I've Got Everything Covered

Johnny stood in the kitchen nursing the start of a hangover. He hadn't drunk enough to be recovering in bed and wishing for dead, which was good. He had a slight headache, and although he didn't feel sick, something was definitely amiss. He might have looked no different than slightly tired when he glanced in the mirror in the bathroom that morning, but he currently had the attention span and mental capacity of an office stapler, which explained the three piles of unsuccessful burnt toast on a plate beside him. He couldn't even work the toaster, let alone think of focusing his powers long enough to heat some toast. The coffee he was drinking in extreme amounts to try and stay focused was only spurring on his hunger, which, for some reason, was craving a full breakfast of greasy, fried food.

He was glad that it was a Wednesday morning, even though it was swiftly becoming Wednesday afternoon. Time was flying as fast as the toast he was flinging into the garbage. Somehow, he realised that all he would be able to do that day would be to aimlessly wander around the Baxter Building for something easy that would occupy him for a long time.

Thankfully, only Sue was present to tease him about his hangover, which is what she usually did. Sometimes, of course, she'd take pity on him, particularly when it had been someone else's idea, other than his own, to go out and drink. Reed and Ben were in Washington for a few days for a series of lectures that Reed had been invited to give, and Sue and Johnny had stayed behind together as they had already planned on meeting with their father one of the days that the others would be gone.

So now, the only thing for Johnny to do was not to give Sue a reason to worsen his hangover.

------

Sue, however, was in no position to tease Johnny about his hangover. She was lying in the bed that she shared with Reed, contemplating suicide. What had she done to deserve such a hangover? Okay, it had been a family get together and for their family, that basically required more alcohol then your local bar, but she hadn't even drunk as much as she usually did, and she certainly drunk more than Johnny. She hoped to God that he felt a lot worse than she did, if that were possible.

She had a second heartbeat in her head; either that or her brain was on the verge of exploding, but death seemed like a good option right now. She had tried to get up and look around the room, but her eyes were protesting about having to focus on something, so it had just keep spinning everything out of perception. Her mouth felt dry, as if her body had lost the ability to generate saliva, and her tongue, which felt at least twice as big as she remembered it to be, was suffocating her. She would have been tempted to cry, but that would have used the last of the moisture left in her entire body. Talking wasn't an option. Moving wasn't an option. In fact, all she could manage to do was breathe…very gently…

The only problem was that she was thirsty, and she knew eventually that she would have to get up and use the bathroom.

----

When she made her shaky escape from the bedroom, Johnny was lying on the couch with a pillow underneath his head. However the television wasn't on, and music wasn't blaring in the background, which Sue appreciated. Johnny took one look at his sister and had to admit, there was something about her that made him wonder whether he should dare to say hello to her, or whether he should hide behind a barrier of fire. On the other hand, there was something that alerted him to the fact that she looked like she shouldn't even have gotten out of bed.

But she hadn't even drunk that much last night, he remembered. She'd only had a few glasses (albeit large ones) with their cousin, Michelle. How strong had that wine been?

Sue shuffled into the kitchen, paying no attention to her brother, and he remained on the couch, staring at the blank television screen. He heard the clinking of glasses in the cupboard, and then the tap running. The tap stopped, and then he heard a sneeze, followed immediately by a loud bang, and a pathetic, high-pitched "Oww…" that sounded a lot like someone who was in a great deal of pain, but didn't actually have the energy to make a big fuss of it.

"Sue?" he questioned, sitting up a little too quickly from the couch, but going towards the kitchen no matter how much his head spun for a few seconds. He found her leaning her head against the cupboard directly above the sink, the glass of water still untouched in her hand. "What was that bang?" he asked her.

"I sneezed," she explained briefly, her voice weak and scratchy, "and I hit my head at the same time." She straightened up and he saw that she was frowning deeply. "It was…confusing…"

As well as seeing her frown, however, he also saw her pale cheeks, and her glassy, unfocused eyes. She downed the water as quickly as she could, which left her feeling worse afterwards, and then she went to leave the kitchen.

"Whoa, where are you going?" Johnny asked her, blocking her exit with his arm.

"Shower," she mumbled. "Wake me up a bit."

However, she carried on walking despite the fact that Johnny's arm was in the way, and ended up walking right into his shoulder. She simply resting against him, curling against the surface that she found she could rest her head on due to their height difference.

"Shit, Sue!" he exclaimed suddenly. Because he was only wearing a tank-top with his sweatpants, he could feel how her forehead was burning up through his skin. Of course, with his abilities, he found that he couldn't be burnt by anything hot, but he could still detect heat differences. He pulled her back slightly, and putting his hand on her forehead, just to check, and found that she was burning up.

Badly.

"Bedtime now?" she asked in a small voice.

