Back home, Peter made sure that Gwen was settled in nicely before heading downstairs to find his aunt May. Since that night when he'd told Gwen that he would follow her to Oxford, something had been on his mind and the only person who could give him advice based on experience was his aunt.

Entering the kitchen, he found her sitting at the table, reading a newspaper. Approaching her slowly, his nerves were running wild as he thought over and over about what he was about to speak to her about. As soon as she caught sight of him she lowered her newspaper so that she could see his face. Placing it down, she pointed to the seat opposite her.

He pulled the chair out and sat down, placing his hands in front of him on top of the table. With this subject he didn't even know where to begin to confide in her.

"What's going on? Is Gwen okay?" May asked with concern.

"Yeah, she's uh… Doing much better now, that's not what I wanted to talk about… There's something else." He stated.

"Something else?" She questioned, his nervous posture having piqued her interest.

"That's right." He confirmed.

"Well, don't be shy… Speak up." She told him.

"Of course… So uh… Y- You know how uh… How much I care about Gwen and that… I… I've never felt this way about anyone before… I was just uh-" He began to stumble through the topic.

"Peter, relax. Take a deep breath and talk to me." She interrupted.

Taking her advice, he took a deep breath and cleared his throat before attempting to approach the subject once again.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I care about Gwen a lot… And I love her more than I ever thought possible. Recently, things have been difficult for her and I don't want to push anything but long before what happened with her family, I had something planned. But just as I was getting around to organising it, a lot happened." He started, trying his best to keep his nerves in check.

"Right… Okay, so what exactly is this something?" May asked, confused by his vague explanation.

"You see… I was uh… Going to ask her to marry me." He admitted, feeling his cheeks heat up.

Aunt May's eyes widened as she opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again. Standing up, she walked over to one of the kitchen drawers and rummaged through it before pulling out something that Peter didn't quite see before she closed her hand. Sitting back down at the table, she smiled at him.

"Well?... What do you think I should do?" He asked.

"You both have been through a great deal recently and I think that life is way too short to be constantly worrying about what ifs or waiting for the right moment. The truth is that there is never a right moment for anything. There are only moments, and what we choose to do with them." She began.

Peter listened intently, clinging on to her every word, waiting to hear her conclusion. He was anxious to hear what she thought of these plans that he'd had and also excited.

Reaching across the table and taking his hand, she placed something in his palm and then squeezed his hand closed before retracting her own. Without hesitation, he opened it up his hand to see what she had placed into it. Seeing what was there he shot her a confused look.

"This ring is the same one that your uncle Ben used when he proposed to me. Since your parents left you here with us, I have always kept it by, just waiting for when this day would come. Now it is here, so I hand it to you with only a few words of advice… Use this ring to ask the girl to marry you if you are sure that you have found the right one." She explained.

Peter's eyes sparkled with tears as he looked at the ring in his hand and thought of his uncle Ben. With his aunt passing it on to him, it held great value to him. A sudden smile appeared on his face as her words bounced around in his mind and he came to the conclusion that he had, in fact, already found the right one.

"Wait!... Are you sure?" He asked, not wanting her to give up something she didn't want to.

"Beyond sure. Peter, I've been waiting to give you this to give to the girl you love for years." She confirmed.

"Thank you." He whispered.

Standing up, he walked over to where she was sitting and bent down to hug her. Brushing her arm, he went to walk upstairs and stopped. Tucking the ring into the pocket of his jeans, he continued upstairs to his room.

"Everything okay?" Gwen asked upon his entrance.

"Huh? Oh, yeah everything's okay." He answered.

"You seem nervous." She pointed out.

"Nope. Not nervous at all, I was just thinking about something." He explained.

"What is that something?" She questioned curiously.

"Tonight is Friday and I was just thinking that it's been a while since we've done anything just for fun. So… How about you and me tonight? No training, no Spider-man, no negativity. Just you, me, dinner and sunset." He suggested.

"I really haven't been feeling up to much this week…" She began, his excitement fading as he heard her words. "But I would love that very much." She added much to his relief.

"So is that a yes then?" He asked.

"Yes." She answered with a smile.

A rather odd feeling came over Peter when he saw her smile. It had been a long time since he'd seen her with such a happy expression and it sent a jolt of electricity throughout his body. More than anything, he wanted her to do so more often.

"You're so cute when you smile." He complimented.

Her cheeks flushed pink as she felt slightly embarrassed as usual whenever she received a compliment. Flicking her hair so that it covered her face, hoping that he hadn't noticed, she dropped her gaze from his eyes to her hand.

"You should do it more often." He added.

As he said those words, she tucked the hair back behind her ears and gave him a small smile.

"So what time?" She asked.

"Oh… Uh… Seven. I'm gonna go make some preparations whilst you get ready. I don't need much time to get ready. Hey uh… Exactly why is it that you girls always take like seven hours to get ready?" He teasingly asked.

"Uh!..." She gasped, letting her jaw drop in fake surprise at his comment. "We do not all take seven hours, the most time is a couple of hours and the reason, I'll have you know, is because we have a whole lot more to consider when it comes to appearance than all you guys do." She explained, laughing at his question.

"Touché." He responded before exiting the room to go and take care of all the preparations.

Halfway down the stairs, he almost walked into his aunt May as she was coming up the stairs. He stopped abruptly with an apologetic look on his face as she steadied herself.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" She asked.

"Nowhere. Just making a few preparations for tonight. I uh… Gwen and I are going out." He announced.

"Ah, I see. Well… Feel free to use any of your uncle Ben's stuff that's still here if you need." She told him.

"Thanks, but I think I'm good." He said.

"Alright then." She concluded, giving him a pat on the back as she passed him by and continued up the stairs.

When she got to the top, she went over to Peter's door and tapped lightly on the wood. As soon as she heard Gwen's voice telling her to come in, she opened the door.

"Hope you don't mind me intruding like this…" May began.

"No, of course. You're not intruding at all." Gwen answered politely as she dug through her bag of clothes, trying to find something decent to wear.

"You see, I couldn't help but notice that you don't seem to have much of your belongings here with you." May explained further.

"Yeah, I couldn't get much since I had to be straight in and out of the place." Gwen informed her.

"Now why don't you put that bag down and follow me dear?" She requested.

"Oh… Okay." Gwen agreed, feeling uncertain.

Dropping the bag onto the bed, she moved over to the door and followed May out of the room and into another one; This one very different from Peter's.

"I don't want to barge into your room." Gwen said politely and stopped in the doorway.

"Nonsense! Now get in here." Aunt May instructed her.

"Okay." She agreed and took a few steps inside the room.

May patted the bed, signaling for her to sit down, which she did, and then walked over to the closet on the other side of the room. Gwen watched intently as the woman dug through and tossed out a bunch of clothes until she found a specific item, then she placed it on a hanger and turned her attention back to Gwen.

"Now… This is something that I've never really spoken of to Peter, but before his parents left him with us, I always wanted a daughter of my own and I am glad that you are here. Peter is like a son to me and it makes me happy that I now have a chance to bond with you." She began, giving Gwen a smile. "I understand that you two have plans tonight so if you'll allow me to, I would like to help you get ready." She finished.

Gwen froze for a moment, despite having her family around before, she and her mother never had the time for one another; or rather her mother never. The whole concept of having another, older woman to talk to and share things with was completely foreign, yet it was something that she never quite realised she might need.

"I would love that very much." She agreed, her voice steady despite being overwhelmed with a new found love for this woman that didn't quite know yet.

"Perfect! Then let's begin…" May said, with a scheming glint in her eye.