A/N: Like The Joker once said, SURPRISE! I know, this chapter wasn't supposed to come out since I stated before that I was taking a break (Which I still am), but I'm just that cool and so I decided to give you guys a Christmas gift! So yeah, this chapter is mostly focused on the family. Some serious stuff at the star that only teases a small part of what's coming next for the story. If I don't change my mind. This was a present! Next update will take some time!

BTW, I accidentally replaced the chapter when Elizabeth was born with another one and I recently noticed that. So if you didn't read the chapter, it's now fixed. Chapter 26. Sorry for my mistake.

Enjoooyyyy!

January 9th - 2022

"Not quite, it's – the dog caught the Frisbee, Fris – bee," Gwen smiled at Elizabeth. "Try again."

"OK," Elizabeth screwed her face up in concentration, a habit she had picked up from Peter, before repeating. "The dog caught the...Frisbee."

"Well done," Gwen turned on the floor of the living room of their new apartment and glanced main entrance, noticing Peter opening the door. It was a large but cosy room, a thick red carpet along the ground. It was a room with an intimate atmosphere, caused by the soft lighting and dark furniture. A large T was on the far wall, several leather sofas angled to view it. Around the room were wooden shelves, mostly empty but with room for lots of possessions such as DVDs and books. "Hey look, daddy's back."

"Yay!" Elizabeth shot up, dropping the book that they had been reading together, and ran to the front door. Gwen followed with a laugh as the door opened. Liz ran up to Peter as he scooped her up and hauled her into his arms with a kiss. "Hello daddy!"

"Hey Liz! " Peter walked inside, closing the door behind him. As he placed his right arm back around Elizabeth Gwen noticed his fist covered in dried blood, several scabs on his knuckles. She didn't say anything though, she would wait until Elizabeth was out of the room. "Good Saturday so far?"

"Yes thank you," Elizabeth smiled at him. "How was your day?"

"Well," Peter sighed, and Gwen noticed the subtle traces of anxiety that he tried to mask. Something was up. "Not particularly brilliant, but thanks for asking."

"Liz, why don't you go and watch some vids? There's a really good animal program on in five minutes."

"OK," Peter placed Elizabeth down with another kiss before she headed off, Ren now joining her and loping along behind her. The little girl chuckled as she bounded up onto the sofa. "Up doggy!"

Gwen turned back to Peter, taking him by his left hand and pulling him into the kitchen. She grabbed his other hand when they were out of sight, looking up at him with concerned eyes.

"What have you done to your hand?"

"Oh, that," Peter's face fell. "I hit a wall."

Gwen was confused. "What?"

"I..." Peter sighed, looking back down. Gwen grabbed a bowl and filled it with hot water, still studying Peter as she did. She hadn't seen him like this for a long while. She noticed that he was wearing his Spider-Man suit underneath his long sleeved shirt.

"What happened Peter?"

"That's the point. I don't know what's happening. "

"What? I meant what happened with your hand."

"Oh, I punched a wall. Destroyed some bricks."

"Why?"

He groaned. "As you know, more super bad guys are popping out of the nowhere. And they are all connected with those experiments that they refuse to reveal, it's happening for two years now and I don't have any trail to follow."

"What happened today?"

Peter slumped down onto one of the bar stools by the kitchen counter before answering

"This gangster..hammerhead, he earns the nickname. Couldn't stop him in time. I feel that he's responsible for some of the new baddies. I tried to interrogate one that I arrested at the police stations, but again, they don't tell me anything." He sighed in frustration. The thought of a new 'Oscorp' out there in the city was haunting Peter.

Gwen carried the bowl over to him, grabbing a towel as well. She sat down next to him and took his hand once more, beginning to clean it gently. "Did you...did you hurt him?"

"Of course not." Peter hissed quietly as she dabbed lightly at one of the scabbed cuts. "Not my way to solve things."

Gwen noticed the anger flash across Peter's face so she stroked the back of his hand lightly. "Hey, you're going to stop whoever that is doing those sick experiences. You always do. It's only a matter of time."

"Let's hope so."

Gwen placed his hand into the bowl to clean off the last of the blood, giving him a reassuring smile. "And this is why you punched a wall?"

"I was frustrated," Peter looked down meekly. "I'm sorry."

"It was a little silly," Gwen gave him a sympathetic smile. "Because I believe you can sort this." She took his hand out of the bowl and wrapped it in a towel before finally bandaging it. "Liz's reading is coming on, I reckon she's at least three years ahead of her age."

