Christmas in New York
December 23rd snow is falling down on the big apple and the parker house is a buzz with last minute frantic Christmas decorators. Aunt may was in the kitchen making last minute Christmas cookies with Sam she had assigned everyone specific jobs that were suited with their abilities. While Luke and Danny finished dressing the tree peter and Ava finished hanging up the lights,
"peter how's it going up there?" Ava yelled shivering in the snow holding the plug, "I hate doing lights!" peter yelled back "if one goes they all go out!"
"Will you stop whining and just finish up its freezing out here!"
"She's cold!, I'm on the roof hanging lights with the wind and snow blowing around trying to sort out these freaking lights and she's cold" he mumbled dispiritedly. "How does that look?" he called down, Ava scanned the roof watching the multi colored lights begin to flash across the side of the house "peter... are they supposed to blink?" She asked through chattering teeth.
peter squeezed the bridge of his nose in annoyance "oh please be joking" he growled, "Which ones are blinking Ava?" he asked although he was sure he didn't want to know.
"Um all of them" she replied,
"oh god I hate this holiday!" peter cried laying down on the roof. He was turning the light bulbs by hand his fingers freezing as the cold air bit at his exposed skin by the time he reached the last light peter was so cold now his face was burning "they're all good now peter!" Ava yelled up,
"finally! he shivered forcing himself up he wrapped himself as tightly as he could trying to warm his body up he didn't notice the slick patch of ice that formed on the roof.
Ava watched as peter sluggishly dragged his feet across the roof top not noticing the ice in front of him "peter watch your step!" Her warning could have come a bit sooner as peter had already slipped on the ice her hands clapped over her mouth as she watched peter slide off the roof in a wave of snow. The frozen surfaces prevented his spider grip from catching him luckily the soft snow broke his fall. Ava tried to hold back a laugh as peter sat up covered in snow his brown hair buried in a white blanket, the snow packed inside his coats liner, "sssso cold" he shivered he could see Ava's face physically twisting as she fought back her laughter "don't you dare laugh Ava!" he playfully threatened. Ava offered out a hand to pull peter up his hands were like ice "lets go inside parker you're freezing".
Luke and Danny were sitting on the couch wolfing down a plate of ginger bread men cookies when Ava pushed a frozen peter into the living room "whoa! what happened to Pete?" Asked Luke,
"he pulled a Santa Claus" Ava laughed.
"what does that imply?" asked a confused Danny, "he fell off the roof" Luke replied. before peter could make a retort a loud slapping noise followed by a quick yelp came from the kitchen "Sam I told you not to eat the cookie dough!" Aunt may ordered,
"it was one spoonful and you hit me with a wooden spoon!" Sam protested rubbing his sore hand.
Everyone shared a universal smile when Sam turned around to face them "what happened to parker?" he asked catching peter shake the snow from his clothes. "Ava tried to make a snowman out of me" he deadpanned irately, "ha-ha-ha that is awesome" Sam laughed leaning back against the hot stove "ouch!" he screamed jumping off the stove the house was filled with roaring laughter "ok everybody out of the kitchen!" May ordered shooing them all out "Sam! Stay out of the cookie dough!" Aunt May's voice was no longer that of a sweat Aunt but a marine core drill sergeant.
"oh sweet Christmas" Luke panicked jumping back to the couch with Danny, "I'm going to grab a shower and try to defrost myself" peter said with his teeth still chattering heading upstairs with Ava on his heels, "anyone noticing peter and Ava seem to be spending more time in each other's company these past few days?" Danny wondered, Luke looked back at him "I'm sure she's just keeping an eye on him so he doesn't try and snoop through his presents".
Chapter 2: ghosts of Christmas future
Ava turned into her room as peter turned into his, she dropped down on to her bed burying her face in her hands. "What's wrong with me? I've had every opportunity to tell him today and at the last second I find a reason not to and run and hide, I want to tell him so badly... then again what if he doesn't feel the same way?" Ava was trying to sort out her personal dilemma when a red smoke seeped into her room through the air vents.
Out of the smoke came an aged voice "many young heroes have lost that which they hold most dear to them when love is weighed on the balance of life" Ava searched the room for the source of this mysterious voice as the smoke rose from under her bed engulfing her in its mists. What are you! Ava shrieked "don't be afraid child" said the voice "I am here to help you solve this dilemma I will show you the future of your choices" Ava felt sick as the world around her began to spin the red smoke clouded her vision then everything went black….. Ava awoke in her bed room but it was different her book shelf which normally held her school books and hid a few romance novels was now housing primary school books, the walls once white now pink with hand drawn pictures of spiders and white tigers.
