"What happened next?" Mia pressed curiously.

"We talked and I fell asleep," Jackie shrugged continuing to scribble notes into her Spanish notebook.

Spanish class itself was very boring and Jackie usually utilized the class to finish homework for English or chemistry. During her first week of school, Jackie had attempted to pay attention to Señora Martinez's drawling, even though all of the students around her were not paying attention at all, but a week later she'd given in and started doing her homework during class to have something to keep her from falling asleep. Peter later informed her that Señora Martinez was universally known at Midtown for being an awful teacher and that most students just took her class for college credit.

However the fact that the class was boring didn't mean it was easy. Jackie had a test for it the next day and like all of the other students that weren't paying attention, she had no clue what was going on in the class. She just couldn't seem to remember the irregular verbs or the past tense. Mia, who was in AP Spanish had been helping a little bit but had mainly been questioning her about her night with Peter while Jackie frantically took notes from her Spanish book, occasionally sifting through her flash cards.

"That's it?" Mia said, seeming disappointed.

"What did you expect?" Jackie wondered pausing for a moment to look at her hand. Maggie had been so worried when she and Elliot had gotten home from North Carolina. She'd heard about the power outage and even though Jackie had texted her that she was okay once the power was back, Maggie had cried when she saw Jackie's hand.

Peter had said he had some emergency yearbook thing so he had to skip lunch in the library. It had only been two days since the power outage but they hadn't really mentioned that night. Jackie was grateful, although she did feel much closer to Peter.

"I don't know," Mia sighed, "It was so dramatic with the lightning and the lamp breaking and your hand getting hurt and then you just talked and fell asleep?"

"In the morning, his Aunt May came in and saw me sleeping on the couch in Peter's clothes, surrounded by candles and thought something much more scandalous had happened?"

"Was she mad?" Mia wondered.

"I don't think so," Jackie shook her head remembering Aunt May's smile, "And then we explained what happened and she seemed kind of disappointed."

"Well Aunt May and I are on the same page," Mia told Jackie honestly.

"Again I ask, what did you expect to happen?" Jackie asked, actually curious to know what Mia and Aunt May seemed to think was supposed to have happened that night.

"You've got the Bugle after school today right?" Mia asked changing the subject.

For a second Jackie thought about backtracking and asking Mia what she had meant but then she answered "Yes," and the subject was dropped. She continued, "Which is why I am trying to study for this test because I probably won't have any time tonight." She gestured down to her Spanish notebook.

"Fine I can take a hint," Mia shook her head and gave a dramatic sigh, "It's just your night was so much more interesting then mine. I just watched Harry Potter on my computer until it died and I couldn't recharge it because the power was out, so I went to bed at like ten o'clock. But I'll leave you alone."

"Don't leave me alone! Help me study!" Jackie begged.

"Alright," Mia nodded, "What do you need help with?"

"I don't understand the past tense," Jackie whined.

"Let me look at your notes," Mia decided.

"Okay," Jackie agreed, passing Mia her notebook.

While Mia looked over Jackie's notes, Jackie scanned the library, people watching. A Sophomore boy from her chemistry class was playing a video game on his computer. Liz Allen was printing something with the school printer before class started in a few minutes. Flash Thompson was standing with one of his football teammates by a bookshelf talking and receiving death glances from the librarian. Apparently Flash was very good at football and even in some talks for some college scholarships.

Something strange was happening though. Every few minutes, Flash would sneak glances over towards where Mia and Jackie were sitting. And he seemed to be staring right at Mia.

"Who are you looking at?" Mia asked following Jackie's confused gaze until her eyes fell upon Flash. Flash looked up right at that moment and their eyes met. A giant grin began to spread across Jackie's face as she saw Flash give Mia a small smirk. Mia immediately turned red and looked down quickly and then looked back up cautiously. When Mia noticed he was still looking at her, his eyes locked on her, she tucked a curl behind her ear, shot him a quick and nervous smile and then turned back to Jackie.

"So the past tense-" Mia began, but Jack quickly interrupted her.

"Um, what was that?" Jackie raised her eyebrows and gestured over to Flash and his friend. Jackie couldn't help but smile. It was the first time Mia had seemed at all flustered.

"Nothing," Mia shrugged playing it cool again.

Now it was Jackie's turn to question Mia, "No seriously! What was that?"

"I don't know!" Mia said avoiding eye contact with Jackie, "Ever since Halloween, he's just been really nice to me and we talk in our AP Spanish class sometimes. It's nothing," She assured Jackie.

