Hi everyone, I'm sorry I haven't updated till now, I was planning on posting this like a week ago but my hamster died recently so I'm not feeling too good right now. I really don't feel like doing anything much, when I do I'll get back into the swing of reading and reviewing so sorry again. I'm sure I'll enjoy the stories much more when I'm in a better mood. For now, here's the next part.

Smoking On The Rooftops

Part 3: Adding Injury to Insult

Frost crackled underfoot as the solitary figure made her way across the foggy rooftop. Her breath clouded in front of her face, adding to the distortion caused by the swirling mist. The sun was just peaking above the horizon, fighting to maintain its dim light until the last possible second before the moon took its place and ruled the night.

Betty Brant noticed none of these things. She was intent on her thoughts, which had become somewhat unclear in the last few days that she'd been talking to Spider-man on this very rooftop. Wondering what Jameson would say if he knew, a smile came to her frostbitten lips as she imagined the exact expression on her employer's face. Meeting with the very object of his cause for irritation satisfied Betty. She felt like she was fighting back, misbehaving under his nose and getting away with murder, figuratively speaking.

Her self-satisfied smile quickly faded and her expression turned swiftly to one of horror as for a second the smog parted to reveal Spider-man laying prone, crimson staining the patch of ice around him.

"Oh my God!"

Betty rushed forward, discarding her lighter and the cigarette she'd been about to light. She kneeled beside him; he was lying on his side, head thrown away from her. Fearing the worst, she very slowly reached out and rolled him over onto his back. He grunted slightly and Betty clutched her heart in relief.

"Spider-man?" She said, an unmistakeable quaver in her voice.

"Huh?" He said groggily. Opening his eyes beneath the opaque eyepieces, he started as he saw Betty's face looming over him.

"Ouch- ow, don't do that!" He yelped, and gingerly sat up, with her help.

"What happened?" She asked him quickly. "Where does it hurt the most?"

"Other than everywhere, I would say here." He held up his right arm, and Betty gasped as she saw a strangely x-shaped cut that ran the length of his forearm, bleeding profusely.

"Oh God, oh God, what do I do!" She asked him, obviously panicking.

"A bandage… would be good." Spider-man replied tiredly, slurring his words a little from fatigue. This only caused Betty to go into a worse state of shock.

"A bandage- a bandage right. Right." She stood up and looked around her as if expecting a bandage to handily appear from midair. When she realised that was not going to happen she frantically turned back to him. "Where do I get a bandage!"

But he'd lain down in the few seconds she'd looked away, and seemed to have fallen asleep again. She stared at him for a few seconds then ran back for the door down to the news room, slipping and sliding and swearing as she went.

Betty attracted a fair few stares as she slammed the door open and stood shivering in the doorway, before coming to her senses and much more discreetly heading towards the store cupboard. Rooting through the piles of paperclips and dusty staplers, she finally found what she was looking for. An ancient first aid kit that the Federation for Employees Health and Safety had forced Jameson to invest in after seeing the state of his newsroom.

"Miss. Brant!"

Heart jumping into her throat she span round with a stapler in one hand and the first aid kit in the other.

"What are you doing?" Jameson asked in a voice of deadly calm.

"Um, I just, I just cut my finger, so I was just… um… getting a plaster, yes that's it I was getting a plaster!" She explained with a slightly hysterical tone to her voice.

"Then Miss. Brant?" He said, again strangely calm.

"Yes?" She replied tremulously. Every second she wasted here was one less that Spider-man would be getting the help he needed.

"DO IT QUIETLY! And stop waving that stapler around!" And with that Jameson turned on his heel and stalked back to his office.

"Right." Betty sighed softly, then thrust the stapler back into the cupboard, making sure to close it quietly, before high-tailing it across the room.

She was just about to creep up the stairs and close the door softly behind her when the sounds of Jameson shouting at some poor unsuspecting worker caught her attention. On a spur of the moment decision she slammed the door shut with as much force as she could muster, and ignored the increased volume of Jameson's shouting at the noise.

Again skidding across the rooftop ungracefully, she found Spider-man was in much the same condition as he was before. Without waiting to stop running she tore the lid off the kit and slid to a halt next to his body. He didn't stir at the racket she made rooting around in the bottom of the box, but when she gingerly began to drop liquid antiseptic into the wound he hissed and moved. She paused then continued with her work as he didn't complain, in fact she didn't even know he was awake until she'd finished wrapping the gauze and tied it into a neat little bow, and was in the process of clearing the mess she'd made up, when he said, "Thanks. Hope the bow doesn't detract from my manly image."

