AN: Hello my wonderful and extremely patient readers! I know it has been a long wait and I apologize. Thank you all for your support in the meantime; your comments have been the motivating factor in helping me get this new fic up and running! :)

This is the sequel to Everything Burns, taking place during the Rise of the Silver Surfer movie. With this story I am continuing the Kara/Johnny relationship. You will see much more character development in this one than in EB.

I am also trying something new with this story. Normally I shy away from switching point of views in a story because I find it can get convoluted very quickly. However, there is a method to the madness - and if you stick with this series you will soon see why! A few notes on this...

Scene changes or gaps in time are denoted by the break: XXX

A switch to Kara's POV is indicated by: Kara (underlined and italicized)

A switch to Johnny's POV is shown by: Johnny (underlined and italicized)

Please send me feedback on how this format works as I'm just going by trial and error here!

Enjoy and, as always, Read and Review!

XXX

Drowning in Flames

Chapter One: Celebrity

Kara

I was still trying to get used to my powers.

Now, I had to get used to my celebrity too.

We were in an airport terminal, heading back home. We were also being attacked by fans. I looked over at Ben, who was entertaining a bunch of kids. He actually seemed to be enjoying it.

"Hey, do you think we could get a picture?"

I looked back to the guys standing front of me and smiled. "Sure," I said. What else could I say? 'No, and get out of my face'?

I continued to smile as about six guys gathered around me, all grinning. Once the picture was taken, I told them I needed to talk to Reed about something urgent and they all nodded seriously. I waved goodbye and walked over to where Reed and Sue were standing, watching a television with serious faces. I looked at the screen where I saw a picture of Reed and Sue with a headline that said 'Forth Time's A Charm?'. I cringed. Sue was beyond freaking out about the wedding now. And as Maid of Honour, I was twice as freaked.

The female news anchor smiled. "But the big story today: the much anticipated wedding of 'Fantastic Couple' Reed Richards and Susan Storm will take place this Saturday..."

I sighed. Hopefully, this one actually happens because the last three didn't work out so well.

I could tell Sue was thinking the same thing, as she twirled her hair between her fingers. I had convinced her to get a new look in an attempt to get her mind of yet another failed wedding. It was longer and blonder and I loved it. Unfortunately it didn't stop Sue from thinking about the wedding.

Reed, however, was not thinking about the wedding at all.

"Unbelievable," he said while looking through a newspaper. "Bizarre anomalies have been occurring all over the world, defying every known law of physics, and all the media wants to know is what china patterns we picked out..."

"Hey, which ones did you pick?" Ben asked, coming over to us. "The blue ones with those little flowers? I really liked them."

I shook my head with a smile, before looking over at Sue and taking in her expression. My smile disappeared. I knew that look.

"It's happening again, isn't it?" Sue said.

Reed jumped right in. "No," he told her, "We're not postponing anything. Not this time. This is going to be the wedding you've always dreamed of. And I'm not going to let anything get in the way of that... not even the mysterious transformation of matter at the subatomic level."

Sue smiled. "That's the most romantic thing anyone's ever said to me," she said, leaning in to give him a kiss.

Then I heard a laugh. I glared at Johnny as he said, "Which is really pathetic when you think about it."

Reed gave him a look as well, before looking over to me for help.

Then I put my game face on.

I smiled serenely as I walked over to Sue and stood beside her. "Everything is going to be perfect. I promise," I told her. Then I added, "You're hair looks so nice down. You should wear it like this more often, Suzie."

Sue grinned at me. Reed gave me a grateful look. Johnny snorted.

A man who worked at the airport approached Reed. I noticed him look at me for a moment longer than necessary, but then quickly look away when he saw something over my shoulder.

"Dr. Richards," he said, addressing Reed, "I am very sorry, but it seems we're overbooked. But we do have some seats available in coach though."

Reed turned around to look at Ben, who was hoisting to young boys in the air as their mother took a picture. There was no way Ben would fit comfortably in coach. But it was either that, or we wait for who knows how long.

Reed looked back at the worker and smiled. "That should be fine," he said.

The man nodded. He looked over my shoulder briefly before quickly walking away. Frowning, I turned to see what the guy was so scared of, but instead crashed into Johnny.

