El wasn't sure how long she stood there.

An alarm was ringing in her body, ripping her away from all sense. It had blared in her ears as she told him to leave. As his feet creaked slowly across the floorboards to the door. As he looked back one last time, something heavy in his eyes that she had no idea how to understand. As his footsteps echoed down the stairs, and then crunched quieter and quieter upon the gravel driveway. As the far cry of his engine disappeared down the road…

Only then could she breathe.

It came in with a gasp, tearing raw against her throat. She whimpered, eyes bulging, hands clawing clumsily across her face, knees weak.

It had taken only one quick moment for everything to change.

Someone knew.

Mike knew.

He knew everything.

And it was all her fault.

What had she been thinking?! She had been so sloppy - So stupid! Despite every glaring sign that she was never going to succeed at hiding the truth from him, she had kept seeing him over and over and over again. And now… when he clearly knew… she couldn't even hide it?! No pushback, no denial! Just a flat blank shocked stare, silently confirming every fact he had uttered into the air.

And then, after all of that… she had let him leave?!

She wanted to rush out the door. To scramble into her car. To chase him until she got him to stop. To face him head on and find her way to the other side.

But something in her… couldn't move.

It was deep, and it had held her back with a firm unseen hand, freezing her in place. It was a nameless feeling, heavy and painful, layered so far down that she couldn't even give it words.

And as the minutes passed she could feel him, mile by mile, pulling further away.

Still, there was no going back from this.

That was clear simply by looking around the room.

The consequences of her actions were littered everywhere. It was a literal Pandora's Box of her life, spilling open before her eyes. Folders were messily strewn from their precarious perch on the edge of the lock box. Each of them holding something that she had eternally tried to escape. But more, the floor around her feet was littered with stark white paper, and only now she realized… photos. El shuddered as a candid shot of Mike himself stared back up at her from the floor. His face, a puzzle piece of her history that she had never even known.

Knees shaking, she backed away, leaning into the couch until she had crossed around it and dropped down, hoping the cushions would swallow her whole. Her legs curled into her body, and her eyes fell shut.

Everything felt so big, too big.

She tried to make sense of it all, but it felt knotted together in a huge nauseating ball.

- No one from the lab was after her - It had been Mike all along - spying on her - He knew about her - He had figured out her secret - Because she had been terrible at hiding it in the first place - And he'd been the man in the accident - But he hadn't known - And she hadn't known - But her father had known - Her father had known who he was all along - and he'd been spying on him for years -

Oh God, it was all too much.

A different engine sounded in the driveway, signaling what was likely her father's return to the cabin. Tension seized her shoulders once again as his tires screeched with the sound of spitting gravel. Almost immediately, his heavy boots hit the steps.

"I'm here," she voiced blandly as he barreled through the door, "He's gone."

Her father groaned. Her back was to him, but she didn't need to see him. She could simply feel his frustration filling the room.

"You let him leave?"

"I don't think he works for them."

El closed her eyes, too exhausted to take in his reaction. He didn't reply. Instead, his boots clanked across the wooden floorboards. The rubbery squeak of the fridge door opened. A beer can popped. And for a moment her father was silent.

But not for long enough.

Before long his boots started moving again. A chair scraped upon the floor. She could feel him sitting down in front of her. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes to find him stony faced, tired. Yet… not done. "We need to talk." he said, no compromise in his tone. El didn't reply, but he seemed to read her expression. He scratched at his beard with an irritated tick, "Yeah, I don't really want to either, but the truth is we've still got a big goddamn mess on our hands." He took a deep drink of his beer. "His alibi checked out, so I guess he's got that going for him."

That was not what she'd expected him to say. He seemed… relieved.

"How do you know that lady? J-Joyce?"

Hopper waved his hand to brush off her question, averting his eyes. "That's not important right now, but I do know her. And I trust her not to lie. But that doesn't change the fact that since you let him leave there's a guy running around out there with all of this information." Finally, he caught her eye with the hard blue eyed stare that she knew was coming, "Kid. I can't keep you safe if you lie to me."

"I didn't lie to you," she said quietly, but her voice held no strength.

