7.

"Oh my God! Peter, what happened?" Mary Jane asked as a tattered costume Peter Parker entered his room through a window.

"The usual. Bad guy, bombs, hostages. Collapsing building. Angry, angry mob. Bigger bombs. And did I mention the bombs yet?"

With a grunt, Peter sat down on the couch in front of his window and pulled what was left of his mask off. A small cut was under his left eye from the broken lens as well as a bruise across his cheek.

"Well, I got a first aid kit. So take your top off and I'll see what I can do."

Again, Peter grunted as he disrobed so Mary Jane could tend to his wounds. All small cuts were already closed up but she still had to remove a small piece of shrapnel or two from a few places on his back. Iodine spotted his body like a leopard's spots and bandages were applied to the larger cuts on him.

"Ok, I only have one more on my leg under the webbing. I had to pull a large piece of metal from it."

"All right. Take the webbing off and drop trou. I'll see what I can do."

Peter both grinned and blushed at her words. "Yeah, I bet you will."

"Pull it back, Tiger. Let's get you patched up first. I hope you won't need stitches because I…"

"Peter!" Gwen's voice came from downstairs as a door opened and several footsteps rushed inside. They were all headed upstairs with the sound of heavy bags hitting the floor.

"Peter, dude you, whoa." Bobby stopped at the top of the stairs leading into Peter's room with Johnny and Gwen bumping into him. "Geez, what happened?"

"He got his tucas handed to him," Gwen said as she pushed past him. "Dang Pete, are you that rusty?"

"No, and let's just say I ran into the other version out there and he was the same color as grass."

"Well you can tell us later about that. Aunt May's on her way home."

"What?" Peter said standing up quickly that immediately added an, "Ow."

"We had to cut through yards to get here first," Johnny said. "She was going through stop signs and lights and will be here…"

"Peter Benjamin Parker!" The sound of Aunt May's voice made the teens freeze and stand upright. "Get down here right now!"

"I'm out," Bobby said as he ran downstairs.

"Right behind you," Johnny said as he followed.

It wasn't long until they were heard apologizing to May Parker and ordered to get out of the house. The two boys said they'd be back for dinner in which may responded with yelling Peter's full name again.

"Pete, I love you. You like a brother, but you're on your own." Gwen hugged him and quickly climbed out the window. "MJ, you coming?"

"I've got to go with Gwen on this one," Mary Jane said. "She used your full name and that's never any good."

"But, MJ…"

"Love you, Tiger." She blew him a kiss then disappeared out the window.

"Now!" May yelled.

"Oh man. I wonder if Stark can get me out of this one."

For a half hour straight, May Parker made her opinion known to Peter quite clearly. She brought up everything from his constantly patrolling for crimes, to this near death, and even to what she went through when people found out who she was. Even his Uncle Ben's death was brought up along with the pain she had to live through with his, Gwen's, and Peter's. It was hard enough to listen to her bring up these painful memories but it was even harder to concentrate on her and not at what was going on outside with Gwen dangling from the top of the porch and falling to the ground where she waited for Mary Jane who then did a face plant into the yard with Gwen somewhat breaking her fall. Both girls stood up, dusted themselves off, and took off for Mary Jane's house but not before Mary gave Peter a quick wave then was drug off by Gwen.

"I don't want to go through that again," May said. "I couldn't take it. Everyone I work with said they say you on the news and came to get me, wanting to know how you were alive or if the whole thing was faked. What were you thinking?"

"I…"

"Don't answer that. I have a pretty good idea what you did and it's my fault. I never should have let you go outside in the first place. I should have known you would put on that costume and go out looking for trouble. I don't what you wearing the costume again."

"Aunt May, I'm sorry," Peter pleaded. "I had to see if I could…"

"You didn't have to see anything. I thought you weren't going to go out in public yet. You told me you were done with this Spider-Man thing."

"It was a knee-jerk reaction."

"Peter."

"No, Aunt May, I had to see if I could help. People may have been in trouble. I was there, and I..."

"You could have gotten yourself killed again!"

He knew she would use those words and knew she would most likely cry, but it was still painful to him to see her hurt like that. This morning he left the house after she gave you a big hug and now he had come back looking like a building fell on top of him, which one nearly did.

"Okay," Peter said. "I'll quit. I won't wear the costume again. I won't be Spider-Man anymore. Just please, don't cry."

Wiping the tears from her face, May looked over her shoulder back at her nephew. "Why?"

"Because I don't want to hurt you anymore."

"Not that. Why did you want to do this again? You've got a second chance, Peter. So why make the same decision again?"

Peter put a hand on her shoulder and she put hers on his hand. "No one does anything, Aunt May. Someone needs help, and people just ignore them. People want to not get involved if they can help it. And it's because of them that I do this."

"I can't argue with that. But please, please wait to do this again. It's too soon for you to wear that godforsaken costume. I don't want to lose you. Not again."

"You won't." The two stood and stayed that way for a while when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," May said. "You go take care of those injuries and I'll call the others for dinner."

Limping back up to his room, Peter tried his best to remain quiet in case it was anyone besides his friends at the door. He kept going over the day's events and mentally kicked himself for not being careful to not get caught on camera.

"Peter," his Aunt called. "It's for you."

"Is it MJ?" He asked as he headed back down the stairs. "She was gonna help me with my…" He froze at the bottom of the staircase when he saw who it was.

"It is you. You are alive." Standing in the doorway of his house was a young brunette woman wearing a scarf and glasses. She pulled them off and walked over to Peter who couldn't believe who it was.

"I saw you on TV a while back and couldn't believe it was you. Then this afternoon you were on the news in your old costume. I just had to make sure was you. "

They stood across from each other for a bit before she reached out and hugged him tightly.

"It's good to see you too, Kitty," Peter told her. "And also, ow."

To be continued