1963-09-08 - Girl, Interrupted
Summary: Reed and Sue start to have a heart to heart. It gets interrupted. Abruptly.
Related: NA
Theme Song: None
johnny sue reed 


Johnny's little clue-in has Reed contemplating, again, with the result he's set his lab work aside earlier than normal to wander down into the Residence in the mid-afternoon. He's using a snack as an excuse to check around for Sue without looking too much like he's specifically looking for her. Because… reasons. Perfectly good ones. Really.

*

After three days of maximum effort, Sue has put in much less today. Black slacks, a ponytail, and a casual navy blouse all speak to little effort compared to three days of effort. She sits at the table, notebook opened, scribbling in the margins of the paper rather than really writing down.

Her blue pen glides across the page in tight curly cursive. Movement from upstairs, however, causes her to lift her chin and look towards the stairs inquisitively. "It can't be dinner yet — " Her head snaps to the side to spy the clock on the wall, and she sets the pen next to the notebook with a semi-relieved sigh with a flicker of a grateful smile, "Good. Here I thought I'd gotten lost in a rabbit hole and lost a few hours…"

*

It earns her a little bit of a sheepish grin, and Reed runs a hand through his hair, other hand in his jeans pocket. "No, no.. nothing so dire. Just thought I'd come up for air." A pause. "Or… down for air."

He retrieves a drink from the fridge— not picky, but iced tea is probable— and joins her at the table, tilting his head curiously at her work. "So what are you up to today?" he asks with a polite kind of curiosity. Not that he isn't genuinely interested— it's just that he's making something of an effort.

*

Sue's lips twitch and she shoots Reed a tight smile, "You work too hard," but there's warmth in her voice despite the observation. The introduction of another into her current workspace prompts her to straighten and stretch her arms overhead and then out to the sides, shaking it out as she does so. A yawn follows the action. There's no question she's been at what she's been at for a long while.

An easier smile edges her lips as Reed sits. She rubs her eyes and inhales a long breath. "Prepping for my defence. It's early, but I like to be prepared," her eyebrows lift. "It seems strange poking holes in my own work so I can plug them up."

Her head cants to the side, "What have you been working on?" Her eyebrows draw together, "And why the break?" Concern edges into her voice, "Everything working int he lab alright?"

*

With Reed, a break could be anything from the mundane to the extraordinary. Today… the mundane. Or both, if you count his real reason. "Thirsty," Reed replies, lifting his glass. "It happens sometimes. I'm just exploring some possibilities for the array. Johnny had some interesting thoughts as well. We're going to go over that later."

Preparing her defense? Well, that's certainly interesting. And gives him an Idea for turning the conversation in the direction he needs it to go. "Never too early," he agrees. "Let me know if you want a second opinion." He thinks for a moment, and there might be just the smallest heitation before he continues his next thought. "Have you thought at all how you'll dress for the occassion?"

*

"Fair," Sue replies as her eyes linger on the glass. "I'm just used to leaving food next to you because you don't always slow down enough to realize when you're hungry." She grins; she's pleased. "I'm just glad…" her eyes drift to the notebook and she shrugs. "…it's good."

"What ideas are you two working on for the array?" Her hands clasp lightly on the table in front of her. "I should probably know. Just so I know you're not making a ray gun."

"Oh, I"m always happy for a second opinion. I just need to find the holes so I can patch them up in person." The question causes her head to cant the side inquisitively, "…not really." Her eyes narrow and she emits a soft sigh. "I still have time. Probably slacks. I'm trying to get them to take me seriously. For once."
"

*

"I am not making a ray gun. I am exploring the possibilities surrounding ray gun technology," Reed says a touch defensively. "You know, Werner Von Braun designed the V2 rocket, but those designs also put space exploration on the table." A pause, and he hurriedly adds, "I am not nor would I say I should emulate Von Braun."

Topic change, Reed! "Shame they're so obstinant about women in the sciences," he muses, glancing across at her a couple of times while he turns his glass in his hands, a subtle fidget. "You looked very nice in that dress the other day."

*

Sue's eyes squint tightly. "Right, but Von Braun actually created something destructive. It has other applications, but that doesn't mean — " She frowns. "There are countless other minds who have incorporated destructive tech into their better advancements, and you chose a Nazi?" The frown grows. "Like fission. Bombs or power. One or the other. I can accept the premise that something destructive can be used for something good, but seriously Reed, the message kind of got lost in the whole example."

And then he's back on the thoughts about clothes. What is with the clothing discussion? She looks like she's sucked on a lemon. "Wait. What." She blinks hard. "Which dress? Which day?" Oh dear.

*

Time to move away from Nazis! It's not his fault, he was thinking about space, that's all! He looks duly chastened, briefly, but then his observation about the dress gives him an out. Which dress? Well, he does actually remember something about one of them. Something very important. Something that may just save his bacon.

"The one with the pockets," Reed says promptly, "was very nice." And had a utilitarian appeal. Due to pockets. Which is why he remembers it. "Though the others over the last few days were very nice on you, too. I didn't think to say anything at the time," he admits, "but I did notice."

*

The Nazi scientist is easily forgotten with the single detail. It takes a lot to surprise Sue Storm. Seo was born with strong intuition, meaning that she's always been difficult to catch off guard. While she doesn't outright smile at the compliment, there's a vague upturn of her lips that hints to a secret girlish delight. The apples of her cheeks hue a pale pink, and her hazel eyes cast downwards as they stare at the pages of her notebook.

There's a twitch of her smile as it draws upwards a bit more. "Th-" her cheeks redden further. Her throat clears, "Thank you." Her gaze, however, bashfully remains on the notebook. "I…" she exhales a slow breath. "I thought you were too busy to notice me." She swallows hard.

