"This was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, this was a fucking bad idea..." Thought Andrew.

"Andrew, stop being so rude and introduce me to your friend." Warned Andrew's grandmother as the three of them stood in the front hallway of the apartment, ignoring the fact that he seemed to be having a moment as he massaged his temples. And mumbled to himself. "Honestly, your mother raised you better."

"Ghnn." Andrew growled, not paying attention to his grandmother. "This is a really bad idea..."

Gwen bit her lip to keep from laughing at Andrew's predicament before deciding to take pity on him and help him out a little. Shaking her head, she smiled at Andrew's grandmother and offered her hand for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you, ma'am." She said.

"Hello, Gwen." Said the older woman, shaking the teenager's hand, a smile on her face, though she continued to frown disapprovingly. "My name is Jeanne. And I apologize for my grandson's behavior, honestly, I don't know what's wrong with him."

Andrew glared at his grandmother. His problem was that since his mother was kind enough not to tell embarrassing stories about him, but his grandmother made up for it, unfortunately. She had done it well when she met Beth.

"There's no problem, Jeanne." Gwen nodded. "I don't think Andrew expected you to be here, that's probably what he's a little afraid of."

"I was already visiting his mother." Answered Jeanne before looking at her grandson. "Andrew, why don't you take Gwen into the living room? Your mother and I are still cooking dinner and I'm sure you'd rather avoid the smell of fish until we're done."

"Fine." He sighed before motioning for Gwen to follow him. "Let's go, it's best not to embarrass my mom and grandma until they're done cooking."

"Okay." Gwen agreed before following him to the stairs at the end of the hallway.

Once they reached the living room, Andrew plopped down on one of the chairs with an annoyed and frustrated grunt as he rubbed the sides of his head to relieve his headache.

"Are you okay?" Sitting down on the couch, Gwen raised an eyebrow at him, a hint of a smile on her lips.

"Oh, I'm fine." He muttered sarcastically.

"Cool." She smiled.

That's when a German Shepherd came quickly into the room, came towards Andrew and stood up on his hind legs, placing his front paws on Andrew's legs, licking his face while squeaking a little between licks. Obviously happy to see the teenager again.

"Yes, yes Onyx, I'm glad to see you too." Smiled Andrew, the presence of the dog, seemed to make him forget the boulevard of embarrassing situation that awaited him.

"Is this your dog?" Asked Gwen.

"It's a female. But yes. My mom adopted her as a reward for my black belt in krav maga." Answered Andrew by making some papouilles to the dog. What did not fail to amuse Gwen. "But seriously, of all days, why did grandma choose to come now?" He wondered aloud as he scratched the underside of Onyx's mouth, which did not fail to please the animal in view of the speed at which his tail wagged.

"Why, is your grandmother so bad?" Asked Gwen.

"No, she's not bad. She's very nice. But she has absolutely no problem telling every story from my childhood." He grumbled as he looked at his dog who decided to go to Gwen to claim some caress..

"Aw, so tonight I'll enjoy stories about Kid-Andrew?" Smiled Gwen while stroking the German Shepherd.

"And you're proud of this one?" Said the teenager, glaring at her.

"A little." Answered Gwen, her smile becoming immodest. "But come on, Andrew, how bad could it be?"

It turned out to be bad. It was really, really bad. So bad that Andrew would rather face the Green Goblin without having his powers, than watch this. When dinner was ready and the two teens were called in, his grandmother immediately began telling stories starting when he was younger.

When he had his first childhood crush on an older teenage cashier at the toy store and had been so shy about it that he hid behind his mother or grandmother every time they went to the store. The story of when he dismantled all the appliances in the house so he could make his very first sculpture using the parts he... requisitioned, which was about the time his mother came home from work and found her son trying to glue a motor to the fridge's ice maker with liquid glue.

Isabelle was content to eat, poking her food with her fork while listening to her mother distract Gwen with stories about Andrew's childhood. He sent his mother a look of protest, but Isabelle simply tilted her head, amused by the look of betrayal her son had sent her.

"...the place was a total mess." Jeanne continued. "Parts of the TV were in one pile, parts of the blender were in another, and in the middle of all the chaos, our Andrew was sitting on the carpet and getting glue everywhere. It was so cute, can you believe it?"

Gwen's gaze trailed over Andrew, a smile in place.

"Well, it certainly changes the image I had of you, Andrew." She said having to restrain herself from laughing at her friend's desperation.

Great, just what he really needed, Gwen to be the audience for his grandmother's stories about him. At least Miles wasn't around, he was sure the spray paint artist would never leave him alone if he heard the stories Gwen heard. He needed at least one friend who didn't know his deep, dark secrets that should never see the light of day if he could help it. Which, unfortunately, he couldn't.

