September 6th - 2024
"I'm coming!" Peter closed the fridge at the door's bell. He walked back to the living room, wondering who could possibly be waiting for him on the other side. He wasn't aware of any visit for today, and Gwen was out with Elizabeth so he couldn't ask her about it.
He grabbed the keys from the coffee table and approached the door, unlocking it just to reveal a very familiar redhead that wasn't Mary Jane.
Natasha?
"Um..What can I help you with?" The appearance was unsettling since he hadn't revealed his identity for The Avengers, and how she found his address was something that was bugging him.
"Are we really going to pretend that we don't know each other?" Natasha sighed, passing besides Peter and entering the apartment. She analyzed the place and turned on her back, facing Peter with arms crossed.
"What do you mean?" He asked, rather awkwardly. "I've never seen you before." He closed the door.
"Whatever you say, Spider-Man." She cocked her head.
"What?" He raised an eyebrow. " How do you - I don't even.. "
"Look -"
"I'm trying to maintain a secret identity! One secret, that's all that I want!" He sighed and brought a hand to his face.
"Actually, I wasn't sure, but now I am." She walked away and sat in one of the couches.
"What? No, you're kidding me?" Peter now wanted to punch himself. He followed her and took a seat besides the super spy.
"I don't have patience for jokes." Natasha stated. "I'm here to talk with you about The Avengers."
Peter raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Steve had suggested you for a long time now, but Shield, at the time didn't approved such choice. You were a simply vigilante for them and they barely had any information about you." She revealed. "Since Shield was dissolved and Stark privatized them, Steve thought that now it's the right time, he saw something in you that made him believe that we need you."
"I.. I don't know what to say." The thought that such honorable men wanted him for the Avengers was overwhelming.
"I was sent to talk with you. You proved your value after years of working with us." She continued. "We have the tower, equipment, rooms and security, a perfect place for you to stay."
"I can't just - Wait, how exactly did you found me?"
"Stark has been building drones that are inspired on his armors, one of them kept an eye on you after we parted ways. Last location, your apartment. I had to stop at every door, but I would find the right one."
"Privacy these days.." He joked.
"Also," She calmly grabbed his left hand. "This small cut in your hand just proves that you're Spider-Man, you got hurt in the last mission, Panther, remember?"
That was when the main door with Gwen, Elizabeth and Aunt May stepping inside of the apartment. Gwen instantly saw her husband sat on the couch with an unknown woman who was holding his hand, besides him. She wasn't sure about what to think as millions of thoughts exploded in her mind. Peter looked at his family, knowing that a situation was about to happen if he wasn't careful. Gwen's belly still wasn't showing, nobody would ever thought that she was pregnant. It was still rather early.
Elizabeth looked at her father and later at her mother, shy for seeing a person she had never seen before. "Who's that, mommy?"
Gwent shook her head, trying to not think about the worst case scenario. "I was wondering that too, honey."
Peter slowly rose from the couch. "It's not what you think it is."
Gwen frowned. "Really? How do you know what I'm thinking?"
"Look -" He tried to approach her but Gwen quickly interrupted Peter, making him stop on his tracks. He knew that this wasn't Natasha's fault.
"Who's she?" She asked, eying the redhead. She couldn't lie, the woman was very pretty. Explains lots of things.
Natasha stood up. "If you don't already know me -"
"Wait, you're that woman from Shield, aren't you?" She couldn't believe that such person was currently walking in her apartment.
"Don't start, you don't know my reasons for the things I've done." She stated. "I'm here to talk with your, I believe, husband about The Avengers."
"Oh, it sure looked." Gwen sarcastically said with a fake smile.
Natasha sighed. " I see that it won't be possible then, at least for now." She nodded at Peter and walked past Gwen and the others, before stepping out of the apartment and into the elevator hallway.
Gwen took a heavy breath and looked at May. " Can you take Elizabeth for a walk? She loves Popsicles. "
"Okay, darling." Aunt May replied, knowing that it would be for the best.
"Mummy.."
Gwen leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Go." She whispered, softly. They leaved the apartment, leaving the couple looking at each other.
"Gwen -"
"Why would you do this with us?" Gwen incredulously asked. "After everything we have been through? "
"Hey," Peter approached her, but she didn't let him touch her. "Let me at least explain. "
"What is explained is why you're spending so much time away from us and with the Avengers, to be with that woman! What? Are you going to tell me that you two were just talking? If talking means holding hands then you don't even need to say anything. "
"What?!" Peter screwed his face. " You don't trust me? I wouldn't ever cheat on you -"
"If you got tired from me, that's okay, you have every right to move on, but I never expected you to do this, being with a woman behind our back, she's pretty, I would understand!"
Damn pregnancy hormones! Peter cursed on his mind. "It was a simply talk! I love you -"
"Don't."
"You and the kids are my life, do you think that I would sacrifice this family for a woman? I wouldn't!" He took a couple of steps towards her with outstretched arms. To his horror, she took a couple back away from him.
