Topic: Searching for Answers

Johnny Storm

Date: 2014-05-26 00:01 EST
((Note: This scene takes place a few hours after A Visit From Family.)) "You know," Lucy was saying some time later, "I got into medicine to treat people, but S.H.I.E.L.D.'s had me doing more research than anything." She turned, opening a cupboard in her basement laboratory to fish out a phlebotomy kit. Liv had already gone through these tests with her sister; now it was Johnny's turn. "A few months ago, I wouldn't have known where to start with this." She smiled at her brother-in-law. "Roll your sleeve up."

Johnny frowned at his one-time girlfriend and now sister-in-law, remembering a time not so long ago when they'd first met. He'd come into the hospital to have a check-up while she'd been on duty, and the rest was history. "You know I don't like needles, Luce," he reminded her, eyeing the needle suspiciously. "You already got a sample of my blood once. Do you really need it again?"

"Yes, I do," she nodded. "You know I wouldn't ask you to do this if it wasn't necessary. I can call Liv down to distract you, if you like, but I do need to take some blood. If we're going to find out what?s going on here, I need to be able to run more than one test on a limited sample." She patted the chair, and sat down in another one. "While I'm doing this, you can talk to me. Tell me what?s really been happening, and how you're feeling about it."

"Has S.H.I.E.L.D. got you doubling as a therapist?" he asked, doing as he was told, taking a seat in the chair and rolling up a sleeve. He wasn't wearing his ever-present uniform today, judging it would most likely just get in the way. He wasn't trying to be a smart ass or give her an attitude, but it wasn't an easy subject for him to open up about either.

"This isn't anything to do with S.H.I.E.L.D.," she promised him, tying a tourniquet about his upper arm and gently flicking at the veins inside his elbow to bring them up. "We're family, Johnny. You're my little brother now, and I want to look after you as much as you want to look after Liv. And I know that you can't talk to her about this, and I doubt you'd be able to talk to Steve about it. So that leaves me. Sharp scratch, don't look down."

He couldn't really find much to argue with about that. He'd come to terms with the fact that she'd been his girlfriend before he'd started dating Liv, but it was still a little weird to hear her refer to him as a little brother sometimes, especially when he'd slept with her. Still, that was a long time ago and a lot had happened since then. He couldn't deny that they both had Liv's best interests at heart, and he had come to trust Lucy as much as he trusted his own sister. He turned his head so that he didn't have to watch her poke him with the needle, wincing a little in anticipation of the sharp pain he knew was going to follow. "I just want Liv to be happy, that's all," he admitted quietly.

Lucy was a very good doctor, however. That sharp pain was gone in an instant, the intravenous catheter in place, checked, and taped down almost before he could notice she'd stuck a needle in his arm. The needle itself went straight into the sharps bucket. "All right, the needle's gone," she told him, starting the process of filling the collection of little sample bottles she had lined up beside her. "She is happy, Johnny. I've known her for her entire life, and I've never seen her happier than she is now. And that's entirely because of you. This process is difficult for a lot of couples, and for some it can take years. So long as you're both being honest with each other about what is happening and how you're feeling, it won't hurt your relationship."

The Johnny she had once known might have complained that she'd tricked him, planning to take more blood samples than he'd agreed to, but this Johnny had matured some since then, and if it was going to take a needle stick and some drawn blood to make Liv happy, then he was more than willing to comply. "I thought you have to check my sperm count, not my platelets," he complained mildly, not really sure what the process involved really. He almost forget she was drawing blood from him, though he couldn't peel his eyes away from the catheter in his arm. "How am I feeling" Guilty, I guess."

"You guess?" As they talked, the little collection of vials filled up, each one attaching to the seal on the IV catheter with a small pop and detaching easily once they contained their fill of dark blood. "How can you be feeling guilty about something that you and Liv have absolutely no control over?" she asked him mildly, moving on to answer his question before he accused her of ignoring it. "I'm not asking for sperm because I don't think this has anything to do with infertility. But I'll check your hormone levels, and if I have to, I'll ask you to wank into a cup for me. Okay?"

"Oh, goody. How romantic. Got a magazine or two' I might need some stimulus," he complained, clearly not very happy about any of this, though he was more worried about Liv than anything else. He sighed, knowing it wasn't Lucy's fault. She was just trying to help. "Sorry, Luce. It just....seems so easy for everyone else. Why are we having trouble" Other couples get pregnant without even trying. It isn't fair."

