As a child, he'd loved the night. For him, it was all about the extra hour after sundown, pleading with his parents to let him stay out a while longer. Sunset was his curfew. Always had been apart from one night; Halloween. The night that he dressed up as a superhero, Batman or Superman, but never Spiderman, and went out trick-or-treating with his sister and their friends. Of course, the freedom of being out at night was never really the same, not even on Halloween night, because he'd always see glimpses of his father further down the street, watching as his children went from door to door collecting candy from the neighbours.
Halloween night wasn't about dressing up like a superhero anymore. Not when he did it on a daily basis. Although, he had to admit that he had a better costume than Superman or Batman. Halloween was just another excuse for a party now. A group of his old college friends had been among many to invite him to a Halloween celebration, but they had been the only one he'd gone to. Sometimes, he'd gone to many parties in one night, unable to turn down any invitation.
For some reason though, seeing a particular group of children walking down the street on his way to the party, exactly an hour after sunset, had made him more inclined to stay at his friend's party rather than travelling all over the city just to drink. Four children, of three boys and one girl, were walking along together. All of them were wearing store-brought costumes, the sort that you'd buy and break on the first night, never to be worn again. The three boys walked in a line, each wearing navy blue suits with an embroidered 4 on the breast. One had used coloured hair spray to create grey streaks near his temples. One had face paint on, every available inch of skin covered in orange face pain, with black lines marking out rocky details. The last boy, however, had flames, clearly coloured in on paper with crayons, sellotaped to his wrists, making it look like he was controlling fire, with a ring of fire that looked more like a crown around his head. The boys looked like they were about seven years old, all comparing their amounts of candy together whilst a girl, younger than all of them, struggled to keep up.
"Jamie...Lewis...Jacob...wait up!" The little girl called out, all but running in her similar navy-blue suit, miniature black heeled boots still not bringing her to the same height as the three boys.
The boy dressed as The Thing turned around. "Come on, Lucy." He told her tiredly. "Dad said if you can't keep up you've gotta stay home."
"I can keep up!" She called back, now less than three paces behind them as they purposefully walked faster to try and lose her. At that moment, the bag she was using to carry her candy in split on the bottom, sending a stream of sweet treats onto the ground. "Oh no!"
Johnny crossed over to their side of the street, while the boy dressed as the Human Torch bent down to help Lucy with her sweets. "You kids okay?" He asked them.
They looked up at him, and he could see all their knowledge of stranger danger disappearing out of their eyes, replaced with awe and complete admiration. "You're Johnny Storm!" The boy dressed as Mr. Fantastic told him.
"That's right." Johnny smiled. "Gotta say guys, I love your costumes." They all smiled, whispering loudly with excitement because the Human Torch was actually talking to them. Lucy, however, was still on the ground, trying to pick up her candy and failing to hold it all. "You okay down there?" He asked her.
She looked up at him, her tiny eyes trying not to cry. "I dropped my candy." She told him tearfully.
He crouched down on the ground next to her, now level with her and the boy dressed as the Human Torch. "You must be the Invisible Woman." He observed. She nodded slightly. "My sister used to drop her candy all the time as well." He told her, which made her laugh. Then, he reached down to the bag that he was carrying at his side, although filled with alcohol, and took the six-pack of cans out of it. He helped the two children pick up the candy and load it into the bag, and then he held out the bag to the little girl.
She took it, sniffling slightly. "Thank you, Mister Human Torch." She told him.
"You're welcome." He told her, and then he turned to the three boys. "Now, is this one of your sisters?" He asked them.
"She's my sister." The boy dressed as The Thing told him.
Johnny nodded. "Well, tonight is Halloween." He told them. "And you're dressed up as the Fantastic Four, which means that tonight, this little guy is her brother." He pointed out, looking at the boy dressed up as the Human Torch, who adjusted his flaming crown. "So, that means for tonight, you've got to make sure that she's safe."
"Isn't that meant to be his job?" The boy said, pointing at the boy dressed up as Mr. Fantastic.
Johnny laughed. "Usually, but he can't always be there, can he?" He pointed out. "At the end of the day, it's brothers to the rescue, guys, whether they're big brothers or little brothers. Okay?" They all nodded, and he turned back to the little girl. "And remember, kid." He told her, whispering so that the boys didn't hear. "In the real world, the Invisible Woman is the strongest, so you keep them boys in line, alright?" She smiled brightly, and nodded.
Before going back down the street on his way to the party, he took out his digital camera, snapping a picture of the youngsters all together before they went back to their trick or treating. He wasn't surprised to hear that the three boys were currently hassling the little girl to find out what she had been told in secret, but all of a sudden, she started barking orders at them, which made him laugh.
----
The party had been good, he had to admit that. Since their days as superheroes, it had been a long time since he had been to a party with people that he knew well. He'd met up with many of his college friends that he hadn't seen for years, and he was more than happy to take many phone numbers from the girls that had suddenly become extremely attractive rather than the bookworms he remembered them to be. He'd even shocked himself by remembering most of their names. That didn't happen too often these days.
Halloween was almost over, with midnight approaching fast, and for some reason, he'd left the party early. Partying until all hours of the morning had been the original idea, and the party had been enjoyable. They hadn't run out of drink, and there was plenty of snack food circulating. The company had been brilliant, as had the music, but for some reason, home was calling to him.
Waiting at home was the people he now called his family. Halloween wasn't the same for them as it was for him. Reed never really celebrated holidays other than birthdays, Christmas and Thanksgiving, because he was usually researching too hard to notice the date on the calendar. Ben, of course, hadn't wanted to be mistaken for a trick-or-treater and be embarrassed. The two had stayed home, probably watching the lame made-for-TV horror movies that wouldn't even scare a five year old. Sue, on the other hand, was keeping up her own holiday tradition with her college girlfriends. They decided against going to all the parties, preferring to go to one of their places and watch movies all night. She probably wouldn't be home until after him, considering he had left early. Tonight was the one night where she'd actually arrive home later than him.
So, rather than flaming on and getting home within minutes, he decided to walk through the streets. He passed parents taking their tired kids home, seeing more and more children dressed up as himself, Sue, Ben and Reed. He had to say, that gave him a kick for being a hero if nothing else did. Seeing children looking up to them like that gave him one of those warm, fuzzy feelings that he didn't usually admit to. However, it was too early for the clubs and bars to turn out, so the streets were generally empty, which is why he preferred to walk. No one was going to stop his walk, try to get him to join another party, which he knew he might easily be talked into.
For round half an hour, he wandered the streets, not entirely sure where he was going, but knowing he was in the vague vicinity of the Baxter Building. Then, he found himself on the familiar streets several blocks away from their new home, and he had to suppress a smile. Maybe it was the considerable amount of alcohol, which he was still handling extremely well, but those badly made movies and some cold pizza were sounding really inviting at the moment.
But thoughts of cheesy horror and leftover dinner were startled out of his mind with a scream. Frowning, he stopped in his tracks. The street around him was empty, and every store on the street was closed up for the night, not to be open again for hours. Yet he had definitely heard a scream. He hadn't imagined it. Why would he have imagined screaming while thinking about Pizza? He liked pizza.