Gwen looked at him, motionless. "Get out."
Gwen spoke so quietly that Peter barely caught the words. His jaw dropped, and he had no idea what to say to make her listen.
"Gwendy, please.."
"No Peter," Gwen looked pointedly away from him. "I can't do this now, just get out."
He stood stock still, unable to move. Peter looked back over to Gwen, swallowing before nodding his head in a resigned manner. Slowly he backed out of the room, turning away and out of the door.
Gwen had regretted her reaction almost instantly. She had stood rooted in place as her brain slowly processed what had just occurred, staying still for almost a minute. Then she had turned to face May who had a sympathetic expression.
"I overreacted, didn't I?" She had been replied with a sad nod from May. "Can you look after Liz? I'll get him back."
"Gwen, you know your man, think twice before coming up with such conclusion." She advised, with a sad smile.
Gwen nodded.
Now it was forty minutes later and Gwen still hadn't found him. She had been at the Bugle and later to his office at Empire. He had been at neither, so she had moved down into his favourite areas of New York, but he was still no where to be seen. She had wanted to find him and speak in person, she shouldn't have been so dramatic with him and she knew it. She should have heard him out, like any normal partner would have done for their paramour.
Gwen was about to call his phone when she had a sudden idea of where he was. She hailed a cab next to a bank and jumped in, sending the cab to a bar where his 'bachelor's party' happened.
Upon arriving she head towards the door and stepped inside of the place. As she had suspected he was indeed sat on a barstool. Gwen walked up to him slowly, taking a seat next to him.
"Gwendy?" He was looking at her with pleading eyes.
"I thought you'd be here," She looked down at the glass of liquor in his hands, she presumed a glass of whisky. "How many have you had?"
"This is my second, honestly," He stared down at the glass. "Didn't particularly feel like getting completely hammered."
He made to drink his liquor but Gwen gently grabbed the glass from his hands. She handed it straight over to the barman.
"He doesn't need it," She looked back at his dejected expression, narrowing her eyes at him. "Come on, we need to talk."
With that she stood up and walked away, without saying anything else. A few seconds later she heard the scraping noise of a bar stool being moved, followed by footsteps as Peter hurried to catch up with her.
They walked back to the flat in silence, passing through the crowds with relative ease. That was mainly because people recognised the pair, as was now per usual, and stepped aside respectfully. Luckily the whispers that had once followed them around had receded, now replaced by wondrous expressions and wide smiles. It was still a little odd, but a lot easier to deal with. That's what happens when someone becomes Spider-Man's official photographer.
As they stepped back to the apartment, May stood up to meet them with Elizabeth besides her, a relieved smile on her face.
"Shall I take Elizabeth out and leave you two to talk?"
"Thanks May."
May walked over to the door, holding Elizabeth by the hand and taking her off without another word. Gwen walked over to the fireplace, Peter following her. She turned to talk, and they both ended up talking at the same time.
"Gwendy," - "Peter,"
Gwen seized the opportunity to speak before he did.
"You lied to me about where you were during the past week," She made sure to put on her coldest of tones, something she hadn't used for a while. "I don't like being lied to."
Peter opened his mouth but closed it again, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"And I've been lied to by many people, but you are the one I thought would never do that to me."
"Never without a reason!" He looked up at her with pleading eyes, she turned away from him to avoid locking with them. "Honestly, it was a secret mission at Wakanda, get in contact with Black Panther. I couldn't tell you at the time, but I told you about it later."
Gwen turned around and hissed back at him. "Well what am I supposed to think when you lie about your whereabouts and then turn up at home with some woman that I never have meet before. "
"Can I please explain? Just hear me out," Peter scratched the back of his neck. "Then you can decide what you want to do."
"Yes, fine." She nodded slowly, and he appeared slightly more at ease as she did so. Peter sat down on the sofa, leaving space for Gwen next to him. Really she desperately wanted to jump into his arms, to ignore everything else and pretend nothing had happened. But she couldn't back down now, not until she had the whole story. And she hoped that it was something she could forgive, she didn't want to be throwing their relationship away over nothing. Not when he was so special to her.
"I've not been meeting Natash, never, she helped me before like any Avenger did." Peter ran a hand through his hair, giving him a slightly dishevelled look. " She simply wanted to talk about me joining the Avengers, and the perks that would come with. "
"Joining the Avengers?" Gwent raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, they are offering the Tower for us, everything, it was just about that, nothing more."
"Why couldn't you just tell me before?"
"I just discovered it now, the missions -
"The missions? More? You mean you were doing this back then? You wasn't traveling for business?" Gwen was aghast. "You've kept this from me for this long?"
"It's been killing me Gwen, I hated lying to you."
She spread her arms in exasperation, raising both of her eyebrows. "Why did you even go though? I don't understand, they have the whole group."
"Because they were evaluating me. They asked me to keep this a secret. I needed to respect that."
