Disclaimers: I do not own the F4 characters, if I did then I wouldn't have to write a disclaimer…

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Reed could see similarities between Maria and the man standing before her. They both had pale skin, skin that would burn and not tan. They both had eyes that reflected the colour of their home land, and both had brown hair. Although the laboratory light illuminated the grey that was showing though. He looked remarkably young for someone so old, but then again he wasn't human, was he?

His name was Patrick, named after the Saint, he was Maria's grandfather. Reed had seen briefly him during his the funeral of his daughter and son in law, but he didn't stay long enough to have respects paid to. In fact he didn't stay long enough to see his grand child.

Ben had rung Patrick to tell him to get his "backside to the Baxter building" if he "ever wanted to see his grandchild again!" Ben was only putting on a front, the truth was as much as he hated the man, he needed Patrick, and the old man knew it.

"So, the symptoms have begun to show?" the old man asked, and Ben nodded, "When did they start?" another question.

Ben closed his eyes and went through the conversation he'd had with his girl, did she tell him when they started? No, he didn't think she did. He looked at Patrick, "She didn't tell me…" he admitted.

Patrick looked scared, "Where is she now?" he demanded.

"With Johnny," Ben replied, "They went to a club an hour ago," he added.

Patrick nodded, "She needs to come back, I need to talk to her. She could have begun having symptoms months ago for all we know!" he exclaimed.

Ben shook his head, and exchanged glances with Reed and Sue who were on his left, Alicia, who has on his right gave his arm a gentle squeeze.

"I'll call Johnny on his cell," Sue said and hurried out of the lab to get her jacket, as her cell was in the pocket.

"What aren't you telling me?" Ben glared at Patrick. In fact he had gained the attention off three of them.

Patrick looked sadly, "When Sarah…" he paused, just the mention of his daughter's name changed the atmosphere in the lab. "When Sarah was driving the car that day," he said referring to the day of the accident, "witnesses said they saw her swerving around on the road, as if to lose control…" he said.

"She was having a vision?" Ben asked slowly.

To his surprise Patrick shook his head, "No, she wasn't," he said. "About a week before, she'd had a vision, she saw the accident…" he paused, "Only in her vision she also saw Maria involved."

Ben felt sick.

"She told me all about it, and I told her I'd help her save Maria…" he said, "I was going to save Mark too, that was the plan," he looked Ben in the eyes. "He was supposed to be with me and Maria too, only somehow he was in the car…" the old man now had tears in his eyes, "I'm sorry…"

Ben nodded, he too had tears forming, so did Reed and Alicia as they listened to him. "Why did Sarah drive if she knew?" he asked.

"The accident didn't kill Sarah," Patrick said, "She had a heart attack."

Ben's eyes widened, "What? How? Wasn't she part demon? Demon's get heart attacks?" he asked quickly.

Patrick shook his head, "She wasn't a demon at that point, shortly after her last vision, we performed some kind of exorcism on her," he said. "The demon part left her body and was destroyed, she became a full human," he paused. "She knew that if what she saw was true, then there'd be tests, and they'd show she was a demon…" a lone tear fell down his cheek. "When her demon had left, her body became susceptible to illness," he said,

Ben nodded to this, not once in the time since he'd adopted Maria did he ever write a sick not for her for school. Cough syrup never touched her lips. "She saw the accident, but she didn't see what caused it…" Ben understood, Patrick nodded.

"Maria can learn to control her visions," Patrick said, "Learn from them like her mother did. She can learn to live with them, instead of living in fear of them… I can teach her that," he said. It was Ben's turn to nod. "If she had a vision and couldn't control it, being in the wrong place and wrong time, it could prove disastrous…" he didn't need to ad the word 'fatal.'

"She'll be safe with Johnny," Reed assured him.

At this particular moment in time, Sue appeared in the doorway of the lab, "She's not with Johnny!" she cried.

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A/n this chapter was also an experiment. I wrote it under the influence of alcohol... not my best... chapter...

question about the sequel. rather it may not be one. i want to do an x-men crossover, rather i am going to do one. it will have maria in it, but shoul i use this mari, or a different maria? (i like the idea of ben having a family member-screw reed, i'm angry with him...lol)