( TW: small mention of s*xual ass*ult )

( DISCLAIMER: this chapter contains some social commentary that you may recognize a part of the way through. also, child christina and peter's faceclaims are kiernan shipka and judah lewis )

Sixteen Years Ago
October 13th, 1989

The little girl jubilantly skipped her way down one of the long hallways, her long blonde braids bouncing against her shoulders as she did so. A broad grin was on her face as she glanced around at the displays on the walls, spotting a few trophies for a girls' soccer team. She thought about potentially trying out for said team in a year or so; she would need to ask her mother about that in the future.

She pictured how it would be to wear a soccer jersey and run around a small field, leading her team to victory. It seemed like something that would deeply satisfy her and feel like she was important, at least more important than she wanted to feel because of the unwanted attention she was getting from all of her classmates.

Even at six years old, Christina felt insanely shy because of all of the other children giving her either stares of wonder or scorn. Being the new student at Midtown Elementary School was something that she had to prepare herself for, especially since kids in New York were a stark contrast from the ones in Missouri.

The only thing that would have normally concerned Weston, Missouri kids when it came to new students was getting said students to be their best friend as quickly as possible. After all, the town had been ridiculously small at only eighteen hundred people, so New York was a whole country compared to that. But Queens kids were only two options: extremely kind or outrageously rude. There was rarely any in-between.

Christina mainly stayed to herself because of the rude classmates and was glad to be alone at the very moment. She had been returning from checking out a picture book from the library when the trophy display had caught her eye, and she was momentarily distracted. Her favorite moments were when she was by herself and she was grateful that her teacher had trusted her to go to the library on her own. After all, despite her moments of overconfidence, she was often seen as one of the more mature young kids in the school. She never acted up until she deemed it necessary and never intentionally got herself in trouble.

She just wished that the other children would eventually drop their judgmental and awed stares and go back to minding their business. Maybe then, she could actually search for people that were a bit like her and that she had stuff in common with. Her mother had been persuading her to find other kids like her so that she wouldn't be so lonely all the time, and she had to thank Margaret one day for being so caring.

A small commotion sounded in the young girl's ears as a bunch of students filed out of their classrooms to go to lunch, and she sighed in reluctance. She wanted an extra moment in her little paradise but she knew that Mrs. Prescott would come looking for her soon, so she turned on her heel and began walking towards where the cafeteria was.

Out of nowhere, she spotted one of the young kindergarten boys being shoved to the tiled floor by another boy that was taller than him. Her eyes widened with absolute worry as she jogged over to see what was going on, noticing a large crowd beginning to form around the two of them. Not a single teacher seemed to be around to see what was going on, which made Christina roll her eyes as she approached the scene in front of her.

"Get on up, nerd!" Eugene Thompson shouted at the smaller boy crumpled on the ground, laughing at the tears streaking down his face. He noticed his victim clutching his leg since it had taken a hard hit when he landed on the floor.

Christina immediately recognized the bully's voice and her teeth grit together while she politely excused her way through the students in front of her. "I'm sorry, excuse me..." She gently pushed some of them out of her way, not intending to hurt any of them, as she got closer to the situation unraveling before her.

Once she got to the front, the girl gasped when she saw the boy on the floor who was crying his eyes out. She couldn't hold back from speaking up any longer, so she walked up to the other kid and shoved him roughly to the side.

"Leave him alone, Flash!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, stepping in front of the poor kid with an expression of fury.

Flash regarded the shorter blonde girl with raised eyebrows and surprise. He was more than aware of who she was, since he had noticed all of the other kindergarteners being so obsessed with being her friends and he didn't understand it. Sure, she seemed cool and all but she was just another classmate to him. Now, however, he had a reason to dislike her.

"And who do you think you're talking to, new girl?" he retorted as he stared down at her, tilting his head in confusion. "This is none of your business."

"I think it is," Christina said as she put her hands on her hips. "You can't be like this. Please leave that boy alone!"

Flash just chuckled in response before getting up in her face, although he was shocked when she didn't back down. "You better leave if you know what's good –"

"Eugene Thompson!" came a shrill voice from the other side of the crowd, and the students suddenly scampered towards the wall to get out of Mrs. Prescott's way.