Deciding to finally take pity on her son, Isabelle tapped her fork on her plate, drawing his mother's attention.

"All right, Mom. I think Andrew has had enough for one night." She says.

"But I didn't hear the story about him trying to impress a girl at the science fair." Said Jeanne, frowning in disappointment.

This forced Andrew to sit up straight in his seat, turning pale as he looked at his grandmother in absolute horror. He had completely forgotten about that time! No, there was no way he was going to allow his grandmother to tell that story, to hell with the consequences!

"Oh?" Said Gwen, raising an intrigued eyebrow.

Isabelle shook her head with amusement before glancing at her mother.

"Okay, okay." Jeanne sighed before giving Gwen a smile. "Sorry, Gwen, next time."

Andrew sighed in relief as he leaned back against the back of his chair. Even his ex didn't know this story and he was going to make sure no one but his family did. His actions had caused Gwen to laugh at him as she finished the rest of her smoked salmon. She had to hand it to Isabelle, she was quite a cook if she could make fish and vegetables taste like they came from a gourmet chef.

"So, Gwen, tell us about yourself." Said Jeanne shifting her attention to the teenager.

Gwen was surprised by the looks now focused on herself. She looked in Andrew's direction for help, but he avoided her gaze and kept his attention on his empty plate, pushing the last crumbs off with his fork. Was he really holding a grudge at this point? She returned her attention to Jeanne and her expectant look and sighed.

"Well, I'm in a band, I'm a drummer." She confessed. "Some friends and I got together and formed our band, the Mary Janes."

That got Andrew's attention a bit, with all the craziness that has been going on the last couple of days, this little treat was probably the most interesting that wasn't Spider-hero related or interdimensional she said. Although the fact that she was a drummer was interesting. He remembered her nodding her head in rhythm to his music this morning, but hadn't thought about it.

"A musician, huh?" Said Jeanne, giving the teenager an appreciative look before flashing Andrew a teasing smile. "She's a lot more interesting than the last girl you brought home, Andrew."

Andrew's face soured at the reminder of his ex-girlfriend, staring at the table. While Isabelle tapped her fork against her plate, giving her mother another look.

"Sorry, I'm sorry." Jeanne apologized, her hands raised to soothe her. "I didn't mean to embellish the garc..." When her daughter gave her a bewildered look, the old woman rolled her eyes. "I mean, bad memories. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories. She then winked at Gwen and whispered conspiratorially. "That girl was still a bitch."

Gwen let out a small laugh, noting this information for later as she looked at Andrew still sullen.

"Please keep telling us about yourself." Said Jeanne motioning for Gwen to continue. However, before Gwen could continue, Isabelle tapped her fork on her plate and waved to her mother. This caused the old woman to sigh and say to the teenagers. "Why don't you two go hang out upstairs and don't worry about the dishes, we'll get them."

"Are you sure? I don't mind helping." Gwen offered. This prompted Isabelle and Jeanne to give her a look that the Spider-heroine couldn't quite decipher, but she felt like she was being judged... but in a good way.

"It'll be fine." Isabelle assured him as she waved the teens away. "You two go away and be teenagers."

"Yeah, yeah." Andrew grumbled as he walked past his grandmother before turning back to Gwen. "Well, come on, it's better for your health if you don't resist when they decide something."

Jeanne gave her grandson a falsely offended look.

"You make it sound like we're some kind of cartoon villains, Andrew." Joked the grandmother.

He gave her a dry look before addressing Gwen.

"Yeah, like I told you, it's better to do what she says." He said.

And with that, he left, letting Gwen follow him.

This made Isabelle smile and she shook her head as she gathered her empty plate as well as her son's, laughing softly to herself as she brought the dishes to the kitchen sink to be washed.

"The nerve of that child." Jeanne sighed as she brought in her own plate and Gwen's. "At least he got something from me."

Isabelle rolled her eyes, the gesture being enough to express what she felt.

Upstairs, Andrew took Gwen to her room outside of Vision. It was clean, just as he'd left it before leaving for Vision this semester, and thankfully there was nothing embarrassing to display. Just his bed, a dresser and closet for his clothes, a desk, and a few kendo trophies he'd won when he was competing hung on the wall.

"So, a girlfriend?" Gwen asked, crossing her arms as she looked at him curiously.

"Ex-girlfriend, yes." Sighs Andrew as he collapsed on his back on the floor. "Her name was Beth."

"Is there a story about this Beth?" She asked as she sat on the edge of the bed. She cradled his lower jaw in her palms as she placed her elbows on his knees, leaning over them to look down at him.

