29. Pregnant Stumbles (El and Hopper)

For Aline, who requested Hopper giving El advice after a fight with Mike; for stressedxnapper, who requested a pregnancy scare; and for Val, who requested a pregnant El scared of telling Mike about it because he's leaving for college. Also, y'all, Kylie Jenner just had her baby and it still surreal, and when I found out, all I could think about was this chapter because she's still practically a teen! I love the Kardashians (fight me!) and I just couldn't help comparing Kylie's new motherhood with El in this chapter. Weird? I know. This is a long ass chapter, so please enjoy :)

PROMPT: El is pregnant (or not *wink wink*) and is scared of telling Mike because he's leaving for college.

Hopper was cooking dinner when the door's multiple locks clicked, announcing El's arrival.

"Hey, kid! I'm making dinner, you want some?"

The door slamming loudly behind her was his only response.

He jumped a little, the fork scratching against the pan, and he furrowed his eyebrows as he turned around to peer over his shoulder at her, only catching a slight look at her back as her sneakered-feet thumped away from him, her pony tail bouncing in the air.

"Not hungry, then." He frowned again as the door to her room was slammed, weirded out by his daughter's moodiness.

That had been happening for a few days.

As her senior year came to an end, her mood dropped; drowned in final projects, assignments, essays, homework, extracurricular activities, and the heaviness of future decisions.

He felt bad for the poor thing; he'd been through all of that, and she didn't work all that well under pressure, so he could only try and keep himself mute when she got like this.

But then a few sniffles reached his ears, and then loud sobbing overpowered the sizzling that came from his burger meat.

He frowned deeper, turning the stove off (dinner could wait now) and then marched towards her bedroom.

"El?" He pounded on the locked door.

Her sobs were abruptly muffled, as if she was pressing a hand against her mouth to contain the hiccups, and then his heart clenched when she finally spoke.

"I'm fine." Her voice sounded broken, small and timid, not like the one belonging to his nearly-adult daughter.

"El, let me in." He said in a firm tone.

"I'm fine." She sounded anything but that, her hiccupping cries making an emphasis on her not fine state.

"El," he spoke again, his voice hard and demanding, but then thought back to his previous approaches, and decided that Bad Cop wasn't the right figure for the situation. "El, it's okay," he heard her sniffle again. "Whatever it is, sweetheart, it's going to be alright."

Then she started crying again, but this time really hard, so much that it scared him.

"El?" He pounded on the door again.

"No, it won't." She responded brokenly, much closer than he anticipated, and then her door opened.

The first thing he saw was El's swollen face; puffy, red and wet, eyes in a grimace as she cried. And then he saw the plastic stick in her hand, and he came to the conclusion that he was fucked.

"Oh, El," he groaned, dragging a hand down his face as his heart tightened painfully and his stomach lurched up. "Not this."

She cried more, her sobs rocking her petite frame, and she bit her lips in a failed attempt of keeping her sobs in.

He entered her room, walking quickly to her as she began shaking, and then he plucked the white stick from her fist and looked down at the two pink lines that he never thought of seeing from her at this age.

"El," he breathed in, ice running in his veins from the actual shock of catching his daughter with a pregnancy test, and from it being positive. "El, oh my God."

"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I'm sorry, dad." She lifted both hands to her face and hid her swollen features from him, finally giving in into her fear and desperation, and he could only reach out to hold her against him. Her head barely brushed his shoulders, and he couldn't understand how a girl so small was going to have to face something so big.

"How?" He shook his head, berating himself for the stupid question. "I mean…What did Mike—"

"He doesn't know." She muttered against him, and then she sniffled greatly, separating herself from his arms. She swallowed thickly, running her hands up her face to wipe it and brushing messy strands of hair away from her forehead.

"What do you mean he doesn't know? When did you find out?" He frowned, taking her hand and leading her to her bed.

"A few days ago," she swallowed again, sitting down on her bed and then twisting her hands tightly against her thighs, a nervous habit she had picked from Mike. "I was late, and I went to Melvald's when Joyce was on her lunch break. I grabbed a pregnancy test and went to the bathroom to take it-", she hiccupped deeply. "And it came out positive, too."