Hopper sighed. "I asked you multiple times who that Mike guy was. If you'd been honest with me we could've nipped this in the bud weeks ago. But you lied. You lied that you didn't know his name. You lied when you told me you weren't still seeing him, and by the sound of it you've been seeing him a lot. Plus, sounds like there were other accidents you never even told me about? You intentionally made it impossible for us to stop this."

"Are you blaming me?" El asked darkly.

He replied with no hesitation. "Yeah, I am."

El scoffed, her voice growing tense, "You flew in here and took him hostage and you're the one who's blaming me?"

"Oh, come on - "

"- You didn't need to escalate against him like that!" she cried, surprising herself as she cringed at the image of her father snapping Mike into cuffs. Her hand came down hard on her knees. "You made this so much worse. Why does everything have to be a cop drama with you?"

"Because your life is in danger and I'm trying to keep you safe!" he boomed. His palm cracked against the back of the chair, making El jump in her seat. Hopper seemed to catch his anger before it blossomed. He took a moment to collect himself, eyes closed and teeth gritted. "Look," he said slowly, "You're 25. I know you want your privacy. And I sure as hell don't want to know the details of your personal life. But the way we've always done this? It's not working anymore."

He got up then, pushing the chair out of his way to cross behind the couch, out of her sight. Shuffling noises began behind her, and she tried to ignore what she knew was coming next. Before long, his large arm reached over the back of the couch and the very last thing she wanted to deal with was dropped in the seat right next to her.

"You need to read them. All of them."

El stared blankly at the silver lockbox, her heart rate quickening. "Please don't make me do that."

"If you want to keep things to yourself like this, then you need to know the risks," he said with a simple maddeningly clarity, "Maybe this Mike guy isn't one of them, but he knows now, and that's a massive mess in and of itself. Plus, you never know what tomorrow will bring. You need to know the details so you can keep yourself safe. Because I obviously can't do it anymore."

The box in front of her was small, but it looked so heavy. It was heavy. Heavy with the gritty details of everything she tried to run from. Years, decades, a whole life of facts that she wished wasn't real.

But a voice within her, one that she did not want to listen to… knew he was right.

"In the meantime," her father continued coldly, leaving her no space to debate, "I need you to lay low for another day or so. I have a couple final things I need to clear."

"Do you think I can call work, at least?" she asked, her voice empty, "I mean, I don't even know if I have a job anymore."

He thought for a moment, "Yeah, that's probably safe."

"And Max? She's how he got this address. He said she's really worried."

Hopper turned to her, taken by surprise. "Wait, he said Max gave him the address?"

"That's what he said. After you left."

A thread of confusion knotted his brow. "He told you he didn't know the address before?"

"Why would he?"

He scratched his head, "Yeah, go ahead and tell Max you're okay," he said, abandoning his thought, "Probably smart if they're in touch. You can say I was sick or something and you had to come home and take care of me."

"Okay."

He took another deep pull from his beer can, emptying it out. But there was a tension in him that made her uneasy. Eventually he pulled away, scanning the room before his eyes landed back on her.

"What?" she asked.

He hesitated for a moment before he shook his head, "Nevermind. I'll take care of it."

El replied with an empty nod. She was grateful for the abandoned line of questioning, for she didn't really have the energy to say any more words.

Before long she found herself back in her bed, coiled up tight as the last rays of daylight left the sky and darkened her room. Crickets began chirping as the night set in, filling the air with a sense of peacefulness that felt so very out of place.

Somehow the world was continuing to turn.

But how?

How could it all move forward as though nothing had changed… when everything had changed for her?

For the first time since her escape so many years ago, El had lost her veil. And in the darkness she wished for nothing more than to have it back. To wrap her life back up in her life saving lies.

But that wasn't an option.

What was Mike going to do now that he knew?

She tried to brush off the question and calm the fear clawing at her heart. She could trust him, right? At least to keep her secret safe? Surely she could. Mike was good. He was kind. Giving. Thoughtful. Patient.

Curious. Tenacious.

Impulsive... Audacious...

Dangerous?

…

Did she even know if she could trust him? Did she even know him? A person who'd only been in her life for three weeks?

There was no way to know.

El shuddered.

Why had she been so stupid to listen to her heart like that?

As if it held the answer, a thin silvery glow rose upon the far wall of her room.

The moon had begun to rise.

