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As soon as the military men have them outside the truck, Mike takes stock. Dustin and Lucas are on either side of him, Nancy and Jonathan further down, hands against the truck. He was pretty sure he saw Robin and Steve on the other side, having been pulled from the front. Will and his mom are being held a little off to the side, Hopper is behind them, two military men at his side. If he looks over everyone, he can see the top of Holly’s head over where they’ve gathered all the kids.
There’s just one person missing, the most important person.
“El? Do you see El?” He asks Dustin, who has the best view of the area. Mike watches, heart in his throat, as his friend looks around. He can hear the military people shouting at each other about where she is, but like him, they can’t seem to find her either.
Dustin scans the area before looking back at him, “she must have escaped.” Mike feels himself sigh in relief, of course she did. She must have slipped into the Radio Shack, gone down into the tunnels and escaped.
But, before he can start to formulate a plan to get them out, to follow her into the tunnels, the spotlight on the military truck shifts and Mike’s attention is brought back to the gate, a figure standing in the center of it. Not just any figure, El.
No, no, no.
Mike’s feet move before his brain can comprehend what he’s doing, but he doesn’t stop. Not even when Dustin calls after him, or when the military man holds him back. He needs to get to her, needs to pull her out, needs to do something, anything. However, before he can make another move, suddenly he’s not by the gate anymore.
Suddenly, he’s cold and wet and El is standing in front of him and he feels sick and scared and hopeless all at once. “El, you need to get out there!” He yells, getting to his feet and running the short distance to her.
Before the words have even fully left his mouth, he knows his pleading is meaningless. El has a familiar look of determination on her face, like she’s already made up her mind. Mike has always admired that about her, how she never backs down and never sways, but god never more in his life has he wished that she would listen to him.
And never more in his life has she wished she would be a little more selfish. He listens, tears in his eyes as she explains that she needs to end this, that she needs to disappear for them all to be safe, but screw that. What’s the point in being safe if she’s not here? What’s the point in Vecna being gone and the upside down disappearing if she’s not there to reap the benefits of the world she saved.
“Listen, Mike. Listen to me.” Her voice is shaky and he can see the tears in her eyes and he can’t stand the idea of this being the last time he sees her. “Hopper will explain everything. After this is over, he’ll explain.”
Mike can’t even comprehend what she’s saying. He’s too distracted by trying to memorize every last detail of her face, the amber color of her eyes and shape of her nose. “El, I don’t want to say goodbye.” He can barely get the words out through the lump in his throat.
El pulls him into her arms, and he feels himself break. “Please don’t leave me, El.” He begs, his tears falling to her neck, his hands gripping at her shoulder. Maybe if he never lets her go, she’ll never leave him, maybe if they stay here long enough, the blast will take him too.
“Mike, I need you to trust me.” El pulls away to look at him, her eyes glassy with tears, but confident and determined. “There’s a reason for all of this and someday it will all make sense.”
Mike opens his mouth to argue, to plead with her one last time, but El cuts him off with a kiss. It’s deep and salty with tears, and Mike feels like his heart is being ripped from his chest. “I love you.” She whispers when they finally part, her voice soft and breathy.
There’s no time for him to respond, he blinks and he’s back outside the gate, struggling in the arms of the military men.
He screams himself hoarse trying to get to her, the military men gripping his arms so tight he’ll probably have bruises in the morning. He only has moments though, moments to try and get to her, moments to scream and plead and beg for her to change her mind before suddenly there’s a loud noise and bright light.
And then, just like that, she’s gone.
Mike doesn’t know just how long he stands there. The destroyed library stands where the gate was and Mike can’t take his eyes off of it. What if something happens and she comes back, he needs to be here. What if she’s hurt and she needs help, he needs to be the one here. He can’t abandon her, not when she might need him most.
He can’t let her down, not again.
Around him, everyone else is solemn, but moving. He can hear Hopper arguing with some of the military men, trying to get them to let them all leave. Nancy is comforting Holly a few feet behind him, he heard her asking about El, but Nancy had only let out a soft cry in response.
After what feels like hours, a hand lands on his shoulder.
“Mike man, we need to leave.” It’s Steve. Mike wonders how he got the job of being the one to collect him. “The military is letting us go, but they need us to clear out pretty quickly.”
Mike doesn’t answer, he can’t leave. He can’t. El needs him. She’s going to come back and when she does, she’ll need him. He knows she’s out there somewhere, he knows that she’s still alive. He knows it.
Steve stands there for another moment before Mike hears him walking away. Good. Leave him. He doesn’t need to go back with the others. He needs to stay right here. This is where El knows he is, so if she comes back, she needs to know where to find him.
“Kid. We need to go. Now.” This time it’s Hopper and Mike knows that he should listen. Hopper doesn’t put up with much, and he knows that if tempted, Hop will just throw him over his shoulder and drag him away, but he can’t bring himself to acknowledge the words.
And thirty seconds later, that’s exactly what Hopper does. Well kind of. He doesn’t throw Mike over his shoulder, but he grabs him by the torso and starts pulling. Mike, suddenly exhausted, vision blurry with an influx of tears, doesn’t put up a fight.
I’ll come back, El. I’ll come back and I won’t give up.
Everybody ends up at Hopper’s cabin. Well, almost everybody. Vickie left them back at the MAC-Z, wanting to get back to the hospital. She left with a promise to Nancy that she would check on their parents and tell them Holly was safe.
The rest of them, all tired, emotionally and physically, and battered and bruised, weren’t ready to separate just yet. Besides, it wasn’t lost on them that a lot of them didn’t have anywhere to go back to. It was a little crowded, thirteen of them in Hopper’s tiny cabin, but no one is going to be doing much more than sitting around in the living room, so they make it work.
Mike feels like time is both moving too quickly and not at all. As soon as they arrive he wants to leave, wants to go back to the gate, be there for El, but Hopper levels him with a look and practically throws him onto the ground next to Dustin.
Hopper briefly fills them in on what the military said, for now they were clear to go, but they needed to be expected to potentially answer questions later. No one has much of a reaction to the news, everyone still too raw from what they had all witnessed.
Then, there’s silence. It’s still night time, so darkness cloaks them as they all sit around. Everyone is tired, but no one is sleeping, except for Holly and Derek, who snooze on the arm chairs. Everyone else is scattered around the floor, sans Max, who is laid out on the couch. Mike sits against the couch by her feet, Dustin and Lucas on either side of him.
