(A/N: I do not own Spiderman. That right belongs to Sony).

Standing at the doorway of the ESU Laboratory was Peter Parker. However, no one could say they were pleased at what they were looking at right now. They were glad he wasn't physically hurt at first glance, yes but from the looks of him, he was far from alright by any measurable standard.

Peter looked completely and utterly dreadful. His eyes were bloodshot red, his skin was paler than it usually was,his clothes were raggedy and it looked like he might have fallen over a couple of times from the tears on the pair of pants he was wearing. However, despite all of that, he held a rather ridiculous grin on his face as he struggled to close his mouth. This was all the while he held a peculiar item in his hand and that was a large, half drunk bottle of whiskey. It only got worse as he continued to speak from the last slurred words he managed to get out of his mouth last time.

"Hey, what's the big deal? It's like you guys saw a ghost…or better yet, a spider, hehe. Gettit? A Spider? Hahaha" Peter managed to get out of his mouth as he looked at the stunned and rather horrified faces of the people within the room. His legs were wobbling around so much that there was little wonder on how he could have gotten all those tears on his pants.

It somehow got even worse than it did before as he finally started walking in their direction, wobbling as he tried to maneuver his way into the lab. More than once, he almost tripped and fell, almost spilling the alcohol from the bottle in his hands (There was no sign of a cork anywhere on the bottle).

The people within the room wanted to do something, anything. However, they were too stunned to do anything right now.

"Good lord" Curt wheezed out as Peter for the third time almost fell over before turning to his wife. "Martha, get Billy. Take him to the car"

"No, you do that" Martha said in protest to her husband's request, shaking her head. "This needs a more…maternal influence"

Curt stared at her for a few moments before being snapped out of his trance at Peter collapsing on one of the lab tables, almost knocking over some beakers of gene cleanser. Looking quickly between her and Peter, he nodded, understanding that she was probably better suited for what was before them right now. He nodded and began walking inside his office to collect his son.

As Peter steadied himself, Curt came out of the office with his son just moments later.

"But why do we need to get in the car now?" Billy asked with a raised eyebrow as he went out of the doors to the office. He was having such a good time playing Space Wackos. He looked to his mother for support. However, she just gave him a worried look as she didn't really want him to be in this kind of environment right now.

"Let's just wait for your mother in the car, alright? It's getting late" Curt said as he began to escort his son out of the lab and towards the parking lot.

"Is that Peter? What's that bottle in his hand?" Billy asked. However, the people occupying the lab never got to hear Curt answer that question as he left the lab with his son, wrapping his arm tightly around the young boy.

After Curt left, Peter continued to lean over the lab table and breathed as if he just ran a mile, his hand still firmly on the bottle of whiskey as he somehow held it steadily over the table's surface. He looked up to see Liz looking at him from the other side of the table with a face that seemed like a mixture of shock, anger, fear and sadness.

"Heeeeeeey Lizzie. Can I have a kiss?" Peter asked as he clumsily leaned over the table, whiskey bottle still in hand, and puckered his lips as if he was waiting for a kiss.

Liz, however, did not appear interested as she leaned back and covered her nose from the smell of alcohol on his breath, desperate to get away from him right now. Usually, she wouldn't deny Peter a kiss but this was not how she wanted him to be like when she did so. She usually liked his goofy side. It was one of the many reasons she fell for him. However, this was a side of him she was completely and utterly wasted like this was completely foreign to her and she hated it. Her boyfriend was a complete wreck and she didn't know what she could do about it.

Peter gave a sore face but it almost seemed more playful than hurt as he gave a pouty face.

"What's wrong, Lizzie? Don't you remember me? It's your Petey. Your sweet, adorable, lovable Petey" Peter said as he let out a hiccup, further demonstrating just how drunk he currently was. Liz and everyone else in the table just stared, still in horror and disbelief.

Another silence filled the room as Peter then began to lay his head down on the desk, suddenly growing tired from what it looked like to the rest of the room.

Finally, after a few moments, Felicia spoke up (After disappointedly shaking her head).

"So this is what you've been doing all day while you had everyone here worried sick?" Felicia said, almost disgustedly.

The platinum blonde haired woman wanted to feel sorry for him. She knew why he was doing this. He was heartbroken and he felt alone. However, this was not the right way to go about it. The last time he had done something like this, he had done probably the worst possible thing a person can do to themselves which was try to take his own life.

After a smaller hiccup, Peter managed to get his head off the table as he attempted to balance himself. Somehow, he managed to do so after a few moments as he began to answer his girlfriend's question.

