Gwen gently inserted the last batch of empty vials into their slots, taking great care to make sure no damage was done. She then took the unit that they were all contained in and put it back in its proper storage area. With that done, she then began moving onto the next task just as Dr. Warren came over to her.

"You do fine work, Ms. Stacy," the man remarked.

"Thank you," she replied. "I'm just grateful that you trust me enough to handle your materials for you."

"You are without a doubt my finest student," he assured her. "There's no one I would rather trust with my instruments. I really wish some of your passion and dedication would rub off on that boyfriend of yours."

"Peter has a lot on his plate," Gwen insisted, trying not to bristle too hard at the insult to her boyfriend. "Taking care of his aunt, working that job at the Bugle..."

"...which will all mean very little if he throws away his future by constantly being late or even missing class sometimes," the doctor countered.

"I know he looks as though he slacks off sometimes, but I've seen his attentiveness to his studies in other classes and when he's not in the classroom," Gwen replied. "Trust me, doctor, Peter will make just as good a scientist as me, maybe even better."

Doctor Warren let out a light sigh, his expression not convincing of a change of mind.

"I'm sure you're right," the man said before turning away, heading back towards his desk. In turn, Gwen returned to her work in cleaning up the lab, though her thoughts remained on the conversation she'd just had. Dr. Warren was one of the most respected scientists in the world at one point, winning multiple awards for his work in genetics. He was a brilliant man and an even better teacher, always pushing his students to be better.

At the same time, he'd always been particularly hard on Peter as long as he and Gwen had been in the man's classes. Sometimes, it almost seemed that he would go out of his way to put Peter down at times, and Gwen frequently had to restrain herself from unleashing her true feelings at her boyfriend being dragged through the mud by a man they both respected. Honestly, Peter seemed to handle it better than her, perhaps due to his experiences getting taken to task as Spider-Man by the Daily Bugle on a regular basis. She had no idea how he could be so patient under such circumstances; granted, the only way the doctor was likely to be convinced otherwise was if he knew the reason for Peter's tardiness and occasional absences, which wasn't an option. Gwen tried to understand that it was natural that that his perception would only naturally be tainted as a result, but the man's remarks only continued to get under her skin.

Still, she was grateful for the doctor's willingness to let her stay and help with lab cleanup. Since she wanted one of her own one day to conduct research in, Gwen craved any chance she could get to be in one, even in as small a way as this. Plus, the man had mentioned a potential internship to finish out her undergrad if she proved trustworthy, something that only motivated her further. Granted, if the man was going to continue to berate her boyfriend in her presence, she didn't know if she could stomach the thought of being around the doctor for so much over that time...

Gwen was interrupted from her thoughts as she happened to glance up at the room's TV, which the doctor frequently kept on just for having some kind of background noise on occasion. There had been some drama she wasn't familiar with on just a minute ago but was suddenly being replaced by a news broadcast.

"We interrupt to bring you this special report live from Midtown, as a firefight has broken out in the middle of the streets," a reporter said, suddenly ducking as more gunfire could be heard in the background. "We are being told that attempts to bring in Tombstone, a known drug lord in Harlem, were met with aggressive force, which the police have been attempting to quell for the last twenty-minutes."

Gwen covered her mouth, her eyes widening in shock. Her father was out there; now that she thought about it, he had been a little quieter than normal this morning other than telling her he loved her, which he usually did if he was concerned about something he had to do that day. She'd been in such a hurry to get out the door that morning that she had hardly paid attention at the time, her heart suddenly flooding with regret as she reflected on the matter.

The only thing that could make this worse was if...

"Also, Spider-Man has been confirmed to be on the scene as well, with eyewitnesses reporting to us that he had even engaged Tombstone directly. The two have had multiple skirmishes in the past, with the drug lord known to be an enhanced individual comparable to New York's webbed wonder. Nothing has been reported since that time, and right now, as the chaos rages across the streets of Harlem, all that we can tell you is to stay out of the area until further notice."

"No," Gwen muttered, tears already beginning to flood her eyes as her heart rate began to spike. She soon struggled to breathe, air catching in her lungs as she dropped towards the ground.

"Ms. Stacy!" Dr. Warren called out as he rushed over towards her. Putting his arms around her, he tried to calm her down, telling her he was present and encouraging her to take as deep of breaths as she could, even if it was through her nose. After a few moments, Gwen's lungs began to work properly again, her heart rate coming down so that it was at least less elevated.

"I'm okay," she assured her professor after a moment, the man remaining alongside her as she rose to her feet.

"What happened?" he questioned her.

