Disclaimer: I do not own Fantastic Four. It is the property of Marvel and 20th Century Fox. I am not making any profit by writing this.

Meant to Be

Chapter 10-Love is in the Air

As the wedding day drew closer, Sue became more and more stressed. Reed tried his best not to succumb to the stress as well, but he inevitably did. Sue was driving him up the wall. Every single suggestion he made concerning the wedding was shot down by his fiancée. He understood that weddings were supposed to be all about what the bride wants, but this—this was getting ridiculous. Reed was so stressed out that he wanted to pull his hair out.

"Why don't you go with the sunflowers, honey? They're your favorite flowers."

"Reed, you're kidding, right? My wedding dress, the bridesmaid dresses, and the color scheme is white. White not yellow!"

"Well you've already ruled out tulips, carnations, and roses. I'm not a botanist, but what other white flowers are left?"

"Look, just let me handle the wedding planning, all right? This is the biggest day of my life. I want everything to be perfect."

Reed mouthed 'thank you' behind Sue's back—or so he thought.

"I saw that!"

Reed threw his hands up in defense. He left his fiancée to stress out over every last detail of the wedding. If she didn't want his help, well, he couldn't complain. Truth be told, he much rather be working on a certain experiment of his that could revolutionize the way the Fantastic Four travel than deal with his fiancée's nagging.

4-4-4-4

On his way to the lab, Reed ran into Ben. The Thing had a particularly amused expression on his face. Reed looked at him quizzically.

"How goes the wedding planning?"

"Ugh. Don't ask."

"That bad, huh?"

"I don't know. Honestly, I don't know. That's Sue's department not mine."

Ben snickered a bit before clearing his throat and regaining his composure. He was glad that his best friend was soon to be married. Reed and Sue deserved one another. In a way though, it was a bittersweet time for Ben. Not too long ago, he was engaged too. He thought he would marry Debbie and spend the rest of his life with her. However, after the cosmic storm, Debbie wouldn't take Ben back after his outward physical appearance—changed.

"Actually, Ben, I'm glad I ran into you. I wanted to talk to you about something. Well ask you something really. Will you be my best man?"

"Wow Stretch, I'm honored. It's just—"

"What?"

"Maybe you should have Johnny be your best man. The kid's had a rough month ever since you-know-what. I'm sure he would like to feel included in the wedding."

Reed understood where Ben was coming from. Slowly, but surely, Johnny was showing flickers of his old self. However, it was all too evident that he wasn't exactly himself yet. He didn't go out half as much as he used to. Johnny never even got into banter with Ben.

"He will be involved though. I'm certain that Sue is going to ask Johnny to give her away at the wedding. Besides, you're my best friend. There's no one I'd rather have as my best man than you."

"Okay. If you're certain that Matchstick will be included in the wedding, then I accept."

4-4-4-4

Sue went to check on her brother—well that and to take a break from planning her wedding. She would have hired a wedding planner, but she wasn't too fond of the idea of someone else planning her wedding. She was about to knock on his bedroom door when it opened. Johnny had a brown leather jacket draped over his shoulder, and he looked as though he was just on his way out.

"Oh, are you going somewhere Johnny?"

"Yeah."

"Where?"

"Out."

Sue sighed. Whenever her brother gave her one word answers, she knew that something was up. She knew him better than he probably thought she did. Johnny was trying to be strong because he didn't want to be seen as weak or vulnerable. Basically, he had a reputation to uphold, but Sue saw straight through his façade.

"If you're not going to talk to us about it, then maybe you should see a counselor. It's important that you talk about it instead of keeping it bottled up inside."

"No, it's important that you get out of my way so I can go out."

"Don't talk to me like that. I'm your sister."

"Oh, and you're talking to me like I'm a kid is any better?"

Sue knew that this would turn into a test of their willpower. Johnny was just as stubborn of an individual as her. Neither had any intention of backing down, but eventually one of them would cave in. It was just a matter of who would cave in first.

"I wouldn't treat you like a kid if you didn't act like one. Ever since the armed robbery, you've been moping around. Every time anyone of us would so much as attempt to talk to you, you would either snap at us or blow us off entirely. I'm sick of it!"

"Did you ever think that maybe just maybe you can't help me? No one can help me. The sad truth is that this is something I'm going to have to deal with in my own way on my own terms. You cause the deaths of five people, and then just maybe you can lecture me on how I should deal with this."

"Johnny, for the last time you did not cause their deaths! I knew that was why you didn't attend their funerals. Just so you know, their families didn't blame you at all. They were actually saddened that you didn't show up at the service."

The younger Storm sibling folded his arms over his chest and tapped his foot impatiently. He was avoiding making eye contact with his sister. His body language was telling her to move out of the way though. When that didn't work, he resorted to brushing past her. Sue let out a sigh, and watched sadly as her brother walked away from her.

