[ hi there, so sorry for not updating regularly. school has started and i'm swamped everyday lol. thanks for your patience, i love you guys! ]

Lili detached herself from El and stood up, running to Hopper. He held his arms open and engulfed her in a tight hug.

"Dad," Lili choked. Hopper squeezed her tighter. Lili started crying, overjoyed that Hopper was there. She finally felt safe.

"Lili, where have you all been?" He asked urgently.

"We should probably catch you guys up, huh?" Lili said to him. Hopper nodded.

"Lili," Joyce called from behind Hopper. "Hi sweetie."

Lili hugged Joyce, smiling into the woman's shirt. "Joyce, oh my god it's so good to see you."

"Is, um- " Joyce started, but she gasped when Will slowly stood up and Jonathan walked over. "My boys," Joyce cried as the three hugged.

"Who are you?" Lili asked a man with a wife-beater tank on and glasses. The man gave a sarcastic smile.

"I'm Doctor Murray Bauman," the man said in a matter-of-fact tone. At that, Lili hunched over and let the contents of her stomach out on the floor. She heard people behind her gag, but she didn't care. This baby was pushing her stomach away and up her throat.

"Looks like someone hates you more than me, Murray," Hopper said to Murray as he stepped back, letting his daughter reel on the floor.

"Sorry," Lili said to Hopper, pitting at some of her vomit on his shoes. Hoper looked down and spotted the splatter.

"Oh, geez," Hopper cursed and kicked the air, attempting to get the vomit off. "What the hell? Did you go on a roller coaster or something?"

Memories of Lili tumbling through the air literally five minutes ago flashed through her mind. "Something like that, yes."

"What kind of Doctor anyways?" Lili asked. "If you don't know anything about other dimensions and monsters that take over people's bodies and melt them and add them to its flesh spider thingy then you're no help."

"I'm a private investigator," Murray sneered. "You're one to talk, you can barely keep your stomach from pouring out of your nose."

"Hey," Hopper warned Murray.

"I'm gonna make your brains pour out of your nose if you disrespect me again," Lili tilted her head and made a migraine arise in Murray's head. Murray groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Hey!" Hopper took Lili's shoulders and shook her. "What's wrong with you? Why are you so defensive all of the sudden?"

"Oh! It's probably because of the bun in her oven," Steve shouted from across the mall. Hopper's head snapped up and looked at Steve in anger.

"Excuse me?" Hopper said in a dangerously calm tone.

"Steve, shut up," Sue hissed. Nancy hit him on the arm, but he didn't notice.

"Yeah, Lili's 'preggo'," Steve said as if Hopper would find this amusing. "I can't believe it either. I mean, you turn your back once and poof! Pregnant..."

Hopper gave his signature pissed-off smile and nodded. He marched up to Steve and grabbed his collar. "Are you the irresponsible asshole I have to punch for getting my daughter pregnant?!"

"No!" Lili yelled at Hopper. "Dad! It's not Steve!"

Steve's eyes were as wide as saucers and his hands were gripping Hopper's fists, trying to pry them open.

"Then who was it?" Hopper demanded.

"It was Billy!" Lili started crying when she said his name. Was. That hit her harder.

"That punk kid?" Hopper asked, his attention fell away from Steve and he let go of him. "That delinquent got you pregnant?"

"Yes," Lili said without hesitation. Anger erupted inside her. "I also happen to love that delinquent very much. He's also the same delinquent that had his life ripped from him so that he could be apart of the Mind Flayer's army against his will."

"I don't care what his name is! He got you-"

"His name is Billy, Hopper. Billy! Learn it!" Lili practically screamed. Her hands balled into fists and her eyes started to glow. Nancy grabbed Mike and Max, tugging them backwards. Dustin, Robin, Sue and Steve walked back too, seeing Lili's body glow in rage.

"His name is Billy fucking Hargrove. He's the best thing that has ever happened to me. He's not some delinquent that you put a line through, Hopper. He's a fucking human being who had his life ripped from him!" Lili's feet hovered above the floor. She didn't notice.

"Um, Lili?" Robin shyly spoke up.

"What?!" Lili snapped at her.

"You're, uh, kinda glowing... and flying," Robin pointed at her. Lili looked down and found that her feet weren't touching the ground. Her body was glowing. Her vision was clouded by a golden glow.

"Calm down," Hopper said carefully. Lili looked at him, her rage suddenly subsiding. Her feet touched the ground again and her body stopped growling. Her eyes returned to a deep blue color. Hopper took gentle steps towards his daughter and hugged her again.

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry," Hopper sighed when she didn't zap him into oblivion.

