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, omen, Keiri Bradon, and penny3 for reviewing, and everyone who reviews after the fact. Hope you like it, love, Brownie.

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 10: Reactions to the Nightmare

"He who can be a good son will be a good father." Anonymous

Reed couldn't believe what he'd just heard. How could anyone do that to a kid….to Johnny? Reed was seething with anger and wanted to kill whoever had harmed Johnny, who he'd gotten more attached to in the last not even twenty-four hours than he ever had to Johnny when he was his regular age. Reed couldn't help but wonder if that was because deep down he'd realized that it wasn't the real Johnny, it was just a mask he wore to protect himself.

Speaking of Johnny, he was once again crying, but this time there was someone comforting him, namely Ben, who had gotten over this shock much quicker than either Sue or him, apparently.

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Ben listened to the story, not really surprised by the events, but surprised by the fact that someone was evil enough to do that to an innocent little kid. Yeah, he'd been abused too, but he'd been thirteen when his step-father had hit him, just that one time, leaving him with bruises as evidence, and he hadn't kept quiet about it, he'd told him mom the second he could get out. He hadn't cared about how his mother had felt, he hadn't cared if that had made her unhappy because he hadn't been willing to get hurt just so she could be happy and have the "perfect" marriage.

So, Ben could honestly marvel at the strength and the drive to protect the ones he loved that Johnny had, but had hidden at the age of five, something Ben hadn't had when he was thirteen. All his thoughts, although, were pushed to the back of his mind, when he saw that Johnny was crying and despite his misgivings and doubt that he could do comfort the kid, Ben scooped Johnny up in his arms, ignoring his initial flinch and started moving his arms from side to side (he was pretty sure rocking back and forth would end up in him breaking something).

He made to continue the soothing motion, when Johnny wrapped his tiny arms around his neck and hid his face in the crook of it. Going with plan B, remembering that his mother used to comfort him this way, Ben started rubbing gentle circles on Johnny's tiny back, using the least amount of strength that he could. And eventually the sorrowful sobs turned into hiccups and sniffles, which soon gave way to sleep as Ben could tell by the way the tense, little body in his arms relaxed and went limp.

As he was already standing up, Ben walked over to the bed and gently placed Johnny on it. Then he grabbed a pillow that had been knocked down and placed it under his head. Then he finally found a blanket and tucked the little boy in.

Now that Johnny was taken care of, Ben looked at the other two members of his family, Sue and Reed. Reed looked stricken, but calm and collected, while Sue was releasing so many tears that Ben thought she could give the ocean a run for its money. And, so, prioritizing wisely, he went and tried his best to comfort Sue. He hugged her to him, harder than he had with Johnny and muttered nonsense words of love, not giving a damn when he felt her tears stain his shirt. Besides, he'd heard tears were therapeutic or something like that.

Ben couldn't help, but grin when he realized that she fell asleep just like Johnny; her sobs turning to hiccups and then falling asleep, and just like he had with Johnny, Ben carried her to the bed and laid her down on the empty side. He then tucked the blanket around her, too, and headed toward Reed.

"Reed," he said, shaking his shoulder, causing him to jump back as if he had thought he was alone, and then he saw the fog clear from his eyes.

"Ben," he said, releasing a gust of air, "You scared me half to death!" He then held out a hand to Ben, as if to say help me up, and obviously Ben understood because he pulled him up.

"Are you okay?" asked Ben as they walked toward the bed slowly.

"Me?" asked Reed, "I'm fine."

Ben looked at Reed incredulously and would have been raising his eyebrow if he had one, "Seriously?"

"Yeah," he said as they stopped in front of the bed, facing each other, "I was just surprised that anyone could do that to a little kid, I mean seriously!"

"There's some twisted people in the world, Reed, but he's here now, and like Fez said, we can help him," Then simultaneously they both turned their heads to look at the bed and a smile took over both of their features. They couldn't help it the picture that greeted them was a Kodak moment, if only they had a camera. Sue and Johnny had both drifted from their sides of the bed and moved to the middle, where Sue was lying on her back and Johnny was lying on top of her, his head cushioned in the crook of her neck and her arms wrapped around his tiny form.

"I think this a good place as any to start," said Reed, with Ben nodded in agreement, and then the two men split up. Ben headed to his room, while Reed got in the bed lying next to Sue in what was Johnny's old spot and wrapped his arms around his family, the two people he swore to protect with everything he had, including his life, and went to sleep.

…TBC…

So whaddya think? Reviews and constructive criticism are always appreciated.

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