But one picture caught her attention it was another hand drawn one but of a family the father was drawn tall with brown hair and blue eyes, the mother slightly shorter than the father her hair was long and dark with very big brown eyes with almond color the daughter was almost identical except she had her father's eyes. The door swung open and Ava was face to face with an older version of herself she felt her race as her future self-looked at her then smiled "2013 Christmas dilemma?" She asked. Ava was taken back as she hesitated "you know what's going on?"
Future Ava nodded "I was in the same spot you are with that same look plastered on my face when I met my older self" she replied calmly, "so where am I?" Ava asked intrigued,
"where would be still at the parker house, although when is the year 2038" replied future Ava "...come on its best I show this future before she zaps you to the next one", she? Asked Ava Madame web the dimensional guardian. Ava tried to process what she was being told "so... the room upstairs belongs to peters daughter?" Ava asked curiously with a hint of hope,
"our daughter" future Ava replied. Ava stopped dead in her tracks, "Our daughter? As in... yours and peters?" She asked trying to conceal her impending excitement "is that really the face I made when I try to cover up my emotions? Kid remember I'm you trying to influence your choice so stop hiding your emotions future Ava ordered but yes Mary is mine and peters daughter".
The two Ava's made their way into the kitchen sitting down at the table "so what makes this future special?" Ava asked,
future Ava smiled again "Mary come here sweetie!" she called,
"coming mommy" came a cute voice followed by a miniature Ava. "This is my main point right here" she said picking up the small child "if I hadn't admitted to peter how I felt I never would have been blessed with this amazing little bundle of joy" as she tickled the Childs ribs, "mommy stop!" Mary protested through a giggle fit.
Ava watched in amusement her older-self seem to have a good life with peter she had a beautiful daughter, no signs of regret about her life style, Ava finally had her normal life she felt enlightened "so where is peter?" She asked but it was Mary who piped up "daddies out with the boys picking up our Christmas tree because uncle bucket head forgot to get one" as she swiped a cookie from the table. Ava let a joyful smile dance across her face 25 years down the road and they still got together for Christmas and Sam was uncle bucket head now that alone was worth the experience
she looked around the kitchen everything was still the same, there was a few more pictures on the wall such as the gang at graduation, Mary's first day of school, peter and Ava in swimsuits in Puerto rico that picture caught Ava's attention in the picture they looked like they did in Ava's time. Future Ava took notice of her looking bewildered at the picture, "that was taken on our 1 year anniversary" she said with a smile "peter surprised me with a trip home which I'm still having trouble finding out how he pulled it off, The next one is my favourite though" she continued pulling another picture off the wall Ava looked at the picture and felt her eyes water, in the picture Ava and Marry were sitting on Santa peters lap with Aunt May and Phil Coulson standing behind them set in front of a magnificent Christmas tree "our Christmas family portrait" future Ava said watching her younger self get lost in a sea of hope "you know life is boring when you go through it alone can't tell you how great things were after I admitted my feelings for peter".
Ava looked up from the photo "so you guys never had problems with your feelings interfering on missions?"
"At first I'll admit whenever peter did his reckless actions I would worry but after I'd remember he has been doing the hero thing longer than any of us, Don't let fear control your life kid if you do you'll miss out on a lot of happy times... you know how badly you want a family look around you, we have the greatest in laws ever they're great with Mary, who by the way our mother absolutely adores, Ava you can have a wonderful life if you stop fighting yourself".
Ava was silent then she looked up with puffy red eyes "what about the way we live the villains we face, what happens when they get the drop on either me or peter?" Future Ava's smile did not diminish "there are no more villains left in the world peter parker found what he called a " cleansing formula" it basically cleansed the body of all genetic mutations. Most of us heroes retired a long time ago... except for peter I think he will always be the city guardian" she finished.
Ava's hopeful smile returned "so I could have a normal life husband, daughter, regular family traditions?"
"As normal as things got for us but yeah a happy life don't deny yourself this" Future Ava made her way across the kitchen to another picture "this one I believe it's the most important memory I have..." it was peter laying in a hospital bed with an exhausted Ava and new borne Mary "Not only did we become a family that day, peter turned down nicks offer to become an avenger so he could have the most time he could with us, as dumb as he is" "he's kind of smart sometimes" they finished in unison. Ava felt the tears begin to build again as the red smoke returned "times up kid remember what you saw here remember how great it is".
Chapter 3: unforgiving shadows
Once again Ava felt sick as the world spun around her the reality of the life she saw melted away and reformed into another. Ava found herself standing in what looked like the tri-carrier bridge except that most of the equipment was damaged the portholes were all either cracked or broken, and there were very few agents on board. The tri-carrier looked like a war zone
Ava slowly crept to the shattered window fear slowly circled her heart as she got closer, the sight she saw was horrific New York City was burning smoke rising from the desolated streets "oh my god!" she whimpered.