The scream came again, and he could hear sounds of struggling up ahead. He walked forwards, curiosity taking him over. The alley entrance up ahead told him all that he needed to know. It was probably just some kids messing around at Halloween, on their way back from a party and messing each other around. Or, at least, that's what he thought until the scream sounded again, this time stopping halfway through as it was muffled against another object...like a hand, perhaps. He started to feel a little worried. He knew that the owner of the scream was a woman, that much was obvious, but the fact that it was muffled as well was alarming. Something definitely wasn't right.
He stepped up the pace, going to the entrance of the alley and pausing for a moment to take in what he was seeing. Several times in his life, he'd been forced to sober up very quickly, and this was one of them. However, it hadn't been something he'd been forced to do. The sight alone and the hero instinct within him was what drove the alcohol into oblivion.
A woman was forced up against the wall, partly blocked by the large dumpsters she was between, and hidden by the shadows. However, the shadows weren't dark enough for him to mistake her fair hair against the no doubt filthy wall behind her. The man before her was holding his hand over her mouth, pinning her against the wall with one arm and his upper body. He was at least twice her size in all aspects, so it was no surprise that when the woman was trying to fight back against his hold, she was clearly failing.
Naturally, he approached them to help. However, before he went overboard and burnt the guy to a crisps like instinct told him to, he thought that there may be an explanation for this. Perhaps this was just a drunken couple's dispute getting out of hand. Perhaps. As he approached, as concealed in the shadows as they were, neither of them saw him. However, he didn't see whether or not the woman saw him coming towards them. Her frightened squeals from behind the captor's hand intensified as she felt him being pulled away from her, but Johnny was too focused on the male stranger to see the flash of blue eyes hover on him for a moment.
Johnny pulled the guy off of her, slamming him into the wall on the other side of the dumpster, immediately placing the garbage holder as a barrier between them. "What the Hell are you doing?" He growled bitterly at the man.
The man looked up, the shock of being dragged away setting in as the new location further down the alley allowed a pool of moonlight to settle on them, and he noticed who it was that had caught him. His eyes widened, a real panic setting in when he realised that the man preventing his escape was the Human Torch. Johnny was used to this reaction, particularly from muggers and other petty thieves that he caught up with. No one expected to have to outrun more than just the cops. It was as if they kept forgetting that there were superheroes in the city now.
"I'm sorry." The guy said quickly, saying it over and over until Johnny stepped in.
"Sorry?" Johnny repeated, sounding incredulous. "What the hell were you doing to her?" He demanded.
"I...I didn't know it was her, I swear, I didn't know." He tried to explain, which left Johnny only more confused than he had been before.
On the other side of the dumpster, the woman fell to the ground, hidden from view unless Johnny craned his neck to look over, yet he couldn't do that without releasing his hold on the man. She started to cry, heart-wrenching, painful sobs that sounded eerily familiar to him. The sort of cries he was sure he'd heard in the dead of night before. However, his memory failed him, the alcohol in his body still making its presence known and not just on his breath.
"Please, let me go." The guy said, the panic in his voice reaching new octaves every second that Johnny held on to him. "I didn't know. I didn't know."
For a moment, he was tempted. He was tempted to let go, and allow the man to leave. He wanted to check that the woman was alright, and he wanted to know why instinct hadn't let her scarper the second she had been released from the stranger's hold. However, his confusion was no reason for him to back down from his responsibilities. Whether he was confusing or not, he was still in the wrong. He had still been hurting the woman.
Keeping the man pinned against the wall with one arm, his exceeded strength since the cosmic accident easily allowing him the advantage, he took out his cell phone, dialling the number that would take him straight through to an emergency police unit. He gave the name of the street, telling them he was in the alley with a man he had caught attacking a woman. Replacing the phone in his pocket, he could see the man he held starting to struggle more, and he held him more tightly.
"Go!" He called out blindly to the woman behind the dumpster. "It's okay, you can get out of here."
But she didn't move. She didn't make any indicator that she even heard his voice. And something about those cries was starting to get to him.
He looked over, trying to see her as best he could, but all that he could see was a figure of a woman curled into ball sobbing on the other side of the trashcan. From above, he could see that her fair hair was a bright shade of blonde, natural blonde, not the dyed kind that some women had. He couldn't see her face, because one of her arms was covering her face, burying her features deep into the arm of her jacket. Her other arm was sandwiched in between her body and her legs, which had been drawn up tightly to her, so that she was clutching her stomach tightly. Was she hurt? He couldn't see any blood. She was wearing sandaled heels, black ones with a diamante pattern that looked vaguely familiar. Of course, when women's shoes started to look familiar he found himself getting even more worried, if only at himself. The jacket that he could see around her heaving shoulders was real leather as well, he could tell the quality of it even in the darkness and the struggle. Real leather, the sort that had the tang of scent to it that told you how genuine it was.
He had a real leather jacket on himself that evening, one that was more suited for riding a motorcycle but one that he wore anyway. He'd had it since his sixteenth birthday, a present from his father, but many times, on their way back from family functions, Sue had been the one to wear it home, the oversized jacket completely swamping her tiny frame. So, for her twenty-first birthday, he had brought her a jacket of her own, real leather, just like his, but a woman's structure to the jacket, more fitting, and surprisingly, with his inexperience in women's clothes other than just removing them from girls he barely knew, it had fit her perfectly.
Another thing that he noticed, whilst her shuddering body sobbed within her curled defence, was the flash of light that radiated from her hand when the moonlight hit it. It was on the marriage finger, showing from the hand that was wrapped around her stomach, not a wedding ring, yet not an engagement ring either. It wasn't sparkly enough to be a diamond ring, which meant that if she was engaged, her boyfriend was cheap when it came to jewellery.
But she hadn't left. She was free from the stranger's restraint, but she hadn't left the scene. She was still on the filthy ground, which was damp from the rain there had been that morning still, the lack of sunshine reaching the alley preventing it from being evaporated. He felt his worry for her surge even more. Maybe she was just too scared to run, but maybe this stranger had hurt her so that she couldn't run.
Johnny turned back to the stranger, slamming him against the wall harder, shaking him up a bit in a way that made him cry out. "What did you to her?" He demanded roughly.
"Nothing, I-"
"I said what did you do?" He demanded, almost shouting this time, with the woman's sobs still echoing in his mind. He knew those cries. He knew that he knew them.
This time, his aggression worked. The stranger looked at him for a moment, and then hung his head, defeated. "I saw her leaving a party." He admitted. "She left her friends, she went in a different direction for them looking for a cab." Johnny held him in place, listening intently. "None of the cabs stopped for her, so she started walking, and I followed her. She started to get suspicious, and sometimes, when she went round some corners, she'd take a different route, like she was disappearing for a moment." He explained. "And then I'd find her again." He shook his head, taking a deep, shaking breath. "I just wanted to see her, but she fought back, so I did what I needed to do to stop her-"
Sirens behind them cut off the rest of his story, which Johnny was inwardly angry about. However, in between reassuring the woman and threatening the stranger, he didn't notice the added sound of footsteps behind up. He didn't recognise the police's presence in the alley until they were pulling him off the stranger, immediately dragging the attack down the alley. The woman was hidden well between a trashcan and a taller dumpster, so the police bypassed her, taking the stranger into the back of a squadron car before returning to where Johnny was standing.
