Hi everyone, hope you're enjoying the story! Please review if you have any comments because me and Maria have spent so many weeks working on this story, and we were a little sad to only get one review when we'd had over two hundred hits to the story. So, please leave any comments you have! They are always much appreciated!
Sammy and Maria
xxxxx

Chapter 2:

"And remember that time when me and Ben made that hole in the wall? That was great; even you have to admit that. But we didn't mean for it to lead into your room and all."

Sue looked up at him wearily. She had been in labour for an hour now, and whilst she hadn't become any further dilated, and her contractions constant at three minutes apart, she felt as if she had reached her breaking point. Exhaustion held her in full reign. Her eyes were no longer the only clue to how much pain she was in. A think sheen of sweat covered the forehead of her flushed face, and her knuckles were constantly pressed against the skin of her hands to the point where the skin appeared white. Johnny, of course, didn't have the same rubber skin as Reed did, but he was pretty sure that, if Sue let go of his hand, there would still be a visible imprint where she was holding it so tightly.

She was also having trouble controlling her emotions. After all, she was a first time mother, in a great deal of pain even though she was on gas and air, and she'd already been given an epidural and her husband wasn't at her side. More than once, she had shimmered out of visibility, which had made things extremely hard for the midwives trying to assist her. Of course, Abigail, the midwife who had assisted Sue since the start of her pregnancy, and understood more than anyone the complexity of Sue's abilities when giving birth, knew that Sue's invisibility was going to be an issue, but not as much as it had proved to be so far. That's what Johnny was trying to take her mind off the pain by reminding her about all the times she had yelled at him for something, because at least that focused her emotions on one thing, so that she at least remained visible.

"Johnny," She told him weakly, as if she were on the verge of consciousness, but hanging on by a thread with all she had. "I appreciate that you're trying to help, but I can't do this without my husband."

At that moment, Johnny realised the internal turmoil that his sister was experiencing. She was the Invisible Woman, an international heroine, and a role model for young women everywhere. She had to be strong, set an example, and stand her ground. However, suddenly, the world's favourite action heroine, who was usually faced with getting herself out of a lot of tight spots on a daily basis, was faced with another, smaller action hero or heroine, who also wanted to get out of a tight spot. Sue was naturally a strong woman, and never let anything weaken her stride, even before she had received her powers, and they had all imagined that childbirth would be no exception to this, but now, when everything was starting to fall apart with the absence of the one man who was making motherhood a reality for, she was starting to lose her hope as well as her determination.

He turned away from a moment, the same time as Sue closed her eyes briefly. A contraction had just passed, giving her around two minutes to regain strength to see the next one through. At the moment, she was using every available, non-painful moment to get as much rest as she could. Her contractions were too close together for her to get any proper rest, but she was making the most of what she could get.

By turning his eyes away from his sister for a moment, Johnny became aware that there were more people in the room then there had been before.

Abigail and the two other midwives, who had been there from the start, were still there, but now, they were joined by two male doctors. The five of them were gathered at the other end of the delivery room, whilst one of the doctors pointed out certain things on some paperwork; the other was examining something under a microscope. Johnny couldn't see for sure what was going on, but the thing that worried him was the whispering. He'd seen what had happened when doctors whispered before, and he knew that it wasn't good.

He knew that something was wrong. Something wasn't right, and he didn't want Sue to know that until it was absolutely necessary. Despite her being the elder of them, he was still protective over his sister, and he wanted her to be worrying about nothing else than delivering her child for as long as possible.

"Sue," He said, turning back to her quickly, and seeing that her eyes were still closed. "Susie, look at me." He repeated, slightly more forcefully than he intended.

Her tired eyes were revealed to him, seeing her brother focused firmly on him, a determined scowl on his face. She shook her head weakly. "I can't do this anymore, Johnny." She whispered. "I can't. I'm not strong enough. I thought that I was, but I'm not."

"Yes, you are." He told her. "You can do this." Despite her energy leaving her a long time ago, she made to disagree, but he spoke again, keeping her attention drawn towards him, and not the whispering coming from the corner. "Remember when Mom died? You were there for me. You didn't give up on me, even though I was hard work and I got into trouble. You were there, and you kept me in like. You didn't care about any of the bad stuff that happened, because you only saw the good stuff. You were there for me, and you got me through it, Susie. Now, it's my turn." He said, holding her grasping hand between both of his. "I know that Reed's not here, and I know that you want him to be here, but he's on his way, I promise you that. But until then, until he gets here, I'm here, and I'm not leaving you, so you're going to be fine-"

"Mr. Storm?"

"What?" He asked, a little too rudely as one of the whispering doctors appeared at his shoulder, tapping it lightly and taking his attention away from Sue.

