Her day was uneventful after her run in with Murderdock. Practice with the secret warriors was the same as always, Daisy told her when and where to met for their date; but that was it really. Practice with the Mary Janes was uneventful as well, and even the criminals she stopped in between were the same as always (a few purse snatchers and one grand theft auto) but that would change once she met up with daisy at 6 p.m.

It was slightly earlier, 5:57, but she'd managed to get there early so she waited.

When Daisy arrived it wasn't in casual clothes, she as wearing her super-suit. Gwen quickly made for the closes alleyway and once she'd changed into her Ghost-Spider suit Daisy followed.

"So are we doing superhero stuff today?"

"Oh, yeah," Daisy said once they were out of sight. "From what I've heard patrolling together is one of the most popular dating activities for superheroes, and I know you like to patrol, so I figured we could give that a shot."

"Well, you're not wrong, but usually that's for heroes who have some movement based abilities. Like, if you could fly I'd web sling next to you and we'd find some crime in no time, but if we're walking it might take a while."

"Oh." Daisy frowned a bit, clearly having only then realized her mistake. "Sorry, I guess we could try dinner and a movie instead?"

" Or we could just make jogging together the date and crime fighting a bonus."

"I'd like that," Daisy said with a smile that got the butterflies in Gwen's stomach stirring.

"So what should we talk about?" Daisy wasn't entirely unprepared, she had thought of a few stories she could tell about herself and had a few topics in mind, but she also wanted to make Gwen happy on their date, so she'd get to pick the first topic.

"How about school?"

"Really? You skip school so much they might not let you graduate but you still want to talk about it?"

"Not my school, I want to hear about your time in school: If you liked it, your favorite subjects, if you were doing well... I guess I also want to know what you did in your spare time, who you hung out with, if you still talk to them, that sort of thing."

They weren't running, just jogging, but it was still impressive how Ghost-Spider managed to speak completely normally, like if she was just standing around doing nothing, and it was thanks to that that Daisy noticed the embarrassment in her voice.

"If that's all you want to know -huff- School wasn't my favorite place, getting good grades was easy enough but it was boring so my grades slipped when I got into high school, and my favorite subject was art."

"So were you on a school sports team or did S.H.I.E.L.D. turn you into a jock?" Gwen asked.

"I'm not a jock."

"You agreed to jog around the city with me, knowing I have super stamina, and we're going pretty fast. That makes you a jock." The glee in her voice as Gwen said that last part made Daisy smile. It was cute.

"Then I guess I blame S.H.I.E.L.D., I wouldn't just jog for hours in my spare time before I joined them. -Huff-

"What I did do was train with Captain Marvel. I had friends, but we grew apart when I started training. Before then we usually hung out at the mall, shopping and causing trouble." Lots of trouble by her parent's standards.

Gwen took a turn to their left and Daisy followed. From the looks of things they were going to the seedier parts of town. There was more trash on the streets, and the buildings were growing less fancy and more in need of repair, but she hadn't seen any gang tags yet.

"You where a problem child? How did you go from that to one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most trusted agents in just a few years?"

They weren't jogging too fast for her, not by a long shot, but she was still panting a bit as they kept going, glancing into every alley and side road they passed.

"Like I said, I trained with Captain Marvel. After that I got into S.H.I.E.L.D. on her recommendation then worked my butt off for Fury."

"So I'm guessing you made lots of new friends at S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Sure," she shrugged, "Paul, Yo-Yo, Harry, Sharon... we still talk whenever I see them but that isn't too often." She only really spoke with her team and Captain Marvel on a regular basis. Maybe she should reach out to them.

"So was it as tough as you thought it'd be? Was it fun?"

"Oh, it was much tougher than I thought it'd be. I thought keeping up with Captain Marvel's training meant I could handle S.H.I.E.L.D.'s, but it turns out she was going easy on me; and Fury really wasn't.

"For most of the first year I didn't even have enough time to consider quitting, I just kept going by momentum alone but it did get better after that, -huff- and when I started the specialized training it actually got fun." Thinking back to her first year, there really hadn't been a reason for not quitting, in fact S.H.I.E.L.D. had gone out of their way to make it extra hard on them, made her wonder why most of her classmates had stayed on.

Her only reason had been not wanting to disappoint Carol, couldn't give a rat's ass about Fury though.

"Was it the workout or the studying that got to you?"

"Both, actually. Whenever I wasn't studying I was working out, and when I wasn't working out I was studying. There wasn't time for anything else. No time to relax, no time for hobbies. They worked me to the bone trying to get me up to their standards, y'know."

