Going from friends to dating hadn't been as easy as Jackie had originally expected. While Peter and Jackie certainly weren't the type of couple to make out in the school hallway, they were still getting used to the idea that they could have physical contact with one another.

Jackie had reminded Peter a few times that he didn't have to ask to kiss her or hold her hand every time he wanted to do so. She had assured him that if she didn't want him to do something or didn't feel comfortable, she would tell him. While they already had the basis of trust and understanding, they were both trying to figure out where the intimacy and romance came into play. They had held hands a few times at school and had kissed once but they were both still playing it pretty safe, neither wanting to make the other feel uncomfortable.

Since the night Peter had told her his secret, that he was Spider-Man, Jackie had been binge watching videos of Spider-Man in action. She had gone through hundreds of Youtube videos related to the topic. Some were blurry videos taken by pedestrians, others were news clips, some were conspiracy theories, but none of them knew the truth and Jackie couldn't believe it. Every clip she watched of Spider-Man, she had to remind herself that Peter was in the suit.

She also had set up a news alert system on her phone to tell her when Spider-Man was in the news. Every time her phone got a notification now she checked it to see if Peter was okay. She worried about him a lot but tried not to let him know how much.

It made her sad to think that Spider-Man was such a controversial person because knowing Peter, he only did things for the good of others. Every time she heard J. Jonah Jameson make a pitch about a negative headline about Spider-Man, she had to bite her tongue and not defend him.

Mia had been incredibly happy and supportive but not at all surprised when Jackie had told her they were dating. Nothing really changed with the dynamic between Mia, Peter, and Jackie. They still met in the library every day for lunch.

Flash and Mia had gone on their date the previous weekend and it had been a total success. Mia and gushed all about it with Jackie the other night. According to Mia, Flash had taken her out to a nice restaurant and while they hadn't kissed on the first date they had another date coming up. Jackie and Mia had been scoping makeup and hair tutorials on Pinterest for her to try out.

Jackie and Peter's first official date was happening after Jackie finished at the Bugle that night as they had Friday off from school for a teacher workshop and Peter wanted to do something downtown. Jackie was feeling strangely nervous for it.

School had just ended and Jackie was waiting for Peter by her locker where they had agreed to meet so he could walk her to the subway stop as had become their ritual.

While she was waiting, her phone buzzed with a text from Peter.

Sorry running a little late! Had to take some last minute yearbook pictures. Be there in five!

Looking up from her phone, Jackie saw Liz and the two made eye contact and smiled, "Hey Liz!"

"Hey Jackie," Liz greeted her, "What's up! How was your break?"

"Not bad," Jackie informed her, "I visited some schools and my sister got engaged on Christmas Eve and…" she hesitated for a moment but decided to confess to Liz, "Peter actually asked me out."

"No way! You two are dating?" Liz cheered, "That's great! I'm so happy for you too!"

"What about you, how was your break?" Jackie said quickly trying to get the topic off of her and Peter which she still wasn't super comfortable talking about.

"It was fine! I heard back from a couple schools which was great. Still no word from Northwestern, but I reapplied for normal admission so fingers crossed," She explained, and Jackie nodded, "Christmas wasn't super great. Mark is still missing so that's been really hard on all of us."

"Mark?" Jackie wondered perking up a little bit.

"Oh my brother," Liz clarified, "Well my step brother actually but he's been part of the family since I was six so I see him as my brother at this point."

"Oh…" Jackie trailed off feeling very sorry for Liz, "He's missing? Sorry I don't mean to pry!" She immediately apologized even though she wanted to pry so badly.

Liz bit her lip and looked to the floor, "It's fine, I haven't really told anyone at school but he's been missing for a few months now."

"How long has he been missing?" Jackie wondered.

"The police are saying that he may have just left the state but that just really doesn't seem like something Mark would do! He had this great job at Oscorp that he loved and he used to come by the house every Friday for dinner and then he just disappeared… The police have been totally useless though and none of the newspapers have talked about it! My dad hired a private investigator in December but so far we haven't been able to track him down," Liz rambled. Jackie's head was spinning. There was no way that her brother could be… could it?

