AN: Okay so this chapter isn't very exciting coming off chapter 9. More just Erik/Allie fluff, and no this won't end up as a Layla/Warren. I don't have any problem with this pairing, I'm just answering a question that might pop up.
"Wow", Nurse Spex gasped. "If only I knew what her normal temperature was", she pondered holding tremendously long thermometer.
"What is it?" Tally chimed in.
"210", she supplied still staring at the instrument.
"That's high", Jason stated. "It's usually 150 to 170".
"Mr. Boy! Go fetch some ice! NOW!!!" Poor Mr. Boy was left to obey the nurse's orders while the other teachers got to take care of Starbolt and explain what happened to the other students. There goes Allie's, Jason's, and Tally's chances to not poke their heads over the hedges. Erik didn't really have much to worry about in that regard, since the press already expected this sort of thing from him. That's mostly why they all agreed when the press bombarded them; Erik would take them on alone while the rest made their escape.
"I got the ice", Mr. Boy announced holding an ice pack in his outstretched hand.
"It's about time", Nurse Spex exclaimed placing it on Allie's forehead. The whole day, none of the group left Allie's side. Unfortunately she was unconscious the entire time; she had lost a lot of blood and had several wounds. In other words, any normal human would long be dead, and any normal superhero probably would also be dead.
"Oooohhhhh", she groaned. Erik instantaneously leaned over the bed.
"Allie?" he asked.
"Erik?" she moaned. "Well that was fun…."
"Seriously, if you ever do something like that again…."
"I know you're going to freak", she chuckled.
"Welcome back sleeping beauty", Jason laughed. "You've been out cold for a while".
"Ouch, my head….how long have I've been asleep?"
"About 2 weeks", Tally supplied.
"WHAT?!" She shrieked nearly falling out of bed.
"Kidding kidding, about four hours", she laughed.
"I'm going to fry….", she started.
"I wouldn't recommend you use your pyro powers for a while", Nurse Spex stated. "It'll only raise your temperature and possibly cause more damage. So I would wait about a couple of days or so".
"And we're taking advantage of every second of it!" Tally giggled. "Soooo, SOMEONES GOT A BOYFRIEND, SOMEONES GOT A BOYFRIEND!!!!"
"You two were plotting to pair us together the entire time", Allie accused.
"Yep!" Tally replied completely unashamed. Allie smiled.
"So I guess I owe you guys my life and my love life?"
"Pretty much", Jason smirked. "Well, I think we'll leave you two alone for a little while. Right Tall?" She nodded and gracefully followed Jason out.
"You saved me", Allie whispered. Erik smiled and brushed a lock of hair out of her face. "Thank you".
"I love you Allie", he spoke softly lowering his lips to hers. Her lips were hotter than usual but he didn't mind. His arms encircled her waist and back lifting her to a sitting position.
When he moved his mouth to her throat, "I love you too", she sighed pulling him into another kiss.
"Ahem", a voice coughed. They broke apart to see who the visitor was.
"Dad!" Allie cried.
"Hey Allie-cat", Warren grinned heaving her into a bear hug. He smoothed the top of her ruffled hair, "That Starbolt is lucky she's dead, cause if she was still alive and I got to her." He growled. "How dare she nearly take my little girl from me!"
"You're also not allowed to do anything stupid", she hissed.
"Deal, as long as you promise the same to me", he chuckled. "And would you mind telling me who this boy is before I have to take out the shotgun?"
"Dad this is Erik, Erik this is my father", she introduced.
Warren's eyebrows raised, "Erik…..?"
"Stronghold", he finished. Comprehension flickered across his face. "I think you knew my parents, Layla and Will?"
"Wow those two stayed together all this time, who would have thought? Well this is ironic", he laughed.
"Yea, trust me, my mom certainly made sure that Allie knew that", he snickered.
"Ah, Layla, yea I could see that easily", he mused. "She would be a bit over emotional for Al".
"Aw I didn't know I was over emotional", Layla thought over. All three of them spun around to see the Captain and Mother Earth in the doorway.
"Mom! Dad!" Erik said.
"Erik! You scared us to death!" Layla cried rushing over to place a hand on his bruises.
