trailer, the way it was torn in half and half way into the ground. Non of his things were saved, all slowly being pulled out by construction workers, but the trailer park was the least of any of their worries. Randell was trying to talk to them as Jude held Winkel, his tears falling into her black hair.

"I'm so sorry, Jude." Mike wrapped an arm around him. "They're gonna get your stuff out. It might just take some time."

"Yeah, but my house is gone." he used Winkel to wipe his tears and keep it together now. "I loved our trailer."

"I know." Mike didn't have the words, he couldn't make this better. He placed a hesitant kiss to his forehead. "We'll figure something out."

"I've been on the phone, we're gonna get some money to get a new place. But, not sure how long it will take to come in." Randell walked over, rubbing the back of Jude's head. "Right now, they're suggesting we go to the shelter."

"The shelter?" Mike asked in disbelief. "And do what? This isn't fair!"

"What's going to happen to all our things?" Corey walked over, knowing a lot of his little belongings were inside too. "Are they even still alive?"

"I'm sure a lot of stuff broke, but they're slowly digging it all out." he answered, rubbing the back of his neck. "We're gonna figure this out, boys. I've got the two of you and Wink, that's all I care about."

"But my books." Jude exhaled. "Yeah, family family, yeah, yeah. But they are my children."

Randel laughed, kissing him on the head. "We'll replace them all."

"Yeah, i'm pretty sure you've hidden half of them in our houses." Mike explained with a nod of his head. "And you always get free books from the store on 11th street."

"That's true, i've got that charm." Jude cracked a minor smile, looking back at the trailer. "Will Corey still live with us?"

"Absolutely." Randel pulled Corey into his side a little more. "We'll rebuild-"

"Baby!" a familiar voice rung in the air, a voice that made El hide in the van just slightly.

Jude let go of his Dad, he hadn't realized the amount of emotions that suddenly hit him as he watched her run across the destroyed trailer park. "Mom!"

"Oh my god." Becky cried as she wrapped him in a tight hug. "When I heard about the trailers, and all those deaths, I just couldn't. I was so scared."

"Mom." Jude held onto her tighter, letting her hold his face like she did when he was little and things were perfect. "I'm so sorry."

It hit him like a ton of brick when he realized he could have lost her in the mix of all of this.

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Becky wipped her eyes as she pulled back to hold his face, giving him a sad smile. "My brave boy."

"Becky, I should have called." Randel walked over to his ex with a sigh. "There's just been so much going on."

"I understand." Becky held his arm with a nod, sniffling. "I'm really glad you're okay, too."

"Yeah, I started to worry about you." he admitted to her, placing his hand on the one that was on his arm. "I think Jude is really gonna need you right now."

"Both of you will." she shook her head. "Jude still had his room back as my house, and the couch is plenty comfortable still. You'll stay with me. End of discussion."

"What about Aunt Terry?" Jude gave a slightly worried look, his eyes shifting toward the van. He wondered if his Mom would even recognize El, but she didn't seem to want to risk it.

"She hasn't moved much. Even when she....what i'm saying is she isn't able to move enough to hurt you. I won't let her. Not this time, I won't loose you again." she held onto his chin with a frown, shaking her head. "God, you look so grown up."

"It's because he kills ladies." Corey cut in, Mike smacked his arm.

Jude looked back. "We're kinda a package deal. Me, Dad, Wink, and Corey."

Becky looked in shock. "I suppose we'll fit another mattress into the room."

"Hey." Mike approached her with a faint smile. "It's nice to see you again."

"Woah, look at you!" Becky gapped as she stared up at him. "You've grown up too. I'm so glad the two of you are still friends."

"Yeah." Jude smiled at Mike slightly. "Mikes the only reason i'm still alive."

Literally.

"We've been calling you." Lucas stood up immediately when the hospital doors opened, hurrying to hug the four boys.

"We came as soon as we heard." Mike hugged him back.

