Author: Dark-Angels-Tears

Title: Darkfire

Rating: T for Violence, Language, Graphic content... All that good stuff.

Genre: Angst/Action/Adventure. In that order.

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it isn't ours. If you don't, total legal-glomp.

Summary: AU. To go back in time and change the past, in order to save the future. This is the mission of one Johnny Storm. However, his family doesn't understand this new, ruthless, darker Johnny. None have them have ever seen this side before... except Sue.

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Jackie: I don't think we've been saying this enough, but thank you all so much for your reviews. We are TRYING so hard to get back into the swing of responding to each individual review, but it's harder than you think- you guys are really smart and we can't respond to a lot of questions!

Sarah: So, ya. Many thankz and apologiez. Anyways, here it is… Spontaneous Combustion of the Light Deficient variety!

Jackie: Classy.

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Chapter Nine

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It's always times like these when I think of you,
And I wonder if you ever think of me.
'Cause everything's so wrong, and I don't belong,
Living in your precious memory.

'Cause I need you, and I miss you, and now I wonder…
If I could fall into the sky, do you think time would pass me by?
'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles if I could just see you…
Tonight.

-Vanessa Carlton, A Thousand Miles

Johnny spent that entire night pacing a hole in his bedroom floor, wracking his brain with worry and trying to figure out something, anything that could help him in this new situation. But by the time the sky began to lighten, he still hadn't figured anything out. Sinking down onto his bed in sheer exhaustion, he made a half-hearted attempt to rub the ache out of his legs, but by then his arms had betrayed him. Darkness soon followed.

--

A few short hours later, he was awakened by a presence in his room. He had closed and locked his door earlier, so whoever it was intruding in a very sneaky manner. Though not sneaky enough to fool him.

Senses screaming danger, Johnny lay on his side absolutely still. Soft footsteps approached, then finally halted… right in front of him? At first he was confused... until his eyes, barely cracked open, caught sight of something very strange. Hovering about a foot in front of him was an almost unnoticeable tiny reddish blob, not half a centimetre in diameter. As he watched, it was moving closer, or rather, being moved closer to him.

He couldn't help but speak up then, so in an even voice he said, "Are you going to go visible now, or should I just keep pretending to be asleep?"

The blob lurched backwards suddenly, and an instant later Sue appeared. "That's not funny!" She said, flushing as Johnny snickered at her.

"I thought it was pretty good." He replied, sitting up and smoothing his hair with one hand. "Hey, Sue. Welcome home."

"Thanks..." She said, taking a step back and leaning against his dresser with a perplexed expression on her face. "How did you know I was there?"

Johnny's blue eyes twinkled mysteriously. At last, a truth he could reveal. "Well, if you really want to know... I think you should sit down for this." He took his sister's arm gently and sat her on the bed next to him, then examined her face carefully. He did not want to miss this expression for the world. "Alright, now go invisible."

She frowned slightly, but obliged him. As before, there was no trace of Sue left... but there was, however, a small reddish blob suspended in mid-air.

"Now look at your stomach."

Sue must have looked down at that, because a few short moments later a scream of joy came from the air she had previously occupied. Invisible arms suddenly threw themselves around Johnny's chest and tackled him to the bed, sending electric jolts of pain through his wounds, old and new.

"Ouch, Sue! That hurts!" He cried, but amusedly returned the hug as best he could.

Loud footsteps in the hallway signalled the arrival of Ben and Reed, the latter immensely worried. "Sue?" He demanded, looking around for his wife, for the source of the apparent danger.

Having been summoned, the Invisible Woman suddenly became visible again and leapt up from her position tackle-hugging Johnny to go and embrace her husband. "Reed, look!" She exclaimed excitedly, and this time it was only her midsection that disappeared.

For internationally renowned genius, it took a surprising amount of time before Reed's eyes widened in understanding. "Incredible..." He said in shock.

Ben, meanwhile, looked completely blank. "What's all the noise about?" He asked, scratching his head.

Leaning out of the hug and utterly beaming, Sue turned to him and said in a quivery voice, "I... I'm pregnant."

His great orange jaw dropped. "Wha- that little... thing is a kid?" He demanded, pointing at her stomach.

