"You... you what?" said Peter

"I said I know who the real father of Gwen Stacy's children is." said Mary Jane.

"MJ, do you realize, and be careful here, do you realize what you're saying? Because either you just found this out, and I can't imagine how, or you've known all this time and have never told me."

"I'm sorry, Peter, I'm sorry. I didn't tell you because she asked me not to, begged me not to. She was scared, desperate. I gave her my word, Peter, you know what that's like. You know what it means to swear something so deeply that you just can't... You vowed on you uncle's and father's graves that you'd use your powers for good, that you'd follow the responsibility your powers give you, and kept it in their memory. Would you expect me to do any less? Gwen thought it would destroy you, and at the time, she was right. You were half-mad with grief. You were-"

"I know how I was, MJ, but what about later? What about the years we've been together since then?"

"How could I say something that could destroy the memory of the woman you loved as much as you love me, maybe even more?"

"Tell me everything. Tell me all of it."

"Remember when I said I paid her a visit?"

"Yeah."

(The following is presented as a flashback, with the Italicized text as narration by MJ)

I went to OsCorp to see if she had any free time soon. When the time came that I was told her next free track was, I went to where I was told she spent most of her free time. But on my way I heard yelling in Harry's dad's office. I was curious, so I went to see what was going on. All those years later I wished I'd turned back, but I didn't.

"You can't do this!" said Norman, "You have no right!"

"No?" said Gwen, "watch me. You'll never get your hands on them."

"I won't let you keep them from me, Gwen. I won't allow it. Those children are mine, Gwen. Not yours, mine! MINE! I need an heir. My legitimate son, Harry, is useless. He's a weakling, broken, ineffectual. He's not a fit son, not worthy of being called an Osborn. With these two, I can start fresh."

"No."

"I can say I adopted them, but I'll know, I'll know that Osborn blood runs through their veins. Osborn strength, Osborn-"

"I said NO! I'll never let you near them. I'll die before you lay a finger on my children. Do you hear me?"

"Yes, I hear you." Norman's voice got quieter, "And you should be careful what you wish for, Gwen, real careful." Norman's voice returned to full volume, "And even if you do manage to keep them, who'll take you with two children? No one, that's whom."

"You're wrong. Peter loves me, and I him. I'll tell him the whole story. He'll accept me, and them. He's the only man fit to raise these children as their father. Not you, never you."

"This isn't over, Gwen."

"As long as it isn't, I have something to ask. The twins were born two months early in France, but they were fully grown, as if they had aged the full nine months in just seven. Why is that?"

"I told you, they have Osborn blood. And Osborn blood is special blood. As such they are special children. They're my legacy, my true legacy."
"You're insane." Gwen walked towards the door.

"No, that would be you, and that idiot Parker." Norman's voice got quieter again, "Romantic idiot."

When she left the room she was startled by my being there. She asked who I was and I told her I was a friend of yours. She swore me to secrecy, like I told you before. After that I went into Norman's office and slapped him in the face.

(Back to reality)

"How did it happen?" said Peter.

"The slapping?" said MJ.

"Norman getting Gwen pregnant."

(The following dialogue by MJ alternates between present day MJ and flashbacks to Gwen)

"She said she'd gone to see him seven months earlier on something else, and found him upset, sad, almost broken -switch to Gwen- and I felt so bad for him, but at the same time, under it all, there was this strength, this magnetism, as though there was the person I knew on the outside, and deep inside, this other person, so powerful, yet so mysterious. I didn't intend for it to happen, but it was as if there was something inside him that was so strong, I couldn't walk away, I just... It just happened. And the next thing I knew -back to MJ- she was pregnant."

(The dialogue stops alternating here)

"It all makes sense now. When he changed to the Goblin, he was focused on coming after me, but he would've had to approach it that way. He had to kill Gwen so he could get a hold of Gabriel and Sarah. It would be a two-fer... and a good businessman like Norman always knew how to get the most bang of his buck. Now, for the first time, a lot of things are starting to make sense. The Goblin had an accelerated healing factor. I wouldn't be surprised if he's survived getting hit by Badbat if it'd had a flat metal plate for a head, but even that would kill a normal person at the rate at which it was flying at him." (Peter's dialogue continues over as a narration of a flashback to Gwen in the hospital), "That must have been what made the twins grow fully in the seven months they were in her womb; something must've caused a mutation that sped up their aging. That also explains how they're adults even though they were born only a few years ago." (The flashback ends), "And after Gwen died, Harry left for Europe. I just assumed it was to get over the grief of Norman's death, but now I realize he had an ulterior motive. Did he also go through Gwen's letters to me? Keep some and throw out the rest? Use the ones he kept to convince Gabriel and Sarah that I'd gotten Gwen pregnant and abandoned her? And that Spider-Man killed her? Earlier tonight Sarah attacked me at the forensics lab where I confirmed their Gwen's children. I think I heard her say 'Dad' at one point and drop Harry's name. It all lines up, MJ."

"He was a sick man, Peter. Insane-" Peter started thinking about what Gwen said and why she did what she did.

"-upset, sad, almost broken, and I felt so bad for him, but at the same time, under it all, there was this strength, this magnetism, as though there was the person I knew on the outside, and deep inside, this other person, so powerful, yet so mysterious."

"Did she say if she'd ever... if he was the first man to-" He suddenly started thinking about Gwen and Norman, (represented on film as headshots of them), "-to-" (more headshots), "-no, I-I can't... no-" (the last headshot is of Norman, which switches from his face to the Goblin's), "-no. OSBORN!" Peter punched the mirror on the wall, shattering it.

"Peter!" MJ cried. He smashed a couple chairs.

"Peter! Stop! Let the rage go." Peter began to calm down. Eventually he stopped smashing everything in sight.

Peter and MJ sat in their living room.

"Where do we go from here?" said MJ.

"You mean do I hate you for keeping this from me all these years?" said Peter

"Something like that."

"No. For a moment I was just-. No, I don't hate you. I love you. Nothing changes that. It's just... hard, that's all. And what's even harder is that they need my help."

"Why?"

"They're aging abnormally fast. And from the way they talk, from the anger they have toward me, I think they, too, know what that means. That they're dying. They're going to keep aging faster than Quicksilver can run until it kills them. I can't let that happen, MJ. They're all I have left of Gwen. I can't let them die thinking I abandoned them and killed their mother, and I can't let them die by the Green Goblin's hand. I have to save them, MJ. I have to convince them of the truth and save them, somehow. Assuming they don't kill me first."