A/N: I've worked long and hard on this one-shot. Normally I can sit down and write a one-shot in one sitting but this one has taken me almost a week. I wanted to make sure I got it right. Please read, review, and enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Spiderman. I want to own Spiderman. But I do not own Spiderman :( I do own Lia, though.
Now that summer had rolled around, Lia was bored sitting around the compound all day. She spent most days at Peter's house, either watching movies or exploring the city. She was happy with her life, but she wanted to do more. She wanted to help people, the way Peter and the Avengers did. She felt she had been given these powers for a reason. She didn't want them to go to waste.
Peter was very much against the idea of her coming out on patrol with him. He knew she had been trained and that she knew what she was doing, but he couldn't shake his fear of something happening to her. He let her try to do things herself, but if it looked like she needed help he would step in and help her, or get her out of there if need be.
Lia didn't like this. She had vocalized her thoughts about this topic many times, but Peter always seemed to skirt around it, changing the subject. She wanted to try doing things on her own without help, but Peter was reluctant to even leave her alone when they were out and about, let alone allow her to beat up a couple of thugs by herself. Although, maybe he had a point. She thought back to the last time Peter had left her alone and grimaced. That memories she had made at the movie theatre that night were not all good.
Today, she and Peter were walking down the street on their way back to his apartment after a successful ice cream run. It was particularly hot that day. They both hurried to finish their ice cream before it melted. Peter finished first, ice cream still managing to get all over his face and hands. Lia giggled.
"You've got a little something, just there," she said, gesturing to most of his face.
He rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Ha, ha. I need to find a place to wash my hands."
"There's a convenience store over there," Lia pointed across the street.
Peter looked hesitant. "Will you be okay by yourself for a few minutes?"
She nodded. "I'll be fine. If anything happens, I'll scream so loud that Thor will be able to hear me all the way in Asgard."
He still looked unsure. "Okay…"
"Just go. I'm gonna sit right here on this bench in plain sight where you'll be able to see me." She plopped down on said bench.
He sighed. "I'll be right back," he said, then sprinted across the street to the store.
Lia hummed a bit to herself, finishing off the last of her ice cream cone. She still couldn't figure out how she was able to eat ice cream without losing a single drop where Peter left half of his on his face.
There was a clattering noise in the alleyway a few feet away from her.
Curious, she stood from the park bench and poked her head inside the alley.
There were a couple of men in there. The larger of the two was pinning the other against the wall, his arm pulled back like he was about to punch him.
Lia immediately abandoned all her ice-cream related thoughts and crept into a corner of the alley where she wouldn't be seen. She began subtly affecting the weather patterns within it, first lowering the ambient temperature so that it was freezing cold.
The bigger man looked around, wondering how it got so cold so fast in the middle of summer.
Lia covered her smile with one of her hands and began making it snow in the alleyway.
The man was really confused now. Distracted, he loosened his hold on the smaller man, who slipped out of his grasp and ran.
When the remaining man realized what had happened, he became angry, kicking the wall. Lia chose this time to sneak off back to the bench, but she wasn't quick enough.
"Hey!" the man yelled. "What are you doing? Get back here!"
He took a few steps toward her. Lia swiped her leg under the man's feet, causing him to fall flat on his face. She put a foot on his back, applying enough pressure that he wouldn't be able to get back up.
Instead, he grabbed her other foot and pulled her down to the ground, standing back up. She dodged a few kicks from him while she got back on he feet. He aimed a few punches at her and she blocked them, grabbing his fist on the last punch and turning around to flip him over her shoulder. All the sparring sessions she and Nat had were really starting to pay off.
He stood once more, much slower this time, and began to make his way toward her. Before he could do anything, his fist was stuck to the wall with web-fluid.
"What the-" his mouth was covered with web-fluid as well, along with his three remaining limbs. Once Peter (now dressed as Spiderman) had finished taking care of the guy, he grabbed Lia around the waist and shot a stream of web fluid onto a nearby building, propelling them forward.
"Peter!" Lia shouted at him.
Peter ignored her, swinging from building to building until they had reached what he deemed to be a safe distance. He landed on the rooftop of one of the skyscrapers, setting her down gently.
She walked away from him, taking deep breaths. When she finally turned around to face him, one of her hands was on her hip, the other rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"What was that?" she asked slowly.
Peter didn't like her tone. It was low and deep. She was definitely not happy with him.
