Mike walks forward and pulls the girl into a tight hug.

"Is that..?" Max asks and Dustin and Lucas nod.

"I never gave up on you," Mike sniffles, pulling away, "I called you every night. Every night for--"

"353 days," Eleven nods, "I heard."

"Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?" Mike questions.

Hopper steps forward, "Because I would let her. What the hell is this? Where have you been?"

"Where have you been?" Eleven retorts. Hopper pulls her into a hug and kisses to top of her head.

"You've been hiding her," Mike says, making the connection, "You've been hiding her this whole time!" Mike pushes Hopper.

Hopper turns around and grabs the collar of Mike's shirt, "Hey! Let's talk. Alone."

The two of them walk off and I go to Eleven. She hugs me and I wrap my arms around her, "Thank you. Thank you so much for saving Will and I," Eleven smiles and goes to Dustin and Lucas.

El hugs the two of them and sticks her fingers in Dustin's mouth, "Teeth."

"What?" Dustin asks taking her hand away.

"You have teeth," Eleven nods.

"Oh. You like these pearls?" Dustin does the annoying purr and Eleven looks at him in shock.

"Eleven?" Max asks walking towards the group, "Hey. Um, I'm Max," Max holds her hand out, "I've heard a lot about you."

Eleven looks past her and then walks off. She goes to Joyce and they reunite and go see Will.

I walk up to Steve and pull him into Jonathan's room, "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I've thought about our situation a lot today. I just... I feel like I need to say this now because if I don't... I might not have the chance to say it later. I can't... I can't be with you. And it hurts so much, because it's all I want. I was so stupid to make the mistake of falling in love with my best friend."

"Mistake?"

"Yes! Because you don't actually love me back. You think you do, but you can't love me. I'm... I'm damaged goods."

"Y/N--"

"Don't say it's not true. It is. I sleep in your bed every night because of nightmares. I spent a week in the Upside Down. I have a huge ugly scar on my leg because I was a attacked by a Demogorgan. I... I'm a mess!"

"You have nightmares, it happens, everyone gets them. You spent a week taking care of a kid, his needs came before your own. You have a battle scar on your leg. That scar shows that you survived You made it out of that shitty place alive. You are not damaged goods. You are not a mess. Y/N, you are a fighter. You are one of the strongest people I know...Okay? I love you and we can do this."

I nod my head and Steve puts his hands on both sides of my face and we both lean in.

"Guys!" Dustin says when our lips brush, causing us to jump apart, "Kitchen. Now."

We walk into the kitchen and hear Hopper talking about the Upside Down, "It's not like it was before. It's grown. A lot. And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs."

"Demo-dogs" Dustin coughs.

"I'm sorry, what?" Hopper sighs

Dustin clears his throat, "I said, uh, Demo-dogs. Like Demogorgan and dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass--"

"How is this important right now?" Hopper grunts

"It's not. I'm sorry," Dustin says looking down.

"I can do it," Eleven speaks up.

"You're not hearing me," Hopper grumbles.

"I'm hearing you," She nods, "I can do it."

"Even if El can, there's still another problem. If the brain dies, the body dies," Mike adds.

"I thought that was the whole point?" Max says questioningly.

"It is.. but if we're really right about this... I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayer's army..." Mike trails off

"Will's apart of that army. Closing the gate will kill him," I finish.

We all go into Will's bedroom, "He likes it cold," Joyce mutters.

"What?" Hopper questions.

"It's what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold." She walks forward and shuts the window, "We keep giving it what it wants.

"If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then..." I sigh heavily, "Then we need to make the host unhabitable."

"So if he likes it cold..." Nancy starts.

"We need to burn it out of him," Joyce nods.

"We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time. Somewhere far away," Mike recommends.

Hopper gives Jonathan, Nancy, and Joyce directions to his cabin. Steve and Nancy go to get a heater from the backyard. I go inside and sit with the kids.

Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy leave with Will. Hopper brings Eleven to close the the gate, and Steve and I watch the kids.

Dustin goes to the freezer and clears it out he grabs a blanket and makes Steve wrap it around the Demo-dog and bright it to the kitchen.

"Is this really absolutely necessary?" I ask.

Dustin scoffs, "Yes it is, okay? This is a ground-breaking scientific discovery. We can't just bury it like some common mammal, okay? It's not a dog."

Steve walks towards the freezer holding the Demo-dog bridal style, "All right, all right, all right. But you're explaining this to Mrs. Byers, all right?"

He puts the Demo-dog into the freezer, "Christ. Help me out."

"What am I supposed to do?" Dustin questions.

"Get the door, man."

I shake my head and walk forward, "I got it," He gets the Demo-dog inside and we slam the door,

"Thanks for the help, Dusty." Steve says sarcastically

"Don't call me that!" Dustin groans.

I chuckle and Steve and I go help clean up the glass in the living room. The kids argue about whether or not El is okay.

