╭ ╮
━━━━  " 📂 "

𝙋 𝘼 𝙍 𝘼 𝘿 𝙄 𝙎 𝙀

╰ ╯

"WE HAVE TO GO BACK." Sadie was the first to speak, the cold of the night creating a ripple of goosebumps on the back of her neck. They hadn't moved for quite some time, stood in silence on the streetlamp that had crackled fifteen minutes before. They had finally come to accept that it was over, that they had killed the Demogorgon - or just severely injured it - and they were safe.

"What? Where?" Nancy asked, eyes turning to face Sadie.

"The school. Dustin, Eleven... Mike and Lucas. They're all there." Sadie swallowed, fingers knitted together. She hadn't been able to think about it since leaving without letting the nerves overwhelm her and thus obstruct her focus on avenging Barb's death. "We have to go to the school - they're alone, without Mrs Byers or Chief Hopper. And we know that Dr. Brenner is after Eleven and could find her any minute. We have to go back."

"Sorry - how is Chief Hopper involved in this?" Steve asked, turning towards her. The bat in his hand now swung in his hands. "Sorry." He muttered, when it came a little too close to Jonathan's ankle.

"I can explain, if you're willing to drive me there." Sadie offered. "No offence, Jonathan - but he owns a BMW and I think I'll be able to explain everything better. I did hide Eleven in the Wheelers' basement for several days." It seemed she had recovered in the small space of time given for her to think, her wit and sarcasm clearly not damaged during the attack. "Nance, is that okay with you?"

She was the only one acting normal, Nancy surprised to hear the return of the nickname and the friendliness return. The gap that had been produced during her wish to find out what had happened to Barb and Sadie being way too preoccupied with the fact Mike Wheeler was harbouring an escapee from Hawkins Lab.

"Yeah, it's fine." They were all tired, but Nancy couldn't deny the sparking thought that was the importance of one of her friends getting along with her boyfriend. Both Sadie and Barb had been completely disapproving before and up to Tuesday of that week, and Sadie seemed to be the same all up until he offered to look for her necklace. The Steve Harrington who was friends with Tommy H and Carol Perkins wouldn't do that. But the Steve Harrington who came to invite Nancy to a movie and try to make things right with her and simultaneously spark up a conversation with her best friend and not say anything horrible about how she was well-loved by her brother and his friends and spent time with them - well he was someone who Sadie could be friends with.

And if Barb didn't have the chance to meet the Steve that Nancy needed Sadie to get that chance. And what better way than to have her explain the most confusing situation they had ever been in.

She knew she would do a good job of it, put in the most interesting and important points and in an orderly fashion, with facts in there that neither her nor Jonathan would know, given that Sadie had spent several days with Eleven and they hadn't even known of her existence.

"Good - okay - yeah, er, do you need to get any stuff?" Steve glanced back into the house, watching as Sadie shook her head. "It's okay if I keep this bat, right Jonathan?"

"Can't imagine when I'd ever need it." Jonathan waved him off, watching as he and Sadie made their way towards the BMW. "And Sadie - just because his is a BMW doesn't mean it's half as reliable as my Ford."

"Please, it'll be smooth sailing all the way back to school. I went to Indianapolis with you and it felt like I was... I don't even know." Sadie grinned as she pulled the door open and slipped into the passenger seat as Steve also got in.

"Are you sure you're okay, lungs and all?" He checked, glancing over as he pushed the keys into the ignition.

"Yeah... well my lungs are fine. I feel like crying and sleeping for like a month. The only thing stopping me is the fact I need to get to Dustin, Eleven and the boys and hope that Hopper and Mrs Byers get Will back alive." Sadie fiddled with her fingers, nails dipping into her thigh.

"Well.." Steve looked slightly awkward. "If at any point during your story you feel like you need to... I won't judge. God knows I've done enough of that in the past couple years."

"You're finally coming self-aware! Oh, I'm so proud." The sarcasm dropped from her tone as she smiled, and Steve glanced over at her for just a little too long and almost swerved off the track away from the house. "But I can hold it in for a bit. How am I supposed to tell you what's been going on behind closed doors for the past well if I'm a blubbering mess, huh?"

