Mike was hysterical. Any pent up emotion he had suppressed over a year after his separation from Eleven rose to the surface, and aimed directly at Hopper. The Chief dragged the pre-teen into the bedroom, eager to keep him away from the others eyes and explain to him why he did what he did.

This left Eleven alone with the others, being immediately attacked by Lucas and Dustin.

"Is that the psychic chick?" Steve leaned in and whispered to Ringo, who screwed up her expression.

"She's not psychic," she denied, eyebrows furrowing as she tried to find a word to explain what exactly Eleven was, "she's... special."

Their attention was brought back to the group of kids as Max called out to the other girl, walking toward her with a shy smile. Nancy and Ringo watched in confusion as the girl simply stormed past her with a harsh glare, obviously taking a dislike to her already, and headed straight into Joyce's arms.

"What was that about?" Steve pressed, letting out a low whistle.

"It's so sad," Ringo mused, a hand clasped over her chest, "the patriarchal pressures of society have reached her already."

"We'll need to talk to her when this is all over," Nancy nodded in agreement, "girls need to support other girls."

"What?" Steve recoiled, baffled by their ramblings.

"Psst," Ringo hissed at Max, who was currently staring at her shoes, visibly deflated and offended. Her eyes lifted up to the blonde, who cocked her head in a gesture to come over.

"Well," Max raised her eyebrows when she reached the teenagers, "that was embarrassing."

"Don't take it personal, kid," Ringo comforted her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Eleven is used to being the only girl in that group, she's just scared she'll be replaced by the new girl."

"You got all that from a look?" Steve retorted disbelievingly.

"She just sounds really cool," Max shrugged, her eyes following Eleven as she walked with Joyce towards Will's bedroom. "I was the one that was jealous of the guys for getting to be friends with her."

"It's not your fault," Nancy added with a soft smile, contrasting her appearance as Hopper's hunting rifle was still held against her body.

"It's society's fault," Ringo offered, eliciting an amused eye roll from the ginger girl.

"Can you believe Eleven is back?" Dustin called out excitedly to their group, pacing over and eyeing the arm Ringo held around Max. "Hey, Eleven looked at me weirdly when I purred. Do I get comforted too?"

"No, you brought that on yourself for being weird."

"Burn," Steve snickered from beside her, receiving an evil glare from the boy in question.

"I can't believe Hopper kept her from us," Dustin commented bitterly, looking towards the door he was behind with narrowed eyes.

"It makes sense, doesn't it?" Nancy disputed. "None of us were allowed to even talk about what happened, imagine what they'd have done to her if they found her alive."

"She'd end up looking like Mews," Steve suggested, receiving a scoff and an even harsher glare from Dustin.

✵

Jessica's expression immediately frowned upon noticing the car in the driveway of the Wheeler household.

After having little luck checking Ringo's apartment, and being told by Julia that her so-called 'prodigal daughter' was with Nancy, she turned around and headed for the latter's house. What she didn't expect to see was Billy Hargrove, shirtless underneath a leather jackass - like only a true asshole would wear, Jessica thought.

He was walking away from the front door, heading towards his car with a smirk that looked like the cat who got the cream. Jessica's eyes followed back to see Nancy's mother staring provocatively from the doorstep, her hip jutted out and scantily clad in a silk robe.

"If you're looking for anyone in our age group, they ain't here, Richards," Billy called out to the dark haired girl upon noticing her, still stopped at the top of the lawn.

"What are you doing here, Hargrove?" She narrowed her eyes protectively, arms crossing over her chest.

"Looking for Max, you seen her?" He raised an eyebrow, stepping toward her and stopping when he was a few feet away. Billy's eyes scraped up and down her body, but Jessica got the sense he did it to annoy her more than anything else.

"No, I haven't," Jessica shrugged, turning around fully to return to her car.

"Then do you know where those loser kids hang out?"

"They're not losers," she whipped around with a bored look, "if anyone's the loser it's you. You're so cliché, you're a blink away from being cast by John Hughes as a teen flick villain."

