Hello all :)

Sorry for the wait guys. I've been trying to update once a week but it didn't really work out this time. The first part took me longer to do than I anticipated it would. It's funny though because, the second part took less time but it's like three times longer. I guess it just works out that way sometimes. Oh well! Hope you like it!

HAPPY READING!

Still I Rise

Chapter 9: The Reason, The Cause, The Cure

Bucky POV

"I want you to tell me everything you know about Harry Osborn."

All traces of the brightness that I had come to associate with Jac fell away instantly.

She paled. Yeah, I know that sounds crazy, but it happened. I couldn't tell whether she was going to be sick or run for the hills. Probably both.

Jac was absolutely terrified. And suddenly I was furious- boiling mad, furious. And the only thought in my mind was finding out who the man was that made her feel like this.

Who the fuck was Harry Osborn?

"I'm just going to step outside while you-" Bruce murmured, looking supremely uncomfortable by the situation he was thrust in the middle of.

Tony waved the man off. "No, stay! This story's gonna be good, I can feel it."

Jac caught my eyes pleadingly before the fell down and away. Whoever this tool was, she really did not want to talk about him. I wanted to know who the prick was but not at the cost of making her feel worse than she already did- it wasn't worth it.

"Why do you want to know about him?" Jac said in a small, mousey voice.

Stark folded his hands in his lap. "Well, number one, because you still haven't explained to me your backstory with him and sue me, I'm curious. Number two, Pepper just made him overseer of the projects stemming from Oscorp's research in a sign of 'good faith' now that he's out of the looney bin. And number three, because of the look on your face right now."

Jac was actively avoiding making eye contact with anyone now. Bruce was trying his best to stay out the situation by sitting in the utmost corner of the room, but there was a vein jumping in his forehead. What made Stark think that him, being in the room for this was a good idea, was beyond me.

"You might want to get over that, 'being an open book' thing you've got going on. It doesn't bode well in the world of superheroes and spies," Stark said finally.

Jac sighed shakily in reply. "We were friends when we were young. His father sent him to boarding school when he was 13. When he came back, I hadn't seen him in almost ten-"

Stark put his hand up, effectively cutting her off. "Those are the cookie cutter details, Hyde. I already know the basics, give me the juice. How'd he end up in Ravencroft? The files aren't public or electronic based so I couldn't find them without actually going there. That means someone's trying to hide what really happened."

"And you think I'm one of those people?" she looked struck again.

"I think that you're the person. But none of that really matters now. I just want to know what it is you're hiding."

All right, I've had about enough of this.

I stepped closer to the suited man with both fists clenched at my sides.

"Stark, lay off," I said in the fiercest voice I could manage.

He looked at me in surprise briefly before shaking his head. "Nope, not gonna happen."

His eyes were turned back on Jac and she looked like a leaf quaking in the wind. I was ready to protest more when Stark spoke up again.

"You, little missy, are going to have to fess up, because Osborn's joining this company whether I like it or not and I will go to the ends of the earth to pick up every little speck of dirt and skeleton in the closet to see that he's fit to do so. We've already had one evil take over, and I'll be damned if I let another one happen. So tell me what you know."

Tears had welled in Jac's eyes before overflowing rapidly and running down her brown cheeks as she turned away from Stark's onslaught, resigned to her fate.

"Harry was dying, just like his father before him. The Skrull disease, they called it. The stress he was under seemed to accelerate the effects and he was deteriorating before my eyes."

Jac bit her lip and took a shaky breath before she continued.

"A long time ago, Norman Osborn and his team were working on a serum derived from spider venom that would have revolutionized the way we think about healing and the human body. But the serum was deactivated when it reached testing stages and it was never seen again."

"But then the Spider guy shows up," Stark intoned.

At this point, I was mentally collecting the names of people involved in Jac's life that I didn't know. So far, Harry Osborn, Matt Murdock, Danny Rand, and Spider-Man were among the quickly growing list.

