This is my second Fantastic 4 one-shot. It's meant to be Reed/Sue centred, but it came out as more of a sibling rivalry coming to an end between Johnny and Sue, but there's still Reed and Sue in there. It's set a few weeks after Doom and the Surfer are out of their lives, with the change that Reed and Sue are actually married at this point, and have been for a while.
I hope you enjoy! Please review and let me know what, if anything, you like about it.
Whatever Works
Sue pulled her head up, trying to fight past the fact that it felt like it weighed a thousand pounds and the room span heavily when she did. She took a deep breath, fighting away the nausea that hit her, and closed her eyes until she felt it pass. She swallowed down the bile that was on the verge of rising, but she knew that her stomach was empty now. The ten minutes she'd spent with her head in the toilet bowl had proved that.
She put the lid down, and rested her hands on top of it to help her get to her feet. She shakily made her way over to the sink, looking in the mirror above it and grimacing at how she looked. She was absolutely mess. Her blonde hair looked lank and much thinner than it normally did. Her eyes were missing their usual shine as well, then again, it was early; she wasn't awake properly yet. The bags underneath her eyes on her pale skin backed this up. She looked exhausted, there was no denying it.
She ran the taps, cupping some of the cool water in her hands and splashing it up into her face, hoping this would restore some of her vigour. The iciness of the water in comparison to her warm skin was soothing, and she kept her hands over her face for a moment, relaxing a little.
Turning off the tap, she reached for the hand towel, dabbing her face dry but not removing all of the water from her skin. It was working wonders to cool her down, even if her stomach didn't feel as settled as it was empty. She went back to the door of the private bathroom, making sure that she opened it slowly so that she didn't wake the other occupant of the room.
It didn't surprise her that Reed was still sleeping in bed, but she had to admit she was disappointed. She'd spent the past fifteen minutes in the bathroom feeling like Hell, for the third time that week, and he hadn't moved a muscle since she had moved herself out of his arms on her way to the bathroom. She frowned a little at him, envious that she wasn't the one curled up in bed, oblivious to all that was happening around her.
Instead of giving herself the chance for that, she left the bedroom, this time not bothering to fuss over the door waking him up, but it didn't make any difference anyway. She knew that she wouldn't get to sleep again, not whilst she still felt so unsettled. Trudging tiredly through the living room and into the kitchen, she found that she wasn't the only one with insomnia that morning.
"Good morning." Ben greeted her as she entered the kitchen. He was already seated at the table with the morning's paper in front of him. Sue still didn't know why he got up so early just to read the paper, but she realised that she'd never asked.
"I wish it was." She grumbled as she walked straight over to the sink, taking a clean glass from the draining board and filling it with water.
Sensing that her usual morning mood wasn't present that morning, Ben frowned. "What's wrong, Susie?"
"What's not?" She complained, letting the cold water fall down her throat and settle onto her churning stomach.
Ben looked at the digital clock on the microwave. "It's 5am." He told her. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"
She shrugged, turning with her back to the sink. "I tried that; it didn't work out so well." She told him calmly.
Seeing her face for the first time, he frowned at her. He had to admit, he'd never seen her so pale before, and she definitely didn't look right. "What's that matter?" He asked her, his tone daring her to try and get out of the question.
She raised her shoulders cluelessly again. She honestly had no idea. "Nothing." She said simply, even though Ben raised his rocky eyebrow at her. "I'm just having a bad morning." She told him, leaning all her weight onto the hands that gripped the edge of the kitchen worktop.
"You look really pale," He observed, concern creeping into his voice. "You feeling okay?"
She gave him a weak smile, shaking her head lightly. "No, actually." She admitted.
He stood up; guiding her into the chair he had been sitting in a moment ago. "Well, sit down, and I'll make you a cup of tea if you're not heading back to bed." He told her softly.
She fell into the seat, and watched as Ben reached into one of the cupboards for a mug. "Thanks, Ben." She said softly to his back.
"No problem." He smiled over his shoulder.
Sue couldn't help feeling a little jealous here, and she knew that she shouldn't. She'd been sick for a while now, and Ben had been the first to notice. Not her husband. Ben. Why couldn't Reed give her the time of day long enough to notice that she wasn't herself, and that the main reason she was using the bathroom so far that week was the empty her stomach into it continuously?
"Here." Ben said, placing the mug of steaming tea before her and breaking her out of her thoughts.
She shook the thoughts away as she lifted the mug to her lips, blowing the steam from the hot liquid before taking a sip. She let out a relieved sigh as the drink managed to calm her churning stomach. "I'd go crazy if you weren't here, Ben." She admitted to him, with an amused smile on her face.
"Now, that's not true." He told her, but still smiling at her words. "Even if Johnny's just a hothead, you've still got Reed."
She frowned a little, and looked down at the paper, not surprised to see their faces on the front page even though the story was from two weeks ago when they defeated Doom for the second time. "Yeah, well, Reed's not exactly the most observant man in the world." She said in a soft, grumbled voice.
Ben nodded knowingly. "Let me guess, he doesn't know you're sick?"
Sue nodded, but sighed. "It's not like it's a big deal or anything-"
"You're sick." Ben pointed out. "And he's your husband. It should be a big deal. He's meant to be all worried and wrapping you up in cotton wool and stuff."
