Slowly but surely, Spider-Man's eyes opened. He could hear the faint sounds of what seemed like people talking, though he couldn't discern what they were saying. He gave it another few moments, and the world soon began to come into better focus around him. There were people standing less than ten feet from him; one was a young man, probably in his early twenties. The other was a redheaded woman, who stood about as tall as the guy across from her. Maybe it was his brain still trying to recover from that hit he took earlier, but he thought that maybe she might have been the one he saw from a distance at the Alchemax facility last night.

He must have stirred without even realizing it, because the two soon turned both of their heads towards him, taking a couple steps in his direction. Spider-Man then quickly stood up, his senses suddenly coming back sharply as he prepared to face whatever might happen.

"Easy man," the young man said, holding out his hands in a defensive gesture. The woman only took barely a step back but said nothing.

"Who are you?" Spider-Man questioned them. "How did I get here?"

"He found you at the bomb site," the woman spoke up, taking a step closer to him. "He brought you here so that we could take care of you."

"Oh," Spider-Man said, allowing himself to relax a little bit. "Well...thank you."

Suddenly, he remembered something: the power source.

"Okay listen, thank you guys so much," he stammered out quickly, already making his way towards the window in the room, "but if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere that I have to be."

"You mean you need to find this?" the young man said, stopping Spider-Man just as he'd turned around. Sure enough, he was holding the stolen device from Alchemax in his hand. He tried shooting a web at it, but to his surprise, the young man managed to lift his hand just in time to barely elude it.

Suddenly, he was beginning to wonder if he was in more in over his head than he realized.

"Look," Spider-Man said, slowly raising his hand and pointing towards the device. "I don't know what you heard on the news, but it's not what you..."

"We aren't planning to turn you in," the woman clarified, "and besides, you probably aren't going anywhere without this."

The redheaded woman raised her hand up, revealing that she'd been holding onto his mask the whole time. Putting his hand to his face, Spider-Man suddenly realized that he'd been unmasked without even knowing it through the entire interaction!

"It's okay," the woman spoke up. "After that hit to the head he said you took, you needed an icepack to help the initial swelling go down. We want to help you, Peter."

There it was again, the same name that the other Spider-Man had called him by as well.

"You...you know who I am?" he stammered out in confusion.

Neither of them responded initially, the woman instead taking out her phone and scrolling through it. When she found what she was looking for, she came over and offered him the device.

"Look at these," she instructed. Spider-Man did so, gently taking the phone and rotating it so that it was facing properly. The picture in question was of the two of them, him and her, standing on an overlook with the statue of liberty in the background. Swiping through, Spider-Man scrolled through a some more pictures, finding more of the two of them posing together and a couple of him and the young man at what appeared to be a graduation ceremony. Across them all, he noticed that they were always smiling together, even making silly faces on occasion.

They were happy.

Looking back at her, Spider-Man observed the gentle, reassuring smile that she was giving him, her eyes giving off a sort of hopefulness. He handed the phone back to her; when she went to grab it, he noticed a wedding ring on her finger. Curiosity suddenly overwhelming him, he scrambled to remove his left glove, where sure enough, he discovered a wedding ring on his own finger. He couldn't believe that he'd somehow missed that all of this morning while walking around as a civilian, but then again, he had been exhausted and with a lot else on his mind.

"We're...are we married?" he stammered out in a mix of shock and hope.

The woman nodded.

"Yeah," she said, "for a little over three years now."

Spider-Man glanced back down at his hand again, going back and forth between his ring and hers.

"How could I forget something like that?" he questioned in amazement, a sudden guilt coming over him.

"A few days ago, you responded to a heist at a local tech facility," the young man said, stepping up to him. "You got there in time to confront Mysterio; I was trying to get there to back you up, but my phone had died so I didn't see anything about what happened until the fight ended up on the news. By the time I got there, both you and Mysterio were gone, and so was the device that I guess he'd intended to steal."

Suddenly, it clicked in Spider-Man's mind.

"You're the other Spider-Man."

The young man nodded on confirmation.

"Once you went missing, M.J. and I worked together and did a little digging, discovering that device was what they were calling an experimental memory sequencer. It was being developed in order to help people recover memories, but we theorized that Mysterio had reprogrammed it to erase them. Our hunch was pretty much confirmed after I finally found you at the Alchemax facility and you didn't have a clue who I was."

"Yeah, sorry about that whole thing, by the way," Spider-Man said. "When I first lost my memory, I woke up in some random warehouse and was attacked by someone who looked like they were wearing your suit. It was only later that I found out my supposed ally's pension for illusion and robotics."

"Wait," M.J. spoke up, "so, Mysterio used that scenario to frame himself as your ally?"