I sighed. "Ever heard of personal space?"

"Are you wearing that cherry lip balm again?"

"Oh, go drown yourself."

"Why? So you could come rescue me again?"

I let out a long, low breath to calm myself down. I was not going to fight him in the middle of an airport terminal. Because that would consequentially make me look like the bad guy; everyone took Johnny's side. When Johnny had confirmed the end of our 'relationship' that he had started at the motocross games, it was all my fault.

The only person who always took my side was Ben.

XXX

I had forgotten what it was like to fly coach. Crowded. Lots of noise. No personal space.

The five of us got onto the plane. Reed and Sue got seats together, but Ben was on the other side of the cabin crammed between two strangers and I was up near the front. Looking between my ticket and the seat numbers, I finally found my seat. I had the middle seat, but there was already someone sitting in the window seat so I decided to make my presence known.

"I guess we're sitting next to each other then."

The guy looked up from his book and looked at me. Actually, he was kinda cute in that dorky kind of way.

"I guess so," the guy said. "I'm Owen."

"Kara," I introduced with a bright smile.

Owen smiled back and then pointed to my bag. "Do you want help with that?"

I opened my mouth but before anything came out someone grabbed my hand and pulled my bag from me.

"Easy there Champ, I got it."

Owen went a little red and looked away. I turned to glare at Johnny as he put my bag in the overhead compartment.

"What are you doing?" I spat at him as civilly as possible, trying not to make a scene.

He just continued to smile. Loudly, he continued, "Are you going to be alright here on your own, babe? I can ask them to move you..."

"Johnny, I swear..."

"I know, I do too much for you," he interrupted. Then he swooped in for a kiss and I moved a little too late; he caught the corner of my mouth.

"Mmm cherry," he whispered in my ear.

He disappeared before I could beat him to a pulp.

I looked down at Owen, who was pretending that he hadn't seen or heard anything. I sighed. This was going to be a long flight.

I sat down in my seat and looked around until the plane took off. Owen didn't speak a word, just sat and read his book. I glanced out the window for a while until I saw Johnny flying through the air next to the plane. I shut the window and tried to sleep for the rest of the trip.

And the first thing I did when I got off the plane was slap Johnny right in the face.

It was in the paper the next day, right under the story about Reed and Sue's wedding.

Johnny

The newly-renovated Baxter Building, which was now the home-base of the Fantastic Five, was waiting for us in its usual state of chaos. First out of the elevator, I made my way into the apartment, throwing my bag haphazardly on the floor before flinging myself down onto the couch. Feet up on the coffee table (which I knew for a fact irritated Sue to no end) I grabbed the remote and began flipping through channels on the television.

Sue and Reed passed by on the way to their bedroom (Sue glaring at my feet) and Ben stopped in the kitchen to raid the fridge, but Kara came to a halt in front of me. I expected to be yelled at because of the completely innocent escapade on the plane, but instead she just stared at me. Eventually I grew uncomfortable and looked at her.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer. I'll even autograph it for you," I said with a purposely annoying grin.

Kara rolled her eyes (a compulsive reaction to anything I said). "Don't make me hit you again. Cause I will."

She placed her bags on the floor and moved towards the couch. Lunging over my legs which were barricading the gap between the couch and the table, she sat down on my other side.

"Actually I needed to talk to you about the wedding," she said.

I sat up a little straighter, preparing myself for the onslaught of instructions that were to follow. Kara had attempted numerous times to send me on errands for the wedding, but there was no way that I was going to a florists to pick up centerpieces.

"First," Kara began, "you need to get Reed and Ben out of the apartment tomorrow night. I don't care how you do it, just make sure they're gone."

I frowned. "Why?"

Kara stopped, hesitating slightly before answering. "Sue's bachelorette party is tomorrow."

I couldn't help the grin that spread on my face. Leaning forward, I asked, "And what's going to be happening at this bachelorette party that Reed and Ben can't see?"

Kara leaned away. "None of your business," she told me. "Besides you're not going to be here either."

"Oh, come on!"

"No, Johnny," she said finally.

