Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana, 2013

“Sarah, go wake up your brother. He's going to be late. Again.” El rushed around the kitchen trying to make lunches. Mike gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, grabbed a slice of toast and dashed out the house, running late for work. El could see where their son got his lateness from.

Sarah came back, shaking her head. “He's not there again. I think he's with Uncle Dustin again. But I need to get to class so he can cycle to school.” She grabbed her rucksack and car keys leaving El alone in the house.

“That boy…” she picked up her phone and called Dustin.

“El! Hey, how's my favourite Wheeler?” Dustin answered after a few rings.

“Is Matthew there? He's late for school... again.”

“Chill, we were working on a new project last night. I think it may work. It's a-”

“Dustin. I love that my son is taking an interest in science but I don't want him missing school.” She leaned on the counter. Her son had been helping his uncle Dustin with his experiments, but he was missing an awful lot of school.

“He’s only 13, too young to be getting caught up in science experiments.” She laughed at how ridiculous that sounded coming from her. “He should be out being a normal kid.”

“You’re kidding right?” Dustin laughed at the other end of the line. “We were never normal kids.”

“That's why I want them to have a normal childhood. The one I never got.”

Dustin sighed. “He was here. But I sent him on his bike about ten minutes ago. Don't worry.”

“Thank you. I'll see you Friday with the boys?” It had become a kind of weekly ritual that they would meet up, the old party. Mike, El, Dustin, Lucas and Will. With jobs and kids it was harder than ever to stay connected, but they made it work. Somehow.

“You got it.”

“Matthew James Wheeler!” El called as soon as he got home that afternoon. Marty froze in the hallway. Uh oh, full name. Yeah, he was in trouble.

“Hey, mom.” He casually leaned against the railing of the stairs. Marty had inherited his father's messy black hair and freckles, but his eyes were identical to El's. He could see the good in people, but he was also quick to temper. He also inherited her wit and quick intelligence. “Looking lovely today. Is that a new shirt? Dad's sure one lucky-”

“Cut the shit Marty, she knows you were out last night.” Sarah came down the stairs smirking. She loved watching him get in trouble.

“Language.” El folded her arms and ajaja rolled her eyes, mumbling a “whatever” under her breath.

“Mom, I don't see what's so wrong with-”

“You're out late doing who knows what. I just worry about you Marty. You're 13. When I was 13 I sure wasn't out there running around getting into trouble.” She'd never told them the truth. Never told them the secrets of her childhood. Mike and El had decided they wanted their kids to have a normal life, so no powers - unless absolutely necessary - and no talk of the bad men. It wouldn't help anyone to just relive it all.

“I get it!” He shouted back. “I get it! At 13 you and dad were perfectly in love, getting good grades and shit. I'm just a huge disappointment. I get it.” He stormed off up the stairs, he certainly did inherit his parents’ bad tempers.

“Matthew!” El called after him. “Marty?” But he didn't listen. She collapsed on the couch, waiting for Mike to come home.

“El?” Mike got home about 10 minutes after their argument. He saw her curled on the couch and instantly ran over, wrapping his arms around her.

“Are you ok?”

“Marty…” she buried her head against his shoulder as Mike loosened his tie. “I just don't know what to do about him. I want him to have fun with Dustin but he can't just ignore school. Maybe it's because I never got the chance to go that I'm so passionate about the kids going. I don't know... I'm a terrible mother.”

“Hey…” Mike hugged her tightly rocking her back and forth like he used to do back in the early days after Hopper allowed him at the cabin. She used to get nightmares about the upside down, about Kali...Brenner. But she would call out to Mike and he would waste no time in cycling over in the dark, banging on the cabin door until Hopper let him inside. “You're the best mom there is. It's hard, they just don't understand. And we can't ask them to. If they knew the truth about how we met, Will, all of it...it would just freak them out.”

“I know... sometimes I just wish we didn't have to hide it anymore.”

He kissed the top of her head. “I know.”

They stayed there for a while, wrapped in each others arms like they used to when they were kids. Mike suddenly grinned and whispered into her ear. “I know what'll make you feel better.”

She lifted her head slightly. “Hm?”

“How about I make you a triple decker Eggo extravaganza?”

“That...that could work.” She mumbled and let him drag her to the kitchen.

Marty paced in his room. He got a text from Dustin telling him to meet at the mall parking lot at 1 am. Marty knew he was in trouble….but Dustin had told him about the experiment he needed to show him. It was an opportunity he couldn't pass up.

Marty grabbed his rucksack and hid his messy curls under the old vintage hat Dustin had given him a few years ago. It was red on the rim and blue and white on the sides. He liked to wear it backwards though, Marty thought it made him look cooler despite his sister's teasing.

He checked his phone. 12:30. That was enough time to find Dustin. He hid a few clothes and pillows under his bed covers to look like his sleeping form should his parents check on him in the night. Carefully, Marty crept out his room, his sister was fast asleep. The stairs creaked beneath his feet and he turned back to check his sister hadn't heard.

Just when Marty thought he was in the clear, he could hear... giggling? His parents were in the kitchen laughing with each other like a pair of twelve year olds. Marty hadn't heard them laugh that much before. His father had a can of whipped cream in his head and Marty watched as he sprayed it at his mother, both shrieking with laughter, covered in whipped cream and bits of Eggo from what looked like a food fight. He almost vomited when his father wiped the cream from his mother's face and kissed her.

“Ew…” he scrunched up his nose, but took the chance that they were distracted to sneak out the front door.

He grabbed his bike and cycled away from his house.

______

The mall parking lot was empty except for some old beat up car and a van labelled: Henderson Industries.

Marty rang his bell as he approached, Dustin poked his head from behind the van and his small dog Dart ran out to meet him.

“Ah! Marty! You made it!” He slammed the door shut, a stopwatch in his hand.

“What's so special that it had to be at 1 am?” Marty lay his bike on the floor and patted Dart’s head. “My parents are going to kill me when they find out. I'm already in enough shit as it is.”

“You didn't have to be here…”

“And miss an experiment?” Marty laughed, “It'll be worth it.”

Dustin felt a weird déjà vu looking at Marty. He sounded and looked so much like Mike did that night they went out at night to find Will, even though they'd been told specially by their parents not too.

“What?” Marty tilted his head. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Dustin shook his head. “Nothing you just...remind me of your dad when we were younger.”

“How? He never did anything like this.”

Dustin sighed, he hated it that they couldn't tell the kids about what really happened. It was sad to hear Mike's kid talk about him like that, only because he didn't know what Mike had really done. If he knew….the kid would certainly think of Mike differently. He'd think of all of them differently.

“You're more like your dad than you know. And I hope one day you'll understand.” Dustin gave him as sad smile. “Right, on with the show. You're going to want to film this, Marty.”

Marty pulled out his phone and began to film Dustin. He tied a stopwatch around the dog's head and opened the door to the car.

“I'm Doctor Dustin Henderson, the time is 12th January, 2013. Are you getting this Marty?”

Marty have him a thumbs up. “Loud and clear Uncle Dustin!”

“This,” Dustin gestured to where Dart was sat. “Is my dog Dart. Notice the stopwatch around his neck? It is exactly in sync to the second with mine.”

Marty zoomed in to capture the stopwatches.

“Now, if my calculations are correct. Dart is about to be the world's first time traveller.”

Marty lowered his phone in awe but Dustin gestured to keep recording.

“Dustin...you mean to tell me this old car is a... time machine?”

Dustin rolled his eyes. “This, “old car” is a DeLorean, aka the coolest car of the 80s.” He genuinely looked insulted. “Seriously? “Old car”? Mike I'm going to have to have words with you about what you're teaching your kids.” He said to himself.

“So you built a time machine out of a DeLorean?”

“Exactly! Are you even listening to me?” Dustin climbed inside the car and waved for Marty to keep filming.

“Flux capacitor. It's what makes time travel possible.” Dustin pointed to a weird component just behind his head. “When this thing reaches 88 mph, it's going to be epic.”

Dustin strapped Dart in to the car and closed the door.

“Dustin, how exactly is a dog going to drive?”

“With a remote control, Marty.”

“You're really sending him into the future?”

Dustin sighed, “Do you hear me when I speak? Or is it all just white noise? Of course I'm sending him to the future! A minute into the future to be exact.”

Dustin drove the car with the remote control up to the farthest point of the car park. He revved the car, Marty began to move away but Dustin pulled him back so they were directly in front of the car.

“I don't know about this…”

“Don't you trust me, Marty?” Dustin flipped a switch and the car began to race towards them. Surely they were going to be hit if they didn't move.

“Dustiiiiin.” Marty looked away as the car quickly approached.

The car started to flash, as if captured by lightning. Just before it hit Marty and Dustin, it disappeared in a flash of blue light leaving behind two streaks of flames, passing right underneath their feet.

Chapter Text

Marty looked around in silence. Dustin's mouth was hung open.

“Dustin?”

“It worked.” He said quietly. “It really worked…”

“Is he going to be ok-”

“88 mph!” Dustin screamed, throwing his hands in the air and jumping up and down. “1.21 gigawatts!”

“Giga- what?”

“That's right Marty! Gigawatts!” Dustin paced, a huge smile on his face. “I can't believe it. I've actually achieved time travel!” He grabbed Marty by the shoulders. “Please tell me you got that on film?”

“My phone's still recording.” Marty held it up.

“Good, because my stopwatch says Dart should be here any second now.”

They watched and sure enough, the blue flash of light returned in the place it had just left. It was icy but the door opened and Dart was perfectly fine.

“Marty,” the boy ran over to Dustin. “Look at his watch. It's exactly a minute behind mine. Therefore the trip was instantaneous for Dart. He doesn't even know it happened!”

Marty had trouble trying to understand it. “It's...you...what?”

“Look,” Dustin pulled him into the car to show him the dashboard and keypad. “This tells you where you were, this tells you you're current destination in time, and this tells you where you're going.”

“Awesome…” Marty whispered.

Dustin explained by typing in different dates in history.

“Here's an important date, 7th November, 1983.”

“What's so special about that day?” Marty looked confused and Dustin instantly regretted it.

“Uh... nothing... nothing of importance. I think it was the day your mom moved to town…” Dustin remembered the story Mike and El had told their kids. How El had moved to town, rather than the truth of her escaping from the lab.

“The day my parents met?” Marty raised an eyebrow.

“Uh... yeah I think so.”

Marty smiled, as much as his parents bugged him, he could admit that the fact they met at 12 amazed him. He didn't know how they could still love each other even after all these years. They still acted as gross and in love as they always have been.

A car screeching was heard in the distance and Dustin shot up.

“Shit.” He whispered. A Hawkins Power and Light van drove around the corner. “Shit. Shit. Shit.”

“What? Dustin? DUSTIN!” Marty leapt out the car.