In the corner, Nancy keeps glancing at him, like she’s afraid at any moment he’s going to snap. He knows she’s remembering not that long ago, when El disappeared the first time, how he’d changed. But that won’t happen this time, because unlike last time, he knows El is still out there. He can feel it.
Hours pass, the moonlight moves across the room. There are light whispers where Nancy sits with Jonathan, Robin and Steve. Eventually, Holly wakes and Joyce moves to comfort her, stroking her hair and reassuring her that she’s safe, that their parents are fine and soon she’ll be able to go visit them at the hospital.
When the sun finally starts to peak above the horizon, Hopper makes eye contact with him and gestures over his shoulder. El’s voice echoes in his head, Hopper will explain everything. So, Mike gets up and he follows.
Hop walks them out to the shed, far enough away so no one would be able to hear them, even from the porch, but close enough that the cabin is still in view. The early morning sun does little too warm the air, but Mike hardly even notices.
“El’s alive.”
Mike’s breath gets sucked out of him at Hopper’s words. Sure, Mike had felt that deep in his bones, he knew, knew in his heart of hearts if something had truly happened to her that he would feel it. That he would know if the other half of his soul was truly gone. But hearing Hopper’s words, firm and true, brings a sense of relief so strong over him that he almost can’t breathe.
“I don’t know what she told you, and I know she told you something, but she’s alive, kid.” Hopper’s got his hand on Mike’s shoulder and he squeezes it slightly. Mike can’t help but remember just a couple years ago, when Mike sobbed in Hopper’s arms after finding out she was alive, and finding out that he had her the entire time. It hits him then, how much they’ve all grown and changed.
“She told me you’d explain everything.” He whispers, voice hoarse. He hasn’t spoken since screaming after El, which was hours and hours ago at this point. Hopper nods, pulling a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it. Weirdly enough, the smell brought him a sense of comfort and reminded him of the days after El closed the gate, when Mike would spend hours at the cabin everyday desperately drinking up any and all moments of El’s time and attention.
God, he already missed her so much.
“How much do you know about her sister, Kali?” Hopper’s question surprised him. Mike gave a small shrug, not really sure how to answer. He knew a little bit, El had filled him in on the time she’d spent with her sister, and her mother and aunt, back before she closed the gate. But sometimes if Mike brought it up, she got all weird and quiet, so he never pushed for more information then she was willing to give. “What did El tell you about her powers?”
Her powers? Mike thought for a moment, before it all clicked, understanding hitting his body and mind like a lightning bolt. “Illusions.”
Hopper gave a small nod, taking one last drag of his cigarette before tossing it into the leaves. “El wasn’t actually there at the MAC-Z, well she was but only for a second.” Mike thought back the previous night, and it all starts falling into place. Suddenly, he can see clear as day what happened. But, something still doesn’t make sense.
“I thought Kali got killed by the military men?” El had whispered this to him on their way back, she had been sad, and not nearly as victorious as he had expected her to be after defeating Vecna. She hadn’t said much else besides that they had lost Kali at the lab, but Mike knew that losing her sister had impacted her more than she knew how to handle at the moment.
Hopper heaved a deep sigh. “Listen, kid, I’m going to tell you the whole story once, and if when I’m done you still have questions you can ask, alright?”
And so Hopper tells him. Tells him about El’s original plan to die in the Upside Down (Mike nearly vomits at this, sick to his stomach over her pain that he failed to notice, hating himself for not realizing how hard she was struggling), how Kali encouraged her, but eventually changed her mind and decided to help her give El the life that was robbed and stolen from her. Hopper tells him of Kali’s fake death and how even Hopper himself had been fooled until El told him the truth on the roof of the lab.
When Hopper is done, Mike finally has the full picture and he feels like he can breathe. He’s a strange mix of relieved, relieved that there was a plan, a real plan, and that according to Hopper it all went exactly as it should have gone, but also devastated, devastated that the only way El was able to escape was to do this, that there was nothing he was able to do to help.
“Listen, kid.” Hopper’s voice is gruff, and for the first time since they stepped outside, Mike fully turns to look at him, meeting his gaze. “You can’t tell anyone about this.”
Hopper must see the look on his face, despair mixed with confusion and maybe a hint of anger, because he quickly shakes his head, his expression serious enough to kill a man. “I’m serious. Honestly, I shouldn’t even be telling you but El made me promise that I would. She thought if you thought she was really gone that you would slip away and she didn’t want that to happen.”
Mike’s heart squeezes in his chest at his words. Of course El had been thinking of him. Her endlessly selfless heart, full of nothing but love and loyalty for not just him, but everyone in her life.
“So, now what?” Mike asks, voice quiet.
“Now, kid.” Hopper pulls out another cigarette and lights it, taking a deep drag. “Now, we try to live, because that’s what she wanted us to do.”
Mike moves through the next few days like a ghost.
The initial relief of hearing that El was in fact alive has come and gone, and now there’s a sinking feeling of dread that’s settled in his stomach like lead. Every minute that passes is another minute of not knowing where she is, not knowing if she’s truly safe. Sure, she didn’t die in the gate, but something else could have happened to her. The dangers didn’t disappear as she left the town confines of Hawkins.
He can tell that his friends and Nancy are worried about him, that they’re waiting for the moment that he’s going to snap and break. But, he can also see how all of them are struggling too. Max has become a shell, her eyes blank and she refuses to speak to anyone but Lucas. Lucas, Will and Dustin are all quiet too, with Dustin and Lucas looking particularly haunted. Mike knows why, they’re remembering four years ago too, when they thought they lost El the first time.
It kills Mike that he can’t say something to them, can’t reassure them that she’s alive, at least not while looking crazy, without causing them to be even more concerned about him than they already are. Besides, he promised Hopper he wouldn’t say anything. Hopper had made it very clear how risky it was, for too many people to know El was still out there.
Mike knew that he could trust his friends, his sister, but he also knew that if he ever wanted a chance to see El again, he needed to listen to Hopper.
The military questions them all, dragging them into separate makeshift interrogation rooms, but based on the questions they ask and the answers he gives them, it’s clear that the information they want isn’t anything Mike is able to give them.
“What about the girl?” Is the last question the woman, the one who reminds Mike scarily of Dr. Brenner asks him before letting him go. “What happened to the girl?”
Mike swallows, a bundle of nerves and sadness curling so tight inside of him he just might explode. He wants to scream, wants to throw things and even wants to throw this woman against the wall, because it’s all her fault isn’t it? She’s the reason El is gone, she’s the reason El, despite being alive out there somewhere, will never be able to come home.
