It was just an ordinary day in the Storm household, except for one thing - Liv had gone to New York to visit with family in the way of her brother, Tony, and sister-in-law, Sue - leaving Johnny behind to deal with the kids and numerous pets.
Mornings at the Storm house were always a little chaotic, even more so with Liv away, but so far, Johnny was handling it. It didn't hurt that Fliss had been there to help herd Alex and Maria off to school, but now that it was just Johnny and baby Bess, things had gotten quiet. Of course, there was the small menagerie of pets to deal with, too, and Liv had left explicit instructions regarding both the children and pets. Johnny had never realized just how much Liv did to keep the household running in tip-top shape, until she was gone. She wasn't just Rhy'Din's best P.A., but Rhy'Din's most organized and efficient wife and mother.
He wasn't entirely on his own - if he needed the help, he could always open the back door and yell for Lucy or Steve to rescue him from his own slightly whacky menagerie. Of all the animals, Bella was the clingiest, staying close to his legs like the loyal pet she was, while the puppy, the dragon, and the cat made mischief elsewhere. But finally calm was restored, and Johnny had the leisure to sit down and enjoy the sight of his youngest daughter committing vandalism on the chalkboard painted section of wall with her colored chalks in peace. Right up until the moment when Bess quite suddenly disappeared, reappearing on his lap in floods of tears.
Johnny was enjoying his breather, sipping a cup of coffee that never went cold, given his natural state of warmth, when Bess broke into tears for what seemed like no reason at all. He set the coffee aside and scooped the two-year-old up onto his lap, a concerned look on his face.
"What's the matter, Bessie" Are you missing Mama?" he asked, assuming the little girl was just getting lonely without her mother and siblings to keep her company.
The two-year-old sobbed against his chest ....not the usual tears of a toddler who was bored or lonely, but deep, racking cries that radiated terror and heartbreak as she clung to her father's shirt. Barely a minute later, the phone started to ring, prompting Bella and Beast to bark excitedly at it; a moment after that, Johnny's cell phone joined in. In just a few minutes, the house had gone from calm to chaos.
For a man who often moonlighted as a superhero, he wasn't sure what to do first. Or more accurately, unable to console his youngest, no matter what he said or did, he wasn't sure which phone to answer first or whether he should just let them all go to Voicemail, so he could focus on Bess. He was slowly rising to a state of panic, and ignoring the phones, he went to the back door, hoping help was close by.
"Lu-cy!" he called, sounding desperate as he stepped outside to knock on his sister-in-law's door. "Luce! Are you there?" he called over Bess' inconsolable cries.
"I'm here!" his sister-in-law yelled back, appearing at the back door with one of her twins under one arm, giggling madly at the sound of the other twin somewhere in the living room giggling just as madly back. Lucy grinned briefly before her expression turned concerned. "What happened?"
"I don't know," Johnny replied, a worried frown on his face. "She just burst into tears for no reason," he explained. "Can you take her a minute" My phone won't stop ringing." Well, at least, he had his priorities in order, putting Bess first, no matter who was on the other end of that phone call.
"Of course." Lucy hiked Natalia up onto her hip, opening her other arm to take Bess onto her other hip and hug the distraught toddler close. "Steve! Need a hand here!" she called, nodding to Johnny. "Anything you need, we'll help."
Steve was there, almost before Lucy called for help, the sound of a wailing toddler summoning him to the door. He reached for baby Natalia, freeing Lucy to handle the wailing Bess. Baby Sarah was down for a nap, and the others were off at school, leaving Steve and Lucy with just the twins to manage for a few hours.
"What's going on?" he asked, looking from Lucy to Johnny and back, but Johnny was already stepping back outside so that he could take the phone call without Bess screaming in his ear.
"No idea," Lucy answered Steve, jiggling Bess gently in her arms. "He's got two phones going over there by the sound of it. There now, little miss, what?s all this noise for, hmm?"