“How did they find me? I thought they were all gone. I thought we'd stopped them.”

“Stopped who? Dustin what's happening?”

“No time to explain Marty.” Dustin rummaged in the back of his van for a weapon.

“Shit…” Marty stepped back.

The van pulled up and some suspicious men in suits jumped out, holding guns up to Dustin.

“You thought you could pull a stunt like this again?” The men edged towards Dustin, he held his hands up.

“We stopped you once. We'll stop you again.” He spat back at the men.

“No you won't.” They opened fire on Dustin and he collapsed to the floor. Marty screamed.

“Noooo!”

The men turned to Marty and aimed at him. The boy ran taking cover in the first place he could see. The DeLorean.

He'd only ever driven in parking lots with his grandpa Hopper, but Marty knew it was better than his bike.

The men ran into their own van, gaining on Marty. His long legs - he found himself thanking his father - meant he was able to just about reach the gas pedal and see over the dashboard.

He was screaming, remembering why 13 year olds shouldn't be allowed to drive.

“Aaaaah!”

The men began shooting at him. Marty pressed down on the gas pedal with all his might. The car was suddenly captured in a glow of blue light.

Marty screamed and the parking lot was replaced with trees. It had begun raining heavily as the car came to a stop, crashing against a tree.

He climbed out. A few minutes ago there wasn't a cloud in the sky, but suddenly it was as if the heavens had opened and he was absolutely drenched.

Marty checked his phone. No signal. “Shit. Mom is going to kill me.”

He suddenly remembered Dustin and wiped a tear from his eyes. Marty climbed back into the DeLorean, trying to get it moving again. But it wouldn't work.

“Wait…” Marty caught a glimpse of the dashboard that still seemed to display the time.

“No...no.” he tapped it, checking it wasn't messed up. “November 7th...1983.”

He removed his cap. “I can't... I'm back in 1983?”

The storm was heavy now, but he had nowhere to go.

“I'm going to be so late for school.”

Chapter Text

“Come on! Work!” Marty hit the dashboard of the car. “I can't be stuck here!”

He screamed into his hands. “Fine. I'm just going to have to figure this out for myself.”

Marty grabbed his rucksack he'd thankfully thrown into the car before leaving. He got out his phone and was about to use the torch app when he realised he couldn't. If someone saw him who knows what could happen to the future.

He started walking, not entirely sure where he was going. He couldn't exactly go back to his house, it either didn't exist yet, or some other family would be living there. His thoughts were interrupted when he literally bumped into someone.

A boy - or was it a girl? He couldn't tell in the dark - with a shaved head. They blinked at him, looking terrified. Another group of voices could be heard and the kid bolted in the other direction.

A bright light landed upon Marty's face and he squinted. “What?” He couldn't quite make out what was happening.

“It's a kid.” One boy said, he sounded around Marty's age.

“What do we do?” Another said, both turning to look at the boy in the middle who was holding the torch.

“We take him back to my place. He's clearly in trouble.” The boy said.

“Are you serious? Your mom is going to freak.”

“I'm not going to tell my mom, Lucas.”

Lucas? He didn't mean…

“Dustin, tell him he's being crazy.” Lucas said.

Dustin? This was getting weird.

“He's right. We can't just bring a random kid home.”

“Well, I don't care. He looks scared and it's the right thing to do.” The boy in the middle lowered his torch away from Marty's face.

He could finally make out the three boys. They did look awfully familiar.

“We're supposed to be looking for Will.”

The boys were bickering now, but Marty just looked on in confusion.

“And we will. But right now we need to help this kid.”

“Fine. Sometimes, I just don't understand you Mike.”

Mike. No...it wasn't…

“Come on, we'll help you.” The boy addressed Marty. He finally had a good look at his face and Marty's heart dropped. He'd just met his father. And that person in the woods….that wasn't...was that his mother?

He needed a second to register everything. If that was his mother...and this was his father...and she ran away because she bumped into Marty...does that mean…? He just stopped his parents from meeting...

Lies. All these years. His parents met while in the woods in the rain, not at school when she moved here. And why was his mom's head shaved? Marty collapsed on the couch in his grandparents house. He'd been there before, he'd often sit down their with Sarah to play video games whenever they had to go see grandma and grandpa Wheeler.

But it felt so wrong sneaking around like he wasn't supposed to be there. Well...he wasn't supposed to be there.

“Mike, this some of the stupidest shit you've ever done.” Dustin looked at Marty. “Hey... you're hat... it's like mine.”

Marty looked up and whispered “shit”. Of course it looked like his, it was his just from 30 years in the future.

“Do you have a name?” Mike ignored Dustin. “You look... really familiar.” He almost studied Marty’s face.

Lucas squinted his eyes. “Yeah...he, he looks almost identical to you Mike but the eyes are different. And the nose….”

“Weird.” The boys all said and Marty felt self conscious under their gaze.

“I'm Matthew.” Marty spoke and they all jumped to look at him. “But no one calls me that. Everyone usually just calls me Marty.”

“Well, I'm Mike, short for Michael.” Mike held out his hand and Marty shook it. It was all so weird. He was shaking hands with his 12 year old dad…

“I'm Dustin. Just Dustin.”

“Lucas.”

I know, Marty thought. You bought me a race car for my 5th birthday, and Dustin, this is your hat. He just hoped this was some awful dream. He'd wake up and be back in good old 2013.

“Well, you can stay here for tonight Marty.” Mike said but Lucas grabbed his arm and pulled him to the other side of the room.

“Mike, you can't be serious. He was just wondering alone in the woods. His clothes are seriously weird.” Lucas said in hushed tones and Mike glanced back to Marty on the couch.

“His jeans are ripped. He's clearly been running from something and they got torn on something. Or what if he did that himself.” Dustin pointed out. “Why else would you have rips in your clothes? Fashion? No way.”

“I bet he escaped from Pennhurst.” Lucas continued.

“From where?” Mike rolled his eyes.

“The nuthouse in Kerley County.”

“You got a lot of family there?” Dustin grinned.

“Bite me.”

The two boys continued to bicker and Marty played with his hands, desperately wishing he could just use his phone but even if he could, there was no way to even charge it.

“If we tell anyone, we won't be able to find Will. We just need to keep it a secret.” Mike reasoned with his friends.

Marty had never felt so awkward in his life. But all he could really think about was how he was going to get back to the future. The only person who could help him was Dustin….but Dustin was currently only 12 years old.

If he told anyone, he could mess up the space time continuum.

“Whatever. You deal with the weirdo. I gotta get home before my mom kills me.” Lucas said after sending a glare at Marty and running up the basement stairs.

“See ya, Mike.” Dustin tipped his cap and followed after him.

“Hey, uh. Thanks for letting me stay.” Marty tugged at his jacket sleeve.

Mike shrugged, “I couldn't leave you out there. It was raining.”

Marty smiled. His father had always been like this it seemed. He remembered the time his dad brought home a cat he'd found rummaging in the trash. His mother had been slightly hesitant at first but she soon warmed up to it. The cat was probably asleep at home right now curled up on her lap. Marty sighed. Home seemed so far away right now even though he was literally within a few feet of his dad.

“You really do look familiar.” Mike handed Marty some dry clothes. “Are you sure we haven't met? You're not in our class?”

“No I'm uh...from out of town.” Marty smirked, his dad would flip his shit if he knew his son was a time traveller.

“Oh.” Mike took a step back. “Well, my mom can help you-”

“No.” Marty grabbed Mike's arm. “No, you can't tell anyone I'm here.”

Mike’s eyes widened. “Are you in trouble?”

Marty almost laughed, he was definitely in trouble with his parents. “Kind of. But it's not that. I can't tell you. But let's just say if anyone finds out, it could be bad.”

“Well, I promise I won't tell anyone.” Mike smiled and held out his hand to shake.

Marty knew how much promises knew to his dad and accepted his hand shake. For now, no one could know he was here. He didn't want to mess up the space time continuum anymore than he already had. He didn't even know if he'd exist much longer, if he really had interrupted his parents meeting.

“You can stay in this fort.” Mike handed Marty some blankets. “Well, night Marty.”

“Night da- uh I mean. Mike.” Marty grimaced. He'd almost slipped up and called him dad. That would be hard to explain.

“Hey, I never did ask...why were you out in the woods?” Marty was curious as to why he was even there. Even though whenever he tried anything like that his dad would ground him.

“Oh uh, our friend Will. He's missing. We don't know where or why so we tried to find him. But I guess we bumped into you instead.”

His uncle Will went missing? He'd never known that… Why hadn't his parents told him about this?

“I’m sure you'll find him.” Marty smiled. Of course they had to find him, Will was one of his favourite uncles so of course he is alright. He has to be.

“I just hope you're right.” Mike gave him a sad smile and retreated up the basement stairs.

“Marty?”

Marty stirred a little. Man, he'd had the weirdest dream. Dustin made a time machine, he'd met his parents when they were kids but he stopped them meeting. There was this rain…

“Marty?” His dad was calling him.

“Dad? I had the weirdest dream.” Marty mumbled, eyes still closed. “I'd gone back in time. It was crazy.”

“Well, you're back in good old 1983.” Mike laughed and Marty bolted up, eyes wide.

“1983?”

His 12 year old dad - what was his life? - looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“I didn't know if you were hungry but, I got some Eggos.” Mike pulled out two waffles from his coat pocket.

Marty loved Eggos, maybe even more than his mother, if that was possible. She'd always cook him Eggos for breakfast, lunch or even dinner if he asked. Which he did. Often. He loved Eggos.

“Oh my god thank you!” Marty grabbed the waffles and stuffed them into his mouth. He hadn't eaten since 2013 after all.

“Right. Well, I've got to go to school. But afterwards, we're going to try and find Will. We could use all the help we could get.”

Marty almost choked on his Eggo. “You want my help?”

“Well yeah. We're friends now?” Mike had such a sincere smile. It was weird. Was Marty now friends with his dad? He had to fight the urge to shout “ew, no, gross!” at the idea.

“Oh uh, yeah.”

“Ok, I'll see you at 3:15? By the power lines behind my house?”

Marty nodded and watched Mike leave again. He wondered around the basement and looked at himself in the mirror. He was dressed so stupidly, 80s clothes really were awful. He missed his ripped skinny jeans...

Marty needed to come up with a plan. He couldn't just sit here all day, trapped in 1983. He needed to get back home. But more importantly, he needed to make sure his parents met. If they went out to find Will, Marty just had to make sure they also found his mother. Yeah...that would fix everything right?

Chapter Text

Eleven took shelter under the trees. She'd bumped into a boy earlier, but she couldn't bring herself to trust anyone. Not after what happened to Benny…

She wandered around in the dark for awhile, until she came across a cabin. It was empty, but she didn't dare to go inside. Instead, she took shelter underneath the porch. Just so she wasn't out in the rain.

