Disclaimer: If reading this part of the story is really what you thrive on, then go to chapter 1 for the full disclaimer. But please come back for the rest of the story! Ok?

Disclaimer #2: Um, just for security purposes, there is a line that I used that comes from the soon-to-be released movie, Tuck Everlasting, and I don't own it and never will; I just wanted to use it in my story, ok?

Author's note: Hey again, I read all the recent reviews and they are really awesome! To those who wrote about my taking forever to post, I really and truly apologize. I am making an effort to write a little bit each day and not when the mood struck me, in past times. Hopefully, this will make the chapters finished faster and posted, but I guess we'll see how it turns out. But thanks again!

Author's note #2: If you guys ever want to write me any personal reviews, what you like, don't like, what I'm not doing etc., you can write to me at reina_de_las_rosas@hotmail.com.

Rating: PG-13/R, for language and sensual descriptions, depending on what chapter you're in.

One Night

Chapter 3

* So many stars, you could get lost in them if you wanted to. * Mary Jane thought, as she looked up to the heavens, tired of thinking about everything else: her job, her family, Peter, Spiderman, just all of her life.

* Well, I better get to bed. I need all the sleep I can get. * Pulling away from the ledge, she began to turn towards the door, when MJ just happened to hear something fall right behind her and crash, making some sort of loud, sickening thud. When she whipped around to look, she saw nothing. * Hmmm, that's odd, I could've sworn I heard something. *

It wasn't until she went back to the ledge that she saw this great, big chunk of concrete embedded in the alleyway below her. There was a small crowd, a few stray people from the sidewalk out front, beginning to circle around the mess and they were looking up, evidently trying to find what caused it to fall. She looked up to the roof ledge and saw that the ledge was fine and still intact. * Where the hell did it come from? It just fell out of the sky? *

MJ then heard something underneath her again, it sounded almost like a grunt. So she looked over and below the balcony. What she saw gave her a definite shock.

About 3 feet below the landing of the balcony, was the object of her fantasies, her daydreams as well as those of her night..Spiderman. He looked like he was holding on to the side of the wall, but not really holding on. His fingertips seemed to be the only thing gripping against the wall. * What on earth? What's he doing here? Oh, don't think about right now. He better get up here before someone sees him. *

She leaned over just a tad bit over and saw him looking down, at the crowd. From what she could see, the crowd couldn't really tell, with it being night and dark and all. * Thank God. *

"Spiderman, is that you?" Mary Jane hissed down to the superhero. He flicked his head up and looked at her straight in the eyes. Or at least MJ thought he was looking at her in the eye through those silver eyes on his mask.

She leaned over and motioned to come up, while calling to him as quietly as possible. "Spiderman, hurry, get up here!"

Spiderman stood hesitantly still for a moment, and then began to crawl up and over the edge of the balcony. Mary Jane moved back just a bit to allow space for Spiderman. He inched his way up the side of the balcony and gracefully did a back flip, landing straight up on the balcony.

Few acrobats and Olympic gymnasts could perform with that agility and poise.

* Wow. *

Mary Jane rubbed her neck, desperately trying to find all those words, all those things she had wanted to say since she last saw him. At the rate she was going, she was desperate to find anything to say to him. "Hi Spiderman."

"Hi Mary Jane."

Mary Jane began to pace along the small landing, saying whatever came to mind. "Gosh, it feels like it's been so long since the last time I saw you. I mean, there's so much I want to say to you, but my mind seems to have stopped right about now. And-"

Spiderman walked up to her, grasping her fluttery hands between his gloved ones, attempting to calm her down. "It's ok. It happens to the best of us. Just don't freak out on me, ok?"

Mary Jane couldn't help but smile shyly at her "hero". *God, look at me! I've been reduced to a walking cliché! Get a hold of yourself, Mary Jane! * She pulled her hands out of Spiderman's grasp and walked to the door. As she was opening the door, she turned back to her enigmatic guest. "Do you want to come in? I mean, just until the crowd goes away downstairs? I'd understand if you .."

Spiderman seemed to hesitate once more, as if battling his conscience over what to do. Finally, he took a step. "Well, I guess until the crowd scatters apart. I'd rather not cause another scene." He followed her inside and closed the door behind him.

Mary Jane kept walking out of her room, into the living room, trying to keep calm and put some order to her mind. * Ohmygod, Spiderman's in my apartment! God, now I sound like some crazy star-struck fanatic. Just keep calm, act normal and whatever you do, don't fall in love with him. But I guess it's a little late to say now. * She thought back to what she had been thinking just before Spiderman's rather brusque "entrance".

Was she in love? She'd read enough cheap romance novels to know that the women always fell for their rescuers soon after their lives being saved and their heroes swept them off their feet, walking into the sunset, living happily ever after or something like that. But was she doing the same? And what about Peter?

"Mary Jane?"

Mary Jane looked behind her to see Spiderman standing behind one of the recliners in the living room. His hands rested on the back of the chair. She couldn't see his face, but she could sense the concern in his voice.

"Huh?"

"Mary Jane, are you ok?"

* Ok, time to go into actress mode. * Putting on her "lightning bright" smile, she looked up at him periodically as she began picking up some of the clutter on the coffee table. "Yeah, I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you're doing it again."

Mary Jane put down the magazines right where she had just picked them up and stood up to look at Spiderman. She was definitely confused. "What am I 'doing again'?"

"You're being the actress again. When you feel scared, sad or confused, you hide all that and pretend to be all happy. Like nothing's bothering you, when you clearly have something on your mind."

