"H-how is this possible?" Sarah stammered, her eyes unable to leave James' form standing before her. She subconsciously took a few steps backwards, nearly tripping and falling to the ground. "You're dead, I killed you!"

James tapped the side of his forehead with a knowing look and Sarah immediately understood.

"When you merged with me, I also merged with you," James began to explain. "I'm not technically alive, but the part of me that merged with you before you destroyed me and the Upside Down still exists within you. And lucky you, you got the fun part: my ability to control others!"

Sarah didn't want to believe him but she knew that it was true. She glanced back over her shoulder to see the sand monster still frozen to its spot with Amelia cowering beneath it. She knew James hadn't done that, she had felt it within herself. "I-I don't want it," she whimpered. Then, much more confidently, "I don't want you!"

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun!" James laughed, shrugging his hands into his pants pockets and bouncing on his toes. "It'll be just like old times, only this time, you can't escape me."

"You're sick," Sarah sneered with a look of disgust.

"My dear One, I'm in your mind! So if I'm sick, that means you're sick."

"Why now?" Sarah asked, ignoring James' comment. "It's been almost a week since I destroyed the Upside Down. Why am I suddenly able to use your abilities and hear you now?"

"I thought it was obvious," James answered with a chuckle and a playful roll of his eyes. "Self-doubt. I'm the angel on your shoulder."

"More like the devil," Sarah muttered, but what he said began to make sense. Right before she had stopped the sand monster, she had felt completely useless, and every interaction with her team leading up to that point had severely damaged her self-esteem.

"The last thing we need is some freak of nature getting in our way."

"It's not that we don't trust you...it's that we don't trust your powers."

"You can't be one of us because you're not one of us."

"Ah, yes, that's the stuff." James shut his eyes and smiled, seemingly having heard her thoughts.

"How do I get rid of you?" Sarah asked, cautioning a step closer to James as she squinted her eyes to study him.

"You don't," James answered, his smile growing wider. "But I'm a reasonable guy, so I'll only pop in when you need me."

Sarah was about to tell him that she'd never need him when he completely disappeared from sight. She spun around in circles to ensure that he was truly gone, and when she came full circle, she found herself face-to-face with a new problem: Amelia.

"What the hell was that?" Amelia seethed, her hand pointing towards the frozen creature in the sand.

"I think it's called saving your life," Sarah retorted. "You're welcome."

Sarah turned to pass Amelia, purposely bumping into her shoulder as she started back towards the forest where she could just barely see Daniel waiting on the fringe. Even though the giant snake-like monster still hadn't moved, Sarah aimed to put as much distance between herself and it as she could.

"This is exactly what we meant about not being able to trust your powers!" Amelia continued, rushing to keep up with Sarah. "Since when could you do...do...whatever the hell that was?!"

Sarah pressed her mouth firmly shut and exhaled through her nose before turning to meet Amelia head-on. "Why did you sacrifice yourself to save me?" Sarah asked point-blank.

"I-I..." Amelia stammered, caught off guard by the question.

Feeling more confident, Sarah took a step closer to Amelia. "You've had an issue with me since we first met. Why didn't you just let that thing kill me and be on your way?"

"We couldn't get out of here without your portal..." Amelia tried to answer.

"No, that's not it," Sarah said. "You've done missions like this before, which means that there are other ways to Helia besides my portals."

Amelia's mouth continued to open and close as she tried to formulate an answer, but none came.

"Maybe whether you like it or not, it's because I am one of you," Sarah answered for her, turning Amelia's face beet red. Sarah continued towards the forest before Amelia could have a chance to respond, calling back over her shoulder, "Now, come on. The job isn't finished yet." 

"Atta girl," James' voice commended Sarah inside her head and she had to fight back the urge to smile.

The doorbell rang a chipper tune through the Byers' house that alerted the tenants to someone at the door. Hopper was on patrol and Joyce had to check-in at Melvald's General, which left Sarah, Eleven, and Will, since Jonathan and Nancy had returned to Hopper's cabin with Barb.