"Actually, no" Peter said in a voice that made him sound like he had just gotten up from a nap. "At first, I just took a walk through the park, feeling sorry for myself. Then I realized how pathetic that was so I decided to go over to my old dealer. He was sure happy to see me. Said he missed his best customer if you could believe it, hehe"

At the mention of this mystery dealer that apparently has been selling Peter the alcohol he's been drinking that day as well as a few months ago, people within the room suddenly had dark feelings within them. They had the sudden urge to go find whoever this lowlife was and strangle him. However, that wasn't what needed their attention at the present moment.

"Anyway, I honestly cannot believe how much better this makes me feel now. Before, when I drank it, it felt like I was drinking some sort of poison. Now…now it just tastes like heaven. Guess it was because I still had something to lose the first time around. Now though…" Peter said, letting out a small, wheezing laugh with his mouth wide open and his eyes almost closing as he continued to let out that unconvincing laugh.

The 'laugh' as Peter wanted it to appear to be wasn't fooling anyone. They knew he was hurting badly right now and just wanted to cover it up by acting like a carefree idiot.

Finally, Martha had seen just about enough of this and decided that action needed to be taken. She slowly walked towards the young man with a gentle look of concern on her face.

"Peter" She softly said as she approached him, causing him to look in her general direction as he struggled to look up at her face. "Please give me the bottle"

At hearing this, Peter shook his head rapidly, suddenly growing very defiant right now. "No, no, no. I can hold my liquor, I promise. I'm Spider man after all, hehe"

Martha flinched as did several others in the room. No one at Peter's age should ever be saying the phrase 'hold my liquor'. However, she didn't allow this to break her stride in getting the young man who worked for her on the right track again.

"Peter, I'm serious. Give me the bottle. Not only is what you're doing illegal, it's very dangerous, especially for someone at your age. With how much you've been drinking, it's practically a miracle you didn't already suffer from alcohol poisoning" Martha said, suddenly becoming more stern in her approach and in her facial expressions. She was trying to be as calm as possible but she hated that Peter was choosing to destroy himself rather than get the proper help he needed.

"Oh please god, don't put that mental image in my head right now" Gwen said, closing her eyes and placing her hands over her ears, suddenly not bearing to listen to this right now.

This was becoming more hard to hear the more Gwen witnessed and heard the scene before her. The people around her seemed to be in the same state, even Eddie and Felicia (Whose look of disgust turned to that of anguish the more she watched the interaction between Peter and Dr. Connors) as they continued to watch the scene before them.

"I seriously don't know why you guys are making such a big deal about this. I'm fine! Really, I'm fine. I can take it, honest. Here, let me show you" Peter said, beginning to hold the bottle up to his lips as he was choosing to drink it straight from the bottle.

"No!" Martha said as her motherly instincts started to get the better of her.

The redheaded doctor dived straight for the bottle that was fast approaching Peter's lips. She managed to get both of her hands on the whole body of the bottle. However, Peter kept a strong grip on the bottleneck on account of his super strength. Thankfully though, he stopped as he gave one of his bosses a confused look as she struggled to get the bottle out of his hand.

"Don't you dare drink anymore of that whiskey, Peter Parker. I absolutely forbid you to" Martha said, her voice getting louder, on the verge of yelling at this point.

Peter at this rate couldn't take any more of this abuse. He gave her a filthy look as she continued to get the bottle out of his hand.

"Who do you think you are? You aren't my mother" Peter said, getting angry. He honestly thought they would be happy he was successfully dealing with his aunt's death. This wasn't the reaction he was expecting (At least that's what he told himself).

"No, I'm not but this is my lab and I'm your boss. You are not going to drink any more of that filth in my lab. Now you will do as I say and give me the bottle" Martha said, still struggling to get the bottle out of his hands.

The rest of the occupants couldn't do anything but stare at the interaction between Peter and Dr. Connors. They couldn't believe Peter was speaking that way towards one of the Connors but they also couldn't believe Dr. Connors was being this protective of Peter. She was extremely mad right now and it put them in utter shock.

At that point, Peter couldn't take it anymore as he kept giving a sharp glare towards Dr. Connors.

"You really want the bottle? Well, fine then!" Peter said, finally snapping as he threw the bottles towards the ground.

