WHO Sue Storm & Fred Andrews WHAT Chatting, flirting, etc WHEN Before prom WHERE Their house WARNINGS nah STATUS closed | complete gdoc
Sue appreciated having the occasional evening with Fred to herself. They'd been having a pretty quiet go of it lately, Dome craziness aside, so she was taking advantage of it while she could. It was nice enough out that they could sit out on the porch swing for a little while, though Sue had borrowed one of Fred's sweatshirts before she'd gone out to join him.
"It's hard to believe that come September, you'll have been here for two years," she said after they'd sat quietly together for a little while. They hadn't been together for all of that time, but Sue was definitely grateful that he'd shown up. She was grateful for a lot of things where he was concerned. "A lot's changed since you first got here." Her hand found the bullet wound he'd arrived with, her thumb stroked it absently.
***
If you’d ever asked him if he thought he could end up kidnapped by some unknown force and stuck in a small town under a dome where things like body switches and Sharknados happened Fred probably would have asked you if you’d been taking some things you weren’t supposed to and laughed about it.
But here he was. For a year and a half, recovering from a bullet wound, watching his son grow up and living with someone who made him feel kind of like a kid with his first love again. It definitely made him appreciate the quiet times they had together in case it got taken away.
“Yeah, you get older and time just flies.” He grinned knowing her brother called him an old man all the time.
***
She was well aware of her brother's nickname for Fred and she pinched him lightly for teasing about it. "You're not that old," Sue pointed out as she pressed a kiss against his cheek. "The expression is time flies when you're having fun and I'd say we're having fun." It wasn't what she'd expected, even after her brief relationship with Adam and becoming Archie's ward. It had worked out for the better in regards to everything as far as she was concerned.
"You might be too old to get away with chaperoning for prom though," she teased. "What would you say to having a little stay-cation for ourselves that Friday and Saturday?" It would be nice to have some time away from the house, maybe at the Clifty Inn just to have the full vacation experience. And it'd give Archie the house to himself which was better for Sue because it she could pretend Emily wouldn't be staying over.
***
“Not that I mind the idea of a stay-cation but shouldn’t we pick a weekend other than prom weekend? I feel like Archie will probably already have plans to be elsewhere that we should probably ignore that we suspect knowing about.” He knew his son, he wasn’t that good at being sneaky and usually he didn’t even tried all that hard.
“And I am not such a responsible father that I want to chaperone. I’ll happily claim to be too old for that.”
***
Sue laughed. "Oh I definitely want to be far away from wherever our son is. There's a part of me that would rather he be at home, but I guess you're the older and wiser one." She didn't mind poking fun at his age so long as it wasn't her brother doing the teasing. There was just something inherently annoying about her brother commenting on her relationship.
"Maybe we should use the transportation service and take a real trip. Well, as real a trip as we can in Madison." That could be a bit more fun, truthfully. They could go somewhere familiar, like New York City, or somewhere they'd never been, like Greece or somewhere else. Neither of them had tried to use it before, but that didn't have to be a reason not to give it a go.
***
For Fred most of his life a big trip had been things like go to Chicago or there was the time they flew to Vegas when he was just old enough to really get himself in trouble. Going somewhere out of the country that wasn’t Canada seemed like a really wild thing for some reason.
“We could do a trip. I’m sure we could both take a few days off. And does it ever seem weird to you that we’re stuck in a dome but we can be globetrotters at the same time?” The paradox kind of made it hard to remember that you could do things like the trips.
***
"It is weird, but I almost don't mind it?" She made a face because she knew it was weird to say. "It almost makes things feel more normal if that makes sense?" Sue was content in Madison Valley in a way she hadn't quite been at home. This was more her speed, not being a superhero. She shrugged and tucked herself in a little closer to Fred's side.
"Johnny and I were talking about it the other day. He was talking about taking Izzy for their honeymoon so we'd have to babysit." Not like it was a hardship in her mind. Sue loved having Max over, still sometimes missed that Wild West life where she and Fred were his parents. But she got all the snuggles she wanted with her nephew and neither Fred nor Archie minded how much she babysat him.
