Chapter Text
El & Hopper
May 1985
“Can you tell me about Sara?”
Hopper stopped cleaning the dishes, and looked over his shoulder at the young girl sitting at the table. She was in the middle of doing her English homework.
“You wanna know about Sara?”
El shrugged, putting down her pencil. “You never talk about her. Except for…”
Hopper nodded quickly as El trailed off. They don’t talk about that day. No one does. Even after half a year of peace, it’s still painful to think about.
“Well that’s the thing, kid,” said Hopper, wiping his soapy hands on his jeans and taking a seat across from El. “Sara was so young when she passed, most of her life was taken over by her illness.”
“What about other than her being sick?”
“Well…” Hopper swallowed, a lump forming in his throat. “She was a hopeless romantic…a lot like you. She loved Anne of Green Gables, you know. The book I used to read to you? She loved the thought of ‘kindred spirits’, and having a bosom friend just like Diana Barry. And everything kind of larger than life. She loved the solar system. Learning about the different planets and galaxies. I think knowing there was so much out there excited her. I remember for her fifth birthday her mom and I bought her one of those shitty kid telescopes. You could barely see anything with it, but she loved it so much. I used to take her out almost every night to look at the stars.”
Hopper paused to gather his bearings, and then continued. “And then she got sick. Really sick, really fast. I barely had a chance to comprehend what was happening. And then she was gone.”
A small hand reached across the table to hold Hopper’s. He glanced up at El, to see her eyes shining with tears. It was only then that he noticed he was also crying. He quickly wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
They sat in silence, simply holding each other’s hand. It was a couple of minutes before El spoke, in such a whisper that Hopper almost didn’t hear her.
“I wish I could have met her.”
“Me too, kid,” Hopper chuckled, squeezing her hand. “Hey, why don’t you take the rest of the night off, huh? We can make some popcorn, watch a movie? We haven’t done that in a while.”
El looked at her homework warily. “I need to get better at English to get into high school with everyone else.”
“El, you’ve been working so hard lately. You deserve a break,” Hopper said, standing up and rummaging through the cabinet. He emerged with a pan of Jiffy Pop popcorn. El eyed it eagerly.
“Besides, you still have awhile before the test. I’ll make sure to whip you into shape before then.” Hopper grinning at her cheekily, which El returned, jumping out of her seat and quickly storing her work away. “You choose the movie, I’ll make the popcorn.”
“Extra butter!” El exclaimed, to which Hopper replied, “I know what to do.”
El leaned down by the TV, where her modest collection of tapes lived. Hopper had surprised her with a VHS player that Christmas, and the boys and Max pulled their money together to get her a couple of movies, in order to make her last year in hiding as pleasant as possible.
“Did you pick a movie?” Hopper asked, settling down on the couch with a bowl of popcorn. El turned around, showing him the cover of The Empire Strikes Back. Hopper sighed, shaking his head. “You hang out with those boys too much.”
“Max gave me that one,” El said simply, collapsing into the space next to Hopper, and immediately grabbing a handful of popcorn.
“Yeah, yeah.” Hopper chuckled, ruffling El’s hair. Her hair, though as wild and curly as ever, was past her chin now, and she mostly kept it up out of her face with Sara’s hairtie.
Hopper gazed down at El fondly. If anyone had told him two years ago that he would have an adopted daughter, he would have laughed in their faces. Two years ago, just the sight of a child made him nauseous, so bitter of the thought that they had everything his own daughter never would. And now, here he was. Sitting on the couch with a young girl just on the brink of her teenage years, and him finding himself wanting to protect her and give her everything she could possibly want and need. So, this is what he’s been missing out all these years, huh? If so, he could definitely get used to it.
El wriggled into Hop’s side in excitement as Luke used the force to retrieve his lightsaber and escape from the wampa. She looked up at him. “Are you paying attention?”
“Yeah,” Hopper laughed, grabbing a handful of popcorn for himself.
El settled herself deeper in the crook of Hopper’s arm. He was like a giant teddy bear, radiating off heat. El had never felt so comfortable with a grown man. He was nothing like Papa, who was cold and distant, or the men in white uniforms who never spoke to her and dragged her around like a doll. No, he was good and comforting and there. The man who took her from the forest and gave her a bed. The man who never asked her to use her powers, and apologized when he yelled. The man who gave her big bear hugs and kissed her hair goodnight. Is this what a father is meant to be like? If so, she could definitely get used to it.