But, he knows he needs to be calm. Any evidence that he knows something will not only tip the military off, but will put El in even more danger than she’s already in. So, he only shrugs. “I know as much as you do.”
So, the military lets him go and when Mike sees Hopper just a few minutes later outside the MAC-Z (Hopper had taken it upon himself to stand guard while they all were questioned), he gives Mike a nod.
Mike takes a breath. He did his job, El is safe at least for one more day.
The next few weeks are filled with everyone trying to grab hold of some sense of normalcy.
The military finally leaves, telling the people of Hawkins that they’ve done all they need to do, and the library rebuilding can finally begin. Not long after that, the mayor announces plans to build a memorial in the town square, to honor everyone lost in the earthquake.
“Bullshit.” Max mutters under her breath from where she sits in her wheelchair next to Mike. They’re all gathered around the television at Dustin’s house, watching the press conference on the local news station. Dustin’s mom likes having them all around, always making giant plates of snacks for them all, so they’ve started coming here more and more in recent weeks.
Mike agrees with Max, but it’s Lucas who acknowledges her words. “What do you mean?”
“It’s bullshit, they’re gonna build some memorial for everyone who died, but you know who won’t be on it?” She doesn’t need to say her name, they all know who she’s talking about. “She saved everyone in this stupid town, she’s the reason we’re all still here and no one except for us is ever going to know that.”
Max’s words settle over them like lead, and they all shift uncomfortably. She’s right, of course, El’s sacrifice will never be known by anyone except for the people who were there that day. Even Holly and the rest of her friends don’t really understand what happened, but for the rest of them, that image will always stay with them. Mike hopes that someday, when he sees her again (because he will, he will see her), he can tell her, he can tell her how much what she did means to them all.
Even if it fills him with an unmeasurable amount of anger that she had to do any of it in the first place.
“Maybe we can make our own.” Will says after a minute of silence. “Memorial, I mean.” He shrugs when they all look at him, like he’s embarrassed of his own suggestion.
Dustin gives a small grin, though, encouraging. “I think that’s a really awesome idea.” And Mike does too, although he hears the voice in the back of his head, the one that wants to tell them all it’s not a memorial, because she’s not dead. You build memorials for people who are dead, and she’s not, but none of them know that and he can never tell them.
Lucas and Max share a look, and Mike sees Max’s lips twitch, the first time he’s seen her smile since that night, and she nods. “I think so too.”
They look at him now, all four heads swinging like pendulums in sync, Mike would laugh if the scenario was different. He knows what they’re expecting, they’re expecting him to explode, say that it’s a horrible idea because she’s not dead, and part of Mike wants to do just that. Of course, they’d think he was saying it because he’s refusing to accept the truth, when it’s actually the exact opposite.
However, he can see the looks on all their faces, the guilt and sadness and hopefulness swimming in their eyes and dancing across their expressions. While El might not be dead, to them she is and while Mike is holding on to every shred of hope that he can that he’ll be able to see her again, he knows that they probably never will.
So, he gives a small nod, swallowing the lump in his throat. “I think she would really love that.” because she would, she would love that her friends are remembering her.
“I think she would too.” Will says, giving Mike a smile.
They all direct their attention back to the television, where the news has switched to the afternoon game show block, but Mike knows that this conversation is just the beginning, that tomorrow they’ll go to Jonathan and Steve, ask for their help to come up with a plan. Max will probably want to put the memorial near the cabin, Lucas will likely suggest the junkyard, because that’s where he and El first really became friends, Dustin will throw the Squawk in as a suggestion, because of how important it’s been to them the last couple of months.
To Mike it won’t matter, he’ll go along with whatever is suggested, even though they’ll all look to him for opinions. But he won’t really care, besides this memorial isn’t for him, it never will be.
About two months after the gate, Mike has a dream.
The construction is still being done on the Wheeler house, but his parents are finally out of the hospital and the roof is patched up, so they’ve moved back in. Nancy, the only one whose room wasn’t destroyed in the attack, has given her room to Holly and has been spending most of her nights at Robin’s house. His parents have been sleeping in their room, despite the hole in the wall to Mike’s room, which means Mike’s been sleeping in the basement. The Byers have been staying at the cabin with Hopper, so it’s just Mike down there, which is fine by him.
Most nights, he sleeps on the couch, but sometimes, like tonight, when he’s really struggling, he’ll curl up in the old blanket fort. It’s not the same one, that one got taken down months ago, when the idea of being alone in Hawkins without El seemed impossible, but it still reminds him of her.
Today had been a bad day, he’s been having a lot of those lately. Despite knowing she’s out there, waking up everyday and having to face all the change going on around him without her has caused him a pain that he never thought imaginable. So, that night he grabbed his pillow and a blanket and made himself as small as he could and burrowed himself in the fort.
And then he dreamed of her.
This wasn’t new, he dreamt of her almost every night. Dreamt of the days before she had moved to California, where their days were filled with laughter and smiles at Hopper’s cabin. He dreamt of that first week they spent together, her on the back of his bike and the small smile she only ever really showed him. He dreamt of the months before the final battle, of sneaking out to meet her in the tunnels and of rooftop sunset conversations.
But tonight, he dreamt of the void. This also wasn’t new, he had nightmares constantly about that final conversation between them, specifically nightmares where she actually did die in the explosion. That wasn’t what he dreamt of tonight though.
El was there, as she always was, in a dark pair of jeans and an oversized sweater he didn’t recognize. Her hair was lighter, not quite blonde, but not quite her natural brown either. This was new for Mike, usually he dreamt of her in ways he remembered, even if they were things that never happened, she always looked in a way he had seen her.
“Mike.” She breathed, eyes shining. Her voice sounded clear as day, like she was right there next to him.
“El.” He couldn’t see himself, this was a dream, but he hoped he was smiling at her.
“I don’t have much time.” She said, looking around, she had taken a step forward so they were nearly toe to toe and he could feel her hair tickling at his skin. “I just needed to see you.”
“What do you mean?” Why did she have to leave? This was a dream. Couldn’t she stay as long as he wanted her to. “Where are you going?”
She gave him a small, sad smile. “Somewhere safe.”
Panic surged through him and for a second he was afraid he would awaken, that the natural instinct of jolting awake during a nightmare would take over. “You’re not safe? Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you that.” Her voice was quiet, and she looked over her shoulder, like she was afraid something was coming for her. “I’m taking a risk doing this but I just…I needed to see you.”
Mike could feel his heart hammering in his chest and even though he knew he was still asleep (if that was even possible), this felt very, very real. “El, what’s going on?”
