Disclaimer: I do not own the Fantastic Four, thankfully, they seem to distroy a lot of stuff at in the Baxter Building.
Author's Note: I can't image that Reed Richard has an easy time getting a long stretch (no pun intended) of time for important scientific work with Johnny and Ben's fighting, heroing to be done, and a wife and two children to look after. Thus, I give you: Reed's trying day.
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Interruptions, Always Interruptions!
The Fantastic Four had been abnormally busy of late, even for them, and Reed Richards had an unearthly amount of research to catch up on. The Fionic Force Fields needed to be tested, Hank McCoy has asked him to look over his notes on a new machine the X-men had discovered, equations needed to be run for his consult on NASA's new space ship, and he had three new inventions that had barely made it past the theory stage because he'd been so busy recently. At breakfast that morning he had informed everyone that they were not to disturb him unless it was an emergency, although given how frequently emergencies popped at the Baxter Building that did not say quite as much as one would think.
However, despite it all, Reed was highly optimistic about his day. There was every indication that maybe, just maybe, this would be a calm quiet day. Now on a lovely spring day most would be avoiding work, not anticipating it, but no one said Reed Richards was the average person. Reed loved his work, he loved discovering new things, helping improve people's lives, and the pure wonder that was the world of science. Just the thought of an uninterrupted day of research and development sent tingles of excitement down his spine.
While having both parts of your life combined by living and working together with your family, your team, and your best friends could be both time saving and fun, at times there were drawbacks. Such as when your bored brother-in-law decides to wonder into your lab and bother you while you were working on how to make a very complex new invention. Needless to say however, the frustration of the whole situation was lost on Johnny Storm.
"Hey Reed, whatcha up to?"
"I'm working, Johnny."
"You don't say…You? Work? Never!"
"Did you need something, Johnny?"
"Hmmm…besides fame, fortune, Scandinavian twins in a hot tub, a '65 Porsche, and an inescapable prison for Doom…not really…"
"Then leave me alone, Johnny."
"Geez, the guy just can't relax to save his life…work, work, work…all the time…"
"Sigh."
Ah, peace again at last! Hmm… time to work on that chemical formula that had been hovering around in the back of his mind. Fascinating… the results were a little different than he'd expected… perhaps the carbon bonding had reacted with the….
All was well for an hour. Until…
"Hey Egghead, we got a big baddie to go bash! You'd better get suited up. Sue and the matchstick are already takin' the kids to Pete's so we can go put the nut away."
Unfortunately the large orange mass of Benjamin Grim was neither imagined nor easy to ignore, so the Fantastic Four's courageous leader gave his beakers one last longing look before turning his attention to disposing New York of the minor superpowered menace as quickly as possible. Maybe if he planned it well, they'd be back in only half an hour and he could get back to work...
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It was a dirty and slightly more tired Dr. Richards that stepped back into his lab an hour latter. The villain had not been difficult to deal with, but it had required a lot of creative stretching on his part and he had been accidentally hit by one of his wife's force fields and flung into the mud at one point because he'd been distracted by the calculations he needed to run for NASA.
Reed ignored the dirty uniform and simply wiped his face before beginning to work on the initial calculations for the NASA simulations and thinking over the bugs need to be worked out of the force-field prototypes. It was a testament to devotion that the overly disturbed scientist actually turned as he heard his wife's footsteps half an hour later, dragging his attention from the physics equations he was running. Getting his full attention before she even spoke was quite an accomplishment. Also, he knew from prior experience that ignoring Sue was trouble, and not usually worth the cost of the repercussions.
"Hi Honey, could you do me a favor?"
"Ah, sure…what do you need?"
"Johnny and I are taking Franklin shopping for new pants. He's been growing like a weed and he's completely out grown almost all of his old ones. And I don't really want to take the baby with us while we're shopping, because…"
Reed's mind started to wonder back to the equation. …..E4 over Sin squared equals…..
"…So, you're in charge of Valeria while we're gone."
"Reed?"
"Huh? Sure Honey, that sounds good…"
"You heard that you're watching the baby?"
"speed compared to velocity would make…"
"Sigh, I guess you'll figure it out."
While Dr. Richards' mind vaguely registered that his wife had said more and then left, it was so engrossed in the Fionic force field prototype by the time she returned that he didn't realize she was there until a wiggling baby was pressed into his chest. Thankfully the instincts of an experienced father kicked in and he extended his arms to wrap around the baby while keeping his hands free to fiddle with the machine. All before he even realized what exactly was going on. Looking down in surprise at his daughter, he moved his gaze onto his wife's amused face.
"Uh, why do I have Val?"
"You're babysitting while I'm shopping with Franklin, remember"
"Technically, it's not exactly babysitting if it's your own child."
"Fine, you're sharing the responsibility of our youngest child, while Johnny and I take Franklin to the mall."
"Where's the nanny anyway?"
"It's her day off."
"Ben?"
"O'Malley's Bar. You're watching her, Reed."