Christina tensed up and feared that she would get in trouble for a long moment but, when the teacher gripped Flash's arm and sternly pulled him away while scolding him, she felt relief that she wouldn't be disciplined for doing the right thing. After hearing Mrs. Prescott say something along the lines of, "You know that you're not supposed to be mean to the other students, Eugene. I've had to go over this repeatedly and it's getting old. You're gonna march yourself to the principal's office right now," she turned to the poor boy that was on the floor behind her.

"Hey..." she murmured, kneeling down to said boy as he looked up at her with tear-filled eyes. "You're alright now, he's in trouble. Is your leg okay?"

Christina was then able to recognize the boy as one from her class; she knew him to be the smartest kid she had met by far and she admired him for being very intelligent for his age. She only wished she could have as much knowledge as he did.

"Y-Yeah, it's fine," the boy mumbled, wiping his tears away as he stood up. "It doesn't hurt anymore. You're... You're in my class, right? Christina Johnson, is it?"

The girl smiled bashfully as her head bobbed up and down. "Yeah, I am," she said in response. "Your name's Peter Parker?"

Unbeknownst to her, the boy felt his face grow warm in happiness that the pretty girl remembered his name and cared that much. "Uh, yeah," he said. "It is."

"Well, Peter," Christina began with a tilt of her head, "it's nice to truly meet you. I'm sorry you had to go through that. Flash shouldn't have been mean like that."

"No, it's okay," Peter muttered in protest, shaking his head as he pushed his glasses further up his nose. "I'm used to it, so it's no big deal."

"I think it's a very big deal, actually," she said. "Nobody should be like that to anyone, especially you. You don't deserve that."

Christina was then baffled by what Peter followed what she had said up with. "I know. Neither do you. Um... Thank you for helping me, really. I'm happy you did."

All she could think to do was smile at that. "Me too. You're welcome, of course. Uh, maybe... W-Would you like to be my friend? That way I can help you more with that."

The grin that appeared afterwards threatened to destroy Peter's face as he nodded excitedly. "Yeah, I'd love to be your friend!" was all he could say.

_____

June 14th, 2005
7:00 P.M.

Christina opened her eyes as the bus went over a speedbump, breaking her concentration before she glanced out the window at all of the buildings that sped by. Her real fingers fiddled with the fabric of her pink dress as her heart continued to hammer against her chest, and she started to breathe through her nose as deeply as she could in order to stay calm.

Despite Peter having told her about the reservation he had made at the French restaurant known as Restaurant Constellation for tonight, she was beyond terrified thanks to what had happened the day before. In fact, she had nearly called him to tell him that she needed to take a rain check and to not go. But, since she actually needed the courage to confront him in person rather than avoiding him, she decided to dress up and go since she already knew it wouldn't go well on her end.

While she figured that this occasion was only a date rather than anything else, she was aware that there was every chance for it to crumble apart in an instant. That's why she remained hopeless in the moment, mainly because she was preparing herself for the ultimate disaster.

The bus lurched to a stop at her destination fifteen minutes later and she instantly stood up and hightailed it onto the sidewalk. The crisp air hit her like a freight train and she shivered from how chilly it actually was.

Although she tried her best to ignore the cold, it was the only thing that could truly distract her at the moment and that relieved her. She slowly walked forward, making sure her legs wouldn't wobble because of the complete horror that was racking her body for now. Her metal arm – which was concealed by a white satin glove – grasped the handle of her purse so tightly that she believed she would crush it but that didn't stop her from continuing onward.

Christina then stepped through the double doors of the restaurant and couldn't prevent the awed smile from seeing the fancy chandeliers and tables and booths. She had never been to a restaurant as nice as this and she used to think she wasn't missing out on anything, but she was aware that she was being proven wrong.

Then she spotted a lot of couples being so lovey-dovey that it was cliche and it made her heart wrench up and threaten to stop beating. But she chose to keep it all together until that moment arrived, wanting to delay it for a little while longer.

She walked up to the reservation check-in and saw a man who seemed to be approaching fifty scanning through the reservation book for a couple in the front of the line. His facial expression and suave-like demeanor reminded her of Marlon Brando in the first Godfather movie; in fact, she could have sworn that he looked almost identical to his character in said film but was more of a modernized version of him.

Once the couple ahead of her had walked off, she timidly looked up at him with a smile.

"Bonsoir, Miss," the man greeted her with a grin in an almost exaggerated accent. "Combien de personnes?"