"He was gonna hurt you," he explained, crossing his arms.
"I had it under control, Peter! I know how to handle myself," she reminded him. "You don't need to save me from every little thing that enters my path."
"But he could have seriously injured you!" Peter countered. "I wasn't just gonna stand by and watch you get hurt!"
"I wasn't going to get hurt though!" she said. She groaned in frustration, running a hand through her now messy hair. "How many times do I have to explain this to you?"
"Explain what?" he asked. "That fact that you take too many risks?"
"No!" she shouted at him. "That fact that you treat me like a china doll! I'm not made of porcelain, Peter. I won't break if you drop me!"
The sky started to darken above them, filling with dark clouds.
"Oh yeah?" he asked. "What about last time? You were trapped in a corner by three thugs. Imagine what could have happened if I hadn't dropped in."
"That was one time, Peter!" she said, starting to pace back and forth on the rooftop to rid herself of her nervous energy. She and Peter had never fought like this before. "I never asked for help, did I?"
"You didn't ask for help last time, did you? And look how that turned out!" Peter said, gesturing outwardly with his hand.
"What is with you and that incident? I thought we were over that!"
Peter was starting to lose control.
"No! I'm not over it! You have no idea what It's like to sit in a hospital room and not know if the person laying in that bed is gonna wake up or not. That person is sure as heck not gonna be you, Lia. Not while I'm around!" he said aggressively.
"I've been the person sitting in the hospital room, Peter!" She shouted. "I've sat in a hospital room for three days without eating or sleeping, not knowing if you were ever gonna wake up! I thought I killed you! So don't you dare tell me I don't know how it feels!"
"Why will you not accept help when you need it?!"
"Because I don't need it! Don't you understand? I want to prove to you and everyone else that I can do things on my own! I don't always need someone to help me! I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself!"
"But you can't take care of yourself!" he screamed. "Don't you get it? You can barely leave your house! You're lucky if you can even sleep through the night! What makes you think you can take on a guy bigger than you if you can't take on the demons in your own mind?"
The heavens opened, soaking them where they stood.
Lia's mouth dropped open.
"How dare you," she said in a low voice, glaring at him.
There was no stopping this now. Peter continued on. "How dare I? How dare I what? How dare I state the facts that you've been trying so hard to ignore?"
"Stop. Right. Now," she said through clenched teeth, her hands balled into fists.
"No!" he shouted. "I won't stop! If this is what it takes to get you to see what's going on, I'll keep shouting til I'm hoarse!"
"Just because I have PTSD I can't defend myself?!" she argued.
"It's not just PTSD, Lia. I know it. You know it. Everybody knows it. You just don't want to admit it."
Lia took several steps closer to Peter. "What? What don't I want to admit, Peter? Tell me," she said, getting up in his face. Water streamed down both of their faces.
Peter stood his ground, staring down at her. "I'll tell you what you don't want to admit. You don't want to admit that you're scared."
"Scared of what? Tell me!" she yelled.
"Even after all this time, you're still scared that if you can't pull your own, the Avengers will abandon you, just like everyone else in your life did."
Lia's mouth was agape. She was silent for a moment, seething at him, before she quietly responded.
"Get out."
Peter was confused. "What do you mean get out? We're on top of a roof!"
She shook her head. "No. Not out of a room. Out of my life."
It was Peter's turn to drop his jaw. "Lia-"
"Don't." She held up a hand to stop him. She pointed away from her to the edge of the rooftop.
"Get out of my life, Peter Parker. And don't even think about coming back."
"But-"
"No buts." She was terrifyingly calm. "We're done."
And with that, she turned on her heels and walked inside the building, leaving a stunned Peter on the rooftop.
ooOOoo
As soon as Natasha saw the sky darkening, she knew something was wrong. The weather forecast called for sun all day and not a drop of rain.
She knew something was very wrong when Happy left to pick Lia up. She never came home this early, preferring to spend as much time with her boyfriend as she could before returning home.
It wasn't until Lia arrived home soaking wet, tears mixing with the water dripping down her face, that Natasha truly grasped the significance of what had transpired.
"What's wrong, Malyshka?" she asked.
Lia's bottom lip quivered. "Mom…"
Natasha gathered Lia into a bear hug, wet clothes and all, and held her tightly while she sobbed her heart out.
ooOOoo
As soon as the door to the apartment opened, May knew something was up. Her nephew was never home this early. Not to mention the fact that he always announced his presence when he arrived.