"I'm sorry to cause an inconvenience, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave." He said solemnly, yet keeping his professionalism about him. "As of now, this room is under quarantine."

----

It was another half an hour by the time Reed had finally arrived at the hospital. By all means, it should have taken him longer, considering he was basically travelling from one end of the city to another, yet he had used his elasticity to his advantage, elongating his legs. The larger strides he could take allowed him to move quicker, and he never once gave thought to Ben, who somehow, managed to keep up with him. Ignoring the how, and just focusing on the simple fact that he was there, Reed found himself blocked from the doors by a swarm of fans and reporters - exactly who he didn't need to see right now. As soon as they saw him standing there, they all rounded on him, asking him questions and near blinding him the camera flashes.

"Dr. Richards, has your wife had the baby yet?"

"How is the Invisible Woman coping with the labour?"

"Sources say that the baby is a girl, would you like to comment on that?"

"We love you!"

"Mr. Fantastic, my son really likes you, if you could just sign this for him-"

"Alright, break it up!"

The last voice came from Ben; there was no disguising the gruffness in his tone. Reed hadn't actually focused on any of the other voices around him; he just knew that the people they belonged to were blocking his entrance to the hospital, and to Sue. However, Ben had caught up with him, showing no physical signs of tiredness from keeping up with Reed's hurried rush, and his wide frame forcing through instantly provided a space for them to pass through the crowds. Even though attitudes towards Ben's appearance had changed, no one wanted to stand in the way of The Thing.

"Come on, stretch." He said, his voice quietening as he guided his friend through the camera flashes. "Susie's waiting for you."

----

Johnny was sat in the corridor outside of Sue's delivery room. The chair underneath him felt almost alien to him. He was more collapsed into it than sitting, but still able to let his weight rest plastic shape. Everything was working on autopilot at the moment. His body, physically, was in the corridor, but his mind and thoughts were on the other side of the door with his sister. They'd had to physically drag him out of the delivery room when he refused to leave. He didn't care about the quarantine – he'd promised his sister that he was going to stay with her until her husband arrived to be at her side and less than a minute after he had made that promise, the door that now separated them had been firmly shut.

He paid no attention to the quarantine team standing either side of the doors, watching him carefully in case he made another bid to return to her side. He'd done it once, but he realized that being The Human Torch gave him no privileges. Leaning forwards in the chair, he rested his elbows on his knees and dropped his head into his hands. Pressing the balls of his palms tightly into his eyes, he tried not to pay attention to the occasional screaming from Sue's contraction. The closed door wasn't soundproof, and not only was he suffering because she was suffering, but because he wasn't allowed to be there with her, and they both knew that he was outside.

He couldn't understand why this was happening. Not her. Not to Sue. There shouldn't be any complications with her or her baby. She was Sue Storm. She was the strongest one out of all of them; there was no doubt about that. He'd half expected her to deliver her baby without even getting out of breath, but no, instead, she was put under quarantine because of something that they wouldn't explain to him. Why couldn't they explain it to him? Because they couldn't. All they knew was that there was a radiation problem. That was all they could tell him. Of course, they wouldn't tell Sue that, in case it stressed her too much and put her and the baby in danger, but it was distressing enough for her to watch her younger brother be physically dragged from her side.

"Johnny!"

The sound of his name came from further down the corridor, simultaneously coming from two voices; the first gruff and full of a familiar roughness that he was used to shouting out his name in anger, although this wasn't anger, and the second sounding more desperate. He looked up, remaining seated and only lifting his head with a mild enthusiasm. Reed and Ben were rushing towards him, Reed considerably out of breath and red in the face, but still there.

"You're here." Johnny said simply. There was no 'where were you's or 'what took you so long's. No, just 'you're here'.

"Where's Sue?" Reed asked him quickly, not bothered by anything else other than where his wife was.

Johnny raised his head towards the closed door, indicating to the two men from quarantine that were still standing guard outside. "She's in there." Johnny said quietly, dropping his head once again but letting his hands hang loosely between his legs. "She's in there, and we can't be in there."

Reed frowned, approaching the door, but finding that he couldn't get through anyway. Wordlessly, the two men stopped him from entering. Helpless, Reed turned back to Johnny and stood before him, looking down at his brother-in-law. "Johnny, what's wrong?" He asked. "What's happening in there?"

"They don't know." Johnny told him, still looking at his hands as he folded them over themselves. "But none of us can go in there. Sue's under quarantine."

----

She was alone. She was in quarantine. Alone. Having a baby. On her own. Reed hated himself at that moment, more than he had ever done in his life. The birth of his child was happening on the other side of that door, and he wasn't allowed to get through it. His wife was having his baby, their first ever child, and he couldn't be at her side like he was supposed to be.

