Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Three months after a heroic crew of small-town heroes defeated Vecna, and saved Max, the babysitter of the group goes missing. Steve Harrington vanished off the face of the earth, his car was found sitting in the middle of the road just outside of town, still on still in drive, with all of his groceries and his nail-studded bat still in the trunk, and most eerily with the driver's seat belt still buckled. Despite tireless searches for Steve's location, no clues were ever found, he was just gone. Until he reappeared healthy and unharmed four years later, with a toddler on his hip.

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Steve was confused as fuck, he was just driving home from the grocery store, when suddenly he's standing in the middle of the road, with no car sight. It appears to be the same road, but the pavement looks different and the trees look weird.

 Steve didn't have time to dwell on this though. A weird-looking car drove up to him with the window rolled down, they were probably about to ask if Steve needed assistance, but the moment he and Steve smelled each other it was all over. True mates, obsessed with each other, unable to be apart or to live without each other. Steve found himself yanked off the side of the road and into his Alpha's lap. Steve Let out a purr as his Alpha pressed his nose into his scent gland taking a deep inhale. 

“Fuck” he exhaled “Omega, you smell so good” Steve preened at his Alphas affection. Rewarding him by giving him a deep open mouthed kiss. They happily made out for a time, exploring one another mouths with their tongues and one another bodies with their hands, groping and touching. Then Steve's Alpha pulled back, Steve let out a whine of protest and tried to dive back in but his Alpha stopped him, saying.

“Fuck I wanna keep going too, but maybe” he paused to pant for a second, “we go back to my place, want you in my den” Steve nodded his head enthusiastically. Then he turned his attention to his Alpha scent gland, pressing his face there and deeply inhaling, as his Alpha drove them home.

—---------------------------------------------------

Several hours later, found Steve stated and sweaty with his bonding gland punctured by his Alpha’s teeth, lying on said Alpha's chest, drifting off to sleep.

“I never got your name,'' Steve asked. He wanted to laugh, he tied himself to the guy without even knowing his damn name. His Alpha was strong, well built, and alethic, he was about twenty, only a little older than Steve at 19. He was tall, with sandy brown hair, dark brown eyes, and the making of good facial hair.

His Alpha didn't stop in his drawing of odd shapes and swirls on Steve's skin with his fingers to answer “Hopper, Jim Hopper, yours?”

Steve was frozen in shock, but managed to answer “Steve” He chose not to give his last name not knowing whether or not Hopper knew his parents. He couldn't remember the guy ever saying anything but then again the guy never mentioned this either, so he must be pretty damn good at hiding things from Steve.

Steve waits till Jim falls asleep, and sneaks out of bed, and into the living room he looks around for clues to the time he was in. Steve had no real way of getting home, just kind of  had to hope the same force that brought him here brought him home. But then Steve stopped. Did he even want to go home? Hopper's house was much more homier and warmer than his own house, and they were true mates. Could Steve really leave that easily, he didn't think he could. Steve found the day's paper on the kitchen counter, July 19 1962, so Steve had been sent exactly 24 years into the past. 

Steve then remembered with dawning horror what he thought was a tall tale but now seemed more believable. There was a rumor that before Sara Hopper had had an entire family, a true mate Omega and pup to boot. But one day when they mate and pup had gone out for donuts and had never come home. They found the car at the bottom of the quarry with no bodies inside, but it was suspected that the mate and kids had been flung out of the car as it fell and were somewhere in the water.

 Anyway, the rumors state that there was a death certificate issued for both parent and child, and Hopper joined up for the war to try to join his family. They say that's why Hopper is the way he is, losing a true mate fucks someone up beyond recognition. It’s a miracle Hopper’s still alive after losing a true mate, most don't survive the fallout.

It seemed Steve already knew his future, he had no real way of diverting it he just kinda had to accept it. Sure Steve could try to alter the flow of time but what if it ends up with Vecna winning or El never escaping, or Will dying in the Upside Down? Dustin had been adamant about something called the butterfly effect, small changes big outcomes. And what would happen when Steve himself was born and there were two of him running around wouldn't that be a problem? So no, Steve couldn't try to change anything or avoid his fate, but he took comfort in knowing that he was going to be happy before the end and that he was going to have a baby.

Steve was taken out of his reverie by a pair of strong arms wrapping around his waist and Hopper's head leaning on his shoulder. 

“Where'd you go” he muttered still sounding half asleep “Woke up and you were gone”

“Got up to use the bathroom and thought I'd take a look around since I didn't get the chance to earlier” Steve explained with a chuckle. Hopper or Steve supposed he should call him Jim now, snorted and pressed a kiss to his bond mark. It was still a wound at this point but it would heal into a permanent scar. 

“Well then have you gotten your fill of looking around” Jim whispered into his neck. Steve nodded and covered his mouth as he yawned.

“Well then come back to bed” Jim lightly tugged on him. Then unwrapped from him holding only one hand in his as gently led Steve back to their bedroom “Can't sleep without you” he said.

As he and Jim got back in bed Steve thought about telling him but decided against it as his Alpha wrapped him up in his arms squeezing tightly before falling off into a deep sleep snoring loudly. Steve didn't know his mate very well yet but from what did know if Jim knew the truth he would never let Steve or their baby out of his sight, and who knows how that would change things. Steve decided to brush all thoughts about the future from his brain, he couldn't do anything about it tonight so he might as well enjoy his mate's warm embrace. Steve found himself drifting off into a deep peaceful sleep.

—-----------------------------------------------------

Over the next year and several months, Steve and Jim adjusted happily to their new routine. Steve had to bend the truth creatively to explain his sudden appearance, his lack of personal belongings, his lack of knowledge of the times, and most importantly his lack of last name, but he was able to do it. They had settled into their life together comfortably, Jim was still just a deputy at the police station. He didn't seem to understand why Steve was so sure he would make sheriff one day but seemed happy with the support nonetheless. 