"Are you sure it's nothing?" Jackie said biting her lip to try to hide her grin, "Because it doesn't seem like nothing."

"Jackie I swear to God," Mia shook her head.

"Are you sure it's not amor?" Jackie teased using the very little Spanish she knew.

Mia groaned loudly, covering her ears, "STOP."

"Mia and Flash sitting in an árbol," Jackie taunted.

"Your Spanish is honestly atrocious," Mia tried to change the subject right as the bell sounded signaling her to go to class. Mia stood quickly and grabbed her backpack. Jackie could tell she was still blushing.

"Saved by the bell, mi amigo!" Jackie called after her as Mia headed for the door to go to her AP Bio class that she had with Peter. Luckily she had study hall so she could keep looking at her Spanish notes.

"Oh my God stop!" Mia cried as she headed towards the door.

"This conversation is not over!" Jackie told her.

"Adiós!" Mia called back to her.

"We are going to talk about this later!" Jackie informed her knowingly.

Mia shot her a glare before heading out the door and out into the crowded library.


The Bugle was surprisingly less busy than normal. That is not to say that it wasn't busy. There were still journalist everywhere, rushing to make deadlines and get the latest news, but it was noticeably quieter and calmer. Everyone seemed less anxious.

"Everyone's out getting a story I guess," Betty had explained earlier when Jackie had arrived. Betty was using the slow day as a chance to paint her nails a dark red color. J. Jonah Jameson was out for the day so it was pretty much a vacation day for her. "A lot going on out there right now," she shrugged, "It happens every once and a while."

Everyone being gone meant a very boring day for Jackie though. All of the people she usually helped out, including Chris Jackson who's articles she usually practically rewrote, were out of the office.

So far she'd gone on a coffee run for Betty who'd practically begged her and answered a phone call for Betty while she was in the restroom. Now she was at an table waiting for someone to need her.

With all that had happened in the past few days, Jackie had hardly had time to focus on finding out who Big Man was and what was going on at Oscorp. Although there hadn't been any fires recently and Oscorp hadn't been in the news, Jackie knew what she had heard and she wasn't going to give up just yet. She just needed something to get the ball rolling, a lead.

Jackie perked up when she heard her last name, "Carter?" Robbie Robertson called out to her, "You busy?" He was standing next to the door in his office, smiling warmly at her.

"No!" Jackie said a little bit to quickly, standing up.

"Okay…" Robbie nodded, chuckling a little bit, "Can you come into my office?"

"Sure," Jackie agreed, following Robbie into his office. Jackie was hoping that Robbie would have something for her to do and was hoping she wasn't in trouble.

Robbie was fast becoming Jackie's favorite person at the Bugle. He was friendly and wise and was a kind of mentor for Jackie. He really seemed to want to help Jackie become a journalist and help her understand the Bugle better which Jackie really appreciated.

"How are you doing?" He asked as he too a seat behind his desk.

"Pretty good," Jackie told him, taking a seat across from him, "Slow day today."

"Yeah," Robbie Robertson nodded, "In my experience though that usually means something big is coming. This is the calm before the storm."

"Well I hope we are all ready for the storm then," Jackie said thoughtfully.

"We usually are," Robbie told her, "That's the job." Jackie nodded. "Now," Robbie said changing the subject, "I bet you're wondering why I called you in here, right?"

"Yeah, a little," Jackie admitted.

"Well," Robbie began, "this is pretty top secret, but, Joy Mercado is out today because she got a lead about the recent fires."

"Wow," Jackie's eyes widened in excitement. That was good news! Maybe Joy knew what was going on with the fires. Maybe Jackie could let her know what was going on. Or once Joy got the interview Jackie would have a better idea of what was going on. This was really good news.

Robbie Robertson continued, "She got in contact with a resident from the apartment building where the first fire happened and is talking to him today.

"Okay," Jackie nodded, starting to wonder why Robbie was telling her this.

"And… Joy requested that you meet up with her for the interview," Robbie said starting to smile and looking at Jackie expectantly.

It took a moment for Jackie to fully understand what Robbie had just said. "Really?" Jackie said suspiciously. Robbie nodded. "She did?" Jackie questioned a little louder becoming more excited. Robbie nodded again. "I mean she said she would let me shadow but it's really happening!"

"It's really happening," Robbie nodded.

"Wow!" Jackie said in amazement, letting it sink in. It felt like the first step into a possible future for her.

"She just got the call from the lead and is heading over to meet him right now and asked me to let you know!" Robbie explained handing her a slip of paper.

