New York was very different to Rhy'Din. Liv knew it academically, at least. But she knew it on a different level now she'd spent a few days in Lucy and Steve's house, the only person responsible for Peggy, Fliss, and Jamie. Without Bella, she was sure she wouldn't have slept at all. There were too many strange noises, too many things that frightened her after dark, and no Johnny to make her laugh at herself and push the fear away. All the worry she was carrying over her husband, her sister, and her brother-in-law was locked up tight, so as not to concern the others, but it was there, rippling painfully through her chest and tightening her shoulders all the while.

Tonight was no different; with Fliss and Jamie in bed, Peggy settled in for the night, Liv was in the process of checking every door and window with Bella at her heels, trying not to linger on the fact that she didn't know what was happening somewhere out there. She looked down at the dog by her feet, smiling ruefully. "I'm just one big bundle of worry, aren't I, Bells?"

New York was definitely a far cry from Rhy'Din. It wasn't called the City that Never Sleeps for nothing. There was always something going on, even in the quiet Brooklyn neighborhood that Steve and Lucy called home, even late at night. There was always some sound or other that broke the still of the night. Sometimes it was the sound of traffic as cars passed by, or the sound of jet engines as they soared overhead; a siren in the distance, a dog barking, the laughter of passersby on the street, rain on the roof. Tonight was no different, all of these sounds commonplace in the city, so it probably wasn't too strange to see Bella's ears perk and hear her sharp bark at some sound she heard in the night that more than likely went unnoticed by Liv.

Of course, being barked at wasn't exactly perfect for Liv's nerves, especially not when it was supposed to be bedtime for her. She jumped, shushing the dog automatically to try and protect the others in the house from being woken up. "It's just noises, Bells," she told the beautiful Beaucheron, stroking the dark head beside her. "Don't wake everyone up."

But Bella didn't quiet. It seemed almost as if she was trying to tell Liv something, barking once more as she headed toward the back door, as if that was where she heard the sound coming from. Anyone who had a dog knew they had different barks, but this wasn't Bella's happy bark, nor was it her danger bark. This was more a bark of urgent concern, as though she sensed something wasn't quite right and was trying to tell Liv the only way she knew how.

Liv frowned, turning to watch Bella pad away from her. From above came the sound of Fliss rolling over in bed. "Bella, please, you're going to wake everyone up," she pleaded with the dog, moving to follow her. "What is it' Something outside?" She couldn't help the spike of fear that came with looking out through the back door, expecting trouble at any moment.

Nothing could be seen when Liv looked outside, but the dark of the night and the stars in the sky. Nothing unusual, anyway; nothing obvious. No sounds but those of the city and nothing to see but the backyard.

Fingers curling into Bella's collar, more for her own peace of mind than anything, Liv's frown deepened as she listened to her heartbeat quickening. She wasn't afraid of the dark on Rhy'Din; here, it was a completely different matter. "There's nothing out there."

But Bella could hear and smell and sense things that Liv could not, and she whined a little as if to tell Liv she was wrong. There was nothing but silence and the usual sounds of the city for a long moment ....but then there was the sound of a thump, as if someone was out there and was perhaps trying to get in.

Trying to reassure herself that perhaps all Bella had seen was an interesting looking cat, Liv was about to turn away from the doors when she heard that thump. She leaped backwards, smothering her mouth with her hands to keep her cry of shock muffled, terror flooding through her. Someone was trying to get in. Why hadn't anyone warned her this was a neighborhood where people tried to do that"

But again, if Liv paid attention to the signals she was getting from Bella, she might not be so afraid. She barked again, but it wasn't her warning bark, and though her ears were perked, her tail was wagging happily. She barked again, nudging Liv's leg with her nose as if to encourage her. No other sound came from outside, but Bella seemed insistent that someone or something was out there.

A little tearful with fright, Liv swallowed hard, trying to force herself to at least move, even if all she did was go and hide under the bed for a while. Bella's happily wagging tail seemed anathema to the situation, which was giving her mistress palpitations as she stood in the living room, peering through the glass past her own reflection to try and see who or what was out there. "Stop it, Bella," she heard herself whisper, shaking with terror. "Please stop it ..."

But Bella persisted, moving past her mistress to paw at the door and whimper. Maybe she just had to go out' But that didn't explain the thump. Was it just a figment of Liv's over-active imagination'

"Mom?" Liv jumped again, half-turning to find Fliss standing in the doorway, sleepily scratching her head. The teenager didn't look particularly grumpy about having been woken up - more concerned about what was going on. "What's up with Bella?"

Liv swallowed, shaking her head. "Sh-she ....I think she wants to go outside, but ..." She bit her lip, hating the fact that she was so obviously scared in front of her daughter. "I heard a thump."

Bella barked again, this time to get Fliss' attention, her tail wagging happily, excitedly even, just the way she did when Johnny arrived home from work. The silence was once more shattered by another thump that almost sounded like a half-hearted knock on the door.

Bella's bark only earned her another shush from Fliss as the teen wandered further into the room, jumping along with Liv this time at the thump on the door. Unlike Liv, however, Fliss did have a way to protect herself, and despite Bella's obvious tells that this wasn't a scary situation, the teenager took charge. "Bella, guard," she told the dog, pointing at Liv, and advanced toward the door, one hand already on fire as she pulled it open.

At first glance, there was nothing to see - nothing out of the ordinary, anyway - until and unless the teen looked down and to the side, where someone with a familiar head of blond hair and wearing a very familiar uniform was slumped against the house, only half conscious.

