He laid there with her. Both laughing hysterically as her head bounced up and down on his chest between chaotic fits of joy. Her hair shifted across her face and out of her gem like jade green eyes she placed the controller that was in in her hands on the ground, no longer distracted by the video game they were playing. She shifted around and crawled up on his chest.

Her eyes shined briefly like neon as she leaned in closer to his face.

Their lips were mere centimeters apart and he couldn't help but lean up and meeting her lips in a passionate kiss. It was just like he remembered. No sooner had the thought hit his mind he froze. Life and all warmth seemed to leave the room. She broke away and left him there rigid and cold.

"Is something wrong," she spoke but it barley registered.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked up into hers as his shoulders slumped and all energy left his body. "This isn't real…," he said. "You're dead..."

…

Peter's eyes opened quickly adjusting to the darkness as the weight of the real world slowly began to weigh on him. He hated sleeping, not for the rest or the relaxation but for what always happen when he did. He would dream and always of her and as always forget, but then he would have to wake up and the realization of all of it would hit him again and again, reliving her death over and over in an endless cycle. He hated it. Of course the passenger in his body loved it and fed on the misery and sadness making it stronger.

His gaze was drawn to the person next to him. She laid there on her stomach her body slowly moving up and down as she breathed. He looked at the small toned muscles of her bare back and followed it up to the long curtain of dark brown hair that split to either side of her body.

Peter leaned forward his lips softly touching her shoulder.

"Don't start something you can't finish, Peter."

He looked up towards her face, her jade green eyes looking down at him, a small smile on her face.

"well its been a while since I've had such a beautiful woman in my bed, Laura," Peter said leaning up and giving her a deep kiss holding for a couple of seconds before parting. "I missed you."

It had been hard for the two of them, Peter had retired from the team, the symbiote inside of him making it unsafe for others and was now a student at NYU in his third year. Laura, she decided to stay with the team. It allowed her to stay in New York with Peter and get to enjoy moments like this one, sleeping in his bed. She even had her own dresser and toothbrush. The perks of having dated for five years now. Not to mention she always had a spot on the bed right next to him.

Laura shifted her weight supporting herself on her fore arms as she watched Peter. He sat at the edge of the bed his shoulders slumped and his head down and she knew instantly something was wrong. "You OK Peter," Laura asked leaning up to him. She pushed up against his back wrapping her arms around him.

Peter move his hand up gently touching her hand before he spoke. "just bad dreams"

"Its more than that...," Laura said. She could sense it in the way Peter moved, the way he breathed. She knew it was her again. "Its Mary Jane, isn't it?"

Peter's body went rigid.

"Hey its ok"

"No its not," Peter yelled. "Here i am with you and i should be happy and i am but i spend every night dreaming about another girl. Its fucked up. It isn't right. You deserve Better than me."

Laura shifted her weight, throwing peter to the bed. She straddled him between her legs and looked down at him angrily. "I'm the one who gets to decided, Peter," She snarled. "Decide who's good enough for me." Her hand moved up to his face and nudged his chin, gently forcing him look at her. "I chose you and hearing you, Peter Parker, the best person I know say that hes not good enough for me…"

She stopped for a moment the pain in his eyes apparent. "Just because you've had bad things happen to you, doesn't mean you are a bad person."

Peter smiled as he remembered telling Laura exactly that shortly after she had joined the team. He leaned up giving her a deep kiss

Laura squeezed her stomach as she fell to the floor something wasn't right.

"Hey, you OK?" "Laura we've dated for years now and I don't think ever seen you get sick let alone throw up."

"Peter, I think somethings wrong."

…

Peter sat in the waiting room of the Traskellion medical wing. He kept thinking to himself about how this was what his life was always like. First his parents, then his uncle, and then MJ. Just when he thought things were going to be OK, life decided to throw something at him.

That's what life had been with Laura. It wasn't perfect but he blamed himself for that not her but she somehow put up with his self doubt his anxiety, those moments when he felt down worse than anything else. She even had to deal with the symbiote and the times it would take control and he knew those situations were violent but somehow she had never left hm. she even made him smile, laugh. Things that he had thought would have been impossible. It wasn't perfect, but it was as close to perfect as it could get and all because of her.

But now, he risked losing her forever. He felt his arm grow cold and looked down just in time to see dark black cold liquid like skin with sapphire tips extended out like razors. He folded his arm into his jacket and hunched over. He needed to clear his mind. He needed to stop thinking and that's when he felt it, Soft fingers on his shoulder.

"Hey… Parker..."

He looked over and everything froze. He saw the small scar across her cheek and he knew the suit she was wearing hid more and he was responsible for.

Ava gave him a small smile. "It's OK Peter. It wasn't you," she said her eyes meeting his soft cerulean gaze. "So stop staring at it."

"I'm sorry Ava..."