"Can she go to school early?"

"Well, I'm not so sure about that," Gwen shook her head, though this was something she had been thinking about as well. "She's a bit too young."

"Well she's too mature for play school I think," Gwen nodded her assent. "She'd be bored stiff, but she needs to socialise with other kids."

"You're right."

"Oh, and check this out," Gwen hurried over to the fridge with a bit of a spring in her step. "I'm rather proud of it."

She opened the fridge and pulled out a glass bowl, grabbing a pair of spoons on her way back to Peter. She placed it down in front of him with a grin.

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Tiramisu?"

"Yep, I think I've mastered it," Gwen admired the desert she had made, checking that all of the layers were still perfectly aligned. "I hope it tastes good though, you wanna try?"

"Sure," Peter dipped his spoon in, taking a large mouthful of the food, He swallowed and looked over to her, actually managing a smile. "That is really epic, I mean it's awesome."

"Thank you," Gwen took a mouthful herself and was rather proud of her achievement. She never used to be any good at cooking, but since living with Peter she had been working on it. And now she was really getting somewhere, especially with savoury foods and roast dinners. But she was getting to grips with deserts and cakes gradually. "I am rather pleased with this, though I think it could do with more Grand Marnier."

"Hmm, this sucks you know," Peter tutted. "You're better at everything than me now."

"Hey, you cook really well you know," Gwen wasn't lying, Gwen was a surprisingly able cook. "I'm sorry for..."

"No no, I'm only joking," Peter took another mouthful. "I could eat this all day."

"Maybe I should stop then, I don't want a fat husband," Gwen poked him in the ribs with a grin. "Now come on and join us, but put a smiley face on for Liz."

Gwen jumped up and pulled Peter with her, taking him into the living room. As they entered he whispered in her ear.

"You know, that isn't hard to do."

Gwen settled on the sofa next to Elizabeth, Peter sitting down on the other side of their daughter. She pulled her legs up on the sofa and placed her arms around Peter who now had Elizabeth settled in his lap. She gave her daughter a kiss on the head before leaning into Peter's ear to whisper to him.

"You'll sort everything out," Gwen paused to give him a kiss by the ear. "After all, my bugboy is called a superhero for a reason."

July 12th - 2022

P&G Apartment/Night

"And the big bad wolf huffed and puffed, but he couldn't get into the house made of stone," Elizabeth closed the book she had finished reading aloud and looked up at her father. He still had his arms around her, but he was fast asleep with her in his lap. "Daddy?"

Peter didn't stir, and that was a good thing for Elizabeth. She now had an opportunity.

She slowly put the book down on the table and crept out of her father's arms without waking him, carefully dropping onto the floor. She tiptoed around the sofa and headed across th apartment towards the kitchen. Her actions still didn't wake Peter, though Ren woke up from his snooze underneath the dinner table and trotted over to join her.

"Shh doggy," Elizabeth continued her stealthy advance into the kitchen with her target in sight on the top shelf above the central worktop. "If you're quiet, I'll get you a cookie too."

Now Elizabeth was faced with a problem, how to get to the biscuit tin? It was much easier back at the old apartment, the biscuits were kept in a large tin on a worktop that she could get to by climbing up one of the bar stools, but in the flat it was a nightmare. In the new larger and two floors apartment, the stools were the wrong shape for her to try that, and the cupboards offered no way to ascend. It was a puzzle, a particularly intriguing puzzle for a rather hungry two and a half year old child genius.

"Maybe you can help?" Elizabeth motioned for Ren to come over, getting him to sit down next to one of the bar stools. "Stay."

She carefully jumped onto the poor's pug back, shuffling up onto it's shoulders. Now she was more than able to reach the stool and she climbed up onto the seat with a big grin. She gave Ren a thumbs up before turning around to check on how to get to the actual tin. It was still out of reach to her unless she stood on the cooker but she wasn't going to do that. Her mother had told her to never touch the cooker.

Elizabeth stood up slowly on the stool to try and reach for the tin on the shelf above. She strained and stretched as far as she could but it was still out of her grasp. She sat back down on the stool and sighed, folding her arms and narrowing her eyes. She looked around her for something to hook it down with, but there was nothing that she thought would work.

She decided to try again and reached as high as she could, flexing her fingers in the air. Still thinking, she placed a hand against the wall, and felt even more confident. She placed her other hand against wall and discovered a new ability. Crawling. With that, she reached the tin and carefully descended back to the counter.

"Elizabeth!"

