Chapter 1:
"Thank you for flying Southwest Airlines," the kind voice of the flight attendant said over the intercom. "We hope you enjoyed your trip. Come see us again!" You could hear the overenthusiastic smile in her voice. It made Jessica feel sick to her stomach after her six-hour flight to New York. Jessica could have sworn that the overweight man who sat next to her had snored for the entire flight, except for the few moments in which he awoke to eat his (and Jessica's) peanuts. She was not in a good mood at all.
The only thing that cheered her up was thinking that she would soon be reunited with a childhood friend. Reed Richards and Jessica Owens had been neighbors and good friends all through high school, until he graduated and went to college out of state and they lost touch. Now he was getting married, and she knew she would never forgive herself if she missed the wedding. Besides, who could ignore a personal invitation from Reed Richards?
So, it was for that reason that Jessica squeezed past the overweight man, causing him to startle awake and frantically demand to know where he was. Jessica simply smiled and shrugged as she yanked her backpack out of the overhead storage, put on her sunglasses, even though the sun was already setting, and made her way to the terminal. She collected her luggage, but after this she was not quite sure what to do. Was Reed sending someone to meet her? Should she rent a car? Should she call a cab? Jessica knew she should have planned this out ahead of time, but she had apparently forgotten this detail as she was caught up in the excitement of being reunited with Reed. However, Jessica was known to get worried and stressed easily, and this fact was quite apparent at this particular moment. You could blame it on her tough childhood, or the fact that she had run out of Midol, but her emotions were quite fragile. She had realized in recent years that she was extremely prone to fainting, and she was particularly afraid that she may faint in the middle of JFK International Airport.
Jessica was supposed to be at Reed's house in thirty minutes, and she knew that she could not procrastinate her decision any longer. So, she finally decided to rent a car. The process didn't take as long as she had anticipated, and she was soon ready to load up her bags and be on her way to her hotel. Once she had loaded her luggage into the car, Jessica realized that she had extra time to kill, and decided to grab a cup of coffee. She parked her rental car on the curb, walked to the Starbucks on the corner, and asked the nice young man for a grande mocha latte. As she waited for her drink to be made, she looked around. A particularly handsome man who was walking toward the door happened to catch her eye. She almost smiled, but then he winked and she immediately looked away. "Never trust a wink-er," she whispered under her breath.
"Jessica," the barista called.
She collected her drink, added some sugar and walked out the door, heading to the place where she had parked her car at the curb. She was taking her first sip when a man walked straight into her. She let out a small shriek and swung her arms out and hit the man square in the stomach, spilling her coffee and dropping the cup and her purse in the process. She turned to give the man a piece of her mind, but was surprised when she found that it was the man who had winked at her moments before.
"I'm really sorry," he said. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." He began to bend down to pick up her purse, but Jessica beat him to it.
"No problem," Jessica said, even though she had hot coffee dripping down one arm. He had some coffee dripping down the front of his shirt, as well. "I'm sorry about your shirt," she said. "It was a reflex."
"Don't worry about it," he said, smiling as he reached down and picked up the empty cup on the ground. He extended his hand to help her up. "Listen, I'm sorry about your drink. Why don't you let me buy you another one," he offered, as he took a step toward the door.
"Actually, I should be going," Jessica said, ignoring his outstretched hand and lifting herself up off the ground on her own. "Thank you, though."
"Well, I hope I'll see you again sometime," he said.
Jessica nodded as she opened her car door and began to step in.
"What's your name?" He yelled after her.
She crossed her arms and leaned against the door. "Jessica," she said with a smile.
He smiled. "I'm glad we ran into each other, Jessica."
"Me too," Jessica agreed, finally getting into her car. She noticed that the man was staring after her, watching her car drive away. She couldn't help but think that he would have seemed very creepy if he wasn't so charming. She could still see him in her rear view mirror until a flower delivery truck got behind her in traffic, hiding him from view. She began to regret that she hadn't asked for his name, as well as her choice to leave and not let him buy her another coffee, but Jessica was already late. And besides, she would never see him again anyway.