She jumped and span around from packing the little kit up, and saw he was leaning up on one elbow, inspecting her handiwork thoughtfully.

"I thought you were asleep." Betty replied stolidly, letting a small relieved smile creep to her lips at his attempt at humour. He'd be alright.

"I was until you decided to wake me up with some nasty stingy antiseptic."

Her smile grew wider, and she finished rolling the remainder of the bandage up before shoving it into the box and shutting it firmly. "Nasty stingy? I'm glad you're ok, and your vocabulary should come back in a few hours as well."

"Very funny." He replied, trying not to yawn. Slowly pushing himself into a sitting position he stretched out his legs. "Brrr. Never try lying on frost in winter, especially wearing only this."

At that she laughed a little, and stretching out beside him, decided the first aid kit could wait a few more minutes before being returned to its musty home. "You must be cold. You can have my coat if you want, I've got another 4 layers underneath."

"No thanks, I think the bow's another to be going on with without a lady's coat." Spider-man answered and she laughed again.

"Are you really injured at all?" Betty asked him, referring to the way he kept cracking admittedly bad jokes all the time.

"Yeah, so does that mean I can't be entertaining? Or would you rather I went back to sleep?" He said, trying to muster some humour into his voice.

Betty just rolled her eyes in an air of long suffering. "So what happened anyway?"

"You want the long version or the short version?"

Checking her watch, she said regretfully, "Short version. I better get back to work soon."

"Ok, Goblin me fight me no win me hurt me come here the end." He said with a dead serious tone, and Betty could guess a completely straight face.

She rolled her eyes again. "Fine, I'll pick invisible option number 3, the medium length version."

"Ok, the Goblin and I fought in the street after he'd been terrorising a few pedestrians, he threw some razor bats at me and I couldn't get out of the way of all of them, he flew off when the police turned up and I swung here." Spider-man explained in a bit more detail, giving in to exhaustion and closing his eyes beneath the mask.

"You came here first?" Betty repeated in surprise. "But, why?"

"You were the closest person from where we fought who wouldn't chuck me off a building." He said quietly, glancing up at her.

"Who says I wouldn't?" She said, with a deadly serious face.

He smiled weakly at her, not bothering to think of a witty come-back, then laid his head back to rest on the concrete structure behind him.

"Hey listen, I've got to get back to work now or I'll be fired, so what are you planning on doing?" Betty said, frowning at her watch again.

"I'll be ok." Spider-man answered shortly. He most definitely didn't want to tell her that he planned on getting changed back into Peter Parker and sneaking down through the Bugle to get home rather than webswing there and risk passing out a hundred feet above the city.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, surveying him with a critical eye.

"It means I'll be just fine here and you better get back to work if you don't want Jameson to blow a coronary or something equally life threatening."

"Then I guess I'll stay here for a while longer." She paused before grinning wickedly and standing up. He smiled up at her.

"I think my bad sense of humour is rubbing off on you." He commented.

"I don't know whether to be insulted or not." Betty smiled, showing that she was taking it in good humour. "I'll come back and check on you later alright?"

"Ok, an-" His sentence was interrupted by a yawn which he quickly stifled. "-and don't worry I'll be fine. Thanks for everything."

"Sure, well, I'll be back soon." Betty reassured him, before grabbing the first aid kit and sliding back to the Bugle's main newsroom. As soon as the door had slammed behind her, Spider-man forced his tired body to get up.

Betty never noticed Peter Parker slip down the stairwell from the roof and out of the Bugle offices, as her head was buried in the storage cupboard, trying to halt the rain of paperclips that she'd dislodged and swearing periodically as she caught her fingers on loose staples.

She'd finally got everything back where she thought it should be, when she noticed something out of place. She picked up the small piece of notepaper and unfolded it hastily.

Betty,

Thanks again, and it'll be easier to stop the paperclips falling on you if you pull the box of staples down first.

Your friendly neighbourhood Spider-man

She whipped round in shock, searching the newsroom for a hint of red and blue, but if ever there was, it was long gone.

End of Part 3

The fight mentioned between Spidey and the Goblin could be the burning building one from SM1 and he just goes to Betty before Thanksgiving dinner, or it could be a completely separate occasion, take it as you will, it doesn't matter. Thank you for all the amazing reviews, they helped cheer me up. I think I'll reply to individual reviews next time if you don't mind. Thanks, please review and bye!