SATELLITE [STEVE HARRINGTON]

shake it out - eleven

"and its hard to dance with the devil on your back, so shake him off"

shake it out; florence + the machine

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(this takes place sometime after season 4)

"HOW WAS MAX?" GINNY ASKED HER YOUNGER BROTHER.

Lucas had just returned from visiting his girlfriend in the hospital. He tossed Ginny's keys onto the counter and sunk into a chair at the table.

"She's the same," he said. "Steve showed up before his shift, replaced her flowers. Mike and Dustin got there as I was leaving. I read some Wonder Woman comics to her today."

Ginny smiled and patted his shoulder, going back to making her lunch. "Good. I swear, she can hear us, Lucas. And she'd be pissed if she woke up and we'd let her miss all the Wonder Woman issues being put out while she was asleep."

Lucas cracked a dry grin, settling back in his chair. "She'll be pissed she couldn't see the pictures and want to read them all over again anyway."

Ginny admired that her brother never let go of his hope that Max would one day wake up, and she was proud of him for sticking by her.

"You have plans today?" he asked, sitting forward. "Mom's been asking me to paint the fence out back, but I really, really, really don't want to do it alone—"

"I totally have plans," Ginny lied, sticking the peanutbutter knife into the sink. She took a bite of her PB&J.

Lucas gave her a deadpan look. "Like what?"

"Like..."

Just then, the doorbell rang. Ginny, sandwich and all, slipped past her brother to see who it was.

She was only slightly stunned to see Jane "Eleven" Hopper on the other side.

"El," she said, blinking. "What are you doing here?"

The younger girl wore a blue t-shirt that read "EAT MORE HUNNY!" and pretty paint-splattered jeans that Ginny recognized to be a pair of Max's.

It was strange seeing El without her hair again, but they were all slowly getting used to it.

Eleven looked urgently at her. "I need your help."

Ginny frowned, unsure what to say. "Um... Okay, sure. With what?"

El pulled something out from behind her back— a pretty, flowy pink dress.

"I have a date," she said simply, though her eyes looked troubled. "And you are very pretty— the prettiest, a-and... I want to be pretty, too."

Ginny's brows slowly unraveled, her heart melting. "El—"

Lucas peered around the corner of the kitchen. "Who is it?"

Looking between the young girl and her brother, she reached and grabbed El's hand.

"My plans for the rest of the day."

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"MIKE IS GOING TO DIE WHEN HE SEES YOU."

Ginny sat on one side of the old wooden vanity in her room, El facing her, perched delicately on the edge of her chair.

Along with the frilly pink dress, El had brought what little makeup Joyce could give her since all the California shit that happened. Ginny had been carefully applying make up onto the fifteen year old's face for the last half hour, wanting the girl to have the makeover she probably hadn't gotten to enjoy since last summer with Max.