"Okay..." Lili croaked. Hopper squeezed his eyes shut. Pregnant Lili's mood swings were worse than her regular ones. He guessed that he needed to get used to that.

El and Hopper reunited and everyone was conversing in the middle of the mall while Lili was busy rummaging all of the food booths for anything edible. They were talking about the monster and about the Russian spies, blah, blah, blah. Lili's stomach was growling like the monster she just fought.

"Sue!" Lili called for the Taiwanese girl. Sue jogged over to where Lili was, behind the Imperial Panda counter.

"Hey, why aren't you with the others? Did you hear, there's a monster!" Sue jutted her thumb behind her to the group. Lili just stared at her for a moment.

"Uh huh," Lili nodded. "I sorta blasted it's head off, but whatever..."

"What?! How have you not had a miscarriage?!" Sue yelled at her. Lili squeezed her eyes shut, her nausea coming back to her like a wave. Lili threw her head into the sink and dry heaved since there was nothing in her stomach.

"I really don't want to talk about that right now," Lili shook her head when she was done. "I need food. Like right now. Do you have those spicy potstickers anywhere? I'm craving them like crazy."

"Yeah, let me get them," Sue hopped over the counter and into the back. Lili leaned onto the counter, looking at everyone by the water fountain. She could only hear a bit of what they were saying, but it sounded like Steve was talking about the Russian spies in more depth.

Sue came back with a carton of the spicy vegetarian potstickers for Lili. Lili wasn't a vegetarian herself, but she was craving those suckers the most. It got her wondering, if a mother was vegetarian or vegan and they started craving meat while pregnant, do they give in?

Lili was walking aimlessly back to the group. What about pescatarians? So they just eat fish the whole time? Or vegans, they can't eat anything from an animal, so, how would they calm their cravings?

"And Chuck..." Robin said. Lili's head snapped up at the name and the potsticker she was eating stopped halfway down her throat. She started coughing and choking on her potsticker as she tried to calm herself down.

"What did you say?" Lili asked Robin. She looked at Lili in surprise.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, what were you saying about Chuck?- Wait, no, Chuck what?" Lili bombarded Robin.

"Chuck Kline, I think?" Robin answered.

"The mayor's son?" Hopper asked from his seat at the potted plant area with El laying on top of him.

"I guess? I dunno, he said he was Chuck Kline," Robin said.

"And? What happened?" Lili asked. "Did he try to kill you? Did he turn you in to the Russians? Wait- is he Russian? Why was he there?"

"Slow down," Steve held his hands out at Lili as she cautiously took a bite from her food. "He helped us."

Lili choked again. "We're talking about the same Chuck, right?"

"He has long hair and he looks like the mafia," Robin said in a monotone voice.

"That's him," Lili pointed at her with her chopsticks.

"Well, he did help us," Steve said with his arms folded.

"How? Did he just look the other way?" Lili asked.

"God, Lili, he actually helped us. He navigated our way in the Russian base and actually got us into the comms room," Sue came up behind her.

"So he wasn't an arrogant asshole? That's odd. Are you sure he wasn't on LSD or something?" Lili wondered out loud.

"Why can't you accept that he was a nice person?" Robin shrugged.

"Because, Robin, he was my ex back in Philly and he was a rapist and a racist and an asshole okay? What else- wait," Lili sucked in a breath. "What do you mean 'was'?"

"Lili," Robin sighed. "He's dead."

Something struck Lili deep inside. Guilt? Happiness? Sadness? Remorse? Joy? The more she thought about what she was thinking, the more sad she got. Chuck might have never been a good guy, but she did love him at one point of her life. He was still apart of her life. To know that he did something to potentially save the world and betray the Russians made her even more sad. He did something good and she didn't even know it. She was shitting on a dead man.

"Lili, are you crying?" Dustin asked. Lili didn't answer. She sunk down to her knees and pressed her back to the fountain.

"I'm sorry," Lili said finally, wiping some of the tears that escaped her eyes away. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

Nancy walked over to Lili, crouching down next to her and rubbing her back. "It's okay. He was a person who was close to you. You deserve to cry."

"Thanks, Nance," Lili smiled and hugged her. "But he doesn't deserve it."

"When did you guys become so buddy-buddy?" Steve asked.

"Shut up Steve," Lili groaned, rolling her neck back.

"Sorry, can we get back to the Russians?" Jonathan asked. Nancy shot him a glare that told him to shut up, but Lili was back to her feet again, eating her spicy vegetarian potstickers.

"No, we need to get back to the monster," Joyce said. "Are we sure that this thing is still out there, still alive?"