"As for becoming self-aware, I've come to see the error in my ways." Steve swallowed. "And I'll get him a new camera at some point. I promise. But go ahead, tell me everything I need to know."

Sadie nodded, reaching forward and turning down the music. "I'll try and keep to a timeline.. so I'll start with MKUltra. It began in 1953, the US Government paid people so that they could experiment with attempting mind control. Eleven is the same age as the boys so.. I'm guessing her mom Terry became involved a couple years before.. so 1969 she became involved with the Hawkins Lab and Dr. Brenner and the experiments. 1971, Eleven was born and considering all the effects of LSD on a pregnancy.. I'm not surprised that the lab took away a healthy baby."

"So Terry - pregnant with Eleven and got her baby taken away?" Steve repeated, leaning forward and looking each way before pulling out onto the main road.

"Mhm. So.. Terry knew that her baby was born and became to make it public.. I've got newspaper clippings if you wanna see.. but Dr. Brenner wasn't planning on giving up a baby who could have powers. And so.. from what I've heard from Joyce and Hopper - they fried her mind so she couldn't spread the news. By 1973, the experiment came to a stop and in 1975 it was made public."

And with the beginning of her timeline solidified, Sadie continued to tell Steve everything else, everything that happened over the course of the past few days and what was theorised to where Will was, what the Demogorgon was and what the Upside Down was. She gently - and rather tactfully - informed him about Barb and felt awful about the look of guilt that had sparked on his face. It seemed to get even worse when he remembered her telling him how the monster was very much attracted to blood.

"Holy shit." Sadie muttered to herself, interrupting her story as they passed the high school and saw the flash of red and blue lights. "But - um - we were here about an hour and a half ago, and Eleven used her powers and the kiddie pool which we made into a sensory deprivation tank to find Barb and confirm Will was alive. And then Hopper and Mrs Byers went to retrieve Will and we left to kill the Demogorgon. You know what happened from there. And now..." Her eyes landed on a firetruck. "Well.." She gestured helplessly in front of them as Steve brought his car to a stop.

"I thought you left a bunch of twelve-year-olds here." Steve wrinkled his nose in confusion. "How can they - what did they do?" They pushed open the doors on either side of them open simultaneously.

"One of them has powers, god knows." Sadie pushed the door closed, eyes scanning the perimeter. "As long as none of them are dead, I don't care. Oh - Dustin!"

In a split second she had disappeared from the car, Steve following behind as they headed towards the ambulance her eyes had landed on. Several questions arose as she made her way there - why were there so many emergency service vehicles? Where did all the other cars from? Why the hell was it only Dustin, Mike and Lucas sat on the edge of the ambulance and why did that car have a sticker for Hawkins Lab on?

"Oh, God." Sadie came to a stop in front of the ambulance, suddenly submerged in looks of relief from three pre-teen boys as they hugged her, a variety of pointed chins locking on her shoulders. Her arms barely stretched around them all, but she didn't mind the slight ache that came from it, pulling away with confusion written plainly across her features. Her gaze scanned the line of faces. "What happened? Why are there tears? And about a hundred other vehicles that definitely weren't here when we left?"

"Where the hell did you go?" Dustin, despite his many claims since turning twelve that he didn't really need his older sister to look after them that much, looked more at ease than any of the others as he hugged her again. "Mom - she's supposed to be on her way but-"

"It doesn't matter now." Sadie patted his shoulder. "You're all alive and fine but -" she swallowed "- but where's Eleven? What happened?"

There was a sideways glance at the paramedic, who looked confused at the mention of Eleven but seemed to get the hint that she was needed elsewhere and moved away, and Sadie looked back towards them. Instinctively, she went to wipe away the glint of a sole tear that spilt from Mike's eyes. Her expression softened, became a little more relaxed - now wasn't the time for overbearing concern.

"She's - er - gone." Lucas was the first to say something, Mike seemingly unable and Dustin slotting into the side of his sister to try and hide his upset. "People from the lab found out where we were.. she used up all her power killing this woman and a load of government guys.. Dr. Brenner came, but all the blood-"

"Attracted the Demogorgon." Sadie blinked. It seemed that their attack had only weakened the monster.