She entered the living area to see Peter, dripping wet, looking like a kicked puppy.
"Peter! What on Earth were you doing out in the rain?" she chastised.
He just looked up at her with big, sad eyes. "I made a mistake, May. A big one. And I don't know if I'll be able to fix it."
May started to grasp the magnitude of the situation. She put a hand on her nephew's shoulder.
"What did you do?" she asked, concerned.
He put his head in his hands. "Lia and I had a fight. The worst one we've ever had. And I said some things I shouldn't have."
"Oh, Peter." She pulled him into a hug. "How bad was it?"
"She told me to get out of her life and never come back," he said, his voice shaking. Tears started to fall. "She said we're done."
"Well, what did you say to her?" May asked gently. She pulled back so she could see his face.
Peter looked ashamed. He shook his head.
May sighed. "Nevermind," she said. She guided him to the door of his bedroom. "Go change your wet clothes and then we'll figure out what to do to make things right."
ooOOoo
Natasha sat on the edge of Lia's bed and stroked her hair softly. The poor girl had cried herself to sleep over the loss of her boyfriend. Even while sleeping, a few tears made their way down her cheek.
Natasha never actually got Lia to tell her what was wrong, but she had a general idea of what had happened. Once she was absolutely sure that Lia was asleep, she crept out of her bedroom, closing the door softly, and immediately went looking for Bucky.
She found him in the gym, sparring with Steve. The two were laughing good-naturedly and having a good time. As soon as Bucky saw Natasha's face, however, he held up his hand for Steve to halt.
"What's wrong, Natasha?" he asked, grabbing a water bottle from the edge of the mat and taking a long swig.
"Lia's home," Nat replied. "She got back about an hour ago."
Bucky frowned. "Already? She's not normally home for a couple more hours."
"That's not all. She was completely soaked when she walked in. I took one look and I immediately knew something was wrong."
He set the water bottle back down on the mat. "What happened?"
"She was crying too hard to tell me much, but from what I gathered she and Peter had a massive fight and broke up."
Bucky's eyes widened. "Is she okay?"
Nat shook her head. "Not really. Poor thing cried herself to sleep. She's out like a light."
Bucky ran a hand through his hair, letting out a breath. "This isn't good. Do you think they'll be able to patch things up?"
She shrugged. "I honestly don't know. Whatever Peter said to her really hurt her bad. She's the one that broke things off."
"Have you tried calling May?" Steve asked. "You might be able to get some more info from her."
"That's not a bad idea," Bucky conceded.
"I'll give her a call and see what she knows. We'll figure out where to go from there," Nat decided.
"Let me know what you figure out!" Bucky called after her as she left.
ooOOoo
May was sitting on the couch waiting for Peter to return from his room when her phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID, sitting up taller when she saw who was calling her. She pressed the answer button and held the phone up to her ear.
"Hey, Natasha. How are things on your end of this mess?"
"Lia came home heartbroken and soaking wet. What about you? Is Peter okay?"
May rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Not really. The last time I saw Peter this upset was when we lost his uncle."
"I've never seen Lia this upset. The closest I can think of was when Peter was in the hospital. That was a terrible three days."
"You can say that again." She sighed.
"What exactly happened, do you know? Lia was too upset to tell me anything other than the fact that she and Peter got into a fight and broke up."
"I don't really know, honestly. Peter hasn't told me much. He did say that he said some things he shouldn't have. And that she told him to 'get out of her life and never come back'."
There was silence on the other end for a moment.
"What do you think we ought to do, May? Should we get involved or let them work it out themselves?"
May thought for a moment. "I think the only way they'll patch things up is if they decide to do it on their own. Let's give them a few days and see if things work themselves out. If not, we may need to nudge them in the right direction."
"Those two literally cannot live without each other. I'll bet that after a few days they'll work things out."
May nodded. She heard the door to Peter's bedroom open. "I've got to go. I'm going to see if I can get any more information out of Peter, now that he's had a chance to calm down a bit."
"Let me know what you find out."
"Will do." May hung up the phone just as Peter walked back into the room, his head hung low.
"Who was that, May?" he asked.
She waved him off. "Don't worry about it. Now, come sit down and tell me exactly what happened…"
ooOOoo
When Lia awoke the next morning, the first thing she did was grab her phone to check if there were any new messages from Peter, just as she did every morning. Then she remembered what had happened the day before.