Steve had gotten a job as a secretary at the police station, Omega’s weren't allowed to do a whole lot for jobs in that time, and it's not even like they needed the money. They owned the house, Jim had inherited it when his parents passed, but Steve didn't want to sit home alone all day, so now they get to see each other all time. They had both fallen head over heels in love with no intention of ever getting up.

However today Steve wasn't at their shared workplace instead he was at the doctor's office, getting a pregnancy test. When Steve had started getting sick in the mornings Jim was worried, but Steve knew where they were on the timeline. However, at home pregnancy tests didn't exist yet so here Steve was getting poked and prodded at the doctor office. Only to get told what he already knew, he was pregnant.

Later that night when he told Jim he thought the poor guy was going to pass out. He started crying and fell to his knees pressing his face into Steve's slightly rounded stomach pressing kisses to any skin he could reach. Steve once again wavered in his commitment, but then he remembered El, her smiling face as she got reunited with the only parent she had ever known. If Steve changed things would Jim ever look after her and if he didn't who would, so Steve held his tongue once more.

When the time came Steve's labor was quick and easy, after a water break at the station and then a quick three-hour labor at the hospital with minimal tearing. Their daughter was born, she was five pounds and 6 ounces, 15 inches. Steve named her Dianna (pronounced Dee-ahh-na), and Jim gave her middle name Stephanie. And it's totally because his stitches are hurting that he's crying and not because his Alpha was so thoughtful. It was tradition to either give the middle or first name to the sire, when Steve asked him why he was willing to give that up, Jim had just said that he would get the next one. Steve smiled but knew inside that there would never be a second one, Steve simply didn't have enough time left.

They were able to take their daughter home relatively quickly and took to family life like ducks to water. Dianna was an easy baby sleeping through the night from the start and never really crying much. Steve stopped working to stay home with the baby, but he would get like four calls a day from his mate for seemingly work-related reasons. Steve knew he just wanted to know that they were alright and still there, appeasing his Alpha instincts. Steve felt awful about what was going to happen but there really wasn't anything he could do at that point.

One easy Wednesday Jim's day off, Steve found himself laughing amiably with his mate.

“You're a walking cliche” Steve joked 

“Say what you want but a love donuts Steve” Jim laughed 

“Wat dre donuts?” Dianna now a toddler asked

“Well, they’re treat Daddy likes. Why don't you and I go out to get some and we can bring some home for Daddy” Steve proposed to his daughter. He saw his Alpha looking at them with a lovesick expression on his face out of the corner of his eye, as his baby gave her enthusiastic consent. It wasn't until he was sitting in the car about to pull out of their driveway that he realized what was happening. Steve could have turned back could have changed his mind, but instead, he switched gears with shaking hands and backed out of their driveway.

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Steve never came home from getting donuts, and when Jim tried to prod the other end of the bond he got no response. He ran to the mirror in the bathroom looking in horror as his mating bite faded away. The permanent scar of Steve’s teeth in his neck leaving behind a faded imprint as it went. Jim raced to the phone heart in his chest dialing the number for his work. 

The cord was all curled up from Steve wrapping it around his fingers when Jim called him from work, he just couldn't resist making sure his family was okay and alright he always made excuses to call his mate at work. But now it was the other way around and Steve wasn't going to be the one to answer the phone this time. He rushed to explain to Callahan what had happened, he said someone would be over shortly. Jim had nothing to do but pace and try in vain to make contact with their bond. 

Callahan had arrived quickly and took his statement before returning to the station, to gather witnesses and search party. But they both knew it was unlikely to find anything, to make a bond mark fade one of three things had to have happened. Either Steve and Dianna were dead, they had run away and Steve chose to break the bond, or they were somehow forced or cored into breaking the bond. Jim literally couldn't handle the thought of it being the first one, so he focused on the other two. Steve would have just talked to him if he was unhappy, it wasn't like he was like the other high and power-hungry Alphas at the station he had great respect for his mate and treated him as the equal he was. It's Horrible but Jim hoped it was the third one, that gives him a villain to fight and when he wins he gets his family back.

If- When he gets them back, because the alternative is just unthinkable, he's never letting them out of his sight again. Jim didn't hear much over the next couple of days. He went into work but just started blankly down at his desk. Callahan wouldn't tell him anything about the investigation. He knew it was standard practice not to let the family know until they had anything definitive, especially if the family member was an officer themselves so they didn't interfere with the investigation. Jim was walking back to his desk after eating a lunch that tasted like ash, everything that wasn't cooked by his mate just tasted like ash these days. When he heard Callahan talking to Powell.

“So got anything on Steve and the kid?” Powell had asked.

“Car was found at the bottom of the quarry yesterday, just waiting for the corner to issue death certificates to talk to Jim,” Callahan answered sadly. Steve had been well-liked around the office, so it's not like he took any pleasure in what he was doing. 

Jim felt his world freeze over, his mate and baby were gone dead and had been for days if Callahan were to be believed. The world felt like it had lost all color, throwing off its axis. Jim started moving and didn't stop until he was in front of an enlistment desk.

“What's the most dangerous place, that's where I want to be?” Jim had said.

“Wanna be a hero don't you. Alright, I’ll put you right at the front not a whole lot of volunteers honestly” the man had responded. Jim didn't tell the guy he had no intentions of being a hero, he wanted to die. 

When he showed the papers to the sheriff, the man gave him a pat on the back and told him he would still have a job if he came back. Jim had no intentions of returning.

—-----------------------------------------------------------

He returned, he tried not to, did everything short of raising his gun to his temple and firing, he took all the most dangerous missions, all the riskiest portals, anything and everything to try to die. It felt like the universe was forcing him to stay alive for something. 

Joyce came to check on him when he returned. She and Jim were best friends in high school and it seemed the rumors of how shit his life was had reached her even with everything going on in her life. A shitty husband she wants to leave and a kid to protect she still came to check on him.

