A/N: Erm, Hello...I just can't stop writing. Seriously, I'm addicted. Okay, I will say this : I might update again, unlike I stated before, but it can be in one, two, three weeks. There isn't a proper calendar, like before, I'm going to update the time I feel like updating the story, at least till the end of January where I will give you guys an affirmation to this topic, If it will be once a week, two or even a month. I finished this very quickly, and personally, I think it's my favorite one.
I'm writing another story, and I accidentaly mixed the characters with this one, already fixed. So that's it, have a good reading!
August 18th - 2024
New York/Night
"Daddy?" Elizabeth called, turning on Peter's embrace. They were peacefully lying on the ground of some rooftop, resting after her father showed what he does with the powers she inherited from him.
"Yes?" She stroked her blond hair.
"What are the stars?" She now eyed the bright lights coming from the clean sky above them. It was a beautiful night.
"They are burning stars, like our sun, and their bright is so strong that it's now traveling through space, forming those tiny dots that you're seeing. He explained, caressing the soft skin of her back.
"Oh," Elizabeth admired it's complexity. "When can I go to the stars?" She kindly asked.
"Well, maybe one day? It's a difficult thing to travel out of our planet."
"What would we find there?" She intertwined her small fingers with his.
"Infinite possibilities, a new species? What about a planet made of chocolate? "
"Really?!" Elizabeth asked, excited.
"There's a chance, even if it's a small one." He chuckled and kissed her pink cheek. "I love you honey." She hugged his neck and rested her cheek against his, enjoying their embrace. His arms were place where she could lose her fears, knowing that being wrapped around them, means nobody besides her family could touch her.
"You're awesome daddy."
September 26th - 2022
"Hmm.." Spider-Man eyed the control panel of the Avengers shuttle that he was. The pilot was just the flawless and marksman called Hawkeye. Tony Stark was standing behind him and already inside of his famous armor. They joined forces after finally tracking, together, the source of the new baddies at New York, The Fisk Tower. "What does this button do?" He asked, leaning closer to the panel, glancing the glowing red button, one of the many.
"Such an amateur." Clint whispered, smiling to himself.
Spider-Man shooked his head and looked at him. "I'm sorry, I don't need anything to arrive at some place, such an amateur stuff." He joked.
Clint gave him a glare from the pilot's seat. Natasha was on the other seat, in the right side of Spider-Man . " But I don't have powers, that gives me more points."
"You two are so immature.." Natasha sighed, flying the now, invisible shuttle towards Fisk's towers, where they would start the infiltration attack and stop the operations that were happening there. "ETA five minutes."
"I ain't saying a word." Spider-Man pinched Clint's right ear, what caused him to groan in disapproval. "But seriously, what happens if I press this button?" He slowly moved his single finger close to the button.
"Don't do that!" Iron Man urgently interrupted from behind him. Spider-Man almost accidentally fell on the panel after such warning. "That's the self destruction option." He revealed, with his mechanical voice.
Spider-Man turned on his back, leaving the two pilots alone. "Who would include that option?!" He asked, in disbelief. "God, this is so claustrophobic."
"I'm not one of their engineers, but you know how much crazy they are when it comes to this stuff. If we weren't acting so stealthily, I would be out there and flying towards the tower myself. "
Spider-Man nodded. "I see." He looked to the front window, seeing the tower getting closer as the seconds passed. "Let's do this quickly, I have to pick my daughter at my Aunt's house in one hours - wait.."
"You have a daughter?" Clint turned on his seat with a surprised expression.
"Erm...I wasn't supposed to say that. "
"Just tell us your name." Clint replied. They were dying to know the man inside of the suit. "We ain't saying to nobody."
Spider-Man rubbed the back of his neck, unsure about what to do. He couldn't reveal his identity, but they were trustworthy. Unlike a certain cat that he recently met.
"I'm not interested in your face, just in your lips ." The woman wearing a black spandex all over her body stated, pressing Spider-Man against the chimney with the hand that was resting on his chest.
"Erm..I'm a married man." He said, awkwardly turning his head to the right side, avoiding her persuasive attacks. He knew she was trying to get back the metallic case that he caught her stealing from the Horizon Labs Tower. He was holding it with one hand that was behind his back, keeping it away from the mysterious bugler.
"Hey," She sensually ran a hand over his toned chest and towards his mask. "It's not a sin if she doesn't get to know..and you are also going to take my own mask off. Deal?" She leaned on his neck. Applying the persuasive skills over men that she was trained with, after letting herself being tested in one of the many experiences that Wilson Fisk did, in trade of a close person freedom. She had to help eliminate Fisk's concurrence, starting with Horizon, and the case contained crucial projects that the company was working on. The new baddies had that function, only if Fisk was able to control. The money kept their mouth shut though.
Spider-Man looked back to her. "Sorry, I followed you here and now I have to arrest you."
The thief sighed. "That's really a shame." She kissed his masked cheek, before punching his stomach and recovering the case he was keeping it away from her.
"That's cheating..." He gasped, crouching on the floor, in pain.
She stood on her knee to be at his level. " Sorry handsome." She cupped his cheek. "I have to go now." She raised from the floor and ran towards the building's edge just to jump away, disappearing from sight.