"Listen, dude, a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. All right?" Steve says, cleaning the Demo-dog drool off of his hands with a rag.

"Okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game. And second, we're not even in the game. We're on the bench," Mike says sassily.

Steve stammers, " Right, s-so my point is..." We all wait for him to continue, "... Right, yeah, we're on the bench, so, uh, there's nothing we can do."

"That's not entirely true. I mean, these Demo-dogs, they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away," Dustin explains.

"If we get their attention... Maybe we can draw them from the lab. Clear a path to the gate," Lucas adds.

"Yeah, and then we all die," Steve counters.

"Well, that's one point of view," Dustin mutters.

I shake my head, "No, that's not a point of view, Dusty. That's a fact,"

Mike runs to one of the drawings on the wall, "I got it!" We all follow him, This is where the chief dig his hole. This is out way into the tunnel. So..." He walks to the big drawing on the ground, "Here, right here. This is like a hub. So you got all the tunnels feeding in here. Maybe if we set this on fire--"

"Oh yeah? That's a no," Steve speaks up.

"The mind flayer would call away his army. They'd all come to stop us." Dustin adds, ignoring Steve

"Hey," I say trying to stop them.

"We circle back to the exit." Mike continues, "By the time they realize we're gone, El would be at the gate.

"Hey. Hey! Hey!" Steve claps to get their attention, "This is not happening."

"But--"

"No, no, no, no, no." Steve interrupts, "No buts. We promised we'd keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what we plan on doing. We're staying here. On the bench. And we're waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everybody understand?"

"This isn't a stupid sports game!"

Steve takes the rag off of his shoulder and points it at Mike, "I said does everybody understand that? I need a yes."

An engine revs outside and Max runs to look out the window, "It's my brother. He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me. He'll kill us."

Steve goes outside and the other kids rush to the window, next to Max.

"Guys, get away from the window," I whisper.

They all jump down, "Shit! Did he see us?!" Dustin exclaims.

Billy walks in and I push the kids behind me, "Well, well, well." He slams the door and I jump. He looks behind me, "Lucas Sinclair. What a surprise. I thought I told you to stay away from him, Max."

"Billy, go away," I say pushing Max and Lucas farther behind me.

Billy looks past me, "You disobeyed me. And you know what happens when you disobey me."

"Billy..." Max whispers

"I break things," Billy pushes me out of the way and onto the floor and grabs ahold of Lucas' shirt collar. He pushes Lucas all the way back into a shelf.

"Billy, stop!" I yell standing up. All of us yell over each other, trying to get him to let go of Lucas.

"Since Maxine won't listen to me, maybe you will. You stay away from her. Stay away from her! You hear me?!"

"I said get off me!" Lucas screams and kicks Billy in the crotch. Billy releases his grip and steps back.

"You are so dead, Sinclair! You're dead."

Steve walks up behind Billy and grabs his arm turning him around to face him, "No. You are." He brings his fist back and punches Billy in the face.

Billy's body swings back. He regains his posture and starts laughing.

I grab Lucas and pull him into a hug and then put him behind me with the others.

"Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh?" Billy laughs at Steve.

Billy walks closer to Steve, "I've been waiting to meet this King Steve everyone's been telling me so much about."

Steve pushes Billy back gently, "Get out."

Billy rears back to punch Steve. Steve dodges the punch and punches Billy in the side of the face.

"Yes! Kick his ass, Steve!" Dustin yells. All of the kids cheer Steve on and Billy laughs after every blow Steve gives him.

Billy grabs a plate and smashes it on Steve's head. Steve stumbles back and I let out a loud gasp.

Billy hits Steve again and they end up in the living room. Billy grabs onto Steve's shirt, "No one tells me what to do."

Billy headbutts Steve and sends him flying onto his back. Billy walks over to Steve and straddles him. He sends blow after blow into Steve's face.

"Stop!" I scream, "You're gonna kill him!" We all yell at Billy to get him to stop.

I look around for something, anything that can help us when I see the syringe.

I take the cap off and walk towards Billy with it. I take a deep breath and jam it into the side of his neck.

Billy stands up and turns to look at me. He pulls the needle out if his neck, "The hell is this? You little bitch, what did you do?" I step backwards and he falls to the ground, "What did you do?"

He starts laughing and Max grabs Steve's bat and walks forward, pushing me back.

Max stands above Billy with the bat above her head, "From here on out, you leave me and my friends alone. Do you understand?"

"Screw you," Billy mumbles.

Max brings the bat down right in between Billy's legs, she lifts it back up, "Say you understand! Say it! Say it!"

"I understand," Billy mutters.

"What?" Max asks getting ready to do it again.

"I understand," Billy says clearly.

He passes out and I go to Steve.

Steve's eyes are closed and I put my ear up to his chest to check his breathing, it's quiet, but there. Max grabs Billy's keys.

"Let's get out of here."