It had been a long night for Pamela Thomas but her shift at the hospital was nearing an end. An incident in the city earlier that evening had sent several people to the emergency room. Pamela hadn't had time to watch the news reports but several of the patients had given their accounts of what had happened. They talked about some mad man who could send powerful blasts of energy through a device on his arms. Apparently the media had named him "Shocker". Victims of his attack on the city were brought to the hospital over the last few hours. Several were injured from a building that partially collapsed, while others came with burns from a car that exploded. One man, who came in later with a concussion and several bruises, informed her that Spider-man had put a stop to the "Shocker".

"There was a shoot out, too. I don't know if the police were aiming for the Shocker, if it was just an accident, but they hit Spider-man. I saw it." The man told Pamela. "He saved my life and the police shoot at him. It's unbelievable."

"I know," Pamela replied as she filled out his chart. She tried not to show it but this news greatly upset her. A year ago Spider-man had saved her life. Her train had been attacked by another mad man. The city seemed to have more than its share of crazies in costumes, but then again, she'd seen plenty of strange things in the ER.

Pamela walked over to her friend Keisha who worked as a receptionist. She was also infamous for having the latest news inside and out of the hospital. She was known to swear by the tabloids and believed Spider-man to be crook.

"Hey Keisha, you hear anything on the news about Spider-man?"

"You haven't heard? Your friend was working with that Shocker character," Keisha replied.

"No he wasn't," Pamela defended.

"I don't know why you always stick up for him…Rumor has it that the cops shot him, too. All the doctors are supposed to report any gunshot wounds to the police," Keisha said nonchalantly as she returned to her work. "I hope they catch him."

"I hope they don't," Pamela liked Keisha. She was a good person, just mislead by the tabloids and that god-awful Daily Bugle. Pamela seriously hoped that she was wrong about what had happened to Spider-man.

Several hours had passed since her conversation with Keisha and she'd heard no other news about Spider-man. They had treated most of the victims of Shocker's attack and the ER was growing considerably less hectic. Pamela was preparing to leave when she passed by the waiting room one last time. His familiar face wasn't what caught her attention. Instead, she found herself staring at the captivating red-head sitting next to him. At first she was so taken aback by her beauty that she hardly noticed the man she was with.

Then she recognized him. She might not have if she had seen him out on the street. It had been a long time since that day on the train. But she was on the lookout for him since she had heard the rumors of Spider-man being shot. And there he was, the man who had saved her and the others on the train. He was clutching his shoulder and she could see that he was bleeding. The girl he was with looked worried as she held his hand.

Pamela made her way through the waiting area over to the red-headed girl and the injured man, "Come with me. I'll get a doctor to see you now."

The two silently obeyed. The boy struggled as he got to his feet and had to lean on the girl for help. Pamela led the two toward an empty bed and closed the curtain around them. Another nurse pushed the curtain aside and insisted, "It's not their turn. I've had someone waiting for half an hour."

Pamela shooed the other nurse away. "Dr. Benson wanted to examine him as soon as possible." The nurse gave Pamela a questioning look but reluctantly nodded.

Pamela then turned back to the familiar boy and asked a question she was afraid that she already knew the answer to, "What's wrong?"

The boy had been using his coat to cover his shoulder but now revealed blood-stained t-shirt. He peeled the shirt off of his left shoulder, revealing several gauzes that were soaked through with blood.

"How did this happen?" Pamela asked.

The boy and girl exchanged worried glances. "I was doing some work around the house, and I, um, tripped and fell onto a nail."

"Is that what you told the people at the front desk?"

The boy nodded. Pamela could see the nervousness in both the boy and girl's eyes. This wasn't a very good excuse for the truth but Pamela couldn't think of anything better.

"OK. I'll be right back with a doctor to see you." Pamela replied as she hustled off.

Pamela found Dr. Benson talking with a few other doctors, "Chad. I need your help with something."

Dr. Benson gave her a stern look and then excused himself from the conversation. "I'll be back in a minute," he replied to the other doctors.

"Come, on." Pamela tried to make him hurry.

"Don't call me that in front of the other doctors," Dr. Benson replied. "They'll get suspicious."

"Oh, I'm sorry Dr. Benson." Pamela replied. She had been seeing Chad for a while but he didn't want anyone else at work to know about their relationship. It hurt her that he didn't want to be open about their relationship, that perhaps he was ashamed since she was only a nurse. But she didn't have time to worry about that now. "I need your help. You need to see this patient right away."

"Where's the chart?" he asked.

"I don't have one. This patient is….off the record." Pamela replied. Dr. Benson gave her a quizzical look. She knew she couldn't explain the situation so she added, "Look. He's a friend of mine. Don't ask too many questions. Please, do this for me."

Dr. Benson rolled his eyes, "OK, Pam," and then entered the curtained off area.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Benson. Let me take a look at that…" he said, immediately spotting the wound on the boy's shoulder. He cleared away the gauze and as he examined it he asked him to explain what had happened.

"Right. You fell on a nail," Dr. Benson replied sarcastically. "Why don't you give me the truth?"

The boy was silent.

"This is a gunshot wound…Care to tell me what really happened?"

The boy was silent but the red-haired girl pleaded, "Please, help him. He refused to come but I made him."

Pamela then interjected, "Chad, just treat him."

Dr. Benson sighed and returned to the patient. "You're lucky. It looks like the bullet didn't hit any blood vessels. We should take an x-ray to make sure it didn't hit the bone. It looks like you tried to remove the bullet yourself?"

The boy had now dropped all pretenses. "Yes. I couldn't get it though."

"That's a pretty stupid thing to do. You probably made thing worse. Why wouldn't you come straight to the hospital? "

"I guess you can say that I'm afraid of doctors," the boy replied.

"Well, it looks like you're going to be all right," Dr. Benson replied as he cleaned the wound for the time being and reapplied fresh gauze. "I'll be back in a second. Let me just talk with the nurse for a moment."

He pulled Pamela aside. "You know we have to report him to the police. They're on the lookout for all gunshot wounds tonight."

"Please don't. I promise you he's not a criminal. He's a friend of mine."

"Yeah, well I guess he doesn't look like your typical criminal mastermind. You owe me for this, Pam." Dr. Benson added.

"Is he going to be OK?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think so. I'll have to take an x-ray though to make sure," Pam gave him a worried look but Dr. Benson knew what she was thinking. "Don't worry. I can find a way around the paperwork. I've got enough friends in the hospital. We can treat him without anyone asking too many questions."

Pamela gave a sigh of relief, "Thank you so much, Chad."

"So tell me who is this guy anyway? He seems pretty important to you. He's not like an ex-boyfriend?"

"No. He's just a friend who helped me out a while back." Pamela replied.

"Well, at least tell me his name."

Pamela smiled, "You know, I'm not even sure."

Dr. Benson gave her another one of his famous looks. "You really are a piece of work, Pam. Only you would stick your neck out for some guy you don't even know."

Pam then smiled and muttered under her breath, "I'm just returning the favor."