She all but forced him on a date and said Steve wouldn't want him to be lonely forever. Jim doubts that very seriously considering just how jealous Steve tended to be but he listened to Joyce. He made it through one and a hookup before he made himself so sick that he had to be hospitalized. His mate and his daughter were gone and here he was going on a date and having sex. What the hell was wrong with him? The doctors say he's suffering from something called rejection sickness, but with no mate here to cure it it'll probably be terminal. His grief is literally killing him.

Apparently, one time was all it takes and Jim’s a father again. Diane's nice enough and She understands why Jim is not able to marry again. Sara was someone to live for, he hadn't had that in a very long time. He thought that Sara and Dianna would have gotten along really well. 

But then Sara dies and Jim’s got nothing to live for again, but Joyce never leaves him alone long enough for him to go through with it. She has another kid now and no husband. She brought over food to his house, forced him into the shower and to work, called while he was at work to check on him, she kept him alive. She threw him a party to celebrate when he got named Sheriff, but with none of the people he really wanted to be there present, it kind of fell flat. 

He was mostly coasting through life scraping by until he died and joined his family. When he saw him again. It was Steve he was alive. Oddly he looked younger and when Jim tried to talk to him he had no clue who he was, and horrifically he didn't react to their daughter's name. Jim had no idea what happened but that was it was the last straw a person can only take so much. He went to Reefer Rick and bought some pills, returned home, and took enough to be done, to get to rest. 

He wakes up in the hospital with Joyce standing at his bedside waiting to berate him. He tells her everything, and she gives him a pass. Signs him out of the hospital, and says she'll keep an eye on him. The drugs don't stop, they are the only things that numb the pain, but he keeps the promise he made to Joyce before she would sign him out, he never takes enough to need it again. 

—-------------------------------------------------

It was four months after he was released from the hospital that Joyce's son went missing. Suddenly when talking about monsters from a parallel universe, Steve's sudden appearance and disappearance and then appearing younger nearly 15 years later was made a lot more plausible. Jim wasn't told till after the fact that Steve had even been involved to begin with, It made him antsy one of these times something was going to happen and he was going to get sent back. 

That's why Jim’s not surprised when things start again a year later. He had kept Joyce updated on his working theory and she agreed. Though she was more focused on her son with missing memories and her true mate omega Bob being thrown into this. Then it's over again, Joyce and Bob ride off into the sunset with matching bonding marks. Jim once again finds Steve involved in all of this, he tries to stay out of bond-triggering range of Steve at all times. He’s not sure what would happen, but despite it all, he‘d still do it all again for those perfect four years.

Years pass and things change and some stay the same. Jim gets someone to live for in Jane, another daughter. He stops taking drugs. The mall burns down. Rejection sickness gets worse once he’s off the drugs. He spends a year in a Russian prison, Joyce, Murray, Enzo, and Bob break him out. He finds out all the otherworldly stuff he missed. Avoids Steve, gets reinstated as sheriff. 

Until one day a frantic Dustin Henderson comes into his office yelling about how Steve didn't check in. and after Eddie he promised Dustin he would always check in, he hasn't even been late for once since spring break and now he missed two in a row.

Jim almost certainly knew where Steve was, 1962. But he couldn't tell Dustin that without talking to Joyce first. So he sent out Callahan to look for him. He did a shit job the first time but he was the only guy on call. Some deep instinctual part of him that he hadn't heard in a long time told him to go out there and get Steve back and bring him home. But Jim knew there wasn't any bringing him home. Besides, even if Steve miraculously came home, he's not gonna want him anymore. To begin with, he's so old now, not as pretty as he used to be, too much baggage Steve wouldn't want that.

Callahan finds the car, and once he hears the road it's enough to confirm his, Joyce and Bob's suspicions. They tell the rest of the group where Steve went and are honest about the fact that there's about a 95% chance he's already dead. Joyce had to say that for him though he thought he was done grieving his family, it chokes him from the inside out again.

—------------------------------------------

4 years later 

Steve came to on the side of the road where he had first landed in 1962, but the pavement looked different and the trees looked taller. Dianna was snuggled into his side as he lay on the ground just off the side of the road. Steve thought he was going to die. He thought it was the end, a mama deer and her foul had jumped in front of the car. He slammed on the brakes, it was December and the roads were icy, so the car spun out from under them, taking them straight over the edge, but then they popped and landed here. Could it be could Steve finally get to be home? He had given up all hope of seeing the kids or Robin ever again but now it seemed possible. 

He lifted Dianna, fast asleep, she always zonked out the moment she was in a car and walked to the nearest phone booth. He dialed with shaking hands. It rang for a moment before.

“Henderson residence this is Dustin speaking” Dustin sounded out of breath like he had run for the phone. At hearing his voice for the first time in years Steve was only able to choke out.

“Dustin” around the lump in his throat.

“Steve” Dustin sounded awed like he couldn't believe his ears “Steve is that you?” 

“Yeah” Steve replied, Dustin let out an audible sob. 

“Where are you, I'll come get you? I'll get everyone” Dustin's voice was ramping up excitement.

“I'm on the road that looks over the quarry, the really sharp turn” Steve replied “How are you gonna get here you don't drive?” he asked.

“I've had my license for two years,” Dustin replied. 

“Oh” So that answers the question of whether time passes while he had been gone

“Yeah, and I actually got your car because you know… though now that you’re back I give it back to you” Dustin seems happy enough to about it “Okay you stay there I'm coming to get you, don't move okay”

“Not going anywhere” Steve replied “Okay…okay” Dustin hyped himself up to hang up the phone “I'll be right there don't go anywhere okay” and then the line went dead.

Dusint arrives fifteen minutes after he hangs up the phone, even though Steve knows his house is twenty minutes away. Dustin's eyes were red and puffy from crying, though they still bugged out when they reached Dianna.

“Who’s that?” He asked, putting the car in park and coming around to stand next to Steve staring intently at him as if trying to memorize his face.