She turned and buried her face in her pillow, trying hard not to cry. She didn't feel like getting out of bed ever again, content to wallow in her sadness for the rest of her days. But life went on.
Lia sat up in her bed. She didn't need Peter. She was perfectly fine without him, right?
Wrong.
Lia rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She had slept longer than usual, and yet, she was still exhausted. Nevertheless, she climbed out of bed. She wasn't going to let this take over her life. She would move on. She pushed her feelings away, burying them deep inside of herself where she wouldn't have to deal with them.
She walked into her bathroom and splashed some water on her face to try and wake herself up a little more and caught a glance of her reflection in the mirror. She looked horrible. Her face was blotchy and red, her hair sticking out at odd angles. She pulled her hair back into a quick ponytail to keep it out of her face before heading out of her room, determined to face the day like nothing had happened.
Tony was in the kitchen when she walked in, refilling his coffee mug. He did a double take when he saw her.
"What happened to you, River Song? Did the Doctor lose another companion or something?" he asked.
Lia chose to ignore him for the time being, opting instead to grab a cereal bowl from the cabinet next to him. She stood on her tiptoes to reach it and stopped, remembering all the times Peter had to grab things off the top shelf for her. She shook her head, clearing the memories away, and retrieved the bowl.
"Hello? River Song?" He waved a hand in front of her face. "Something is obviously bothering you. Wanna talk about it? Might make you feel better," he offered.
She continued ignoring him, grabbing a box of chocolate cereal from a shelf in the pantry and pouring it into the bowl.
"I'm not gonna stop bugging you til you tell me what's wrong," he informed her, leaning against the counter and taking a sip from his mug.
"Nothing's wrong," she replied curtly, grabbing a spoon from one of the drawers.
He snorted. "Yeah, that's obviously not the case. Something's up. You're acting all…" he gestured at her. "...mopey."
"Just leave me be, Tony. I'm not in the mood," she said, pouring herself a glass of water. She had planned on getting grape juice, but just glancing at the jug brought back memories of Peter. He had told her multiple times that she tasted like the slightly tart juice whenever they kissed.
Tony noted the change in her beverage of choice and sighed. "Look, kid. I'm gonna figure out what's wrong with you one way or another. If you don't tell me, I'll go find Red and ask her."
"If you absolutely must know," Lia said, whirling around to face him, "Peter and I have severed ties with one another. Now, if you're done being nosy, I'd like to eat my breakfast in peace!"
Tony backed up a few steps, stunned by her demeanor. Lia never shouted, ever.
"You broke up with Charlotte's Web? What happened? He didn't hurt you, did he?" he asked, slightly angry at the thought of Peter hurting his surrogate niece.
She shook her head, taking a seat at the counter with her cereal. "No. Not physically, anyway. We had a fight and I called things off."
Tony let out a low whistle. "That must of been some fight."
Lia didn't reply. Instead, she stuck a spoonful of dry chocolate cereal in her mouth. She'd never been one to drink milk. Her reasoning was that milk smelled like feet, and since smell was a big part of taste, milk must taste like feet, too. Nobody had been able to talk her out of that mindset, not even Peter.
She mentally slapped herself for thinking about Peter again.
"You gonna try and patch thing up?" Tony asked.
"Why should I?" Lia asked. "He treats me like a porcelain doll. I can do things myself. I don't need Peter to swoop in and save me anytime there's a whiff of trouble."
"You can do some things yourself, Tesla," he said, treading carefully. "But two heads are better than one, right? We never send just one person on missions. We always send at least two."
"I understand that," she said. "But Peter won't even give me a chance. He moves me out of the way and then takes care of it himself. I want to help!"
"I can see how frustrating that could be," Tony mused. "But look at this from Spiderling's point of view. How would you feel if someone you knew forever and care about very much decided they wanted to help out on missions, even though they hadn't been properly trained?"
Lia thought for a moment. "I'd be pretty worried," she admitted. "But I have been properly trained! I know what to do during a fight!"
"Have you and Webs talked about this?" he questioned.
She nodded. "More than once. He never told me why he wanted me to stay out of it until last night."
"What did he say?" Tony asked, slightly intrigued.
She shook her head. "He basically said that if I'm not strong enough to fight my PTSD and anxiety then I'm not strong enough to fight actual bad guys."