"I'm sorry, Lucas." Jude pulled away with a sympathetic look. Lucas hugged him on his own for a second before moving onto El. Jude let Mikes hand go as he approached Max's limb body in the hospital bed, sighing as he moved a strand of hair off her forehead. "I guess your roots are gonna start showing and prove you're a fake redhead."

Erica had to laugh from the couch. Jude put his hand on Max's. "Come back soon, okay? I need someone to humble me every now and then."

"Do the doctors know when she'll wake?" El looked to Lucas for an explanation.

"No." he exhaled. "She might not."

Jude looked back, Mike stood behind him and placed his hands on his shoulders. Lucas shook his head. "Her heart stopped. For almost a minute. She was dead. And then it just...started up again. The doctors say it's a miracle."

El sat down on the other side of Max, holding her hand. "I'm here, Max. I'm here."

"Hey." Corey peaked his head into El's room. "Can we...talk?"

"Yes." she set the broom down as he walked in. "You okay?"

"Yeah, i'm okay." he cleared his throat. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay." El gave him a half smile. "Corey... i'm sorry for yelling at you."

"No, i'm sorry for lying to you for so long." he walked in and sat next to her. "It made me a bad friend. You're right, friends don't lie. I just didn't know what else to do after they asked me to spy. I was bad."

"What did they promise you?" El shook her head.

"They promised I could live here, in Hawkins." he explained with a shake of his head. "When they sent me here, I didn't really know any better to say no or not. And then, if I got you to the lab, I could be free here. I didn't know all that horrible stuff was gonna happen. I just figured, you know, you'd do your super cool hero stuff and it'd be over."

El cracked a smile and took his hand. "But why did you not tell me before?"

"I was scared you'd all hate me and want me to leave." he admitted honestly. "A traitor."

"No." El shook her head. "Non of it matters now. More important things to worry about. You're still our friend."

"Okay." Corey smiled as he bumped her shoulder. "I'm glad we're still friends."

"Yeah." El grinned his way. "Friends."

Outside, Jude was with Mike as he pulled some of the fallen branches from the porch. "If I see one black caterpillar...i'm running away."

"Running away to where?" Mike asked without realized what he said, his face falling immediately after. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

"Running away to the Atlantic." Jude changed the subject. "Wanna come."

"Sure. But, you know I get sea sick." Mike pointed out as he leaned on the porch and looked up at him. "And scared of sharks."

"Hm, true." Jude inhaled as he leaned on the porch, looking over it to get a look at Mike. "What if we go backpacking in Colorado instead?"

"The sun? On your skin routine you work so hard for?" Mike gave a tilt of his head and cringing face. "You hated sleeping in a van...you really wanna sleep on the ground?"

"No, no. That sounds like a nightmare." Jude inhaled deeply as he thought hard. "Italy and eat a bunch of pasta, then find my grandparents."

"You have grandparents in Italy?" Mike gave a faint laugh. "Why didn't I know this?"

"Great grandparents. If they're still alive, they don't speak any english so I never met them." Jude sat down on the porch step as Mike circled the railing to sit next to him. "Maybe we should learn italian first and get one of those fancy little scooters to ride around on."

"Deal." Mike bumped his shoulder. "How long are we gonna go?"

Jude hummed. "How about...forever?"

"Yup. Sounds good." Mike confirmed, his lips turned up as Jude's did the same. "Jude...if you wanna talk about what happened-"

"I don't." he cut him off with a little head shake. "I'm okay, that's all that matters."

"Yeah, but if Vecna-" he began.

"Doesn't scare me anymore." Jude frowned his eyebrows. "Fuck that guy. Elton John and I will kick his ass for a second time if he comes back."

"You sure you don't want to talk about it?" Mike nodded his head. "Because last time we didn't talk-"

Jude cut him off with a kiss to the lips. When he pulled back, Mikes eyebrows shot up. "Should I talk about your trauma more often?"