A sigh escaped her lip. She burrowed more deeply into her pillow. It felt almost painful to remember how very perfect she had felt the last time she had been washed in the light of the moon. Sitting in the back of Thelma's on the hollowed out old car, every nerve in her body alight as Mike taught her about the stars. Everything had felt like technicolor in that moment. Fresh and bright despite the dark. Floating and serene. A fresh breath for her long guarded heart.

He had made her feel so safe that night.

So accepted.

And he had looked simply gorgeous in the moonlight. Pale skin and dark eyes both illuminating in the most intimate way. Honest admissions falling from his lips, dropping his walls, letting her in.

And at the hint of his kiss her walls had dropped too. Achingly. Willingly.

And with enough intensity to set the building beside them ablaze, putting dozens of people in danger in exchange for her desire.

Of course he figured it all out.

She had never been able to hide her true self from him.

And he was right… she had put so many people in danger.

Tears started to pool in her eyes. And finally, the deep heavy feeling that had stopped her from chasing after him rose from the depths of her heart. It spoke.

What did he think of her now?

Did he see her as a danger? A mess? Broken? Irreparable? A monster needing to be tamed?

...Of course he did.

After all he'd seen, how could he see her any other way?

Like sand slipping through her fingers, all color faded from the gorgeous memory gone dark.

It felt like waking up to realize the most beautiful thing had been nothing more than a dream.

Sleep never really came, but it wasn't for lack of trying. Mike had fallen into bed, still clothed, the second he'd gotten home. Body limp and heart empty. Yet, after hours in the dark his mind would still not quiet down.

He had so many words. So many things that he desperately wanted to say.

He couldn't count how many times he'd picked up his phone and put it back down. Finger hovering over the button to call her. Fully typed out texts waiting for nothing more than for him to find the courage to press send.

But that courage never came.

Or maybe? It just didn't feel right.

El had saved his life. And this how had he repaid her? By terrifying her? By making her flee her home? He had made fear blossom in her beautiful eyes in a way that he would never forget. And all for what? His own selfish curiosity?

He wasn't sure if he had ever loathed himself more.

He wished he could take it all back, wipe it all away, pull her into him and tell her that she was safe. He wished he could give her all of the same reassurance that she had showered over him since the very first moment they'd met. Because he knew that look in her eyes. He'd seen it in his own. And after everything she'd done for him, after the amazing way she had made him feel, he had made her feel the worst kind of fear.

He had no right to force her to listen to him.

With a sense of helpless impotence, Mike watched the sun rise from it's very first peek over the horizon to it's full fledged spot in the sky. Because somehow, the world had continued to turn. Which meant it was time for the cruelest detail of all: Mike had to get ready for work.

Despite his heart begging him to not make him move, Mike somehow found it within himself to pull himself together, get ready for the day, and step out of his bedroom door. Hushed voices greeted him as entered the hallway, rising up from the kitchen below.

Hushed… but not hushed enough.

"I don't know what happened. He just walked in, hung up my keys, and went straight upstairs. He didn't look good."

"Wait, so you just let him walk away after stealing your car?"

"He didn't steal my car."

"He hasn't driven in years!"

"My car is fine. I checked. I'm more worried about him than I am about the car."

"You're a hell of a lot nicer than I am."

"Didn't we all know that already?"

"I still think we should go up and tell him. He should know."

"Wouldn't he already know if Max knows?"

"I don't know. Not necessarily."

Mike couldn't wait anymore. He steeled himself and descended the stairs.

"Hey buddy!" It was Dustin, speaking in a sing-song voice that Mike was not in the mood for, "How's our little road warrior?"

"Mike, I don't know if you heard - " Lucas cut in tentatively, " - Max texted me. She heard from El last night. El's okay!"

Mike replied with a nod. He knew he was hiding nothing, but frankly he didn't have it in him.

"Are you okay?" Will asked, ever the observant one.

"I'm fine," Mike managed, hoisting his bag higher on his back and moving into the kitchen, keeping his eyes to the floor.

"Come on, man. You're not going to tell us about your joyride?" Dustin teased, "You took Will's car! You've got to at least tell us why."

Mike took a deep steadying breath. "I'm sorry I took your car," was all he could manage to say.

