Title: A Helping Hand
Rating: K, for some language!
Summary: Peter finds himself in deep trouble when he tries to stop a bank heist and winds up seriously injured. He needs medical attention, but since everyone watched Spidey get hurt on TV he has no where to go. Help comes in the most unlikely places…Slightly AU Post SM2
Author Note: Slightly AU. Everything happened from the second movie, minus one thing. Mary-Jane and Harry still do not know the identity of Spiderman. Before Harry could get the mask off, Peter escaped and found Ock and Mary-Jane on his own.
REPOST OF CHAPTER 4, I can't believe I forgot the first half of it!
A Helping Hand
Chapter 4- Awakenings
4 Hours Later
Harry jerked awake at the sound of steady footsteps. Beside him, MJ sat bolt upright, staring at the door with an anxious look on her face.
A lady walked through them. She was wearing a white coat, her long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her face was expressionless; she was obviously a seasoned doctor who didn't let her emotions get in the way of her job.
"How is he?" Harry asked.
"He made it through surgery," She began, but frowned at the looks of utter relief on the two's faces, "He isn't out of the woods yet though. He lost a lot of blood; it's my belief that if he makes it through the next 24 hours he should be fine."
"Where is he?" Mary-Jane asked, her eyes were red from crying.
"The recovery room, second on the right."
The red head said no more, and swept past Harry and the doctor as she raced towards the door.
Harry rubbed his eyes tiredly. "How bad was the damage?"
"He punctured a lung, broke 3 ribs and the bullet nicked his liver. We almost lost him twice during surgery; I had to massage his heart to bring him back. Considering the circumstances, it's a miracle that he's alive. I've never seen such a case where the patient actually survived past surgery. You're friend is one extremely lucky guy." She said in a business-like tone.
"Thank-you Dr. Noble."
Dr. Noble smiled wanly, "Don't thank me just yet. There is still a chance he won't make it. Myself and two others are going to stay the rest of the night, just in case he takes a turn for the worse."
"Be my guest." Harry nodded.
Meanwhile…
Mary-Jane slipped into the room, feeling like she was trespassing. She looked at the bed hesitantly, and almost started to cry again at what she saw.
Peter was paler than she had thought was humanly possible. A breathing tube ran down his throat, and various machines were hooked to him through IV's. "Oh god, Peter…" She whispered as she scooted a chair as close as possible towards him and grabbed his hand.
She was relieved that there was no blood anymore, but wished that the constant beeping of the machines and the whooshing sound of him breathing weren't so loud. It really brought the gravity of the situation to light.
"P-Peter…I just want you to know that you're safe now, okay? You need to get better, New York needs you…and so do I…" She whispered, laying her head down and closing her eyes.
Harry leaned on the frame of the door with his hands in his pockets, watching the two figures quietly. He looked awful but he didn't care, in fact, it was the furthest thing from his mind. You've been so god damn busy trying to find Spiderman that you completely shut out you're friends! Hell you almost got MJ killed at the hands of Otto! He yelled at himself inwardly. A feeling of guilt and shame enveloped him as he remembered the last time he and Pete had actually spoken. It had been at the gala for John Jameson, when he had yelled at his friend and hit him.
Tears sprung into Harry's eyes at the thought. What if he dies? What if I never get to apologize for that night? Damn you Spiderman, if you didn't exist Peter wouldn't be in this situation, and neither would I!
Harry walked up behind Mary-Jane and pulled a chair over, sitting down beside his two true friends with only one thought on his mind. If you survive what happened to you tonight Spiderman, I will kill you. No one gets away with killing my father, or playing a part, even unintentionally, in almost getting my best friend killed. I will avenge them if it's the last thing I do.
The young Osborne new that he wasn't being rational, new that if Spiderman wasn't around MJ would be dead…as would he, but he didn't want to think clearly, he wanted that wall crawler dead, one way or another.
Mary-Jane looked at Harry and gave him a watery smile. "Do you think he's going to make it?"
"Yeah MJ, I do. Pete is tougher than he looks."
I know…She thought secretively about Peter's alter-ego. When he got better and realized that she new the truth, everything would change between them.
Following Morning
Harry frowned at the bundle of bloodied clothes in his hands. The doctor had given him the bag of cloth before leaving for the day.
He felt sick to his stomach looking at the all the blood that had soaked into the fabric. Feeling dizzy, he tossed the messy bundle back into the plastic bag, not bothering to unroll the shirt or pants and inspect them for himself.
If he had of he may have come to realize what had really taken place the previous night. He may have realized that he had just assisted in saving the life of the very man he had sworn to kill.