Spider-Man recovered his breath, slowly standing back on his feet. "I'm such a idiot!"
"Sorry guys." Spider-Man apologized. "Maybe some other day."
At least I caught that woman again and convinced her to reveals all of Fisk's plans, allowing this operation to happen. I hope that Felicia and her dad are doing well. They deserve more.
Iron Man patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, take your time. You can always count with us." He nodded.
"Thank you."
"I wouldn't say everyone.." Clint teased.
"Clint..." Natasha groaned in disapproval.
"I'm kidding!" He smiled to Spider-Man, on his own popstar way.
Tony received a notification coming from the HUD screen inside of his helmet. "Okay, Steve and the ground forces are already at the meeting location. Natasha, crash this shuttle on the tower." She nodded in response.
Spider-Man closed his fists. "Let's do this!"
Hours later..
Gwen stole a quick glance at Peter next to her in the car. This time, she was the one driving it. Unlike normal however, Peter was rather quiet.
"Want to talk?"
He sighed, and spoke a little bitterly. "I've done enough talking for one day."
She reprimanded him with a frown. "That was a little acrimonious Peter."
"Sorry," He looked down. "I didn't mean that."
"Good," She nodded. "Now talk, you wouldn't let me sulk."
"I just..." Peter paused. "We succeed today..."
"Isn't that a good thing?""
"Well yes," Peter placed his head in his hands. "I just...forgot...how difficult it is to...handle threats towards my family. "
"Fisk isn't know for being a good guy, he also talks a lot." She gently placed a hand on his tight.
"I know."
"Oh, come on Pete, " Gwen gave him a supportive smile. "We agreed that this was a good idea. It answers most of the questions that people have, removes the speculation. And you got to work with the Avengers, don't worry about an empty threat. He's now locked."
"I know."
"I was thinking as I watched you. Thinking about everything that we went through," Gwen let out a low whistle. "It's all crazy, but it was all worth it."
"I know."
"Stop saying you know!" Gwen rolled her eyes at him before turning back to the volamt in front of her as she drove the car inside of their building garage.
Peter gave her a sheepish look. "Sorry."
"God you're in a funny mood," Gwen shook her head as she parked the car, shutting down the engine and turning to him. "Seriously, you did really well today. It was a really good idea, you don't need to everything alone. You have friends."
Peter raised an eyebrow. "So you've decided you're happy with me hanging out with other 'superheroes'."
"Watching you getting more relaxed about it only convinced me more that it was the right thing to do," She leaned forwards to give him a quick kiss on the lips. "Now come on, lets get home."
The pair left the car and headed towards the elevator, selecting the floor for their apartment. Gwen leaned into Peter as they waited for it to ascend, flashing him a smile. He reciprocated by placing an arm around her shoulders, resting his head on top of her own. When he spoke she could feel his throat rumbling against her head.
"There's something I want to know."
"What?"
"How hard was for you? Whilst I was gone, fighting the Sinister Six?"
She spun in his arms, stroking his cheek softly. "Is this what's bothering you?"
"Ish." He replied. "Today reminded me of that night, leaving you alone and -"
"I was worried, yes," She turned back again, leaning against him once more. "I had just got you back after you got injured, I had two things in my life I really wanted. That I loved. And I was terrified I'd lose you."
"Why did you let me go?"
"Because I knew what was at stake," She slipped one hand into his own, pulling him out of the lift as the doors opened. "You said yourself, you were the only one that could stop them. I couldn't be selfish to not let you go."
"Oh, I understand. "
"But I almost tried to stop you from going," Gwen sighed. "When you jumped out of our window, I tried call you and talk you out of it."
Peter stopped outside the front door to the apartment. "How come you didn't?"
"I talked with May, she stopped me, she said that you'd be fine. That I was too emotionally important to you to help you." She smiled. " She was right."
"She's right." He kissed her cheek.
"Now come on, enough with this emotional talk. I suspect we'll get a nice surprise when we open the door."
At Peter's questioning glance Gwen winked, turning to the door. She retrieved the keys from her purse and unlocked the door, but she didn't opened it immediately. Instead she slowly and quietly prised open the doors, scanning around the apartment as she slowly entered.
"Aha!" She pointed an accusatory finger at the couple on the sofa who burst apart with surprise. "I knew it!"
"Gwen!" Howard gave his sister a panic stricken look as he sat bolt upright on the sofa, wearing his shirt. "We weren't expecting you to be back so soon."
"Oh really?" Gwen slowly advanced on the pair, one eyebrow raised. Peter was chuckling whilst Howard tried to suppress her own grin. Bethany, Howard's girlfriend, was keeping her eyes straight down on the floor in front of her – she was still rather terrified of Gwen. "You know it's not very nice to make out on someone else's sofa."
Howard shrugged. "Hey, you make out all the time!"
"It's our apartment!" Gwen crossed her arms, throwing her weight on one hip. She turned to look at Bethany. "And just how far were you planning on taking this tonight?"
She panicked. "Erm...I..."
"Gwendy! " Howard scolded his older sister, standing up. "We're both consensual adults in our mid twenties, like you two, we can do what we like!"