Her hand lifted to his face and he felt her skin against his. It felt so real, this couldn’t be a dream, or maybe it was but he could feel everything somehow. He wasn’t sure, but if it was real, he never wanted to wake up.
“I can’t tell you where I am, or how I got here, but I needed to see you. To make sure you were okay.”
“Of course I’m okay, but what about you?” His voice shook as he spoke and even in sleep, he could feel tears clouding his vision. “Are you okay?”
He realizes then, that even if he doesn’t know where she is, if he maybe never is able to know where she is, that this is all he cares about. If she’s okay, he’ll be able to wake up in the morning and not feel like his stomach is sinking. He’ll miss her like crazy until the second he’s able to see her again, but if she’s okay, he can maybe be okay too.
“Yeah. I’m okay.” Her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes and it’s a little wobbly around the edges, but it doesn't matter. Her voice is firm and true and Mike knows she’s not lying. She might have hid how much she was struggling the last couple of weeks before the battle, but he can see the truth in her eyes. “But I have to go now.”
For a moment, Mike feels like he’s back in the void all those months ago. Saying goodbye to her. But this time she doesn’t kiss him, she only gives him another small smile, fingers grazing the skin of his cheek. He barely has time to think of a response to her words before she’s gone.
He wakes only seconds later, jolting up in the blanket fort, head grazing the top sheet, nearly smacking his head on the table. His heart is racing and it all feels so real, he’s not sure if it was or if it was just a very, very realistic dream. Reaching up, he touches his cheek, almost like he can still feel her skin against his.
His hand then falls to graze his shoulder and when he pulls it away, there’s something stuck to his fingers. When he notices what it is, he nearly bursts into tears.
A long piece of light brown hair.
Mike doesn’t tell Hopper about El visiting him. He knows maybe he should, but for all he knows, she’s been visiting Hopper too. They don’t really talk about her, sometimes Hopper will give him a nod when they see each other around town, or when Hopper is picking Will up from the Wheeler’s house, but it’s never more than that.
However, about a week into Mike’s senior year, Hopper stops him outside the high school. He’s wearing his chief’s uniform, having been officially voted back in at the beginning of the summer. Mike’s still not really sure of the story that he and Mrs. Byers came up with concerning his “death”, but whatever it was, it only raised a couple of questions. At first when Mike sees him, he thinks he’s here to pick Will up, but Will was staying after with Lucas to help Max with her catch up work.
“Mike. Come here.” Hopper said as soon as Mike made eye contact with him. His voice was gruff, but not laced with any anger or tension, so Mike didn’t think he was in any kind of trouble. He was certainly confused though, him and Hop didn’t talk much these days, honestly, it hurt a little too much.
Despite Hop being the only one who almost knows about El, Mike can’t ever bring himself to want to talk to Hop about her. Maybe it’s because he knows that Hop loves her almost as much as he does, and seeing him reminds Mike of her in a way that no one else does.
When Mike comes to stand in front of him, the last thing he expects is for Hopper to slide a postcard into his hand. It’s from Canada, Niagara Falls to be exact, he smiles a little at the waterfall image, remembering his last conversation on the rooftop with El, before he knits his eyebrows together in confusion.
“Turn it over.” Hop instructs and Mike does just that. There’s no message on the back, but it’s addressed to Hopper at the police station. Mike’s heart hammers rapidly in his chest, there may not be a message but he would recognize that handwriting anywhere.
“El.” He whispers, touching the address with his fingers, feeling the slight indent from where she had written it. The lines are a little shaky, and Mike can practically see her writing it out in his mind. “When did…”
“This afternoon.” Hopper answers, he has a strange, indecipherable look on his face. “I don’t think she wants us to go after her, kid.” His voice is almost sad, like he’s afraid Mike will be disappointed in his answer.
Mike can only nod. He knows this. He knows that chasing after her, especially when she might not even be in Niagara Falls anymore, would not only be dangerous but potentially fruitless. But just knowing where she was at one point and that she’s trying to communicate with them, Hopper with his postcard and Mike with his visit in the void, satisfies him, even if he’s not happy.
“Do you think,” Mike pauses, not sure how he wants to word his question, but he suddenly needs to know if Hopper feels this way too. “Do you think she might, someday?”
Hopper considers his question before he gives a small nod of his head. “I think that El knows how risky it is to communicate, I think she knows how dangerous it would be for one of us to go after her, to track her down. But I also know that there probably isn’t much that El wouldn’t do to be able to see you again, kid.”
Mike’s heart squeezes in his chest, there was a time where Mike would have done and given anything for Hopper to acknowledge the depth of him and El’s love for each other and on the one hand, he appreciates Hopper’s words but on the other hand, he hates that she literally had to be chased into hiding and isolation away from both of them for it to finally happen.
“And I also think, and maybe this is just hope speaking, that someday it’ll be safe. Or at least safer than it is right now.”
Mike’s eyes widen, shocked at Hopper’s optimism, even if it’s not glowing, it’s still an emotion he had no idea the chief was capable of. “Safe for her to come home?” Hope blooms in his chest, Mike has been avoiding things like hope, but if the chief has it, then maybe he should too.
“I don’t think it’ll ever be safe for her in Hawkins again.” Mike deflates slightly, but Hopper’s not quite done. “But, I think someday it’ll be safe for her to not have to run anymore, safe for her to settle down and safe for her to not be alone.”
Hopper gives him one last look, his lips twitching ever so slightly, a blink and you miss it kind of smile. He throws open the driver’s side of his Blazer and climbs in, slamming the door behind him. “And I don’t think she’d want to not be alone with anyone else besides you.”
Without another word, Hopper peels out of the parking lot, going probably a little faster than the 15 miles per hour, but he was the chief of police so who the hell was going to pull him over. It’s not until the car is completely out of view that Mike realizes he still has the postcard in his hand.
Hugging it to his chest, Mike closes his eyes. Someday, El. He thinks, hoping that maybe somehow she can hear him, wherever she is. Someday.
A week before Halloween, they finish El’s memorial.
It took a while, between trying to get Max caught up in school and getting her to physical therapy three times a week, there hasn’t been much time for all of them to be together and that was how they wanted to do this. Together. But, finally, after months of planning and building, it’s finally done.
Eventually, Max was right about the location, everywhere else was too risky, where someone could see it, but no one went out to Hopper’s cabin except for them and the rest of their little crew. Sometimes Derek and Holly hung out back here when they wanted a break from the Wheeler backyard, but even they avoided the side of the cabin where they set everything up.
