Growing Up Fantastic

by:

atomynx@bigfoot.com

"Johnny? It's not just ignoring him so you can watch girls in bikinis on MTV. You understand that, right?"

Johnny Storm took a slow, deep breath. He loved his sister Susan with all his heart, but at times like this, he truly found her a bit trying.

"I *know*, sis. I know. Not like you used to do with me when *I* was little, right?"

Sue fixed an icy glare on her brother, then turned to Reed, who was staring into the mirror on the front closet door, putting the final adjustments on the knot of his blue tie.

"That's it," she declared with stiff formality, blue eyes dark with annoyance and maternal worry.

"Reed, we're not going. Cancel the limosine."

Reed looked up, and for a moment, his face was the very picture of innocent, intelligent bewilderment.

"Eh?" He took one look at the smirking Johnny, his fretful wife, and immediately calculated the trajectory their conversation had taken, while he had been cogitating various other things and tying his tie.

"Sue, darling," he said softly. "You know as well as I that Johnny, for all of his rather impetuous tendencies, thinks the world of Franklin, and that he will take good care of our little boy. And you've been looking forward to going to the symphony for months."

Sue sighed and nodded, but still looked dubious. Reed gave her an affectionate kiss on the lips. "You look splendid, and I am altogether certain Johnny will do just fine babysitting."

Johnny, pleased to be supported, nodded emphatically. "You can count on me!" he crowed, folding his arms and striking a heroic pose.

"Not even Doom could touch one hair on Frankie's head while I'm watching him. You coulda done worse an' let *Ben* watch him."

Johnny's grin fell, replaced by an indignant 'whuff' as Sue hit him with a soft 'pillow' of her invisible force-field. "Just make sure he doesn't stay up past nine-thirty, brother dear. And you know the only cable channels he's allowed to watch, right?"

Johnny nodded.    "The Learning Channel. The History Channel. The Discovery Channel, and if all else fails, Nickelodeon." His smile was a bit less obnoxious, visibly relaxing as he made his recitation and saw it was having the desired effect, calming Sue's nerves.

"See? I know what I'm doing."

As if this were some unspoken cue, Franklin Richards barrelled down the hall on his brightly colored Fischer-Price training skates.

"Vroom! Vroom!" he yelled at the top of his three-year-old voice. "I'm a race car, just like Unca Johnny drives!" he declared with youthful, exuberant pride.

"Faster than fast," Johnny agreed, reaching out and scooping his nephew up into his arms before Franklin's equilibrium failed him and the skates parted company in opposite directions. "But *not* in the house. Mommy just waxed the floor this morning, sport, and you'll get it all scuffed up."

Franklin looked at the floor, then turned to regard his mother. He smiled beatifically, as if it had occurred to him that Sue waxed the hall floor for the specific purpose of making it slick enough for him to skate on, or slide around on in his stocking feet.

With a child's typical self-centered attitude, he reached to hug his mother. "Can we have pizza for dinner, Mommy? An' pop corn later? An' jello pudding? An' gummi bears? An' chok'lit milk?"

Sue's blue eyes widened again, but before she could say a word of protest, Reed bundled her into the faux-fur jacket. "You have the number where we can be reached, Johnny? I trust there will be no incidents?" ~Sue's been so patient with me being so busy of late. The last thing she needs is to have our first night out in months interrupted by the Fantasti-Flare.~

"Pizza for dinner is okay. You be a good boy, Franklin."

"I will, Daddy!" Franklin replied with youthful earnestness.

With that, Reed permitted himself a proud paternal smile before he hustled his wife into the elevator.

Johnny counted to ten out loud, Franklin squirming in his arms. Then, swinging the boy over his head in a game of 'airplane', he walked over to one of the plate glass windows and pointed down.

"There they go. Wave, Franklin!" Far, far below, two vague figures were getting into a taxi.

"Bye, Mommy! Bye, Daddy!" Franklin shouted, little hands pressed against the glass. "Wuv you!"

Johnny smiled at his nephew. "Okay, pizza it is. What're we having on top?"

Franklin pretended to give it some thought before yelling, "Double pepperoni, extra cheese, sausage, peppers, and onions!"

Johnny raised his eyebrows in surprise, then chuckled. "Okay, you got it."

~Man, he's been hangin' around Ben too long.~ He hit autodial on the kitchen phone and dialed one of the 75 eateries in Manhattan referring to itself as "The One, Original, Ray's Pizza" and ordered a large pie with Franklin's favourites, and one with extra cheese for him to snack on later.

"Okay, Frankie, what do you wanna do while we wait?"

Franklin pondered. "TV!" he declared loudly.

"After dinner," Johnny replied. "Simon says?"

Franklin wrinkled his nose.

Johnny winced. "Okay, that's out. We can play with your erector set until dinner comes, then TV, okay?"