He took this as an opportunity to check on the crying woman. She might have needed an ambulance, and perhaps he should have asked her that before, but he hadn't been thinking. Standing before her, he looked down at her, and horror set into him.
The shining object on her hand. He'd seen it before. He'd lost count of the amount of times that he'd been forced to look at it.
It wasn't a real engagement ring, because it didn't have the professional jewellers shine to it, and it was certainly lacking a diamond of any kind on the top of it. It wasn't gold, and it wasn't even silver. It was just...grey. Metal grey. Because it was just a scrap piece of metal. A gasket. A gasket from space, he remembered correctly.
His mind started racing, and he hoped to whatever God was listening that all of these coincidences was an effect of what he had been drinking that night. Although now, he felt more sober than when he'd arrived at the party to begin with. The blonde hair...the familiar leather jacket...the too familiar crying...the gasket replacing an engagement ring...it all added up to one devastating conclusion.
The wreck of a woman on the ground before him was Sue.
His sister. The big sister that had protected him and looked out for him for his entire life. The big sister that always put everyone else before herself...and he just pulled a stranger off of her because he was going to do God knows what to her. He'd just saved his sister, without even realising it.
And then, he was worried. Much more worried than he'd been before when the woman was just a familiar stranger. Oh no, much more worried, because she was his sister. She was more important than anyone else, so much more important than any other pretty girl who might have been screaming in an alleyway. And that guy had hurt her. In fact, he realised dauntingly, he didn't really know what he had done, or was about to do, to her, but he was too angry to focus on that now, almost too angry to function. He was sorely tempted to go and slug the guy, cause him as much pain as his crying sister was sobbing out. Given the chance, he might have killed him with his bare hands.
But what stopped him was the sight of his sister on the ground, the new outfit she'd brought the day before completely ruined with the filth of the alley, the heels of the shoes, which he now remembered to be the ones she'd worn to her junior prom, because he'd been forced to traipse around shoe shops all day with her, completely snapped from her struggle to get free, and her hair was laced with grime and God knows what other dirty substances from being forced against the wall. There, she sat, helpless and hopeless, so alone, so small, so vulnerable...she'd never looked like that before, not to Johnny. She'd always been so strong, and at that moment she wasn't even trying to be strong. That was hurt him, the fact that all the defences she'd worked her life to build up had been shattered in an instant. It cut him inside, so deeply that it might have been a knife to his chest.
If he hadn't been walking down that street...
Any alternative didn't bare thinking about. Would the stranger have killed her, just because she struggled? Any thought just made him angrier, but, this was his sister, a shadow of her usual self, collapsed on the ground, and he was just stood there, immobilized by fear, worry and a million other emotions he'd never had reason to feel for her before as he struggled with himself.
"This the girl?" A cop said as he came to Johnny's side, looking down at the sobbing woman. Thankfully, he didn't recognise her with her hidden face.
"Yeah." Johnny said, finding his voice beneath the lump that had formed in his throat, choking him.
"Has she said anything, about what happened to her?"
Johnny shook her head. "I think...I think she's too scared."
The cop nodded. "We're taking the guy back to the station. He says he wants to make a statement. We'd best take her there, we need to find out what happened from her-"
"No." Johnny insisted quickly. "No, I'll take her home." The policeman looked at him strangely. "I know her." He explained. "She's...she's a friend. I'll take her home."
"She shouldn't be on her own after this."
"She won't be." He told him. "I'm going to be with her. I'll stay with her." He couldn't allow them to take her home, because the moment she raised her head, they'd see that the woman that lay crumbled on the ground was one quarter of the superhero team that the city worshipped. The publicity that would hit them when it was revealed that the Invisible Woman had been attacked would be devastating, especially to Sue, who already suffered immensely when it came to publicity attacks on everything they did. Too much had happened already for her tonight, without any added strain from the outside world that she already hated so much. Even the good publicity got to her, so he hated to think of what this would do to her.
"Here's my card." The cop said, holding out a card that showed his name to be Detective Robert Tressman. "The station has your contact number, Mr. Storm, so I'll call you when we've got a statement out of him, let you know how this is going ahead."
Johnny nodded, and Tressman walked away. The cops finished up and left, with orders to get Johnny to bring the woman to the station when she was up to it to make a statement. And then, it was just him and her. Him, and his big sister, the woman who had basically raised him from the age of seven when their mother died. Him, and his beloved sister, who was currently sobbing her heart out in a cold, wet alleyway.
Finally, he regained the use of his legs, at least, enough to be able to take the extra steps towards her, but when he reached her side...he didn't know what to do. He didn't know what he could do. Was there something specific he was meant to do? If there was, he had forgotten it. So, at a loss of anything better, he dropped down to the ground beside her, not even bothering to cast a thought to whatever grime was now sticking to the new Levi jeans he'd brought that morning. He sighed when she didn't notice him beside her. As a teenager, she'd had eyes in the back of her head when it came to him, but now, she didn't even know that he was right beside her.
He sat there for a moment, wondering what on Earth he could do to comfort her, and then he reached his hand out, bringing it down slowly onto her shoulder to offer her comfort, or, at least, try to offer it.
She jumped under his touch, and she immediately looked up at him, terrified beyond belief for a moment as she wondered who it was beside her. Yet, when she saw that it was her younger brother that was sat beside her on the alley ground, everything that was building up exploded. She leaned forwards, all but flying into his arms as she flung her arms around his neck, sobbing harder against his shoulder. Johnny was already sat fully on the ground, but pulled her body forward, away from the wall and closer to him so that they were sat side to side, just facing different directions. She didn't raise her head once to look around her, and all that she was aware of was that she wasn't alone, and that the person she was with was her brother, someone she trusted. She was trembling so hard that her tremors passed on to his own body.
"Oh, Susie..." He breathed, taken aback by her reaction. "Oh, God, sis, what did he do to you?"
He was still pissed off, that was undeniable. Maybe he was even more annoyed than he had been before, he was losing track of his emotions now, because Sue was clinging to him in the same way that, as a young child after their mothers death, he had clung to her several times. The immense worry he had for his sister scared him. He didn't think he'd ever been so worried about her. But, regardless, he held her tightly, smoothing the now-grimy hair down flat again, and holding her so tightly that it almost seemed he was afraid she were about to be snatched away. He kept his powers under check, concentrating the whole time on not allowing any smoke to start heating off his body. With Sue holding him so close, he'd end up burning her.
