August 15th, 2004
1:32 P.M.

Peter jogged towards the nearest payphone he could find down the street from his apartment and grabbed the receiver, instantly dialing a number that had been ingrained into his memory as he took a deep breath. Once he heard the ringing sound on the other end, he tried to keep his composure together and remained hopeful that he would be forgiven for the night before. Then again, if she had chosen the opposite, he would also be okay with that since he felt like he deserved it.

Around five rings later, the line clicked and he nearly spoke up right away until he heard this:

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

The line then beeped and Peter took a deep breath to begin talking.

She probably had to go to work today, he thought.

"Hi, Chris, it's Peter," he spoke up in a slightly trembling voice. "Uh, listen, I figured I should explain myself about what happened last night... that way you understand."

It was at that moment he knew it would be extremely difficult to actually talk about what had nearly happened to him the night before; he couldn't bring up Spider-Man or the fact that he chased down two scumbag criminals that had been shooting at him. He needed it to sound as realistic as possible so he wouldn't freak Christina the fuck out whenever she eventually listened to the message.

"I was on my way to the show and I was on my bike," he began, sighing heavily. "I had stopped at a florist to get you flowers and... uh... Well, this would be a lot easier if you were actually on the phone...."

Peter cringed inwardly, rolling his eyes to himself and wishing that he could actually see the brunette right now. He didn't want to have to prepare a whole monologue so that he could say it to nothing whatsoever, especially since he had been thinking about what exactly to say the night before. For a brief moment, he had even thought of telling Christina the complete and one hundred percent honest truth: "Oh, by the way, I'm Spider-Man and that's why we can't be together. Have a nice life!"

But he knew that would be unacceptable.

After his webs had briefly failed, Peter had to take the elevator down to the first floor of the building he had been in, and he changed back into his formal suit nearby. A short time later, he found his ruined motorbike and just dragged it all the way back to his apartment; all the while, dozens and dozens of posters of Mary Jane stared back at him and reminded him of the utter guilt he felt from not making it to the play. He knew the redhead had to be pissed at him for disappointing Christina, as it had been her idea for the two of them to attend together.

"You two should come see the play together," she had suggested during their conversation in their respective families' backyards.

"You think she'd be okay with that?" he had asked, genuinely curious.

"Of course she would be! I think she'd love to spend more time with you..." Mary Jane had replied with a knowing grin, nodding her head happily.

"I don't know..." Peter had mumbled. "I don't know why she'd want to spend time with me. I mean... I don't really think she would be happy doing that."

"Think again, Peter...."

And so he had been thinking for the past two days, especially when he had seen the woman's heartbroken expression the previous night. That was the moment that he confirmed that not only had she actually been looking forward to attending the play with him, but that she absolutely fucking liked him back. And that was what hurt him more; knowing that they both shared mutual feelings for one another made it increasingly more difficult for Peter to resist pursuing said emotions.

On one hand, he wanted to find where she was and admit everything to her, including how he had been loving her for over a decade and a half. On the other, he didn't know how she would react to all of that, and would probably inform him that he was saying way too much at once. And he was also risking putting Christina in danger for the rest of her life if he decided to freely love her.

"I just wish I could actually see you so I could tell you the truth..." he mumbled quietly, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You won't have to look very far."

Peter spun around with mild surprise in his eyes, only to be met with the sight of a somewhat irritated Christina standing there. Clad in a light purple t-shirt, a jean jacket, black jeans and heeled boots, the brunette was giving him a small glare that demanded answers to be said to her. This was an expression the adult man knew all too well and it never failed to send the tiniest amount of fear through him.

He knew one thing for sure: Christina Johnson could be an absolute sweetheart but, whenever she was angry or annoyed, that was when you needed to be afraid of her.

"Chris," Peter greeted with an awkward smile. "Um, hey..."

"Hey, yourself," the brunette replied sarcastically. "Look, before you get scared, I'm not as mad as I was last night. I just need answers."