Hopper lived alone. He preferred it that way since he lost his daughter all those years ago. But his heart stopped when he returned to see a small child curled up, asleep, on his porch. He didn't want to frighten them, they looked tired and lost.

“Kid?” He crouched down next to them, gently shaking the child. “Kid? Are you ok?” He asked softly.

The child shot up, eyes wide and terrified. She was a young girl, Hopper recognised that same fear in his daughter's eyes.

“Hey, hey, it's alright. I won't hurt you.” Hopper removed his police hat and took his gun, placing it on the floor away from himself. “I want to help you.”

The child looked at him and shuffled away.

“Do you have a name? I'm Jim.” He held out his hand. The child smiled slightly and shook it back. Hopper noticed a small mark on their wrist.

“Eleven?” He looked at it and the child pulled her hand away. “What's that?”

The child pointed to herself.

“That's your name?”

Eleven nodded.

“Alright.” Hopper stood up. “Come inside. We'll get you some food.”

“Yes.” There was a small voice.

“So you do talk?” Hopper smiled. “What kind of food do you like?” He opened the door to the cabin and Eleven walked inside.

“I never had proper food.” she whispered

“Where are you from?” Hopper sat Eleven on the couch and walked over to the cupboard.

“Bad place.” she said again, her voice still quiet and strained.

“Look, I can't help you if you can't tell me where you're from. Your parents...were they...bad to you?” Hopper handed her a cup of water.

“Papa... he's bad.” She took a sip.

“I can lock him up. I'm police. But I need a name.”

She shook her head. “You can't stop him. Powerful.”

“Ok,” Hopper walked over to his phone on the wall but it suddenly sparked and broke.

He looked at Eleven. She wiped a trickle of blood from her nose.

“No.” She said.

“Did you…?”

Eleven looked away. Did this kid have...powers? Hopper had had a stressful day, first the Byers’ kid goes missing and now some strange kid turns up and seems to have special powers. But it may have more of a coincidence than he thought.

“Stay here.” Hopper put on his police hat the next morning. Eleven had slept on the couch, hiding under the pile of blankets he'd given her. “I have to go to work. Find this missing kid.” He showed her the poster and she gasped.

“Do you know something?”

She walked over to the radio, closing her eyes. After a moment the room filled with static, but then a small quiet voice could be heard, singing weakly.

“Should I stay or should I go now...If I go there will be trouble…”

“Is that…? Will?” Hopper shouted to the radio. “Will? Hello? Can you hear me? It's chief Hopper?”

But there wasn't a reply from the other side. El collapsed, blood trickling from her nose.

“What was that?” Hopper knelt down next to her. “How did... that's the kid. You...you can hear him?”

She slowly sat up and he helped her on to the couch.

“The bad place you escaped… did they hurt you because of...your powers?”

She nodded. “The lab. Bad place.”

“Lab?” Hopper stood up. Too many things seemed off. He needed to investigate this “lab”, it could be where Will is.

Chapter Text

“Marty, hop on.” Mike patted to the back of his bike and Marty climbed on. He was still trying to wrap his head around the whole, his dad is 12 years old and his mum was in the woods with a shaved head…

His parents never told him about that night and he couldn't figure out why.

Marty noticed the fresh cut on Mike's chin. He had a faint scar still, but it was weird to see the cut actually fresh.

“I got tripped by a mouthbreather, Troy.”

The 80s slang was something Marty was still trying to adjust to.

“That's uh... totally not tubular.” Marty winced and Mike looked at him weird. Was that not a phrase people used?

“You're weird.” Mike laughed.

“Mike, there's some lights at the quarry.” Dustin turned around, panic in his eyes.

“What?”

They ran with their bikes to the quarry, police lights and ambulances. Marty felt his heart drop to his knees. They watched as a body was pulled out the water.

“It's Will…” Lucas whispered.

“No, it can't be.” Mike dropped his bike to the floor.

Marty shook his head. No, his uncle Will was very much alive. It couldn't be. He can't have killed him just by interrupting his parents meeting.

The boys wiped tears from their eyes, embracing each other while Marty awkwardly watched. It was hard seeing his family cry.

“There has to be an explanation.” Marty said. “It can't be Will. It can't be. I can't have messed up this badly.”

“Of course it's Will. That's his body.” Mike shouted but then took a step back. “What do you mean you can't have messed up this badly. What did you do?”

“I can't tell you.”

“I thought you were our friend!” Mike shouted. Dustin tried to hold him back.

“I am!” Marty shouted back. He'd been in plenty of shouting matches with his father, but never like this.

Mike got on his bike and cycled away, leaving Marty behind. Lucas gave him a sad smile and followed after Mike.

“Dustin!” Marty reached out. He needed to fix everything.

“Marty, it's best to just leave him.” He sniffed, his cheeks tear stained.

“No, Will is alive. I know he is.”

“You saw his body.”

Marty sighed. He knew what he was about to do broke every law he'd ever known about time travel.

“I can prove it. But you can't tell Mike or Lucas. You're the only one who can help me.”

“Friends don't lie, Marty.”

Marty almost laughed, the amount of times he'd heard his parents say that was unbelievable.

“I'm not asking you to lie. I really shouldn't be telling anyone. But I need to show you something.”

Marty led Dustin back to the woods. He knew the DeLorean was around there somewhere.

“Marty?”

“There!” He pointed to the trees where he could see the front of the car sticking out.

“It's a car?” Dustin pointed, giving Marty a “so what?” look.

“I know but…” he sighed. This might be the only way he could get back. “it's a...time machine.”

“Seriously? My best friend is found dead and you want to play these games?” Dustin shook his head and grabbed his bike. “We trusted you.”

“Please! Just... believe me! I can prove I'm from the future.”

Marty rummaged in his pocket for his phone. He held it up to show Dustin.

“Holy shit! What is that?” Dustin looked at it wide eyed.

“A phone?”

“No, phones need cables.”

“Not in the future. And look, here's a photo of me and my sister.” Marty unlocked his phone. “See the date of her sweatshirt? It says ski trip, 2011. I'm from the year 2013.”

“No way. You could easily forge that. The top of her head is missing in the photo.” Dustin looked at him.

“You gotta believe me.” he shoved his phone back in his pocket. Marty couldn't think how to prove it to Dustin. And then he remembered his hat. “My hat, it...it was given to me. By you .”

“Tons of people probably have this hat.”

“You gave this to me for my 8th birthday. See, it even has the same tear. Look how faded it is!” Marty showed him the hat. Sure enough there was a tear at the back in the exact same place.

“I only tore it a week ago…” Dustin stepped back. “How did…Why would I even give it to you?”

“Because…”

“No way... you're...my son? ”

“No! No, no way. You're like...my uncle. Not my proper uncle but I call you uncle Dustin.”

“Wait...that explains why...why you look so much like Mike…”

Marty nodded. 

“Except for the eyes...and the nose.”

“I've been told I have my mother's eyes.” Marty looked down.

“Holy shit Wheeler…” Dustin laughed. “I'm sorry I just can't imagine Mike ever having a kid. Is your mom hot?”

“Ew, gross. I don't know! I don't want to think about that!” Marty recoiled. “You're missing the point.”

He took out his phone again and scrolled to a recent photo of himself, Sarah, Mike, Lucas and Max (and their daughter), El, Dustin, and Will. Alive.

“Look, here's a photo I took last week. See there's Will. Alive.”

Dustin tried to comprehend it all. He looked so old.

“Is that...shit we're gonna get old…But Will is alive?” Dustin took a step back. “Which means he didn't die in the quarry.”

Marty explained to Dustin about how he'd travelled back, but choosing to leave out that Dustin was shot the night he came back.

“I think my parents were supposed to meet in the woods, and help you find Will. But that didn't happen. Instead you found me. And if we don't fix this, I might never be born and Will might never be found.”

“This is heavy…” Dustin took a minute to think it all through. “You definitely can't let Mike know you're his kid.”

“Wasn't planning on it. But I need to find my mom, I need to get her to meet my dad so they can fall in love and have me.”

“I'm just... just trying to process it all. It's kinda weird thinking-”

“Please stop!” Marty covered his ears. “You're the only one who can help me.”

“Why? Why me?”

“Because you invented it.”

Dustin looked like he was going to cry again. “I, I invented time travel ? No way! I did it! I really did it!” He began pacing, laughing and shouting with joy. “I can't believe I did it! Is my wife proud of me? I bet she is!”

“Uh…” Marty didn't want to tell him that the Dustin he knew had been divorced for 2 years after his wife got tired of his endless science experiments. Totally uncalled for, she wasn't very nice anyway. “You'll have to find out…”

“You're right. I don't want to know too much about my own future. It's dangerous.”

“What about me? How am I supposed to get 1.21 gigawatts of energy?”

Dustin shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“You're kidding. How do we find out? I can't use Google.”

“Google?”

“Forget it.” Marty sighed and leaned against the hood of the car.

“I might not be able to tell us...but I know someone who can.” Dustin clapped his hands. “Come on!”

Marty got on the back of Dustin's bike as they raced to his house.

Chapter Text

“You're calling your teacher? But it's past 10 at night.” Marty whispered.

“It's fine.” Dustin took the phone off the wall. “I do it all the time. How else am I supposed to get answers? Library is closed.”

Marty watched as Dustin so casually typed in a number, Marty didn't even know his own phone number let alone someone else's

“Mr Clarke. Hey, it's Dustin... again.” He spoke into the phone. “No this can't wait.”

Marty listened in to the conversation.

“Say, hypothetically, you needed to generate 1.21 gigawatts of energy...how would you do that exactly?... No reason…what happened to unlocking curiosity doors? Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?...uh huh... alright... that's not going to be easy…oh no nothing, just, talking to myself... alright, have a good night...I will...see you...thanks...ok...uh huh…” Dustin hung up the phone.

“What did he say?” Marty barely waited until the phone was on the hook.

“He said a bolt of lightning could create that much energy. But lighting is unpredictable, we don't know where or when it strikes. It's virtually impossible. There must be some other way of creating that much energy.”

“I've got time.” Marty chuckled. He sighed and looked at a photo of his family. He didn't realise how much he missed them. Something caught his eye when looking at the picture. His sister's head seemed to have disappeared...and almost most of her. It was like she had been erased.

“Oh no...no, no this is bad. This is really bad.” Marty showed Dustin the photo. “Look, my sister looks like she's been erased.”

“If you stopped Mike from meeting your mom, then you were never born. Is your sister older?”

“Yeah?”

“First in first out.” Dustin looked at Marty. “Which means you'll be gone soon. We need to hurry and get them together.”