It was then that Gwen finally realised why he had gone behind her back. She couldn't stop herself from almost diving into his arms, settling next to him and wrapping arms around his torso. She couldn't be angry with him now, not now she knew. To be honest he had been a little out of sorts for the past few weeks, and this explained that.
"I'm so sorry, I should have told you," Peter spoke rapidly, and Gwen could feel his heart hammering underneath his ribcage. "Don't leave me, I would never lie about anything to you again, I didn't want to in the first place anyway. Natasha hold my hand because she knew I got a tiny cut on it during the past missions, to prove that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. "
"Shh," Gwen silenced him with a gentle squeeze. "I'm not going anywhere, not now I know what's going on. You really should have told me, but I can understand why you didn't. I'm so stupid, shouldn't have treated Natasha in that way."
"You aren't stupid."
There was a few moments of silence before Gwen continued.
"I'm sorry for overreacting, it was immature of me," She sighed. "I just saw you and Natasha in that way, I'm too emotional I guess."
"I would never do that."
She rubbed his back lightly. "So, are you joining the Avengers?"
"What do you think?"
"You deserve it. Knowing that you wouldn't be alone fighting danger, it's relieving."
"I'm gonna think about it."
Gwen leaned back into him again, allowing his arms to wrap around her again. She sighed as she rested her head on his chest.
"You know, that's our first proper fight after years?"
"Suppose it is, and I don't want many more," Gwen looked up at him. "What happens now though?"
"Well," Peter gave her a suggestive grin. "We could have crazy awesome make up love making."
"Hmm," Gwen purred playfully. "I'm not sure you're quite off the hook yet."
"What about a deal?" Peter grinned again. "If I please you, I'm out the doghouse."
Gwen chuckled. "It had better be the best one ever for that to happen."
"Oh, it will be," He grinned in return, picking Gwen up in his arms and hauling her off the sofa. He walked her across the room but stopped half way. "You know, I really am sorry."
Gwen cupped his face with a hand, smiling kindly. "I know."
December 24th - 2024
The Parker's apartment was silent, and almost everyone was asleep. Everyone except for two people, currently sneaking down the stairs at one in the morning. The pair crept around the bannister of the main stairs and through the kitchen, the leading figure quietly pulling the doors from the balcony and allowing the freezing cold air to rush into the house.
"It's freaking cold!" Flash shook his head.
"Hmm, it is a bit brisk," Peter nodded with agreement as he recovered one of the many sacks that they were keeping at the balcony so that nobody finds out about them. "There's no lights inside so I think that nobody noted.
"What now?"
"Well, we to bring the presents inside, this needs to be fast.
Flash nodded. "OK, let's go."
"Right," There were several, conveniently red, sacks of presents – and Peter grabbed the first before handing it to Flash who placed the sack around his shoulder. "There's another two as well."
He kept handing the sacks to Flash. Then he nodded to Flash picking up two of the bags and placed them around his shoulder.
"Lets go."
They crept inside and into the living room, setting the bags down on the floor. The majority of the presents were for the stockings hung up above the fireplace, the biggest of which was Liz's in the centre. There were also stockings for Gwen,Howard, Mary, May, Flash ,Helen, Simon, Phillip and Eddie.
"So we just divide these up between the different socks?"
"Yes." Peter chuckled.
"Right," Flash nodded. "Where's yours?"
"I don't need one," Peter smiled as he reached into one of the first bags. "I'm more of a giver to be honest."
Flash shook his head in resignation as Peter pulled out the first present to place in the bottom of Liz's stocking. Flash looked inside one of the bags as well, and pulled out a box and package addressed to Gwen.
"Do I want to know what these are?"
"Ha!" Peter grinned as he dropped an item into his Aunt's stocking. "I give her that kind of thing in private, she would never forgive me if I put some racy underwear in there and she had to unwrap it in front of everyone."
"I suppose we would be burying you if you did that."
"Most definitely." Peter grinned.
They both reached inside the bags to get more of the presents, and Flash picked out another package – wrapped up rather badly.
He cocked his head at Peter. "Peter, did you wrap these?"
"I wrapped all the stuff for Gwen and some of the stuff for Liz. Oh, and the stuff for Ren – that's for Ren," Peter raised an eyebrow. "What are you hinting at, Flash?"
"Well..." Flash was about to comment when he got a hell of a shock – the package he was loosely holding in one hand squeaked and began to vibrate with such vigour that it jumped straight out of his talons and onto the floor. It bounced across the floor before smacking into a cabinet on the other side of the room with a loud thud. The noise clearly woke up Ren who began to bark very loudly. Flash gave Peter an apologetic look. "Sorry Peter."
"Great Flash!" Peter cursed. "Come on, get the rest of the stuff in the stockings and then hide – if Liz sees us instead of Santa it'll be a nightmare to explain."
