AN: Hey everyone. This next chapter is short. None of my stories are ever complete without falling action. I wanted to keep this one short and sweet though. Something to wet everyone's appetite for the next arc. Thanks to Akira-Hayama, CRUDEN, JohnShawn, ShadowKnight, NeoTyson, Zurkon, Celgres, and the Guest for the reviews last chapter. Good to know people still like this story.

Chapter 8

Peter walked through his front door and tossed the duffle bag that he had left in a locker at the airport on the ground by the door. Fury had instructed them take anything from their real identity with them to Europe. So in a bag sat his phone, wallet, and a change of clothes for a week at the airport. After thirteen hours of flying, and transfers, and bad airplane food, all he wanted to do was take a nap. First Peter turned his phone back on to check his messages, for which there were only a few quick responses.

The apartment was almost empty. some moving boxes with various household items were spaced out in the rooms that held the content of those rooms. All that really remained was the TV, the bed, the couch, some dishes on the kitchen sink, and some grooming products in the bathroom. He had effectively moved out, and in two more weeks, he would be closing the door on this part of his life with a bachelor pad. If he was really serious with himself though, he had left that a few months back when he started to move in with Felicia. But the extra work space had been nice for working on his projects. He got the feeling that Felicia didn't care for his...convoluted approach to the scientific process. But he was too tired to be serious with himself, so we walked over to the couch, and flopped over the armrest. Twelve seconds later, he was snoring into the throw pillow.

An unknown amount of time later peter woke to the buzz and the bing of the notification alert on his phone. Peter pulled his head up and propped his self on one elbow. As he waited for his eyes to adjust to the light, he fumbled around with one hand wiping the drool from his mouth, and used the other to try to find his phone.

A few moments of blindly padding around and he eventually found his phone. Peter opened up his messages. There was only one new message, and it was from Felicia. It was simple: 'I need you'. Peter set down the phone and rubbed his eyes again.

There was a lot room for interpretation in that one sentence. Could be she needed him to do something like move a piece of furniture. Could be she needed him to fix a piece of equipment. Maybe she needed the internet fixed. Maybe she wanted him for something…intimate. Peter placed his head on the pillow again. No need to overthink it. But maybe he can in another 15 minutes…and a cup of coffee…maybe two.

Peter rode up the elevator to Felicia's penthouse. The soft music, brass fixtures, and soft yellow light really made the entire ride up relaxing. Maybe if they put up a photo of a white sandy beach along the sea and handed out umbrella drinks, it could be a vacation destination. Too bad the slight worry about Felicia's suspicious text was preventing him from enjoying the trip up.

The bell dinged and the doors slid open. The light inside of Felicia's apartment was dim, due to a combination of the sunset outside and the closed linen blinds. The entire west side of the apart was set in a red filter that was equal parts warm and sinister. Peter walked into the space confidently, but with slowly.

"Felicia…" he called out.

Peter walk into the main sitting area. There he found his girlfriend. Felicia was dressed in a pair of black sweat pants and a black tank top. She had her chin and her legs tucked into her chest while clutching a white pillow like a giant teddy bear. Peter walked over, sat down next to her, and moved placed his arm around her. Felicia just leaned over into his chest. The two just sat there for several minutes.

"Felicia…" Peter said softly. He wanted to leave the next few moments open just for her.

Felicia just sat there. The look on her face was somewhat empty, as though her mind was either deep in her head, or somewhere very far away. She had said that she needed him, and he now needed to get her to open up about what.

"Felicia…whatever is going on…I'm here." Peter said lovingly.

Felicia turned to face him. Her eyes were wet as though she had been crying before he got there. Then she pointed to a scrap of paper that was on the coffee table in front of them.

Peter pull his arm off her shoulders and leaned forward to pick up the scratch paper. The paper was plain white ripped from the corner of the page. The writing on it was neat, and consisted of three words: John Mackey-Chicago.

"This was in my things when I picked them up from the airport. I didn't put it there." Felicia explained.

Peter checked the backside of the paper really quick before turning it back over and putting it on the coffee table again. "Looks like Fury delivered on his promise." He said.

Felicia leaned back into his chest again. "I've wanted to know for so long. What happened to him. He just disappeared from the explosion at Kingpins lair. But now, talking to him, I don't know. Maybe he's staying away for a reason? Maybe this is a useless lead? Fury sending me down a path to make it look like he kept his side of the deal?"

"Felicia!" Peter said sternly.

Felicia looked as him.

"All of these are just hypotheses." He said. "We won't know until we track this lead down. Then if it's real, we can answer those questions. If it's not, then some of those other questions are answered as well." He explained calmly.

Felicia just looked as him some more.

"Besides, looking for a guy named John Mackey, and Irish name like that in a city with the highest population of Irish-Americans outside of the New England area? Gonna take a while to narrow down if it's even real if he's as good as you said. It's just a start point. You have plenty of time to get ready." Peter said comfortingly.

Felicia smiled as she closed her eyes. She let go of the pillow and held started to hold onto him. "Your right. Okay. I'll start looking tomorrow."

"We'll start tomorrow. I'll work it from my end, you work it from yours?"

"Sound like a plan." And Felicia kissed him.

AN: If anyone wants or needs a quick review or reminder of what i have written about Felicia's father, as few lines Arc 2, Chapter 10 is all i have written about him thus far. Can't wait to do the next Arc. The creative juices are flowing again. Feels good.

Edit: Gnool (one of the reviewers) caught made a good catch earlier. He stated that he was confused and he thought that Peter and Felicia had moved in together. He is correct. In my mind, this takes place at the end of Peter's lease on his own apartment. But I did a really bad job of showing that. Just added a few more lines to illustrate it properly. Thank you Gnool for keeping me on my top of my game.