"Oh my God!" Jackie squealed in excitement. Robbie chuckled and Jackie attempted to compose herself, "I mean thank you Mr. Robertson." She said in a fake professional voice and Robbie rolled his eyes.

"Here's the address," Robbie said handing her a slip of paper, "Now get going!"

Jackie immediately stood up, "Thanks you!" She called heading out of the office.

She grabbed her bag from the desk she had been sitting at previously and with the slip of paper with the address on it and phone in hand, she quickly took the elevator down to the ground floor. Plugging in the address to her phone, she saw that she was a ways away from where Joy wanted to meet. While Jackie was currently in Midtown Manhattan, Joy wanted to meat her at the lower east side of Manhattan which was much to far of a walk.

She quickly headed for the subway. Jackie had become a lot more confident about using the subway recently. Although she still liked to triple check she was getting on the right train, she could look at the subway map and not be completely lost and confused.

The whole train ride Jackie couldn't stop her excitement. It felt like the beginning of something important. The more she worked at The Bugle, the more she saw it as her possible future. Maybe, years from now she would look back at her first interview and how much she learned from it. Maybe Joy would let her help with writing and editing. She couldn't wait for what was to come. Knowing what she knew about Oscorp and the fires, this story could be huge. It could bring down a company. And she was a part of it. She was getting ahead of herself but it was crazy to think about her life beginning now. It also just felt good to be involved in something. It was a perfect time consuming distraction.

Jackie got off at her stop and raced to street level. She'd never been to the area before so it took her a few seconds to understand exactly where she was. The area seemed to be primarily apartments and tenements. She definitely wasn't in the nicest area. There were a lot of abandoned buildings and not too many people out seeing as it was a bleak November day. The people that were out though did not appear particularly friendly. Graffiti covered a lot of the very old brick buildings. It was still pretty light outside but Jackie wasn't sure she wanted to be walking back to the subway alone and in the dark. Hopefully Joy and her could walk back together.

Clutching her phone tightly and following its directions, she quickly (and with a fake confidence) walked in the direction of the address. Jackie was glad she'd brought the warm coat that Maggie had purchased for her because it was cold outside and she had to walk quite a few blocks to get there. She was making good time as it had only been maybe fifteen minutes since she'd left The Bugle. She didn't want to be late and miss anything so she picked up the pace even more.

When Jackie arrived at the address, her stomach dropped a little bit. This was not what she had expected. In between an old smashed up butcher shop and a decrepit smokey bar that reeked of alcohol, was a dilapidated apartment. The apartment building was the address Joy had given her. Several of the windows of the building were broken. Her instincts were telling her to run as fast as she possibly could away from the place. She double checked the address to make sure she was in the right place. Unless Robbie had written it down wrong though, this was it.

She had to go inside. She knew she had to. She didn't want to but if she didn't she could miss something huge. Taking a deep breathe, she opened the door and went inside. It looked exactly as she would have expected to inside. A rat ran past her and she felt sick. It was dimly lit and dirty. According to her instructions, the apartment she was supposed to go to was 415. She found the stairs and headed up quickly, wanting to find Joy as soon as possible. Joy probably hadn't even hesitated before entering. Joy was brave. Jackie just had to channel Joy.

Making her way up the fourth floor, Jackie was relieved that there was no one else to be found. However the silence was eery. Where was everybody?

Arriving on the fourth floor she headed to the very last door at the end of the hall. Again, it was too quiet. Was the whole apartment building abandoned?

The door to apartment 415 was extremely old and had seen better days. It seemed to have some water damage and was very stained and cracked. At this point though, almost nothing was a surprise about this building. Anything that could be creepy about the building was. It was like a real life haunted house. She was half expecting a man with a chainsaw to be behind the door.

Gulping, Jackie tentatively knocked on the door. She noticed she couldn't hear anything happening inside, which was weird seeing as it was an interview, which would mean that there should be talking.

No one answered the door, so after a few seconds Jackie knocked again. She was feeling slightly nauseous with fear. Again, no one answered.

Finally, in a desperate final attempt, Jackie reached for the doorknob. She was surprised to find that it was unlocked. The door slowly creaked open.

"Hello?" Jackie whispered, practically inaudibly, as the door opened.

The room (and that's all it was, a room) somehow felt colder and looked darker then outside. It was very empty apart from a cot and some clothes hung up on a string and some dirty dishes in a rusty sink.

It had to be the wrong address. It had to be. Jackie would go back to The Bugle and tell Robbie that he had given her the wrong address and that she hadn't been able to find Joy. This was not how Jackie had expected her first interview to go but Robbie would probably tell her the story of his first interview and how badly it had gone to make her feel better.

