November 29th, 2002
1:42 A.M.

Christina was awake much later than usual as she tossed and turned in her bed, her eyes wide awake as she sighed heavily. Her fingers fiddled with the bedsheet that lay beneath her as she struggled to discover a comfortable position to sleep in, too many thoughts intruding her subconscious no matter how hard she tried to wish them away.

She kept on thinking about what had transpired during the Thanksgiving dinner, from the cut being on Peter's arm, to realizing that she had feelings for said person, all the way to the expression that had been residing in Norman's green eyes at the table.

She had never seen an emotion quite like that before and it didn't fail to utterly horrify Christina, and she squeezed her eyes shut to try and rid herself of such a thing. But she failed as she imagined those very same eyes staring into her soul right at that very moment, so she snapped herself out of it.

Norman's eyes had been filled with absolute surprise at first when they landed on the cut on Peter's arm but, over the course of thirty seconds, that surprised expression transformed from one of confusion and shock to one filled with utter rage and just... hate. It was enough to send someone who was looking into those eyes stark raving mad out of terror, and Christina had no idea why he had looked at Peter in that way, since it was something he had never done before. He always looked to him as a second son of some sort, so the utter loathing in his eyes made no freaking sense whatsoever.

This led to Christina thinking about why he could have been gripping that carving knife in a menacing way and why he had suddenly stood up to leave the apartment. The entire situation had left Christina wondering about it very carefully, since she was trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together; this was especially since Norman's behavior was seemingly brand new because he had acted almost entirely normal several months prior when she had last seen him, and he was even friendly despite being somewhat closed off because of his successful business.

It had even grown to the point where the young woman was starting to see Norman as a father that she desperately needed after Michael had taken off and left her and Margaret almost eight years ago now.

Who had been the other woman's name? Ashley? Alexandra?

Allyson, Christina thought to herself and horrible distaste was left on the tip of her tongue.

She could just picture that woman's long black hair as she thought about the bitch that had stolen her father from her and her mother. Sure, it had been Michael's choice to leave them, but why?! Christina had always wondered this, especially since it seemed that her family always got along and that they had always been happy together. She was sure that both her mother's and father's love had still been strong but she figured out quickly that they were just putting up a show for her that way she wouldn't know what was really going on.

Sometimes, the whole world could be one total lie....

Michael hadn't even made a single phone call to see if his daughter was holding up well, which infuriated her the most. It was as if he never cared for her to begin with; after all, if he had cared, he would never have left. That's the way Christina always saw it. She often felt as if her father left because of her... that she was the reason why he didn't give a shit about his family anymore.

But it could have also been because Michael's deluded mind wanted to be with someone much younger... somebody more good-looking than Margaret. It was as if his family didn't even matter to him anymore.

The telephone that sat on the nightstand just a few inches from Christina's face suddenly rang really loudly, making her gasp out of startlement. She then groaned as she rubbed her hand over her eyes out of exhaustion before she tiredly reached for the receiver. She lazily picked it up just as it was about to stop ringing and she placed it against her left ear.

"Hello...?" she mumbled sleepily as she sighed to herself.

"Chris?" came Peter's voice on the other end. "Were you asleep?"

"Oh, hey, Peter," Christina replied as she sat up, tucking a strand of her messy hair behind her left ear. "I was just about to fall asleep so you called just in time." She then glanced at the digital clock on her nightstand and her eyebrows raised in alarm. "It's two in the morning... Why are you calling so late?"

"Uh... Aunt May's in the hospital..." Peter murmured after a bit of hesitation, shakiness in his voice.

"Wait, what?!" the blonde spoke up loudly as she perked up, standing to her feet and the force of that tugging on the untouched part of the telephone because of the cord. "Is she –?"

"She's okay right now," Peter answered quickly, cutting her question off before she could even finish. "But she's in bad shape. She was... attacked."

"Attacked?!" Christina exclaimed as her eyes filled with tears of pure panic. "What the fuck, Peter?! What do you mean she was attacked?!"

"Look, Aunt May's going to be fine," Peter assured her, keeping his voice steady to calm her down. "One of the nurses told me that she's stabilized now. She's just resting. Look, I know you're probably tired right now but –"

"I'm on my way," Christina said almost instantly as she switched on her lamp so that light filled the room. She ignored how the brightness hurt her eyes for a few seconds.

