Hey guys! Last chapter. This one's just a bit more solemn than the others, but it's more fluffy, I think.

And more importantly, this chapter is the last. It really breaks my heart.

This chapter can almost be taken as a one-shot, minus the slight references to Vigilante Girl.

Oh, and this chapter is super long. You have been warned. And one more thing: more innuendos in this chapter than in others. They're older so they're a bit more... frisky...

ONE MORE IMPORTANT THING. Sorry. If you guys want to continue this fic, or write it from Peter's POV, or do anything with it, here's my giving you full permission to do so. Just please don't forget to credit the author!

For the last time: I don't own anything. If I did, a certain SOMEONE wouldn't be freaking dead.

... Sorry. Still sorting out some anger issues.

She's Just A Bit Rebellious

Chapter 20: Epilogue

Gwen easily floats through the crowd of Manhattan that evening. She takes a few sharp lefts, mumbles apologies to people whose feet she's stamped, and flips the bird at leering drunks on the corner of sixth and twenty-seventh.

She then finds herself in front of the Daily Bugle, Peter's office. He's kind of slouched on his chair, feet up against the desk, head thrown back with a hand covering his eyes, talking rapidly on the phone. The top two buttons of his shirt is undone and his tie is loose, and she licks her lips a bit at the sight.

She enters his office and sits on the chair opposite his, and waits patiently for him to realize she's here. When he does, he flashes her a half-smile, looking distracted. He hangs up soon after that and takes his legs off the desk, leaning forward and putting his phone back. He leans back again and looks at her languidly.

"Hi."

"Hi," she smiles. She stares at his slightly exposed chest for another second before she catches herself and starts fishing inside her bag.

"A salad," she declares, as she places the plastic box on his desk.

He blinks. "A salad?"

"Yeah. I thought we'd try this new healthy eating thing together, you know? Our fridge is stocked with nothing but calories, and I'm not the one who's making the ice cream disappear weekly."

They'd moved in together last year, five years after graduating high school. University was tough, with little time to see each other in between studying and exams and crime fighting. Every Firday, though they'd always meet at the rooftop Peter had built their first hammock in, and would lounge in similar makeshift hammocks while watching New York life continue underneath them.

It was strained, it was tough, and she hated it when Peter tried washing his spandex with the regular load of laundry, but it was worth it. She flicks her eyes to the man in front of her, and to her horror, he's chugging down half a Coke can.

"Peter!"

He has the decency to look ashamed for the whole of a microsecond, before quickly gulping down the rest.

He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, and gives her what he probably thinks is a reassuring look. Gwen is unimpressed.

"Relax," he says, "the salad won't make me any healthier. The Coke won't make me any unhealthier. It's not my diet that makes me mmph," he says, accompanying his grunt with a flex of his arm muscles. She doesn't fail to notice how they bulge. "It's something else," he smirks, as though it's a secret between them.

"Yes, but a fat Spider-Man-"

"Who says I was talking about Spider-Man?"

Her eyes widen and she blushes at the insinuation. Two years into university, she gave Peter's wandering hands full reign. She suspects that's what he's talking about now. With regular people, said activities are usually a tough workout. With Spider-Man... She buries her embarrassment by glowering at him and he smirks back at her coolly, apparently unfazed.

He gets up abruptly, offering her his hand as he stands beside her. Her fingers move to hover inches from his. "Where are we going?"

"Lunch."

She throws one last regretful look at the salad, before slipping her hand into his.

He hauls her up to her feet and wraps the arm around her shoulders.

"Martha," he calls loudly as they walk out of the office, disrupting everyone in the process, "hold all my appointments."

She looks back at Peter's wide-eyed, demure assistant, wincing as a means of apology, before walking out with him.

"You don't have to be so mean to her, you know." She pinches his side for good measure.

He scoffs arrogantly. "She loves me."

She rolls her eyes. "Who wouldn't, with your wit and charm and unbeatable sense of chivalry..."