“My daughter,” Steve replied.

“Oh right, Hopper said but I didn't realize” Dustin choked out, eyes watering up again “ fuck can I hug you?”

“Of course buddy” Steve set the sleeping Dianna in the passenger seat of the car and wrapped his brother in all but name into a crushing hug. Steve didn't say anything when he felt tears soaking his collar. After a minute or two Dustin pulled back and wiped his eyes.

“So how are you have you been well” Dustin tearfully laughed 

“Yeah I'm fine, How have been, god You're taller than me now,” Steve asked, hands wrapped around his upper arms. 

“God, I've been okay, I'm graduating this year” Dustin answered.

“This year?” Steve asked Dustin should have graduated last year.

“I failed sophomore year,” Dustin admitted.

“What! “ Steve exclaimed “But you’re so smart how?” 

“Grief” was the single-word answer Dustin gave. Steve was about to reply when the radio cracked from the car, causing Dianna to stir.

“We should get back, everyone's waiting at Joyce and Bob's house” Dustin stated 

“If you're okay” Steve offered.

“I'm fine” Dustin wiped his eyes again “I’m Fine” 

Dusint seemed unwilling to drive Steve's car with Steve himself present, so Steve drove with Dustin playing navigator and holding Dianna in the passenger seat. There wasn't a car seat for obvious reasons, but now Steve was gonna have to get one.

When they pulled up outside of Joyce and Bob’s, Steve saw several familiar faces in the window peeking out at them. Steve recognized Max, Lucas, Mike, Erica, Will, El, and he saw Robin being calmed down by her girlfriend Chrissy. Nice to know they stayed together. Nancy and Jonathan were seemingly relaxing on the couch but the stiffness of their spines gave away their nerves. He couldn't see Argyle or Joyce and Bob or…Jim. Steve froze at the thought of his alpha, what did this mean for them, would Jim even want him anymore? Well no use in putting off the inevitable, Steve turned off the car and he and Dustin got out. 

Steve barely managed to raise his hand to knock on the front door, before it was ripped open and Robin had him in a death grip. She dragged him into the house where he was immediately doggpiled by the kids. 

“Guys I can’t breathe” Steve wheezed over their heads, and they all instantly pulled back but just started throwing questions at him nonstop. He heard the sound of a dish clattering to the floor and that seemed to finally awaken Dianna. She squealed and wormed her way out of Dustin's hold, waddling across the floor, she shouted,

“Daddy” and Steve froze, turning slowly to the left just in time to see Jim reach down and pick up Dianna. There was broken glass at his feet, a bond mark rapidly gaining color and depth again on his neck, and a blank expression on his face. Even twenty-some years later Steve still thought he was beautiful. When he rose back up Dianna held securely in his arms, he and Steve made eye contact. The room parted like the Red Sea to allow for an easy passage across the room, which Steve took in a few nervous strides.

“Hi,” he said as he reached him. It felt like too much and not enough all at once, Jim didn't say anything, just looked at him with that dazed expression. Steve waited several moments for him to say something anything, 

“Say something please,” Steve pleaded.

“You're as beautiful as the day I lost you” Jim finally said, choking out a sob. Steve initiated the hug, a bone-crushing hug, filled with years lost and time apart, but with a sense of home that couldn't quite be shaken, no matter how much time had passed. Steve heard Jim mutter something that sounded suspiciously like "I'm never lettering either of you out of my sight again" into Steve's throat where he had his face pressed in. Then to the rest of the group he said,

“I think it might be time to avoid the road by the quarry”

—--------------------------------------------

Two years later

“Just one big push and then you're done Steve” the doctor coached.

“Ya know the first one was a lot easaiaahhhr” Steve screamed as he bared down with one final push bringing his second daughter into the world. 

About twenty minutes after their daughter was born, Jim was allowed back in the room. Steve had kicked him out around 9 centimeters. Fathers weren't really allowed in the delivery room when Dianna was born, so Steve didn't want to change what wasn't broken. Steve loved him, but he really didn't want Jim to see him like this, didn't want anybody to really, but unfortunately the doctor was necessary. 

Steve took a moment to think back on the last two years as the doctor called his family back into the room. Jim had been anxious whenever Steve or Dianna were out of sight at first, but after about a year or so he calmed down. They had had a long conversation about them and what they wanted that to look like, and they had decided to stay together, much to the relief of both parties. He and Jim had fallen into a new normal relatively quickly and easily, as in love as ever. Though they were nervous about it, El had taken to being a big sister quite well, doting on Dianna endlessly, and asking Steve sweet heastint questions about the baby in his belly. 

When Jim returned El and Dianna came with him. 

“What is her name?” She asked kindly as Dianna climbed into bed with Steve peering down at her sister in his arms, Steve and Jim shared a look before Steve answered.

“Elanor Jaime”

Chapter Text

It had been over one year since Steve and Dianna’s miraculous return when he started behaving weirdly. They had been at their weekly dinner with the party at Joyce and Bob’s house, in the middle of the meal. Joyce and Bob had been explaining the laborious process that making the complicated chicken dish they were all eating turned out to be at Els' request.

Since Steve and Dianna returned she had been steadfast in her belief that frozen dinner and waffles no longer constituted as acceptable family meals. She had been trying to learn recipes wherever she could after that. Steve knows how to cook some but not a whole lot, so the learning curve and hours spent with the two of them in the kitchen ended up with just as many failures as successes. Jim didn't really care what the food tasted like he ate it anyway, leather-like or not.

Joyce was just getting into the details of sptachcocking the chicken, when he broke its back with a hammer, spilling it in half and allowing the meat to cook twice as tender in half the time. When Steve started to look a little green around the gills, putting his fork down halfway up his mouth, and making a break for the restroom. He slammed the door behind him and then the entire table was greeted with the noise of violent retching.

As Jim rose from the table to go check on him he overheard Joyce and Bob speaking.

