Sue Doesn't Feel Guilty

The kiss lingered on Sue Storm's lips and on her mind. She smiled, all while Johnny sorted out dinner—baked salmon, mashed potatoes, and enough veggies that the children would theoretically have to get some vitamins, no matter how much they pushed around their plates. Alicia was with Ben tonight, the two of them occupying one end of the table. Reed and Sue sat together, alternately using **** fields and stretching to keep up with two hyperactive youngsters.

Johnny left Sue with the clean-up, which heading out in a white suit for a date with a young woman that Sue suspected was both a mutant and a pornstar, and she promised not to wait up.

Reed's rubbery arms wrapped around her as Sue put the last dish in the rack to dry. She let him kiss her cheek.

"You're in a good mood tonight," he said. "Anything I should be worried about?"

"Oh, I'm having an affair with my masseuse," Sue said. "I hope you don't mind?"

She said it lightly, a joke. So easily that she almost didn't realize what she had said until it was out of her mouth.

Mister Fantastic chuckled.

"A little jealous, perhaps. I'd want to watch," he said.

Sue turned in his grip, wrapping more of those rubbery arms around her.

"In all seriousness, I do have to confess," she said, all the playful tone out of me. "She kissed me today. I think she has a little crush on me."

Her voice was controlled. She stared into his eyes. The brown eyes of the man she had married, whose children she had borne. Sue had seen those eyes in sickness and in health, in pain and pleasure, lost in some cosmic thought and focused, intently, on her.

"She's a fantastic masseuse," Sue said. "I'd hate to leave her. But if you want me to—"

It wasn't guilt that made Sue say that. It was honesty. Her basic goodness of character. Even though things with Nairobi hadn't gone that far—well—far enough—

Reed pressed his lips against her forehead.

"I don't choose your friends, darling, much less your masseuse or your hairdresser. I trust your judgment. I'm sure you'll be able to work it out with her."

It is possible, of course, that Reed Richards misunderstood. Sue could see that instantly. That he had misinterpreted her little confession as something more innocent than it was. Yet in that moment, he had given her an out, an excuse, a carte blanche.

So she took it.

"Thank you darling," Sue said, and nestled her head against his chest. "I'm sure we can make it work."

Which is how, in her heart, Sue Storm's marriage fractured. Just a little bit more.