A/N: Thanks to all who have reviewed! You really spur me to keep this story going. Sorry for the long wait on this, i have been on holiday for a friends birthday and then when i got back my internet was being a pile or bad stuff and wouldn't work for me. Anywho its here now so i hope you enjoy and please review!

Nixy

The hospital ward was usually a quiet place; it only consisted of three beds and all the necessary machinery and equipment. Reed had thought it a good idea to build one as an extension of his lab so that if any of the team needed hospital treatment they could have it in the Baxter Building. Ben stood on the other side of the glass wall looking in at the three beds. One of those beds was occupied with Johnny's body. His body that had been stripped of his beloved superhero suit and was now covered in heart sensors and attached to a drip standing at his bedside.

He shook his head watching as the doctor on call walked around Johnny's unconscious form, looking at the heart monitor and making notes. It had just gone ten when he finally got the call from Sue. She had been so distraught that he couldn't understand what she was saying. Her sentences would be interrupted by sharp intakes of breath and hiccups as she cried down the phone. He had convinced her to get it together and drive Johnny's car back to the Baxter Building and he would call the doctor out. He met her down in the lobby and carried Johnny's limp body up into the elevator and into the hospital ward. The doctor was there shortly after and insisted that Sue and Ben leave while he did his work. Ben held her for a little while as the two stood at the glass window looking in.

"It was all my fault" she hiccupped into his chest. Ben shook his head and looked down at her. She chewed her thumb bail nervously, her blue eyes wide with fear.

"It wasn't your fault Susie, you couldn't have known those guys would be there" he tried to reassure.

"Johnny knew" she whispered with a small sniff. "He tried to convince me not to go. And now all this happened because I couldn't wait"

Ben squeezed her as gently as he could to try and comfort her. He moved her long hair behind her shoulder and looked at her exhausted face. Her cheeks were stained with old and new tears, her eyes slightly blood shot.

"Maybe you should get the Doc to take a look at that once he's done with Johnny?" he asked gesturing up to the graze across her right eyebrow. Sue bit her lip remembering when she had been shoved by one of those men as she tried to make for the door, dragging Johnny slowly behind her. She had been invisible and as if the guys had known, one of them ran for the door colliding into her in the process and she fell into a pile of wooden boxes. She had managed to get the two of them away, not without being shot at multiple times first.

"No I'm fine… um… I'm gonna go and lay down. Will you stay here with him?" she asked meeting her friend's gaze. He nodded silently releasing his hold around her shoulders and watching her walk back towards the kitchen.

He had stood there for what felt like hours on end. His eyes grazed over the oxygen mask covering Johnny's mouth and the wires hooking him up to the monitor. He had been injected with something and what was left of the bullet had been removed. Ben shuffled nervously on his feet as the doctor finally turned away from Johnny and began walking towards the door.

"How is he?" Ben asked once the doctor had emerged from the room. He lowered his paper mouth guard and nodded.

"He should be fine. Due to his extraordinarily high body temperature, the bullet melted before it could hit any vital organs. Its now been removed and patched up. His body is still in a state of shock but all he needs now is time to recover and sleep off the anesthetic. He should be awake in a few hours."

Ben breathed a sigh, slapping a hand down on the doctor's shoulder. The small man winced slightly.

"Thanks pal, really"

The doctors nodded and, after handing Ben a contact number, saw himself out the door.

She hiccupped, her head lolling lazily to one side. Her chest heaved suddenly as a small belch pushed through her body and into her closed mouth. She exhaled through her nosed, her fingers tightening around her glass. Sue sat slumped in her chair at the kitchen table. She had changed from her suit into a jumper of Reeds and a pair of sweat pants. She lent forward in her seat, dropping her head onto her stretched out arm. She blinked wearily at her glass clasped in her other hand and pursed her lips. She could see the alcohol twisting in her glass, the back of her throat was burning from where she had been throwing the drink back as if there were no tomorrow. She felt sick to her stomach. There wasn't anything that could be thrown at her that could possibly make her feel worse then she did right now. Absent mindedly she prodded the graze on her eyebrow and winced.