"No, it isn't fair," she agreed, gently removing the catheter from his arm and taping a cotton pad over the little stick injury left behind. He probably wouldn't even bruise. "I don't know anyone who deserves a family more than you and Liv, and it's incredibly unjust that it won't happen on its own for you. But I promise, I will find out what?s happening." She rose, adding most of the various little vials to the evaluation equipment already set up with Liv's samples, putting the machinery to work with a flick of this button or that switch. The last samples were put into the little fridge, just in case she needed more of his blood. "You know, your doctor would ask you a lot of questions about your sex life at this point. You don't have to tell me, Johnny. But I can see that this is cutting you up inside. You need to talk to someone."

Johnny watched silently as she drew the catheter from his arm, hardly feeling it. He was too busy feeling another kind of pain from a wound that didn't show. He almost snorted at her question, or at least part of it, trying hard not to feel bitter about the unfairness of it all. "Trust me, Luce, there's nothing wrong with our sex life. It's not for lack of trying." Or maybe they were trying too hard. "I'm pretty sure the problem is me."

Lucy studied him for a moment, not wanting to upset him, but not wanting to lie to him, either. "I have a theory," she told him finally. "Completely untested at the moment, but by the morning, I'll have results to examine. Would you like me to tell you now, or wait until I have evidence to prove or disprove it?"

He was still frowning, looking downcast and depressed and completely blaming himself though he had no evidence yet to prove it. "It can't be Liv. It isn't Liv. You and Steve had a baby. What's the matter with me, Luce?" he asked, very nearly tearing up. "Was it the radiation?" he asked. "Sue and Reed were zapped with it, too, and they had a baby."

"Hey, hey, hey ..." She waved a hand, trying to get him to stop the litany of why it was his fault. "For starters, it's no one's fault." She moved to sit down with him once again, catching holding of his hands as she looked him in the eye. "Biology is complex. No one really knows why some people can have children together and others can't. You have no control over this, Johnny, and you bear no responsibility for it. Neither does Liv. But you need to remember that blaming yourself, making yourself miserable about it, will only hurt her more. Exactly the way you feel, when she blames herself."

He wasn't sure why he was surprised by her reaction to his guilt and confusion, not really expecting her to be patient with him or try and offer any comfort. He wasn't sure what he was expecting exactly. He hadn't shared any of this with anyone, especially not Liv, not wanting to hurt her more than she was already hurting. "But it's true, Luce. It's me, isn't it' What if..." Johnny swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat, threatening tears, looking more vulnerable and worried and frightened than she'd ever seen him. "You don't think she'd leave me, do you? If it's me? I don't know what I'd do if I lost her, Lucy."

Johnny Storm

Date: 2014-05-26 00:02 EST
She watched that cocky, brash young man turn into a vulnerable little boy before her eyes, and that maternal instinct she'd been so doubtful she had before Jamie had come along flared up in response. "Johnny, you know Liv better than anyone," she told him quietly. "Better than me. She loves you, and when she loves, she does it with her whole being. Do you really think that there is anything that would make her leave you now" Truly?"

Put like that, he knew Lucy was right. Liv loved him unconditionally. She might even be the only person he'd ever known in his entire life who did. Even his sister seemed to expect certain things from him, but Liv only seemed to love him, no matter what. "No, I guess not, but that doesn't solve the problem. She wants a baby so bad. I can see it in her eyes, and I-I don't want to disappoint her. I thought maybe Bella would help, but it's not the same. God, Luce. I see so many kids on the street every day. Kids without a home, without a family. Sometimes they follow me around, asking if I'm really who they think I am. Why do people have kids if they don't want them' We only want one. Why is that so much to ask?" Johnny looked to Lucy for answers, even if she didn't have any, tears brimming in his bright blue eyes.

"Maybe because you're not meant to add to the population," Lucy said as gently as she could. "Perhaps you're meant to love children as your own, who don't have anyone to love them. You've got a big heart, Johnny, and so does Liv. Do you really need to go through all this heartache, and all the stress of being pregnant, just to make your family a little bigger" You're both orphans who've made it, and you couldn't have done that without a little support. Maybe, instead of hurting yourselves, you should open up those big hearts of yours and let a few orphans in."

"But..." Johnny opened his mouth to protest but couldn't think of a good argument for that. It made total sense, and Johnny realized that he was the one who had brought it up. "But you and Steve have a baby and Sue and Reed have a baby and Jon and Vicki have a baby....two babies. What if Liv wants a baby of her own" I can't make that decision for her, Lucy. Liv deserves to have everything she wants. She deserves to be happy. I love her so much, Luce." There were those tears threatening again, at odds with both possibilities, but realizing they might not have a choice.