4-4-4-4

Reed was busy working on some sketches of his latest project. Of course, he had many projects started, but just as many were nowhere near complete. He furiously erased a portion of his sketches. He rapidly tapped his pencil on his desk. Then, he stuck the tip of the pencil in his mouth and nibbled on it. Sue entered Reed's lab and couldn't help but smile at how enthralled Reed was with working on his projects. The serious look on his face was a bit of a turn on to her.

She snuck up behind him and covered his eyes with both of her hands. She looked at the sketches in front of her and was amazed by what she saw. It was amazing what kind of stuff Reed could come up with.

"What's this?"

"I-it's nothing."

"Reed, come on. You can tell me."

"Really Sue, it's nothing. It's not even past the drawing board stage. It is not beyond the realm of possibilities that this will end up being just another idea of mine that I scrap entirely."

The sketch before her was of what could best be described as a flying car. It had the Fantastic Four logo on the side of it. It was a sketch of it from four different views—from above, from below, from the right, and from the left.

Sue wrapped her arms around Reed's neck, and kissed the top of his forehead. He grew weak in the knees at the mere sensation of her soft lips on his skin.

"I don't think you should scrap this idea. I think it's one of your most brilliant ideas yet. Just don't forget that you and I are going to get married soon. I know that you have a tendency to become so involved with your projects that you forget about all the other commitments that you have."

"Come on. We're going to get married soon. I think I deserve a much better kiss than a kiss on the top of the forehead."

Sue laughed, but then was startled when Reed spun around in his chair, grabbed her by the waist, pulled her to him, and planted a wet one on her lips. Upon getting over her initial shock, she was soon returning the kiss with equal intensity. She grasped at the hairs on the back of his neck with one hand. Her other hand was resting against his cheekbone. They separated when air became an issue. Just when they were about to resume, Sue pulled back.

"Promise me that you won't let this or any other project interfere with our wedding day."

"I promise."

4-4-4-4

Ben was over at Alicia's place. He was lounging on the sofa with her snuggled up against him. He had his arm draped protectively over her. Lying like this with Alicia in his arms felt so right to Ben. He hadn't felt this way since Debbie, the only other love of his life. The Thing thought back to when he first met Miss Masters. At that time, nobody could look past his rocky exterior to see the person inside—not Johnny, not Debbie, nobody. Even Sue had let out a gasp the first time she saw Ben's appearance.

That's what he loved about Alicia though. She did what most people had a hard time doing—saw past how he looked on the outside. Sometimes Ben wondered if Alicia could see, if she would still feel the same way about him. After all, Debbie used to love Ben too, but once she saw The Thing, she broke off their engagement. In a way though, Ben felt that he and Alicia belonged together. They both were not what society would deem normal. They understood what it was like to not quite fit in. They understood what it was like to be different.

"So Benji, how's Johnny?"

"About the same. He still blames himself. I feel bad for the kid."

"Just give him time. He'll come around. It doesn't matter how many times you tell him it wasn't his fault. He won't start to believe that until he realizes it himself."

Ben nodded his head in understanding. That was one of the many things he loved about Alicia. She always gave good advice. She was always patient with people. She was always willing to give them a chance. Also, Alicia was a very intelligent woman. Intellect was a big turn on for Ben.

"I take it you came here to relax—to get away from it all? You should relax Ben. Your body is so tense right now. How are Reed and Sue?"

"About what you would expect. Those two are gettin' more and more stressed by the day, particularly Susie."

"Maybe I should talk to them. Did Sue tell you that she asked me to be her maid of honor?"

"Yeah. I'm glad that you two have become such good friends. With the rest of the team being guys, I think Susie needed to have a close female friend."

The two of them fell into a comfortable silence. Both of them were relishing the time they had together. Ben sighed contently. He couldn't help but feel that he and Alicia might be the next ones to get married. Of course, not that he even thought about proposing to her yet. They hadn't even been going out all too long. They were still in that beginning getting-to-know-you phase of their relationship. Based on what Ben has found out about Alicia so far, there was no question in his mind that she was his soul mate. He noticed that the woman in his arms had fallen asleep. He gently scooped her up in his arms being careful not to wake her. Ben walked her into her bedroom, put her on her bed, and tucked her in. He kissed her on the lips before quietly leaving her place. He wasn't sure what awaited him at the Baxter Building, but he knew that it would take a lot to ruin his day now that Alicia had managed to brighten it up so much.

To Be Continued…

Wow, ten chapters! I know that I don't do short, but I had no idea any of my multi-chapter fics would be this long. It's not even done yet either. I hope the characters were a bit more in character this chapter. I feel better about how this chapter turned out in relation to how I felt about the last chapter. I still don't quite know what I was thinking when I decided to write this. I'm dabbling a bit in various genres, but I know I am not a very good romance author, hence this is drama/romance, lol. Let me know what you think by leaving me a review. No flames please. Thank you for your time.