Family-verse J/P Fic: "9 Months - Prologue" (Beta Version)
Okay. Here's the deal with this:
1. I wrote ALL of this tonight. This story has been knocking around in my head for MONTHS, it's been started and restarted and revised and rewritten, but this is the first version I've really LIKED.
2. This is the prologue to the fic. I hope to be able to continue at this frenetic pace, but I doubt it. So the fic might be a while in coming. HOWEVER, I feel like this can stand on its own, so I'm posting it.
3. This may not be the final version. I am posting it because I want opinions. I am posting it only on my journal and not on the community because I want opinions before I do so. Tear it apart. Make it better. It's been worked on for FAR too long for me to allow it to wallow in mediocrity - I want it to be the best it can be.
4. Nitpick me. For gods' sakes, NITPICK ME. As far as this piece is concerned, I'm a perfectionist. If you find something I missed, even if it's a misplaced apostrophe, CORRECT ME.
5. I love you all. ^^
TITLE: 9 Months - Prologue
FANDOM: Marvel Ultimate-verse future-fic
PAIRING: Johnny Storm/Peter Parker. Mentions of Reed Richards/Sue Storm
RATING: PG-13 to be safe. No smexing. Sorry, guys. XD
WARNINGS: Er, the title kinda spoils the "surprise", so I'll say that there's discussion of IVF, but hopefully not in a controversial way. Is there still controversy over this? NO MPREG. Cuz... that's kinda weird. :\
WORDCOUNT: A lot.
NOTES: I have worked on this forever. It is a labor of love, despite the fact that the actual words in this version were all written today. My notebook is full of discarded pieces of this story. TEAR IT TO PIECES, PEOPLE. PLEASE.
~*This story is a part of my "Family" Ultimate-verse futurefic AU series thing. Check the tags to find the rest of the fics that have been written for it so far.*~
"Special Crimes Unit, Officer Drew speaking. How can I help you?" Jessica had picked up her desk phone before the first ring had faded from the air. She had let her paperwork pile up for a few weeks, and was under orders from the section chief to sit at her desk until it was finished or until the station crumbled around her, whichever came first. It was tremendously boring and tedious, and as such, the ringing of the telephone had been the most welcome sound she'd heard all day.
"Jess? It's Peter." Her eyes widened briefly in surprise, but a wide smile quickly overtook her face. She had kept in contact with her... well, they had eventually decided on "cousins" if anyone asked, but... Anyway, she had kept in touch with Peter over the years, but she hadn't heard from him recently. She kept tabs on his activities in the media - it was a necessity of her job with the NYPD - but she hadn't spoken to him personally in a couple of weeks. A call was getting to be overdue, but she hadn't exactly expected him to call on her at work.
"Hey, Pete! It's nice to hear from you." She relaxed back into her not-really-that-comfortable desk chair (and people wondered why cops didn't like desk work?), stretching her legs out in front of her. She could hear Peter smiling on the other end of the line. At first, calls like this had been horribly awkward. What were you supposed to say to someone who was, for all intents and purposes, you? As time went by, though, and their lives and grown away from each other's, they had found more and more to talk about and there were fewer awkward silences across the line.
When she had returned to New York after spending several years away - "finding herself", for lack of a better term - they had been pleased to find that they could be, at the very least, good friends. It had helped, Jessica reflected, that the last years of puberty had softened the lines of her face to the same degree that they hardened the lines of Peter's. It was a lot easier to face each other now that it wasn't like facing a mirror.
"Yeah. I'm sorry I haven't called." Peter sounded sheepish, and she figured she'd let him off the hook easy this time. Johnny had been hurt a little over a week earlier, when the Fantastic Four had gone up against Doctor Doom (again). At first she had been a little miffed that she hadn't rated at least a "we're okay" call, but she had gotten over it. To say that she knew Peter well would be the understatement of the century, and she knew that the oversight had been just that - an oversight.
"It's alright. How's Johnny?"
"A pain in the ass as usual." Jessica grinned.
"Too much information, Pete."
There was a groan on the other end of the line. "Very funny."
"I know." She laughed until Peter started laughing along with her.
"Look, Jess..." There was a pause that seemed significant, and Jessica sat up straight in her chair. "Are you free after work tonight? Could you come over?"
Jessica was used to occasional invitations to the Baxter Building, both for "business" and for simple socializing. Dinner invitations were nothing new, but Peter's tone seemed... off, somehow.