Her anesthetic didn't seem to be working she thought turning wearily to the half empty spirit bottle sitting in front of her. She pulled herself to sit up right and blinked, focusing her vision on the green bottle resting in the centre of the table. She grabbed the bottle of Gin and clumsily tipped more clear spirit into her glass. Wincing as she sipped from her glass, she slammed it back down on the table and wiped away the small trickle that had spilt down the corner of her mouth.

Sue sat numbly for a moment staring at her half empty glass. She had been sitting there for the better part of an hour. She thought about going to bed but her head was a rave of thoughts and she knew that sleep wasn't going to come to her any time soon. She thought about a bath but the same thoughts plagued her mind so she tried to numb the pain as best she could. The way she had seen her father do after her mom had died. Her moment of weakness had arrived and Mr. Gin was there for her to lean on and drown her sorrows in and she certainly seemed to be drowning something.

Now, an hour and three quarters of a bottle later, she still didn't feel any better. If anything due to her sudden laziness and spinning vision she felt worse. She groaned pathetically leaning her head back down onto her arm and pressing her face into her material of Reed's jumper. Another hiccup wretched at her throat and she pulled herself to sit up, leaning backwards to glance at the clock on the oven behind her. Holding onto the edge of the table she leaned back on her chair, her head stretched back as she tried to edge further to see the digital clock. The room was spinning, the green lights of the numbers appearing just a blur to Sue. She squinted drunkenly, leaning further back on her chair, her fingers tightening on the edge of the table so she wouldn't fall. She saw the digits upside down and frowned when she failed to focus her vision. Suddenly the legs of her chair slipped on the tiled floor and Sue let out a small screech as she fell backwards. The spine of the chair clattered loudly against the hard floor, echoing loudly in her ears. Sue let out a small whimper as the room fell silent again and she was lying on her back, her butt still on the seat of her chair. Not bothering to move, she covered her face with her arms, shading her eyes from the light and cried.

Ben rocked tiredly in his chair. The heart monitor of Johnny's machine beeped steadily but Ben had become immune to this sound. It had been a few hours since the doctor had left and apart from the odd lull of the head, Johnny was still unconscious. Looking up at the clock, Ben wondered if he should go and find Sue to tell her at least that Johnny was going to be OK.

Muffling his yawn with his oversized palm, Ben stood and made his way to the door. He offered Johnny one last look before he left to make his way back to the apartment.

The hallway was dark and every light was off apart from the small glow provided from the kitchen. Sue was still on the floor when he walked in. If it wasn't for her quiet whimpers, Ben would have thought she had knocked herself out. He spied the open bottle of Gin and the half empty glass and shook his head. He made his way toward where she lay, his large rocky feet scraping loudly on the floor boards.

"Susie?"

Her arms still covered her face and she didn't give any indication that she had heard him. With a heavy sigh, Ben knelt down beside her and grabbing the wooden chair, heaved it back on to its four legs. Sue rocked forward limply, her arms falling onto the surface of the table. Ben pulled up a chair next to her and lent forward closely.

"Susie, what are you doing?" he asked quietly. Sue sat hunched forward, her ruffled hair hanging wildly over her face. She breathed heavily through her nose, wisps of hair rising away from her face, caught in the force of her breath. Her bloodshot eyes averted down to the floor almost guiltily and she bit her lip.

"I banged my head" she whined softly as if noticing for the first time that she had hurt herself. She reached up and felt the back of her head, wincing as she touched a newly formed bump.

"Want me to get you some ice?" Ben asked looking sympathetically at his long time friend. She shook her head, her hand falling back into her lap.

"It doesn't matter" she mumbled. She grabbed her glass again and knocked back the rest of its contents.

"The doctor says that Johnny's going to be OK" Ben said lightly. Sue breathed a laugh.

"No thanks to me" she slurred falling forward on the table as she tried to reach for the Gin.

"Don't you think you've had enough?" his question was genuine as was his frown when she ignored him and continued to fill her glass once more.

"Why? It's not like I have anything to stay sober for." She said blankly, her fingers clutching her glass tighter as she raised it to her lips.