"Nothing I really want to say. We met, we dated, we broke up, that's really all there was to say." Andrew grimaced.

She blinked, looking up at him from where she sat.

"Hmm, okay." She said with a shrug.

"Aren't you going to get more info?" He asked, turning his head to look at her.

"No." Answered Gwen.

He stared at her, looking for any sign of deception as she stared at him. When he saw none, he turned his head to look at the ceiling.

"So, you want to talk about what's next?" He asked as he shoved his hand in his pocket to retrieve the flash drive Spider-man had given him. "I still have that key that Spider-man gave me, we can use it to destroy Fisk's device once I send you back, to your home dimension."

"Good." She answered as her gaze wandered to Andrew's belongings that littered his room; a few wooden swords nestled in the corner, a desktop computer and monitor, and a few framed photos. "But we still need to know what we're walking into, I did some research on the internet last night and Alchemax has a facility just outside of town in the Hudson Valley. We can go there early in the morning and download a copy of their data onto this interdimensional machine."

"That sounds good. In fact, I think I have something that might help us." Andrew nodded as he reached into a drawer and pulled out a USB drive that was larger than usual and had a lot of solder on it, as if a hard drive had been soldered to it. "With this we can easily get into computer systems leaving evidence and steal all the data from the computer. I once used it on a teacher's computer in college."

Gwen shrugged.

"That sounds a lot better than trying to guess the password." She said.

Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, she stood up and walked over to the shelf where the pictures were placed, paying attention to Andrew on the floor and walking around him. All but one of the photos showed Andrew with one or two other people. One was of him and his mother, another of him with his grandmother at some sort of tournament given the trophy Andrew was holding, and another photo was of him and another guy. The last photo, however, had only one person, a dated photo of Isabelle and a man: Andrew's father.

"Is this the only other picture of your father besides the one in your locket?" She asked, tilting the photo so he could see it.

"Yeah." He nodded, settling down on his bed. "My mom says he was a little camera shy, so this is one of the few pictures of him that was taken."

"Now I can see him better than when you opened your locket, you look just like him." She said, giving him a small smile.

Putting the picture back where it was, she walked over to the bed and sat down next to Andrew, noticing that he seemed pensive.

"Is something wrong?" She asked.

"I need... perspective." He said in a thoughtful tone.

"Oh okay." She said, remaining silent for a moment because she didn't really understand. And when he didn't elaborate, she spoke again. "Why do you need perspective?"

Andrew sighed.

"I just had a crazy few days, you know? A lot has happened, I got bitten by a radioactive spider, I met a girl from another dimension, Spider-man dies, and now we're both planning to break into a science facility to find out about the machine that Wilson Fisk, a notable member of society, built for interdimensional door opening." Sighed Andrew. Sighs Andrew. "A few days ago I was wondering what kind of scrap metal I wanted to use for my next project.

"I kind of know how you feel. I felt the same way when I got my powers from that radioactive spider, before that my group mates and I were trying to find the perfect place to practice. And I know how hard it is to try to figure it all out on your own, so I'm glad you're on board." Gwen laughed.

For a moment, their gazes remained silent, both unsure of what to do next, but content to remain as they were.

…

And the moment was completely ruined when Andrew's bedroom door slammed open, forcing the two teens to step away from each other to see who was at the door.

"Hey, kids, are you both having fun?" Jeanne smiled.

"Grandma, what the hell are you doing?!" Asked Andrew in turn.

"Well, you two were so quiet I thought you were doing something other than hanging out." Replied the older woman with a shrug. "Just making sure you weren't doing anything mischievous if you know what I mean."

Both teens knew exactly what she meant given that their faces were blushing fiercely.

"Grandma!" Andrew shouted.

"Anyway, Gwen." Said Jeanne as she turned to look at the teenager, ignoring her grandson's outburst. "It's getting late and Isabelle and I thought you could stay here for the night. My daughter has graciously offered some of her clothes for you to sleep in and obviously you can take Andrew's bed here."

"My bed? Why? We have a very good guest room." Andrew pointed out.

"Which I'll use." Jeanne smiled at him. "It's too dark for me to drive home safely. And obviously, like the perfect gentleman and good grandson that you are, you'll take the couch downstairs."

Andrew looked curtly at his grandmother, disbelief etched on his face. He let out a sigh.

"Yeah, yeah, why not." He finally said

"Wow, that's okay, I can go back to Visions Academy by myself." Protested Gwen.

"At this time of night? I don't think so." Jeanne scoffed.