"Is your brother Mark Raxton?" Jackie blurted out.

"Yeah, that's him!" Liz nodded, "Wait how do you know him?" She asked suddenly suspicious, trying to piece together how Jackie could know of her brother.

"I think maybe someone mentioned him once," Jackie said lamely and totally unconvincingly. Liz looked very confused. Despite the fact that she had so many more question, Jackie quickly decided to switch the subject not wanting to be suspicious, "Anything else happen over break?"

Liz paused for a moment seeming surprised at Jackie's decision to change the topic, but eventually conceded to moving on. Looking over her shoulder she said quietly, "Actually something kind of exciting happened to me a little bit before Christmas," Liz began to blush a little bit, "I got saved by Spider-Man!" She grinned widely at her revelation.

"Spider-Man? Really… wow," Jackie nodded, aware that her voice had gotten incredibly high all of a sudden. Peter saved Liz? Jackie felt her stomach knot a little bit. Peter hadn't mentioned anything about this to her.

Liz swooned, "I know right? His arms were so strong and he swooped in just at the last second—I was crossing the street and this big police chase was happening and I was wearing headphones so I didn't hear the cars, which in retrospect was not a good idea on my part. But he swooped in and grabbed me and for a few seconds I was flying. And his voice! Ugh! I want to see what he looks like under that mask because his voice was super sexy. I bet he's really hot. Oh and did I mention his arms?"

Jackie was seconds away from laughing about Liz calling Peter's voice 'sexy.' She wondered what Liz would think if she knew the truth. She also couldn't ignore a small feeling of insecurity too though and she couldn't understand why. Of course she was happy that Liz was okay and that Peter had been there to save her. But there was something about the idea of Liz thinking of Peter as her hero that made her feel uncomfortable.

Jackie gave Liz a tight-lipped smile, "Yeah you did. You said he was strong."

"So strong! I could tell he was really in shape under the suit?" Liz remarked dreamily, "And then after he saved me he told me to 'look both ways when I cross the street,'" Liz tried to imitate the voice in a husky voice.

"That's good advice," Jackie nodded.

"It was so wild, I'm still not over it!" Liz shook her head in amazement.

"Liz let's go!" Sally Avril yelled over from down the hall.

"I've got to go," Liz smiled, "I'll see you later though!" She turned to start walking and then stopped, "I'm so happy for you and Peter by the way. Tell him I say hi!"

Jackie nodded, "Bye Liz."

She watched as Liz watched down the hall greeting Sally. She wondered if Liz had told anybody else about Mark. She had so many questions for Liz. She wanted to know when the last time she had seen Mark was and what the police were telling her family. She wanted to know if Liz knew what Mark had been working on. However, Liz was already suspicious and Jackie was going to need a really good reason to explain how she knew anything about Mark despite only living in New York for four months.

"Hey there," Peter said from behind her, pulling her out of her trance, "Sorry I'm late. Debate team pictures. Super last minute. What's up?"

Ignoring Peter's greeting, Jackie looked around her, seeing if anybody was close enough to hear what she was about to tell Peter. The hallway had cleared out though and the people left seemed oblivious enough, "I've got news!" Jackie informed him, and then whispered, "Liz is related to Mark Raxton."

"Liz is-" Peter started.

"They are step siblings!" Jackie interrupted, "She said he's been missing for a while but the police are doing nothing about it. And her dad hired a private investigator but they haven't found anything yet."

"Whoa," Peter shook his head in amazement, "That is… That's insane."

"I know right!" Jackie nodded. The two began to walk down the hall to head over to the subway, "This could be a big breakthrough!"

"Let me know how I can help," Peter told her, "We are in this together."

"Also…" Jackie said not looking directly at Peter, "you didn't tell me you saved Liz from getting hit by a car over break."

There was a long pause and Peter could tell from Jackie's tone that there was something slightly wrong, "Is that something I should have mentioned to you?" Jackie raised her eyebrows at him and he nodded, "Right. Well, it really wasn't a big deal. It was during the burglary when I first heard about Big Man."

