The Protector

The Body

When Maddie finally left the kids to go back to her house she was met with a very familiar vehicle in her driveway. As soon as she stepped out of her car she saw the chief of police walk out of her house. Maddie started walking towards him. Hopper didn't look up until he heard someone clear their throat. When he finally looked up he wished he never did. Seeing Maddie's red and puffy eyes made Hopper want to cry right there with her.

"Hey, Hop", Maddie said quietly. "Hey, Mads", Hopper said in the same tone. "How did she take it?", Maddie asked softly already assuming the answer. "Not well", Hopper replied with a small sad smile. "Is he really dead?", Maddie asked Hopper with tears brimming in her eyes. Hopper looked down at Maddie's short frame before Maddie added, "I mean, I saw the body but it was from a distance so he could still be alive right?". "Mads", Hopper said almost silently. "No he's not gone! He can't be!", Maddie shouted finally letting the tears fall. "He's still out there! We need to go look for him! I'll go get Mom and Jonathan and we can get a few more people on the way", Maddie stated before trying to walk away only for Hopper to wrap his arm around her and pull her back into his chest.

"He's gone Mads", Hopper said as Maddie tried to get out of his grip. "No! He's still alive! He can't be dead!", Maddie shouted loudly before her knees buckled causing her to fall to the ground a sobbing mess. Hopper came right down after her hugging her and whispering in her ear, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry".

Instead of going to the morgue with the rest of the family she decided it would be better to go visit Eleven and have Jonathan fill her in later when they went looking for a casket together. As soon as Maddie arrived at the Wheeler residence she listened trying to hear where the kids were at. Once she heard mumbling upstairs she took the staircase all the way up to see Eleven sitting confused while Mike was looking at various make-up products.

"Need some help?", Maddie asked with a small smile on her face. As soon as Eleven turned around she ran into Maddie's open arms. "Hey pretty girl", Maddie mumbled into Eleven's ear causing the young girl to smile largely. "Hey Maddie", Mike said a little nervous. "Hey Mikey, what's wrong?", Maddie questioned with a look of concern. "Nothing", Mike stated fast trying not to give Maddie false hope. "I'm just really confused with this makeup stuff", Mike added with his signature smile.

"Well I'll take over from here then", Maddie said with a small smirk. While doing Eleven's makeup Maddie questioned Eleven by saying, "Is there something you guys aren't telling me?". "No", Eleven replied after her face went pale. "Friends don't lie", Maddie said in a firm voice. "Will is alive", Eleven told Maddie. Maddie's eyes widened in shock just as she finished Eleven's makeup. "There you go, all done", Maddie stated with a tiny smile causing Eleven to flash her one back. "I'll be right back", Maddie said before heading downstairs to the basement.

"Why did El just tell me Will is still alive?", Maddie questioned the boys angrily causing them to jump in fright. "We weren't sure yet and didn't want to get your hopes up", Mike said sadly. "What happened us telling each other everything?", Maddie asked pointing to the four of them. "We're sorry Maddie", Lucas said apologetically. "We won't do it again", Dustin added also feeling remorse. "We'll tell you everything from now on", Mike finished while Maddie shot them a satisfied smile. "I like the pink dress better", Maddie stated pointing to the dress in Lucas' hands before smiling lightly.

After successfully managing to fit three bikes into her car Maddie was ready to set off to Hawkins Middle School. The drive there included Mike, Dustin, and Lucas trying to explain the entire situation to Maddie while Eleven was quietly sitting playing with the fake hair on her wig. After parking in front of the school Maddie quickly helped unload all of the bikes out of the car before standing directly in front of the three boys. "Please don't do anything stupid", Maddie told Dustin, Lucas, and Mike before turning to face Eleven. "Try not to use your powers and make sure you listen to Mike if he needs your help. Unless he is being stupid. Because we are not stupid", Maddie stated with a small chuckle causing Eleven to laugh along with her. "Be safe", she said to all four kids before stating, "And one of you better update me later. No more secrets!", Maddie shouted before walking towards her side of the car and finally driving away.