Hopper hadn’t been totally enthused on the idea when they’d first brought it to him, he’d shared a look with Mike over everyone’s heads, no doubt the same thought running through his mind. But ultimately, he had seen how much the others needed this, needed somewhere they could come and be with El, talk to her, without risk of someone who didn’t understand seeing them.
The memorial was simple, a small archway made out of fallen tree branches. Will had taken the time to paint them El’s favorite shade of purple, and Dustin had strung yellow wildflowers around the branches. It was beautiful, just what El would have wanted and it makes Mike want to throw up.
Max had said she wanted to say something, a sort of dedication, even if it was just the five of them that were here to hear it. But at the last minute, while standing (shakily, but standing) in front of it, she decides she can’t, so Lucas steps in to speak.
“El.” His voice cracks and Mike’s heart squeezes in his chest. “I know that you and I didn’t get along at first, that I didn’t trust you and didn’t hear you out. I was scared, but so were you. But even before we really became friends, I knew you were one of the strongest people I had ever met and I don’t think that will ever change.”
Dustin sniffles next to Mike and Max wipes her tears with the back of her hand. “But you weren’t just strong, you were brave and you were loyal. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone go to bat for her friends the way you did. You’re the reason we’re all still standing here.
“But that’s the sad part right? We’re all still standing here and you’re not. You did something that none of us could ever even imagine doing, and you did it for us. You did it so we could all be safe, and it hurts so much that I’ll never be able to make it up to you. I’ll never be able to tell you how much that means to me.”
There’s a pause, as Lucas collects himself and Mike feels his eyes well with tears. He makes a promise to himself that when he sees El again, he’ll tell her. He’ll tell her what her sacrifice really meant to her friends.
“And don’t get me wrong, it’s great that we’re all safe now. It’s awesome that we can go to school and not have to worry about the military hanging around, that we can walk through the center of town, that Vecna is gone and the upside down can never hurt us again. But, I kinda think I speak for all of us when I say we’d rather you were here with us.”
Lucas finishes, taking a look around the group, who all nod in agreement, Mike included. He would fight a million Vecnas and live in military confinement for the rest of his life if it meant that El was here with them. Hell, he would survive anything if it meant she was by his side.
And he will. He will survive anything, he has to. It’s been his motivation this whole time, because she’s out there, he has actual, tangible proof. Every night he looks at the postcard and holds it to his chest and tells El, wherever she is, that they’ll be together again someday.
They have to be, because if not, if this postcard and memorial and the image of her in his memories is all he’ll get to have of her for the rest of life, then what the hell is any of it worth?
The months pass and more postcards come and each one is like a lifeline.
They’re all the same, a picture of a waterfall, or a seaside, or a river with nothing but the address to the police station written on the back in her familiar scrawl. Mike doesn’t even care that she never writes anything else, these are enough for him.
He hangs them on the wall in his bedroom, which he finally has back after months of sleeping in the basement, following her trail. She went to Europe after being in Canada, which must mean she has some kind of identity to get a passport and get on a plane, which makes him feel better.
Hopper tells him that she’s probably moving around so much because it’s not safe to stay in one place, but Mike doesn’t like to think that way. He likes to think she’s moving around so much because for the first time in her life, she’s free. Well, not totally free since there are still people looking for her, but she’s untethered. She doesn’t have to save anyone, she doesn’t have to fight, she can travel the world and see whatever she wants to see.
Sure, these postcards are no replacement for El being here. Her written words are nothing compared to her smile, the sound of her voice, the feel of her skin under his fingertips, but if this is all he can have of her, at least for now, then he’ll take everything he can get.
Despite having their own place to visit El, Mike sometimes likes to sit on the benches near the town memorial. Even though he much prefers their handmade one, he feels close to El here, it was the last place that he saw her, really saw her, so being here makes him feel like she’s still here.
“Hey Wheeler.” Mike, who presently had been staring at the entrance to the library, jerked at the familiar voice. Max took a seat next to him on the bench, a smirk on her face. “Thought I might find you here?”
“You were looking for me?”
Max snorts, shaking her head, and Mike directs his attention back to the library. “I come here sometimes too.”
This surprises Mike. He didn’t think any of them acknowledged the memorial in town. After that conversation in Dustin’s living room last year, none of them ever mentioned it again. When it was finally built, none of them went to the unveiling. Max had been especially vocal about her dislike for it, so it especially surprises him that she out of all of them would come here. But, grief makes people do things that they might never expect to do, even Mike knows that.
“I miss her.” Max practically whispers, her voice tight. “I know I’m like totally preaching to the choir, but…”
“I miss her too.” Mike says, turning his attention back to Max and giving her a small smile. And it’s true, despite what he knows, despite the secret he can never say, he understands better than anyone how Max feels. Of all of them, not being able to tell her the truth hurts most of all.
He’s watched her over the last year, watched her slowly build her physical strength back up, but lose a little bit of herself. It’s not nearly as bad as it was with Billy, Mike doesn’t think Max holds the same guilt, she still smiles and laughs and she doesn’t push any of them away. Maybe it’s because they all understand, they’re all missing the same person, but Mike still sees it in her. He sees the missing piece of her, the piece that El had.
“Lucas told me, you know.” She says, looking at Mike knowingly. “Not long after the final battle, he told me everything. He told me what El did for me.”
Mike swallows, knowing exactly what she’s talking about. El had felt so guilty for Max’s coma, felt like she could have done more, even though she had literally restarted Max’s heart. They all wouldn’t be here without El’s sacrifices, but what she did for Max that day is something that none of them will ever truly understand, even Mike.
“That’s the thing with El, though.” Max continued, pushing her hair behind her ears. She had cut it recently, just above her shoulders, similar to the length that El had when she had moved and Mike couldn’t help but wonder if that’s why she had done it. A tribute to the best friend she wished she had more time with. “She probably didn’t even think twice, doing something like that was just who she was. She never wanted to be a hero, but she just was.”
Mike’s heart nearly trips over itself at Max’s word. Hero. El had been a hero, and Max was right, it was just who she was. Mike remembers the fight they had, when she thought her powers defined her, when she thought the only way for her to be a hero was if she could stop the bad guy. But that was never true, El was a hero because of the sacrifices she made, the choices she made to save the people she loved.
He just wished she was here so Max could tell her all this herself.
“Anyway, sometimes I come here, and I think all those things and I hope that maybe she can hear me. I know that she’s gone, and I know you do too, but she was always pretty extraordinary so if there’s anyone that can, it’s her.”