Mary Jane was frozen. Spiderman was dead on, but no one had ever caught her little act before. This man obviously knew who she was. And, for some reason, it felt nice that she didn't have to use her "acting abilities" on anyone. Her lips broke out into a little smile. "What do you bill as: a superhero or a therapist?"

Spiderman laughed and Mary Jane could imagine the smile that graced those lips of his. Those strong, soft lips that she had kissed and kissed, that felt so amazingly delicious- * Mary Jane, stop! Don't even think about it! *

She sat down on the couch and looked back at Spiderman. "You can sit down if you want. I mean, you don't have to stand." "Ok"

He sat down in the recliner across from MJ. He looked so out of place, yet he seemed to be at home in her living room, sitting in her recliner as if he always sat there in that recliner. They sat in silence for a few moments, waiting for the other to say something.

"I need to-"

"Mary Jane-"

Both looked at each other and laughed. Once the laughter died down a bit, MJ motioned her hand towards him. "You first."

"Ok."

Spiderman quieted down for a moment and then lifted his head back up to look at her. "Mary Jane, what happened outside was no accident. I mean, the whole concrete falling down and everything was an accident, but my being here wasn't."

MJ opened her mouth to say something, but Spiderman put his hand up to silence her. "Please, I need your silence or else I won't be able to say what I have to say."

Mary Jane silently agreed by nodding her head and closing her mouth. She clasped her hands in her lap and waited for him to speak up again.

"Thanks. Anyways, now please don't take this the wrong way, but this isn't the first time I've seen you in the past couple of weeks. Actually, I've been coming to check on you every night. Now, it's not what you think. But ever since the since the incident on the bridge, I got worried about you and I didn't want anything happening to you like that again. So, I would come by and wait for you to make sure you got home all right. Then, I would go."

All this time, Spiderman had been pacing around, purposely avoiding looking at her, but then he stopped, but with his back to her, looking out one of the windows.

"I told myself that I was doing it for your safety and to protect you, but I'd be lying to you if I said that was all that I was doing."

*Is he saying what I think he's saying? * "So, is this a regular service for all of the people you rescue or am I just a special case?" Mary Jane asked as she got off the couch and walked right up behind him. She put her hand on his shoulder and turned him around to face her. * God, I wish he would take off that mask. *

Spiderman looked at her and for a moment, MJ felt totally open and vulnerable underneath his gaze. "No, you're the only one. I guess you could say you're a 'special case'."

Mary Jane looked up at him and took a deep breath. Her grandmother had been the wisest person MJ had ever known. She had passed away when she was 12, but one thing Grandma had always told her was to never be afraid of death, but be afraid of an unlived life.

She knew that this opportunity would never come again and she didn't want to know what would happen if she were to look back on this moment with regret. * Well, here goes. *

"Spiderman, I have something I need to tell you." She placed her hands on his forearms, one reason being she needed to touch him to make sure she wasn't imaging everything. That, and she was afraid that she would need to hold on to something in case for whatever came next.

"MJ, whatever it is, you can tell me."

MJ could feel his gaze on her as she lifted her head up. * Let's hope so. *

"I think I'm in love with you, Spiderman."

Mary Jane could feel his muscles tensing underneath her touch and she began to wonder if she did the right thing. Deafening silence filled the room and it wasn't a comforting one.

"Spiderman, say something."

Spiderman lifted his hand and tucked back a strand of her fiery red hair. "I'm sorry MJ, but you can't love me."

"Why not?"

"Because I made the mistake of falling in love with you and it almost got you killed. I refuse to let anything happen to you again. Even if it means not acting on my instincts."

Spiderman pulled away from her embrace and began circling around the room again. Mary Jane just stood in the same position. "What do you mean? I love you and you love me, that's all that matters. That night was a fluke and it won't happen again. The goblin is dead, he won't hurt me again."

Spiderman turned around. "Can you guarantee that? The goblin's gone, yes, but there's probably a thousand more enemies just waiting for the chance to find my weak spot and that's you. Hell, I'm putting you in danger by just being here. But, that's what I wanted to talk to you about tonight."

Mary Jane sat down on the arm of the couch, rubbing her temples. "God, what else do you possibly have to say?"

"You can't see me anymore."

MJ looked up. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not coming around anymore. I can't see you anymore, unless you're in trouble, need to be rescued kind of thing. But, don't use that as an excuse to go and get yourself mugged."

Mary Jane pushed aside the little bit of humor and kept her eye on the subject. "But, why?"

"Because I want to protect you."

"Oh! Let me make that decision for myself. C'mon, give me a better excuse than that!"

"It's not an excuse! I love you and will do anything to keep you from harm's way. And if that means never seeing you again, then so be it."

Mary Jane stood up and went to the window and with arms crossed, looked out onto the millions of twinkling city lights. * The rest of the world gets to experience the charmed life and the happily ever after, but I have to sacrifice mine for my 'safety'. *

Mary Jane stayed where she was as she spoke up. In the reflection of the window, she could see Spiderman walking up behind her. "You're gonna do this, whether I agree or not."

"Yes"

"Do you love me?"

"Yes"

"And I love you. So, will you do something for me?"

"Absolutely."

Mary Jane turned around and faced him. Their bodies so close in contact, MJ found it hard not to brush against him. She felt scared, but she did the best she could of covering it up. * Now or never. * She kept telling herself.

"I want you to stay. Stay the night with me, Spiderman. If I have to give you up for the rest of my life, then give me one night to remember you with. Please."



What a wonderful cliffhanger, don't you think??? Please review and tell me what you think!!!!