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[Mr Fantastic]

After catching a quick nap on his desk (something that had been rather uncomfortable the first time he'd done it, but now Reed was so used to it that he almost found it easier to sleep in his lab), Reed Richards had gone straight back to his work, pausing only to kiss Sue good-bye and to grab a coffee.

There was no time this morning to be thinking about Franklin's arrival, or his various in-progress experiments, or anything but Johnny's condition. For all Reed knew, it was worsening. For a solid few hours, he worked feverishly, analysing blood samples and skin samples and examining security tapes in an attempt to build a decent timeline. Johnny had woken up – or almost woken up – twice yesterday, and Reed spent what should have been lunch trying to reconstruct the circumstances so that he could understand what had triggered the short periods of semi-consciousness.

It was incredibly frustrating, mostly because the two incidences seemed to have nothing in common. One had been relatively soon after Johnny's collapse, the other hours later in the hospital. In the interim, anything that they'd injected him with could have been interacting with his body's systems, so there was no real way of knowing what had done it. By the time Sue returned with Franklin, Reed was filled with what could only be described as desperation. The three had a short conversation, with Reed sharing his insights – or lack thereof – from the day's work, and the two Storms adding their own. For a short time, the three worked together, but then Reed decided to leave the family together for a sort of moment and returned to his lab.

Later in the afternoon, after Sue and her father had taken over the kitchen table (most of the free space in Sue's lab currently being occupied by her brother), Reed decided to try to replicate what they'd done at the hospital. It was a long shot, but he had the records and there was little chance that it would be detrimental to Johnny's health. There was a slim possibility that Johnny would develop some sort of reaction to certain drugs now that he was capable of setting himself alight, but since he hadn't seemed to have deteriorated in the hospital, it was minimal enough that Reed was willing to chance it. He ran through the injections they'd given him, and even considered tracking down a tube of ultrasound lubricant in case that was what had done it (but ultimately decided that he'd try that tomorrow if there was no result from the adrenaline and intravenous rehydration drip), and sat to wait.

Nothing happened.

Eventually, he returned to his lab and to the metaphorical drawing board. He did have a real one, of course, but in this case there was very little call for detailed diagrams. Slumping down in his chair, he scratched his observations onto the notepad that had become a makeshift chart. Then, with a quick break to massage his temples, Reed returned to his examination of Johnny's skin samples and tried to think of any places that he might find older samples for comparison. There was something unusual about the Human Torch's skin, and it wasn't just how dry it was.

[Flame On]

In books, people always returned to consciousness with a start, or in a slow, blinking sort of way. In the case of Jonathan Lowell Spencer Storm, it was most definitely the latter.

His brain took some time to grasp the realisation that he was awake, and in fact seemed most confused at the idea and simply sent a cerebral suggestion that it was all lies, damn lies, and he could just have another five minutes...

"Jus'...'nother five...minutes, mom," mumbled the Human Torch and reached to pull the blankets up around his ears. He curled up into a foetal position and then became aware that he was itching as though he'd spent a whole day rolling around in poison ivy.

"Man, what are these blankets made of?" he said, sitting up and scratching irritably at his forearm. His scratching hand bumped up against an IV tube and he stared down at it in surprise.

"OK," he said, slowly. "Now that's pretty weird."

It was an easy matter to divest himself of the assortment of tubes and sensors and he did so, scratching idly all the while. His skin felt softer than usual, almost as though he had burned himself and new skin growth had come in. He blinked sleepily at the back of his hand. Pink and unblemished, it was just that.

A hand.

Johnny slid to the floor and stretched out the ache in his shoulders. He was wearing nothing but his shorts and he had woken up in Reed's lab. His memories leading up to the moment when he had blacked out were non-existent, he was really hungry - and he really, really needed the bathroom.

He picked up the blanket and wrapped it around his middle and then stopped dead in his tracks, mesmerised by what he saw on the bed.

Aeons passed whilst he stared at the...thing on the bed. (Not the THING, but the thing.)

"Uh, guys? Anybody here?"

No reply. Johnny glanced up at the clock on the wall. Fairly early morning; he had no idea what day it was or how long he'd been here...

"Reed?"

Johnny padded towards Reed's office in the corner, still swathed in his blanket. "Reed, man, are you here? Is there any reason why it is that I've just woken up in the laboratory, covered in wires and with that thing in the bed with me?"

He appeared at the door of Reed's office, dishevelled and sleepy - but most definitely moving and most definitely awake.

[Mr Fantastic]

There was something about the skin sample that Reed just couldn't put his finger on. Something about the shape of the cells. But Johnny's skin was so dry that it was difficult to tell whether that was normal or whether that was because of the dryness.

"Reed, man, are you here? Is there any reason why it is that I've just woken up in the laboratory, covered in wires and with that thing in the bed with me?"

The sound of Johnny's voice made Reed jump so high that he knocked his head on the ceiling. Of course, that was a new thing; he'd never have been able to do that before the cloud. Regardless, that was not a big deal. What was a big deal was the fact that Johnny had just spoken to him.

“Johnny!” Reed turned as he compressed back down, his midsection twisting like a corkscrew. “You're awake! You had us so worried! I... wait, what thing in the bed?” Of course, they had to tell Sue. Not to mention Ben, who'd be just as pleased to see their youngest member awake again, and Franklin...

