A/N: Two chapters in two days! I've just been inspired recently for Mileven one-shots, and I've had the time to knock them out. So, I hope you all enjoy this one. Thanks for reading, as always! And please remember to leave me a review!

FavStarngerthings: Thank you! I'm glad you like them, and I hope you like this one too.

Disneyprincess315: I agree. Of course, I love seeing Mike comfort El, but seeing El comfort Mike is so touching on another level. I'm glad you enjoyed the bit with the sky as well!

Shrike176: Ooh, I can definitely see vibes from the one-shot of Mike explaining to El that he would not fall out of love with her. Great to hear that one was your favorite! I'm glad you like this collection so much. I hope you like this one too.

Nighting Ryder: Aw thanks! I'm glad you liked it so much.

Setting: Canon divergence. Hopper never went missing at the end of ST3. Hopper and Joyce had their date at Enzo's, and the Hopper and Byers family has been one ever since. El started school with the party in fall of 1986 when they were 15 and sophomores. This takes place fall of 1988 during their senior year, and they are 17.

Disclaimer: I do not own Stranger Things or any of its characters.

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El Hopper nervously tapped her finger on the countertop while she counted backward on the calendar for probably the thousandth time that day. She didn't know how she hadn't realized it earlier. It was probably because her mind had been in such a whirlwind recently with midterms, college applications, and her part-time job at Melvald's where Joyce had encouraged her to work for some extra savings. El found that the time was flying by, so of course she hadn't realized… that is, until earlier today when Max had complained about her cramps, and the realization struck El that she could not remember the last time she had had a period.

Typically, El's periods were pretty regular. They weren't four weeks to the day like clockwork, but they usually started within a day or two of when they should. So, as El pored over the calendar laying in front of her on the counter, she couldn't believe that the last time she had had a period was six weeks ago. She was two weeks late. This was unheard of for her.

Suddenly, El heard a car pull into the driveway of the house that Hopper and Joyce had bought together, and she quickly hung the calendar back on the wall where it belonged. There was a knock on the front door, and she knew it was Mike. He had said he had to go home and get Holly after the bus dropped her off from school, and then he would take her to a friend's house and then come over. El took a deep breath and walked to the door, hoping she appeared normal. As she reached for the doorknob, she noticed her hand was shaking.

"Hey baby," Mike smiled and leaned down to peck her lips when she had opened the door.

"H-hi," El stammered with a forced smile, stepping to the side so Mike could come in. "Did you, uh, d-did you get Holly taken care of?"

"Yeah, I did," Mike replied, furrowing his brow and observing El with a look of concern. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," El said, finally having a handle on her words again. "I didn't sleep well last night, and I fell asleep on the couch. You woke me up when you knocked, so I was just a little out of it."

"Oh. Okay," Mike shrugged, and El felt a wave of relief that he believed her, though she felt a pang of guilt for lying to him. "So do you want to do it in your room or in the kitchen?"

"W-what?!" El gasped.

"The project for Mr. Thomas's class," Mike replied slowly, creasing his forehead in concern.

"Oh, right!" El exclaimed and laughed lightly. "Sorry, I must still be waking up."

"Babe, are you sure you're okay?" Mike asked, stepping closer to her and taking her hands in his.

"I'm fine," El smiled up at him and then leaned up to kiss him on the lips for emphasis. "And we can go to my room."

Moments later, they were seated next to each other at the desk in El's room. Their textbooks were open in front of them, and Mike was talking about the history project that was due next Friday. Ordinarily, El loved listening to Mike speak. She would hang on every word he said; he was so smart and passionate, and the sound of his voice was the most calming thing to her. But today, she was distracted. She could hear his voice, but she wasn't hearing the words. Every now and then, she nodded along to whatever he said.

"Oh! I almost forgot. Guess what was in the mail when I got home today," Mike said, pulling El out of her thoughts. She wondered how long he had been talking about something other than their project.

"What?" she asked, trying to focus on her boyfriend.

"Two acceptance letters. One to Notre Dame and one to Northwestern," Mike replied, and El forced a smile on her face to hide the clenching of her heart in her chest.

"Th-that's… so great, sweetie. Congratulations," she managed, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly, squeezing her eyes closed.

Are you really going to ask him to give that up? she asked herself.

"Thanks, baby," Mike said as they pulled back from the hug. "Have you heard anything back from any colleges yet?"

"Uh, no. No, I don't think so," El replied, looking down at the floor and trying to keep down the lump that was forming in her throat.

"Well, hey, that's alright. I know you will," Mike said gently, reaching forward to take one of her hands. "You're so smart, El. I'm so proud of how far you've come the past couple years."

El raised her head up and rolled her eyes up to the ceiling, trying to blink back the tears that were filling them.

"El, don't cry," Mike soothed her. "It's still early."

"It's not that," El whispered.

