A portal opened on the wall of Diane's cavernous office and Sarah, Amelia, and Daniel all silently stepped through one after the other. Sarah didn't look at Diane or Adam as she passed them on her way to the door, intent on getting back to her room as quickly as possible with minimal interaction.

"Adam, would you please conduct the debriefing with Amelia and Daniel?" Diane asked Adam as her eyes followed Sarah out the door. Adam gave a curt nod and gestured for Amelia and Daniel to join him at Diane's desk.

"I don't want to talk," Sarah called out once she heard Diane's footsteps following her. Her voice bounced off the walls and echoed down the hallway.

"Then we don't need to talk," Diane called back, picking up her pace until she caught up with Sarah. "But I think you could use some company. I just want to make sure that you're okay."

"Do it. Come on, you know you want to..."

Sarah's lips twisted into a scowl as James' voice entered her head, urging her to use his abilities on her mother to force her to leave her alone. A small part of her wanted to give into the temptation, but she quickly squashed it. She'd never use those powers again. They were a curse bestowed upon her by an evil megalomaniac and she wouldn't give James the satisfaction of living through her.

Instead, Sarah remained silent until they reached her room. She allowed Diane to enter, but she didn't speak to her, instead electing to sit on the edge of the bed and silently stare out the window. Diane stood off to the side, watching her daughter carefully.

"How was the mission?" Diane asked once the quiet had persisted long enough.

"I said I didn't want to talk," Sarah snapped. "Besides, I'm sure you already know the answer to that question."

Diane slowly sat on the bed on the opposite side with her back facing Sarah. "I do," she answered quietly.

Sarah twisted in her spot to stare at her mother with furrowed brows and a look of disgust. "So it's true, then. You sent Hazel and Sam to their deaths."

Diane shifted her position so that her side profile was exposed to Sarah and she stared down at the corner of the bed. "My abilities allow me to see the future, but they don't give me the right to change it. I must act as if I didn't have them in the first place."

"Again with the 'holier-than-thou' bullshit," Sarah scoffed with a shake of her head as she turned back away from her mother. "Just when I think I can begin to trust you, you prove to me that I can't."

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what you had to go through and that I'm here if you need me," Diane informed her as she stood from the bed and walked to the door. But before Diane could leave, Sarah's voice stopped her.

"Maybe you won't do something with your abilities, but I will," Sarah said determinedly, rising from the bed as a new inspiration struck her. Perhaps her portals weren't allowing her to return to her friends and family now because she would be reunited with them in a different way...in a different time. "I'm going to make everything go back to the way it was supposed to be."

"What do you mean?" Diane asked.

"I'm going back to the Lab," Sarah announced, her fists subconsciously balling at her sides. "I'm going to rescue myself and James before they go to the Upside Down."

Sarah offered Quinn a wave as she watched her car back out of the Byers' driveway before slipping inside. The door had just clicked into place when she turned and nearly collided with Eleven, who had rushed for the door the second she heard Quinn's car in the driveway.

"Holy shit," Sarah exclaimed, her hand flying to her chest as she bent over to calm her racing heart. "Kid, it's time that we finally teach you personal boundaries."

"You promised you'd tell me everything when you returned," Eleven frowned as she crossed her arms.

"Yes, alright," Sarah said, her hand ruffling Eleven's hair as she headed towards Jonathan's old room. "Come on."

A large smile split Eleven's face as she followed her sister down the hallway.

Even though nobody was home, Sarah still shut the door behind them. Will had gone over to the Wheeler's to hang out with Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Max, but Sarah still liked the privacy that the door created. Discussing her feelings was never something that had come easy to her, but Eleven was one of the few people that she felt that she could be vulnerable with.

"So?" Eleven asked eagerly as she sat with her legs criss-crossed on the bed.

"It was...fine," Sarah answered slowly as she sat beside her. The thought of James joining their lunch flashed into her mind, but she quickly pushed it aside. She wasn't ready to tell anyone else about him yet, including Eleven. "Definitely awkward, but Quinn seems nice."

"What did you guys talk about?" Eleven asked.

"Standard small talk. Nothing all that interesting," Sarah answered with a wave of her hand. She cleared her throat before quietly adding, "She brought up Steve a few times."

"And?" Eleven asked, scooting closer to Sarah on the bed.

"And what?"

"And how do you feel about it?"

"I don't know," Sarah answered with a huff as she fell back against the bed. "It's hard, I guess."

"Do you still love him?" Eleven asked, blocking Sarah's view of the popcorn ceiling with her face.

Sarah laughed and pushed Eleven aside before taking a deep breath and answering in a more serious tone, "Yeah, I do."

"I knew it!" Eleven gasped with a smile as she bounced up and down on the bed, rocking Sarah back and forth.