"She's going to be okay, Christina," Peter said in a comforting tone as he took a deep breath on the other end. "I'll see you when you get here."

"Wait, Peter?" Christina mumbled as she instinctively took a step forward, her breathing trembling as she rid the tears from her eyes. "Do they know who did this to her...?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end as Peter struggled to come up with a proper reply.

"It's probably best if you just come here," he said hesitantly in a strained kind of voice.

"Peter..." the blonde said sternly.

Peter sighed.

"May said something about yellow eyes..." he finally answered promptly. "I think she was attacked by the Green Goblin."

Those words stunned Christina beyond belief.

_____

After throwing on a dark purple hoodie and blue jeans, Christina grabbed her things and rushed over to Queens General Hospital in her yellow Volkswagen, despite feeling extremely sleepy. Fortunately for her, the traffic wasn't as bad as it usually was so it seemed as if luck was finally on her side for once. She parked in one of the smaller lots and got out of the car, making sure to lock it with the key before jogging towards the main automatic doors.

She quickly walked up to the front desk and asked for the last name 'Parker' and the kind receptionist guided her down the hallway to her left; she had said that it was the third bedroom on her left. Christina made her way right there, resisting the urge to yawn from the tiredness she felt, and she gently knocked on the door.

She didn't hear anything at first and thought that she maybe could have misheard the directions but, when the door slowly and quietly opened and Christina saw Peter on the other side, she felt assured. She almost instantly stepped forward and threw her arms around him, bringing him into a tight and consoling hug, and he didn't hesitate to return the embrace.

"Thank you for calling..." she whispered to him, tearing up again.

"Of course," Peter replied with a soft sigh, still in distress because of what happened. After a few seconds, he pulled away from the hug and gazed at Christina with a new form of concern in his eyes. "You okay?" he added gently.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Christina answered quickly as she wiped a spare tear away. "Just really tired... Are you okay? You know, considering what's going on...."

"I'll be okay," Peter murmured as he took a deep but trembling breath. "I just... I wasn't there, Chris. I couldn't protect her and she could have died... and I wouldn't have been able to do anything." His own eyes began to brim with a few tears as he sighed, gnawing on his bottom lip as he tried to prevent himself from breaking down into tears of frustration.

Christina frowned as she put a hand on Peter's left shoulder before guiding him over to the two chairs placed on the floor to the right of the bed that a sleeping Aunt May was laying down in. She took the seat furthest away from the nightstand while he took the seat closest to his aunt and he went back to holding her fragile hand.

"It wasn't your fault..." she whispered to him, a look of sympathy in her exhausted eyes as she rubbed Peter's back in a way to keep him comforted. It mostly worked but that didn't prevent the tears from coursing down his face as he cried silently, and that resulted in Christina pulling her best friend into a hug. "I promise that it wasn't your fault..."

"I didn't do anything..." Peter muttered as he sighed with a shuddering breath, wiping his tears away frantically so he could prevent Christina from seeing him cry. But, unfortunately for him, she was able to see the heart wrenching emotion etched into his face and this made her pull him into a comforting hug.

"Don't blame yourself," she replied soothingly as she held him close to her and tried her best to make Peter feel at ease. "I wasn't there and I didn't know it would happen, but I'm not blaming myself. So don't you do that. May wouldn't want you to be thinking that, okay?"

Peter reluctantly nodded as he returned the hug as best as he could, not able to do it properly since one of his hands was encased in May's limp one. He eventually resorted to leaning into Christina's embrace and calming himself down, his feelings for the woman holding him completely abandoned for the time being. All he was focused on was that the person who had attacked his aunt knew who he was and knew that he was Spider-Man, which was something he absolutely could not tell Christina – at least, not yet. He didn't want her to become too worried about his safety, despite her having nothing to worry about if she did find out.

Or did he happen to be wrong...?

Christina and Peter held one another for so long that the both of them slowly grew sleepy and, within an hour – at around three in the morning – they were passed out in the two chairs from emotional exhaustion.

_____

The blonde woke back up in the chair several hours later, her neck killing her from being strained from the way she had slept. She stared up at the clock hanging above the bed where Aunt May rested and she could see the hands of it ticking away ever so slowly; the short hand was a little past the roman numeral of eleven, while the long hand was just about to strike the roman numeral of five.