"This isn't about making a decision for her, Johnny," Lucy assured him, releasing his hands finally now it seemed he was thinking a little more clearly. "Look, I agree with you. Liv was made to be a mum. But what it comes down to, is that you and she need to talk about this, and not in theoreticals anymore. Practicalities, that's what you need to be talking about." She smiled gently, wishing she could impart what Liv had intimated to her earlier, but refusing to break a confidence. "Have you ever considered that perhaps the reason she so desperately wants a baby, is because she wants to create that perfect family with you, for you? I think you're both putting too much emphasis on the traditional way it's been done. Our family is anything but traditional. And to be honest, Johnny, babies are boring. They don't do anything for the first six months, and you don't get enough sleep while they're not doing anything, either."

Johnny wiped his face with a sleeve, as if he wasn't much more than a boy himself, and in some ways, he still was. There was still a wounded child inside him somewhere that missed his mother desperately and felt betrayed by his father, but the past was the past. Nothing could be done to change it; all he could was try to learn from it and not make the same mistakes himself. Once again, what Lucy was telling him made sense when he thought about it. He'd been trying so hard to make Liv happy and worrying about her feelings, that he hadn't considered she might be doing the same with him, but that still left the problem of them having to make a decision. "I still have to know, Lucy. I have to know if there's any chance we can have a child of our own."

"All right. I can show you a very basic test of what happens when you and Liv try to combine into a foetus." Lucy sat back, eying him thoughtfully. "Do you want to see it' And don't say yes for any other reason."

He nodded his head in assent. He might not understand the science of it, but he needed to know what was going on that was preventing them from fulfilling their dream.

"All right." She nodded, rising abruptly to her feet. A flurry of motion later, and the monitor nearest to Johnny lit up, showing a blank screen. "That will show you a very much magnified view of what I'm about to do," she told him, taking two vials of blood from the fridge - one of his, and one of Liv's. "This is Liv's blood." On the screen appeared an enormous view of the business end of a pipette depositing a tiny amount of blood under the microscope. Lucy fiddled with the computer for a moment, until the magnification was a little mind-blowing. "See that' Red blood cells, completely normal, basic human anatomy. And now I'm going to add a drop of your blood."

The results were not immediate, but as Johnny's blood mixed with Liv's, it became apparent that Liv's blood cells were fighting a losing battle, shriveling in the radiation that lingered in Johnny's. Lucy watched him worriedly, hoping he wasn't going to take it too much to heart.

Johnny turned his attention to the computer screen, watching intently as Lucy proved her theory right before his eyes. He wasn't quite sure how it worked, but it was obvious even to him that his cells were incompatible with hers....or something. In fact, it seemed to Johnny that his cells were destroying hers. No wonder they couldn't make a baby, but did the same theory hold true with eggs and sperm, as it did with blood cells" "Oh my god," he murmured quietly, his face visibly paling, his body tensing. "Is that because of the radiation?" he asked, curiously.

"I think it might be," Lucy told him, turning off the monitor before he could fixate on what he was seeing and memorise it completely. She turned in her seat. "I've already called Reed and asked to see his initial findings, I need some kind of baseline to test from." She reached over to touch his hand. "You're not toxic, Johnny. There's nothing wrong with you. It's just that your genetic structure has been altered, irradiated to the point where it isn't biologically compatible with Liv's, through no fault of anyone's. Sue and Reed can reproduce because they were hit with the same radiation, at the same time, they were changed in the same way. But this doesn't mean I won't be able to find a way around it, it just means that the wait will be a lot longer."

What she was telling him once again made sense. It would explain why Sue and Reed could produce children, while Johnny and Liv couldn't. There was no one else like him, but Sue and Reed and Ben. He was an anomaly. In that moment, he almost wished he'd never tagged along on that trip to outer space. On the other hand, if he hadn't become what he'd become, he wouldn't have been able to save Liv from the fire that had almost killed her, in the first place or anyone else either. "So, what are we supposed to do?" he asked, looking to Lucy once again for answers, or at least, for options.

"You move on," Lucy told him. "Don't put your lives on hold waiting for me to sort something out. You two will be excellent parents, and there are children out there who need excellent parents. That's what I suggest. But before it all, you talk to Liv, and you tell her what you've been feeling and find out what she's been feeling. Okay?"

