Mary Jane was sitting in the doctor's office at the start of the operation. They had closed the clinic for the night and turned off the lights in the waiting room so as not to attract visitors. The doctor also indicated that the furniture was a lot more comfortable in there. She had attempted to lie down to nap a couple of times on the sofa, but worry kept her awake.

Getting restless, she decided to explore the building. She had already seen the surgery which was one of the rooms on the first floor off the hallway that did indeed lead to a back door. It was an impressive modern room. She felt that Peter was in good hands. Adjacent to that was a small lab full of interesting instrumentation that she had no idea what they were used for. Across from the lab was a small kitchenette complete with refrigerator, microwave and oven. Along the same hallway was also a restroom for patients. Three of the rooms that were visible from the waiting area were exam rooms, and the last two doors at the end were locked. She suspected supply rooms.

She found a stairway and decided to visit the upstairs. The view from the banistered hallway was impressive. It didn't look that high from where she and Peter sat earlier, but from up here, it seemed like a long drop. At one end was the extension of the hallway that she didn't see from the first floor. There was a door on either side. Walking down the hall, she peeked in both rooms. One looked like a hospital room, complete with a private bath. The other looked like a private bedroom. She wondered if the doctor stayed on occasion to watch over seriously ill patients. Walking back to the open hallway she checked some of the other doors. One must have been a bedroom at one time but was used as junk storage now, another was locked and the last was an empty office. Maybe in case another doctor decided to help out with the clinic, she thought.

Having thoroughly combed the entire building, she reluctantly went back to the downstairs office. As she passed by the surgery, she hesitated outside trying to hear something, anything. She knew she couldn't go in, but she so wanted to see what was happening. Before stepping back into the office, she looked around. The place was a bit eerie with most of the lights turned off.

MJ tried lying down again thinking, 'I'm too hyped up to get to sleep'. She put her arm over her eyes to keep them closed and kept thinking it was foolish to just lie here when she wasn't sleepy.

The doctor startled her awake when he walked into the office four hours later. She quickly sat up, not realizing that she had fallen asleep after all. The clock read 1:30 AM. She looked at the doctor and couldn't tell if he was just tired or was bringing bad news. Her eyes begged for information.

"Relax Miss Watson, Peter came through the surgery just fine. The bullet bounced around a little before coming to rest. Although there was quite a bit of soft tissue damage and some bone damage, there were no major organs hit. But his blood loss was still acute. I'm not going to paint rosy picture, he is a severely injured young man and will need a lot of rest and care. But I have all the confidence that barring any complications, he should make a full recovery and get back to his superhero job."

He saw relief flow into MJ's face.

"When he wakes up, we'll bring him upstairs. He is going to spend some time here and you're welcomed to stay as well, we have accommodations. Do you want to see him now?"

Mary Jane nodded.

After taking her to recovery he said, "Call me when he wakes up," and the doctor left her in the small room off of surgery.

MJ sat beside Peter, once again holding his hand. She was expecting him to be bandaged completely around the chest and shoulder area. But all he had was a 6 inch square bandage taped onto his chest where the wound was. She still saw a lot of the bruising which made her queasy.

Peter started to squirm and tried to open his eyes. They felt like they were glued shut. When he finally pried them open, his eyes focused on an angel who had beautiful red hair framing a face of porcelain skin from which the most radiant smile glowed. She said something to him, but he couldn't quite make it out, then she left.

When MJ saw Peter coming out of the anesthesia, she beamed with joy. She told him that she would be right back, and rushed to get the doctor.

"Well Peter, welcome back. How do you feel?" the doctor asked.

"Throat sore" he croaked.

"That's because you had a tube down it to help you with breathing. Here, take an ice chip. Don't chew it, just suck on it. It will help with the sore throat and dry mouth. Now how is the rest of you feeling?"

Peter just lay there, blinking. He was trying to determine how the rest of him did feel. "I don't feel anything 'cept numbness" he responded thickly.

"That's to be expected. Enjoy it while you can, you'll be hurting plenty when the anesthesia wears off completely." Then turning to MJ the doctor said, "Can you help me roll him upstairs?"

"Roll him upstairs?" she asked confused.

"I have a small elevator off the hallway that is just big enough to hold a gurney."