***
“Oh no, we’d have to take care of Max for several days, whatever would we do with a cute kid to spoil?” Fred liked to have Max around and he was glad that for as obnoxious as Sue’s brother would be that he didn’t hold it against them for having been Max’s parents in the old west. He’d never object because he loved her nephew probably as much as she did.
“I’m sure we can come up with some fun things to do with Max. Maybe it’ll be warm enough to get a kiddie pool for him to splash in.” There was nothing better for keeping a kid occupied and having fun than to give them three inches of water to play in.
***
Sue laughed and tucked her face into Fred’s shoulder as she did so. It really was kind of funny how great he was. “Have I told you lately how much I love you?” she asked once her laughter had subsided and she could look up at him. There was definitely a big, dopey smile on her face.
“If not a kiddie pool then definitely a sprinkler. It’ll be near the end of July by then, so it should be warm enough.” More than likely too warm, but then all the more reason to cool off. Sue had a feeling there’d be some water gun fights in her’s, Fred’s and Archie’s futures.
***
Water gun fights and maybe some of those water balloons that you could fill up like 50 at once from the hose were definitely in their future. There was no sense staying dry in the heat when they could have a little fun and cool off.
“You tell me, but I can say I will never object to hearing it more. I hope I tell you how much I love you enough, if not you need to kick me in the shins and tell me to pay attention to you.”
***
"You do," she assured him. "Well, you show it more than you say it, but I happen to like that more." Fred showed her in simple ways, like doing the dishes and picking up around the house. He didn't expect her to do everything, did things without being asked. Sue never got that from Reed. The little things made all the difference, made her feel appreciated and loved and wanted. She never doubted that Fred loved her.
"But you know...if you wanted to show me a little more, I wouldn't be opposed." Sue never got tired of being physically affectionate with Fred. Though they hadn't really talked about it lately, she still wanted to get married and have at least one kid with him and that time was slowly ticking away. She wanted to respect his wishes though and wait until he was ready, so she did her best to not let herself get too carried away with it. That was partly why she spent so much time babysitting Max. It was a way to get it out of her system so she didn't screw things up with him.
***
Her answer made him laugh because he’d just been thinking about how they had the house to themselves and maybe he should be taking advantage of that. So he leaned down to kiss her hair and then tipped his head to the side so he could look at her without her needing to lift her head from his shoulder.
“Work, work, work. I mean if you insist I can probably even carry you to the bedroom if the occasion calls for it.” He was so obviously teasing with the smile on his face.
***
Sue laughed and shook her head. "Offering to carry me over the threshold, huh?" she teased. "Better save that one, otherwise what will be new when we get married?" For Sue, it was a when, not an if. She was ready, more than ready now especially with Johnny and Izzy getting ready to tie the knot, so it was just a matter of when Fred would be ready for it.
She got up from the porch swing and held out her hand to him. "Come on, we've got a couple hours. Might as well make the most of them."
***
Fred took her hand and thought about making a show of needing to be helped up since they’d been teasing about his being old earlier but he decided why start off having some time alone together by looking like he needed a cane. It might actually hurt his dignity a little too much considering they were going to head off to the bedroom.
“We might as well, finals are coming up and we’ll have a stressed out teenager here studying for them. Who knows how much time we’ll get alone then.” Archie and all the books tended to take over the kitchen table. Especially if he had his girlfriend over to help him study.
“Want to see if I can carry you there?” He grinned after he was on his feet and made a move like he was going to pick her up.
***
Sue was actually kind of looking forward to that. It was hard to not interject and help but she did her best. Sometimes, the best way to help was to provide the food and stay out of the way, which she thought wasn't quite fair to her but if it let Archie get good grades, it was more than worth it. He was right though, that it would mean less time for themselves. "I think that means we'll just have to take our trip after that," she replied with a grin.
She laughed and darted ahead of him as he went to try to pick her up. "Only if you can catch me," Sue teased as she headed for their bedroom lickety split. Even if he was older than she was, he certainly kept up with her well. Sue was glad for it because she really was in love. If they didn't end up getting married or having a baby of their own, she'd be a little disappointed, but that wouldn't change the fact that they were a family, that he loved her and she loved him and they both loved Archie to the moon and back. They were family and hopefully the dome would let them stay that way.