Trauma - Hopper Fan fiction

9. Diane

A piece of him died that morning.

As Jamie sat there crying, Hopper sat beside her and held her. His loud exhales began to shake as he tried to prevent himself from breaking down infront of his daughter. He felt broken inside. He blamed himself. He blamed himself for not taking Jamie with him, for not trying harder to see her, for not making things work with Diane... well, maybe not that.

He blamed himself for not being there for her. He felt the guilt all over again the longer they sat there in silence. As Hopper stroked her hair, he finally had enough strength to stand up.

"Hey kid, I want you to get dressed okay", Hopper attempted at speaking before his voice cracked at the end. As he left the room and headed outside for a smoke, he hadn't noticed that Joyce was there and followed him outside.

As soon as Joyce closed the front door, Hopper broke down sobbing into his hands as his cigarette lay steady in his right.

Joyce sat down beside him and wrapped her arms around him and he leaned in to cry into her.

"I failed her Joyce. I'm a terrible father. I let Sarah die. I let Jamie get raped. They were counting on me Joyce! ME!!"

Joyce was speechless. She couldn't figure out any comforting words to tell Hopper besides what she thinks is right. They both sat there as Hopper sobbed into Joyce's small frame. Joyce eventually took the cigarette from Hopper's hand and took a hit.

Hopper finally sat up and sniffed.

"Diane said she's coming to get Jamie. Last I talked to her she was in Indianapolis."

"Pshh. Yeah fucking right", Joyce said as she continued to smoke Hopper's cigarette.

"Yeah", Hopper laughed. "I told her over my dead fucking body. I have to go in today to fill out some paperwork... I'm taking Jamie with me"

Joyce looked at Hopper confused. "You've already talked to her about... you know? Are you sure you wanna be bringing her out?"

"Yeah. I'm not letting her out of my site while Diane is here. Can you believe she threatened to take me to court?!"

"That is one crazy lady you slept with chief", Joyce joked as she passed Hopper the cigarette.

Hopper took the cigarette and took a puff as he stood up. "I was thinking, maybe, you can come by the station too... for ... support?"

Joyce chuckled and turned towards the front door. "Sure Hop, I'll play your wife this time", she said before mumbling something under her breath as she went inside.

Hopper whipped his head around towards Joyce. Had he heard her right? He quickly went in after her and was greeted by Jamie instead.

"All dressed", She said unenthusiasticly as she threw her arms up midway and let them flop to her side. Hopper noticed that she must've ran out of clothes because she was wearing the same outfit from when she showed up at the station. He made a mental note to give Joyce money to get her some new clothes.

Hopper nodded slightly. "Hey, make sure you grab a bite to eat okay, I gotta throw on a new shirt". As Hopper went into his room and grabbed a shirt, he noticed that one child was missing.

"El?", Hopper called out as he looked into her empty room confused.

"She's in the bathroom, Hon. Talking to mike", Joyce said from the kitchen as she grabbed a plain eggo and handed it to Jamie.

Hopper rolled his eyes and grabbed his hat off of the coat rack. "C'mon kiddo. You're rolling with me today."

Jamie smiled, but her smile dropped once she thought about El. "Is El going to be okay? She's not coming with?"