Frowning, Fliss peered out into the darkness, illuminated only by the flicker of flame on her fingers. Ignoring Liv's strangled protest, she stepped fully outside, and turned, her eyes glimpsing something to the side. "Dad?" She extinguished her hand, moving to crouch down beside Johnny. "Dude, you scared the crap out of Mom, you know."

"I'll do that," she told him once again, moving onto her feet. She reached down to heave him up himself, tucking her arms about his waist to keep him from falling back onto the couch once again. "You need to sleep. If anyone wants to make a fuss, they can go through me."

At least, his suit was dry, and he wasn't feeling cold. He felt warm enough, but his temperature definitely wasn't running as hot as it usually was for the Human Torch. "I'm sorry, Liv," he apologized, as she helped him to his feet. "I guess I screwed up, but I just needed to come home. I needed to see you and Fliss. Especially after ....After seeing those kids."

"Don't be sorry," she told him, easing their way toward the stairs and upward with Bella leading the way. "You haven't screwed up anything, I'm sure you were wonderful. But you're exhausted, and that's no fit state for you to be trying to analyze what happened in the first place. So shush, and let me take care of you, all right?"

"You're the best, Livvie," he told her quietly as he thumped his way up the stairs. Though he might be headstrong and a little scatterbrained at times, let it never be said that Johnny Storm didn't have a big heart. "It's a good thing you taught me to swim," he remarked groggily, so tired he almost felt drunk.

She smiled, rolling her eyes. He still had a way to go with his swimming, but it seemed as though he'd had enough expertise at his fingertips to make use of it this time around. Maybe there wouldn't be quite so many tantrums when the warmer weather came and she and Fliss fulfilled their plan to make him swim in the lake. "Of course I'm the best," she told him tenderly, drawing him through the door into the room that was habitually theirs when they were here. "I married you, didn't I?"

"No regrets?" he asked, though he already knew the answer to that. He was head over heels in love with Liv and had been almost since the first day he'd met her. He followed her lead into the bedroom that was theirs when they stayed with Lucy and Steve, but lacked the energy to do much more than collapse in bed.

She staggered with him, dragged down onto the bed purely because neither one of them had managed to take their arms from around each other before he gave into gravity. Laughing, Liv pushed her husband over onto his back, working on getting the suit off him. "No regrets at all, sweetheart," she promised him faithfully, though it was touch and go as to whether he was awake enough to hear her.

"No regrets either. You're the best," he mumbled somewhat groggily. Search and Rescue or not, Nick Fury's fury or not, he was home, right where he belonged. Johnny realized home wasn't Maple Grove, and it wasn't the Baxter Building. Home was being with those you loved and who loved you in return, and for Johnny, home was wherever Liv and Fliss were.

"Don't you fall asleep on me just yet, you're too big for me to get you tucked in without some help," she pointed out, tugging the zipper all the way down and giving him a yank to sit up so she could get the top half of his suit off him. Her lips touched his affectionately. "I'm glad you're home."

"I'm not wearing any underwear," he warned her groggily, though as his wife, she obviously had to know that already. Unless they were made of the same material as his suit, there wasn't much point. He grunted as she yanked him up to get him out of the suit, too tired and lazy to be much help. "Think they'll ask me to join S.H.I.E.L.D.?" he asked curiously. He'd always wanted to be a hero, but he still didn't feel like one, even after all his heroic deeds.

"Do you want to join S.H.I.E.L.D.?" she asked him in return, passing no comment on what he wasn't wearing under the suit. It wasn't as though she hadn't seen everything many times before, after all. Letting him fall back onto the bed, she shifted, pulling at the suit to let it sweep from his hips and legs before addressing herself to the task of getting him onto the pillow and under the blankets.

It was a daunting task for a little woman like Liv, though Johnny wasn't nearly as strapping a man as Steve. Johnny tried to help as much as he could, but his arms and legs felt like lead weights, which only added to her difficulty. There was a long pause as he seemed to consider her question, while she hauled him into bed. "I dunno," he answered as honestly as he could. There were a lot of pros and cons to think about before he could really answer that, even though he hadn't been asked yet. "If I do, I want to be a Major," he told her with a very Johnny Stormish smirk on his face.

"Major Storm, incoming," she laughed, only too familiar with his sense of humor. After her worrying and her fright, it felt good to laugh, even as she heaved him about. Dragging the covers over her husband, she sat down on the edge of the bed with a weary sigh of relief, her fingertips stroking through his hair once again. "Go to sleep, love. I won't be long."

He followed her with his eyes, which were getting heavy and harder to keep open, her touch calming and comforting him and making him even more sleepy. "Where are you going?" he pouted up at her, looking very boyish, forgetting she'd promised to contact someone at S.H.I.E.L.D. and let them know he'd made it home safely.

"I'm going to call Steve and let him know you're home," she told him gently, leaning down to kiss his forehead. "And then I'm coming to bed, I promise. Just sleep, love. You're home now."

"Okay," he murmured, letting his eyes fall closed as he finally surrendered to sleep. With any luck, he'd feel like his old self in the morning. "Love you, Livvie," he murmured further, needing her to know that, before drifting off to sleep to who only knew what kind of dreams.

She watched him sleep for a long moment, feeling a part of herself click back into place at the knowledge that he was safe and well, that all he needed was rest to be himself again. She could only hope that the same was true for Lucy and Steve. With a soft sigh, she rose to her feet, touching the tiny pin communicator Lucy had given her to be able to contact her brother-in-law at any opportunity. At least this way, even if S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't know, their family would. And that, in the end, was all that truly mattered to Liv ....her family.

((Here's hoping Steve and Lucy don't throttle him for not stopping in on his way back!