I huffed. "Fine," I conceded, "but if there's going to be any pillow-fights in sexy lingerie..."

"There won't be."

"I want a live-stream video," I finished.

With an expression of irritation, Kara stood up and walked around the back of the couch towards the hall. It was clear that she was fed up with me, but I wasn't really bothered by that. I liked seeing her get all flustered.

"Hey!" I called, stopping her in her tracks. "Wasn't there a 'secondly' to this conversation?"

Realizing I was right, Kara turned around. Taking a deep breath to calm herself (I swear she needed anger-management classes), she replied, "I need to know if you're taking a guest so I can put her in the seating chart."

There it was. The question I had been avoiding. I knew that everyone expected me to have a super-hot date for my sister's wedding, and frankly I could. I had an endless list of models' phone numbers in my phone. I had celebrities and heiresses on speed-dial.

But the truth was... I wasn't sure if I wanted a date.

Whether or not it was hard to believe, I was taking Sue's wedding seriously. I knew how much it meant to her, and all I've ever wanted was for my big sister to be happy. So showing up with some random girl that she'd never met before didn't exactly seem like it would make that point.

Which started me thinking about girls that Sue did know. However that train of thought didn't last long because Sue didn't actually have many girl friends. At least that I knew of. Sue spent most of her time with Reed, or (when she needed a break from the Boy-Genius) Kara.

Kara.

At first, the thought hadn't seemed that bad. It made sense: we were both in the wedding party, it would save us from having to add a place at the head table, and Sue would know that I was taking her wedding seriously. However the more I thought about this plan, the more I began to notice the problems. First, I would actually have to ask Kara and I doubted she would let me get the words out before she bit my head off. Secondly, the media frenzy that would follow would put even more stress on Sue, who hated all the public attention the wedding was already getting. And finally, Reed (who had become an overbearing and protective brother all of a sudden) would kill me if I so much as looked at Kara the wrong way. And my premature death would upset Sue. I think.

So now the wedding was just a few days away, I had no date, and Kara was waiting expectantly for me to answer.

"You do have a date, don't you?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. What? Could she read minds now as well as control water? Because that could get awkward...

I scoffed. "What kind of question is that? Of course I have a date? The question on everyone's mind is do you have a date?"

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I'm working on it," she replied.

Laughing, I said, "Working on it? That sounds promising..."

"Well no one asked you, did they?"

Chuckling at her remark, I leaned back and rested my hands comfortably behind my head. "You know," I started, looking at her with a teasing expression, "if you wanted me to cancel on my date, I could..."

She quickly interrupted. "And what? I'd go with you? No thanks, I'd rather go alone."

Well, that answered my question about Kara's thoughts on being my date.

"Suit yourself," I exclaimed, turning back to the television.

Kara stormed away and I glanced after her briefly. Letting out a sigh, I turned my attention to the address book of my phone trying to think of who was classy enough to bring to Sue's wedding.

After finalizing my date for the wedding (Stacy Carter, model and budding actress), I spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around the apartment. I watched with an amused expression while Sue and Kara ran about, organizing seemingly insignificant details about the ceremony and reception. Reed had hidden himself away in the lab (they didn't call him a genius for nothing) and Ben was out visiting Alicia.

One eye on the television and one eye on the girls, I was paying just enough attention to both that I could eavesdrop while looking like I was focused on the sports channel. Sue had just run off to get something from her bedroom when Kara's cell phone began to ring.

"Hello, this is Kara Richards," she answered, glancing over her shoulder to see if I was listening. I kept my gaze on the television screen.

Not being able to hear the other side of the conversation was incredibly frustrating when trying to eavesdrop, but from what I gathered she was talking to some guy named Dominic who had been in Ecuador.

"I'm glad that you had a safe trip," Kara told the Dominic guy. "But I thought you'd be there for at least another month?"

Dominic said something on the other end of the conversation that made Kara blush. I watched the pink rise up to her cheeks and was slightly thrown off; I'd never seen her look so... well, girly.

With a small laugh, Kara said, "Well, I'm flattered. Does this mean that you're free this weekend?"

I frowned. This weekend was devoted entirely to the wedding, so if she was suggesting that they get together, it could only mean that she wanted to take him as her date.