Franklin considered this offer and decided to take it, dragging Johnny by the hand down the hall into his room. Franklin and his uncle ended up succumbing to the seductive lure of Legomania. It was only when the intercom rang for the public entrance that he realized the pizza had arrived -- almost 90 minutes after he had ordered it.

Grumbling, he hoisted Franklin on his hip and rode the public elevator downstairs to pay for the pizzas. Which, he noted with mild amusement, were cold.

~For anyone else this would be a problem.~ The delivery boy was, to Johnny's surprise, a girl. She was no more than seventeen, and profusely apologetic. She was from Kansas, new to New York, and had gotten lost, and "Omigod, are you really him? Really? Him? The ...the Torch, I mean?"

Franklin nodded and grinned at the girl. "Yeah, an' he's *my* uncle!" declared the boy in a clear voice.

This resulted in the obligatory ooh-ing and ahh-ing over how *cute* Franklin was, and how nice that he was such an attentive uncle.

It also resulted in the cute teenager batting her eyes at Johnny coquettishly. ~Mental note. Take Franklin to the park. Wear workout shorts.~

Upstairs, Johnny permitted himself to show off a little for his adoring nephew. He opened the boxes and moved the flammable cardboard to one side, then set the pizzas on steel pizza trays. Holding one pan on the flat of each palm, Johnny allowed his hands to flame on, reheating the pizzas in a matter of seconds, all to the delight of Franklin who clapped and laughed.

"TV!" Franklin declared after he'd made short work of one slice, and had plowed halfway through another. "TV!"

Johnny regarded the clock. It was 9:00. ~Where the heck did the time go?~ He grinned at Franklin.

"Okay, make you a deal. If you can wash up, brush your teeth, and get into your pajamas before 9:30, I'll let you stay up until 11. Deal?" ~Reed and Sue won't be home that early, I'm sure. And it's not a 'school night' -- not that *this* kid goes to school anyway!
~ 
Franklin nodded emphatically and pelted down the hall with the energetic speed only a three year old can manage. Johnny busied himself washing the few dishes he and Franklin had dirtied over their meal. Then it was on to the living room, where he turned on the television and perused the channels for suitable programming for Franklin.

Click.

"Tonight on The Learning Channel, the mating rituals of rainforest animals will be observed on National Geographic."

Johnny made a face. ~Last thing I want is to try and have the Birds and Bees conversation with a three year old. Besides, Sue would murder me. That's probably tantamount to being the one to see his first steps or something.~

Click.

Johnny frowned. There was a special on dinosaurs just ending. ~Darn. Franklin *loves* dinosaurs.~ He waited to see what was next.

That turned out to be a special on the making of Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion animation movies. ~Old movies. Somehow, I don't think that's up Franklin's alley.~

The History Channel turned out little better. Johnny had just missed a feature about the history of aviation, including the space program. Their next program was some item about women's fashions and their effect on culture. ~Augh. Boring. Why couldn't they have cars on? I bet ESPN2 has *cars* on.~ Johnny grimaced and hit the remote one more time. ~Nickelodeon it is.~

"Coming up next: The Bewitched Marathon continues! It's the Duel of the Darrins! Which Darrin did you like best! Log onto the web and vote, or call our special 900 numbers for Dick York and Dick Sargent!"

Johnny considered. ~Bewitched, huh? That's lightweight stuff, and Elizabeth Montgomery was real pretty when she was young. I think we can do this.~

Franklin scampered out of his room in the blue pajamas Johnny had given him for his birthday -- they, like various other articles of his clothing, mimicked the Fantastic Four uniform. He climbed right up onto Johnny's lap and breathed loudly into his uncle's face so he could smell the mint of the toothpaste. "Brushed my teeth! All washed up!" he said proudly.

Johnny grinned, and made a show of examining Franklin from head to toe. "Did you wash behind your ears?" Johnny gently tugged an ear and Franklin giggled, wriggling in protest. "Did you wash between your toes?"

Finally, satisfied, Johnny laid back onto the sofa. Franklin parked himself on the living room floor, snuggling one of his stuffed toys.

"Unca Johnny, the pretty lady's eyes are all swirly!" Franklin remarked. "Ooh, the kitty turned into the pretty lady! How'd she do that?"

"Magic," Johnny explained, and that seemed to be enough for Franklin --

much to Johnny's relief.

Franklin laughed out loud, and Johnny found himself chuckling along as well as the hapless Darrin found himself at the mercy of Samantha, her mother Endora, and his own daughter, Tabitha.

"You've been such a good boy, I think you deserve a treat," Johnny declared, ruffling his nephew's hair during a commercial break. He came back in the living room with a bowl, with an inverted collander on it.