After walking into the casket shop she continues to walk towards Jonathan who is walking around with a salesman looking at the various caskets. Maddie heard the man say, "It's made of soft wood with a crepe interior. Uh, now, I.. I don't know what your budget is but over here, we... we have copper and bronze". "There is no budget. We just want a nice casket", Maddie stated a little harsh after walking to Jonathan's side causing him to give her a small side hug before whispering in her ear a thank you for the camera she bought him. He only received a small nod from Maddie while she returned the hug. This was before a certain brunette walked through the door.

Maddie was shocked and angry to see the brunette walk up to Jonathan and ask him to "talk" like they weren't just in the middle of something important. After the three of them moved to a secluded area Nancy pulled out one of the pictures Steve ripped up before showing Jonathan. Jonathan passes the taped up photo to Maddie after telling Nancy he wasn't sure was wrong with the photo of Barb. Nancy tried asking Jonathan various questions but he wasn't sure where Barb went and he definitely did not see anyone else out there that night in the woods. The thing that caught Maddie's attention is when Nancy thought she saw something and she couldn't describe it.

"What did it look like?", Maddie asked before Nancy could walk away completely. "What?", Nancy questioned confused. "This man in the woods. What did he look like?", Jonathan asked nervously. "I don't know. It was almost like he didn't have a-", Nancy tried to say only to be cut of by Maddie and Jonathan at the same time asking, "Didn't have a face?". "How did you know that?", Nancy asked shocked only receiving a small look from Maddie before Maddie responded, "I saw it", leaving Nancy even more shocked then before. After this Maddie left telling the two that she would talk with them tomorrow.

After driving around in the small town for just about an hour she was getting awfully confused. She was looking for Hopper's police vehicle and she hasn't found it anywhere. She was trying to think of all the places he could be before one though crossed her mind, Sara.

Maddie immediately pulled into the only bar in town to see the yellow vehicle siting in the parking lot. After getting out of her car she tried going into the bar only to get stopped by the bouncer asking for her ID. Before she could get into an argument with this rather large man, a hand on her arm drags her away.

Maddie looks up to see who who was pulling her away only to see that it was the man she has been looking for all night. A smile lights up her face while she said, "You're not an easy man to find". Hopper only rolled his eyes before telling Maddie to go home.

That would be the safest and most reasonable thing Maddie could do however, she decided that following Hopper was a better plan. After Hopper stopped at the hospital and parked his car, Maddie slowly pulled up and repeated the same action. Slowly following behind Hopper, Maddie realizes that she is heading towards the morgue.

Just before Hopper has to punch a security guard, Maddie jumps in swinging her fist right at the man hitting him straight in the face knocking him out cold. This caused Maddie to shake her hand out while the bruises were already forming. "What are you doing here?!", Hopper asked angrily. "What are you doing here?!", Maddie repeated emphasizing the word "you". "You're not supposed to be here", Hopper stated mostly to himself but Maddie heard it. "And something tells me by looking at that guard that you aren't supposed to be either", Maddie said with a small smirk before opening the door to the morgue.

"What are we doing here exactly?", Maddie questioned slightly confused. "I have a feeling", Hopper stated opening up the door with Will's body in it causing Maddie to gag. "What are you doing?!", Maddie whisper shouted. "Trust me", Hopper stated quietly before grabbing a scalpel and placing it over Will's abdomen. Maddie looks away when Hopper cuts the skin away. "Mads, look", Hopper said shocked. Maddie turned around slowly seeing stuffing coming out of Will rather than blood and organs. "What the fu-", Maddie started to question before Hopper covered her mouth. "You can't tell anyone about this. Not Joyce. Not Jonathan. Not the kids. Okay?", Hopper questioned receiving a nod from Maddie. "Good. Now go home. I mean it this time", Hopper said giving Maddie a small hug before walking away. This time Maddie took Hopper's advice and started her journey home.

A/N: Thank you all so much for over a 100 reads. I can't believe we have already come this far in only a short amount of time. As always I hope you enjoyed and don't forget to vote. Love from the author, over and out!