"Peter? Is there a ... situation?" She glanced at the station around her appraisingly. No one seemed to be listening in on their conversation, but it never hurt to be careful.
"What? Oh! No! Not exactly. Nothing like what you're thinking, anyway. I just... well, Johnny and I. We... look, I - we - really want to do this in person. It's nothing bad! Just kinda... personal. So can you come over tonight? Franklin has demanded hot dogs for dinner, and you're more than welcome to stay."
Jessica was quiet for a moment, letting Peter finish his slightly uncomfortable-sounding ramble. Whatever he - and Johnny, apparently - had to say, it certainly sounded ... interesting. And while the fact that he had called her at work led her to believe it was important, he had said it wasn't a "situation" - in other words, something that would require costumes, masks, witty rejoinders and possibly a cleanup crew - so it didn't seem particularly urgent. Very mysterious. He had her attention, anyway.
"Yeah, I can come over. I get off shift at five."
"Great." Peter had relaxed again, she could tell. "I'll let everyone know you're coming. You are staying for dinner, right?
"Pete, I make a cop's salary. If you think I'm not going to freeload dinner off of you when you just invited me over, you've got a lot to learn."
"Right." Peter laughed. "We'll see you then. Jess... Thanks."
"Of course. What are 'cousins' for?" She could hear Peter laughing again as she hung up the receiver. Curiouser and curiouser... She thought to herself as she gazed blankly at the stack of reports in front of her, not actually seeing them at all. At least it would give her something to ponder as she filled out forms for the next - she glanced at the clock - three hours. With a groan, she went back to work, mulling over Peter's words in her head.
000ooo000ooo000ooo000ooo000
In the end, Jessica had gotten held up at the station longer than she'd intended to, and didn't make it to the Baxter Building until just before 6PM. When she finally had arrived at the official 'living quarters' of the Fantastic Four and family, she had been immediately attacked by a precocious four-year-old by the name of Franklin Richards and questioned thoroughly about each and every aspect of her job. It seemed that Franklin had finally sussed out that his 'Aunt Jessie' working for the Police Department meant that she was a cop, with a badge and everything, thus making her the perfect source of information on the subject. It wasn't until after dinner (hot dogs, as Peter had promised, though Sue had made a lovely garden salad for the adults at the table) that she actually got to talk to Peter and his boyfriend alone.
Ben scooped Franklin up after they had finished the meal and spirited him off to Central Park to play with the radio-controlled helicopter his father had made him, leaving Reed and Sue to their own devices for the evening. Jessica had slipped silently out of the kitchen, can of Coke in hand, as Reed - quite literally - wrapped his wife up in an affectionate embrace that promised much more to come. Jess smiled as she made her way to the boys' apartment.
When Reed finally proposed, it became clear that the living situation in the Baxter Building needed to be adjusted. One massive renovation budget later, the Fantastic Four's living area had been divided into spacious apartments, each with its own kitchen and bath facilities, but still connected to the main living area with its larger kitchen and dining space and lavish entertainment room. Sue and Reed had officially 'moved in together' just in time - they discovered Sue was pregnant with Franklin not a month later. Ben and Johnny each had their own living spaces, though it wasn't long after Franklin was born that Johnny had asked Peter to move in with him, and "Johnny's Apartment" became "Johnny and Peter's Apartment: You'd Better Knock". All in all, despite its size, the Baxter Building felt pleasantly full. Not crowded, but lived in. Home-y. Jessica found herself more and more fond of the place every time she visited.
When she slipped through the door into the boys' private living space, she wasn't overly surprised to see them both sitting on the sofa, waiting for her. They had, after all, wanted to talk about something, though she hadn't been able to deduce any more about what that something might be. Ready to find out, she took a seat in the armchair opposite them, and waited. She didn't have to wait long.
After a few seconds of silence, Johnny cleared his throat. "So," He managed to start, "You're probably wondering what this is all about."
She raised an eyebrow at him, and he scratched at the side of his head nervously. "Heh. Yeah, I guess that was a massive cliche, wasn't it?"
Jessica smiled. "A little. But I am wondering."
Peter finally got up the nerve to look her in the eye, but he was blushing to the tips of his ears. Nervous blush, she identified easily. She, after all, did the same thing.