"Fine, whatever," Gwen shook her head. "Is Elizabeth in bed?"
"Yeah, she was great tonight." Howard nodded.
As Gwen nodded something else caught her eye, the arrangement of some of her work files on one of the shelves in front of them – they weren't in alphabetical order.
"What happened to my files?"
"Oh? You noticed?" Howard looked up in surprise. "Sorry, Liz was demonstrating her abilities to me, but she accidentally threw a pillow there so.."
"Hmm," Gwen approached the files to rearrange them, sorting them through alphabetically. "Okay."
Peter had a bemused expression over the other side of the room. "I will help her to control them."
"Good," Gwen turned back to double check her files were in order before going to stand back by Peter. "Now lets get out of these clothes, you really look like you want to jump out of that suit." She eyed his job suit.
"Too true," Peter grinned at her, Howard and Bethany sharing a bemused look. "See you two in a bit."
As Peter made off Gwen moved to follow, giving the couple a stern look. "Yes, and no snogging on our sofa!"
As they headed up the stairs Peter whispered to Gwen.
"Why are you being so harsh on them? Like Howard said, they're both consensual adults."
"Because..." Gwen leaned in closely with a grin. "It's good practice for the future..."
June 2nd - 2023
Peter was woken by a tugging on his arm. Slowly he opened his eyes, discovering the source of the tugging. Elizabeth was stood by the side of the bed, fully dressed. It took a second before he realised that she was actually clad in her school uniform, complete with the woollen cardigan with the school's logo embellished over her chest and even her little rucksack slung over both shoulders. She gave him a huge smile, though Peter couldn't bring one quite as big to bear – because he was still half asleep. Seeing this she gave him another tug on the arm.
"Get up daddy, we're gonna be late for school!"
He looked to his left where Gwen was slowly waking up on his chest, and the fact she was still asleep spoke volumes. Gwen never slept beyond eight in the morning, she was always awake by then – even if it was just to lie awake in bed and watch him instead of getting on with any work. Peter looked around to his right to the clock on his bedside table, and he got a shock.
"Liz , it's five to six in the morning!"
"I know," She nodded enthusiastically. "But mummy said we had to be up early."
"Oh," Gwen groaned as she dropped her head back down onto Peter's chest. "Liz, I meant at about seven thirty, not six o'clock!"
"Oh," She looked down at her shoes. "Sorry."
"Hmm," Peter rubbed his eyes several times whilst yawning. "Can you go back to sleep?"
"Peter, there's no point in that," Gwen sighed. "She'll just have to get dressed again in an hour and a half."
"Well what are we gonna do for an hour and a half then?"
Gwen raised her head, giving him an innocent look. "I'm sure you can take her downstairs and think of something."
"Whilst you stay up here and sleep?" Gwen nodded before collapsing back down on top of him. Peter rolled his eyes, turning back towards their daughter. "Right Liz, why don't you drop your bag downstairs and I'll come down in a minute."
"OK." She nodded enthusiastically before turning and skipping off, humming a random tune to herself.
"Why didn't you just take her downstairs?"
"Well, I'm only wearing a pair of boxers."
"I'm minus a pair of bra or panties at the moment but..." Gwen gave him a wink before extravagantly rolling off him onto her side of the bed and collapsing once more. "I'm going back to sleep."
Peter sighed before pressing a tender kiss to the back of her neck. "You know, you look even more sexier from behind." He flirted, receiving a weak giggle in response.
Reluctantly he clambered out of bed, he splashed some cold water on his face, before heading downstairs. Ren followed him downstairs from his snooze spot on the first floor, and they walked into the kitchen on the ground floor to join Elizabeth.
"Do you want a drink?"
"Orange juice please."
"OK, one orange juice coming up," Peter ducked down into the fridge, grabbing a glass from a cupboard just above. He handed it to her with a smile before heading over to the coffee machine. He pressed a couple of buttons and turned around to face his daughter whilst the machine warmed up. "You know, most kids aren't normally this excited for school. I mean, yeah there's some excitement – but you're really nuts about this aren't you?"
"I really want to go to school," She gave him a toothy grin. "I can't wait, it's gonna be awesome!"
"Hmm," Peter stroked his chin in mock thought. "Strange kid."
Elizabeth opened her mouth in protest. "I'm not strange!"
"I'm just kidding," Peter tousled her hair, causing Elizabeth to chuckle, before heading back to the coffee machine to grab his espresso – one that he really needed. "It's great that you're so enthusiastic, really. I just hope you aren't disappointed."
She cocked her head. "Why would I be disappointed?"
"Well the thing is," Peter took a seat on the bar stool next to Elizabeth, thinking how best to phrase what he was thinking. "Liz, you mustn't repeat what I'm about to say to anyone. Understand?"
She nodded. "OK, I won't tell anyone."
"Well, you know that you're special, your mother is an absolute genius, and because of that you're a genius too. You're as clever as most kids twice your age," Peter sighed. "The other children in your class aren't likely to be as clever, you might find that the stuff you do in school is rather...boring. You can all ready read and write really well, and your mother's taught you some basic maths, how to tell the time..."