The pair worked at rapid pace, grabbing as many presents as possible and shoving them in the stockings, and even though they finished that he noticed with horror that the plate of goodies that they had placed on the mantle piece for Santa. Quickly he grabbed the mince pie and crammed it into his mouth, quickly following it by snapping off the end of the carrot for the reindeer. He grabbed the glass of milk and quickly ran over to a pot plant across the room, tipping the contents out as he swallowed the rather strange mix of carrot and mince pie.
Just as he placed the glass back on the mantle piece the door opened and, as Peter had feared, it was indeed Elizabeth.
Peter leaned back on the wall, subtly kicking one of the red sacks underneath the sofa. "Hey, what are you doing up?"
"I heard a loud banging, and Ren was barking."
"Yeah," Flash nodded, stammering as he blatantly lied. "It was...Santa. He just came now, the bang was the...erm... Reindeer taking off."
"Oh yeah, of course," He nervously chuckled. "Reindeer."
She raised an eyebrow, in a Gwen like manner. It was also rather unsettling as Gwen came up behind her daughter, mirroring the exact same facial expression. "Really?"
"Yeah," Peter chuckled. "He was a really nice guy, had a lovely chat with him. He said you've been a really good girl this year, and he wanted you to have some really special stuff."
"Yeah," Flash nodded. "And he gave me some presents too, apparently I'm the first handsome guy he's ever met."
"Daddy, Uncle Flash, I know you woke Ren up."
"No..." Peter exchanged a look with Flash. "It was Santa."
"I don't believe in Santa any more." She shrugged as Peter's face fell.
"But you believed in him last year?"
"Yeah but..." Elizabeth shrugged again. "Last year I was three, this year I'm four."
"You were only four a couple of weeks back Lizzie," Peter knelt down. "How come you don't believe any more?"
"I found out on the internet, whilst looking for stuff," Elizabeth shook her head. "I didn't mean to find out."
"That's...that's a real shame," He frowned. "You sure you think that, because I definitely saw him a minute ago."
"He isn't," She frowned. "Though Lauren and Anna think he is real."
"Well you must not tell them," Gwen said as she walked into the room, placing a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder. "A lot of people really believe in him."
"I know," She smiled. "I still want think he's real."
Peter sighed, and Flash coughed awkwardly.
"I'll..." He paused. "Shall I take her back to bed?"
"Yes please Uncle Flash." Elizabeth smiled and grabbed Flash's right hand, pulling him away. He mouthed an apology to Peter and Gwen as he left.
"Well done Peter." Gwen sighed.
"What? It was Flash who dropped the dog toy," Peter shrugged. "And she all ready knew about Santa not being real."
"That's..." Gwen sighed again, looking at the floor with a sad smile. Peter walked up to her, spinning her in his arms and resting his head on her shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her waist, moving his fingers in circles across her small bump. The twins were beginning to show already, it had added a couple of inches to her waistline – a significant amount for the toned woman. And Gwen hated it.
"What's up?"
"When I was little, I didn't believe in anything like Santa Claus, or fairy tales, or the Easter Bunny for that matter," Peter remained silent as Gwen explained – he knew it was better to let her work out her thoughts without any interruptions. " I accidentally discovered that he wasn't real was well. This stupid bully told me everything and It kinda ruined it for me.
Peter raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah," She nodded. "Of course, I probably would have worked out for myself that they were just stories when I was Liz's age. But at least I would've believed in them for some time, or even just the idea of them. Just something."
"So let me get this straight," Peter frowned. "He told a young girl about Santa Claus, just to tell her that he wasn't real?"
"Yep. Idiot." Gwen cursed.
Peter kissed the back of her neck tenderly. "But what has this got to do with Liz exactly?"
"I just wanted her to have a perfect childhood, believe in these things." Gwen explained. "It's kinda silly, I know."
"It doesn't," Peter placed both of his hands along her back, giving her a light massage. "But you need to stop worrying, she's a clever kid she would always find stuff like that out easily. And we're doing a great job, you are doing a great job."
"Well you would say that."
"I know I am biased," Peter chuckled. "But honestly, I wish you'd stop having these moments of doubts. You're a fantastic mother, everyone says so."
"Thank you."
Peter took hold of her hands, pulling her out of the living room and towards the stairs. "Come on, girlie's have to be in bed for when Santa comes – he knows when you're awake you know."
This time Gwen rolled her eyes as she let him pull her up the stairs, but she suddenly stopped halfway up the flight.
"Oh crap."
Peter cocked his head. "What?"
"Crap, crap, crap." Gwen turned and hurried into the kitchen, disappearing into the fridge.
Peyer followed her with a bemused expression. "What, are your food cravings that bad?"
"No Peter!" She emerged from her searching with the huge turkey in her hands. "We got a larger turkey this year cause of all the extra people coming, it had to go in two hours ago!"
"OK, OK," Peter calmly walked over to the cooker, turning it on with reassuring smile. "Don't panic, we'll just put it in now. Then we can eat two hours later, it doesn't matter at all."