She turned at the sound of her mother's shocked voice, smiling happily as she opened the tin to get at the home-made cookies. "Hi mummy!"

"Oh my god," Gwen had dropped the bag in her hand and hurried over to Elizabeth, concern written across her face. She gently picked Elizabeth and placed her down on the floor. "Are you OK?"

"I'm OK thank you." Elizabeth couldn't understand exactly why her mother looked so concerned.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting a cookie." She opened the small tin. "Do you want some cookies, mummy?"

"Liz, look at me," Gwen dropped down to be eye level with her daughter. "You mustn't ever do anything like this again all right? You could fall really easily and hurt yourself badly. If you want a biscuit, let daddy get it for you."

"OK," Elizabeth looked down, she knew she was in a bit of trouble. "Sorry."

"No that's...wait a second," Gwen raised an eyebrow. "How did you get on the stool?"

"Oh," Elizabeth pointed down at Ren who was still patiently sitting next to the stool, staring at the biscuit tin with unblinking eyes. "He wants a cookie too."

"Oh god, Liz you really shouldn't climb on the dog. I know you're only small, but still...wait," Gwen raised an eyebrow again. "How did you get the tin from there?"

"Crawling. "

"Crawling?"

"Yep," Elizabeth smiled again as she fed Ren a biscuit, patting him on the head. "Good boy."

"You mean..you crawled to get in the counter?"

"Hmm, " Elizabeth cocked her head as she thought back to it. "My hands got stuck."

"Stuck?" Elizabeth watched her mother's eyes widen. "Wow! Liz, you have daddy's abilities." Gwen smiled.

"Abilities?" She frowned.

"Yes, remember that time when daddy installed that chandelier? "

"I can do that?" Elizabeth opened her eyes rather wide.

"Yes, though you'll have to learn to control it," Elizabeth allowed herself to be picked up by her mother who carried her back over to the sitting area. Peter was still asleep. "Daddy can teach you, but can you wake up him please?"

"Okay!" She nodded, excited.

"Hey," Gwen smiled and gently placed a hand on her chin. "I love you."

Liz smiled back and hugged Gwen's neck. "I love you too mummy!" She released Gwen and went towards the sofa.

Elizabeth jumped down onto the sofa and shook her father, he sort of jumped awake with a bit of a shock whilst still mumbling from his sleep. "No, not the skateboard, please!" Elizabeth laughed at the ramblings as Peter began to properly wake up.

"Oh," He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Hiya darling."

"You fell asleep daddy."

"What did I miss?"

"Well," Peter jumped, only now realising that Gwen was here. She folded her arms and gave him a bit of a glare. "Elizabeth was munching through the biscuit tin in the kitchen when I got in."

"Oh, I see. Liz you shouldn't eat too many..." His eyes widened as he flipped back his gaze to Elizabeth. "How the hell did you get the biscuit tin down?"

"She climbed onto the dog, onto the bar stool, stood on the stool, and then crawled her way to stand above the worktop "

"She did what what and what what?" Peter raised his eyebrows and gave Elizabeth the most surprised expression possible. "Wow. So... she have my powers?"

"Seems so," Gwen took a seat next to the pair as Elizabeth felt her father wrap one arm around her, she snuggled up to him as Gwen checked her smartphone. "God, it's half nine, well past your bedtime Liz."

"Oh, I'm not tired."

"It's late, you'll be tired tomorrow," Gwen stashed her phone back to her jeans pocket. "And you don't want to be tired tomorrow, especially if we're going to go shopping eh?"

"I suppose so." Elizabeth nodded, she rather enjoyed shopping.

"OK then, come on little missy," Elizabeth squealed as Peter jumped up with her in his arms and slung her around onto his shoulders before marching her up to her room. "Right, What have you got to do?"

"Pyjamas, wash, clean teeth, floss." Elizabeth counted off the list on her fingers.

"Ah, good girl." Peter gave her a little kiss before heading out of the room.

Elizabeth started off by retrieving her pyjamas first, they were a bright pink and covered in little cartoons of cute, small animals. Her mother thought they were that cute, and her father approved of her choice as well. She slipped on the pyjamas and put on her furry dressing gown on top and slippers on her feet before heading to her bathroom.

She moved up onto the steps Peter had put in so that she could reach the sink and filled up the basin with hot water for a quick wash of her face before cleaning her teeth and flossing. After finishing Elizabeth went back to her bedroom and climbed into bed. In matter of seconds, her parents entered the room and smiled at their daughter.