"It'll be OK daddy," She interrupted him, took another couple of gulps of orange juice, and then continued. "I don't mind that."
"OK, I just thought I should mention it."
The two sat next to each other sipping their drinks for a little while in silence. After a couple of minutes Peter grabbed his phone, triggering the radio to power up. It started playing music from the classical station that Gwen enjoyed listening to, and Peter and Elizabeth shared a disapproving look. He flicked a couple of buttons on his phone and retuned the radio, putting it onto his favourite rock station. Liz laughed as he began to play air guitar to an old piece of music. It was at that moment that Gwen chose to walk in, an incredulous expression across her face.
"Erm..." She shook her head before jumping up to sit on the worktop on the other side of Elizabeth. "Why do I put up with your father eh? He's ridiculously...silly."
"Because you love me," Peter challenged her, approaching with a grin. He gave her a quick kiss, slipping a hand inside her furry bathrobe to caress her toned stomach. Gwen gave him a strange look, as if she was about to say something. She obviously thought better of it and just gave him a simple smile. He gave her a questioning look, answered by a quick shake of the head. He leaned in for another kiss, whispering to her as he did. "Are you OK?"
"Fine," She nodded as he pulled back, giving him a smile. "Go and have a shower, I'll be up when you've finished."
"Sure thing." Peter nodded, still giving Gwen a quick once over with a questioning glance after their silent conversation. He gave Elizabeth a quick kiss on the cheek before heading off. As he left Gwen spun Elizabeth's bar stool around and ran her hands through her daughters hair.
"So Liz, what are we doing with your hair for school? One ponytail, a pair of plats, perhaps spike it up and go all punk like this ridiculous music?"
"I want to learn chemistry, and biology, and physics, and maths, and..."
"Liz, I'm not sure you'll get to do all that in your first couple of years." Peter turned to face his daughter in the back of the car. Her feet were swinging back and forth with excitement, and a huge grin was plastered all over her face.
"Well, what will we learn?"
"Well you'll probably do a lot of reading, and writing as well. Also they'll probably do a lot of art with you, painting and drawing most likely."
"That is fun I guess," Elizabeth looked a little disappointed. "But I want to do science, like mummy."
Gwen chuckled from the drivers seat. "Liz, that kind of thing is really, really, really difficult. It takes years of training."
"Oh."
"You could do it of course, but not till you're much older," Gwen turned her head to flash her a reassuring smile. "You have to start with really basic stuff OK?"
"OK."
Peter nodded. "Like I mentioned earlier, remember?"
"I remember."
"Now, a quick check," Peter rolled his eyes as Gwen began to list off items. "School bag?"
Elizabeth nodded. "Yes."
"Pencil case, with pencils, rubber, sharpener, a couple of pens, ruler?"
There was a pause as Elizabeth peered inside her rucksack. "Yes."
"Pad of paper?"
"Got it."
"Uncle Howard's number?"
"Got that too."
"Lunch?"
"Yes," Elizabeth quickly opened up her lunch box. "Cheese sandwich, packet of crisps, crackers, apple, grapes, and a chocolate bar."
"Chocolate bar?" Gwen gave Peter a knowing look. "I wonder how that got in there?"
"Erm..." Elizabeth giggled. "Daddy gave it to me."
"Ha!" Gwen chuckled. "Busted!"
"Well, she deserves a nice treat," Peter flashed Gwen a cheesy smile. "As do we all every now and then.
Gwen rolled her eyes as Peter drove the car to the bustling metropolis of New York. The school was quite near the centre of the city. Students came from far and wide across the continent to study there, and it was about the only school Gwen had accepted as good enough for their daughter in the area. Of course Elizabeth was in the primary school section, which was in a separate set of buildings from the senior school.
The car slowed as Peter got into the car park for the primary school, cycling the engine down with a smile. Peter turned around to look at Elizabeth once more, she was enthusiastically gazing out of the windows at the buildings around them, and at the many other children getting out of their own vehicles with their parents.
"Liz?" She turned to meet Peter's gaze. "You ready?"
"Yeah!" Without another word she hit the release button on her seat restraints, jumped up and swung her rucksack onto her back. She beamed at her parents. "Ready."
Peter chuckled as Gwen opened the main doors of the car, The pair of them having to bail out rapidly to follow Elizabeth. As the car doors closed itself Peter positioned himself on Elizabeth's right, taking one hand. Gwen took her left hand and together the three walked towards the main building, following the throng of people heading inside with their own kids.
They headed in through the doors and into a large, modern atrium. Whilst it was rather chaotic inside, particularly because of the children running around and shouting at the top of their lungs, there was some semblance of order. Gwen pointed to one of the signs on the wall that read 'New Reception Students' and steered them down a corridor to the right. As they headed down he noticed Elizabeth gazing at the walls that were adorned with the work of students from the last year. Much of it was artwork of kind, various posters of historical events, and paintings of all sorts of animals, people, and places. It was amazing that there was so much of it.
"Liz, you'll probably be doing stuff like that," Peter smiled. "Should be fun, right?"
"Hmm, looks fun." She nodded.