"Well it does, I said to everyone that we'd eat at one on the dot, how embarrassing is it that..."
"Gwen!" Peter interrupted her as he opened the oven door with a grin. "Just calm down, and shove the meat in the oven, if you know what I mean..."
Gwen gave him a rather disapproving look as she did just that, Slowly shaking her head at him as she closed the door.
"Lets just..." She rolled her eyes again. "Yes bed, that is a good idea."
"Sure there's nothing else that needs to be done?"
"No," She shook her head. "And if there is then stuff it, I cannot be bothered."
With that she turned on her heels, strutting from the room with an audible sigh. Peter shrugged to himself before hurrying after her, following her up the stairs. On the first floor they both paused for a second, able to hear Flash quietly telling some story to Elizabeth. They gave each other a smile before heading on up to their bedroom, quite happy to leave Elizabeth with her 'Uncle Flash'.
Peter smiled as Elizabeth practically bounced with excitement as the crowd of people headed into the living room. She opened the door and hurried inside, followed by everyone else, and immediately ran up to the stockings. She was too short to reach inside her stocking, so Peter lifted the hook off the mantelpiece and handed it to her.
As Elizabeth dove inside Peter sat down happily on the sofa, watching everyone dive into presents. Peter motioned for Ren to come over and handed the dog the vibrating cat-shaped toy that Flash had dropped and caused all the commotion with earlier. Ren took it happily and shook it wildly in his mouth, the toy beginning to vibrate surprisingly violently once more. The dog barked happily with his new toy and took it off to the corner, lying down and beginning to chew on it.
As Peter turned his attention back to everyone else Gwen came across and sat down on his lap, smiling rather happily.
"I see you don't have a stocking Peter."
"Yeah," He nodded with a grin. "I'm too old for Santa to be honest."
Gwen raised an eyebrow. " We are both 31 years old. Flash is also 31 years old as well. MJ is just one year younger. "
"Yeah, but in Christmas years you aren't."
"What?"
"Well, you said yourself last night. Believe in Christmas."
"Wow," Gwen rolled her eyes and leaned back into him. "That's crazy logic."
"Well clearly it works, Santa has visited you all," He grinned. "What have you got?"
Gwen took the first package out of her stockings to look at, a box of some sorts. She opened the wrapping paper to a blue box, and inside that was a large clump of tissue paper. She removed the layer to reveal a white mug, pulling it out of the box. On the one side was written 'I love Peter' – and she gave him a shake of the head.
"That's really cheesy."
"Yeah, but it's the truth!" Peter chuckled. "And you're the only one in the whole world who can genuinely have that cup."
"Right," She smiled. "Wow."
Gwen fished inside for another present but they were interrupted by Elizabeth jumping in front of them.
"I got a new plushy!" She happily squeezed the brand new animal plushy. "Thank you!"
"Hey, that wasn't us." Peter jerked his head over to Eddie who was watching them all from a bit of a distance. Elizabeth ran over to him, pretty much jumping into him to hug the startled Eddie. At first, Eddie didn't seem to know what to do, though he eventually decided to pat her on the back. Gwen chuckled in Peter's ear at the sight.
"Now that's funny," She delved into her own stocking once more, getting out another package – this one rather squishy. She opened it up, pulling out a white T-shirt. On the front was written – 'My heart belongs to Peter!' "Oh god Peter, another tacky tourist item?"
"Hey, it's also true!"
She narrowed her eyes at him. "The top is a couple of sizes too small for me as well..."
"Well, tight shirts really suit you," Peter grinned back at her. "And hey, it's the thought that counts!"
"Right," Gwen nodded slowly, before pulling out the last package from the stockings – a large rectangular one. She carefully removed the wrapping, and her face lit up at the item. "Oh Peter, this is beautiful!"
It was a rather ornate frame, guilt in twenty four carat gold. The frame was inlaid with beautiful blue stones of a sort, set around golden swirls of the wood. Inside the frame was a rather lovely picture of Peter, Gwen, and Elizabeth when their daughter was a baby. It had the three of them on the sofa just after she was born, in Gwen's arms with Peter with his arms around them. Gwen turned to Peter and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"It is really beautiful," Gwen kissed him again. "Really, it's better than anything else you could've bought."
"I knew you'd like it," He smiled, tenderly running his hands across her stomach. "Where do you want to put it?"
"Oh it's gonna take pride of place," She stood up and placed the picture on the centre of the mantelpiece across the fire. "Right there."
"Wow," MJ turned to look at the picture, smiling rather widely. "That's a beautiful photo, I'm jealous of your family."
"Thank you MJ," Gwen smiled and nodded at her old friend before heading over to the Christmas tree, pulling out two rather large boxes. "Liz, one's for you. The other's for your father."
"Oh," Elizabeth hurried over to the box, ripping off the paper. Everyone else had stopped to observe, watching as she opened it up to reveal a box with pictures of various chemistry equipment on it. "Is this a chemistry kit?"
