Because I Love Her
By: Michael Lara
She's lying next to me. She's lying here in my arms with the most peaceful look on her face. The same peaceful look I remember her having every night she falls asleep in my arms. Her gorgeous flaming red hair cascades around her beautiful face as she steadily breathes in and out. Her warm breath lightly flows over my chest as she cuddles her naked body up close to me underneath the blankets.
I love her.
Gwen, she loved me but she didn't love all of me. She didn't love my other side, my more…extravagant side; the side that involves wearing a costume, crawling on walls, shooting webs, and rounding up criminals.
But this woman next to me does.
Another standout relationship was a criminal turned vigilante. She was the opposite. Felicia Hardy, Black Cat, loved the costumed version of me, just not the man beneath the mask.
The woman next to me does.
Since the night I was first introduced to her, I knew there was something there. I didn't know what it was until I lost the first woman I ever loved. I was never sure of how I felt about her until she stayed the night with me after Gwen died. She comforted me, knowing what and how I felt. She changed my opinion of her by doing so, making me see her as something more than a friend. It wasn't until I was going away for a while, when I would leave the country as part of my job, that I let my feelings for her known fully.
I loved her.
I wanted to tell her everything about me. Let her know all my secrets, including what I do when I seemingly run away from trouble and constantly show up late. I never knew she had found that secret out so long ago. She accepted me, both halves that made me, me.
She loved me.
It hasn't been easy. Dating had its disasters and yet, we continued. She rejected my first proposal, breaking my heart, but I pushed forward and tried again.
She said yes.
Even after we made it official and got married, it still wasn't easy. Along with the normal problems of bills, jobs, and other everyday dealings, there were the cuts, bruises, broken bones, concussions, and many, many other injuries. She was always at my side. Always there to patch me up and make me feel like a new man every time. I in turn watched over her. Saving her in my red and blue tights, saving her in my civilian clothes, and saving her from herself sometimes.
I did it all because I love her.
And now after all this time, after everything we've been through, all the twists, turns, separations, near deaths, our child we never got to see, that…dark time I wish I could redo. I've fought, lost, bled, reclaimed my own body, and won for her. I've made mistakes, she's made mistakes, but we've persevered through every challenge that lay before us and now, here we lay next to each other after making love, a wedding band on our fingers, relaxing, taking comfort that through everything, we always find each other. It's just as it should be, Peter and Mary Jane Parker. And I thank God for her.
All because I love her.