Chapter Text
It was over now. The gate was finally closed, and the Mindflayer was gone. For Hawkins, the world would slowly go back to normal, to how it was before all of this, when they were all happy and free.
For them, the people who knew the truth behind all that was happening, their perspective on the course of life is forever changed. Besides, their faith isn't the same as it was before. But they had suffered great loss, and their beliefs had shifted as a result.
Jim Hopper lay in a hospital bed, surrounded by machines that kept him alive. A monitor blinked above him, indifferent to everything he had survived.
He wasn't gone. But he wasn't really there either.
In the hallway, outside his room, Joyce stood with her arms wrapped tightly around herself as if she could hold the sorrow and sadness that took over her feelings, thoughts, and her whole body. Beside her, El, this little girl who had the toughest life, was leaning against a wall, silent, almost as if she were to speak, something might break.
Joyce kept staring into nothing, completely still, having the same expression as El. She was too anxious, too afraid to look at the door where his room was. If she looked there, she would just fall apart right in front of her children.
Jonathan and Will were both hurt. Sure, they didn't know Chief Hopper as well as El or how their mom knew him, but still, when Will was missing, Jim was the only person who believed Joyce and didn't judge her craziness.
While his little brother was still nowhere to be found, and his mother was fixed on her theories, Hopper was the one whom Jonathan trusted to call if something were to happen. He showed up every time he called and always came, even if he didn't need to. Jim constantly comforted his mother and never left her side. For these reasons, Jonathan secretly admired Hopper a lot. More than he'd like to admit. The Chief was nothing like his father, and he desired El for the father that she had.
He was just a child, like every other human being once. Jonathan only wanted a father in his life. He loves his family greatly. However, since he was the oldest son, Jonathan often took the role of the father in the family for Will, and whilst he gave his little brother a nice childhood, his was taken away. Not practically. No one came and took his childhood, but slowly, when he began taking care of both members of the family, his childhood disappeared.
Will and Hopper didn't speak much, but he remembers every single time the chief came to his appointments and sat with him when his mother couldn't come. He heard stories about how he helped Joyce save him from the upside-down, and unfortunately, because the town doesn’t have anything else to do, he also heard about Sarah. He sometimes feels that Jim has become an important part of his life.
The previous year, after El closed the gate herself and she began going outside more often, Will became her best friend. They spent long nights talking and sharing stories about their days. One special evening in late June, they decided to sneak out and look at the stars in the clear night sky. Their friendship grew stronger as they talked about the hard times they faced and enjoyed their secret snacks together.
They didn't realize it, but they had already become a family.
While the doctors were in the room with Hopper, Joyce found herself frozen in place, unable to assemble the strength to move.
Her thoughts drove her to many different places, mainly the part where she was too afraid to admit the love she had for Hopper that had quietly settled in her heart, unspoken and unacknowledged. Her comportment tended to change. From the quiet and terrified woman that she was two minutes ago, now she wanted to scream and throw things. They have been in that hospital for nearly four hours, and no one has appeared to inform them about his condition.
It was exhausting and excruciating. A paper cup sits in Joyce’s hand, untouched. The coffee is cold, but she hasn’t moved. Will was leaning against her side, half-asleep, his head pressed into her shoulder.
Jonathan is watching the clock as it might explode. And Eleven, she is trying not to collapse, feeling like her world would end in any minute.
Several minutes later, a doctor comes in. Joyce immediately gets up and starts asking questions, but with barely any power in her tone.
“Doctor… Jim Hopper came in a few hours ago. He was... he was in an accident, how is he?” Her voice was barely a whisper due to the amount of tears that she had shed.
“Mrs. Byers?” The doctor says gently
She nods too quickly, “Yes.. that's me…”
Jonathan moves closer to Will’s side, and El hugs Joyce tightly as she holds on to her.
The doctor takes a deep breath and informs them, “Unfortunately, Mr. Hopper is in a very critical condition.”
As soon as they heard what the doctor said, the world crumpled.
El, who didn’t say a word since they arrived here, suddenly asked something, “But… my dad… he’s going to be okay, right? He will be okay!” The girl tried once again not to break down, but she couldn't hold it in, and she burst into tears, clinging to Joyce’s side.
In response, she received a “We are doing everything we can. He has a significant head trauma. There’s bleeding in the brain, and we are working on it.”
All children’s eyes flickered to Joyce, who you could say wasn't breathing right anymore.
“Can we see him?” Jonathan unexpectedly spoke up
“He is unconscious, and we have placed him in the ICU, which means that he is in critical condition and we have to monitor him very closely.”
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It takes another hour before they call her name.
“Mrs. Byers? You can come with me.”
Eleven straightens. “Can we— Can we come too?” The poor girl just wants her dad.
“I’m sorry, but first emergency contacts and then the others, plus we accept only one visitor in these situations, I’m sorry.”
“El, I’ll come for you as soon as I’m done with Hop, just stay calm,” Joyce says in a reassuring tone that Jane pays close attention to.
The moment Joyce stepped into his room, the world began to slow down, and all her attention was on the man lying down, almost as if he were dead. Her heart started pounding. All she wanted to see was Hopper, her Hopper, but after everything, could she call him hers? Could she watch him suffer when it was her fault for the state that he is in right now? She wanted to see Hopper, but she couldn't ignore the machines that held him alive. She looked around the room, which was filled with machines that were supposed to keep him alive. That's what she has been telling herself for the past hour.
Joyce lifted a chair from a corner of the room and placed it beside Jim’s bed. When she sat down, Joyce gently took his hand and held it as long as she could.
Joyce started to speak, even though he couldn't hear what she desperately wanted to say.
“Hey… So I heard I am your emergency contact. That's good… imagine if I wasn't, who would have shown up? God! I don’t even know what I’m doing… You know, I thought we had time. I thought if I rejected you now, I would have a moment to think about what this means to us, because Hopper, we both know that it wasn't just two friends getting together for a nice dinner.” Tears started to fall down her face until she wasn't able to hold them in anymore. “I just feel like if we do go on a date together and we do become a couple, what if this ruins our friendship… and what if we won't be the same again? Just us. For a very long amount of time, I had felt guilty about Bob. He was a nice guy, but really, I don't think I loved him as much as he loved me, and now… now when I look at you, my brain goes blank, my heart starts to pound, and I'm just mesmerized by you. You understand me better than I can understand myself, and you never gave up on me. This is scary. I'm scared that if I say it out loud, something bad is going to happen. It already has, I mean, you can't even hear me, and I just confused my feelings for you. I’m just a fool for you. When you wake up, and you will, we will go on that damn date and make it worth it. Now all you need to do is wake up, do it for me, for El, and for our future, please…”
After what she had just said, she felt helpless, exhausted, and completely drained. As she sat beside him in the quiet hospital room, she lay her head gently on his chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heartbeat beneath her ear, though he remained motionless in the grips of a coma. She took his hand in hers, intertwining their fingers as if to bridge the gap between their worlds.
Then… slowly, she closed her eyes, allowing herself to drift off to sleep, hoping that in some way, her pain would go away.