( SMALL DISCLAIMER: mild descriptions of what happened after last chapter cut off. nothing too graphic but brief details of smut. )

Two Hours Later
12:53 A.M.

It took a long while because he felt utterly exhausted, but Peter's eyes slowly opened as he mumbled tiredly. He rubbed his temple as he adjusted to his surroundings and, for a moment, he almost didn't recognize where he was at all and that confused him greatly. He glanced around the bedroom, taking in the light blue curtains, the television on the entertainment center in the middle of the wall closest to the door, and the vanity mirror stacked with makeup palettes.

That was when he finally took notice of the gorgeous woman lying beside him, cuddled close to him. Peter grinned as he reached up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear, wanting to see her face better.

Christina had long since put on one of her nightgowns (it was a rose gold color) and had gotten back into bed with Peter, falling asleep shortly after. Her prosthetic arm was removed and resting on the nightstand behind her, leaving the stump that was once her left arm exposed; the both of them were grateful that the burns had healed beautifully over time, and they were now just a few scars that, while brutal-looking, were reminders of her survival last year. There were no more prescription bottles on her nightstand, all of them having been flushed away, and she was perfectly alive and happy and safe in Peter's arms.

When he had helped her remove the fake arm while undressing her, he had noticed that her eyes were brimming with tears. He knew right away that she was feeling complete insecurity and shame for how her stump looked, and he assured her that it didn't make her any less beautiful before covering the burn scars with kisses.

Peter would never forget the past hour he had spent loving Christina and – hopefully – making her night wonderful. He would never forget how he had combed his fingers through her lovely hair, how utterly gentle he had been with her (she had assured him afterwards that he hadn't hurt her; he had checked over her to make sure, and she was right), how her delicate lips had felt against his skin, how she had eventually taken charge and muttered his name repeatedly until they both reached their high, and how he had whispered her name in her ear right as he got to his peak: Christina...

It was perfect. They had both made sure to take it slow and to use protection, and it would always be an unforgettable night for them.

Peter gently pulled his love closer, his heart melting when she snuggled against him and rested her forehead on his neck. He rubbed her back as lightly as he could so as to not wake her, and he leaned his head against hers. He felt utter peace at the moment, and he knew that nothing could ruin it... absolutely nothing.

He could get used to this, for sure. He already felt so safe and so loved by his sweet girl, and he wanted to make sure that she felt the same way. He always wanted her to be comfortable with anything they did, he constantly made sure she was okay, and he gave her some space whenever she needed it. He just needed her to be happy and cheerful and he would do everything in his power to keep her as happy as can be, no matter the cost.

"My beautiful angel..." he murmured almost silently, placing a tender kiss on Christina's forehead.

The blonde stirred a little as her eyes fluttered open, and she yawned because she was also utterly drained. She almost fell back asleep but she glanced up and saw her boyfriend looking back at her lovingly, which made her face turn red. "Hey..." she mumbled, an adorable little smile on her face.

"Hey..." Peter replied gently, stroking her cheek with an expression of awe in his eyes. She looked so perfect to him, with her elegant blue eyes shimmering in the light of the lamp next to them and her lips curved upward in such a cute way.

It was at that moment that Peter was absolutely certain of his future with her. He wanted to have little moments like these where they could cuddle late at night and just talk or share sweet kisses without interruption, or where they could watch television and make popcorn for movie nights, or where they could make love and fall asleep together afterwards, or where they could comfort the other is they were upset or angry. And he wanted to wake up to see her enchanting smile every single morning.

He wanted her to be his wife, and he was sure that he wanted to marry her.

He just needed to save enough money to buy her a ring.

"Are you alright?" she asked him quietly. "We never really talked about how it was..."

Peter's face turned pink at the question as he lowered his gaze, becoming sheepish. The sight made Christina almost giggle; it utterly surprised her at the concept that a man as good-looking as he was (and he was the most attractive man she knew) could be shy. "Yeah, I'm okay," he told her. "Um... I enjoyed it a lot. I loved it, even..."