Sue shook her head. "I've been getting sick for three days now, Ben, and he hasn't even noticed." She pointed out.
Ben reached across from where he was now sitting, and put his large hand over hers. "Just give him time, Susie. I only noticed because I was up at the crack of dawn with you." He said.
"I don't think I have anymore time to give." She said softly, in a voice that wasn't her own. In fact, she couldn't believe it was her own, because she was so sure that she wouldn't have said something like that about Reed.
"Now, don't you go talking like that." Ben scolded her lightly. "You know you don't mean it."
She sighed, putting her hand on her head and combing her fingers through her hopeless hair. "I just feel like I'm invisible to him, Ben." She said softly, but adding to that when she caught him looking at her strangely. "Not just when I am really invisible. But...all the time...lately." She trailed off.
"Lately, we've all had a lot on our minds." Ben cut her off. "Reed especially, what with Doom and the Surfer and all. Now it's just...not so crazy, and he's got stuff to clean up. Just give him a chance to let things calm down. Remember, he nearly lost you."
Sue looked up at him, knowing that he was right. During their fight, Sue had been hurt, and for a moment it had looked bad, and she knew that it had been playing on Reed's mind a lot since it was all over. "I don't understand why he's pushing me away because of that." She admitted.
"He felt like he couldn't protect you. He felt like he failed you." Ben revealed, and Sue looked away. He gave her a gentle smile. "Just give him a couple more days, he'll come around." He assured her.
She smiled at him. "You're right." She said. "Thanks, Ben."
"You're welcome, Susie." He smiled back at her. "Now...go back to bed." He told her. "You look like you need the sleep."
---------------------
Johnny stepped back into the Baxter building around midday, already missing the exiting bustle of Thailand. He needed a holiday, he'd decided straight away after Doom and the Silver Surfer were out of the picture. He needed a week to get away from everything. Hence, Thailand. After all, if he was going to get away from everything, that didn't include getting away from hot girls. That would defeat the object of going away alone.
As he entered the half of the building that belonged to the group, he found he had no greeting from his new found family. "Hello?" He called out, shutting the door behind him. "Anyone here?"
He started down the hallway, and saw Sue coming out of the living room in a rush, hiding something in her hand. However, she didn't see him, and ended up running straight into her brother.
"Oh, God." Johnny exclaimed as she immediately turned invisible for a moment, then reappeared. "Sorry, Sue!"
"It's okay." She told him, successfully hiding her hands behind her back. "I need the attention." She added grudgingly.
"Why, what's up?" He asked her.
"Nothing." She backtracked with a false grin. "I uh...how was Greece?"
"Thailand." He corrected her.
"Thailand." She nodded. "How was Thailand?"
"It was great." He said strangely, looking at her suspiciously. "What's wrong?" He asked her
"Nothing." She grinned at him. "Everything's great."
Johnny knew that something was wrong. Even though his sister was generally a happy person, it wasn't natural for a person to be this happy. "Sue, you booked the holiday for me." He reminded her. "You spent a week on the phone sorting it out because you didn't want me to end up lost somewhere. You wouldn't just forget the destination of said holiday unless something was wrong."
"I'm okay." She waved it off; careful to use the hand that wasn't holding her hidden package. "Things are just a bit...crazy, here at the moment." She said, using Ben's words from earlier.
"Why do I not believe you?" Johnny asked tiredly.
"Because she's lying." Ben said, joining the siblings in the corridor. "Welcome back, kiddo."
"Thank you, Ben." Sue said, lowering her eyes and groaning.
"Okay, what's going on here?" Johnny asked, highly confused now.
"Nothing!" Sue insisted.
"Susie's just a bit sick, that's all." Ben explained.
Johnny looked down at his sister, who still stood a full foot shorter than him. "You been to the doctor?" He asked her.
"No!" She said, way too quickly for them to think that this was just nothing. "No." She said, slower this time. "I uh...I don't need to." She trailed off, her voice getting quieter the entire time.
"Right." Johnny said, not believing her and casting a curious glance at Ben.
"It's just a stomach bug." Ben told him. "She'll be fine in a couple of days."
Johnny returned his suspicious gaze to Sue, remembering this excuse from her a long time ago. "Stomach bug?" He questioned.
The questioning and suspicion in her brother's glance unnerved Sue, and it only took a second of returning his glance for her to realise that he remembered. "Yeah. Stomach bug." She told him, and then stepped backwards away from them. "I better go." She said. "I have to do...something."
Within seconds, she had turned tail and gone into her's and Reed's bedroom, leaving Johnny alone in the hall, his bags still at his side, and Ben watching the younger man's internal light bulb switching on. "What are you up to?" Ben asked suspiciously.
"Nothing!" Johnny said, unfairly accused. "Why do you always think I'm up to something?"
"Because you always are." Ben pointed out.
"Since when?"
"I don't know." Ben shrugged. "Since you were born, I guess."
Johnny shot him a sarcastic glance. "Well, I'm not up to anything." He told Ben, and disappeared off to his own room to avoid unpacking.