"Makes sense." Gwen stayed quiet for a while, and Daisy was about to suggest another talking topic when she suddenly asked: "Do you think they'd give S.H.I.E.L.D. training to a superhero even if they weren't planning on working for S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Daisy stopped. "Are you thinking about getting S.H.I.E.L.D. training?"

"Well, considering my powers I think I'd make a great super-spy and S.H.I.E.L.D. training could be the one thing I need to make that happen. Plus if I worked for them I'd probably go from mainly stopping purse snatchers and the Bodega Bandit to helping take down people like the Kingpin on a regular basis. I'd go where my talents and skills would be most useful."

"Is that what you want?" Gwen had always seemed happy with what she was doing, not to mention wanting to go pro with the Mary Janes.

"I don't know. I feel like maybe that's what I should want; I'd almost certainly save more lives that way. But even if I stay as a local hero, wouldn't S.H.I.E.L.D. training still help me get better at it?"

"Oh, definitely. That's why what you and the team are learning is a version of S.H.I.E.L.D. training. Not on the level or pace you'd get if S.H.I.E.L.D. gave it to you, and you don't get all the parts of it. So yeah, it'd help in more or less the same way training with the team does.

"I can guarantee you'd learn a lot more about being a spy if you took that specialization since neither me nor Patriot are that sort of spies, but if you want to fight super villains assault squad might be a better choice."

"So, do you think they'd train me?" Gwen was looking at her intently, but Daisy wasn't sure if she'd heard even half of what she'd said. Maybe she was too concerned about her short term plans, on whether or not to sign up for S.H.I.E.L.D training, to focus on long term issues.

"Educating heroes is in everyone's best interest, so as long as you pas their test of character it shouldn't be a problem. And if you're available to Fury in emergencies you're basically an unpaid agent, which is even better in some ways."

"How about if I skip any strength training and take drumming lessons instead?"

It made her happy that Gwen wasn't giving up on her other dreams, even if achieving it while also being an active Superhero with a secret identity might be impossible. "That's fine," Daisy smiled, "as long as you have the strength and stamina to meet their standards they won't complain."

"Perfect."

"So what made you think about getting S.H.I.E.L.D. training?"

"Mainly Captain Stacey." Gwen said in a hushed voice. "He treats me as a vigilante but you're treated as law-enforcement, and he's got a point y'know."

"So was that why you became a hero too?" Your dad? She thought but didn't say.

"Pretty much. My dad always talked about justice and putting away the bad-guys while ' I ' grew up, made it the obvious choice. What about you? Where your parents big on justice?"

"Well, I was never really close to my adoptive parents, and my biological dad's a super-villain."

"Oh," Gwen said in the mildest reaction she'd ever gotten to the statement.

"I didn't meet him until I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. but just knowing that had an effect on me. In a way I suppose you could say I accepted Captain Marvel as my mentor because of him, because I didn't want to be like him.

"I was on my way to becoming a problem child right up until she told me about my biological dad. It scared me straight and when she offered to not only help me control my powers but also help me make something of myself I accepted. It's why I am who I am today."

"So, was that why weren't you close with your adoptive parents? Or were they bad parents?" In theory adoption should be the better version of the foster system, and she supposed that it was , but considering the horror stories she'd heard about that it wasn't a high bar to clear.

"I guess I never really grew attached to them. My dad was too busy with work, and my mom had her friends and hobbies when she got off of work. In the end they felt more like kindergarten teachers or babysitters than parents. I know they tried, but the love just wasn't there." She shrugged.

"They weren't even really all that absent, all I had to do was ask them to show up and they would, but the point was I had to ask. Then, when I grew up, I didn't want to rely on them so we basically stopped talking."

"You know, when I asked, I didn't expect all the personal details. You can just answer in general terms." As an afterthought she added "Or say nothing at all."

Daisy let out a laugh. "It's not a big deal Gwen. Besides, isn't this what you do on dates? Talk about personal things?"

"You don't have to ."

"Maybe I want to. It's not like I don't like you too."

Gwen stopped dead, with her jaw dropped. Daisy couldn't hold the smirk off her face if she tried, not that she did try. At all.

"WHAT!"

But as fun as it was to see Gwen like that, and as true as what she'd said was, she couldn't leave it at that.

"I don't think I'd call it a crush really, but we get along, right?"

Gwen's face fell.

"Hey..." she put a hand on Gwen's shoulder. "My feelings for you might not be the same as for the rest of our team, Ghost-Spider, but I need more time to say for sure."

"Alright." Gwen was obviously still sad, but better that than giving the girl false hope.

"So, what is it about me you like anyway?"

"Lots of things: you're cool, you're nice, you were one of the first to believe I was innocent, you make me feel stronger than I know I am... And I don't know, you just make me happy whenever I'm with you."

