The Protector

The Upside Down Part 2

Maddie slowly woke up to the sound of machines beeping in her ears. Slowly, Maddie opened her eyes, squinting against the lights. Once her eyes finally adjusted to the light, Maddie looked around realizing that she was in a hospital bed, wearing a hospital gown. Before Maddie could do anything else, Jonathan walked into the room eyes wide. 

"Mads!", Jonathan shouted before running to her side and giving her a gentle hug. "How are you feeling?", Jonathan asked Maddie while sitting on the bed with her. "I'm okay", Maddie whispered quietly. "Is Will okay?", Maddie questioned. "He is in here too", Jonathan answered gesturing to the hospital. "And Eleven?", Maddie questioned only to receive a quiet "no" from Jonathan. This brought tears to Maddie's eyes before she said, "I couldn't protect her". "Mads", Jonathan said before the tears started to fall. "You did everything you could to help her and all of the kids. No one blames you and you shouldn't either", Jonathan finished while letting Maddie cry into his shoulder while he held her tight. 

After falling back to sleep, Maddie woke up seeing Joyce and Hopper sitting in the chairs across from her. "Mom, Hop", Maddie mumbled before Joyce shot up out of her chair. "Hey, honey, how are you doing?", Joyce questioned lightly. "I'm okay", Maddie started before adding, "What have I missed?". After Joyce explained Will's condition to Maddie, she gave her a big hug before leaving the room. This left Hopper to come sit on the end of Maddie's bed. 

"You know, I really thought I taught you well, but apparently all of the training I gave you was for nothing", Hopper said in a teasing tone. This made Maddie gasp in shock before kicking him in the shoulder causing her to tense in pain. "That was your fault you know. Sorry you didn't train me for fighting interdimensional monsters", Maddie stated lightly before both of them laughed. After their laughing calmed down, Steve and Nancy walked into the room. Hopper quickly said, "I'm glad you're alright kid", before giving her one of his famous hugs before walking out of the room.

Steve approached the bed dropping the pile of stuffed animals on top of Maddie causing her to glare teasingly. Nancy then went to the small table Maddie had next to the bed before setting down two cards from Steve and Nancy. "Thanks guys", Maddie said with a large smile. "So, are my two love birds back together again?", Maddie asked wiggling her eyebrows suggestively causing the other two teens' mouths to open wide in shock.  

With the help of a walker, Maddie made it down the hallway feeling like an old lady. On her way to Will's room, she saw the boys sitting in chairs. Once they saw her approaching they instantly ran up to her pulling her into a hug. Maddie groaned a little bit but hugged them back tightly. 'We were so worried", Mike started. "We thought you were going to die", Dustin added. "We would have missed you so much", Lucas finished. "Thank you guys. I love all three of you", Maddie said with a large smile causing all three of the boys to do the same. 

After their group hug, the kids started to walk in front while Maddie slowly followed to Will's room. Once she got there, Maddie walked into the room causing Jonathan and Joyce to look up at her. "Don't say a word", Maddie told Jonathan before he started to laugh at Maddie with a walker. Joyce grinned at her two children before hearing something behind her causing the three of them to look towards Will's bed. 

Will slowly opened his eyes to see his mom, Jonathan, and Maddie sitting next to him. "Hey. Hi, sweetheart", Joyce said quietly. "Hey", Maddie and Jonathan stated quietly. "Where... where am I?", Will questioned. Joyce sighed before Maddie answered "You're home", before Jonathan added, "You're home now". "You're safe", Jonathan said before Will said, "Jonathan" with a small smile. "Yeah, it's me, buddy. We missed you. We really missed you", Jonathan said while smiling with tears in his eyes. "Are you okay?", Will asked Jonathan. "What, this? It's just a cut. It's nothing. You're worried about my hand", Jonathan stated before all three adults started to chuckle. Will then looked towards Maddie.

"What happened to you? Are you in the hospital too?", Will asked concerned. "Hey, it's okay. I'm okay. Just had a small accident. All that matters is that we are all okay", Maddie said while holding Will's hand with tears running down her face. "Hey, we uh... we got you some stuff so you don't get bored in here, So", Jonathan said before picking up a box off of the ground. 

