Chapter two-
Hope sat in the lab, hard at work over equations. Her father had spent hours teaching her equations when she was little. Even though she didn't really like science equations were always easy.
Of course it wasn't that good of a thing to her teachers. She also knew all the shortcuts in math and science that her father had taught her. She could look at a long division problem and solve it by just looking at it and adding, multiplying, and dividing it in her head. Her teachers accused her of being lazy until they realized that her parents were scientists and that she would know how to solve a math problem.
Hope finished her last problem and put the book away. Walking into the kitchen she wondered what she could make for dinner. When her father, Uncle Johnny, and Ben came back they would be hungry. If her mother came in late she would also need to eat. Hope looked through all the selections for dinner. Ordering a pizza was pretty high up there. The only problem with that was that she couldn't order it herself. Her father had laid some pretty heavy rules for her and one was not calling anyone when he, her mother, Ben, and Uncle Johnny weren't around.
For phone calls of that nature she had to always get the doorman, Peter, to order it for her; which can be embarrassing since she was almost thirteen. But sometimes a person had to swallow pride. Touching the intercom on the door she rang Peter.
"Peter?" Hope said through the intercom.
"Yes, Ma'am," Peter said politely. Peter always called her Ma'am. He said that he worked for her father and it wouldn't be right to call her Hope like everyone else did.
"Look, I don't know what to make for dinner and I was kind of wondering that if I gave you the money and tip could you order out for three pizzas," Hope said, twirling the phone cord with her fingers.
"Sure, Ma'am. Just tell me what kind you want," Peter said, sounding like he was going to write it all down.
"Okay. I need a large Canadian bacon for Dad and Ben. A large pizza with everything on it for Uncle Johnny. And I need a large chicken, tomato, and extra cheese pizza for me and Mom," Hope said, looking at the Dominos coupon in front of her.
"Okay. Just come down with the money when you can," Peter said, disconnecting from the intercom.
Hope ran into her room and took out at least twenty-five dollars. She disconnected the security field and took the elevator to the front lobby of the Baxter Building. Her father and mother didn't mind if she went to the lobby as long as she didn't leave the building.
Peter had hung up the phone as she came into the lobby. "It'll be twenty-one dollars, Ma'am," Peter said turning to her.
"Sure. Here's twenty-five. Tell him to keep the change," Hope said as she gave the money to Peter.
"I'll bring the food up to you when he gets here. I also ordered a coke to go with it," Peter said as she went to the elevator.
"Thanks, Peter," Hope said, pushing the button and stepping inside the elevator. She was glad that she didn't have to make tea with the pizza. In her opinion tea just didn't taste that great with pizza; even though her mother was trying to change her tastes towards certain beverages.
Hope went back into her father's lab, wondering what else she could do. On her father's desk was a mess of papers. She knew not to touch those. The one time she had tried to clean up his desk had gotten him so angry with her that it frightened her. Hope hated having her father mad at her. Then again that time he was only mad because she had put all the papers on his desk in the paper shredder.
Hope went to the window in the direction Dad, Ben, and Uncle Johnny went. She really wished she could help them. She could tell that her parents couldn't understand why she hadn't developed either her father's or mother's abilities. Every year when her father ran his tests on her she could see the confusion in his eyes as he hugged her tight. The worst thing about it was not knowing if she ever would.
Hope sat down on the couch and flipped on the TV. Uncle Johnny had tuned it to the all-sports channel. Hope turned it off to the news channel. Might as well see how they were doing. Ben had opened the top of a fire hydrant and her father had bent his body in an arc so the water could douse the flames. And Uncle Johnny was going nova to contain the fire. Of course on closer inspection she could see her mother trying to help Johnny with that with a force field.
The fire was out in seconds. Hope watched as her father talked with the media. Mr. Fantastic was the unofficial leader of the Fantastic Four. The media had pretty much figured that out when they had gone public with their abilities.
"So, Mr. Fantastic, when is your daughter going public with your abilities?" A perky woman wearing red and having mousy brown hair asked.
Not in the near future, Hope thought as she saw her father think his answer through.
"It is yet to be known if she'll even have them. I test her every year on her birthday and she hasn't developed anything as of yet," Reed Richards said, Sue stepping up next to her husband.
"Couldn't you just take her to outer space and hope the same cosmic storm comes?" A man asked next.
"No. That would be impossible. Logically none of us should have survived. I'm not about to take a gamble on my daughter's life," Reed said, her voice full of barely controlled ire.
The buzzer on the door rang just then. Hope walked over to the intercom. "Yes?" Hope asked, pushing the button.
"The pizza's here," Peter said. Hope opened the door and took the three boxes as Peter put the coke down on the table.
"Thanks, Peter," Hope said as Peter went out the door.
"You're welcome," Peter said. Hope set out some paper plates, napkins, and cups and stuck the boxes of pizza in the oven. She didn't have long to wait. Ben's loud stomp was heard as he came into the room.
"Hey, Hope," Ben said, grabbing a slice of pizza.
"Hi, Ben. Where's Mom, Dad, and Uncle Johnny?" Hope asked as Ben sat in his chair and Hope fixed him a coke. Because of his inability to drink from a regular glass Hope had to set out a bowl for him filled with coke.
"They should be here soon. My compliments to the chef," Ben said, indicating his pizza.
"Very funny," Hope said, fixing her coke and grabbing her pizza. Uncle Johnny then came in followed by Reed and Sue.
"Hi, Sweetie. What's for dinner?" Sue asked, kissing Hope's dark head gently.
"Pizza, Mom. I had Peter order it since I didn't really feel like cooking," Hope said, sitting down next to her father.
"You didn't make any tea, by any chance, did you?" Sue asked, looking through the fridge.
"Nope. I still think coke tastes best with pizza. I did order your favorite pizza though. Along with Uncle Johnny's favorite and Ben and Dad's," Hope said, taking a long drink of coke.
"Thanks, Hope," Reed said as they all started to eat.
Hope looked at her father as he ate. "Dad, can I ask you something?" Hope asked.
"I think you just did, Hopie," Reed said, an amused grin on his face.
"Dad, I watched the interview after all of you put out the fire. I was wondering something. Couldn't we just take me up to outer space and hope another cosmic storm comes by?" Hope asked hurriedly.
Her father's stunned look was priceless. Not to mention that everyone else around the table wore mirrored expressions of that shock. "Hope, where is this coming from?" Sue asked, slipping her arm around Hope's shoulders.
"I guess I just feel a little left out. All of you are out saving the world and I have to stay here alone. I can't even have phone calls because you and Dad freak out," Hope said, picking the tomatoes off her slice of pizza.
"Can you blame us, Hope? We just are trying to protect you," Reed said.
"Not really," Hope admitted, sitting on her father's lap and burying her head in his shoulder.
"As for us taking you to outer space in the hopes you'll get our abilities, forget it," Reed said, rubbing her back gently like he did when she was small and she had nightmares.
"You're father's right, Hope. Just enjoy the fact that you're normal," Sue said, kissing her forehead gently.
"I'll try," Hope said half-heartedly. If only she felt better about being normal. Her mother said she should enjoy it, but quite honestly she wondered if she'd ever be able to enjoy normalcy.