Tony's mouth dropped open. "He actually said that? No wonder you're so mad at him."
Lia nodded, swallowing another spoonful of cereal. "Then he told me the reason I'm not strong enough to fight my PTSD is that I'm still scared you guys will get bored of me and leave if I can't pull my own weight."
"What did you say after that?"
"I told him to get out of my life and never return," she said bluntly.
Tony let out a breath and rubbed his forehead. "This is quite the mess you've got here, Tesla."
"Very astute observation, Tony," she replied sarcastically, taking a swig of her water.
"You both need to patch things up though," he replied seriously. "You two have been inseparable since the day you met. Think about it, Lia. Can you imagine the rest of your life without Peter in it? Cause I sure as heck cannot. It would be like me never speaking to Rhodey again."
"I really don't want to talk about this anymore," she said, placing her bowl and spoon in the sink.
"Maybe you don't want to, but you need to," he pointed out.
She ignored him, turning on her heels and leaving the room, leaving a very concerned Tony behind.
ooOOoo
Where Lia was trying to go about her day without thinking about Peter, he, in turn, was sulking in bed thinking about nothing but her.
After talking with May a bit the night before, he had disappeared into his room and had not been seen since. He was laying on his top bunk, staring at the ceiling. He sighed when he heard knocking on his bedroom door.
"Not now, May. I'm not in a talking mood."
The door opened, revealing not Peter's aunt but his other best friend.
"Hey, Peter," Ned greeted, entering the room and shutting the door behind him.
"What are you doing here, Ned?" he asked.
"May called me. She said you could use a friend."
Peter sighed again. "She's not wrong."
Ned sat in Peter's desk chair, spinning around on it a few times. "What happened? All May said was that you and Lia got into a fight."
"Yeah. We had a big fight. I said some stuff I shouldn't have. And then she told me to get out of her life and not come back."
Ned whistled. "That bad, huh? What was your fight about?"
"She wants to start helping out around the city like I do. Stopping thieves and muggers and the like. But she doesn't want any help. She doesn't want me swooping in to save her every time she gets in trouble. She wants to handle things herself. And I don't want her to handle things herself, because then she could get hurt. Last night she was trying to fight off a particularly large thug and he had her in a corner, so I jumped in and took care of the guy for her. She got really mad at me for that."
Ned nodded thoughtfully. "So she wants to do things on her own, and you don't want her to do things on her own because you're afraid she'll get hurt?"
"Exactly!" Peter answered. "I don't ever want to go through the pain of seeing her in a hospital bed again."
"She's been through that too, Peter," Ned reminded him softly.
"I know that," Peter replied distractedly. He hopped off the bed, walked up the wall, and started to pace on the ceiling. "But she shouldn't have to go through that. Neither of us should."
"Bad things happen, Peter. You can't protect her from everything. She's gonna get hurt no matter what you do."
"I know." Peter groaned in frustration, running a hand through his hair. "I said some really horrible things in the heat of the moment, Ned. She's never gonna forgive me."
"What did you say? And for goodness sake stop pacing on the ceiling, it's incredibly distracting."
"Where else am I supposed to pace? The floor is too messy!" Peter argued.
Ned shook his head. "Nevermind. Just tell me what you said."
Peter didn't meet Ned's eyes. "I told her that if she can't fight her PTSD then she shouldn't fight thugs."
"Peter!" Ned gasped.
"I know, I know! It was completely uncalled for. I feel terrible." He covered his face with his hands. "What am I gonna do, Ned?"
"Apologize, for one. That's a low blow. But I'm willing to bet she's feeling about the same way you feel right now. Now that you've both had some time to cool off and think things through, you should talk and work things out."
"You think so?"
"Yes. Now, will you please get off the ceiling? It's very disconcerting."
ooOOoo
It had been three days since Lia had last spoken with Peter. She was not herself. She wouldn't talk with anyone. She didn't laugh or even smile. Even Pietro couldn't get her to smile. She spent most of her time in her room alone. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop thinking about her best friend turned boyfriend.
Later in the afternoon, she ventured out to find something to eat. She hadn't been particularly hungry the last few days, but she had been trying to eat regular meals anyway. She wasn't going to starve herself for a boy.
Natasha, Bucky, Clint, and Tony were sitting around the kitchen table, discussing their last mission together. Lia steadfastly ignored them, fixing a sandwich as fast as humanly possible and taking it to her room so she wouldn't have to listen to them while she ate.