Walking back into the room that held Peter, he set the bag of clothing at the foot of the bed before taking a seat and doing what he had been doing before Dr. Noble had interrupted him; staring at his unconscious friend and MJ.
Sighing heavily, he unrolled the newspaper that was nestled beside him, and after staring at the colorful picture at the front of it (a blurry picture of Spiderman crumpled on the ground outside the bank) and glancing at the headline (SPIDERMAN FEARED DEAD!), he flipped it open to read the article.
The article wasn't very big; there wasn't exactly much for the writer to go on after all. She basically wrote about what had happened, and had a few quotations from doctors about Spiderman's chances of survival. "Without proper treatment, he will die…unless of course he has an extremely advanced recovery rate…then he might have a minuet chance of survival…" One physician had stated bluntly.
Harry tossed the paper across the room and heaved a mighty sigh. Settling back in his chair, he rubbed his eyes and stretched his legs. He had already cancelled all of his meetings for the day. Business was important but he wouldn't leave Pete until he new for sure that he was out of the woods. He had also attempted to eradicate any thoughts of Spiderman from his brain; especially negative ones. (For this very reason he had not read The Bugle today). Reading that newspaper always got him more motivated to find the webhead and give him what he deserved. Right now he needed to focus on his friends, revenge on Spiderman would wait for another time.
2 Days Later
Pain, that's all he could feel, a burning pain in his chest…nothing he had ever felt before. Peter heard himself moan as he opened his eyes blearily, trying with all his might to remember what had happened to him.
His throat felt ragged and scratchy, and his body heavy. Once his vision had cleared, a chocolate brown room greeted him. A massive window was to his right, beyond it various trees, and a pathway that led into another building. A door was to his left, which seemed to exit into a hallway.
The room was huge, and the bed he was in was a king size and extremely comfortable. This definitely isn't a hospital, Peter thought in wonderment. Where the hell am I? Memories of the bank robbery flashed before him, he remembered entering his apartment, but he must have fainted not long afterwards.
Suddenly, he realized that he was not in his Spiderman attire; he wore a pair of his own pants, and no shirt at all. At first, he didn't panic; whoever had helped him obviously had money, so revealing his identity would not be beneficiary, in fact it would probably just lead to a lot of stupid reporters. He was still worried though, and wanted to leave as quickly as possible.
Peter tried to rise from the bed, but the pain overwhelmed him and he fell back into the pillows. I thought I was supposed to heal quickly, he thought, extremely annoyed. He was just about to try again when he heard footsteps coming from down the hall. He snapped his head towards the noise and felt his heart rate rise when a beautiful redhead entered the room.
MJ's eyes immediately shone with happiness at the sight of him. "Hey tiger, it's about time you woke up!" She said lightly, her smile stretched from ear to ear.
"MJ…" He rasped, completely shocked. She looked exhausted, her hair was tossed up in loose ponytail and her clothes were wrinkled. But to him she still looked like an angel.
She sat down beside him and took his hand. "Try and not talk too much okay? The doctor took the breathing tube out this morning so you're throat is probably going to hurt for a little bit."
"How…long…?"
"You've been out for just over three days, it's almost 10am."
"Where…are we?"
"Harry's mansion."
Peter looked positively alarmed at these words; his eyes grew wide with shock and worry. Oh my god…does he know too then? Shit this isn't good...shit...shit...SHIT!
"Peter relax, Harry doesn't know…I made up a story and he bought it…" She quickly explained what had taken place once she had found him and how she had saw the entire thing unfold on TV. She still felt a little guilty about lying to Harry, but did not relay these feelings to the hero.
"I always said…you were a great actress…" Peter joked lightly, once she was through. "Aunt May…does she know…?"
MJ shook her head and said, "I phoned and told her that The Bugle had you working around the clock, since you're the only one that can find Spiderman, it would make sense that they'd send you hunting for him."
Peter smiled, "JJ is probably going berserk with no photos."
There was suddenly a light tap at the door. Harry walked in, looking much better in a pair of black pants and green t-shirt. His hair was gelled back into place and even though there were still dark shadows underneath his eyes, his face had more colour to it.
He smiled when he saw that Peter was awake and talking. He still looked pale and tired, but he was alive at least. "Pete, man it's good to see you awake. The both of us thought that we were going to lose you." He said as he stood behind MJ.
Act normal, a voice in Peter's head commanded. "Thanks to you guys I'm still here." He replied.
"The doctor said you were really lucky; she'd never seen a patient pull back like you did."