They emerged at the end of a corridor into a hall and, whilst it was still full of people, things were a little more organised here. They were greeted by a middle aged woman, Peter would put her in her mid forties, with sandy blonde hair. She smiled kindly at Elizabeth.
"Hello young lady, I'm Mrs Evans head of the primary school," She knelt down to be eye level with Elizabeth. "And what's your name?"
"I'm Elizabeth Stacy Parker," Elizabeth stuck a hand out to shake Mrs Evans' hand, the teacher accepting it with a rather amused expression. "But you can call me Liz for short."
"OK then Liz," The lady stood up to face Peter and Gwen, acknowledging them for the first time with a smile. "It's fantastic to finally meet you guys."
"Yes," Gwen nodded, shaking Mrs Evans' hand before Peter did the same. "We spoke via the internet I believe."
"Mmm, yes," She nodded. "I apologise for not being here when you toured the school, I was dealing with an illness in my family at the time. All better now though."
"That's good to hear," Peter nodded. "We were really impressed with what we saw here, and Li's been really excited about coming here – haven't you?"
Elizabeth nodded as she begun to glance around the room, looking around at the many pupils and teachers.
"Now then, lets just double check who's going to be your teacher," Mrs Evans peered at the tablet in her hand, whilst the family looked around at the various teachers who were interacting with their brand new form. Nearly all of the teachers were very friendly looking women. "Ah yes, your teacher is Mr Evans, no relation to me though."
She pointed over to her right at the only male teacher in the room, and Peter raised his eyebrows at the choice. The man was getting on, perhaps in his late nineties, and was sat with the children around him – talking to each one in turn rather seriously. He was wearing a dark brown cardigan on top of a green shirt, with dark green trousers on his legs. He looked a rather stern old man, with ruddy skin, thick pointy eyebrows, and a small tufts of grey hair around the sides of his head. Mr Evans wasn't exactly what Peter had been expecting, and he noticed raised eyebrows from Gwen in his peripheral vision. Neither made a comment however.
"I assure you that he is a really fantastic teacher, very nice as well."
"Oh," Elizabeth nodded, though slightly dubiously. "Do I go over there?"
"Yes, if you are ready you can say goodbye and head on over," Mrs Evans stood up to face them. "I must see to the next family, but it was great to meet you. If there are any problems I'll let you know immediately, though I believe Elizabeth will settle in without any problems."
"Brilliant, thank you," Gwen smiled as the teacher headed over to the next family, before kneeling down to face Elizabeth. "Are you all right? We can always wait another year if you don't want to stay. You're all ready joining a year early"
"No, I'm OK mummy," She gave her mother a hug, though Peter noted how reluctant Gwen was to let go of her. "Though Mr Evans looks strict."
"I'm sure he'll be great Liz," Peter leaned down as well, taking one of Elizabeth's hands with his own. "Now have fun, and if there's any problems then just find Mrs Evans – I'm sure she'll sort everything out."
"OK, love you." With that Elizabeth turned and hurried off towards her new class, without a single backward glance. Peter watched as she sat down next to a couple of other girls, and almost immediately Mr Evans turned and began to talk to her. After a few minutes he turned to Gwen, and she smiled sadly before indicating that they should leave. He slipped a hand into her own before heading off with one last look.
They walked out in silence, squeezing through the throng of people at the main reception area. It wasn't long before they were in their car, and once more in the air. It was at least five minutes before either of them spoke, Gwen being the one to break the silence.
"Do you think she'll be OK?"
"I'm sure she'll be fine," Peter paused, he couldn't help a small sense of anxiety. "I'm pretty sure she will be, I mean she's a rather brave little girl."
"Yeah," Gwen nodded, before flashing Peter another nervous glance. "Though that Mr Evans did look a little strict."
"Perhaps he's really nice," Peter nodded, though he was sort of convincing himself at the same time. "They wouldn't employ a teacher for primary school who wasn't nice, would they."
"I suppose not."
There was another few minutes of silence.
"You know, it's rather quiet without Liz."
"It is, isn't it?" Gwen nodded.
"Well have to find something else to do from nine till three, Monday to Friday."
"Like what?" Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps I should start knitting?"
"You? Knitting?" Peter chuckled. "Come on..."
"Obviously not, I have plenty of projects to work on in the lab," Gwen hummed. "And you have plenty of stuff to do as well."
They lapsed into silence once more as Peter drove the car towards their apartment, approaching from a couple of kilometres. Peter regarded her closely, considering how to phrase what had been in his mind since far earlier that morning.
"Gwen?"
"Yes?"
"Is there something up? Just this morning..." He trailed off
She gave him a questioning look, cocking her head. "This morning what?"
"You gave me a really funny look, when we were in the kitchen this morning," As he spoke he couldn't fail to miss the grin slip into Gwen's face, and it was a rare occasion when she couldn't completely keep a straight face. "Gwendy, what's up?"
"Well, I wasn't going to mention it just yet but..." Gwen paused as he parked the car in their garage. "You know that new scanner we were working on in the labs?"
"That super dooper thingy that can scan and analyse cells to within an inch of their lives?"
She rolled her eyes. "Yes the super dooper thingy that can analyse cells to within an inch of their lives. Well we were trying it out on various staff members recently, and I volunteered for a full body scan."