11:24 A.M.

A yawn broke through her lips as she stretched and stood up from her chair, glancing all around her.

Peter was nowhere to be seen.

Maybe he went back to his place to grab a few things, she thought as she nodded to herself.

Christina decided to occupy her time of being somewhat alone by temporarily leaving the hospital to go to the nearest McDonald's, that way she could fulfill her appetite of a late morning breakfast. But that appetite was hardly there, regardless of how hungry she really was. Her mind was filled with endless questions about the situation that had brought her to the hospital last night and, as she sat in her car after coming back, she couldn't help but try to answer said questions.

When she had first heard Peter inform her about May's attack, Christina didn't want to believe it. Who knows? It could have been a dream, after all. It could have just been a prank that Peter was pulling.

No, he wouldn't joke about that, the blonde thought.

She couldn't tear her bright eyes away from the hospital building that spanned several stories, watching countless civilians walking from their cars to the automatic doorway. She pictured several circumstances of how Aunt May had possibly been attacked by the Green Goblin, and she also thought of many reasons as to why he could have gone after her of all people. The elderly woman had had nothing to do with whatever that creature wanted, which was to probably rule New York City.

It sounded like something straight out of an action movie; it reminded her of a film she had seen in the cinema around four years prior. What was it called again? The Mask of Zorro?

Yes, that was right.

It had been a fun and dramatic action flick and the villain kind of reminded her of the Goblin in a way. But that still didn't answer her question: why had he decided to go after May? Surely, there had to be a reason as to why.

The more Christina thought about it, the more it started to make sense.

She had learned from Jameson a few months ago that Peter was hired as one of the freelance photographers at The Daily Bugle so that he could capture decent pictures of Spider-Man for the front page of each paper. And they were amazing photos as well, in her opinion; she wouldn't have been able to have the talent that her best friend – well, crush – had.

Then again, Peter did mention when they were younger that he wanted to be a photographer when he graduated. Just a little something to make ends meet while looking for a regular minimum wage job throughout college.

About two or three days after the disaster at the World Unity Festival, the Green Goblin had ambushed Jameson in his office, demanding that he know who took the pictures of his arch nemesis. The head of the building, in a rare moment of selflessness, had refused to give up the identity of the hero's photographer.

Maybe that was the reason Aunt May was a target. Peter was an acquaintance of Spider-Man, it seemed. And the monster of Manhattan wasn't the biggest fan of that.

Christina just wasn't aware that she hadn't quite connected every dot just yet.

After leaving once more to go to the local florist that was nearest to the hospital and picking up a bouquet of daisies, the blonde came back and entered May's room again. This time, Peter was there and he had changed into a navy blue long-sleeved shirt so he wouldn't have to wear the same clothes again. Both of their faces lit up when they saw each other, but only from relief that they knew that they were both alright.

"Hey, where did you run off to?" Christina asked him jokingly as she smiled in his direction.

"I made a quick trip back to my place to change and grab some things," Peter answered truthfully, sighing a little with slight tiredness. "I've been back for about an hour now. Where did you go?"

"I went to go get some breakfast and I got some flowers for her," Christina said, gesturing over to the still sleeping May. "Are you sure she'll be okay?"

At this point, Peter had gotten up and had made his way across the room to her as he nodded his head. "The doctor confirmed that she'll be fine," he assured her, putting a comforting hand on Christina's back. "He said that she's been sleeping since we left."

The blonde weakly giggled as she placed the flowers on the small dresser next to May's bed and grabbed her fragile hand. She was subconsciously aware of Peter's hand on her back and the tingling sensation she felt at the touch.

Ignoring how she felt about that, Christina turned to look at Peter with a look of slight concern in her eyes. "Uh, how have you been?" she asked him gently with raised eyebrows. "You know, after all of that chaos the other night...."

"I'm okay," Peter told her with a shrug. "I'm not worried about the chaos anymore. I just felt bad about leaving Aunt May. Have you heard from Mary Jane?"

"Yeah, I called her last night to check on her," the blonde answered with a slight nod. "Turns out... she actually broke up with Harry."