"The news," she explained. "My dad, and... he's out there. I have to go."

"Woah, woah, Ms. Stacy," the professor said, maintaining a hold of her arm. "I don't think that's the wisest idea. You heard what they were saying about how dangerous it is out there!"

"I have to go," she insisted, jerking her arm out of his grip. "I have to know ther... that he's okay."

"I can't let you do that," the man insisted, getting in front of Gwen and blocking her way towards the door.

"Get out of the way, professor," she insisted.

"I know this must be hard for you," the man said, "but there's nothing that you can do if you go out there besides endanger yourself. What would happen to your father then, if you were to make it out okay only to find that you got hurt, or worse?"

"I'll stay far enough away until things are clear," Gwen insisted. "Now, let me pass, please."

"Gwen..."

"Professor, I appreciate your concern, but this is my decision," she reiterated. "Let me go."

The man finally conceded to her wishes, stepping aside. Gwen marched out of the room, breaking into a run once she left it.

"Please be okay," she muttered. "Please..."

Nearly the whole bus ride to Harlem, Gwen's eyes were almost exclusively on her phone as she searched for any updates she could find on the situation, with her constantly refreshing several news sites just in case something had changed. Eventually, the bus pulled up to a spot about six blocks from the site of where the firefight had been reported to be going down, so she quickly got off and began making her way there, immediately listening for the sounds of gunshots and destruction she'd been able to hear so clearly in the background of the news broadcast.

Instead, all she was met with was silence.

"No..."

Her anxiety causing her body to spur into action, Gwen broke into a run, sprinting headlong towards the scene. Still, even as she drew closer to where the reported incident had taken place, there was still mostly silence... until several ambulances suddenly flew past her, sirens blaring as she paused, taking in the scene.

In that moment, the fear that had attacked her since she'd first looked at the television earlier that afternoon threatened to overwhelm her again, but she fought it with everything she had, forcing her body back into action as she gradually got back into a sprint again. Still, as she traversed the last few blocks, every second felt much longer, time practically threatening to come to a stop. The worst of the worst thoughts began to plague her mind, but she refused to allow them to overtake her. Peter, her dad, they just had to be okay...

When Gwen finally turned the last corner of the last block, she came to a stop almost immediately as the scene before her came into view: ambulances everywhere, with several first responders attending to injured cops and civilians. Frankly, it looked like a scene from a warzone, which she supposed was more or less what this area had turned into. She then began to make her way through the crowd, glancing inside multiple of the vehicles to see if either of her two loved ones were inside. Instead, she was greeted only with strangers.

Things only got worse when she watched as they covered someone's body completely as they hauled it away. She then glanced to her other side, where she witnessed the same thing. The realization of how catastrophic the events in this area had gotten only spiked her concern even more, threatening to send her into a panic once again.

"DAD!" she called out. She paused and looked around, waiting for the man to come out to greet her. Once more, however, she was met with no one, so she called out again.

"Young lady, I'm going to need you to step away from the scene," an officer came up to her. He grabbed her to escort her off the premises, but she struggled against him, repeatedly calling out for her father.

"Dennis! Let her go!"

Gwen looked behind her to see none other than her dad jogging up to her, the cop who was escorting her immediately letting her go as she went and threw her arms around him.

"Oh dad..." she muttered.

"Sweetheart, what are you doing here?" he asked as they separated.

"I saw the news report, and I just had to know that you were okay," she explained. Her eyes then veered towards his left arm, where he had a bandage.

"You're hurt..."

"Just a graze, luckily," her father assured her. "I don't know how, but I'm one of the lucky ones."

Gwen then hugged her father again, the man more properly reciprocating her gesture this time.

"I'm just glad you're okay," she said.

"Me too," he replied.

After a few more moments, Gwen pulled back again, daring to ask about the other person who'd been on her mind since all this had started.

"I heard that Spider-Man was here too?"

"Yeah," her dad confirmed, "and you know, I've never known exactly what side to be on about him, but things would definitely have been a lot worse today if not for him."

"But he's okay too, right?" she asked. "He's..."

Gwen couldn't even finish her sentence, because as she was still speaking it, she suddenly saw him walking out of a nearby building carrying an injured officer. As he handed the gentleman over, she couldn't tell how injured he was, but his costume was torn and tattered from top to bottom. She observed as he talked with another one of the first responders, who appeared to suggest they could look him over, an offer her boyfriend seemed to refuse. He then glanced around the scene some more before seemingly locking eyes with her, his body suddenly frozen. Gwen wondered what he was thinking; was he glad to see her, or was he upset at her seeing him like this?