"You know, they say sarcasm's the lowest form of wit. And besides, my wit and charm and uneatable sense of chivalry won you over." He spins her around to him and kisses her in the middle of the street.

He backs her up against a pole, nipping at her lips and sucking on her tongue for a while before moving his lips decidedly down to the hollow below her ear. Her eyes roll backwards for a second before she shoves him off and blushes, looking around her. Nobody seems to notice. She sends Peter a reprimanding look, and he tries to look contrite. The expression is so fake and comical she finds herself cracking a smile.

"Where do you want to go for lunch?"

He leads her into Starbucks.

She gives him a hard stare. "Really?"

He pouts. "I want a Frappuccino."

She complies grudgingly. As she steps inside the small coffee shop, she notices a few heads turn her way. She stares at them, confused, before realizing their stares aren't directed towards her, they're directed towards the gorgeous man beside her. She instantly wraps an arm around his waist. He looks down at her and kisses the top of her head, smiling in that way that puts her heart in her throat. When she turns back to the ladies, they're still staring at her man with carnal appreciation, but with disappointment mixed in as well.

She sits down and lets Peter order for her.

She's so focused on her phone for a while that she doesn't notice Peter sit down across from her.

She takes one look at the food on the table, and then kicks him.

"Ow, woman, stop kicking me," he complains, even though they both know it doesn't hurt him at all.

"Salad!?"

He shrugs. "I thought about what you said about eating healthy. Thought I'd give it a go."

She sighs. "What am I going to do with you?"

Suddenly, his hand is at her thigh under the table. "I have a few ideas..."

She bats his hand away and stares at the man she loves, and his gaze softens as he looks at her. He takes one of her hands between both of his, and they're warm, comfortable and secure between them.

"I love you," he whispers.

"I love you too."

A few days later, he insists on taking her out for a proper meal, so she dresses up nicely in a long, flowing red dress, and he picks her up from her work. He leans forward and presses a kiss against her bare collar bone, whispering how beautiful she looks. He's shaking.

They go to this elaborate restaurant where the food probably costs as much as her mortgage does, but he hushes her when she complains about the price.

Twice, she asks him if he's okay. Both times, he looks like he's been caught with a hand in the cookie jar.

He takes to kicking the table leg, and she snaps at him halfway through the meal, telling him to cut it out.

Immediately, he looks shaken. "Sorry," he mumbles. The rest of the meal is awkward, and his eyes keep flicking up to hers. He's blushing and he's so nervous, and she's reminded forcefully of the first time he asked her out on a date.

"Peter..." she reaches out and takes his hand. "What's wrong?"

He nearly faints. "Nothing! Nothing's wrong! What? Who said anything's wrong?"

She rolls her eyes. "I'm going to the bathroom."

She washes her hands forcefully, wondering if this is the most elaborate break-up ever or if he's going to announce that Vigilante Girl is a stupid idea and he just wants to soften the blow with this dinner.

When she returns, she doesn't find him there.

She asks the waiter, who shrugs nonchalantly.

Rude, she thinks, as she walks out of the restaurant.

Immediately, she finds herself surrounded by candles on the lonely New York street. Petals are strewn across a path, and as her eyes follow the trail, they land on Peter.

He swallows. "Gwen, I..." He breathes deeply. "I..."

He squeezes his eyes shut. "I just... I wanted to... to... to tell you I love you."

Her eyes fill with tears. "I love you too, Peter." She already knows where this is going.

He smiles tentatively, sweetly at her. He walks towards her and kisses her forehead. He takes her hand.

"Ready to go home?"

She blinks. "What?"

He tugs her along, and she lets disappointment wash through her.

He finally plucks up the courage to propose a week later, when they're sweaty and panting and shaking with fear and Gwen's hair is all over her face and she's had another brush with death while fighting these villains.

She doesn't think any other proposal could ever be sweeter.

A month later, she finds herself rushing home.