"Oh, really?" His smirk widened into a grin as he closed the distance between them. "Wanna be the good girl that makes me realise my terrible ways?"

"No, I want you to step the fuck back from me before I whip out my pepper spray."

"Look," he rolled his eyes, dropping the facade, "I don't have time to argue with you. Tell me where the hell she could be."

"I'm not about to rat out a girl that's hiding from you," Jessica scoffed, opening her car door and turning back once more before fully stepping inside. "I think I'll even ask her for tips for getting away from you."

"Hilarious," he nodded, nostrils flaring as his temper rose. Billy stood still on the lawn, hands on his hips as he watched Jessica take off down the street. An idea came to him suddenly, that sent him jogging back to his own car and keeping an eye on the direction she was heading. Mrs Wheeler had shown him directions towards Dustin Henderson's house, but something told him that Jessica was headed in just the right direction.

✵

"It's not like it was before, it's grown... a lot," Hopper was announcing to the group, all crowded round the table for their debrief. "And that's assuming we can get in, the place is crawling with those dogs."

"Demo-dogs," Dustin interrupted, causing the rest of the group to either roll their eyes or huff. "Like demogorgan and dog... so when you put them together it sounds pretty badass-"

"How is this important right now?" Hopper cut him off, his voice raising higher in frustration.

"Chill out," Ringo frowned at his tone while Dustin turned away. "He's just a kid."

"Thanks, babe," Dustin nodded at her, the corners of his lips lifting up while she simply shook her head.

"I can do it," Eleven revealed, a determined look crossing her expression.

"You're not hearing me," Hopper refused stubbornly.

"I am hearing you," she persisted, "I can do it."

"Even if El can, there's still another problem," Mike added, "we don't know if Steve's right. Maybe if we close the gate and kill the mind flayer, it'll kill Will. Can we really risk that?"

Inadvertently, everyone's eyes flitted to Joyce for her reaction, but she appeared to be deep in thought.

"He likes it cold," she said suddenly, nodding her head as a realisation overcame her. "That's what he said to me, he likes it cold. We keep giving it what it wants!"

"If this is a virus, and Will's the host..." Nancy began.

"Then we need to make the host uninhabitable," Jonathan finished for her.

"Like a fever," Steve called out, receiving the attention of all in the room, who gave him a similar wary gaze like before. "You know - like how our bodies give us a fever to kill off the bacteria or whatever." The gazes continued, causing him to awkwardly shrug. "I told you, biology class."

"We need to burn it out of him," Joyce announced, fists balled by her side with determination.

Hopper apparently had the perfect place in mind, quickly relaying its location to Joyce and Jonathan as he hurtled forward to lift Will from the bed. The trio, and an unconscious Will, left in a flurry towards the front door, expecting that at least one of the teenagers left behind would be capable of babysitting the rest. Hopper left them with nothing but the command of fetching heating devices for Will.

Ringo, Steve and Nancy trailed out to the rubbish heap in Joyce's back yard, hearing that there were disposed radiators and such left out there.

"Damn," Ringo grimaced as she began to sift through the junk, "I love Joyce, but who the hell keeps a whole pile of crap in their back yard?"

"Ringo, be respectful!" Nancy demanded.

"You should go with him," Steve called out to her, shining his flashlight over a pair of discarded fairy lights.

"What?" She asked, confused.

"You should go with Jonathan," Steve repeated.

"I agree," Ringo nodded. "Maybe the mere sight of you will be a source of comfort, as he remembers the wild night where-"

"Oh my god, shut up," Nancy rolled her eyes, cheeks threatening to blush at any minute. "And besides, I can't leave Mike."

"No ones leaving anyone," Steve disagreed, reaching in and dragging a discarded portable heater out, inspecting it for damage. "Turns out Ringo and I are pretty damn good babysitters."

"It's true," Ringo nodded, screwing up her nose at the dirt that transferred onto her hands. "I'm now much less concerned if I end up with a teen pregnancy. I mean, it may ruin my career and life prospects, but at least I'll not, I dunno, drop it or something."