"Yeah," she paused again. "Harry tried to get in contact with him, to get a sample of his blood to see if it could help, if it could save his life. And when he did, Spider-Man refused. He said he didn't want Harry's death on his conscience if it made things worse rather than better. So…I took matters into my own hands. I talked to Spider-Man myself and got a blood sample that wasn't exactly voluntary. I used the blood to recreate the serum and tried to get it to Harry but…he was gone before I could. I was attacked within an inch of my life during the blackout and spent the better part of a week in NY Presbyterian. The next time I saw him was after I was released, in Ravencroft. That's all I know…"

Stark hummed before dropping his feet from the lab table and leaning in to Jac just a few paces away. He looked a little reproachful before it all fell away and he was back to prying.

"I'm assuming the only detail you left out was the fact that you were in love with him. But, that's all right."

He got up from the stool quickly and fixed his jacket with a triumphant grin. He was so fucking proud of himself and it made me want to kill him even more.

"And I don't blame you. He is awfully pretty."

Without another word, Stark was gone- out the door and back down the hall to cause some other unsuspecting person misery.

I watched after him for a moment with a sneer before making it to Jac's side in two strides. She looked as if she were about to fall over so I caught her upper arms in my grip.

"Are you okay?" I asked as softly as possible.

As disarming as it was seeing her like this, the only thing in my mind was how to make it better, but dreadful feeling twisted in my gut when I realized that I didn't know how. I could protect her from almost anything, physically. But I couldn't fight away her emotions for her, as much as I may have wanted to.

She lifted her hands to her face to wipe her tear stained cheeks and my own hand twitched up to do it for her before I stopped myself. I had no damn business wondering about how soft her skin was when she was like this. Correction, I had no damn business wondering how soft her skin felt period.

"I'm fine…" she murmured, her eyes still down.

There were many things I knew Jac was in that moment and none of them included the word 'fine'. She was an open book; the one and only thing Stark was right about in his observation about her disposition.

"You don't have to be strong all the time, you know."

A weary and resigned expression erupted on her face then and made her look older than she was as her warm brown eyes rose to mine again.

She shook her head. "Yes, I do."

Jac disentangled herself from me and made her way across the lab where her bomber jacket was hung on a silver hook attached to the far right wall. Her movements were no longer hesitant and unsure. She was moving with a purpose and it worried me that I didn't know what it was.

"Would you hate me if I left early Bruce?" she asked softly, pulling the jacket over her shoulders

"Not at all. I'll clean up the place, you head home," he said immediately, looking sympathetic.

Going home seemed to be exactly what Jac needed. I doubted she would be able to get any real work done after what had just happened if she stayed.

"I'll take you home."

I started toward her before she put a hand out, stopping me.

"No. I'd like to be by myself for a while, if that's all right."

Right.

Her words definitely should not have bothered me as much as it did.

"Yeah, sure," I said, nodding anyway.

If Stark ever did that to her again, I would beat him to a bloody pulp. I didn't care how rich he was.

"So, why are we watching this again?"

"Well, you've never seen it before, you're severely lacking on your knowledge of Brad Pitt movies, and the story is older than you and Steve so, it shouldn't be too hard for you to understand."

As Sam got busy setting the movie up, I glared at him. Sometimes he acted like Steve and I were from a different planet rather than a different time period. Granted, with the situations that we were thrust into back then, we might as well have been.

Steve came back into the living room with a large bowl of popcorn and his phone in his phone gripped in his other hand. Apollo was curled up on his bed behind the couch, snoring softly. I'd fed the Husky-Shepard Mix dinner and taken him for a long walk around the park about an hour ago, so it was no wonder as to why he was exhausted.

"The pizza should be here in 30 minutes," he said, laying both items down onto the coffee table in front of the couch before sitting down, leaving a spot for our mechanical winged friend.

Sam rubbed his hands together as he got up from the floor in front of the tv and the other contraptions below it.

"Good, I'm about ready to eat a cow."

I shook my head.

"I still can't believe you eat fruit on your pizza. Pineapple, really? It's a freaking disgrace."

Steve pursed his lips before chuckling. "At least there's meat on it."