--------------------------
When Johnny next came out of his room, it was because of slightly raised voicing coming from the living room. He stepped out carefully, hoping that it wasn't something to do with him leaving something somewhere. After all, he'd only been back there for a few hours, he couldn't have messed something up already, could he?
He stood in the doorway to the living room, instantly seeing that the raised voices belong to his sister and her husband, who were standing at opposite sides of the living room. Although, whilst Reed was simply standing there, Sue was moving around the room, clearing things up whilst Ben stood uncomfortably in the kitchen, clearly able to hear everything that was being said.
"Sue, are you-"
"Yes!" She told him tiredly.
"Is everything-?"
"Everything's fine exactly how it is!" She snapped at Reed.
Johnny raised his eyebrows and crossed through the room to where Ben was seeking refuge from the arguing pair. "Okay." He said slowly. "Um...totally awkward...and walking away now." He said into the tense air of the living room.
"You've not been yourself lately." Reed pointed out, but the fact that Sue was internally glad that he had finally noticed didn't stop her from brushing off his over-protectiveness.
"Neither have you." She told him.
"I'm not the one vomiting in the middle of the day!" Reed shot back.
Johnny looked at Ben. "Okay, what happened here?" He asked, flipping the switch on the kettle on so that the water started to boil.
"Reed just caught Susie getting sick." Ben explained.
"Ouch." Johnny laughed lightly.
"I'm fine, Reed." Sue said in a bored tone.
"How long have you been sick for?" Reed questioned her.
"It doesn't matter." She told him.
"Of course it matters, Sue, you're sick!" He argued.
She sighed. "Only a couple of days." She admitted.
"A couple of days?" He repeated. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I thought you might have noticed!" She snapped, her voice rising again.
It was Reed's turn to sigh now, as he ran his hand through his hair. "Sue, I'm sorry that things have been crazy the past two weeks but-"
"No, Reed." She cut him off, shaking her head. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for..." She gestured at herself and sighed. "I'm sorry for this."
Johnny looked at his sister, even though she wasn't looking at him. He'd seen that before, he was sure he had. She'd done that before. He just couldn't remember when, or how long ago.
Reed looked equally confused. "Sue, what are you-"
"Just forget it, Reed." She said quietly.
Despite Reed's protests, Sue went over to the door, grabbing her jacket from where it was hanging up on the banister. She didn't look back before she left, slamming the door loudly.
In the kitchen, Johnny and Ben looked at each other, matching expressions with raised eyebrows. Johnny went to say something, but stopped himself. "I think I'll keep my opinion to myself." He decided.
"That's a first." Ben joked.
------------------
"Have you seen Sue?"
Johnny groaned inwardly, raising his head from the arm of the couch, which had been supporting him quite comfortably whilst he'd been watching the motocross on the TV. Reed was standing behind the couch, looking down at him.
"She not back yet?" He asked innocently.
Reed shook his head. "She ran off somewhere, we don't know where."
Of course, Johnny already knew that, but Reed didn't know that he and Ben had been watching in on the dispute earlier. Johnny simply shrugged. "She'll come back when she's good and ready."
Reed looked at Johnny for a moment, piecing together his reaction. "You know where she's gone, don't you?" He realised.
"Sure, I do." Johnny said, still looking at the television rather than his brother-in-law.
"Tell me." Reed demanded.
Johnny laughed, and then said seriously: "Not a chance in Hell, Rubber boy."
"Then you go find her and bring her home!" Reed said arrogantly.
"Sorry, man. Can't do that." Johnny told him.
"Why not?"
"Because it's her escape place." Johnny explained in a simple tone. He couldn't just go to the place she went to avoid things. "It would be morally and ethically wrong."
"Johnny."
"Fine, I'll do it." He said, giving in all to quickly. After all, since when did he have morals and ethics?
He got to his feet, going into the kitchen, of all placed. He grabbed an empty bag from the worktop, and grabbed all the chocolate they had in the kitchen, placing it inside there. "What are you doing?" Reed asked, following him into the kitchen.
Johnny looked at him. "I'm gonna kick her ass." He said simply, grabbing his jacket and shrugging it onto his shoulders.
"With chocolate?" Reed asked, frowning.
Johnny shook his head tiredly. "Let the master work." He said, as if he were talking to a child. "You'll see. She'll come back. She'll need to come back."
Reed sighed. "Just be gentle with her." He said.
"I will." Johnny said, heading to the front door. "A little."
-----------------------
He'd headed straight for the Hayden Planetarium. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it was Sue's favourite place, and that it would be the first place she'd go if she wasn't at the Baxter building. But, as usual, Reed over thought the matter, and couldn't come up with the simplest conclusion.
It was getting late now, but there were still a few people inside, mainly in their pairs or small groups. But as he looked around, he finally spotted the one person on their own, Sue, and made his way down to her. She always picked a seat right in the middle, and today was no exception.
When he sat down in the chair beside her, following her gaze to the simulated sky above them, she didn't even have to look around to see who was there.
"Leave me alone, Johnny." She said in a tiny voice, and he turned his head, easily seeing the dead tracks of tears on her cheeks.
He raised his eyebrow. "You know, when we were younger, you were never this mean." He told her. "Ben and Reed said you took off on your own, and that you were mad. So I figured you could use some chocolate." He told her, reaching into his bag and dangling the bar of chocolate before her eyes.