She was about to turn and sprint out of the building when something on the floor, next to the cot, caught her eye.

Jackie's stomach lurched when she realized what she was looking at.

Lying unconscious on the floor was Joy Mercado. Her blonde hair was spread around her like a halo and her body looked limp.

For a few long seconds Jackie couldn't move. She wanted to run away and never look back. But she couldn't leave Joy. She wouldn't. She had to be brave, even if it was just pretend.

She didn't really feel her legs as she ran over to check on Joy. It felt more like she'd floated over. Bending over to the ground, Jackie winced. Joy had a black eye, a cut lip, a large gash on her forehead that was leaking blood and her nose had a dried blood stained around it. Jackie was relieved to notice that Joy was still breathing. Jackie didn't know where to start. She could do basic first aid but she was not equipped for a probable concussion and severe head injury.

Pulling out her cell phone, Jackie hesitated just for a moment before dialing 911. Ever since overhearing Big Man talking about the corrupt police department, she was less trusting of law enforcement. However, in this case, she didn't have any other options. She didn't know how critical Joy's condition was and she couldn't afford to loose time.

"911 what is your emergency?" A female operator answered in a chipper voice.

"I need help immediately," Jackie yelled into the phone frantically. The yell echoed through the silent halls of the empty apartment building, "I work with The Daily Bugle and one of our reporters has been very injured. She's unconscious and not moving. I don't know what happened. I think she's been beaten up though and seems to have had some sort of blunt trauma to the head and maybe a closed head injury." She didn't really realize what she was saying until she'd said it. This didn't feel real to her. It was like a weirdly vivid dream. An out of body experience.

"What's the address?" the operator asked.

Jackie recited the address and then quickly asked "Is someone coming?"

"Someone is on their way right now!" The operator assured her, "What's the reporters name?"

"Joy Mercado!" Jackie explained loudly.

"Is she breathing?"

"Yes," Jackie yelled again. She wasn't sure why she was yelling. It was probably the adrenaline or the panic. She was surprised she wasn't crying.

"Okay that's good," The operator said, "Don't try and move her. You said you have no idea what happened?"

"No, I just… I just got here and she was… she was like this…" Jackie said as she paced, struggling to find the right words to explain her situation.

"Alright," The operator said calmly, "Help is on the way."

Jackie heard sirens in the distance, getting closer and closer. Her heart was about to pound out of her chest.

"Help," She heard Joy's feeble voice. Immediately, Jackie ran to Joy and dropped to her side. Without even thinking Jackie hung up the phone.

"Joy! Oh my God Joy!" Jackie cried, "Don't worry! Help is on the way," she repeated what the operator had said to her and felt a little bit more calm.

With a lot of effort, Joy opened her mouth again. Tears were pouring out of her eyes despite the fact that one was swollen and bruised shut. "M… M… Mark. Mark Rrrrraxton," Joy shivered, her whole body shaking.

"What?" Jackie wondered in confusion. She'd heard what Joy had said but had no idea what it meant. Who was Mark Raxton?

Before Jackie could say anything else though, Joy passed out again and Jackie heard the police and ambulance sirens right outside the apartment building.


Peter arrived at the scene too late to be any help.

Peter had been in midtown Manhattan when he'd heard the urgent police radio about an unconscious woman with head injuries and no explanation to what had happened. Peter didn't always respond to calls like this but it was a slow day and he wanted to see if he could do anything to help catch the offender.

He'd swung over as quick as he possibly could but it was still too late to be much help. By the time he got there, there were four NYPD cars and an ambulance surrounding the dingiest apartment building Peter had ever seen in his life in one of the worst neighborhoods in Manhattan. Standing on the roof of an old tenement building across the street, Peter took in the scene. A small crowd was surrounding the site which now being blocked off by the police. A blonde woman was being rolled out on a stretcher to the ambulance. Peter assumed this was the unconscious woman. She did not look good but it looked like she was going to be okay.

Peter took a seat on the roof of the building, his legs hanging over the side of it, in a way that would be precarious for someone who wasn't Spider-Man. It was so busy below, Peter wasn't very worried about being spotted. Even in his red and blue ensemble he was hardly the most interesting thing happening right now. He scanned the crowd as he waited to hear the description of the offender. After he heard the description he could go out and look for himself and bring the man to justice.

