Chapter 12

            Spider Man sat on the rooftop of Peter's and Harry's apartment building, looking down at the city below.

            He sighed and asked himself softly, "What happened? I thought that Thanksgiving dinner was a family get together, not a family separater."

            "Expect the unexpected, as I always say." The deep voice of the alien spoke softly from behind Spider Man.

            Spider Man turned his head just as the alien armor came up beside him. He raised his head up to stare at the alien armor as it stood instead of sat down.

            "Why are you always intruding on my conversations?" Spider Man asked in annoyance.

            The alien armor turned to look down at him, "I've already told you, I find your conversations very interesting."

            "Why are you really here?" Spider Man asked.

            The alien turned away and folded its arms, "I just wanted to know why you're feeling that way.. didn't have a good Thanksgiving dinner?"

            Peter sighed heavily and looked down at the dark street below.

            Spider Man turned his head just as he heard an ambulance racing through the city.

            "Huh? An attack during this time? How unusual.. I'm gonna go see who it is this time." Spider Man stood up and shot a web line to swing in the direction of the location of the hospital.

*          *          *

            Peter gasped as he saw the horrified face of his aunt as she lay in a bed that was wheeled into a room.

            Aunt May exclaimed in horrific voice, "Those horrible eyes! Those horrible yellow eyes!"

            The nurses shut the door in Peter's face as he stood there, coming to a realization.

            "He knows who I am."

                                                            *          *          *

            Peter sat in a chair beside his aunt's hospital bed. He held a framed picture of in his hand of his Aunt May, Uncle Ben, and himself. All were smiling happily.

            He looked up as the door opened and to see Mary Jane come into the room with a bouquet of flowers.

            "Hey, Pete. I heard about what happened." She set down the flowers and turned back to Peter to ask with concern, "Are you okay? I'm really sorry about what happened… is she going to be alright?"

            Peter nodded and smiled, "Yeah, I'm fine and Aunt May is just sleeping. The doctors said she is going to be alright."

            Mary Jane smiled, "That's good." She walked around the room before she sat in a chair in front of Peter.

            "I know how much you care about her. Your aunt is a real nice lady. It's a terrible thing that happened to her."

            Peter nodded and smiled in agreement.

                                                            *          *          *

            Peter somewhat gave away his feelings about Mary Jane as he explained his conversation with Spider Man about Mary Jane.

            Mary Jane took Peter's hand and said softly, "That is very sweet of you, Peter."

            Harry Osborn came into the room, holding a bouquet of red roses. He glanced at Peter and Mary Jane to see them holding hands.

            Mary Jane quickly released Peter's hand and they both looked away from each other.

            "Uh.. am I interrupting something?" Harry asked.

            Mary Jane stood and headed toward the door, "No, I was just leaving-" She stopped as she spotted Samus standing beside Harry with a death glare on her face, looking in Peter's direction.

Peter stood up as he realized that Samus had come into the room just right after Harry to see that Mary Jane was holding hands with Peter.

"Samus.. I-I can explain."

Samus narrowed her eyes even more, which made Peter's eyes show a hint of fear from her evil-looking glare of death.

"There's nothing to explain." Samus spun around and left the room.

Peter pushed past Harry and ran down the hall after Samus.

"Samus, wait!"

Samus ran out of the hospital and turned to run across the street. She then turned into a dark alley and stopped to realize that she had just run herself into a dead end.

She spun around as she heard running from around the corner of the building and saw Peter come into the alleyway.

Peter slowed and approached her, "Samus, please forgive me.. I'm sorry-"

Samus slammed her fist into the right side of Peter's face.

            Peter stumbled back and held the side of his face with his hands.

Ow! Dang! She has quite a punch! Now I'm going to get another bruise… I should thank that alien for the first one. Peter thought in surprise.

Samus came up to him and gripped her fingers around Peter's face and shouted, "So which one of you really loves me?! Or is Spider Man and Peter Parker really using me for their personal enjoyment?!"

Samus pushed Peter into a wall by his face as she let go.

            Peter blinked in surprise, "Huh?! What are you talking about?"

            Samus growled in response, "Don't play anymore of your lying games! I know that you're really Spider Man, Peter! I've known all along! That's why I didn't hesitate to kiss you when you tried to save me from that guy when I broke his nose!"

            Peter gulped and widened his eyes, "H-how did you find out?"

            Samus placed her left hand on her hip and let her right arm dangle at her side, "I'll give you a hint. Does mini-gundam sound familiar? Or NASA space suit? Perhaps, alien armor that has skanky breath? Maybe trash can that needs to change its colors?"

            Peter's eyes grew even more as he realized that Samus and the alien suit of armor are the same person!

            "What?!" Peter almost shouted.

            Samus smiled at Peter's surprise, "Surprise, surprise!.. I bet you didn't expet that you would have an alien as a girlfriend." Samus spoke in a slight nervous voice.

            Peter gulped and stuttered, "H-how.. but.. this is amazing! I can't believe this! Samus Aran is the alien from outer space?!"

            Samus narrowed her eyes and frowned, "I'm not exactly an alien. I'm a human too, ya know… with one slight cellular makeup difference."

            Thanks to that X parasite infection, I got the genes of a Metroid.

            Peter shook his head to calm himself from his excitement, "Why didn't you tell me? I would have understood about keeping your identity a secret."

            Why didn't I see it sooner?! The answers were right under my nose! It should have been obvious to me! Stupid, stupid, Peter! Peter thought irritably.

            Samus made a saddened expression and replied softly, "I'm sorry for trying to kill you and.. I'm sorry for turning your life upside down."

            Peter shook his head and came up to Samus to place a gentle hand upon her shoulder, "Hey, it's okay. It was already upside down from the first day I became Spider Man."

            Samus looked into Peter's eyes, "I hope this doesn't change anything."

            Peter smiled and reached up with his hand to place it on her cheek, "Of course not! I think it would be awesome to have Spider Man and the most beautiful woman from space as a couple."

            Samus blushed and asked, "Peter?"

            "Yeah?"

            "Don't make me hit you again."