"Then what is it? Please, tell me what's wrong," Mike asked in his softest voice, the one El knew was just for her.

She looked at him, taking in every beautiful feature of his face. His sharp cheekbones peppered with freckles that El had traced millions of times, his soft pink lips that El had felt all over her body so many times, his deep dark eyes that could always captivate her and which were now looking at her filled with worry. God, she loved him. He was so excited to graduate high school and go on to college. They had talked numerous times about all the fun they would have during the summer between high school and college… road trips up to the lake, the amusement park, camping, just being together every day until moving away to college.

Was that summer that they dreamed of gone forever? Would they both be forced to give up their college plans? Would Mike resent her for that? Would they have to forget about school, get full-time jobs just to support a child, never end up with careers they love, and live unhappily wondering how different things could have been?

El did not realize she had started to cry until Mike reached forward and cupped her cheek, wiping her tears away with his thumb. El placed her hand overtop of his on her cheek and turned her face in his palm, kissing his thumb softly.

"Mike… I love you," she whispered, swallowing down a sob.

"I love you too, El," Mike said back softly.

"I think…" El let out a deep, shaky breath. "I-I might be… p-pregnant."

Mike's eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open as his stomach began doing flips. His mind started racing, wondering how that could be possible. Of course, he knew they had sex frequently, and he knew El was not on the pill. She had been blessed with mild periods, and she had no medical reason to be on the pill, so she never felt comfortable enough asking Joyce and Hopper to let her take it. Sure, they used condoms sometimes, but Mike knew there had been times when they were in the heat of the moment and wearing a condom was overlooked. Normally, he was good about pulling out in time when that happened, but Mike knew there had been a few times when he wasn't able to do that either… He had assumed they had just been lucky. He had never considered a time when their luck might run out.

"Uh, um… p-pregnant? H-how do you… why do you…" Mike trailed off.

"I'm two weeks late, Mike. I'm never this late," El said, sniffling through her tears.

"Oh," Mike breathed, still in a daze.

"Mike, I'm scared," El squeaked out before letting the sob escape that she had been holding in.

Mike immediately was pulled from his thoughts and wrapped his arms tightly around El, pulling her against him. El clung to him, her face pressed against his chest, soaking his shirt with her tears, and Mike soothingly rubbed her back while her body shook with sobs in his arms.

"It'll be okay, El," Mike murmured against her hair and kissed the top of her head.

"N-no it w-won't," El stammered. "N-nothing will ever b-be the same."

Mike held her silently while El cried into him. He gently caressed her back and ran his fingers through her hair, giving her time to let out everything she had been holding in. When El finally seemed to be calming down, Mike kissed the top of her head again and placed a finger under her chin, gently tilting her head up to look at him.

"I'm scared, too," he admitted. "But we're in this together, El. If you are… I'll be with you every step of the way."

"I can't ask you to do that, Mike," El shook her head. "You can't give up your future because of me."

"You aren't asking me to do anything, El," Mike said. "And giving up my future would be leaving you to handle this alone… You are my future. You and any kids we may have. You're way more important to me than, what, college?"

"But you're so excited-"

"Yeah, I am, but plans change. And it doesn't mean we would never go to college. We could take a year off, go to college part-time. Sure, it would take longer, but we would still get there," Mike said logically.

"Y-you would really do that?" El asked.

"For you and our family? Of course I would. El, I would do anything for you," Mike said, resting his forehead against hers.

"I love you so much," El whispered. "I was scared you would hate me for ruining your future."

"That's what you were scared of?" Mike asked. "That could never happen. I love you. I'm going to love you no matter what, for the rest of my life. I promise."

El felt her eyes begin to rim with tears again, this time from the weight of Mike's words to her. She leaned in and kissed him softly, feeling him tighten his hold around her waist.

"Will you, um, stay with me while I take a test?" El asked when she pulled back.

"Of course," Mike answered immediately. "Do you already have one?"

"No," El shook her head. "And we can't go to Melvald's to buy one, obviously."

"My parents are out of town right now. We can stop at the drug store a couple blocks from my house, and then we can go there to take it," Mike suggested.

El nodded her head. She liked the idea of being the only two people in the house while taking the test, and if she was being honest, she did not want to take the test at her house anyway. She was certain Hopper, Joyce, or Will would find it, and whether the test was positive or negative, she did not want to deal with those repercussions.

Mike drove the two of them to the drug store, and they walked inside hand-in-hand. It did not take long to find the pregnancy tests, as they were right next to the condoms, and this store was where Mike typically bought his condoms. El looked up and down the shelves of pregnancy tests with wide eyes. There were so many.

"Which one should I get?" she asked quietly, and Mike looked down at her, his face just as confused as hers.

"Um… I don't know. Have you, like, heard of any of these before?" he asked, and El shrugged her shoulders.

