oh man guys, I'm so sorry its taken me so long to update! I'm so thankful for all the kind comments, votes, and reads! Love you guys!

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Joyce raced around the corner, a sense of urgency in her movements and then came to a complete halt when she saw Jim and Natalie locked in a hug. A small smile tugged at her lips and she cleared her throat to get their attention.

Natalie immediately sprung out of Jim's arms with flaming cheeks. Jim rubbed the back of his neck and gave Joyce a sheepish smile.

"C'mon, lets go you two." Joyce said and walked over to the car and got in the front seat. Natalie looked at Jim, who shrugged at her before getting into the drivers seat. Natalie got into the back and sat in the middle seat, wringing her hands together nervously.

Jim started the car and they made their way to Hawkins Lab. The majority of the ride was silent, due to everyone being insanely nervous and scared. Well, mostly Natalie and Joyce. Jim had a grimace set on his face and his blue eyes were narrowed in determination. The car slowed down as Jim parked at the edge of the woods, and they all got out.

Natalie grabbed her coat, just for luck, and shrugged it on. Her feet crunched on the brown dead leaves that littered the forest floor as she made her way over to Jim and Joyce.

"Why are wearing your lab coat, Nat?" Joyce asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"For good luck," she replied with a small smile and glanced at Jim, who was holding in a chuckle.

Joyce shrugged and looked at Jim, "So this is your plan?" she asked as she looked at the hole in the fence.

Jim nodded, "worked for me before, didn't it?" he asked himself, more than Joyce.

"Did it?" she asked back.

Natalie scoffed, "That's why you have to plan things, Jim."

Jim rolled his eyes, "C'mon, trust me." he told them as he opened the chainlink fence and walked through to the other side.

Natalie and Joyce walked through the whole and only made it a few steps before a set of blaring white lights landed on them. Natalie hissed in pain and brought her hand up to cover her eyes from the light. The sound of many footsteps approached them and at least twenty loaded guns were pointed at them. Natalie dropped her hand and let out a gasp.

"Don't move!" one of the soldiers shouted at them.

Natalie was frozen, her green eyes traveled up to Jim who gave her a tiny nod of assurance. She wished that would have helped her nerves, but it really didn't.

One of the soldiers nodded and looked at them, "All right, move out!"

They were instantly surrounded by the soldiers and Natalie let out a squeak when one of them shoved the nose of the gun into her back to get her to move forward. Jim whipped his head around and glared at the solider who had his gun pointed at Natalie's back.

Jim leaned over slightly, "Just let me do the talking." he told Joyce and Natalie.

They were led into the building, but unfortunately they were quickly separated and stuffed into three different interrogation rooms.

Natalie deeply inhaled as she sat down in the cold metal chair and examined the room. It was small, dark and cold. The grey stones and one way mirror made her feel like some criminal, well, she did break some serious laws the past couple of days. She folded her arms over the table and laid her head down.

She suddenly heard some loud shouts and retching sounds or something and raced to the wall and put her head against the cold stone. She could only hear the muffled sound of voices, but she felt that it was Jim in there that they were hurting. Tears filled her eyes as she thought of all the horrible things they could be doing to him. If that were willing to hurt children, who know what this place will do to them.

The door opened to her right causing her to leap back in surprise, and she sat down in the chair. She looked up to see a lanky older guy with snow white hair walk in. He wore a deep scowl on his aged face as he looked at her with calculating eyes. The man pulled out the chair across from her and sat down.

"Natalie Blackwood, 28, small animal veterinarian. Now, why would someone as smart as you be digging around things that do not concern you?" he asked her with a firm voice.

"That's where you are wrong-"

"Dr. Brenner." he answer her with a clipped tone.

She raised a dark eyebrow, "Dr. Brenner, that is where you are wrong. This concerns me very much. You, I presume, are the man who caused all of this shit to happened here, as a citizen of Hawkins this does concern me."

He let out a irritated sigh, "Very well, Dr. Blackwood. What do you know?" he asked her.

Natalie gave him a dry smile, "I'm afraid everything. You've gotten yourself into quite a mess." she snapped.

Dr. Brenner narrowed his eyes angrily and slammed his hands down on the table in frustration. Natalie flinched slightly, but kept her rigid composure.

"You know about Eleven then?" he asked her.

Natalie froze, she would never give up El to this monster. She shook her head, "No."

"You're lying." he hissed angrily and leaned towards her.

Natalie shook her head, "Even if I was lying, I would never give any information about anything to you."

Dr. Brenner pinched the bridge of his nose, "I'll be back, next time with something that will loosen your tongue, if one of your friends does not tell me what I need to hear."

Natalie grit her teeth angrily as she watched him walk out of the room and slam the door. Time seemed to be at standstill as she waited in the room. Then the door opened to reveal a very pale Jim surrounded by soldiers.

"C'mon, we have to get Joyce." he told her weakly.

Natalie stood and rushed over to him, "Are you okay? Did they hurt you? I thought I heard someone shouting-"

"I'm okay." he told her and gave her a weak smile.

They gathered a very confused Joyce, "I don't understand." she said as they walked through the biohazard door.

Jim sighed, "We came to an agreement." The girl looked at him with confused expressions, and Jim sighed deeply, "Look, everything's that happened here and everything thats going to happen, we don't talk about. You want Will back? Then this place had nothing to do with it." he finished.

They nodded and entered the lab. Bright yellow lights shone on the pale crumbling walls. The air smelled of musk, the same smell in the Upside Down. Natalie felt panic rise up in her chest as she looked at the opening to the Upside Down. It literally was alive, the entrance shuddered with each breath it took. That weird slime stuff oozing out of the gate. She took a involuntary step back as the memories of that night when the Demogorgon almost got her, flashed before her eyes, and the now scar on her neck tingled with pain.

Then a warm hand slipped in hers and gave her a reassuring squeeze. She looked up and met the bright, but tired blue eyes of Jim. He gave her a nod, "It will be okay." he told her quietly.

Natalie nodded, she believed him. It would be okay, they would find Will and this whole thing will be over.

One of the soldiers handed her a biohazard suit, "For protection." he told them.

They pulled on the mustard yellow suites and Joyce tilted her head in confusion, "Why do we need these?" she asked.

"The air is poisonous," the solider replied dryly.

"My son is in there." Joyce whispered as she put on the helmet, and gazed into the entrance.

Once everyone had their gear on they looked back at the soldier who gave them the go ahead. Natalie took a deep breath and followed Jim and Joyce into the Upside Down.