Sue Storm Keeps It A Secret

"So, how was your therapy session?" Reed asked, as he swirled linguini around on his fork. They were alone tonight, Johnny and Ben having taken the kids out for corndogs and cotton candy at the fair.

There it was. The question Sue Storm had been half-dreading ever since she had left the sauna. How was she supposed to answer? 'Not bad, I got to see my psychiatrist's clit ring, and it was super cute and I'm thinking of getting one of my own?'

No, that wouldn't work.

"Good," Sue said. "We were talking about how some of my stress might derive from body image issues. Ways I might address that?"

"Really?" Reed raised one eyebrow. "What kind of body image issues?"

Sue played with the pasta on her plate for a moment.

"I'm a woman, Reed. Society has expectations. When people look at me, they can't see someone the least bit out of shape. Every wrinkle, every grey hair, every bit of cellulite—"

"You don't have cellulite," Reed protested. "You look amazing."

The Invisible Woman smiled. Sometimes, she remembered why she married him.

"It's not about fat, or stretch marks, or aging," Sue said. "It's about perception. Not how people look at me, but how I look at myself. Cultural hangups from growing up in a world that expected me to be the perfect Invisible Girl. And...she thinks that subconsciously, I'm falling behind of what I think I should look like."

Reed chewed thoughtfully. For the first decade of their marriage, that would have been time when he was thinking about a solution to her problem. Sue had managed to get him to mostly stop that. At least, he stopped trying to treat her life like a puzzle to be solved.

"So...what did she suggest?" he said. Then he gave a wicked smile. "Breast augmentation?"

Sue reached over and punched him in the shoulder.

"We talked about a lot of different ways people have taken ownership of their bodies. Physical fitness. Tattoos. Piercing. Hair cuts, dyeing. Provocative clothing," Sue said.

"Are you going to wear that costume again?" Reed asked. "I mean, it's not even my birthday..."

Sue punched him in the shoulder again, harder this time. But she smiled while doing it.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," she said. "But would you have a problem with any of that?"

Reed reached over and laid his hand on hers. He looked into her eyes, the romantic moment only marred by a dollop of sauce on his face.

"Darling, I'll support you in whatever you want to do," he said.

Sue Storm smiled.

"I'll hold you to that," she said.