"Okay. The - we, Johnny and I, we've been talking and, well, you know this is a long-term thing, right?" Jessica nodded. The entire world knew that the Human Torch and his boyfriend were a 'long-term thing'. If the New York legislature would get off its ass and pass a proposed law to allow gay marriages, the tabloids would be talking about "the Human Torch and his husband" within a month.
"Well, we've been talking and-" Johnny grabbed Peter's hand, which had been resting on the sofa between them, and squeezed it a little.
"What he's trying to say," he smiled at Peter affectionately, "is that we've been talking, and we've decided we want kids. Or, well, at least one kid, anyway."
Jessica stared at them, surprise written all over her face. That had been the last thing that she'd been expecting! Though now that they'd said it, it made a sort of sense. The media circus that had been Johnny Storm's "outing" had faded to almost nothing. The media loved a scandal, and a committed, loving couple - same-sex or not - just didn't sell magazines. There were still the occasional paparazzi photos that became de rigeur for anyone as famous as the Fantastic Four, but they had been reduced to nothing more than a snapshot and a caption in the "Star Watch" section, next to the pictures of Cameron Diaz on the beach and Jude Law getting coffee at Starbucks. Considering they both dressed up in brightly-colored costumes and fought crime in their spare time, their lives would never be exactly normal, but ... they were settled. No one could doubt that they were in it for the long haul, no one who knew them doubted that they loved each other. They had... matured over the last few years. Though she wasn't sure Johnny would ever be "mature", but...
"Wow. Just... wow." She looked between the two worried faces in front of her. "That's ... guys, that's great! I mean, it's a surprise, but it's great." She smiled at them, trying her best to make sure that her encouragement came through loud and clear. The idea would take a little bit of getting used to, but ... the more she thought about it... "You guys will be amazing parents. I'm sure of it."
"Thanks, Jess." Peter was doing his nervous blush again, and Jessica quirked a suspicious eyebrow at him.
"That's not all, is it?" She guessed, nodding to herself as the blush intensified. She thought for a moment, her gaze resting absently on their laced fingers. A stray thought had her sitting bolt upright in alarm. "Oh, god! You're not pregnant, are you?"
Peter and Johnny gaped at her.
"Where did you get that idea!?" Johnny nearly choked, he was laughing so hard, and Peter just looked scandalized.
"Oh, thank god." Jessica slumped back in the chair. She spotted Peter's expression and scowled. "What? Considering some of the other things we've dealt with, it was a possibility!" She crossed her arms defensively and stuck out her tongue at them - sometimes, juvenile behavior was completely justifiable.
"So if it's not that... what is it?" She looked at them curiously. Peter gulped, glancing at Johnny for support. She watched as their knuckles whitened.
"It's... sort of related, I guess." Johnny sighed, squaring his shoulders. "We wanted to ask you-"
Peter cut in. "We wanted to ask - and please, hear us out, and if you want to say no, you can, but please think about it -" He took a deep breath. "We were wondering if you would be willing to be our surrogate."
To be honest, Jessica didn't remember the next minute or so very clearly. She could vaguely remember feeling all the blood drain out of her face, her throat working but no sound coming out. She had a recollection of Peter and Johnny's faces, all worried anticipation and so obviously prepared for disappointment, but with that little glimmer of hope beneath the surface. There was a long silence.
When her brain had come back online, Jessica voiced the first thought that came to mind.
"Wh- Why me?" If anything, she thought they would have asked Mary Jane. After all, she had known them the longest. She had been Peter's best friend since childhood; his girlfriend for a long time. They were still close, despite MJ's busy career in Hollywood and Peter's double life.
Peter met her eyes, this time with a surety that was startling. Now that the question was out, it seemed, he had found the confidence to continue.
"You're our friend. We've all been through a lot together, and we trust you. You've been like a sister; you're family to me, to everyone here."
"And," Johnny took over the conversation briefly, "You have something else that no one else in the world has."
"What?" She asked quietly, still coming to terms with both the request and the fact that Peter had just said... Sister. He called you his sister. His family.
"You have my genes." Peter replied, just as quietly.
Jessica took a deep breath. Okay. She could handle this.
"I'm not-" She paused, searching for the right words. "I'm not saying yes, not yet, but... If I did say yes, what exactly are we talking about, here?"
She watched as their clasped hands broke apart, Johnny's arm curving around Peter's waist as he prepared to explain.