Martha finally let go of the bottleneck as the force from Peter throwing the bottle down forced her to. The bottle collided with the solid ground of the laboratory and with a loud noise that caused either gasps or eyes nearly coming out of their sockets. Miraculously, the shattered glass didn't collide with Martha, Peter or anyone else in the room but the whiskey was splashed all through the floor. The smell of alcohol went throughout the room as the whiskey spread on the floor.

Martha didn't really react to this the way the others did. She honestly just looked disappointed and a little sad that Peter was doing this to himself. If only he knew how painful it was for the people within this room to watch him like this. Would he still be doing this? She didn't really know no matter how much she wanted to say no. At the very least right now, she was grateful that the whiskey was finally out of his hands even if the shattered glass bottle was now all over the lab and the alcohol was spreading all across the floor.

The angry face on Peter's face suddenly disappeared as he suddenly gave a look of concern. However, everyone in the room couldn't help but see a hint of mockery on his face as he looked 'concerned' about what he had just done.

"Oh…oh, I'm" Peter said as he let out another hiccup. "I'm so sorry, Dr. Connors. I shouldn't have done that. You probably just wanted a sip yourself and I was being selfish. Here, let me sweep that up. Where's the broom? Ah, I see it…I think"

The occupants of the room were grateful Peter still had his shoes on because they could hear the sounds of glass cracking under his feet as he walked and went to grab the broom and dustpan from a corner of the lab, wobbling and nearly tripping every other step along the way.

Finally, Eddie started walking towards the wobbling young man heading towards the corner of the room. He couldn't take this anymore. Peter was self-destructing right in front of him and he along with everyone else was just supposed to watch? Hell no. He didn't know what he would say to Peter when he would catch him but he knew he needed to do something. It was his responsibility especially after everything he had done that led him down this path.

"Eddie…" Gwen whispered towards the older man. However, Eddie refused to listen as he kept walking forward.

Peter finally managed to get to the broom and dustpan, suddenly gagging as he started to feel nauseous. He allowed himself to catch his breath before turning around and start making his way back to clean up the mess he had just made. However, he was stopped dead in his tracks as one Eddie Brock filled his vision as he practically charged towards him.

Once Eddie was right in front of him, he placed both of his hands on Peter's shoulders and forced him to look him dead in his eyes. Peter dropped both the broom and dustpan as Eddie made him look at him and his nearly expressionless face that looked to be inches away from being angry (Though Peter, even in the state that he was in, couldn't really tell at who).

"Peter, please stop this and actually look at me because you're worrying us all to death here" Eddie said, finally feeling as if he was behaving like the older brother he was supposed to be.

At this, for the first time since Peter arrived at the lab, his face went completely emotionless and just looked up at Eddie. Eddie knew the others couldn't tell as they continued to watch but he couldn't help but see Peter's eyes try to water up. However, he could also see Peter was trying to hold back in some effort to stay strong, something that was clearly not doing him any favors right now.

"We know this is a hard time for you. Truly, we do. We want to help you but you have to stop this before we can actually do that. She would not want this for you…you know that" Eddie said, still holding tightly onto Peter's shoulder and forcing him to look up at him.

Eddie knew that even with Peter this drunk, he could still easily break free if he wanted to. However, he was just sitting there, allowing him to overpower him and listen to him. It made the older young man think. Maybe this was why he called everyone else here tonight. Maybe he had tried drinking but when it wasn't giving him the peace he wanted, he knew he had to talk about the thing he knew he needed to talk about but was trying so hard to avoid.

As a few seconds turned into a few minutes of silence, Eddie felt as if he had been completely right because the more time went on, he could slowly start to see Peter break down as not only did he start shivering but he also began to start wheezing harder than he ever did ever since the news first reached him that his aunt had passed.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Peter's eyes closed and tears started flowing down his face. The strong appearance that he had been trying to put up had finally been cracked and the emotions he had been feeling for nearly 24 hours had finally come out as his face slowly started to get flooded with tears.

The rest of the women in the room could feel their hearts shatter as they saw this, especially Felicia, Liz and even Gwen. Peter was absolutely devastated right now and he had every right to be. All of them had wanted to go up to him, comfort him and tell him that everything would be alright, much like they did the previous night. However, they knew that's not what he needed right now. He had been building up these emotions for almost a whole day and they knew he needed to let them out before they could do anything to really help him right now.

"I…I have no clue what you're-" Peter tried to say but Eddie cut him off, not wanting to hear anymore 'I'm fine' crap.

