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Summary: Peter and Felicia reveal tough moments from their pasts while dealing with recent events.

AN: This takes place immediately following the events of Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do limited series and during Peter and Mary Jane's separation.

Revelations

Arm in arm, Peter Parker and Felicia Hardy strolled through the park. Felicia had recently been wrongfully charged with murder, and although her troubles with the law were not quite over, with Peter and Matt Murdock's help, she knew that there was nothing for her to worry about.

Peter was still nursing the injury that he suffered the night before at the hands of Francis Klum but thanks to Daredevil's friend, the Night Nurse, Peter's wound was healing just fine.

Felicia shuddered to think about what she had barely escaped. She and Peter, in their alter egos of the Black Cat and Spider-Man, had been investigating Francis' brother, Garrison Klum. They had discovered the prominent businessman was involved in the drug-related deaths of several up and coming young stars.

What she hadn't figured on was how Klum had been doing it – giving people overdoses without any visible marks. When Felicia confronted him, alone, she was shocked to discover that Garrison was using his brother Francis to teleport drugs directly into his clients' bloodstreams.

Francis had saved her from Garrison, trying to keep her from the evil he himself had endured at his own brother's hands through the years. When the police had found her, they had accused her of Garrison's death. But Francis had used his teleportation abilities to rescue her from prison.

Remembering all this, she made a decision. "Peter, I think it's time I told you something. Something that happened to me when I was in college…" Felicia began as she continued walking with Peter.

She told Peter that she had met a guy named Ryan. At the time, he seemed like a really nice guy. Before Felicia continued her story, she held onto Peter a little tighter. What she was about to tell him was going to be tough, just like it had been when she told Francis.

Felicia continued, "We were together in his room, fooling around a little bit. I decided that it was time for me to go because I had a philosophy exam the following morning. Ryan had other ideas." She grimaced. "I tried to get him off of me but he just wouldn't."

"Dear God, Felicia. He didn't do what I think he did. Did he?" Peter turned to face Felicia, holding her trembling hands.

"He raped me," she said with some difficulty.

Peter's face contorted in anger. "That son of a… "

"That was exactly how I felt. That bastard violated me in the worst way. He took away my dignity and self-respect," she exclaimed vehemently. "After it happened, I kept everything bottled up inside of me."

"Did you at least report it to the police?"

"No, and I regret it now."

"You mean that son of a bitch got away with he what did to you!" Peter said angrily.

"He didn't completely get away with it." She tried to explain her actions. "You know that I became the Black Cat because of my father, right?"

Peter answered by nodding his head.

"Well, that was only part of the reason. The days following the rape, I began to train. Even though I was very athletic at the time, I knew I could be even better." Her voice grew in intensity as she went on. "I wanted to get the bastard who raped me and nothing was going to stand in my way."

"You wanted to kill him, didn't you?" Peter asked.

"That's what I wanted to do, but that decision got taken out of my hands. The day I was going to carry out my justice, I heard Ryan was involved in a car accident. He and his friends all died as a result. I felt angry because I wasn't able to exact justice, but at the same time… I was relieved that I didn't have to kill him."

"I can relate to that, Felicia," he assured her. "And I'm glad you didn't go through with it. Once you cross that line, there's no going back." His face darkened as he continued. "On a few occasions, I have come very close to killing someone."

"I take it you're referring to Norman Osborn."

"Yeah, there have been a few times that I have come close to killing that bastard especially when I let my anger get the best of me. But fortunately, I have either been able to control myself or someone has talked me out of it."

The two friends remained silent for a moment as they approached a park bench to take a break from their walking.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you Peter," Felicia said.

"What's that?" Peter replied.

"Why did you pound the crap out of Francis like that?"

Peter didn't answer Felicia's question right away, which didn't go unnoticed. Sitting next to him, Felicia took Peter's hand in both of hers to give him some comfort.

"I think it was where the two of you were… more than what it looked like was happening… that set me off."

"How so?"

"Seeing you on the George Washington Bridge brought back some painful memories."

Felicia gave Peter a quizzical look and said, "I'm not following you, Peter."