"Reed has a few contracts to dabble in medical research - developing better life support machines, refining vaccines, that sort of stuff. He's been working on - well, he finished a new method of in vitro fertilization that allows greater control and a much higher success rate. Something like 93%."
Jessica nodded. That was impressive. She didn't know much, but she did know that most IVF proceedures failed, at least the first time. "What do you mean, though, when you say 'greater control'?"
"Do you know much about normal in vitro methods?" Jessica nodded, then shook her head, then paused somewhere between the two motions. Peter bit his lip slightly, the way he did - they both did - when they were thinking hard. "Normally, they try to fertilize a lot of eggs, to ensure that some of them are viable. It leads to multiple births in some cases, which can cause complications, and a lot of embryos are discarded. Reed's method does away with a lot of that. He can - and don't ask me how, because I don't understand most of it - fertilize very few eggs, and determine viability with near-perfect accuracy."
"What he's saying," Johnny filled in, "Is that Reed found a way to make sure that there's only one baby, and that it's almost guaranteed to work the first time."
Jessica nodded slowly. "Okay. I think I get that." She thought a moment. "So... since I'm... you," she looked at Peter, "You would be the father, then?"
Johnny nodded seriously. "That was what we were thinking. Hoping for, anyway. If you were to agree, then the baby would be-"
"Genetically yours." She finished for him, putting the pieces together. "At least for the most part." What little variation there was between her and Peter's genetic codes would be nearly indetectable in a child, who would only have half that code to begin with. Maybe Reed could spot it, but she had little doubt that few, if any, other scientists would be able to spot the differences.
"Yeah." Peter said in a small voice, looking at her hopefully.
Deep breaths, Jess. Deep breaths. She took a moment to calm herself, think it through.
"I'm still not saying no." She said at length, and the two men on the couch looked at her with painfully earnest expressions. "But I need some time to think it over, okay? I mean, it's a big thing, right?"
Johnny responded first, standing up as she stood. "It's a huge thing. We know. That's why... I mean. If you decide not to, we understand. You'll always be our friend, and you'll always be welcome here, you know that, right?" She gave him the best smile she could muster under the circumstances, her thoughts flying around at a million miles an hour.
"Yeah, I know that. But thanks for saying it." She leaned in to give him a warm hug that he returned without hesitation. Somewhere in the intervening time, Peter had risen from his seat, and he moved forward to give her a hug as well.
"Take as long as you need." He assured her as he gave her one final squeeze. "It's not something we're hurrying into."
"That's good to know." She nodded to them both. "I really will think about it. I promise you. But just to say - No matter what I decide about this, I still think you two would be great parents."
The smiles they gave her were heartbreakingly grateful.
000ooo000ooo000ooo000ooo000ooo000ooo000
Nearly two weeks passed after their conversation. After several books and more hours spent researching on the internet than she could remember; after countless debates with herself, weighing endless pros and cons and scenarios; after three checks of her department's policy on maternity leave and two checks of her health insurance policy (not that it would be necessary, considering that Reed was guaranteed to take care of any prenatal health screenings himself, but she had to be sure); after a pint of Chunky Monkey and a bottle of Bailey's that she wasn't going to be able to drink any time in the near future... The next afternoon she called Peter.
"Jess." Ah. Caller ID. That was helpful.
"I want to be involved." She started in with no preamble. Peter knew what she was talking about. She could hear it in the tension in his voice when he'd said her name. "Afterward, I mean. When he's - she's - it's growing up."
"We wouldn't have it any other way, Jess." Johnny replied. He must have picked up the extension.
"Okay, then. Okay. I - Let's do it." The butterflies that had filled her stomach as she prepared to dial the phone washed away in an instant, and she felt herself smiling, the hand that wasn't holding the phone drifting down to ghost over her flat stomach.
"You mean it?" She could hear the excitement in Peter's voice, and she could practically see the beaming smiles on the two's faces.
"I mean it. You guys are going to be fathers." Her smile widened as she heard Johnny's whoop of glee on the other end of the line, and the clattering that meant he'd swept Peter up in a massive hug, the phone forgotten in that moment of joy. It took a few seconds for the phone to be picked up again, and when it was she heard Peter's voice on the other end.
"Jess... We're not going to be fathers. We're going to be parents. All of us. I hope... I hope you know that. That you're... you're a part of this."
Jessica felt something on her cheek. When she lifted her hand to remove it, she was surprised to find her fingers came away wet and glistening.
