Summary: Peter meets a friend of Gwen's and is surprised at what he finds. Peter/OC. AU.

Author's Note: I don't own anything except Lindsey.

Peter sat in his usual corner in the cafeteria and stared at the semi cold food on his plate waiting for Gwen. She was running late of course, so he wanted to be a proper gentleman and wait. He nervously kept looking at the clock as each second ticked by. He watched as people walked by and laughed at whatever lame jokes were told.

Finally the doors of the cafeteria opened and in walked Gwen looking quite flustered. She searched the crowd for Peter and when she saw him, she broke into a huge smile and ran to him. Peter smiled as she threw her arms around him and kissed him. "I'm so sorry I was late," apologized Gwen as they both went to sit down.

"Is everything okay?" asked Peter as he placed a hand on her back and tried to look at her eyes.

She faced him and nodded, "Everything is fine. I ran into an old friend who I had not seen in years."

Peter's face perked up naturally and he leaned forward, "Who was it?"

Gwen giggled at Peter and smiled as she ruffled his hair. "A girl I went to elementary school with named Lindsey," replied Gwen as she whipped out her phone and started to text someone.

Peter, recently having been bitten by a spider from Oscorpe, had gained super abilities and he used his vision to see what she was texting. She was texting someone named Lindsey and the text read to come to the cafeteria. Gwen shut her phone and put it away and asked, "Would you mind if my friend Lindsey joins us? She's new to the school and I think it would be great if you two met."

Peter grinned and pushed his head against Gwen's forehead. "Of course I would love to meet your friend."

As if on cue, the cafeteria's doors opened and there was a girl standing there awkwardly and seemingly out of place. She had long curly brown hair and piercing green eyes with a t-shirt that was black with a silver wispy design. She nervously looked around trying to figure out where she was.

"Lindsey! Over here!" called Gwen.

Lindsey turned around to find Gwen and when she saw her the look on her face went from terrified to happy. "Hi Gwen," smiled Lindsey as she sat down and placed her books down on the table.

"Meet my boyfriend Peter! Peter this is Lindsey, and Lindsey this is Peter!" introduced Gwen.

Lindsey's eyes twinkled as she smiled and extended her hand to shake Peter's. "It's nice to meet you."

Peter nodded and replied, "Likewise! Gwen told me you guys were friends in elementary school."

"We were indeed," beamed Lindsey, "We were the very best of friends. Almost like sisters. We did everything together."

Gwen leaned into Peter as she laughed, "Remember the day we got our ears pierced and you were so scared? And it took me fifteen minutes to convince you to actually go through with it."

Lindsey giggled as she pulled back her ears to show that she had four piercings in each ear. "Oh my goodness!" gasped Gwen leaning forward from Peter as she looked over Lindsey's ear. Peter also wanted to see her piercings and he leaned forward as well. "Did they hurt?" asked Peter as he rubbed the back of his neck thinking back to the spider bite.

Lindsey took a moment and thought about her answer. "Well, the first two piercings didn't hurt at all…the way I look at it is the more piercings you get on your ear and the higher you go the more sensitive the tissue gets. The fourth piercing hurt the most."

"So what happened after elementary school?" asked Peter curiously, "Obviously something happened."

Lindsey closed her eyes for a moment and reflected back to the past. She began to lose herself in her thoughts. "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," Peter said.

"No, it's fine. I was just thinking that was all. After elementary school, my mother and father spilt up and got a divorce. My father stayed here, and I left to go with my mother to California. It was very difficult without a dad and living with my mom was not easy. She became bitter and cold and angry. She would say nasty things about my father and how he loved his career over her. His career became his wife and she was the mistress. When we moved there was absolutely no contact between myself and my father," explained Lindsey beginning to tear up, "About three month ago, my mother tragically passed away in a car accident. She was speeding and a kid ran into the road. She swerved so she would not hit him."

"Oh my god," Gwen gasped as she grabbed Peter's hand and then Lindsey's.

Lindsey wiped away a few tears with her sleeve and continued, "Right before my mother's funeral, my neighbor handed me a case filled with letters from my father. He had tried to contact me for years, but my mother kept them hidden so I would never find out about it. She had asked our neighbor to hide them in their house until she felt she was ready for me to find out about my father."

Peter closed his eyes and felt Lindsey's pain. He knew what it was like to have a missing parent and have secrets kept about them. "I know how you feel," Peter whispered staring into Lindsey's green eyes, "I don't know what happened to my parents. They disappeared when I was a child and I live with my aunt and uncle."

Lindsey's eyes began to mist as Peter told her, "You are not alone."

"So after you got the letters…what happened?" asked Gwen softly.

Lindsey wiped her eyes and then fumbled with her hands. "I read through every letter, I didn't sleep for days as I poured through each one. Years and years were lost and regained as I continued to read. I felt angry and sad at my mother for denying him into my life and I was hurting. There was nothing I could do because she was gone. I don't understand why she did what she did. I guess maybe she was trying to protect me, but I got hurt."

Gwen and Peter looked at each other as Lindsey sighed to herself. "I knew that after my mother had passed, I was going to need to contact my father. I was unable to care for myself and I needed someone to look after me. So with all the money I inherited from my mother, I bought myself a plane ticket, packed all of my stuff, and came to find my father. "

"Did you find him?"

Lindsey nodded and whispered, "It wasn't easy though! I went to a payphone and got a phonebook and looked him up. When he answered the phone, my heart dropped and I was speechless. I didn't know what to say or how to phrase it. After a few moments of silence I finally managed to choke the words out "Dad, it's me". He immediately got into his car and he came and got me."

Gwen smiled as did Peter and they nodded as Lindsey finished, "The reunion between my father and I, I will never forget it. I never cried so hard in my life. I told my father everything that happened and how my mother kept the letters a secret for years. Unbeknownst to be, my mom wrote him a letter telling him what she had done, but my father never gave up."

"Your father sounds amazing," Peter grinned.

"I would say so myself," grinned Gwen, "You'll never guess who her father is!"

Peter rolled his eyes as looked at Lindsey. "Who is your father?"

Lindsey's eyes lit up as she replied, "My father is Doctor Conners."

Peter's face went white.