Peter nodded sheepishly. "Okay..." he mumbled.

"I'm going to ask all of these at once," Christina began. "One, why didn't you show up to the play? Two, did something happen to you? And three, if so, what exactly happened?"

"Okay, so, listen," Peter said, his hands shaking lightly now. "I didn't show up because there was a d– Fine, I nearly died last night because I almost got run over while going to the theater on my bike. And, by the time I got there, I was already half an hour late. And I'm so sorry I wasn't able to make –"

"Wait, wait, wait," Christina said frantically, cutting Peter's sentence midway. "You were nearly killed last night?!"

Peter froze in place before scratching the back of his neck as he chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I was..." he mumbled timidly.

"Then why didn't you just call me last night and tell me that?!" the brunette exclaimed.

"I tried to but you were either asleep or not home yet," Peter defended with an incredulous look in his eyes.

"Oh..." Christina muttered before snapping back to reality. "Who nearly ran you over? I'll go kick their ass right now!"

"There's no need to. The police took care of it."

Yet another untruthful statement from the infamous liar known as Peter Parker....

Christina nodded, although she grew slightly suspicious of how quickly he had said those words. "Alright..." she sighed. "Are you hurt?"

Peter shook his head. "I'm fine. I jumped out of the way. My bike, on the other hand... Yeah, it's ruined."

The adult woman frowned as she looked up at Peter. "Well, do you need me to give you a ride anywhere soon?" she asked in a concerned tone. "I'll do it, wherever you need to go."

"That won't be necessary," Peter replied sheepishly.

"Are you sure? I can take you anywhere, I promise."

"I'm sure..." Peter said and, after seeing Christina reluctantly nod, he took another deep breath. "So... are we good?"

Christina couldn't help but smile at that question as her head bobbed up and down, her face a little red. "We're good..." she murmured.

Peter grinned as he also nodded, feeling a little nervous around the brunette at that moment. As a result, there was a semi-uncomfortable silence between the two where they said nothing in particular. After thinking for a long moment, however, his face lit up as he thought of an idea.

"Hey, um..." he began bashfully. "Would you like to go see something with me?"

"That depends," Christina answered, crossing her arms with a smirk on her face. "What is it?" She knew she would end up saying yes regardless of this but she wanted to torture him further.

"Uh, it's this scientific experiment that's happening not too far from here," Peter explained. "Otto Octavius is performing it... it has something to do with fusion, renewable energy and electricity."

Christina tilted her head thoughtfully as she smiled a little bit. "I'm interested..." she replied truthfully. "When is it happening?"

"In an hour," Peter said with a huge grin on his face now. "I was actually going to take the bus there if you wanted to join me."

"I wouldn't mind," the brunette responded cheerfully.

_____

One Hour Later
2:31 P.M.

As she stepped into the brick building with Peter by her side after getting off of the bus, she stared around the somewhat grand lobby with a look of curiosity in her eyes. It was a much bigger room than she thought it would be and it was an even larger structure once they made it to the elevator to go up to the third floor. If she wasn't intrigued by what would be taking place here before, she definitely was now.

And, now that Harry was tagging along with the two, she figured that it would be more interesting if they were all witnessing it together; this was especially after finding out that Harry and Oscorp Industries were funding the whole experiment and that they had even found the supplies needed in it. This made her scrutiny of the entire scenario rise tenfold and she even smiled a little bit.

After entering the striking room they were supposed to be in to witness the presentation, Christina grew a little more timid once she noticed just how many people were in there. This was mostly due to the sudden stares she received from some of them, and this made her glance down towards the floor. She also heard a few whispers from one or two of the people, mainly things like, "Is that Christina Johnson?" or "Her mother was killed a year or so ago..."

Although she didn't see this, Peter heard what some of them said about her and he sent those people a dirty look and then stayed at Christina's pace to shield her from their stares.

A few seconds later, a middle-aged man around his very early fifties came up to the three friends; Christina examined him for a moment, noticing he was really tall and possibly taller than Michael, and that his hair was still brown despite age slowly catching up to him. Right away, she detected the pure kindness on this man's face as he stepped over to Peter and Harry and shook their hands.