"I failed to find Reed and I almost killed my younger brother. If that, my friend, is not a failure then I don't know what is"

"You're not a failure" Ben said failing to keep the shock from his voice. Sue tipped the pure spirit down her throat and slammed her glass on the table, pursing her lips.

"See, this is where…you are wrong." She hiccupped looking up at Ben through half closed eye lids.

"Reeds been gone for ages…and…Johnny tried to tell me over and over and over and over… n over" she frowned "That doesn't even sound like a word any more" she mumbled this time to herself.

"Look Reed is still out there."

"You really think that who ever has him is going to put him up for this long? I wouldn't be surprised if they have started to charge him rent!"

"I can't believe you're saying this, look I know you…"

"No pep talks" she said bluntly holding up a hand to stop Ben from talking. She held his gaze long enough for him to see fresh tears pricking the corners of her eyes.

"Look, we will find Reed" Ben began again lifting his chair to sit closer to Sue only to find an invisible shield blocking his way. He bounced off the shield and fell back into his chair. His eye brows rose in shock and he stared open mouthed at Sue.

"I said" she began lightly as she poured more Gin into her glass. "No pep talks"

Ben watched as she tipped another glass down her throat. She lent back in her chair as if to catch every last drop and he watched as the chair fell back yet again. The empty glass smashed against the hard floor and Sue let out a small yell of surprise when she once again found herself facing the ceiling. Ben's shield was dropped and by the time the 30 seconds had passed for him to reach her side, she had passed out.

Johnny was roused from his deep sleep by the sound of his heart monitor beeping steadily beside his bed. He blinked several times, trying to focus his blurred vision and stretched under his sheets. It took him a moment to realize where he was and to remember what happened. A sharp pang of pain surged through his shoulder and he breathed out a small sigh.

The hospital ward had always creeped him out. There was something about a remote room with nothing but beds and a life support machine that made him nervous. It reminded him of some horror film he had seen in the past. Pulling himself to sit up, he brought his fingers to his eyes, trying to rid them of sleep. Besides the throbbing in his shoulder he felt almost perfect.

Johnny wondered where Sue and Ben were and decided that he wasn't going to wait for them to come and visit him with a bowl of grapes to find out. He pulled off everything that was sticking to him that shouldn't be there and stood shakily on his feet. He regarded the one piece night dress he was now wearing for a moment and made a note to change.

Ben was sitting in the living room when Johnny walked through the door way.

"Hey Kiddo, what are you doing on your feet?" Ben chuckled happy to see the youngest member trying to recover as quickly as possible. "Nice dress" he added quickly.

Johnny smiled as he slowly walked towards the sofas.

"You sound like Sue" he said quietly. He gripped the top of the sofa tightly as if to keep his balance and guided himself to sit down beside Ben.

"How are you feeling?" Ben asked turning his attention off of the television. Johnny cocked an eyebrow.

"Pebbles, I didn't know you cared!" Johnny mocked playfully. Ben's eyebrows lowered in annoyance for a moment before he shook it off.

"Susie does" he dodged.

"Where is Sue?" Johnny asked as he slowly lent back in his seat.

"She's in bed. She'll probably sleep in until late tomorrow. Poor Kids drank herself into a coma."

"What?" Johnny asked unable to keep the shock out of his voice. "Sue doesn't drink like that."

"She does now. I found her in the kitchen after she had tipped half a bottle of Gin down her neck. She's feeling so guilty…I think. She was hard to understand. I never got the drunken people talk."

"What does she feel guilty for?"

"For what happened to you. About Reed still being lost…"

"That's crazy, none of that was her fault. Ok it was her fault she didn't listen to me, but I'm usually wrong!"

"Hey it's not me you have to convince." Ben said holding his hands up.

"I can't believe she thinks all this is her fault." Johnny thought out loud. Ben nodded.

"Yeah she is taking all of this a lot harder then I thought. I guess this is what happens when Reeds not around."

Johnny breathed a small laugh and nodded his head.

"We have to find Reed…for or Sue's sake".

A/N: I know this didnt really go anywhere but im having so many ideas going through my head for what could happen next and i still havent figured out what will work best!

sorry again for the long wait. I hope you enjoyed, please review!

Nixy

xxx