I don't own the F4 characters.

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"You popped the question yet?" Johnny asked Ben when the two sat in a bar waiting for Reed to return with the tray of drinks.

The big orange man shook his head, "Not yet," he said, "I'm going to wait until the ring is finished," he told the younger man. Ben had taken his grandmother's ring into a jewellers to get it re-sized for Alicia. He had thought long and hard about proposing, but didn't know about the ring.

"What did you do with the other one?" Johnny asked him, meaning the ring he gave Debbie.

Ben glared at him before answering. "I gave it to my mother," he said, feeling a smile on his lips, "And then she pawned it," he laughed looking at the shocked expression on the younger man's face.

"She pawned it?" he echoed and received a nod. He couldn't imagine anyone related to Ben pawning anything.

"You just told him about the ring?" Reed asked grinning as he set the tray of drinks down on the table. He'd stretched his hand out so it was flat and held is steady to carry the drinks. Something, like kissing an invisible Sue, he had come to perfect.

Ben nodded as he reached for the metal tumbler that held his ale. "What about you then Sparky?" he asked Johnny, "We need to find you a woman," he teased.

Johnny sighed reaching for the beer and taking a sip, "I'm going to a bachelor!" he told them, "If I get a girlfriend, my fans will hate me," he said sitting back. "And I love the attention," he winked at a girl standing by the bar who had blown him a kiss.

Ben rolled his eyes and looked at Reed for a similar reaction, but the scientist's eyes had glazed over. He had already told the two of them that he wasn't drinking due to it affecting his 'fertility.' The truth was he didn't want to take sleeping pills with alcohol in his system. So, right now he was sitting there staring at a spot on the wall with his untouched soda in one hand. It was plain to see that Mr. Fantastic was somewhere that wasn't the taver with his two friends'. This worried Ben as he didn't have anything to blame. "You ok buddy?" he asked, knocking his elbow a little, but Reed's eyes remained locked on the wall he was staring at. "Earth to Reed," he said trying to snap him out of the trance he was in. He looked at Johnny who shrugged in confusion. Then a smile grew on the younger man's face.

He moved around to sit by his brother in law, and knocked the table whilst saying in a voice just a little louder than a whisper, "The cloud is accelerating."

The contents of the drink Reed had been holding was now all over the table, dripping on to his and Johnny's trousers. The man blinked and looked around as he tried to assess the situation at hand. It took a few seconds for him to realise he was in the tavern and not on the space station. Now he wished he was up in space, in fact he wished he was anywhere but surrounded by dozens of eyes on him. He forced a smile and nodded at them, and then looked back at his friends. "I'd best get a cloth," he smiled, and then stretched his arm across the room comically, and took hold of a sponge that was kept behind the counter. Just like he did when he ran out of toilet paper, and wiped up his spilt drink. He then returned it, long with his empty glass, and bought his arms back with a fresh glass of lemon ade.

"He does parties too!" Johnny called out to the amused crowd.

Neither he or Ben had time to find out what had been bothering him as they were soon surrounded by members of the public offering to buy them drinks, and just generally making a fuss.

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"I'm driving," Reed announced as he pulled the keys from his pocket. It was two hours later, and time for the trio to leave. They had told Sue and Alicia, who were having a girls night, that they would be home before midnight. They had less than twenty minutes.

"Hey," Johnny demanded, "Why do you get to drive?" putting his hand on his hips like a spoilt child.

"Because I think you and Ben have drank enough," he said. It was true, the two had drank enough to forget about Reed's funny turn. "Don't think about flaming on," Reed said reading the younger man's mind, "Remember what happened last time?" he winked at Ben who had the same amused expression on his face. The big orange man chuckled to himself at the memory of Johnny lying curled up on the bottom of this bed. It appeared the young man, after a heavy night of clubbing and boozing, had flown through the wrong window, then thought he was a dog.

It was a miracle he didn't hit the glass, anymore Smirnoff in his system, and they would have been scraping 'Johnny pancake' off the side of the building.

"Get in the car Tinkerbell," Ben said, still laughing, and opened the door to the passengers side before getting into the rear himself, as Reed sat in the drivers seat. The car started on the first turn of the key, and Reed slowly pulled out of the parking space.

Johnny reached and turned on the radio, causing "Who let the dogs out?" to blare through the speakers. Ben hated that song, and since both had a fair few beers inside them, it was a recipe for disaster. Reed groaned, stretching, and folding, his ears in a grotesque way so he could block out the mini war that was about to rage.

"Turn it down," Ben shouted, hitting the back on the hot head's seat, but the obnoxious young man was dancing to the music. "I said turn it down," Ben repeated, pounding the seat again. Grudgingly the music was turned down, but only because Johnny was beginning to feel sea sick with the constant shaking of the chair. The two then began arguing about something of no importance, and failed to notice Reed had slowed down until the car had stopped.

Both arguers looked up expecting to see a red light, but it wasn't a traffic signal that made Reed stop. There was a young girl standing in front of the car, her face streaked with tears, and her skin was pale in the streetlights. Reed slowly got out of the car, and moved slowly towards her. "Are you ok?" he asked her slowly and gently, putting up his arms to show he wasn't armed. Both Johnny and Ben stepped out of the car, both just standing there beside the vehicle.

"Please," the girl looked at Reed with pleading tear filled eyes, "Save me," she uttered. The scientist sensed she was going to pass out before her eyes began to roll back, and caught her body before it hit the floor.

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A/n I was sitting writing the end of this chapter in the park this after noon, and you know what happened? A damn seagull thought it had the right to go potty on my bag! Just thought I'd share that with you… heihei!