"Instead of getting a first class seat on the judgy train," Sam took the seat Steve left him, "how 'bout you try it for yourself when it gets here?"

"Yeah, that won't be happening. Ever," I scoffed.

Sam seemed to give up on trying to convince me and started the movie.

"What's this called again?" Steve asked just as the opening scene began.

"Troy. Now shut the hell up," Sam grumbled, immediately putting the volume up.

About 15 minutes in, Steve seemed to really be into it. Sam looked pleased with himself that he had at least caught his attention but I just couldn't focus on anything that was going on. I was staring at the screen and watching battles and epic declarations of love happen without really seeing them.

Jac was on my mind, and I couldn't get her out of it. Her reaction in the lab today wasn't something that I thought I would ever see with her. Seeing her cry was like a child seeing their parent shed a tear for the first time. You envision someone with a strong and fierce sense of character, almost as if nothing can touch them, that they're invincible in a way. But then all of your preconceived notions are stripped away in a second and you see them for who they really are- just human.

I had half a mind to go check on her but I knew it wouldn't help. If anything, it would make matters worse. She needed to sort this through on her own, and I had to let her. If the situation were reversed, that would be what I would want, as well.

And, just like that the pizza had arrived and the movie was over.

"Buck, you alright?" Steve asked me suddenly, pulling me from my reverie.

"Yeah," I muttered, shaking my head. "Yeah, I'm fine."

I wish I could say the same for Jac…

Steve raised an eyebrow at me. "You sure? Cuz you haven't eaten anything and I know for a fact that Joe's is the best pizza in Flatbush."

"It's probably a girl," Sam added nonchalantly while stuffing his face.

If looks could kill, Sam would have been six feet under by now from the glare I was throwing his way.

"A girl?"

Wow, Steve, sound a bit more shocked, why don't you. Punk.

"Not like that," I declared immediately.

"Than what's it like?" he asked.

"Coulson offered me a job as a detail to someone he needs protected. In return, I get to start going out for field missions."

"Is that what you've been doing these past few weeks? I thought you just picked up a hobby…"

Sam snickered beneath his breath. "Yeah, it's called 'stalking hot scientist girls'."

He lowered his voice and put a hand to his chest.

"Jacqueline Hyde," murmured lowly.

I almost knocked the plate out of his hand and threw myself at him.

"Shut the fuck up. I'm not stalking her," I insisted.

"But you do like her."

I growled, fuming. "Of course not. What are you, in third grade?"

Sam was howling with laughter a moment before Steve joined in, only in a slightly less obnoxious way.

"What?"

"You're making the face," Sam whined, still laughing.

This was getting ridiculous.

"What face?"

Steve sighed, calming himself down. "The face when you attempt to look intimidating because you're trying to convince someone of something that's obviously not true."

There was no point in even arguing with them at this point. It's not like them would listen to a word I said anyway. I got up from my seat on the couch and saw that Apollo was looking around drowsily. Sam and Steve probably woke him up with their stupid fucking hysterics.

"We're not talking about this anymore. She's my job, and I don't like her like that."

Steve attempted to look placated for the moment but I knew he was going to be heckling me about it later.

"Whatever you say, Buck."

Sam on the other hand, wanted to drag this out for as long as possible.

"Maybe I'll swing by with Steve tomorrow and introduce myself," he queried, continuing to eat.

My friends were fucking idiots.

Jac POV

I should have hated Tony Stark after today, but I didn't. His interrogations brought something out in me that I hadn't faced, or refused to face in the past. The simple facts and events that had led up to today were as follows: I didn't get the cure to Harry, Harry let Electro out of his prison, Electro killed people, Harry stole the glider from Oscorp and then killed Gwen.

Even before Harry had come to Peter about Spider-Man being the solution to his illness, I knew what I had to do to create the cure but I hesitated. I hesitated because I didn't feel right going behind Peter's back. In the end, I got his blood in his kitchen while we were helping Aunt May with dinner. The knife 'slipped' and I cut Peter's forearm. I kept the towel he used to stop the bleeding and used the sample to remove Peter's DNA from the serum so it would be capable of working on anyone. I possessed the very thing that could change people's lives for the better and I had no idea what to do with it.