Christina grinned now, her face blood red as she placed her right hand on his cheek. "I'm glad you did..." she whispered. "I was hoping I'd be good enough..."

"You were amazing," he assured her, brushing a strand of her hair out of her face. "You were completely perfect."

A single tear subconsciously trickled down Christina's cheek and she closed her eyes. "Thank you..." she murmured. "So were you. You were so perfect..."

"Hey, don't cry, angel," Peter said, wiping the tear away and leaning closer, wanting to know what was wrong. "What's the matter, sweet girl?"

"Nothing..." Christina said, chuckling softly. "I'm just so happy, that's all."

Peter couldn't help but rest his forehead against hers in response, rubbing her shoulder affectionately. "Me too," he replied. "I love you..."

"I love you..." she muttered, her breath hitching in her throat at the close proximity.

Peter soon glanced over at the clock on the nightstand and he sighed sadly, kissing his love's temple. "I have to go..." he whispered, feeling guilty. "I need to get home."

Christina frowned a little bit but she chose to not be upset, completely understanding about the situation. "That's okay," she said. "Um... maybe some other night... you could maybe come back over? We could have a night of watching movies and cuddling... something like that. If you want."

Her boyfriend nodded his head eagerly, smiling gently at the idea. "I'd love that," he replied, slowly getting up from the bed and putting his formal suit back on. He automatically regretted leaving Christina there, but he needed to leave for something very important.

The blonde got up as well and rounded the bed to walk to him, suppressing another yawn. "Yeah, I can buy some snacks and stuff," she said. "And I can pick out a few of the movies and such."

"That sounds great," Peter told her, struggling with his tie.

"Here, let me help," she offered, reaching out to adjust the tie with her singular hand and tightening it just right.

"Thank you..."

"Of course."

The two of them walked out of the bedroom and headed to the front door, holding hands as they did so. They were both sad to be parting for the night, but Christina did have a lot of hope in her heart; hope that, one day, there would be a time where they wouldn't have to separate every night to go to their own homes. Hopefully, they would have a home together someday.

"You stay safe, okay?" she murmured to him, placing a hand on his chest and she could feel his calm and peaceful heartbeat. It was her new favorite song.

"I will," Peter assured her. "I'll call you when I get home, I promise."

Christina then stood on her tip-toes and gave Peter a passionate and loving kiss, reaching up to rest her hand on his shoulder.

When they pulled apart, Peter pulled her into a protective hug, resting his head on top of hers as he rubbed her back and planted kisses in her hair. "I love you so much, Christina..." he said nearly inaudibly.

"I love you more..." she replied with a grin.

"Not possible," Peter chuckled, pecking her on the forehead.

After Peter left, Christina closed the door to the apartment and locked the deadbolt. She then leaned against the door, a dumb grin on her face as her face turned crimson. She even giggled from the shock that what had happened had actually happened; it was nowhere near as scary as she thought it would be, and it was wonderful. She began to shiver as she recalled how it had felt when his hands had caressed every inch of her, how he had started to guide her towards her high before she had stopped him and took control, and how lovely it felt when his lips were on her neck and especially against a particular spot behind her left ear. She was unaware about how amazing it would feel to be kissed there until they had made love, but she craved more of that.

She felt a little lonelier now that Peter was gone for the night, but she would be perfectly fine when she went back to sleep.

What she did know, though, was that she would definitely have a good night's sleep.

_____

Three Hours Later
4:17 A.M.

A sudden knock came from Christina's window and she nearly leapt out of bed from absolute fright; she got sudden flashbacks to the night she was abducted from her bedroom and she was close to pulling her .357 Magnum out of the top drawer of her nightstand and pointing it towards the window. But she stopped when she saw someone familiar clinging to the brick wall and she got up from the mattress.

"Peter?" she muttered, rushing over to the window and sliding it open. "What are you doing here? It's four in the morning!"