"And?"
"Well...I'm pregnant again," She turned to him once more as a huge smile spread across both their faces together. "And the thing's so advanced that it told me what I'm carrying – we're having twin boys Peter."
"Twin boys?" He scratched the back of his neck, still grinning. "Awesome! I'm gonna have minions!"
"Oh god," Gwen smiled, but she flicked back to a rather serious expression. "But you want this right? You do want more kids?"
"Of course I do!" Peter took one of her hands, rubbing his thumb tenderly across her own. "This is fantastic, absolutely brilliant."
"Well..." Gwen grinned once more. "Brilliant then."
"Why weren't you going to say anything?"
"Liz's just gone to school, that's really important," Gwen pressed the open button for the doors, hopping out. Peter followed suit. "I think we should wait until she's settled in to tell her, She has to be priority one at the moment."
"If you want to do that then fine," Peter nodded. "I'm gonna struggle to keep it in though!"
"Hmm," They entered the elevator. She hummed as Peter wrapped his arms around her stomach, protectively splaying his hands around her stomach and massaging in circles. "I love how you instantly become protective like that."
"I love you."
Gwen placed her own hand over his, grinning at him. "I love you too."
Liz followed the line of children into Mr Evans' classroom, passing through the door inside. The classroom was warm and colourful, filled with several low tables and small stools to match. One area across the other side of the classroom had a series of comfortable looking bean bags, underneath a series of shelves containing books – a very rare occurrence in a classroom of the twenty one century. The rest of the classroom was filled with other miscellaneous things, a sink and cooker in one corner, filing units with draw labelled for stationary, and even a fish tank.
Mr Evans cleared his throat. "Now then, if you could all sit down please."
The children all followed his instruction, all heading to a seat. Elizabeth found herself sat between two other girls, one with chestnut brown hair and hazel coloured eyes and the other with blue eyes similar to Elizabeth's own and bright blonde hair. She gave each one a smile which was returned from both before turning to face Mr Evans a little anxiously. All of the children seemed to be a little nervous and were all rather quiet, none of them exactly knew what to expect from each other or from their new teacher. He gave them a quizzical look before breaking out into a huge friendly smile.
"Why are you all looking so nervous?" He chuckled before sitting down in his large, comfy looking brown leather spinning chair. "I may look like a grumpy old man, but I don't bite!"
At this a few of the children laughed, Elizabeth included.
"So, we need to all get to know one another," He reached into a file on his desk, pulling out a few pieces of paper. "So, here I have some stickers for you all, with all of your names on. So first we have, Tom Andrews."
A boy on one of the tables put his hand. "Hello."
"Hello Tom," Mr Evans stood up and walked over to the table, peeling off an passing Tom one of the stickers. "Now if you could stick that on, now we all know who you are young man."
The boy nodded and took the sticker, placing it on the front of his cardigan. Mr Evans repeated the process in alphabetical order, and it was a while before he got to Elizabeth. In the mean time she learned that the blonde haired girl next to her was called Lauren, whilst the girl with chestnut hair was called Anna. Eventually, it was Elizabeth's turn.
"Ah, now then," Mr Evans looked around the room until his eyes settled on Elizabeth. "Elizabeth Stacy Parker? "
She nodded. "Yes Mr Evans."
"A pleasure to meet you," He leaned forwards and gave her the sticker with a wide smile before handing out the few remaining stickers. After he had finished he sat back down on the chair, the class being a little more at ease. "Now last night I was thinking of something I could give you all, to welcome you all."
He bent down and reached into his bag, pulling out a large Tupperware box with a kindly smile.
"Now then, who likes chocolate muffins?"
Liz leaned forwards to whisper to both Lauren and Anna. "I really like chocolate muffins."
"Me too!"
"And me!"
There was a chorus of similar sentences as Mr Evans began to hand out the muffins, passing one to each child. They all sat there eating rather happily, smiling to one another. Mr Evans then went about handing out paper and coloured pencils to them all.
"So I'd love to get to know about you guys, and about your lives," He gestured to an empty section of wall. "So I'd like you guys to draw some pictures, about anything you want really. It could be your family, your house, pets, something you enjoy, it can be anything. And then we'll copy them and the copy can go on the wall and you can take your drawing home to put on the wall there. Does that sound like fun?"
There was nods all around the class.
"Great, well you guys crack on with that. If you want any help, just ask," He peered over the top of his glasses. "I'm not such a bad drawer myself, you know."
With that the children all grabbed pencils and begun to draw, and slowly enough they all began chatting to one another – making friends rather quickly.
Peter noted that Gwen was rather impatiently tapping one foot as they stood outside the main door of the school. They had both been rather relaxed during the day, having spent much of it uncharacteristically lounging about on the sofa. But in the last hour or so he had noticed Gwen to be a little tense again, he knew she was anxious to get Elizabeth back within her grasp again. He used the thumb of the hand around her waist to gently tickle her stomach, prompting Gwen to look towards him with a smile.
He looked around them at the other parents around them, nearly all the mothers seemed as anxious as Gwen. Now it was far quieter than the morning, as Elizabeth's year group finished earlier than the rest of the primary school there's was significantly less people milling about.