And now Harry was back and I didn't know what to make of it. He would be working at Stark Industries, and the only reason I could come up with as to why that was, is because of the serum. Harry still didn't know that I had activated venom and neither did Peter. The weight of the secret had come crashing down onto me after Stark had asked me about Harry. Despite this, I knew that I had to tell someone or it would eat me alive.

Peter put a couple paper plates on the kitchen table before laying out the cartons and containers of Chinese food he had gotten before coming home.

"What are you going to do?" he asked me.

I served myself a bit of steamed chicken and broccoli before shrugging with a scoff.

"I really have no idea Peter. That is if there's anything I can do about it."

He passed me a pair of chopsticks before shaking his head and taking a seat across from me.

"I don't want him anywhere near you, Jac."

Yeah, neither did I, but that wasn't exactly my call. Knowing Stark, he'd probably put Harry and I in the same room first chance he got, just to see my reaction. The man knew how to make me squirm and I fucking hated it.

My fingers pulled the chopsticks apart with more force than necessary before I dug into my food, remembering I'd barely touched my salad at lunch with James.

I sighed around a piece of broccoli before swallowing. "Well, what do you want me to do, Peter? Quit?"

"Of course not!" he disagreed. "I just want you to be careful."

Peter took a few more bites of his General Tso's before the silence came. Ugh, I knew what that meant. Questions that I was not in the mood to answer were ahead.

"Who's that guy you were with this afternoon?"

Wait, what? How the fuck-

"You saw him?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"Yeah. I was flying around, wanted to check in on you," he said nonchalantly. "Dude with the long hair, metal hand, James Dean vibe about him?"

Jeeze, Peter. I already had one person stalking me, last thing I needed was another one.

"I didn't really think you'd go for the brooding type…"

My eyes almost rolled into the back of my head and got stuck there at his tone.

"He's not my boyfriend," I practically groaned.

"Then what's his deal?" he asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

Might as well bite the bullet and tell him sooner rather than later. Informing him about James could even work in my favor. Getting Peter to lay off the stalker-like tendencies for a while, red and blue suit or not, would be greatly appreciated. I swear, sometimes he makes me feel like a 12 year old who needs help with crossing the street and tying their shoes.

"Remember the guy from SHIELD that came into Stark Industries the day I fell?" I sighed, pushing my food around.

He tilted his head slightly. "What about him?"

Even deeper sigh…

"Well, he kind of…hired a bodyguard for me."

Peter stared at me blankly for a moment before recognition flicker in his features.

"A bodyguard. Are you serious?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him again before nodding a few times.

And then he turned into some kind of game show person hosting 20 questions in 30 seconds.

"Why would he do that? You're not even apart of SHIELD. Who is this guy? Is he even qualified to be doing that? How-"

I put one hand up in front of me and slapped him on the shoulder. Jesus Christ, he's worse than Darcy.

"Peter! One question at a time, motor mouth."

It was Peter's turn to roll his eyes at me.

"What's his name at least?"

Thank god he picked an easy question to start out with. Explaining that James was actually a WWII survivor and best friends with Captain America would definitely complicate an already complicated situation.

This is what I get for getting involved with superheroes.

"James. His name is James," I said finally.

When I looked up Peter was had his thick eyebrows raised and his free hand was whirling in a 'go-on' type of motion. I swear on my Grandpa Francis' grave, I almost slapped him.

"Just James. I don't need you cyber stalking the guy on the Internet."

The hand Peter was using to motion with dropped and he went back to work on his food with a scoff.

"I'm offended that you would think so low of me. If I was going to stalk him, I'd just do it the old fashioned way."

Well, that's comforting.

"Aw, how sweet. The annoying big brother I never wanted."

I took a sip from my glass of coke while I watched Peter's jaw drop in mock offense.

"Come on! You love me," he grinned, kicking me lightly underneath the table. And he treats me like I'm the 12 years old.

I finished my food and got up to toss my plate in the garbage under the sink when another question from Peter caught my attention.