She flings the door to their shared apartment open and looks around for Peter. She enters their bedroom and is suddenly faced with a shock of brown hair.

She screams and drops the grocery bag.

She looks up onto the ceiling, where she finds Peter sitting upside-down, cross-legged.

"You know, they invented chairs for a reason," she mumbles, irritated, as she bends down to pick up the groceries.

"You're late."

She looks up at him from her crouched position. "Sorry, I got caught up with Vigilante Girl stuff."

He seems to forgive her soon enough. "Are you ever going to change the name?"

She gives him a one-shoulder shrug as she stands up, arms full of groceries. "I don't think so. I quite like how it irritates you."

He's suddenly in front of her, an arm wrapped around her waist. He tugs her closer and presses the softest of kisses to her lips. "Hey," he whispers.

"Hi." She swallows and stares back at him, drowning in the scrutiny of his gaze. Peter takes the groceries from her and puts it on the bed. Then, she's back in his arms. She buries her face into his neck and her arms are trapped between them. He has one hand on the small of his back, the other cradling her head, as he slowly rocks them back and forth.

"How was your day?" he asks, hushed, as though the moment would be broken by a louder sound.

"Good," she whispers. "I had lunch with MJ and baby Debby."

She feels him smile into her hair. "Who knew Harry would be the one to have a baby out of wedlock?"

She grins. "And if I were to say we'd be joining them?"

He pulls back abruptly. There's a horrible silence. "What?" he chokes out.

She blinks. "It was a joke. But it's nice to know where you stand in terms of kids." She squashes her twinge of disappointment when she realizes Peter's not ready for children.

She gathers the groceries in her arms and goes to the kitchen, arranging them in the fridge.

He appears at her side after a few minutes. "That's not what I meant."

"I know," she says, trying to sound breezy.

"It's just with our jobs and Vigilante Girl and Spider-Man and the fact that we're not even married, and I don't know how to deal with children, and-"

"I know," she says, cutting him off. "You're not ready for this."

He stares at her for a while, before pressing a kiss to the back of her head. "Okay," he says, relieved. "Okay."

As he walks away, and as she applies peanut butter on her celery, she decides not to tell him about the positive test in their bathroom.

It's when MJ hurtles towards them, flinging her arms around Gwen and squealing her congratulations about her pregnancy that Peter finally realizes why Gwen's had morning sickness the past week.

He blanches.

Gwen watches him, horrified, as Harry pulls MJ aside and reprimands her for not thinking before she talks.

It's when baby Debby starts wailing in her mother's arms that Peter finally finds the will to do something.

He leaves.

Gwen comes home a few hours later, blotchy eyes and running nose. She finds him lying on the sofa, staring absentmindedly at the ceiling.

His head snaps towards her as he hears the door close, and he takes in her expression. He's in front of her in an instant.

"Gwen," her murmurs, panicked and apologetic. "Gwen." His hands reach towards her face, and he stops himself from cupping her cheeks.

Her lower lip is wobbling again and then she's messy-crying. He immediately takes her into his arms and strokes her hair and kisses her head, and he rocks her in his arms, and he keeps mumbling "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." into her ear.

She calms herself with a few shuddering sobs, clutching at the back of his shirt. "I'm sorry too." Her voice catches, and she almost starts crying again.

He pulls away slightly to look into her eyes. "What? No. Why are you sorry?"

She stares up at him, bemused, with watery eyes. "I know you're not ready for this, and I know things are moving too fast, and I'm sorry for pushing you into this, and - "

He stops her rant by kissing her lightly. "It is too early. And I'm not ready. But this baby..." One arm comes from around her waist to cup her stomach. "This baby is already so loved and cherished. And yes, I'm scared. But I'll be okay, because I'm doing this with you."

She presses herself close to him again.

"I just... I thought I ruined it for you. You won't be able to go out and fight crime for a while, you won't be able to work for a while, I just didn't want you to think I ruined your life."

She laughs despite herself. The noise sounds hollow and forced. "That's stupid."