"Yeah, bedtime," he nodded, his voice sounding slightly worried now that he knew this was more than just a hangover. "Maybe 'call Reed' time as well," he said to himself as an afterthought. Sue was sick, that much was clear. Surely Reed was better at dealing with sick people than Johnny was.

He took her shoulders, and started to guide her back down the hall to hers and Reed's shared bedroom. However, when they reached the doorway that entered them into the hall, her head started to feel fuzzy. She carried on walking, sure that she would feel better when she had lay down. But, when her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she was vaguely aware of being caught by someone (well, she assumed that she was, because she didn't hit the ground), she had a feeling that this might be the worst hangover from three glasses of wine that she'd ever had.

-----

The next time that Sue was actually aware of herself, she found herself basked in the comfort of her bed, but still feeling like Hell warmed over. She turned her face into the pillow, trying to rid herself of the feeling, but to no avail. She was feeling like shit on a summers day. She groaned at her aching head, and realised that there was a sudden freezing sensation on her forehead.

Trying to found out what was so cold yet had not caused her to shiver, she blearily opened her eyes. Everything started spinning again, and she closed her eyes once more, willing her vision to still before she tried to move again. Now, the ache in her head was resembling a heartbeat again, and the dull thudding matched her regular, but quick, breathing. Opening her eyes, she quickly got past the spinning, and found everything focused on the person before her.

"Hey," Johnny whispered quietly, replacing a damp cloth on her forehead now that she had stopped moving. Ah, she thought. That's where the cold had come from.

"Wha-?" she said, stopping halfway through her scratchy word because of the sharp pain it set down her throat.

"You passed out," he told her, looking down at her from where he sat on the edge of the bed. At this, Sue tried to raise her head from the pillow, and only succeeded in knocking off the damp cloth. "Careful," Johnny warned her, replacing the cloth. "I tried to get it cold but my hands are kinda hot so I don't know how long it will last for."

She simply nodded. No matter how disorientated she was, she couldn't miss the concern in his eyes.

"How do you feel?" he asked her.

"Shitty," she murmured, discovering that the quieter she made her voice, the less it hurt to speak.

Johnny smirked weakly at her. "If it makes you feel any better, it's not a hangover," he offered, and she groaned, resisting the temptation to bury her face in the pillow again because she knew it would only make her pillow wet if the cloth got pressed against it.

"So, it's not going to disappear by lunchtime?" she assumed.

Johnny looked at the clock on the bedside table. "Sue, it's four in the afternoon," he pointed out to her.

"What?" she asked in shock, sitting up but quickly collapsing back down with Johnny's help when her head span uncontrollably.

"Hey, just take it easy," he said, rather unsurely, keeping his hand on her upper arm. He didn't know how to handle sick people, and at the moment he was just counting the minutes until four-thirty when he knew Reed's lecture would be finished.

"I'm never drinking again," she whimpered quietly.

Johnny laughed to himself. "I'll believe that when I see it," he teased, even though they both knew that this wasn't anything to do with the alcohol.

They were silent for a while. Johnny focused his attention on cooling her down, by keeping his hand on her arm he was able to reduce her temperature by absorbing some of the heat. "You should get some sleep or something," he suggested, unsure of what else to say.

Without saying a word, Sue put up no fight, and slipped into a sleep.

"Whoa," Johnny said to himself when he knew she was asleep. "That was easy."

----

Johnny found it impossible to get hold of Reed or Ben on their cell phones. Worse still, he hadn't actually listened to either of them when they mentioned several times which university they'd be giving lectures at. It wasn't going to be easy enough for just asking Sue where they were either, as she'd given him strict instructions shortly after she'd woken up again that he was, under no circumstances, to call Reed because of her. So, when Johnny had called his Dad in a last attempt to have someone know what they were doing, Franklin Storm had told him to keep her hydrated and make sure that she gets lots of bed rest.

That hadn't gone down too well with her at all.

Sue was so determined to prove that she was well that she ended up getting worse. By that following evening, she forced herself out of be, and started down the hall to join Johnny in the living room, where she could hear him watching television, but before she'd gotten to the end of the hall, Johnny had come out of the kitchen and found himself face to face with her. Needless to say, a minute later, she was back in her bed.

The morning after that, Johnny made her some toast, which she managed to eat half of before feeling sick. He helped her up and into the bathroom, and waited outside whilst she used the bathroom. However, when he heard the shower running, he had opened the door with his hand over his eyes and escorted her back to bed before she'd even had a chance to undress for her shoulder. Her next bid for freedom came around lunch time. She had gotten up to use the bathroom herself, when she had wondered how far she could get without Johnny seeing her. Miraculously, she'd been lying down on the couch for fifteen minutes and have even turned on the television before Johnny appeared from nowhere and ordered her back to bed. Throughout the afternoon, she slept, unable to do anything else because she felt so drained from her small adventures. Every time Johnny got up, he checked in on her, bringing her another glass of water. It was all very well keeping her hydrated like their father had told him to, but she was starting to need the bathroom every half an hour. He checked in on her again to see if she wanted any dinner, but he found her asleep.