*

Sue's insistance on blushing and stammering increases the level of fidgeting Reed needs to do. It is a simple cause and effect, nothing unusual. Sort of. "Oh. Well… no, not really." A pause. "I mean, I know that sometimes I get caught up in things and forget to mention things, or ask things, or overlook details, or forget little things like what I ate yesterday…" He could go on. Probably a while. But he trails of and glances back at her. "Or keep listing things instead of getting to the point. I notice more often than I remember that sometimes it's also important to say something."

He trails off, kind of trying to work out if he's said what he meant to, and adds. "I noticed you looked nice. And that it took effort. I just forgot to actually tell you I liked the dress."

*

Sue forces her gaze up to Reed and that girlish grin remains as does the healthy glow in her cheeks. If at all possible, she virtually sparkles underneath the compliment. Her lips part to remark back, only to close a second later as her eyes take on a nearly feline edge. Evidently Reed has temporarily rendered Sue speechless.

Her lips part again, but this time she finds actual words to say things. The smile turns nearly sheepish as her eyes cast downward again, "I… wanted you to notice." There's another twitch of her lips. Her eyebrows draw together sharply, and she chastens herself as she notes, "It's silly."

*

Reed watches Sue go through her reactions with maybe just a hint of trepidation. He looks at ther in thought as she finiahes and adds her addendum, and offers his hand across the table, palm-up. He… has not entirely done the math all the way out yet, but… "It's not silly."

*

Sue's hand slides to the offered one atop the table, and at the contact, she gives his hand a gentle squeeze. Dark eyes are slowly forced to try to meet Reed's much lighter ones. Anxiety swirls behind those eyes, and Reed can feel a small tremble in Sue's hand as her lips part again, tripping over whatever she aims to tell him. "Reed," she works up her courage, shooing anxiety away into the furthest corners of her mind, "I," her heart pounds in her chest, "am completely — "

*

The front door is thrown open with more force than could possibly be necessary and the all-too-familiar sound of Johnny's hysterical laughter drifts into the room — along with the scent of fresh pizza.

"You guys are not gonna BELIEVE this!" Johnny calls as he stumbles inside completely sopping wet, his eyes focused on the pizza boxes clutched in his arms as he awkwardly hooks one foot around the door and kicks it closed. SLAM. "Some idiot was holding up Mario's when I got there! Three free pies!

"You were right, Suzie," Johnny cheerfully proclaims as he starts for the kitchen table. "I really am made of luck."

*

Other men would probably take charge here, but… Reed just covers Sue's hand with his free one, encouraging her to get the rest out. Everything's looking good…

And then Johnny Storm the human natural disaster enters, and Reed startles hard enough to fall out of his chair with a completely undignified squawk, landing on his back and sprawled.

"Greeeeeeeeeat…" he manages in response to Johnny's declaration.

*

Johnny's laughter is enough to have Sue snapping her hand back to her lap and straighten in her seat. Yet Reed falling out of his chair, causes the woman's eyes to widen as she drops to the floor to offer him a hand back up. All-too-aware that Reed is likely fine, she panics just a little too much for it not to be perceived as odd from the outside looking in, mostly because she feels more than a bit responsible, "Reed! Are you alright?"

"Johnny," she wrinkles her nose and her tone feels pained. Having been in the middle of finally saying something that's taken three years to get out, she's not entirely thrilled with the interruption. But then that's not Johnny's fault. He's made of luck. She's made of something else. And so instead of following up the name with some kind of complaint, she asks with that same pained tone: "What are we going to do with three pizzas? That's a lot of pizza…"

*

"You're kidding, right? Ben's home. I almost asked for a fourth," Johnny says brightly, sliding the stack of pizza boxes onto a free bit of table — he does not allow them to disrupt Sue's notes. He's observant!

After a moment's pause, Johnny turns and peers down at Reed from where he stands behind Sue, blinking owlishly as he drips on the kitchen floor. "What're you doing down there?"

*

"Oh, you know," Reed muses. "Comtemplating the ceiling tile as it smiles down upon my follies." He takes moment before pushing himself upright. "Yes, I'm fine, Sue, thank you. Just startled." And mortified. A little.

*

"…right," comes Sue's reply about Ben being home. "Well." And that about sums up her day. Her face reddens further as she straightens and tugs on the bottom of her blouse. "I think," she begins to work her thoughts around the circumstances, "I'm not hungry. So. There should be plenty of pizza for the three of you." She manages a tight, apologetic smile — who it's for is entirely unclear. She steps towards the table and slides her notes off. "Reed, I really would appreciate the help putting holes in my work. If you have time. Sometime. Before I defend. To help. And find flaws." She smiles tightly and takes a step backwards from the table. "But," her lips twist to the side, "for now I should — " what exactly? " — finish assessing the samples on my mushrooms for the day." She turns on her heel to walk back upstairs to the lab.

*

Leaving Reed to sit on the floor, Johnny turns to peer after Sue with a worried crease of his brow. "Not hungry?" he asks, casting a quick look down at his watch. "But it's nearly ten. There's no way you remembered to eat, you've been nose-down in your defense all afternoon." With a puzzled twist of his lips, he runs both hands back through his hair to slick it back out of his face. "…too much pizza this week. We'll save you some just in case," he promises, suddenly looking very apologetic. Should've stopped for sandwiches after all. Obviously.

Turning back to Reed as his sister makes a retreat, Johnny offers the older man both of his hands to help pick himself up off of the floor. "Sorry, buddy. My fault," he says lowly, before a thought occurs and his expression brightens.

"Did you remember to tell her you liked her dress?"

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