Disclaimers: No matter how cool it would be to own the F4 characters, which I don't, it's even cooler to own Maria!

888888888888888888888888888888

Chapter 4

Maria paid the driver, and jumped out the cab. The reporters were still standing outside the main entrance, and got excited when they saw her emerge.

"Watch out!" she yelled taking off her left glove, and shooting a ray of water out of her hand at them. She controlled the speed of it, it was slow enough to scare the reporters and have them jump out of the way, so she could run up the middle of them inside.

She reached the elevator and pressed the button for the floor she wanted, and waited for it to reach. The doors dinged open, and Johnny was standing there. "How did you get back before me?" she said.

"Johnny's airways," he joked.

Maria sighed, "Whatever," she muttered and pushed past him.

"Maria, wait," he said taking hold of her hand.

"Arrghhh!" she screamed in pain. It was her left, it was bare, she hadn't put her glove back on yet.

As soon as he'd taken it, Johnny let go. Maria rubbed it as it healed itself, "Can things get any worse?" she muttered sadly.

"What happened? We heard screaming!" It was Sue, Reed, and a thundering Ben coming to see what had happened.

"Nothing," Maria said, "I'm fine, see?" she said showing them her freshly healed hand, and walking past them to her room.

"Johnny?" Sue prodded him.

Her brother looked sheepish, "I was just trying to make her laugh," he protested, and explained what had happened at Toy Land.

"You guys went to Toy Land?" Ben exclaimed.

"Yeah," the young man paused, "Is that bad?"

Ben didn't answer straight away, "Her mother used to take her there," he explained. "She'd never go there with me," he finished. "She'd never even go near the place," he said sadly.

"I didn't know," Johnny said sincerely.

"I know, I never told you," Ben looked from him to the other two, "I never told any of you."

"I wandered why she never played with dolls like other girls," Reed mused, "Thought it was just because she was more mature."

There was a long pause, "Anyone for something to drink?" Sue asked, walking toward the kitchen, the others, minus Ben, followed.

8888888888888888888888888888

"Honey?" it was her dad's voice coming through the door, "Can I come in?" he asked.

"It's open," Maria said pushing herself up on her bed into a sitting position.

The handle turned for the second time that day, and Ben entered. "Hey, I didn't take the door off!" he observed, closing it gently and making his way to his daughters bed. He noticed her smiling at his statement, "That's more like it, show me those pearly whites," he teased. The springs groaned under Ben's weight as he sat on the bed, "Sorry…" he said.

"It's ok," she said, then taking her father by surprise she threw her arms around him, clinging on to him as if she was about to fall into a black hole, and he was her only anchor.

"Hey… sweetie, it's alright," he said stroking her hair as gently as possible. She shook a little from crying tears she couldn't shed.

"Johnny didn't know any better," Ben tried to soothe her.

"I know," came her quiet muffled voice, "It's just to much," she confessed.

Ben nodded as if understanding what his daughter was going through, even if he had no idea. All he knew was that she needed him there, and he was going to be there for her.

After a while, Maria pulled away from her father. "What do you say about watching a little father daughter TV?" he asked. Maria shook her head. "What? Come on," he coaxed. "Not even Home Improvement re-runs" he asked, prompting a little. Maria smiled, "That's more like it!" he said standing up, causing the spring's to groan once more. Taking his daughter by the arms, he lifted her off the bed, and carried her into the lounge fire man style.

88888888888888888888888

The following morning, Maria was lying down on the couch in front of the television when she felt a presence behind her. "What do you want Flame Boy?" she asked irritably.

"How'd you know it was me?" Johnny's voice asked.

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" she asked not looking up, "I got another power, I'm telepathic," she said with a touch of sarcasm in her voice.

"Really?" Johnny asked surprised.

If she wasn't mad at him, she would have smiled, "I can see your reflection in the TV screen genius!" she replied, her voice full of sarcasm this time.

There was a short silence as the young male walked to the side of the couch. "I'm really sorry," he confessed, "I didn't mean to embarrass you."

Maria smiled, "You nearly sound like you mean it," she muttered.

"What do you want me to say?" he protested, going to sit down, but her body was draped over the couch he had nowhere to sit. "Do you mind?" he asked, motioning her to move. Grudgingly she pushed her body upward into a sitting position. "Thank you," he said.

Maria ignored him and just stared at the TV screen.

"What are you watching?" he asked her, trying to spike up conversation.

"What does it look like?" she muttered, not interested in small talk.

Johnny took that as a sign to leave her alone.

Suddenly the ground started shaking, simultaneously the two jumped off the couch and hit under the table. "Things just got worse," Johnny shouted, echoing her words from the previous night. Maria said nothing, just closed her eyes, as things started falling off shelves around them.

88888888888888888

End of chapter

A/n Well, I've given up making plans. I was planning on posting once a week... well that was until today. I went to work and had to come home because my knee went purple, and I fell asleep (but that was because I planned to be in bed last night by midnight, but ended up going at 12.30, which was ok, but I get insomnia really badly and was lying awake at 3am -plus I kept smelling smoke), so I came home. I ended up thinking about my fanfiction, which what I was thinking about whilst trying to sleep last night (rather this morning). So I opened up Spidey and started typing. I have nearly finished this fic, so I'll be posting a little more often. It's toally not turning out as I had planned, so I'm never making a plan ever again!