"Maybe she's just missing Liv," Steve suggested, easily balancing the one-year-old against a hip - and then the Rogers' phones started ringing with almost as much urgency as the Storms'. The expression on Steve's face changed, turning concerned. It was just too coincidental for all of their phones to be going off at the same time, but his first thoughts went to the children. Had something happened that the school was trying to get in touch with them' He extended an arm to take Bess from her, easily able to juggle both girls at once, even if one was wailing. "You better get that, Luce," he told her.
Lucy's expression darkened in the same moment Steve's did. This was just a little too coincidental, and coincidence in this family did not generally bode well. Handing Bess over to Steve, she picked up the phone, glancing worriedly over to the Storms' house.
Johnny could be seen from the window, and Steve could see even from the short distance between them that his face had turned a ghostly shade of pale and he'd had to reach out to support himself against a tree so that his legs didn't give way. It was a rare thing, to see Johnny Storm so affected by whatever was going on, and Steve's heart sank, knowing that whatever it was, it was serious.
"Luce," he whispered. "I think it's Liv."
There was a very short pause as Lucy nodded, clearing her throat as her own face turned pale at what was being said on the phone. "H-hang on a sec, Tony, let me put you on speaker." She set the phone down with a shaking hand, easing down onto a stool as Tony's voice came across openly in the kitchen.
"....hear me" Sue got on to Pepper - she saw it happen - she's being taken to the mansion, not a public hospital. Romanoff wants you to call her, Steve."
"Tony, what?s ..." Steve started, having trouble hearing him over Bess' incessant wailing, though she was starting to tire and falter. "Okay, give me a minute," he said, looking to Lucy first, with concern on his face. "Luce, I'm gonna put Nat down for a nap. Can you handle Bess while I call Nat?" he asked, not realizing how ridiculous that sounded, having named one half of the twins after one of their nearest and dearest friends.
Lucy nodded, her expression tight with the effort of not panicking. Not yet, anyway. "Come here, darling," she told Bess, gathering her niece into her arms. "Sorry, Tony - I'm still here. Do you know what happened?"
Mornings at the Storm house were always a little chaotic, even more so with Liv away, but so far, Johnny was handling it. It didn't hurt that Fliss had been there to help herd Alex and Maria off to school, but now that it was just Johnny and baby Bess, things had gotten quiet. Of course, there was the small menagerie of pets to deal with, too, and Liv had left explicit instructions regarding both the children and pets. Johnny had never realized just how much Liv did to keep the household running in tip-top shape, until she was gone. She wasn't just Rhy'Din's best P.A., but Rhy'Din's most organized and efficient wife and mother.
He wasn't entirely on his own - if he needed the help, he could always open the back door and yell for Lucy or Steve to rescue him from his own slightly whacky menagerie. Of all the animals, Bella was the clingiest, staying close to his legs like the loyal pet she was, while the puppy, the dragon, and the cat made mischief elsewhere. But finally calm was restored, and Johnny had the leisure to sit down and enjoy the sight of his youngest daughter committing vandalism on the chalkboard painted section of wall with her colored chalks in peace. Right up until the moment when Bess quite suddenly disappeared, reappearing on his lap in floods of tears.
Johnny was enjoying his breather, sipping a cup of coffee that never went cold, given his natural state of warmth, when Bess broke into tears for what seemed like no reason at all. He set the coffee aside and scooped the two-year-old up onto his lap, a concerned look on his face.
"What's the matter, Bessie" Are you missing Mama?" he asked, assuming the little girl was just getting lonely without her mother and siblings to keep her company.
The two-year-old sobbed against his chest ....not the usual tears of a toddler who was bored or lonely, but deep, racking cries that radiated terror and heartbreak as she clung to her father's shirt. Barely a minute later, the phone started to ring, prompting Bella and Beast to bark excitedly at it; a moment after that, Johnny's cell phone joined in. In just a few minutes, the house had gone from calm to chaos.