Johnny was aware of how creepy he looked, standing there, staring after a girl he had only just met, but he couldn't explain it. Jessica. He repeated her name in his mind. Jessica. When a flower delivery truck pulled behind her car and hid her from view, he pulled himself away. He didn't have time to get his own coffee now. Sue would be very angry if he was late to meet Reed's friend who was coming to town, and he knew he needed to get back to the Baxter Building. Usually, he hated to "flame on" when he was dressed and not wearing his uniform, but he figured it didn't matter much since his shirt was stained now. He went into an alley way, climbed up a fire escape and onto a roof.
"Flame On!" He shouted. As he flew away, hoping he wouldn't be late, he couldn't help but think about Jessica.
Jessica knew she should check in at her hotel before she went to Reed's so that she could change her shirt, but she was late enough as it was. She was lucky that she had decided to pay extra for her rental and get a GPS, because she would have gotten hopelessly lost without it. It took a while, but she finally found the Baxter Building. When she entered, she was greeted by the doorman, led to the elevator, and finally to Reed's apartment.
She knocked timidly on the door and Reed answered.
"Jessica! You're here!" he exclaimed as he motioned her in.
"Hey, Reed," Jessica smiled. "How are you?"
"I'm doing well," Reed smiled as he pulled her into a hug. Jessica could hear two more sets of footsteps coming down the stairs. "Well," Reed smiled as he introduced her to his friends, who had joined them and were standing behind Reed. "This is Sue, my fiancée," he said as he motioned to his left.
"Hello," Jessica said as Sue reached out her hand.
"Sue Storm," she smiled and looked at Reed, "soon to be Richards."
"Right…" Jessica smiled. She probably seemed rude, but she was a little distracted by the fact that the man standing behind Sue looked awfully familiar. "So when's the…big day?" Jessica asked.
"Just a few weeks now," Reed answered. He then noticed her gaze fixed behind him, and said, "Jess, this is Sue's brother, Johnny."
"Hi, Jessica," Johnny answered. He reached out to shake her hand.
"Hey," Jessica smiled.
"Are you thirsty? We have some coffee brewing in the kitchen," Johnny smiled and gave her a knowing look.
Jessica laughed, "I think I've had enough coffee for one day."
Reed and Sue glanced at each other. "Do you two know each other?" Reed asked.
Johnny looked down and realized he was still shaking her hand. He glanced at Jessica, "We bumped into each other earlier today," he said. Jessica giggled.
With that, Jessica looked at her wrist, pretending to check the time, even though she didn't wear a watch. "Well, I guess I'll go on to the hotel. I just dropped in to say hello," she said, beginning to head towards the door. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Jessica, wait," Reed stretched out his arm to grab Jessica's shoulder from where he was standing. "Why don't you stay here?" He suggested.
Jessica turned around slowly. "Really?" She asked.
"Definitely, I mean, we haven't talked since I graduated. We can catch up. And I'm sure no one else will mind," he said, glancing towards Sue.
"No," Sue said. "You should definitely stay. I need another girl around with all this wedding planning to do," she said with a smile to Reed. "What about you, Johnny?"
Jessica was startled when she turned toward Johnny and realized that his steely gaze was on her, as if he was studying her, trying to solve some kind of riddle. "Whatever," he said with a nonchalant shrug.
"See, no problem," Reed said. He looked around again, "Have you all seen Ben?"
"Ben?" Jessica asked.
Just then, Jessica heard heavy footsteps coming from the kitchen. "Did someone say my name?" came a gravely voice.
Reed motioned for him to join them. "Yeah, Ben. This is my friend from high school, Jessica. She's here for a visit. She was going to stay here if you don't mind."
"Oh, sure. She looks nice enough," Ben smiled. "I'm Ben Grimm."
"Hi," Jessica said with a smile, which she was sure looked forced. Ben was a very intimidating in person.
Ben shook Jessica's hand. She was sure he could have crushed her, but he was surprisingly gentle.
Reed smiled. "Johnny, why don't you help Jessica bring her things up from her car?"
"Sure," Johnny said as he walked coolly towards the door.
