This chapter will be held in Jim's POV for a bit of it, so you all can see into that tangled mess inside his head haha (alsooo its so weird writing in a dudes pov lol)

Also, Nat is really hot-headed in this (When isn's she though lol) I love it

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Natalie swallowed her waffles and placed her plate on the coffee table in front the couch. She strode up to Jim and looked at him with livid eyes, "are you kidding me?" she huffed before continuing, "The first thing that comes out your mouth when you see me is 'what the hell are you doing here'?! You could have said 'oh, hey Natalie! Thanks for keeping El company since she's been stuck in this house for 353 days!' or maybe you could have said, 'Oops, here's your ticket, thanks for waiting an extra six hours to get it,'" she snarled at him.

Jim shut the door and leaned against with a groan, "You're killing me," he said as he rubbed his temples.

Hot anger pooled in Natalie's stomach as she watched him, "I'm killing you?" she hissed and narrowed her eyes while taking a set closer to him, "You, you're killing me! With all this damn waiting, and quite frankly I'm sick of it. So, I'm going to give until the end of the week to give me an answer to my question, I sure as hell hope you remember what I asked."

Jim looked at her with cold eyes, "Fine," he said curtly and then proceeded to pull his ticket pad from his back pocket and scribble something down before roughly handing her the ticket.

Before grabbing the ticket she wrapped her hand around his wrist and yanked him towards her, their eyes level, "One last thing before I go, so help me God, if you even dare to keep poor El locked in this shed any longer, I will come down here myself and break her out, well hopefully before she breaks herself out," she snapped and ripped the ticket from his. She roughly opened the door and whistled to Bucky to follow her out. She turned back and glared at Jim once more before walking into the darkness.

---Jim's POV---

Jim watched Natalie walk away till he couldn't see her bright blue scrubs anymore. With a deep sigh, he shut the door and locked it. Gathering his strength, he walked over to El's door and knocked on it, "Hey, I'm sorry okay."

He sighed again, not hearing anything but the static of the T.V. She was trying to talk to him again. "El, please come out. I'm sorry," he tried again.

The static abruptly stopped and he heard some shuffling, "Have you ever loved someone before?" she asked quietly through the door.

Jim's mouth suddenly felt dry and he shut his eyes, "Yes." his voice came out low.

"Who is it?" El asked with a sniffle.

Jim shut his eyes and he could see her face, tan skin, sparkling forest green eyes, rosy cheeks. Her hair- her long chocolate hair tumbling over her shoulder in those soft waves that he loved to run his hands through. Her feisty attitude that never ceases to make him chuckle. Her love for animals and how caring she is for them. Gosh, how smart she is, he's never met anyone as smart as her. She was a goddess to him, perfect in every way, shape, and form.

Jim placed his forehead on the wooden door, memories of their time together rushing through his conscious. He missed her, he missed her so damn much that it hurt. Yet, he didn't let himself go back to her because there were more pressing things that required his attention like El, Will, the new threat on Hawkins that he saw today in the pumpkin patch. He couldn't be selfish and take her all for himself, she deserved better than him. Afterall, he's just a broken man who's stumbling to refind his purpose in life.

He couldn't have her. Not with everything happening. Maybe if they were in a different city or time, then he would let himself go, but this the case. They were in Hawkins where everything is turning to hell, including himself.

"Go to bed, I'll see you in the morning," he told El with a raspy voice.

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Natalie practically stomped all the way home, sputtering curse words and kicking branches. Why was he so stupid and daft? Can't he see that he means the world to her still?

She grumbled another string of curses before walking up to her house to then see Dustin leaning over in his trash can.

"What are you doing?" she asked him with a laugh.

Dustin promptly stood up, "Uh, Mews in the trash." he said quickly.

Natalie bit back a groan, "Oh great. Don't tell your mom that he's been rooting around in the trash or she'll think he's dying again." she told Dustin.

Dustin nodded and smile, "Don't worry, I won't say a word." The trash can shook again and made some weird sound.

Natalie, too tired and angry to ask questions, nodded at Dustin, "Good, Okay, Happy Halloween." she told him and walked into her house.

Natalie shut the door and got ready for bed and fell into a well, not so good sleep. They say to never go to sleep angry, which she was, so she didn't end up falling asleep till around four am. When her alarm clock went off, she really just wanted to stay under her warm covers for the rest of the day, but she had work.

When she arrived at work and thankfully found it was a very slow day. It only conisted of someone bringing in a litter of puppies to be vaccinated and Ms. Henderson brings in Mews again. She decided to leave the clinic early to pick Will up from school.

She drove to the middle school to see Joyce leaning against her car, a nervous expression written on her face.

Natalie got out of her car and walked up to her, "Hey, are you okay?" she asked.

Joyce shook her head, "He was supposed to come out five minutes ago," she responded.

Natalie placed a hand on Joyce's shoulder, "I'm sure he's okay. Don't they have the AV club thing today?" she asked.

Joyce nodded, "Yeah, but he leaves a little early. I'm going to go in." she said.

Natalie nodded and followed Joyce into the middle school. Joyce walked up to the receptinist, "Hi, Doris."

Doris looked up from her computer, a scowl making its way on to her face, "Joyce."

Joyce twiddled her thumbs, "Will has his AV club today, could you transfer me to Mr. Clarke?" she asked Doris.

Doris clicked on something and shook her head, "I just saw him leave for the day," she responded dryly.

Joyce's mouth dropped slightly, "What?" she asked and glanced nervously at Natalie.

Natalie pulled on Joyce's hand, "He's probably with the boys. We can look for him."

"You need a pass for that!" Doris told her as she rose from the chair.

"Piss off, Doris," Natalie growled and walked through the door with Joyce.

Joyce looked back at Doris with wide eyes, "Natalie, are you okay?" she asked her as they walked through the hallways looking for Will.

Natalie bit her lip, "Yeah, Jim is just getting on my nerves." she paused and looked at Joyce, "Why don't we split up and meet out in the field if we don't find him, Which I'm sure we will." she told Joyce with a warm smile.

Joyce nodded, her eyes shifting around nervously, "Okay," she turned around and started jogging through the hallways calling out Will's name.

Natalie jogged around the hallways and peaked in a ton of classrooms to find them empty. She was definitely starting to get nervous. "Will?" she called out as she rounded the corner, and ran into a little body.

She looked down to see El looking up at her with wide eyes.

"Oh, El," she said and pulled her into a hug, "Did you run away?" she asked.

El nodded, looking at her shoes.

"I know I promised that you would see Mike, but running away will just make Jim angrier. Did anyone see you?" she asked her.

El shook her head, "Only a woman," she responded.

Natalie nodded, "Okay, that's alright," she was torn between finding Will or driving El home, she didn't even realize that El had slipped away and was already out the door before she could offer her a ride home. Natalie looked around for her, "Damn it." she growled and hoped that she got home safely.

Natalie continued to search for Will and found nothing, so she decided to go head out to the field where she was going to meet Joyce.

Then, Mike ran up to her with a wild expression on his face, "Natalie! It's Will, he's uh, there's something wrong with him."

Fear dropped like a lead weight in her stomach and she sprinted after Mike and onto the field to where Will was standing straight as a rod. His eyes were rolled back and his mouth was slightly opened as he shook.