"Peter, you know damn well what I'm talking about. Your aunt, May Parker, would not want you to look like this. She would have wanted you to get on with your life and she would have wanted you to let us in instead of keeping us out in some bizarre way to stay strong. It's ok to feel like this, Peter. It really is. She would want you to be here with us helping you get through this. All you have to do is let us" Eddie finished, still holding a tight grip on Peter's shoulder, refusing to let go even as his heart ached as he watched tears flow down his face as if it were a river.

Everyone in the room stayed quiet as they just watched Peter as he continued to have his head lowered and his eyes shut tightly (Which was doing nothing to stop the tears flowing). They didn't really know what he would do or how he would react. However, they hoped he would finally let them in after holding back from them for so long.

Finally, after several minutes of pure silence, Peter took in a deep breath and his mouth started to move. Everyone listened in closely as he finally managed to whimper something out. What surprised them was they thought they heard a sort of grunting chuckle as he did so and they saw the slightest shake of his head as well.

"What she would have wanted for me...that's funny" Peter got out, his deep frown curling up ever so slightly.

This confused as well as worried the people in the room severely. Funny? What did he mean by funny?

"What are you talking about, Peter?" Eddie said, his face remaining unchanged as he asked this. It was up to him to be strong for Peter while couldn't even if he wanted to break down and cry with him.

"What you said…just a moment ago. 'What she would have wanted for me'. When did I ever think about what she would have wanted for me? She wanted me to always be honest with her and I've been lying to her for so long about what I did whenever I went out, I eventually stopped caring. She wanted me to stay safe, especially after Ben died, while I went out every night for over a year literally looking for any trouble I could find. She wanted me home on time for curfew so she could at least know where I was at night while I almost always broke it or just barely made it home on time. She was probably the greatest aunt anyone in their whole life could ask for and I took her for granted each time. Now here I am, disappointing her yet again by doing the thing that nearly cost me my very life just a few months ago. What a nephew I turned out to be, huh?" Peter asked, his voice getting a touch aggressive as he looked up and looked Eddie directly in the eye, half sad and half angry (Though Eddie could tell the anger wasn't directed at him).

Silence could only be heard as Peter said this little speech of his, not really knowing how to respond to this. He was actually saying he regretted being Spiderman? They knew that he was beating himself up for something he thought he caused but they had no idea he was thinking about this as well.

Gwen in particular felt disturbed by this line of thinking. If it wasn't for Spiderman, she on more than one occasion would have been killed. If it wasn't for Spiderman, people all over the city would feel much less safe living in the city. Sure, there were some naysayers but according to most polls, people loved him even after the whole incident with Norman Osborn's Green Goblin. Peter shouldn't feel guilty about being Spiderman and wanting to help and she had a feeling May wouldn't want him to feel guilty either.

As she became more disturbed by Peter saying this and the fact that Eddie seemed a bit too stunned at Peter's speech to say anything, she felt she needed to say something. Anything. As a result of her thinking this, she stepped forward towards Harry.

"Gwen…" Martha tried to say, not really feeling it was the best idea to approach Peter while he was like this. However, the blonde girl didn't seem to hear her (Whether it was by choice or not, the older woman couldn't tell) as she walked right past her and towards the pair of young men.

The older woman sighed. While her field of medicine wasn't psychology, she knew from the look on Harry's face that he wasn't really prone to reason at the moment. She only hoped Gwen wouldn't discover this first hand.

"Peter, listen to me right now" Gwen said, causing both Peter and Eddie to look towards her as Eddie finally took his arms off of Peter. After a pause and an intake of breath, she continued.

"Peter, let me make this perfectly clear. You are not responsible for your aunt's death" Gwen started out, ignoring Eddie's flinch as she said this before continuing, staring Peter directly in the eye as she said her piece. "You also have nothing to feel guilty over. Your aunt was proud of you and would still be very proud of you if she were here right now with us. If you don't feel you should be Spiderman anymore, that's perfectly fine and I won't blame you a bit but you shouldn't use your aunt for your reason to stop. You've done so much good for the city and for the people residing in it. You should never be ashamed of wanting to help people who can't help themselves. In my opinion, that's the best quality a person could have and I guarantee you everyone in this room can see it in you. It's one of the reasons why we love you and will continue to do so forever. Do you understand me?"

More silence filled the room as Peter just stared at Gwen with a look that just gave the people within the room chills. There was more anger in his face now than sad and absolutely no one in the room could tell what he was thinking with this newfound anger. However, they knew it couldn't have been anything good.

"This isn't going to end well" Felicia dryly thought, knowing immediately where this was going.

