Wow! I had more time this weekend than I thought I would. And thank you to everyone who left me great reviews for chapter 3. Honestly, this is the most amount of reviews that I've ever gotten -- *ever*! I love reading what you think of this story and hope you'll like this part too! Thanks!

Disclaimers in part 1.



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Mary Jane rounded the curb, stepping over a quickly growing puddle as she tried to keep her shoes from getting soaked. It had been raining off-and-on all day long in New York. Mary Jane was walking into town after lunch with her new cast members of the show she was in. Everyone was really nice and glad that she joined the show, especially Mary Jane. It looked like a bright future for Mary Jane.

However, a week had passed since she had last talked to Peter. She hadn't seen him since she confronted him about the Spider-man situation that night. Although her job situation was finally good, her problem with Peter had grown. Now, more than ever, she needed her friend, Peter Parker, to help her get through these times.

Finally, this afternoon she summoned all of her bravery and set out after lunch to talk to Peter...and of course, MJ picked the rainiest day of the year to walk around New York City. At least she had an umbrella this time instead of holding her purse over her head.

Mary Jane lowered her umbrella closer to her head, tilting it to the side to keep the rain from hitting her in the face. I hate rain, she thought. Whenever there is rain, there are creeps out who think that they can get the girls to screw them. She could relate since she could easily remember the last time she was in a situation exactly like that. That was when Spider-man had come to her rescue. Well, maybe its not so bad after all, she added to herself.

Mary Jane walked down to the end of the street and turned down an alley, a shortcut to get to Peter's apartment, which would take her to his building. She stepped over puddles as she increased her pace, wanting to get inside and dry off quickly as possible.

To her left, she heard a door open. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as three tall, brown-haired men stepped out of the doorway. They were dressed in browns and blacks, and all of them were wearing caps on their heads. Mary Jane started walking to the left, trying to avoid the strangers. As she passed the one to her very right, he grabbed her arm, shoving a gun into her stomach. "Give me your purse," he growled into hear ear.

"What?" MJ asked, taking a step back.

The man pulled her closer to him as he poked the gun into her stomach, saying "Give me the purse, lady!"

"What? No!" she said. Her first major paycheck from her acting job was inside her purse. Mary Jane hadn't cashed it yet, and she couldn't afford to loose it. "No!" she screamed again, trying to release herself from his grasp.

"Give me the purse!" he repeated in her ear, raising his voice.

"Hey! How about you leave her alone?" A voice called out from above them.

The three men and MJ looked up, blinking back the drops of rain, as they saw a figure fly out from the sky. Peter... she thought to herself. "Spider-man!" she gasped.

"Shit, it's the spider," one of the men cried out.

The man who was holding onto Mary Jane released her arm and pushed her against the wall. MJ cried out in pain as her head banged against the brick wall and felt the breath get knocked out of her. She slid to the ground as she watched the stranger run towards Spider-man with the gun held in his hand, shooting four bullets at Peter.

"P..." Mary Jane started saying. She quickly corrected herself, saying, "Spider-man! Watch out!"

However, Spider-man easily dodged the bullets, ducking them all. He shot out a string of webbing and grabbed the gun, flinging it from the bully's hand. The thug threw a couple of weak punches before Peter grabbed him and flung him against the wall. The other two men tried to escape by running down the alley towards the opening.

"Oh no, you don't," Peter muttered underneath his breath. Peter released a thread of webbing from each hand and grabbed into their jackets, catching, and then flinging them across the alley, a move that easily rendered the men unconscious.

Finally, when Peter made sure that those three men wouldn't be getting up again, he ran over to Mary Jane. "Are you all right?" Peter helped Mary Jane to her feet and picked up her purse.

Mary Jane hissed when she felt her head begin to pound. "I'm okay," she said.

"What are you doing down here?" Peter asked, handing back her purse as Mary Jane tried to shake off the pain throbbing in her head. "I heard you screaming from my apartment."

"I came to see you," Mary Jane said, trying to smile at him. "We seem to run into each other too often when it rains."

"Well, maybe if you'd stay out of deserted alleys when it is pouring, you wouldn't see me so often," Peter said in a scolding tone. Although she couldn't see it because of the mask, Mary Jane knew that he was smiling.

"I still think that I'd see you," MJ said. "I'm still convinced that you're stalking me."

"And why would I do that?" Peter asked.

"Because you can't get enough of me," Mary Jane simply replied.

