DISCLAIMER: I own nothing and no one from Spiderman. I am just a poor college student who also happens to be a Spidy fan and this just happens to be a fanfiction that my mind came up with that I feel like sharing with other fans. I make absolutely NO money from this. It is merely for fun and hopefully the enjoyment of other fans. Please don't sue and fans please enjoy.

Chapter 7: So Tired

Somewhere towards the end of the operation, Peter came back to the world of the living. He had been steadily breathing easier and the color had come back into his face as the operation had continued. Blinking Peter's hazel eyes opened and focused vaguely on the small group surrounding him. Noticing he was awake, M.J. smiled. "Welcome back, Tiger."

"Glad to be back." The young man's voice was quite, but otherwise steady. He moved to try and get up but fell back again with a hiss of pain. "Okay… not a good idea," he mumbled through clenched teeth.

M.J.'s hand reached down to lie on Peter's shoulder. "Just stay still. You're hurt pretty badly."

Peter compiled with his friend's wish as she moved to help the other two clean up. Peter lay on the ground with his eyes closed simply breathing while the sounds of medical supplies being packed up continued around him. When the sounds stopped and he felt the presences of the three people who had just saved him gather around once more, Peter opened his eyes. His sight was filled with the worried faces of M.J., Robbie and, amazingly enough, Jameson, but there was something else in those faces that he couldn't quite put his finger on. His brow furrowed as he tried to figure out what it was.

"What are you thinking?" asked M.J., worried that something was wrong.

Peter blinked, his thoughts broken. It took him a moment to arrange a proper sentence. "I'm wondering," he started a little breathless, "why everyone looking at me so weird and… for some reason, I have a feeling I'm not going to like the answer.

"Oh… that…"M.J. held up a ragged piece of red cloth a little guiltily. "Um… I'm afraid the cats out of the bag."

Peter blinked. What did a little scrap of cloth have to do with anything? Then it hit him; that was his mask. Peter's eyes widened with the realization and he frantically tried to get up, but M.J. was there to push him down. He grasped at her arm still trying to move, "M.J. M.J. does anyone else know?" His voice rose in alarm. "Oh no is Aunt May okay? You know what would happen if they found out… Please please tell me she's okay. I don't know what I would do if she got hurt because of me…" The rant went on.

"Peter calm down! Peter, LISTEN TO ME." M.J. yelled at the top of her lungs to get her panicked friends attention. Seeing she had succeeded the young redhead continued in a softer voice. "May's fine. Everyone's fine. No one else knows… just Robbie and… Jameson. It hasn't become public knowledge or anything. Now lay down or you're going to rip your side open again."

Reassured by her words, Peter lay back exhausted after his outburst and let his eyes flutter shut. He was breathing roughly and looked flushed. M.J. quickly raised a hand to check Peter's forehead and was not happy to find her friend was running a slight fever.

Jameson tried to arrange his thoughts to adapt to this new and very shocking development, but didn't have time to reflect on the scene he had just witness because at that very moment, a groan issued from where the forgotten Rhino had fallen earlier startling the group. Jameson frowned, "We need to get out of here. How far is it to Parker's house?"

M.J. sprung up shaking her head urgently. "We can't take him home; May would have a heart attack."

The editor stared at her in shock. "You mean she doesn't know," he stated, reading between the lines.

The redhead bit her lip and looked away.

Jameson sighed. This was too complicated.

Robbie's voice broke the editors thoughts, "We can take him to my place. It's just me living there currently and besides… it's close."

Decided on a plan of action Jonah looked down to the teenager lying at his feet. "We need to get him into some real clothes."

"He should have some in his backpack," M.J. pipe in. "He usually has it around somewhere…" the redhead continued to mumble as she searched around and fishing through the rubble until she found what she was looking for. "A-HAH."

Unzipping the bag revealed red t-shirt, a pair of jeans and some old sneakers, but when the group went to put them on they found the super-powered teenager known as Spiderman asleep, gently snoring.

"It's almost a shame to wake him, he needs his rest," Robbie said softly looking at Peter's tired face.

"He can rest later" Jameson snapped at his friend. "Right now we just need to get him out of here, before that brute over there wakes up."

While the others were talking, M.J. knelt and gently shook her sleeping friend. "Peter? Come-on Tiger you need to wake up." With a groan those hazel eyes reluctantly open. "Hey sleepy head. Let's get you dressed." Peter closed his eyes again and tried to ignore the other teenager, but she was back, shaking him again.

"Common," her voice sounded again. "We can't have you sleeping on rooftops now can we?"

Grumbling Peter relinquished. With M.J. help he managed to sit up and put the normal clothing on over what was left of his costume.

Peter winced once when he raised his arms so his shirt could be pulled over his head, but other then that he seemed well on the way to recovery. All he needed now was a warm and preferably dry place to rest.

The two new men watched the redheaded girl quickly dress the other youth. It was obvious to them then that this wasn't the first time she had taken care of him. Jameson frowned. There were so many questions running through his head, so many unknowns. He wasn't used to being the one out of the loop, but he knew his questions would have to wait.

Robbie had joined M.J. while Jameson had been mulling over his thoughts. "Do you think you can stand, Peter?"

"Huh? Oh, yah… sure… just give me a minute…" It was taking a long time for Peter's tired mind to process anything at this point. With help he managed to get up, but he had to lean on the larger black man next to him to keep from falling over. Walking was going to be a problem. With assistance Peter was able to walk a few feet before he stumbled and nearly fell.

"To hell with it," Jameson grumbled impatiently sweeping the boy up in his arms. "Let's get out of here."

Peter was surprised to find himself in the editor's arms, but was too tired to really care. He leaned back in the arm encircling him and soon was asleep.

TBC…

Okay since my last chapter was pretty short and one of my dear, dear reviewers said they wished I would update more AND because my evil roommates woke me up at SIX AM (grrrrrr) on a Saturday (double grrrrrr) and just wouldn't shut up! I decided to write a little. Hope you like. I think the evil ones are gone now so I think I'm going to go back to bed. Please review.

Hey, Elisa. I must say your review made me all warm and fuzzy inside. I probably sat there looking lovingly at my computer/your review for about a minute before I snapped out of my happy glow enough to write this. Your review really means a lot to me. The feeling I get (and I imagine other fanfic authors get too) when I see a new review is just heavenly. It's really a lot like unexpectedly finding a fanfic you have been waiting (for what seems like forever) to update and then unexpectedly finding a new chapter has been uploaded, reading that chapter and finding out it's better then you could have ever hoped for… I'm speaking from experience, hehe… I guess what I'm trying to get at is ever review is a cherished and extremely valuable piece of writing to me and I really appreciate you taking your time to write one. Thank you so much. I am so happy you are enjoying my little fanfic… I do realize my chapters have been pretty short lately and that's probably to blame because I am so crazy that I currently have five fanfics going at once… frankly I'm nuts… and the scary thing is I know it… Anyway, (smile) I hope you will continue to enjoy this little fanfic. Thank again - Keajo

Jpt: Hey thanks for reviewing! It so good to hear from you guys! Thanks so much for the support. It's you guys that keep me going :)

P.S. Chapter title: "So Tired" inspired by the song "I'm So Tired" sung by The Beatles… not my favorite song, but I do like The Beatles and it will just have to do because, right now, I'm too tired to find anything else…