"Stop. I don't need an apology, Peter," Ava said growing frustrated. Maybe this had been a mistake. She came here wanting to make sure he was OK. Truth was she felt guilty. Before Mary Jane had died Peter and her had been dating secretly of course but that changed when Peter lost MJ. It hit him worse than anything she had ever seen, even worse than what she had seemed like when her father died. That had been the first strike the second was the realization that Peter had actually loved Mary Jane more than her. That one took time to get over, too much time and of course by that point Peter had lost himself to the Symbiote. The third strike. This one she didn't remember to well. She spent the worst of it unconscious. Peter couldn't control the symiote and Ava had thought she could talk him down, like he had done for her in the Kraven incident… She was wrong. Peter wasn't there in any capacity and he had hurt her, something she knew he hated himself for.

It hurt to find out that Laura, X23, The loner, had been the one to pull him back from that Despair. Ava was the leader of the team now and she knew she was hard on Laura harder than she was on the others and Maybe it was jealousy. She had something, someone she wanted. It wasn't just Peter, it was the feeling Ava had when she was with Peter, a feeling she was having now.

"I was the one who messed up," she said looking away, his gaze burning her. "You needed me and I wasn't there. But I'm here now… as a friend."

"Yeah… sorry."

"I said stop saying sorry," Ava said, a small scowl forming. Ava knew she was getting angry and needed to cut the tension. "Just because we dated doesn't give you the right to treating me different, remember. Its true then and its true now and you may not be on the team still but I can still find ways to make your life a living hell."

"Any more than it is now?"

They both froze silence hanging in the air until they broke down laughing.

"but seriously Peter. Laura's strong. Whatever this is she'll be OK," Ava said her face cast down. She placed her hand on his. "she's even stronger than me."

"I don't blame you, and I'm definitely not mad at you," Peter said looking back at her. "For leaving"

"I know, I still feel bad for it but maybe." She pulled her hand from his before continuing. "Maybe it was just bad timing. No one controls what happens Peter, even people like us. You ever think there is another world where you and me worked out."

"You were a good woman Ava. Better than I deserved, still are..."

A door opened and Laura walked through with Doctor Connors. Peter rushed up and grabbed her but froze when he saw his hand. It was back to normal. He looked back at the room where Ava was sitting and for the first time her realized how lonely her smile was.

Laura walked out and the first thing she saw was Ava, close to Peter, Her Peter. Laura didn't like it. She assumed it was part of the Howlet line. The animalistic nature of all of it and she knew as best to control herself but she also knew that Ava had feelings for Peter. Laura remembered the first time she had smelt Peter's scent on her back before Mary Jane had died She had been angry for weeks and the two of them bumped heads frequently during missions. This felt similar. Laura new she had a scowl on her face.

"You OK," Peter asked, "Whats the situation doc?"

"Do you want to tell him or should I?"

Laura looked back at the Doc Connors. "I will… I'd just rather not here."

"Whats going on," Peter asked looking between the two.

Doc Conners looked through the files in a small folder he was holding before speaking. "Well as far as her health goes there is nothing wrong."

"Doc that's not what I asked…," Peter said but paused when he felt a small tug on his jacket sleeve. He looked to his side seeing Laura's face, instantly knowing they would talk later. "Never mind..."

…..

Peter and Laura sat at their apartment. Peter by his bed and Laura next to him.

"Are you not happy?"

Peter looked at her stunned. "Of course I'm happy, we're having a kid… Its just we have a lot of things to consider. I'm going to have to drop out of school and get a job."

"no you don't"

"Of course I do," Peter said. "If there is one thing I know, its that I have a responsibility."

"Yes, you are right you have a responsibility... to me and our child but its to finish your schooling," Laura said, "can you honestly tell me that you could take care of the both of us if you drop out. You have to finish and provide a better life end of story."

"Laura, Its going to take me two more years and that's if i don't go for my doctorates. What are we supposed to do? Tuition barely pays for this apartment and it isn't exactly a place for a toddler."

Laura thought for a moment. She had joined shield and its hero team not for the minute amount of money but so she could be close to Peter. Now was different the board had changed and now she had to weigh the options and make a choice. "Look I can quit the team and move back into Professor Xavier's school till you are done," Laura said even though she didn't necessarily like the idea of going back to the mansion but remembered one small fact. "Don't forget any kid we have is most likely going to have an active X gene."

"I don't like it. We should be together."

"We will be," Laura said placing her hand in his and squeezing it tightly. "Look I don't exactly have a marketable skill set and our child deserves to have a choice."

"Choice of what?"

Laura had thought about this a lot. Someone like her who was raised to be a weapon. When she was younger all she wanted to do was fight but it was her "Father," Logan who had fought tooth and nail to give her a taste of what a normal life was. At first she hated school but somehow it all snuck up on her. "To be a hero or not. A choice I didn't get to have"

Laura never thought she'd have a child and the idea of putting that child in danger it frightened her.

Peter sat and waited. He brought his fingers up to the bridge of his nose and pinched squinting under the pressure of this decision.

Peter put his arm around her and let out a loud sigh before saying, "Fine but I'm coming to see you every weekend and vacation I get."

Laura couldn't help but smile before pushing him down against the bed and climbing on top of him. "I wouldn't have it any other way," she said looking down at him. They could do this whatever it took. Laura had no doubt in her mind that as long as they were together they could face anything.