"El beat the shit out of his and Lili blasted its head off, but, yeah," Max nodded. "It's still alive."

"But if we close the gate again-" Will spoke up.

"We cut the brain off from the body," Max built.

"And kill it," Lucas finished. "Theoretically."

Hopper looked down and Lili scooted closer to him and Hopper caressed her head as she ate.

"Yoo-hoo!" Everyone turned and looked in the direction of the sound to see Murray walking quickly over to everyone. "Yoo-hoo!" Murray waved papers in the air frantically, as if he held the answer to life itself in his hands.

He walked past everyone, making the kids and the adults move to a table near the Imperial Panda booth. Murray set the papers on the table, pointing to a place on the papers that looked like a map. The place where Murray was pointing at had soemthing in it, like a laser.

"Okay, this is what Alexei called 'The Hub'," Murray said.

"Alexei?" Lili raised a brow. "Who's Alexei?"

Murray swallowed a lump in his throat. "He was a Russian scientist. A good man, God rest his soul."

Lili looked down, feeling bad about asking, but Murray already moved on. "Now, the hub takes us to the vault room."

"Okay, where's the gate?" Hopper asked leaning over the papers.

"Right here," Murray pointed at the same place. "I don't know the scale not this, but I think it's fairly close to the vault room maybe 50 feet or so."

"Hallelujah! Murray thinks that's where the end of the world will take place!" Lili rolled her eyes.

"Yeah," Erica stepped up. "More like 500."

Murray looked up at her in surprise. "What? You're just gonna waltz in there like it's Commie Disneyland or something?"

Hopper raised his eyes and was taken aback, but Murray ran his mouth. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Erica Sinclair, who are you?" Erica snapped back.

"Murray... Bauman," Murray said slowly. Erica held her hand up to shut him up.

"Listen, Mr. Bauman," Erica shook her head sassily. "I'm not trying to tell you how to do things, but I've been down in that shithole for 24 hours. And with all due respect," Erica pointed at everyone. "You do what this man tells you, you're all gonna die."

"I'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?" Murray asked rhetorically.

"She obviously knows more than you, Doctor Of Nothing," Lili slung her arm over Erica's shoulders.

"You better listen to her," Sue came up to the other side of Erica, slinging her arm over as well. "For a ten-year-old, she has more experience than you, you saggy ballsack."

Lili bit the inside of her lip to keep from bursting out laughing. "Yeah," Erica nodded. "You better watch your mouth before I watch it for you, you bald bastard."

"Erica!" Lucas exclaimed when Murray showed an expression of shock.

"Just the facts!" Erica argued.

"She's right," Dustin nodded. "You're all gonna die, but you don't have to."

Dustin walked past Erica. "Excuse me," Dusitn grabbed the map. "I'm sorry, may I?"

"Please," Murray gave the fakest smile ever, as if the paper was laced with poison. Dustin started talking about the map and stuff, but Lili rolled her eyes and turned to Sue.

"Hey," Lili smiled at Sue.

"Hey," Sue smiled back. Her gaze settled on Steve who's as talkin to Robin with his hands on his hips. Steve caught Sue's eye and he winked at her. Lili raised her brows and looked between the two teens.

"What just happened?" Lili asked Sue. Sue didn't answer. She giggled and looked down and Steve continued to give Sue air kisses and whatnot.

"Sue," Lili called. The raven-haired girl didn't say anything.

"Sue!"

"What?!" Sue turned back to Lili. She laughed at Sue's outburst and shook her head.

"Are you and Steve and item now?" Lili asked her. Sue shrugged.

"Wekissedy'knowbutidon'tknow," Sue said quickly.

"What?" Lili hissed.

"I said we kissed!" Sue whispered. Lili's lips turned into a smile.

"Really? Oh my god, I'm so happy!" Lili hugged Sue who was just as giddy as the first time Steve put his lips on hers.

"Wait-" Lili pulled away. "Did he tell you that you weren't his type immediately after?"

"No?" Sue said slowly. Lili smiled and shrugged.

"You're in the clear!" In that moment, Hopper clapped his hands.

"Alright, listen up!" Hopper stood in front of everyone. "This is what's going to happen. Steve, I need you to drive Dustin and his little girlfriend-"

"The name's Erica!" Erica shouted. Hopper closed his eyes, but continued on.

"I need you to drive Erica and Dustin to their little radio tower thing, got it?" Hopper asked him.

"Yeah, yeah, totally," Steve nodded and pulled his nose. "Um, I just need a car."

"Yeah," Hopper nodded. "Break it if you want, I don't care." Hopper tossed keys to Steve and he caught them.

"Sue, Robin," Steve beckoned them over. Lili walked over too, wanting to say goodbye.

