Snip to chapter 39

(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. 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 would be thrilled, he should be. In any other set of circumstances he would be ecstatic. 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 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. He looks down in shame, “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 and he nods, “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.

The moment she came back and saw him, she uttered his name and proceeded to pass out. He caught her before she hit the ground but that was more instinct. He wasn’t thinking when he did. And when he caught her and got a closer look at her, he saw she was the same as the day he lost her.

He went through the process of trying to figure out if she was real or not, only to remember what Captain Universe said to him.

‘And it will also be a reward for all of your help.’

It said that to him in the Lair of the Other before it plucked a feather from the baby Phoenix chicklet and Peter woke up in the cemetery. He realized at that moment that it revived Gwen, and if that’s the case, then the implication means something worse. Because of the reasons why, beyond it being a ‘reward’ to Peter.

Though frankly, the hero is conflicted on whether or not it is a reward. He’s not the only one that will be affected by this. Everyone that knows him and knew Gwen will be affected. How is he even supposed to tell people? He hasn’t even told his Aunt May about his double life yet.

At that thought, he is reminded of the voicemail on his cellphone that he has yet to hear. With everything that is going on, he forgot about his conversation with May. Course now that’ll likely be even more complicated.

‘Why is nothing ever easy?’ He mentally muses when he rounds a corner. He isn’t so distracted though that he doesn’t notice three people walking towards him. Two of them being Franklin and Valeria, who are excited to see him, but the third is a surprise to him. “Laura?”