"Wait, so this isn't the first one you take?" He questioned, lifting said plastic stick in the air for confirmation. She shook her head. "So, where is the other one?"

"I threw it away," she looked at him with watery, red rimmed eyes. "I thought if I got rid of it, then..."

"It would go away," he concluded with a sigh. "Well, this kind of thing just doesn't go away if you ignore it."

"I know," she rubbed her eye. "I took more with me so I would know for sure."

"Does Joyce know?"

"No," she shook her head again, and she looked up with a guilty expression. "I kinda... took them without telling her."

"So, you stole them?" He snapped. "We talked about this!"

"I'm sorry! I got freaked out!" She hit the bed with a hand in frustration.

"How did you pass the beeping thingies anyway?" He was referring to the ones that were placed in the entrance of the store to prevent this kind of thievery.

"I tweaked them. With my mind." She tapped her temple absentmindedly.

He rolled his eyes with a huff. "So, where did you take this one?"

"Mike's." She admitted with a weak mumble.

"Why haven't you told him?"

"I was going to today, but he was telling me about MTI and how much he's going to study, and he's already thinking about dorms and school supplies and- God!" She cried out, tears leaking out of her eyes again as she put her head in her palm. "He's so excited, dad, I can't do that to him!" She nearly folded herself in half, and he took pity on her and scooted closer so she could cry on his shoulder instead.

"I wanted to tell him so bad. I cried in his bathroom, and I wanted to burst out of there to tell him because this is eating me alive! But then, he started talking about college and the fucking future and I was just there, about to tell him to say goodbye to all of that because surprise! There's a baby- oh my god, a baby!" She broke her rant to sob again, closing her eyes tightly as Hopper rubbed circles on her back. "And then I just wanted to come home! I wanted to come home! And we fought all the way here, and I just didn't want to see his face when I ruined all his hopes and dreams, dad!" Her body rocked with the force of her tears, and his throat bobbed with emotion. It was never easy to see your kid cry, even more so when they're in the situation Eleven was currently in.

"What about you?" He asked tightly.

"About me?" Her confused question was muffled against his shirt.

"Yes, what about your hopes and dreams? All I'm hearing is how you're going to ruin Mike's future but you're not thinking of yours, too," he couldn't help but sound harsher. "What about college? What about Speech Therapy? What about your future, Eleven?"

"I don't know!" She exclaimed, extracting herself from him. "I don't know! I have no idea what to do, Hop! I'm so tired! I'm so tired of thinking! I don't know what to do!" Her eyes shined, full to the brim with tears, and his heart clenched again for her. He had a sudden need of protecting her against everything; of shielding her from exhaustion, from unknown futures and bad decisions, from unplanned babies and a hopeful boyfriend. He had a sudden need of locking her up in the cabin again, to never let her go and keep her safe, here, with him.

Instead, he gathered her in his arms again, letting her cry on him all she wanted, wetting his flannel shirt until it was sticky on his skin, rubbing her back with big hands and kissing her head as he fought tears of his own.

"El," he sighed with closed eyes as she almost choked from her sobs. "El, El, El. Not you, honey." A little whine cut his voice, and then a lone tear ran down his bearded cheek.

He had such big hopes for her. She was everything he ever wanted. The girl he once wished Sara could grow up to be. She was good in school, amazing grades, nice and polite, great manners, sweet as candy, stubborn and hard headed sometimes, but unique in her own way. He taught her good, not taking shit from anyone and standing up for others when no one else did, and she loved so much. She loved him, she loved Mike, she loved Joyce, she loved her little band of goons, she loved. She might not be perfect, but in his eyes, she was the perfect girl. The apple of his eye. And he had so many dreams for her, but now, she had tripped, hard, and she had to figure out how to stand up on her own.

"I don't want to do this, dad." She cried softly.

"You need to calm down," he cleared his throat. "And then talk to Michael."

"He's going to hate me."

"He's not going to hate you," he had to roll his eyes at that. "I don't think he'd be capable of it even if he tried," he snorted a little. "No matter what you think it'll happen, he deserves to know. You can't take that from him, El. He's half guilty of this, and he has to take full responsibility if he doesn't want my shotgun pressed to his nostrils."