"Yeah," he says after a moment's hesitation. "Yeah, it is."

He tugs her impossibly close to him. "Do you want to do this?"

She nods against him. "Of course I do. Do you?"

He looks at her, and he gives her a brilliant, beautiful smile. Her breath hitches. "I wouldn't want anything else in the world."

Telling her family is awkward. Gary does the customary shaking-his-fist-I-can't-believe-you-knocked-up-my-stepdaughter thing and Howie is so much more thrilled than she expected him to be. Her mom is smiling through tears, and Aunt May is hugging her tightly and the twins press their ears to her stomach and say they can hear the child's kicking, even though it's too early to do so.

She looks at everyone's smiling faces, and then she looks at Peter. His smile wavers for a second, as does hers. Despite everything, there are two very important father-figures that aren't present, and the reality of the situation is painful to her.

She misses her dad.

She insists early on in her pregnancy to go and help him with crime-fighting. He's livid with her, but she's already in the car. And as she gets out, he webs her arm to the car to make sure she doesn't leave, and by the time she gets out of her makeshift shackles, he's already done. He is not sorry.

That night, as she tiptoes to where he's sleeping on the couch and cuddles up to him, she feels him wrap an arm around her waist and kiss the shell of her ear. "It's no longer us we have to think about," he murmurs in her ear, "it's also our little champ or princess here we have to take care of."

She's so swept up in the emotional joy of the nicknames he's given her children, and she forgives him instantly.

When she starts showing, she complains she's fat. He isn't paying attention to her, so he says, "whatever you think, honey."

She doesn't talk to him for the next two days.

They figure out they're having a baby boy, and Peter's so ecstatic he talks to her stomach for the rest of the day.

When their baby first kicks, she calls up Peter from home at work and he's there in five minutes.

It's the third time she's seen him cry.

When the unsolicited advice starts coming in, it's Peter who tells them all to back off, in not-so-nice-words.

He refuses to get intimate with her under the fear of hurting the baby. She feels unwanted.

He makes it up to her with flowers and chocolate on eggs (her newest craving) and kisses and cuddles for a whole weekend. She feels thoroughly loved up.

They get married a month before the baby's due.

She thinks she looks like an elephant in her wedding dress, but she looks into Peter's eyes and he's smiling with unshed tears, and she realizes she can never, ever feel anything but beautiful under his gaze, and it's the easiest I do they've ever said in their lives.

A few weeks before her due-date, she sits on the sofa, watching the TV. It's a celebrity gossip channel. Without taking her eyes off the screen, she asks Peter, "Do you regret not marrying Sarah instead? She's become super famous."

She had. She'd married someone famous and got enough plastic surgery to look like a completely different person. Gwen isn't in touch with Dr. Caverly anymore so she doesn't know how he feels about this.

He laughs. "Her nose scares me."

She chastises him, but she's inwardly pleased.

She's snuck off while Peter's at work to a nearby coffee shop. Peter's been so stifling the past few days, refusing to let her go anywhere. She's with MJ, who's always been encouraging of her rebellious streak.

It's when she gets up to leave that she collapses back in the chair, gasping. "MJ... MJ... it's happening..."

MJ stares at her, and Gwen starts to panic. "MJ... it's happening now... it's happening now!"

MJ starts to hyperventilate as well, and then bursts into tears. This somehow makes Gwen snap back.

"You're useless under pressure," Gwen sighs.

She hits the beeper, and Peter's in the coffee shop in record time, and then she's in his arms.

He thinks of lecturing her for being in the coffee shop as they get into the cab, but wisely keeps quiet as she kicks the seat in front of her in agony with another contraction.

It's a painful and stressful labor, but through the haze of pain, she sees Peter - her husband - there, clutching her hand and smoothing the hair out of her forehead, and she looks into his eyes, and he gives her the same look he had when he'd first told her he loved her. This itself gave her enough strength to continue.

