Mary Jane sat in the sterile metal chair holding the hand of her dear friend. She looked upon his bruised face, a tear trickling down her own. "I came as soon as they opened the hospital doors to visitors. What happened Carl? Who did this to you?"

She waited for the reply that didn't come.

"I wish you would wake up and tell me who did this. The cops don't have a clue. I had to stop by my way here to sign a witness statement even though I told them I wasn't a witness to anything. But I had to give them the reason why we were together. I told him my fiancé was missing and we were out looking for him. Would you believe he had the balls to ask why wasn't he reported? I said I knew that we can't report missing people for 48 hrs after they've gone missing. Peter's just been gone a few hours. Ok, so I lied a little about that. But, I can't give them any excuse to dig into Peter's background. Who knows what they would come up with, huh? But look at the grief they give people who know that their missing person is indeed truly missing after just a few hours and the cops won't do anything about it."

"Miss Watson, we don't have enough men to look for everyone who decided to go for a long walk one day. That's how that rule came to be in effect."

Mary Jane snapped around and looked at the bulldog of a man standing at the foot of Carl's bed. "Detective Carter, I didn't hear you come in."

"I was in the neighborhood. Hoped the good doctor would be awake. How long have you been here?"

"About an hour. He hasn't stirred since I've been here."

"Too bad. The longer it takes to get his statement the less chance we have of catching the guy."

The flat faced detective studied the patient for a few minutes. When he had ascertained that Carl was indeed still unconscious he looked at the actress, "I want to talk to you s'more about your missing boyfriend. When did you see him last?"

"Why the sudden interest, do you think he did this?"

"No. But they may be connected."

She swallowed the bile that fear pushed up into her throat, "Oh, no, there's no way they are connected. Peter disappeared before Dr. Jackson knew about it. No one would connect my fiancé and Dr Jackson here."

"Miss Watson, why don't you let us make that determination? When did Peter…? What's his last name?"

"Parker. Peter Parker."

"When did Parker disappear?"

Mary Jane tried to stall for time by looking at the gentleman in the bed. The cops would get suspicious if her story doesn't fit with the version she gave earlier. But she was too tired and stressed to come up with anything other than the truth. Or at least the half truth that came automatically. "He went to take pictures of the freighter that exploded. He's a photographer for the Bugle."

"Really? Miss Watson, that was several days ago. I thought you said that he was missing only a few hours? Now which is it?"

"Several days? Has it been that long already? I've lost track of time."

"You do know that under special circumstances we can start looking for people immediately when there's an obvious reason for a disappearance. Like a major catastrophe. A freighter explosion for example."

"No. I didn't know that. Look Detective. I'm really tired, and I just want to wait for Carl to wake up."

"You're hiding something. I don't know what, but you are hiding something. And we will get to the bottom of it. Are you sure there isn't anything about the disappearance of your boyfriend you want to tell me? Don't you want the police to help find him? After all he has been missing for the required amount of time."

"I'll come in and file a missing person's report once I know that Dr. Jackson's okay. Would that satisfy you?"

"That all depends, Miss Watson. That all depends."

She watched the detective exit. "Carl, I've got to leave right now. I want to head over to Peter's and get any of, you know, his other things. Just in case the cops go over there. I'll be back as soon as I can."

X x x x x x x

Parker awoke stiff and cold. He figured it was close to 9:00 AM by how bright it was, even though the sun hadn't reached him yet. He had partially squirmed out of his 'bedroom' when he sensed something different. Something wrong. He looked at his box partner only to realize he was frozen solid.

"EEUUUUUWWWWWW!"

Parker jumped up with such force that he ripped the edge of the box. He back-peddled away from the dead man, wiping his hands on his coat repeatedly. "EW, EW, EW, EW, EW!"

A shudder shot up his spine as he stood at the mouth of the alley wondering what to do now. Should he report it? Or let someone else find the body? He leaned against the building, his face straining towards the sun, eyes closed. Composing himself, he stuffed his hands into his pockets, toed the light powder that had coated the city overnight with his sneaker and contemplated his immediate future.