"Watch closely, Franklin." Once he was certain he had Franklin's undivided attention, he repeated the same trick he'd done with the pizza earlier. "Hey!" Johnny called as Franklin began to look bored and edge his attention back toward the TV. "It just takes a second, that's all."

"What does?"

"This," Johnny explained, as steam began to jet out of the collander. Then came the distinctive popping sound all children recognize.

"POPCORN! You're the greatest, Unca Johnny!"

"That's my nephew who said that!"

Behind them, the show resumed, Tabitha wriggling her nose with an assist from one finger.

*****

1:00 a.m.

Reed and Sue debarked from the elevator, to find the house silent. Ben, it appeared, hadn't gotten back from the air show on Long Island. ~I suppose he has encountered some old flyboy buddies and is in some pub reminiscing about the good old days,~ Reed thought.

Sue beamed. "Johnny bought extra pizza. He's so thoughtful. How did he know the Chicken Cordon Bleu we were served at dinner would be dry, hard, and no bigger than a raquetball?" Gratefully, she took a slice.

Reed continued into the living room, frowning pensively at the flickering light from the television. "Sue. Sue, darling. Look at this."

Sue, pizza still in hand, and held aloft on a 'plate' made from her forcefield, followed her husband into the living room after stepping out of her high heels. "Ohhhh," she breathed, smiling almost in spite of herself.

On the sofa in the living room, Johnny slept. On his chest, Franklin slept. Johnny held the boy snugly against his chest, protective even though he wasn't awake.

The TV, still playing Nick at Night, had finished the Bewitched marathon, and was now softly playing, "...Flipper! Flipper! Faster than lightning! No one you see, is smarter than he! And you know Flipper lives in a world full of wonder! Lying there under, under the sea!"

Sue chuckled. "Isn't that sweet," as Reed moved to retrieve his son from the 'clutches' of his brother-in-law.

Johnny blinked awake the instant Reed touched him, ready to defend his nephew with his life. He grinned sheepishly as he realized it was just Reed. "Hey. You two have a good time?"

"Aside from a rather disappointing dinner, yes," Sue replied. "And you got extra pizza. Bless you. I was starved."

Johnny smiled. "Anything for you, sis." He rose and kissed Sue on the cheek, then realized Franklin was asleep in his father's arms.

"Whoops," he murmured, one hand going behind his head. "I must have fallen asleep."

He sighed. "I'm sorry, you guys. I wanted to do such a good job babysitting."

"It would appear to me that you did a splendid job," Reed observed diplomatically. "The house is clean, let alone still standing, and Franklin seems to have dropped off to sleep without demanding to be allowed to wait up."

*****

The following day...

Franklin yawned. Despite the fact that he was tired from having been allowed to stay up, he was a child of sunny temperament. Besides, if he gave away that his Unca Johnny had bent the rules, Mommy and Daddy might not let him babysit anymore. ~And Unca Johnny's the funnest!~ So he washed his face one more time before going back to his room to get dressed.

"Oh, boy! Waffles!" Franklin cheered, entering the kitchen on the craggy shoulders of Benjamin J. Grimm, who'd scooped him up on route. "My fav'rit! Mommy, you're the bestest!"

"And don't you forget it, young man," Sue said affectionately, stepping up on a 'hassock' of her own force field so she could lean onto Ben's shoulder and kiss her son without him getting down yet.

"What, no kiss fer the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing, Suzie?" Ben rumbled, mock-hurt. Those self-same blue eyes got puppy-dog wide as he fixed her with his most pitiful look.

"There's always enough to go around" Sue assured Ben, kissing him on the cheek as well. "Sit, sit, the waffles are going to get cold."

"Aren't we waiting for Reed?" Ben asked, as Johnny padded in like a zombie, wearing only his pajama bottoms.

Sue grinned wryly. "He's already in the lab. I've called him twice already." She reflexively poured a cup of coffee and pressed it into her brother's hands.

Franklin frowned, "We should have daddy here so we can all have breakfast." This, he said with a certainty that made the three adults turn to regard him solemnly.

~Is Franklin feeling like Reed doesn't pay enough attention to him?~ Sue wondered. But before she could begin a careful, maternal probe into the matter, Reed suddenly just *appeared* at the breakfast table in his customary seat, without warning.

"Cool," Johnny commented after gulping half his mug of coffee. "Working on a teleporter, Reed?"

"Actually," Reed replied, looking bewildered, "I was working on the Fanstasti-car. It's been handling erratically of late. But..." He looked up at his wife. "Sue did say she was making waffles. And I have been sort of ....well, distracted," he admitted. "They smell delicious, dear."

Sue raised a brow, but shrugged and served up breakfast, content to see her son beaming adoringly at his father.

Reed smiled with glowing eyes at his son. "You are developing quite an appetite there, Franklin. You're about to have a growth spurt, I daresay."

Franklin grinned toothily. "Gonna get big!" he trumpeted, then dug into his third waffle with abandon.