“I have no idea about how they met, only that they went to some “snowball” and kissed and she knew she was gonna marry him one day. It's all pretty gross.” He shivered as if the image of his parents being so in love physically repulsed him. “Mom never told me the truth though. Because I'm pretty sure that was her I bumped into in the woods. I don't know why, she looked like she was running away from something.”  Marty rubbed his eyes but had a sudden revelation.

“Wait…” he grabbed Dustin by the arms. “My grandpa. I wonder if his cabin is still around. Or, if it's been built.”

“Your grandpa?” Dustin furrowed his brows.

“He was chief of police.”

“No way. Chief Hopper?” Dustin began laughing.

“What's so funny?” Marty crossed his arms.

“Nothing. He just doesn't seem like the grandpa type.”

“Maybe not now, but he's definitely better than grandpa Wheeler.” Marty grumbled.

Dustin nodded. “Yeah, Ted's a piece of shit.”

“Point is, Grandpa Hopper has a cabin in the woods. Here's hoping that's where my mom is.”

“This is crazy. What do you even say if you find her there? Hey I'm your son from the future, come meet my dorky 12 year old dad and fall in love so I can be born?” Dustin waved his arms around.

“I know it's crazy. But I think she may have something to do with finding Will.”

“I don't...are you sure?”

“It's worth a shot.”

Chapter Text

Hopper had set up ground rules or as he likes to call them “don't be stupid” rules. One of those rules was not to go outside alone, especially in the day time. Another was to only open the door when she heard his knock. Eleven didn't know why, but she trusted Hopper. He wasn't like the bad men trying to hurt her. He wanted to protect her, keep her safe.

While he was at work trying to find Will, Eleven was back at the cabin. She was trying to find the boy through her powers and the radio. She felt it was her duty, after all, she had opened the gate that allowed the Demogorgon to take Will. The guilt that she'd caused it was eating her up inside. She was a monster.

But she couldn't do it. She couldn't find him. The radio wasn't enough. She needed some kind of deprivation tank like they used at the lab. But she couldn't go back. No way. Not ever.

She screamed in frustration, books flying off the shelf. Eleven hadn't realised how  loud she had been. She suddenly heard a noise, the door being burst open. The bad men. Eleven looked out the window and sure enough, there were the government men she'd out run. She couldn't stay here. She had to get out. Eleven opened a window near the back, and jumped out, running as fast as she could, leaving the men behind. They'd found her. She didn't know how but they'd found her.

Marty and Dustin were cycling through the woods, Marty shouting out directions to the cabin. It was dark, Dustin's light didn't give much visibility.

“I just hope it's still there.” He whispered under his breath.

“Shit!” Dustin shouted as the bike skidded and abruptly stopped. As if someone was holding it. “What happened?”

Marty opened his eyes, and his mouth dropped open. It was that kid he'd bumped into earlier, but this time she was wearing a checkered shirt way too big for her. She had her hands held in front of her, as if she was the one holding the bike in place. But she wasn't touching it. It was like she was holding it back with the force.

“It's a girl?” Dustin squinted. “Hey, we won't hurt you!” He called when she was about to run in the opposite direction again. “Marty...is this your mom?” He whispered.

“Hey, I'm..Marty.” he held a hand out but she didn't take it. “And this is Dustin. We'll keep you safe. Keep you warm. Are you alone out here?” His voice was soft. He didn't want to scare her away. But looking at her eyes, he knew straight away that it was his mum. She looked identical to that old Snowball photo he'd seen. But Marty guessed that hadn't happened yet…

She looked around, clearly frightened. But there was something about the two boys that made her trust them. The bad men were after her and she was desperate.

“We'll keep you safe. I promise.” Marty looked at her, the shaved head was hard to get used to. But there was no denying who she was.

“Bad men.” She said and the two boys looked at each other. She raised a finger to her head that symbolised a gun.

Marty gulped. Why were they after his mum?

“We're not bad. I promise. We'll help you.”

“Mike?” Dustin called into his supercom. “Mike, this is urgent. Pick up, pick up, pick up - I'm going to keep saying it until you do. Pick up, pick -”

“Dustin!” Mike shouted from the other end. “Why are you calling me now?”

“Because this is important. We're in your backyard.”

There was a pause and then finally Mike answered. “Give me two minutes.”

Mike appeared at the door in his star wars pyjamas. His hair was sticking up in different directions.

“Marty? Dustin? Who's this?” His eyes landed on Eleven and his voice instantly softened. “Is she ok?”

“We found her in the woods, she was running from bad men. But we think she has something to do with Will.” Dustin explained.

“Let's go to the basement. Call Lucas.” Mike ushered everyone inside.

Lucas was less than thrilled to be called out at night, but he arrived all the same. Dustin and Marty took him aside to fill him in, whilst Mike spoke to Eleven.

“Marty said you know about Will?” Mike handed Eleven a blanket to keep warm.

“Yes.” She whispered. “But it's dangerous.”

“How?”

She held her finger to her head like she'd shown Marty and Dustin. Then she pointed it at Mike.

“Bad men.” She whispered.

“Bad men.” Mike copied. He saw her shirt sleeve had risen slightly to reveal a small tattoo of “011”.

“Eleven?” He reached for it and she pulled away. “Sorry.” Mike mumbled. “What does it mean? Is that your name?”

She nodded and wrapped the blanket tighter around herself.

“Well, I'm Mike short for Michael.” He said softly. “Maybe we can call you El, short for Eleven?”

She smiled. No one had treated her this kindly before. She had a name, a proper name, not just a number.

“Mike.” Lucas walked over. “We can't seriously trust her?”

“El is in danger. We can't leave her out there.”

“El?”

“Her name is Eleven, but I'm going to call her El for short. She deserves a proper name, she's not a dog.”

Marty took a sharp intake of breath. Her real name was Eleven? He'd always assumed it was like Eleanor or something but his dad just called her El…

“So? A random kid from the woods claims she knows about Will, all while being chased by bad men. How is this safe for us?”

“Lucas, she's frightened and alone.” Mike raised his voice.

“I'm going to tell someone about this. It's too risky.” Lucas turned but the door to the basement slammed shut.

“No,” she whispered. Everyone turned to look at El.

“Holy shit…” Dustin grinned. He leaned in to Marty. “Your mom is so cool.”

“She didn't...did she just close that with her mind?” Lucas stepped back. “This is crazy.”

“See? I told you she could help find Will.” Marty stepped forward.

“Will is dead. And all she did was close a door.” Lucas shouted.

“With her mind. ” Dustin emphasised. “Come on dude. And Will isn't dead. She heard him.”

“What if she uses those powers on us? I'm just saying, maybe there's a reason why the bad men are after her.”

“Lucas, she's just scared and alone. You're freaking her out!” Mike shouted.

“Well, she's freaking me out! What's with her shaved head?”  Lucas pointed to her. “You have to admit it's weird.”

“You don't know what she's been through.” Mike crouched down next to her. “Are you in trouble?”

Marty couldn't get over how drastically Mike's voice seemed to change when talking to El. He still did it, his voice always seemed softer whenever he spoke to her.

El nodded and spoke quietly. “The policeman. He was looking for Will.”

“Hopper?”

“But... he's not here.” El grabbed the supercom on the table and began playing with the frequency.

“What's the weirdo doing?” Lucas began talking but Dustin shushed him.

El closed her eyes letting the static ring out through the room. Faintly, a quiet voice could be heard singing.

“Is that?” Everyone crowded round El.

“It's Will!” Mike said. “He's alive. He's really alive…”

El lost connection and she dropped the supercom, blood trickling down her nose. “I'm sorry.” She whispered.

“Where is he?” Lucas shouted. “Where's Will?”

El stood up and walked over to the D & D board Mike had left on the table. She pointed to Will's figure - the Cleric.

“Will?” Mike sat opposite her and watched as she flipped the board upside down to the dark side.

“The upside down?” Mike whispered and she nodded.

“What's the upside down?” Marty looked around.

“In D&D it's like the other dimension. It's dark, cold... dangerous monsters…” Dustin explained, never taking his eyes off the board.

“How did Will get there?”

“There must have been some kind of gate.” Lucas began pacing. “So we just need to find the gate to the other dimension.”

“El can help us!” Marty clapped his hands excitedly. “You can help us right?”

Everyone looked at El. She shook her head. “It's not safe.”

“Forget it. Will's in trouble. I'll find the gate by myself if I have to.” Lucas said.

“Wait,” Dustin rummaged in his pocket and found his compass. “I asked Mr Clarke ages ago about other dimensions.”

“Why?” Lucas furrowed his brow.

“Because I couldn't sleep and all I could think about was if there was another version of me in another reality that couldn't sleep and started thinking of other dimensions and stuff. So then I asked him after class because he wasn't answering my phone call.”

Dustin explained.

“Dustin.”

“Sorry. Right, so I asked if there were other dimensions and if we could get there and he began explaining how you'd need a lot of power.”

Dustin rummaged for a bit of paper and a pen. “He explained it like this.”

He drew a stick figure of an acrobat and a flea on a tightrope.

“So we're the acrobat. And we can only move forwards and backwards on the tightrope that is our dimension.”

“Ok…” Everyone just looked at him confused.

“But the flea can move between dimensions. Can go along the side of tightrope and forwards and backwards.”

“So Will is the flea?” Mike said.

Dustin squinted, “eh, kind of…”

“Mr Clarke said we'd need a lot of energy to get there. It's not possible yet.”

“Except it's been done because that's where Will is.”

“Yes, but if we can find the gate, then we're able to get across...” He folded the bit of paper in half and stabbed the pen through the middle.

“We can find Will.” Mike whispered.

“But that kind of energy could alter magnetic fields and stuff.”

“So...if there really is a gate, and Will really is alive…” Lucas walked over to Dustin.

“Then Will's in the upside down. And we can use our compasses to find it.”

Chapter Text

“Ok, before we try to find the gate, shouldn't we try and find Will? We know he's in the upside down but... shouldn't we try and figure out where he actually is in there?” Lucas suggested. “We don't want to just go in there blind.”

“El can find him. With the radio.” Marty pointed out.

“It's not powerful enough. Didn't you hear the connection?” Mike looked at El, who was still wiping her nose with a tissue.

“The school. The new radio? That thing can communicate with Australia. Surely we can get to the upside down from there?” Dustin remembered how Mr Clarke had shown them the new radio system in av club.

“Ok, tomorrow, we go to the school and try to talk to Will.” Mike began formulating a plan. “When we know where in the upside down he is, we can locate the gate.”

“We can't just walk into school with two random kids. Marty could maybe get away... but look at her. It's gonna cause too much attention.”

They all looked at El. It was true, her appearance wasn't exactly one that “fit in” with the other girls at school.

“I have an idea…” Dustin grinned and El tilted her head, not sure whether she liked the sound of this.

