Chapter Text
After the briefing with S.H.I.E.L.D., Sue and Ben interrogate Reed. Johnny wants to join in. But each time he tries to voice a thought, his mind springs to another. Emotions strike him in bursts, melding together until he can’t make sense of them. So, for the first time in his life, all he can do is sit and listen.
The babies flutter inside. He wonders if they are listening too.
“So, they told you from the beginning that you needed to hide this from all of us because Johnny is an omega.” Sue has said the same point in many ways so far, each iteration more incriminating than the next. “They told you to conceal information from our team based on prejudiced policies, and you agreed to those terms?”
“It wasn’t specifically stated that I would be concealing anything from you,” Reed says.
“Reed, let’s be real,” says Ben. “You’ve been hiding this. That’s what you were doing in the ER. That’s what you were doing over dinner. That’s what you’ve been doing since San Francisco. We don’t care that it wasn’t ‘specifically stated’. It’s what you did. Can you at least own that much?”
“Yes, but I didn’t expect it to reach this point.” Reed is grasping at straws. He isn’t one to raise his voice, but Johnny can hear the panic. “I told them from the beginning that I didn’t like their terms. I told them I didn’t agree with the policy against omegas. But they didn’t give me an option. The only alternative was rejecting the project entirely.”
“Then you should have rejected the project,” Sue says. “They might have made an exception if you refused, but once you say yes to unreasonable terms, you set a precedent. You set a precedent that you and by extension, all of us, will abide by a protocol that morally devalues omegas. And as if that weren’t bad enough for Johnny, you know where that sort of thinking leads. What’s next? If they tell you that they don’t want me to know about intel because they don’t want women on the project, will you nod and go along with that?”
“No, of course not, and I shouldn’t have said yes this time either,” says Reed. “I just felt obligated to help. If I turned them down, and people got hurt by whatever threat we’re dealing with, I’d feel like I left them in the dark.”
“So you left me and our pups in the dark instead?”
The question is the first Johnny has spoken since the briefing. He hasn’t gathered his thoughts yet. Every inch of his skin is dying to catch ablaze. Reed looks at him and offers a single pleading, “Johnny…”.
It’s all too much.
“You’re a real hero, Reed,” Johnny says.
He’s already on the elevator before he’s even made up his mind about leaving. The door closes before Reed can stop him. From there, Johnny drifts to the bedroom and collapses into his nest.
He curls up under the blanket with his hands beneath the bump. He sees the first sonogram framed on the dresser. He longs to go back to that moment, back when nothing mattered in the world besides those two heartbeats.
He doesn’t say anything when Reed steps in; he doesn’t even move when the alpha sits down on the bed.
“How are you feeling?” Reed asks.
Johnny shrugs in reply.
“I’m sorry for keeping things from you,” Reed says. “I won’t do it again. You know I think you’re just as trustworthy as any alpha or beta, don’t you?”
This time, Johnny doesn’t even shrug.
“Johnny, please, I’m sorry…”
“I know you’re sorry.” Johnny keeps his back to Reed. “But it still hurts.”
“Tell me what I can do then to make it better.”
“You can’t just ‘make it better’!” Johnny finally turns around. “I know you’re sorry, Reed, and I believe you. But you need to accept that you hid something that could put this family at risk, you hid things from me because you’re working with a group that thinks omegas can’t be trusted, and even after the scare we had on Thanksgiving and even after you knew we had pups to protect, you still decided to keep hiding things. You could have asked Fury to give me clearance at any time, but you didn’t. You didn’t because you felt you could handle everything on your own, and I wouldn’t have anything to contribute, and now we’re scrambling to deal with a threat we barely understand that’s literally at our front door. That fucking hurts, Reed.”
To his credit, Reed listens. His hands shift beneath the covers. Johnny can tell the alpha is itching to touch him, but one fiery glare maintains the distance.
“I’m sorry I hurt you,” Reed says.
