Pt 2

The man ran down the darkened alley, the string of fresh water pearls clamped tightly in his hand. The woman lie crumpled in a heap a few feet behind him, her parcels scattered every which way. In his other hand, he held his bat, just in case a certain bug would show up. The opening of the alley glowed like a beacon, and he forced himself to run faster. He would be scot free in a mere matter of minutes. Where was their so called hero now? Munching on a fly? And then he ran into something sticky. Sticky and almost transparent. He tried to move. His arms and legs were glued to it. It was like he was in a…. web. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the hero come silently down behind him.

"I hate webs, don't you?" he asked.

"Spider-man! Oh, thank God!" the man yelled. "I…"

"Save it for the cops," he replied, snatching the pearls from him.

"I'm innocent here!" the man yelled.

"Shut up," he said, sending a splatter of web across the man's mouth. Did this guy think he was a moron? He walked down the alley and crouched down next to the woman. She was unconscious, with a nasty bump on her head, but she would be fine. He put the string of pearls into the woman's coat pocket, and sat her up against the wall. Then, he went back over to the asshole in the web, and plucked the bat from his hand. "See this!?" he demanded angrily, and snapped the bat in two over his knee. "Think about that while you're in prison." The sirens of the police cars were growing nearer. And in an instant, he was gone, just as silently as he had come.

"Hey, Peter," Harry said as he watched his roommate scurry in through the door.

"Hey," Peter replied, hurriedly taking off his backpack and digging through it. "Can't really stay and chat, I gotta find those pictures Jameson wants."

"Mary Jane didn't call by any chance did she?" Harry asked hopefully.

Peter lowered his head and froze. "No… no." There was an aching in his heart every time he thought of her. The sadness on her face when he had to walk away from her in the cemetery…

"I really messed things up with her." Harry said. "She won't return my calls. What do I do, Pete?"

"Maybe it's time to move on, Harry." Peter said.

"I know she's in love with you," Harry said, staring at him.

"It's complicated, and I can't talk about that now." Peter said. "Damn pictures, where are you!?"

"Peter, you have been in love with her all of your life." Harry said. "What's going on?"

"Mary Jane and I can't be together," Peter replied.

"Why not? That would make her so happy."

Peter lowered his head. He would give the world to make Mary Jane happy. But he would also give it to keep her safe. He couldn't get together with her and put her in danger. He'd never forgive himself if anything happened to her. "There you are!" he cried, seizing the packet. "See ya later, Harry."and he ran out the door. On the way to the Daily Bugle, he thought about Mary Jane. He had been ignoring her, and hurting her even more so. Just because he couldn't be her lover, didn't mean he had to stop being her friend. And it was time he payed her a visit.

"So, that's one coffee and one tea," Mary Jane scribbled down the order on her notepad. "Okay, I'll be right back with those." She flipped the notepad closed and stuck it in her apron. She went behind the counter to get the order.

"Hey, Miss Watson, table eight!" Enrique barked from behind the order window.

"Yeah, I am only one person with two hands," she mumbled, grabbing the tea and coffee and hurrying over to the table.

Without looking up, she stood in front of table eight, her notepad poised and ready. "My name is Mary Jane, I'll be your waitress. How may I help you?"

"MJ, it's me."

Mary Jane looked down to the occupant. Peter grinned up at her.

"Peter," she whispered, sitting down across from him.

"I… haven't seen you in awhile, and thought I'd drop by." Peter said.

"It's so good to see you." She said.

"Yeah," he replied. "How are you?"

"Getting by," she said, gesturing around to her surroundings. She then stared into his eyes.

"Even though he's a hard to peel man,

he doesn't know I'm alive…"

Oh God. She was doing it again. Looking at him. Really looking at him. When she did that, everything else seemed so less important. It was like he could feel her sadness.

"I guess I… the day in the cemetery…" she started. "I really freaked you out, huh?"

"Mary Jane…" he said softly. "I wish I could be with you…" He stopped shortly, feeling the tingling feeling at the base of his spine, that traveled all the way up to his neck. Yep, his Spider-sense was going off, and he had to get out of here.

"Why can't you?" she demanded. Then, she shrank back. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he said softly, and then glanced out the window.

"Peter, I love you, and whatever it is… I will stand by you and we'll get through it."

He reached out and put his hand in hers. She was so beautiful, she had been through so much, and all he wanted to do was ease her pain. "I will always be here for you," he whispered, leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "But right now… I have to go…"

"Okay," she whispered, lowering her head.

"I gotta... catch a bus!" he gave her a quick hug and was out the door.

Mary Jane turned to the window. A second later, Spider-man was swinging from the roof of the diner. She smiled weakly, her suspicions growing deeper.

"Miss Watson! Did you forget you worked here!?" Enrique yelled.

"Coming!" she shouted, getting up and returning to her horrible job. She wished Peter was still here. He was the only one that made her feel special.

"But I won't spend my time in grieving.

I learned the trick of make-believing…"

Spider-man landed softly on his feet in the darkened alley. The sirens were growing louder. Sudden movement caused him to turn his head, and what he saw made him gasp. Two men were tied together, and a cop was standing over them.

"Hey," the cop yelled. "Someone beat you to the punch."

Beneath his mask, Peter knitted his brow. Someone else was fighting crime along with him? He gave a small nod, extracted his web, and was gone.

The young woman grinned over Peter's shoulder. He stood in front of Jameson's office, looking over his photos.

"So you're the one who is Spider-man's private photographer?"

Peter turned to her. "You could say that."

The woman smiled. "Felicia. Felicia Hardey. I don't think I've met you."

"Peter Parker."

"Well, Peter Parker, you've certainly got an eye…" and she winked at him.

Peter froze. Was she coming on to him? "Thanks," he murmered weakly.

Spider-man sat silently outside of Mary Jane's window. He wasn't spying on her, just watching over her. He had sat outside her window ever since he had become spider-man. And he would just watch over her until she went to sleep. He knew he was causing her pain, and he hated himself for it, but there was no other way.

Mary Jane climbed into bed, and turned off the light on her nightstand. "I love you, Peter." She whispered.

"Just imagine that he loves me dearly.

Just imagine that I'm his sincerely."

"I love you too," he whispered back, hoping the night air would somehow carry his words to her.

He wished he could stay there all night, but down on the street, a man was being held at knife-point. Time to move. Just as he was about to spin silently down, a figure jumped out from the shadows. The figure took out the man with the knife, and was crouched over the victim. He slowly crawled down the wall and crept up in back of the figure. It was female, wit long platinum blonde hair, and a black body suit. "Who are you?" he demanded.

The woman quickly turned. Her pupils glowed in the darkness, like that of a cat. "Spider-man," she said.

The victim, who was still shaking like a leaf whimpered and took off down the alley. The two watched him for a minute.

"You're the one whose been beating me to the punch," he said, slowly circling her.

"Thought you could use some help."

"It's not my business what you do," Spider-man said. "Who are you?"

"Spiders are very sexy, you know." She reached one hand up to his mask, and stroked his cheek. He felt something sharp. Claws?

"Look," he said, taking a step away from her. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into."

"Says the fish to the shark. This is a big city honey, and I know exactly what I'm doing." She said.

"Good. I don't want to have to protect little girls in their bathing suits who are just looking for some fun. This isn't a game." He replied. "This is real life, with real dangers."

"You don't have to worry about that," she said, her voice almost like a purr. "The only thing you have to worry about is… who's going to protect you from me?"

His mouth flopped open. He wasn't expecting that.

She turned to walk off

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"Just call me the Black Cat," she said, and disappeared into the shadows.

Okay, that's part 2!!! Review please!