Johnny Storm

Date: 2014-05-26 00:05 EST
"I just want to make her happy, Lucy. You believe me, don't you?" he asked, needing her to believe him, even if she didn't believe in him. He had grown and matured since she'd first met him a few years ago, but deep inside still lurked that wounded, lonely orphan, not much different from the one that existed inside of Liv.

"Oh, for goodness' sake, Johnny, of course I believe you." And to her credit, Lucy was actually a little hurt that he felt the need to ask. She might give him a hard time, but that didn't mean that she thought any less of him. Giving him a tug onto his feet, she wrapped him up in a warm hug. "You're family, my family. You mean the world to me, and even more to my sister. I know that you're a good, tender hearted man who adores Liv, and I know she feels the same way about you. Johnny, you can do anything you set your mind to. So set your mind to this, and it'll be glorious."

It had been a long time since he and Lucy had had a good heart-to-heart. Maybe it was long overdue. Johnny was surprised when Lucy tugged him to his feet and wrapped him in a hug. She was famous for giving him a hard time, which he often took too much to heart, but in the end, it seemed she really did care about him. He returned the hug, a bit awkwardly. He'd learned the difference between the twins, and no longer got them confused. Had they ever tried to fool him now, like they had once, they would have failed. He was at a loss for words a moment, choked up as he was at her kind words. No one had ever called him tender hearted before, except Liv and maybe Peggy. It was hard to hide what he was feeling from Peggy, who seemed to see right through him. "I think you missed your calling, Luce. You should have been a coach or something," he remarked with a smile, wiping a hand across his face to dry his eyes.

"What, don't you think I can pull off the wife and mother working for a secret worldwide organisation that may or may not decide to use my husband and son in future for genetic testing?" she asked innocently, leaning up to kiss his cheek. "I'll keep working on it, all right' Just don't put all your eggs in one basket because, knowing me, I'll drop it."

Johnny tensed at Lucy's remark, even if she was only kidding, a cold shudder going through him. "Lucy, don't ever let them experiment on Steve or Jamie," Johnny said, taking hold of her arm and meeting her gaze with a very serious look in his eyes. "Promise me." He said it with such seriousness that she'd know he wasn't kidding.

"I will never let them do that," she answered him, just as serious, if not more so. "I've already wiped every scrap of information they've ever acquired about Steve from their own computer banks. There's the occasional hint, but I ignore them, and so does Steve. No one is ever going to experiment on my family."

He seemed to relax a little, though that same serious expression remained on his face. No matter what anyone might think of Johnny Storm, he was loyal and would do anything necessary to protect those he loved, even under threat of death. "Good," he replied, a faint smile appearing on his face. "And you won't drop the basket. I trust you, Lucy, and I believe in you." He leaned in to press a brotherly kiss against her cheek. "Thanks, Luce. I'll talk to Liv. Promise."

"Good for you." She smiled up at him, seeing far more than just the cocky young man who had once been a source of contention between herself and her sister. He'd come into his own with Liv, and there were no hard feelings there at all. "Oh! One second!" She whirled away suddenly, rummaging through a drawer. "I had a thought a few weeks ago that maybe we should have some kind of personal communicator, just for us - you know, you, me, Steve, and Liv. Just in case. Steve liberated some hardware for me, and I made ....these." She straightened up, handing two small pins to Johnny. "They're combined receivers and transmitters on a unique frequency that works between worlds via the portal network. So, no matter where you are, if you need us, you can tell us."

Johnny arched a brow in surprise once again, wondering if Lucy was another Reed in the making, but he trusted her, even more than he'd ever trusted Reed. He didn't need to understand the technology behind the communicators to use them or to believe that they worked. "That goes likewise, if you need us," he replied, taking the pins from Lucy and looking them over a moment before dropping them into his pants pocket. Now all he had to do was remember they were there. It was more likely, he thought, that he and Liv would need their help than the other way around, but better safe than sorry. "You know, Fury was in touch with me recently asking if I wanted to join S.H.I.E.L.D."

Lucy froze for a moment when she heard that, the thought spinning through her head one of concern for Liv if Fury managed to get everyone in the family onto S.H.I.E.L.D.'s payroll. "Don't," was her instinctive reaction. "At least ....don't join up. Be on retainer, be an emergency call. But don't let him recruit you. He's already got Steve, Tony, and me. If he gets you, too, who's going to protect Liv when S.H.I.E.L.D. comes calling?"

