"I'm sorry, but I have to let you go," the woman said.

"What? Why," Alexia asked.

She had arrived at 'work', a photo shoot, ten minutes ealier, and had been directed to the owner's office. She had wondered why, but getting fired was the last thing she'd expected.

"Because you're too muscular. I don't know what you've done during the past few weeks, but it's changed your body structure. Our models are supposed to be soft and feminine. You don't fit that discription anymore."

Great. So the spider DNA had toned her up a bit, and suddenly, her employer thought she was She-Hulk. The greatest gift she'd ever received had just gotten her fired. Ironic.

"Fine," Alexia mumbled, and left the back area, not caring as she nearly knocked someone over as she stalked out of the store.

"Hey!", the man said, but Alexia didn't turn back. She was too busy thinking of a way to let out her frustration. Changing into her costume and kickng some bad-guy ass sounded like a good idea right about now. She'd over heard some thugs talking about a store being used as a front for-

"Hey!", the man called again, closer.

Alexia felt a hand on her shoulder. She stopped and grabbed the hand, using it to push him into the wall as she turned, pinning him to it with her other hand. The amn raised his arms in a helpless gesture, and Alexia stuided him. He was young, no more than two years older than she was, with hair a shade of brown so dark, it looked almost black, and emerald green eyes. He was about 6 feet tall, and well-built. The hand she was using to hold him against the wall rested on a chest made of solid muscle. Alexia suddenly felt embarrassed at what she haddone. This guy hadn't meant any harm, or her spider-sense would have warned her. She let him go, stepping back.

"I'm sorry. This has just been a really y day. Are you okay," she apologized.

"Nothing's broken, if that's what you mean," he responded with a bit of a smile. "Wait. Have I seen you before?"

Considering where they'd just come from, he probaly had. Her face was one of three plastered on the walls around the store.

"You're one of the models for that store, aren't you," he asked. Alexia nodded.

"Well, I was," she corrected him. "I just got fired."

"For what?"

"For not being 'soft enough'," she said. The guy smirked.

"Why were you following me, anyway," she asked. He held up a copy of her favorite book.

"You dropped this," he said, handing it to her.

"Thanks," she said. She started to walk away.

"Wait, I need to ask you something. I need to talk to someone that works at the store. You haven't met anyone named Alexia Dark, have you," he asked.

"That's me," Alexia replied.

"It's a good thing I found you today, then. The store was my last lead. You didn't leave your address at the university."

Before she could ask, he held up a Daily Bugle Press pass.

"I need an interview," he said.

For one terrible moment, Alexia thought that someone had figured out who she was. But the feeling faded. There were no cops, no photographers, no swarms of reporters. Just one. If this wasn't about her secret identity, what was it about?

"Why," she asked.

"I got a list from the police last week. It had the names of everyone from the El-train disaster on it. I'm doing an article about it."

Alexia's face darkened, angry.

"Meaning, you're doing a slander article not worth using as toilet paper. No comment," she growled, walking away.

"It's not like that. It's just an interview. It probably won't even get published," he said, running beside her. Alexia stopped.

"Jonah will only use the negative ones, anyway," he added.

"Well, you won't find any. Spider-Man saved out lives, plain and simple."

"Even so, I need to hear about it from everyone. If not for the Bugle, then for myself," he responded. Alexia's anger went away as she looked into his eyes, sparkling with determination.

"Why do you care," Alexia asked.

"Because it's important to me." He paused, unsure. "And it's important to my uncle."

"What does your uncle have to do with- "

He lifted a finder to herlips, quieting her. THe action as unexpected, ad Alexia wasn't sure if she should force his hand away or...
She stopped, recognizing her attraction to him. She'd been ignoring it before, to flustered to care, but this close to him... she reminded herself that he was working against her as she stepped back, turning her head away.

"What do you want to know," she asked.

"Everything. But this isn't te place to talk about it."

"Where, then?"

"Over dinner? Tomorrow?"

So he was attracted to her as well. She knew she shouldn't agree. He worked for a paper that wanted nothing more than to convince the city that she and Peter were criminals. But for whatever reason, this guy wasn't in this for the money, or to please his boss. He had a deeper connection to this, and Alexia wanted to know what it was.

"Well," he urged.

"Yes."