Gwen leaned over her as she pulled the duvet and blanket up to cover Elizabeth. She methodically tucked the duvet down Elizabeth's side with a smile whilst smoothing out the creases of the sheet. Then she leaned down to give Elizabeth a kiss.

"Night sweetie."

"Night mummy."

"So," Elizabeth turned her head to look at her father. "Do you want a story?"

She nodded enthusiastically, Elizabeth loved her father's stories."Yes please."

"I'll leave you to it." Gwen smiled at them both as she left with a wave, closing the door quietly behind her. Elizabeth turned her head back towards her father with an anticipative expression.

"Right, lets think," Peter manoeuvred himself onto the bed next to her, lying down next to Elizabeth with his arm around her. "Once upon a time there was a grizzly bear called Flash..."

"You took your time Peter."

"Hmm," Peter settled onto the sofa next to her, wrapping his arms around her. "Well I told her a story about a bear called Flash – yes it is him in grizzly form – and she did enjoy it, but she questioned me to no end on any points that were mildly ambiguous."

"Ha!" Gwen chuckled. "That's hilarious, a two and a half year old is analysing and critiquing your stories."

"Meh," Peter pressed a kiss to her temple as Gwen hoisted her legs up onto the sofa as well, fully moving into his embrace. "I worry about telling her stories sometimes, I get scared I'll have a bad review."

Gwen laughed. She leaned her head into Peter's's shoulder, pulling his hands around her body to link up in front of her stomach. "So, did you two have a good day?"

"Not too bad, we lazed about the apartment in the morning. We had a nice fry up, and watched some cartoons, before going out for a bit. We spent some time on Central Park, before getting some ice-cream. Later we went to a few food shops to get stuff for tea, we made 'Pollo Milanese' and those biscuits were home-made chocolate cookies."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "So you spoilt her rotten?"

"Hey, that's what I'm here for," Peter kissed the back of her neck, causing Gwen to shiver a little. "To spoil my girls rotten."

"Hmm." Gwen moaned and closed her eyes as Peter moved his hands down to massage her thighs, still maintaining his ministrations on the back of her neck.

"There's a whole chicken fillet left, I can put it in the oven for you if you want. Make some spaghetti too."

"I ate in the office, got a take away," Gwen paused. "But thank you for offering, I'm sure it's lovely."

"You've been working all day, actually you have been for the past few days," Peter rested his head on her shoulder. "We've hardly seen you for the three days."

"I know, sorry," Gwen spun so that she was now straddling Peter's, knees on the sofa either side of his legs. "We're finally starting to exam samples, later comes the theory and lastly, the practice. "

"That's great Gwendy," He smiled, rubbing one hand along her left thigh in circles. "I know your work is really important but..."

"It's only for the next week or so, I promise," Gwen leaned her head forwards, resting her forehead against his own forehead. "It's just addictive at the moment, you know how I love a challenge."

"Tell me about it," Peter rolled his own eyes. "You do get a little...addicted...to your work."

"That's not quite..."

"Come on Gwen, you do a little," Peter carefully tucked a stray strand of her blond hair around her ear. "But it's a good thing for the people you're helping I guess."

"Well, maybe," Gwen allowed a smirk to cross her lips. "But I can repay you a little."

"Mmm," Peter smiled as Gwen pressed her lips to his own, running her hands down his chest at the same time. She stopped to give him a sensual look and a wink. "Oh god, that wink Gwendy.."

"I know you love it."

Gwen grinned again before resuming her assault, placing her hands on his cheeks and pulling him closer for a passionate kiss. As they continued to grapple she raised her arms up, allowing Peter to pull her tight white t-shirt up. They had to momentarily break apart as she pulled the top off over her head, but as she threw it over to the other couch she saw Peter smiling as he stared at her chest.

She gave him a mock glare of disapproval. "Ugh, you're such a dog Peter."

"You love the attention really." He teased.

"Ah..." Gwen cocked her head. He kept his eyes trained on the lacy white bra before looking up at his wife. "I suppose I do."

With that she dove at him again, pushing him left and down onto his back on the sofa. She crawled on top of him whilst yanking off his own shirt, exposing his defined torso. She kissed him several times on the lips. He was about to undid her bra when there was a series of loud bleeps.

Peter cursed his phone. "Oh, damn!"

"Just ignore itit babes," Gwen was about to resume their kissing when the bleeps started again. She sighed. "Oh, just tell who ever it is to piss off and let us enjoy ourselves in peace."