The three men sat outside of the door, all helplessly sunk into their chairs, as Johnny had been when they first arrived. Johnny had dipped his head once more, subtly covering his ears whenever Sue cried out in pain. Surely she wasn't meant to be in that much pain with the amount of painkillers she had been given? Clearly, she was in absolutely agony, but none of them could be at her side, even her husband, because they wouldn't let them. Instead, Reed had to sit outside, listening to the screams that were slowly pounding themselves into his memory and driving him to the edge of his sanity.

After a while, none of them knowing how long, one of the doctors came out of the room. Johnny instantly recognized him as one of the whispering doctors who had been in the room whilst he had been. As he started to approach them, Johnny nudged Reed, attracting his attention in the direction of the man who now stood before him.

"Dr. Richards? I'm Dr. Matthew Philips."

Reed looked up at him, almost tiredly. His eyes were bleak, filled with a damp fear for his wife that was blanketed in helplessness. "Can I see my wife now?" He asked, his voice on the verge of breaking, and it was clear, at that moment, that Reed had been fighting back tears for a long time.

"Yes." He said simply, and whilst Reed experienced a burst of energy, not able to get to his feet quick enough, Dr. Philips held out a hand to stop him. "I'm afraid before I allow you to see your wife, there is an urgent matter that I need to discuss with you."

"What's happening in there?" Reed asked. "What's happening, why won't you let us see her?"

Dr. Philips eyed Ben and Johnny curiously. "We may way to go somewhere more...private." He suggested.

Reed, however, shook his head firmly. "They're her family too." He pointed out. "Whatever you have to say, we all need to hear."

"Okay." Dr. Philips said, adjusting the glasses he wore before speaking again, his eyes dropping to the chart in his hands momentarily. "We've placed your wife under a mild quarantine because she is experiencing radiation poisoning." He said simply. "The radiation in her blood that her midwife informs me is a result of the cosmic storm which granted her the power she has, has, up until this point, existed in a state of balance with the additional hormones of the pregnancy. However, the stress from the labour has heightened the both of these, and they are, in a manner of speaking, contending with each other, which is resulting in the bodies of your wife and the baby being poisoned by the radiation as it enhances in retaliation to the hormones."

Whilst Dr. Philips seemed to report Sue's affliction as if it were nothing more than a case in a medical journal, Reed's face had filled with more and more despair for the duration of his speech. Reed might have been a scientist over a medical doctor, but he knew the basic realities of radiation poisoning. "Poisoned." He repeated, as if the word were foreign to him. "You mean...she's being poisoned? How is that possible?"

"Although the quarantine rules state that no one is allowed to enter the room, this isn't a contagious disease we are containing, so we are going to allow you inside as she is asking for you." He explained. "But you need to understand the realities of the situation, as well as how much danger her and the baby are in at this moment. I am not one of the doctors who are inclined to give out false hope."

Reed raised his hands to his face, running his hands over the skin which contorted under his hands and then flexed back into its original shape. False hope. That meant that there wasn't any hope at all. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be happening. Yet, however many times he repeated it in his mind, he still found himself in the middle of the hospital corridor, being told that what should be the happiest day of their lives could soon turn into the worst.

"I understand that this is an emotional time, sir, and I assure you that we're doing the best we can, but I'm afraid this isn't a situation that has ever been heard of before." Dr. Philips explained gravely, and it was that statement alone, not the final verdict of the case, which condemned Sue, as it were. No one had seen this case before, which meant that there was no success rate. "There is a chance that your wife and the baby may both be lost before we find a way to contain the radiation safely."

Rather than screaming out in anguish, which Ben expected him to do, or grabbing Dr. Philips and punching him, as Johnny expected him to do, Reed remained silent...speechless, even...as he processed the information. However long it took for the information to reach his mind, he still couldn't believe it, even when it did take hold of him. Swallowing back the lump in his throat that still choked his every word; he asked the question he was afraid of ever having to voice. "Are you telling me that my wife and our baby are going to die?" He murmured in a tiny voice.

Dr. Philips glanced down at the chart, Sue's chart, and then looked back at the shell of a man before him. "It's a possibility that we're doing our best to avoid."

A possibility. Doing our best. There was a high chance that Sue was going to die. There was a chance that the parenthood they had been expecting to share together was never going to be a reality for them. In all their talks about how a child might be a potential target to be used against them, they'd never once encountered the possibility that the birth might have complications brought on by the cosmic storm. Sue had never had any trouble with conception, so they assumed that there was no danger in the birth, either. Even the midwives and the many medical consults hadn't confronted the possibility that the bringing of a life into the world could be fatal.

Reed took a deep, calming breath - the calming affect of which didn't work. "I need to see her." He choked out, feeling what he thought was pure, undeterred fear for the first time in his life.

Dr. Philips nodded. "Right this way."