"Parker, Osborn," he greeted the two of them happily, his grin growing wider when they smiled back and returned his handshakes. He then turned to the shorter woman and tilted his head out of slight puzzlement, but he had the indication that he recognized her from somewhere. "And who might you be?"

The brunette cleared her throat as she politely extended her hand with a shy smile. "Um, Christina Johnson, sir," she said sweetly. "I'm with Peter and Harry."

The man's eyebrows raised with recollection as he gently but firmly shook her hand in return. "Yes, that's right," he said brightly. "Welcome, Christina. Otto Octavius, and it's a pleasure to meet you. Peter's told me a few things about you."

Christina narrowed her eyes with slight confusion as she glanced over at a now embarrassed Peter. "Did he now?" she asked with a small smirk on her face.

"He did," Otto said with an amused grin, but he then turned serious. "It's wonderful to have you here, Christina, really. And I heard about what happened in November of '02 with... your mother. My deepest condolences."

The younger woman smiled sadly but gratefully as she pulled her hand back. "Thank you, sir," she murmured. "I appreciate it."

When Otto nodded and then turned away to continue a brief conversation with the other two, Christina then subconsciously caressed her left wrist where her mother's watch rested. Although she felt a slight sting in her heart, she did sigh with relief when she was assured that it was still there.

Unbeknownst to both her and Harry, Otto had taken Peter aside for a moment to talk to him about something that had come up on his mind.

"Is that the woman you brought up yesterday?" he asked him with a small smile.

Peter's face turned a little red but he still nodded sheepishly. "Yes, sir, she is," he mumbled in return.

Otto grinned as he nodded, patting Peter on the shoulder in a fatherly way. "Well, she's really nice," he assured him. "And I think you should keep her. Don't forget my advice, kid."

The younger man smiled in return as his head slightly bobbed up and down, a memory from the day before coming back to him vividly.

"Love should never be a secret," Otto had said as he placed his cup back on the table he, his redheaded wife (Rosie was her name), and Peter were sitting at in his home. "If you keep something as complicated as love stored up inside... it can make you sick."

Peter processed those words in his mind as he thought carefully about how he should follow the advice. The first thing that popped up in his head was that it was possible to pursue a relationship with the woman he loved while he was also Spider-Man. It was a small bit of hope he had in his soul, but it was something, at least.

"I finally got lucky in love," Otto spoke up, breaking him from his thoughts.

"We both did," Rosie said with a soft smile. "But it's hardly perfect. You have to work at it. I met him on the college steps and I knew it wasn't going to be easy."

Otto let out a chuckle as he set his cup on the table once more, nodding to himself as the past finally came back to him.

"He was studying Science," Rosie continued as she explained their backstory to Peter. "And I was studying English Literature."

"That's right, I was trying to explain the theory of relativity," Otto said with a grin on his face. "And Rosie was trying to explain T.S. Elliot."

Rosie giggled at this, and Peter even smiled at the interaction they were sharing; they seemed really happy in their marriage, even if there were some complications. He knew that every relationship had problems here and there, but some couples worked it out. And Otto and Rosie had seemed to have worked those issues out.

"I still don't understand what he was talking about," Otto mumbled, hiding a smirk.

"Oh, come on," Rosie pleaded, laughing even more now.

"I'm serious, T.S. Elliot is more complicated than advanced science," Otto explained himself, emphasizing his statement with a gesture of his hands. He then turned back to Peter with a knowing smile on his face, and he leaned forward a little. "But if you want to get a woman to fall in love with you, feed her poetry."

"Poetry..." Peter pondered with a small smile, thinking of Christina almost instantly; he knew she adored poetry, even if she wouldn't admit it.

"Never fails..." Otto said with a grin.

_____

"Ladies and gentlemen, my wife Rosie and I would like to welcome you this afternoon!"