"Ava something wrong?" Asked a familiar commanding voice, "director fury what happened here?" She began to ask but stopping in mid-sentence when she saw fury's face. Nick's face carried at least 3 new scars, he was missing a piece of his left ear and his hand was no longer placed upon his pistol in fact he no longer had his pistol hand, fury looked at her strangely "the stress finally break you kid?" he asked. Ava still had a terrified stare on her face
"Director fury power man's in the i.c.u!" came a voice over the communicator Ava blew past fury as she ran down the hall "how could somebody put power-man in the I.C.U?" she thought to herself as she rounded the final turn she came to face her team,
"AVA?" Nova shrieked looking at her, the whole team looked like a scene from a nightmare Nova had bandages on almost every limb of his body, and his helmet looked like it had been crushed in a car compactor, Iron-fist like fury had a number of scars on his body but his right arm was missing from just above the elbow, "what's all the commotion over here!" White tiger had stormed into the hallway prompting Nova and Iron-fist to double take back and forth between the two.
"Not now!" white tiger growled looking at Ava "you two keep an eye on power-man doctors say he should be ok but he sustained possible permanent eye damage, you" she hissed at Ava "let's go" she pointed back down the hall, their walk was unusually creepy for Ava, her future self-seemed so cold and angry completely opposite of the other version she met. Finally they entered the lounge "sit!" white tiger hissed, "you could ask a bit nicer!" Ava snapped back.
"sit down or ill put you down!" whiter tiger growled Ava sunk into the couch white tiger pulled off her mask. "You know why you're here right?" she asked in a snarly tone, "yea apparently you're supposed to show me what this future is and how it's related to my feelings for peter" Ava retorted.
"right" white tiger mumbled "first do you know what year it is?" Ava shook her head hesitantly "its 2018" white tiger said "the world around you is the result of what happens when you ran out on your Christmas!" when Ava didn't respond she continued talking "after you ran out on everyone the atmosphere on the team changed we had no balance, no sense of direction within a year we lost the tri-carrier, 3 years later we lost the city"
Ava was now ready to ask "what happened that Christmas that caused all this? And where's peter?"
White tiger looked at Ava with grief stricken eyes "peter died that Christmas that's what happened to cause this", Ava sunk deeper into her chair "how?" She stammered. white tiger sighed "as I am sure you're aware when it came to admitting secrets I wasn't exactly the most cooperative person, I could never tell peter how I felt..." she looked down at the table "no matter how hard I tried then on Christmas eve peter and I had a quick run in under the mistletoe.."
Ava blushed, "how how was it?" she asked, a smirk quickly shot across white tigers face "it was for lack of a better word magical but I panicked thinking what would this do what if I messed up and the future I saw changed somehow the web head sensed I was worried he tried ask me what was wrong but I ran, I grabbed my coat and I ran clear across the city trying to think things through..." White tigers face dropped again look of depression and regret forged into her face "I forgot peter has a tendency to be stupidly noble, the temperature dropped it was so cold that night people were advised to stay indoors at all times prolonged exposure meant serious sickness or even fatal". Ava was beginning to fear the next part of the story, "turns out peter followed me out of the house forgetting his coat he spent 4 hours searching for me in the freezing cold...
I came back to the house everyone was worried Aunt May sat me down on the couch turns out a shield agent found peter buried in the snow he was frozen and had caught hypothermia we ended up spending Christmas eve on board the tri-carrier, Christmas in the med bay the way he acted we all thought he was going to pull through white tigers eyes began to flood with tears he died on boxing day. Without Spiderman to help balance the team the villains took over creating the world you see today"
Ava was now biting her lip in an attempt to hold back an outburst of tears when fury walked in "power-man's going to be fine although he is permanently blind" he said in a dreary tone "dare devils been called in to train him" white tiger turned to fury "how did you get a hold of dare devil?" She asked keenly, nick gave half a smile "web head had quiet the contact list". He then turned to the younger Ava "can you explains this?" He asked casually.
"not really" white tiger replied, "sum it up then" fury demanded "she's from 2013 dimensional guardian sent her here to try and change the future!" she breathed, Ava was stunned her future said all that in one breath. Fury placed his fingers on his nose "sorry I asked" he whispered leaving the room.
"See why you need to tell peter how you feel this world is a terrible way to live" Ava stood up "so the fate of the world depends on me asking peter out?" White tiger laughed "no the fate of the world depends on you making sure there is still a Spiderman to save it".