"Is that a fact?"

"It sure is," she said, taking a step closer to him. Her knees were still wobbly so she leaned on him for support. "Want me to prove it?"

Before Peter could react, MJ was reaching under his neck to grab the end of his mask. As if she was already a pro, which in some ways she was, Mary Jane started lifting his face mask, revealing the skin underneath. She rolled up the mask, this time not stopping past his lips, and slowly took Peter's mask off entirely. Finally, with his whole head exposed, MJ took a second to stare into his blue eyes before leaning forward and kissing him. She wrapped his arms around his neck as she met lips with his. Peter responded, dragging his hands down her side before resting on her hip bones. He touched her lips with his tongue, demanding entry to her mouth. MJ felt her knees go weak the instant that she felt his tongue against her upper lip, and she moaned into his mouth.

Another instant, what seemed like an hour to the two, passed before Peter pulled back, gasping for breath. "We should get inside, you're getting soaked," he said. "You can dry off at my place, it's at the end of the street."

"Okay," MJ said, trying to calm her frantically beating heart. She handed Peter his mask and he quickly placed it back over his head. Mary Jane took a step closer to him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Hang on," he told her.

"I Always do," she replied. Without a second thought, Peter took off, raising himself and Mary Jane into the sky and returning to his loft on the top floor.



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Mary Jane and Peter took turns drying off and changing clothes in the bathroom, Mary Jane going first at Peter's insistence. Peter gave MJ some sweats of his to wear while her other clothes dried off. Afterwards, she walked down the steps into the living room while Peter finished changing upstairs.

No, we are definitely not friends, MJ thought to herself as she walked over to the couch and sat down. Friends don't do what we just did...they don't kiss like we just did back in that alley. However, she was clearly thrilled from the kiss. Man, that man can kiss, she thought. She ran her fingers through her wet hair, squeezing out drops of water.

Peter walked downstairs dressed in jeans and a short-sleeved shirt. His hair was still damp because he was letting it air dry. "Are you sure that you're okay?" he asked her as he sat down on the couch.

"Yeah, I'm fine," She replied. "I think the headache has gone away."

"Your clothes are drying," Peter explained. "What were you doing down here looking for me?"

"I, uh...just thought that I'd give you an update on how my job was going since you always back me up with things like that," Mary Jane said. "I went down that alley to get over to your apartment complex sooner."

"You know, there are such things as taxi cabs," Peter said, giving her a small smile.

"Yeah, but that involves money," MJ said. "And I don't exactly have boo- coos of that green stuff."

"But the job is going well?"

She nodded. "It's great, it really is. I would have stopped by sooner to tell you how everything was going, but...after-"

"I know," Peter interrupted. He had thought about everything that she had told him, especially the "I love you, and I want to be with you," part. The only question was, how much did he dare to risk by opening his heart to Mary Jane? Did he even know yet?

"Thank you," Mary Jane whispered over to him.

"For what?"

"For...for being here for me every time that I needed you, for not letting me give up on my dream of acting," Mary Jane said. Who was she fooling? She had everything to thank him for; he had saved her life so many times, and what had she done for him in return? "Thank you for being a good...friend."

"You're welcome," Peter replied, smiling over at her.

"Can I stay here until my clothes dry?" MJ asked softly.

"Of course," Peter said.

"Thanks," MJ replied, pausing for a second to yawn.

Peter leaned forward and picked up the remote control to the TV set. He turned on the TV as MJ leaned her head against Peter's shoulder and closed her eyes. Peter looked over at her and smiled. He turned down the volume on the TV so it wouldn't disturb her.

Bit by bit, MJ began falling asleep. Her breathing slowed and became an even, steady motion. Peter gazed down at Mary Jane, the girl next door that he had loved since sixth grade, and smiled. Things might get worse, but they couldn't get much better than this, that much he knew for sure. "I love you," he whispered so softly that he, himself, could barely hear it. However, Mary Jane, who wasn't fully asleep yet, heard something fuzzy in her ear. Peter? she thought, not sure of what she was hearing. "I love you..." she heard someone say.

Slowly, Mary Jane leaned towards Peter more and wrapped her arm around his waist, a move so intimate to Peter that he had to resist the urge to wake her up and tell her those three words. However, Peter lay his head down on top of hers as he, too, quickly nodded off.



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Yeah, yeah, I'm focusing a lot on MJ and Peter right now. Oh well...don't worry, Harry will be back!

TBC....