Apparently Dominic's answer made Kara very happy because her smile grew even wider.

"I'll save you a seat," she told him. Then nodding to something Dominic said, Kara replied, "Friday is good for me. How about nine?"

As the final details of what appeared to be a pre-wedding date were arranged, I turned my attention completely away from Kara. Staring at the television, I wracked my brain trying to remember her ever mentioning a Dominic. I quickly recognized that Kara didn't really speak to me unless it was out of necessity, although I guess I couldn't entirely blame her. I sort of took pride in annoying the hell out of her. It was no surprise then that her love life was a mystery to me. I knew she had seen a few guys since Mr. Firefighter based on the fact that I often saw her leaving the apartment dressed for a date. Most of the time she would return with a bouquet of roses which she happily placed in a vase, even though lilies made her smile the most. In any case, these relationships never seemed to last long because Kara never bothered to introduce anyone to the Fantastic Five family. Or maybe it was just me that she didn't introduce them to?

Kara hung up the phone with the smile still plastered on her face. She went back to whatever she had been doing before the call, humming happily to herself. I frowned at her; she must really like this Dominic guy if a date with him was getting this reaction out of her. I made a mental note to check this guy out; not for Kara or anything, just... for the sake of the team.

Suddenly feeling very bummed out, I got up quickly and grabbed my leather jacket and keys.

"Going out!" I called to anyone who cared.

Kara didn't seem to notice.

Kara

Once I'd finished helping Sue with a few last minute wedding details, I hurried her out the door to a dress fitting. Then I made my way to the lab to find Reed, who had conveniently avoided any of this afternoon's craziness. I found him immediately, sitting at a workbench with his eyes glued to a computer screen.

Walking up quietly behind him, I focused my gaze on the screen to see what he was working on. Guaranteed it had nothing to do with the wedding.

"What are you doing?" I asked, startling him so bad that he jumped in his seat.

Giving me a slight glare, Reed turned while simultaneously trying to block the screen from my view. "I was just imputing my to-do list for the wedding to make sure I don't forget anything," he told me.

Hands on my hips and eyebrow raised, I looked at him expectantly. "That might have worked on Sue, but you forget that I'm the one who taught you how to lie through your teeth."

Reed sighed. "Fine," he said, rolling his chair out of the way so I could see the screen properly.

While I took in the information on the screen, Reed commented, "I cross-referenced and analyzed the global disturbances. I determined that they're being caused by cosmic radiation not unlike the kind which gave us our powers."

"That would certainly account for the bizarre anomalies the past few days," I added. "Whatever is emitting this radiation could be altering matter the same way the cosmic storm altered our DNA."

"Exactly," Reed said with a nod. Then he frowned. "I just can't figure out what it is."

Though intrigued by Reed's discovery, I knew that there were more urgent matters to be dealt with. "Why don't you let the NASA scientists figure something out for once?" I said to Reed. "You have other things to worry about... like your wedding, for one."

"I know, I know," he allowed, looking away from the screens. He gave a small chuckle. "Johnny wants to have a bachelor party," he told me.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course Johnny wants to have a bachelor party. I hope you didn't let him down easy."

"I don't know, I think it might be fun."

Looking at Reed with an expression of utter shock, it took me a moment to respond. When I finally did, I said, "Are you feeling okay?"

Now Reed rolled his eyes. "I'm fine," he said, "I just think that getting out for one night of fun could be good for me. Besides I told Johnny no exotic dancers."

"Right. Because Johnny always does what he's told."

Standing up and walking away, Reed tried to brush off the comment. But I could tell that he was already starting to second guess himself. "It will be fine," he told me.

I shrugged, following him. "Okay, but you can tell Sue about this, not me."

"Fine, I will."

"Fine."

Reed sat down at another workbench and picked up his PDA. He began typing away, his fingers bending and stretching to impossible positions. Frankly, it grossed me out.

"I'm going to go call the catering company again," I said while slowly turning away. "You know, for your wedding. Which is in a couple days. Almost here..."

"Uh huh," Reed replied, already distracted by whatever he was looking at.

I sighed and shook my head before leaving the lab. I really hoped Sue knew what she was in for.