"Yeah.. and then it killed Brenner and then.. Eleven killed it. And disappeared with it." Lucas came to an end, not liking how tears formed in the corner of Sadie's eyes. "We tried but.."

"I know you all did - I know. And when Will gets back I swear I'm gonna treat you all to something. It's been a hard week but you all did.. so well." There was a loud thumping in Sadie's ears, the feeling of bile rising in her throat, a twinge in the general area of her heart. There was nothing that could triumph the relief knowing all three of the boys were alright, but the overwhelming sense of losing someone else... it would linger for a while.

Without thinking, she reached to envelope the boys in another hug, and it was then that she felt Mike sit back first. "Is that Steve Harrington?" He exclaimed, angular face turning pointed and confused. "The douchebag that's been dating my sister? The hell is he doing here?" Steve waved his hand in acknowledgement.

"Don't tell me-" Dustin's eyes flashed between them. "No?"

"Definitely not. Nancy and Jonathan are on their way, but I suppose I should really tell you now, take your mind off of things." Sadie beckoned Steve over. "Scoot over." She ordered, pulling herself up to sit between the three boys, Dustin on one side with Mike and Lucas on the other. "Really, Steve's the hero of the hour - without him, you wouldn't have a sister anymore, buddy, so turn that frown upside down."

"Where did all the cliches come from?" Steve rose his eyebrows jokingly, eyes flitting between each boy. "I'm not the most popular right now, huh? Is this about me trying to climb up into Nancy's-"

"No!"

"Woah there - let's all calm down." Sadie grinned. "When me, Nancy and Jonathan left, we went to kill the Demogorgon. We got all their weapons back that the police had confiscated and then went to Will's house, set up the traps, they slit their palms and attracted the Demogorgon there. Steve happened to find his moral compass was directing north towards the house, so he appeared almost out of nowhere to apologise to Jonathan and Nancy for the fight earlier and two minutes after he arrived so did the Demogorgon."

"He saw it, I explained it, he left once me and Nancy told him there was really no point in him being there. And then the Demogorgon arrived, almost squished my lungs and killed me only for my saviour to be him - thanks, by the way." She glanced over at him again.

"Really, no big deal." Steve waved it off in the joking manner that had remained even after his introduction to the world of insanity in which they had lived for the last few days.

"Then.. we set the Demogorgon on fire. It disappeared once we had put the fire out.. but from the sounds of it, we didn't kill it. But we did harm it.. and it came here and Eleven killed it." Sadie shrugged. "Um.. how many of those government people died."

"Quite a few." Dustin glanced around at the ambulances. "Do we know - oh, Mom!"

With that, Sadie and Dustin were squished in a hug that smelt entirely of their home and hairspray, and suddenly there wasn't any more time for questions.

✧

Since then, the night had been a strange combination of secrets, lies and the humour of Steve Harrington, which died out when Sadie discreetly asked for a paramedic to check for any damage from the attack and he solemnly held up a blanket to shield her from the night and held a conversation with her mom to distract her.

Not long after Nancy and Jonathan arrived and assuring everyone that they were fine and had attempted a clean up of the house that wasn't entirely successful (neither had any clue what got rid of carpet burns or damp patches of gasoline), as well as a variety of parents and other considerably important people, Officer Powell - who was stood beside Officer Callahan and was just as confused as everyone else - received notice from Hopper that they were to come to the hospital.

And so, Mr and Mrs Wheeler had agreed to watch the kids and let Mrs Henderson and the Sinclairs - who had another younger child to worry about - go home. Then, once paramedics agreed that everyone was just fine, they had driven Mike and Lucas to the hospital in their car, Nancy and Jonathan joining forces once more and leaving Dustin to question Steve on certain things.

It was rather entertaining really, but by the time the car ride came to a stop, Sadie could almost confirm that Dustin rather appreciated the presence of the other teenage boy and actually rather liked him, after all.