"I'm not. I told him no," Johnny assured her. "We're not ready to leave Rhy'Din yet. Liv likes it there. She's got a good job there, and....Did she tell you we're thinking about building a house?" he asked, unsure what the twins already might have discussed between them, but knowing they kept few secrets from each other.

Once again, Lucy was taken by surprise, more amused than offended by this showing of loyal secrecy by her twin. "No, she didn't," she chuckled, jerking her head for him to come with her, out of the clinical environment of the lab and back up to the homely house above them. "And now I know, I require details. Spill."

He winced, realizing he'd just spilled the beans on a bit of news that maybe should have been left for Liv to share. "Oops, I thought you knew. Don't tell Liv I told you, okay' She worries that you miss her, but..." He shrugged again. "I think we need this time away," he admitted, realizing the truth of it. Both of them had always depended a little too much on their older sibling, but now that they were living in Rhy'Din, they were responsible for themselves, and it was showing in the way they both had grown and matured over the last few years.

"Of course I miss her," Lucy smiled gently, drawing the door to the lab closed behind them. "Part of me will always miss her when we're apart. But I have a life here, and she has a life there, with you. I'd never begrudge her the chance to make something that is all hers."

"I miss New York sometimes," Johnny admitted. Both their families were here, but it was more than just that. New York had always been home, but New York was also rife with memories, both good and bad. "I think we can make a difference in Rhy'Din, Luce." Yes, the place was already full of superheroes would-be superheroes, but so was New York. They'd made a place for themselves in Rhy'Din, and there were people who were depending on them there. Somehow, since they'd gotten married, Johnny and Liv had become responsible and respectable. "Anyway, we've been thinking about moving to Maple Grove, especially if we want to have kids. A condo is no place to raise a family," he continued, telling her more than he'd planned on.

Johnny Storm

Date: 2014-05-26 00:08 EST
"I know you can, Everlast," she promised him warmly, giving him a gentle shove to get him up the stairs toward the ground floor. "And I think moving to a house is a very good idea. Are you really going to build a house for yourselves" Or are you going to move in somewhere, and then start building?"

He started up the stairs at her prodding, furrowing his brows in thought. "We haven't gotten that far yet. We haven't even approached anyone about it yet, but they're always telling us we're welcome anytime. You don't think they're just saying that, do you?"

"Johnny, you've got a key to the big house on Maple Grove," Lucy reminded him with a chuckle. "I think that rather shouts out that they're not just saying it. You have free access to walk in and out whenever you like. I highly doubt they'll deny you somewhere to live. Take my advice, offer to pay rent." She grinned. "They like you both so much, they'll fall over themselves to try and pay for any building work you want to do."

"Knowing Jon and Vicki, they won't take our money. I think they've adopted us!" he said with a chuckle, that was still half serious. Up the stairs he went to the ground floor above with Lucy trailing behind him. "No grabbing my *ss!" he warned her as they climbed the stairs.

"Spoil sport," she pouted from behind him. "I suppose I'll just have to make do with pinching it, then." Which she did, in multiple places, plenty of times, all the while laughing like a drain because he'd left her an opening.

Johnny laughed, batting at Lucy's hand unsuccessfully, like swatting an annoying pest, as they stumbled up the stairs and onto the main floor. "Livvie!" he called. "Tell your sister to keep her hands to herself!"

"Keep your hands to yourself!" came the obliging reply from the living room, where Liv had been chatting with Steve, Peggy having taken herself off reluctantly for a nap. "Why am I telling her that?"

Lucy laughed, giving Johnny one last pinch for good luck before overtaking him to burst into the living room. "Because he has no idea how to defend himself against being pinched!"

Johnny yelped at that last pinch, practically jumping out of his skin, forgetting there was a napping baby somewhere in the house, not to mention Peggy. He wasn't used to having to keep his voice down, unless they were at the big house while Emily or Ben were napping. "That's not fair!" he complained, getting shoved aside as Lucy burst past him. He could have easily beaten her, but he didn't really want to chance setting Steve and Lucy's house on fire.

Snickering, Lucy dropped herself down on the arm of Steve's chair, looping an arm around her husband's formidable shoulders with a kiss to his temple. "Of course it isn't," she agreed, unabashed. "That's why I always win."

Liv rolled her eyes, smiling at the silly playing between her Johnny and her sister. At least it didn't look as though he'd been given any terrible news, which had to be a good thing. "You survived, then?"