About an hour later, however, he checked again and found her bed empty. Wondering whether she might have got to this time, he looked around the room, spotting her silhouette behind the closer curtains at the window. He found himself smiling, shaking his head a little as he pulled back the curtain.

"Hey," he said, when he saw her gazing out at the clear starry night.

She looked up at him lazily. "Hey," she replied.

"Mind if I join you?"

She shook her head, and he sat down on the window seat that Reed had built for himself and Sue to watch the stars from. Opposite each other, they both leaned back against the window frame walls, and stared up at the stars. He could see why she liked sitting here so much, as it really was a beautiful night.

"Feeling any better?" he asked softly. There was no need to raise his voice in the silence of the room.

She shook her head. "Terrible," she confessed, her voice even more hoarse now.

He gave her a sympathetic smile, which she didn't see. Johnny realised after a moment that this was the closest moment he'd had with his sister in a long time. With everything that had been going on with their powers, there was never time to just sit and…do nothing, like they used to do together.

"Shame," he spoke aloud.

"What?" she asked, turning from the stars.

"I was just thinking," he shrugged, still looking at the sky. "I know we're not exactly kids anymore, and there's loads of stuff happening, but we never get to just…hang out anymore," he told her.

She nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"Everything's just moving so fast," he continued, the stars above still capturing his gaze as he rambled. "I mean, a few months ago we were normal, you know? Now, we're all living together, you and Reed are engaged, Ben's got Alicia instead of Debbie…I'm going to be an uncle…"

"What?" Sue asked, looking across at him.

"One day," he covered quickly, looking back and laughing at her.

"I love how you assume that," she said, shaking her head at him.

He simply shrugged. "Well, it's pretty obvious,"

"Is it?"

Johnny nodded. "Yeah," Sue shook her head and looked back at the stars. "You were born to be a mom, Sue. Give it a few years and there will be hundreds of kids running round here."

Sue smiled softly, and he could tell that the idea of motherhood was something that had been appealing to her. "It would be nice,"

"Although," Johnny added, "if you really wanna have kids, you gotta learn to deal with being sick better," he told her. "You've been a nightmare the past few days, and if you're like that with morning sickness I swear to God I am moving out," he warned her lightly.

She laughed gently. "Well, at least I had you here to take care of me," she pointed out.

"You'd have done a better job," he shrugged off.

"It's hard taking care of someone else when you're not used to it," Sue told him, her voice soft. "You did good."

"Really?" he half-laughed.

She nodded. "Really."

Johnny smiled, looking away from the stars and looking across at the sister who had raised him from the age of seven when their mother had died. "You know," he told her honestly, "you might be a lousy sick person, but you're one hell of a sister."

Sue smiled at him. "You're one hell of a brother as well," she told him.

Johnny was about to speak again when his cell phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out, looking at the call I.D. "It's Reed," he confirmed to Sue.

Her eyes widened. "You called him?"

Without answering her, he flipped the phone open and held it to his ear. Sue just watched as he spoke to her fiancé on the phone. "Hello?"

"Johnny, what's the matter?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've left like a thousand messages between me and Ben,"

"Oh, that,"

"Is everything okay?"

Johnny looked at Sue, who was still pale and feeling terrible. "Everything's fine," he said simply.

"Are you sure? In one of the messages you said that something was wrong with Sue and I--"

"Sue's fine. She just went overboard with my credit card and I needed to complain to someone," Johnny explained, and Sue smiled at her brother for not telling Reed the truth, calling him away unnecessarily from his work.

"She's okay, then?"

"Yeah, she's cool,"

"Are you sure? Because I can skip tomorrows lecture and come--"

"You don't need to come home," Johnny assured him. "Me and Sue got everything covered."

"That's what I'm worried about," Reed admitted over the phone. "Last time you had everything covered, Johnny, we needed to refurbish the kitchen."

"Yeah well, there's nothing to worry about this time," he assured him again. "I'm one hell of a brother, so everything's been taken care of."

"Okay, if you're sure."

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Is Sue there, can I talk to her?"

Johnny held the phone out to her and she shook her head, indicating to her throat, which was still hoarse and sore. He took the phone back for himself. "Sue's asleep," he said simply.

"At eight-thirty?"

"Yeah," Johnny confirmed. "We've been watching movies all day and stuff. She's fallen asleep in the middle of one."

"Okay then," Reed said. "I'll call her tomorrow."

"See you," Johnny said before hanging up the phone.

Sue looked at him as he replaced the phone in his pocket. "So, you've got everything covered?" she repeated from his conversation with Reed.

"Yeah," he confirmed, getting more comfortable in the window seat. "I got everything covered."

FIN