"But why would the Director of SHIELD give you a bodyguard?"

My body stilled for a millisecond before I shrugged noncommittally and tossed the plate out. My hands rubbed together to brush the remaining crumbs from my fingers before I checked my watch. I had a little over an hour to get to my great uncle Percy's gym for my training session with Danny.

If I had known before hand which direction Peter and I's discussion would take that night, I never would have answered his question.

"I was trying to figure that out myself. But I have a few theories…" I offered, turning back to him while leaning against the counter.

He looked worried for a moment. "Do you think it has to do with Spider-Man?"

Peter had just emerged back into the spotlight as the famous web slinger after two years and the public, despite a few radical articles from none other than the Daily Bugle, had welcomed him back with no less than pomp and circumstance. In response, Peter felt like he'd made the right decision in coming back, and therefore, so did I. He was happier and getting back to that lovely, carefree person I'd met a lifetime ago. The last thing he needed now was SHIELD on his trail.

I shook my head. "No, he would have brought me into SHIELD headquarters to question me if he thought I knew who you were."

Peter pursed his lips, thinking. "He did call me that day…"

"He also called my father."

"How did he handle the whole ordeal by the way? From his attitude when we were moving in, he still seemed pissed."

Leon Triplett was infamously known to hold a grudge for a very long time-it was in the blood, so he claims. But I was his baby girl, and he'd never stayed mad at me longer than a week. His malice had burned out in half the time in this case.

"Yeah, but Coulson filled him in on everything. He knows how they operate so he's not too worried," I assured him.

Peter gave me a strange look then, like I'd spoken in a different language.

"How would he know that?"

Oh, fuck. I fucked up. SHIT.

My eyes widened at my own mistake but I bit the bullet like I said I would. "Um…my, uh… My father used to work for SHIELD-years ago. Before he gained custody of me from my mother."

"WHAT?" he shouted immediately, abandoning his chopsticks in the container he was eating from.

My god, he was so dramatic sometimes. Not that it wasn't justified right now, but he had nothing to worry about… I was 95% sure, that is.

"Calm down, Peter. He doesn't do that anymore. He's just a plain old college professor now, you know that. He doesn't know about you and your questionable pastimes."

"How do you know that? Are you trained in telling if someone is lying or not by their heartbeat and other weird spy related cues? I don't think so, but I bet your father is!"

I rolled my eyes and removed myself from the counter to stop at Peter's side. Both of my hands came down to grip the tops of his shoulders as he sat at the table.

"Peter, do you really think my father would let me be friends with you, let alone, move in with you if he thought you were a superhero?"

Hell, my father was probably going to kill Coulson for putting someone with such a complicated past as James anywhere near me. He already didn't like the idea of me working at Stark Tower, but he knew it was a great opportunity for me. And in his opinion, anything was better than SHIELD, not that I agreed with him in the least. Most certainly, there were worse things out there.

"And to be completely honest, your not very good at hiding you secret anyway," I said grinning.

"What are you talking about? I am perfectly perfect at hiding my secret," he gasped sounding offended again.

My body straightened up and I did my best to imitate his confused, bullshitting voice.

"I was cleaning the chimney?"

Peter glared at me for a moment before breaking character and laughing out loud.

"Okay, that was poorly executed, but May caught me by surprise! I had to improvise."

I laughed with him before moving from behind him to sit back down at the table with my knees pulled up to my chest.

"Yeah, next time improvise a lie that makes sense."

Peter got busy with cleaning the table and putting the remaining food away.

"So, what are your other theories?"

I shifted in my seat briefly, trying to find the right words. "Well, SHIELD was looking into Harry before he even got out of Ravencroft. Maybe they know about the night of the black out. Maybe because of my relationship with him…they want to keep me at arms length, for informational purposes."

Beside my intellect, that was the only thing I could imagine they would need or could use from me.

"Relationship? I knew Harry just as well as you did and no ones following me around like I'm the leader of the free world."