"She said you have strong arms and that your voice is sexy," Jackie reported dryly.

"Liz said that? Wow," Peter said with a hint of excitement and Jackie raised her eyebrows, "Wait are you jealous?" Peter held the door open for her as they headed outside.

"No I just feel like I should be informed when you save people who I know," Jackie shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Okay," Peter nodded but Jackie could tell he didn't believe her.

"I'm not jealous!" She snapped.

"Sure," He grinned.

"I'm not jealous Peter Parker!" Jackie glared at him however she couldn't help but smile at his grin, "You are so annoying!" She groaned.

"And you are so cute when you are jealous of Liz thinking I have strong arms and a sexy voice," He commented back.

"You wish," Jackie shook her head but she had butterflies in her stomach.

When they reached Jackie's usual subway station, Peter paused for a moment.

"I'll see you at six for our date then?" He questioned.

"Yes!" Jackie said, not hiding her excitement, "Where should I meet you?"

"I'll pick you up outside the Bugle," Peter assured her.

"And you won't tell me what we're doing?" She wondered.

"Nope, it's a surprise!" He teased.

"You should know I don't really like surprises!" Jackie warned him.

"I think you'll like this one!" He said with a twinkle of mischief in his eyes.

"Okay, I've got to catch this train but I'll see you at six then!" Jackie gave Peter a quick kiss before running to go catch her train.

Jackie spent the rest of the train ride trying to think of what Peter could have planned as surprise for their date. He was typically very thoughtful so Jackie knew she would probably like it, but she'd never been on a date with someone she liked as much as she liked Peter. It was also strange because Jackie and Peter and hung out a lot before so she was curious to see if things were different now that they were dating instead of just hanging out.

Upon reaching the Bugle Jackie checked in with Robbie who had her editing and fact checking for the day. It was a pretty slow day though. The investigation of the Molten Man had halted as authorities had come up blank with any real explanation. It seemed like everyone was slowly forgetting all about what had happened over Thanksgiving which made Jackie even more driven to figure out what was going on. Molten Man could return and she wanted to be ready when he did.

As she was packing up to leave, she got the feeling she was being watched again, however she wasn't sure what to do about it. She shrugged it off as she was going to meet Peter in a few moments anyway.

It was dark and fairly cold outside causing Jackie to shiver as she waited for Peter. The streets were surprisingly empty

Her phone buzzed, Sorry running late again! Peter had texted.

Jackie rolled her eyes not surprised that Peter was late.

She was sliding her phone back into her pocket when she felt a hand clamp over her mouth.

For a split second she thought maybe it was Peter playing a joke on her but after a few seconds, Jackie began to panic.

Everything happened very fast as whoever was behind her was big as another arm wrapped around her torso and she felt herself being dragged into the typically abandoned alley next to The Bugle building. Jackie tried to flail her body loose but whoever was holding her, had her held tightly enough to keep her from getting away. No one on the street had seemed to notice and she could barely scream through her attackers hand.

Jackie couldn't believe this was happening to her as every story she had every read about women getting attacked began to flood back into her mind. What was she supposed to do? She couldn't remember anything that the articles recommended.

"This is what happens when you know too much," A gruff voice informed her sending chills down Jackie's spine. She recognized the voice although she could not place where she knew it from.

She decided she couldn't think anymore and without really thinking she bit down hard on her assailant's hand which was still covering her mouth.

"AH! YOU BITCH!" The man yelled and as the hand moved off her mouth, she managed to squirm free.

Without stopping to grab her bag which she had dropped in all of the chaos she ran as fast as she possibly could, not stopping for a moment to look back. She headed into the busiest area she could think of; the adrenaline pushed her forwards. Only once she had reached this area did she turn around to see she was not being followed.