"I know."
She couldn't wait.
1. I wrote ALL of this tonight. This story has been knocking around in my head for MONTHS, it's been started and restarted and revised and rewritten, but this is the first version I've really LIKED.
2. This is the prologue to the fic. I hope to be able to continue at this frenetic pace, but I doubt it. So the fic might be a while in coming. HOWEVER, I feel like this can stand on its own, so I'm posting it.
3. This may not be the final version. I am posting it because I want opinions. I am posting it only on my journal and not on the community because I want opinions before I do so. Tear it apart. Make it better. It's been worked on for FAR too long for me to allow it to wallow in mediocrity - I want it to be the best it can be.
4. Nitpick me. For gods' sakes, NITPICK ME. As far as this piece is concerned, I'm a perfectionist. If you find something I missed, even if it's a misplaced apostrophe, CORRECT ME.
5. I love you all. ^^
TITLE: 9 Months - Prologue
FANDOM: Marvel Ultimate-verse future-fic
PAIRING: Johnny Storm/Peter Parker. Mentions of Reed Richards/Sue Storm
RATING: PG-13 to be safe. No smexing. Sorry, guys. XD
WARNINGS: Er, the title kinda spoils the "surprise", so I'll say that there's discussion of IVF, but hopefully not in a controversial way. Is there still controversy over this? NO MPREG. Cuz... that's kinda weird. :\
WORDCOUNT: A lot.
NOTES: I have worked on this forever. It is a labor of love, despite the fact that the actual words in this version were all written today. My notebook is full of discarded pieces of this story. TEAR IT TO PIECES, PEOPLE. PLEASE.
~*This story is a part of my "Family" Ultimate-verse futurefic AU series thing. Check the tags to find the rest of the fics that have been written for it so far.*~
"Special Crimes Unit, Officer Drew speaking. How can I help you?" Jessica had picked up her desk phone before the first ring had faded from the air. She had let her paperwork pile up for a few weeks, and was under orders from the section chief to sit at her desk until it was finished or until the station crumbled around her, whichever came first. It was tremendously boring and tedious, and as such, the ringing of the telephone had been the most welcome sound she'd heard all day.
"Jess? It's Peter." Her eyes widened briefly in surprise, but a wide smile quickly overtook her face. She had kept in contact with her... well, they had eventually decided on "cousins" if anyone asked, but... Anyway, she had kept in touch with Peter over the years, but she hadn't heard from him recently. She kept tabs on his activities in the media - it was a necessity of her job with the NYPD - but she hadn't spoken to him personally in a couple of weeks. A call was getting to be overdue, but she hadn't exactly expected him to call on her at work.
"Hey, Pete! It's nice to hear from you." She relaxed back into her not-really-that-comfortable desk chair (and people wondered why cops didn't like desk work?), stretching her legs out in front of her. She could hear Peter smiling on the other end of the line. At first, calls like this had been horribly awkward. What were you supposed to say to someone who was, for all intents and purposes, you? As time went by, though, and their lives and grown away from each other's, they had found more and more to talk about and there were fewer awkward silences across the line.
When she had returned to New York after spending several years away - "finding herself", for lack of a better term - they had been pleased to find that they could be, at the very least, good friends. It had helped, Jessica reflected, that the last years of puberty had softened the lines of her face to the same degree that they hardened the lines of Peter's. It was a lot easier to face each other now that it wasn't like facing a mirror.
"Yeah. I'm sorry I haven't called." Peter sounded sheepish, and she figured she'd let him off the hook easy this time. Johnny had been hurt a little over a week earlier, when the Fantastic Four had gone up against Doctor Doom (again). At first she had been a little miffed that she hadn't rated at least a "we're okay" call, but she had gotten over it. To say that she knew Peter well would be the understatement of the century, and she knew that the oversight had been just that - an oversight.
"It's alright. How's Johnny?"
"A pain in the ass as usual." Jessica grinned.
"Too much information, Pete."
There was a groan on the other end of the line. "Very funny."
"I know." She laughed until Peter started laughing along with her.
"Look, Jess..." There was a pause that seemed significant, and Jessica sat up straight in her chair. "Are you free after work tonight? Could you come over?"
Jessica was used to occasional invitations to the Baxter Building, both for "business" and for simple socializing. Dinner invitations were nothing new, but Peter's tone seemed... off, somehow.
