Hopper pulled over, glancing at Joyce to check that she was still closing her eyes.

"You're not cheating, are you?"

"No, I'm not cheating. Are we there now?" She asked, placing one hand over her eyes.

"Yes, wait, I'll help you."

"All right..."

He took Joyce's free hand in his so that she could be guided.
They stopped at a door and Hopper saw Joyce spreading her fingers.

"Hey! I told you not to cheat."

He finally decided to get behind her and put his own hands over her eyes, she couldn't see anything that way.

"Where are the keys?" Jonathan asked.

"In my pocket."

Joyce felt Hopper pushing her slightly to ask her to step forward, his warm hands still on her eyes.

She realized that she couldn't feel the wind hitting her skin anymore, she felt warm.

"Are we there this time?"

"Be patient", Hopper laughed. "El, please turn on the lights."

Joyce felt Hopper taking his hands away when Will closed the door behind them. 

She then gently opened her eyes and felt her mouth open in surprise when she saw string lights of all colors illuminating the interior of the room, they were hanging all over them. She smiled before turning to Hopper who was behind her with the children next to him.

"It's beautiful", she said with a smile. "But... where are we?"

Hopper lowered his head and smiled before moving towards her. He intertwined his fingers with hers before looking into her brown eyes.

"We're... at home", he said with a big smile.

"We... at... w-what?" She said, frowning.

"We're at our home, follow me, I'll show you around", he said, pulling her hand. "So this is the living room area, the children helped me install all these lights at the beginning of the holidays. Then there is the kitchen. There is a room for storage. A toilet just over there but that's not the most interesting." He pulled her to the right and pointed to a door. "Here is the door that leads to the garden and ups-"

"You bought... a house?" Joyce said, stopping behind him, finally realizing that he was showing her a house, their house. 

"Yes, I knew the guy who was selling it so he gave me a very good price even though there are some small repairs to be done. I had been saving for a long time so at the beginning of the month I-"

"But I offered you... I offered you a hat... a hat and some sunglasses... You are offering me a house, a house." She repeated, turning to the string lights behind her.

Hopper wrapped his arms around her waist and placed his chin in the hollow of her neck, allowing him to see the lights as well.

"Umm yes indeed, so what? I like my presents, you even said they make me look sexy."

Joyce smiled and turned around to take his face in her hands.

"This is way too much... Why are you doing this... this is crazy... a house, Jim..."

"Because I love you", he said, quickly kissing her. "I love you all and I want you guys near me. I want a home of our own."

Joyce opened her mouth to answer but no sentence came out. She could have sworn she saw something shining in his eyes at that moment.

"I just..."

"Shall we continue the visit? The best is yet to come."

Hopper smiled devilishly at her before taking her hand again and dragging her upstairs, leaving the children alone downstairs. No sooner had they finished walking up the stairs than he stopped. There were three doors on their right.

"It's big..." Joyce whispered as she was looking around.

"This is El's room, Will's room, and Jonathan's room. The bathroom is here", he said, taking her a little further away. "And best of all, our bedroom", he said, opening the door to let her in. "I've been tidying up the cabin with El and we've already brought a few boxes.

Joyce entered slowly inside the room, inside her room. She walked towards the boxes by the window and watched the little snowflakes falling outside. Hopper came close to her, waiting for her to speak.

After coming to her senses, Joyce finally turned to him with a smile on her face.

"You're crazy", she laughed. "It's probably the greatest gift I've ever been given." 

"So you're happy?" Hopper asked, releasing his breath that he hadn't noticed he'd held.

"Are you kidding me!? I'm more than happy, I was just surprised. But I'm... I am... fulfilled...?" She said with a small embarrassed smile as she looked at Hopper.

"Okay... I'm glad then..." He said, rubbing the back of his head.

Joyce stood on tiptoes and grimaced as she could not reach his lips when he didn't bend down a little bit. Hopper smiled before he bent down and carried her to stand on one of the boxes behind her, allowing her to gain a few inches. 

"You are getting on my nerves", she said, laughing before she could finally kiss him.

"It's a funny way to thank people", he said, stepping aside.

Joyce shook her head before wrapping her arms around his neck while pressing her head against his collarbone. She brought her mouth up to his ear and blew :
"I love you. Thank you, really." 

Hopper nodded his head and then planted a kiss on her neck.

"Merry Christmas", he smiled.

"Merry Christmas", she said with a smile.

"Maybe we should go back downstairs and see what they're doing."

"It's true, these kids can start fires if left without supervision for too long."

"Oh no, I'll never let them do that at our new house!"

***

Ahoy x)), I hope you've liked this story so far. I'm writing this little message just to tell you that it's coming to an end soon, there are only 2 chapters left! :)