Gwen looked to Andrew for help, he only offered a helpless shrug. It was then that she remembered his words earlier at the end of dinner.

"It's better for my health if I obey, isn't it?" She asked uncertainly.

"Oh, you don't have to." Said Jeanne with a wave of her hand. "You always have a choice."

Looking over the woman's shoulder at Andrew, Gwen saw him shake his head negatively and say that she had no choice here. So she did the only thing she could do, shrug her shoulders as she smiled at the old woman.

"Yeah, sure." She nodded with an uncertain smile. "That sounds great, thanks for the offer."

"Oh, my pleasure, Gwen." Said Jeanne patting her on the shoulder before leaving the room.

"Your grandmother is kind of a whirlwind, isn't she?" Said Gwen to Andrew, crossing her arms as she gave him an amused smile.

He sighed, stroking his face.

"You have no idea." He answered.

Before another word could be said by either of them, Gwen had another of her glitch moments. One of her hands was on her forehead while her other arm held her stomach as she screamed in pain, almost collapsing to the floor. That is until Andrew reacted and grabbed her before she could and held her back as her glitch continued for a long moment.

Not really knowing what to do, Andrew just held her as her body tightened into a fetal position as a groan of pain escaped her. Her body turned to face him as he was ravaged by the pain of not only the glitch but also the tension in his muscles. After the moment passed and the glitch began to fade, Gwen hissed at the lingering pain.

"I'm tempted to ask if you're okay." He said softly. "But I don't really want to ask a stupid question."

That made her laugh reluctantly before she winced again.

"Urgh, don't make me laugh, Andrew. It only makes things worse." She said

"Well, people say laughter is the best medicine." He said with a shrug.

She shook her head with reluctant amusement.

"Well, I don't think those people were talking about interdimensional travel and its negative side effects when they said that. So I don't think their advice really applies." She said.

"Oh, that's right. My mistake." Said Andrew, rolling his eyes as he laughed.

She smiled at him before realizing the position they were in, her cheeks turning pink.

"Uh, can you let me go now..." She asked, her voice as loud as a whisper.

She feared that if she had spoken any louder, she would have lost her temper.

He balked, a blush staining his face as he raised his arms that had been wrapped around her.

"Uh, okay." She coughed awkwardly, allowing him to stand up and take a step back.

An awkward silence reigned in the room as the two men avoided looking at each other. However, the two were saved from further embarrassment by a knock on the door that had been left open by Andrew's grandmother. They looked over to see Isabelle standing there, a curious look on her face as she held a small pile of folded clothes in her hands.

"Mom!" Said Andrew, his eyes wide. "Uh, how long have you been here?"

"I just arrived, why?" Asked Isabelle while answering her son.

"For nothing." Answered Andrew, perhaps a little too quickly.

Isabelle raised an eyebrow at her son before looking at Gwen, who was clutching her arm as she stood there, risking a nervous look at her son. Putting two and two together, a smirk played at the corner of the mother's mouth before she shook her head.

"Ah, young love." She thought.

"I'll... I'll get some extra blankets and pillows from the linen closet." Andrew muttered as he left the room.

Watching her son make a hasty retreat, she glanced at Gwen before handing the clothes to the teenager. After Gwen took the clothes, Isabelle took the opportunity to have a private conversation with her guest.

"So, how long have you been working as a hero?" She asked.

Gwen looked at her friend's mother in shock.

"What? How...how do you know?" She asked in shock.

"Several details. The most noticeable being that your skin is showing signs of wear and tear, which means you've been practicing all the fighting skills you've learned." Answered Isabelle.

Gwen frowned.

"That's not enough to know..." Said Gwen before being cut off by the woman.

"And your reaction was proof enough." She said.

Gwen stroked her face, she couldn't believe she had fallen for it. Her father had used it on her enough times that she had seen it coming. It must have been the panic from the glitch that had plagued her since she arrived in this dimension that prevented her from seeing it coming. However, it was then that she realized that the only way Isabelle could understand him was if...

"Wait." She said frowning at the older woman. "Are you a hero too?'

Isabelle stared at her for a moment before nodding.

"I was more of an anti-hero, but yes. I was known as 'Taskmaster' for a while before my son was born. I noticed your wrist toile throwers, did Spider-man train you?" She said.

Gwen's face crinkled a little.

"No... but my situation is a bit complicated." She replied.

"You don't have to tell me. I've been there before." Said Isabelle, shaking her head, understanding her guest's suspicion.

"Does Andrew know? What you were?" Asked Gwen, her eyebrows furrowing.

Isabelle assessed him for a moment, an indecipherable expression on her face before finally answering.