"Peter? Is there a ... situation?" She glanced at the station around her appraisingly. No one seemed to be listening in on their conversation, but it never hurt to be careful.
"What? Oh! No! Not exactly. Nothing like what you're thinking, anyway. I just... well, Johnny and I. We... look, I - we - really want to do this in person. It's nothing bad! Just kinda... personal. So can you come over tonight? Franklin has demanded hot dogs for dinner, and you're more than welcome to stay."
Jessica was quiet for a moment, letting Peter finish his slightly uncomfortable-sounding ramble. Whatever he - and Johnny, apparently - had to say, it certainly sounded ... interesting. And while the fact that he had called her at work led her to believe it was important, he had said it wasn't a "situation" - in other words, something that would require costumes, masks, witty rejoinders and possibly a cleanup crew - so it didn't seem particularly urgent. Very mysterious. He had her attention, anyway.
"Yeah, I can come over. I get off shift at five."
"Great." Peter had relaxed again, she could tell. "I'll let everyone know you're coming. You are staying for dinner, right?
"Pete, I make a cop's salary. If you think I'm not going to freeload dinner off of you when you just invited me over, you've got a lot to learn."
"Right." Peter laughed. "We'll see you then. Jess... Thanks."
"Of course. What are 'cousins' for?" She could hear Peter laughing again as she hung up the receiver. Curiouser and curiouser... She thought to herself as she gazed blankly at the stack of reports in front of her, not actually seeing them at all. At least it would give her something to ponder as she filled out forms for the next - she glanced at the clock - three hours. With a groan, she went back to work, mulling over Peter's words in her head.
000ooo000ooo000ooo000ooo000
In the end, Jessica had gotten held up at the station longer than she'd intended to, and didn't make it to the Baxter Building until just before 6PM. When she finally had arrived at the official 'living quarters' of the Fantastic Four and family, she had been immediately attacked by a precocious four-year-old by the name of Franklin Richards and questioned thoroughly about each and every aspect of her job. It seemed that Franklin had finally sussed out that his 'Aunt Jessie' working for the Police Department meant that she was a cop, with a badge and everything, thus making her the perfect source of information on the subject. It wasn't until after dinner (hot dogs, as Peter had promised, though Sue had made a lovely garden salad for the adults at the table) that she actually got to talk to Peter and his boyfriend alone.
Ben scooped Franklin up after they had finished the meal and spirited him off to Central Park to play with the radio-controlled helicopter his father had made him, leaving Reed and Sue to their own devices for the evening. Jessica had slipped silently out of the kitchen, can of Coke in hand, as Reed - quite literally - wrapped his wife up in an affectionate embrace that promised much more to come. Jess smiled as she made her way to the boys' apartment.
When Reed finally proposed, it became clear that the living situation in the Baxter Building needed to be adjusted. One massive renovation budget later, the Fantastic Four's living area had been divided into spacious apartments, each with its own kitchen and bath facilities, but still connected to the main living area with its larger kitchen and dining space and lavish entertainment room. Sue and Reed had officially 'moved in together' just in time - they discovered Sue was pregnant with Franklin not a month later. Ben and Johnny each had their own living spaces, though it wasn't long after Franklin was born that Johnny had asked Peter to move in with him, and "Johnny's Apartment" became "Johnny and Peter's Apartment: You'd Better Knock". All in all, despite its size, the Baxter Building felt pleasantly full. Not crowded, but lived in. Home-y. Jessica found herself more and more fond of the place every time she visited.
When she slipped through the door into the boys' private living space, she wasn't overly surprised to see them both sitting on the sofa, waiting for her. They had, after all, wanted to talk about something, though she hadn't been able to deduce any more about what that something might be. Ready to find out, she took a seat in the armchair opposite them, and waited. She didn't have to wait long.
After a few seconds of silence, Johnny cleared his throat. "So," He managed to start, "You're probably wondering what this is all about."
She raised an eyebrow at him, and he scratched at the side of his head nervously. "Heh. Yeah, I guess that was a massive cliche, wasn't it?"
Jessica smiled. "A little. But I am wondering."
Peter finally got up the nerve to look her in the eye, but he was blushing to the tips of his ears. Nervous blush, she identified easily. She, after all, did the same thing.
