More Distant and Distracted

The week passed. A Dire Wraith turned themselves into an unstable Cosmic Cube, which necessitated a team-up with the Space-Knights of Galador to defuse. The Fantastic Four returned with small robotic toys for Franklin and Valeria to play with, all buzzing sounds and flashing lights.

With all the excitement, perhaps it was natural that the Fantastic Four did not immediately notice anything different with Sue Storm. She was quiet, but she was often so. There was an air of distraction around her, but most of the Fantastic Four were too wrapped up in their own lives to really notice. Johnny Storm noted only that Sue was less likely to straighten his tie when he left clubbing, or to scold him for coming home covered in three different shades of lipstick. Reed Richards did not seem to notice that her good-night kisses were a bit more perfunctory, and included no invitation to come to bed soon.

Only Ben Grimm, of all of them, seemed to notice how Sue Storm's gaze hovered in the distance in the mornings and at evenings, when she took her cups of tea. How she distractedly looked at the clock, in the hours before her weekly therapy appointment, as if eager to get going. How late she came back from those appointments, and with the oddly satisfied air.

Yet the Thing said nothing. What was there to say? He had no suspicions, really. Sue Storm seemed healthy. She continued all she did for the team and the family, as a mother and superheroine should. If she didn't seem to hug Reed as often as she used to, or if she didn't give Johnny a hard time...that wasn't an indication that anything was wrong, was it?

Ben sipped his coffee and kept his thoughts to himself.

"Mommy, look!" Valeria cried, pointing to what she had built in the living room. The child had dismantled all the light fixtures and reassembled them into a kind of tower in the living room, a single fork at the top that was vibrating ominously and beginning to glow.

"That's nice, dear," Sue said, as she glanced at her watch. "Mommy has to go to her therapy appointment."

"You're not looking!" Valeria said, stomping her foot in a fit of pique.

The tiny stomp started a chain reaction. Space around the fork began to glow.

"Uh, Suzie..." Ben said, moving away from the coffee pot.

"Can't you handle it, Ben?" Sue said, already grabbing her purse and heading toward the elevator.

The lights on the floor flickered. Sue Storm was already in the elevator down. Ben Grimm yelled for Reed, but his thoughts were already on Sue's face. The look of eager anticipation. The utter disregard. That wasn't like the Sue Storm he knew. Not at all.