"It's no big deal," Will replied kindly, "It's still in one piece."

"Oh, come on! This is a big deal!" Dustin exclaimed, reaching over to pat Mike on the back, "You drove, buddy!"

"Thanks..." Mike bit his lip, trying to hide the shameful tremor that was rising in his voice. "I've got to get to work."

"I'll drive you."

There was only one person who he was willing to take a ride from at this moment, and benevolently, that was the voice that spoke. "You don't have to," Mike said, looking up at Will.

"I've got to be at work in like 30 minutes anyway, I'll drop you off on my way. I've just got to get my bag."

Will got up and dumped the dregs of his coffee into the sink before heading toward his room. Mike followed him, keen to get the eyes of the other two off of him. Will didn't seem surprised to find Mike behind him in the doorway as he picked up his things.

"I'm not mad about the car, by the way," Will said quietly, with a reassuring air. "I was just worried about you. Was it okay? Driving?"

For the very first time in Mike's life he found himself relieved that the topic had been changed to driving.

"Yeah, actually," Mike replied, "I um… I think I got everything I needed to start putting all of that behind me."

"Really? That's amazing! Talk about effective immersion therapy," Will shot him a smile as he sat on his bed to pull on his shoes.

"Yeah, I guess," Mike replied. He was leaving out 99% of the story, and he couldn't deny that he craved to tell Will more. Will had always been the most supportive person about everything that had happened on that fateful night. But saying anything more so was completely out of the question. "Still, though. I shouldn't have taken your car without asking."

"Don't worry about it." Will replied with an easy wave of his hand. He grabbed his bag and made his way out of the room. "Just maybe um… pay me back for the gas? It was empty."

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry," Mike winced in embarrassment. He reached into his pocket for his wallet... but there was nothing there. "Oh shit."

"What is it?"

"My wallet. It's…" Mike groaned. He could see it now, plain as day in his mind, sitting on the table in El's cabin… "I lost it."

"Really?" Will opened the door and stepped out of the house, "Well, don't worry about it today. Figure that out and let me know."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not a big deal. I know where you live," Will reassured him with more kindness than Mike would have shown anyone in this situation, "So, are you just headed to - "

Will's question trailed off and his feet paused in the walkway. Confused, Mike pulled up behind him. His heart tightened as he saw what had made Will lose his train of thought.

Hawkins PD was emblazoned on the black SUV sitting in the driveway.

The man leaning against the hood spotted Mike before Mike could even think to run in the other direction.

"Can we… help you?" Will asked.

"You're fine," Chief Hopper said, taking a drag from a cigarette, "I'm here for Mike."

Will's confusion was plastered on his face as he turned to Mike.

Mike eyed the man with a deep spike of discomfort. But it was a testament to his exhaustion that he looked at Will and said, "It's… fine. You go ahead," without much hesitation.

Will looked toward the cop and then back at Mike, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Will eyed the Chief one more time. "Okay… well, call me if you need anything?"

Mike nodded. Finally, with leery eyes geared toward Chief Hopper, Will made his way to his own car on the other side of the street.

Mike made sure Will was out of ear shot before he spoke.

"How do you know where I live?"

Without expression, Hopper dug into his pocket and pulled out Mike's wallet, waving it in the air for a second before he tossed it toward him.

"Your ID is in there too. I finished my check. Where ya headed?"

"Work? I'm teaching a class?"

"Want a ride?"

Mike didn't try to hide the flare of distrust in his eyes.

"Listen," the man said, hands of surrender up in the air, "I just want to talk. No funny business. Trust me."

Big ask for a guy who had illegally taken him into custody the night before.

But somehow, for some reason, Mike found himself complying.

"You'll take me straight there? I have to teach in 30 minutes."

He nodded, "You'll make it with time to spare."

Mike couldn't believe what he was doing, but he climbed into the passenger seat of the SUV and put on the seatbelt. Chief Hopper lumbered in, wrestled with his own seat belt, and backed out in silence.

Mike couldn't hold back the first question on his lips anymore.

"Is El okay?"

The man didn't answer. Instead, he took a right at the stop sign in silence, getting onto the main roadway without even asking for directions. "So, Joyce Byers backed up your alibi," he finally said.