As the twenty year old had plenty of experience being in Peter's shoes having to live without both of her parents for the better part of a year along with what she felt as losing her father again when he told her he wanted to stay at the Vault and serve his sentence rather than escape with her. She remembered how she had treated Peter after he made the decision to stay. Now it looked like Gwen pulled the trigger to bring out that same feeling within Peter.

Finally after staring blankly at Gwen with a glare for so long, he couldn't help but start chuckling. Only this time, he did so more angrily than before. Before, he chuckled out of frustration. This time…it seemed more of contempt than anything else.

"You all love me? That's what you said right? You all care for me? You all want to help me?" Peter said, shaking his head as he continued to chuckle.

Gwen with a stone face just nodded and said "That's right, Peter. We all do. We all want to help you get through this because we care about you and want you to feel better"

This only caused Peter to laugh more loudly than he previously did which sent even more shivers down the spines of the occupants in the room.

"You know….believe it or not, I find that hard to believe. I really do. Are you not the one who completely abandoned me over the summer without so much as a text message just so you could look after Harry?" Peter asked with a sneer towards the blonde girl.

At this, Gwen froze. She didn't really have a response to that as that had been true. Although at the time, she would have given anything to speak or even talk to Peter. However, Harry was in so much pain (Or at least she believed she was) so she felt maybe just a couple weeks without contact before reaching out would be best for both of them. However, Harry just wouldn't recover and it turned out to be a longer process than she thought it would be. If she had known he was playing her, it would have been an entirely different story. That still didn't change the accuracy of Peter's accusation though. She held back tears as he said this stabbing words.

"Hey, Pete, don't drag her-" Eddie said before Peter turned his attention towards him.

"Or how about you, bro?" Peter asked Eddie, silencing him instantly. "How about the fact that you were so angry with me for wanting to help my aunt that you flat out abandoned me and turned against me at the slightest grievance you had against me? As well as turning yourself into a monster and hunted me down just because you just decided to hate me all of a sudden"

Eddie didn't really have a response to that, either. It had been true. He still believed Peter was out of line for selling those pictures but he was only trying to help his aunt and it wasn't like there was a plethora of options before him. The more he thought about it, the more he felt as if his past self was an idiot for treating Peter like that, especially after all they had been through together as kids. The words he spoke stung but he kept a stone face, not wanting to let Peter get the upper hand on him.

However, it seemed Peter wasn't done as he managed to push Eddie aside as he stormed over towards both Felicia and Liz, as if the effects of the alcohol had all but gone as he seemed to walk straighter then he usually did. Glass from the whiskey bottle cracked under his feet and tiny little splashes were heard as he moved across the spilt whiskey. Felicia just gave a blank look towards Peter while Liz just looked frightened as well as heartbroken as she just looked towards her clearly distraught boyfriend.

"How about you, Felicia? Does someone who yelled at me and hated me for months simply because I didn't want to help her break out my uncle's killer love me too? Huh?" Peter said, raising his voice towards the platinum haired woman.

Felicia flinched at the true accusation but didn't budge her facial expression. She refused to say anything, much rather preferring to let Peter get it all out of his system. She had said all she had needed to say regarding her father to him before and felt no need to contemplate it once more. Her father was safe now and was serving his time. That was that.

"Or how about someone who for years treated me as if I were some lowly animal simply because I wore glasses and a pocket protector? Someone who laughed as her boyfriend shoved me in a locker?" Peter said, sending his glare toward Liz.

Not being as strong as either Felicia or Eddie right now, she let out a little yelp. She knew that to be true as well. She had treated Peter horribly for several years up until last year. She couldn't explain why. At first, she didn't even mind Peter Parker when they had first met (Or rather when she had first become aware of him). However, once she made the cheer squad and started going out with the Flash Thompson (Who for whatever reason had hated Peter immensely), she started treating him as if he were dirt. She realized now how stupid she had been to let a guy convince her to hate someone who they had been too embarrassed to admit that they had once been best friends with without even a second thought. Because of that, she for years never really saw Peter Parker for who he really was: Kind, sweet and lovable.

The Latina girl wanted to get some apology out but no words came out when she opened her mouth, not really knowing what to say. She had never seen Peter this angry, not even when his aunt was first in the hospital. It was almost too surreal.

After a few moments, the opportunity for apologies were gone as Peter turned once more towards Martha Connors who seemed perfectly content on giving him a stern look.

"And how about you, you…." Peter said as he looked up at the face of Dr. Martha Connors who just continued looking at him with a stern face.