She smiled, sitting up a little and taking it from him. "You have no idea how right you are." She told him.
"About being down?"
"About needing chocolate."
Johnny smiled triumphantly, settling back in the chair whilst Sue remained sitting up. "See, I can be sensitive." He told her cheekily.
She looked at him curiously when she had finished the chocolate. "Why are you really here?" She asked him.
He looked at her with a serious gaze. "You know why." He told her.
"What are you doing here, Johnny?" She asked him again.
"I know you, Susie." He said, bringing his arms behind his head. "You always make out you don't need to talk when you really need to most."
She settled back in her chair, sighing heavily. "I don't want to talk about it." She told him. "I don't want to think about it. Hell, I don't even what to feel it!" She explained.
Johnny turned his head slightly, so that he could see her whilst she looked up at the synthetic stars. "What's wrong?" He asked her.
"Nothing." She insisted, but was lying terribly.
He shook his head. "You can lie to everyone else, but not to me." He reminded her. "Talk to me. What's going on with you?"
Sue bit her lip for a moment, before releasing it. "Just my past colliding with my present." She explained.
"What part of your past?" He enquired, knowing that he might be able to help more because he'd been there for most of it.
She shook her head. "It doesn't matter anymore."
"That's not true." He compromised. "If it really didn't matter, you wouldn't be spending so much time thinking about it." He reached out and put one of his hands over the one of hers that lay on the armrest between them. "Just tell me."
She spent a moment in silence, looking up at the fake stars. "You know, sometimes, I wonder why I ever hope for anything, Johnny." She told him quietly.
"What do you mean?"
"Everything comes with a bigger downside." She said softly. "I wanted to share and apartment with Reed, I ended up breaking up with him. I wanted to go into space, and I came back with superpowers. I wanted to be known for great things, and instead I'm one of the cities personal super slaves."
"So, what's the upside this time?" He asked, glad that they were finally getting somewhere.
She shook her head, laughing to herself ironically. "I don't think you want to know." She told him honestly.
"Just tell me." He demanded, his voice sounding a bit harsher than he'd have liked it to.
She shot him back a glare, picking up on his tone. "You can't make me tell you, Johnny. You're not my father."
"No, I'm your brother." He told her.
Sue debated this for a moment, and then turned in her seat so that she was facing him. "If I tell you, it means that you can't freak out." She told him.
"Why would I freak out?" He asked her.
"Johnny, please." She pleaded.
"Okay. Okay. I won't freak out."
Sue looked around her, making sure that everyone was involved in their own conversations and paying no attention to what she was about to say. She dropped her voice low and told Johnny her secret.
"I took a test this morning. I'm pregnant." She revealed.
Johnny's jaw dropped, and his eyes widened. "Shit!" He swore. "Holy mother of Shit! Shit!"
Sue looked at him unbelievably. "Okay, this, what you are doing right now," She told him, "Is what I meant when I said no freaking out."
"Oh my God." Johnny continued, still shocked to the core. "I'm speechless...I'm literally...out of words."
"And yet you're still talking." Sue pointed out to him.
"Are you serious?" He asked her in a loud whisper, as it was the only way he trusted himself not to start shouting it aloud.
"Yeah." She nodded. "And I'm keeping it, because apparently, I'm stupid, or I like pain or something." She grumbled.
"And it's Reeds, I assume?" He asked, just to be sure.
"Of course it's Reeds!" She snapped back at him, horrified that he could suggest otherwise. "If it wasn't, I'd be in a bigger mess than I already was."
"You're not in a mess." He assured her.
She looked at him, shaking her head. "Don't you remember what happened last time?" She asked him softly.
He looked at her for a moment, understanding what was running through her head at that moment. "Yeah, I remember." He told her gently. "Of course I remember." He sat back in the chair again, sighing. "Seriously, I go out of the country for a week, and you get yourself pregnant? I can't leave you alone for five seconds, can I?" He let out a breath, and looked sideways at her. "You okay?" He asked her.
"My life sucks. How can I be okay with that?" She asked him emotionally.
"Your life doesn't suck." He assured her.
"Johnny-"
"I mean it, Susie." He cut her off. "Nothing about this sucks. Not this time. You're with Reed, who loves you. You're married. This is like...the greatest thing that will ever happen to you two." He pointed out.
"I know." She said.
"So, what sucks?"
She took a deep breath. "I'm going to go to Hell for saying this, but I'm not so sure this is a good idea."
He looked at her strangely, unable to understand this part of the conversation. "But...you're...you're you." He told her. "You've wanted a family since you were old enough to play with dolls."
"I know." She nodded again. "But...me and Reed..."
"You can't justify this with you and Reed, Sue." He told her. "This is about a baby first."
"Me and Reed have an agreement." She told him. "When we're fighting, when we're being the Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic, we can't be husband and wife, we can't be married. Because the minute we become Reed and Sue instead, we become weaknesses for each other, and that can be used against us. We could get targeted, played off against each other, and we don't want to see each other get hurt just because we care about it each other." She explained. "So, we have this agreement, that we forget who we are to each other, just for a while. It's hard, but...but we know we have to do it. But a baby..." She said, saying the word as if it were a magical mythical beast. "I mean...that's a pretty obvious target for both of us, isn't it?"
