Kate's eyes slowly fluttered open, the ceiling of her room coming eventually coming into view. After glancing back and forth each way, she reached over to grab her phone off her nightstand to check the time, seeing that it was 9:42 A.M. That meant that, if she had gone another twenty minutes or so, she would've been asleep for about fourteen hours.

Slowly sitting up in her bed, Kate let reality slowly start to wash over her, rubbing her eyes to get the last of the sleep out. By the time her and her mom had dropped off Eli the evening before, her tiredness hit her all at once. She had participated in athletics and martial arts competitions of almost every kind, but she couldn't ever remember having been nearly this exhausted before. Thankfully, now that she had more than half a day's sleep, she was feeling better, though she wasn't exactly in a hurry to go galivanting on another adventure on another alien world anytime soon.

Pulling off the covers and shifting her legs to the floor, Kate decided it was time to get up. When she'd arrived in her room the night before, she'd just cast all her gear wherever she pleased, but she wasn't in the mood to pick it all up yet. Now that her body was awakening, she was starting to realize how hungry she was, so food quickly went to the top of her priority list. She walked over to the door, exiting her room.

As Kate made her way down to the kitchen, she was somewhat surprised to see her mom was there, appearing to put the finishing touches on breakfast. She hadn't really thought about whether her mom would still be at the house when she got up or not, since she wasn't sure how the potential end of the world might've affected business plans. It didn't take long for her to notice Kate as she turned around, setting down a batch of pancakes on the table.

"Oh, morning!" her mom said. It was strange for Kate to see her looking so cheerful, but it was also welcome.

"Morning," Kate said, strolling into the kitchen and taking her usual seat at the big table in the center. "What's all this?"

"Well, I figured that, since the world didn't end, business could wait for at least a day or two," her mom replied, coming over and taking her seat at the corner of the table. "Also, I figured you might be just a little hungry after all you've been through recently."

"You got that last part right," Kate conceded. Now that she could smell the pancakes, bacon and eggs, Kate's stomach was practically screaming at her. She didn't hesitate to grab a plate, slapping on all the food of her choice on it, taking the syrup and dousing her pancakes in it. She dived in, her usual sense of manners not quite as present as usual, but thankfully, her mom didn't seem to mind too much; that is, she didn't scold her or give her any dirty looks.

She ended up finishing her first plate before her mom was even halfway done with hers. As Kate picked out her second helpings, she noticed that her mom looked as if she had something on her mind but was holding back.

"Mom," she said, throwing on a couple more pancakes on her plate, "are you okay?"

Her mom didn't answer right away, not even looking Kate in the eye, which caused her to set her plate down in front of her instead of getting the syrup. Now that she was finally taking a good look at her, Kate noticed for the first time that her mom's eyes were a little red. It didn't look like it had been from crying though, but rather from a lack of sleep.

"Mom?" she repeated, her concern starting to show in her voice. "I'm sure it's hard to process all this, but please, talk to me."

Kate's mother obliged her, and the next words that came out of her mouth caught her off guard.

"Kate, I owe you an apology."

"Uhm, what?" Kate said, her brain seemingly unable to process why her mom would say that.

Her mom leaned forward, resting her arms on the table as she continued.

"Kate, ever since we lost your father, I...I've always tried to hold onto you, to keep you safe. I think that, on some level, that's why I've been pressing you about coming with me on trips and eventually coming to work for the company. I told myself that that was what was best for you, that it would be your most secure future. But it was also a way for me to keep you around, a way for me to know, beyond any doubt, that you were safe and that you were still here."

Kate had to look down after that. It was harder than she would've expected to see her mom bear her soul out like this. There was an intensity to it, even though her mom was still her usual composed self to this point.

"I was so desperate to hold onto you that I couldn't see that I was pushing you away," her mom added, her voice starting to break as tears began to form in her eyes. "You're a protector, Kate; you always have been, but I was blind to it, or maybe I didn't even want to see it, because I knew what it meant, even if I still couldn't have pictured this."

Kate's breath caught in her throat for a moment, as she was starting to get a little choked up as well.

