Topic: The Inevitable

Olivia Storm

Date: 2015-03-08 06:21 EST
Winter really was holding on tightly this year, but that barely seemed to matter in the Storm household. Between a father who could heat a room just by laughing uncontrollably, and a daughter who had been practicing warming up but not setting herself or anything else alight, Liv was certain their heating bill was going to be virtually non-existent. Not that she minded; at least she was absolutely certain that no one in the house was going to get ill from exposure. Bella, their supremely spoiled dog, had taken to Fliss' practices so well that she could barely tear herself from the teen's side, especially at night, which meant that Johnny and Liv were often treated to the sound of Fliss bouncing off walls on her way between the bedroom and bathroom after she went upstairs.

Laughing as the noise from above calmed down, Liv stretched comfortably, inching closer on the couch to take full advantage of Johnny's heat. "Well, at least we know they're not fighting over the pillow again tonight," she grinned, nestling into him affectionately.

"So long as it's Bella we're talking about and not a boy," Johnny replied, reaching out with one arm to draw Liv close into his warm embrace, like a human electric blanket. He was happy for now to sit snuggled close together and enjoy the quiet of the moment, which was rare now that a large dog and a teenage girl were living under their roof. There was something he wanted to talk to her about, but he wanted to wait for the right time.

Liv snorted with laughter, resting her cheek against his chest comfortably. She loved his heat, even in the middle of a broiling summer, and had never made any attempt to hide that fact. In winter, it was a wonderful bonus to being able to cuddle up to the man she loved. "I'll start worrying about boys only when she starts plucking up the courage to bring friends home."

"It's only a matter of time, Liv," he warned. "She's cute, smart, and pretty. If I was her age, I'd date her myself!" But of course, he wasn't, though he had dated girls like her. In fact, Liv wasn't so much different from Fliss, other than the fact that she was a few years older and didn't have any superpowers at her fingertips, but Johnny loved her even more for the fact that she was "normal". He hadn't had very good luck with women, but Liv understood him better than most. "Maybe she needs to make a few friends like herself. Realize she's not the only one out there who's ..." He paused a moment as if searching for the right word. Different' No. That wasn't it. "....who's special."

"Well, if there's anywhere she's going to make friends like that, it's at the Academy," Liv agreed quietly. She wasn't worried about Fliss, exactly; more concerned that there hadn't been much talk about friends, and no requests to go out with friends or have someone over yet. But then, Fliss seemed to still be on eggshells a little around them, despite the adoption going through without any trouble at all.

"Give her some time, Liv. She'll get there. She's been through a lot." Johnny knew Fliss had made a few friends, even if those friends were mostly the kids she babysat for in and around Maple Grove, but what she really needed was a friend of her own that was her own age, and as far as Johnny was concerned, that friend should preferably be female. "You remember what we were like at that age" I don't know about you, but I was a mess."

She laughed quietly, careful not to share the information that she hadn't really had friends at all during her teens. She'd hung around with Lucy's friends, who tolerated because Lucy told them to. "Everyone's different," she agreed in a thoughtful tone. "I can't help worrying about her, even if she's settling in far better than I ever hoped she would. I suppose it's called being a mother."

There was nothing more isolating than being the odd ball, and Johnny had certainly been that, though he'd managed to hide his own personal issues behind a facade of tom-foolery and bravado. He'd been the class clown in school, popular in the way that most troublemakers were, but he'd had few really close friends. He didn't want that for Fliss. He turned a soft smile on Liv, warm and full of affection for this woman who'd found him and taken him into her heart, like no one ever had before. "And you're awesome at it," he told her, leaning close to touch a kiss to her lips.

His lips found a soft smile, though she didn't say anything to agree or disagree with his confident statement. It would take time for Liv to have confidence in this new skill set she was acquiring, but time was what they had. "And she's absolutely certain the sun shines out of your ass, so you are clearly an amazing father."

Johnny chuckled at the imagery that stirred in his mind, imagining himself a rocket-ship lifting off from the ground with fire trailing behind him. The picture wasn't too far from reality, except that it was fire that propelled him, not sunshine. "Yeah, well ....I'm not perfect. That's for sure." He frowned a little at the thought of that. Though he was slowly gaining confidence, in good part thanks to Liv and Fliss, he still had his moments of weakness, and he couldn't help but wonder sometimes what the two of them saw in him. "I, um....have something to tell you, and you're probably not gonna like it."

She frowned in bemusement, looking up at him with a faint smile on her lips, uncertain quite what he could have done that would make him concerned about her reaction to it. "Why don't you tell me, then?" she told him gently. "We can find out together."

Oh, he knew she wasn't going to like it, and the worried look on his face said so. "I, uh ....I got a call from Nick Fury the other day." Inwardly cringing, he waited to see what her reaction to that would be before he went on.

Her brows rose slowly. Of course she knew who Nick Fury was, but she couldn't quite work out why he would be calling her husband, unless ....Her brow furrowed deeper for a moment. "Did Steve ask for you to do something with him?" she asked, not entirely sure whether she wanted an affirmative or negative response.

