they all waited inside the house to see what would happen to the boy. he wouldn't know where he was, being in the shed, and meadow hoped that maybe he'd give away some information.

meadow sat on the sofa, going through one of the comics that will had laying out. steve was in front of her, swinging his bat for practice. "what were you and nancy talking about?"she asked, her break in the silence catching steve's attention. "are you two getting back together?" she asked, trying to keep her voice level as she tossed the comic book to the side, sitting up. "i didn't mean to listen in at all, i could barely hear anything. it isn't my business, i know."

she bit the inside of her cheek a little, as she often did when nervous, hoping that she was just overanalyzing the scenario. although she wanted them to be happy, she really just wanted steve to be happy.. with her. she knew it was a selfish thought, but the more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to be able to get to know him.

she was relieved when steve sent her an incredulous look, shaking his head. "that is most definitely not what's happening." he chuckled. "have you seen her and byers?"

meadow furrowed her brows. "her and jonathan?" she thought she'd sensed something between the two of them.

he shrugged in response, flipping his bat once more before sitting next to her on the couch. "i think i saw it coming." he replied. "yeah, no, we just.. i don't think we were right for each other." he finally answered, looking down at her.

mentally, meadow did a cartwheel and gave herself a fist bump. outwardly, she just smiled a little. "steve the hair harrington is on the market? how will the ladies react?" she teased, watching as he flashed a perfect smile.

"oh, stop, the ladies can wait." he said, a slight blush forming on his cheeks. "i did mean what i said earlier, by the way." he then told her, his face becoming more serious. "you don't have to say anything if you don't want to, and i don't expect you to feel the same way. but i truly care about you, and, whatever happens tonight, i want to support you and be there for you afterwards."

she smiled to herself, looking down at her lap. "i'm glad you're not as much of an asshole as i thought you were." she said in response, nudging his shoulder with hers. "it's been really nice getting to know you, steve."

his face seemed to light up as he smiled down at her. "it's been really nice to get to know you, too." he said.

meadow smiled for a moment before furrowing her brows. "wait and.. does nancy know about this? i might've not liked what she said to you but.. you know, she and i aren't really friends, but.. we kind of are? i don't want this to hurt her-"

"no, no." steve shook his head. "i asked her. she.. she kind of knew. that i liked you, i mean." he explained. "and she.. she seems really happy with jonathan. and so i think she and i both just.. weren't with the right person yet."

a weight lifted from her shoulders as she learned that nancy was fully aware of this, and she smiled.

"hey, if we don't die tonight," he began, watching as she laughed, "would you like to go to the movies or something? maybe get a coffee? i don't know."

meadow smiled, nodding her head. "yeah, as long as you don't spray paint the sign again."

"for the record," steve said, offended, "i wasn't the one who wrote that, it was tommy. second of all, i helped clean up the mess afterwards and i've felt bad about it ever since." he watched as she took in that information, clearly having not known the part he'd played. "also, who's to say you won't try to punch me again? that hurt."

she let out the most genuine laugh he'd ever heard from her, her head falling back on the sofa. "i'm sorry i punched you." she said, though her smile gave off that she was still extremely amused.

meadow thought for a moment, noticing that she hadn't felt this happy with someone else in a while. she considered his words, noticing that she didn't have the strength to respond to his feelings with her own. she also didn't think that she even knew what her feelings were. but something about this, something about steve; it felt right.

the two looked at each other for a moment, and meadow then realized that she had been involuntarily leaning into his body for the latter half of the conversation. her mind seemed to go fuzzy as she forgot about everything that wasn't his eyes, barely even noticing the way he began to lean in.

steve's face was only a few inches from hers when the lights started flickering, sending meadow immediately to her feet. the two teens vividly remembered the last time they'd been at the byers' house: the demogorgon sending the lights into a frenzy. steve followed her to the window, the two looking out at the shed.

"i think he's awake." she said sarcastically, stating the obvious. they watched as the lights finally settled, assuming that will had calmed down.

nancy and dustin had joined them by the window when hopper, joyce, jonathan, and mike walked back into the house. "what happened?" dustin asked as hopper sat at the table, taking out a pen and paper.

"i think he's talking, just not with words." hopper explained, writing out a series of dots and lines.

steve was confused, looking down at what seemed like scribbles. "hey, what is that?" he asked from over meadow and dustin's shoulders.

"morse code." meadow, dustin, max, and lucas all replied in unison.

"h, e, r, e." hopper said as he wrote the letters out.

"here." everyone else in the room repeated, looking at each other.

hopper pressed a finger to his chin in thought. "will's still in there." he concluded. "he's talking to us."

the group decided to continue talking to will, telling him stories and reminding him of all of the memories they'd shared with him. jonathan got his boom box for good measure, playing should i stay or should i go at full blast. while they spoke, will gently tapped on the chair he sat in, and hopper pressed onto his walkie talkie at the same time.

meadow had the pen in her hand now, max, dustin, and lucas listening to the walkie talkie and telling her what to write down. "dash, dot, dash, dot." dustin mumbled to her.

lucas and max quickly leaned over to the morse code chart in front of them. "c." they announced, looking to meadow as she wrote the letter down.

the process continued until 'closegate' read on the page in meadow's hands.