"Okay. The - we, Johnny and I, we've been talking and, well, you know this is a long-term thing, right?" Jessica nodded. The entire world knew that the Human Torch and his boyfriend were a 'long-term thing'. If the New York legislature would get off its ass and pass a proposed law to allow gay marriages, the tabloids would be talking about "the Human Torch and his husband" within a month.
"Well, we've been talking and-" Johnny grabbed Peter's hand, which had been resting on the sofa between them, and squeezed it a little.
"What he's trying to say," he smiled at Peter affectionately, "is that we've been talking, and we've decided we want kids. Or, well, at least one kid, anyway."
Jessica stared at them, surprise written all over her face. That had been the last thing that she'd been expecting! Though now that they'd said it, it made a sort of sense. The media circus that had been Johnny Storm's "outing" had faded to almost nothing. The media loved a scandal, and a committed, loving couple - same-sex or not - just didn't sell magazines. There were still the occasional paparazzi photos that became de rigeur for anyone as famous as the Fantastic Four, but they had been reduced to nothing more than a snapshot and a caption in the "Star Watch" section, next to the pictures of Cameron Diaz on the beach and Jude Law getting coffee at Starbucks. Considering they both dressed up in brightly-colored costumes and fought crime in their spare time, their lives would never be exactly normal, but ... they were settled. No one could doubt that they were in it for the long haul, no one who knew them doubted that they loved each other. They had... matured over the last few years. Though she wasn't sure Johnny would ever be "mature", but...
"Wow. Just... wow." She looked between the two worried faces in front of her. "That's ... guys, that's great! I mean, it's a surprise, but it's great." She smiled at them, trying her best to make sure that her encouragement came through loud and clear. The idea would take a little bit of getting used to, but ... the more she thought about it... "You guys will be amazing parents. I'm sure of it."
"Thanks, Jess." Peter was doing his nervous blush again, and Jessica quirked a suspicious eyebrow at him.
"That's not all, is it?" She guessed, nodding to herself as the blush intensified. She thought for a moment, her gaze resting absently on their laced fingers. A stray thought had her sitting bolt upright in alarm. "Oh, god! You're not pregnant, are you?"
Peter and Johnny gaped at her.
"Where did you get that idea!?" Johnny nearly choked, he was laughing so hard, and Peter just looked scandalized.
"Oh, thank god." Jessica slumped back in the chair. She spotted Peter's expression and scowled. "What? Considering some of the other things we've dealt with, it was a possibility!" She crossed her arms defensively and stuck out her tongue at them - sometimes, juvenile behavior was completely justifiable.
"So if it's not that... what is it?" She looked at them curiously. Peter gulped, glancing at Johnny for support. She watched as their knuckles whitened.
"It's... sort of related, I guess." Johnny sighed, squaring his shoulders. "We wanted to ask you-"
Peter cut in. "We wanted to ask - and please, hear us out, and if you want to say no, you can, but please think about it -" He took a deep breath. "We were wondering if you would be willing to be our surrogate."
To be honest, Jessica didn't remember the next minute or so very clearly. She could vaguely remember feeling all the blood drain out of her face, her throat working but no sound coming out. She had a recollection of Peter and Johnny's faces, all worried anticipation and so obviously prepared for disappointment, but with that little glimmer of hope beneath the surface. There was a long silence.
When her brain had come back online, Jessica voiced the first thought that came to mind.
"Wh- Why me?" If anything, she thought they would have asked Mary Jane. After all, she had known them the longest. She had been Peter's best friend since childhood; his girlfriend for a long time. They were still close, despite MJ's busy career in Hollywood and Peter's double life.
Peter met her eyes, this time with a surety that was startling. Now that the question was out, it seemed, he had found the confidence to continue.
"You're our friend. We've all been through a lot together, and we trust you. You've been like a sister; you're family to me, to everyone here."
"And," Johnny took over the conversation briefly, "You have something else that no one else in the world has."
"What?" She asked quietly, still coming to terms with both the request and the fact that Peter had just said... Sister. He called you his sister. His family.
"You have my genes." Peter replied, just as quietly.
Jessica took a deep breath. Okay. She could handle this.
"I'm not-" She paused, searching for the right words. "I'm not saying yes, not yet, but... If I did say yes, what exactly are we talking about, here?"
She watched as their clasped hands broke apart, Johnny's arm curving around Peter's waist as he prepared to explain.
"Reed has a few contracts to dabble in medical research - developing better life support machines, refining vaccines, that sort of stuff. He's been working on - well, he finished a new method of in vitro fertilization that allows greater control and a much higher success rate. Something like 93%."