Assessing the scene below, Peter looked at all of the people huddled around worriedly. Scanning the crowd his eyes fell upon the back of a brunette girls head. He noticed she looked familiar. Peter's heart skipped a beat and his stomach dropped. It couldn't be, he told himself, it was impossible that it was her. From where he was he couldn't tell so he easily leapt to the next building where he could get a better angle. He let out a groan. No.

It was her. Talking to one of the police officers, Peter saw Jackie. She looked extremely pale and her beautiful brown eyes were wide. She was fidgeting and her forehead was glistening a little bit with sweat. There was a little bit of blood on her hands. She looked like she was in shock.

Immediately, Peter was angry. He wasn't sure what or who he was angry at but his fists formed tight balls and his jaw locked. He wanted to kick or hit something. He hated the thought of anyone he cared about in danger. What was Jackie doing there? She was supposed to be at The Bugle headquarters. Not on the lower east side in a sketchy neighborhood as a witness to a crime. Why would she be here?

Peter automatically thought of the worst. Jackie appeared to be physically fine, at least better off then the blonde woman but had she been in the room when the woman had been beaten. She was just starting to heal from her mothers death. Had she been threatened? He couldn't even imagine Jackie going into the awful building that she was currently stood in front of. Peter would catch the man or woman that had done this.

He had to keep his cool and stop himself from going down there as Spider-Man and sweeping Jackie away from all of this. He wanted to take her away from it all.

If he didn't know what was going on as soon as possible he was going to drive himself crazy guessing. He had to get down there and hear what was happening.

It was dark out and the street was very dimly lit besides all of the police activity, so Peter was fairly confident he wouldn't be seen as he swung across the street onto the roof of an abandoned butcher shop that was next to the awful apartment building and close to where Jackie was talking to the cop. Being Spider-Man, all of Peter's senses were heightened, including hearing. Focusing on Jackie and the cop, he easily picked up what they were saying.

"You didn't see anyone?" The police officer questioned seriously. He was young. Peter had grown to recognize and know many of the current NYPD officers but he didn't recognize this man.

"No," Peter heard Jackie say. It didn't really sound like her though. She sounded distant. "It was the weirdest thing but the building seemed practically empty when I got there."

The officer scribbled down what she had said, "Do you know who Ms. Mercado was interviewing?" The cop asked her. Peter remembered Jackie mentioning Joy Mercado, the reporter from The Bugle. He'd seen her name in the paper a number of times. That must have been who the blonde woman was.

Swallowing Jackie shook her head, looking around. She seemed nervous around the cop. "Um, not specifically. It was a resident from one of the buildings in Manhattan that caught on fire earlier in the month. I was told Joy thought she might have a lead on the story. I'm an intern at The Daily Bugle and I was going to sit in with her. When I got here the door was open and she was unconscious." She spoke very clearly despite her obvious discomfort.

The officer noted what she had once again and then asked, "Did Ms. Mercado have any possessions with her when she got here, like a phone or wallet?"

"I don't know, I was meeting her here. We didn't come over together. But I didn't see a phone or a wallet when I got there." Jackie answered. Peter was starting to understand the situation a little more and was thankful that it sounded like Jackie had missed most of the action He still was not close to being okay with the situation though.

If anything had happened to her… Peter couldn't even bring himself to think about what would have happened if she'd showed up earlier or if person who had beat Joy had still been there. Jackie was safe but that wasn't enough to stop Peter from feeling troubled and anxious.

"We sent someone to check out her apartment and it's been broken into and it looks like things have been stolen. I wouldn't be surprised if her phone and wallet and notes were stolen too," the cop explained thoughtfully.

"You said Ms. Mercado regained consciousness for a few seconds," the police man wondered, "Did she say anything to you?"

"No," Jackie didn't hesitate but knowing Jackie, she seemed off. Peter decided it was probably just that she had become a witness in a crime.

The police officer gave her a sympathetic smile, "You are going to have to come down to the station with us but is there someone we can call for you? Where are your parents." As a member of the dead parents club, Peter hated this question.

Jackie closed her eyes and said, "Call my older sister, Maggie Carter. She is my legal guardian"

After she'd recited Maggie's number, the cop didn't ask her any more questions but escorted her to a nearby cop car. She obliged as she was told to sit in the back of the car, where the criminals usually sat. The whole scene was so ridiculous to Peter. It was like a nightmare that he desperately wanted to wake up from.

Part of him was upset with Jackie. Hadn't Jackie known better then to go into the dangerous looking building in the bad neighborhood all alone. The other part of him though just wanted to be there for her and let her know that everything was going to be okay, but he couldn't do that without her asking a lot of questions about how he knew, so he held back. Standing on the roof of the butcher shop though and watching her in the back of a cop car made him feel helpless. And if there was one thing Peter hated, it was feeling helpless.