All the time, he spoke to her, whispering and murmuring things that made little sense, but assured her that he was there. He let her know that it was okay now, trying to make her see that he wasn't going to allow anything to happen to her. She never spoke a word in reply, even when he started apologizing. He wasn't even sure why he was apologizing, perhaps it was because he should have been there sooner, or perhaps it was because he just hadn't been able to prevent the entire situation, just repeating over and over again, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."
Then, the rational side of his brain, now completely void of alcohol, it seemed, started working. This was Susan Storm. The Invisible Woman. The woman that had raised him into the man that he was when their mothers death had shattered their family. She was a hero as much as he was, perhaps more so for reasons before their genetic development. Since they had been established as superheroes, there had been many muggings and robberies that had resulted in their only female team member being held hostage momentarily. Of course, no harm had ever come to her, but the fact remained that she had been held at gunpoint, which was worse than what had appeared to have happened. She'd been threatened with death as much as the rest of them, and yet she'd never, ever, been this scared before. Too many times she'd been close to death with their new line of work, and yet she'd never been in a state like this. Not recently. Not ever.
So, what had happened this time to make her so afraid? Usually, after a momentary hostage situation, she was a little shaken up once the adrenaline wore off, but all it took was a cuddle from Reed, her much loved fiancé, and all the panic and trembles wore away. This time, she was holding Johnny in a death grip, and that worried him even more.
He pulled her away from him gently, trying to see if she had been hurt anywhere, so he would know whether he needed to get her to a hospital or whether he could just take her home. Prying her arm away from her stomach, he opened her jacket a little so that he could check the area. She had been clutching it as if she were bleeding from here, but there was no blood staining her arm or the jacket. She appeared to be fine, physically. All the while, he kept talking to her, worried that she might break down harder the minute his voice stopped. He wasn't even aware of what he was saying to her anymore, but he tried to get her to calm down, envying all the time how Reed managed to calm her with nothing more than a few whispered words and a gentle embrace. He'd never be sarcastic about it again.
Well, maybe he would...just not for a while.
Thankfully, she wasn't physically hurt anywhere, and while she didn't appear to be in any pain, it was obvious that she was hurting. Her injury, though, was more mental than physical. What was worse, blood pouring from a wound, or the mental leakage of courage and strength that had already happened? That was sure to leave a scar on her mind, one that couldn't be repaired by any doctor, no matter how good they were.
"Sue...Susie, look at me." He directed, bringing her shaking head to face him. Tears streaked down her pasty pale face, having cried for so long now that even the trails of mascara had disappeared from her skin. "Susie, what did he do to you?" He asked her softly. He knew that he shouldn't ask her. He knew that it was just going to make her feel even worse, but no matter how bad it would make her feel, he had to ask. He had to know. If he didn't know, he couldn't help her. "Please, Susie, you have to tell me. You have to tell me so I can help you."
However, no words had been spoken before by her, and no words were spoken now. She just looked at him, biting her quivering like she was three years old. Shaking her head, she looked back down into his shoulder, not answering him. Whatever it was, it was that bad that his usual chatterbox of a sister was reduced to silence. So, he just pulled her back against him, hugging her tightly. Promising her that she was alright, and that he'd keep her safe, and that he'd take her home to Reed...
He didn't notice the handbag on the ground beside her until a shrill ringing came from inside it...some old 80's pop song that she used to play as a teenager that he'd downloaded as a ring tone last week for her. The opening bars of a Cyndi Lauper song played into the quiet alley, and he reached out for her bag, slipping his hand inside and taking out the phone. The caller I.D showed that Reed was calling her. Turning back to Sue, the lyrics to 'Time After Time' continued to play into the silence around them. She hadn't spoken yet, and he knew that she wasn't going to answer the phone himself, so he flipped it open and held it to his own ear.
"Reed."
"Johnny?" Reed's voice questioned instantly. "Is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me." He confirmed.
"Are you with Sue?" He asked.
He looked down at his trembling sister. "Yeah, I'm with Sue." He confirmed, hoping to God that Reed couldn't hear her gentle sobbing.
"Is she okay? One of her friends called to make sure that she got back all right but she isn't home yet."
Was she okay? Definitely not. "We're on our way back now." Johnny told him, choosing not to answer Reed's question. Could he tell him? Could he tell him over the phone what had just happened? What Sue had been through? Of course he couldn't. "I met up with her getting a cab, but it's impossible to get one this time of night." He lied. "We're walking back. We're only a few blocks away, we'll be home soon."
"Can I have a word with her?"
He looked at her, eyebrows raised, waiting to see if she had been listening to the conversation. She simply stared at the phone, breathing heavily, and he noticed for the first time that she had stopped crying, and it was no secret why. She'd heard Reed's voice, and that alone had calmed her a little. It was distant, to be sure, but she'd heard his voice through the phone all the same.
He held out the phone to her, and as she was still shaking, she found it impossible to grip it without dropping it, so he held it out for her. She placed her ear against the handset, and listened to the voice of her fiancé distorted by the phone call. She still didn't say anything, but her breathing started to regulate by focusing on his voice.
Struck by an idea, Johnny took the phone back from her. "Reed-"
"What's happened, Johnny, and don't you dare lie to me." Reed said, his tone taking on a warning to it as he spoke immediately. Hearing Sue's breathing down the phone with its shakiness and occasional choked sob had told him all that he needed to hear.
"I can't tell you over the phone." Johnny said. "I know that this is bad, but we're almost home." He assured him. "The only reason she's calm is because of your voice, before you called she was a wreck, so I need you to keep on talking to her even if she doesn't reply."
Reed agreed, and Johnny handed the phone back to Sue, this time making her told on to the handset. She pressed it to her ear, and with the shaking breaths, Reed started talking to her. As she began to calm again, Johnny slipped his arms beneath her, one underneath her knees, and one across her back, and he lifted her up into his arms. Her broken shoes hung from her feet, and she didn't try to fight the help that he offered her.
He started to walk the remaining blocks to the Baxter building, all the time, Sue remained calm with Reed's voice beside her, even though he wasn't there in person. She was calmer, but Johnny wasn't. He was still extremely angry. Someone had done this to his sister. His chatterbox sister had been reduced to silence, out of fear, and that pissed him off, and still, he blocked his mind from wondering what it was that had made her so quiet.
He was just so scared.
He could hear Reed through the silence of the street, begging Sue to reply to his voice as he tried to figure out what happened to her. Reed's worry made him all the more angry. He just wanted to make everything alright, and he knew that the only chance of doing that was to take her to Reed. Reed would make it alright for her. He hoped so anyway, because if Reed couldn't help her, he didn't think anyone could. If Reed couldn't help her, he didn't know when he'd be able to calm down. It was what Reed did. When Sue went overboard, he calmed her down.
After what seemed like an age, they reached the Baxter building. For once, Johnny was glad that the crowds of reporters and screaming fans weren't there. It was empty, with the barriers that usually kept them back standing like useless ornaments outside the apartment building. It was better that way. It was better that no one saw her like this. He stepped through the doors, pushing them open with his back and turning through the doors so that he didn't have to put Sue down. He wasn't sure she had strength in her to walk, stand, or do anything other than hold the cell phone to her ear.