MJ blushed slightly with embarrassment. They wheeled Peter out of the recovery room and down the hallway to one of the 'locked' doors. The doctor pressed what Mary Jane thought was a light switch, and the door opened to expose an elevator. Upstairs, they exited out of one of the upstairs 'locked' doors. Dr. Jackson led the wheeled bed to the enclosed part of the hallway where MJ had seen the hospital room and bedroom. After getting Peter settled in, the doctor turned to MJ. "You are most welcomed to stay. I don't know the relationship you have with our patient, but you have your choice of staying in here, that opens up into a sofa bed," he said pointing to a small loveseat, "or going across the hall to the bedroom. This part of the hallway is out of sight of the waiting room, so you will have plenty of privacy."

"I'm his fiancé" she said.

"Then I guess you'd like to stay in here. I have to stop at home for a while, but I'll be back within a couple of hours. I'll cat-nap there." He said as he nodded across the hall.

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Peter was standing on top of the gateway trying to understand what the lady below him was screaming about. He just couldn't make it out, but she was frantic. When he looked over to the clock tower he saw the sniper emerging, but he didn't have a gun. He had four mechanical arms snaking through the air 'looking' at him. The figure jumped onto a glider and headed towards him. With his heart pounding explosively in his chest, Spiderman tried to move and found that his feet were stuck fast to the glass top of the walkway. He looked back up at his assailant who yelled out in a deep gravelly voice, "It's time to die." At that moment several razor sharp blades on the glider were triggered and the 'gunman' came straight at him. He felt searing pain in his chest as the blades struck him.

Peter bolted upright in his bed, awakening from the nightmare. Sweat trickled down his face. Taking a moment to orient himself, he grasped at his chest and moaned, "That was not a good thing to do." He slowly melted back down onto the bed, trying to move as little as possible until the pain subsided. He closed his eyes and waited until it was bearable. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes and looked around the room. It looked like a hospital room, but he was sure he wasn't brought to a hospital. A lamp on the nightstand emitted a soft light, and the TV was on. He wanted to get up and look around for someone but he was still smarting from his last action. Looking side to side, he was hoping to find the call switch for a nurse, but he couldn't find it. He wondered if he was still in the clinic. He vaguely remembered a doctor's office in a not-so-good neighborhood, but it was all pretty fuzzy. Just when he was ready to give it a try and get up, the door opened up.

Mary Jane quietly stole inside not wanting to wake Peter up. She had with her a couple of pieces of fruit and a box of crackers. The doctor had told her to retrieve those items from the kitchen for when his patient woke up. She looked over at Peter and was surprised to see him awake.

"Hi."

"Hi, back," said Pete, "Where are we?"

"We're upstairs in a private room at the clinic." She looked at her watch, "It's about 2:20 in the morning." As she approached him, she saw the sweat glistening on his face, "You ok?"

"Just a bad dream." Pete didn't tell her about sitting up abruptly and wishing he hadn't.

MJ sat down in the chair next to the bed and placed the food on the nightstand. She saw Peter's attention drawn to the television when he heard his name, the 'other name'. Grabbing the remote, she went to turn it off saying, "You don't need to see that," referring to the newsflash about Spiderman's death again.

"No wait. I do want to see it."

"I don't think that's a good idea," she argued.

"No really, I can handle it."

She hesitated then put the remote down. Studying her close friend, she saw him wince when the video came to the part where Spiderman was shot. But Peter continued to watch. During the tower barrage part of the video, Peter turned to her and said, "I thought I got him, but I wasn't sure. Nailed him right in the middle of the forehead." Turning back, he caught the part where he plunged to his death. That was when she noticed him turn a shade paler than he already was.

"That's enough, Pete. I really didn't think that was such a good idea."

"MJ, I needed to see it. I couldn't remember what happened, I had to fill in the blanks. And I needed to know that I got the guy. It's amazing that none of his victims died." Then added with a smirk, "Except me."

She lightly swatted him on his good arm, "Don't say that. I hate watching that video." After a pause, she said, you know it's late, you should try to get some sleep. I need to as well."

With his eyelids already weighing a ton, he said, "You don't need to tell me twice. Fill me in on the details tomorrow." And with that he slipped into a dreamless sleep.

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Peter awoke with a start. There was something wrong. He looked over at the love seat bed and saw that MJ was sound asleep. But something was not right. That's when he heard it.