"I'll get it!" Sarah announced after sharing a surprised glance with Eleven. The two had been in the middle of a game of Trouble, of which Sarah had been losing poorly, and she was more than happy to have an excuse to take a break from it.

Sarah pushed herself up off the living room floor and briskly jaunted towards the front door to see who was there. Without thinking, she quickly pulled the door open and was surprised to see Quinn standing on the other side.

"Hi," Quinn greeted Sarah with an awkward smile.

"Hello," Sarah returned the favor, leaning against the doorframe to block Eleven's view. She felt the need to keep this visit private, even from her own sister.

Quinn took a deep breath before saying, "I'm sorry to drop by unannounced, and I know this is all quite strange, but I just wanted to let you know that Steve told me about you guys and how you used to have feelings for each other and how you're getting dinner tonight and..."

"You don't have to worry, it was a long time ago," Sarah answered, quickly cutting Quinn off before she could continue as she slowly began to shut the door. This wasn't a conversation she was ready to have.

"Wait!" Quinn called out, putting a hand out to catch Sarah's attention.

Sarah stopped, but she kept the door wedged to where it only revealed half of her face and body.

"I just wanted to tell you that there are no hard feelings," Quinn explained. "Steve told me how important you are to him, and if you're important to him, then you're important to me. I stopped by because I wanted to ask if maybe you'd like to get lunch to get to know each other better?"

Driven by curiosity, Sarah opened the door a little farther. "Now?" she asked.

"I'm on my lunch break until two, but if that doesn't work for you, we can schedule for another time," Quinn answered.

Sarah glanced back inside the living room and caught Eleven's confused expression. Nintey-percent of her wanted to say no to Quinn. She had just reunited with her sister, and despite how badly she was losing at Trouble, she wanted to spend more time with her. Plus, there were her untamed feelings for Steve that still persisted. She didn't know if she could handle sitting through lunch with the fiancée of a man she still loved.

But then there was the other ten-percent that felt inclined to say yes, although she couldn't determine why.

"Sure..." Sarah answered at last, surprising herself. "Just give me a minute."

Quinn nodded her head with a smile as Sarah shut the door between them and rushed to grab her things.

"Who was that?" Eleven asked from the floor. When she noticed Sarah putting on her shoes and grabbing her jacket, she then asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm sorry, I'll only be gone for about an hour," Sarah answered as she bounced around the living room attempting to get her left shoe on. "I promise I'll tell you everything when I get back."

Eleven looked like she wanted to say something more, but ultimately kept her mouth shut.

"Have Will finish the game for me!" Sarah called over her shoulder as she quickly pushed herself out the front door.

She could just barely hear Eleven call back to her as the door slammed shut, "You're only leaving because I'm kicking your ass so bad!"

"Ready?" Quinn asked.

"Ready," Sarah answered.

☆ ★ ☆

Quinn had driven them to what used to be Benny's Burgers, but was now refurbished into a semi-tacky 1950s diner complete with a jukebox and what appeared to be an Elvis Presley shrine. A waitress in a white blouse and pink poodle skirt with a ribbon tied around her neck handed them menus as they took a seat in one of the slippery red booths.

"I haven't been here yet but I heard the food is pretty good," Quinn informed Sarah as they both awkwardly stared at the menus in their hands.

"Are you from Hawkins?" Sarah asked, glancing up to look at Quinn. She felt the need to fill the air with something other than awkward silence.

"Technically, yes," Quinn answered. "But my family moved right after I was born."

"What made you decide to come back?"

"I don't know," Quinn sighed. "I guess I just wanted a change of pace. My dad died when I was young and my mom just passed two years ago. I moved out here right after that."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Sarah apologized, immediately feeling foolish for having brought it up.

"It's okay!" Quinn reassured her with a smile. "It's been one of the best decisions of my life. It led me to work at Harrington Real Estate, which led me to meeting Steve...and well, you could say Hawkins has left quite the impression on me."

At the mention of Steve, Sarah felt her face flush and she quickly took a sip of water.

"Did she really drag us all the way out here just to brag about how happy she is with your ex?"