A beautiful redhead across the street caught his attention. She had a purpose to her stride and he wondered if she were heading to her boyfriend or her husband.

He kicked the dusting of snow and walked off. A half of block down he heard a scream and turned to see the beautiful woman being accosted by a tall thin man in a dark trenchcoat. Without understanding how his body just took charge, he found himself running towards the fighting couple. That redhead was feisty! Until the guy spun her around pinning her against the wall.

Parker picked up an empty bottle, screamed "HEY!" and chucked it at him.

X x x x x x x

Mary Jane rushed towards Peter's apartment hoping the police hadn't started to look for him yet. If nothing else, she needed to grab his extra costume. Completely concentrating on her task at hand, she totally missed seeing a dark sedan pull up and park just ahead of her. As she reached for the railing to take the stairs up to Pete's place a hand grabbed her arm and spun her around.

"Miss Watson. You keep avoiding me. Why?"

She stared into almost colorless eyes. In some people they might have been beautiful but on his face they were cold, callous and dangerous.

"Let go of me you CREEP!" She screamed as she kicked him in the shin.

"Ow!" He grabbed both her shoulders and held her at arm's length. "Listen you little bitch. Can't you see that I'm the one for you? Not that N*** or that geek."

MJ assaulted his legs with more kicks until he spun her around and pinned her against the wall. All she could think about was where was Spider-man?

She heard a "HEY!" then a bottle break near her, and when the psycho softened his grip she took advantage of it and gouged his instep with her heal. He released her and she spun around, belted him in the head with her purse, delivered a swift kick to his crotch and took off running.

Bent over, cupping his groin, Ice Eyes looked at Parker. "You!" and took off after him. For someone who looked so thin and sickly and just got kicked in the jewels, he sure could motor.

"OH CRAP!" Parker did a hop, spun around and bolted. He didn't expect to be chased by the attacker. Actually, he thought that once he yelled and threw something the guy would run away. Then he could go over and console the fair maiden in distress.

MJ realized she wasn't being chased and turned around. Although a block away, she focused on her rescuer. She took a step in his direction. "Pete?"

X x x x x x

MJ's head was nodding up and down as sleep was trying to overtake her in her chair. She jerked upright when she heard, "Mary Jane?"

"Carl! You're awake."

"What time is it? What happened?"

"It's almost dinner time. You were mugged last night after you dropped me off. Do you remember anything?"

"Hmmmm." His eyes slid closed.

"Carl, please don't leave me. Stay awake for a few more minutes. Did you see who did this too you?"

He looked at her with tired eyes. "Not much. He was a white dude….probably some racial thing."

"The cops are trying to connect Peter's disappearance with this. I'm afraid they are going to start digging and find too many unanswered questions. Is there anything else about him you remember?"

"He was some pencil-necked clown. But I do remember his eyes were almost clear. Spooky."

Mary Jane sat bolt upright. "Did you say clear? Oh my God! That's the creepy fan that's been following me for the past several days. He accosted me this morning outside of Peter's apartment."

Carl squeezed her hand. "Attacked? You were attacked? Are you okay?"

"Badly shaken, but not hurt.

"…and Carl, I think it was Peter who saved me."

For the first time since his attack, Carl looked fully alert. "Peter?"

She nodded. "I'm not sure. I only heard one word from him and just saw him running away. But, I know that run. It's him. It's got to be him."

"But why would he run from you?"

"That creep turned to chase him. Maybe he was leading him away from me."

Carl closed his eyes to rest for a moment then looked at Mary Jane. "That doesn't explain why he didn't come back. Or why he hasn't called. Or why there have been no Spidey-sightings since the explosion. Why is he in hiding?"

MJ's voice dropped. "I don't know. Maybe because I wanted to see him. Nothing more."