"Yeah," Spider-Man confirmed, "he told me some story about how I helped him reform in prison and that I turned to him later when I didn't have anyone else anymore. It was only once I saw how he handled things when they went south at Alchemax that I got my first glimpse of the real him. Then I started seeking my own answers, he tried to kill me, I barely managed to escape with that device, and I was just trying to figure out what to do next until that building blew up."

M.J. and the other Spider-Man didn't say anything in response, even averting eye contact for a moment. The former finally broke the silence.

"We're just glad that you're okay. Both of us were worried, and it took both me and Miles's mom to make him realize that he needed to get any sleep the last couple of nights instead of swinging around the city."

"Yeah, as if you did much of that either," Miles teased lightly in response.

"Anyway," M.J. said, clearly trying to steer the conversation back, "you must be exhausted from everything you've been through the last couple of days."

"A little," Spider-Man conceded, "but more than that..."

His stomach suddenly let out a loud, deep rumble, causing him to place his hand on it in response.

"Oh, duh," Miles spoke up. "Well, good thing you're at the home of someone else who understands what it means to have a super-powered metabolism! Follow me to the snacks!"

And snack he did, as Peter, who was still trying to adjust to calling himself that in his head, dived into everything from crackers to leftover pizza and several bananas and apples. It was an incredibly strange combination of foods to have all at once, but his stomach offered no complaints as it slowly worked towards being satisfied for the first time in two days. M.J. in particular made sure he drank lots of water and also provided him with some of his own clothes from their home.

He had to admit, it was nice wearing something that actually fit him other than his Spider-Man costume.

Speaking of his newly rediscovered wife (which was still nothing short of mind-blowing to him), Peter had several questions for both her and Miles. As he ate, they filled him in on details like how he got his powers (why didn't he go to the hospital after that spider bit him?), how Miles got his powers (again, same question!) how he and M.J. had been best friends well before they were lovers, some of the different bad guys he had faced over the years, etc. For every new piece of information he received, he eagerly asked another question. He feared on occasion that he was annoying them, but they seemed to take joy in humoring him, especially Miles.

In fact, it was the younger Spider-Man that did most of the talking. Peter wasn't sure if this was intentional or if he just tended to get carried away (which there were a few times that he definitely did), but either way, he seemed happy to share with him. When he looked at his wife, however, he noticed that M.J. seemed to have an almost melancholy look on her face sometimes, and he just couldn't figure out why. It wasn't that she seemed unhappy to see him, but still, something seemed to be bothering her, but he couldn't tell what it was.

Before he knew it, it was already well after five in the evening.

"You know what, I'll bet you two have a lot of catching up to do," Miles said at one point. "Sorry about hogging so much of the conversation, Mary Jane."

"You're fine, Miles," she reassured him, offering what seemed to be a polite, earnest smile. "We'll be in touch about meeting up again tomorrow, and we can figure out what to actually do about the whole memory retrieval thing."

"Right," Miles replied, "of course."

He then looked at Peter.

"It's good to have you back man," he said, suddenly giving Peter a strong hug. When he didn't immediately reciprocate, the younger Spider-Man suddenly backed off.

"Oh, sorry," he mumbled, his face cringing in embarrassment.

"No," Peter quickly tried to reassure him. "I guess I'm just still trying to get used to having you guys around again. Don't worry, I'll catch on."

"Cool," Miles replied. "Oh, and I'll hold onto that power source thing until tomorrow."

They all agreed that that was the best course of action, and after saying their proper goodbyes, Peter and M.J. left Miles's apartment and were soon walking down the street. His wife tried to make conversation, but Peter could still tell that something was bothering her even a short time into their walk.

"I'm sorry," he said, moving in front of her, "but I just have to ask: are you okay?"

M.J. let out a light sigh, looking down.

"Sorry, maybe that's rude," Peter acknowledged, backtracking a little.

"No," M.J. said, "I guess it's just funny how you technically have no memory of me, but then you meet me once and suddenly you can pick up on stuff like that."

Peter shrugged.

"Maybe that doesn't go away quite so easily?" he theorized.

M.J. smiled lightly.

"It's just...seeing you like this is harder than I expected, and in a different way too."

Peter tilted his head slightly in curiosity.

"Why do you say that?"

"Peter, you have no idea how relieved I was when Miles called me and said that he'd managed to find and rescue you. I'd been so worried, then when I saw you at that facility with Mysterio... I had no idea what he'd done to you. I imagined all kinds of scenarios, but nothing like this."

"Well, all we have to do is find a way for me to get my memories back," Peter said. "Shouldn't be too hard, right?"

"Maybe, maybe not," M.J. said. "But seeing you like this, talking with me and Miles earlier, you just seemed so happy, like, really happy for the first time in a while."

"Well yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Peter questioned. "I just spent two days hearing from some guy who wears a fishbowl over his head that I have no one, and then I discover that I actually have a best friend and a beautiful wife! That seems like cause to be happy to me, and it must only get better from here, right?"