"Yes. But my time as Taskmaster is the reason I think you and my son have had problems you need to solve for yourself." She said.

Gwen winced.

"A little." She admitted reluctantly.

"Just make sure you watch his back." Asked Isabelle in a concerned tone.

Gwen looked at Isabel with surprise.

"You're not going to tell me to keep your son out of this? Keep him safe and out of what doesn't concern him?" Asked Andrew.

"My son is too stubborn to listen to me whenever he gets an idea in his head. Even if I told him not to help you, he would still do it behind my back. It's better for my peace of mind if he has someone to watch him." She answered.

Gwen looked at the former vigilante as she realized that Isabelle was putting her son's life in the hands of the spider-themed heroine. Inwardly, she was glad that Andrew could look out for himself. But she would make sure he was safe, she didn't need another friend's blood on her hands.

"I'll do my best." Was all she said

Isabelle simply nodded in response before turning to leave the room.

…Some time later…

Andrew was sitting on the couch in the living room, his feet resting on the wooden table in front of him as he watched a series on the television. He was wearing pajama pants and a t-shirt. He was the only one on the first floor as his mother and grandmother had long since retired to their respective rooms for the night and with their initiative, Gwen was using his room. He was with a pillow and a blanket from the linen closet sitting next to him on the couch, passing the time until he was tired enough to fall asleep.

"You can't sleep?" Asked someone behind him.

Looking over his shoulder, he found Gwen standing in the doorway of the living room, wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants he recognized as his mother's, her hands stuffed in her pants pockets as she looked at him curiously.

"No." He answered, shaking his head. "You'd think I'd be exhausted after the day we've had, the training, the funeral, my grandmother being herself as usual in company. How about you?"

Gwen stepped forward, sitting next to him on the couch.

"No, I'm kind of used to staying up, long nights because Ghost-Spider will do that to a person." She answered.

Nodding his head in understanding, he turned his attention back to the TV.

Drawing his attention to the TV, Gwen noted that he was watching a series about a man traveling the world living in a doorway accessible from a teleport-capable door. Huh, she would have to see if this series was in its original dimension when she returned. Biting her lip as her gaze occasionally drifted to Andrew a few times as she deliberated to ask aloud the question that was burning inside her, she took a deep breath.

"So...when were you going to tell me that your mother was a vigilante at one time?" She asked.

Andrew's head jerked up a little before his gaze settled on hers.

"She told you?" He asked, looking at her in disbelief, one eyebrow raised. As far as he knew, the only people who knew his mother's identity as a Taskmaster were himself, and Grandma.

"Mmhmm." She nodded. "She also identified me as Ghost-Spider. Well, not specifically my identity, but she knows I'm at least a superhero."

"Hmm, yeah, she's really observant." He mused, grabbing the remote to pause the show. "I could never lie to her. You know, looking back, I probably should have guessed that would have happened. Um, my bad."

"It's okay." She chuckled. "It's just... weird that someone would find out my identity. I was always afraid that one of my enemies would find out and use it to their advantage or blackmail me. It's good that the person who found out my identity doesn't really care."

Andrew tilted his head to the side.

"Is that what my mother said?" He asked, slightly incredulous.

Gwen frowned as she thought back to that conversation.

"Hmm, more or less." She said with a shrug. "I felt that was a bit implied." She said as she then gave him a heavy look, "Is that why you agreed so easily to help me, Andrew? Since your mother is a former vigilante?"

He looked at her, puzzled.

"No, I did it because you needed help." He answered.

Gwen stared at him for a long moment before bursting out laughing. She couldn't help it, for so long she had to do the whole superhero thing by herself without anyone's help. All Janet had done was give her the web spears and her costume, and while she was glad for the retired heroine's support in giving her so much, Gwen still would have appreciated a little more help; some advice, maybe some training on how to fight. So with Andrew legitimately offering his time and help so sincerely, she could see it in his eyes and she couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.

"Did I...say something weird?" He asked, raising an eyebrow, confused by her reaction.

She shook her head as she took deep breaths, trying to calm herself.

"No, Andrew, it's just..." She said, giving him a genuine smile. "Thank you, really. Thank you."

"Uh, you're welcome?" He said, still confused before shyly looking away from Gwen's smile and reached for the remote. "Ahem." He cleared his throat awkwardly. "So, have you ever watched this show? I mean, does it exist in your dimension?"

"I don't know." She said with a shrug before getting comfortable. "What's it about?"

"So, we follow the adventures of Andrew Bennett." Andrew began as Gwen had to restrain herself from making a joke about the fact that the main character of his show and his friend have the same name. "He travels through his door to find books that give access to forbidden knowledge or power, and..."