This starts a few years before my "Sunshine" fic, just for your information.

Chapter One – The Raging Quiet

For the longest time, Kimberly Daniels had been silent. She had been lucky, born into a rich family, and had the privilege of being given whatever her heart desired. All that came at a price, of course, but she didn't realize it herself until much later. When her parents arranged for her a marriage with Jacques Antoine Dubois, a New York businessman who was very wealthy due to his being a descendent of a family of French aristocrats, she didn't complain. Kim was the daughter of a rich family, and marrying someone for her parents was something she had always expected to do. And so, at the ripe young age of 22, Kim was married.

If her parents had known Jacques as well as Kim did now, she doubted that they would've agreed to the wedding without so much as a tear in their eyes. Their very first night together, right after he had taken Kim's well-preserved virginity, he had told her his greatest secret: that he was a superhero.

At first, Kim had just laughed at him, asking him if he had had a little too much wine to drink that night. "You can't honestly expect me to believe such a story?" she had asked laughingly. Jacques had been totally deadpan, however, which alarmed her. The very next day, once he was sober, he took her to a quiet place and showed her his power, a controlled radiation burst that issued from his hands at will, by knocking over a tree and burning it. Kim didn't remember much after that, because she had fainted.

"I'm telling you this because I care about you, sort of." Jacques had said. "Yeah, this wasn't something we both agreed to, but if we're gonna be stuck together for the rest of our lives, I might as well tell you that I have super powers."

After that, Kim pretty much closed up, only talking to her husband when absolutely necessary. He went to work early in the morning, and didn't return until later in the evenings. She was his wife, so she did as she was told, but everything she did or said seemed to be more out of obligation and fear than love. Her husband was Gamma Jack, one of the most powerful supers in the United States. And here she was, an ordinary woman with nothing to offer. This went on for almost three years.

But finally, the silence was broken.

--

She had been taking a nap, on break as a housewife. Jacques had plenty of money, and the money her parents had given her after the wedding was just icing on the cake. As a result, Kim had absolutely no reason to work, and besides, Jacques wouldn't have it. He had long believed that a woman's place was at home, and so Kim spent her time cleaning the house, cooking, and waiting for her hero of a husband to come home.

What first awoke her was the smell of smoke. As soon as she woke up, she felt a stinging sensation in her eyes, which promptly began to tear up. Coughing, she saw that she had accidentally left a kettle of tea on the stove, which had somehow lit on fire. While she had slept, the fire had spread to the adjacent cabinets. Their fire extinguisher had literally exploded a few days before, and Kim hadn't had time to buy another one. She couldn't just let their house burn down. It was where she had spent her entire life as a married woman, voluntarily or not! And besides, Jacques would probably be extremely angry with her for being so careless.

Kim quickly thought back to her middle school education…What was it that fires use to burn? They emit carbon dioxide…oxygen! Oxygen! I have to get rid of the oxygen! Kim looked around wildly for something. She tried pouring water on the fire, but it was becoming much too large and the water had little effect. Thinking quickly, she knew that fanning the fire would do no good; it would just make things worse. Kim just stared at the fire thinking Oxygen! Oxygen! And suddenly, her lungs felt…relieved. She stopped coughing, and realized that the smoke was no longer poisoning her. Surprised, she took a few breaths, and looked around. Most of the smoke had gone out of the house, having escaped through the scattered open windows.

But where was the fire? Kim looked back at the stove and cabinets, but there were no flames. She saw charcoal-colored bits and pieces of things here and there, so she hadn't simply imagined the fire. The cabinets and countertop had been decimated, and the kettle was truly black now. On the other hand, she was glad that she had stopped the fire before it had—wait, had she stopped the fire? She thought over what had just happened in her mind, trying to figure out just what had happened. I just thought OXYGEN and then…An idea suddenly dawned on her. Had she actually put out the fire herself?

There was a loud slam from the front door, followed by a large CLANG noise and the sound of Jacques shouting obscenities because he had hit his shin on the coffee table. "Kim! What's that smell? Is that smoke?" he yelled from the front hallway.

"…yes, dear!" she replied hesitantly. Quickly enough, Jacques walked into view. His blond hair was tousled, and his black and blue supersuit was ripped in several places. Despite herself, Kim felt a surge of concern rush through her. "Jacques! What happened?"

"Eh, that damned Baron von Ruthless again, that's all, babe," His tone was almost tender, but Kim decided to dismiss any hopes she had. He cared nothing for her, after all. Jacques had told her himself that he only put up with her because she was his wife, believing supers to be superior to normal humans.

"Are you hurt at all?" she asked. "Did you catch him?"

"The suit got a little ripped up, but I can get E to fix that, I guess," he shrugged. "And yeah, Incredible made sure that the Baron got behind bars. How long he'll stay there is a different story…" he trailed off. Kim felt some amount of pride at the fact that the suit Gamma Jack wore was actually one that she had sewn herself. True, she had gotten the sturdy material from Edna Mode, but she had made the supersuit for her husband with her own two hands. Since then, Jacques had only worn that supersuit, and even the ones that E made to try to get him to do otherwise were left in the closet. As far as she knew, he was the only super to not use an Edna Mode supersuit. "The more important thing is…" he continued, "What the hell happened to our kitchen?"

Her train of thought abruptly crashed, Kim whirled back and looked at the stove, as if noticing it for the first time. "Oh!" she looked at Jacques sheepishly, but it was obvious that he wouldn't believe any lies or feigned ignorance. "I…left the stove on and there was a fire."

Jacques considered at her quizzically. "How did you put the fire out? Our fire extinguisher…" He shook his head. "You don't even look like you got scorched at all, but from the looks of it, the fire was pretty huge."

"I, uh, poured water on it," this was at least partially true, and there was water on the floor to make good of her claim. Kim surprised herself. Why not tell Jacques about how she had…? She mentally reprimanded her inner voice. She had no proof, and even if she had stopped the fire, Jacques would probably just laugh at her unrefined abilities. This story seemed enough to convince him.

Not angry like she would have expected, Jacques only sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. "Kim, you're my wife. Try to be a little more careful, 'kay?" he looked over at the grandfather clock and caught the time: five o'clock PM. "Man, I'm really beat. Kim, I'm going to bed."

"Already?" It wasn't like her husband to tuck in before midnight; he was a nocturnal person who lived for parties and social gatherings.

"Yeah." He gave her a shrewd look. "Unless…you'd like to join me? Might not get much sleep, though."

Quickly ascertaining his meaning, Kim shook her head, disobedient for once. She had something else she had to prove to herself. Though surprised, Jacques went to their room by himself without a fuss. As soon as he'd gone, Kim went to the living room cabinet above the shelves and pulled out a long candle. She found a box of matches and lit it, staring at the flame for a few moments. Oxygen. She thought. Nothing happened. Kim thought of sucking the oxygen out from around the flame, and with a small whoosh, the little flame went out. Excitedly, Kim re-lit the candle. This time, she thought of adding more oxygen to the fire, and the flame grew in size. Surprised, Kim thought Less! Less! The fire quickly extinguished again.

For a long time, Kim stared at the top of the candle where the flame had been. She had put out that fire. Could it be that she had super powers of her own? Terribly confused, yet filled with a great feeling of curiosity and wonder, Kim trudged off to bed, lying beside Jacques. From the sound of his breathing, she could tell that he was asleep. Perhaps they were equals after all.