“I know.” Johnny sighs. “So, what is it we’re up against exactly?”
“I wish I could tell you for certain. I’ve been trying to pinpoint the origins of this entity for months. All I can tell you is that it isn’t something we’ve dealt with before. But at least Fury says he’ll get you, Ben and Sue clearance as soon as possible. I trust him to do that. He said he never liked the policy on omegas to begin with. After that, we’ll see what we can piece together. Four minds are better than one.”
“Okay.” Johnny isn’t very satisfied with that answer, but he doubts he’ll get a better one tonight. For now, he has a more pressing question. “Are our pups in danger?”
“I don’t know.” Reed seems to deflate with those words. “But I promise, I’ll do everything I can to protect all of you.”
“We’ll protect our kids. We’ll protect each other. We’re partners.” Johnny rolls over onto the other side again, facing the edge of the bed. “It’s what we’re supposed to do.”
“And that’s what I’ve always tried to do.”
Johnny can think of thirty different things to say to that, all of which would start a fight. But tonight, he’s too drained to argue any more. So, instead, he closes his eyes and says:
“I’m tired, Reed. We can talk more about it tomorrow.”
“Yes, of course. You need your rest.” There’s a pause before Reed adds, “Good night, baby. Love you.”
Johnny heaves another sigh. He adjusts his head on the pillow, careful to keep the gap between them as he shifts about on the sheets.
He still replies with “I love you” before falling asleep.
Reed sleeps fitfully until finally giving up at 2:36 AM. Johnny is resting soundly. He’s pulled the blankets to his side of the nest. Reed does his best not to disturb the slumbering omega as he moves to his desk.
When he was younger, Reed would always take his work to bed. Then, Johnny moved in, and the
When he was younger, Reed used to take his work to bed. Then, Johnny moved in, and the bedroom became their nest, their safe space to explore bodies and minds. Johnny didn’t like having their nest double as a research lab. Reed didn’t like restricting his workspace. In the end, they settled on a compromise. Reed kept a small desk in the bedroom as his work station for spontaneous thoughts and moved the rest of his equipment downstairs.
Reed’s current task would be better suited for the actual laboratory. But after the events earlier tonight, he can’t leave Johnny alone.
Reed dims the lamp before settling down with his notebook. While he’s digitized all his records, there’s something comforting about the tactile input of a pen against paper. He flips to the page where he’s mapped out the appearances of the entity thus far known only as Trace 143. He puts a mark on New York City labeled with the date and his closest estimate of the time of sighting. Underneath, he jots down notes:
Witnessed by Johnny as a reflection, no tangible form, “Elders of the Universe”, “Herald to Earth”, “Destroyer”…
He puts down the pen. This isn’t getting him anywhere. He has surveillance points around the globe, multiple satellites in orbit with his name on them, and a security system around the Baxter Building that put S.H.I.E.L.D.’s older model to shame. And yet, he’s gotten no closer to deciphering the enigma.
He should have realized the risk months ago. Anything that could evade his methods for so long wasn’t simply falling through the cracks by chance. It was hiding from him all along, lurking until it chose to appear to Johnny tonight and, most probably, during the Thanksgiving power outage, the night the pregnancy was discovered…
“Reed.”
Johnny is standing by the bed, his hair tousled, the comforter draped around his shoulders like a cape. Reed wants more than anything to pull him into his arms.
“You’re crying,” Johnny says flatly.
Reed hadn’t noticed, but there’s no denying it now.
“I should have told you.” He gulps. “I should have realized sooner. I’m so sorry, Johnny. Please forgive me. I did this to us.”
“Hey, look, calm down, you screwed up, you admitted it, you apologized, I’m upset but I forgive you, and we can move on.” Johnny rolls his eyes. “I’m not divorcing you just because you’re not Mr. Fantastic all the time, okay? I promise. Now, can you come back to bed? It’s too early even for an old man like you to wake up.”