"Sort of," he replied, that frown still in place. He knew she wasn't going to like what he had to tell her, but he was proud of the fact that Steve had thought of him. Now that Liv had mentioned it, he realized it was more than likely Steve who'd suggested his involvement in this, rather than Fury. "I told him I had to ask you first," Johnny added.

She smiled gently. "Sweetheart, I know you," she reminded him in her soft way, twisting to meet his gaze more comfortably. "You wouldn't even have mentioned this unless you were seriously considering it. And serious consideration means it's something you feel you need to do. So what is it that they want you for?"

Olivia Storm

Date: 2015-03-08 06:22 EST
"From what Steve tells me, someone is trying to duplicate the super soldier serum, and they'd testing it on kids." That explanation was very abridged, but it was the simplest way Johnny could both understand and explain it. He knew put that way, Liv would likely agree it was an important mission and not just Fury letting the power go to his head.

His soft-hearted wife reacted as predictably as he could have hoped for. "What?" The shock on her face was nothing to the ripple of tension through her body as she pushed up to look at him in horror. "They're testing on children" That's appalling!"

"Yeah, well ....They're hoping to raise a small army of super soldiers or super spies or something," he explained further. "And you know, I don't really care about politics, but I can't stand by and let it happen without doing something about it, Liv. Not when kids are involved." He really wasn't too fond of S.H.I.E.L.D. and thought Nick Fury was a pompous ass, but it was Steve that had asked him, and it seemed to be a good cause.

"What do they want you to do?" she asked, still frowning in concern. "I assume this is Steve's idea, so he must have something very specific in mind. That, or ..." A thought crossed her mind that made her eyes widen with alarm. "Or he's chosen a very small team made up of people he trusts completely."

"I don't know all the particulars yet, but I won't be alone. Steve is going and ...." He broke off a moment, seemingly a little reluctant to tell her who else made up the team, mostly because someone else she cared for had been hand-picked to go along, as well. "Lucy's going, too," he said, needing to be completely honest with her, even if she didn't like it. "Steve said we need a doctor, and he doesn't want just anyone."

At this, Liv stilled completely. It was her worst fear come to life - that the three people she loved and trusted most would be called upon to enter some kind of dangerous mission, leaving her behind. "Oh." It wasn't often that Liv didn't speak these days, but she didn't know how to process this. Pale and shaken, she stood up, her automatic response in times of stress to go to the kitchen and make tea.

"We're supposed to have a guide, too, but I don't know who that is yet. I suggested Sue for the team, but Steve wants to keep it small. Quick in and out. We each have a specific job to perform," he added, knowing she wasn't going to like the task that he'd been given, but before he could explain more, she was up and moving toward the kitchen, looking pale and shaken. He frowned and sighed. Did he do the wrong thing" Should he have told Steve no' Should he have insisted on someone other than Lucy' He might not trust Nick Fury or S.H.I.E.L.D., but he trusted Steve implicitly. "Livvie ..." he started, getting up to follow her.

She was moving on auto-pilot, certainly, but that didn't mean her mind wasn't catching up with itself. "I'm sorry," she apologized as he joined her in the kitchen. "I-I don't know how to react. Weighing the lives of strangers against three people who mean the world to me isn't easy."

"Liv, it's not just about strangers," he told her, reaching to turn her toward him and take her hands, even before she could fix herself a cup of tea. He wasn't sure what it was about the English that every crisis required a cup of tea, but he'd stopped trying to figure it out a long time ago. "Fliss was a stranger once," he reminded her, and now she was their daughter and a part of their family. "I can't just turn my back on this, but if you don't want me to go, I won't."

She sighed, her eyes fixed on her hands in his for a long moment. "I know," she told him. "But you know I won't do that. If Steve has asked for you, then it's something he only trusts you to do. It's a lot to take in for someone as ordinary as me, love - that three people who make up the majority of my family will be going off to somewhere I'm not allowed to know the location of and risking their lives."

"Sweetheart," he started, gentling his voice and tipping her chin up to meet his sea-blue eyes. "I'll be back. Promise." Of the three of them, he was the one who was probably the least vulnerable, he thought. Even less vulnerable than Captain America with his vibranium shield on his back. There were only a few things that Johnny had to worry about, but it was probably a good thing Liv didn't know the place they were going was underwater. "I think we'd all feel better if you were in New York though. Peggy's ..." There was that worried frown again. They all knew Peggy Carter wasn't going to live forever, and she wasn't quite spunky enough to chase after a lively toddler anymore.

She sniffed a little as he raised her eyes to his, her hands wrapping tight about his. "Well, of course we'll go to New York," she agreed, nodding, not mentioning that she would rather cling to the underside of whatever plane they were going to use with her bare fingernails than be left behind to wonder with Peggy, Fliss, and Jamie. "I wouldn't leave Peggy on her own."

"We shouldn't be more than a couple of days at most. Like I said, quick in and out." There was that frown again, feeling horrible about having to worry her like this, but she'd known who he was and that this was a possibility when she'd married him. Not an inevitability, but a possibility. "I wish I could tell you more." While he didn't really agree with Fury's need for secrecy, he understood it and had agreed to keep what details he knew to himself for now.