"Don't even think about it." Jude smiled slightly as he shoved his shoulder onto Mikes. The sound of cars approaching caught their attention, looking up on sync. "Who the heck is that?"

"You sound like Suzie." Mike gave a snort, watching as Joyce got out of the car. "Oh, it's Ms.Byers."

The other door opened, Jude's entire body was sinking. Hopper. He was staring at Hopper. He was alive, he was right there, getting out of the van. Jude had so much he wanted to say, so much he'd felt guilty for. Hopper didn't replace what he felt for Bob, but he was apart of the sinking feeling in his stomach and heart each day. Before Jude knew what he was doing, he was up on his feet.

"Hey, k-ugh!" Hopper gave a grunt as Jude slammed onto his chest, wrapping his arms around him tightly. "Hey."

"I'm sorry." Jude said it fast. "I'm sorry I volunteered you at the lab. I don't want you to end up like Bob, I didn't mean it."

Truth was, Hopper barely gave two thoughts to that. Hs leaned down on his level some, which usually would make Jude feel small but right now it was a great deal of comfort. "I know what a joke is, kid."

"A joke that got Bob killed." Jude frowned as he shook his head. "Then when I thought you were dead, I felt guilty for it."

"Hey, you didn't kill Bob. Those pycho dogs killed him." Hopper promised Jude with a shake of his head. "We say things we don't always mean, sometimes. And it might come to bite us in the ass, but that doesn't mean you're to blame for it. Someone was gonna have to go weather you said it or not, I want you to know that."

Jude was glad he heard it. It didn't vanish the guilt, but it minimized it. He hugged Hopper again for a good few minutes before pulling back. "You better go see El. She's got no hair again."

Hopper headed into the cabin, leaving Mike and Jude with the Byers and Nancy. Joyce checked on the pair and kissed their foreheads, Nancy found herself doing the same as Mike winced and tried to push her away. Jude put his arm around Wills shoulders and shook him just a little.

"I guess this means we need to start writing fan mail to Elton John and Kate Bush." Nancy admitted after hearing Jude's story, Corey walked out of the cabin and joined the group. "Jude, how'd you even get through it without all your sleep essentials?"

"That's what I wanna know." he shook his head. "My skin was so dry, my eyes had no silk, don't even get me started on my lack of curl definer. That was more terrifying then Vecna, i'd say."

"Yeah, and we heard about it the entire time." Jonathan cracked a smile as Mike put his arm around Jude's shoulders with a head shake of disbelief. "At least he had the baseball bat."

"At least I had her." Jude added in, all their eyes shifting toward the door as El and Hopper walked out. Joyce hugged her immediately as they sat for a moment, Jude smiled at their interaction. He might have been El's blood family, and she'd always see him as her cousin, but Jude knew who her real family was. He knew who her Mom and Dad were, he knew who her brothers were.

"Hey." Mike elbowed him with a little grin. "Guess what?"

"What?" he gave a questionable look.

"Your Moms house is pretty close to mine." Mike gave him a teasing look.

Jude laughed as he shoved Mikes arm. "Shut up."

Corey smiled at the pair before he did a doubt take toward Will, who gripped the back of his neck and shifted his gaze upwards. "Are you okay, Will?"

His question got the others attention, looking over at the younger Byers. Before anyone could question it, flakes began to drop from the sky. They each had a moment of wondering if it had been snowing, but it didn't feel nearly as cold. El and Jude shared an odd look before she drug him by the wrist around the cabin, the others following as Mike gripped onto the back of Jude's shirt.

Staring back at them was their town on fire, burning and greying the way their happy memories shared in Hawkins did the same.

•

kylie speaks

sigh, i'm very sad to let
my boy go. i never understood
why i got so attached to jude,
still don't understand but i am
and it's hard to know i'm not
gonna be writing for a while........ unlessssss

....see you guys for the prolgue
book of mr.Judith in season one, i'll let you know when it's published ;)

i had such a fun time here, with all of you, and with my boy! until next time!