Christina froze as if she were a deer in headlights as she stared at him almost out of fear. "I apologize, sir, but I don't speak French..." she said as kindly as she could.

"Then what could you possibly be doing in a French restaurant?" he asked her with narrowed eyes.

"Uh..." was all she could mumble.

The man then broke into a fit of chuckles as he shook his head. "I joke, je rigole. You're all right, Miss. Name, please?"

The blonde smiled lightly in response, relieved that he was only kidding. "Um... my boyfriend made a reservation here. I believe it's under the name 'Parker.'"

He lit up after hearing this and the way he did nearly sparked suspicion in Christina, but she chose to ignore it. "Ah, table for two," he confirmed. "Parker. Par ici." He then pointed to the room to the woman's left and she spotted the table he was gesturing to.

Despite tensing up greatly, she turned back to the worker and nodded politely. "Merci," she said before walking into the room. She could faintly hear him reply with, "Vous êtes les bienvenus," as she stepped away.

When she was halfway to the table, she saw Peter lift his head up as if he knew she was already there. She halted all movement for just a moment and she had to battle the urge to spin around and take off running. When he grinned in admiration as he stood up to greet her, she forced a tight smile to stretch across her face.

"Hi," Peter murmured with the most enthusiastic smile he could muster despite it faltering slightly.

"Hi," she replied, her voice threatening to crack, especially when he pulled her into a careful hug and pecked her cheek respectfully.

"You look beautiful, as always," he complimented and Christina caught the fact that his smile didn't quite reach his eyes and that would have broken her heart had the circumstances been different.

She just nodded her head in reply and he backed away and pulled out her chair for her and she sat down. "What's the occasion?" she asked, however, chuckling humorlessly as she watched Peter sit across the table from her.

"This has been planned for a few days now," was all he replied with. "Then again, every day with you is a special occasion."

Christina allowed her head to curtly move up and down, raising her right hand to fiddle with the fancy-looking napkin next to the menu. "Mhm..." she murmured. "Honestly... I don't have much of an appetite tonight, Peter. I hope that's okay."

Peter's jaw tightened briefly but he still smiled at his girlfriend, although it was greatly strained. "That's alright," he said. "I'm pretty sure I understand why. I know you didn't answer my phone call yesterday, so I thought I'd explain what really happened."

"Okay. Talk."

Despite being put in the spotlight – the exact opposite of what he wanted – Peter did the best he could to keep his composure. To his credit, he wasn't doing too bad of a job and it was a lot easier than how it could have been had he been younger. "The only thing I was meant to do in that celebration was greet the citizens and interview Gwen," he said truthfully. I already know her, since she's my lab partner in Dr. Connors's class. Nothing more than that. I'm not even friends with her. I was only supposed to talk to her but –" His eyes then unlocked their gaze from Christina and were suddenly looking behind her and, although he mustered a kind smile, the blonde could tell that he had become absolutely rigid.

"Hi, Pete..." came a female voice from behind Christina, followed by a shy little giggle.

"Oh, hi..." Peter muttered, even though he was silently panicking, knowing this wouldn't make his side of the story any more plausible.

Christina watched as a woman that looked almost identical to her (except for her face not resembling her at all) circled around her and walked straight to Peter. Her platinum blonde hair just barely extended past her shoulders and the light eyeshadow around her emerald green eyes pronounced them perfectly. She had to admit that she was a gorgeous young woman and the slim black dress she wore didn't make matters any greater.

"Hi," the woman said yet again with a huge grin enhancing her features even more. "My parents and I were just having dinner here and we were about to leave when I spotted you." Then she glanced in Christina's direction, almost as if she were just now acknowledging her presence. "Hello," she added more politely, extending her hand. "I'm Gwen Stacy."

Christina reluctantly reached out and firmly shook her hand, resisting the desire to yank her across the table and beat the fuck out of her.

"This is Christina Johnson," Peter introduced to Gwen. "My girlfriend."

Of course she's at the same damn restaurant as we are, Christina thought sarcastically as she let Gwen's hand go. What are the fucking odds?

"Oh," Gwen muttered as she smiled even more. "It's so nice to finally meet you. Pete talks about you all the time." She then placed a hand on Peter's shoulder, making him subtly tense up and become immensely uncomfortable.

Luckily, Christina noticed.

"He does?" she asked, trying to add some light and humor in the situation while gritting her teeth.

