A/N : Sorry for the delay with this one. I blame a very complicated payroll and a stinking cold. Thankfully both are a little better so I was able to update.

For those of you who have read the first part of this story "How did we get so dark?" - welcome back.

For those who are new - hello!

This could be read alone but I'd suggest reading the first story just to get an idea of what is going on.

As before I only own my own characters and any original story lines. Everything else is borrowed.

I hope you enjoy! :)

"What's the matter? I thought you loved larb."

Aunt May grinned as she watched her nephew, hoping that the mention of the oddly named food would be enough to get a smile out of him.

Nothing.

"Too larb-y? Not Larb-y enough?"

Nope - still nothing.

She held in a sigh. He'd been like this ever since he'd entered the kitchen, clearly upset about something, and told her that Chrissie wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be coming.

She hadn't believed him of course but had been hoping that, with a little bit of light hearted humour and some food she might get the truth out of him - seeing as Chrissie clearly wasn't willing to tell her anything any time soon if she was opting out of going out for Thai food.

Thai was Chrissie's favourite so Aunt May knew it had to be something serious for Chrissie to want to avoid Peter so much that she would turn down her favourite meal.

Yep it was up to Aunt May to get to the bottom of this - so she persisted.

"How many times do I need to say Larb before you talk to me?"

She laughed, a little nervously - it had never been this hard to get Peter to talk to her when he was younger. She was a little worried that this would be what it was like now, that he would constantly be keeping secrets and lying to her so that trying to get the truth from him was like trying to pry open a very reluctant oyster.

"You know I Larb you."

She pulled a face and (thank God!) Peter smiled just a little.

It seemed like she was getting through to him.

"It's just stress, with the internship, and I'm tired."

Ok not what she was expecting him to say but still it was good - he was at least talking to her about something she could work with that.

"That Stark Internship. I have to say I am not a fan of that Tony Stark - and neither is Chrissie."

Peter's head snapped up as he stopped playing around with his Larb, his eyes fixed intently on his Aunt.

Well May thought a little smugly that definitely got the kind of reaction that she was looking for.

"Wait? What? What do you mean she doesn't like him? Chrissie idolises Mr Stark. That's why she applied for an internship with him. She wants to be just like him."

"She did until you started abandoning her to rush off to the Tower at all hours. Only to show up at odd times of the day covered head to toe in bruises. Don't look so shocked Peter, she noticed, we all did."

May paused to take a mouthful of her food, completely unfased by the scared look on her nephew's face.

Bless him he'd spent all this time thinking that he was getting away with whatever he was doing without anyone noticing.

So naive.

"Also it didn't help she didn't get the internship and you did. She'd been working on that application for months. It's all she ever wanted. Of course when she saw what you had to go through when you got it that kind of changed her mind a little but I think it still hurt - that Mr Stark chose you. Especially seeing as she'd begged you to apply with her and you always said no.

Got to admit a little bit of a low blow there buddy doing it behind her back and not even trying to say sorry when you got it and she didn't. Of course it wasn't your choice, but I think she would have appreciated the gesture - from both you and Mr Stark. Apparently the jackass didn't even bother to tell her himself, just got his assistant to call her.

She'd said he barely got the words out before hanging up on her to deal with some punk ass kid - now we know that kid was you. You know for a guy named Happy he came across as a real tight ass."

Peter suddenly slumped back in his chair, unable to believe what he'd just heard.

"Peter are you-"

"I-I didn't know that she didn't get the internship."

Aunt May stared at him, eying him up suspiciously.

"How could you not know that she didn't get the internship? She applied for the same one you got. Didn't you notice when she wasn't in the lab all the time?"

Peter's eyes closed and he bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself groaning out loud with frustration.

This whole situation just kept getting worse.

How could he tell Aunt May he never noticed she wasn't in the lab because he was never in the lab himself?

"She never told me."

To be honest he'd completely forgotten she'd even applied for it until tonight. Somehow Mr Stark must have worked out their connection and declined her application to protect his secret.

Yet another thing that he'd managed to screw up!

Aunt May's eyes widened in surprise and she let out a low whistle, shaking her head slightly from side to side before reaching for her beer to take a long sip.

"Dude. Whatever you did must have been bad for her not to tell you."

He groaned and banged his head against the table.

This was quickly becoming one of the worst days of his life.

"I know."

"That girl tells you everything."

He banged his head against the table again.

Why did she keep having to remind him of how badly he'd screwed up?!

"I know Aunt May. I screwed up ok. And now Chrissie hates Mr Stark...and me."

He added the last part so quietly, hating to admit it even to himself, yet Aunt May still heard. Her look changed to one of sympathy as she reached across the table and grabbed his hand.

"She doesn't hate you Peter - she's upset with you yes but she doesn't hate you. Mr Stark on the other hand..."

Seeing the look on his face, May squeezed his hand tightly again to gain his attention.

"But Peter, that's not down to you, that's down to Chrissie and Mr Stark. So she's fallen out of love with her childhood idol - that's her business, she'll figure out how to deal with it.

There are plenty more scientist she can look up to - preferably a kick ass female one rather than another macho robocop look alike...but I'm going off on a tangent here. Peter what's most important is fixing this problem between you and Chrissie. If I'm right it's more than just about the internship isn't it?"

Peter tensed up - he should have known that Aunt May was leading to this. He tried to take his hand away but she ever so slightly tightened her grip, keeping him in place. He could have easily gotten away from her if he tried but the pleading look on her face was enough for him to keep his hand there, firmly encased in her own.

"I heard her earlier. Talking to Ned. She knows you're keeping secrets from her." May admitted quietly, staring down at her hand, the one that was tightly gripping Peter's as if it was a life line. In many ways it was - to her anyway.

"Aunt May-"

"Please Peter, I hate to see you both like this. Whatever secret your keeping from her it's your business but is it really worth it? When it causes so much pain to the people that you love?"

Peter suddenly took his hand out of hers and leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest in a classic defensive pose but May knew him well enough to know he wasn't doing it because he was angry or felt cornered - he was vulnerable.

Peter grip on his arms tightened anxiously as he tried to think of the best way to explain this to her. He knew better than to lie to her outright and say he wasn't hiding anything - if the last couple of hours had taught him anything it was clear as day to those he was closest to that something wasn't right. But he couldn't tell her the truth, not knowing what the consequences of that would be. Despite that he knew he needed to say something, anything, to stop his Aunt from looking at him like her entire world was falling apart - again.

"I don't want this either but Aunt May. It's not that simple. I don't mean to lie and to hurt people I swear but...there are things I know now, things that I've seen thanks to the Stark Internship that I just can't tell you about. I want to but I...I just can't."

The two sat in silence for a moment, Peter watching his Aunt carefully, a pleading look in his eyes, hoping that she would understand and they could move on from this. After a moment she nodded her head slightly and Peter leant back in his seat with relief.

He could tell from her face that she might not be happy about it but she'd accepted it, recognised the honesty in his words and in her own way was dealing with it.

He wouldn't tell her the truth - but he sure as hell would tell Chrissie.

A/N: So what did you think? Hopefully you liked it. I've been wanting to write this scene for ages! There is more to come - at the moment this story is about 7 chapters long. I hope you stick around to see it to the end and that you enjoy reading it as much as I liked writing it ;)