Disclaimer: I do not own Spiderman, Venom, or any of the other major characters in this story.

They are the sole property of Marvel.

CHAPTER ONE

SEVEN MONTHS LATER

Peter Parker woke up smiling. The sun streamed through the ruddy window of his one room apartment. It fell on the small bed and illuminated her hair like an explosion of fire, a tropical sunset. Mary Jane, I love this woman he thought, his smile widening. It had been almost a year since the battle that had resulted in the death of his lifelong friend Harvey Osbourne. Peter shuddered shivers arching up his spine at the thought of the horrible black substance from space that had corrupted him for a while. That small descent into madness had almost cost him the love of his life. Unbidden he saw an image of the horrible thing that had almost killed him, the corrupted staff writer from the Daily Bugle, Brock.

Peter thought back to that rainy night when he had gone to the top of St. Chelsea's Cathedral and torn off the black substance, it had fallen and landed right on top of the unfortunate man and turned him into a nightmare version of Spiderman. Peter shuddered again. He had never been so glad of a death. If it hadn't been for Harvey Osbourne that thing would have killed him. It had only been killed at the cost of Harvey's life.

Mary Jane stirred next to him sighing as she moved into the waking world.

"Good Morning Pete," she smiled and nuzzled her head into his arm.

"Hey M.J. How did you sleep?"

She sighed and muttered something falling asleep again. He grinned and kissed the top of her head. Standing up, he stretched and walked toward the kitchen area meaning to make breakfast for them. He pulled out eggs and bacon and began cooking. Standing over the oven he began thinking about how strange the last couple of months had been as far as Spiderman was concerned. He'd continued to fight small crime as he always did but there hadn't been a really bad criminal since Flint Marco and the thing that had been Brock. He guessed he should be thankful but the lack of significant crime in New York struck an odd chord in him like it was the calm before some great storm. He shrugged it off and put the eggs and bacons on a plate and placed it on the bedside table.

"Hey M.J. wake up. Breakfast is ready," she stirred and sat up. Sniffing the air, she smiled in the dim half awake way of someone who has just come out of a very deep sleep. She leaned over and kissed Peter tenderly on the cheek.

"Aren't you going to eat anything Peter?" Peter shrugged and shook his head slowly.

"I'm not really hungry yet. Besides I'm not really a fan of eggs. You know that." He laughed bringing another smile to her face.

"Okay but promise me that you'll eat when I get up and make you something. Okay?" He nodded his head conceding before her.

"I love your cooking M.J. Of course I'll eat your food but right now Spiderman has to go to work." He looked at his watch quickly. It was ten 'o' clock.

"I'll be back by noon," Mary Jane rolled her eyes conceding to Peter's daily routine.

"Just take care of yourself. Spiderman may be a hero but he's not invincible," He nodded automatically not really paying attention as he went about changing into his suit. Once he had it on he went to the window and turned around.

"I love you M.J. I'll be back," He turned and swung out the window quickly disappearing into the distance.

"I love you to," she said to the empty room before heaving a sigh and getting out of bed. She went about making it. She sighed again and then started getting dressed deciding to go out and pick up some food.

Ten minutes later she walked out the door and into the cool autumn day. The breeze blowing her fiery hair around her face, she shook her head clearing the view and then turned onto Taft Avenue headed toward McKinley's Market.
She heard a familiar thwap sound and looked up just in time to see Spiderman arc by over head. She waved at him not knowing whether he saw her or not. She watched him until he vanished again she looked at her watch and noticed without real interest that it was at 10:15. However at 10:15 a.m. on that particular morning in a very different section of the city that sinister things were beginning to happen.