I swallowed thickly as he shut the fridge and turned back to me with his arms folded. I realized fairly quickly that there was no way around telling Peter the truth at this point, the truth about everything- even things I didn't want to remember myself.

"Peter…"

He narrowed his eyes at me at my sudden change in demeanor before he sat back down across from me at the table.

"Why do you have that look on your face?"

I bit my lip and finally decided to look him in the eyes. He deserved that much.

Peter shut his eyes and sighed hard. "I'm not gonna like what you have to tell me am I?"

I don't like having to tell you what I have to say…

"I had feelings for Harry when we were kids," I muttered, starting. "He was always around you and we were always together and one day it just happened. I thought I was over it, over him, but when he came back after all those years, everything kind of just caught up with me."

Peter waited a moment before shrugging slowly with an understanding smile adorning his features. He grabbed my hand from across the table and squeezed it gently. It made me hate myself even more.

"So you had a crush on Harry. A lot of girls did. It's nothing to be ashamed of Jac. We can't really help who we develop feelings for."

But you can help who you lose your virginity to.

"There's more to it than that…" I said shakily, pulling my hand out from under his. "When I found out he was sick, I tried to help him, to do anything I could. But there was something missing and I didn't know what it was until later. After you visited him as Spider-Man, he was upset and angry and scared. He called me over to his place that night. And we…we-"

Peter was out of his seat by then, pulling my body up and into his arms. Tears were welling in my eyes and I willed them away aggressively. I was so fucking sick of crying.

Peter's hands rubbed my back slowly with my face buried in his neck. "Jac, stop. You don't have to explain yourself to me. I get it. If anyone gets it, it's me. Sometimes we make decisions in a moment because of how we feel in the moment and sometimes it turns out being the wrong choice. But you can't punish yourself for it. I learned that the hard way. I'm just glad he didn't take advantage of anything else."

I pulled away from him slightly so that I could look him in the eyes. My red-rimmed ones reflected in his amber ones and I almost lost the fight I was raging against myself to keep my emotions in check. Telling him the whole truth was the only option.

"There is something else… Harry's assistant, Felicia, she got her hands on a sample of the venom at Oscorp and gave it to me, per Harry's orders. When you told me about your father's lab and the reason it wouldn't work…I took a sample of your blood and reactivated the serum."

Peter pulled us further apart slowly and the look on his face was terrifying, like he didn't recognize me at all. My breath caught immediately and my heart squeezed painfully in my chest.

"You…what?" he whispered.

This was my only chance to fix what I'd done. I had to make him understand why.

My hands gripped his shoulders desperately. "I know, I know! It's terrible and underhanded and deceitful, but I had to do something. You said you could never forgive yourself if something happened to Harry because of you, but he was dying anyway! And I couldn't just sit by and watch it happen."

My taut body deflated for a moment and I pushed all of the air out of my lungs shakily before continuing.

"I thought I loved him and maybe I did but…that's no excuse to have kept it from you for so long and I'm so sorry."

My hands fell from his forearms as he stepped away from me. Peter just stood there and I let him be. His jaw clenched and his hands formed two tight fists, like he wanted to hit something hard.

I knew this wasn't going to be easy.

"Do you still have it?" he said in a scarily calm voice after a few moments.

My arms wrapped around myself as I gave him the space I knew he needed from me. It was moments like this with Peter that were the worst, when I couldn't detect his next move or step. I knew him so well but sometimes he became this unpredictable force that I could not anticipate.

"Yes. Why?" I asked watching him carefully.

"You need to destroy it."

My eyes shot back up to his in a second as I question whether I'd heard him right, but I knew I had.

"What?"

Peter moved into the living room with a huff and paced in the open space between the seating area and the television. His expression hardened and I knew he meant business. Whether or not I would listen to what he said was another story.

I followed him into the next room and watched him in disbelief through the door way between the rooms. He stopped and glared at me with steely eyes and pursed lips.

"Jac, that serum can be used against you. It puts you in danger every second that it's in your possession. Did you ever think that maybe that's the reason Harry came back? And don't tell me you thought he came back for you…"

The crossed arms around my chest loosened then and my face fell at his proposal. This entire time, was I truly displacing my feelings for Harry onto the person I believed him to be now?