As the police car pulled out and headed in the direction of the police station, Peter swung behind the car. Although a part of him thought about staying behind to get more information, he wanted to make sure Jackie got to the police station and that Maggie or Elliot arrived to get her first.


"Go upstairs and go to bed right now," Maggie instructed as Elliot parked the car in front of the house, "You've had a long night and you've got school tomorrow." She said matter of factly.

"What about homework?" Jackie protested, thinking of her Spanish test. It had been such a long day that it was hard to believe that just a few hours ago she'd been studying for her Spanish test with Mia.

"I'll email them and tell them you were a little bit caught up at the police station after become a crime scene witness," Maggie said bitterly. Jackie felt bad for Maggie. Obviously, Maggie being Maggie felt like it was her fault. At first she tried to tell Jackie that she couldn't work at The Bugle anymore but Elliot had talked her off of that subject for now. Jackie was so grateful that Elliot was always so calm in situations of stress because Maggie was not very good at keeping calm.

After the police had come, Jackie had been questioned a lot. She'd been examined by a doctor who determined she was okay besides the shock. She'd watched as Joy was driven off in an ambulance. She told her story several times to several different law enforcement officers and detectives, each time being very careful with the details. She wasn't sure which cops she could trust and which ones she couldn't. She'd been taken to the station in the back of the cop car and hung out in an empty room for a while before she was questioned and then Maggie and Elliot had arrived. Jackie was updated that Joy was doing okay but that it was good that Jackie had called 911 when she did or it would have been much worse. Somehow J. Jonah Jameson had contacted her, and explained that they were writing a story about Joy and that they wanted some quotes from Jackie (she felt guilty for being a little excited about the idea of being quoted in a newspaper). The cops had kept her there for a few hours until finally at 11 at night she was finally released after giving the police all of her information.

It had been a very odd, scary night.

Now, after the initial shock of the situation and trying to make sure Joy actually lived, Jackie was just left wondering how and why. She couldn't shake the feeling that the attack wasn't random. Jackie felt certain that Joy's attack was because she was getting a lead on the fire story. Jackie thought that maybe it was possible that Big Man had been a part of the attack. Jackie shivered a little bit. Big Man had talked about what could happen if someone crossed him. Seeing Joy attacked made that threat even more real.

If anything good had come of the day, it was the name Mark Raxton. She wasn't sure if she should have told the cops the name or not but had decided on no until she knew who Mark Raxton was. She couldn't wait to get upstairs and Google the name.

"We'll talk about this more tomorrow," Maggie said as they walked up the stoop towards the front door, "But are you sure you are okay?" Maggie's voice was laced with worry and she sounded like she might cry again.

"Yes, I'm just tired" Jackie lied as Elliot unlocked the door. They all filed into the house, first Elliot, then Jackie, then Maggie. Jackie was thankful to be in a safe, warm and familiar place.

"Are you sure Jackie? Because I can-" Maggie started from behind Jackie.

"I'm going to go get ready for bed, okay?" Jackie cut her off, turning around to face Maggie with a fake smile.

"Okay…" Maggie nodded attempting to return Jackie's smile, as she unravelled the scarf from around her neck and hung it up on a nearby hook.

Take a few quick steps forwards Jackie wrapped her arms around Maggie in a tight embrace. "I love you Maggie," Jackie whispered.

"Love you too Jackie," Maggie said patting her back. As they released each other Jackie noticed fully how exhausted Maggie looked and sounded and Jackie immediately felt even more guilty.

"You should go to bed soon too!" Jackie instructed Maggie, she then yelled to Elliot who was already in the kitchen, "Make sure she sleeps Elliot!"

"Got it Jackie," Elliot called to her, "Making her bedtime tea as we speak."

"You are too perfect," Jackie yelled back to him grinning. She gave Maggie one last quick smile before darting up the stairs.

After a quick shower, Jackie changed into pajama shorts, tank top, and a light sweater and pulled her hair up into a ponytail. The house was already quiet and she was pretty sure that Elliot and Maggie were already asleep. Jackie pulled out her laptop and typed Mark Raxton into the Google bar. Several results came up but nothing super obvious. She began to scroll looking at recent news but nothing was coming up. She could feel herself already getting engrossed in the search. Now that she had something to go off of, a lead, she had to follow up for Joy.