"Yeah, he's my lab partner in Dr. Connors's class," Gwen pointed out, unaware of how Peter had just mentioned this moments ago. "He's something of a genius, I'd be completely lost without him." Then she perked up a little bit before turning to Peter. "Which reminds me, Pete... if you got a picture of my kiss with Spider-Man, could you bring it to class? I'd really love it. For my portfolio."

Gwen then looked right at Christina, and she looked right back at her. What she didn't notice was that the woman in front of her was seconds from leaping at her and that her hands – both metal and human – were clenched into impossibly tight fists under the table.

But Peter was completely alert of that.

"After all, who gets kissed by Spider-Man, right?" Gwen asked rhetorically, chuckling lightly.

Don't make me rip your throat out, you fucking cunt. "I know... I can't imagine," Christina replied through her teeth, giving her an over-exaggerated grin.

"Well, it was lovely to meet you," said Gwen, her smile wavering slightly out of fear of Christina's almost hostile attitude. "Goodnight, guys. Have a nice dinner."

"Goodnight," Peter gently responded. Thank heavens she's going now.

And Gwen walked away.

Once she was out of earshot, Christina glared furiously at Peter. "You have one minute to explain your side of the story... or I'm gone," she warned, her eyes filled with fire.

Peter nodded quickly. "I was only supposed to speak to Gwen," he began again, "because that's what I was instructed to do."

"But then you let her pull your mask down so you could kiss her," Christina accused, her lips tightening so much that her face was turning beet red out of rage.

"No, I didn't," Peter said, almost in a pleading tone of voice. "That was never supposed to happen. It all happened so quickly –"

"Then let me ask you something," said Christina. "When you kissed that bitch... who exactly was kissing her? Peter or Spider-Man?"

"Neither," Peter said immediately.

Christina scoffed at that. "Stop with that bullshit," she retorted, beginning to raise her voice. "What the fuck do you mean 'neither?!'"

Peter let out a ragged sigh as he closed his eyes out of discomfort. "Because I never even gave her my permission..."

The blonde froze at that, halting all sense of anger; her expression was now one of utter surprise, her eyebrows raised. "What...?" she mumbled.

"I said I never gave Gwen my permission..." Peter finally admitted. "I didn't tell her she was allowed to kiss me. She just yanked my mask down and leaned in... and my mind went blank. It happened way too fast and I just froze... I couldn't push her away and yell at her or protest or say 'No.' I was just in shock..."

Christina searched Peter's face for any trace of a sick and twisted lie... but all she could see was the complete truth. And her eyes filled with tears at what she had just heard. "You mean to tell me... that she assaulted you...?"

Peter visibly grimaced at that word, not hiding his discomfort well at all. Now he was wishing he hadn't had to explain everything to begin with, that the forceful kiss between him and Gwen had never even happened in the first place. If he had fought back against her, Christina wouldn't be so upset and wouldn't be crying and their dinner would have been a peaceful one.

"I'm so sorry, Chris..." Peter barely whispered. "But yeah... she did."

For a moment, Christina's right eye twitched and she suddenly stood up from the table with a forced smile. "Excuse me..." she replied, spinning on her heels and walking briskly for the entrance of the restaurant, the tears in her eyes fading instantly.

Peter's eyebrows raised as he instinctively rose to his feet and followed her wherever she was heading. "Wait, where are you going?" he asked out of puzzlement, subtly gesturing to the man that had set up their table for them to not carry out the original plan.

"She just left, I think I have enough time to catch up to her," Christina simply answered as she pushed her way through the double doors. "Where does she live? I'm just gonna talk to her."

It took a few moments for Peter to come to realize Christina's true intentions and his eyes widened out of pure panic. "No, Chris," he protested, shaking his head. "We're not going to enact violence on someone that's gonna get away with it regardless. Besides, she doesn't even know it was me that she kissed."

Christina whirled around to face him with rage-filled eyes and a disbelieving expression. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't!" she fired back, her eyebrows scrunching together. "Do you really think I'm just gonna stay here and allow her to get away with it?! It doesn't matter that she didn't know it was you. You're still someone that she violated. Now, you either report her to the police or you tell me where she lives so I can go scream at her."

"We both know you might do more than that," Peter replied, crossing his arms as he raised an eyebrow. "Also, the police aren't going to do shit about it even if I do report her."

"What the hell do you mean 'they won't do anything?'"

