Snip to Chapter 39 (Redone/Concept)

(Baxter Building, Morning)

The soft beep of the medical equipment fills the silence of the lab. The sterile smell, the rhythmic breathing, and her peaceful expression tells him he is not dreaming. That this is real.

Gwen is alive. She is actually alive. The thought continues to circle in his head, unwilling to settle. He can’t believe it. No matter how much looks at her, he can’t accept that she is here. Unconscious but alive.

And he should be overjoyed, he would be. In any other set of circumstances his heart would be bursting with all the happiness one can muster. But here and now, he is feeling deeply conflicted.

The sound of the doors hissing open and the clicking of heels tells him who entered the room.

“Peter?” Sue's soft and gentle voice, motherly if you will, tells him he was right. “Reed has the results.”

He doesn’t immediately respond. He just continues to look at Gwen sleeping. Hooked up to all these monitors and equipment, and he can’t help stare. She looks exactly the same as fateful day.

“I don’t want to leave her,” he says to Sue, his voice heavy with guilt. He lowers his gaze, to Gwen’s hand that he wants to hold, “I don’t want her to wake up and be scared and alone.”

She paces a supportive hand on his shoulder, “You called Mary Jane, right?” She inquires gently and he nods in reply, “Well, until she gets here and you come back, I’ll stay with her.”

He lets out a reluctant sigh and gets up from his seat, “Thank you.”

She nods and gives him a smile but he doesn’t see it. He leaves the room without another word. Head down, hanging in shame. Not because he is leaving Gwen alone, no, but because of his conflicted emotions on the fact that she is back. And what that will likely entail if what he figured back at the graveyard is true.

But she is alive. He should be happy. That should have been his first emotion in seeing Gwen alive. But it wasn’t.

(Flashback)

Staring at the form of the woman who has haunted his thoughts for years, as she stares back, Spider-Man does not know what to make of it.

Not until she utters, “Peter?” And then proceeds to faint, her eyes rolling back.

Spider-Man rushes to her and catching her before she hits the ground. He looks at her closely, seeing that she looks exactly the same as the day he lost her.

This can’t be possible. It has to be a trick. How can Gwen possibly be-?

‘And it will also be a reward for all of your help.’ The Enigma force’s words echo in his head before it plucked a feather from the baby phoenix.

This? This is his reward? Why would-?

“Who’s she?” He hears Rogue ask, interrupting his thoughts and reminding him he isn’t alone.

But he can’t think about them right now. He needs to deal with this.

“We need to go,” he tells his team as he scoops up Gwen and carries her bridal style. He turns to Natasha, “We need to go to Reed.”

Natasha has a suspicious look that shifts between him and Gwen, clearly wondering what the story here is.

“I’ll explain later,” he tells her, desperation leaking into his voice, “Please.”

Natasha relents and nods. They head over to the Quinjet that is hovering overhead, to avoid desecrating the graves of the deceased.

“Hold on,” Rogue calls out to him but he doesn’t stop. He can sense her approaching, “Hey! Who is she?!”

The hero ignores her, which he knows will make her more mad but he isn’t concerned about that right now. Fortunately, The Thing comes to his aid by grabbing the southern mutant's shoulder, “Back off!”

He can hear them arguing, Rogue saying she wants an explanation while Ben is stating she doesn’t need to know, but Peter ignores it all. All of his attention is on the woman in his arms.

He does however hear Logan break the two up and say, “Enough! Rogue, let it go. He'll talk when he’s ready.”

That did the trick as Spider-Man can hear the clamoring of footsteps onto the Quinjet. He knows he should be diverting some of his attention to his clearly divided team, but he can’t right now. Gwen needs his full attention.