"close gate." the group said, all looking up in shock as the phone began to ring.

"shit, shit!" dustin mumbled, quickly running to the phone and banging it in an attempt to silence the ringing, which would no doubt break will from his previous state. the phone rang again, and meadow, who was behind him, simply grabbed the phone from the wall, throwing it across the room.

"do you think he heard that?" max asked, looking at her.

steve shook his head. "it's just a phone. it could be anywhere. right?" he looked to meadow nervously, not sure if he was just trying to comfort the group.

they all nodded, trying not to immediately think of the worst. it seemed like it was too late, though, because hopper had barged out of the shed, and a distant roaring sound came from the woods.

"that's not good." dustin mumbled, following meadow's gaze towards the sound.

joyce, jonathan, and mike then exited the shed with will, who had been tranquilized by the looks of it. hopper walked back into the house, loading a gun with one hand before grabbing another. "hey! get away from the windows." he said to the group, which was crowded on the couch to look outside.

everyone moved to the center of the room, not quite sure what to do. "do you know how to use this?" hopper asked jonathan, holding one of the guns to him.

"what?" the boy replied.

"can you use this?" hopper repeated.

"i can." nancy stepped in, taking the gun from him. she and hopper both loaded the guns while steve held up his bat, moving to stand in front of meadow and dustin.

the situation had suddenly become almost too real for meadow, who was pulling her brother to her side, shielding his body with an arm to keep him behind her. she looked out the window, alarmed by a shrieking in the distance.

an aggressive thud made the entire group move to look at another window, where they could see the bushes rustling, along with some additional screeching. another sound made them move again, all listening to the sounds of animals roaring. "what are they doing?" meadow mumbled, looking among the group.

suddenly, the sound of breaking glass filled the room, and everyone screamed as a demo dog crashed onto the floor, flying through the window. they all waited for it to move, but it remained limp and lifeless. "holy shit." dustin muttered.

"is it dead?" max asked as hopper moved closer to it. it still didn't move as he put his foot to it.

the door creaked, and the group, once again, all shifted to look at it. meadow found herself grabbing onto steve in fear by the sound, and he held an arm in front of her protectively, not taking his other hand off of his bat.

the door then opened, and in walked in the last person meadow ever thought she'd see. the entire room fell into a collective shock as eleven entered, immediately giving mike a hug. steve's posture loosened as he realized there wasn't a threat. "who..?" he looked at meadow.

"that's el." she whispered back, watching as she gave hopper, who had taken a fatherly protectiveness toward the girl, a hug.

"you've been hiding her." mike accused, angry at the man for separating them. mike and hopper went into a separate room, where mike was now shouting at the man.

meadow smiled at eleven, wrapping her arms around the girl. "how've you been? i'm so glad you're okay." she said.

"i'm okay." she said back, letting out a sigh of relief at the hug. she wasn't physically affectionate with most people, but had immediately taken a liking to meadow after seeing her with dustin. "pretty." she said to meadow, who felt her heart expand in size with love for the girl.

"we're glad to have you back." dustin said to eleven, who moved to hug him and lucas. "we talked about you pretty much every day." he confessed.

she moved away from the hug, suddenly confused. "teeth."

"what?" dustin asked.

"you have teeth." she remarked.

dustin laughed. "oh. you like these pearls? grr." he purred, making el back away in fear.

max introduced herself to eleven, who merely brushed past her and into joyce's arms. other than meadow, joyce was the other person who el had made an immediate connection to. the woman took her into will's room, hoping that she, being the only other person to travel into the upside down, would know what to do.

"you opened this gate before, right?" joyce asked her, pointing to the 'close gate' written on the notepad. "do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?"

eleven's nose began to bleed, but she looked determined as ever. "yes."

"it's not like it was before." hopper said, clearly not wanting her to get hurt. "it's grown. a lot. and, i mean, that's considering we can get in there. the place is crawling with those dogs."

"demodogs." dustin corrected.

hopper looked to him in confusion; he wasn't there when dustin had previously explained his play on words. "i'm sorry, what?"

"i said, uh, demodogs. like demogorgon and dogs. you put them together, it sounds pretty badass-" he explained.

"how is this important right now?" hopper cut him off.

dustin, embarrassed, looked down. "it's not. i'm sorry." he walked back over to meadow, who was still standing by steve.

"i can do it." eleven said, mainly to hopper.

"you're not hearing me." he argued.

"i'm hearing you." she retorted. "i can do it."

mike seemed concerned still. "even if el can, there's still another problem. if the brain dies, the body dies."

"i thought that was the whole point." max replied.

"right, but if we're right about this, then what happens to will if we close the gate?" meadow interjected.

mike pointed a finger at her in agreement. "exactly. if el closes the gate and kills the mind flayer's army..."

"will's a part of that army." lucas breathed out, equally as scared.

"closing the gate will kill him." mike finished.

the group all turned to joyce, who lead the way into will's room. "he likes it cold." she mumbled. "it's what will kept saying to me. he likes it cold." she looked to the open window, moving to close it. "we keep giving it what it wants!"