"Bye, be safe," Lili hugged Robin. Robin sniffed a bit, but squeezed Lili back.

"I love you, no homo," Robin whispered.

"I love you too, definitely some homo," Lili smiled. Robin laughed as she pulled away, walking back to where Dustin and Erica were waiting.

"Bye, Sue," Lili hugged her. Sue laughed a bit and hugged Lili back.

"I'm not going away forever," Sue said.

"I can't be too sure," Lili said in a hushed tone. Sue hugged her tighter, hearing this.

"I'll be back, okay? I promise," Sue smiled at Lili. Lili gave a weak smile back, but watching Sue walk away.

Steve walked up, opening his arms for Lili. She instead punched him in the gut. Steve hunched over, his face crumpling in pain.

"What was that for?" Steve groaned.

"For shouting my pregnancy to the world," Lili hissed. Lili opened her arms for him, giving him a fake smile. He quickly glanced down to her gut and Lili knew what he was thinking.

"If you punch me and I get a miscarriage, I'm going to fucking gut you," Lili smiled. Steve grumbled but hugged the petite girl.

"You have really tiny hands you know," Steve said as he walked away.

"Stop bringing my insecurities up!" Lili yelled after him, but he was already gone.

"Lili," Hopper beckoned the girl over. She joined him, Jonathan and Nancy who were looking at Murray.

"What?" Lili asked and Murray rolled his eyes.

"I'm going to give you my keys to my house, but you better listen carefully," Murray said. "There's quite a few locks."

"This guy has more locks than that bridge in Paris," Hopper mumbled. Murray gave him the side-eye, but proceeded to show the new adults his keys. Hopper walked away to talk to El.

"Top lock," he held up one key then he let his fall, "Middle lock," he held up another one. "Bottom lock." He finished and gave Nancy the keys. Lili's mood suddenly went down and she walked idly away with her hands rubbing her arms.

"Hopper," Lili said weakly. The man turned around to see his daughter all teary-eyed.

"Lili," Hopper sighed. "Are you okay?"

"Pops," Lili took a deep breath. "Can you promise me one thing?"

"Sure," Hopper nodded.

"When you're down... there," Lili shuddered. "Get out as soon as you can. Okay? I don't care if the world burns down, you get out of there."

"Hey, hey, hey," Hopper grabbed Lili's head and hugged her close. "I'll be back, okay?"

"But-" Lili started.

"I'll be back," Hopper sighed. "I promise."

Tears sprang into Lili's eyes. So many people promised her one thing, but she always gets the other. Billy promised to live for her, but she doesn't know if that's true. El promised to not let go, but she did. Nancy promised her that they'll get through all of this, but that's probably not true.

"Don't-" Lili choked. "Don't break it."

"I won't," Hopper kissed the top of her head. "I need you to keep El safe, okay? This thing is after the both of you, not me. I need you to stay safe."

"Only if you do," Lili shot back. Hopper chuckled a bit.

"Aren't you a little ray of sunshine?" Hopper laughed.

"As if," Lili smiled weakly up at her father.

"But you are," Hopper assured her. "You're everyone's ray of sunshine. You brightened up my life as soon as you walked into it."

Lili threw her arms around Hopper, squeezing him tight.

"We should probably go," Mike said. He started to walk away, but Hopper called after him.

"Mike," Mike turned around. "Be careful."

Mike nodded once and walked off. Lili turned back to Hopper, squeezing his body in another tight hug.

"Knock 'em dead," Hopper smirked at her. Lili looked down at her hands and summoned a glow in her fingers. She played around with a small ball of energy, twirling it around.

"I will," Lili nodded. "I'll see you soon."

Lili planted a kiss on Hopper's cheek and got up and left.

"See you later," Hopper called after her. Lili turned around and smiled, waving goodbye.

And that was the last time Lili ever saw her father.

Everyone walked to the car and Max and Mike helped El into the backseat. Jonathan started to grab the front seat, but recoiled when he saw Lili's glare. She settled into the car while Mike told El to lay down.

Nancy stuck the key inside the car and turned it, only to get a sputter from the engine. Lili looked at Nancy to see her trying again with her elbow high in the air.

"What's wrong?" Jonathan asked.

"I don't know..." Nancy looked at the dashboard. "I don't know."

The engine sputtered again and Lili held her head in her hands. "Come on!"

"Didn't you mom just buy this car?" Lucas asked.

"Yes, I'm sure it's fine!" Nancy threw her hands up.

"Did you leave the lights on?" Will asked. Nancy tuned the key again to find nothing.

"No," Nancy mumbled.