This came as surprising news to Peter, as Harry had not bothered to bring that topic up the night before. Not that he really cared that much about Harry's love life, but he figured that would have been important to be aware of.

"She did?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, slightly surprised but the more he thought about it, the more it made logical sense. "Well... he did yell at her and all that... I don't know."

"It was mutual," Christina assured him. "According to her, they talked about it and... I guess they agreed to just be friends."

That was when the young woman paused and thought about what she would possibly say next as she tilted her head. She wasn't sure if she could admit what was plaguing her mind at the current moment now that she was looking in her crush's direction, and it made her dig her fingernails into her palms harshly. Peter noticed, and was about to ask what was wrong, but Christina stepped away from him. It wasn't to be rude, she just wanted an excuse to pace around the room.

"Speaking of the other night..." she slowly began, eventually deciding to not tell the complete truth as she finally spun around to directly face Peter. "...there was something I realized. You have a mystery girl that you won't talk about... and I think I have a mystery guy in my life..."

"You do?" Peter pondered, his curiosity growing as he walked a little closer to the blonde.

"Yeah, I think I do," Christina was quick to respond, chuckling softly to herself. "Now, before you ask, no. You won't know the guy I'm talking about."

Well, that was a complete fucking lie.

"Ah, I see you're playing my game," Peter replied jokingly as he grinned at Christina. "But it's okay. I understand. If you don't want to tell me who it is, you don't have to tell me."

Christina smiled at him in a grateful manner as she nodded a little, sitting down in one of the cushioned chairs she had pulled up. "Thanks, I appreciate it," she told him. "But... uh... I do have a question to ask you. And no, it's not about your mystery girl."

Peter simply smiled as he sat across from her, his interest in this topic through the roof at this point. "Fire away," he replied, interlocking his fingers as he began to pay attention.

The young woman hesitated to ask the question, worried that she would seem like a complete idiot for even wondering this. "I don't know..." she murmured shyly as a giggle slipped past her lips. "You'll think that I sound ridiculous."

That was Peter leaned a little closer in order to look at Christina with an endearing expression in his eyes. "Trust me..." he gently said to her. "I won't think you're ridiculous."

Christina gulped a little for two reasons; one, the way Peter had said those words to her made her stomach flip because he was so easy on her all the time; two, she felt very reassured and comfortable to ask whatever the hell she was about to ask because she actually could trust him with anything. In fact, she could swear on her life that (besides her mother), Peter was one of the only people that she always went to for advice because she trusted him and felt safe with him.

God, she had it bad for him and she wanted to scold herself for having these feelings.

"Well... and, again, let me know if this is stupid..." she began, the both of them unaware that Aunt May's eyes had barely opened and she was listening to their conversation the entire time. "...if you were to ever meet this guy I've mentioned... what would you say to him? It can be anything, all up to you!"

Peter paused for a moment as he processed this question carefully, not expecting to be as heavy as it was. He tilted his head thoughtfully as he pondered on how to answer it; he wanted it to be precise and correct. "Well, Chris..." he started. "That's quite a loaded question, it's not stupid, but it's kinda difficult to answer."

"I'm sorry," Christina said, a little disappointed in herself.

"No, no, don't be," Peter said with a soft smile, shaking his head lightly. His face then brightened after a few seconds. "Actually, I think I may have my answer."

"Well, I'm all ears," Christina said with an eager grin. "Take your time."

Peter quietly cleared his throat and took a deep breath, looking down as he tried to structure his response carefully. "Uh, if I had the chance to meet this guy – whoever he is – I would tell him... Christina is someone I can't even begin to stop talking about. She's been there for me for so many years, even when she didn't have to be. She could have easily stopped being friends with me, but she chose not to. You see, the thing that makes Christina stand out from others is that... she's incredibly selfless. She often puts others before herself, which is something I admire a lot, and she has the most beautiful heart..."

Christina listened intently to those words and her shoulders sagged at the tone of voice Peter was using; it was as if he had been preparing to say this for a very long time, and she wasn't even aware of it. For a moment, she thought she was dreaming but, the moment Peter's gaze locked onto hers, she knew she wasn't. And she suddenly wished that he would never stop looking at her the way he was right now.