Ignoring the curious look for the doorman, he stepped into the elevator. He pressed the button for the twentieth floor, watching the doors close them in to complete silence, other than the distant scratching sound of Reed's voice. Holding onto to Sue with just one arm, and glad for his enhanced strength, he took the phone from her. She responded by putting her arms around his neck and burying her face in his shoulder.
"Reed, it's me." Johnny spoke into the phone, surprised at how void of emotion his voice appeared to be.
"Where are you?" Reed asked.
"We're in the elevator. We'll be there in a second." He said, before flipping the phone closed and putting it into his pocket, dreading Reed complaining about his phone bill later that month. He sighed, hearing the gentle sobs that had begun again, and he gripped her tighter. "We're home, Susie, we're home." He assured her in a whisper.
The elevator doors opened, and Reed was already standing there waiting for them, the second the metal doors parted. His anxious look dissolved instantly, replaced with one considerably similar to devastation as he looked at Sue. There's something in the eyes of a man, as he looks at the woman he loves in a trembling wreck, that brings out the child-like fears that used to occur on Halloween nights. It was always fun and games, taunting and teasing each other until you realised that monsters came out on Halloween nights, and the little things became bigger. The scratching on the window might not be a tree branch; the footsteps in the hall might not be your sibling going to the bathroom; the dark shape on the other side of the room might not be a balled up sweater that got forgotten in that morning's washing pile. That year, the members of the Fantastic Four had learnt that not all Halloween horrors were monsters in the closets.
His expression didn't change as he stood there, watching his soon-to-be wife shaking uncontrollably in her brother's arms. It was as if something inside of the great Reed Richards had deserted him. It was the need to comfort Sue that showed the most, but what had left his intuition was knowing how to help her. He didn't know what to do.
Making the choice for him, Johnny took a step out of the elevator, letting the doors close with a ping behind him. At the sound of the doors closing, Sue jumped a little; as she had done on the way home with every sound of a passing car, or of a cat knocking over a dustbin lid in an alleyway. "Shh." He whispered, calming her tiny jump. "We're home. It's okay. You're home, Susie."
He started to draw her away from him, and Reed, responding to his movement, stepped forward quickly, holding out his arms. It took some awkward manoeuvring between them, but they eventually passed Sue between them, and then she settled in Reed's arms. The change in motion that was no longer Johnny carrying her alerted her to the transformation, and she whimpered lightly, looking around her. However, she found that it was now Reed's deep eyes that stared down at her. Another whimper escaped her, and she put her arms around his neck, holding onto him so much more furiously than she had done with Johnny, which was saying something.
Reed turned, and walked into the living room. However, Johnny didn't immediately follow them. He turned on the spot, spinning back around to face the elevator doors. Now that Sue was being taken care of by Reed, he felt the frustration flooding back to him. It wasn't blocked by the need to comfort his sister or duty to keep the stranger away from his victim, so for the first time, he felt the full brunt of his anger flowing through his body. Bubbling beneath his skin, he felt the familiar prickles of flames licking at his body. Whilst he wasn't flamed on completely, he could see from the orange glow around him that he was charging up for it, and small flickers of smoke began to crawl around his skin. His eyes, completely blinded by the pure rage that he felt, glowed the same orange, the same colour as burning hot embers at the centre of a flame.
Lashing out, his fist connected with the hard metal of the elevator doors. The contact was so sudden that his knuckles complained instantly, and he knew from the immediate inflammation that he would suffer a large bruise there the next morning. However, the anger started to seep away. Not completely, of course, because he could hear in the background that his sister was crying again, but he felt better with himself. The pain that spread through his knuckles wasn't the only physical damage, either, as the elevator doors now had a black dusting of a scorch mark surrounding the area of contact.
He turned around, going into the living room. Reed, of course, deserved an explanation of what had happened; he needed to know why his fiancée was broken in his arms. When he reached the living room, he found the scene before him almost broke his own heart, even though he wasn't nearly as emotionally involved as the other two there.
Sitting on the couch, Reed was reclined against the back cushions. In his arms, Sue sat facing him, her legs wrapped around his waist as if he were holding a child against him. She never raised her head, not even once, to look around herself, to confirm that she was, in fact, home, just like Johnny had promised her. All that she was aware of was that Reed was holding onto her, and that his hands were smoothing her hair, holding her so closely against him that if he were holding her any looser, both were afraid of what might happen.
Johnny went and sat on the armchair opposite them. Usually, this chair was reserved for Ben, but he had no idea where their larger friend was, so he didn't even think twice about taking this seat. He put his face over his hands for a moment, the sound of his sister's cries touching a part of his heart he'd never realised could hurt so badly. He knew what this part of him was...this was the part of him that had made a promise to his mother before she had died. The part of him that had sworn that no matter what, he'd always protect his sister. The part of him that had promised to protect her even when she wouldn't let him, no matter how much they argued and snapped at each other. The part of him that had failed that night.
"What happened to her, Johnny?"
He kept his head down for a moment. He couldn't answer that question. Not because he didn't want to, but because he didn't know. All he knew was that Sue was in an alley, being held against a wall by a crazy stranger who had followed her through the streets. So, that's what he told him.
He told Reed about walking home from the party. He told him about hearing the scream from the alley, and about how he had gone to investigate. He told him about seeing the woman, and how certain things had stood out to him about her. He told him about the stranger's story. He told him about the jacket...the hair...the ring...especially, the ring. And the crying. The uncontrollable, heart-wrenching crying. He told him about her silence, which still hadn't ended.
But that's all he could tell him. He couldn't say anything else. He didn't know anything else. He didn't know why she was so scared. He didn't know what had been going through her head when she'd been held there. He didn't even know what had happened. He wasn't going to take the strangers word on anything; he'd changed his mind halfway through. At first, he'd insisted that he hadn't known it was Sue, and then he'd said that he knew it was her and that he'd followed her on purpose. How could you trust someone like that? How could he take his word, when he'd taken his sister's courage?
It was only when he tried to explain it to Reed that he realised how little he knew about what happened to his sister.
----
Sue sat staring at the television, even though the screen showed nothing but darkness. The television had been off since before they had returned to the apartment. Johnny sat in Ben's chair, watching her as she sat there. It didn't take a genius to work out that she wasn't looking at the television screen. He doubted if she could recognise something three feet before her at the moment. She appeared to be in some kind of trance, blocking out everything around her. Reed had taken her into their bedroom, and helped her to change into something more comfortable. She hadn't showered yet to remove the grime from her hair, and while neither of the men would admit it, they both knew that it wasn't good for her to shower. If the stranger's statement concluded the worst possible abuse for Sue, then she wouldn't be allowed to shower because they'd need to run tests. Johnny knew that this was going through Reed's head, because he'd placed the pile of her dirty clothes to one side in the kitchen, beside the washer rather than inside of it.