Peter climbed through the window and nearly fell onto the floor and, for a moment, Christina incredulously thought that he just wanted to visit her again. It was when she saw that the button-up shirt he was wearing under the suit jacket was torn to shreds and he was covered in grime that she became deeply concerned.

"Oh, my God, what happened to you?!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide with worry as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

"It's a long story..." Peter said, nearly laughing until he saw the expression on his girlfriend's face. "I may or may not have bumped into Harry on the way home..."

Christina sighed heavily as she shook her head furiously. "Are you fucking serious?" she replied. "What did he do this time?"

Peter looked up at her with an expression of what seemed to be guilt in a way, and he hesitated to answer as he took a deep breath. "Um... he... uh... he tried to kill me...." he admitted finally, frowning deeply.

The blonde's face twitched for a moment in response to what he had just told her, and she then made her way to the bedroom door and angrily opened it. "That's it, I'm done with his bullshit!" she yelled. "This is too fucking far, I'm gonna go find him and give him a piece of my mind!"

"No, no, no," Peter said, rushing after her and gently grabbing her shoulders. "We're not gonna do that. I already took care of him... sort of."

"What do you mean 'sort of?'" Christina mildly snapped at him.

"He's... He's in the hospital," he muttered. "I knocked him out at one point... and he wasn't breathing. So I had to take him to the hospital so the doctors could revive him."

Christina froze for a long moment, taking in the words Peter had just told her as surprise built up in her soul. "What...?" she whispered, squinting her eyes out of complete confusion. "You... You killed him?"

"No, he's alive," Peter assured her, his head moving from side to side. "They brought him back; he's breathing, at least. I was defending myself. I made up a story about a hit and run situation, and they bought it..."

Christina softened a bit as her shoulders slumped, lowering her head slightly. "Well... good..." she said. "I personally think you should have left his sorry ass behind, but you're a much better person than I am. You did the right thing. But are you alright? Do you need me to help you or anything?"

Peter glanced to where Harry had slashed him in the stomach and, although the three deep cuts were already healing, they still looked pretty bad. There was blood seeping out of each wound and he hissed each time he moved.

"Oh, Jesus..." Christina whimpered as a frown etched itself into her face. She took a closer wound at the cuts, cringing at the way they looked. "Pete, what did he do to you?"

"I couldn't tell you even if I tried..." he mumbled weakly, an expression of stunned surprise on his own face. "It happened out of nowhere, I didn't even know... I..." He tried to form a new sentence but the words couldn't escape him no matter how much he attempted it. He was still in moderate shock from everything that had taken place over the past hour that he couldn't really speak even if he wanted to.

Christina just brought him into a tight hug, although she was careful of his wounds. She held him close in a protective manner, tears stinging her eyes yet again as her heart broke for him. "It's okay..." she whispered to him, being the one to comfort him as opposed to all of the other times he had comforted her. "Here, let me patch you up, I have a first-aid kit?"

"No, you don't have to," Peter told her, shaking his head again. "I can do it myself, don't worry."

"I wasn't asking..." Christina said with a joking smile on her face, suppressing a laugh. Luckily, Peter chuckled a bit and it brought him out of his depressing thoughts for a minute, which relieved the both of them. "Sit down, alright? I'll be right back."

A few minutes later, she returned to the room with a white first-aid kit in her one hand. She took notice that Peter had already removed his jacket and shirt, the wounds being even clearer to her; she winced as she glanced at them, wondering what the hell Harry could have used to cut him that deeply. He was lucky that his guts hadn't fallen out, if she were being honest.

"You sure you can do this with one arm?" Peter asked with a raised eyebrow, tilting his head out of curiosity.

"I've gotten used to having just one hand," she said in return, shrugging as she opened the kit and removed the bottle of disinfectant. "Besides, I don't really mind. Just stay still, even if it stings."

She took a medical wipe and dabbed the disinfectant on it before carefully placing it against the cuts, apologizing each time Peter groaned from the pain. "If it hurts too bad, tell me to stop," she told him. "I hate hurting you further..."