M.J.'s less than enthusiastic expression slightly dimmed his own enthusiasm.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Your life hasn't exactly been a cakewalk, Peter," she confessed after a moment. "You've struggled, and you've lost a lot... I'm torn, because I want you to get your memories back, because you deserve those answers, but you also deserve better than what those answers are."

Peter took a moment to contemplate what she was saying. He could tell that she was just trying to protect him in her own way; he still wasn't one hundred percent sure on how well he could judge character after the whole Mysterio thing, but he felt sure of her intentions. At the same time, how could he convey to her that he could handle the truth of his existence, whatever that turned out to be?

In an effort to reassure her, he gently put his hands along her arms, rubbing up and down lightly.

"Whatever the truth behind my life is, I know that I can handle it," he told her. "And do you know why? It's because I have you now, you and Miles both. I know that I can handle whatever may come, because I know that there are people who care about me and will help me through whatever I may learn."

M.J. let out a huff.

"What?" Peter questioned. "Is that not the kind of thing that I would have said before?"

"No," his wife said, looking intently into his eyes, "that's exactly the kind of thing you would have said before."

She then took him by the hand.

"Come on, we have a lot to talk about."

He'd had no idea what he was in for when his wife had warned him, but she had not been exaggerating, as Peter learned of several poignant truths in his life: he'd lost his parents, both his aunt and uncle, his mentor had turned against him years ago...it was all so much. Some of it seemed like it was more or less his fault, despite how M.J. tried to frame those situations, whereas other times, it seemed like he had done everything right, yet still lost in the end.

This was made at least a little easier by his wife sprinkling in some good things he had going for him too. For instance, he had a best friend who travelled frequently, working to save the world not by fighting crime, but by making it a healthier, safer and more efficient world to live in. He had another friend who actually used to bully him in high school before changing his ways, going into the military, and now travelled the country trying to help veterans like himself get the best care possible.

In short, it was a lot, and it only threatened to get even heavier as they approached their home. It was a quaint, modest two-story home in the borough of Queens. It didn't look new, but it also appeared to have had some nice work done to update it as well.

"You ready?" M.J. asked as they stepped up to the front door.

Peter nodded, and she pulled out the keys and unlocked the front door, letting them both in. He entered as she shut the door behind him, taking the time to carefully observe his surroundings. He strolled slowly through the house, his wife seemingly content to let him do so. He was trying to take it all in, to let it settle as naturally as possible.

At one point, he came to a picture of an older couple, and he took it in his hand.

"That's your aunt and uncle," M.J. clarified.

Peter stared at the picture, hoping that somehow this would be what would help him recover his memories, or at least his memories of them, but it was fruitless.

"I can't imagine how hard this must be for you," M.J. said, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"It's just weird to think that it's possible to forget them," he said, possible to forget people who've had such a huge impact on who I became."

Giving up, he sat the picture back down. He glanced up and over him at the ceiling before his eyes finally landed on his wife, where they remained fixated for a few seconds.

"What?" she asked, a curious smile slowly spreading across her face.

"Tell me about our wedding day," he requested. Her smile grew bigger, and she went over, taking him by the hand and leading him into the living room. She then went over to a bookshelf, pulling out what looked like a thick scrapbook. The two of them then sat down on the couch and M.J. opened the book, handing it off to Peter. He sifted through it, his wife taking the time to tell him little stories about several of them along the way.

"Oh yeah!" she giggled, chuckling at a picture of him running with his shoes in his hand. "You and I were both late to the ceremony. I couldn't get my hair how I wanted it, and you had been forced to stop Shocker from robbing a gold repository, but we both managed to get in our I do's eventually."

"Wow," he said. "Sounds like bad guys with weird names/costumes have always been a thorn in my personal life."

"Oh yeah," she said. "The best part though was that, when it came time for us to recite the vows that we wrote to each other, you realized that you'd left your paper back here, but then you remembered them anyway."

"Really?" Peter asked. "What were they?"

M.J. looked at him for a moment before looking back down at the book, seemingly letting them come back to her mind.

"Mary Jane, I love you," she began. "I know that's what people who are getting married are supposed to say to each other, but today I want you to know why that means. It's not just because you're the most beautiful woman in the world, though you are most certainly that. I also love you because of the person you are, your kindness, your compassion, your drive, and your desire to make the world around you a better place. You make me a better person just by being around you, and today, I promise to do my best to help you be the best you can be as well. I promise to celebrate your successes, mourn with you in your losses, and be there for you for the rest of our lives together. That's what I mean when I say that I love you."

Peter could feel his eyes widen.

"Wow."

"Yeah," M.J. replied with a nod and a smile. "You always knew how to be sweet, but that's still by far the closest you've ever come to being a poet. You almost managed to make me cry and ruin my makeup, but I managed to hold it together, even if it wasn't by much."