She switched to The Bugle database and she typed in the name again. One result came up. Eagerly Jackie clicked on the link. It was an article about the growing robotics program at Oscorp. Immediately Jackie felt uneasy. Jackie scrolled through the article searching for them name. And then she saw it. Under a picture of a young man in an Oscorp lab coat a blurb read "Lab assistant Mark Raxton pictured above as he works on a new project." He appeared to be in his mid twenties and had dark blonde hair. He had a slight smile as he worked on a robot of some sort. Behind him though, an older man stood, watching over Mark Raxton's shoulder intently. He had one hand on Mark's shoulder, almost like a proud father. The other man wasn't named. The article was from five months ago.

Jackie knew she had to somehow track Mark Raxton down and figure out why Joy had said his name. Had he been the one she had been meeting with? Had he been the attacker? Jackie's mind raced with possibilities as she stared at he picture of him.

Suddenly she heard two taps on her window and almost screamed when she saw a figure on the roof outside her second story window.

"Oh my God," Jackie cried out, jumping and putting her hand to her heart. Her first thought was that whoever had attacked Joy had found her. Maybe Big Man or one of his henchmen. Maybe Mark Raxton She was about to scream out for help when she realized it was Peter, waiting to be let in.

Closing her laptop before running to the window, she quickly pushed it up to let him in, her heart still beating fast, "Peter! You almost gave me a heart attack!" Jackie scolded in a hushed tone.

Peter climbed in to her room agilely, making no noise at all. It was really impressive actually how easy he made it look. He straightened up and Jackie tried to decipher his emotions but she couldn't quite read him. He looked very somber and almost mad. She had never seen him like this before.

"What were you thinking?" Peter demanded in a quiet, low, voice.

Jackie was too distracted to answer his question though. Maggie and Elliot were sleeping just across the hall land after everything that had happened that night, finding a boy in her bedroom might just send Maggie over the edge.

Jackie whispered back, "What the hell are you doing Peter? How did you get up here?" That was another part of the equation Jackie couldn't figure out. It was at least a twenty foot jump or climb to get up to the window.

"You could have gotten hurt," Peter snapped back, ignoring her question too, he began pacing, running his hand through his hair.

"We are on the second story!" Jackie exclaimed in disbelief gesturing to the window at the pavement so far below.

"How did you think that it was a good idea to go into that building? I thought you were smarter than that!" Peter questioned his voice raising a little bit. His fists are clenched tight and his jaw is set.

Jackie shushed him and then asked, "Did you climb a tree? Is there a ladder down there that I don't know about?"

"It was so… so… irresponsible of you!" Peter was getting to the point where he was having trouble forming complete sentences. She could see a sense of desperation and urgency in his eyes.

Jackie gave a loud sigh, "How do you even know what happened?"

"Aunt May told me," Peter said easily, but Jackie was unsure of his answer.

"How did May know?" She asked, confused.

"I don't know, I guess Maggie told her or something," Peter said absentmindedly and then told her sternly, "Don't change the subject!"

"I was just wondering!" Jackie told him indignantly folding her arms over her chest, "And not that I don't love being lectured about how stupid and irresponsible I am but is there a reason why you are here Peter?" She raised her eyebrows expectantly.

"Well since you seem to have no regard for your own safety-" Peter started but Jackie cut him off.

"Why are you being like this?" Jackie asked, not backing down and shaking her head in disbelief of how Peter was talking to her.

"Like what Jackie? What am I being like?" He questioned bitterly. He'd stopped pacing now and was standing right in front of her just a few feet away.

"You are being a huge jerk!" Jackie told him bluntly before asking, "Do you even care about my side of the story?"

All Peter did was shrug and Jackie let out a groan of exasperation, "I was meeting Joy Mercado there to work on a story for The Bugle. I knew it wasn't a great neighborhood but I was supposed to be meeting Joy there. I wasn't expecting to walk in on her unconscious! And then I couldn't very well just leave her there could I? What was I supposed to do?" She asked him seriously, "Huh Peter? What do you think I should have done since you are apparently so much smarter than me? Should I have just left Joy there?"

"There are other people that could have helped," Peter told her, shrugging again.

Jackie scoffed at how unreasonable Peter was being, "Yeah but they weren't there Peter. I was. And I'm glad I was. Joy might be dead if I hadn't shown up."

"What if they had hurt you too?" Peter wondered bitterly meeting her eyes finally. Her anger began to slip away when she saw how upset he was. He was just worried about her. She began to feel guilty. Although it wasn't her fault, she'd been making Peter feel bad for caring about her.

"Peter…" Jackie started but didn't know what else to say.

