Sue Storm Does Not Tell Dr. Stone About Nissa

"I went to a strip bar," Sue Storm confessed.

Dr. Stone did not seem surprised. The blonde wasn't taking notes, she held her tea cup in both hands and breathed in the steam.

"And how did you find that experience?" The psychiatrist asked.

"I was uncomfortable at first," Sue admitted. "Then I found it...stimulating. I mean, I wouldn't have thought so. Women taking their clothes off doesn't seem to be something that really would do anything for me. I'm a grown woman, I see myself naked all the time. But the way they move, the music, the atmosphere, that sense of...transgression, I guess you'd call it. Well, by the time I left I was in a bit of a state."

Dr. Stone smiled knowingly and sipped her tea. Sue took a tiny sip from her own cup, face carefully neutral.

There was no need to tell Dr. Stone about Nissa. In truth, Sue was still trying to come to terms with what had happened. Not just what she had allowed to happen, but the actual sensations, what feelings stirred inside of her. Sue had heard of people say that something had been awakened inside of them by various stimuli, but she had never really experienced it.

Now, she had to decide what to do with these new feelings. And as much as she trusted Dr. Stone, this was not something that Sue was prepared to talk about, not yet. The Invisible Woman wasn't even sure how, or if, she would ever address this subject with her husband.

A part of her wanted to just forget about it. Bury it deep down and never talk about it again. Rededicate herself to her husband, burn Nissa's card, move on with her life.

Except that was the kind of repression that had led to her Malice personality in the first place. No, Sue Storm knew she had to deal with these new feelings. She just didn't want to tell Dr. Stone about Nissa. Not yet.

"Do you feel guilty about it?" Dr. Stone asked, her question breaking through Sue's reverie.

"A little," Sue admitted. "I feel like I betrayed my husband."

"Many married men go to strip bars. Do you think Reed would see it as a violation of your vows?" Dr. Stone said.

Sue sighed. She well remembered the time she'd caught Reed attending a diplomatic function with the Mole Man. She wasn't sure where the pale, spindly yellow humanoids had gotten the tassels and thongs, but she knew that the image of their skinny bodies gyrating nearly naked in a "sacred act" would haunt her to her grave. Reed's careful attention had aroused her jealousy; it was weeks before she'd forgiven him.

"No, probably not," she admitted.

"So why should you feel guilt? It's not like you're cheating on him with a man, after all," Dr. Stone said.

"That's...true," Sue thought, and her mind went to Nissa's card, still in her purse.