She reached for a pink and white box that boasted over 99% accurate results and said to have three tests inside.

"I think you're supposed to take multiple tests anyway, just to be sure," she explained, and Mike nodded.

They were both ready to book it out of there, but they walked up to the cashier to pay for the tests, avoiding eye contact as the middle-aged woman rang them up. El didn't want to risk seeing judgement or pity in the woman's eyes. Then, they were back in the car on their way to Mike's house.

Inside, Mike started upstairs, planning to have El take the tests in the upstairs bathroom, but El had different plans.

"Mike," she said softly, and he turned to face her. "Can we go to the basement to do it?"

El had been to Mike's house hundreds of times. She felt welcome everywhere, and she loved joining them for family dinners in the dining room, helping Karen clean up in the kitchen, curling up with Mike in the living room or in his bedroom, but El's favorite spot in the Wheeler house was still and always would be the basement. It was where she felt the safest and the most at home, and realistically, if she was pregnant, there was a very good chance that the basement was where the baby was conceived.

"Sure. Whatever you want," Mike said, taking her hand and walking with her toward the basement stairs.

Downstairs, Mike walked with El to the bathroom door, and then she turned to face him.

"I'm going to… you know… and then I'll come out and wait with you," she said, and Mike nodded. He leaned forward and kissed El's forehead, causing her to smile softly despite the nearly paralyzing anxiety she was feeling.

"I'll be right out here if you need me. And remember, everything is going to be okay," Mike said softly.

El nodded and walked into the bathroom, closing the door most of the way, but leaving it cracked just about three inches. Mike leaned his back against the wall next to the bathroom doorframe and let out a deep sigh. He closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall.

What was going to happen? What if she really was pregnant? He was seventeen. He wasn't ready to be a father. He had always expected that someday he and El would have kids together, but not yet. They weren't ready. They didn't have any money. They weren't even living together. They were still in high school. Would his parents let El move in with them so their little family could be together? Would Hopper let Mike move in with them? Would Hopper even let Mike live to see the birth of the baby? Assuming Hopper didn't kill him, would Mike and El have to keep living separately? Mike wanted to be there for El no matter what she needed, whether it was craving ice cream in the middle of the night or accompanying her to her doctor's appointments or a back rub or foot massage. He wanted to be there for her. What would his parents say? There was no way Mike would go away to college next fall. He had told El they could take a year off and go to college part-time while working. But how would his parents react to that? Not well, Mike assumed. Then there was the act of actually raising a baby… Mike was old enough to remember Holly as a newborn, but this would be different. What was he supposed to do with a baby? He didn't know anything about raising a child. What if he screwed the baby up bigtime?

Just then, he felt El's arms wrap around his waist, and he looked down to see her resting her head against his chest, her eyes closed. Mike smiled and did his best to silence his own fears. No matter how scared he was, he knew El was even more terrified. She would be the one carrying this baby. Their baby. His heart fluttered at the thought of 'their baby.' Mike needed to be strong for her and get her through the next three minutes, and possibly the next nine months and the next eighteen years.

"Did you take them all?" he asked softly, and El shook her head.

"Just two. I couldn't pee anymore," she replied, and Mike chuckled.

"Okay. Well, hopefully they both say the same thing and we don't need the third," he said, and El nodded.

"Can we wait over there?" El asked, gesturing toward the spot where their blanket fort stood.

Mike had rebuilt the blanket fort a few times over the years as they grew bigger and taller. Neither of them cared that it may seem childish to still have and regularly use a blanket fort. To them, it was special.

"Of course," Mike replied.

They walked over and crawled into the blanket fort. Mike leaned his back against the back wall, and El curled into his side, resting her head on his shoulder while he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her against him. She breathed in, inhaling everything about him from the scent of the laundry detergent on his clothes to his shampoo to his cologne to the smell that was just him. El squeezed her arm around his waist as she let out her deep breath, thankful that if she had to go through something so nerve-wracking, that at least Mike was the one she was going through it with. Nobody else in the world could calm her down just by being there.

"How are you feeling?" Mike asked quietly.

"Anxious," El replied. "But thankful that you're here."

"Of course I'm here," Mike mumbled against her temple before kissing her head.

"How are you feeling?" El returned the question.

She looked up at him. Ever since she had broken the news, Mike had done just what he always does and did his best to make El feel better. El knew he was scared too; he even admitted it back in her bedroom. She wanted to try and ease his mind the best she could like he did to her.

"I guess you could say I'm anxious too," Mike replied. "It's just a lot to think about… Telling your parents, telling my parents, living arrangements, school… obviously the baby itself."

"Your mom would hate me," El said, realizing for the first time that they would have to tell their parents.

"My mom? Your dad is former police chief Jim Hopper. We'd be lucky if he let me live long enough to meet the kid," Mike joked, trying to lighten the mood.