It was a relief, but Mike wasn't going to give the man the satisfaction of seeing that on his face, "I told you she would."

"You're lucky I know her or else this would be a lot harder to trust," the man gruffed, "I still don't fully trust this."

"I promise I don't work for… those people," Mike found himself saying yet again, "I understand why you might think that, but I didn't learn about them until I was already trying to figure out what was going on."

"Yeah, I'm not too worried about that anymore," he said, taking a left with a single palm on the steering wheel, "But we need to come to an understanding. What do you need?"

"Need?"

"How much?"

"What?"

"To keep this quiet. How much?"

Mike's jaw dropped, "Are trying to pay me off?"

"What, you don't think it's obvious what's going on here?" Chief Hopper replied.

"What do you think is going on here?"

The man shot Mike a deadpan look, "I know you saw her that night. I know what you do for a living. I know you've been sniffing around my house for years. I know more about you than you'd like to know. So, it's not a surprise to me that you showed up in her life a few weeks ago and now everything is going to shit. I don't know what your plan is, but since El won't let me kill you, I need to know how much." He stopped at a light and caught Mike in a tight blue stare, "I need to be very clear with you. You might think that what you've tripped is a big grand scientific opportunity, some key to your career or something like that, but it's a more dangerous mess than anything you've ever dealt with in your life. You're in over your head. I guarantee you that. So, how much?"

Mike was so stunned he could hardly even blink.

"You think I've been using El to prove some scientific equation?"

"Haven't you?"

"No!" Mike cried. Deep disgust exploded in his chest, "I wasn't lying. I didn't know this was all related until yesterday. You think I'd sell El's safety out for my career?"

"A lot of people would sell El out for their career."

"I would never do that to her!"

"Why not?"

"Because I lo- " the word sprang to his tongue with a shocking sense of ease, blowing something in him wide open. But he caught himself. "I - I care about her. A lot. I would never do that. Plus, it's unethical. It's not how good people approach science." He let out a deep breath and turned to the man, resolute. "Listen, I don't want your money. That's disgusting. It's obvious to me how dangerous this all is for El. I promise you, I'm never going to tell anyone."

"Well," Chief Hopper said, nodding slowly. "Huh. Not what I expected. I'm going to hold you to that."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll be keeping tabs."

Mike made a face, "You mean you're going to spy on me?"

"I don't know if spy is the right word," the man said, his eyes now fixated on the road, "Just… I'll keep tabs. Not much would change from before."

Mike leaned away, "Excuse me?"

"Have you ever noticed me before?" he said, blue eyes piercing over to him for just the slightest second before he looked back to the road.

It was a blood chilling look.

"No?"

He smiled coldly to himself. "Then nothing would change."

"You've been spying on me."

"Keeping tabs," he corrected intently.

"Since…"

"Since your accident, when else?"

"Holy shit." Mike said to himself, shaking his head.

"You can't be surprised," the man said blandly, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "I'm just keeping my daughter safe."

The two men sat in uncomfortable silence as they moved forward down the road. The front seat was too tight for Mike to take a deep breath.

With a confused huff, the cop finally spoke again. "You really didn't know?"

"What?"

"That it was her? When you showed up at our house yesterday? From you accident?"

Mike shook his head. "I really didn't know."

"Well," Hopper replied, letting out a low whistle, "That's one hell of a coincidence."

"It's the truth." Mike said with plain honesty. "It was a… big surprise." It was odd, the memory played on repeat whenever the topic of accident arose. It was probably the most viscerally memorable moment of his life. Yet now, flashes of El were mixed into the vision where nothing but a fuzzy silhouette had been before. And with an odd sense of release, it almost seemed… obvious. "But then again, I guess it wasn't a surprise?"

"Huh?"

Mike wasn't sure why he continued talking. Chief Hopper wasn't exactly the type of confidante he would have chosen, like, ever. But still, the ability to speak openly about this with someone, anyone, brought his thoughts forth. "It makes sense. Once it all came together. I saw her that night but she was a blur and I've been… well, seeing her that night messed me up. Yeah, I did try to figure out what was going on but I never got anywhere close. Realizing that it's all related? It makes sense. I never suspected it, though. But listen," he said, shaking his head, "My feelings for El aside, she saved my life that night. So, please believe me. Even if I'd never met her and I figured all of this out on my own, I would never use what I know to hurt her. That'd be a pretty shitty way to repay a person who saved your life."

