A week. A whole week had passed by and still the two had heard nothing from the police about any progress on the case of Gwen's family. Furthermore, Peter had not seen any signs of Harry at all since the clock tower and he was beginning to get suspicious. It wasn't like the guy to just back down, clearly he was up to something.

Asides from the lack of news, Peter's nightmares had continued, only getting worse and worse each night. Yet he still hadn't bothered to tell Gwen through fear of pushing her over the edge. She was already on fragile ground as it was, and he could only dread what would happen if she reached her breaking point.

Each day of training she had shown signs of progress, though despite this she did not show him any signs of how she felt and so it had become like a guessing game for him where he would just have to take his chances and hope that he didn't upset or anger her.

Finishing up in the kitchen, he placed two plates on a tray, one for her and one for himself, and then headed upstairs with breakfast. Today would be challenging since it was the day that they would be going back to the apartment for the first time since discovering the bodies due to the police requesting that Gwen take anything that she might need from there so that they could proceed with the investigation without any chance of evidence being tainted.

Entering the bedroom, he placed the tray down and then turned his attention to where she was laid asleep still. Sitting down on the bed, he leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"Gwen? Wake up… Breakfast is ready." He whispered softly into her ear.

For a brief moment her eyes opened, but before she spoke a word she shut them again instantly and screwed her face up; clearly not pleased about another day beginning. Feeling bad for having woken her up, Peter held her hand in his own and gave it a gentle squeeze as if to let her know that he was there.

"Give me one good reason why I should bother getting up?" She asked, clearly not in the best of moods.

Peter sighed, the whole week had been a series of mornings just like this one. He would wake up a little earlier and do something nice for Gwen to wake up to, then when he woke her, she never wanted to do anything other than sleep all day. It hadn't changed a single bit either, and he could barely get her to wake up… Not even for food.

"Because you can't sleep your whole life away, Gwen." He stated.

"Well I can try." She retorted.

Not saying a word, he put his feet up on the bed and wrapped his arms around her, hoping that it would make even the slightest bit of difference.

"What are you doing?" She questioned.

"Oh… I should probably mention that if you're going to sleep your life away, then I will too." He informed her.

"You're not funny." She said, her voice monotonous.

"Good. I wasn't trying to be."

A frown appeared on her face, she sat up instantly and moved away from him to the edge of the bed then dropped her head in her hands.

"Shoot!... Gwen, I…" He began, but trailed off when he realised that what he had to say would just be taken the wrong way.

"Don't." She warned.

Getting up, she shook her head, disgusted with her uncontrollable behaviour. She already felt guilty enough, knowing that Peter didn't deserve any of it. Despite knowing it was wrong, she didn't know how to snap out of it. The heavy weight on her chest kept getting heavier and heavier each day and soon it would cave. She couldn't let him witness that. Feeling herself beginning to hyperventilate, she jumped to her feet.

"I'm sorry Peter, I have to go." She stated, turning and running out of the room.

"Gwen, wait!" He called, rushing out after her.

Racing down the stairs and out of the door, slamming it shut, he chased after her down the street. Although it would have been easier, he did not use his webs to catch her up and instead just increased his speed until he was right on her heel. When he was within reach, he managed to grab hold of her sleeve and bring her running to a stop.

"Let go of me!" She screeched, causing passers by to cut the pair some odd looks before walking on.

"I'll only let go if you promise not to run away again." He informed her.

"It's for the best." She snapped.

"No, it isn't! Look, Gwen, I'd rather have you here with me even when you're hurting than not at all. Please… Don't run away from me, let me help you. We can go collect your things then… And then we can deal with everything else later on." He begged her.

Thinking things through for a moment, her body relaxed and once Peter was sure that she wouldn't run, he slowly released his hold on her sleeve. Her breathing nor heart rate still hadn't slowed in the time she had stopped running.

"If you really do love me then you will listen to what I said and you will take my hand so that we can go through all of this together." He added, his eyes full of hope and fear.

"That's not fair, you know that I love you and it's because I do that I should spare you all the pain." She stated.

"Don't shut me out! You talk about me asking that of you being unfair well what about you shutting me out… Tell me, does that sound fair to you?" He questioned.

"No but…" She began, but gave up trying to explain.

She had no explanation. With her family always so busy, she was used to dealing with her problems by herself and now that the only family she had left was Peter, she didn't even know where to begin.

"No. It doesn't. You're right, Peter. The problem is that I don't even know where to start… I always dealt with problems alone and… And I owe you a reason for why I've been doing this and so I'm going to give you that much. The truth is that… I'm scared." She admitted.

"Scared? Scared of what?" He asked.

"I don't know… Opening up. Most people leave when a person opens up and as of a week ago, you're the only family that I have left and if I were to lose you or you were to leave, I don't think I could live with that." She explained, fiddling with the sleeves of her top.

He finally understood. After a week of acting upon guesses, he was finally able to put the pieces together and help her properly. Cupping her face in his hands, he stared into her eyes.

"You are not going to lose me and I am not going anywhere. No matter what, you will always have me." He promised her.

"Don't say it if you don't mean it." She warned him.

"I'm not. I do mean it… Now please, take my hand." He pleaded, offering out his hand for her to take.

Without a doubt in mind, she took his hand and allowed him to lead her the rest of the way back to the apartment. Standing outside the door, which was still covered in black and yellow tape with a warning to keep out, Gwen squeezed Peter's hand to remind herself that she wasn't on her own.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" He asked, concerned.

"No, but if I don't do it now then I'll only end up talking myself out of it." She answered truthfully.

"Shall we?"

"Yeah."

Opening the door and ducking under the tape, entering the apartment instantly brought her right back to the worst night of her life. She felt her heart begin to pound but before the panic took over she closed her eyes and used the method of three.

Name three sounds you can hear.

The beat of music in the distance.

The sound of the front door of the block opening and closing.

The sound of her own breathing.

Name three things you can see.

The door to her bedroom.

The floor.

Peter Parker.

Move three body parts.

Tapped her fingers against her side.

Tapped her foot against the floor.

Shook her head from side to side.

"Something wrong?" Peter asked.

"No, I just had to take a moment… I'm okay now. Let's get the stuff and get out of here." She stated.

Not looking in either direction of the hall, she headed straight into her bedroom and began stuffing clothes into an old rucksack as well as some books, chargers and her laptop.

"Do you think that's all you're going to need?" He questioned, ensuring that they had everything before they left.

"Oh… Just one more thing." She remembered and walked over to the same drawers, pulling out a photo album.

"That's everything?"

"Pretty much." She confirmed.

Slinging the bag onto her back, she led the way out of the room and out of the apartment before she had the chance to think about anything else. The next few weeks would be difficult, but as long as she knew that Peter was trying then she would try too.