Now, she was wearing a pair of black sweat pants, with the matching jacket that was zipped up to the top. Sue would never do it up all the way, because she always wore some form of necklace. She always wore one, but would make sure that it was on show. She'd never make her outfit over-revealing to show off jewellery, but she'd say that there was no point in wearing a necklace if no one was going to see it. That was how Johnny knew that Reed had been the one to do up the zipper on the top, because he could see around her neck that the thin silver chain was still clasped around her neck; that, and her hands were still trembling too much to have done it herself.
Reed said she was in shock. She still wasn't talking, and her hands were still trembling, perhaps even her whole body. The fear in her eyes had disappeared though, replaced with a haunted, empty look that scared Johnny even more than the desperation had done when he'd first found her. She was in shock; blocking out what had happened to protect herself from it. Johnny shuddered when Reed had explained that to him; whatever had happened must have been awful for her. He knew that if he had a chance to get his hands on the stranger again, he'd kill him without question. Of course, that depends who got to him first. Reed, or himself. Reed would kill him, there was no doubt about that. After all, Sue was his fiancée, the love of his life, and this stranger had shattered her into a mere shell of her usual self.
So, she sat wordlessly, staring at the blank screen. Reed came back from the kitchen, where he had been getting her a glass of water, and the warm blanket that usually lay atop their main blankets from the bedroom was draped over his arm. He put the glass down on the table before her for a moment, and placed the blanket around her shoulders. His hands lingered on her shoulders for a while, rubbing them gently in the same way she'd do to him if he was stressed and overworking himself, but when she didn't respond, he sighed heavily.
Johnny watched the interaction strangely, almost pitying Reed. Whereas before, Sue had not been able to remain calm away from him, she now barely noticed his presence. He sat, almost as silently as Sue, watching Reed's desperate attempts to get some kind of reaction from her. However, her only reaction to his presence was so lean sideways, so that she fell against him, her head resting on the place on his shoulder that she had long since marked as her own. Reed wordless wrapped his arms around her, placing a kiss on her forehead, and letting his cheek press against the top of her head. It was hard for Johnny to watch, seeing Sue so desperate for comfort, but to exhausted and afraid to seek it out, even from Reed. In her mind, he suspected that she was still in that alley way, afraid and not entirely aware that he had rescued her and brought her home.
Reed picked up the glass of water from where he had placed it on the coffee table, not needing to move with his ability to stretch his arm the extra distance. "Sue, Susan, look at me." He tempted. She didn't, though. Her eyes stayed fixated on the space before her. "Sue, you need to drink something." He told her, unsure of if she was even listening to him, but he lifted the cup towards her anyway. She didn't move to drink, so he tenderly placed one of his hands on the back of her neck, tilting her head slightly so that he could help her to swallow just a little water. She had a few sips, and then Reed returned the glass to the coffee table. The goose bumps beneath her sweater jacket were hidden to the eye, but Reed knew they were there, even if she didn't shiver. However, her trembling wasn't starting to die down, and he retrieved the blanket from his side, laying it around her before gathering her up in his embrace once again.
"I could hear him following me."
The two men looked at each other for a moment, and then cast their gazes sharply towards Sue. Finally, she had spoken. However, her voice wasn't the happy and reassuring tone that they had each been secretly hoping to hear, it wasn't even the annoyed, irritated tone that Johnny seemed to get from her every day. No, it was no tone that could reassure them to any extent about the situation. It was a broken voice that finally responded to them, a tiny shadow of her usual voice.
"Sue..." Reed whispered gently, rubbing his hand along the top of her arm. "Sue, what happened to you, sweetheart? What did he do?"
However, she made no move to answer his question. She simply continued speaking in her own reality. "I knew I should have gotten into a cab, but I kept thinking I could lose him with the invisibility, and then he was just there, and I-"
She cut off, starting to break down a little again. She took deep breaths to calm herself, and Reed whispered to her gently. "It's alright." He assured her. Both of his arms had repeated themselves around her several times, with one hand rubbing soothing circles on her shoulder, and the other sliding down and resting casually on her stomach. He noticed that when he first came into contact with her stomach, she had flinched, something she never did with his touch, but then she relaxed under him, and seemed to try and bring his hand closer to her stomach. He was worried at this reaction, but he suspected that she was just scared because of what had happened. "No one can hurt you now." He promised her.
"He was...he was going to..." Her voice broke completely as she tried to explain, and tears fell into her cheeks once again. She surrendered to the sobs that choked her, and her cries turned into racking coughs, at which point Reed sat her up fully, and helped her to drink down some more water. When she had finished, and her coughs and cries subsided, she kept her face down to the floor, yet she didn't see the carpet at her feet because her eyes were tightly closed.
"Sue?" Reed asked again, but he didn't get a response. He sighed, holding her close again; the last thing he wanted was for Sue to shut off from him again, and start blocking him out like she had done when they'd first come into contact again after their break up. He needed to be sure that she was alright, but he couldn't know that unless she told him.
At this point, Johnny couldn't take it anymore. In the alleyway, he'd held her when she clung to him, and he'd reassured her, and he brought her home to Reed like he promised he would. He'd done whatever he felt she needed, whatever she'd asked for without words. He couldn't sit by and watch Reed struggle to help her alone. This was his sister; whether or not Reed was her fiancé, he couldn't just sit back and let his sister hurt while he did nothing.
He got up from the chair, and went over to the coffee table that stood before the couch that was occupied by Reed and Sue. The coffee table was the only place he could sit and be directly opposite her, so he didn't hesitate to slide the glass of water along so that he could sit down. There, he found himself in line with his sister, and he reached out, taking her hands in his own. "Susie?" He said softly.
She sniffed a little, raising her head from where she had been looking at the carpet. "Johnny." She said, in the same gentle tone in which he had spoken.
"Yeah, it's me." He nodded. "I'm here, and so's Reed." He pointed out. "We're right here, and we're not going anywhere, okay?"
In answer to him, she nodded back, and squeezed his hands. He tightened his own grip on them, but it wasn't enough to hurt her. Instead, it was just a bit of extra comfort that she didn't need to seek out, for it was offered to her readily. With Reed's arms wrapped around her, and Johnny holding her hands, safety and security started to dawn on her. She looked around her for a moment. She was home.
"I'm home." She said, more to herself than to the others.
Reed nodded, as her eyes fell on his as they toured the room. "You're home." He confirmed in a whisper.
She squeezed Johnny's hands tighter, and he let her without question. He remembered this action from so long ago, so long ago, in fact, he hadn't even been aware that he could remember. He'd only been seven years old when their mother died, and Sue had only been eleven, but they'd helped each other through the difficult time. He could remember the morning of the funeral, where they'd sat together through the service, and he'd tried so hard not to cry. He'd tried so hard not to give in, and to be a big, grown up boy like his mother would have told him to be, but he couldn't, and when those starting two tears had slipped down his cheeks, he had felt Sue's hand reach out and take hold of his own. The simple gesture had turned into a gateway for both of them, flooding out the truth of how they were really dealing without their mother. It was time that he could return the gesture, and by holding onto Sue's hand tightly, letting her draw strength from him, he was able to do that.