The boys went home, Marty and El stayed in Mike's basement. Marty on the couch and El in the fort.

He still felt weird about it all, but he was happy that his parents had finally met. Marty took out his phone and looked at the picture with his sister. She was still disappearing.

“I don't understand…” Marty looked at it. “Maybe I just need to give them time.”

Dustin and Lucas came back early the next morning.

“Alright, so we need to make her look less...like that.” Lucas gestured to El.

“We'll go look for some clothes, your sister should have some right?” Marty said and then froze, Mike never told him about Nancy.

“How do you know I have a sister?” Mike looked freaked out. “I never told you…”

“Dustin! He's a blabbermouth.” Marty said quickly.

The boys got to work rummaging in old trunks and closets looking for old clothes.

Dustin and Lucas found a trunk of old dressing up stuff. Marty dived in and pulled out a blonde wig.

“What?” He laughed and threw it at Dustin.

“Hey, this could work?” Dustin said as he placed the wig on his own head. Marty and Lucas burst out laughing.

“What about this?” Lucas pulled up an old pink dress and held it to his chest.

The boys were laughing at how ridiculous it all seemed.

Meanwhile, Mike was trying to make El look a little more alive. She was currently a little pale, so he stole some of Nancy's make up and applied it to her cheeks to give her a natural blush - well, he tried anyway.

Marty borrowed one of Mike's knitted jumpers. They were absolutely horrific, and Marty laughed, remembering how he still wears the most ridiculous jumpers, especially at Christmas.

The boys waited outside the bathroom for El. When she came out, Mike's jaw dropped.

“Wow, she looks-”

“Pretty.” Mike burbled without realising he'd said it. “Good.” He quickly added, hearing the snickering from Lucas and Dustin.

“Pretty good.”

Marty watched as his parents exchanged shy smiles with each other. There was an odd feeling of happiness, he'd hoped it was enough to get them together, but also he felt s little nauseous at how cheesy and dorky his dad was being.

El looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. “Pretty...good.”

They rode into school, Marty on the back of Dustin's bike, El gripping tightly to Mike on the back of his bike.

“Do you think it's worked?” Dustin mumbled to Marty as he watched El on Mike's bike.

“I just hope so.” Marty smiled, his parents seemed so natural around each other already.

The boys parked their bikes in the rack and snuck inside school. There was an assembly for Will being held, but obviously there was no need for it because he was alive. Somewhere…

“Remember, if anyone sees us, we're supposed to be sad.” Mike turned to El and she nodded.

They found the AV club room with the radio but it was locked.

“Shit.” Dustin tried the door. “Do you know where he keeps the keys?”

“Just try and bust it down.” Lucas moved Dustin aside and tried to bust the door down with his shoulder but it didn't work.

“Boys?” Mr Clarke found them in the hallway. Marty almost screamed. Mr Clarke? He was so...young. He teaches Marty science, he's one of his favourite teachers. Instead of the grey haired old man, he knew, Marty was looking at a much younger, brown haired man. Same mustache though. Some things don't change. “Shouldn't you be at the assembly for Will?”

 “We're just...upset.” Lucas said, quickly changing his bright smile for a fake sad expression.

“And who are these two? I don't believe we've met.”

“Ele-” El started to say but Mike cut her off.

“Eleanor! She's my uh…”

“Cousin!” Lucas helped him out.

Dustin felt weird. He knew if it worked out like Marty said,  Mr Clarke would be freaked out if Mike was dating his cousin.

“Second cousin.” Dustin added. “And this is her uh...brother…uh..."

Marty thought quickly. He couldn't let Mr Clarke know his real name.

"Harry!" Marty said the first name that came to his head. "Harry Potter..." At least no one knew who that was yet...

Mr Clarke didn't seem convinced but he couldn't figure out why the boys would be lying.

“Where are you from exactly?”

“Bad place.” El whispered but Marty jumped in.

“Sweden! But she hates it there.”

“Cold.” Lucas nodded.

“Sub - zero.” Dustin squinted, hoping this was enough to convince their teacher.

“I have a lot of Swedish family.” Mike lied.

“It’s an uncanny resemblance.” Mr Clarke spoke, mostly to himself. “You boys look more like twins than cousins. Except Harry's eyes, they look almost identical to Eleanor's...” Marty's heart stopped. This was the first time he'd stood next to both his parents since arriving in 1983. Of course people would see the resemblance.

“It's weird alright haha.” Marty tried to direct the attention away by fake laughing.

“Well, welcome to Hawkins Middle, Harry and Eleanor Potter.” Mr Clarke smiled at Marty and El.

“I know it's hard, but we should really be there for Will.” He ushered them away from the AV club door and down the hall.

The doors burst open to the gym and everyone turned to look at the boys and El.

“Abort.” Dustin whispered frantically. “Abort!” He tried to turn but Lucas held his shoulders.

Marty looked down, trying to avoid the gaze of everyone staring at him.

They sat through the assembly but they aren't happy. They knew none of these people really cared about Will. It was no secret that they were unpopular, bullied, nerds. It was just how they lived. The school bully Troy was laughing all throughout the assembly.

Marty clenched his fist. How dare he talk like that at Will's funeral. He didn't know that Will was actually alive. It made Marty sick.

“Mouthbreather.” He muttered.

Mike was already staring at Troy, his jaw locked. Marty knew when his dad was angry. He'd get a very serious expression, his once soft features almost like stone. His nose would scrunch and his brow would furrow. Needless to say Marty had experienced it more than once, his dad was amazing, he loved him, but he did have an awful temper sometimes. Especially when it came to family and protecting them.

After the assembly, Mike began marching towards Troy. Marty tried to hold him back. They didn't need this right now.

“Hey! Hey Troy!” Mike called. “You think this is funny?”

Troy stopped laughing and turned to look at Mike. Marty exchanged a look with Dustin. This wasn't going to end well.

“What'd you say Wheeler?”

“I saw you guys laughing over there and I think it's a real messed up thing to do.”

El stood next to Marty, never taking her eyes off of Mike. Lucas and Dustin were frozen still.

“Didn't you listen to the counselor, Wheeler? Grief shows itself in funny ways.” Troy began laughing again.
“Besides, what's there to be sad about, anyway? Will's in fairyland now, right? Flying around with all the other little fairies.”

Mike stepped closer, fist clenched.

“All happy and gay!” Troy laughed and turned around to walk away.

Mike had had enough. He shoved Troy hard in the back. Troy fell to the floor.

Dustin gasped, Lucas through his hands in the air and Marty felt a weird sense of pride, fighting the urge not to scream “Alright, Dad!”

“You're dead Wheeler!” Troy sprung back up again, lunging at Mike. “Dead!”

Marty was about to step in. He couldn't see his dad get beaten up, yet Mike didn't even flinch. But before he could do anything, Troy suddenly stopped as if he were being held back.

His face changed from anger to something completely different. Embarrassment but also a hint of fear.

Marty burst out laughing when he noticed Troy's trousers begin to turn a shade darker. A stream of pee spilled out on to the floor.

“Dude! Troy peed himself!” Some kid shouted and the gym burst out in laughter.

Beside him, Marty noticed El wiped a small trickle of blood from her nose as she made eye contact with Mike.

Marty couldn't help but grin. His parents were pretty cool after all.

The boys made their way to the AV club room to the radio.

“Your mom just gets cooler and cooler.” Dustin whispered to Marty. “She squeezed his tiny bladder with her mind!”

“I never knew she could do that.” Marty was continuously surprised about what his mother was capable of. He guessed it all made sense now. Sometimes he'd felt like she always knew something. More than once had he noticed something moving but he'd simply shrug it off as a trick of the light. But come to think of it, she did get nosebleeds a lot...and she got them when she used her powers... Everything was beginning to make sense now.

They'd snuck into the AV room, El closed her eyes and tried to find Will.

The lights began to flicker but through it came will's small voice.

“Will? It's Mike?” Mike grabbed the headset.

Will was shouting, it sounded like he was running.

“Will?!” Dustin grabbed the headset from Mike. “Will can you hear us?”

The radio burst into flames. Lucas grabbed the fire extinguisher.

Mike grabbed El by the shoulders. She looked pale.

“Are you ok?” He looked panicked. Marty felt panicked too. After all, it was his mum in trouble.

El nodded and wiped the blood from her nose, but she was weak. She tried to stand but wobbled.

Without waiting Mike wrapped one arm around her shoulder, Marty coming to her aid as well and they helped her out the room and out the school into the playground.

“What are we supposed to do?” Lucas ran along side Dustin as Mike and Marty helped get El on the back of his bike.

“We can't find Will…so we have to go to the gate ourselves.” Dustin looked at the compass he had in his pocket.

“Not...safe.” El whispered.

“Sorry?” Dustin didn't quite hear her.

“Not safe…”

“El, we need to find Will.”

She shook her head. “The bad men. First the nice police man, now you. I can't…”

“Police man?” Lucas turned to Mike. “Did she say police man?”

“Hopper…” Mike looked at them. Marty looked up at the mention of his grandpa. “Chief Hopper?”

El nodded. “I ran away. They probably got him.”

Mike threw his rucksack to the ground and began rummaging through it.

“Mike? What are you doing?” Dustin looked over his shoulder.

“Doesn't the police have a radio?” He asked. “We can try to talk to him. Maybe he can help us. If he knows about El, and tried to help her he must be one of the good guys right?”

“Mike...it's risky.” Lucas said.

“It's worth a try. It's worth a try if we can find Will.”

Chapter Text

Hopper left the station early. He was worried about the girl, but he also needed to find this Byers kid. He radioed Eleven in the cabin, telling her he'd be a little later home but there was food in the fridge.

He'd been looking through the files about the research lab and came across something about Terry Ives missing her baby. She had sued Martin Brenner and Hopper decided he was going to find him. It all seemed too...shady. If this Brenner had stolen one child, maybe he'd gotten Will.

Hopper parked his police car about 5 minutes from the fence surrounding the lab. It seemed awfully quiet, and somehow he managed to jump the fence. Who knew how long it would take before the security cameras got him?

He held his gun up to his face just in case he came across any hostile beings. There was a security guard blocking an entrance he'd need a card for…

“Can I help you? Members of the public aren't allowed here.” The guard looked more like a boy than a man.

“Police chief Hopper.” He pulled out his badge. “Official police business with…” Hopper tried to remember the name of the man in the article. “Brenner.”

“I can't let you through.”

Hopper smiled and nodded. Then he pursed his lips. “Ok.”

Before the guard knew what was happening, Hopper had punched him in the face. He stole the security card and managed to sneak into the closed of part of the lab.

Hopper ducked into a small room.