She stopped running then not wanting to draw attention to herself but her whole body was shaking and she knew she had to get off the street. She kept checking behind her every five seconds and she eventually ducked into a Starbucks and headed straight to the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

The first thing she did was collapse the ground. Her heart was pounding and adrenaline pulsed through her. She worked on trying to slow her heart rate, taking deep breaths. She wanted to scream or punch something just to feel some semblance of power or control but decided against either option. At least not in the Starbucks bathroom.

Then she checked her phone to see she had eight missed calls from Peter. She immediately called him back.

"Thank God!" Peter answered sounding relieved, "Jackie what's going on? Where are you? Your bag was on the ground and—" Peter started.

Her voice shook as she spoke and she felt like she might pass out any moment, "Peter I'm at a Starbucks."

"What?" Peter questioned quickly sounding very confused.

"I'll text you the address. Just get here as soon as possible please," She told him and then hung up.

Suddenly she heard a knock on the door and felt paralyzed with fear. Had her attacker found her?

"Hurry up!" A women's voice outside yelled and she relaxed a little bit.

"Sorry," she said weakly, "I'll be right out."

Jackie exited the bathroom receiving a glare from the woman who was waiting to use the bathroom. She slid into an empty seat making eye contact with a barista who looked concerned. Jackie attempted to smile to assure her everything was okay despite the fact it was not at all okay and the barista smiled back, not seeming to mind that Jackie clearly had no intention of buying anything.

Her head was spinning as she tried to recall any detail about her attacker. She felt stupid for not turning around to see what they looked like. She knew it was a man, but that was essentially all she knew. What he had said kept repeating over and over again in her head, "This is what happens when you know too much."

She was trying to get her hands to stop shaking when Peter, who was wearing a backpack and holding the bag she had dropped, barged into the Starbucks causing several people to look up from their conversations. He immediately spotted Jackie looking slightly relieved and she ran to him.

"Jackie are you okay?" Peter demanded, "What happened—"

Before he could finish what he was saying though Jackie had lunged herself into his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. He held her tightly and protectively to himself as she let out a small sob. Not wanting to cause a scene in the Starbucks she stopped herself from completely collapsing into him and tried to take deep breaths to stop herself from hyperventilating.

"Let's get out of here," Peter whispered in her ear and she nodded as she tried to push the tears back down.

Peter led the way holding Jackie's hand tightly and she followed him, just trying to keep it together. She immediately felt safer with Peter next to her though.

They walked for a few blocks until they found another alley. She felt Peter's arm around her waist and then heard him say, "Hold on."

She didn't know what to expect but felt the ground disappear beneath her feet. Her eyes clenched shut tight in surprise as she didn't know what to expect and she braced herself for a blow that never came. It felt like she was being shot out of a cannon, upwards into the sky. She felt them land but didn't immediately open her eyes.

"Jackie?" Peter asked worriedly.

When she opened her eyes she realized they were on a nearby rooftop.

It was all too much. She collapsed into Peter, openly sobbing now, Peter held her tightly and patiently letting her cry. She buried her head into Peter's chest and cried for a few minutes before Peter gently rubbed her back trying to help calm her down.

After a few minutes, when Jackie's breathing regulated a little bit, Peter finally questioned again, "What happened?" in a soft voice.

"I'm sorry, I'm fine," She said slowly wiping tears away from her eyes but then she corrected herself trying to compose herself, "I am going to be fine."

"What happened?" Peter questioned again.

Jackie wasn't sure how to begin, "Someone… I… He came out of nowhere and grabbed me."

"Who?" Peter tensed.

"I don't know, it all happened too fast," Jackie said feeling the tears bubble up in her eyes again.

"This is all my fault Jackie—," Peter started.

Jackie pulled away from Peter and sniffled a little bit before informing him, "Its not your fault! This wasn't a random attack. I think he's been watching me for a while and he told me that I knew too much. Whoever tried to attack me knows that I've been trying to piece everything together. This is not your fault Peter," She told him in a very final voice.

"But if I'd been there earlier—" Peter started again and she cut him off.

"No Peter, I will not let you blame yourself for this," She told him in a very serious voice, wiping away any remaining tears, "Okay?"