“We took the chicken's temperature right, it was fully cooked” Joyce whispered to Bob.

“Double and triple checked” Bob replied with a worried glance towards the door. He likely assumed, much like Jim did, that Steve was simply a victim of Joyce's terrible cooking. But if that wasn't the case then what was wrong, everyone is pretty anxious about Steve for obvious reasons, but no one more so than Jim.

It took him two weeks after Steve and Dianna returned to let either of them out of sight for even the shortest periods of time. It took a whole three months for him to be on board with full work days apart, and even longer for him to not automatically flip out when they were gone when he returned. Steve had started attending classes at the local community college en route to becoming a teacher.

The college has a daycare as well, but there is this one worker that just will not get the hint that Steve is taken so sometimes pickup takes a little while, making Steve and Dianna late about fifty percent of the time. The first time it had happened, he had come home to an empty house, no note and no car, he had sat by the front door staring and shaking waiting for the twenty minutes it took Steve to arrive home.

He had chilled out significantly over the last year, Dianna was sleeping on her own in her own bed in her own room, instead of sharing with them every night. This had allowed them to finally, finally, begin reactivating their sex life. Jim had been the one to be hesitant at first, for Steve the lapse in time since they had last had sex was like two days, for Jim it was closer to two decades. Steve was ready to jump back on the horse so to speak pretty much instantly but Jim had been a little hesitant at first, considering their new age gap. And with Dianna sleeping with them it didn't really give them a chance to talk about anything but hypaticlas, but since she started sleeping on her own again they were able to really get back into it.

In fact, just last night Steve had surprised him with that-Jim shook his head as he knocked on the bathroom door.

“Steve you alright in there,” He asked softly.

“Yeah I'm fine” Steve answered horsley, sounding absolutely miserable. It was kinda like when he was in the first trimester with Dianna, the tiniest things setting off huge fits of nausea and vomiting. Jim shook his head, Steve couldn't be pregnant again, could he? They had only done it a few times since he got back. But then again it only took one time for Sara. Before Jim could fall further down through that rabbit hole Steve exited the bathroom.

‘You good?” Jim asked hesitantly, as Steve wiped the back of his hand on his mouth, grimacing as he did so.

“Yeah I'm fine, let’s just go back to dinner” Steve replied, sounding so miserable that Jim chose to let it go, and they returned to dinner. But as they went to sleep that night, the thought still lurked in the back of his mind.

—------------------------
The next morning Jim woke up before Steve and decided to make him breakfast, Steve didn't have class that day. It was a good thing too because Jim had heard him get up nine more times to vomit that night. Whenever he offered to come help him Steve just brushed him off, so he decided to make him breakfast and take something else off his plate. He would also offer to drop off Dianna at daycare, but he didn't want to do that without asking in case Steve wanted to have her here with him.

Breakfast ended up being eggo waffles, but Steve and especially El appreciated them nonetheless. He had used the special eight-slot toaster that Murray had gotten Steve for his birthday three months ago, which also lined up as the one-year anniversary of his return. They had been able to figure out that his own birth had sent Steve forward and back to them. They still hadn't puzzled out what had caused him to be sent to the past in the first place but that was okay as long as he didn't jump again.

After breakfast Jim headed out for work, Steve had chosen for Dianna to stay with him saying that has felt up to looking after her for the day. Work was relatively uneventful, some minor parking violations here, egged house there, when Hawkins wasn't under siege from supernatural forces it was a boring place. He met up with Joyce and Bob for lunch and when he got back Powell had told him he had a message. It was from Steve but it was very short, just a simple,

“We need to talk when you get home” It was ominous and had Jim worried. For about three months after Steve got back he had been certain that Steve was going to realize that he was old and gross now and leave him but it had simply never happened. But this message made him falter, maybe he had been and it had just taken Steve longer than he thought to realize. After all, we need to talk is the breakup phrase.

However a break-in in Loch Nora ended up keeping him late and he didn't get home until after Dianna’s bedtime, which pissed him off. He made a point to always at the bare minimum say good morning and good night to her since she got back, no matter what and this was the first one he had to miss. And with the message Steve left he assumes his night is going to get much worse, and all he wants is to see his baby and then go to sleep with his mate, but Jim doesn't get what he wants.

He gets home and finds Steve sitting silently at the kitchen table staring down at a cup of tea, an item clutched in his hand. Jim took the seat across from him and Steve looked up, he looked like he had been crying. Jim’s heart broke he didn't want Steve to leave him but he didn't want him to stay if it was hurting him that much.

“It's okay,” he told Steve, trying to put on a brave face. Steve looked taken aback.

“How did you know?” he asked nervously.

“I mean it just makes sense with everything, '' Jim replied, gesturing between the two of them.

“Right but I didn't know until today, so how did you know before me?” Steve questioned, sounding vaguely nauseous.

“I mean it was kind of obvious isn't it, I mean you and me right?” Jim responded.

“What are we talking about?” Steve seemed confused.

“What are you talking about?” Jim parroted, they eyed each other up before speaking at the same time.

“You're leaving me”

“I'm pregnant”

“What!” they both said.

“I'm not leaving you” Stevd seemed upset at the mere idea that he would.

“But you are oh my god” Jim fainted on the tabletop unconscious.

Chapter Text

His family was gone and he didn't know what to do, he had just sat there on the floor by the phone trying to breathe, his bond mark was faded into almost invisibility, and he felt extreme distress from Steve's end of the bond before it all went dark. God why did he let them go alone, he should have gone with them, he knew Steve seemed nervous about something, he should have gone with him maybe he could have helped, maybe whatever was keeping his family away would have tried it with him there. Maybe if it did he would have gotten to die with them instead of being left here alone.