"It's just the disinfectant, that's all..." he murmured. "It's not you. I've told you before... you could never hurt me, Chris..."

The blonde's face turned pink as she glanced downward, her eyes shutting. "Yeah, I know..." she said. "It's just... I've always been afraid of ever hurting you, you know? I've always been scared of hurting everyone I care about."

Peter glanced up at her, his eyebrows knitted together out of sympathy for her. "Well, you haven't..." he said comfortingly. "You're too sweet to hurt anyone, angel."

"No, I have..."

"What do you mean?"

"I've hurt my mom... I know I've moved on but... there's still times where I think to myself..." She paused, drawing in a shaky breath before continuing. "If I had been home with her that night... maybe I could have saved her and she would have lived."

"Chris, no," Peter muttered, shaking his head.

"And I've hurt Sidney... that night, I hurt her because she could have lost me," she kept going, a tear slipping down her cheek. "And I should have made you stay here with me tonight. Harry wouldn't have almost killed you."

"No, no..." Peter whispered to her, cupping her lovely face in his hands and wiping her tear away. "Don't say that, sweet girl. Tonight wasn't your fault... It was Harry's fault. And, that night... you told me yourself that you didn't even remember doing that to yourself. You didn't know what you were doing... but that was Harry's fault as well, he drove you to your breaking point. And your mom... you didn't know that was going to happen. Neither of us knew. She wouldn't want you to think that, and neither would I. So don't think that..."

Christina nodded her head, leaning into Peter's touch and kissing the palm of his hand lightly. "Alright..." she said. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't apologize," he replied, resting his forehead against hers. "It's okay, I swear."

The blonde slowly closed her eyes as she cupped Peter's cheek, just grateful that he was alive and here with her right now. "Can... Can you stay here tonight?" she asked timidly. "After what you've been through... I need you to be here and safe..."

"I was about to ask you if I could stay," Peter admitted, chuckling lightly and Christina giggled as well. Her laugh was elegant to him and he craved to hear it every day. "Yeah, I'll stay... I don't want to be alone right now..."

She pulled him closer after hearing that, fiercely hugging him to her and sighing with relaxation that he was safe in her embrace. "If anyone shows up to hurt you... I won't let that happen," she promised him. "I swear to you... I'll keep you safe."

"I'll keep you safe, too, sweet girl..." Peter mumbled to her, burying his face in her neck as he longed to not be apart from her for the rest of the night.

After she had patched him up completely, the two of them crawled into Christina's bed but not before she put on a movie for them to fall asleep to. Peter rested his head on her chest and she put her arm around his shoulders as they started to doze off.

All the while, Christina couldn't help but keep thinking about how much she was worried for Peter because of the shit he had just endured thanks to Harry.

Peter, on the other hand, couldn't stop thinking about how utterly safe he felt next to Christina. And he wasn't able to forget about the ring that was tucked away in his pocket that had a small but gorgeous diamond on it that Aunt May had given to him....

A/N: this was a shorter chapter but i figured that would be best!

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

what did you think of the moment when peter and christina woke up and were cuddling together? i think this is the first moment we see them actually snuggling!🥹

did you enjoy the descriptions of what they did after it cut away last chapter? i made sure to leave it more to the imagination!

what about the moment where they were saying goodbye at chris's front door? they're so precious!🥺

what about the entire scene with them later on when he comes back from harry nearly killing him? did you like the indication that christina is way more badass now since she was about to draw her gun at the first sign of trouble? what about when she helped patch up peter's wounds from harry (intentional reference to TASM 1)? did you like how she was comforting him as opposed to him comforting her?

what about the moment when christina was blaming herself for peter getting hurt and him comforting her? it makes me happy that he's always there for her and makes her smile🥰

predictions for the next chapter?

hint: possible arabella and sidney scene...😁

be looking forward to the next chapter!

-denbroughswife