"To be fair, I did keep this a secret for a while," Kate reasoned. "I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid of how you would react once you found out. I should've just been up front with you about this; maybe we wouldn't even need to have this conversation now if I had."

"No, Kate," her mom insisted, her voice a little more composed again, "I think that it was always going to have to be this way. It was always going to have to take something this crazy, where I could see how others dealt with loving heroes, before I could figure out how to properly love and support mine."

Kate was taken aback.

"Y-you...You think I'm a hero?" she asked, her voice shaky.

Her mom nodded, smiling.

"It's what you've always been, and I'm so sorry that I didn't see that sooner; that I even tried to suppress it because of my own fear. I was just so scared of losing you too, of ending up all alone, that I couldn't see that this is who you were always meant to be. Can you forgive me for that?"

Kate got up from her seat, throwing her arms around her mother.

"Of course I can, Mom," she replied. The two remained in each other's arms for a while, crying and apologizing to one another over the ways they had mishandled everything leading up to this point. Kate had to admit that, for her part, it felt like a massive weight was finally being lifted off her shoulders. Everything was out in the open between them now, perhaps as it always should have been.

"Now, we do need to talk about what happens next," her mom said once they separated and were both back in their seats.

"Okay," Kate said, not exactly sure where her mom would go from here.

"I was up most of last night thinking about how I could best support you in this, maybe even still protect you at least a little," her mom continued, "because I am still your mom after all."

Kate rolled her eyes, finally reaching for the syrup now that the conversation seemed more relaxed.

"Anyway," her mom added, "I realized that there is something that you and your friends will need that I can provide."

"What's that?" Kate asked as she finished pouring the syrup on her pancakes.

"Funding."

Kate's eyes grew wider as she slowly turned her head, zeroing in her focus on her mom again.

"Mom," she said with bated breath, like she was expecting to be woken up from a dream, "are you saying that you'll..."

"Yes Kate, I'm going to fund your New Avengers thing that you all are starting," her mom replied. "I figure that way I can finally put all the money I don't save, spend or invest to good use."

Kate could hardly contain her excitement at her mom's announcement, starting to bounce up and down in her chair before throwing her mom into a hug again. She felt like a little girl on Christmas Day who'd just gotten what she wanted most.

"Okay, okay," her mother said as Kate finally managed to control herself again, releasing her mother from her grip and getting back in her seat.

"Sorry, sorry," Kate apologized.

"Now, I'll provide the money," her mom stated, "but you and your friends will oversee how it gets spent, okay? I'm not worried about expenses, but I want you to use it to get yourselves the best equipment and gear out there, so you all can watch over us as safely as possible. I know there will always be risks, but I figure that this is my way of still doing my part to make sure you're safe."

Kate gave her mom yet another hug; they were racking up more of them than they'd had in a long time.

"Thank you, mom," Kate said. "Thank you so much."

"Just happy you seem to have excepted my help," her mom replied as they separated.

Kate finally turned to the second helping of food on her plate, intent to dive in this time, but she ended up looking back at her mom again.

"Mom?"

"Mm?" the woman replied.

"I love you."

Peter had no idea how long he'd been just staring up into the sky when he felt something hit his right arm. He turned his head just in time to see M.J. draw her left hand back.

"I'm guessing you didn't hear what I said," she presumed.

"Oh, no, sorry M.J," Peter apologized, "guess I got lost in thought again. What were you saying?"

M.J. gave him a knowing look before replying.

"I was just going to say that it's a good thing that you and the others are finally meeting today to figure things out, because the media is just making up stuff left and right about you guys now."

"Like what?" Peter asked.

"Well," M.J. said, pulling up the copy of the Daily Bugle that had been resting on her chest, "it's saying your new friends all came from an elaborate indoctrination program that Spider-Man designed in the aftermath of the Snap to take advantage of the fragile state the world was in at the time and produce a legion of cultists."

"What?" Peter questioned incredulously, "that's insane."