Chapter 3: a dimensional favour
The red smoke filled the lounge "please don't let this become your reality kid!" white tiger pleaded as Ava disappeared into the smoke…..
Peter stepped out of his steam filled shower wearing only a towel when a voice made him spin on the spot luckily his powers worked or else he would slipped on the water on the floor. He came face to face with an old woman in a black dress embroidered with spider webs "madam web" peter greeted,
the old woman smiled "glad to see you remember me spidey" she replied
"why are you here?" he asked suspiciously,
"you once helped me sort out a complication with a time paradox and I promised you a favour in return" she replied with a grin. peters interest peaked "what are you going to show me?"
"You nothing" she said bluntly "I showed your friend Ava her future well your future too I guess" madam web finished "merry Christmas spidey" and she was gone. "How is that a favour!" He hollered into the open space of his bathroom "I swear that old bat exists only to confuse the hell out of me" he sighed putting a change of clothes on "why show Ava my future?" He wondered then blushed from his brief fantasy that maybe their futures were one in the same, "no!" he said shaking his head "Ava's the kind of girl who would end up with guys like Steve rogers…"
Ava found herself outside the parker house looking in on the festive party Sam finished the cookies Aunt may was handing Coulson the tree topper star Luke and Danny were serving Mary Jane and Gwen drinks, everyone was present and accounted for. nobody seemed to notice she was gone she felt her heart sink "am I too late to change things?" she asked herself turning off the steps.
when peter came barrelling down the stairs he saw a flash dark hair whip past the window and Ava was not present in the living room. Without thinking peter tore off out the door the weather was far below freezing and he forgot his jacket "Ava wait up!" He shouted through the roaring wind his voice couldn't travel far with this wind so he decided to run in to the darkness.
Ava didn't realize how far she had walked across the city until she felt the cold air bite her cheeks "to be stupidly noble, the temperature dropped it was so cold that night people were advised to stay indoors at all times prolonged exposure meant serious sickness or even fatal" those words echoed in her ears her eyes widened peter was out here chasing her he was going to die! Ava drew on every ounce of power the amulet could offer as she ran back to the parker house at full speed.
Peter could feel his strength begin to leave him, he was becoming sluggish hypothermia was kicking in he knew if he didn't find Ava soon he was finished he shook off every instinct he had to turn back and pushed on when out of the dark came a fast moving object seconds later peter collided with the object knocking him into the snow bank.
"Peter!" Ava shouted pulling on his arm "what are doing you idiot!?" She opened her coat and wrapped peter in between her and the coat attempting to warm him up blushing at how close together they were "let's get you home" she panicked. it was really awkward walking home with two people in one jacket until peter felt his strength return. "Ava" he whispered pulling the coat "off why did you run off like that?" He asked.
Ava looked back into peter eyes "I thought I missed something important and I wasn't thinking clearly" she whispered peter recognized that look in her face he himself carried it once before "what did Madam web show you that would make you panic?" He asked leaning his head on hers. "How do you know her?" Ava wondered.
peter inhaled the cold air deeply "back when I first got my powers there was a time paradox madam web summoned me and other Spiderman from different dimensions to correct it now again what did she show you?" Ava was quiet as they made their way up the steps a smile shot across peters face "Ava... hold up" he said pulling her back from the door, "what's up peter?" She asked
"well that" he said pointing the overhanging mistletoe her eyes sprang open she hadn't missed her moment she leaned in on peter slowly felt his lips embrace hers, it was as she would describe it in the future ….. Magical
Christmas comes but once a year:
25 Christmas's down the road our heroes find themselves in the homestead of Phil Coulson and May parker-Coulson with more last minute decorating hassle. Sam resumed his place in mays kitchen baking Christmas cookies, Luke and Danny were serving eggnog to everyone Coulson was flipping for Christmas movies Mary Jane, Gwen, jewel and Ava were in the back yard entertaining the kids and peter and Aunt may were carrying presents down stairs. "Aunt May its ok I can handle this" peter said with an everlasting smile on his face,
"peter its Christmas I don't want to hear it" may replied cheerily they hid the gifts in the basement due to the fact that somebody who promised to get the tree forgot it. Everyone settled into the living room to watch the Christmas movie Coulson turned on, the women sat on the couch with the kids, Coulson sat in his newish lazy boy recliner, and the boys were left on the floor. Mary looked over to the vacant spot by the window then looked up to Ava and May, "mommy grandma where is our tree?" She asked, Ava looked at peter with the all too familiar look that peter read as "never let Sam say he'll bring the tree" so boys when are you going to get the tree? May asked with a laugh.
the boys left and aunt May, the girls and Coulson went caroling leaving Ava home with Mary "it's almost time for the ghost of Christmas past" she told herself