For a man who often moonlighted as a superhero, he wasn't sure what to do first. Or more accurately, unable to console his youngest, no matter what he said or did, he wasn't sure which phone to answer first or whether he should just let them all go to Voicemail, so he could focus on Bess. He was slowly rising to a state of panic, and ignoring the phones, he went to the back door, hoping help was close by.
"Lu-cy!" he called, sounding desperate as he stepped outside to knock on his sister-in-law's door. "Luce! Are you there?" he called over Bess' inconsolable cries.
"I'm here!" his sister-in-law yelled back, appearing at the back door with one of her twins under one arm, giggling madly at the sound of the other twin somewhere in the living room giggling just as madly back. Lucy grinned briefly before her expression turned concerned. "What happened?"
"I don't know," Johnny replied, a worried frown on his face. "She just burst into tears for no reason," he explained. "Can you take her a minute" My phone won't stop ringing." Well, at least, he had his priorities in order, putting Bess first, no matter who was on the other end of that phone call.
"Of course." Lucy hiked Natalia up onto her hip, opening her other arm to take Bess onto her other hip and hug the distraught toddler close. "Steve! Need a hand here!" she called, nodding to Johnny. "Anything you need, we'll help."
Steve was there, almost before Lucy called for help, the sound of a wailing toddler summoning him to the door. He reached for baby Natalia, freeing Lucy to handle the wailing Bess. Baby Sarah was down for a nap, and the others were off at school, leaving Steve and Lucy with just the twins to manage for a few hours.
"What's going on?" he asked, looking from Lucy to Johnny and back, but Johnny was already stepping back outside so that he could take the phone call without Bess screaming in his ear.
"No idea," Lucy answered Steve, jiggling Bess gently in her arms. "He's got two phones going over there by the sound of it. There now, little miss, what?s all this noise for, hmm?"
"Maybe she's just missing Liv," Steve suggested, easily balancing the one-year-old against a hip - and then the Rogers' phones started ringing with almost as much urgency as the Storms'. The expression on Steve's face changed, turning concerned. It was just too coincidental for all of their phones to be going off at the same time, but his first thoughts went to the children. Had something happened that the school was trying to get in touch with them' He extended an arm to take Bess from her, easily able to juggle both girls at once, even if one was wailing. "You better get that, Luce," he told her.
Lucy's expression darkened in the same moment Steve's did. This was just a little too coincidental, and coincidence in this family did not generally bode well. Handing Bess over to Steve, she picked up the phone, glancing worriedly over to the Storms' house.
Johnny could be seen from the window, and Steve could see even from the short distance between them that his face had turned a ghostly shade of pale and he'd had to reach out to support himself against a tree so that his legs didn't give way. It was a rare thing, to see Johnny Storm so affected by whatever was going on, and Steve's heart sank, knowing that whatever it was, it was serious.
"Luce," he whispered. "I think it's Liv."
There was a very short pause as Lucy nodded, clearing her throat as her own face turned pale at what was being said on the phone. "H-hang on a sec, Tony, let me put you on speaker." She set the phone down with a shaking hand, easing down onto a stool as Tony's voice came across openly in the kitchen.
"....hear me" Sue got on to Pepper - she saw it happen - she's being taken to the mansion, not a public hospital. Romanoff wants you to call her, Steve."
"Tony, what?s ..." Steve started, having trouble hearing him over Bess' incessant wailing, though she was starting to tire and falter. "Okay, give me a minute," he said, looking to Lucy first, with concern on his face. "Luce, I'm gonna put Nat down for a nap. Can you handle Bess while I call Nat?" he asked, not realizing how ridiculous that sounded, having named one half of the twins after one of their nearest and dearest friends.
Lucy nodded, her expression tight with the effort of not panicking. Not yet, anyway. "Come here, darling," she told Bess, gathering her niece into her arms. "Sorry, Tony - I'm still here. Do you know what happened?"