No! He was different. On that roof, he could have killed me but he didn't. He didn't want me to jump. He was different, he had to be…

"Jac, you can't be that stupid!" Peter shouted in exasperation and my body jumped.

"What if it's true, Peter? What if Harry is different? What if he has changed?" I asked in a tone higher than normal. Peter had to know I wasn't crazy, that I did what I did for a reason.

He threw his arms out at his sides. "That doesn't change what he did!"

"I'm not saying it does! All I'm saying is, that maybe he deserves a second chance at life, too. Just like us."

Peter stood there and his entire body froze for a moment before he slowly collected himself. A hand came up to rub down his face before he turned away from me and crossed his arms again.

"Seems like there's a lot you haven't been telling me," he murmured with his anger bubbling just below the surface.

Yes, I kept secrets from him, but I did it to protect him. Why couldn't he see that?

I sighed softly. "I didn't want to worry you and it was my burden to bear."

Peter laughed for a bit and I narrowed my eyes at his response.

"What, like the your father being apart of SHIELD was?"

So, he wanted to go the backhanded comment route then.

I clenched my jaw and lifted myself from my spot against the wall.

"Peter, I don't want to fight about this," I groaned, starting down the hallway toward my room to get ready for the gym.

"Oh, we're way past fighting, Jac. Now, I'm just going to tell you what to do and you're going to do it."

My feet stuttered to a halt before I glared at him over my shoulder.

"Excuse me?"

He turned on his heel to me before taking a few steps my way, slowly and calculatingly.

"You heard me. Harry Osborn is never going to see, hear, or know about that serum, much less, be given it. It doesn't leave this apartment. Ever."

I almost started laughing in earnest. Not because I was discouraging the seriousness of our conversation but because he actually thought I would listen to him when he was speaking to me like that.

"Peter, I understand that you're upset that I didn't tell you-"

"Upset is an understatement," he said, interrupting me.

I put my hand out and stopped him.

"That being said- I am my own person and no one control my actions but me. I'm not saying that I'm giving the serum to Harry-"

"But you're thinking about it," he growled out.

I sighed in frustration and dropped my hands and started toward him imploringly before we met in the middle.

"It could save his life, Peter. It could fix everything!"

Peter's hands came out to grip my fore arms where we stood and my voice cut out in shock.

"NO IT CAN'T!" he yelled, shaking me slightly. "IT CAN'T, JAC, BECAUSE GWEN IS STILL DEAD!"

Both our chests were heaving against each other, Peter's in anger and mine in fear. He'd never acted this way around me and I honestly had no idea what he was going to do.

Peter's tight grip on my forearms loosened before dropping completely as he stared down at them, remembering himself.

I stood paralyzed and watched him as he spoke.

He took a few steps away from me and clenched his shaking hands. "Gwen's not coming back no matter whom or how many people you give that serum to. If you think that is going to fix anything, than you really aren't as smart as I thought you were."

In a flash, he made his way past me and into his room. I vaguely heard the shuffling of drawers before he reemerged with a loaded duffle bag and his jacket around his shoulders. Peter stopped in front of the door to the apartment and paused with his hand on the knob.

"Harry is not the same person we knew. I faced that fact two years ago when I held Gwen's dead body in my arms at the base of that clock tower. Before, maybe. Maybe there was something we could have done, and I'll own that, but that time has passed. It changes nothing. And if you give him that serum…this? Us?"

No, no, no, he couldn't do this to me. Not now…

"Peter-" I choked out, tears pricking my eyes again.

"I'm going to stay at Aunt May's for a couple of days to cool down. You do what you have to do…"

The knob turned in his fist and Peter made his way out, shutting the door softly behind him.

The tears fell down my face as the locked clicked behind him and I didn't even try to stop them. My weak knees collapsed and met the hard wood floor of the living room before I wrapped my arms around myself.

There were only two things that I knew at the moment. One, I wasn't going to make it to the gym, and two… I may have just lost my best friend.

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