Mike smiles, because while Max is wrong, El isn’t gone, sure she isn’t here, but she’s not gone. But she’s right about one thing, El is extraordinary, he’s always known that about her.
Max returns his smile, nudging him with her elbow. “See you later, Wheeler.”
“Later, zoomer.” Mike replied, watching Max smile again before getting up from the bench and disappearing into the Saturday morning crowd.
Mike then leaned back against the bench, looking up at the memorial, a smile on his face. Hear that El, you’re pretty fucking extraordinary.
Mike only applies to college because his mom makes him.
Well maybe makes isn’t the right word, she strongly encourages him to apply to college. She tells him that while she understands how hard the last year has been, he needs to at least try and move on. So, Mike applies to college.
When the acceptance letter arrives, he throws it on his desk, too distracted by the new postcard Hopper had slipped him when he’d stopped by the cabin earlier to drop off something Will had left at his house. He pinned it up on the wall, this one was from Norway, following the trail she was making.
She seemed to be travelling up the coast, and Mike wondered where she would be going next. Maybe to Sweden, she hadn’t been there yet, or Denmark. It didn’t really matter to him, though, as long as the postcard came in the mail, he would be happy.
Maybe that was the real reason he was hesitant about college, if he went away, if he left, how would he get her postcards, how would he know where she was.
So no, Mike doesn’t really want to go to college, because he needs to be here. For El. Always.
The last couple months of Mike’s senior year seem to fly by. Everything is acceptance letters and exam cramming and speech writing and Mike is overwhelmed and scared and he copes by not saying a word of it to anyone.
When he’s with Dustin, who has spent weeks trying to write the most perfect graduation speech ever, he tries to be helpful. When he’s with Lucas and Max, who have been cramming for all the last minute exams Max needs to take so she can graduate on time, he tries to be supportive. When he’s with Will, who's been perfecting his art school portfolio for months, he tries to be encouraging.
And the whole thing has just been incredibly exhausting. Not only does he feel like a fake, but he’s just upset, because these are big life moments, important life moments, and El’s not here and she should be. He knows, at this point, that he should be used to it, living through these moments without her, but it gets harder and harder everyday.
Everything changes, though, the day before graduation.
Mike’s basically home alone (his dad is fast asleep on the recliner), when there’s a knock on the door. At first, he thinks it might be Nancy, who got home from Boston a few days ago and has been spending time with Robin, Jonathan and Steve, who forgot her keys, but when he opens the door, Hopper is on the other side.
“Hey kid, you alone?” He asks. Mike can see that he’s holding something in his hand, but it just started getting dark and the porch light is about to die, so Mike can’t tell what it is.
“Basically.” He says with a shrug. “My dad’s here, but he’s asleep.”
Hopper gives a nod and hands Mike a manila folder. “It’s pretty last minute, and just say the word and I’ll pretend I never gave you this and we never talk about it again.” He gives Mike a stern look. “Got it.”
Mike nods, before opening the folder in his hands. There are a couple pieces of paperwork along with a passport and a plane ticket. Mike’s eyebrows knit together in confusion as he looks at the airplane ticket to,
“Iceland?”
Hopper gives another nod, this time reaching into his pocket and handing Mike another item. A postcard. The image is of a waterfall with “Welcome to Iceland!” printed across the top. Flipping it over, Mike sees the familiar sight of the police station address, except this time, there’s a message.
Skógar.
The name isn’t familiar to him but he assumes it’s a location and once he comprehends what this says, what this means, his heart speeds in his chest. She wants him to come and find her.
“I know graduation is tomorrow and I’m sure Karen has already paid your first year’s tuition to whatever school you got into, but I also know that this is a sign from her, and I promised myself that if she ever signaled that she wanted someone to come after her that I would let that person be you.”
Mike feels a lump of emotion gather in his throat. “How did…”
He doesn’t finish his question before Hopper cuts him off. “Remember Owens?”’ Mike nods, he never really knew the guy that well, only meeting him once, but he remembers how he helped them escape the lab the night of the demodog attack and how he helped Hopper officially adopt El after she closed the gate. “Turns out, he owed her a favor. She tracked him down after everything that happened, he’s the one that helped her leave.”
Mike smiles at this, feeling overwhelmingly grateful for a man that he hardly knows. He takes this time to open the passport in the folder and sees his picture looking back at him.
“This has been in the works for a little while. Owens contacted me a couple months ago, made me meet him at some dive bar in the city. Told me the whole story about her and what she asked of him, considering all the postcards, I knew he was telling me at least some version of the truth, so I asked him to do me a little favor.”
“You asked him to make this for me?” He holds up the passport, which despite looking legitimate, had a name on it that was not Michael T. Wheeler. He supposes that while El is the one that the government had been looking for, they all know his name too, so better safe than sorry, but the steps Hopper took for him have him feeling more emotional than he had imagined in a situation like this.
“Yeah, kid, I did.” Hopper gives a small, sad smile. “I’ve had a feeling for a while now that she was going to do this, call it father’s intuition. I don’t think she likes being out there on her own, but I know I’m not the one she’s talking to when she sends these out, so I decided to make sure that when she was ready, you were ready to.”
There’s a pause, Hopper looks him up and down and Mike suddenly understands how he survived all those years as a big city cop. “Unless, of course, you’re not ready.”
Mike remembers what Hopper said when he first showed up, that he could take it all back and pretend this never happened if Mike wanted. If Mike just says the word, he could walk away from this, graduate tomorrow, go to college and have a normal life, or at least try to. But, screw that, El’s out there, he knows where she is and she’s giving him a sign, she’s calling out to him.
He had spent months respecting that she was still running, that she wasn’t ready yet, but now she is and Mike’ll be damned if he lets this opportunity pass. He knows what it means, he knows that going to her, getting on the flight to Iceland, means he might never see his friends and family again, but this is El, and there’s not anything he wouldn’t give up to be with her. That’s something he’s always known.
“I know that you’ve never been my biggest fan.” Mike says, closing the folder and holding it against his chest. “You always thought that I was smug and tried to get on your nerves and maybe I was, but I love El, more than I’ve ever loved anyone or anything. All I’ve ever wanted since the day we met is to be with her, to make her happy, to keep her safe and that’s still true now.” He swallows the lump in his throat and gives Hopper a level look. “I’ve been ready for this longer than you can imagine.”
And it’s true, Mike’s been preparing for this, a life with just El, them hiding away somewhere so she can be safe, since before the final battle. Mike knew what he was giving up and he’d do it again and again and again.
