2. A Love, a Father, and a Legacy (Peter Parker)

Chapter 15

I jumped out of bed and realized someone must have unhooked me from all the tubes I was hooked up to earlier. I felt a sharp pain sear through my stomach and I lifted up my hospital gown to find that my entire midsection was wrapped in white gauze.

I walked forward and felt the pain rear up again, causing me to feel nauseous and light-headed. I shook it off and kept walking, doing my best to ignore the pain. I grabbed my sweatpants off a chair and made a silent prayer that my phone was in the pocket of them. The fact that one side was heavier than the other indicated to me that my phone was in the left pocket so I slid them on.

I poked my head out of my room to check that the coast was clear. When I was satisfied that there was no one around that would send me back to my room I hobbled down the hallway until I got to the stairs. I descended, pausing at every few floors to recover from the overwhelming pain I was failing to ignore.

I finally reached the bottom and opened the emergency exit door, quickly closing it behind me. I walked out into the back alley used by ambulances and made my way to the main road. I hailed down the first taxi I saw and gave him the address to Peter's apartment.

* * *

It was pouring when we arrived and I prayed that the gown I was wearing wouldn't become see-through. I paid the cab driver with the money I had in the back of my phone case and headed inside. I hobbled to the elevator and climbed on. I stared down at my drenched clothes and sighed. When I finally reached Peter's floor I limped to his door and knocked, hoping Peter would be the one that opened the door.

"Samantha? You're awake! Why didn't we get a call? And why are you still in your hospital gown? You're soaking wet! Come in!" Aunt May opened the door wider and stepped aside, allowing me a path into their apartment. I did my best to walk normally so she wouldn't worry about my limp.

"Thanks May. Is Peter here?" I got to the living room and sat down on their couch, silently wincing.

"He's been locked in his room the past two weeks. I barely see him, only when he has to go to the bathroom does he come out. He wouldn't come to get food so I kept leaving a plate of food and knocking so he would know it's there. But you're awake! That's amazing! Should you even be walking? Do you need to lie down?"

"I'm fine, thank you. I just really want to see Peter."

"You shouldn't be here." The sound of Peter's voice made the pain I felt disappear. I looked at him and immediately regretted it. He was pale as if his skin hadn't ever seen the sun. His face was sunken like all life had been drained from it, and his figure was abnormally skinny. I stood up but didn't move toward him because I was scared he would walk right back into his room.

"Peter, how can you say that? Did you know that she woke up? Did someone call you?"

He ignored his aunt's questions. "She promised me she wouldn't let you see me."

"Who? My mom? Why would she do that? Why wouldn't you want to see me?" I started to feel dizzy and the feeling of nausea slowly started to creep back in.

Peter turned around and walked into his room, and when he didn't come out within a couple of seconds I thought he was going to stay there. After about a minute he came walking back out with a pile of his clothes.

"You can change but then you need to go."

I stared at him. "I don't understand. Why don't you want to see me?"

"Just leave!" He threw the clothes onto the couch next to me.

"Don't you dare yell at her like that Peter!" Aunt May looked furious now, but she didn't look surprised by his behavior.

I looked from Peter to May. "What the heck is going on?"

"Just get out Sam, I don't want to see you." He turned his back and started heading for his room again.

"Peter! Wait!" I called out to him but his door was already shut. I felt tears start streaming down my face and I sat down on the couch.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry." May sits down next to me and pulls me into her chest.

"Did I do something wrong?" I pulled away and looked up at her, wiping the tears away from my eyes.

She didn't respond but she pulled me back toward her. She placed her hand on my back, rubbing it soothingly. "Why don't you go change, you are soaking wet, that can't be comfortable." She reached down and picked up Peter's tousled clothes and handed them to me.

I thanked her and stood up to head to the bathroom when there was a knock on the door. I stopped and turned to look at May who was already making her way over to the door. She looked through the hole and pulled the door open and quickly sidestepped as though to not get trampled by whoever was coming through.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Tony barged through, Steve, Natasha, and my mom following close behind. The second Tony caught a look at my face his face dropped. "What happened? Did he say something to you? I told that kid we weren't going to tell you until you were ready!" He headed down the hallway to Peter's door.

"Honey, what were you thinking? Coming here when you just woke up from a coma. How are you even walking?" My mom comes over to me and starts looking me up and down. She moved some of my damp hair that was clinging to my face and ran her hands up and down my shoulders.

Tony came barreling back into the room, shaking his head. "He's gone." He looked up at me and sighed. "What were you thinking? Escaping the hospital and coming here all on your own. You were shot! You should be cooped up in your room reading right now, not soaking wet and stressing the hell out of all of us!"

I looked down at the clothes in my hand and saw that tiny wet spots were forming on the shirt. I didn't know if they were from my hair or my tears. In a small voice, I muttered the only thing I could. "I needed to see Peter."

"Honey, why don't you go get changed and then we can go back home." My mom gently lifted my head so that I was looking into her eyes.

Home. That was the first time I'd heard her call the tower home. I never thought she liked it, I thought she missed our old home. I guess a lot of things had changed. And apparently, no one was planning on filling me in for the time being.