Peter gathered up his courage. This time it was his turn to share a painful memory. "My first love was Gwen Stacy. We met when I first started at ESU. Over time we became very close and were inseparable. At the time, I thought that we would spend the rest of our lives together… but a couple of events put a damper on that." He took a deep breath before continuing. "The first was the death of her father, Captain George Stacy. He was a great guy and an even better cop. During a battle with Doc Ock, some debris from the top of a building that we were fighting on fell to the street below. As tangled as I was with Ock, I couldn't stop it. A young boy was in the way – luckily, the good Captain was able to get the boy out of harm's way. But Captain Stacy wasn't so lucky." The memory of the tragedy still cut him to the core. "I was finally able to make it to him and cleared away the debris that he was trapped in. I raced up the side of the building, carrying him in my arms – he needed immediate attention – but he didn't want it. He knew that he didn't have much time left. Captain Stacy told me that he knew that I was Spider-Man and to take care of his daughter. That was the last thing he said to me."

Peter stopped talking for a bit to compose himself, especially since there was more to tell. Felicia consoled Peter, not with words, but by taking his hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Gwen blamed Spider-Man for her father's death," Peter continued. "Needless to say, that put a wedge between us."

"Did she know about your alter ego?" Felicia asked curiously.

"No. I never had the chance to tell her even if I wanted to. Gwen got caught in the middle between Norman Osborn and me. As the Green Goblin, he used Gwen to get to me by kidnapping her and taking her to the George Washington Bridge to lure me there. During the struggle, Gwen was pushed off the bridge and my only reaction was to save her. I was able to use my webbing to catch her before she hit the water below... Her body couldn't take the shock of stopping abruptly. She died, and I was only trying to save her." His closed his eyes tightly to clear the sudden hot tears there.

"When Gwen died, a part of me died, too. But I had a good group of family and friends to help me through the grieving process. Finally I was able to get back to living a normal life… well, as normal a life as a person can have with the proportionate speed, strength and agility of a spider. Osborn has always been that one person that could drive me to kill – but so far I've never crossed that line. I hope that I never do."

Peter then let out a breath. He felt good that he was able to show Felicia that she wasn't the only one who had come very close to killing.

"You know, Pete we're two of a kind. We've both had to deal with terrible things in our lives but we've been able to overcome them," Felicia said.

"That's true. We've been lucky to have people around us who didn't let those things to keep us down for very long," agreed Peter.

"To tell you the truth, I never really had anyone. All I had was myself."

"Not anymore." He reassured her by putting his arm around her.

"Thanks, Peter. After the rape, I found it very hard to trust people, particularly men. Over time, I was finally able to trust again, but I wasn't able to trust a man until I met one very interesting guy," Felicia said, turning to face Peter.

"Who?" Peter asked, the corners of his mouth turning up.

"You."

"Me?" he cried in mock-astonishment.

"Yes, you," Felicia replied, playfully swatting Peter in the stomach.

"Hey! I guess I deserved that. So, what did you find in me that helped you trust men again? Was it my charm, my animal magnetism or my rugged good looks?" As he said it, Peter struck a manly pose while puffing out his chest.

For his effort, Peter got slapped upside the head.

"Parker, you really do think a lot of yourself, don't you?" Felicia asked.

Peter replied, rubbing his head, "It was just a thought."

She smiled, but her tone turned serious again. "To tell you the truth, I don't really know what you did. Maybe it was a combination of things, I just don't know. It probably boils down to this. I have always respected you as Spider-Man. And the fact that you trusted me with your identity has always meant a lot to me."

"Wow, Felicia. That was really deep."

"Well, it's true. There is a brain underneath all of this beauty you know."

Peter was about to come up with one of his patented one-liners, when Felicia held up her hand to stop him.

"Don't say a word, Parker," Felicia said knowing full well what he could say.

"How do you know what I was going to say?" Peter asked.

"Because I know you."

"Good point," Peter replied with a wink.

"Thanks for listening to me, Peter. I'm really glad I was finally able to tell you."

"What are friends for?"

"Let me get back to you on that one," Felicia said teasingly.

"Now look at who's crackin' wise."

"I couldn't help myself. All that time being around you must have rubbed off on me," Felicia said with a laugh.

Peter joined in with some laughter of his own. "This has been nice, Felicia. Do you want to go out for a swing tonight, for old time's sake?"

It didn't take her that long to make up her mind, "Sure, that sounds like fun. You don't think that it's a bad idea, with the charges against me, do you?"

"I don't think so. Let's go get a coffee. Then you can contact your attorney to see what he thinks about you going out as the Black Cat."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

Excerpt from Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do issue 6.

AN: A special thanks goes out to htbthomas and Jenn1 for their help in putting this together. Please review, but no flames.