Now, he just needs to go to her.
The plane ticket is for the day after graduation, so Mike only has a few days to say goodbye. Of course, no one will know he’s saying goodbye, but he will so he has to make these last couple days count.
However, the morning of graduation, he wakes and all he can think about is El. That’s not new, usually she’s all he thinks about most of the time, but now it’s different. Now he has a timeline, a countdown and it almost doesn’t feel real, in fact he makes himself think that it isn’t, so he doesn’t get too excited, so he doesn’t get his hopes up.
But even when getting dressed, Mike can’t shake these feelings, so he sneaks out the door of the basement and he goes to the memorial. It’s still kind of early so he’s able to snag a seat on one of the benches, and for a while he just sits.
He knows his mom will go looking for him and worry when she can’t find him. Mike thinks that sometimes his mom is expecting him to totally disappear, which he supposes based on what he’s going to do tomorrow, she’s not totally wrong. His friends will hear he can’t be found and know exactly where to find him, so will the chief.
And that’s exactly who shows up a few hours later.
“Your mom’s looking for ya.” The chief calls out as he approaches the benches and takes a seat next to him. “I told her I’d come track you down and drag you home if I need to.”
Mike lets out a small sigh, shaking his head. “I’ll go home soon, it’s just weird.” He shrugs. “I’m trying to think of how to say goodbye. I can’t even really say goodbye, because no one can know where I’m going.”
Hopper nods in understanding, his hand coming to rest on his shoulder. “Look, don’t worry too much about it.” Mike’s gaze cuts to Hopper, and Hopper levels him with a look. “When your mom wakes up in a tomorrow and you’re not in your room and she calls around to all your friends and none of them know where you are either, they’re going to come to me.”
Mike, not for the first time, imagines what it will be like in the Wheeler house when his parents realize he’s gone. His mom will probably think he’s doing what he’s doing right now, his dad will call him some kind of delinquent for disappearing while everyone was asleep. But they’ll think he’s coming back, because he always does. Only this time, he won’t be.
He knows, somewhere deep down, that what he’s doing isn’t super fair to them, especially his mom, who is still healing both physically and emotionally from the demo attack and Holly’s disappearance. But, he can only hope that someday, he’ll be able to explain to them, make them understand why he made the choice he did.
“I’ll make sure they understand, I’ll make sure that your family and your friends all know that you’re safe, that they don’t need to chase after you.” A sense of relief comes over Mike at Hopper’s words, and he nods. “You just gotta do something for me in return?”
Mike knew at that moment that he would do almost anything Hopper asked of him in, so he could only look at Hopper expectantly.
“I need you to give me some kind of sign, when you find her.” Mike swallows, catching Hopper’s gaze. Hopper looks almost, forlorn, his fingers rubbing at the bracelet on his wrist. While he and Hopper have exchanged plenty of moments over the last year and a half, almost all of them over El, Mike has never actually seen Hopper mourn El. Not that she’s dead, but she’s gone and Hopper may never see her again, and she’s not the first daughter he’s lost. “I don’t care what it is, another postcard, a letter, hell you can call the station and hang up without saying anything, just something, so I know she’s safe.”
There’s a moment of silence before Mike nods in agreement. He doesn’t know how risky El’s situation is going to be when Mike finds her, hell he doesn’t even know how long it will take him to find her. But if Hopper, who is the only reason Mike is going to her to begin with, is asking for a sign, then Mike will give him a sign.
“Thanks kid, now get the hell out of here. Go home and get ready before your mom completely loses her mind.”
Hopper gives him one last clap on the shoulder before getting up and going back to his truck. Mike waits until he’s disappeared around the corner before he turns back to the memorial, a small smile on his face.
“I’ll see you soon, El.” He whispers, looking at the memorial one last time.
Graduation goes off without a hitch, his mom is happy with him and Dustin brings the whole house down with his speech. It’s a good day, and Mike’s happy. Happy that the last day he’s going to spend with his friends and his family is one that they’ll all look back on fondly.
That night, the party convenes in Mike’s basement. One last time.
They defeat the monster and Mike makes sure to include El in their victory, because it’s true isn’t it? They wouldn’t have defeated the monster without her. When the campaign comes to a close, Mike weaves stories of where all his friends' characters end up after their victory.
It’s the only way he knows how to say goodbye. He wants his friends, four of the most important people in his life, to know what kind of futures he imagines for them. Happiness, success, adventure, they all deserve it and more. Mike may never get a chance to see it, but he hopes, he prays, that they all know how much he wants that for all of them.
Then, he talks about El.
He had made the decision, when writing the campaign, to tell them about her. Of course, he doesn’t tell them that it’s all true, that he’s telling them the real story of what happened to her.
When all is said and done, they’re all in tears and his mom is calling them upstairs and Mike can barely breathe through the lump in his throat. He knew it would be hard to say goodbye to this world, the comfort of his basement and his friends and their D&D games. But he knows it’s all worth it.
Everything is worth it for El.
After an emotional dinner, the Party says their goodbyes in the garage. Everyone’s spirits are higher, despite the emotions, his mom’s chocolate cake improving everyone’s moods, but Mike has a lead ball the size of Texas settling in his stomach. As he watches his friends mount their bikes (because even though half of them have licenses now, when the weather is like this, they can’t help it), he memorizes all of their details.
The color of Max’s hair, the brightness of Lucas’s smile, the warmth of Dustin’s laugh, the twinkle of Will’s eyes. All these things that make his friends who they are he’ll carry with him across the ocean.
“I meant what I said, you know.” Dustin says as he’s swinging his leg over his bike. “I know it seems like we were all just saying that, that we believe, because it’s nice to believe in a fairy tale, a story.” He pauses and the lump in Mike’s throat grows so much he can barely breathe. “But I do believe.”
A few feet away, Mike can hear Will and Lucas laughing and Max swearing under her breath, but all his focus is on Dustin, who is looking at him with such sincerity Mike thinks he’ll burst into tears again.
“I hope wherever she is, she’s happy.”
Mike swallows down a sob and can only nod in response, words escape him. A couple minutes later after many called out goodbyes and jokes and jabs made towards one another, Mike watches as his friends disappear down his driveway and into the night.
It’s one of the hardest things he’s ever had to do, but knowing what awaits him, he knows he’d do it all over again.
Mike wakes up the next morning before the sun.
Only 24 more hours until El.