"This is incredible." Reed repeated. "Sue, you can turn your own body, your own cells invisible, but because this, ahem, 'kid' is not part of your body, it remains perceptible. Think of the advances this could give to medical research!"

She gave the man an obligatory swat on the shoulder and said exasperatedly, "Reed, this is our child you're talking about, not an experiment!"

The man coloured. "Right, sorry." He paused for a moment, and suddenly his face went blank. "This... this is our child." He said as if testing out the phrase, placing both hand on his wife's midsection. "I'm going to be a father?"

Sue nodded slowly, the joyful expression still etched on her face. "That's right."

Reed melted. Literally.

Right there in Johnny's room (after Mr. Fantastic managed to pull himself together), the Fantastic Four quickly drew some quick conclusions. Sue's pregnancy would need to be hidden for as long as possible, both for privacy and safety reasons. For now, she would have to remember to use a separate field of invisibility around her stomach in order that no one –reporter or villain- could learn the truth. Finally, sometime in the near future, she would have to take a leave of absence from crime fighting – perhaps staying with Alicia while the others took care of their city.

It was a joyous day in the Baxter Building... but unfortunately, Johnny knew from past experience that it could not last. Nothing good in his life ever did.

Later that day, when Reed and Sue had curled up on the couch together to watch some TV (thought they were watching each other more than the television) and Ben was taking an afternoon nap, the doorbell rang.

Not wanting to have to disturb the lovebirds, Johnny inconspicuously stood and made his way to what served as their front door and pulled it open.

And was nearly blinded by a dozen flash bulbs going off in his face at once.

"Johnny, is it true that you're planning on admitting yourself to a psych ward?"

"What about your extended stay in rehab?"

"Mr. Storm! How do you feel about Ms. Evans's accusations of abuse?"

"Can you address the rumours of a mental illness?"

"Why have you been hiding this from the public for all these years?"

"Johnny! What's your comment on Dr. Hessler's psychotic evaluation of you?"

"How is Ms. Lopez taking the news?"

Voices and noises and intense lights assaulted his senses and momentarily froze him like a deer in headlights... but then everything sped up all too quickly. His pulse pounding in his ears, Johnny literally fought the urge to flame on and scare them all away, but... he just couldn't do that. Still, he was utterly bewildered. How had they found out? Had he tipped his hand at some point in time? What else could go wrong now?

But there was no time to dwell on his own questions. He steeled himself the best he could, straightened up, and as his concerned family began to press in, the hero put on a neutral expression and said in an even voice, "I would again like to respectfully ask to be left alone. My and my family's personal lives have nothing to do with our current occupation." There, they wouldn't be able to misinterpret that, would they?

The cluster of reporters pushed forwards even further, but as he was not moving at all from his position holding the door, they could not get in. Some brave man in the back managed to make his voice heard over all the others and thrust a tape recorder as close to Johnny as he could get it, shouting, "Johnny! Rumour has it that you do all these death-defying heroics in order that you might injure yourself- what is your response?"

A muscle in Johnny's jaw tightened and his hands gradually balled themselves into fists. He desperately wanted to hit something, but that, too, could be drastically misinterpreted. So instead, he replied through gritted teeth, "My response is the same as last time's- no comment."

With that, he closed the door in their arrogant faces, then turned around and sighed heavily, as if a few more bricks had been added to the load he was already carrying.

Turned right into the waiting faces of his family. Not quite ready to deal with them, Johnny walked on by and sat down on the couch, resting his head in his hands.

The couch sank slightly as Sue sat down next to him. For a moment she was silent, sitting there and rubbing his arm gently. Finally, she spoke up. "That was very diplomatic, Johnny. I'm proud of you."

He sighed again, staring blankly at the carpet. "I just don't understand... how did they find out? Why are they so eager now all of a sudden?" He hadn't remembered the local news media being this... bloodthirsty.

She replied, "Well, you've always given them the interviews, quotes, and pictures they needed... but when you up and quit talking last time, it's like they need something from you or they won't be able to function."

"Like a crackhead goin' through withdrawal." Ben spoke up, a half-grin in his deep voice.