A shrill cry pierces the room, and Peter helps her sit up. She suddenly finds herself smiling at the curious, wailing, tiny face in her arms, and she's crying. A few moments later, after the baby's been cleaned up and dealt with, she finds herself cooing the baby once again, looking at the face so similar to Peter's already, and feels a fierce protectiveness enter her veins.

She feels the bed sink next to her as one arm is wrapped around her. Tentatively, Peter's finger reaches out and strokes the slight tuft of brown hair on their child's head. He is in awe.

She deposits the child into Peter's arms, and leans her head on his shoulder.

They stay in silence for a while, before she her head marginally on his shoulder to look at him. "Say hi to baby Ben," she whispers.

He looks at her, startled, and he gives her this smile that says so much, as though his source of happiness was her, as though she did this all by herself. But as she opens her mouth to correct him, that their happiness isn't only her doing, it's their doing, she finds herself falling asleep.

She wakes up to find Peter in the chair next to her bed. He's staring at the baby with unabashed joy and love, slowly rocking him in his arms.

She gazes at her two boys, her family, and she realizes this is her happily ever after.

All is well.

~ End ~

Well. That's the end of that.

Brownie points to whoever can guess which famous series of books the last sentence follows. It's the last sentence in that series as well. But in the series, the sentence is in past tense. Ahem. Super famous.

I don't really have special thanks to give anyone, except for my lovely reviewers. Thank you for sticking by my side this whole time. My first full-length fic, and you guys supported me through it. I love you guys more than words can say.

To those of you who reviewed last chapter, responses are right at the bottom. To the rest of you, lots of love, stay happy, and see you soon!

WinterRain36: Fair point made as usual. Call it PTSD or general stubbornness, but a wig reminds me forcefully of Hannah Montana... although... you are right. She wouldn't look exactly the same. What if the wig flies off? ... I'm rambling, aren't I? Hmm... good question... I don't think MJ continued to be a vigilante. I think she's left it up to Peter and Gwen now. In any case, thank you for your continual support throughout this fic. I always do anticipate your reviews. I hope to see you around!

BorixStonefieldxoxo: Aww, that's such a sweet thing to say! Unfortunately, I do think I have to take a break from this couple, sort out my anger issues with TASM 2, but by no means do I think that is the last I'll be writing of them. So do stay tuned for more! Thank you so much for reviewing, it really made me smile!

MockingJayGwenStacy: How I'll miss your reviews... I'm glad you like this story, it makes me feel very warm and cuddly inside. You might have read from my response to BorixStonefieldxoxo that I don't think my next fic will be Peter and Gwen based. (If you're an Avatar fan, Zutara's what I'll be working on next.) But, I will visit this fandom again, most likely when TASM 3 comes out with MJ, and I have to vent my frustration somewhere. But for now, thank you for being such a constant and loyal reviewer. Your reviews are always so sweet, and I really look forward to them each time. And I'm glad I made you laugh with my sleep-deprived disclaimer! See you soon!

Valia: Welcome to the reviewer's list! I'm glad you like my story, and I'm sorry it had to end! But feel free to continue it or anything, if you so wish. Thank you so much for reviewing!

Adeela Akmal: First off, thanks for your comprehensive review! I'm sorry I updated so fast! I was just too eager :) I'm glad you had time to review for the previous chapter! As per your wish, MJ was not only pregnant in this chapter, but already had her baby. And I made Gwen pregnant to compensate a bit. I love the author-reviewer interaction as well, by the way! Really makes me feel connected. Is this epilogue fluffy enough?

Hmm... I remember which part you're talking about. I agree, protective and agressive Peter is freaking hot...but as two of my lovely reviewers (WinterRain36 and Darktiger09) had pointed out at the time, it was extremely out of character for Peter. But, as a promise to you, when I next write in this fandom, it'll be a dark Peter x Gwen fic (which will probably be rated M...) Keep an eye out for that! And thank you so, so much for your reviews and support, it means a ton to me :) See you soon!