Clint watched her as she disappeared back into her room. "Who wants to remind her about the 'no food anywhere but the kitchen' rule?"
"Not it," Tony immediately replied.
Natasha face-palmed.
For the rest of the day, everyone kept asking Lia if she was okay. She was sick of it. Thank goodness it was summer and she didn't have to see Peter every day at school.
Later that day, she took a walk through the trees surrounding the compound to avoid talking to anyone else.
She found herself in front of one particular tree. She thought back to almost two years ago when she and Peter had sat underneath this very tree. That was the day Peter gave her her special nickname. The nickname that she loved with all her heart.
She sat under the tree, pulling her knees up to her chin, and thought about Peter.
She thought about the day they first met and how nervous she'd been to finally meet somebody her own age. She remembered how she felt when she first walked into the apartment. It was a peculiar feeling, like something good was about to begin but hadn't started yet. She didn't know why she felt like that until Peter walked into the room. Her life had never really been the same after that.
She thought about all the study sessions, movie nights, and video chats they'd had over the course of their relationship. Now that she thought about it, hardly a day went by that she didn't communicate with him in some way, shape, or form.
She remembered the night they decided to be more than friends. She'd had feelings for Peter long before that night, but she hadn't said anything for fear of ruining the greatest friendship she'd ever had. Little did she know that he'd had feelings for her even longer.
She thought about all the little moments she tried so hard not to forget. The hand-in-hand walks, the comforting hugs, the whispered I-love-yous. The little things were Lia's favorite memories.
She didn't realize she was crying until just then. She didn't do anything to try and hinder her tears, preferring to simply let them fall uninhibited. She was quiet, listening to the sounds the birds made as they flew through the treetops. She felt horrible for calling things off like that. She was just so angry at that moment that she didn't know what else to say to make him stop. She wished she could turn back time and erase that moment from history.
She didn't hear Peter come to a stop behind a nearby tree. He watched her silently, his heart aching with the knowledge that he was the reason she was crying.
He left his hiding place and came to sit next to her, mimicking her posture by pulling his knees to his chin. She looked over at him, but she didn't say anything. They were silent for a bit, watching the clouds float past in the sky above them.
Peter noticed her tears. He sighed, using his thumb to wipe them from her cheek.
"Don't cry, Lia," he said softly.
She scooted closer to him without a second thought, laying her head on his shoulder. He put his arm around her. She took a few deep breaths, trying to stop her tears.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly.
He looked at her. "Why are you sorry? I'm the one that needs to apologize."
She shook her head. "We both need to apologize. I shouldn't have called things off like I did. I was just so mad at you at that particular moment."
"You had a right to be mad," Peter told her. "I said some things I shouldn't have. I'm sorry for making light of your PTSD. That was totally uncalled for."
"Why do you not want me to try and do things by myself?" she asked curiously.
He chuckled dryly. "Because I'm absolutely terrified that you'll get in over your head and injure yourself. I love you way too much to watch you get hurt."
"I understand that you're afraid," she said. "But you can't protect me from everything. Sooner or later, I'm gonna get hurt. Wouldn't it be better to just let me try and do some things on my own? That way, when the time comes for me to go on bigger missions, I'll know what I'm doing and I'll have a lesser chance of getting hurt."
He thought for a moment. "Okay," he conceded. "But you have to promise me that if you get in over your head you'll at least call for backup. Don't try and handle more than two or three guys at once all by yourself."
"Deal." She snuggled closer to him, a smile making its way onto her face for the first time since she'd called things off.
"Does this mean I'm forgiven?" Peter asked.
"Mmm-hmm," she hummed contently. "I forgive you. Am I forgiven?"
He chuckled again. "Yeah. I forgive you too."
She lifted her head and went to kiss his cheek, but he purposefully turned his head at the last second so her lips met his instead.
She pulled back almost immediately. "Peter!" she lightly chastised, a smile still on her face.
He put his hands on her waist and pulled her back toward him. She giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him closer.
When they broke apart, he wrapped his arms around her in a hug and buried his face in her neck. She gladly reciprocated, reveling in the much-needed comfort his embrace brought.
"I love you, Peter," she whispered in his ear.
"I love you too, Butterfly."
Hearing her special nickname brought a smile to her face.
"Don't ever leave me again," he whispered softly. "I don't know what I do without you."
She sighed, completely content.
"I promise."