Reed is too downtrodden to protest the remark about his age. He turns the lamp off and returns to bed. He lies facing his husband. Johnny stares back at him with bleary eyes.
“It’s after the pups,” Reed says shakily. “The creature you saw today… it’s after the pups.”
“What are you saying?” Johnny asks. The weary lull in his voice has disappeared entirely. His gaze is sharp. “Is there something else you’re not telling me?”
“No, no, I promise, after tonight, you know everything that I do,” Reed is quick to reassure his partner. “It just occurred to me… I should have thought of it sooner, but it just occurred to me… I’ve been trying to catch this entity for months and haven’t been able to, and yet tonight, it appeared to you for at least a good five minutes before the alarms sounded. That must mean it was trying to escape me. And after all this time, we still don’t know what caused the power outage on Thanksgiving night or why you were in a trance when we found you downstairs. That was the night we found out you were expecting. You said during the briefing that the one image we have of this creature resembled something you thought you saw that night. It can’t be a coincidence.”
“So, it’s all still speculation at this time,” Johnny says. His shoulders relax.
“Well, yes, it’s still theoretical, but think about it, Johnny,” says Reed. “Why else would it be seeking you out specifically and hiding from the rest of us?”
“He did say I’m ‘one of a kind’,” Johnny mutters.
“It told you what?” As if Reed wasn’t already unnerved enough, it seems he must now cope with some alien entity complimenting his mate. “And you’re calling it ‘he’ now?”
“It sounded like a ‘he’, not to assume,” says Johnny. “Look, this is going to sound crazy, but do we have confirmation that this entity, to use your words, is here with bad intentions?”
“It’s sent every man that it encountered except you into a catatonic or hysterical state,” Reed says. “And it almost did the same to you on Thanksgiving.”
“Well…” Johnny hesitates. “He did apologize for that.”
“It… apologized?” Reed shakes his head. “You can’t possibly be saying you trust it.”
“I’m not saying I trust it, and I’m sure as hell still going to be on guard if he shows up again,” Johnny says. “Look, you know I wouldn’t put the pups at risk, and I agree, there’s a very real possibility that this could be dangerous for them, and we should take precautions. But we don’t know for a fact what we’re dealing with or why this entity is here, and until then, I just think that we should entertain other possibilities. What if he actually can’t help what he did during the first encounter? What if he’s trying to warn us about this Destroyer or their Herald or whatever the Elders are?”
“I’m not taking advice from an extraterrestrial being who never shows their face and who disappears the moment I enter the room to…” Reed wants to say protect, but he knows the wording would upset Johnny, “To help you. Surely, I don’t have to justify that.”
“You don’t,” Johnny says. “And I don’t think I need to justify my curiosity. Didn’t you say from the beginning that the Extraterrestrial Research Initiative was started for educational reasons. You had something really eloquent at the TED Talk about learning about aliens versus viewing them all as threats right off the bat…”
“This isn’t what I was talking about, Johnny.” Reed sighs. It’s too late at night to review his old TED Talks. “I just want you to be safe, and I know we both want the pups to be safe.”
“And for the hundredth time, we’ll keep them safe.”
To Reed’s surprise, Johnny kisses him on the cheek. It’s only a peck, but it’s the first time they’ve touched since the argument.
“Now, we need to sleep,” Johnny says. “Good night, you paranoid old man.”
Johnny readjusts the blankets around them. The motion stirs up the omega’s already prominent scent. That, of course, stirs up ideas in Reed’s head which he knows will not be well-received at the moment.
“Johnny.” Reed swallows. “Can I hold you?”
“Yes,” Johnny lifts up the covers and stares down pointedly. “But you’re going to have to take care of that on your own first. I forgive you, but I’m still not in the mood tonight.”
“Right.” Reed can’t say he’s surprised. “Afterwards can I hold you?”
“I already said that. Keep up, Reed.”