Peter started pacing, obviously trying to cool himself down. Jackie watched now feeling concerned. She knew how much Peter already worried about her, and now she had actually been in danger.

"Did he hurt you?" Peter said in a very tight voice, stopping in his tracks.

"I might have some bruises because he grabbed me really tightly but he didn't get a chance to really do any damage. I bit his hand to get away." Jackie saw Peter clench his fists, "Peter I'm going to be fine," she assured him.

"You need to talk to the cops," Peter immediately decided but Jackie shook her head.

"Some of the cops are involved Peter," She reminded him and he nodded, "And I can't draw any more attention to myself. And Maggie would freak if she knew I was involved in another attack. I just have to be more careful."

"You can't go back to work there," Peter told her.

"What?" Jackie asked, thinking she had misheard him.

"Jackie you can't work at The Bugle anymore. Look what happened." Peter said simply.

"Oh well, in that case, you can't be Spider-Man anymore than," Jackie quickly retorted.

"That is totally different!" Peter tried to defend himself, "The Bugle is obviously too dangerous!"

"You really want to go there?" Jackie scoffed, "You don't get to lecture me on whats too dangerous! Do you think its easy for me to think about how much danger you put yourself in everyday Peter? You have people coming at you with guns and knives. You stop criminals and giant lizards and men literally made of fire, and you aren't invincible! But I'm not asking you to stop doing what you think is right! So it is totally unfair for you to lecture me about me putting myself in danger." Jackie scolded him.

Peter looked at her for a long time. She could tell he was frustrated but had no way to argue back. She folded her arms over her chest, standing her ground on her position. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again and looked down at the ground, and when he didn't answer

Jackie nodded knowing she had won, "Great. Now can we finish this discussion after we go on our date?"

Peter's jaw dropped, "You still want to go on our date," he asked in disbelief.

"Yes!" Jackie nodded and Peter looked dumbfounded, "I like you a lot, Peter Parker! Even when you are completely unreasonable. And if its alright with you I would like to go on our date!"

"Okay…" Peter said, seeming slightly confused and out of sorts.

Softening a little bit Jackie promised, "I'm going to be fine and we are going to figure this whole thing out," she took a step towards him and grabbed his hand. He didn't immediately look at her until she squeezed his hand. When he finally made eye contact, she continued, "Right now I don't want to think about what just happened. Please, just for tonight, let's pretend none of the outside world exists. Please." She begged him, "Please?"

Peter took a moment before he slowly nodded, "You'll tell if it gets to be too much?"

Jackie took a deep breath, "I will," she promised. Looking around she wondered aloud, "How do we get down from here?"

Peter paused for a moment, seemingly thinking about how to best proceed. He then strode up to her and put his arm around her waist. She took a deep breath, keeping her eyes fixated on him.

"Are you ready," He asked as he put his arm around her waist and easily hoisted her up beside him.

Without hesitating, Jackie said, "Yes."

Her heart dipped as Peter and Jackie dropped off the roof. It was the feeling she got during a large drop on a roller coaster. Wrapping her arms around Peter tightly, Jackie kept her eyes clenched closed, feeling as if she was going to hit the ground at any moment.

"Open your eyes," Peter told her.

Slowly Jackie opened her eyes and was amazed by what she saw. They were soaring miles above New York City.

"Oh my god!" Jackie whispered in disbelief. She was flying. She was actually flying. "Oh my God!" Jackie yelled letting out a loud laugh. She had no other experience to compare it to. She watched her and Peter's reflections soar past in a mirrored skyscraper and for a moment she thought she had to be dreaming.

Peter worked seamlessly, easily swinging them from structure to structure with the webs shooting out of his web device and to Jackie's surprise she wasn't nervous about Peter's capabilities.

She didn't want it to end. Every once in a while Peter would do dips that would make her stomach drop. She would shriek in surprise but then laugh in disbelief when she realized that they were fine. Peter kept looking down to make sure she was okay and Jackie would just smile back to assure him to keep going.