Johnny nodded, understanding now. "It's natural to not want your baby to get hurt, Sue. That's gonna happen whether you're the Invisible Woman or not."
"I know, but there's more a risk here." She reasoned.
"There's always a risk with everything, but that shouldn't stop you from doing it." He told her. "You know that from last time."
She shook her head slowly. "He doesn't know about last time." She revealed. "Reed doesn't know about Michael."
"You never told him?"
"No."
"Why not?" He asked.
Sue shrugged. "I never thought he'd understand."
"This is Reed." Johnny pointed out. "He doesn't understand anything unless it's explained to him in physics."
"Exactly." Sue said, with a weak smile.
"But he understands you." Johnny told her, as she turned back to him. "He loves you, Sue, and he's not going to give up on you because of what happened with Michael."
Sue shook her head. "You don't know that." She told him.
"He stood next to you, and said his vows, and I know I'm meant to be the protective brother and hate him for all eternity in case he hurts you, etcetera, but I believe him." Johnny told her.
"Really?" She asked, a gentle smile on her lips.
He gave her his trademark cheeky smile. "Just for your sake, sis."
She smiled back at him realising that she was still holding his hand, and gave it a gentle squeeze in thanks. "So, why are you here?" She asked him again, although this time, there was playfulness to her question.
"You shouldn't be on your own right now." He told her.
"I'm fine, Johnny." She said, for what felt like the thousandth time.
"And very tortured...and pregnant." He added to her statement.
She glared at him. "I'm going to forced to kill you if you don't shut up." She warned him, looking around her warily. "Half the city is gonna know before Reed if you keep saying it that loudly."
"You're bossy."
"You're annoying." She countered.
Johnny grinned at her. "You know, as annoying as I am...you've still got to tell Reed that you're eating for two now."
"I know." She said, sinking into the chair even more. "I'm going to."
"That's the spirit!" Johnny said brightly. "When?"
"Tonight." She said, but instantly wishing she'd said 'tomorrow' instead.
"That's definitely the spirit." He grinned further.
"Even if he doesn't want this baby and hates me for the rest of his life and leaves me on my own."
"That's...not exactly the spirit." Johnny backtracked.
Sue shook her lead, looking at him seriously. "I prepared myself to do it last time, Johnny, and I was just a kid then. This time, I'm not taking any chances."
"You shouldn't have to take any chances!" He pointed out. "It's Reed. You're husband. Husbands are meant to be good at this fatherhood...stuff."
Sue looked unsure. "But...what if I'm not good at the motherhood stuff?" She asked him.
Johnny shrugged. "No one knows what kind of parent they'd make until it's too late to back out." He told her. "But I know you'll be a fantastic Mom."
"How come?"
"Because you've always been a great one to me." He admitted, probably the biggest show of personal emotion he'd ever shown towards his sister other than when their mother first died when they were very young. He saw the unshed tears in her eyes, and put his arm around her shoulders. "It's gonna be okay, Sue." He assured her.
"I'm gonna be a Mom." She admitted emotionally.
"Yeah, you are." He confirmed.
"And Reed's gonna be Dad."
"Sure is." He nodded again.
She laughed lightly. "You're gonna be an uncle."
Johnny looked unsure. "Does that come with any responsibility?" He asked.
"Johnny!" She scolded him.
"What?" He asked innocently. "You're gonna be the kind motherly one, Reed's gonna be the overprotective Daddy, Ben's gonna be the wise uncle...someone's gotta be the fun one." Sue laughed at his comment, and Johnny nudged her. "See, it's not gonna be that bad. You've got Reed, and you've got me and Ben as well. It takes a village to raise a child, remember?" He pointed out.
"But it's one weird village." She commented.
"Nothing wrong with a bit of weird." He assured her. "We should go, you know, I think they're waiting to close."
Sue groaned, not wanting to go back and face reality yet. "Can't we stay longer?" She asked. "The projectionist takes bribes."
"No can do, Susie." He told her, getting to his feet. "You've been here moping long enough."
"I haven't been moping." She said, looking up at him.
He held out his hand to her. "Then come home and prove that."
--------------------------
Johnny opened the front door, immediately coming face to face with Ben.
"You're back." He said simply.
"I am." Johnny smiled.
"Is she?"
"Sure is." Johnny said smugly, pleased that he had been able to bring her back.
He stepped in, allowing time for Sue to walk in behind him before closing the door. She kept her face turned down, not looking at any of them, as she walked past Ben and Reed to get to the bedroom. There, she closed the door behind her, not saying a word. Reed turned towards the door.
"Leave her alone." Johnny said simply, walking towards the living room.
"I wasn't-"
"I know what you were doing, and don't do it." Johnny said, turning towards Reed. "She needs to be on her own for a while, to psyche herself up a bit."
"What for?" Reed asked.
"Can't you see it?" Johnny asked him.
"What, exactly, am I meant to be seeing?" Reed asked him following him towards the living room.