No, he shook his head. He couldn't think like that they could still be alive, and he could still have a reason to exist on this earth. He just had to sit tight for now, and his family would be brought back to him shortly, he wanted nothing more than to go out and search for his family himself but Callahan had told him in no uncertain terms that family members were not allowed to be involved in investigations, and since it's not yet a missing persons case he's to stay right where he is or he might interfere with the investigation, which could cause his family to be gone longer so Jim does the only thing he can do.

He curls up in the middle of his and Steve's bed with Dianna’s teddy bear, and Steve's pajamas from the night before clutched to his chest, trying to breathe reminding himself that his family could still be out there, in fact, they could on their way to him right now, he let the thought cry him off as he cried himself to sleep.

—-----------------------------
With every passing day, his hope grows thinner as his desperation to see his family again grows. He makes it to work every day on the idea that he might be able to hear something about Steve and Dianna, but nothing comes in until he overhears that fateful conversation by the water cooler, he knows what he has to do then, he has to find a way to join them.

While there are quicker and less painful ways than signing up to go to war, it's the only one that he would be proud to tell Steve when he sees him again on the other side, so it's what he does.

Jim doesn't want to go back to work, not sure he'll be able to handle hearing it from Callahan that his family, the greatest thing to ever happen to him, the reason he exists is gone. But he has to tell his boss that he's leaving so he goes to the police station, where after having his hand shaken by his boss he's approached by Callhan, Jim tries to run and pretend he didn't see him but it was too late and he approached him, with two pieces of paper in hand.

He does his level best to tune out Callahan, unable to listen to him talk about all the gory details about how his family is gone and never coming back. He knows why else would he sign up to die. But he can't ignore him anymore when he's handed two death certificates, one for Steven J. Hopper and one for Dianna S. Hopper. He stumbles away from Callahan, not bothering to say anything, barely making it to the bathroom before he breaks down into horrible body-wracking sobs. Everyone just expects him to go on now that they're gone but how is he supposed to, how is he supposed to breathe without them there to do it for? He slides down the wall, knees up to his chest trying to catch his breath, knowing that it's futile, Steve and Dianna took all the air with them when they left.

—------------------------------
War was hell, everyday Jim was watching these men who didn't want this who just wanted to go home, to have a life to be with their families die while he, a man who wanted nothing more than to go join his family through death lived to see another day. He remembered the day he was told he was getting sent home, he had thought that he couldn't go home not ever again, home didn't exist anymore. He had a house, not a home, but that was where he was sent nonetheless, grief-stricken, lonely, and unfortunately alive. He couldn't bear to live in the house alone, the house he and Steve had pinched their pennies for being able to move into the tiny two-bedroom just before Dianna was born.

Everywhere he looked he was just bombarded with memories of everything he did not have anymore, he could hear Dianna's laughter coming from the nursery, he could hear Steve’s snores next to him in bed every night, every cold solitary dinner was spent with the ghost of warm family dinners now inaccessible to him. He was being haunted and he knew he couldn't stay, so he cleaned the palace up, Steve always made sure that their bed was made first thing in the morning, So he made up their bed, put everything back in the proper place, and sealed the whole place up, it would serve as a permanent time capsule to his family.

—--------------------------------------
It had been five years since Steve had gone back to the past, it was the day he and Dianna died, and they were really gone now. Jim had been drinking alone in the cabin, El out with one of her friends when suddenly the phone started ringing. He dragged himself away from the family photo that he always carried with him always but only allowed himself to look at it on special occasions when he could be consumed by grief, it too was painful otherwise. He dragged himself up to answer the phone. It was Joyce.

“You need to get over here right now,” She tells him, he sighs deeply,

“Do you know what day it is?” He asks her annoyed he just wanted one day to grieve in peace, a moment to let himself really feel the bone-deep ache in him that never really left.

“Yes and I wouldn't be calling otherwise, but Jim Dustin just called Steves here” He had to use the counter next to him to remain standing as he uttered, “What?”

“Dustin just called, he's on his way to my house with Steve and Dianna” Joyce explained softly, because she knew just how much this meant to him, how hard he had to try just to live a normal life without them, and the fact that they could be back was almost too much for his guarded heart to bear.

“I'll be there in ten minutes,” he told her, grabbing his keys off the dish El had made in art class last year, he almost missed what Joyce had to say next as he hunted for his shoes.

“Are you okay, do you want me to come pick you up?” She asked

“No no I'm fine I'll meet you there” he answered, needing the time alone to process.

—-------------
He couldn't get his hopes up, because if he was wrong it would crush him, he barely survived losing them the first time, if he allowed himself to hope for even a second and he was wrong grief would drag him under and kill him for real this time.

When he arrives at Joyce and Bob's he's the last one there, the rest of the party desperately awaiting news of Steve's return. He can't deal with everyone today, and Joyce being the saint she is seems to sense this without him saying anything and takes him back into her kitchen handing him a glass of water, he drinks deeply allowing it to help him calm his nerves. Despite what he thought about not getting his hopes up he knew it was fitlite, his hopes were up whether he wanted them to be or not.

He heard a commotion out in the front of the house, and walked back into the main room on shaky legs, when he got there his eyes went wide and his glass dropped from his hand shattering on the floor. But he paid it no mind, his attention was all on Steve and Dianna standing not five feet away from him. He raised a numb hand to his neck when he heard a voice he never thought he'd get to hear again,

“Daddy” Dianna squealed running over to him, his heart stopped in his chest and he almost fainted, but he had the presence of mind to pick up his baby before she could get cut on the glass on the floor, his baby god she was alive. Alive and in his arms, alive and not rotting at the bottom of the quarry, god she would get to grow up now, she wouldn't forever be three years old, he gets to take her to her first day of school, watch her grow up. She must not have realized how tired she was because she pretty much immediately nodded off against him, once she was drooling he raised his eyes from her to Steve. Everyone immediately parted to allow Steve passage which he did, Jim seemed frozen in place, legs failing him.