“Will Byers?” He whispered. But there wasn't anything. He looked around the room and noticed it had to be a child's room. There were drawings and a small stuffed lion on the bed. It was suspicious.

“Will?”

Behind him, Hopper noticed the wall had been dented and it confused him. Surely a lab would be careful about keeping things immaculate.

Hopper crept along the hallway, it was eerily quiet.

The corridor led to a control panel, but the thing inside the room behind the glass made his heart stop.

It looked like a kind of... opening? There was an odd glowing, nothing like Hopper had ever seen before. It had to be where Will was. It was too much of a coincidence. The government were clearly covering something up.

He had to get out of there. He had to come back when he'd gotten more information about this thing.

Hopper bolted from the lab, finding it suspiciously easy to escape. The easiness in which he'd escaped made himself paranoid. They'd planned this. They'd wanted him to see it. But why? So they could find out where he's hiding Eleven? Because she's part of this somehow with her powers?

 Will, Eleven, the lab...it was all linked... somehow.

The station called him when he'd got to his car to tell him they'd found Will's body. But there was something off about it. The report said he'd been dead for a few days...but Eleven had picked him up on the radio. She had connected to him...he was alive? It all seemed suspicious. First the lab, now they found Will's body. Will, who was supposed to be alive because he was singing through the radio. He was alive somewhere. But it wasn't the lab.

Hopper went down to the morgue. He had to see Will's body for himself. It can't be true. Hopper broke in, almost laughing at the irony of how many crimes he was committing despite being a police officer.

Hesitating, Hopper pulled out his pen knife. Was he really about to do this? It was illegal. But it can't really be Will's body right?

He plunged the knife into the body but it didn't feel right. There was something in it? Cotton?

Hopper pulled it out and sighed. “I knew it.” He muttered. “They're covering something up.”

They were on to him. The government knew he knew what they were up to. That's why they let him see the lab...it was all part of their twisted game.

Hopper froze. Eleven.

He raced back to the cabin but saw it had been burst open. Around the outside were a few dead bodies with dried blood around their eyes and ears.

“Shit…” Hopper whispered.

“Eleven?!” He called out but there was no answer.

A crackled call came from the radio in his cabin.

“Chief Hopper. Are you there?”

He walked over, wondering whether he should pick up.

“Hopper? It's Mike. Mike Wheeler. We know you know about Eleven.”

“Where is she?” Hopper answered. He'd become genuinely worried about that kid.

“She's safe. She's with us. She helped us. Will's alive.”

“I know, the body I found was a fake.”

There came a muffled sound on the other end of the line.

“He's in the upside down.”

“The upside- what?”

Another voice took control of the supercom. “The upside down, it's like our world but a shadow realm where-”

“Dustin give it back!”

“Mike I was explaining!”

“Guys!” a third voice was heard.

“Sorry. It's our world but different. Basically there's this gate and we need your help to find it.” Mike had the supercom back after the brief scuffle between him, Lucas and Dustin.

“Shit kid…” Hopper sighed. The gate. So that's where they're hiding Will...

“We can find the gate with our compasses but we might need you to help us break in somewhere.”

“Just...stay where you are. El is in danger if she's out in the open. Wait...where are you exactly.”

“At the school.”

It got quiet on the other line of the radio.

While Mike was talking to Hopper, Marty noticed in the distance a strange van appeared in the car park. It read Hawkins power and light. He recognised that van as the one that had killed Dustin the night he came back to the past.

“Uh... Mike?” Marty patted him on the shoulder. “Mike?”

“What?”

“We need to go. We need to go now!”

Hopper heard shuffling and shouting from the other end.

“What's going on?” He shouted.

“No time to explain. Bad men are coming. Bad men are coming!” Mike shouted back and the connection was lost.

Chapter Text

El jumped on the back of Mike's bike, Marty hoped back on Dustin's as Lucas was first to get away.

“How did they find us?!” Lucas screamed as they cycled down the road, he didn't dare look back to see how close the vans were.

“I don't know!” Dustin screamed back.

“Take a left!” Mike pointed and everyone followed him, taking the path through the woods and the park where the vans couldn't follow.

They came out into an empty street.

“What now?” Dustin was breathing heavily.

The boys took a second to catch their breath but it would have to wait because the sound of tires screeching made them turn around.

“Go! Go! Go!” Mike shouted as they once again cycled away from the approaching van.

Marty looked behind at the fast approaching van. “We're never going to out run these! We're on bikes and they're in vans!”

But Dustin couldn't hear him. He was too busy shouting “Shit! Shit! Shit!” At the top of his lungs as he tried to keep up with Mike and Lucas.

A van suddenly pulled out in front of them, heading towards them. There was nowhere to go. They were trapped.

Please be like E.T, Marty closed his eyes and hoped that El could make them fly over the vans like in E.T.

“Aaaaaah!” They all screamed, but El remained calm as her grip tightened around Mike.

Before they knew what was happening, the van suddenly lifted, flying over their heads. It seemed like slow motion as they looked up and saw the van travelling upside down above them.

It crashed behind them, blocking the road for the bad men.

That was better than E.T, Marty thought and grinned widely. Did his mom really just do that? That was without a doubt the coolest thing he'd ever seen, he just couldn't believe it actually happened.

El wiped the blood from her nose, turning back to give the bad men one last look.

“Holy shit!” Dustin laughed as they dumped their bikes in the junkyard. “Holy shit! Did you see what she did to that van?”

“No Dustin, we missed it.” Mike rolled his eyes.

“We're on the run now. And it's all the weirdo’s fault.” Lucas shouted. “I just wanted to find Will but instead we're caught up in some government conspiracy! I told you not to trust her!”

“Lucas!” Mike shouted back.

“What Mike? You're too blind to see. You're loving that some girl’s not grossed out by you.”

“You don't know what you're talking about!” Mike pushed him.

“Mike!” Marty shouted.

“Guys!” Dustin got in the middle of them. “Now is not the time to turn on each other. You're both acting like assholes.”

Mike and Lucas didn't look at each other.

“Mike, you drew first blood, so you have to shake his hand.” Dustin nodded to him but Mike refused.

“Mike!” Marty shouted. He knew from experience how stubborn his dad could be sometimes. “This isn't helping anyone.”

He looked at Marty and sighed. “Fine.” Mike held out his hand and Lucas shook.

“I'm sorry.” They said to each other. Lucas then knelt down in front of El.

“I'm sorry I called you a weirdo.” He held out his hand. “Friends don't call each other weirdos.”

“Friends?” She tilted her head. “What...what is a friend?”

“You don't know what…?” Marty felt a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't imagine what kind of upbringing she'd had before Hopper…

“Friend? It's someone you'd do anything for. Share secrets.” Lucas explained.

“You lend them comic books.” Dustin smiled.

“But most importantly, friends don't lie.” Mike said.

“Friends don't lie…” she smiled back and nodded, showing she understood.

Friends don't lie... how many times had Marty heard that?

For some reason they began laughing. It was that kind of laughter that happens when you're feeling so many emotions at once that the only way to release any of the pressure is to simply just laugh. But the laughter was cut short when a faint sound of a helicopter was heard above head.

“What?” Marty looked up.

Mike looked around and saw the old school bus. He began shoving his bike under the bus and Lucas and Dustin followed suit.

“Come on!” Mike shouted. “On to the bus. On to the bus!”

Marty was first, grabbing El and pulling her with him. Lucas was next and then Dustin. Mike was last, checking all his friends had gotten on before he did.

“Shit, Mike.” Lucas whispered as they crouched down. “We're screwed. We're utterly and completely screwed.”

“Maybe they didn't see us.” Dustin whispered.

“Kid?” A crackling call came from Mike's walkie talkie in his rucksack. “Kid are you there?”

“It's Hopper.” Mike looked at them all. “I'm here. We're all here.”

“Thank god. I've been calling for ages.” Hopper breathed a sigh of relief that they were ok. “Where are you? I can help but you need to tell me where you are.”

“What if it's a trap? Like Lando Calrissian?” Dustin whispered.

“No way. He helped El right? We can trust him.” Mike shook his head.

“Friend.” El whispered. “Hopper is a friend.”

“Friends don't lie. He's safe.” Marty nodded. He knew it would be ok, knew they could trust Hopper.

“We're at the junkyard.” Mike confirmed.

“Stay there.” Hopper said and then he was out.

Lucas stood up. “This is ridiculous. It's been 20 minutes. He's obviously getting someone to arrest us or something.”

“Just hold on a little longer.” Mike stood up as well.

They all turned at a faint sound. As if on cue, two cars pulled up. But neither were Hopper.

“I told you we couldn't trust Hopper.” Dustin crouched down. The men were outside but they were still searching.

“This can't have been the chief. Why would he set us up?” Lucas whispered back.

“Lando Calrissian.”

“Would you shut up about Lando?”

“Guys…” Mike hid behind one of the old seats.

The door opened and they froze. This was it. They were caught. But there came a scuffling sound and the boys stood up, looking confused.

Hopper’s face suddenly appeared and they instantly felt relief. Marty almost fainted seeing his grandpa as a young - well... younger - man. He no longer had a few grey wisps of hair but was balding with brown hair…

“Let’s go.”

They breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed on the bus seats.

Hopper poked his head back into the bus. “Let's go!”

Chapter Text

The Byers’ house was covered in strange fairy lights, the wall painted like an alphabet. Joyce explained about how she'd heard Will through the lights and Mike explained back how they'd heard him on the radio.

“The...the upside down?” Joyce looked at Hopper. “What does he mean?”

“It's like our world but everything is darker, colder…” Dustin explained and Joyce nodded.

“He told me. He told me it was very cold.” Joyce whispered. “My poor boy…”

“We know Will is alive. And we know he's in the upside down. But we don't know where in the upside down he is.” Mike spoke.

“How do we find him?” Hopper folded his arms.

“I...I think I might know how…” El hadn't spoken recently but her quiet voice was loud to them.

“El...are you sure?” Mike turned to her and his voice was so soft. Marty smiled, it was weird but also kind of cool seeing his parents trying to work out their feelings, falling for each other. It wasn't something people got to see, but he was glad he got the opportunity.

“But not here.” She said.

“For fun?” Dustin was on the phone to Mr Clarke. It still baffled Marty that they had to call up a teacher at night because Google doesn't exist yet.

Dustin wrote down the ingredients needed to make a sensory deprivation tank as El had said she needed.

“Where are we going to get that much salt?” Marty asked Dustin.

“I think I know where.” Hopper spoke up. “Let's go back to school.”

Marty pulled Dustin aside while Lucas was trying to set up the paddling pool.

“Dustin...I think tonight is the night I can go home.”

“How Marty? Mr Clarke said we'd need something like lightning to make that much energy.”

“But my mom... she's going to find Will. Her powers...she can get me home. I'm sure of it.”