"If you don't know by now, then you're dumber than you thought, Reed." Johnny said, shaking his head. "I mean, she loves you more than you could ever imagine. It's in her eyes, in her voice, and her smile...it's like...she's so different when she's around you, she's so much happier. You're the one for her, and you always were, but you're not seeing that right now." He explained.
"Of course I know that!" Reed told him, as if he were being ridiculous. "She's my wife!"
"But have you ever really thought about it, Reed?" Johnny challenged.
"There's no reason for me to think otherwise." Reed said simply.
"I'm not saying that, I'm asking you whether you actually consider the fact that you're the most important thing in my sister's life." Johnny told him, trying his best to keep calm and be a responsible adult for once in his life. "I mean, you've got this amazing girl, who's head over heels in love with you. She'll do anything for you, given the chance, she'd probably hand her life over to Doom on a platter to make sure you're okay, but you don't want to see that. You're a smart guy, so you must know that it's there on some level, and maybe you do feel the same way still, but why can't you just let it be like that?"
"How can you think that I don't know she'd give her life for me?" Reed asked him, his own anger rising. "I almost lost her two weeks ago-"
"And you've been pushing her away ever since!" Johnny pointed out. "If there's ever a time she needed you most then it's because of that."
"I know she needed me."
"Then where were you, Reed?" Johnny shouted, not caring that his voice was raised. "You're her husband, you're meant to be there, but you weren't. She could have died and you know that."
"I know!" Reed said loudly, but not shouting. "And I knew it so well that it was tearing me up to see her like that."
"You think I enjoyed it?" Johnny yelled. "I've only ever seen her that much of a state once in her life, and I hated it then too." He told him, remembering the state that Sue had been in after Michael had gone. "She was a human train wreck, but at least I was there."
Reed sighed, knowing that he'd made a mistake. Johnny's last words had too much of an effect on him, and he felt himself ready to burst. "It's complicated." He mumbled into his hands.
"Then uncomplicate it!" Johnny told him harshly.
"It's not that simple-"
"It has to be!" He yelled. "It has to be, for her sake."
"Johnny-"
"She needs you right now, Reed." Johnny told him, finally lowering her voice. "Not me, not Ben. You. She's the only family I've got, and I'm always going to look out for her and help her, but there's only so much I can do for her with this. She needs you to be you. Not Dr. Richards. Not Mr. Fantastic. You. Reed. She needs you to be you, the Reed who fell in love and married her. She needs that, and she hasn't been getting it, but she really needs it now."
The fact that he'd made a mistake had never been easy for him to hear, but the fact that it was Johnny, of all people, telling him this, made it all the more surreal for him. But either way he looked at it, real or not, Johnny was right. He hadn't been there, and he should have been.
"I never meant to hurt her." He said softly.
"I know." Johnny said, lowering his voice to the same tone as Reed's. "You never wanted to, but you did."
"Johnny-"
"Just...let her come to you, okay?" He suggested. "This is big for her, and it's really, really hard. So don't push her. She's going to tell you, but she needs to be completely ready to do that."
Johnny turned, not waiting around to hear Reed's reply, and went full into the living room, where he found himself face to face with Ben once again.
"What?" Ben asked him. "No sarcastic remark?"
Johnny gave him a proud smile, but still riled up from confronting Reed. "Maybe I'm a little more complex than you give me credit for."
"How do you do these things?" Ben asked him, considerably impressed with how Johnny was handling everything.
Johnny shrugged, going back to the sports channel he had abandoned earlier that evening. "I have my ways." He said simply, as he fell back onto the couch.
-------------------------
About an hour later, Sue opened the bedroom door. She'd thought it over more, and she planned out a way to tell Reed, and just needed to find him now. However, she didn't need to go far to do that.
"Reed?" She asked, slightly confused at the sight before her.
"Sue." He said simply, looking up at her from where he said on the ground outside their room.
She looked at him, a tired confusion on her face. "What are you doing in the hallway?" She asked him.
"Waiting for you." He said softly.
"The door wasn't locked." She said, looking at the doorknob for some reason, and then back at the man before her, or rather, beneath her.
"I know." He nodded. "I just didn't want to intrude if you wanted to be alone." He told her.
"I did, for a while." She admitted softly, unsure why they were both whispering for the better part of their conversation. "Thank you." She added, when she realised that he'd obviously been torturing himself for the hour he'd been sitting there.
"No problem." He said with a gentle smile.
Sue looked uncomfortable for a moment. "I heard Johnny yelling at you." She said, feeling a little intrusive that she had heard every word exchanged between the pair, even though she'd been shut away in their room.
"Yeah." Reed said simply.
"Sorry." She whispered. "I didn't know he was going to do that."
"It's okay." Reed assured her. "He's your brother, your family. I know that when I do wrong and I hurt you, he's always going step in and stand up for you."
Sue nodded. "He just doesn't realise that I don't need protecting from you." She told him.
"I know, but I understand why he does it." Reed nodded to her.
She gave him a gentle smile, stepping back into the room a little. "You going to come in, or are you staying in the hall all night?" She asked him.
He gave her a returning smile, getting to his feet and following her into their bedroom. He'd never really been fond of his bedroom until he'd began sharing it with her. He used to spend all hours of the night in his lab, or passed out from exhaustion over his desk or the couch; anything to avoid being in a bed that was void of Sue. However, he'd been doing that recently, and he bit his lip, understanding again what Johnny had forced him to realise.