And now, over an hour later and at a time of night that Sadie would usually be either fast or sleep or well on her way with a scattering of books and various entertainment sources on her covers, they were all sat in a tiny waiting room, crowded around a corner in which a door split them off from a hallway various care rooms, squished onto a multitude of seats.

Sadie had nodded off at some point in the hour, always seeming to wake up whenever a nurse came through with news of Will.

Will.

Mrs Byers and Chief Hopper had gone to the lab, as the policeman told them upon taking his seat in the waiting room. They had gone down to the gate, entered through it, and trekked through the dark blue haze of the Upside Down whilst Mike, Eleven, Dustin and Lucas were fending off those who had allowed the adults into the lab and whilst Sadie, Nancy and Jonathan were joining forces with Steve and fighting the Demogorgon, Joyce and Jim had found Will unconscious - barely alive, and saved him,

It was all being kept rather hush-hush for now, with the nurses and doctors working on him sworn to secrecy by the workers in the government lab who had survived the Demogorgon. Somewhere in a private office, there was a story being made up that ensured it was all kept a secret, a story that hid Barb's death as a disappearance and decorated Will's mystery with a mere case of him getting lost.

They would be told it over and over until they had it memorised, but until then, the only story they knew was what they had discovered, and what they had saved him from.

Nancy and Steve worked silently, the Harrington remaining still and allowing Nancy to busy her mind by mopping up the sheen of dirt and blood on her friend's face, all whilst Steve quietly told her that there wasn't any damage to her chest. She was completely fine - even started spouting more scientific facts to prove it.

But there was a cut reaching up her cheek that none of them had noticed, and whilst it wasn't deep enough for stitches, she would need several reapplications of plasters until it heeled over. They presumed it was from a sharp corner of her necklace and left it at that, Nancy coming back to sit beside Jonathan as he fretted over his brother, whilst her own mourned the loss of his newest friend whilst worrying about his oldest.

The looks on their faces brightened significantly upon the arrival of a nurse, who informed them  that Will was ready and awake for a visit, and for the first time in a while, Steve shifted his dead arm.

"Hey, hey - Henderson." Steve poked her shoulder with his spare hand. "Wake up."

In front of them, the boys rushed out of the door. Sadie's eyes flickered open. "Hm? Oh.. sorry, did I fall asleep?" She asked, stretching her arms out in front of her.

"Not for long." Steve lied, watching as she gave him a look that told him full well that she didn't believe him. Apparently, he had winced a little when he moved his arm. "Fine - a little while... but it's fine, really."

"If you say so." Sadie offered him a smile. "What's.. what's going on?"

"Oh. Will's awake."

She was on her feet in an instant, almost out of the door. She paused, turning back. "Thanks for letting me sleep on you." The Henderson thanked before disappearing after the three younger boys.

Nancy and Jonathan got to their feet. Steve watched as they left, before standing up himself and coming to the doorway. "Nance - hey, Nancy." He called after her, watching as the Wheeler turned back. "Sadie hasn't noticed yet but.. here."

He dug into his pocket, pulling out a slithering mass of metal, holding out on the flat of his palm.

"Oh." Nancy stared down at it, the broken compass face reflecting haphazardly in buzzing lights above them. "I... let's try to get the glass fixed first. Her dad got her it."

"Yeah, okay." Steve nodded. "I'll get it done."

"Thanks, Steve." Nancy smiled before following after her best friend and Jonathan, coming to stop in the doorway of the private room.

Sadie had been lying to herself all night about having never felt such a saturation of various feelings before. But when her eyes actually landed on Will Byers and saw him awake and smiling - that sense of relief must be it. She would never feel a further sense of solace than she did right then.

Mike, Dustin and Lucas were chattering happily, Joyce looking over the group with shining tears in her eyes. Jonathan was midway through a hug, interrupting the group of excited pre-teens. Finally, when they realised that perhaps it wasn't the best idea to crowd him after being such a big deal, their eyes turned to Sadie and Will smiled.

"Will the Wise." The older of the Henderson siblings stepped forward, leaning down and wrapping her arms around him in the tightest hug she could muster without actually harming him. "How dare you start going off on adventures without us."