"MOM!!!" He complained trying to swat her away. Warren, Allie, and Will snickered as Erik's face lit up red.
Layla turned and stared at the Pyros, "Warren?"
"Hey Layla", he grinned.
"OH WARREN!!!" She yelled happily throwing her arms around his neck. Warren awkwardly stared at the thingattached to his throat.
"Layla stop scaring him", Will laughed at his wife. Layla released him with an expression that put Dora the Explorer to shame.
"Hey guys, I haven't seen you guys in about…"
"Sixteen years", Will finished.
"I'm so happy for you Warren! Where is Marie? I haven't seen her in ages!" Layla happily chirped. Allie shuddered and Warren's eyes cast down. "What…What's wrong?"
"My mother died a while back, Starbolt killed her", Allie quietly responded. Layla's lips formed an 'o'.
"I'm so sorry Warren", she sniffed pecking him on the cheek. He didn't respond but he didn't recoil.
"Warren, we, we didn't know, I'm sorry…I", Will babbled.
"Stop, I don't need everyone's sympathy", Warren stopped him. Erik nearly was expecting this answer; Allie was so much like her father it wasn't even funny.
"I'm so happy you two are together", Layla twittered obviously trying to change the subject.
"Yea, never would have thought my daughter would end up with a Stronghold", Warren chuckled. Erik sent him a dark look and stuck out his tongue. That's when he found out where Allie got her death glare from… "Well um, ALLIE!!" he squeaked struggling to find a way out of his dark stare.
"Yes?" she cackled tracing the source of his uncomfortably. "My legs are sore, wanna go for a walk?"
"YES!!" he squeaked instantly at her side as she heaved herself off the bed. She nearly burst out laughing at his cowering from her father's gaze, and almost had the notion of luring Mr. and Mrs. Stronghold out of the room so that they would be alone together. However that would probably result in her boyfriend being murdered, so she decided against it. Nurse Spex entered the room attempting to stop Allie.
"YOU ARE IN NO CONDITION TO BE WALKING AROUND LIKE NOTHING IS WRONG!!"
"Oh chill", she sighed pushing pass her.
"Allie I really think you should lay down again", Will supported the nurse grabbing her wrist. She must have tried every non-fatal way to twist out of his grasp, to no avail.
"WHAT IS YOUR POWER? SUPER-STRENGTH?!" she yelped.
"Yes", Will laughed. Warren looked amused at his daughter's ignorance.
"Fine", she growled surrendering by lying on her stomach burying her face in her pillow. "How long do I have to stay here?"
"It would be nice for you to stay for two weeks, but since you can barely stand five minutes, about two nights", Nurse Spex guessed checking her clipboard. "Mr. Peace I have some questions for you, it's been a long time since I've dealt with a pyro and they all differ in stats such as heart beat and temperature."
"Sure", he replied getting up from his chair and following her out.
"Well I think we're going to head out, you going to stay here a little longer Erik?" Mr. Stronghold asked. He nodded grabbing hold of Allie's hand.
Just as planned, Allie remained in the nurse's office for the next three days. The most frequent was Erik, with Warren as a close second, and Jason and Tally in third. Every now and then Mr. and Mrs. Stronghold came with Erik to check on her. Even Matt and Emma came once; although it wasn't exactly the most comfortable of visits with Emma's thoughts overrun with 'How's it like for you to be in the hospital bed?' For the most part though, Emma and Allie decided on a truce. Both got their men and there was no need to hold a grudge. Also right on schedule, the press attacked. The teachers managed to defend Allie from getting interrogated in an infirmary bed, but Erik wasn't so lucky. Twice he found he was completely surrounded with interrogators. Obviously Starbolt was more famous than any of them knew, and was wanted in thirteen states with thirty-four outstanding warrants waiting to arrest her, and for four teenagers to take her out plus another group of teens on her team made big news. It wasn't only the news media who wanted the scoop, Tally and Jason were cornered multiple times by their classmates.
"Hey Allie", Erik waltzed in the door dropping his backpack on the floor and nodding at Nurse Spex. She was so used to Erik stopping by she didn't even bother asking why he was there. "I'm here to liberate you from this place", he laughed pecking her on the cheek.