After another couple of minutes the doors opened, and Liz's class was the first one out. Peter noted, with a relieved smile, that she was animatedly chatting with a pair of other girls as they walked down the steps from the reception. The three turned and waved to Mr Evans, who waved back with a huge smile, before walking towards their parents. The three waved to each other enthusiastically before parting and running to their families. Elizabeth ran ran straight into her mothers arms.
"Mummy!"
"Hey Liz," Gwen lifted her up effortlessly, placing a loving kiss on her cheek. "Are you OK?"
"Yes, school was awesome!"
Gwen chuckled before putting Elizabeth down, letting her run to Peter. "Good to hear."
"Hey little miss," Peter pulled Elizabeth up into his arms as well, almost mimicking Gwen's actions. "I see you've been making friends."
"Yeah, that's Anna," Peter followed her point to a girl with chestnut hair walking away with her family. "And that's Lauren." Peter followed her other point to the little blonde girl who had been with Elizabeth. As Peter's looked over he noticed the girls older sister and brother staring open mouthed at Peter, and the brother clearly mouthed the words – 'you're friends with Peter's daughter?' – with a look of utter disbelief. At this Peter chuckled before turning around to head off with Elizabeth in his arms and Gwen following. After years of taking photos of Spider-Man, people knew that he was his 'official' photographer, giving him a certain reputation.
"So," Peter asked as they climbed into the car once more. "Did you have a fun day?"
"Yeah." She nodded enthusiastically.
Gwen looked at her through the rear view mirror of the car. "Is Mr Evans all right?"
"He's really funny, and he made us muffins."
"Oh wow," Peter exchanged a surprised expression with Gwen. "He's won you over then."
"He's really kind, and he was teaching us loads of stuff," Elizabeth counted off on her fingers. "We did some writing, and some reading, and some maths, but we did some drawings first."
"What drawings did you make?" Gwen asked.
"I did this," Elizabeth went into her bag and fetched out a piece of paper to show to them. It was clearly a drawing of them all with Ren, though there was a lot of...artistic interpretation present. For example, Peter's head was at least as large as his body, and they all had rather pink skin. Though, it was better than a lot of three year old children could do, in Peter's opinion. "What do you think?"
"It's lovely Liz," Gwen smiled genuinely. "We'll put it up on the fridge when we get home, won't we Peter?"
"Definitely," Peter nodded. "Anything else interesting?"
"Mr Evans has a fish tank like ours in the classroom, but it's smaller," Liz smiled enthusiastically. "He has two goldfish called Stevie and Wonder."
Peter chuckled. "Hmm, sounds like my kind of guy."
Gwen rolled her eyes before laughing to herself.
"I can't wait for this Gwendy." He gently massaged her naked back.
"I can't wait for the babies, I can wait for the pregnancy though," She sighed again. "I'm gonna be twice as big, twice as quickly, with twice as much back ache and foot pain."
"I'll be here," Peter ran a hand down her thigh before chuckling. "And I don't mind, you'll look drop dead gorgeous regardless, you'll be two times sexier."
"Peter Parker, " She spoke in a scandalised tone to him, grinning from ear to ear. "Are you trying to tell me you have some weird fetish you've never mentioned before?"
"Of course not," Peter stammered. "Though there was something alluring about your body when you were carrying Elizabeth...something extra alluring I mean...and this sounds really weird doesn't it? I don't mean it how it sounds."
She raised an eyebrow. "OK, it is a bit weird."
"You know what I mean right?"
"Sort of," Gwen nodded. "You're still weird."
"I thought you'd accepted that I'm weird."
"Ha!" Gwen chuckled. "It's one of your strangely attractive features."
Gwen leaned back into Peter, allowing her head to drop back onto his shoulders. She slowly ran her right foot up his own leg, scratching him softly with her toenails. In reply Peter used his left foot to tickle the bottom of her own left foot. That initiated a kind of footsie war, the pair tickling each other with their feet. Gwen couldn't help but laugh, and before long she spun in his arms, straddling his lower torso. She dropped down to meet his lips with her own, feeling his hands creep around her buttocks and...
"Mummy?" The call was accompanied by a knock at the door. The warning gave them enough time to dive underneath the duvet, though only just.
"Liz?" Gwen cocked her head, able to flick straight to her doting mother state of mind as Elizabeth opened and walked through the door. She was clutching her plushy seal, and looked rather pale. "What are you doing up this late?"
"I had a bad dream."
"Oh, come here," Gwen patted the bed in between herself and Peter, allowing Liz to clamber over her. She placed an arm around Elizabeth, Peter taking one of her hands as well. "Do you want to say what it was about?"
"It was about these weird...people." Elizabeth shuddered.
"What people?" Peter cocked his head, speaking softly.
"A Rhino, a blue person, a man that could fly and a big Lizard. There was also a huge bad goblin. Sinister Six." Elizabeth shuddered once more, squirming closer to her mother. "They were scary."
Peter and Gwen exchanged a significant look, the description sounded disturbingly familiar. Peter slowly voiced the thought forming in his mind.