As he looked up at his boss' face, Peter froze, not able to really speak anymore. He never realized it until now…but Dr. Connors' eyes were the exact same shade of blue that his aunt's eyes were. He also recalled her giving him that same stern look whenever he was being out of line. It…It almost felt as if….

"Well, Peter? You've said plenty to everyone else. Do you have anything you want to say to me?" Martha simply asked, wanting him to get this done. That way, he could finally start letting his real feelings out.

However, no words came out of Peter's mouth as it gaped wide open. His look of anger was gone as his face looked like a mixture of shock and despair. He also started trembling as he continued looking deep into Martha's eyes.

This worried Martha as her stern look turned into that of concern as she saw the state of Peter right then and there. "Peter, what-"

The older woman didn't even have time to finish the statement as Peter flung himself onto her, wrapping his arms tightly around her as he buried his face into her lab coat, whimpering as she could hear him sob. She looked down at him in complete shock as his arms snugly stayed wrapped around her, refusing to let her go, unable to say a word.

The others watched the scene as if they had been tranced by it, almost amazed it was even happening. However, Felicia couldn't help but let out a little nod. It seemed he let all of his anger out finally and now all that was left was depression and misery, something that would also pass if memory served.

Soon, Martha couldn't help but wrap her arms around Peter as well, almost as if she was holding Billy in her arms.

"It's alright, Peter…it's ok" She whispered softly as she lay her head onto his hair and patted his back, not really caring if he was getting tears and snot all over her.

Finally, Peter pulled back and gave her a look that completely broke her heart. His face was completely red and his eyes were flowing out even more tears than they were before. She just gave him a look she would give Billy whenever he came home crying (Which was a lot, considering how much his schoolmates teased him for liking lizards). She listened as he finally spoke.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…I…" Peter said as he continued looking into her eyes that reminded her so much of his aunt as well as the kind and understanding look she was giving him.

"Peter…I promise you it's alright" Martha said, moving her arms up to caress the back of his head.

After a long while, Peter managed to finally allow himself to detach himself from Martha. With a wince of his face, reminded of the horrible words he had spoken to the other occupants of the room just moments ago, he turned around and looked at all of them as they just looked at him with a certain pity in their eyes. If it were at all possible, the words he was about to speak hurt even more than just looking at them.

"I'm sorry for what I said just moments ago. It was selfish, uncalled for and…just really dumb. I…I'm just not really in my right mind now, though I guess you can already tell and I…I really appreciate all you're trying to do for me. I…I just don't….." Peter said, stuttering towards the end, not really knowing what else to say.

"Peter" Gwen said, giving him a sad, understanding look. "I promise you…it's ok. We understand you're going through a hard time and I really meant it when I said we all love you. We're always going to be here for you. Always."

There was a mutual agreement between everyone in the room as they gave mutual nods towards the grieving young man before him. While that did bring a sense of comfort to Peter, it also once more brought a sharp pain of guilt at how he mouthed off at them just moments ago. He had been so petty and looking for anyone to be mad at but himself, he shouted at probably the only people in this world that he could truly call friends anymore.

Peter just stood in silence staring at them for a few more minutes, not saying a word. Then finally, without so much a second glance, he turned and marched towards the door as if he was desperate to get out of there.

"Peter!" Martha said, grabbing onto his amazingly strong arms, trying to stop him.

"I…I'm sorry but I really just need to be alone for just a little while longer. I promise I'm not going to do anything stupid and I'm definitely not going to drink anymore. I…I just need to go, think some things through and then I'll….well I'll be better than I was today, I'm sure of that. I'll see you all tomorrow. I promise" Peter explained as best he could.

As he managed to shake himself from the doctor's grasp, he gave one last look towards the group within the room. They were all giving him sad looks, knowing he was still grieving on the inside. They clearly wanted him to stay and be with him. However, considering what happened the previous night, they figured there was no point in trying to force him to stay.

With that, he quickly made his way out of the lab and into the outside world. He got a quick glance at Dr. Curt Connors waiting by the Connors' family car with Billy visibly in the back seat. The blond doctor looked up and managed to get a glance at Peter. However, before he could say anything, Peter quickly ran off as fast as he could, leaving the doctor to just call after him with a befuddled look on his face. Peter had no doubt his wife would fill him in on the details later.

Peter didn't really know where he was running to or when he would stop as he made his way off the ESU campus. However, after all of what occurred today, there was only one thing he was sure of: He was never going to even think about touching another bottle of whiskey or any other type of alcohol ever again.