Christina perked up as she moved to where the crowd was gathered, making sure to specifically stand next to Peter as she did so. She smiled up at him shyly, which he returned with bright eyes; however, they both looked away before it got too awkward as Otto walked over to be in front of him.

"But first, before we start," he spoke up, "has anybody lost a large roll of twenty-dollar bills in a rubber band...? Because we found the rubber band."

Everyone in the room began laughing hysterically, including Christina as a few giggles left her lips. That sounds like something Sidney would say, she thought as she tried to contain her chuckles.

"It's a terrible joke, but thank you for coming," Otto said with a huge grin on his face.

Christina's face finally returned to normal as she perked up, her interest sky-high now.

"Today..." Otto began. "You will witness the birth of a new fusion-based energy source. Safe, renewable energy and cheap electricity for everyone."

The young woman's face morphed into an expression of fascination and her blue eyes lit up; she looked at Peter with an astonished smile, which made him unbelievably happy because she was now engrossed in something he always had a passion for.

"And now let me introduce my assistants," the middle-aged scientist mumbled excitedly before walking over to the secret on display and smoothly yanking the curtain-like object away from it.

Christina's eyes squinted slightly from a bit of confusion, mostly because she couldn't quite tell what was under said curtain. It was metal, she knew that for sure, and it looked almost like several snakes with extremely prominent scaling texture. And, while snakes kind of freaked her out, she would resist bolting out the door once she saw what this actually was.

Otto removed his lab coat and stepped up onto the mantle where the snake-like things were and placed his hand on a keyboard before turning to the audience. "These four actuators were developed and programmed for the sole purpose of creating successful fusion," he announced to all of them. "They are impervious to heat and magnetism."

After he typed on the keyboard for a few seconds, Christina saw an attachment that was more like a belt of some sort wrap around Otto's waist and buckle together. Her head subconsciously tilted out of pure attentiveness and she even stepped forward slightly to get a better look at what was going on.

Seconds later, something that looked kind of like a spine placed itself on Otto's back and, through the nauseating sound, it seemed as though dozens of needles were being shoved through his skin. Christina could tell, just by his wince of pain, that it hurt like hell.

Otto then looked up towards the ceiling and stretched his hands like he was trying to bring some inhuman power to the room. The parts of the objects still stuck to where they had been created on wiggled ever so slightly before slowly releasing themselves from their bindings. The 'hands' on said things opened like a flower blossoming its petals in the springtime as they slowly raised up over Otto's head.

Christina's eyes widened when she realized that they were... arms. They were robot-like arms that seemed to be controlled by Otto himself, but how exactly was that meant to be possible?

When the 'hands' fully opened up and she noticed that the white lights in them seemed to look identical to eyes, she quivered where she was standing and slowly backed up. She instinctively grabbed Peter's hand and she completely ignored the blush creeping up onto her face, as she was absolutely intimidated by the sight in front of her. She didn't understand how four metal arms behind such a polite person could seem so... off.

"These smart arms are controlled by my brain through a neural link," Otto said with a serious expression on his face as he slowly stepped down from the mantle. "Nanowires feed directly into my cerebellum, allowing me to use these arms to control fusion reaction in an environment no human hand could enter."

"Doctor," a female next to Christina spoke up and she looked over to see some sort of journalist that was in her late thirties to early forties. She recognized her as one of the people that had been talking about her mere minutes ago.

"If the artificial intelligence in the arms is as advanced as you suggest... uh, couldn't that make you vulnerable to them?" the older woman asked professionally.

Otto offered a kind smile to the woman as he nodded a little bit. "How right you are," he answered before turning around to reveal a tiny bead-like object that was attached to the spine of the arms. "Which is why I developed this inhibitor chip to protect my higher brain function. It means I maintain control of these arms... instead of them controlling me."

The brunette's intimidation transformed to utter awe at what she was witnessing in front of her, and Peter briefly looked down and grinned at how drawn in she was with the whole thing. He wished to see that look on her face every day, no matter what it was from.