"Or," Steve held a finger up, "we could just not get you pregnant?"

"You guys are ridiculous," Nancy rolled her eyes, repeating something she had said a thousand times before. "But I love it. I wish I had what you two have. It's... special."

Steve and Ringo shared a glance, sizing each other up a little.

"Nah," Steve shook his head, "she's a loud eater."

"Sometimes he makes fart noises with his armpits and it's never made me laugh but he continues to do it," Ringo fired back, placing one hand on her hip.

"I've seen her snort water through her nose!"

"Well I'm not even his girlfriend so!" Ringo called back, regretting it immediately. She had just unintentionally brought attention to something that they had been avoiding for a while - whether or not they were official.

Steve swallowed at her words, dropping his gaze before returning to Nancy with a casual smile.

"You can have all that with Jonathan, but you two have got to stop prancing around pretending there's nothing there," he told her honestly.

"Yeah," Ringo agreed, dragging an old gas heater from the mound. "This whole 'we don't like each other, gross' thing is driving me around the bend."

"Okay," she sighed, seemingly accepting their words instead of arguing back like she usually did. Nancy's eyes cast back to the direction of Jonathan's car, her teeth nibbling her lower lip. "Okay."

✵

"You know, you could help!" Steve called out at Ringo, who sat on the kitchen counter watching like a spectator as Dustin emptied the fridge. The demodog that was sent flailing through the window was wrapped up in Steve's arms in a blanket, prompted by Dustin who wanted the creature to be kept preserved.

"You look like you've got it covered," Ringo retorted, watching as strings of spit drained from its mouth onto the ground, just missing his sleeve.

"All right!" Dustin called as he dragged the last shelf of food out onto the ground, "it should fit now!"

"Is this really necessary?" Steve asked, panting slightly with the weight of the monster.

"Yes it is!" Dustin shouted, clearly offended by his lack of faith. "This is a groundbreaking scientific discovery, okay? We can't just bury it like some common mammal, it's not a dog!"

"All right, all right," Steve huffed, shuffling forward and bending the creature to get it ready for storage. "But you're explaining this to Mrs Byers, all right?"

"Don't forget to lift with your knees!" Ringo called out encouragingly. "Don't pull your back, now!"

"Goddamn it, I have to do everything in this house," he muttered, shoving the demodog against the open fridge and trying desperately to heave it inside. But it was simply too large to fit. "Christ, help me out!"

"What am I supposed to do?" Dustin responded with an attitude.

"Get the door man, just get the door."

With extra exertion, and no help at all from Ringo, they managed to squeeze the thing inside of the fridge until the door shut, leaning against it afterward and panting breathlessly.

"Oh shoot, did you take the peanut butter out of the fridge door before you did that?" Ringo announced teasingly, receiving a death glare as a result.

"I'm not opening that door," Steve replied, grabbing for a tea towel to wipe his slime-covered hands with.

"I was kidding," she smirked, watching his movements. "I hope you don't think you're touching me again with those demo-hands."

"Oh, as if that would stop you," he grinned suddenly, flying toward her quickly before she could escape and running his slick hands up and down her bare arms.

"Steve!" She shouted, batting at his hands to get him away. "You sicko! Get off!"

"But I am getting it off my hands, Ringo!" He laughed loudly, following after her when she propelled herself off the counter in a bid for escape. Steve wrapped his arms around her middle from behind, lifting her slightly into the air.

Ringo squealed with shock and amusement, struggling in his grip but laughing too hard to make a viable attempt at escape.

Their struggle brought them towards the living room, where their eyes were immediately drawn to a glum looking Mike, who was cleaning up some shattered glass. Straight away, all essence of amusement drained from their faces as they were reminded of how serious the situation was. For all Mike could have known, that may have been his last time seeing Eleven again.

"Alright, mom," Ringo murmured to Steve as he set her feet down on the ground once again. "Let's get to work."