***WAIT FOR DAWN***

by Micaela

(Disclaimer: All Marvel characters, including Franklin, Rachel, Johnny, the FF, and the Days of Future Past belong to Marvel. So does anyone else you recognize; I hold no claim to them and make no profit. Feedback is, of course, appreciated.)

***LATE EVENING***

The sun is dying, sinking into the perpetual blackness that it has descended into for eons beyond measure. It has died, and been reborn, for longer than men have walked across the Earth. And if there is one certainty in life, it is that the sun will rise again.

He wraps his arms around her, supporting her weight with his own. She is not a large woman, but tall and full-figured. Her head rests agaisnt his shoulder, her long dark red hair spilling down his back like a curtain.

"I'm not going to make it till morning, am I?" she asks him. Her voice has the power to lift his spirits; it's a strong voice, rich and full, resembling the woman it belongs to. But now it's dry and cracked, weaker than it's ever been. He feels his heart sink and holds her tighter.

"Yes, you'll make it. You've made it through worse. Remember when we escaped from the pens?" His voice falters, trying unsuccessfully to be strong enough for both of them.

She shakes her head. Her brillant green eyes are listless and weary. Life-weary, weary to the bone. "This is worse." Sometimes, she just wants to give up. It seems as though her entire life has been a battle, and now she just wants to rest.

He presses her to him, and touches her cheek with his lips. "Just wait till morning. The team'll find us then, I promise. And we'll go to their base, and they'll take care of you, and you can rest..."

She doesn't respond. He kisses her eyelids, and tastes her tears. They huddle together in their hiding place, watching the sun disapear into the horizon, until it descended into the abyss.

She dozes off, and he lets her. Carefully, he lays her down on a makeshift pallet of leaves and jackets, and covers her. He leaves her for just a moment, to survey their surroundings. No sign of Sentinels. Perfect...

***EARLY NIGHTTIME***

He returns to find her reclining on her side, smiling up at him weakly. She looks better now; a healthier cast to her skin. He starts to believe she will survive.

"Hello beautiful." he greets her quietly, kneeling by her.

"Hello daddy." she speaks for their son, who is cradled next to her. Franklin smiles and tickles the infants toes. "Hi there Johnny."

Johnny grins toothlessly at his father, then attempts to eat his big toe. Rachel smiles in that secret, sad way of hers and cuddles him closer. Franklin always said Johnny resembled her, with his dark red hair. She privately thought he was going to look like his father in the face, what with his blue eyes. The thought of seeing her son become a man strengthened her resolve, and she began to believe in her own survival as much as he did.

Johnathan Reed Richards gurgles and closes his eyes, snoozing peacefully, blissfully unaware of his mothers precarious situation. For him, life is simple, a neverending pattern of burps and giggles and cuddles and smiles. The small infant with his grandmother's bright blue eyes is named for the great-uncle and grandfather he will never see.

Laying beside her, Franklin wrapped his arms around his wife and child. They fall asleep, resting. He does not. Instead, he gazes off into the distance, the never ceasing inky blackness marred only by a few, solitary stars. Oddly, he wonders which ones have Shi'Ar or Kree or Skrulls living near them. He supposes he will never know.

"Don't leave me." he whispers into her seashell ear, "Not yet. Just wait a bit longer. Wait for dawn. Please. Wait for dawn."

He still doesn't sleep.

***LATE NIGHTTIME***

She stirs.

Her eyes jump under her lids, her lips move, calling the half-forgotten names of parents whose faces are barely remembered. Her sweaty hands tighten around her son, who is still asleep.

Her husband kisses her lips, which still try to call for those who long ago left this world. "Shh...shh...you're okay. You're okay."

Rachel awakens to his voice; a welcome sound. "Oh!"

"What is wrong?"

"I...I dreamed...that my mother...mother was calling for me...and daddy..."

"It was only a dream." he says this, determined not to lose her to shadows, to wraiths of her past before the nightmare. She feels fragile in his arms now, as if a wrong move might break her, take her from him. She trembles, and he realizes she's cold.

"I'm so...so...tired..."

"Promise me, Rachel."

"Promise...?" she is half-awake now, clinging to him for warmth.

"Promise me you'll wait till morning. Just wait till dawn and I swear everything will be okay."

"But.."

"Promise me!"

"I...promise." the words are a whisper; she is barely coherent. But it is enough for him. The promise is frail, delicate as a hopeful dream. But he holds it close to him. It is all he has. She is all he has.

Now, it is he who clings to her.

***DAWN***

His eyes open, burning with fatigue. He has not slept enough.

Franklin still clings to her.

But Rachel is not breathing.

Tears escape his eyes, coursing down his tatooed cheeks, and drip into her hair. She is limp in his arms, and cold. She didn't make it.

"You...you promised." he whispers into her ear, holding her close. "You promised you'd hold on till dawn."

She doesn't answer him. She doesn't hear him. He cries. Her son cries. But she doesn't hear him either.

Over the horizon, the sun peeks up, punctual as ever. Like the Phoenix she was meant to be, it has risen from the bone-chilling cold of pure death. It has risen again. It has been reborn.

But she will not be.

***THE END***