“Hi,” Steve uttered, sounding like it had been punched from him. Jim tried to speak wanted to speak but he was incapable of words broken in his throat as he desperately studied his face. It looked the same as it did the day he went missing from their home. Of course, no time had passed for his family, time was only passing for him, he was old and decrepit and he was still so beautiful.

“Say something please” It seemed that Steve was fed up with his lack of a response, so Jim cleared his throat. His voice was still too wet and shaky for his liking but there wasn't anything he could do about that.

“You're as beautiful as the day I lost you” Steve hugged him, he wrapped his arm not holding Dianna around him in turn, pressing his face into his neck and inhaling deeply taking in a scent he hadn't gotten too in over two decades, here hidden in Steve's neck he finally allowed tears to fall. “I'm never letting you out of my sight again” They stayed like that for a moment allowing him to bask in what was once gone but is now returned to him, perfectly beautifully alive and well. But then someone in the back of the room coughed and it reminded him that there were other people in the room so he quipped

“I think it's time to avoid the road by the quarry”

Chapter Text

Steve and Dianna had been left about half an hour ago to get donuts, JIm though it was weird the trip usually only took about twenty minutes, but maybe Jayne had been on the counter. She loved to talk his ear off ever since Steve saved her prize marigolds during the blistering heat of last summer, the woman had been overwatering the things to near death. So assuming the best, Jim was shocked nearly to the core when he got a call that Steve and Dianna were in the hospital after an accident.

Heart dropping out of his chest as piano took over, he made his way to the hospital as fast as he could, nearly fainting when he was escorted to his family upon his arrival. Dianna was all wires, it was the most disturbing thing he'd ever seen, he clutched her tiny little hand as the doctor told him that despite how scary it looked there would be no long term damage and that she would only need to be in the hospital for another few days.

After reluctantly leaving his baby they led him to Steve who was coming off anesthesia from his emergency surgeries. After giving him a report the doctor left leaving them alone Steve suddenly looked very serious.

“I need to tell you something and you're not going to believe me and that's okay because you will. I'm from the future…”

—------------------------
16 years later
“Morning Flo” Dianna called as they entered the station together, Flo smiled warmly at her, she had a soft spot for her, ever since she was just a little girl running around the station underfoot, she was 19 now and on winter break from law school, she's going to shadow hawkins only public defender today, thus catching a ride with to the station.

“Morning Dianna, Chief, Joyce Byers is in your office, says her son is missing” Flo says

“Of course i'll go talk to her, get someone ready to go over to Lonnie’s to go get the kid,” He said to Flo who nodded, then he turned to Dianna “You have a good day i'll meet you back here at five, and don't forget to call your mother at lunch or hell worry all day” he kissed his daughter on the forehead and went to his office where a frantic Joyce Byers was waiting.

—-------------------------
Despite what Joyce said he still sent a deputy to go check Lonnie's place while he called together a search party. Once Lonnie was cleared searches began, starting with about three miles around the search radius along the route between Dustin's house and his own, then they would spread out from there. It was only when Jim was putting the date on the official police report that he noticed what the date was, the exact date Steve had told him that Will Byers would be reported missing.

Jim honestly hadn't paid much of any mind to Steve's confession post car accident, he had not really believed any of the stories of interdimenail monsters, and missing kids and time travel, assuming it was some odd painkiller induced dream, but Steve had told him that even if he didn't believe him now he would one day wouldn't he. Jim decides first thing tomorrow morning he's going to look at Hawkins national Laboratory.

He vowed to take a look at the notebook page full of notes that Steve had begged him to take after his accident tonight, but for right now it was time that the search party to disband for the night, it was after ten and they had all missed dinner, they would pick back up again first thing tomorrow.

He and Dianna trudged back into the truck, both tired and wet and wanting nothing more than to go and partake in some of Steve's incomparable cooking. She had joined the search party not long after she had finished her shadowing for the day and had been on her feet in those uncomfortable flats she insisted on wearing for the last six hours; they were promptly kicked off as soon as they got to the truck. He grunted when one of them hit him in the face, Dianna simply sighed in relief, warming up her hands on the vents. He sighs, choosing not to press the issue and they begin to drive home.

—-----------------
When he came home, Sara, Elanor, John, and Sam were all watching the news, Steve was in his chair with a child in his lap, hopper shook his head that math didn’t quite work did it? Yeah no, Dianna was next to him, their twin girls Sara and Eleanor were on the loveseat, their boys John and Sam were on the couch, and Steve was in the chair with a child, but they only had five kids so they had an interloper.

“Jim, this is El remember what I told you about her, she's going to stay with us from now on, she's also going to help us find Will” Steve explained, the small child peered at him distrustfully from Steve's side, big brown eyes studying him, on her arm which was laying across Steves stomach there was the distinctive Eleven tattoo that Steve had told him about.

“So it's all true?” Jim asked shocked, that meant a lot of things really, but all that his mind could focus on was the fact that the Steve Harrington that was currently sixteen, whose parties that Jim would have to break up, who was a whore and a bit of an asshole would be his Steve. The love of his life, the guy he cannot sleep without him beside him, the mother of his children who holy hell Steve is younger than Dianna god that's so weird.

“Yes, kids go to bed your father and I need to talk” Steve ordered, the kids more than willing to
not be a part of whatever this was all slumped off to their rooms, Jim doubted that they would be going to sleep, but it would allow them to speak privately and that was all that mattered.

“So what do I need to know for right now?”
—-----------------------------------
When it was all over, hell dimension portal closed and the children and Benny were still alive, all he wanted to do was cuddle up with his family and make sure they were all safe, so that's what he did, Sara, Elanor, Sam and John were all too young to be involved and had been with his Steve and the younger kids so they were all perfectly safe and fine his babies were fine. He allowed himself to calm down breathing in the scent of happy content pups as they set up the family cuddle pile in the family room.

It's common practice for large packs or families to have a family nest in the family room of the house, this feature started with 60’s conversion pits than a mattress was added to the bottom coming up to level with the seat cushions then the sides would be lined with pillows and blankets made into a nest by the pack's omega and then the pack alpha would give his approval by scenting the nest with the omega.