"Leave it to your number one fan J. Jonah Jameson to provide his usual bitter flavor of support," M.J. said. "Well, technically he's your second biggest fan, since I think we all know who number one is."

M.J. gave Peter a confident, knowing look that made his heart skip a beat and his brain stop working. Even after two years together, she could still produce such an effect seemingly on command; in fact, she was better at it now more than ever.

"Anyway, what were you thinking about earlier?" M.J. asked, breaking Peter out of his trance-like state.

"Oh," Peter said, looking back up at the sky, "I...I stopped by the monument today."

They both knew what he was talking about: the city had turned Battery Park into a place where names were listed of those who had been snapped away, or at least everyone in New York, which was still a lot of people. Peter made a point to visit there at least once or twice a month to "talk" with May, Ned and Tony.

"I filled them in on everything," Peter continued, "or at least the cliff notes version; it would've taken forever to talk about everything. Of course, I had to tell them that you and I were doing well too."

M.J. smiled at him before turning her head away, her expression shifting to look more pragmatic.

"What is it?" Peter asked.

M.J. hesitated, appearing to swallow as she tried to get her words out.

"This whole thing showed me a lot about myself," she finally said.

Peter's expression narrowed towards her.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Peter asked.

"A little of both, I guess," M.J. replied, "mostly good though, I think."

She then turned her head to face Peter, her expression nervous in a way that made it appear she was about to confess something. She slowly sat up, with him joining her.

"Peter, there's something I haven't told you."

Peter's heart stopped for a different reason this time.

"O-kay?"

"There are...there are a lot of nights where I have nightmares about something happening to you," she confessed. "Either I find you, or see something on the news, and I've just...I've lived a lot of these last two years scared to death that I'm going to lose you somehow."

Peter nodded, taking it all in.

"So have I," he said, drawing a slight head tilt from his girlfriend. "I've had a lot of those kind of dreams myself, where someone found out who I was and came after you, and by the time I found you, it was too late."

M.J. looked down, nodding lightly in acknowledgement.

"This was the closest those dreams have been to coming true for both of us then," M.J. said.

Peter nodded.

"That whole time while you were away, especially when the portal malfunctioned, I have never been more scared in my life. The only thing that kept me going was that I knew I couldn't lose you, and that I had to do everything I could to make sure you came back to me."

"Well, it looks like it worked to me," Peter said, throwing his arms out to the sides. M.J. smiled at this gesture for a moment before continuing.

"True, but it was still hard for me not to come back to my usual mentality: expect disappointment and you'll never actually be disappointed. But I think for the first time, I actually could understand why you keep such a positive outlook on things: because sometimes even having a little hope, a little expectation, is what gets you through things. I guess I'm just trying to say that, at least this time, I'm glad I could find it within myself to be a little more like you."

Peter smiled, his eyes looking towards the rooftop.

"Well, I've had to learn to be a little like you too, I guess," Peter said, his gaze returning to his girlfriend.

"What do you mean?" M.J. asked, her head tilted, and face squinted in confusion.

Peter thought for a moment before speaking up.

"These past couple years, I've been able to handle pretty much any threat out in the field by myself. I guess I'd started to allow myself to believe it could always be that way; that no matter what came up against me, I'd find a way to win on my own that didn't involve anybody else. I started to carry that hope with me even when this whole mess started, but it quickly became obvious that I couldn't. So, I had to start thinking like you: more logically and pragmatically, and I had to accept that I needed help. That's why we won: a little hope mixed with a little realism."

M.J. smiled.

"Sounds like we really are good for each other," she said, her pleased expression only growing bigger.

"I'd certainly say so," Peter replied proudly.

Their eyes met, and suddenly, everything around Peter seemed to disappear. He scooted a little closer to her as she matched his movement, and they both leaned in for a kiss.

Of course, that was when a reminder on his phone decided to go off.

Peter closed his eyes, letting out an annoyed groan.

"See, this is what I get for actually sharing my feelings," M.J. teased, "because now you have to rush off on me."