"Susie, sis, you've gotta talk to us." Johnny coaxed. She looked at him dead on, as if he were asking the impossible of her. She almost tried to pull her hands away from him, but he kept holding on until she returned his grasp again. "I know that you're scared, and I know that whatever it is he did is going to make us want to kill him, but please, sis, we can't help you unless you tell us what he did."
"He didn't do it, though." Sue told him. "He said he was going to, but he didn't."
Finally, a breakthrough. Johnny and Reed locked eyes, and then both turned their heads back to Sue. Reed's hand reached up and swept her hair behind her ears, so that it was no longer shielding her face from them, and then spoke softly to her. "Sue, what was he going to do?"
She shook her head slowly, not looking at either of them again. "I don't know how he knew." She admitted. "It was...it was impossible, he can't have known, but he did."
"Sue, what did he know?" Reed asked.
"He can't have known." She repeated. "It was...no, he just can't have known. He knew everything that I knew. How could he have known that?"
The two men both frowned. What was it that this stranger had known that had shaken her up so much. Johnny leaned closer to his sister, and tried to direct her attention to him. "Susie, look at me. Me, Sue, look at me." She raised her eyes to his. "Good, now, you're rambling." He said simply. "What is it that he knew?"
"I tried to stop him." She said, keeping her eyes locked on her brother as she shook her head. "I tried, really, I did, but if he was really going to...I wouldn't have been able to stop him. He was...he was too strong, and I couldn't control my power...it was...I wouldn't have been strong enough."
"No, Susie." Johnny told her, his tone firm but still gentle. "You're avoiding still." She opened her mouth to argue, and whilst he knew that every word she spoke could be precious information, he needed to get this across to her. "I know that you're scared. I know that, and your my big sister, and it really hurts me to see you like this. You're always looking after everyone, but now its our turn, okay? Let us look after you. Can you let us do that?" She was silent, but nodded, letting out a choked sob. "Good, that's good." He told her. "But we can't help you unless you tell us what he knew. What was it he was going to do to you?"
She blinked, and another cascade of tears fell down her cheeks.
Johnny gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "It's me, Sue." He reminded her. "I'm your brother. I might not be ten years old anymore, but I'm pretty sure I'm not too old to read your diary." He told her.
She tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. "He was going to hurt my baby." She said after a shaky breath.
As soon as the words has left her mouth, she fell against Reed again, crying. Tears filled Reed's eyes as well, and he didn't bother to hide this from Johnny. He knew that the situation was too serious for the younger man to mock him, but he still hid his face in Sue's hair as he held her, not wanting him to see the tears that spilled down his own cheeks. He managed to keep his sobs under control, but he now felt the same pain that his fiancée did. This stranger, this monster that had attacked her, had been trying to attack their child. The child that, until ten seconds ago, he hadn't known existed. He wanted to be able to take this pain away from her, but he knew that this was something that he couldn't fix; not while he was feeling it as well. He couldn't turn back time and make sure that she never heard those threats, and never felt the fear, and there was no way to erase it.
Someone had threatened to hurt their child. Why? Was it a simple crazed attempt to destroy the lives of the heroes? Was it something more sinister? Was this man part of a bigger organisation? Did he have a grudge, or was he simply making a mark of his own on the world by destroying a life?
It explained why she had flinched at his touch when he had placed his hand on her stomach. Whether or not she knew it was him that was holding her in that moment, the fear of her unborn child being harmed was still fresh in her mind. To shy away from the touch of the area she had been fighting to protect was an instinct, and she had shown that when she had then leaned closer to his touch afterwards. She'd wanted to feel the comfort he could provide; she wanted to feel the touch of the child's father, knowing that it was more than she felt she could provide herself. Her fear, like she acknowledged, had prevented her force fields from working, especially with her emotions so distracted by the maternal hormones that were telling her to protect her child, but the fear was compromising those actions, preventing any defence she could provide.
Reed didn't know how long he had held her for, or for how long she had cried, but when her sobs had finally ceased, she lifted her head from his shoulder to see that he also had the remains of tears in his eyes, dangerously brimming on the edges of his eyelids. Johnny still held tight to her hands, but allowed his sister the moment with Reed, trying to come to terms with the information himself. Pregnant. His sister was pregnant. Sue and Reed were going to have a baby, and that bastard of a stranger had tried to take that away from them.
"Reed...I'm sorry." She said through half-sobs. "I didn't mean for it to happen..."
"I know, it's okay." He said softly, cupping her cheek gently and stroking his thumb along her jaw line. "Don't you apologize for what he did."
"If I'd been able to control..."
"No 'ifs', Sue." He told her. "This wasn't your fault."
"But he knew...he knew when no one else knew...how could he have known?" She asked, hoping for an answer, but getting none.
"I don't know." He shook his head, having no answer for her. "But it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you're safe, and our baby is safe, and that monster is locked up now."
"It was horrible." She sniffed. "I just...I couldn't get away from him, and when I almost did he just held tighter and..." She broke off for a moment, taking deep breaths again. "He was going to hurt my baby." She repeated. "He said that I didn't deserve to be happy. That I didn't deserve to be a mother."
Reed was heartbroken by the desperation she was showing. This wasn't the Sue he was used to. He'd not seen her cry many times, but when he had done, it had been his fault mainly, and he'd been able to apologize and stop her tears. Now, however, this was something else that was making her cry. The reason for her tears was the reason he was choking back his own. They'd created a life, and someone had been out to destroy that life.
"Hey," He whispered, raising her chin to face him once again. "I love you." He told her with a gentle smile. For a moment, he was pleased to see that a spark of her usual cheerful self had appeared in her eyes when he told her that, but the current situation forced it back down again.
She shook her head. "I don't know what's going to happen now." She admitted quietly, with an edge of fear in her voice, as she grasped her brothers hand so tightly that he could feel her fingernails embedding half-moon crescents in his palm.
"I'll tell you what's going to happen." Reed said clearly. "We're going to get married soon, just like we planned, and we're going to have this baby, and lots of other babies, and we're going to be happy, because we deserve to be happy, and we deserve to be happy together." He told her, letting the hand that was resting on her cheek trail upwards and through her blonde hair. "Whatever happens, we'll have it together. We're a team, you and me. You just tell me what I can do to help you, and I'll do it." He swore to her.
"Just ... don't let me go, okay?" She said pleadingly.
Reed nodded, and she curled against him. At that moment, Johnny's cell phone began to ring, attracting Reed's attention. Johnny stood up, slowly releasing his sister's hands. She looked at him questioningly when she found her hands lying limp in her lap.
"It's the police." He explained simply, stepping away from his sister and her fiancée so that he could take the call.