"I'm sorry, Sue." He told her, as they sat side by side on the edge of the bed.
"For what?" She asked him.
"I don't want you to think that I'm just saying this because Johnny yelled at me, because I'm not." Reed explained quickly, making sure that was clear. "I'm saying this because his yelling made me realise what a jerk I've been."
"Reed-"
"I'm sorry I pushed you away." He said, taking her hands in his and looking down at them for a moment. He curled his fingers securely around them, tracing his thumbs around the inside of her palms as he returned his gaze to her eyes. "I was just...so scared that I would lose you." He admitted.
"You didn't lose me though." She assured him, when she heard the emotion creeping into his voice. She gripped his hands back in return, adding the extra reassurance for him.
"But I could have done." He realised. "And if I had, I wouldn't have been there, because I was afraid, and I hate myself for that. I mean, you're my wife, and you were hurt, and I wasn't there are your side. What was I thinking?" He asked himself angrily.
Sue shook her head lightly. "People do things they wouldn't normally do when they're scared." She told him.
"I wasn't even there when you came home, Sue." He reminded her.
"You were there." She told him. "Just-"
"-Not in the way I should have been." He finished for her. "There was more I should have done than just sit in the next room." He said, shaking his head. "Sue...I...I just thought that I wouldn't keep being afraid to lose you if I pushed you away, and that's...that's the biggest mistake of my life." He said, sounding a little choked up.
She nodded, giving him a gentle. "I get it." She said softly.
"You don't need to." He told her. "I'll understand if you don't."
"Of course I understand it, Reed." She told him. "I didn't this morning, but considering I've just spent all day pushing you out as well, I do now."
He gripped her hands tighter, reassured when she returned his grasp. He raised their clasped hands to his face and kissed her knuckles fiercely for a moment. When their hands fell back into his lap, he looked at her. "Sue, you know that when there's something on your mind, you can tell me, right?" He checked.
"I know." She nodded.
"Johnny said that you had something on your mind."
"Yeah." She nodded. "I just needed to be ready to tell you." She said, turning so that she was still holding his hands, but she was now sitting cross legged, facing him on the mattress. "Because before I can tell you what the thing is, I need to explain something that happened before I met you, and I need to know that it's not going to change anything."
"Why would it?" He asked her, confusion crossing her face.
"Please, Reed." She said, in the same way that she'd asked Johnny not to overreact that evening.
He took a deep breath, and told her confidently. "Sue, nothing's going to change the fact that I love you, and that means you can tell me anything."
She nodded, and took another moment to psyche herself up. The only people who knew the full truth about this, was her father and Johnny. She'd never needed to tell anyone else, and she'd never dared to in fear of losing them; especially Reed.
"When I was sixteen, I started seeing this guy from school." She began. "His name was Michael. He was a bit of a bad boy, but he had this nicer guy inside. We were together for a year, and he told me that he loved me. He had this whole plan about how we'd go off to college together, and that after that, he'd marry me, and all the sweet stuff that I wanted to hear when I was younger. On my seventeenth birthday, I slept with him. It wasn't his first time, but it was mine, and he'd waited a year for me to be ready. He took me out for dinner, and then back to his house, and up to his room, which he'd decorated nicely and everything." She said, smiling gently at the mental image she'd kept of that room. "I was ready for what we did that night, but I wasn't ready for what came next. We were careful, but clearly not careful enough."
"You were pregnant." Reed realised.
Sue nodded, continuing her story. "I started getting sick, every morning, about a month later, but I ignored it. I knew exactly what was happening, but I was young, and a part of me figured that if I ignored it, then it would go away. So I forced it out of my mind, and carried on, but it never changed the fact that it was really happening. I didn't start to really panic until I started to show. I was really little back then, so I showed really quickly, but it was the middle of winter, so I got away with wearing baggy sweaters to hide the bump from everyone."
"I guess not for long." Reed added in at her sudden stop.
"Michael was the first to notice, obviously." She confirmed. "I was still with him, but it was a while before he properly noticed I was gaining weight just on my stomach. So I told him the truth. He made me take another test, just to be sure, so I did, just to make him happy. It was positive again." Sue's eyebrows knitted together slightly in the middle, as she felt the emotions she'd felt that day resurface. "And he...he just sat there for ages, completely silent. I was so scared about what he was going to say. Then he just stood up, and walked out of the door and left me alone. The next day, he came back, and told me that he wasn't ready for this responsibility, and that all his plans for us never included having a baby. He didn't want anyone to know, in case it dragged his reputation down." She said bitterly. "And I was so terrified that would have to do this alone, that I just ran and hid."
"Where did you go?" He asked her gently.
"Not far." She shook her head. "Just to the bottom of the garden. Dad built me and Johnny a tree house there when we were kids. So I hid there. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't have told my father. He wouldn't have understood, as much as he loved me, and Mom had been gone for a long time already. So I just stayed there for hours, just crying, trying to figure out how I was going to do this. It was Johnny who found me."
"Johnny?"