Sarah nearly choked on the water in her mouth when a new guest joined them, although this one was in her head.

"Go away, James," Sarah thought, willing him to disappear from the spot he had taken next to Quinn. Even though Quinn couldn't see or hear him, it was already an awkward enough lunch as it was. Sarah didn't need James making it worse.

James just smiled and gave Sarah a wink, his cheeks creasing under his dimples. Even though he wasn't alive, James had somehow aged as Sarah aged. His wild, curly hair had become more tamed and his freckles had begun to fade, leaving behind a man who was objectively quite handsome. Sarah had once asked James how he was capable of growing older despite being dead, and he had simply replied: "Ask yourself. I'm in your head, after all". She just chalked it up to herself not wanting to continue to stare at the face of a boy she had killed, instead replacing him with a man who reminded her less of her own guilt. 

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked when she noticed that Sarah was having difficulty breathing.

Sarah forced the water down her throat and quickly answered, "Yes, yes, I'm fine." She tried to offer Quinn a reassuring smile but it came out looking slightly manic.

Thankfully for Sarah, the waitress came to take their orders before she could embarrass herself any further.

"I'll take the number seven with a Coke and you can put it on her bill," James said, causing Sarah to roll her eyes when Quinn wasn't looking.

"Oh, cool tattoo! I have one on my wrist too," Quinn gushed once she spotted the "001" tattoo on Sarah's wrist peeking out from beneath her sleeve jacket after the waitress had taken the menus away. She held out her left wrist for Sarah to see, displaying a dainty, but elegant, tattoo of a rose. "I got mine in remembrance of my dad. What does yours mean?"

"Uh..." Sarah stammered, picking through her racing thoughts for a response as she quickly moved to cover her wrist with her hand.

"It means that she can kick your ass, sweetheart," James offered.

"It's a...reminder to myself that...I'm number one," Sarah answered with a sheepish smile, grabbing onto the first answer that made any semblance of sense. James shook his head in embarrassment.

"Oh, how nice..." Quinn responded before changing topics. "So what brought you back to Hawkins? Steve told me that you've been away for a while."

"How much has Steve told you about me?" Sarah asked slowly, trying to discern what Steve might have given away and what she'd need to cover for. The less people that knew the truth about her, the better.

"Just that your dad is Chief Hopper and that you lived with your mom in New York before coming out here to visit for a couple months after college," Quinn answered.

Sarah sighed a breath of relief. She could work with that.

"Yeah, I uh, decided to do a little traveling," Sarah answered after clearing her throat.

"Liar."

"It's not entirely a lie," Sarah thought back to James.

"Tell her the real story, it's much more exciting." James responded. "I'm in it."

"How fun! Where did you go?" Quinn asked, oblivious to the conversation Sarah was having with James in her mind.

"If I listed them all then we may be here until lunch tomorrow," Sarah answered with an awkward laugh.

"Steve and I really want to get out traveling," Quinn responded. "I'm trying to convince him to shut down the office for a couple weeks to travel around Europe, but you know Steve, he's a bit of a homebody."

"Ugh, here we go again," James groaned, wiping his face with his hand. "You know you could use your abilities to make her shut up."

"No," Sarah responded, shooting a scowl to the "empty" spot next to Quinn.

"Or better yet, you could force her to break up with Steve and leave Hawkins forever..."

Sarah didn't respond to James, electing to ignore him for the rest of lunch until he went away, but she hated to admit how appealing his suggestion was. It'd be so easy and Quinn would never know what had happened to her...Steve would be heartbroken at first, but she'd help him to move on...NO. James was starting to influence her thinking. He'd been in her mind too long.

"Maybe it's not all me," James suggested with a raised brow, having heard her thoughts. He then faded away from the booth with a wave, leaving her with this disturbing revelation. 

The waitress brought out the food just in time to cut through the awkward tension that had once more settled upon the table and their conversation slowly subsided as Sarah and Quinn began to eat. But Sarah still couldn't shake what James had said and it haunted her for the rest of the lunch.

What if he was right? 

What if her and James weren't so different after all?

★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★