After a few minutes, with one final push upwards, Peter gracefully landed them onto another rooftop. The building was one of the taller buildings in the area and had a panoramic view of the Manhattan skyline. Peter slowly lowered Jackie down so that her feet were touching the ground again. She felt a little dizzy from the motion but mostly she was still trying to wrap her head around what had just happened. Her face was flushed from the cold wind but she couldn't stop smiling.

"Wow," She sighed looking out at the view.

Suddenly she noticed a blanket, a box of pizza, a tin of what appeared to be Aunt May's cookies, and a thermos. She turned to Peter, "You did this?" Jackie asked.

"The foods probably cold since we got a little preoccupied," Peter told her as a disclaimer.

"Peter this is so sweet," Jackie assured, giving him a hug, "I love it."

Peter kissed the top of her head before taking her hand and leading her over to the blanket. Peter had brought hot chocolate, Aunt May's cookies, and cheese pizza with olives and pepperoni. Jackie couldn't believe what a thoughtful and unique first date it was. It was more than she could have hoped for.

As he opened the hot chocolate thermos, Jackie noticed that Peter was laughing a little bit to himself, "What?" She wondered.

"Oh, nothing…" Peter trailed off but then questioned, "Are my arms as strong as Liz said?" He grinned.

"Oh my God," Jackie groaned

"And do you think my voice is sexy?" Peter questioned making his voice deeper.

"Peter!" Jackie rolled her eyes but she couldn't stop herself from smiling and then scooting over closer to him and leaning her head on his shoulder she conceded, "Liz was right."

She looked up to see Peter smiling and she felt herself blush a little bit. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her even closer.

As she looked out at the skyline, Jackie wanted to freeze this moment and remember it forever. She felt so lucky to have Peter by her side. While she was still shaken from the attack, she did her best not to think about it for the time being. She knew she would have to process and deal with everything that had just happened, but at that moment, she just wanted to be a regular girl on her first date with her boyfriend.

A/N: And a wild fanfic author appears seven months after her last update!

Hey, everyone! Currently writing this at 2:30 a.m. and while I was considering waiting to post until a reasonable hour of the day, I figure I won't delay this any further and I'll just post it! As per usual, sorry about the major delay in updating but if you've ever read one of my author's notes I'm sure you are used to it! Slowly but surely we are moving right along! Honestly, I'm amazed that I keep coming back to this story but your kind reviews and favorites are what remind me that there are people out there that may actually care about what happens!

As per usual, sorry about the major wait but if you've ever read one of my author's notes I'm sure you are used to it! Slowly but surely we are moving right along! Honestly, I'm amazed that I keep coming back to this story but your kind reviews and favorites are what remind me that there are people out there that may actually care about what happens!

As per usual, sorry about the major delay in updating but if you've ever read one of my author's notes I'm sure you are used to it! Slowly but surely we are moving right along! Honestly, I'm amazed that I keep coming back to this story but your kind reviews and favorites are what remind me that there are people out there that may actually care about what happens!

As per usual, sorry about the major delay in updating but if you've ever read one of my author's notes I'm sure you are used to it! Slowly but surely we are moving right along! Honestly, I'm amazed that I keep coming back to this story but your kind reviews and favorites are what remind me that there are people out there that may actually care about what happens!

Hope you all liked this chapter! I think it has more of the #drama some of you have been wanting!

Thanks to The girl with no life, Butterbeer8, Nightingale agent of the dark, mun3litKnight, heroherondaletotherescue, nellie511, SurvivorTierEXO, CaptainCumberbatch, JenRiley16, Arkytior's Song and Hela Lokison for your kind reviews on the last chapter! Also big thanks to the people who have favorited and followed over the past few months! I get email updates about activity on the story and every time I get an email I feel guilty about not updating because it's so thoughtful of you all to follow and favorite and review!

Let me know what you think of the chapter! Feel free to ask any questions or head over to my inspiration tumblr which is linked in my user bio and ask questions there (never gotten a question there but I figure I should put it down just in case someone out there in this big world actually is interested

Thanks for always being so patient and having faith that even if it takes several months for me to get my inspiration back, I will finish this story!