There was a long silence before Peter finally said, "I just…" Jackie could see Peter's tough guy act crumbling down, "I don't like thinking of you in danger. I don't want to loose more people." He closed his eyes like he was in pain over the thought of her hurt.

Jackie couldn't help it anymore and closed the distance between them in a hug. She stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his neck. At first he seemed surprised and stiffened but she then felt him loosen and wrap her arms around her waist tightly and protectively. For the first time in a long while, she felt safe. They stayed like that for a few seconds. Jackie could feel his heart beating.

"You are not going to loose me Peter, I promise." Jackie finally assured him quietly as she unwrapped herself from his arms and he let go of his grip around her waist, "And I'm sorry if I worried you."

Peter let out a large sigh, taking a step back, "I'm sorry I was such a jerk," his tone was much more gentle now and he scratched the back of his neck and he seemed embarrassed and guilty, "I wasn't even angry at you. I was just mad at everything you've been through and that I couldn't be there to stop it."

"I know," Jackie nodded. And she did. She understood where Peter was coming from. If it had been Peter, she probably would have acted the same way, "But there's nothing you could have done."

Peter looked as if he was going to say something but stopped himself, "Are you okay?" Peter asked finally, looking at her intently with his big, dumb, brown eyes.

She responded, "I think so. A little shaken up but I just hope Joy is okay."

"Ok," Peter nodded seriously, "Tell me if you need anything."

"I will," Jackie told him with a small smile before changing the subject, "Ok seriously how did you get up here?"

"I have my ways," Peter shrugged.

"Could you be a little more vague?" Jackie said narrowing her eyes at him mockingly.

"Probably," He nodded laughing a little bit, now he changed the subject, "So this is your bedroom," He said looking around the room. Jackie had unpacked a little bit mainly because of Maggie's insisting. She'd unpacked all of her books and had a white dresser and desk and a mirror in the corner. Except for a small picture on her desk of she, Maggie and her mom there were no pictures.

"This is it," Jackie scanned the room too, hoping she hadn't left anything embarrassing out, "Its a work in progress." For a moment the thought crossed her mind that she'd never had a boy in her room before, but she pushed the thought away, it was just Peter after all.

There was a brief silence before Jackie decided, "You should probably get going. Maggie and Elliot would probably freak out if they heard us."

"Probably a good idea," Peter agreed, "You should get some rest."

"I will," Jackie promised. Her research of Mark Raxton could wait until tomorrow.

Peter began to walk towards the window, "You can use the front door," Jackie suggested.

"Where's the fun in that?" Peter questioned chuckling, before pointing out "Also I don't want to wake up Maggie and Elliot."

"Okay, but I swear to God if you hurt yourself jumping off this roof-" Jackie threatened.

"I'll be fine," Peter chuckled walking towards the window. Jackie watched fixedly to see how Peter had reached her window.

"Jackie?" Peter asked, right before climbing out the window.

"What?" She wondered in a hushed voice.

"Cute pajamas," He teased with a boyish grin.

"Get out," Jackie rolled her eyes, grabbing a nearby pillow and tossing it at him. Peter easily caught it and tossed it back at her. It hit her square in the face and she heard him laugh. By the time she'd composed herself though Peter had already disappeared from the roof and when she ran to the window, she saw him walking back across the street and heading towards his house. Shutting the window, she shook her head in confusion of how Peter had managed to get to her window.

Of all the things that had happened that day though, it was hardly the strangest and so she let it go as she turned off the lights and collapsed into bed.


A/N: here is me casually updating around 5 months late! First I was really busy with my summer jobs and then I went back to school (abroad!) and I've been really busy traveling around and doing homework and stuff but recently I missed writing and wanted to update this! I hope you like it (if anyone is still even interested lol)

Thanks as always to Nellie (as always), Dafishindasea, thesameoldfearsx, The girl with no life, Nightingale agent of the dark, TheHauntedKeyboard, and Singer of Water for your reviews! I love getting email updates that people have reviewed. It usually guilts me into writing :)

For those that do review and favorite, I'm so sorry it takes me so long to update sometimes (most of the time) I'm just usually pretty busy with life and being a college student but I really do appreciate you taking time to read/review/favorite the story!

Let me know what you think of the chapter. Some crazy stuff going on with Jackie and Peter and Joy and maybe Flash and Mia?!

Also last thing: if you hadn't noticed, every chapter of this story is named after a song and if there is any interest in me posting the playlist I listen to which has the names of the titles and is my inspiration while I'm writing let me know!