"And now onto the main event!" Otto said proudly, gesturing to where his two co-workers were pulling the electronic machinery away from the back of the room. "Give me the blue light, Rosie!"

For a split second, the room was slammed into pitch black darkness, but the back was then illuminated in a moody blue light as Otto paced towards where the actual presentation would take place.

Christina, Peter, Harry, and everyone else watching followed the scientist with eager expressions in their eyes and witnessed one of the arms reaching towards a tiny vial to grab something.

"Precious tritium is the fuel that makes this project go," Otto said, his voice a little quieter now. "There's only twenty-five pounds of it out of the whole planet. I'd like to thank Harry Osborn and Oscorp Industries for providing it."

"Happy to pay the bills, Otto!" Harry jokingly shouted over to him, making Christina and Peter grin with amusement.

Christina couldn't quite tell what the tritium was actually for but she could tell by Rosie handing her husband a pair of thick sun visors so he could protect his eyes that it could be somewhat dangerous. She subconsciously braced herself and prevented her hands from shaking more than they already were.

She was still gently grasping Peter's left hand.

"Ladies and gentlemen... fasten your seat belts," Otto mumbled loud enough for them to hear.

After typing a few more keys, the machine in front of all of them activated ever so slowly, producing a few orangish-colored rays in diagonal lines. Although Christina couldn't see it at first, the rays managed to form a small sun of some sort and it lit up the room like the brightest night light in the world; the brunette became transfixed by the sight with the tiniest smile gracing her face.

"Doctor, we have a successful fusion reaction!" Otto's co-worker happily said out loud.

Everyone in the room began clapping joyfully, really proud of the scientist for being able to achieve something like this. Even Christina, who wasn't all into science, grinned as she brought her hands together in a gentle albeit enthusiastic clap. She continued to watch the whole thing play out as the sun grew bigger by the second, to the point that it lit up every inch of the room. She could feel the heat emanating from it and she even sensed her skin flushing a bit from how warm it was.

A minute or so later, she then glanced over at Peter as he peered up at the ceiling with wide eyes. But it wasn't an expression of interest but more of pure concern, which made her look up as well.

The light fixtures hanging above them were seemingly being pulled towards where the sun was as Otto controlled the rays of it. Her heartbeat quickly began to pick up speed as she watched the metal fixtures whining and creaking from the effort of staying attached to the ceiling.

Out of nowhere, Christina could feel her left wrist being lightly scraped and she yelped from the pain it brought as she grabbed it out of instinct; the other people around her gasped and shouted out of utter bewilderment as various metal objects flew towards the sun.

But instead of feeling her mother's watch on her arm, the young woman was touching bare skin....

Despite her wrist being completely fine, Christina's eyes were currently brimming with tears as she stared at the space where the watch once was. That had been the last true remnant of her mother that she often held close to her... and it was forever gone....

Now Margaret Johnson was truly gone from her life....

"Keep calm!" Otto shouted for everyone's attention as his own watch flew off his wrist. "It's only a spike! It'll soon stabilize!"

But, just seconds later, a nearby woman was shouting for everyone to clear the entire room.

Forcing herself back to what was happening, Christina turned to her right and saw that Peter was gone and was nowhere in sight. Where the hell did he go?! she thought frantically.

"Chris, let's get out of here!" Harry yelled as he carefully grabbed her arm to pull her to the doors nearby.

"But Peter –!" Christina began in a panicked tone, her eyes as wide as saucers.

"He probably already got out!" Harry shouted. "Just go, please, so you don't get hurt!"

But the brunette froze in place when a large ray of the sun penetrated the brick wall like it was nothing and sent rubble tumbling to the floor.

"OTTO, PLEASE GET BACK!" Rosie screamed at her husband before dodging a particularly large piece of debris.

"SHUT IT OFF, OTTO!" Harry bellowed to get the older man's attention, Christina still standing where she was. "SHUT IT OFF!"

