Trauma - Hopper Fan fiction

7. Traitor

As Hopper and Jamie made their way through the hall, Hopper caught a glimpse of a frantic Joyce pacing the floor of the main lobby. Hopper stopped before walking through the double doors and squatted down to Jamie's level placing both his hands on her arms.

"I know you haven't properly met her yet. But, the lady out there, that's Joyce... and she means a lot to me, so please be nice."

Jamie nodded and grabbed a hold of her father's hand. Jamie wasn't feeling herself. She still never really got used to hospitals after damn near living in one when Sarah was sick. It was something she associated with death and negativity, although she doesn't know why.

As they both walked through the doors, Joyce joined alongside the two with Jamie in between them. Jamie listened as Hopper filled Joyce in on what happened in Dr. Owens' office, whispering about the fact that Owens thinks that Jamie may have abilities similar to El. He made sure to throw in that it was Diane's fault.

As they headed into the parking lot, following Joyce to where she parked the blazer, Jamie reached out and held Joyce's hand. Joyce gave Hopper a quizzical look while Hopper glanced down at Jamie and let out a smile.

"C'mon kid, let's get you home", Hopper said smiling as he patted Jamie's back before hopping into the drivers seat.

After a quick stop at the local pharmacy, the three headed back towards the trailer as dusk grew near in the autumn sky. While Hopper engaged in casual conversation with Joyce, Jamie glanced down at her phone which she had left in the backseat.

"Six missed calls and 17 messages?", Jamie whispered to herself in confusion. She quickly unlocked her phone and saw that the messages were from her mom.

Jamie held her breath as she turned off her read receipts. She quickly scrolled to the top of the messages and began reading in silence.

"Jamie, where are you?"

"The school called and said that you've been absent the past 3 days and your friends haven't seen you either."

"Jamie, come home, please. I'm worried about you"

"Please, just let me know that you're okay"

Jamie quickly scrolled down to her mom's most recent message. As she read it, Jamie froze as chills went down her spine.

"Dad", Jamie said while still in shock as she stared at her phone screen.

Hopper glared at Jamie from his rearview mirror and continued talking to Joyce. He hated when people interupted his conversation without bothering to say excuse me.

"Dad!", Jamie said interrupting him once again.

Hopper huffed, still ignoring his daughter.

"DAD!" Jamie screamed, her voice much louder than Joyce's and the radio combined.

"WHAT?!", Hopper yelled back, matching her tone. Before she could speak, Hopper's phone rang and he answered it without looking at the caller ID.

"HELLO?!"

Jamie watched as her father's facial expression went from annoyance to shock and confusion as he looked at Jamie from the rearview mirror.

"Diane? What?! What do you mean? Jamie's right he— Hello?"

Hopper looked down at his phone in confusion. He pressed the power button a couple of times to find out that his phone had mysteriously died. As Hopper looked into his rearview mirror to Jamie to explain what her mother could've been babbling about, Hopper saw something that scared him shitless. He slammed on the brakes as his gaze grew wide as he witnessed a trickle of blood drip from Jamie's left nostril.