Lost and Found | Stranger Things Reader Insert

A/N: Just wanna say that I absolutely adore El and Doc this chapter

Warnings: violence, mentions of gunshots and vomiting

Word Count: 2459

"Do you remember Papa?"

Doc raised her gaze to look at El, who had been on her third box of Eggos. She hummed and wiped the trail of blood from the girl's nose with her wipes. For the past few minutes, Doc had been cleaning El's face to perfection, not wanting to miss a speck of dirt when she started applying Neosporin to her cuts. "No. I don't remember him. Not really... I can't really remember faces. The only thing I can think of when I remember the past is Sonia and Carrie."

"Sonia and Carrie?"

"Yeah. They took care of me."

    "Good morning, Private. You have a visitor. She's gonna be with us for a few days."

Doc scooted closer to El as she began to gently apply the cream to her cuts, the girl flinching slightly at the contact. "Sorry... Sometimes, me and Sonia would go into this big, white room..."

    "She just wants to see what you can do."

"Sometimes we were alone. Most of the time, actually."

    "Don't worry, Papa won't be here today."

"I can't remember what we did there, though. I just know that sometimes, when I left the room, Carrie would be outside waiting for me. And then she'd hug me. But that was only when she was there," She softly smiled. "Sonia always hugged me."

El watched as Doc capped the tube and put it back in her bag before pulling out a box of bandaids. "No bad men?" She quietly asked. Doc froze, bandaid hovering right beside El's cheek. Sighing, she sealed the cut and put the box away.

"Sometimes, yeah. But not a lot. They'd come in sometimes and..."

    "You said she was progressing!"

"And I wouldn't like it. I don't think I ever did. But one day, it was so horrible," She gravely shook her head. "It was the last time I saw Carrie. The last time I saw Sonia..."

El gently held her hand. "What happened...?" She whispered. Doc audibly swallowed and scratched her neck nervously.

"I can't remember much. But there were gunshots..."

    "No!"

"And screaming."

    "No, you can't have her!"

"It's kind of a blur. But I just remember Sonia hugged me and then I was alone. It was so cold outside... I just wanted a blanket. I thought I was just supposed to wait for her to come back, you know? But then this car pulled up..."

    "Sweetheart? Why are you out here alone? Can you hear me? Sweetie, where are you parents?"

"What is parent?"

Doc shrugged and zipped up her backpack. "And the rest is history. So, maybe we were in the lab together at some point, but it couldn't have been for long." She concluded. El slowly set her food down on the ground before her, seemingly hesitant. "What's wrong?"

"Doc... I opened the gate."

She widened her eyes. "You... what? H-How?"

"Papa said... 'Today, we make contact'. He said 'Don't run away'." El shakily explained. Doc stared down at her knees and gently took hold of her friend's hand, squeezing it.