After a moment, he fired a web, swinging off from the scene, yet she couldn't take her eyes off his direction.

"Gwen, honey, are you alright?" her father asked.

Suddenly embarrassed at the realization she'd been staring at someone who was supposed to be a stranger to her, Gwen immediately tried to recover.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," she said. "Listen, I better let you get back to work, but I'll see you at home later?"

"Count on it," he said. "I'll even cook."

"Not a chance!" she assured him, giving him one more hug. "I love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart."

She then turned and walked away, leaving the scene. She then took out her phone as she rounded the corner to dial Peter, only for his contact to pop up as he called her instead. She answered before the first ring was even complete.

"Peter?"

"Hey, sorry you had to see all that," he apologized as if he had just done something wrong.

"Are you hurt?" she asked him point blank.

"I'm okay," he tried to assure her.

"Peter..."

"Really, I am!" he repeated.

"Peter, be honest with me," she insisted.

There was a brief pause, and Gwen thought she could even hear a sigh through the phone.

"I'm a little banged up," he admitted. "It's really nothing I haven't dealt with before."

"I'll meet you a couple of blocks from your house," she said. "We'll walk in together so that May won't worry, then I'll get you fixed up."

"Okay," Peter said, seemingly not finding it within him to fight her on the subject. "I'll see you soon."

"Alright," she replied. "I love you."

"I love you too."

The two eventually met up, with Peter having already changed into his civilian clothes by the time Gwen got there. As they made their way to his home, he seemed to be walking okay, but Gwen couldn't help but wonder if he was putting on a facade for her. They then entered the home, but May was nowhere to be found.

"Oh yeah," Peter suddenly seemed to remember. "I forgot that she said she was playing bridge all day with some of the neighbors."

"I guess that's one less thing we need to worry about," Gwen said as they headed upstairs. They both eventually stepped into his room, which she realized they had never been in alone together before.

"Gwen, I'm really alright," he insisted. "Like I said, it's nothing that I haven't dealt with before."

"Nice try," she said. "Do you keep some first aid stuff nearby?"

"In the drawer on my nightstand," he said. Gwen then proceeded to get some bandaging and some ice packs out from a little minifridge next to the nightstand before having Peter take off his shirt and the top half of his costume. However, she wasn't prepared for what she found: most of her boyfriend's core and chest area were either cut up or a shade of purple or grey from the swelling.

"Oh, wow..."

Refocusing, she had him sit down and lean against the back of the bed, and Gwen could tell it was starting to take a lot more of Peter's remaining strength not to just collapse. She then immediately went to work, applying the ice packs and wrapping him up where she could before helping him into his bed, with her pulling up his desk chair beside it and taking a seat.

"Thanks," he said. "I will say that it's a lot easier when you have someone else to actually apply all this stuff."

Gwen could only nod; she'd managed to be strong up until this point, but now that she had nothing to do to keep her busy, seeing him like this was finally getting to be too much for her, so she looked away.

"Gwen?" Peter asked.

Unable to contain her emotions anymore, Gwen let a couple tears emerge as she looked back up at him.

"When I saw the news and I knew that you and dad were there, I... I was so scared. Even through the TV, the violence was so loud and chaotic, I thought that maybe... that maybe you were..."

Peter then forced himself to sit back up; Gwen wanted to tell him to sit back down, but she had a feeling that she knew what he was doing, and she couldn't bring herself to tell him not to. Indeed, he was soon pulling her into his arms, and she could only throw hers around him as well as she began weeping.

Today, Gwen had been introduced to a fear that she had never known before, or perhaps had never allowed herself to feel. On top of that, a realization was now beginning to dawn on her: this would likely not be the last time that it would happen. Both men would both go back out there and put their lives on the line to save others, and both men would likely get hurt again, or worse. She'd always managed to largely put aside her concerns about her dad, or maybe she'd just gotten lucky that he hadn't been present at too many disasters up until now. But Peter, the man she loved, the man she wanted to spend every possible second of every day with for the rest of her life, was also going to be in the line of fire, taking worse damage than anyone else.

With these terrifying realizations came a dreadful question: was she strong enough to go through this again and again? Could she live with the risks Peter especially was taking? She'd basically had a full-on panic attack just from a news report about him, she couldn't imagine going through...

Gwen forced herself to shut those thoughts out of her head, at least for now. They were both okay, and she was here, in Peter's arms, his safe, loving arms.

Right now, nothing mattered more than that.

Hope you're still enjoying it!

Continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy!

"The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble." Psalm 9:9