"Yep, it's got loads of cool stuff in it that you can do just like me!" Gwen smiled as she showed Elizabeth the instructions. "And this is a really good one actually, but you must promise not to do any of this without one of us present OK? It can be really quite dangerous."
"OK," Elizabeth hugged Gwen, and then Peter. "Thank you mummy and daddy."
"That's all right," Peter winked. "We know you want to be a little scientist, just be careful with these."
"OK," Elizabeth nodded happily as she perused through the various bottles in the box. She looked back up at Peter. "Daddy, you haven't opened your box."
Peter turned to the large box, that was rather heavy. He tore off the wrapping to reveal a solid oak casket of sorts, inlaid with his initials, PP, in brass studs. He slid open the lid and opened it to reveal something rather awesome.
"Wow!"
The box was a poker set, though not just any poker set. Gwen had had it customized specifically for him, with rather unique designs on it. The back of each chip had an image of Spider-Man on it, in different colours for each denomination. He reckoned there were a thousand chips on the top two tiers in various credit denominations, and underneath were a series of high value plaques.
"Wow Peter, those are neat," Flash chuckled. "Didn't you said Jameson was coming later?"
"Yep, we have to test them out!" Peter turned to Gwen to give him a massive kiss. "Thank you so much Gwendy."
"It's all right," She smiled. "I thought you'd like them."
Peter grinned as they shared a quick kiss before they turned to examine Elizabeth's chemistry set.
"So Liz," Peter winked. "Is there anything we can blow up?"
"Oh god!" Flash said, fearing the pair.
Peter headed into the kitchen to almost complete and utter chaos, a rather strange scene to see Gwen in the middle of. She was rapidly stirring a pot on the stove full of gravy whilst simultaneously stirring a second pot with a far smaller amount of gravy. Peter noted the rather frantic look on her face and approached cautiously.
"Gwendy?"
"Peter, don't distract – cooking is tricky. "
"Well, let me help."
"No, I'm doing this myself," She huffed. "Other people can do it, I should be able to as well."
"Gwen, come on," He took one spoon off her and took over stirring duties on one of the pots. "We've always cooked it together, and it's always worked well."
"Yeah, but you need to go and talk to everyone," Gwen ducked down to double check on the turkey through the glass. "I think the turkey is almost ready."
"Why don't I cook and you go to talk to everyone?"
She shrugged. "Well I'm in the middle of cooking. Leaving would be ridiculous."
"You've been in here almost all morning now."
"Look Peter," She smiled at him. "I'm fine, I spent time with everyone earlier this morning and will do later this evening. And..."
"And I want you to sit down because you are five and a half months pregnant," He turned to the door and called out to the other room. "Helen, May?
After a short pause the pair came into the kitchen.
"You called Peter?"
"Yeah, can you guys give us a hand," He jerked a thumb at Gwen. "Gwendy's overdoing it."
"Hmm," Helen shook her head at Gwen. "You shouldn't be overdoing it Gwen."
She held her hands up. "I'm fine, honestly."
"Oh no, I'm not having that," Her mother took on her old captain's etiquette as she looked sternly at Gwen. "You are going to go and relax in the other room, Peter is going to go with you, and May and I are taking over here. No arguments."
"Yeah," May nodded. "Go on, we'll take it from here."
"But..."
"Gwendy!" Peter tugged on her arm. "Come on!"
"Fine!" She threw her hands up in the air, rolling her eyes with exasperation. "Fine, fine, I'm going."
Helen nodded before reaching over the table and grabbing a Santa hat. "And put this on, everyone else is wearing one."
"Really?" She took the hat and placed it on her head. Peter grinned as he looked her over, she looked pretty cute in the hat in his opinion.
"Gwen, that really suites you," Peter winked. "What about the rest of your Mrs Claus outfit?"
She narrowed her eyes. "I don't have a Mrs Claus outfit."
"Oh we can sort that out."
"Uncle Howard, will you pull my cracker?"
He turned to the small child next to him. "Sure."
She held up her Christmas cracker to Howard, waggling it in his face. The crackers were actually rather strong ones, reinforced so that they actually took a real tug of war before cracking. "We both pull it and whoever is strongest wins the bits inside."
"Hmm, a strength contest?" Howard rubbed the bottom of his chin in thought before suddenly grabbing the other end of the cracker with such force that it was ripped out of Elizabeth's hands and shot straight behind him and smacked into the wall. Silence fell at the table as everyone turned to regard Howard with surprised and, in Gwen's case, disapproval. "Oops."
"Howard, it's not that much of a strength contest," Peter rolled his eyes as he handed Elizabeth another cracker. "Shall we try again?"
"Sure," Howard nodded and very slowly took hold of the other end of the new cracker. He held it out in front of him and Elizabeth began to pull the other end. Everyone watched as Elizabeth pulled as hard as she could, using both arms and being bright red in the face. Howard was just holding the other end, though he started to chuckled at the effort the youngster was putting in. "Can I pull now?"