“I don't know…” Dustin looked over his shoulder at Lucas who was still struggling with the pool. “We don't know if this is going to work.”

“What other choice do I have? I can't explain it, but I just know that it's going to work. But before I can leave I have to make sure my parents get together and that Will is found. But I know it's gonna be tonight.”

The sensory deprivation tank actually worked. El found Will and Hopper took Joyce to the gate.

El needed rest, she leaned against Mike's shoulder as Lucas wrapped a towel around her.

“She needs to get her strength back.” Marty whispered to Dustin. “She needs all the power she can get before I even ask if she can send me back.”

“How exactly do you plan on doing that? You can't just say “hey I'm your son from the future can you send me back?” It'd be too weird.” Dustin checked no one was listening.

“I won't tell her I'm her son. I'll just say….I need to get home but my car is out of power.”

“It's still shady...but after everything that's happened this week, it wouldn't be the weirdest.”

Dustin looked at how natural Mike and El seemed with each other even after a few short days. He was happy that in another timeline at least it had worked out but it only made him determined to help Marty in any way. “Ok, but you need to guarantee they'll get together or you'll have no future to return to.”

Marty pulled out his phone one more time. His sister was no longer in the photo...and now Marty's own picture was beginning to fade. He needed to do something quick.

“I'm running out of time. It has to be tonight.” Marty showed Dustin the photo.

“Shit. Ok uh...did they ever mention anything to you? Like...how they met?”

“No, I was always told my mom moved to Hawkins after being adopted by my grandpa Hopper. My dad said the moment he saw her, he knew he was a goner.” Marty smiled sadly, missing his family even though he was right there. He'd never truly understood the strength of his parents feelings. But he did notice they seemed closer than any of his friends’ parents. It was just hard to believe that they met at 12 and knew that they were going to stay together. Marty suddenly remembered the old picture framed on their mantel. It was faded but he remembered how happy they looked. “He...he asked her to, to the snowball. Where they had their first kiss…”

“The snowball?” Dustin gasped. “The snowball is in a few weeks… could that be it?”

“It has to be. But I need to get him to ask her…” Marty looked around and saw Lucas close to Mike and El. “He definitely won't ask her if we're all here.”

He casually walked over, Dustin followed, confused as to what was going to happen.

“Hey, uh, maybe we should try and find El something to eat.” Marty stood in front of Lucas. “You know, to get her strength back.”

Dustin caught on to what Marty was trying to do. “Yeah, uh, how about we check out the kitchens for some chocolate pudding? I have a feeling lunch lady Doris is hoarding that shit. Come on Lucas.”

Lucas stood up and followed Dustin. Marty held back. “I'll be there in a second. I just have to talk to Mike quickly.”

Lucas shrugged but Dustin ushered him to the kitchens.

“Mike can I talk real quick?”

Mike looked at El who was almost asleep and nodded. He stood up but wrapped the towel around El like a blanket and followed Marty.

“Are you ok?” Mike noticed his worried expression.

“Yeah, uh actually I was thinking, Dustin told me about the snowball. You should ask El to go.”

“What?” Mike blushed. “I don't... she's not…”

“Mike.” Marty rolled his eyes. “Everything's fixed now right? Hopper can take care of her, she can go to school, the snowball.”

“But why do you care? Why do you want us to go so badly?”

“Because…” Marty awkwardly shuffled. He realised it did sound a little weird how much he wanted them to go. “I just think it'd be nice for her to do something fun, something normal.”

Mike smiled a little. “She's cool I guess…”

Marty grinned. “You guess?”

“Ok, she's really cool. And pretty…” he mumbled.

“Just... promise you'll think about it?”

“Promise.” Mike smiled and returned to El while Marty ran to join Dustin and Lucas.

“Marty? What are you doing?” Lucas said, watching Marty leaning against the door to the gym.

“I'm listening.” He mumbled. Marty strained his ears trying to hear Mike.

“I don't know, I was kind of thinking maybe we could go to the snowball?” Marty heard Mike's faded voice.

“Yes!” He almost shouted but stopped himself when he saw Lucas look at him weirdly. “I mean... chocolate pudding, right guys?”

“You're weird, Marty.” Lucas grinned and handed him a cup of pudding.

Marty felt a sudden wave wash over him. He felt faint and slumped the floor.

“Marty? Marty?” Dustin shook him.

He looked at his hand, it was beginning to fade, he could see right through it.

“Marty...your hand?”

“Dustin? What's happening?” Lucas dropped his pudding.

Marty didn't know what was wrong. He was disappearing. He needed them to kiss. It was the only way. But he couldn't do anything about it. He was struggling to move.

“You go to dances with someone you like…” they could hear Mike trying to explain.

“Friend?” El asked.

They couldn't go as friends. They needed to be more than that if Marty had any hope of returning home. He could feel himself fading.

“Someone like a...like a…” Mike tapped his hands against the table. He wished he hadn't let Marty talk him into this. Now he sounded like an idiot. He didn't know how to show her how he felt. But all Mike could think about was the rush of his heart whenever he was around her. How he couldn't stop thinking about her…

Before he knew what he was doing, he had leaned in, quickly pressing his lips to hers.

She jumped back, surprised, but happy. She shyly smiled at him and they exchanged glances.

At that, Marty shot back up as if nothing had happened. He poked Dustin in the face to check his hand was real.

“I did it…” he whispered. Lucas slowly stepped away.

“They're together…”

“What are you…? You know what... never mind.” Lucas shook his head. “I'm gonna give them some pudding.”

Lucas left the room, arms full of pudding.

“You scared me for a second Marty.” Dustin laughed.

“I needed them to kiss. But they did. Because that kiss made them realise their feelings.” He sighed of relief and wiped his forehead.

“I'm going back to the future.” He grinned.

Chapter Text

“You're really going to do this?” Dustin grabbed Marty’s arm and held him back from running at Mike and El.

“I need to get back. And now's as good a time as any.” Marty shrugged Dustin off. “We've found Will, my parents are together…”

“But you can't tell them the truth! It breaks every law of time travel.”

“I told you didn't I?”

Dustin stopped. “Well yeah...but it's different because... because they're your parents. ”

“Look, my dad knows I'm not from here, but I told him I couldn't say where. I'll just say my car needs power and El's the only one who can do it?” Marty shrugged his shoulders like it was simple.

“Marty I don't think-”

“Hey, El!” Marty left Dustin and went to join Mike, El and Lucas.

El was cautiously eyeing the pudding, one hand intertwined with Mike's.

“El, I need your help.” Marty crouched in front of her.

“Yeah?” She looked up. It was the first time she'd really looked at Marty, like really looked at him. She couldn't shake the feeling she felt looking up at him… like he was somehow family. He had that same warmness about him that Mike had, the same gentle smile. El couldn't help notice how scarily similar he looked to Mike. His hair, his freckles...but his nose and eyes reminded her strangely of her own. It was like he was an exact replica of Mike, but with her eyes instead. She shook the thought from her mind.

“I need to go home. But...but the car I came in needs power.”

“Car? You're 13, how can you drive?” Lucas stopped eating and squinted his eyes suspiciously at Marty.

“It's not my car. It's hard to explain, but it's special.” Marty sighed and ran a hand through his curls, then placed the cap back on his head. “I got into a little bit of trouble, and the only escape was taking my friend's car.”

He thought of Dustin being killed.

“I need to get back...need to fix things.” Marty sniffed and wiped any tears from his eyes.

“I can do it.” El stood up. “I can help you.”

Marty threw himself at her, wrapping her in a hug. At first she didn't know what to do, but she hesitantly wrapped her arms back around Marty.

“Dustin, can you help me bring the car to the parking lot?” Marty pulled away from El.

“Where were you hiding it anyway?” Lucas asked, then it suddenly clicked. “Is that why you were in the woods that night?”

Marty nodded. “You guys stay here. Keep El safe, make sure she's got enough energy.”

“Sure thing.” Lucas nodded, but Mike was already sat back with El. He whispered something to her and she laughed. Lucas rolled his eyes and made a fake gagging motion to Marty and Dustin.

“I just need to do something real quick.” Marty left and ran into the main school. He needed to find some kind of paper so he could write Dustin note warning him about the future.

He found an empty classroom and rummaged in one of the desks.

Dustin,

On the night I come back to 1983, you're shot by the bad men.

I know you told me not to warn you but I couldn't bare it. Please take any action necessary to stop this. I beg you.

From your friend, Marty

Marty and Dustin walked through the woods searching for the DeLorean.

“Dustin...I need to tell you about the night I go back here.”

Dustin shook his head. “No, I told you I don't want to know. It could ruin me ever discovering time travel in the first place.”

“But it's important.” Marty needed to tell him, needed to warn him. “Please, don't open this letter until 2013.” He handed Dustin the paper.

“We're not supposed to mess with the future.” Dustin tried to hand it back but Marty wouldn't take it.

“But-”

“No. I don't want to know.” he ripped the paper up into pieces, stuffing it into his pocket.

They continued the walk in silence to the DeLorean.

“You know how to drive?” Dustin strapped himself in to the car, looking nervously at Marty.

“Not really. But my grandpa sometimes took me in parking lots.” Marty tried to turn the engine on.

“Ted?”

“What?” Marty burst out laughing. “That old grump? Hopper. He was teaching my sister and I got to have a go as well.”

“Hopper's pretty awesome.” Dustin smiled. “It sounds like you have a good family.”

Marty really missed them. “Yeah,” he smiled back. “Yeah I do. The best.”

“Shiiiiiiit!” Dustin screamed as Marty turned sharply around corners.

“We're gonna die! We're gonna die!” He continued to shout, his eyes tightly shut.

“It's fine.” Marty laughed and came to a sudden stop. “We're alive.”

“That's so cool!” Lucas ran out the gym doors into the parking lot. Mike and El followed behind.

“What needs fixing?” El looked at the car.

“The flux capacitor.” Marty opened the door and the boys crowded round, eyes wide and excited. “It's what makes-” he stopped. He was about to say it's what makes time travel possible but he couldn't tell them that…

“What makes it work…properly…” Marty tried to evade the question.

“Vague…” Lucas wasn't buying it. “But we get you're in some kind of trouble. And if you say you can't tell us, then we believe you. You're an honorary member of our party.”

“Really?” Marty looked at the smiling faces. He was going to miss them, it was weird. He loved them in 2013, he always saw them but he couldn't imagine seeing them being old again. It meant a lot that he was part of their party.

Marty hugged him, and then Dustin joined in, then El, then Mike until they were in a big group hug.

“You're definitely a weirdo Marty.” Lucas laughed. “But we're glad we met you.”

“Me too.” Marty laughed back.

He gave everyone one last hug before climbing into the car. They all went to the side to give Marty and El some room, but Dustin hang back a second.