Well Daisy could definitely identify with that last point. Being with her friends made her happy, but Gwen was special in just how much of an effect she had on her.

When they passed a food truck Gwen's stomach rumbled. They'd been jogging for twenty minutes at that point but Daisy looked like she could keep going for another twenty without stopping.

"Do you want some?" Daisy asked, pointing at the truck.

"Yeah, it smells really good." Her mouth was already watering.

"You do know that almost half the food they sell on the streets isn't up to code, right."

She waved the older girl off. "What's good is good."

Daisy smiled. "Spoken like a true New Yorker."

"Born and bred."

They bought a shwarma each before they kept going, though they were walking to make sure they didn't spill.

So far, between talking about their childhoods and Gwen's future, they'd stopped two purse snatchers, but they'd yet to find crimes that needed more than one of them to fight. Gwen had asked about Daisy's future plans, but she'd just said she planned on staying with the team, which didn't leave much to discuss.

"So what're you going to do about your dad?"

"Which one?"

"Gwendolyn's." Daisy whispered.

"I'm not doing anything 'about him'."

"So you aren't going to tell him about the new you?"

"I..." Gwen didn't want to think about how she'd run out on him that morning. "No." It was just too risky.

"Do you want to talk about why?"

"Not really."

"Then do you want me to tell you about the first time I broke a girl's nose?"

Talking with Daisy was fun. Whenever Gwen wanted to avoid a subject Daisy had a number of other topics to pick from and her childhood stories were always a good distraction. She'd have to face her troubles eventually, and she'd have to figure out what to tell George about the previous night, but that could wait until after her date.

It took a while but it seemed like only a matter of time before Gwen and Daisy came across some real crime, or at least it looked like it'd be a crime in progress.

Three guys and two girls, all in their twenties, were walking down the street dressed in black, carrying a duffel bag each. They were on the outskirts of what you'd call the worse parts of Manhattan, she'd intentionally guided them there to stop some small street crimes, so it was unlikely that they were oblivious to how it looked considering most of the bags seemed empty.

They followed the group to a pawnshop.

Why they were trying to break into that particular store was anyone's guess, maybe they'd heard of something particularly valuable coming through there, maybe they just didn't like the owner and wanted to teach him a lesson, either way Gwen and Daisy weren't about to allow them to do whatever they were planning on doing.

"Pretty sure you aren't allowed in there," Gwen said startling the guy who was picking the lock. "If you surrender now we can just escort you straight to the police station, it'll spare you a lot of pain and humiliation."

One of them, predictably, lunged at her, un-armed no less.

"What did I say, Quake, lots of idiots trying their hand at crimes in these parts."

"Actually," Daisy punched another one of the guys in the face, "I think you said we might not even run into crime if all we do is jog."

"Sure, but I also," she shot a web-ball, tying one of the girls wrists together, "said that if we moved quickly we'd run into crime in no time." She dodged another punch without looking.

Not half a second, barely a tenth actually, later something changed. Danger surrounded her.

"Watch out!" Daisy called out as she slammed her hands on the ground and created a barrier around Gwen.

Daisy's power, the sounds she used, hurt. It was like a million needles poked half a centimeter into her skin, except it was in her outer layer that she felt it, in Gwenom.

Fire licked over the edge of Daisy's wall which protected not only her, but the criminals as well, all except one of them, the girl whose wrists she had webbed.

"That girl had fire powers?"

"Or something like it. I think she's using a tool to make the fire but she'd better be fireproof or she's in a world of pain right now."

"Well she's all yours if you want." Meaning that Gwen wasn't sure she could take a flaming opponent. "I'll web these bozos up, then I'm calling the cops."

"Sure. But we're waiting to give our statements, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Daisy walked up to the wall, then made another one behind herself, going on the offensive against the fire girl.

After they finished giving their statements to the cops they kept jogging, in silence at first, then Gwen took a hard turn into an alleyway.

"Quake, can you do me a favor?"

"Of course."

"I want you to use your powers on me."

Daisy did a double take, but she seemed to realize that Gwen was serious. "What?"

"Just a little bit, not too strong, okay."

Daisy took a deep breath, then Gwen's arms began shaking. It wasn't by a lot, not much more than what you'd expect after being out in the cold for a while, but it was faster and it hurt .

"Yepp, definitely hurts, but it isn't hurting my bond. Try doing my whole body next."

"Are you sure?" Daisy looked pained and, despite the pain Gwen had felt just a moment ago, it brought a smile to her face. Daisy's empathy.

"Please, Quake."

"Alright, tell me if you need me to stop."

The vibrations spread further, and Gwen held back a cry of pain, but she didn't tell Daisy to stop. At least not for a few seconds.