Johnny laughed weakly at that. Inwardly, however, he was still bewildered. How... how had they known? Sure, hospital records were public, but as far as he knew the media in his time never had dove into his past like this. Someone must have tipped them off. But who? And why? What had happened differently that would cause someone to want to go through all that trouble? He surely hadn't done anything to tip anyone off, had he?

...oh, sh-

Of all the idiotic, careless things to do. That conversation at the bar, just yesterday.

Someone had to have been listening in. But who? Who could have...?

Damien. That smile he'd given Johnny, the gleam in his eye, he'd seen it all before. It was the look of a man about to get a lot of money.

He groaned aloud and muttered, "Stupid!" under his breath angrily.

But then again, the bartender had always seemed to like him before. In such a short while, what had changed to make the make entirely sell him out? Was it money, or something more personal? And if one person's opinion of him could change so drastically, why not the rest of the city, if not the country? If not Doom?

This was more complicated than he had originally thought…

Across the room, the phone rang. Quiet footsteps leading away told him that Reed had risen to answer it, and Johnny listened in on the scientist's part of the phone call for no other reason but to distract himself.

"Yes?"

"No, he isn't."

"He's busy at the moment."

"I mean, he doesn't want to talk to you."

"No, I haven't asked, I just know."

"Because he doesn't need to be bothered right now!"

"No, you can't quote me on that!"

"Then you should have told me you were taking notes! Off the record, he doesn't want to talk to any reporters, at all. That's why he has told you, multiple times, he does not want to talk!"

"What he needs is to not be bothered. So please, just leave us alone!"

"No, we certainly haven't."

"Nothing."

"Yes."

"Yes, I'm aware of that."

"Goodbye."

A frustrated sound and the click of a phone being returned to a cradle.

Johnny closed his eyes tiredly. Again, this was just the thing he was afraid would happen if he slipped up and stepped out of character in public- people would begin wondering why and eventually they would find out the truth. And if he had been transparent enough for the public to start wondering and look into his past, what was to keep Doom from finding out that he was from the future?

Had he already done it? After all, Ben's poison was not 'scheduled' to activate for years now, and yet the mastermind had gone ahead and started it. What would cause that sudden change of mind?

Had Johnny revealed himself already?

He heaved a sigh and shook his head, dejectedly.

He just didn't know.

--

The good thing about all the reporters that were now hounding Johnny was that they had no time to wonder about the team's sudden change in attitude towards Sue – treating her as though she were made of glass. They had no time for them to wonder about her trips to a private doctor's office, or anything of such importance.

They were so worried about the past that they had no time to worry about the present, or six and a half months into the future.

That was the only bright spot in all this, Johnny thought glumly as he ducked his head down and pushed his way through a throng of paparazzi towards the waiting Fantasticar. Several weeks had passed now, and the tabloids were still running story after story about his hidden background, contacting bitter old roommates, ex-girlfriends, and basically everyone in his life who had dirt to share.

Jessica was a veritable mine of 'information' for them, and she had taken the sob story of their breakup so far to accuse him of threatening to kill her if she left him – which was backed up by several 'witnesses.' The only reason she claimed she hadn't taken him to court was that because he had apparently bribed the judges to keep it all quiet.

Anyone who knew anything about him knew the stories were false, but the general public seemed to eat up and demand more. So the stories continued to run.

It was even beginning to interfere with his life as a superhero, for many of the people he saved did not want to be rescued by a psychotic maniac. Johnny was basically in what many would consider a living hell, but so long as he was able to watch over his family and keep his maddening questions at bay, he was actually feeling pretty good. Far better than previously, at any rate.

Except while trying to fight his way through the crowds of people demanding his blood. As he finally broke free of the mob, he was just about to the Fantasticar and his waiting team when he spotted her.

It was her heartbreakingly blue eyes that caught him first – half-amused, but at the same time sympathetic. Her hair was cut short, shorter then he remembered, and it curled up slightly at the ends. As she caught him staring at her, the edges of her lips quirked and she nodded to him courteously, but stepped back and away before he could approach.

His heart stopped and his breath caught in his throat. Was it... was it really her?

"Myra?"

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Sarah: The end! –cacklez-

Jackie: Until next time, folks. Read and review!