Author's Note: Here is the final chapter! Thank you so much for all of the favourites and follows, and the super supportive reviews! You're all awesome, and I'm so happy you've enjoyed this story!

(And to the request I recieved about adding a scene where Steve's dad comes and the kids and Joyce and Hopper defend Steve: I loved it, but I wasn't sure how to add it into this story. I will definitely write a one-shot of that in the future though!)

Until the next fic!

-LizzySong

It was one-thirty in the morning by the time they were able to leave the hospital, all of them exhausted, and Steve... slightly irritated.

"Well that was a waste of time," he said as the group walked through the parking lot to the car. Nancy had insisted he lean on her for support again, even though he was feeling more stable than he had earlier that night.

"No it wasn't," Nancy said, a little sternly.

"Nance, she gave me an ice pack and told me to sleep -- but not too much. And to not do anything for a week. I could've told you that."

"Well, at least we know your okay. Otherwise we all would've been worried. I mean, you did collapse. That's usually not a good thing. Now we know we just have to wake you up every couple hours."

"Yeah," said Lucas, "If we didn't know you were okay, we wouldn't've let you sleep at all."

Max and Dustin both nodded in agreement, and Nancy smiled at the three kids. They all seemed to really look up to and care about Steve, and she couldn't help but be surprised -- and a little amused -- by the fact that King Steve had become a big brother to all these kids overnight.

The drive back to the Byers' home was long and quiet, the kids having fallen asleep in the backseat almost immediately, and Steve dozing in the passenger seat next to Nancy, who smiled a little. She was relieved that she and Steve had reconciled and that there wouldn't be any bad blood between them.

Finally Nancy pulled into the Byers' driveway and parked the car. She woke the kids and Steve up helping the latter to the door despite his tired and weak protests of "Nance, I can walk."

Steve immediately crashed on the couch, not even bothering to take his jacket or shoes off, and fell asleep almost the second he laid down.

Mike and El were already asleep on the floor in sleeping-bags, and they were holding hands, as if afraid that they'd be separated again while they slept.

Lucas and Max found some blankets and pillows, quickly joining them. They talked for a few minutes before drifting into sleep themselves.

Dustin stayed up a little later, keeping an eye on Steve. He was still worried about his friend... mentor... brother...? Despite what the doctor had told them.

And Nancy went to the kitchen where she found Joyce and Hopper sitting at the table, talking quietly.

"Oh," Nancy said, a little surprised -- she'd expected Hopper and Jonathan to be there, not Joyce -- "Where's...?"

Joyce gave the girl a small, tired smile. "Jonathan's sleeping in Will's room tonight," she said.

Nancy nodded a little. Of course Jonathan had insisted Joyce try to relax for the rest of the night -- she'd been through hell and back the last couple days.

"Here," Joyce said gently, patting the empty chair next to her, "Sit down, sweetheart."

Nancy smiled a little and obliged, taking the seat she'd been offered. "How's your friend?" Joyce asked with concern, "He didn't look good."

"It's pretty bad... but not as bad as we thought it was," Nancy said with a small sigh, "He'll be okay."

Hopper and Joyce both nodded in response, looking relieved.

The three of them sat in the kitchen for a long while, talking about their plans for dealing with the inevitable aftermath of the past week's events. Nancy also told them about what she and Jonathan had done to help insure closure for Barb's parents -- as well as close the lab -- which made Joyce beam with pride.

Eventually Joyce joined Jonathan and Will in the younger son's room, and Hopper went to the living room and found a chair to sleep in for the night as he watched over the children.

Nancy on the other hand stayed in the kitchen. She didn't think she'd be able to sleep even if she tried, so she decided to forgo it all together. Besides, someone needed to keep an eye on Steve.

He might not be as bad off as she'd originally thought, but he was still in bad shape, and she had to make sure he was alright.

By the time Steve woke up the next morning, most of the kids were gone. Nancy had taken Mike home, dropping Dustin off at his house on the way, and Max and Lucas had gone to Lucas' home. This left Eleven -- who was sitting on the floor... staring at him? -- and Will, who was in his room with Jonathan and Joyce.

El noticed that Steve was waking up and stood up, walking to the kitchen. She came back a minute later dragging Hopper behind her.

The teenager slowly sat up, gingerly pressing a hand against his head, a dull throbbing making its presence known.

"Hey, kid," Hopper said, sitting down next to Steve on the couch, his voice a little gentler than normal, "How're you feelin'?"

The boy shrugged a little, "I've been better..."

The policeman nodded, giving the kid a slight smile, "You want some ice?"

The teen shook his head, wincing as it caused the throbbing in his head to worsen, "No... I'll be fine."

Steve started to stand up, but was forced to sit back down when his head swam too much for him to see straight, much less walk. ...Maybe he wasn't in as okay of shape as he thought.

"Hey," Hopper said, steadying the boy as he sat, or more accurately, fell, back on the couch, "You're not going anywhere today."

"But Mrs. Byers--"

"--Will kill me if I let you leave when you can't stand for more than a second."

Steve looked at the man sitting next to him, a little confusion present in his eyes. He wasn't used to adults caring about him.

Jim gave the teenager a somewhat amused smile and clapped a hand on the his shoulder, "I think she's gonna try to adopt you."

The police chief's words made Steve smile a little...and blush slightly, though thankfully, with the majority of his face being badly bruised, this wasn't noticeable.

After several more minutes of talking and subtly examining Steve's condition, Hopper stood up and declared that he was going to get Joyce, as she'd made him promise to get her when the teenager woke up, adding at the end, "She's going to want to mother you, so just... be ready for that." Steve laughed slightly and smiled, "Okay."

The policeman returned a couple minutes later with Joyce. El was now sitting next to the teen on the sofa, happily chatting away. This surprised Hopper, as the girl usually didn't talk much. Apparently she'd taken a liking to Steve...All the kids had.

Joyce was immediately at the boy's side, asking him a myriad of rapid-fire questions, leaving no time in between for him to answer any of them.

By the end of this she had Steve in a tight hug -- a little too tight for comfort, but he didn't try to stop her, enjoying the feeling of being cared for enough that someone was hugging him that tightly.

"You're staying here until I'm sure you can take care of yourself, you hear me?" she said as she finally pulled away from the hug. Steve smiled a little and nodded, once again wincing at the pain this caused in his head.

Joyce frowned in concern at the boy's wince of pain and stood up. "I'm going to get you some medicine for that," she told him as she walked to the kitchen.

Steve leaned back into the sofa, exhaling quietly, relieved that the events of last night were over. He felt Eleven lean into him a little, hugging his arm and resting her head on his shoulder, and smiled. She'd told him all about what she had to do last night, and though he didn't fully understand it, he knew she was just as exhausted as he was -- maybe more -- and he was happy that she trusted him enough to fall asleep next to him like this, considering he'd only just met her.

...Of course, he didn't know that Mike had told her everything that Steve had done to protect Mike and the others. He thought that kid hated him.

Finally, after eighteen years of life, he felt like he had a family. ..And all it took was babysitting a bunch of reckless thirteen-year-olds and having the shit beat out of him. As far as he was concerned, it was well worth the pain he'd be in for the next couple weeks.