"Sadie." Will grinned. "They said you helped."

"Eh, a bit." Sadie shrugged. "I'm just their babysitter - sorry, sorry chaperone." She corrected, after a series of coughs behind her. "But if you need a babysitter-"

"I'm twelve." The younger boy looked mildly disgusted, wrinkling his nose.

"And you just survived the Upside Down, so I doubt you need one as well." She replied. "But hey - if you wanna hang out, we can hang out. I'd like to hang out, actually, I've got a book I think you'll like. It's about the Ancient Egyptians.. I can teach you how to read hieroglyphics!"

"Yeah.. yeah, okay." Will looked tired and she took a step back, allowing his best friends to surround him once again.

Now that they had seen him, now that they knew he was truly okay, they knew that the nightmare was over.

✧

Mrs Wheeler knew how to do Christmas Eve right; a glowing Christmas tree in the corner of the living room, some movie playing on TV with songs jingling merrily, a smell of warm gingerbread spreading through the house, and Holly's hands sticky with icing Sadie had helped her make as the shapes of cookie baked.

Dustin was downstairs, Will had been dropped off hours before and had joined Mike and Lucas in playing another campaign. Every so often, there was laughter and shouts as they played. Sadie and Holly had been baking, Steve and Nancy were in the living room, and as the Henderson wiped off the icing that seemed to have gotten everywhere, a hand appeared on her shoulder and she looked to the side to see Mrs Wheeler crouched by them.

"Holly, why don't you and Sadie go into the living room and Mommy will watch the stove, okay?" Karen suggested, taking another wipe and speeding up Sadie's job. She needed to cook dinner for several people that night - Claudia would be coming over in less than an hour, and although she was also bringing several dishes with her, there was always the possibility that Lucas would be staying despite his mom's wishes for him to come home, and when Jonathan came by to pick WIll up, they might decide to  stay as well. It would be hard for Karen to do such a job when Holly was running around, and it was just plain lucky that she had Sadie to distract and look after the child.

Sadie gasped, a playful smile on her face. "Does that sound good, Holly? We'll go into the living room and I think... I think I might have an extra special present in my bag. Come on!" Sadie straightened up, placing the cloth on the side and lifting Holly onto her hip.

"Thanks, sweetie." Mrs Wheeler patted Sadie on the back as they made their way into the living room. They had just passed Nancy going upstairs, and Mr Wheeler nodded in the direction of the two girls. Steve smiled, sat rather comfortably across from the TV.

Sadie put Holly down, taking a seat on the floor with her legs folded beneath her, reaching for her bag hidden below the coffee table. When she pulled the long rectangular box - of course rather neatly wrapped in a glittery pink paper - she found Holly standing in front of her again, her own present in hands.

"What's this, Hol?" Sadie asked, placing her present down and taking the box that Holly was pushing into her hands. The blonde was looking away, thumb in her mouth and swaying on her feet. Her eyes reflected the colourful advert playing on TV. "Holly?"

"Present." The girl seemed almost shy. "For you."

"Really?" Sadie smiled, pulling Holly down onto her lap. Her back rested against the back of the couch, holding up the present. "Well, why don't we open them together?"

She already knew what was inside. She and Mrs Wheeler had organised it weeks before Will had disappeared, planned a small gift exchange between them upon Holly finding a doll she particularly liked. But still, there was an expression of mock surprise over her expression, tucking hair behind her ears as she used her nail to slip under the tape and rip it open.

"Oh wow!" Sadie exclaimed, eyes landing on a long pink box, the plastic face of a Barbie doll staring back at her. "And you've got one too! It's just like yours." She grinned as she watched Holly stare, wide-eyed, at the Barbie doll dressed in a long dress down to her feet, red heart-shaped bodice with a mesh skirt of white dotted with hearts and matching puffy sleeves.

"This is me." Holly shook the box gently from side to side, Sadie already reaching for the top and ripping off the tape in order to open it and extract the doll. "And this is you." Her finger jabbed the box on Sadie's lap, staring at the slightly older Barbie from 1981, a fuzzy pink jumper and dark jeans being her outfit. "And this is you."