On the other side of the world, Sue watches the island of Madripoor disappear beneath the clouds. After the incident with Johnny, she booked the first flight back to New York. Her business in Madripoor isn’t done, but family crises have to take precedent. And an alien being stalking Johnny is definitely a family crisis.
Sue hopes it will be settled soon, both for Johnny’s sake and for her work to continue. She’s had just enough time to make the necessary arrangements before leaving, and she trusts that the Future Foundation’s asylum program will run smoothly during her absence. Still, there’s something distressing about leaving a project incomplete with no fixed date to return.
She thinks again of the baby girl who arrived the day prior, wailing from hunger. Fortunately, medical staff seemed confident that she would make a full recovery with proper nutrition. They’ve promised to give Sue daily updates at her request.
Sue was relieved to see the pup taking formula well on the day of her departure. She hasn’t had much experience with babies. Luckily, her attempt at bottle-feeding went much better than prior experience.
The first time was with Johnny, an effort seven-year-old Sue took on without their parents’ knowledge that ended with the baby and his crib being splattered with milk. After being scolded by their mother for the mess and in light of many other grievances, Sue decided that babies, in particular Jonathan Lowell Spencer Storm, were more trouble than they were worth and resolved to fix the issue charitably by donating Johnny to Goodwill. She can still see his pudgy face beaming up at her as she placed him into a cardboard box alongside a pile of old clothes and blankets. She left him there for five minutes before she began to worry that the donation box might be left out in the cold. She then decided to donate Johnny in a way that would be more comfortable for him, and somewhere along her way to find out what that might entail, Johnny managed to endear himself to her. So, she decided to keep him.
And nothing after that could change her mind.
The plane has reached cruising altitude. The seatbelt sign is off. Sue decides to stretch her legs. The last thing she needs is to wind up in the hospital with a blood clot from a nineteen-hour flight.
She’s just about to leave her seat when something outside the window catches her attention. Far in the distance, there’s a burst of red in the sky, as if the clouds were lit on fire. From the curious muttering of the other passengers, she knows they see it too.
She squints for a better view. Something zips across the sky towards the billowing red clouds. It’s gone before Sue can see anything more than a thin streak of pale grey. Then, the storm folds into itself. The flame-like hue disappears, and the sky is dark again.
She keeps staring out the window for a long while after, but there is nothing more to be seen. Nothing but the night sky and the endless canvas of Pacific waves below.
It’s difficult to find privacy on a plane. Fortunately, celebrity and Reed’s insistence on buying first class tickets for everyone has its benefits. After a discussion with the flight crew, Sue is able to secure adequate space to make a call to Johnny near the galley.
“Hey,” Johnny greets her the same way he did as a teenager coming home from school. He looks exhausted. “I guess you also got the weird signal from Madripoor?”
“I didn’t just get the signal, Johnny, I saw it. There were these strange red clouds that I could see from the plane, and I saw something fly across the sky into the storm. It only lasted a few seconds. I couldn’t get a closer look at whatever it was that flew by. It was moving too fast.”
Sue steadies the laptop on the tray as the plane quakes. She glances out the nearest window but sees nothing unusual. Overhead, the pilot makes an announcement about a bout of turbulence.
“Are you okay?” Johnny asks.
“Yes, I’m fine,” Sue says. “How about you and the others?”
“We’re okay. I’m in the lab. Ben’s coming down too.” Johnny yawns. “Reed is running tests and won’t let me be in a different room than him. It’s annoying, but you know how he is.”
“He can be, but in this case, I agree with him. We need to stay together with everything going on. That’s why I’m flying back.” Another jolt of turbulence nearly sends Sue’s laptop flying before she steadies it with a force field. “I’ll be there soon. Tell me when the tests are done, and I’ll tell you if I see anything else unusual.”
“Okay. Have a safe flight.”
She hears Johnny voice a muffled complaint to Reed before the call ends. The flight monitor reads 18 hours and 43 minutes left, and she already knows it’s going to feel much longer.