To his delight, El did giggle and hug him tightly again.

"He would have to be just as mad at me as you," El said logically.

"I don't think he would be. I'm the one who got you into this situation," Mike said.

"We both had a part in that," El pointed out.

"Yeah, but I should've worn protection every time," Mike argued.

"And I didn't make you," El countered. "We're both equally responsible. I'm just glad you've been next to me the whole time."

"There's no way I'd let you do this alone," Mike promised, tightening his grip around her shoulders and kissing the top of her head, and El knew he was referring to more than just taking the test today.

El reached for Mike's wrist and tilted it so she could see the time on his watch. She felt her stomach somersault when she realized it had been over three minutes, and she gulped.

"It's time," she said.

Mike and El stood and walked back to the bathroom. When they reached the doorway, Mike stopped and turned El to face him. She looked up at him and saw so much love and fear looking back at her in his dark eyes.

"Before we go in there, I just want you to know that no matter what those tests say, it won't change how I feel about you. I love you more than anything else in the world, and whatever happens, we will face it together," Mike said gently, causing El's eyes to rim with tears once again.

"Promise?" she sniffled, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"Promise," Mike replied, smiling back at her automatically before he leaned in to kiss her forehead. "Ready?"

El took a deep breath and nodded. They took each other's hand and walked into the small bathroom over to the counter where the two tests were waiting to be read. Mike and El each picked up one of the tests and raised them to eye level, both holding their breath.

"Mike? What does yours say?" El asked timidly.

"One line. What about yours?" Mike asked.

"One line," El replied.

"What does that mean?" Mike asked as El fumbled for the box.

She skimmed the words on the instructions, and Mike watched her intently until she let out a long sigh of relief and a smile filled her entire face.

"Not pregnant," she announced, dropping the test onto the counter and jumping at Mike, throwing her arms around his neck and wrapping her legs around his hips.

"Oh, thank god," Mike laughed, dropping the other test onto the counter and wrapping his arms tightly around El's waist.

El immediately met his lips with hers, kissing him passionately and weaving her fingers into his hair. When she pulled back, she rested her forehead against his and gazed into his eyes, unable to contain the smile on her face.

"That's such a relief," El sighed.

"Tell me about it," Mike chuckled, setting El down on her own feet again.

"I still wonder why my period is so late though," El said, furrowing her brow.

"Aren't there other things that can affect it? Like stress or something? You've had a lot going on lately," Mike offered as an explanation.

"That's probably it," El nodded. "I'm just so glad it's not a baby… It's like the weight of the world is lifted."

"Definitely," Mike agreed as he followed El back out of the bathroom and back to their blanket fort.

They got settled into the fort, both feeling much more at ease after reading the test results. Mike laid on his back and rested his head on some pillows, and El was laying halfway on top of him, resting her chin on his chest so she could look at him while they talked.

"I just want to thank you for being so amazing today," El said. "You're amazing every day, but I was so scared, and you were with me every step of the way. I can't imagine going through all this without you."

"You don't have to thank me," Mike said, rubbing his hand up and down her back. "I'll be with you through everything. Always."

"I love you," El smiled, leaning in to kiss him again.

"I love you, too," Mike said. "And someday when we take another one of those tests, I hope we're excited about it. Because I do want children with you, but not for a long time."

"Agreed," El laughed.

"We've got to be more careful," Mike said seriously, and El smirked in return as she felt Mike's hand slide lower down her body.

"Well then maybe you should get your hand off my ass, because I don't know about you, but I don't carry condoms around with me," she quipped.

"Lucky for you," Mike began before suddenly rolling them over so he was on top of El, "I have a few right in here."

He reached his hand between where two of the blankets meet, and El heard him pull open a drawer of the desk next to the fort. When Mike pulled his hand back inside, he was holding a familiar square wrapper and he shot her a satisfied smirk. El rolled her eyes and shook her head but couldn't help but laugh.

Mike felt his heart skip a beat as he watched El's face fill with genuine happiness after an afternoon of such fear and uncertainty. He leaned down to meet her lips in a slow, sensual kiss, and let his lips linger against hers a few seconds longer before pulling away. When El opened her eyes, Mike saw in them that something had changed. Somehow, the love in her eyes shone even brighter for him, and as they made love that evening, they felt closer and more connected than they ever had. Mike had always said that he would be there for El no matter what, and today he had the chance to prove it. El knew she would never again have to be afraid to tell Mike anything, because no matter what it was, they would get through it together.

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A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this one. I have actually been playing around with the idea of a full-length story centered around an unexpected Mileven pregnancy around 16 or 17 years old. It wouldn't happen for a while; I'm talking after Out Of The Woods is finished and after my Tied Together With A Smile sequel. So, probably a year from now, realistically. But let me know if that is something you guys may be interested in! Anyway, please remember to leave me a review, and I'll see you next time!