"Have you seen these things, perhaps on a vid? Or did you just imagine them?"
"Well, today we were in the canteen and there were some of the older boys in year six who knew who I was," She explained slowly. "They asked if I knew why you were know daddy, and I said it was because you take pictures of Spider-Man."
"And then what happened?"
"They showed me some vids, and you were both in them," She screwed her face up whilst she was reminiscing, shaking a little. "You were fighting the them with the suit. And the boys showed me the goblin..he was scary too."
"Oh Liz," Gwen wrapped her other arm around her girl, pressing a kiss to her temple. "There's nothing to be scared of, they are gone."
"OK." Whilst she did nod, Gwen could hear the disbelief in her voice.
"Liz, why didn't you mention this before?" Peter softly stroked her hair. "You should have told us, or your teacher."
"Sorry."
"Hey, there's nothing to be sorry about," Peter cooed. "It's you we're thinking of."
"OK." She nodded.
"Come on Liz," Gwen deftly grabbed her bath robe from the side of the bed without flashing herself. "Lets get you a drink from downstairs."
She took her daughter by the hand and lead her out of the room, turning to mouth to Peter – 'put some clothes on!' - and leading her downstairs. In the kitchen she poured Elizabeth a glass of milk, and decided to pour one for herself as well. She seated herself on a barstool, helping Elizabeth up on the one next to her.
"Mummy, what were them?"
"Liz, this is a really difficult topic," Gwen took a sip of milk. "It's really complicated stuff, complicated and horrible."
"But I want to know."
"Well I'll give you the basic gist of it," Gwen stroked her chin, thinking of exactly what to say. "The Sinister Six were very evil, and they wanted to hurt your daddy. He found out about them."
"And you and daddy fought in it?"
"Yes, well...your dad stopped them with his friend's help. He didn't let me help him though. " Gwen paused.
"And daddy won?"
"Oh yes, he saved the entire city – more than once," Gwen smiled as she stroked Elizabeth's cheek softly. "He did all that for us all, for you and I, so we could have a life together as a family."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because it's very hard to explain, it's very sad and scary stuff," Gwen sighed. "That vid is not suitable for people of your age, but I promise you we'll explain everything when you're older. We'll have to, everyone else knows all that your dad has done and it's only fair that you know too. Is that a deal?"
"That's a deal."
"Good," Gwen drained the rest of her glass of milk, Elizabeth doing the same, before she hopped down from her stool. She helped Elizabeth down, but stopped before getting out a couple of cookies from the tin on the counter. "Have one of these darling."
"Thank you." She smiled as she took a bite, heading out of the kitchen with one of Gwen hands on her shoulder. As they entered the bedroom she saw that Peter was sat up on the bed, typing into his phone.
As Gwen crawled into bed, allowing Liz to climb over her into the middle of the bed. "What are you doing Peter?"
"Writing a message to the school, what happened today should never have happened," He frowned. "Kids in the primary school shouldn't have ever seen that vid, let alone show it to a four year old."
"Daddy, I don't want to leave the school," Elizabeth spoke with a sad voice, and the tell tale sign of tears was beginning to show on her face. "I really like it there."
"Hey, we're not going to take you out of the school if you want to stay," Gwen frowned at Peter whilst hugging Elizabeth closely. "Are we Peter?"
"No, of course not," Peter placed his phone down on the bed. "I just wanted to make sure the school knows so they can discipline the kids involved, and so this doesn't happen to any other kids."
"OK." Elizabeth nodded and sniffed, settling back down in between them. Gwen rolled over and placed her arms around her once more, smiling at Elizabeth whilst playing with her hair. Peter picked up his phone and resumed typing, though he turned down the lights of the room to allow the other two to sleep. Elizabeth still looked a little out of sorts, and Gwen made a decision.
"Hey Liz, , there's something I want to tell you. Hopefully, it'll cheer you up." She noticed Peter raise an eyebrow.
"What is it?"
"Well," Gwen began to grin. "How would you feel about having...two little brothers?"
"Two brothers?" Liz chuckled. "But boys smell!"
"Now that is true," Gwen chuckled in return, stroking back a loose strand of hair behind her daughters ear. "But would you be OK with that?"
She nodded. "It would be fun."
"Well, I'm pregnant," She smiled. "So in nine months time, we'll have two little babies in the house."
Elizabeth smiled as she snuggled back into her mother, nestling herself underneath Gwen's arm. Peter finished off his letter and placed his phone down on the bedside table, rolling over on the bed to wrap his own arm around Elizabeth and laying his hand over onto Gwen's stomach. Gwen felt herself almost drifting off to sleep, when she was interrupted by Elizabeth.
"Mummy, daddy," She paused. "Where do babies come from?"
"Erm..." Peter scratched his head, Gwen let out a guffaw of laughter despite herself.
"Well Liz, " Peter started off. "This is a tricky question to answer but...well there's the birds and the bees, and the flowers and the trees, and..."
"Peter, let me handle this – you're too immature," Gwen sighed. "Now then Liz, every living thing in the planet is made of cells, and cells are really small and contain something called DNA – you'll learn about it someday. Now to get a new person, you have to mix the DNA of the two parents..."