Whilst Johnny took the phone into the kitchen, Reed lifted Sue into his arms, and took her into their bedroom. He lay her down, and when she had gotten comfortable, he lay down beside her, pressing his cheek against the back of her neck once more, and wrapping his arm around her waist; his other arm propping him up at the elbow with his head resting on his hand. The warm blanket was still around her, but he had pulled the duvet up so that it covered them both, and she found herself drawing more warmth from his chest than he did from the blanket. After a few moments of laying still, Sue turned to lay on her other side, so that she was facing Reed. Her head rested on the pillow right beneath Reed's head, and she curled up against his chest, his arm now curling around her back and sprawling itself protectively over her lower stomach, where their unborn child now rested just as safely as it's mother.
He placed a kiss to her temple. "I've got you." He whispered into the silence of the room. "I love you."
"Love you too." She replied in a faint whisper, closing her eyes as she fell into an uneasy, nightmare filled sleep, every time waking to see Reed still watching over her.
----
Sue awoke the next morning to see Reed still watching over her, dark circles pressed under his eyes as he had clearly not slept. Usually, she would have scolded him for going another night without sleep, perhaps spent in the lab, but as she opened her mouth to do so, the memories came flooding back to her. Reed had noticed the usual glitter in Sue's eye as she woke up, even though she appeared groggy, and he saw how quickly it had disappeared, becoming replaced with the haunted look where the memories of the previous night had grasped hold of her once more. He leaned down, and pressed a comforting kiss to her forehead.
"It's okay." He told her.
Sue sighed, and nodded, sitting up slowly in the bed. Reed put his hand on her back when she faltered weakly, and she put a hand to her head, shaking the dizziness from it. Clearly, this was an effect of the morning sickness. Morning sickness...she was pregnant...the baby?
"The baby's fine." Reed assured her, which alerted her to the fact that she had been speaking her fears aloud.
Together, they went into the kitchen, Sue bundled up against the autumn chill in Reed's thick bathrobe. She had one of her own, but wearing Reed's helped her feel closer to him. She sat down at the kitchen table, the smell of cooking bacon warming her from the inside, and she alerted herself to the realisation that Johnny was cooking breakfast. He caught her gaze, giving her his usual cocky smile, but there was something in it that hadn't been there a few days before. There was less playfulness, but there was sympathy. A sympathy that she was grateful for, but at the same time, she hated.
Still, she managed to show him a weak smile in return, but it felt empty, and they both sensed that. Even though Johnny had been her saviour, she still didn't feel entirely safe, not even in her own home. The stranger had known that she was pregnant, which was only possible to know if he had been in their apartment. She'd taken the test the previous morning, and she'd planned to tell Reed over dinner the next day, which she supposed would be now. However, he knew. He knew that she was pregnant now, because she'd told them both last night.
Johnny placed a glass of water down before her, whilst Reed sat down at her side. "Thank you." She said softly, whilst she sipped at it slowly.
"You want anything to eat?" He asked her.
She shook her head slowly. "No, I'm alright." She said, even though she was far from alright. However, she was still able to notice that the dejected look on her brother's face, and realised that he'd gone out of his way to make breakfast for her. She looked back at him again, and asked him simply. "Can you save me some? I'm just not hungry yet. Morning sickness." She explained, even though the real reason she wasn't hungry was because she was still sick to her stomach at the thought of this stranger possible having watched her.
Reed noticed the despair in her eyes, and put his hand over hers at the table. "Hey." He said softly, so that Johnny couldn't overhear them where he was putting some breakfast aside for Sue. "It's going to be okay." He told her.
She felt unable to hold his gaze, and looked away. But after a few seconds, she looked back at him. "Is it?" She asked doubtfully.
He nodded firmly, never breaking eye contact. "I promise." His eyes were filled with determination; an emotion which, at the moment, Sue lacked severely. She would have been quite content to lay in bed forever, letting life pass her by when she sank further into herself, until everything ended, and there would be no more pain, no more fear, but she knew that she couldn't do that. She knew that she had to get up every morning, and eat breakfast, and stay hydrated, and more importantly, stay positive, because of the baby. At the end of the day, Reed could be as much help as possible, but she had the majority of the responsibility to look after their child.
She just had to keep listening to the front of her mind; the part that told her that Reed was never leaving; the part that seemed to take instruction from the very man sat before her.
"I uh...I spoke to the police last night." Johnny said, coming to sit at the table with them.
"And?" Reed asked.
"The guys name was Kenneth Marlowe." Johnny explained. "He was arrested after an arson attack that we put the fire out on; downtown on the apartment block. He tried to go back into the building when he realised that his daughter was still inside. Three years old. She didn't make it. Fire fighters had already found her body before we even got there. He thought it was our fault though."
"How did he know I was pregnant?" Sue asked quietly.
Johnny looked at her for a moment, unsure that he should tell her in case it scared her, but realised it would scare her more not to know. "He was released from prison last week. Got out on bail. He...uh...he was stalking you, Sue." He said gently, watching as his sister merely nodded, her fears confirmed. "That's how he knew about the baby. He saw it as his way to get revenge for something we weren't to blame for in the first place."
"What's going to happen to him?" Reed asked.
"They sentenced him early this morning." Johnny said, glancing at the clock which now read 10.23am. "He's going to jail, no questions asked. He admitted everything. He admitted to stalking, revenge, and intent to harm Sue and the baby."
"So...he can't get us?" Sue asked, a tiny voice replacing her own.
Johnny nodded. "He can't get you." He confirmed. "By the time this guy gets out of the slammer, this baby will be in college."
Sue sighed, relief flooding through her body. Despite how long the event would last in her nightmares, it was a great weight off her shoulders to know that this Kenneth Marlowe would never be able to hurt the baby, like he'd promised her he would. They were safe. They weren't going to be hurt.
"Now, the important question is..." Johnny announced suddenly, grasping his sister's attention again. "...do I get to be Godfather?"
And that was it. That was the moment that Sue really realised that they were going to be okay. She knew that she'd get past this, and that her child was going to grow up happy and healthy, and all the things that the stranger in the alley had said that she didn't deserve to give to a child. She'd be able to watch her baby grow up into a wonderful man or woman, and see them go from success to success with anything they put their heart to. They'd have a family that loved them, no matter what, no questions asked. And she'd love them with all her heart, as would Reed, because this was their child, the baby they'd created through love. A child created through a romantic love, but rescued by a sibling love.
Sue reached over the table and took her brother's hands, giving him a watery smile. "Johnny, you saved our lives." She reminded him. "If it wasn't for you last night, there might not have even been a baby this morning. Being a Godfather isn't enough to make it up to you."
He frowned. "But...I still get to be one, right?" He checked.
She nodded. "Of course, you do." She said. "But I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough for what you did last night."
He looked towards the mountainous pile of washing up that had gathered as a result of his attempt of cooking. "Well...if you really want to say thank you..." He said, watching as she followed his eyes.
"Johnny!"
"Relax, I'm kidding." He assured her, smiling at his sister. "I'm just glad you're okay, sis." He grinned at her.
She smiled back at him, because thanks to him, she was okay.
Okay, that might just be the longest one-shot I've ever written, and its taken my ages...thanks again to Emma, for being my brother and my sister all in one lovely random bundle of madness! Press the lovely purple button...you know you want to! Reviews make more stories!