"Freedom at last", she chuckled throwing her schoolwork on the far end of the bed. "I'm excused from classes but I still have to stay in school and do the work", she complained.
"Yea, and I'm clueless on how to build a freeze ray", Erik mumbled.
"Fine, I'll help you, but you'll owe me big", she replied.
"Thanks Al! Besides it's been kind of lonely without you. At least I have Jason and Tally as friends, but they're always partners in any sort of team project".
"Nice." She bounded to her feet and snatching her extra clothes and school work and shoving them in her backpack. "Ready to go?"
"Yea", he responded leading the way out the door. Allie and Erik never really held their hands like the other couples did, nor kiss in public; however Erik was satisfied with just the way she looked at him. Her eyes seemed to show to sparkle and show more emotion whenever she looked at him. It made his heart jump and do a few back flips much to Allie's amusement. The day sped by much faster than usual. The fact that it was Friday could have helped but it was more the cured loneliness that made school a great deal more bearable for Erik, including Mad science class which he was horrible beyond belief in.
"You see", she added shoving a metal cylinder into a compartment. "And that's how you build the frame of a freeze ray".
"You're really good at this", he remarked in awe.
She shrugged, "Eh, freezing in somewhat second nature to me."
"And frying is first nature?"
"Yep, probably the way plants come first nature to you", she smiled. "Hand me the trigger", she ordered.
"Hmm", he pondered.
"What?" She glanced up from her work as he handed over the desired part.
"You inherited both powers at an early age right?" Allie nodded. "Well, my father has two powers, why haven't I inherited either of them?"
"You might, you might not. Weren't you paying attention in DNA studies today?" She regarded his evil expression, "Apparently not. You really need to get your head out of the clouds".
"Clouds of smoke", he smirked at his own joke.
"If my presence jeopardizes your grades, then maybe…" she began knowing she had him beat.
"NO!!!" He yelped throwing both palms forward. "I mean um…"
"Nice", she snickered. "But just be thankful that you even have powers, be happy with what you have. You shouldn't drive yourself crazy over what you don't have. That's how I made it through life".
"Like not driving yourself mad over losing your mom?" She nodded.
"I'm thankful that I have dad, we look out for each other and keep each other's sanity", she explained.
"Do I help keep your sanity?" he questioned wiggling his eyebrows.
"You're strange. I feel like I'm losing my mind but at the same time you're making me feel less like I need to block out the world", she clarified.
"Ah, I guess I can live with that", he shrugged.
"You're not like most boys", she stated drilling in a screw to the side of her ray.
"Thanks, but I don't think you need me to tell you that you're not like most girls", he smiled. "Most girls don't take on a capital villainess alone".
"Nope, but most boys would have let me die when I went after that capital villainess."
"Ms. Peace, Mr. Stronghold, what do we have here?" Mr. Medulla asked strolling over promptly after nearly failing two students. "Nice, very nice", he remarked running a hand along the sleek sliver side. He turned swiftly and froze a student to the spot. "Oh, well um, Mrs. Peace please thaw him out", he mumbled placing the ray on the table again.
"Why do I always have to?" Allie mumbled.
"Because you happen to have the power of fire which so happens to melt ice", Mr. Medulla answered meandering down the aisle of desks already passing out on the edge of failing grades. Erik beamed at her as she powered up her right arm and began to burn away the ice.
"OOWWW!!!! HOT HOT HOT HOT!!!!" he barked. "Good grief Allie!" She rolled her eyes walked back over to her seat.
"Hey Al, do you want to go to the beach today?" Erik inquired happily. She shrugged.
"Whatever you want", she grinned.
"Thank you", he grinned pecking her on the lips. She growled momentarily, not threatening, but just to remind him of her careful rules. "Sorry", he shrugged although his tone wasn't even the slightest bit sincere. She sighed and leaned her head against her hand. 'What am I going to do with this boy?' she pondered. RING RINGRING "Come on Allie!"
AN: Okay like I said, not the most exciting thing in the world, but it wouldn't make sense if it was all action. There's probably will be a lot of Allie and Erik fluff in the next chapter too, and setting up for the next big thing. Before you tell me that Allie is OOC, Erik is really softening her up. REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!