"if this is a virus, and will's the host, then..." nancy trailed off.

"then we need to make the host uninhabitable." jonathan said.

nancy nodded. "so if he likes it cold..."

"we need to burn it out of him." joyce agreed.

"we have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time." mike said.

dustin nodded. "yeah, somewhere far away."

will's limp body was then carried into jonathan's car. jonathan, nancy and joyce were all going to go to hopper's cabin in the woods, where they would attempt to burn the mind flayer out of will. eleven and hopper, meanwhile, would go to the lab to close the gate. meadow, steve, and the kids would then all have to stay at the byers' home, where it was safe, and wait.

"turns out i'm actually a pretty damn good babysitter." steve joked, watching as meadow laughed. "babysitting duty with you has been pretty fun today." he told her.

she nodded. "for sure. could've been better under different circumstances, though." she replied, watching as the two cars left for their respective locations. "okay, everyone back inside." she ordered the kids, who followed her back into the house.

the demodog on the floor had seemingly been forgotten amid all the excitement, and dustin looked to his sister. "we need to preserve it." he announced, immediately clearing out the fridge. "all right." he said, turning to steve, who had picked up the creature. "it should fit now."

steve had wrapped it up in a blanket and was now looking down at it in disgust. "is this really necessary?"

"yes, it is, okay?" dustin argued. "this is a ground-breaking scientific discovery. we can't just bury it like some common mammal, okay? it's not a dog."

he raised his brows in response, getting the point. "all right, all right, all right." he caved, moving to the fridge. "but you're explaining this to mrs. byers, alright?" he said, attempting to shove the demo dog into the open fridge. "christ, help me out, help me out." he said.

"what am i supposed to do?" dustin replied.

"get the door, man."

"alright, i got the door."

steve struggled with it, his face wrinkled in disgust. "ew. jesus." the two finally pushed the door closed, panting. "phew." steve breathed out, ruffling dustin's hair under his hat like his sister always did.

meadow, who had been standing back and watching the whole ordeal, raised a brow. "good job." she said sarcastically, making them turn around. "i watched that whole thing, very amusing." she explained, making steve facepalm.

steve then began to do the dishes, which made meadow laugh. "what? i figure, if i put that thing in her fridge, i might as well help out with the dishes." he explained.

"mike, would you just stop already?" lucas, from the other room, said, watching his friend continue to pace back and forth.

"you weren't in there, okay, lucas?" mike retorted, clearly worried about eleven's safety. "that lab is swarming with hundreds of those dogs."

"demodogs!" dustin corrected for the umpteenth time from the other room.

lucas ignored him. "the chief will take care of her." he said in an attempt to console his friend.

"like she needs protection." max added.

steve then walked into the room, holding the dish towel in his hands. "listen, dude," he began, "a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. alright?"

"you realize no one here has ever played a sport but you, right?" meadow replied, looking over at him.

mike nodded. "yeah, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game. and second, we're not even in the game. we're on the bench." he complained.

steve stammered slightly, nodding. "so my point is..." he trailed off. "right, yeah, we're on the bench, so, uh, there's nothing we can do." he concluded, tossing the towel onto his shoulder.

dustin shook his head. "that's not entirely true." he argued, making steve turn to him in anger. "i mean, these demodogs, they have a hive mind." he continued. "when they ran away from the bus, they were called away."

"so if we get their attention.." lucas began.

"..maybe we can draw them from the lab.." max added.

".. and clear a path to the gate." mike finished.

steve nodded. "yeah, and then we all die." he shouted.

"that's one point of view." dustin said.

he looked down at him. "no, that's not a point of view, man. that's a fact."

"you are severely unoptomistic, you know that?" meadow asked him.

"i got it!" mike exclaimed, cutting off the side conversation. he walked towards the drawings on the wall. "this is where the chief dug his hole." he pointed. "this is our way into the tunnel. so..." he followed the papers."here, right here. this is like a hub. so you got all the tunnels feeding in here." he explained. "maybe if we set this on fire..." he started.

steve turned protectively, raising a finger. "oh, yeah? that's a no."

the kids all ignored him. "the mind flayer would call away his army." dustin said, agreeing with mike's plan.

"they'd all come to stop us." lucas added.

"hey, guys." steve tried to cut in.

"we circle back to the exit," mike said, "by the time they realize we're gone.."

meadow nodded her agreement. "el would already be at the gate." she said.

steve gave her an incredulous look. "you're buying into this?" he asked, but no one was looking at him, too wrapped up in the plan. "hey. hey! hey!" he shouted to get everyone's attention. he then gestured to the group. "this is not happening." he said, his hands on his hips.

"but-" max tried to interject.

"no, no, no, no no." he cut her off. "no buts. i promised i'd keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what i plan on doing. we're staying here. on the bench. and we're waiting for the starting team to do their job." he said defiantly. "does everybody understand that?"

"this isn't a stupid sports game!" mike repeated. "and besides, you aren't our babysitter, steve."

steve shook his head. "i'm pretty sure i am."

mike gave him a look. "no, you aren't. meadow is."