Reed Richards Should Not Accept Sue's Relationship

The two married heroes sat next to each other stiffly, not meeting each other's eyes. Like two children called in to the principal's office. That would not do.

"Susan," Dr. Stone said, in prompt. "Why don't you tell Reed about Nairobi?"

The Invisible Woman took a deep breath. Time for confession.

"Nairobi is the masseuse I've been seeing. She's young, skilled. I've...enjoyed our sessions. Maybe too much. I'm afraid our relationship might have gone too far."

Reed absorbed this silently.

"And you'd like that relationship to continue?" Karla said. Her eyes were barely glowing, almost invisible in this light, and neither of the Richards were looking at her. She was attempting to keep them both at a low level of openness, inhibitions just barely repressed. Her implants buzzed alternately, trying to balance the load of gravimetric waves affecting two subjects at once.

"Yes. I'm...I fond of her," Sue admitted.

"Dr. Richards, what do you think of that?" Dr. Stone prompted.

Reed straightened up. He looked at his wife, and their eyes met.

"I can't say I approve. I don't mean that I have a problem with you getting massages, or having friends, it's just—you know how dangerous are lives are. If any of our enemies know you have a close friendship with a civilian, they might kidnap her, or even kill her—are you really willing to put her at risk like that?" Reed asked her.

It was perfectly rational. And utterly missing the subtext of Sue's interactions with Nairobi. Karla has to repress a grin, and subtly sniffed, tasted blood in her mouth from the neural feedback. She couldn't keep this up long, but hopefully wouldn't need to.

"I know that," Sue said, with a sigh. "But I don't want to end it."

"Darling, we've all made sacrifices for this life—" Reed began.

"Have we?" Sue said, with sudden pique. "What sacrifices have you made? Or is there someone you've been seeing that I don't know about!?"

Reed blinked, having not anticipated this turn in the conversation.

"That's—I've dedicated most of our life to keeping you and our children safe! I've managed our security, built us a home—" he began.

"It doesn't feel like safety, sometimes," Sue shot back. "It feels like control. You're already trying to tell me who I can and cannot see."

"I'm not trying to tell you what you should do," Reed said. "Only looking out for your best interests. If you think about this rationally—"

"Oh, now I'm being irrational!" Sue raised her voice. Karla's implants screamed in her skull. The subtle manipulations had turned a disagreement into the start of an argument.

Time to fan the flames.

"If I might make a suggestion—" she said.