Double the Grief

Chapter I

Miguel heads to the cafeteria at headquarters, his head pounding and swelling. He tries to massage his head with his fingertips, but nothing was working.

Out of nowhere, he sees Dana hanging above him with her light blue webs, and a bright smile on her face. "Remember I used to force you to drink water so your migraines would go away?" she remarks, jumping off the web and standing in front of Miguel.

He isn't having it. He looks down at her, taking a deep breath. Dana tried, everyday, to bring a smile to Miguel's face. Just like she did with her own Miguel on Earth 930, but Miguel can't stand it. She isn't his Dana. She will never be his Dana.

Besides, he learned from the incident with Gabriella to not make attachments. Never. Again.

Dana playfully punches his chest. She turns around, grabbing a red coffee mug and slipping it under the coffee maker. "Black coffee. You freak," she laughs, handing him the mug.

Miguel squints at her, sipping on the coffee. He stuffs his hands in his pockets, trying to fix his slumped posture. Dana carefully grabs a pink rug, adding creamer, 3 packets of sugar, and 3 pumps of vanilla to her coffee. "At least I'm not killing myself with all that."

He walks away from the cafeteria, standing at the elevator.

She follows quickly behind, rolling her eyes and smiling. "You have to lighten up. I know, I know it's hard and all–"

Miguel shuts his eyes, sipping on his coffee and shaking his head, indicating Dana not to talk about it. He knows what she's going to say. I know it's hard with the loss of Gabriella. Those words echo around in Spider-Society more than an ignorant fly in the Summer.

He hears about it from Jess, Peter, Ben, even new recruits. He knows they mean well, but do they? Can they ever grapple with the fact of losing a child? Of losing someone so close to you? Of losing someone that looked up to you? And the guilt that comes with it. The guilt that screams at Miguel's soul, that never leaves his thoughts.

Dana rambles on about the missions of her own life, the adventures, the amazement at everything. Miguel can't take it anymore. He nearly drops his coffee. He watches as Dana massages her hands through her dark bob, then rubs her hazel eyes with her fingers, yawning. The images don't stop. The parallels to Gabriella–the same brunette hair. The same eyes. The same optimistic glee.

Late night talks with Miguel's own Dana surrounds his mind. Talks about having a kid when they finally get married. Naming the kids. Searching online for nursery decor. "Can you stop talking?!" Miguel shouts. "Is that all you care about–"

She looks up at him, confused, now holding her mug with two hands. "....what? Care about what? Talki–"

"No!" Miguel shouts, watching the elevator open. "Yourself!"

Dana tilts her head, her eyebrows scrunching. "I–what?"

He stomps out the elevator, clicking the close button before Dana can follow him. "I've really had enough of you." Miguel walks away, throwing his coffee on the floor, then taking another elevator down to his underground lab.

Miguel settles himself over to his desk area, observing the floating orange and yellow screens. A part of him wants to apologize to Dana–but the other part of him overpowers and suppresses this thought. She doesn't deserve an apology. She's fine.

He assesses his monitors, his eyes itching. "Lyla, scan...scan for anomalies.

Lyla appears, floating around the room. She pretends to file her nails, sitting and crossing her legs above Miguel's shoulder. "Uhm...whattt?"

Miguel looks down at her, his eyebrows furrowing, his eyes blinking red for a millisecond. "I don't want to play this game right now..."

"What game?" Lyla disappears then appears on his other shoulder, then in front of him. "I can't just scan every universe in existence for anomalies. Do you want me to shut down?"

Miguel rolls his eyes, grunting. "That'd be ideal."

Lyla nods her head. "Alrighty!"

A few seconds later, Lyla disappears completely. Miguel's face slumps, his heart picking up the pace. "Wait, Lyla! No, I was being–"

Lyla giggles, appearing on his shoulder again. "Gosh, you're a mess. What Earth do you want me to scan?"

Miguel glances at his monitor and documents. "Earth 930, first."

Lyla shakes her head and appears to be taking a breath then rolls her eyes. She does as he says though, scanning the Earth. "Hmm, there's an anomaly there. Huh, he–doesn't look like a villain."

Miguel glances over at the screen Lyla is projecting, seeing a young man, presumably in his 20s, walking around. He takes a deep breath. "You never know. Tell Dana to take care of it. And tell her to call me when she's done."

Lyla salutes him. "Nah, why are you putting Dana on this?"

Miguel types something into his keyboard, not breaking eye contact with his monitors. "I thought you're programmed not to question me."

Lyla snickers. "You programmed me to override your programming at times."

He shakes his head, watching Lyla send a message off to Dana. Miguel sighs, glad that that's being taken care of. Miguel's eyes flicker as he thinks about Dana going back to her home universe. A part of him still understands what she is, or at least, was to him. But he needs Dana gone. For good.