Peter pulled out his phone to see that, sure enough, it was his reminder that the meeting with his new teammates was coming up in fifteen minutes.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly as he stuffed his phone back in his pocket. "See you tonight?"

"I'm counting on it," she said with a smile.

Peter leaned in for a kiss, M.J. resting her hand on his cheek as they held it for a few seconds before separating.

Peter fired another web, letting out a joyous yell as he flew through the Manhattan skyline on route to meet up with the others. Summer days were the best days for web swinging, with the sun shining high in the sky, but with just enough of a breeze going against the red and black fabric of his suit. He released his web, performing multiple backflips in the air before extending his arms outward, allowing his web wings to pop out. He glided peacefully for a while, looking down at the busy city below.

As he neared his destination, Peter folded the web wings in, shooting out a web to raise himself high enough to see the rooftop, where he could already see that all the others were there.

"Great," he thought, "team leader is the last one to arrive. Looks good on you, Parker, real good."

Yanking his web, Peter hurled himself upwards, flying high into the sky in a slow, controlled backflip, finally coming down on said rooftop.

"Okay, showoff," Kate said, crossing her arms.

"Is that a new outfit?" Peter questioned, changing the subject.

"Yeah," Kate said, "I decided the whole archer in a hood look wasn't my style. Besides, I don't need it anymore."

"I can see that," Peter said. He had to admit her more streamlined, athletic look just suited her better, though the familiar purple was retained.

Peter then turned to face everyone, removing his mask.

"Thanks for coming," he said.

"I'm guessing there's a reason you chose the same rooftop we came up with our first strategy at for a reason?" Riri asked excitedly.

"Something like that, yeah," Peter admitted. "The first time we were here, I still wasn't sure I even wanted to work with a team again, much less thought that it actually could work at all, but we ended up pulling off the impossible. So, today, I think it's time we made it official. There's obviously a lot to talk about going forward in terms of how things will look, but what do you guys say, you ready for some more crazy adventures together?"

Peter held his hand out to the center of everyone, where he was immediately joined by Kate.

"Absolutely," she said.

"You can always count us in," Amadeus replied, him and Riri both putting their hands in the center.

"You guys have given me the chance to do something bigger and more important than I ever thought possible," Eli said, adding his hand to the bunch. "Sign me up."

All that was left was Sam.

"What do you think man?" Peter asked.

Slowly, Sam walked up to them.

"You guys are the closest thing to family that I have now," he said, his tone somber but hopeful. "So yeah, I say let's do this."

With Sam's hand in, it was official: they were all in agreement.

"Alright," Amadeus said, "on that note, is anybody hungry?"

"Oh, there's a really good new Italian place I was reading about that opened recently," Riri said. "What better way for a new business to get supported than by the Avengers?"

Everyone looked around at each other, and it soon became clear to Peter that they were in favor of the idea.

"Alright then," Peter said, "let's..."

An explosion went off in the background, drawing the attention of Peter and the others, where they could see a large cloud of smoke already rising into the air.

"Looks like it came from the industrial district," Kate observed.

"Okay then, looks like lunch has to wait," Peter said, slipping his mask back on. Everyone ready?"

Nobody needed to speak for him to know their answer.

"Alright guys, let's go to work."

Wow, it's finally done.

This was by far my most stressful and difficult but also fun projects I've worked on yet, and certainly the longest! These past two stories so far have been such great, rewarding experiences that have pushed me as a writer, and hopefully I can continue to grow from them.

Chrissie, thank you so much for your willingness to share the idea that led to the first book, The Path Home, which spawned this series! This ride has been a blast so far!

There is one more story coming in this series, the conclusion to the trilogy. The story will focus on Peter and the others working to bring everyone back, big surprise. I can't say much else yet, other than that planning is coming along pretty well. I just need to nail down a couple details here and there before plunging into it.

I can announce the title though: The Path To Redemption.

A huge shoutout to all who've been following and expressed their support for this series in any form. You all have been great, and I hope the final chapter to the series provides you with a rewarding experience. Wish me luck!

Know that I continue to pray for you all. Stay safe and healthy!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." John 3:16-17