It was the fall of 1987. It was starting to cool, but there were still signs of summer through the streets of Hawkings. All Eleven wanted was that time would pass soon and spring would come again, her favorite season. Then, she liked summer, and winter was the last. Held great part of her life inside that laboratory as a guinea pig for experiments, she had never had contact with the snow until it began to snow while she was in The Upside Down.

Soon, after she disappeared with the monster in the winter of 1983, the snow began to fall. But the cold in The Upside Down is a thousand times worse than our world, so she simply came to hate the snow and the cold and the winter and everything related, because of how much she had to fight against them to survive. She had to stay there for a year until they could rescue her.

Hopper had already obtained permission once to enter and save Will. It was not easy to persuade these people to re-enter, especially since they also wanted Eleven. She was almost impossible to be contacted if she did not want to, so only Hopper knew where she was. It hurt to think how much he had been tortured to reveal her whereabouts, but no way they would make him talk. They had already done once, so it would be very difficult to do it again. Therefore, they came up with a plan: to convince Hopper that they had given up on Eleven, and then, to get it over with, they would let him go in again, pick up the girl, and then never see them again. Thank God, the Chief never fell for that story. He agreed to get Eleven, but soon he told her about his enemies' plans, and so, with the girl's powers, they managed to get out of that world and mislead the crooks.

It was a fight when she came back to decide where she was going to live. The Byers wanted her to stay with them, because Eleven was the one who practically sacrificed her life for Will's, so they owed her a lot, not to mention that Joyce had attached herself to the girl.

Hopper wanted her custody as well, because he had also become attached to Eleven, since he was the only one to whom she had revealed herself. You would think that she would contact anyone in her circle of friends: Joyce, Nancy, Will, Lucas, Dustin … Mike ... The problem was that the Chief knew the right procedures to mislead her Papa, so she thought it was best to reach for him. Either way, she had always looked out for her friends, specially Mike. Hopper had lost his daughter and felt that he had a chance to start over with Eleven. He had taken care of her for a whole year until he could get her out.

Eleven's mother also wanted to take care of her. As soon as El returned, she had to be warned because, after all, Terry was her mother. She loved her unconditionally despite never having met her daughter. As soon as Eleven came in through the door of her house, the woman got better. She began to talk to people, but she did not leave the house and spent most of the time in that vegetative state, but El made Terry very happy.

Mike had offered Eleven to live with his family before she disappeared, but there were so many wanting to welcome her into their houses and his parents would probably hesitate a lot, not to mention that he simply could not bear the fact that it was true that they would be practically siblings and that it was weird if they had a relationship and lived in the same house, that he decided not to invite El anymore. Sometimes the couple needs a space. A space they would not have. Mike explained to Eleven how he wanted her in his house, but that he should not be selfish and wherever she chose to stay, she would be safe and close to him.

Eleven made a plan then. She chose to stay with Hopper so he would not go back to that drunken state he had been in since his daughter died. He stopped after he began caring for Eleven in The Upside Down and she was so grateful that she felt it was her duty to be the daughter he never had. She really wanted to be with Joyce too. That woman gave a motherly affection that Eleven had never had in her life. She felt very good in Joyce's hands. From the time she returned, she automatically called her mother and wanted to have her around.

While everyone was arguing about Eleven's return, she noticed a mood between Joyce and Hopper. It was a worn-out chemistry, but it still existed there. She concentrated on the woman and got Hopper to ask Joyce out. Then she persuaded Joyce to accept. Things went on until, a year later, the two of them walked down the aisle, bringing the two families together. Everyone now lived together in the Byers' house, and Eleven had a complete family. Even insane as it may seem, Joyce was pregnant with a little girl for everyone's happiness and concern, after all, she was an old woman to have babies. They were fine with their lives and that was what mattered.

As for Mike ... Well, Eleven missed the Snow Ball. She later learned that Mike had not gone, because he wanted to go with her, and he felt bad that he had promised and failed. He went into depression after Eleven left. As soon as he found her on the way out of the hospital, shortly after she returned, the boy hugged her so tightly that he even lifted her feet from the floor and then pressed his lips to hers. They did not stir their mouths, only held them there for a little longer than that kiss in the school cafeteria. Problem was, everyone was there. The boys, Joyce, Jonathan, Nancy, Steve and Hopper, who almost burned Mike with his red eyes for having kissed his daughter on the lips. Everyone else laughed and agreed that Mike was a little too excited.

Eleven began to adjust to her new life. She was finally living the right way. Soon she discovered what Mike had done to her twice and did not understand why, after the excitement in front of the hospital, he didn't do it anymore. All she wanted was to kiss him again. She'd missed him so much. She wanted to explore more, because she had discovered that there were other types of kisses that the two had not yet given. The problem was that Mike, though he liked Eleven, was too young. He had been through bad times since he thought he had lost her. He really got sick. He held on for a while, but when he discovered the chest in which Hopper left food for El and that she had contact with the Chief, but not with him who had welcomed her so well in his house, Mike simply lost his will to live. All he wanted was to stay with Eleven. He wanted it so badly that when she came back, he could not even kill his longing for the kiss. Some time passed and it was as if they had forgotten. They did not, but they did not know how to handle it.

Eleven had grown up. She was 16 years old, but already had a woman's body. Even many boys were interested, but Hopper and her's now brothers, Jonathan and Will, were keen to keep them away for Mike's joy and they knew he was in love with Eleven, but could not admit. They, by the way, would do anything to keep them together, but El's ingenuity that had not changed much, even though she had learned a lot.

Mike was almost 18 and appeared to be his age anyway. Just like the desire to do things with Eleven. They were best friends despite the strangeness. And he was crazy to have El around and could not do anything to her. Eleven already knew what sex was. She had learned, but she did not feel like it. She did not know how she could enjoy it. All she wanted was to touch Mike, to feel him close to her, but she did not know it was part of her sexual desires. What she really knew was that she could not touch her best friend.