"Well, I've got to admit that's a relief to hear."

"Well," Mike said with a heavy nod, "I mean it."

"So, you have feelings for my daughter, huh?"

Mike froze. "Uh…"

He had no idea what to say. Because 'feelings'? That was beginning to feel like a drastic, and hopeless, understatement. But just the direct thought of her, in the presence of the only person who really knew the answer, made him desperate to continue, "Is she okay?"

"No," Hopper replied plainly, "She's been terrified for days. And that's your fault."

The answer felt like a stab straight into Mike's chest. "I know," he murmured. If Mike's shoulders hadn't been fully slumped before, they were now. The man spoke the truth, and it stung like hell. The question that remained on his lips felt pathetic, but he had no pride left. "Do you think she would talk to me?"

Hopper scoffed. "I draw the line at giving you dating advice for my daughter."

"That's not what I - "

"I'll tell you what you shouldn't do," he gruffed, "Don't show your ass up on her doorstep unannounced again, you got that? Don't do anything that would freak her out."

Mike was wrong, his shoulder could slump further. "Yeah," he breathed, "That won't happen again. I promise."

"Good." Hopper said, stopping his SUV, "You can go now."

Mike looked up to find that they were at the front doors of his teaching facility. A cold sense of unease whipped down his spine. "How do you know where this is?"

"As I said, I've been keeping tabs." Hopper replied with unsettling ease, "And what are you going to tell your friend?"

"W-what?"

"Behind us," he said, nodding to the mirror, "He followed us the entire way."

Mike looked in the side view mirror to find Will pulling up behind them and coming to a stop. A tense expression was clear on his face even through the distance. "Oh," Mike stuttered, his chest filling up with grateful relief that he wasn't alone, "That's Mrs. Byers son. Um. I guess I'll just tell him we were talking about the energy company? That's what he thinks I've been researching."

"That's Will?" the Chief asked, his stony face breaking just a bit, "Wow, he's grown."

Mike had no idea how to reply to that.

"Can I go?"

The man shook his head to bring his attention back and then nodded. "Yeah."

Mike made a move to get out before a heavy hand fell on his bicep.

"And Mike?"

"Yes?" he asked, looking back

"I'm glad we had this talk," the Chief said. He said it kindly, but his latch on Mike's arm was nothing short of menacing, "I'm going to hold you to everything you said."

"You can," Mike replied soberly, "I promise."

Hopper smiled wider in reply, but it did not meet his eyes. "And if you don't hold up your end of the bargain, then we'll meet under much different circumstances next time."

Mike gulped. "I...understand."

To say that Mike couldn't focus when he entered his classroom was an understatement.

His mind was now running faster even than it had been all night, which was saying something. Yet, it was weird. Just like the night before, he hardly had space in his mind to think about the man who had handcuffed him, threatened him, interrogated him, shown up at his house unannounced and tried to pay him off while admitting to casually spying on him for years. Sure, the Chief was giving Mike supreme anxiety, testing his blood pressure, and making him have to focus really hard to not spin out. But honestly? He was the least of Mike's problems.

Because Mike could only think about El.

Her own father had just she was terrified... and that it was Mike's fault.

And he wasn't wrong.

It was not a good day to begin teaching a new class, but it was the unfortunate reality that Mike had to deal with. He found himself woefully unprepared for his new intro students. Even worse? He could hardly find it in himself to care. He almost felt guilty even thinking about things like lessons and experiments. For, every thought would wind it's way back to her, and to the woeful pit of shame that was now lying stagnant in his stomach.

It was with a stroke of desperation that found himself half heartedly bullshitting an in-class writing assignment on the fly. With the students busy reading a random set of pages at the front of their new text book and writing an essay that Mike never intended to read, he bought his brain the time and space it needed.

Hopper was right about one thing.

Mike couldn't just show up on El's doorstep. She deserved all the space she needed.

But that didn't change the fact that there was so much that Mike needed to say.

So just like his students, Mike found himself pulling out a notebook. And with a lightning flash of clarity, his heavy thoughts began to spill out onto the paper.