A Perfectly Good Heart | Miguel O'Hara x OC

Chapter 3: Savior Complex

The next day, Lyla woke Ariel up at 9am. A little later this time, on account of it being a slow morning. She even had time to have breakfast.

Miguel, again, had left very early that morning. No doubt to get ahead of the scouting on her earth, but at least he had eaten the dinner she left for him the night before. He even wrote back on the note, which made her giddy inside. It read:

Thanks.
-Mig

Lyla let her know that she was put on night patrol with Inez and Pavitir Prabhakar, the spider-man from earth 50101.

Gwen had mentioned that Pav was a really sweet boy, younger than they all were, at 14 years old. He also had only been an active spider for 4 months.

Ariel thought he was too young to be a spider-person in general, let alone be a part of the society. Why he was given a watch in the first place was beyond her. Miguel must have his reasons, she figured.

She decided to go and take the train down to HQ, no sense in staying in the apartment all morning. Might as well try to be useful. When she finally arrived, the first thing she saw was Gwen frantically chasing Mayday all around the lobby.

"Need a hand, Gwen?" Ariel called, amused at the situation.

"Please?" The teen replied, out of breath. "Who the hell gives a web shooter to a freaking baby?!"

Ariel used her force field bubble to catch Mayday mid air, bringing the child back down to her arms. The red haired baby giggled and babbled at her.

"There you go bebita," Ariel cooed a little. "Why are you on babysitter duty anyway?"

"Well, I finished my morning patrol early and Miguel decided last minute that Mayday couldn't go on the mission because it was 'too dangerous'" she said in air quotes. "As if Peter doesn't already take her with him everywhere!"

"To be fair, Peter shouldn't be taking her everywhere," the older girl declared, "she might be a spider like us, but she's still a literal baby."

"But I don't know anything about kids!" Gwen cried, pointing at Mayday. "What if she needs her diaper changed? Somehow, I'll screw that up too."

"Oh relax, I'll help you babysit till' the Dream Team comes back," Ariel reassured. "I literally raised all my siblings since they were newborns, it's like second nature to me."

Ariel sat down on the floor with Mayday. The little girl babled and giggled at both her caretakers, now much calmer after causing chaos for half an hour.

"Thanks 'Elle...I owe you big time," Gwen said, finally relaxing and sitting on the floor next to them. "Hopefully they won't be gone much longer."

They were gone for six more hours.

Turns out, taking care of a spider-baby was harder work than they thought. Sure, eight month olds aren't easy by any means, but when they start swinging away from you, climbing walls and crying because you won't let them, it was more than both the girls could manage.

By the time Peter B. made it back, Gwen and Mayday were passed out on the office couch. Meanwhile, Ariel was just getting back from the cafeteria with a bottle of formula in hand in case the baby woke up.

"Oh, hey Peter!" She greeted, nonchalantly. "How was the mission?"

"It's not done yet..." he answered, perplexed at how not destroyed the office looked. His daughter was sound asleep in Gwen's arms. "I just came back because Mayday needs to go down for her nap. Guess you already took care of that. Hope she wasn't too much trouble."