As much of a workaholic as Reed Richards has been known to be, spending enough quality time with his children was never an issue. So, he took this latest setback in his plans quite well and kissed his wife good-bye while he tried to figure out a way to watch an active nine-month-old and still get some work done.
"You two have fun. Try not to get so wrapped up in work that you lose the baby!"
"When have I ever endangered the children!"
"Are you sure you want me to answer that, Geeky Guy?"
"I still lodge a protest with the Devoted Fathers League about that comment."
"Fine, Fine. See you in a few hours!"
"I guess we're having Daddy-daughter day at the lab then, huh Val?"
The blonde cherub just gurgled up adoringly at him.
"Hmm…it's a good thing I still have a few of your toys down here…Mommy left all your stuff upstairs."
Reed set up a blanket and toys on the floor near him for the baby to play on, as he finished working on the prototype and moved on to some of his other tasks. Which would have worked out very well if Val had been a little younger; but as it was, she was firmly into that stage of life where an infant crawls everywhere and gets into everything they can get their hands on. For instance, the crawling infant had tried to pull down several items on the surrounding surfaces (the flexible father had managed to grab all but one from ten feet away.) and Reed had to keep grabbing the baby and pulling her back to keep her nearby. Finally, the brilliant scientist arrived at a brilliant solution.
"How would you like to test Daddy's new force-fields? We can see how well they work on biological material as well as protecting against explosions and massively dense objects. Sound like fun, baby girl?"
And thus, Valeria Richards was placed in the highest tech playpen ever created. This did work quite well for an hour or so, until Valeria began to get rather hungry from her busy day and threw several toys over the two-foot force fields that contained her.
Sadly, Val had decided to start complaining about the lack of food while her father had been in the middle of a phone conversation with Hank McCoy and running several computer simulations that required his attention. Luckily, the small refrigerator that housed several experiments also had a supply of milk for the baby and Reed still had an empty baby bottle on one of his desks. Unluckily as he extended his arms to reach and pour the while holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder and watching the simulations he knocked over a beaker, a microscope, and a pile of papers over. The microscope he managed to catch with his extended legs, but the mess of paper, liquid and broken glass remained as he tried to finish bottling his screaming daughter's snack.
Quickly, finishing up his phone conversation, he tried to get the microscope onto a safe place, clean the mess up, and finally give his daughter her bottle. Then the phone rang again, causing him to completely twist his limbs around each other as he answered it.
"Yes General, the tests seem to be going pretty well. I should have fully conclusive results in two days or so."
Reed Richards twisted more see the computer screens and give the results to the General, while still gathering papers, sweeping up glass, and dabbing wet floor.
"Thank you sir, I'll let you know…"
Valeria started to fuss again about the lost toys outside her force field.
"Uh… Just a sec, Val! Daddy's kind of tangled up right now…" the small wail of distress that answered him gave the distinct impression that she was not happy about waiting. "Alright, alright, I'll get them now…"
Reaching for the toys he only tangled himself more as he finished up his tasks, the last toy stretching his limbs out even more as he tried to get around his leg to put it in the playpen. Now trying valiantly to untie his twisted limbs, the daring Dr. Richards only found himself more tangled up into a ball of rubber arms and legs. "Drat!"
"Well, I'm open to suggestions, if you have any, baby girl."
The now contented infant just stared back at him innocently.
Luckily for frazzled father and his force-field bound child, the returning adventurers were just arriving home. Unfortunately for the embarrassed Reed, Johnny was the first to reach the lab, or more precisely, Johnny's voice as he rounded the corner from the elevators in the other room.
"Hey Reed, you missed some major action at the mall. Shopping was a bummer, the food was so-so, but man, the girls there were hot, hot, hot, as in as hot as my butt, hot."
"Not that there is any time when I would EVER like to hear about your rear end, but if there was, now would not be it, Johnny!"
"What happened to you?" The blond daredevil held his stomach in laughter as he stared at his brother-in-law. "Hey sis! Your geek is all tangled up again!"
Three heads popped around the corner in stair step succession: Franklin, Sue, and Ben's
"Reed? What on earth are you doing?" Susan Richards was now glaring at her husband with her hands on her hips. "And how do you expect to take care of the baby when you're getting into this sort of situation, is beyond me!"
"What happened, Stretch? You have a fight with a taffy machine?"
"You look really silly, Dad."
"Thank you Franklin, I've always wanted to hear that. Would you all please just help me get untangled…? And let me work in peace!"
"Touchy isn't he?" commented the still highly amused Johnny.
"Sure Egghead, whatever you say." Ben Grim began working to put his best friend's limbs to right, while said friend's wife retrieved the infant from her high-tech prison. "There, I've got you half-way undone already."
"Come on kiddos, let's let daddy fume in privacy…" Sue ushered Franklin out of the lab and towards the kitchen for a snack, while carrying his sister.
This is when the unusually quiet Human Torch decided to make the comment he'd been considering for the last few minutes.
"Hey Reed, does this ever happen to when you and Sue…you know…"
"Johnny?"
"Yeah?"
"Get out!"
END