"I'm telling you that, if I say anything about Gwen, the police won't listen," Peter said in a desperate voice. "They won't care that I'm Spider-Man or that I'm just another person that was violated. In their eyes, it's impossible for a man to be violated in such a way. And God forbid Captain Stacy's daughter do anything that despicable. She would never do such a thing."

Christina's shoulders slowly slumped as she silently confirmed that Peter was actually correct about that. He was right; unfortunately, the police wouldn't do anything about what happened to him because he was a man. God forbid the roles were reversed, everything would have changed as a result. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply, glumly nodding her head. "Yeah... you have a good point. I just wish it wasn't that way," she whispered, wiping a spare tear away.

"Chris... I'm so sorry I let that happen..." Peter murmured, shame written all over his face. "I wish I hadn't gone into shock and let everything –"

Christina placed her right hand on the left side of his face and frowned out of pure sorrow, shaking her head. "No..." she simply said. "Don't do that. You're not to blame for this, so don't apologize. It wasn't your fault."

"But I hurt you."

"No, she hurt you," she corrected with a stern expression, lifting her gloved metal hand to rest on the other side of his face and she wiped his oncoming tears away. "You didn't consent to what she did and she disrespected you... greatly. I wish that I had done something to stop her... to remind her that you have boundaries. Boundaries I always make sure to mind and treat carefully."

"I know..." Peter said as he rested his forehead against hers, placing a hand over one of hers and squeezing it gently. "I'm glad you didn't do anything. Causing a scene wouldn't have helped. But... please... tell me how I can make it up to you..."

"You don't have to, there's no reason to," Christina responded with a subtle shake of her head. "There's nothing to forgive you for because you did nothing wrong, I promise. You're okay, and we're good. I may just need some space because of what I just heard. I need to process it. But just know that I'm not angry with you, really. There's no reason to be."

Peter's head bobbed up and down. "Alright..." He then placed a kiss on her forehead to further prove his apology to be genuine. "Can I call you tomorrow?"

"Of course. I won't mind."

And, after she pecked him on the cheek, Christina turned and walked towards the nearby bus stop to wait for the next one to pick her up. And Peter went his own separate way.

_____

Eleven Hours Later
June 15th, 2005
7:24 A.M.

The ringing telephone on her nightstand struggled to bring Christina out of her slumber and she mumbled tiredly as she grabbed her pillow and placed it over her head to silence the loud noise from her eardrums. "Oh dear..." she groaned restlessly, squeezing her eyes further shut. "Let me sleep..."

Hi, this is Christina. I can't come to the phone right now so please leave a message. Talk as long as you want.

As her answering machine beeped, a new voice took over the speaker.

"Hi, Chris..." came Peter's voice over the machine. "I just called to check up on you. You're probably either asleep or just need some more time to think about what happened last night, and I understand. I guess I just wanted to hear your voice today. Again, I'm sorry... for everything. Uh.... That's all. Feel free to call me back whenever you feel like it."

In a rapid movement, Christina sat up on her bed and snatched the telephone receiver up and held it to her ear. "Hey... Peter..." she whispered sleepily into the phone.

"Oh, you are awake," Peter chuckled out of surprise. "Did I wake you?"

"Kind of, but I don't mind," Christina said before glancing at her alarm clock. "I was about to get up anyway. Look, Pete... How many times am I gonna have to tell you to stop apologizing? There's no reason for you to be sorry for something that happened to you, not because of you."

"I know..." said Peter. "I'm probably being annoying but I just feel terrible and... I don't know. I'm not good at this."

"Yeah, you're really not," Christina said with a giggle. "I'm just kidding. Pete, don't feel terrible about what you could have done. Just focus on what happened to you, don't think about how I feel. For me and for yourself, just do that. That's all I want. I don't want you to apologize every five minutes for something you couldn't control. Alright?"

"I'm trying," Peter muttered. "I don't mean to be annoying..."

"You're not," assured Christina, shaking her head despite being aware that he couldn't see her. "I think I just need another day to get over what you told me. It's nothing against you, it just still upsets me. I'm sure you can understand that."

"Yeah, I do."

"But I appreciate you calling me, Pete..." she murmured. "Really, I do. I wanted to hear your voice as well...."

"I love you, Christina..." Peter whispered, his voice cracking ever so slightly.

"I know," Christina replied. "I love you, too..."