"Gently please Howard." Gwen warned him with an accusatory finger.
"Right," Howard nodded and turned back to Elizabeth, jerking his arm ever so slightly. The cracker tore immediately, though slightly less violently than before. "Yes, I won!"
"Howard, you've proven you're stronger than a four year old," Helen rolled her eyes. "Is that really that special?"
"Yeah," Howard nodded, stroking Elizabeth's blond hair. "But this is Peter's four year old, so who knows what could happen!"
There was a chorus of chuckles around the table, though it was soon replaced by a series of oohs and aahs as the turkey was brought in by MJ and May. After several trips to the kitchen and back the table was piled high with food, Peter was pretty sure the middle section of the furniture was buckling under the weight.
"So," May smiled as she sat down, putting her own paper hat on. "Dig in kids!"
"Wow, I am stuffed," Flash lay back in his chair, stretching his arms above his head. "That was a really good meal, Mrs Stacy."
"Well, Gwen did most of it," Helen smiled. "We just finished it off, to save her feet mainly."
"It was really good!" MJ agreed with a slow, drunken nod of the head. "I love Christmas!"
"MJ, perhaps you should slow down a bit," Flash carefully removed the bottle and it's straw from her grasp.
"I'm fine!"
"Right, if you say so."
"Oh, oh of course! Everybody, SHHHHH!" MJ stood up, rather unsteadily, as she shouted for quiet – raising her hands in the air. "We have news for all you people."
"Wait," Howard scratched his head. "Are you guys having a baby?"
"Not yet," MJ giggled uncontrollably for a few moments. "Buuut, we're getting married!"
"Congratulations guys," Peter smiled at them. "That's fantastic news."
"Thaaaanks Peterrrr!" With that MJ fell back down into her chair, knocking the chair over and ending up sprawled on the floor. Elizabeth, Howard, and Eddie burst out laughing, whilst Flash hurried to pick her up off the floor. It was as he bent down that he realised that MJ was in fact asleep on the floor.
"Oh, she's fallen asleep," Flash shook his head. "Peter, maybe we can take her up to bed – she's past it."
"Sure," Peter nodded as he got up, carefully picking MJ up by the shoulders. Flash took her legs, and slowly they took her upstairs to their guest room. As they placed her down on the bed carefully Peter looked at Flash. "So you guys are getting hitched then?"
"Yeah," Flash nodded as they quietly left the room, closing the door behind them and switching off the light. "It should be great, I can't wait for it actually. We agreed that this is the right time for us."
"I think it's fantastic Flash, I'm really happy for you guys," He grinned as they walked around the tinsel wrapped bannister and down the stairs.
"We will want you to be doing something on the day."
"No problem," Peter smiled. "Like I said, I'm really happy for you guys."
"Thanks Peter, it means a lot." Flash nodded as they sat back down.
"Is MJ OK?" Gwen questioned.
"She'll sleep it off," Flash nodded, before cocking his head at Gwen who was helping herself to a third portion of Christmas pudding. "Another serving?"
"Hey, I'm growing boys Flash!" Gwen chuckled from the other end of the table, she was on her fourth portion of desert after a huge helping of main course. "It's not my fault."
"You are eating more than Eddie," Peter joked, jerking a thumb at Eddie. "I mean, look!"
"That is not true," Eddie shook his head, picking up the serving plate with the Christmas pudding on and cutting a huge slice for himself. "I will eat more than you both, I challenge you!"
"Oh god," Howard shook her head. "An eating contest? This will not end well."
"Yes it will!" Eddie begun to devour his bowls contents.
"I'm not in a contest with anyone," Gwen shook her head, patting her stomach lightly. "I'm just feeding the babies."
Peter crawled underneath the duvet to join Gwen, wrapping his arms around her and wriggling as closely as he could to her. She huffed.
"So you decided to finally come to bed?"
"It's only..." Peter turned to look at the clock on his bedside table. "Three thirty in the morning."
"Only three thirty huh?" She quipped. "And you smell of whisky."
"Eddie brought a nice bottle."
"Figures," Gwen rolled over to face him, though she did have a smile on her face. "You know, I might just have another present for you."
"Really? I have one for you too."
"Oh?" Gwen wriggled closer whilst grinning at him, but to her surprise Peter backed away and got out of bed to walk over to his wardrobe. She watched him fish inside for something, and then emerge with a pair of small boxes. "What are these?"
"Well, I wasn't sure whether I should give them to you or not," He climbed back into bed as Gwen sat upright, turning on one of the lamps so that they could see. "If you'd like them, or if they were right or not."
"Right..." Gwen raised an eyebrow.
"But I may as well," Peter handed her the slightly larger box. "Try this one first."