"He'd just turned fifteen." She remembered. "But he came up to the tree house, knowing that I wouldn't have come down if he'd asked me to. He brought me another sweater in case I was cold, bless him. He guess about the baby, and I made him swear not to tell Dad, but he told me that he wouldn't, if I promised I'd go to the doctor and make sure that everything was okay. I hadn't been before then, but when I went, they told me that I was already twenty-eight weeks. They asked me what I was going to do, and I said I didn't know, but that I couldn't have the baby because I was on my own, and that I couldn't tell my Dad. But it was too late, then. It was too late to have an abortion, so I had no other choice but to go through with it. So, I had to tell Dad."
"How did he take it?"
"He was...really angry at first." Sue recalled. "I got the whole lecture on being careful, but mainly, he was only angry that I'd hidden it from him. He said that whatever I decided to do after the baby was born, that he'd support my decision, and Johnny was always great. He used to sneak down into the kitchen in the middle of the night for me when I wanted a beef sandwich with pickle." She remembered with a gentle smile. "Then, three weeks later, I was in town with Dad. He said that no matter what my decision was when the baby was born, we needed to be prepared, and he'd taken me to buy a crib and some clothes, but before he paid for anything, I collapsed. I was taken to hospital, I don't remember much of it, but I remember being told I had a miscarriage."
"Oh, Sue." Reed said, as two tears tracked their way over her cheeks.
"I hated myself, Reed, because I felt relieved." She told him, her voice choking slightly. "I spent so long not thinking about the baby, because I didn't plan on it ever really being mine, that I felt relieved when I knew it was gone. It was just for a split second, and then it kind of hit me like a truck, but for that one moment, I was actually glad that my baby was dead. What sort of horrible person thinks like that?"
"It was a complicated situation, Sue, and you were very young." He reminded her. "It was okay to feel that way."
"They told me it would have been a girl." She told him. "I wasn't awake for it, but they'd had to induce a labour because I was too far gone for an emergency termination. It wasn't properly developed, but it was a girl. They asked me if I wanted to see her. I didn't, but they let me name her."
"What did you call her?" Reed asked.
"Amanda." She told him, as another tear escaped. "It was Mom's middle name. I just...I felt better knowing that she was with Mom. I knew Mom would be able to look after her better than I would have done." She let out a choked laugh. "Johnny went round to Michael's house while I was still in the hospital." She remembered. "It was the first night he was ever arrested."
"What did he do?" Reed asked.
"He threw twelve bricks through Michael's window." She told him. "Dad wasn't happy when he realised that he had one kid in hospital and the other at the police station because one was in hospital."
"Well, that sounds like Johnny." Reed nodded, remembering his verbal bashing a few hours ago.
"Michael never spoke to me again." She said, her tone turning more serious again. "He just...he left me to do it on my own, and then he didn't even care when he found out his kid was dead. And I don't want that to happen again."
"Why would it happen again?" He asked her.
"Because I'm pregnant."
That had been her plan, to say it quickly. Rip off the band aid, as it were. That way, she wouldn't get herself overly panicked about it, and it would get the whole truth out in the open in one go. She had, previously, been looking down at their clasped hands, but now, bravely, she raised her head to face her husband, who was smiling at her unbelievably.
"Really?" He asked her, hopefully.
She nodded. "Yeah. Took the test this morning."
He let out a breathy laugh, happiness filling his eyes as he removed one of his hands from hers and placed it on her cheek. "Sue...I'd never leave you, especially over something like this." He assured her.
"You're not?" She asked.
"God, Sue! You're my wife. I love you." He said. "This is what we always talked about doing together."
"I know." She remembered, "But...a baby...that's going to be a walking target for anyone who wants a way to hurt us."
"Then we'll protect them." He told her simply. "And we'll do it together."
"You're really not worried about this?" She questioned him.
"Yeah, I'm terrified." He admitted, still smiling. "But I think that's balanced out by how happy I am."
"Really?"
"The woman I love is carrying my child." He said proudly. "How could I be anything other than ecstatic about that?"
She gave him a thankful smile, filled with relief. "I don't mean to sound doubtful, Reed." She assured him. "It's just...I've not exactly had a good first experience with this kind of thing."
"Don't worry." He reassured her. "This is going to be a much better one."
"Yeah." She smiled, fully believing him. "Yeah, it will be."
He grinned, like a child, unable to let his smile fade. "God, this is great, Sue!" He cried out, bringing her into his arms, and they held onto each other tightly. "I can't wait to tell the guys."
She grimaced guiltily. "Well, just Ben." She pointed out. "Johnny kind of already knows."
"I thought he might." He nodded.
"I couldn't not tell him, though." She reasoned. "I mean, I know you should have been the first to know, but he's my brother, and he was there so much last time..."
"Sue," He cut her off. "It's okay, I understand."
"But you can tell Ben." She assured him. "'Cause I told Johnny."
"Sounds fair to me." Reed smiled, before leaning into her, and bringing his lips to hers. However, they had only been connected for a second when the bedroom door burst open, and Ben barged in, followed by Johnny.
"Susie's pregnant?" He bellowed in disbelief. Johnny was standing behind him apologetically.
Reed just looked at them for a second, and then turned back to Sue. "Or...Johnny could tell Ben..." He suggested, as Sue laughed lightly. "...whatever works."