"We made you a new mix tape", Jonathan started pointing towards himself and Maddie. "There's some stuff on there I think you really might like", Jonathan finished causing Will to smile. Maddie bent over with a small groan before pulling out the mix tape and handing it to Will. After this they all just stayed silent looking at each other happily.

Maddie insisted that she went to get the boys to tell them Will was awake. Once Joyce and Jonathan agreed, Maddie went down the hallway with her walker until she reached the lobby. "Boys, you can see Will now", Maddie stated causing the boys to get up and run towards the room accidently pushing Maddie out of the way. Maddie was caught by Steve who had smirk on his face. "Not a word Harrington. Either of you", Maddie said pointing from Steve to Hopper who both struggled not to laugh.

Once Maddie went back to the room where the boys were, she sat and watched all of them talk about everything Will has missed. This included Eleven, Maddie's various "bad ass" actions leading her to be injured, and how the boys "helped" Eleven defeat the Demogorgon. Even if some of these things were a bit of a stretch it brought Maddie joy to know that Will was safe, her family was safe, and her friends were safe. And surprisingly, Maddie herself, was safe.

As if it was a gift delivered directly from Santa himself, Maddie's stitches were completely healed by Christmas making her be able to walk all on her own. Jonathan was leaving to go to Nancy's house to pick up Will. Before he could leave, Maddie came rushing down the hallway with six presents in her hands. "Can you give these to Nance, Stevie, and the kids please?", Maddie asked Jonathan kindly receiving a nod. "Thank you!", Maddie said to Jonathan before kissing his cheek and running out of the house. 

Maddie drove to the police station in record time. She got out of her car quickly before walking in to the department with four boxes of donuts and a bag. She went directly passed Flo towards Hopper's office before walking in. She then shouted, "Merry Christmas!", before setting the donuts down on her chair before handing Hopper the wrapped present from the bag. "Open it", Maddie stated eager to see Hopper's reaction. Hopper then proceeded to open the present revealing a mug that said "Number 1 Cop" on it. Hopper read it before chuckling making Maddie laugh saying, "I knew you would like it!". "I love it", Hopper said before walking around his desk to hug her while thanking her. "I have to go but I'm glad you liked your gift!", Maddie shouted running out the door. 

Maddie arrived at her house seeing her Mom making dinner while Will was snooping around the tree. Maddie walked towards Joyce helping her set up dinner while Jonathan recorded all the stress with the new camera Maddie got him for Christmas, since he already broke the other one she bought him. Finally the table was set and everybody sat down. Will immediately said that one of his presents was definitely an Atari because Dustin's weighed the same amount. Joyce tried to cover up the fact that he was right with a "sneaky" face. Will then got up again causing Joyce to say, "Hey, no more snooping". "No. I forgot to wash my hands. I'll be right back", Will said walking towards the bathroom. 

"Okay. He's washing his hands?", Joyce questioned causing the two teens to chuckle. The three of them start to dig into the food before Will comes back to the table. "Are you okay?", Maddie asked Will. "Yeah. I'm okay", Will stated happily. "This is really good Mom", Maddie said to Joyce causing her to smile. "Hey, guys. Did Will tell you about, uh, the game?", Jonathan questioned. "What game?", Joyce questioned causing Will to tell the two girls about how he fire balled the bad guy. Joyce then questioned what the game was and Will answered, "It's just Dungeons and Dragons". 

Maddie sat happily with her family at the table hoping that everything stays the same as it was right in that moment. She also hopes that she got Erica the right ice cream for Christmas and Steve the right hair products. Overall, Maddie knows everyone will love their gifts, but she wished she could freeze time to this moment, so they all stayed happy forever without the ongoing challenges they have to face. But Maddie knew she would still do anything to protect her family because she was the protector and nothing would stop her from doing her job. 

A/N: Yay! We finished season one! As always I hope you enjoyed and don't forget to vote. Love from the author, over and out!