CHAPTER 8

Peter woke up early the next morning so he could prepare breakfast for his son and girlfriend. Felicia woke up to the smell of bacon cooking, which surprised her. She got out of bed, rubbing her eyes to make sure they weren't deceiving her. They weren't, Peter was actually cooking breakfast. She walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder as she commented "You're making breakfast? What's the occasion?" in a playful manner.

"It's the least I could do after everything that happened yesterday." Peter replied with some sorrow in his voice.

"Don't beat yourself up about it Pete, It's not your fault." She said as Peter turned to face her. She wrapped her arms around his head and gave him a quick kiss.

"I know. I'm just embarrassed it happened in the first place. I'm really sorry I had to make you come out of retirement to help me." He said in an apologetic tone

"How noble. Apologizing and taking accountability for your actions. You really are my hero." She jokingly said as she ran her fingers up his arm.

He nudged her side in response and started cracking some eggs. As he was finishing up making breakfast, Felicia went back to the bedroom to wake up Ben. Once Ben saw his dad was back, he ran over to him as quickly as he could as he said "Daddy, you're back! I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too Ben. I'm sorry I couldn't spend any time with you yesterday. I got uh, caught up at work." Peter felt bad about lying to his son about why he was gone, but he didn't want Ben to know about the horrible things he did. "Are you hungry? I made you some eggs and bacon!"

They all sat at the table, talking and eating the breakfast Peter had made. Once they finished the food, they were all about to watch TV on the couch but Peter didn't follow.

"Are you gonna watch with us daddy?" Ben asked

"In a minute buddy, I just need to make a quick call first."

He stepped outside of the penthouse to call Miles. "Hey, Miles. I just wanted to tell you that, I'm sorry for everything that happened between us. And I want you to know I didn't mean anything I said when I was infected by that, thing."

"It's all good Pete, I'm just happy that's behind us now." Miles replied.

"I also want you to know that I'm really proud of you, and I know you'll become a better Spider-Man than I ever was or will be. Also, tell Ganke I'm proud of him too, and I'm gonna need him to make some web-shooters for my little boy soon."

"Will do, I'll see you around."

"Yeah, you can count on it." Peter said as he hung up.

When Peter came back in, Ben was on the couch watching TV and Felicia was waiting for him at the door and she whispered to Peter, "You want Ben to have web shooters? Are you serious? Do you know how hard it was to make sure he was able to control his powers? If it wasn't for me he would be climbing the walls and crushing everything he grabs!" She asked, as she was a bit annoyed.

"Relax, they would just be for him to use around the house." Peter said in a reassuring tone.

Felicia wanted to stand her ground, but she got lost in Peter's eyes and gave in. "Ok fine, but you're going to be the one to clean the webbing up." She was still a bit mad, but she was just glad to have Peter back and didn't want to waste her time arguing with him.

"Of course honey" he said as he gave her a quick kiss.

They went into the living room and watched TV with Ben until it was time for dinner. Felicia got up from the couch to make dinner until Peter grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"I'll cook dinner tonight babe." He said to her in a soft tone as he smiled.

"Peter, that's really sweet, but. Well, your cooking usually ends with the fire alarm going off. I know you made breakfast and everything was fine, but I don't think we should test your luck twice today" Felicia said as kindly as possible while smiling back at him.

Peter replied "Well, yeah you're right." sounding a tad bit defeated.

"Now you can spend more time with Ben."

Peter watched cartoons as he held Ben tight while Felicia was cooking Dinner, until Felicia called out to them "Dinners ready." They gathered at the dinner table and were greeted by 3 bowls of spaghetti and meatballs that Felicia had made for them. While Felicia and Peter ate all of their food, Ben decided it would be better to play with it rather than eating it. By the time Ben was done, there was more sauce on his body than inside of it. Peter and Felicia wanted to be mad, but they couldn't help but laugh at what Ben had done. Peter turned to Ben and said "I think it's time for a bath." but Ben didn't want that. Instead, he thought it would be better to run around the penthouse until he was caught. It took Peter and Felicia a little while (longer than it should take two vigilanties) to catch him, but they caught him and gave him a bath. Even though Ben was giving them a hard time, Peter couldn't help but smile as he was so happy to be back with Ben and Felicia. Once Ben was all cleaned up, Felicia and Peter laid him to bed. After this, the two of them did the dishes together. While they were doing this, Felicia had a serious conversation with Peter, regarding their and Ben's future.

"Hey, Peter, I want to talk to you about Ben and his future." Felicia said in a slightly diminished tone as she was placing a dish in the dishwasher.

"Yeah, what's up?" Peter asked as he was placing some utensils in the dishwasher.

"It's just, Ben is going to be starting public school soon and, well, I don't know if the city is where he should be attending school."

"So what are you saying?" Peter asked.

"What I'm saying is, I want him to go to school in a better place, like Queens. I want to sell the penthouse and move in with you in your house in Queens."

Peter was shocked by this. Felicia always loved living a lavish life. She would never settle for the simpler things in life, so for her to want to go from a luxurious penthouse to a basic penthouse was unfathomable to him. "Is this what you actually want, or do you just want me to not worry about paying rent? Because I don't want to make you live somewhere you don't want to because I can't pay rent." He told her, looking deep into Felicia's eyes.

She caressed Peter's face as she said "Peter, I want what's best for us and not just me. This is what's best for us. I'm not the same selfish cat you met 5 years ago."

"Wow, you really have changed." Peter said in a soft but happy tone. His eyes were starting to tear up from the happiness he was experiencing. "You truly are the best girlfriend I could've ever asked for. I love being a parent, and I can't imagine doing it without you" he said with a tear falling from one of his eyes.

"Pete, if being a mother has taught me anything, it's that you need to appreciate others for who they are. Back when we were first dating, I didn't care about you, I only cared about the Spider. But now, I care about both the man that swings through the city and the one that spends time with his son and I."

Right at this moment Peter grabbed her lower back with one hand and pulled her in for a deep, ardent kiss. They pulled away after a minute due to the necessity of oxygen.

"You really know how to leave a cat purring for more." She said after the intense kiss in a seductive voice as she was playing with the hairs on the back of Peter's head.

"What can I say, I guess I've always been a cat person." He said as he brushed her cheek slowly and gently with his right hand and grabbed her hip with his left. "But I think tonight I'll give you what you want. It's the least I can do." he said as he brought her to the couch. About an hour later, they got into bed beside Ben and fell asleep.

"Good night Peter."

"Good night Felicia."