“You're father's here. You've been out for the whole day, we couldn't figure out what was wrong. Do you remember anything from before you passed out?” There were a lot of questions that Reed wanted to ask, and a lot of tests that he wanted to do. But first, he needed to let the others know, and figure out what it was that Johnny was talking about.

Leaning over, Reed pressed the button for the apartment's intercom. “Can everyone please come to my lab?” There was a pause, before he decided that perhaps that could be alarming. “Johnny's awake.” Although now there was likely to be a stampede as the others rushed in. The scientist grinned, untwisting himself and moving over for an enthusiastic handshake. It wasn't quite a hug, but Sue would no doubt take care of that as soon as she reached them.

[Flame On]

“Johnny! You're awake! You had us so worried! I... wait, what thing in the bed? Your father's here. You've been out for the whole day, we couldn't figure out what was wrong. Do you remember anything from before you passed out?”

Johnny threw his hands up in the air in mock surrender. "Woah, Reed, one thing at a time, man, I just got out of bed!" The grin was pure Johnny, the expression on the face one that they'd all thought might well have been lost forever. "Let's just take it step by step, OK? Remember that you're the brains, I'm the handsome one. One thing at a time, please."

He dropped himself down into one of the chairs and rubbed sleepily at his eyes.

"The first thing is, do you have any coffee? I could kill for a cappucino right now. The second is what in the name of all that is good and holy is my father doing here?"

Johnny couldn't keep the hint of resentment out of his voice. He and Franklin weren't exactly famous for their father-son bond, after all. "And thirdly, yeah, I remember feeling pretty ropy and telling you guys about it for a couple of days."

He considered.

"Carrie came round," he said, his face screwing up with the effort of recall. "We had a fight, then I felt really weird and the next thing I know, here I am, still waiting for my coffee."

He sat there, looking faintly bemused when Reed invited everyone to his lab, and the bemusement got even more pronounced when his future brother-in-law seized his hand and started shaking it vigorously.

"What is this?" he said, bewildered beyond belief. "And as to the 'thing' in my bed - go take a look. It's really freaky. It's like...well, it's like me."

A pause.

"Not that I'm freaky, or anything, but you know what I'm trying to say."

[Mr Fantastic]

"Woah, Reed, one thing at a time, man, I just got out of bed!" Reed couldn't help but return Johnny's grin. It was just so good to see the Human Torch back up and smiling. "Let's just take it step by step, OK? Remember that you're the brains, I'm the handsome one. One thing at a time, please."

The scientist's only reply was a quiet snort. Clearly, Johnny hadn't suffered any lasting damage.

"The first thing is, do you have any coffee? I could kill for a cappucino right now. The second is what in the name of all that is good and holy is my father doing here?"

“I haven't had any reason to install a cappucino machine in here, sorry.” Reed scratched the back of his head slightly uncomfortably; Johnny's resentful tone reminded him of the fact that he hadn't exactly been looking forward to Franklin's visit either. The Storm family patriarch was more than a little intimidating. “Sue called Franklin. She was worried.” That said it all about just how bad Johnny had been, didn't it?

"And thirdly, yeah, I remember feeling pretty ropy and telling you guys about it for a couple of days."

A flush of guilt popped up at that reminder. Johnny had been feeling off, yeah, but Reed had thought it was just a cold or something. Now he knew better. Well, he knew it wasn't a cold, but he didn't know anything about what it actually had been. That would come soon, he hoped.

"Carrie came round," he said, his face screwing up with the effort of recall. "We had a fight, then I felt really weird and the next thing I know, here I am, still waiting for my coffee."

Leaning over, Reed pressed the button for the apartment's intercom. “Can everyone please come to my lab?” There was a pause, before he decided that perhaps that could be alarming. “Johnny's awake.” Untwisting himself, he stepped closer to his brother-in-law-to-be and seized his hand in an enthusiastic handshake.

"What is this?" he said, bewildered beyond belief. "And as to the 'thing' in my bed - go take a look. It's really freaky. It's like...well, it's like me." There was a short pause before Johnny added, "Not that I'm freaky, or anything, but you know what I'm trying to say."

With a crooked grin, Reed held up his hands defensively. “I didn't say anything.” Before he could say anything more, Sue had rushed into the room and threw herself rather violently at her brother.

“I'll be back in a few. And I'll bring you that coffee.” Another grin, and Reed was striding out of the room and toward what had been Johnny's bed up to a few minutes ago. Hopefully this 'freaky thing' was still there, and hopefully it would help explain what had happened over the past 24 hours.

[Flame On]

Johnny disentangled himself from his sister's exuberant embrace and with a promise that he'd be right back, loped easily after Reed to the lab where he'd woken up not so long ago.

"Man," he observed, running his fingers through his hair. "This feels sort of weird. I feel like I've been asleep for about two hours, everyone seems to think I've been gone for weeks or something."

Finally, they reached the lab and the 'thing' that Johnny had mentioned. He pulled a face.

"Seriously, dude," he said, wrinkling his nose. "That's creeping me out."

What was in the bed was an almost perfect skin-cast. Johnny, it seemed, had shed his skin - like a snake growing into a new body - and the cast that was left on the bed was papery and fine and most definitely reminiscent of how the Human Torch had looked barely hours ago.

By contrast, his skin now was suitably pink and healthy - and very, very clean.

Johnny stared from the bed to Reed and back again.

"So am I gonna play the violin any more?"