Chapter 12: Together Again

The next three days passed by without any real problems arising. Ava, whose injuries had quickly healed after the amulet had been returned to her, seemed to become her normal self again and returned to school.

Peter, meanwhile, felt two different emotions: happiness and sadness. The happiness was due to the fact that he now had Ava back with him, while the sadness was due to the fact that his best friend, Harry, had to deal with the fact that his father was now under S.H.I.E.L.D. custody and would not be released any time soon.

The day that Ava returned to Midtown High, all anybody could ask her was where she had been, as everyone there knew that she had once vowed to never be late for school or to ever miss a day of it.

Her answer was usually, "Oh, just had some family business to take care of at home." And that excuse was one that everyone bought.

Luckily for her, Principal Coulson (who was also a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent) convinced most of her teachers to not give her any homework when she returned to school.

The day that Ava returned, during her free period (which was also the rest of the S.H.I.E.L.D. trainees' free period) Peter came up to her while she was rummaging through her locker for what she would need the next period.

"So how are you doing?" he asked.

"I could be doing a heck of a lot better, to be honest," she answered. Peter nodded at that.

"We all could. But the one lucky thing that has come out of this is that the culprit is now behind bars, but of course, it comes with a consequence."

"Yeah. And that consequence is that Harry's father is now behind bars," said Ava. "And it's all thanks to us." She bowed her head.

Peter put his hand under her chin and lifted her head and stared into her hazel eyes.

"Ava, it wasn't your fault. And it wasn't mine, either. Those truly at fault were the people who did this all to you, and that would be Taskmaster and Norman Osborn," Peter explained to her.

"Yeah, but I feel so bad for Harry. I mean, he now has neither a father nor a mother with him. And I have no idea how long he'll have to deal with that," she explained to him.

She was about to say something else, but then suddenly, as she looked into Peter's blue eyes, she felt a sudden feeling. And before she could say anything else, his lips were touching hers.

When they finally broke apart, all that they could do next was just look at each other. Then Peter cleared his throat.

"Um, that was different," he said.

"Uh-huh," Ava agreed. "So do you have any plans for the rest of the week other than what we do pretty much every night?"

"Not really, other than hanging out with Aunt May or Harry or Mary Jane." Then suddenly Peter began thinking of Harry again and how he now had neither a father or a mother. But now was not the time to be thinking of that, he told himself. He had Ava back with him, and that was all that mattered.

"Do you want to go somewhere private?" he asked her. "Other than here?"

"Like where? There aren't that many places around here. At least not private places."

"How about the janitor's closet? The last time I saw him, he was asleep in the cafeteria. He won't be waking for a long time, probably not until the bell rings for the next period."

She agreed and they made their way to the janitor's closet. Peter opened it for her.

Once they had found somewhere to sit down (for Peter, it was a bucket, for Ava, it was a crate), all they could do for the next few minutes was sit in silence and stare either at each other or at the wall or one of the shelves of cleaning supplies.

Silence fell over them once again, and this time it was Ava who broke the silence.

"So how do you think Harry will act towards Spider-Man now that he thinks that it was him who put his father behind bars?"

"I don't know. He was pretty angry the last time we saw him. And he didn't even come to school today, either. That kind of worries me."

"Hopefully he doesn't become deranged or something. When he became upset at you, it was the first time I ever saw him act like that. I really hope he doesn't become like his father. I know that's a little mean to say, but you have to admit, it's the truth."

"I agree," Peter said. "I don't know why his father became a person of that sort. He used to be such a nice person. My guess is that he became that way as soon as I became Spider-Man. If it did happen at that time, he certainly hid that emotion well."

"You're telling me," Ava agreed. "But now, my guess is that Harry is going to try to get revenge on you. And maybe even me, too. If that happens, what are we going to do?"

"Well, unless he somehow gains superpowers or something of that sort, we'll be able to defeat him easily, or so I hope. But I really don't want to fight him at all, which is why I hope he won't go insane enough to try to kill us," Peter explained to her.

"He probably won't. But of course, we always need to be ready for what is to come."

Suddenly, before they knew it, they were once again kissing. And this time they did not want to stop. But they finally did as soon as the door that led outside opened and the janitor they nicknamed Stan appeared in the doorway.

When he saw Peter and Ava kissing, he exclaimed, "What in the heck is going on?"

"Uh...sorry!" both Peter and Ava said and ran out of the room before anymore questions could be asked.

When they had finally stopped and made sure that the janitor was not following them, they broke out in laughter.

"Well, that was definitely interesting," Ava mused. "I don't think I'll be trying that again. Or at least, not around here."

"Yeah, I agree."

The bell then rang, and both of them ran off to their respective classes. But as they both ran off, they knew that they would be seeing each other again that night. And neither of them could wait for the night to begin.

Spider-Man swung over the rooftops of New York. He looked down and saw White Tiger on top of one of the buildings.

He landed on the building next to her.

"I was wondering when you'd get here," she told him.

"Really? Usually, I'm able to surprise. Are you sure that I didn't surprise you this time?"

"I'm quite sure. I would have almost attacked you had you surprised me. And you know that's the truth."

"Yeah, I do. So anyway, how have you been tonight?"

"I've been having a very uneventful night. Nothing has been going on at all. But sometimes, that's not a bad thing. Especially not since this last set of events."

"Definitely. Have you recovered from the last set of events, at all?"

"Not fully. But I probably will, soon. I'm just hoping that nothing like this ever happens again. I put you through so much crap this time around, and yet you still came to save me. Exactly why is that?"

He put his hand on her shoulder. She turned around and looked him in the eyes.

"Do you know why I didn't give up while trying to save you?" he asked her in a gentle voice.

"Why?" she asked him.

"Because I love you."

For a moment Ava was lost for words, and then, before she realized it, she said, "I love you, too."

The next thing they knew, they were both kissing with their masks on the ground by their feet. When that night came to an end, they both left with the feeling that nothing bad would ever happen again and that they were both now madly in love.

End of Book One