Jessica followed him. They entered the elevator and Johnny pushed the button that took them to the parking garage. As the elevator began it's descent, she could feel his eyes on her. She turned her head toward him and his head snapped forward. She smiled sarcastically, but continued to watch him. He turned her way and she immediately moved her head back forward. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him smile. He had a charming smile.
Jessica decided to break the silence, "So, all four of you live here?"
"Yep. We're just one big, happy family," Johnny said with a sarcastic tone and a smile. "What about you?" He asked. "Where do you live?"
"Los Angeles, California," Jessica answered.
He nodded. "What do you do out there?" he asked. She was surprised to see such an interested look on his face.
"I'm an actress," Jessica said with a smile.
"An actress?" he asked.
"Yeah. I've only done small plays so far, but I moved there to get a chance to be in films."
"Oh." He said.
The ding of the elevator broke their conversation and they exited. She led him to her rental car and opened the trunk to reveal her suitcase and bag.
"A light packer, huh?" Johnny commented with a smile as he held up both of the bags with one hand.
Jessica smiled as she closed and locked the trunk and walked toward the front door. "You can go on," She said as she unlocked and opened the front door. "I just need to grab one more thing and I'll be right there."
Johnny nodded. "Okay. I'll hold the elevator." Johnny said as he walked towards the door, both of her bags in one hand, slung over his shoulder. He walked away cooly, but as soon as he was out of her sight he dropped the bags. "Ouch," he muttered to himself as he stretched out his hand. "Those were heavy," he said as he picked the bags back up, in separate hands this time. Once he reached the elevator, he set down the bags. He had a strange feeling in his stomach that he couldn't explain. Confused, he decided to walk back towards Jessica's car to see what was taking her so long.
As Jessica reached for her purse and backpack, a shadow fell over the car. She turned around slowly to see a large man. His face was covered, and he wore a long coat. She gasped as she saw that he was holding a gun.
In a scratchy voice he said, "Gimme the purse."
She was too nervous to speak. She heard the resounding click of a loading gun. She shook as she saw the man begin to squeeze the trigger. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Johnny come her way from the direction of the elevators. He looked worried and confused, wondering what to do. His heart raced with fear that Jessica was in trouble. Just as the man pulled the trigger, Jessica heard a shout from Johnny's direction.
"Flame On!"
Jessica dropped to the floor to dodge the bullet, her head hitting the icy concrete. Johnny wrestled the man to the ground, and she could feel a bullet whiz over her, barely missing. She heard a struggle as Johnny twisted the gun out of the man's hand, kicked it away, and then maneuvered the man into a sleeper hold, rendering him unconscious. At that moment, Jessica realized excruciating pain in her skull as she began to see the black closing in on her vision from either side. The last thing she remembered was Johnny crouching at her side and placing a warm hand on her cheek.
"Jessica," He whispered. "I'm here. It's going to be okay."
His voice seemed to echo in Jessica's ears as reality slipped away and she finally fainted.
When Jessica awoke, she was in a bedroom at the Baxter Building. She blinked and rubbed her eyes as she tried to sit up.
Johnny was sitting in a chair pulled up next to her bed. He looked up when he heard her movement, "Hey, you're awake." He smiled and Jessica was surprised to see he looked genuinely happy.
"What happened?" Jessica asked, still groggy from the ordeal.
"You blacked out when you hit your head on the ground in the parking garage," Johnny answered.
"Oh, yeah," Jessica said. With a smile she added, "Thanks for that."
"For what?" Johnny wondered.
"For saving my life," Jessica replied sincerely. She smiled. She had always wanted to say that for some reason.
"Oh," he smiled. "Well, are you hungry? Do you want some breakfast?" Johnny asked.
"I could actually go for some coffee," Jessica answered.
Johnny laughed. "How about McDonald's?" He suggested.
Jessica nodded and Johnny left so she could get ready. Johnny stood outside the door for a moment, his stomach in knots. It was a feeling that Johnny had never felt before. The only way he could describe it was that it felt like millions of butterflies were fluttering around inside of his body. He couldn't place where the feeling was coming from, but a part of him felt, though he didn't want to admit it, like there were butterflies not in his stomach, but in his heart.
A/N: Please Review!