Gwen slid her thumbnail through the, surprisingly neat, wrapping paper, revealing a white box underneath. She opened the lid of the box and pulled out a rectangular glass bottle, filled with a clear amber liquid. She knew it was perfume instantly, and carefully Gwen twisted off the lid and took a sniff. The smell was rather lovely, a mix of citrus and some berries that she didn't recognise. And it wasn't an overpowering perfume, just something light that she could dab on in just the right place for just the right person.
"It smells really nice, I like it," She placed the top back on before scrutinising the bottle and the box, though Gwen couldn't identify any brand. "What perfume is it?"
"Well..." Peter paused. "Actually, I made it."
"You made it?" Gwen blinked in surprise a couple of times. "You made this perfume?"
"Yeah, I wanted to try something extra special this year," He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "There are loads of, I suppose you'd call them, recipes on the internet– specifically for men who don't have a clue of what they're doing."
"Wow Peter, I'm impressed," She looked back down at the bottle before looking back up once more and placing a tender kiss on his cheek. "That's really sweet, I love it."
"Phew, I wasn't sure if it was a good idea," He frowned. "You aren't just saying that right?"
"No!" Gwen smiled as she rubbed his hand slowly. "I really love it, I just hope you saved the instructions!"
"Yeah, I did," He nodded before presenting her with the second box. "And there's these too."
"It's home-made as well?"
Peter nodded as Gwen broke into the second wrapped present, again another white box underneath the paper. She opened the box to find two matching bracelets, made of small and hollowed wooden balls connected together with brass coloured rings. In the middle of one of the bracelets was a small golden ball with a shimmering red stone on top, whilst the other bracelet had a blue stone. Other than that the bracelets were identical.
"Peter, they're beautiful," She examined them closely, peering at the rather beautiful wooden beads. "You really have a knack for this."
"No, I was just following instructions," He smiled as he took the blue beaded bracelet in hand. "You see this ones for me, and the other is for you – I know it's sentimental crap.."
"No, it's not – it's really sweet," She kissed him on the lips tenderly, smiling as she pulled back. "Thank you."
"No problem," He smiled back in return. "It was fun to try something new."
"Suppose so," Gwen nodded, before turning to him with a grin. "And now for your extra prezzie."
"What is it Gwendy?"
She said nothing as she deftly rolled out of bed, hurrying over to the bathroom. Peter sat patiently on the bed as he waited, examining the bracelets for himself yet another time. He was rather pleased with his handiwork, and with the fact that Gwen seemed to genuinely like them. And he was pleased to have done something different for a change. He picked up the perfume bottle to take a sniff, again rather pleased with how that had turned out. It was as he was pressing the lid back in to the bottle that his attention was grabbed by the en-suite bathroom door opening. And it turned out that Gwen did not need a Mrs Claus outfit bought for her.
To say that she looked incredible was an understatement. The fluffy red outfit, framed by white furry strips, cut off barely an inch down her thigh. Underneath were bright red, fishnet tights, finished off with bright red high heels. The top of the dress was cut off at a rather low point, betraying the also bright red bra beneath and showing off lots of cleavage. The Santa hat, positioned in such a way to allow her hair to fall down in perfect curls around her face, finished off the outfit – leaving Peter open mouthed. The fact that her baby bump was noticeable only added to the image in an unexplainable way, she pretty much looked perfect – as ever, Peter added mentally.
"So Peter," She gave him that wink. "Merry Christmas."
"Oh yes, merry..." He paused, a massive grin slipping across his face. "I've just thought of something!"
Gwen rolled her eyes. "What?"
"Haha!" He chuckled. "I've just thought of something."
"What?"
"Well, your name," At Gwen's blank look he chuckled. "Gwendy Christmas!"
"Oh god," She shook her head. "That is appalling, I mean it's really terrible!"
"Ha!" He chuckled. "C'mere Mrs Claus."
She sauntered towards him, swaying her hips seductively for him. She leaned down to kiss him, settling herself onto the bed next to him. Peter placed one hand around her back, laying his other on her thigh. With one move he swung her legs up onto the bed, rolling her over so that he was now on top of her on the bed. He bent down to kiss her again, pulling back with a smile.
"Peter, I love you," Gwen whispered to him as she took one of his hands, placing it on top of her stomach. She reached beside them to grab the bracelets, placing one on her arm and the other around his. "Today's been amazing."
"You deserve it."
"Yeah," She nodded. "Because I put up with all your crap jokes!"
"Really?" Peter playfully flicked her nose, grinning as she gave him a mock glare. He bent down and kissed her once more, whispering to her. "What do you call a deer with no eyes?"
"I have no idea..." Gwen pouted as she realised what she had just said. She shook her head at him. "That was awful Peter."
Peter said nothing, instead he just waggled his eyebrows at her. Gwen tried to keep a straight face but after a few minutes she couldn't stop herself from bursting out into fits of giggles, Peter joining in with her laughter.
A/N: So, that was the late Christmas special, it was rather difficult to write actually! I finished everything at 6AM. I hope everyone enjoyed it, and a very Happy New Year to you all!