"IT WILL STABILIZE!" Otto screeched in return. "IT'S UNDER CONTROL!"

"I'M IN CHARGE HERE!" Harry howled as he threw his arms down and stomped his left foot like he was a toddler throwing a temper tantrum.

Christina came back to herself as she noticed a piece of heavy machinery headed right towards Harry. Her heart dropping, she sprinted towards him and tried to move him out of the way, but he stayed right where he was standing. The electronic object lifted off of the ground and came flying towards them.

"HARRY!" she cried out with utter petrification, tugging his arm, but Harry shrugged her away.

"IT'S MY MONEY!" Harry continued. "I'M IN CON –!"

"HARRY!" Christina wailed.

Before the machinery could strike them, the two of them felt a singular arm grabbing both of them and hauled them away from their demise. They soared across the room before they were safely put on a nearby platform ten feet from where they were previously standing.

Catching her breath, Christina glanced up and saw Spider-Man standing directly in front of her and Harry. For a brief moment, she questioned where the fuck he could have possibly come from and she even connected that to Peter disappearing from the room mere moments ago. Now her suspicion was off the charts as she looked him up and down with utter confusion.

"This doesn't change anything..." Harry snarled at the hero, glaring hatefully at him.

Spider-Man stood there for a split second longer before leaping away towards where the plugs to the machines were.

"Not the time, Harry!" Christina shouted at her friend, rolling her eyes.

She wasn't able to pay attention to Otto trying to prevent Spider-Man from pulling the plugs to the machine, as the sound of glass beginning to crack and snap brought her attention to the dozens of tiny windows fifty feet across the room. Her breathing began to constrict as she felt her knees growing weak.

The glass finally splintered and the variation of large and tiny shards glided towards where the sun was; Christina could have sworn her heart actually stopped beating for a few seconds.

It was at that moment that a guttural scream broke through the room and filled the brunette's eardrums. It reached her soul as she helplessly watched Rosie pressing herself against the wall out of utter trepidation, her mouth hung open in a horrified shriek.

"NO!" Christina cried as she lunged forward to try and get to Otto's wife in time.

"CHRIS, NO!" Harry shouted, putting his arms around her torso to hold her back.

"I HAVE TO HELP HER!" the brunette bellowed as tears began falling down her face.

But it was too late.

Rosie Octavius's limp body roughly collapsed to the floor, her back slamming against the stairs as it did so. Every inch of her skin was pierced with glass and blood covered all of her, and her mouth was frozen in an eternal scream that reminded Christina of The Ring.

The young woman sank to her knees and tried to screech but not a single sound could leave her as she sobbed hysterically, her cries of emotional anguish and additional trauma and guilt completely silent. Her face was covered with tears that caused the mascara she was wearing to stream down her cheeks as she quivered from head to toe. She hadn't been able to save the kind woman from doom and she would forever feel hatred towards herself for not getting to her faster.

Why, oh why hadn't it been me?! she thought.

Unaware that Otto had been electrocuted by the power of the sun and that Spider-Man had managed to unplug the machinery, Christina could barely watch as said sun shrunk down to the size of a tiny penny.

Then there was what seemed to be a massive explosion – although it was actually minor – and the sun's unbearable heat filled the room. The immense force of it led to the brunette woman being sent flying backwards and her head collided with the brick wall.

Everything turned black as Christina landed on the floor, unconscious....

A/N: this book is gonna continue being depressing, isn't it?

don't worry, as it's gonna get WORSE really soon! 😀

ANYWAYS, thoughts on this chapter despite the sad shit?

did you like how christina was instantly forgiving of peter?

also... she lost margaret's watch... how do we feel about that?

and rosie's gone... poor rosie... she didn't deserve that.

predictions for the next chapter?

to lighten things up, i want y'all's predictions for the rest of part two! be specific, give me details! who knows? you're predictions could be right or wrong! i already know how exactly i'm gonna take the rest of part two but it wouldn't hurt to see what you think will happen!

be looking forward to the next chapter!

-denbroughswife