It had been agreed upon that he would call her or stop by every night after he made his rounds through the city. It was after a hostage situation at a bank and he had nearly been shot when she made the rule. She had to find out about it on the news and nearly lost her mind with worry. Ever since that incident she made him promise to call.

"Peter I'm serious. Please at least call." She said desperately as he hugged her goodbye.

"I'll try to stop by here on my way home. If I can't then you know I'll call." He said as she leaned forward and kissed him and then helped him pull his mask over his face. "Relax, it's just a normal night. I'm just making sure everything's under control." He ran his hands up her arms to her face and kissed her forehead through the mask.

"I love you." He said as he jumped out the window.

She watched him swing to the building across the street and then out of sight. She sighed and sat on her bed. Worry worked its way into her head causing her stomach to tie up into knots. She told herself she should be used to this by now. They had been together for nearly 6 months and he did this at least four times a week. Nothing deadly had ever happened and tonight wouldn't be any different.

She went into the kitchen to make a cup of hot chocolate to calm her nerves.

A few hours later she was well into a biology paper and the worry had dwindled from a roaring fire in her chest to a tiny flame in the back of her head. She checked her phone for the millionth time; 11:47-no missed calls.

She shut down her computer and crawled into bed, knowing she wouldn't be able to sleep until she heard from him. She lay in bed for nearly an hour before dozing off.

Gwen jolted awake at 1:30 and fumbled for her cell phone on the nightstand. No missed calls. She began to panic. Normal nights he had called by 12:30 at the latest. She dialed his number and listened at it went straight to voice mail. 'Hey, you've reached Peter…" She hung up and groaned as she threw the phone to the end of the bed.

She stood up and walked across the room to the window. She opened her window and stuck her head out hoping to see him swinging up to her fire escape. No sign of anyone in red and blue spandex coming her way. She was really beginning to worry. She picked up her phone and tried to call again with no response. She began to imagine the worse things possible. What if he was shot and is lying in an alley somewhere? Or what if the web shooters stopped working and he fell all the way to streets? She would die if she lost him.

She was on her way to complete freak out mode when she heard a tap on the window. Relief flooded through her as she padded across the carpet to open the window. Before he had both legs in the room he was apologizing.

"I'm so sorry." He rushed to get it all out, "there was a bad robbery and then my phone died and I was all the way home and I remembered I hadn't stopped by or called or anything. And it was so late that I thought maybe I shouldn't, but I knew you would kill me so…I'm really sorry Gwen."

"I was so worried Peter, I couldn't think straight." She sat on the bed exhausted.

"I know and I'm sorry." He sat next to her.

"No I don't think you get it!" She stood up as her worry turned to relief and then anger. "I sit in my room almost every night waiting to see on the news or hear that Spider-Man was killed or shot or fell from 100 stories to the ground. I wait to hear from you and when you didn't call I thought…" She couldn't finish her thought and tears she didn't realized she was holding back bubbled up in her eyes and ran down her cheeks. "If I lost you I don't think I could handle that."

"Hey…" Peter stood up and raped his arms around her. She put her face in his shoulder and breathed in his comforting scent.

"I'm right here, I'm fine. I'm sorry I didn't call. It will NEVER happen again." He brushed her tears with his thumbs. "I don't want to see you cry because of me ever again."

"I love you so much." He whispered leaning down to kiss her.

"I love you too." She nodded, "and I think I'm going to literally lose my mind because of it."

He laughed and closed the gap in between them. She wrapped her arms around his neck and they fell backwards onto the bed. Gwen laughed and considered the rollercoaster ahead for someone in love with Spider-Man.