The Afterglow

Chapter 3; Power of Will

Loading the empty plates, glasses and cutlery into the dishwasher after having just seen May out, Gwen paused for a moment as she saw the bloodied empty packaging that used to contain the beef joint, and swallowed hard to keep herself from getting sick. Noticing her pause, Peter jumped up from the table and took the packaging away, binning it.

"Hey, what is it?" He asked worriedly.

"Just the- The sight of the blood on the packaging, it uh... Doesn't make me feel great." She admitted.

"Well, in that case, why don't you let me do the cleaning up?" He questioned.

"Oh, are you sure?" She asked, feeling guilty for slacking.

"Absolutely. Go on... And while I do this, why don't you go and get ready for our little evening out." He insisted.

"Okay... Thanks." She said, trailing out of the kitchen.

Heading up the stairs into their bedroom, Gwen walked over to the closet and glanced at all the clothes that were hung up on her side and then down at a small box on the floor below. Pondering it for a brief second, she picked the box up and placed it on the bed, tracing her fingers along the lid. Losing the will to resist opening it, she carefully lifted the top and reached in to pull out its contents. As she felt the smooth, silky material between her fingers she sat down besides the now empty box and stared at her suit. She stood up suddenly and headed over to the doorway, listening out to see if Peter was still busy in the kitchen, knowing that he would not be happy if he caught her bringing out the old spider-suit, and once she was certain that he was still busy, she closed the door up and began to undress herself. Picking her suit back up, she slipped into it with little effort and glanced at the mirror, almost having forgotten how it had felt to wear the suit before.

It had been a long time since their super alter-egos had seen the light of day and even their suits had been stored away at Peter's request to focus more on living their lives together than running around trying to fix everything that was wrong with the world. Though despite its time stored away in a box, it still fit her well with the exception of being slightly tighter around the stomach. Gwen smiled at the thought of how, in just a few short months, it wouldn't fit her at all, and silently laughed at how ridiculous she would look in it with a bulging baby bump being made super obvious by its tight fit design.

Wrapped up in thoughts of the near future and how different their lives would be in the near future, she didn't hear Peter enter the room, or turn to see the surprise look on his face until he cleared his throat. Her jaw dropped as she turned around and saw the serious look on his face.

"Peter!" She gasped.

"Take it off!" He demanded.

"Wait, it's not what you think." She told him.

"Take it off." He repeated.

"I... Don't be mad, I wasn't thinking about doing anything crazy, I was just... Remembering how it looked and felt to wear it." She explained quickly.

"I'm not mad." He said with a chuckle. "Just don't make a habit out of wearing it." He added.

"Like I could." She replied. "Even if I wanted to, in a few months it wouldn't even fit and would look mighty ridiculous if it did." She laughed.

"Oh, Gwen... What on earth am I going to do with you?" He asked jokingly. "And God knows what you'll be up to when your little mini-me arrives." He added, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Ah, now that's a little unfair. It might not even be a girl." She protested humorously. "For all we know it could be a mini-Peter running around causing chaos." She joked.