"But he's with somebody else," Sarah sighed, pushing herself upright again. Her eyes became glued to her foot as she watched it anxiously sway back and forth over the side of the bed. "So it doesn't matter."

"Things could change," Eleven said, offering Sarah a hopeful smile.

"Things have changed," Sarah corrected her. "That's the problem."

Sarah fell back against the bed once more as a new realization hit her. "And I have dinner tonight with Steve," she groaned, dragging her hands over her face.

"You do?" Eleven asked in surprise. "Is it a date?"

"No, it's not a date, doofus," Sarah laughed, playfully kicking Eleven's leg. Eleven, in turn, playfully kicked her back. "We're just catching up."

"What are you going to wear?"

"Probably just this," Sarah answered, gesturing to her black denim jeans and the oversized AC/DC t-shirt that Hopper had let her borrow.

Eleven immediately shook her head. "Even if it's not a date, you should still dress up. Show Steve what he's missing," she said with a wink.

"But I don't have anything to wear. I didn't really pack anything from the Diagonal," Sarah countered.

Eleven rose from the bed and headed towards the door. She rested her hand on the door knob and said, "Come on!"

"Where are we going?" Sarah asked as she pushed herself to the edge of the bed.

Eleven flashed Sarah a mischievous smile. "Shopping!"

☆ ★ ☆

"Thanks for giving us a ride, Max," Eleven said as they pulled into the parking lot outside Starcourt Mall.

"No, thank you for giving me an excuse to get away from Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest, and Will," Max replied. "Anything beats listening to them squabble for an hour straight over whether Batman would be able to defeat Godzilla in a fight."

"Godzilla would win, no question," Sarah answered after careful consideration.

"Right?" Max agreed. "He's a tiny little man that dresses like a bat. All Godzilla would have to do is step on him. Easy."

"But Batman does have all that cool technology," Eleven pointed out.

"But Godzilla can breathe fire and--Nope," Max stopped herself with a firm shake of her head. "Not getting into this."

Almost immediately after entering the mall, Eleven and Max dragged Sarah into a high-end dress shop with elegant gowns hanging off mannequins in the display window. Eleven and Max dashed around the store, picking out all the dresses they liked and shoving them into Sarah's overflowing arms.

"You guys, I think this is a bit overkill," Sarah said, craning her neck to see over the pile of silk, satin, and chiffon.

"If by overkill, you mean that you're going to show Steve you're over him by killing it in one of these dresses, then yes," Max responded with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

Eleven and Max ushered Sarah into one of the dressing rooms and shut the curtain behind her, leaving Sarah alone with her bewildered reflection in the mirror.

"Show us when you've got the first one on!" Eleven's voice called through the curtain.

A few minutes later, Sarah stepped out to reveal a bubblegum pink halter dress with a puffy tulle skirt that blocked a two foot circumference of the floor from her vision. Eleven and Max immediately shook their heads no, eliciting a sigh from Sarah as she turned to re-enter the fitting room and change into another dress.

Next, she came out in a body-hugging black dress with three-quarter sleeves and a flowing skirt that nearly tripped her every time she took a step. Eleven and Max collectively scrunched their noses and tilted their heads to see the dress from a different angle.

"We want to show him that you're loving your life, not mourning it," Max commented.

"Too dark," Eleven agreed.

Ten dresses and twenty head shakes later, Sarah finally found the one.

"This is the last dress I'm trying on, so you guys better like it," Sarah announced before exiting the fitting room.

Eleven's and Max's mouths immediately dropped when Sarah stepped under the fluorescent lighting. She wore a short, satin dress with spaghetti straps that laid tight against her body but accentuated her curves. The emerald green color popped against her pale skin and made her bright blue eyes glow.

"That's the one," Max said, her mouth still hanging open in awe.

"You're so beautiful," Eleven smiled as her eyes began to water.

Sarah moved to the mirror to look for herself and was blown away by what she found. She couldn't recall the last time that she had felt so pretty and it brought a small smile to her face and a bright blush to her cheeks. She began to twirl in slow circles to see the whole dress and as she did so, she caught sight of the price tag, making the smile that had worked its way onto her face immediately drop.

"It's one-hundred and fifty dollars," Sarah sighed. "Much too expensive and I don't even have any money."

Eleven pulled her credit card out of her purse and waved it in the air. "You don't need any because I'm buying it for you."

"What? No, I can't let you--" Sarah began to argue when Eleven cut her off with a stern shake of her head.

"I'm a working woman, I can afford it," Eleven declared as she marched over to the cashier and slapped her credit card on the counter. Before Sarah could say another word, the cashier had swiped Eleven's card and printed off the receipt. It was a done deal.

"Th-thank you," Sarah stammered, tears welling up in her eyes. "I don't know how I'll ever repay you."

"You're my sister," Eleven answered with a smile. "That's payment enough."

★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★