Disclaimer: I don't own the Fantastic Four, movies or comics, or Chris Evans. I'd be rich if I did.

I'd like to thank yaonne- san, ShadowWolfDagger, yumi-wheeler, SN=love, Johnny-on-the-spot, amber, Keiri Bradon, xxClois-LuverXX, Casey_19 Hio, and penny3 for reviewing, and everyone who reviews after the fact. Sorry for the wait, but I had school business that I had to go away for, and I update in a specific order. Hope you like it.

Warnings: this will have mentions of child abuse, and some graphic scenes.

This is an AU, it's gonna have flashbacks, and there is a 12 year old gap between Sue and Johnny, at the start of the story. Takes place after Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Johnny

Chapter 9: Getting Somewhere

"Tears are words the heart can't express." Anonymous.

Sue, Reed, and Ben, in that order, burst into Johnny's room, they took in the mess that was the room. The bed sheets, blankets, and pillows had been kicked every which way and the bed was soaked with so much sweat that it looked like it had gotten into a fight with a water hose and came out on the worse end.

Looking around the room, all three of them spotted Johnny at about the same time, the scene was so sad that it would have pulled at the heart strings of the coldest people on earth; the Grinch, maybe even Lionel Luthor, if he was real and having a good day.

Johnny was curled up in the corner of the room in a fetal position; his knees pulled up to his chest, his arms wrapped around his knees, and his face lying on top of his knees, effectively hiding his face, which was probably the point, but the thing that broke their hearts more than anything were the tiny shudders that wracked his tiny frame as he cried silently.

Once they'd recovered from their surprise at seeing Johnny cry, (the Johnny they knew never did) Sue and Reed both walked toward Johnny, while Ben looking vaguely uncomfortable stayed where he was, he was not good with kids. Reed stopped a couple feet away from Johnny, knowing that kids that had been abused liked some space after they'd had a nightmare about their past. Apparently, Reed realized a little too late, Sue didn't know that and had therefore walked up to Johnny and placed her hand on his shoulder. It was meant to be a comforting gesture, but Johnny flinched and jumped away, as if he'd been burned, finally revealing his face.

His face was tomato-red and covered with tear tracks and his beautiful, sea-blue eyes were red, puffy, and swollen from crying. Sue seemed to be in shock, something that had been happening a lot today, as she didn't seem to notice as Johnny, still facing them, used his hands and feet to crawl away from them, backing himself into another corner and curling up in his earlier position in the opposite corner of his room. The only differences being that he was no longer crying and that his eyes instead of being hidden were peeking out from behind his knees and he looked at them warily.

When Ben, who was not good with handling kids, and Sue, who was apparently still in shock, didn't move to help, Reed determined that it was up to him to help Johnny and so, holding up his hands, as if to say I'm not gonna hurt you, Reed walked toward Johnny, stopped when he was about five feet away from him.

Then smiling comfortingly, or so he hoped, Reed crouched down to Johnny's level and said, "Hey, Johnny."

Reed couldn't help the grin that covered his face when Johnny replied with a muffled whisper, "Hi," apparently Johnny knew good manner since he was a kid, he just hadn't wanted to use them when he was older.

"Do you remember me?" asked Reed, hoping with every fiber of his being that he did, but at the same time knowing that Johnny's regression to his five-year-old self may have left him disoriented until several hours after the fact.

"Uh huh," replied Johnny, finally lifting his head from its hiding place and looking up at Reed, "You're Weed," he said his face scrunching up endearingly in concentration as he tried to get the r sound in Reed right. Reed hoped against hope that nobody saw the "Aw, that's so adorable" smile that covered his face when Johnny did that or they'd make fun of him for life.

"That's right, Buddy," said Reed encouragingly, "Do you remember when we met this morning."

"Yes, Weed," replied Johnny, confused because he didn't know where this conversation was leading.

"Remember how I said that we'd take care of you and that I'd never leave you," he waited for Johnny's nod, which came a second later, "Well that still stands, I promise it always will. Johnny, I know you had a nightmare and I want to help you, if you'll let me. Will you tell me what it was about?"

Johnny looked indecisive, as if he really wanted to tell someone, but wasn't sure if he should, wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do. Trying to encourage him to open up, Reed said, "Johnny, you can tell us. Me, Ben, and Sue we all just wanna help you."

And immediately, as soon as those words were out of his mouth, Reed knew he'd screwed up because Johnny clammed up quicker than someone could say pineapple and said, "Nothing. It was nothing, Weed," apparently he'd said something that had made Johnny's decision easy as pie.

Then, before Reed knew it, Sue was kneeling next to him and looking at Johnny, before she started talking, "Johnny, come on, I'm grown up now…crap, I was grown up then. You don't have to protect me now, you never did. I'm your big sister, I'm supposed to protect you, bang up job I've done so far, and not the other way around." Sue then paused she hated to do this, guilt Johnny into telling her, but she told herself that it was for his own good, which it was, "Johnny, I already know the gist of what happened, but I need you to tell me exactly what happened. Johnny, I never knew then and I hate myself for it, but I need to know now and I need to help you, or I'll never be able to forgive myself, Johnny. Please."

When Sue had said that she needed to know and Johnny's face had gone from looking nauseous to looking defeated and nauseous, Reed had realized the Johnny had given in. Apparently it was true that Johnny would do anything for his sister, Reed wondered why he hadn't believed that to be true until today, but decided to push that to the back of his mind when Johnny, sounding defeated, told them the events of his nightmare, told them about a part of his life that few people on earth knew about.

…TBC…

So whaddya think? Good, iffy, bad, better, could be better? Should I continue? Reviews and constructive criticism are always appreciated.

*wishes really, really hard*hope you enjoyed it, yours truly, Brownie.