“It's going to be so weird waiting 30 years before I can talk to you about it all again.” Dustin laughed. “I'm just happy that it works out for us all. That we're all still friends in the future.”

“You are. You came to every single one of my birthday parties.” Marty laughed. “You turn out great Dustin. Trust me.”

“See ya buddy.”

“See ya.” Marty turned on the engine and Dustin returned to Mike and Lucas.

Marty gave El the thumbs up and she focused her powers on getting the flux capacitor to work.

The lights outside the school began to flicker, the wind seemed to pick up, but Marty could see it was working.

He pulled as far as possible to give himself as much parking lot as possible to get up to 88 mph. He typed in the date, but decided to return a few minutes before he left. It would give him time to save Dustin. He left the handbrake on so that the wheels would spin and reach higher speeds before he started driving.

“40...50…” Marty watched the speedometer increase rapidly. It was getting close.

Out the rearview mirror he could see headlights in the distance...the bad men.

He let go of the brake and the car went lurching forward. He hated to leave them in danger, but Marty knew it had to be ok. He had to go home. Now.

El screamed, blood pouring from her nose and her ears, but it was working.

“80...85…” Marty was running out of space. “88!” He shouted and he was wrapped in a flashing blue light.

The car disappeared before their very eyes leaving a trail of fire.

“Holy shit!” Dustin shouted.

“Where was he from ?” Lucas couldn't believe it.

“Guys, we need to go. Now. The bad men…” Mike shouted and grabbed El's hand as they ran.

Chapter Text

Hawkins, Indiana, 2013

Marty returned back outside the school. He couldn't tell if he was back in his time or still in 1983.

He jumped out and looked around. The flyer for the basketball game scheduled for 15th January, 2013 was still up.

“I'm back.” He threw his hands in the air. “I'm back!”

Marty checked his watch. It was 12:56… he still had time to make it to the mall parking lot where Dustin would be. He could save him.

Marty jumped back in the DeLorean and drove the empty roads.

He pulled up at 1:02 am. Marty leapt out the car in time to trip over his bike he'd left there. It felt like years ago now...well, it almost had been.

He adjusted his hat and looked up to see the bad men arrive, their guns raised.

“No!” Marty screamed. He'd been too late. Dustin threw away the note he'd left him, he can't have known. Marty cried. He'd really thought he'd be able to at least do something right for once in his life.

Marty watched through tears as himself from the past (the future? He didn't really know) climbed in the DeLorean and sped away from the bad men. He saw the flash of light and the fire left behind as he went back to 1983. It was kind of cool. Dustin really did do something amazing…

Marty ran to Dustin, but the bad men had spotted him again. Marty was frozen on the spot. He couldn't move, the bad men sped up in their van towards him.

Marty closed his eyes, waiting for something to happen, but he'd heard a loud crunch and smash sound before the van had hit him. Marty opened his eyes and saw the van had been flipped... flipped? He knew who had done that.

Marty turned and saw his mother running towards him, a trickle of blood from her nose.

“Marty!”

“Mom!” He wrapped his arms around her. She was here. She was his mom again.

“El?! Marty?!” Mike came running after, Sarah in tow. “Thank god you're both ok.”

Mike pulled his son towards him, hugging him tightly.

“Mom? Did you...how did...what?!” Sarah was pointing to the van that lay crushed.

“Why didn't you ever tell us?” Marty looked at her.

“We wanted you two to have a normal childhood. The things we went through when we were younger…” El clutched Mike's hand tightly. “We didn't want you to ever go through anything like that.”

“I guess...you deserve the truth.” Mike sighed.

Marty wanted to know more, about what happened after he left. But then Dustin popped into his mind.

“Dustin!” He ran and flung himself on the floor next to Dustin.

“No…” El whispered. She buried her head into Mike's chest. Sarah knelt down next to her brother and cradled him like a baby.

“It's my fault.” He mumbled. “It's all my fault.”

“It's not your fault Marty.” Sarah squeezed him tightly. “You didn't know. You couldn't have stopped it.”

“I should have warned him...I should have-”

Just then, Dustin shot up, rubbing his head.

Sarah and Marty both screamed, causing Dustin to scream back.

Mike and El ran to help Dustin up.

“Dustin? But...but you were dead?” Marty shook his head. “You're dead.”

Dustin pulled open his lab coat to reveal a bullet proof vest.

“How did you…? The letter, you ripped it up?” Marty whispered.

Dustin smiled and pulled out a faded old note stuck back together with tape.

“I thought we weren't supposed to mess with the future?” Marty laughed, wiping his nose with his sleeve.

Dustin shrugged. “I guess sometimes we can bend the rules a little.”

“Ok, can someone please tell me what's going on?” Sarah looked between Marty and Dustin.

“Just science.” Marty replied.

“Come on, I think we all deserve some Eggos.” El suggested.

“I'm dying for a triple decker Eggo extravaganza.” Marty rubbed his stomach. “I feel like I haven't eaten in 30 years.”

“So you hid with grandpa Hopper for 353 days?” Marty bit into his fourth Eggo.

El and Mike decided it was probably time they shared all that had happened to them when they were kids.

“Your father called me every day.” El smiled at Mike and took his hand.

“Aw, who knew dad was such a hopeless romantic?” Sarah had long  finished her Eggos. “Ugh Marty, that's disgusting.” She pulled a face at how Marty was stuffing his face with Eggos, barely taking time to chew.

El began telling them about the mindflayer and Will being possessed. Marty felt bad. He had no idea how much Will had gone through.

“But the snowball? That was real?” Sarah looked at the photo on the mantelpiece.

“It was true that the dance was our first proper kiss. No Demogorgons or mindflayers to interrupt.” Mike said, blushing slightly.

“It was when I knew that I wasn't going to find anyone as special as him.” El smiled and Marty felt a little sick. He didn't know if it was an overdose of Eggos or gross romance. A bit of both he decided.

“Why don't we have powers?” Sarah suddenly asked. “I mean… I know dad's a boring normal person but surely we would have some kind of power because of you?”

El shook her head. “We weren't sure either if you would. My powers weren't hereditary. My mama, my birth mother didn't have powers.” It was hard for El to talk about her birth mother. The kids occasionally saw her, but it was hard.

“She was part of an experiment, but she didn't know she was pregnant with me. And the experiments are possibly what caused my powers.”

“Oh…” Sarah nodded. She knew it wasn't good to press about their Grandma Ives. It was a soft subject and they understood.

“Does this mean you can see people, you know sense them sneaking around like jedi can?” Marty looked sheepishly up from his Eggo.

El furrowed her brows. “No? It's not the force. Why?”

“Shit…” Marty whispered under his breath. “I mean, good. Because I've definitely not been doing that….”

“Matthew James Wheeler,” El smirked and ruffled his hair.

Marty smiled through his Eggos. He'd really missed his family, even though he'd technically been with them all week.

He watched his parents and how they still seemed like the same kids he'd met. The way his father still looked at his mother like the world revolves around her. It was the same dorky looked he'd had the first time he saw her.

“What're you smiling at?” Sarah nudged him.

“Nothing…” Marty turned to her. His sister. He'd missed her. “Just...glad to be home.”

Chapter Text

8th August, 2013

“Happy birthday little Wheeler!” Max’s smiling face appeared behind a large present she was holding as Marty opened the door.

“Hey Aunt Max, Uncle Lucas.” Marty took the present and let them into the house. Their daughter Emma followed behind, waving shyly at Marty.

She was 9 but Max liked to tease that she thought she had a little crush on Marty. Emma wouldn't stop talking about him but whenever he got near she would blush and hide behind Lucas or Max. Marty found it kind of funny, she was like a little sister to him even though they weren't actually related in the slightest. He knew she'd grow out of it eventually, but that didn't stop him good naturedly teasing her.

El had organised a party for Marty's 14th birthday. The Wheeler house was once again alive with the sound of laughter.

“What am I witnessing right now?”

Max turned to El where they were sat in the kitchen watching Lucas, Mike, Will and Dustin play twister while the kids were in fits of laughter.

Lucas was crouched with his right leg stretched between Mike's two legs. Mike had his left arm bent over Will who had both his arms tangled with Dustin's.

It was a horrific sight.

“He's going to break his back.” Max couldn't watch as Lucas bent over.

“I give it 2 minutes before Mike ruins it with his clumsy feet.” El laughed.

Sure enough, Mike's foot mysteriously slipped from under himself. They landed in a pile on top of each other, arguing like 12 year olds again.

Max smirked and turned to El. “Uh? Did you just?”

El shrugged. “I don't know what you mean…”

“What about the kids?”

“We told them. About everything.” El explained. “There was an... incident a few months back. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. It's just so busy nowadays to talk, and I kind of forgot. I'm sorry.”

“Hey, don't be. I think it's great you finally told them.” Max grabbed her arm reassuringly. She looked over to where Lucas was being tackled with a piggyback by their daughter. “I think I might wait a bit before I tell Emma though. She's still too young...I don't want to freak her out.”

El nodded. “I get it. It's not exactly an easy thing to tell them.”

They sat together watching their husbands and their kids, their best friends. All together, laughing like one big family.

“It all worked out though.” Max said, not taking her eyes away from the scene.

“Better than I could have ever dreamed.”

They looked at each other and laughed lightly, trying to lighten the mood.

“Uh...time for cake?” El pointed to the waffle shaped cake she'd made. It had a little 14 candle in the middle.

“I still can't believe he's 14…” Max brushed her hair out her face. “It only seems like yesterday we were freaking out because you were pregnant... again.” They laughed.

“Hey, you make it sound like I'm old.” El acted offended.

“Just saying, you're not 12 anymore.” Max grinned, reaching over to light a candle.

“Neither are you.” El retorted.

They lit the candles and El carried the cake in to the living room.

She looked around at the smiling faces in the room. She still remembers a time when this all seemed like something she could never have, feeling like she'd be confined to that lab forever. But she looked at all the faces in the room that had helped her over the years, her friends that had been there for her just as much as she had them.

Her eyes landed on Mike. She couldn't describe how much she loved him. Somehow, when they first met there had always been this... connection. They had been through hell and back but somehow always found each other. He'd given her a life she'd never in a million years have thought possible. Deep down, he was still that same boy she'd met all those years ago, the same sweet boy she'd fallen in love with.

But now she was looking at the other two important people in her life. She would never get over how they were a perfect combination of her and Mike. Marty literally looked like a clone of Mike, expect for her eyes and nose. She felt a weird sense of déjà vu as she thought that... wondering where she'd heard that before….

The thought was shaken from her mind as they all began singing happy birthday.

When Marty blew out the candles El asked what he'd wished for. Marty looked around and smiled. But he shook his head.

“Nothing. My life is perfect, just how it is.”