Jessica nodded. That was impressive. She didn't know much, but she did know that most IVF proceedures failed, at least the first time. "What do you mean, though, when you say 'greater control'?"
"Do you know much about normal in vitro methods?" Jessica nodded, then shook her head, then paused somewhere between the two motions. Peter bit his lip slightly, the way he did - they both did - when they were thinking hard. "Normally, they try to fertilize a lot of eggs, to ensure that some of them are viable. It leads to multiple births in some cases, which can cause complications, and a lot of embryos are discarded. Reed's method does away with a lot of that. He can - and don't ask me how, because I don't understand most of it - fertilize very few eggs, and determine viability with near-perfect accuracy."
"What he's saying," Johnny filled in, "Is that Reed found a way to make sure that there's only one baby, and that it's almost guaranteed to work the first time."
Jessica nodded slowly. "Okay. I think I get that." She thought a moment. "So... since I'm... you," she looked at Peter, "You would be the father, then?"
Johnny nodded seriously. "That was what we were thinking. Hoping for, anyway. If you were to agree, then the baby would be-"
"Genetically yours." She finished for him, putting the pieces together. "At least for the most part." What little variation there was between her and Peter's genetic codes would be nearly indetectable in a child, who would only have half that code to begin with. Maybe Reed could spot it, but she had little doubt that few, if any, other scientists would be able to spot the differences.
"Yeah." Peter said in a small voice, looking at her hopefully.
Deep breaths, Jess. Deep breaths. She took a moment to calm herself, think it through.
"I'm still not saying no." She said at length, and the two men on the couch looked at her with painfully earnest expressions. "But I need some time to think it over, okay? I mean, it's a big thing, right?"
Johnny responded first, standing up as she stood. "It's a huge thing. We know. That's why... I mean. If you decide not to, we understand. You'll always be our friend, and you'll always be welcome here, you know that, right?" She gave him the best smile she could muster under the circumstances, her thoughts flying around at a million miles an hour.
"Yeah, I know that. But thanks for saying it." She leaned in to give him a warm hug that he returned without hesitation. Somewhere in the intervening time, Peter had risen from his seat, and he moved forward to give her a hug as well.
"Take as long as you need." He assured her as he gave her one final squeeze. "It's not something we're hurrying into."
"That's good to know." She nodded to them both. "I really will think about it. I promise you. But just to say - No matter what I decide about this, I still think you two would be great parents."
The smiles they gave her were heartbreakingly grateful.
000ooo000ooo000ooo000ooo000ooo000ooo000
Nearly two weeks passed after their conversation. After several books and more hours spent researching on the internet than she could remember; after countless debates with herself, weighing endless pros and cons and scenarios; after three checks of her department's policy on maternity leave and two checks of her health insurance policy (not that it would be necessary, considering that Reed was guaranteed to take care of any prenatal health screenings himself, but she had to be sure); after a pint of Chunky Monkey and a bottle of Bailey's that she wasn't going to be able to drink any time in the near future... The next afternoon she called Peter.
"Jess." Ah. Caller ID. That was helpful.
"I want to be involved." She started in with no preamble. Peter knew what she was talking about. She could hear it in the tension in his voice when he'd said her name. "Afterward, I mean. When he's - she's - it's growing up."
"We wouldn't have it any other way, Jess." Johnny replied. He must have picked up the extension.
"Okay, then. Okay. I - Let's do it." The butterflies that had filled her stomach as she prepared to dial the phone washed away in an instant, and she felt herself smiling, the hand that wasn't holding the phone drifting down to ghost over her flat stomach.
"You mean it?" She could hear the excitement in Peter's voice, and she could practically see the beaming smiles on the two's faces.
"I mean it. You guys are going to be fathers." Her smile widened as she heard Johnny's whoop of glee on the other end of the line, and the clattering that meant he'd swept Peter up in a massive hug, the phone forgotten in that moment of joy. It took a few seconds for the phone to be picked up again, and when it was she heard Peter's voice on the other end.
"Jess... We're not going to be fathers. We're going to be parents. All of us. I hope... I hope you know that. That you're... you're a part of this."
Jessica felt something on her cheek. When she lifted her hand to remove it, she was surprised to find her fingers came away wet and glistening.
"I know."
She couldn't wait.