She snorted at that, and he sighed inwardly at finally breaking through her depressed state to make her take in his words.

"I know you're scared," he continued talking against her hair. "But you don't have to be scared alone. You're not alone. And that boy loves you so much, El. You're both smart," he broke their hug but still kept her at arm's length. "You'll figure it out."

"What if he leaves?" She asked in a small voice.

"Don't you want him to?"

"I do," she sighed, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. "I want him to chase his dreams. I want him to be able to do whatever he wants, because he deserves it. He's so smart, and so kind, and I love him so much," her voice broke again and he reached out to rub her shoulder in a comforting touch. "I want him to be successful, and I want him to be happy. And I don't think this baby will let him accomplish all that."

"I understand, but he has the right to make his own choices."

"I'm also so scared of being away from him," she admitted in a meek voice. "I don't even know if this," she gestured to her stomach. "Is really real; if this is happening. But I'm scared. And I don't want to be alone. But I don't want to trap him either."

"Oh, El," he sighed heavily. "You're not going to be alone. I'm not going to lie; I'm really disappointed in you. You knew the risks, and I gave you every bit of protection I could so you guys would be safe, and this is the result?" She furrowed her eyebrows with a pained look, lowering her head in shame. "But you're still my kid. You're still my little girl. C'mere," he tugged her under his arm, side hugging her strongly as he dropped a kiss to her forehead. "And I won't ever leave you alone. Understand?" She nodded with a sniffle, a fresh batch of tears threatening to fall.

"The black hole," she sniffled with misery written all over her face. "It got me."

He refused to let that happen. "No, it didn't," he tapped her nose gently. "Not on my watch, kid. Over my dead body."

She hiccupped, and then she leaned over to hug him tightly again. She squeezed her eyes shut, her chest a tight box of emotions, and she just wanted to drown in the mixed scent of stale cigarettes, burger grease, old coffee and musk that was pure Hopper; pure Dad; pure home.

"You need to be strong," he told her seriously, holding her face between his hands, "You need to be tough. And I'll be here when you need me, but you have to figure things out. With him."

She looked into his eyes for a few silent minutes, their whole conversation replaying in her head. "Not stupid." She murmured with a hesitant tilt of her lips.

He sighed. "You did some stupid things, but you're right," he nodded. "You are not stupid." He gave her a lopsided smile, making her laugh through a wet sniffle.

He brought their foreheads together, their eyes meeting intensely, and he caressed her cheeks with his thumbs. "You'll figure it out, El. I know you will."

"I'll talk to him," she decided with a nod. "Tomorrow. I'll talk to him tomorrow."

"And then we'll talk again. Figure your future out a little. Things will have to be adjusted," he told her with a serious nod. "You know that, right?"

"Yes." She murmured with a resigned sigh.

Her stomach rumbled, interrupting the moment, and El flushed a little as she laughed.

"Sorry," she smiled cheekily. "I didn't have dinner."

"I thought you had dinner at Mike's." He frowned, standing up from the bed.

"I told you- I couldn't stay." She shook her head as she looked up at him with her big Bambi eyes.

"Well, I was in the middle of making myself a burger when you shook the entire house with that door slam. You want one?"

"Yes, please." She smiled tiredly, leaning back to rest her head against the headboard.

"On it, kiddo," he began walking out. "I'm gonna have to buy a bigger fridge now that you'll be eating for two." He looked back to see her staring at him pensively.

"Hey," he tapped his knuckles on the wooden doorframe. "Don't let it get to you." The black hole, he meant.

"I won't." She told him firmly, shaking her head for emphasis.

He nodded, heading out of her room but stopping when she called him.

"Hey?" She continued when he appeared on the doorway again. "I love you. Thanks for everything, dad."

His heart fluttered with affection, and he knew this girl could do anything she set her mind and heart to.

"I love you, too, Ellie."

Everything would work out. He knew she would be all right. He would be there to see it.

Quick poll: You guys want the continuation? Baby or no baby (as in, actual pregnancy or just a scare?)? Time jump or just the talk with Mike?