"It looks just like me!" Sadie extracted Holly's doll and handed it to her, repeating the step with her own doll and holding it in her hand, thumb rubbing over the back of the fuzzy sweater. "The blonde hair and everything!"

Holly nodded, taking the dolls and looking over Sadie's shoulder and up at Steve whilst waving around the doll. The Harrington didn't look away, too enraptured by the sight of the TV screen, humming along to the Coca Cola advert playing.

"Hey - Steve - would you look at this?" Sadie reached and poked his knee. Finally, he looked down, leaning forward as Holly waved the dolls at him.

"Matching dolls!" Steve had the same look of interest that Sadie had, the brightness growing as he interacted with the younger girl. "Is this one you, Holly?" He pointed to the dress polka-dotted with red hearts. The little girl nodded pigtails bobbing as she handed him the 'Holly' doll. "Oh, thank you.. so we have Holly and Sadie. A very pretty dress, by the way." He stared down at the hearts, gaze flickering to a very excited child.

Sadie grinned. "Aw, Steve Harrington is playing with dolls." She mocked.

"Shut up Sadie."

"I never thought I would see the day, that's all." Sadie shrugged.

"Well, you better believe it." Steve smiled again, tone friendly as he turned towards Holly. "Right?" She nodded, before taking both dolls off and climbing up onto her dad's lap, making the Barbies climb up his arm.

"By the way." Steve interrupted before Sadie could settle back down to watch the TV. "I got you a present."

She frowned, eyebrows furrowing as she turned up towards him. "You got me a present or you and Nancy got me a present?" She asked, watching as he sighed and shook his head. "Either way, thanks.. what is it?"

"Here." Steve rummaged in his pocket, pulling out a small box and opening it, fingers wrapped around a chain. "Your necklace got broken during the whole... so I got the glass replaced and fixed the clasp. It was Nancy's idea."

Sadie stared up at him. "I..." words seemed to fail her. "Thanks, Steve, it means more than you probably know."

"Here, turn around."

She did as he asked, moving her hair to allow him to do the newly-fixed clasp up. Holly came to settle on her lap again, giving her the doll back. "Thanks." The Henderson thanked him, settling down with the younger girl on her lap. In the small amount of time between Holly climbing off and the show coming back on, Mr Wheeler had fallen asleep.

And he wasn't woken by the knock on the door and Jonathan pushing it over. "Hi." He glanced around, watching as Holly waved the doll around.

"Merry Christmas," Sadie called from by the sofa. There was no way she would be able to move to go and speak to him normally, so the slightly raised voice would have to suffice. "You're here for Will, right."

"Right."

"Could you tell Dustin that he can't have any more snacks before dinner?" She asked. "Please? Or else he won't be able to eat anything when Mom and Mrs Wheeler finish with dinner."

"Yeah, sure. Hi Steve." Jonathan nodded, looking somewhat awkwardly over at the boy behind her. There was by no means any bad blood between them now, seeing as he couldn't be blamed for Tommy H and Carol's reactions when they saw them talking in the hallway. Or at least that's what the two boys had agreed to anyway.

"Happy Christmas," Steve replied, watching as Mrs Wheeler took over the conversation and lead him through to the basement stairs.

Sadie turned in her seat. "Does Nancy have the present - the camera, I mean?"

"Yeah - yeah. I got it like a week ago after talking to Bob..."

"Newby."

"Right, Bob Newby. You were right by the way - he did help with which model to get and which store to go to."

"What can I say, he's my go-to guy for like.. anything. He's a genius when it comes to things related to tech." Sadie nodded. "And good - it's good you got it."

"I know it is. I... I feel better about it now."

And when they watched Nancy give Jonathan the presence and they waved goodbye to Will, the end of a very strange period of time came to an end. The camera was the last of it really, the last thing that needed to be properly fixed that could be - because Will wouldn't just be able to forget the attacks in just a matter of weeks, and they had no way of getting Eleven back.

So now, with the problem with the camera remedied and forgiven, it was over. All they had to do was hope for the best.