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She stares down at the thin plastic device in her hands.
Two pink lines glare back.
Her heart is plummetting, just dropping right out of her chest, tumbling into the void at the thought of what this means... but her mind is too overwhelmed to process it. Numbly, she watches her feet take her to the door, open it, and step out of the bathroom. They carry her through the house she's shared with her husband for three years, past bookshelves filled with tattered science fiction novels, coding textbooks, and old figurines, past walls with framed photographs of their smiling families, past the gaudy secondhand couch with paisley-print upholstery... Like it always has been, her body is drawn subconsciously to Mike like a compass needle to the north. He's sitting at the little round breakfast table in the corner of their kitchen by the window, sipping a mug of coffee and lazily skimming a newspaper. He sighs a content "good morning" to her as she walks in, without looking up. When she doesn't respond, he turns around to face her... and he notices the way she's frozen in disbelief, still staring down at the object in her hands...
"El? Everything okay?"
It's the soft concern in his voice that finally breaks her out of her stupor. El finally looks up at him as he stands and approaches her. She holds out the test for him to see, hands shaking, "Mike, I..."
It takes him a long moment of painful silence to fully comprehend. She watches with growing dread as his eyebrows knit together, squinting at the faint results, and his expression twitches and twists with each gear-turn in his brain. But then understanding dawns on him... and a warm smile erupts across his face.
"Really?" he breathes softly. The gentlest, most genuine joy is suddenly radiating off of him. His hands reach up to squeeze her shoulders before drawing her in for a hug. "Oh my god! El, this is wonderful!"
She didn't know what to expect of his reaction, but she didn't think it would be quite like this... She's still frozen, her mind racing with confusion and a spiral of conflicting emotions. After a moment, Mike pauses, realizing that she isn't saying anything or hugging him back.
"...Isn't it?" he asks, pulling away to meet her gaze.
El's lips tremble and tears gather in her wide, scared brown eyes. "I... I don't know... I don't know..."
Mike's beaming grin is quickly replaced by attentive concern and that soft, tender empathy that always made her feel so safe. His warm hands cradle her face and stroke her hair. With all the gentleness in the world he murmurs reassurances, "Hey-- hey, it's okay! It's gonna be okay!"
El's throat feels tight. All at once it comes tumbling out, "But what if it isn't? Mike, what if-- what if something goes wrong? What if they're like me?"
The painful memories that her mother had shared with her ricochet through her mind-- the blood, the dizzying fear, the heartbreak when she awoke and her baby wasn't there-- What if that happens to her, too? What if it's worse? Will her own baby share the same unnatural abilities as her? Or the same disabilities? Will they grow up broken like she did? Would Mike be disappointed that she couldn't give him a normal child...?
Mike brushes the tears away with his thumb. "Listen," he says steadily, "it'll be alright. I know it will. I'm gonna be here with you through all of it. I promise. I'll take care of it, okay? I'll take care of you. And so will Hopper, and Joyce, and Nancy, and Jonathan, and Will, and everybody-- we're all gonna be here to help you through this. Okay?"
She nods, taking a deep breath. Her chest aches in a way it hasn't since she was a child, but his words are comforting.
Mike continues, "And if they're like you...? Then that's wonderful! I mean-- I get to love you and a mini version of you? Are you kidding? That sounds like the best thing that could ever happen! And they're gonna grow up with the coolest mom, and the best grandparents, and amazing aunts and uncles-- just the biggest, greatest family in the whole world-- and we're gonna love them more than anything. We'll give our baby everything you never had, and everything I didn't have, and it will be perfect."
El weeps quietly, a warmth blooming in her heart more and more with every word he says. 'Our baby', he said... It does sound wonderful. It sounds like something she never even knew she wanted, but now that Mike is saying it out loud, and wanting it, too, she's realizing just how desperately she wants it. It's terrifying, but she wants it. And it's all really possible... it's all really happening. Her voice is still timid and frightened when she whispers, "I... I don't know how..."
Mike smiles at her so warmly. "Me neither," he admits, "but I know we can do it. We'll get it right."
She presses her forehead to his, taking another deep breath, focusing on the feeling of his arms around her. It feels like safety... like home. He's right, she realizes. It will be okay. Because their baby will have a home.
"We'll get it right," she repeats.
"Together," he affirms quietly.
El lifts her gaze to meet his eyes. A smile tugs at her lips. "Promise."