Peter put his hands over his face as he agonized over his work. He had faced gangs, super villains, aliens, you name it, and come out on top over the course of 20+ years of being Spider-Man. However, it seemed that writing an article for a science journal was going to prove to be the death of him.
It wasn't a question of if he knew his stuff. His research in the field of biophysics had yielded phenomenal results of late, and he couldn't wait to share it with the world. The thing that intimidated him though was knowing that the article had to be peer reviewed. He wanted it to look as professional as possible; he had tinkered with the format over and over again, played around with the wording and otherwise poured over it, but still it didn't feel good enough.
He was so caught up in it all that he was actually surprised for once when he heard a voice nearby.
"Dad?"
Peter looked up to see Annie, his 15 year old daughter, standing at the end of the hallway.
"Hey," Peter said, offering a smile at her.
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" she asked.
"No, no not at all," Peter said, saving his work and closing his laptop. "Actually, I could use a little distraction. What's up?"
Annie looked away from him for a moment, playing with her hands. It was unusual for her to look so nervous, as she had largely inherited her mother's more confident nature.
"Annie, are you okay?" Peter asked. He gestured to the chair across the table from his spot, and she accepted the invitation to sit. Peter sat patiently as his daughter took a breath, let it out, and spoke.
"Dad, it's time."
Peter squinted at his daughter, confusion flooding his mind.
"Time for what?" he asked, a bit of nervousness escaping his voice.
His daughter looked him straight in the eyes.
"You know," she said, "time to teach me how to be a hero. Like you."
Peter said nothing, slowly slumping back against his seat. His mind seemed to short circuit as he tried to process what his little girl was saying.
"I know I'm still getting used to my powers," Annie said, speaking with more urgency than before as she leaned forward, "but I've gotten a lot better at controlling when I stick to things, and I'm getting better at..."
Peter, finally beginning to collect his thoughts, held up his hand, causing her to pause.
"Annie, I'm not sure that's such a good idea," he said.
Disappointment instantly filled Annie's face, but only for a moment before she regathered herself.
"Why?" she asked, her tone less disrespectful and more genuinely curious. "You were my age when you started."
"Yeah, and I got in way over my head far too much," Peter said, leaning forward and resting his arms on the table. "There are other things you need to be focusing on right now."
"I know, and I promise, I can keep up with school," Annie said, her voice devolving more into a plea with each word, "and I'll still make it to robotics club too."
Peter looked down for a moment. He had feared that this day would come; he had feared she would say all the exact things she was saying now. He and M.J. had frequently talked to her about her powers and the responsibility that came with them, and he always thought she might gain a similar desire to him as to how to use her powers. He had thought through responses several times, but now that it was happening, it felt so overwhelming.
"Annie...there's too much going on right now," he said. "Out in the city, I mean."
"I thought you said it was as quiet as you've ever remembered the other day?" his daughter countered.
Wow, he had said that, hadn't he?
"Look, dad," she continued, "we can start slow, just the fundamentals at first. It'll be fine."
Peter rubbed his eyes in frustration, not at his daughter, but at himself for feeling wholly unprepared for this conversation.
"I need to think about it," Peter said.
Annie looked down at the table.
"That means no, doesn't it?"
"We'll talk about it more soon, okay?" he said, trying to reassure her. "It's getting late; you should probably get ready for bed."
Annie said nothing in response as she got up from the table and walked down the hall towards her room.
Peter leaned back and against his chair again, looking at nothing in particular as he pondered their conversation.
What was he going to do?
"She can handle it, ya know?"
Peter smirked, not at all surprised that M.J. had been listening in. He did have his spider-sense, after all.
"You two have been talking about this for a bit now, haven't you?"
His wife emerged from the same hallway Annie had come come from earlier, taking her same seat too.
"She's ready, Peter," M.J. reiterated.
Peter looked his wife in the eyes.
"You're telling me you're okay with sending out daughter out there and facing the worst the city has to offer?" Peter questioned, gesturing towards the window.
"No," M.J. responded, her tone serious but not harsh, "but Peter, we've taught Annie her whole life that she should be should use her gifts however she wants to, as long as it's for something good. We can't suddenly back down from that approach just because what she wants to do scares us."
"Sure we can," Peter protested. "We're parents. It's our job to protect our children."
"We can't protect her forever, Peter," M.J. replied.
"M.J, I go out there every day not just because it's my responsibility, but so others won't have to," Peter said. "Our daughter is at the top of that list."
His wife's expression softened; she reached forward, grabbing his hand with her own.
"I'm afraid too," she said, "just like I've been afraid for you for 23 years. But Peter, we can't keep her from this forever."
Peter lowered his head as tears started fighting their way out of his eyes. He took a sniff, looking up again and wiping his eyes.
"I don't know if I'm ready," Peter said. "If she goes out there and something happens, it's on me, because I didn't prepare her properly."
"I love you," M.J. said, "but you can't take on all the responsibility here. This is her choice. Look, whatever you decide, I'll stand by that, just...we're going to have to let her make her own choices eventually."
Peter sighed.
"I know."
As the sun came through the bedroom, Peter sat up in his bed. His night hadn't been filled with much sleep, between finishing his article and his restless mind stewing over his conversation with his daughter and then his wife the day before. M.J. was already at work for her shift at the hospital, so it would be just him and Annie today, since it was a Saturday.
He knew he couldn't hide in his room forever.
Peter got up and headed for the kitchen, where Annie already was, eating a bowl of cereal. She turned and looked at him as he entered the room. Neither one of them said anything for a moment, with Peter finally opting to take a seat next to her this time.
"Your mother and I talked last night after you went to your room," he began, unsure even now of where he was going, "and...Annie, I want to ask you something."
"Okay," she replied.
"Why do you want to do this?" he asked.
His daughter looked down at her breakfast for a moment before speaking.
"Dad, all my life, I've watched you go out there and be a hero," Annie began, "you've helped so many people, saved so many lives while asking for nothing in return...I just want to do my part. I just want to help."
Peter smiled lightly at her, putting an arm around her and pulling her into a hug.
"Guess some of what your mom and I taught you actually stuck, huh?" he teased.
"Well, maybe just a little bit," Annie replied with a smile, holding up two fingers to indicate a small amount.
Peter chuckled at her response before letting out a sigh.
"Okay," he said. "But we're going to take our time with this. I'll teach you some basics I know, and we'll take it one step at a time. Deal?"
"Deal," she said, and the two of them shook on it to make their deal official, which utterly terrified Peter. He knew this was an important, maybe even a necessary step in his little girl's life, but it was still hard for him to think about. It was like M.J. had said the night before though: they couldn't keep her from this forever.
Slowly but surely, perhaps he was learning to let go and let his daughter be herself.
"So, while we're discussing difficult subjects, there's something this boy at school..." Annie let her voice trail off, and Peter was stopped short from having a heart attack by his daughter's devious smile betraying the tone of her words.
"Hey now, one thing at a time," Peter said, giving her a gentle push in the arm.
Hope you enjoyed!
Continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy out there!
"Start children off off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6