"PETER, PETER CAN YOU HEAR ME?" Kaelyn asked through the phone as she hid in her hallway closet with her ear pressed against the door. There was a man in her living room conversing with her parents so naturally, she was eavesdropping. Not to mention, fucking terrified.

"Kaelyn, what's going on?" Peter sounded worried through the phone, understandably so. "Why do you sound so muffled?"

Kaelyn pushed a coat out of the way so she could speak, "Because I'm hiding in a closet, why else? Listen, my parents are up to something."

"What makes you think that?" Peter asked, beginning to sound just as shaky as her.

"Because when the man showed up, he mentioned that he was a representative of Adrian Toomes. You know, the guy we put away a year ago, my best friend's ex-girlfriend's dad, bitch that tried to kill us. That one," she over-explained in a sarcastic tone, although now probably wasn't the time for such a thing. However, she would rather be sarcastic than let Peter on as to how fearful she truly was.

"Kae, you gotta get out of there," Peter instructed, but she wasn't going to listen which they both already knew.

She lowered her voice to a whisper in an attempt to hear the men better. Just barely she could hear them discussing plans. "Everyone is looking to my parents as the new leaders of this... organized crime shit or whatever you wanna call it. They have a new plan to get supplies to carry out their weapons building. Peter, I don't, I don't want it to be true. My parents can't be a part of this, they can't."

"Hey, hey, it's okay. Listen to me, Kae, you're going to be okay. Is there any way you can get out of the closet and into your room or something?"

"Not without them seeing me," was the disappointing answer as she looked through the slated closet door. Of course, it sat just before the hallway began meaning anyone in the living room would clearly see her exiting if she even made the attempt. God, she wished she was better at hiding. Goosebumps coated her skin and the hairs on the back of her neck and were raised. Her bones were petrified in their place and her pumping blood was prominent in her ears. "Peter, tell me this isn't happening, please. I don't, I don't want to believe they're the bad guys. Please."

Peter was silent, but that in itself said everything she needed to know. After a moment, with a breathy sigh, he spoke, "It's going to be okay, Kae, I promise. Just get out of there as soon as you can."

She gulped, watching as the man began packing up his files and briefcase. Only a few more moments now, "Okay, okay. Deep breathes, deep breathes."

"Are you telling me or yourself?"

"Who do you think?" she scoffed, trying her best to take deep breaths but not be too loud while doing so. After a minute or so, the man shook hands with her parents and left the apartment. Finally, she was in the clear. Now, she just had to wait until her parents cleared to the kitchen or to their room. Breathing a sigh of relief, she relaxed. "Okay, he's gone. I'm gonna hang up and I'll call you back when I'm no longer stuck in a closet."

"Okay, I love you, please stay safe. I might stop by in a few to check in, okay?" Peter suggested gently, the worry still prominent in his soft voice.

Kaelyn sighed, "Of course, I'll see you then. I love you, Peter."

As soon as she hung up, she was screwed. Her mother looked directly into the blinded closet doors and announced, "You can come out now, Kaelyn."

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she ever so slowly opened the closet door. Stepping out with her head down as if eye contact could kill. In her mother's case, it likely could. They both gave her disappointed gazes as she slowly but surely raised her head to meet their eyes. If she dared disrespect them again after being caught already, they would have her head. Her mind flashed back to when she was young and had just been busted for something innocent like stealing a cookie from the cookie jar.

"What were you doing hiding like that, dear?" her mother asked, looking down at her daughter. There was a glimmer of something in her eye, something dark and dangerous. The gentle gaze of the woman that Kaelyn remembered from childhood was gone.

"Who was that man?" Kaelyn gulped, "Why was he speaking of Adrian Toomes? That man is a criminal and a danger to society. He needs to stay locked up."

"You don't know anything about Adrian Toomes," her father shook his head and chuckled at the girl. Something in the way they spoke to her set her aflame. She was not the nine-year-old they abandoned, but they were treating her as such.

Drawing in a deep, painstaking breath, she thought carefully as to what her next words were going to be. Finally, she looked at her father dead in the eye and said, "I know Adrian Toomes is responsible for God knows how many alien weapons finding their way around New York. I know he is responsible for threatening not only my boyfriend but your daughter as well with a gun. I know he tried to kill my boyfriend, I know he tried to rob one of the richest men in the world and I know his crimes are responsible for breaking Beth's heart which, although not the worst thing he's done but is pretty damn bad. I know he is the reason you guys fled from your family like cowards. He is the reason you cowards left your sixteen-year-old son to raise his sister while he had barely lived any life of his own. Adrian Toomes is a devil in disguise and you two are just wolves in sheep's clothing. Stop treating me as if I am the child you abandoned because I am far from it. I was utterly foolish to think things could be good again, that you two could fit right back into my life like you never left. As far as I am aware, my parents are dead. Tell me what business you have with Adrian Toomes or I will turn you two in to S.H.I.E.L.D or some shit. Do you understand?"

Her mother stepped back and crossed her arms meanwhile a small smirk ghosted her father's lips. A beat of silence passed before he knelt down so he was looking up at Kaelyn as though he were attempting to speak to a child, "My darling Kaelyn, how you've grown. Listen to me very carefully. Everything your mother and I did these past seven years was to protect you and your brother. Yes, our methods could have been better, but removing us from the picture completely was the only way to make sure you and Caden could truly be safe from everything. Trust me, my dear, we're still your parents and we love you very much."

A small tear slipped quietly down Kaelyn's cheek as she searched for something in her father's eyes that would give away the lie he was spinning. Shaking her head, she wiped it away. "My parents are dead. I'm going to Peter's. I'll be home when I'm home."

Pulling herself free of her father's grip, she grabbed her keys and slipped on the closest pair of shoes which belonged to her by the doorway. Unfortunately, the new apartment building's roof access wasn't as free range as the old one, but Peter had swiped the keys from the front desk and made a copy so she could still up and see the stars. He knew that made her feel more at home than anything else could. It also came in handy when she needed a quick getaway. The boy was already waiting on the rooftop when she got there.

"Oh, my God, Kaelyn, I was so worried. You weren't answering any of my texts and I started freaking out," Peter exclaimed as he pulled the girl into a hug. "What's going on? What happened?"

Kaelyn simply sobbed into his arms, "I don't know who those people are, but they are not my parents. I can't, I can't. I need to figure out their involvement with Adrian Toomes and I need to end it. I don't care what I have to do. I am getting those people out of my life for good, Peter."

"Okay, okay, I'll help you, always."

She nodded, "No matter what?"

"No matter what."

this took a long time but i've been super busy whoops. we'll be getting into the infinity war plot fairly soon but i wanted to establish the stuff going on with her family first because there's a lot to catch up on so it may be a few more chapters of this before anything infinity war-wise actually starts! i've decided only the epilogue of this book will cover endgame since peter isnt in endgame a lot and then the third book will start in far from home!