"Stop."

She did. "Are you okay?" Daisy rushed forward and helped her stand up properly. When had she started to hunch down?

"Yeah. I think- If you don't use your powers directly on me, I think we can still fight with each other." Whatever else she'd learned, that was the most important thing to her.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I can still use my Ghost-Spider powers," Gwendolyn's powers, "when you're doing your thing, so it should be fine." Though she doubted she'd be able to use the spiders or her camouflage in those conditions.

"What changed?"

"I'm... not sure."

"We should have Iron Heart run some more test on you, just to be sure."

They were a bit more than half an hour into their date, and Daisy thought it had been going pretty well. They'd mostly talked about lighter subjects, childhood stories and such, but they'd also gotten a good bit of personal stuff mixed in, exactly what you'd want on a date.

Gwen was just finished telling her about one time she, well, Gwendolyn, busted a kid down the streets for selling beverages without a business permit. Of course it had just been lemonade but she'd still wanted to shut it down.

"And you actually shut down their stand?"

"Hey, I had a badge to live up to."

"You mean your dad's."

"Sure, and it wasn't actually lemonade they sold, they were putting lemon scented detergent in water."

That made daisy laugh. Exactly what those kids thought would happen when they sold detergent as a drink was beyond her, but that shut down had been inevitable.

"Hey Ghost-Spider?"

"Yeah?"

"We've been jogging for almost forty minutes now; do you want to head back to base?"

"You want to end our date already?"

"I was actually thinking we could do some normal date-things, you know, 'dinner and a movie', but maybe we shouldn't? My identity isn't exactly secret."

"We could just stay in the HQ if that's what you're worried about. And for food we could get takeout on the way."

"Why do you have all the answers tonight?"

"I've known about my crush on you for three weeks so I've thought about these things."

Daisy had texted Rayshaun to make sure their base was empty as soon as they decided to go there. If he hadn't been there, he had probably texted the rest of them because when they got there nobody was round.

They sat down on the couch together, right next to each other, arms touching, and put on a movie... Both of them took a quick shower then gotten a change of clothes, or in Gwen's case changed 'her surface'. The form she'd taken was like how it was at the start of their date, a pretty pinkish purple sweater over a pink top coupled with teal skinny jeans. What really drew her eyes however was the light blush on Gwen's cheeks.

For food they'd gotten a pizza and Chinese takeout, which wasn't a good combination in her opinion but Gwen had said it'd be good, so that's what they'd gotten.

The movie was good, but it wasn't anything special, just one in a long line of similar family films.

"Daisy?"

"Yeah?" She looked over and Gwen pulled away slightly so they could face each other, causing Daisy to frown for a second.

"Should I tell Gwendolyn's dad about me?"

"You mean about the new you?"

Gwen made a pained face. "Yeah."

"I think your relationship with him is good. Good enough to tell him."

"What if he can't accept it?"

"You're already 18, you could just move in here if you wanted to." Not that George Stacey, from what Gwen had told her about him, would ever disown his daughter.

"But what if..." Gwen's eyes moistened. "I can't just..."

"Hey, hey..." Daisy stroked Gwen's arm. "You don't have to do it if you don't want to. That said I think he'll accept you, and even if he doesn't at first, just give him time and he'll come around to it."

She held Gwen for a while. The movie kept going, but they weren't paying attention to it, all she could do was hold Gwen tight and try to reassure her.

After a minute or two of silently whispered reassurances Gwen spoke.

"I don't know... I just- What if, and I'm still not sure he won't kick me out or anything, but what if he figures out I'm Ghost-Spider."

"I don't know, Gwen. But it isn't that unusual for heroes to tell their closest friends and family. Heck, you've already told your friends and they were understanding."

"Yeah..."

Gwen couldn't help but notice how close to her Daisy seemed to insist on sitting. Of course she didn't mind but it made it hard to focus whenever they talked. And they talked a fair bit, at this point having moved on from mainly talking about things they didn't know about each other, to talking about their mutual friends.

Nothing bad of course, just funny stories, and time flew by. Before she realized it, the movie was over, and their date had lasted for two and a half hours. Gwen stood up and stretched.

"Well we finished the pizza."

"Yeah," Daisy agreed. They'd started eating it bit by bit after having finished their Chinese take-out. The pizza had cooled by then, but that's what microwaves where invented for.

They cleaned up in relative silence, then headed for the elevator.

"We should do this again."Daisy daisy said,* here, brutally honest: are you talking about another date, or just hanging out as friends?"

"A date." She smiled.

A date! Daisy wanted another date! Gwen could barely stop herself from screaming out loud and hugged Daisy instead.

"Thanks."