"I will," Peter sat up, Gwen lying down on the sofa and draping herself across his lap. She watched him retrieve his phone from his pants. "Yes?"

"Parker?" Jameson's voice echoed.

He sighed. "I'm currently busy!"

"I need your help."

"What kind of help?"

"The kind that would save my life..." He whispered.

"Why are you whispering?"

"Listen, I need some -" His voice was interrupted by a female one. "Jameson?! What are you doing?! I thought you were already sleeping!"

Jameson quickly said. "Parker! Don't forget the photos for tomorrow!" The call got ended.

Peter groaned in frustration. "Cheeky bastard." He looked at Gwen. "He just wanted photos."

Gwen chuckled. "Figures."

He shook his head before changing subjects. "About Liz, what are we going to about her newfound abilities?"

She stroked his hair. "We guide her. Teach her to be responsible with them as you did. What's she going to do with them on the future is up to her."

He nodded. "I just don't want her to suffer what I did, she doesn't own anything to this world."

"What if she wants to trail the path that you did?" Gwen asked, softly.

Peter frowned, thinking. "Then I'm going to persuade her out of it, one Spider-Man is enough, once he has to hang the suit, it's over. I want people to remember him as a symbol of hope. Inspire them. He doesn't need a successor."

"I understand." Gwen said, she admired his intents, but even if she wanted her daughter to stay safe, she couldn't help but think that it's her choice and not theirs.

"What do you think about it?"

"I..I think that it's too early to talk about such topic." She softly kissed his forehead.

"Okay," Peter runned a hand up the smooth and pale skin of her back. "So..where we were at?" He teased.

She pulled herself closer to him, straddling his thighs and placing her arms around his neck. She kissed him once, pulling back and giving him a suggestive grin.

"You know, this bra could really do with being ditched."

"I agree," Peter suddenly stood upright, causing Gwen to chuckle. She locked her legs around his lower back, keeping herself thoroughly attached to him. She grinned again as Peter rolled his eyes. "Guess I have to give you a lift upstairs too eh?"

"Yep."

"OK and..."

"Daddy?"

Peter got such a shock he nearly dropped Gwen on the floor, only by tightening the grip of her legs did Gwen prevent herself from being dropped. Both looked up towards the balcony where Elizabeth stood clutching her plushy seal.

Peter regained his composure quickly enough. "Why are you out of bed Liz?"

"I forgot to tell you something."

"Oh?"

"Bears can't talk."

"Right," Gwen looked between Peter and Elizabeth with both eyebrows raised in confusion. "What's that got to do with anything sweetie?"

"Daddy told me a story about a bear who could talk, I just wanted to tell him that bears can't talk." Elizabeth finished her sentence ever so kindly, and Gwen couldn't help but laugh.

"Liz, I think your daddy probably knows that," She laughed again. "You should go back to bed."

"OK, night mummy, night daddy."

With that she turned and skipped off, heading back to her bedroom without any hassle. Gwen slowly turned her head to meet Peter's gaze, both looked at each other for a few seconds. Then they burst out laughing.

"Wow that was funny," Peter began to walk towards the stairs, still carrying Gwen. "I'm glad she always thinks of me, I would look like an idiot if I went around thinking bears could talk."

"Hmm, that is true," Gwen chuckled again. "Oh, I'm gonna make a great little genius out of her yet, she'd be a fantastic analyst."

"Yeah," Peter paused at the top of the stairs. "I was right about one thing though."

"What?"

"You know, trying the living room would probably be a bad idea."

A/N: You know, the idea of Peter being a very talented cooker always attracted me. Also, if you are a guy and you're looking for a girlfriend, in these days, you must know how to cook. It's like..a law. I'm not lying. And it's actually fun. One of the very small amount of critiques towards Gwen's characters, that I'm aware of, is that on the movies, she comes like a perfect girl for some people, and I do agree at some extent, so I decided to remove that impression and show Gwen having difficulties, doubts and some other stuff. It turns to be quite funny to see Gwen trying to know everything that Peter does. Since their relationship has some rivalry, in my vision, it's interesting. She doesn't want to get mocked by Peter for not knowing something. Hah! What can I say about Elizabeth? Well, she's a mixture of her parents (That's probably pretty clear), and I personally love the name. It's so delicate. I hope that you guys are liking her :3 ANYWAY, the apartment change is for a reason. One that will be revealed in future chapters.

Thanks for the support. Suggestions and critiques are always welcome. Happy Holidays!

- Andrew