Jim had always felt that the last bit was fairly archaic and besides giving his approval would imply that Steve would ever make anything but an exemplary nest and Jim resents the very idea of that. The nest is perfect it's more of a tent then a cave form when Steve hung up sheets from the ceiling and attached them to the sides of the nests, then he attached Christmas lights to the sheets, then in the nest itself the floor was all mattress with the level above being lined with pillows with several large quilts and blankets to keep warm, naturally their were scent tokens form the whole pack there as well.

It was Jim's favorite place in the world to be, just him and his family and nothing else to bother them. But as the kids got older they got too cool to cuddle with their parents in the family nest so the space was used less and less as time went on, but now with everything going on the kids just wanted to feel safe again and nothing made them feel quite as safe as being in the nest with their parents so here they were all huddled around him in the family nest.

Not long after Dianna arrived kicking off her shoes and letting down her hair as she climbed into the nest with them passing out pretty much instantly, Sara was asleep against his side, Eleanor was curled into the same corner she's always curled up in since the day they brought her home from the hospital snoring, Sam, and John were cuddled together deeply asleep. Jim could feel sleep becoming him, but he couldn't sleep not yet not until he made sure that every member of his family was safe and unharmed, just thinking about the possibility that he could be made his heart rate pick up and stress fill his body until the front door opened and closed for the final time that day. Bringing with it the warm scent of home that Steve always carries with him and the oddly clinical smell of El’s scent.

They joined them in the nest soon after Steve gently explaining what it was to her as he safely tucked her in between Dianna and the boys right under Eleanor's corner, for the size of the nest made it impossible to not all be touching in some way. Then Steve looked at each of the kids making sure they were all right before he slumped back next to Jim. Steve leaned his head on his shoulder and Jim wrapped his arm around him.

“So you probably want to know the whole story now right?” Steve asked, letting out a sigh against his shoulder.

“Well I would prefer it yes” Jim offered, Steve took a deep breath before starting.

“So as you know there are currently two me’s right now, teen me is going to go back in time in about three years where he meets you. But the thing is the time I come from is different, like a divergent timeline or something. in that time Dianna and I don't survive the accident-” Jim hissed that old fear from their accident flowing through him, to hear that they almost died did, in fact, they did in the line that Steve was form terrified him, he pulled Steve closer and tapped his leg against Diannas needing to be close to them to finish hearing what Steve had to say.

“Now I don't know exactly what happened after that I wasn't there after all, but from what I understand you went to Vietnam but didn't get your injury and ended up staying longer” Jim had gotten a severe injury just three months into his draft tour in Vietnam causing him to lose hearing in his right ear and sight in his right eye he was sent home immediately and was not called back to service, and thank god for it that agent orange stuff that they started using after he left was dangerous.

“Then you had Sara with someone else somehow, don't ask me how” Jim wanted to object and say that the idea of having children with anyone else was repulsive to him, but he was also aware that this version of him was probably barely hanging on to life and having any part of his family would be worth anything, so he wasn't going to be too hard on him.

“But then she passed away too” Jesus christ how much pain did the universe think he could take, just talking about this with his family wrapped around him even, made him want to hurl himself off a fucking bridge he can’t imagine actually living it, he sinks a little deeper into the nest surrounded by his families warm scents allowing himself a moment to enjoy their safety and happiness.

“So then Will Byers goes missing and all this happens, but in my timeline, Barb Holland and benny Hammond die, after you end up taking in El, then a year later the gate isn't closed because El’s been hiding here unable to close it so things form that other place start to leak into this one, but you and El close up the place, I started looking after a pack of brats, oh also l broke up with Nancy. Then a year after that Mayor Kline built a mall but its really a front for russian spies to open another gate, I got tortured by them for a couple of days then you got captured by them and spent a year in russian prison before you can break out while all that's going on back in Hawkins it's revealed that it leader of that place is actually 1 and we kill him, and then I went back to the past” Steve finished explaining.

“But we've changed things now, so how much is that going to affect any of that?” Jim asked.

“Well I mean things got changed when me and Dianna didn't die so there's no telling how different things could be, but considering things only changed when we purposely changed them I think going on the defense guessing that this is the line time will follow is a good bet.”

“So what do you think our next step is?” Jim asked.

“Well since El closed the gate this time around I think it would be launching an investigation on Mayor Kline and then keeping tabs on Chirssy Cunningham, Fred Benson, and Patrick Mckinney so that Vecna can't get them. Though I wonder who Vecna would choose if Max doesn't get traumatized from Billy's death” Steve's voice trailed off into speculation at the end and Jim didn't respond because he didn't think that Steve honestly expected him to understand anything he was saying at that moment. Jim didn't know who half those people were.

Their conversation fizzled out after a while and they both fell into a deep restful sleep.

—-----------------------------
To exactly no one's surprise Steve's tip off about the mayor had been correct. Jim didn't even need to get the shady underhand russian deals to court he just tipped off Holloway at the paper with everything he knew and Kline was forced to resign in shame. Jim was named interim mayor until a special election could be held to replace him, when he elected to discontinue the star court mall project no one objected.

About a year later they reputed Els's assistance to open a gate straight into Vencas attic where they shot a hook through his stomach dragging him to the right side up before shooting him point blank in the head with a machine gun several times until he was very very dead. He also got Holloway to run a story about Hawkins lab, sending it out to some major papers as well, getting the place shut down easily.

So by the time Max Mayfield who Steve tells him will be El's best friend moves to town the whole upside down situation has been dealt with permanently and with prejudice. Things are perfect Jim has a family this whole nightmare has been relatively easily averted, with no major deaths or injuries. Jim Hopper was a happy man with wonderful children all with bright futures and the most perfect mate in the history of the world. It is with all this that he shudders to think what would happen if Steve and Dianna had not survived the crash.