"Except for her stabbing me in the arm and drawing about six pints of blood, yes!" he replied, exaggerating more than a little, but he did seem to be in better spirits than he had been when he'd trudged down the stairs behind her, dreading bad news. The news hadn't really been good news, but it hadn't been hopeless either.

"Oh, please, it was more like six fluid ounces," Lucy cast back at him with a grin. "Poor baby got a booboo. Better kiss it better, Livvie, before he keels over and faints from loss of blood."

Trying hard not to laugh, Liv patted the couch next to her in an invitation to her husband, knowing how much he hated needles. "She's a mean old fuss pot," she commiserated with Johnny playfully.

"She is. I think she actually enjoyed it," he teased back, dropping onto the couch beside his wife and showing her the place where Lucy had bandaged his arm. It was just a tiny pinprick beneath that cotton ball, but he really despised needles.

"She's a leech," Liv nodded, grinning as she bent over to kiss the little pad on the inside of his elbow. "All better now?" Unable to resist, she leaned in to kiss his lips for good measure, far happier in herself, far less uncomfortable, now that Jamie was down for his nap and she didn't have to see her sister's perfect little family in its entirety.

"Mmhm," he replied, though the kiss didn't really make much difference. "What have you two been up to while we were away?" he asked, glancing over at Steve, who had thus far remained silent except for a little laughter at Johnny and Lucy's antics.

"Um ..." Liv glanced at Steve, not entirely sure how to sum up their conversation, since they had touched on so many different things. And not really wanting to bring her apparent infertility back into the conversation, though she felt better after confiding in Steve.

Lucy came to the rescue, smirking impishly. "Trading sex stories, no doubt."

"Bragging about my sexual stamina, Livvie?" Johnny teased with a smirk. If there was one person he didn't want to compete with, it was Steve Rogers, but he didn't mind teasing his wife about it.

"Nothing of the sort," Steve piped up, coming to Liv's rescue. "She was telling me all about Bella." Okay, maybe not, but it sounded good.

A bark made itself known from outside the doors to the garden, Bella answering to her name even if she wasn't inclined to come away from the grass. It appeared that Steve had turned on the sprinkler, which was apparently the most amazing toy Bella had ever come across.

Liv smiled gratefully at Steve, ignoring the teasing from her husband and sister. "Yes, I was telling him about her first night with us," she told Johnny, mischief glinting in her eyes. She'd laughed so hard that night, she had actually cried. "You remember, don't you? When she decided to join us in bed?"

Johnny rolled his eyes and chuckled, remembering Bella's first night in the condo. "Yeah, I remember. She jumped up on the bed and knocked me off!" He laughed at the memory of it. She'd been such a timid thing then, but she'd made a lot of progress with them in a short amount of time. Maybe Lucy was right, after all. If they could do that much for a dog, what could they do for a child" "It took us all night to convince her to sleep on the floor."

"And we still wake up with her on the bed with us," Liv giggled softly, leaning into Johnny's side as Lucy guffawed at the mental image of whatever they had been doing before Bella knocked him off the bed.

"Oh ....oh, please tell me she's interrupted you in the shower as well," the older twin wheezed as she laughed, hugging Steve to keep herself from toppling right off the arm of his chair.

Johnny wound a familiar and warmer than normal arm around Liv's shoulder, chuckling at the memory of that first night. "She's a good dog. Really smart, but she hasn't been treated so well, and she's a bit timid." Johnny chuckled at Lucy's suggestion. "Not yet, but you never know!"

Steve smiled, glad the other couple seemed to be a little more at ease now, hoping what he'd said to Liv helped a little.

It had. Despite outward appearances, Liv was a great deal more comfortable with Steve these days, as evidenced by the fact that she had virtually poured her heart out to him while Johnny and Lucy had been downstairs. She met his smile with her own, warm and grateful, hugging into Johnny's side. Some of the tension was gone, for now at least.

Beside Steve, Lucy watched her sister and Johnny together, glad to have been of a little assistance. Maybe by the morning, she'd have something more to tell them, maybe not. All that really mattered was that they get through this.

Get through it they would, one way or another, thanks to Steve and Lucy. Whether they were living on the same world or not, distance didn't seem to make much difference. Family was always there for each other, no matter how far away they seemed. ((Will Johnny and Liv be able to have a baby, or will they have to consider other options" Stay tuned to find out. More coming very soon! Huge thanks once again to my awesome fantastic partner for the above scene!))