Peter nodded, looking at some more pictures before another question came to mind.

"What were yours to me?"

M.J.'s expression shifted; Peter could practically see how her mind was going back in time to that day.

"Peter Parker," she began in a more earnest delivery, "for many years, my life has been defined by one word: go. I'm always going somewhere, going to do something, trying to get something done. That's how I've always enjoyed life, to go and see as much as possible, do as much as possible. You, however, have always been good at stopping and smelling the proverbial roses, at savoring life's slower and quieter moments. You never let a day go by where you don't tell me that you love me or find some way to encourage and support me, not just with grand gestures, but usually with a simple visit or a call."

M.J. paused, tearing up, but she forced down her emotions and continued.

"So, my promise today is to make the time every day to tell you that I love you, to slow down when I need to, and to always be by your side, especially when you need me the most. I promise to love you more than anything else in the world, until death do us part."

As she uttered the last of her vows, Mary Jane threatened to break, sniffing back a sob.

"What is it?" Peter asked, setting the scrapbook down on the table in front of them before turning to his wife, clutching her arms gently in his hands. "What's wrong?"

Composing herself, she finally met his gaze again.

"In the last few months before your accident, I was getting so busy at the Bugle," she explained. "I was up for a big promotion, and I was working almost non-stop for two months straight. You never complained even once, but I was hardly home most nights. Maybe it helped that you were busy too, between Spider-Man and teaching, but still, I could tell that it was hard on you. I just kept telling myself that, if I just got this promotion, I could make my own schedule more and that I would make up all the missed evening dinners and date nights then. But then I recite those vows and think about what you've been through in the last forty-eight hours and... it's just hard not to think that I was being more than a little selfish."

"No," Peter quickly replied, trying to comfort her. "Like you said, I didn't complain, so I'm sure it must have been fine."

M.J. let out a little chuckle even through her still heavy emotions.

"Peter, you NEVER complain," she assured him. "Well, at least not when it comes to me and my work. You've always been nothing but supportive, but I know that I should have been doing better."

"You're passionate about what you do," he said. "There's nothing wrong with that; I said in my vows that it was one of the main things that I loved about you, so you can't argue that."

M.J. laughed.

"Still, I was so scared when I thought I'd lost you after Mysterio took you," M.J. explained. "It was just a reminder to me of what's important I guess."

"Well, you're here now, and to me, that's what's important," Peter assured her. She smiled back at him, and suddenly, Peter was transfixed by her. He couldn't put a rhyme or reason to it, but she was just so BEAUTIFUL in this moment. Before he knew it, he'd lunged forward, planting his lips on her own in a deep kiss. He recoiled after a moment though, suddenly feeling a little warm in the face.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I mean, I know we're married and all, so technically I can do that, but I still feel like I just got all up in your space when maybe you weren't...

Before he could finish, she suddenly grabbed him by his shirt, yanking him towards her and planting a potent kiss on his lips as well. She seemed to be pouring out all her love in the gesture, and Peter soon felt as if he were drowning in her, but in the best way possible.

They finally separated and Peter looked at her, feeling as if the two of them were up in the clouds, high above the world.

"There, now we're even," she said with a smirk that somehow only made her even more attractive, and it wasn't long before their lips returned to one another.

Peter gazed at his wife, who by now had been fast asleep for a while. The sun had long faded from the sky, the moon having taken its place. It was casting just enough light through their bedroom window where it could illuminate M.J.'s face, though not enough to wake her up. It also highlighted a couple of her red hairs near her face, so Peter quietly reached over, gently brushing them away without so much as making her stir.

As he gazed upon her, all he could think about was how in love with her he was. Technically speaking by his standards, he had known her for less than a day, yet it felt as though he had reclaimed all the years of love he'd had for her in that short time. To think, he'd been so worried about being alone as Mysterio filled his head with his lies. Now, he could take comfort in knowing that he did have people who loved him; more than that, he had someone who he would actively be spending the rest of his life with, someone who had pledged to be with him in sickness and in health, for rich or poor, no matter what may come.

As happy as he was right now, a daunting concern also came into Peter's mind. Mysterio could always find out about her, and if he did, he would undoubtedly use it against him. Even if it wasn't him, it sounded like Peter had made many enemies over the years, and all of them would likely love to know such a means to get to him as his wife.

So, right there in bed, Peter made a promise to himself: no matter what, he would protect his wife and make sure that she was safe. After all, he'd just gotten her back, so he wasn't about to lose her.

No matter what, he wouldn't lose her.

I know this one was a longer one, but I felt it was important to let it all play out. Also don't worry; this was mostly M.J.'s chapter, but Miles will get his focus in the next one.

Continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy!

"He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord." Proverbs 18:22