"Do we have gas?" Lucas asked.

"Yes!" Nancy yelled.

"Nancy," Lili called for her attention, but she kept on trying to start the car. "Nancy!"

"What?!" Nancy snapped at Lili.

"Pop the hood, lemme take a look," Lili said as she got out. Nancy reached under the console to press the latch that unlocked the hood, making it pop up. Lili got out and raised the hood so that she could look at it. Nancy came up next to her.

Lili's eyes scanned the machinery and everything looked fine, except that there was no ignition cable.

"Nancy, where's the ignition cable?" Lili asked.

"The what?" Nancy asked her, looking at her like she made that word up.

"The ignition cable," Lili repeated and she started to point at places. "It goes here and here. It helps the two big parts of the car to connect and it helps it start. No ignition cable, no running car."

"Well I don't know," Nancy sighed. "It's not like I purposely took it out."

Just then, the rumble of an engine caught both girls' attention. They both turned to look at what was in front of them and saw a lone car in the empty parking lot.

"Billy," Lili breathed. "We need to get out quickly."

"Yeah, well, we can't do that without an ignition cable," Nancy snapped back.

"Calm down," Lili took Nancy's shoulders. "Look, I'm sure there's another way out."

Billy revved his engine again, making Lili panic. Was he going to crash into their car? "Everybody out!" Lili yelled. "Back into the mall!"

"Come on, come on!" Nancy grabbed Will and Jonathan and Lili grabbed El who was clutching to Mike and Max. Everyone ran back- or, stumbled for El- into the mall and Lili turned around and shoved a pipe through the doors, looking at Billy who's eyes didn't look like his.

"... Scoops Troop, do you copy?" Mike's voice traveled through the mall. He spoke through the walkie-talkie with urgency. "We are stuck inside the mall and Billy is here. We are in need of transportation. Scoops Troop, do you copy? Billy has found us."

"Nancy," Lili called for the girl when she got close to her. Nancy turned around. "We need weapons of any kind if Billy were to get it."

Nancy looked at Lili with sympathy. It must be hard to think about killing the one you love. Nancy couldn't fathom how Lili must've felt.

"Stop," Lili held her hand out. "I'm fine. I just want everyone home safely, even if it means the sacrifice of one."

Lili's voice cracked at the last word, but she cleared her throat and Looked at Nancy who just nodded. Together, the two girls went over to the dead guards on the floor, grabbing their handguns and knives.

"You're gonna kill him, aren't you?" Max asked from behind. The two women turned to see the redhead who had tears in her eyes.

"If it comes to it, yes," Lili nodded slowly.

"If it comes to that," Nancy emphasized. "It's just a precaution."

"And not against Billy," Will told Max when he came up next to her. "To the Mind Flayer. He knows we're here."

"Scoops Troop, do you copy?!" Mike spoke into the walkie-talkie and paced quickly across the mall, then back.

"I suppose we can't get that thing to work?" Nancy smirked at Lili, jutting her head towards the car that El made fly and crushing the other guards. Lili's smile faded a bit and the look of realization dawned upon her.

"We don't need it to work," Lili mumbled.

"We just need the ignition cable," Jonathan finished as he stepped forward. "Lili, can you turn it over?"

"Um, I can try," Lili said as she walked over to the car. By this time, everyone stopped what they were doing to watch. Lili held her arm out and had a feeling that her head wasn't enough for this. She felt the power from her core pulse up her body and to her arm, the glow of it flowed down and into her hand, making it glow. She then released, sending a lethal pulse to the bottom of the car, making it flip over, to the group.

"Woah," Max breathed. Lili didn't say anything as she walked over to the car, tryin to pry the hood open.

"Nancy, can you pop the hood?" Lili groaned. Nancy looked under the car console and flipped the switch, making the top of the car open up. Lili lifted it and looked inside for the cable. She tugged on the thing gently, but it didn't budge. Lili saw Will turn away from them as she tugged harder, making it disconnect.

"Got it," Lili said. There was a low rumble from above everybody. The sound of large footsteps echoed in Lili's head, making her turn toMax who was looking up at the glass ceiling in horror. The sound stopped and Mike looked at Lili.

"Lili!" He screamed, making the girl rush forward, narrowly missing the glass shards and clumps of cement that fell from the ceiling as the Mind Flayer made the roof cave in and he landed in the middle of the mall. Lili took one look at it before following Mike, Max and El to the other side of the mall.

The monster roared and in its own way, he declared war. All's fair in love and war.

[UNEDITED]

i have another book out lol. it's about bandersnatch and it's an interactive, so check it out of you want!

love you guys

✌🏼Goldie