The Afterglow

Chapter 6; Truth and Lies

Peter skidded to a halt as he reached the bedroom, and his expression darkened as soon as he did. As soon as he caught a glimpse of the white silky material, his mood soured and without bothering to knock, he stormed into the room and snatched the suit from Gwen's hands.

"Hey!"

"You are not doing this!"

In disbelief over his words, she folded her arms across her chest in annoyance. "And who are you? My father?"

"Get mad all you want, you're still not doing this."

"Peter-"

"No, I'm serious Gwen! Putting on these suits… doing these things brings us nothing but trouble and pain and I'm done."

"You may be done, but I am not! That's my brother that they're holding, I'm not going to sit by and do nothing."

"How can you be so naive?" He raised his voice. "That is not your brother, that is another one of their tricks!"

At this, Gwen's expression hardened. She turned around quickly, running her fingers through her hair, and when she spun to face him once again, she laughed. He dropped the suit on the bed and sighed, knowing that she wouldn't be talked out of doing this.

"I am not naive."

"I didn't mean-"

"Caring about this does not make me naive, and it does not make me vulnerable. I am capable of handling myself, even in the worst situations. I know why you're trying to stop me, but I can make my own choices and if there's even the slightest chance that it could be my brother… then I have to find out."

Peter thought about what he was going to say next. The last thing he wanted to do was argue and push her into doing something even more stupid, but he couldn't let her walk into a trap either.

"I know… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell." He sighed. "And I know that if the roles were reversed, I wouldn't hesitate either… but we can't just barge in there without a plan. It could end badly that way. If we're going to do this then we have to think it through. You have to be more careful now, and I'm not willing to risk everything."

"Peter, please… I need this."

Licking his lips, he weighed up their options carefully. "Alright. We'll go there… but here's the deal, I will distract them, while you investigate. If Simon is there then I want you to take him and get out, I will follow once I've dealt with whoever the caller is."

Gwen shook her head in protest. "Absolutely not. If there's a fight then we fight together."

"But-"

"I'm not unable, Peter. I know how to take care of myself. You don't have to worry, I'm not going to do anything that would risk my life, or the life of our baby… I'm not going to put our family in jeopardy."

Knowing that nothing else he could say would change her mind, he nodded in agreement. He stood up, with the suit in his hands, and offered it out to her. She hesitated briefly before taking it, but quickly discarded it on the bed and wrapped her arms around him, then pulled back to look him in the eyes.

"Look, I know that you are scared to death of losing it all, we are not gonna let that happen."

"Yeah, it's just- I already made that fatal mistake with you once… and if I make it again-"

"You won't." She assured him. "I know you won't." Then smiled, "now, let's go kick some ass."

With that being said, she picked up the suit from the bed and watched as Peter reached into the same box, and pulled his own out. Once they were both in their suits, they headed down the stairs, but Gwen stopped as she realized that they had no clue on the location of the caller.