Part Six

            Peter was dressed up in a suit and tie despite the fact that it was a Saturday. He listened to the phone connecting with the number. "Come on, come on; come on." He chanted. His costume felt a little tight under the suit.

            "Hello?" The voice of Mary Jane Watson said.

            "MJ?" Peter asked a little shakily, "Is that you?"

            MJ seemed to take a moment to respond, "Peter? You're not supposed to be calling here, there's a court order."

            Peter nodded to himself, "That's what I'm calling about. MJ, the trial's being decided today. I have a feeling the decision is going to be a piece of good news for a change. Can you come to the court house?"

            "I don't know." She said after hesitating to even respond at all.

            "Please." Peter pleaded, "I want you to be there, I need to see you again." He gulped.

            There was yet another delay in her answer, tormenting Peter to no end, "Okay, I'll be there." MJ answered; her voice full of resolve. "My dad's home, though, I'll need to sneak out. He's still pissed off about what you did to him."

            "Did I do something?" Peter said, his tone sly, "It must have been one of the other arachnid superheroes running around. Here, let me give you instructions on getting to the courthouse." Peter concluded his phone call with a bit of glee.

            Norman entered Peter's room, "Are you ready?" He inquired.

            "Yes, I am." He replied taking in a deep breath. Despite the evidence he had given in, there was quite a bit of butterflies making trouble in Peter's stomach.

            "Don't worry." Norman said assuring the young man, "I'm sure things will turn out for the best in fact I'm counting on it."

            The judge presiding over the trial watched Ben Parker, his lawyer and the prosecutor all sit down consecutively. He removed his glasses and wiped them with his robe. It was a common habit; it raised tension for all the parties involved.

            "After careful consideration of the evidence of the prosecution's expert testimony and the pictures that the defense obtained, I've made a decision." He said deadpan.

            The prosecutor spoke up, "May I remind his honor, that those images were taken without a warrant and where obtained illegally."

            "Sit down." The judge said, annoyed at the sudden outburst, "The images were taken by a private citizen and hence no warrant was required." He stared at Erickson robbing his palms nervously. "Now if the prosecution will be so kind, I'll inform you of my decision."

            Peter was sitting on a bench in the hallway that led to the courtroom. Norman patted him on the shoulder as people of all sorts moved back and forth, "Don't worry my boy; I'm sure everything will be fine."

            "I hope so." He replied anxiously, "I haven't felt this nervous since the last time I took a physical."

            Norman smiled, "It'll be fine."

            Out of the dull hallways and bland people that populated them, Mary Jane emerged, her eyes focused on Peter. She was dressed in some kind of black overcoat and had a cap covering the top half of her head.

            "Excuse me." He said to Osborn slowly rising off the bench. "MJ!" Peter called. They rushed over to one another; their paces were eager and frantic. "You made it." He said embracing her.

            MJ wrapped her arms around him and squeezed for everything she was worth, "I wouldn't have missed it for the world." She placed her hand on the back of his head and took a deep breath assuring herself that this was real and that she wouldn't wake up in a second from now. "God, I missed you."

            Peter smiled and stared into her eyes. He brushed away strands of her long and glorious red hair that covered her eyes, "Ditto." As their feelings reached a boiling point they gave in to their emotions and kissed one another.

            Meanwhile, Norman watched this display with growing interest. From what he had gathered Peter had been involved with the blonde and his son, Harry, with the redhead. This muddled things. Of course Harry was no longer in any condition to maintain a relationship, let alone a romantic one. "He must be playing both of them." He smirked, "Boy's more cunning than I gave him credit for."

            The doors to the courtroom opened and people began to file out. Immediately, Peter and MJ joined Osborn's side. "This is it." Norman said cautiously, "Whatever the decision is, you know that you'll have a helping hand in me."

            "Thank you." Peter responded clutching MJ around her waist. He gulped and closed his eyes nervously.

            "It'll be okay, tiger." MJ said, "I know it will. We've taken enough hits; we're both overdue for some good news."

            Ben appeared from the crowd with his lawyer with a smile on his face. Osborn grimaced. He spotted the tycoon and waved.

            "Damn." Norman whispered under his breath.

            "We did it." Ben said rushing to Peter, "The verdict was not guilty."

            Peter grinned, "That's great news; Uncle Ben! MJ did you hear?"

            MJ nodded equally happy, "So what's going to happen next?"

            "Well, first thing's first, Peter moves back in." Ben looked at the redhead and clicked his tongue, "I guess you'll move back in. I'll have to file God knows how many damn forms out so it's legal this time."

            "Hey!" An irate man screamed exploding from the crowd, "Hey! Get away from her!" It was Dennis Watson, "You thought you could just leave and not say anything, MJ?" He grimaced, "It's the old man again? I thought there was a court order."

            Peter stepped in between Dennis and MJ, "Things just changed." He leaned in, "I think you'd better back off and go home."

            Dennis looked at the younger Parker skeptically, "What are you going to do, kid? Teach me calculus. Get out of my way you geek."

            "No." He placed his hand in front of Dennis and kept him in place, "I watched you yell at her too many times, and I saw you lay your hands on her and did nothing. Not again. You hit her and I hit you."

            Dennis stared at Peter, anger building up within him like a tempest, "You're just a kid, what can you do? MJ, tell this joker to get off of me and let's go home. I promise things will be quiet today, okay?"

            MJ stepped forward from behind Peter, "Really?"

            "Yeah, I promise." Dennis said smiling.

            She closed her fist and socked him across the jaw, "To hell with you, dad."

            Dennis wiped the blood on his lips away and raised his own fist. "I'll hit you so hard!"

            Peter stepped in the way of the punch and Dennis' fist landed on his chest. The blow was followed by the sound of a bone in the latter's fist cracking.

            "Ah!" Dennis grabbed his fist in pain, "You broke my hand!"

            "Me?" Peter shook his hand, "I didn't do a thing. You hit me." He looked at the hand and shrugged, "Looks bad, maybe you should go home and do something about that."

            Dennis trembled and turned away like a coward. He muttered curses under his breath and vanished back into the crowd.

            Ben put his hand on Peter's shoulder, "You did well there

            MJ looked around a little puzzled, "Where's Mr. Osborn?"