He knows it’s going to be a long day. His mom wants to take him out to lunch, and Nancy wants to take him shopping to buy him a graduation present. Holly will want his help to perfect her next campaign and the party will all call asking him to go to the arcade or the pool. But he won’t be there for any of it.
He knew it would be hard, trying to escape in the middle of the day, so he planned to make an escape before the rest of the world is awake. The duffle he packed two days ago sits heavy under his bed and Mike moves as quietly as he can as he grabs it and sneaks out his bedroom door. He maneuvers around the creaky floorboards and starts to descend the staircase.
He gives one look back up, at the closed doors of his family. He hopes someday they’ll all understand, somehow he knows that Nancy will, she always has understood him in a weird way. She may not make the same choices as him, but he has never felt like he had to explain himself to her.
Yeah, Nancy will understand, and she’ll make Holly understand and Hopper will placate his mom and Mike hopes that will be enough.
His movements are quick and silent as he moves through the house, slipping past the front door and through the living room to the basement. The door down here was further away and less likely to wake anyone else up. Besides, he wanted to see the blanket fort one more time.
Within minutes he was out in the dark, cool morning. The sun was beginning to rise above the horizon, but it was still a couple hours away from being truly daytime. Mike had plenty of time to get far enough out of town before anyone would be looking for him.
Grabbing his bike from where he had left it against the house last night, he mounted it, his duffle and backpack snug against his back. He had made a haphazard plan the night before last, his flight took off tonight from Chicago, so he would bike as far as the nearest bus station and go from there. Coincidentally, it was the same way El had gotten to Chicago all those years ago when she first found her sister.
When Mike reaches the town limits, he pauses, looking over his shoulder at the only town he’s ever lived in. Where he’s grown up for the last eighteen years, where he’s learned to fight monsters and believe in things he could have only ever dreamed. He’s sad to leave, but he knows what’s waiting for him.
He might be leaving Hawkins, but he’s going home.
He doesn’t know what he expects when he lands in Reykjavik.
It’s been a long 24 hours, between the bus ride that had him cramped against the window next to a business man with a very large briefcase, and the hours killing time in the airport before his flight, nervously pacing the terminal, he’s relieved when the wheels finally touch down.
Of course once he’s outside the airport, he has absolutely no idea where he’s going. He only has a little bit of money in his pocket, his parents had given him some graduation money, he had some saved up and stashed in his closet and Hopper had slipped two fifties into the manila envelope the other day.
It was all he had, and it would have to be enough to get him to El. It had to be.
Luckily, he manages to get a cab and despite the language barrier, the driver speaks enough English to understand where Mike is going. He has absolutely no idea how big Skógar is, but the cab driver seems to know how to get there, he only hopes that once he’s there he can find her.
The two hours that he’s in the car, it feels like days. Mike runs through every possible scenario in his head. Maybe he’ll run into her in the street, maybe he’ll go into some local bar or tavern and she’ll be sitting a few stools down. Or maybe, he’ll stumble across an inn or bed and breakfast and she’ll be staying one room over.
No matter what, though, by the end of the day, he’ll be with her. There’s no other option.
When the cab driver pulls into town, Mike is taken aback by how beautiful it is. Everything is lush green and the small village is undisturbed by industrial things. It’s exactly the kind of place where you could exist without anyone being able to find you. No wonder this is where El had decided to stay, where she had decided to grow roots.
After paying the driver and watching him drive back out onto the main road, Mike takes a look around. The village is small, but there’s enough to make some kind of life here. A couple of the locals are gathered in someone’s front yard and they smile at him as he gives them a wave.
Looking around, there isn’t much, a couple small stores, a small inn, a few places to eat. There are only so many places El can be. He’s about to go into the first shop when he notices a trail off to the right, Mike doesn’t know much of the local language (ok, he doesn’t know any of the local language), but something the sign is calling to him, practically screaming his name and he nearly breaks out into a run.
The hike is long and almost entirely uphill and the entire time Mike is wishing he had actually tried to get into better shape during all the years he was actively fighting monsters, sure he had been chased by demodogs and the mind flayer, but he was pretty sure he had never sprinted so fast in his life. Somehow he knew, knew it like he knew himself, like he knew the color of the sky and the feeling of the grass, that El would be at the end of the trail.
Mike is out of breath and his heart is racing when he reaches the top, but even if he hadn’t just sprinted like his life depended on it (and he would argue that his life had depended on it), his breath would have been stolen anyway. From the top, the view is like nothing he’s ever seen before. The sky stretches out in front of him in brilliant, vibrant blue, and the surrounding villages make the landscape look picturesque, practically framing the view of the waterfalls, three of them to be exact.
But the most beautiful and extraordinary part of this view is the girl standing in front of him.
Her back is to him, but Mike knows it’s her. He’d know her anywhere. Her hair is longer than it was the last time he saw her, but closer to her natural color than it was when she visited him in the void. It’s curly and unruly and it falls down her back and Mike can’t wait to run his hands through it. She’s dressed casually, jeans and a windbreaker, it may be summer but the wind is chilly and biting this high up and close to the roaring waterfalls.
He’s drinking in the sight of her, almost delirious. For a moment he wonders if this is a dream, if he’ll wake up back in Hawkins, the last couple days just an elaborate coping mechanism his mind had made up. But then she turns, like she sensed he was there, and Mike knows that this has to be real, even his imagination could never imagine something this beautiful.
El looks exactly the same, but also completely different. She looks older, more mature, and wiser. But she also looks exactly like the girl he fell in love with in the woods all those years ago. If the view stole his breath, then El has kidnapped it, taken it for good, never to give it back. If he could stand here and look at her, alive and breathing, for the rest of his life, he would.
He stands there for what feels like hours, but is probably only seconds, before she’s in his arms. He’s not even sure which one of them moved first or who is holding who, but it doesn't matter. Her hands grip at the fabric of his jacket and his arms squeeze at her waist. She’s so warm and strong against him, and so so so real.
“Mike.” She whispers against the skin of his neck and Mike can barely see through his tears. He can’t find the words, can’t express the swell of emotions in his chest so he just holds her closer, if that’s even possible.
Eventually Mike knows that they’ll separate, of course only slightly, Mike doesn’t foresee himself letting go of her until absolutely necessary, and there will be things to figure out. He doesn’t know where she’s been staying, or what she’s been doing to survive and how he fits into all of this. He knows there will be fights, they’ll have to learn to live around each other again. But those are problems for later, now he just wants to hold her.
And as he does, his heart returns to a rhythm it hasn’t beat in almost two years.
Home, home, home.