Steve Harrington hated to say this but he missed her. He missed the way she chuckled at the stupid things he'd do to get her attention. He missed the way she would mock her brother and his friends but if anyone else were to do it, they would be dead...
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"Listen to the wind blow, watch the sunrise Running in the shadows, damn your love, damn your lies"
The Chain By Fleetwood Mac (1977)
Valerie and the rest waited at the gate as Jonathan and Nancy drove up to the lab to check it out and to see if Mike and Will were up there. Valerie stood next to Steve in the middle of the road. She softly rested her head against his shoulder as her eyes fluttered, struggling to keep them open from exhaustion. "Guys?" Max said softly causing the group to look up the road and see the cars zooming towards them. Steve quickly yanked Valerie to the side causing her to headbutt his chest and groan. "Sorry," Steve said causing her to hold her head and shake her head.
"Come on, let's go!" Chief Hopper drove up besides them and shouted at them causing all of them to jump into the car with Valerie behind Steve's seat. They all drove to the Byer's home where they all ended up in different rooms with Jonathan and Nancy next to Will who was unconscious on the couch. Joyce sat in one of the bedrooms whilst Hopper was on the phone and the rest of the kids sat at the dining room table. Valerie and Steve lent on a kitchen counter, Valerie biting her nails as a nervous habit. It had been a hard night for everyone and Valerie was just praying that they would live to see another day.
"Hey, it's going to be okay," Steve said putting his arm over her shoulders and slowly moving his hand up and down her arm. This usually would make her heart flutter, but as she looked up at Steve, she only saw him staring sadly at Nancy who had her hand on Jonathan's shoulder. "They didn't believe you, did they?" She heard Dustin say to a frustrated Hopper who had just hung up the phone by slamming it down. "We'll see." The Chief simply said causing Mike to lose his mind a little bit. There was no doubt in her mind that no one would believe the chief. Creatures running around Hawkins sounded like a prank any kid would tell the cops. "'We'll see?' We can't just sit here while those things are loose!"
"We stay here, and we wait for help." With those words, Hopper ended the conversation by walking out of the room leaving everyone in silence. "Did you guys know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?" Valerie had been briefed on what had happened to Bob in Hawkins lab. When she was in Middle School, she was in the AV club before passing along Dustin and the boys everything she knew but she never knew about Bob. "Really?" Lucas asked quietly. "He petitioned the school to start it and everything. Then he had a fundraiser for equipment. Mr. Clarke learned everything from him. Pretty awesome, right? We can't let him die in vain." Mike's speech gave all of them inspiration. Valerie stood up and walked out of Steve's grip, leaning on the back of Dustin's chair instead.
"What do you want to do about it, Mike?" She asked before her brother looked at her confused. "The Chief's right on this. We can't stop those Demo-dogs on our own." Valerie smiled at the nickname that Dustin had given them. "Demo-dogs?" Max questioned causing Dustin to get a bit flustered. "Demogorgon dogs. Demo-dogs. It's like a compound. It's like a play on words--" Valerie loved seeing her brother all flustered over a girl. It was adorable. "Okay." She said causing him to stop and look at his hand, a faint blush rising to his cheeks. Valerie smirked and patted his head causing him to wave his hand at her in annoyance. "I mean, when it was just Dart, maybe--"