I guess my healing powers did play a part, he thought.
Harry's pager suddenly when off, he looked at it and cursed. "Sorry guys, I have to run…duty calls."
"No problem buddy." Peter said scratchily.
"I'll be back later, oh and Peter? The doctor said that you should be okay to leave soon... as long as you get plenty of rest. You're welcome to stay here as long as you want."
"Thanks Harry but I think I'll be good to leave tomorrow. I need to visit Aunt May and finish a paper."
Harry shook his head in wonderment, "You almost died and all you can think about is finishing a paper? You're crazy, Peter Parker."
Peter chuckled but stopped abruptly when the pain in his chest and throat increased and he mumbled, "I'm already miles behind; I really need to start catching up, besides…I'll be fine!"
"I still think that you're crazy!" Harry called over his shoulder as he left the room.
As soon as his footsteps faded MJ asked, "So…do you really have a paper due?"
"Yeah, but I don't intend on working on it. I need to make an appearance as Spiderman so criminals don't get any ideas. Besides, if I don't show up at the Bugle soon, good old JJ might put two and two together." He replied seriously.
"What exactly is your plan?"
"I'm going to make my appearances at school, aunt May's, and The Bugle tomorrow and try to pretend that I'm okay. Then wait two days -if I can- and make an appearance as Spiderman. That should give me enough time to completely heal."
"Everyone thinks Spiderman is dead." MJ sighed.
"Which is why I need to make an appearance soon, criminals are probably going to get braver…thinking that I won't be there to catch them."
"Is 5 days enough time for you to heal?"
"Hmmm…it should be, I mean I've never been this badly hurt before but my healing abilities are extremely powerful." Peter said thoughtfully, he was completely ignoring the pain in his throat now, too eager to talk to MJ.
"I still…I still can't believe that you're him…" MJ said, her voice was low as she stared at him.
"What…disappointed?" He joked.
"The complete opposite, actually." She grinned. "I am going to worry about you a lot now though… "
"I can handle myself, no need to worry." He grunted as he struggled into a sitting position.
MJ cocked an eyebrow, and helped him.
"Alright…well most of the time…" He said sheepishly once he was comfortable.
"So…you saved me from the Green Goblin…and those muggers…and Otto…Wait, did you really kill Harry's dad then?" She asked.
Peter sighed and quietly explained what had happened after the Goblin had snagged him with his rope on the bridge.
"Oh poor Harry…he doesn't even know the real truth…" MJ whispered.
Peter nodded glumly.
The redhead noticed his sad expression and quickly changed the topic. "Peter…the day you were shot…we were supposed to talk about us…about our relationship…" She rambled.
"Yeah, I remember."
I may as well just get it out there, she thought nervously. "Pete, do you love me? I want the truth, did you reject me because of…because of…this?" She asked, pointing directly at his bandaged chest.
"I've loved you since I was 6, and nothing, nothing has changed since then." He replied.
"Even though you said you didn't?" She whispered, staring straight into his blue pools.
Peter nodded seriously. "I care so much about you, and that's the entire reason why I had to reject you at the cemetery. I…I've already put you in the middle of so much danger by just being you're friend…if, if my enemies found out about you…Well, I just can't let you take that risk MJ."
MJ frowned and squeezed his hand tighter. "Peter, that's my risk to take."
Peter didn't reply.
"Even if we aren't together, you aren't protecting me…I mean, this is New York City Peter, anything can happen here. I mean I was attacked by those muggers and the Green Goblin at the fair, and at the time he didn't even know you're identity or the feelings you had for me…"
"But…" Peter started weakly.
"No buts Pete, I love you and you love me back. You being Spiderman can't change the feelings we have and I want to face any challenge with you."
Peter couldn't keep lying to himself, and he couldn't let her slip through his fingers again. Like Otto had said all those months ago, keeping something as complicated as love bottled up inside can make you sick. "Any challenge?" He whispered, grasping her hand tightly.
"Any…" She smiled back, a feeling of euphoria engulfing her as she realized that she had finally gotten through to him. Leaning across the bed, she hugged him carefully, not wanting to hurt his chest. "Besides," She whispered, "Now you can protect me from danger more than was possible."
"And why's that?" Peter questioned, already knowing the answer.
"Because you, Peter Parker, are going to be spending a lot more time with me, disturbances permitting of course."
"I like the sound of that." Peter said back with a very large smile.
TBC
One more chapter, this one wasn't meant to be very big. I have a fantastic idea for another one that will focus on Harry and Peter….it will be very dramaish and angsty…