"She's someone that I will never stop worrying about..." Peter continued, his eyes never moving from Christina's. "...and I'll never stop wanting to protect her. She's... She's one of the most important people in my life, and has been since the day I met her. She has the purest soul and she's the sweetest woman I've ever known, and I hope she never changes that. I think my favorite aspect of her is that... she's just herself. She isn't afraid of being herself, and what she is... is a brave, funny, and absolutely extraordinary woman. And I don't ever want to see her be hurt...."

As his last sentence ended, Christina felt a single tear fall down her left cheek and she looked down, trying to blink it away. She ended up having to quickly wipe it off of her face as she smiled, feeling way more timid around Peter than ever. She couldn't help but think about the words he had said; they were the most meaningful words she had ever heard in quite a long time. The only times she would ever hear anything as touching would be when her mother was motivating her for something. But this... this was on a whole other level.

And the way Peter had been looking at her as well....

He had been looking at her as though he loved her deeply....

Maybe he did.

Maybe Christina was the mystery girl he had been talking about.

She really hoped so.

"You... You would say that...?" she asked him carefully, looking back up at Peter with her blue eyes holding shyness in them.

Peter, realizing that he had been looking at Christina for far too long, quickly nodded and glanced away. "Well... something like that," he mumbled, the courage to talk to her truly gone as he sighed to himself. He looked down at his hands in order to avoid the blonde's eyes, feeling absolutely stupid for saying what he said now. He should have just stayed quiet and refused to answer the question, and he was afraid that his best friend would view him as a complete weirdo. Maybe –

But he was suddenly broken out of his thoughts by the feeling of something brushing against his fingers, and he was paying attention again.

A trembling hand slowly wrapped itself around his and squeezed it softly and delicately.

Christina heard Peter's breath hitching as she held his gentle hand in hers, and she looked up at him, noticing that he was staring down at their hands with extreme surprise. She watched as he slowly looked up at her, and he seemed to be mesmerized by the sight of her in front of him; she was smiling sweetly at him and that alone was enough to make his love for her grow exponentially more.

For the first time since he ever realized his feelings for her, Peter Parker slowly began to have hope. Was it possible that Christina returned the same kind of love? The way she was holding his hand, like he could break just from her touch, made his heart start galloping madly against his ribcage. He had sudden flashbacks to when he was in his Spider-Man suit in that rainy alley and the blonde had kissed him; just remembering how perfect his first kiss with her was made him instinctively glance down at her parted lips.

If only he could carefully pull Christina from her chair and over to him and confess how much he truly admired her... if only he could admit that he had loved her since he was five... if only he could gather the bravery to claim her lips with his... if only he could kiss the girl that he dreamed of spending his life with....

Christina's face was a blood red color as she blushed furiously, knowing that Peter was looking down at her lips. In response, she subtly did the same, feeling incredibly sheepish as she did so.

Peter, noticing this right away, lit up a little bit as he tenderly grasped Christina's other hand. Once he had her attention, he shifted in his chair as he slowly started to lean in.

The blonde gasped quietly when she saw that Peter was moving closer to her. Was he really about to kiss her? And was she willing to let him and return said kiss?

Of course she was.

She wanted to.

So she also began to lean towards Peter, a nervous smile on her face as she squeezed his hands in hers. She had no idea that the young man in front of her wanted more than anything to cup her face in his hands and show her how much affection he had for her.

But, just as they were inches apart, they both heard the sound of the door to the room they were in slowly opening along with a soft knocking on the wood.

Christina and Peter sprung away from each other, trying their best to look as though there was absolutely nothing happening. But, still, their hands remained connected, refusing to pry themselves away.

Harry stood in the doorway as he stared in their direction with what seemed to be mild shock written all over his face.

"Hey," Peter spoke up awkwardly, and Christina ducked her head down with pure shyness.

She knew that she and Peter would have some explaining to do.

But, little did she know, that would be the least of her worries....

A/N: i hope you guys like the scene edit above!

i'm sorry that this chapter was shorter than the last few, but i felt as though an extremely long chapter would be way too much. i hope that's okay with you all.

what did you think about this chapter? was the crucial moment between christina and peter well done? i tried to make it as different from the movie as i could!

predictions for the next chapter?

be prepared for shit to go down very soon... and prepare to hate me... i will not say why!

be looking forward to the next chapter!

-denbroughswife