Reed finished his glass of milk and stood. "Back to the lab," he announced, much to Franklin's chagrin.

"But I wanna go to the park an' play ball," Franklin protested, looking up at his father with pleading blue eyes.

"Perhaps tomorrow, lad," Reed replied. "I really ought to finish some work today. Perhaps one of your uncles will take you."

"I will!" Johnny volunteered at once, almost leaping out of his chair.

"Central Park. We can fly a kite, huh, kiddo? And play football." ~And you can be the girl magnet. Sheesh, and I was gonna get a dog!~

Franklin nodded, but it was clear in his blue eyes that it was really his father's company he would have preferred. Ben wrinkled his craggy brow at this observation. ~Gotta get Big Brain outta his confounded laboratory more.~

An hour later, and Johnny was dressed in a blue Fantastic Four jogging suit. Franklin was wearing his blue 4 1/2 sweatshirt and a pair of jeans.

Both wore sneakers. Sue smiled, tickled. "You match. That's just so cute. My best guys. You two be careful out there. Don't you play too rough with him, Johnny!"

"You gotta worry about him playing too rough with me!" Johnny warned playfully, tickling Franklin until he giggled and ran behind his mother's legs. "He'll mop up the floor with me! He's a powerhouse!" He cringed. "Come with us, sis. Don't leave me alone with him!"

"Nope, I've got things to do, too," she said. "Besides, this looks like a male bonding sort of event. Franklin and I are spending all day tomorrow shopping and then we're going to -- the circus!" She produced three tickets from an envelope in her jacket pocket, surprising her son.

"The Circus?" Franklin gasped. "Oh, boy!"

Johnny and Ben exchanged a glance, noting there were three tickets. In a manner of communication borne from years of working so closely together, both men pledged they'd see Reed accompany his son to the circus, by hook or by crook.

*****

In the park...

Franklin, being the adorable and precocious kid he was, was as much of a girl-magnet in Central Park as he had been to the pizza delivery girl.

But despite his elation at being surrounded by a bevy of adoring females, Johnny couldn't help noticing that Franklin was still a little blue about his father not having joined them.

Johnny threw the ball, and called, "Go long! Go long!" at his nephew, hoping to distract him before he got properly cranky.

Franklin replied, "Daddy's better at that than me 'cause of his arms." Reed appeared out of thin air, right in the trajectory of the football. Franklin clapped his hands in delight and laughed. "Daddy! Go long! Go long!"

Reed, caught completely unawares, had a second to look baffled before he threw his body out of the path of the football and snaked an extended, elastic arm to catch it before it could bounce into mischief. ~I might have been distracted at breakfast,~ he thought, walking the ball back to his son, ~But I do not believe that I am *quite* sufficiently distracted to have walked several blocks uptown and several blocks across town without having noticed it. This bears looking into.~

Johnny glanced at Reed, then glanced back again in a quick doubletake.

"Decided to join us?" he asked in a voice that indicated he, too, found it unusual that Reed had simply *appeared* in the middle of Central Park.

"I suppose I needed a lunch break anyway," Reed admitted. "Serendipity's for foot long hotdogs and frozen hot chocolates? My treat!"

"Yay!" Franklin shouted, leaping onto his Father's back for a piggy back ride.

~This is weird,~ Johnny thought, bringing up the rear. ~Really, really weird.~

After lunch, Reed carried his napping son on one shoulder as they hailed a cab to take back downtown. "Johnny," he confided. "I have not been teleporting intentionally. I do not even have teleportational equipment in the lab."

Johnny furrowed his brow. "I was afraid you'd say that. What do you think it is? Frankie showing his powers again?"

"I fear that may be so," Reed whispered. "But so far, it appears to be relatively harmless. It appears to be some form of wish-fulfillment with regard to having me around when he wants me."

At this, Johnny's eyes widened. "Wish...?" he repeated. "Oh, boy."

"What?" Reed asked, expression darkening with worry.

"This is my fault," Johnny answered. "There wasn't anything good on the other three channels. I checked, Reed, honest! And Sue said....she said we could watch Nickelodeon!"

Reed looked down at his son. ~An examination is in order,~ he thought distractedly. "What has this to do with this unique manifestation of my son's abilities?" he asked.

"Well, Reed...it's like this. There was this Bewitched marathon last night, and one of them had Tabitha telling Darrin 'bye-bye' when she didn't really want him to go. Then he left for work, and found himself right next to her crib again...and Samantha called it 'Wishcraft.'"

Reed raised both eyebrows, stunned. "Was there a cure for it?"

"Uhm....that's where I fell asleep," Johnny admitted, blushing. "I think you better not miss your date for the circus tomorrow, Reed." He grinned wryly and clapped his brother in law on the shoulder as the cab pulled up to Four Freedoms Plaza.