It was the first time she had ever responded like that and she felt a surge of agony in her heart as she hung up the phone, suppressing the tears as best as she could.

Suddenly, a frenzied screaming came from Sidney's room, briefly reminding Christina that her sister was staying over for a few days. The terror in her cries were enough to make the blonde leap to her feet and sprint over to her room despite still recovering from just waking up.

"CHRISTINA! CHRISTINA!" Sidney yelped frantically just as Christina bolted into the room, noticing her sitting up in her bed and drenched with sweat from head to toe.

"Hey, hey, Sid..." she murmured soothingly, sitting down in front of her and grabbing her left shoulder – temporarily forgetting that she didn't have her prosthetic arm on – to try to get her to look her in the eye. "What's the matter, honey? What is it...?"

Sidney seemed to finally get a grip on reality as she locked eyes with her older sister and she sighed with utter relief. She brought her into a fierce hug, nearly crushing her in the process. "I had a nightmare..." she whimpered dejectedly, her brown eyes brimming with tears as she began to weep.

Christina's shoulders sagged as she instantly hugged Sidney back, making sure to hold her protectively. "It's okay..." she whispered comfortingly. "We all have them... But it's okay now. You're awake now." She then pulled back as she examined the younger girl, her eyebrows scrunching together out of worry. "Jesus, kiddo... You're white as a ghost.... And you're sweating up a storm...."

Sidney couldn't bring herself to respond, wishing she had her hearing aid in so that she could hear Christina perfectly. She was still utterly stunned from what had just occurred and she instinctively shivered despite not being cold whatsoever.

"Sidney..." said Christina. "Why don't you tell me... um.... What happened in your nightmare...?"

"I... It was that night again...." the young girl said nearly inaudibly, another tear streaming down her right cheek. "I found you on the floor... just like last year.... Only you were dead this time. You were just gone..."

Agony coursed through Christina like the worst kind of fire imaginable and her heart twisted upon hearing those words. She had recovered so much that she barely even associated herself with who she was a year prior; so, every time she was reminded, she wanted to forget those horrible memories.

She gently hugged Sidney again, being pulled back to the day she had woken up in the hospital after that had happened. She would never forget the look on the girl's face and it would always break her heart.

"Oh, sweetie..." she mumbled in a broken voice. "That didn't happen. I'm here, okay? I'm right here with you, sis. And I'm not going anywhere anytime soon." She then moved Sidney away so she could see her better. "Now, I want you to look at me, Sid."

Sidney peered up at her with tear-filled eyes.

"Listen to me carefully. If you have another dream like this again, all you have to do is call my name, okay? And I won't hesitate to follow your voice. Alright?" After Sidney nodded, Christina chose to smile. "Even if I have to come directly into that shitty nightmare with you..."

This finally brought a smile to Sidney's face and the both of them chuckled before Christina offered to make breakfast in order to make both her and herself feel better.

A/N: so... um... yeah... a lot to unpack there.

ANYWAYS, thoughts on this chapter? did you enjoy it?

what did you think of the surprise flashback to when christina first met peter as a little girl?

what about the entire restaurant scene...? it was so intense to write, to be completely fair. did you like how angry christina became in this scene?

what about the small moment with her and bruce campbell's character (aka the best scene of his in the trilogy)?

so... what did you think of the twist i threw in about the kiss between gwen and peter? now you all know the actual truth: peter did not willingly kiss gwen nor did he want to. instead, it was done against his will. i threw that twist in for two reasons: one, to not make peter as much of dickhead as he was in the actual movie; two, to provide some social commentary. no matter what gender or sexual orientation you are, it is possible for everyone in all categories to be violated like peter was. but sometimes, higher authority don't want to fucking listen and that's just plain wrong and stupid. so, for this chapter, #justiceforpeter

did you like the social commentary and did i do it well?

did you like how christina instantly switched to being furious with peter to wanting to murder gwen for what she did to her boyfriend? i know i did! it gave real sam carpenter from scream 6 energy.

what about their interaction outside the restaurant?

what about the phone call between them the next morning?

and, finally, what about the scene where christina comforts a crying sidney after her horrible nightmare? i think you can guess what the dream was about...☹️

predictions for the next chapter?

be looking forward to the next chapter! you might just get to see christina and peter actually being happy for the first time since all that happened!😁

-denbroughswife