Reed Really Doesn't Notice - But The Family Does

Ben Grimm was in the living room, reading a Stephen King novel, when he saw Sue Storm go out in a dress that clung so tight he thought it was an X-Men costume. He was still there when, a little after midnight, Johnny Storm stumbled in, face flushed, lipstick on his collar, a petite brunette on his arm. The Thing said nothing. He wasn't Johnny's father, to lambast him for bringing a girl home.

But he could remember when Sue was there to give him a tongue-lashing, or at least to usher them out in the morning before the kids came out for breakfast.

He sat in the dark for another two hours, until Sue Storm returned home. Her lipstick was smeared. She stumbled a little, and he saw why: her two-inch heels had gotten caught up in her panties, which hung around her left ankle. She paused to take off shoes and panties, and walked down the hall in her bare feet, having been too **** to see the looming stony figure of her teammate watch her with stony concern.

In the morning, Johnny carefully directed Tisha toward the elevator. He was trying to be gentlemanly about it, but he wanted her gone before Sue emerged to give him ten thousand words and order another STD test—even though she knew he used protection, Reed having provided him with unstable molecule condoms after that terrible accident that had led to a trip to the emergency room and an out-of-court settlement. Fortunately, she hadn't really wanted children, but no woman enjoys an emergency hysterectomy—

Except by the time Franklin and Valeria stumbled out of their bedrooms, Sue Storm still hadn't emerged. Johnny, head pounding, had made himself a Bloody Mary, but set it aside to make omelets for his nephew and niece. By the time they were munching happily on those, Sue Storm had emerged. She had a relaxed air, a strange smile he hadn't seen on her face in a long time, and she was drinking his Bloody Mary with evident satisfaction.

There was something about her mussed hair, the languor that marked her posture, and her lateness to breakfast that struck Johnny as odd. When Reed finally emerged and went to kiss her, he saw her face shift coldly, how she turned her face so his lips brushed her cheek rather than her lips.

Then she was at the table, talking to the kids.

Ben Grimm emerged, dressed for the day in an enormous pair of blue shorts, and when he met Johnny's eye, there was worry in that gaze.

"Susan?" Alicia asked. "Where are you going?"

"Something's come up," the Invisible Woman said. "You can watch the kids for an hour or so, can't you?"

"Of course," the blind woman said. It was automatic. She was used to managing the children during an emergency. The Fantastic Four were always on call, and Sue Storm herself had occasional tasks with S.H.I.E.L.D.

Except Alicia hadn't heard the Fantastic Four communicator go off, or even the S.H.I.E.L.D. phone that Sue often carried. The blind woman was certain that Sue had been on her civilian smartphone, and from the sound of it, had been on some sort of app. Most people couldn't differentiate the sound of individual finger movements, but Alicia had heard swiping, and then typing, and then a quick intake of breath that suggested excitement...

"Where's mommy going?" Franklin asked.

"I don't know," Alicia said honestly.

"She dropped this from her purse," Franklin said, and pressed something into Alicia's hand.

The blind woman froze as her fingers ran over the package. Plastic, self-sealed, single-use—and the shape and size reminded Alicia of her experimental phase at the school of the blind, with a young woman named Marcie. It was a dental dam.

"I'll give it back to her when she returns," Alicia said, as she slid it into her pocket.