"No, I do understand," she nodded, and to her credit, she did. She'd known exactly what she was getting into, and to be fair, he risked his life regularly as a member of the Fire Department. This wasn't really any different, except that it wasn't just him going. It was him, Lucy, and Steve, and that made it ten times worse for her. "Really, I do. But you're not going to be able to stop me from worrying."

"I'd be worried if you didn't worry," he told her, a soft smile on his face. "I want you to know I'm not doing this for the thrill. I'm doing it because it's important," he explained further. And because Steve had asked him to. They both knew Steve could ask him to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge, and he'd do it. Probably survive it, too, but that was beside the point. "I love you, Livvie. I promise I wouldn't do this if I didn't think it was important."

"Oh, Johnny, that never even crossed my mind," she told him, horrified that he felt he needed to justify taking on such a clearly dangerous mission. "I never once thought you would do it for the thrill. I know you, and I know you would never do anything like this unless there was a very good reason for it. Just promise me you'll come back. All of you."

"I promise," he said. Even though in all honesty, they both knew he couldn't promise that for sure, he'd do his damnedest to make sure he kept that promise. He was nearly as fond of Lucy and Steve as she was, and he knew he'd be lost without them. They were family, after all, and nothing was as important to Johnny as family. "I don't know how I'm gonna tell Fliss though," he added with a frown.

Olivia Storm

Date: 2015-03-08 06:23 EST
"I'll tell her," Liv offered quietly. They both knew the teen was unlikely to react well to the idea that her new family was going to spend a few days an inch or so from self-destructing. She'd only just calmed down after realizing that Johnny routinely scouted burning buildings that were on the point of collapse.

"Are you sure?" he asked, really thinking he should be the one to tell her, though he wasn't quite sure how when the teen was just starting to feel comfortable and secure with her place in the family. "I'm sorry, Liv," he apologized. "I promise I won't let anything happen to Luce." He could at least give her that.

"You and I both know that's virtually impossible to promise," she pointed out, at least able to smile a little as she pointed out her sister's stubbornness. "Just make sure she survives, that's all. Injuries can be patched up." She hugged him, pushing into his arms with a quiet sight. "And I'm sure. Fliss can freak out with me; she knows you wouldn't be going unless it was important."

He wrapped her in his warm embrace once more as she pushed herself into his arms, only too happy to hold her close, though he preferred somewhere more comfortable than the middle of the kitchen. There wasn't much else to say. He'd told he all he could tell her, and he'd promised to come home safely and bring Steve and Lucy home with him. It was a big responsibility, but Johnny had grown up a lot in the few short years since he'd come to Rhy'Din and Liv was partially to blame for it. "You're the best, Livvie," he told her quietly, which was about the same as telling her he loved her.

"I love you, too," she told him fervently, holding on tightly, her voice just a little muffled by the press of her cheek into his chest. "And I will never forgive you if you get yourself killed." A small part of her mind flashed up that they should take Lucy's fertility serum and get her knocked up before he went, just in case, but she squashed it quickly. That wasn't exactly appropriate conversation right now.

"I'm not that easy to kill," he reminded her, not particularly liking the way that sounded, though it was true. So long as he didn't get trapped in ice or water or run out of flame, he should be okay. The same couldn't be said for Steve or Lucy. He tenderly touched his lips to hers. "Do you still want a cup of tea?" he asked, a knowing smile on his face.

Even with her mind caught on an infinity worry loop, Liv couldn't help laughing a little at his query. He really did know her far too well; not even Lucy had worked out that her twin made tea but didn't drink it when she was worried or upset. "No, I think I can live without tea," she assured him softly, nuzzling close.

"What would you like to do then?" he asked, though he had a pretty good idea what the answer to that question would be. They'd been trying to make a baby for a while now, but without Lucy's help, it probably wasn't going to happen. Practice still made perfect though! Of course, she might have just wanted to cuddle, and that would have been perfectly fine with him, too.

Smiling, Liv rose up on her toes to kiss him softly. "I'd like to go to bed," she murmured, hands stroking gently against his back. Even after three years together, unless she let that wilder side of her go, she was still shy of openly asking him to make love to her, preferring to hope that he understood whatever euphemism came out of her mouth.

He didn't bother to ask what she wanted to do there - if she wanted to sleep or snuggle or make love. Whatever happened happened. He'd learned to understand her subtle cues and shy hints, and was perfectly happy to follow her lead. He only kissed her again, slowly and tenderly, before taking her hand to lead her up the stairs to bed, turning off the lights along the way.

It never mattered if it was dark or light. Johnny was the only man she had ever loved, ever slept with, and there was nothing he couldn't do in her eyes. Even now, when they had to keep a bit of a lid on things to avoid making their teenaged daughter vomit at the sounds coming from their bedroom, Liv couldn't think of anywhere she would rather be than in Johnny's arms. And with him preparing now to go off and fight goodness only knew who, it seemed all the more important to make absolutely sure he knew exactly how much she loved and needed him. All night, if necessary.

((You guessed it, there's a mission coming soon! Stay tuned to see what happens!))