limits of love

CH. 6

Peter, of course, didn't pay attention to Gwen's request, and less than five minutes later, there he was, at her window. Gwen smiled slightly and shook her head, before letting him in.

She placed her hands on her hips, "Don't my requests mean anything to you?"

He smiled, "Of course they do, Gwen. But I can't always help myself, especially when I know you want me to go through the window."

Gwen rolled her eyes, "Right....."

Peter looked around the room nervously. He felt he wasn't supposed to be here. Then he saw something that caught his eye. Dozens of letters about Oxford were no longer in neat, little piles on her desk, but rather in the trash can, along with the application he knew she had been working extremely hard on. He pointed at them, "Gwen, why would you throw those away?"

She looked to where he was staring and shrugged, "Does there need to be a reason?"

"Gwen, I know you, and I know for a fact you were set on going to Oxford, what happened?"Peter said in disbelief.

Sitting on her bed, Gwen looked away, not wanting him to see the tears beginning to brew, "Nothing happened. I'm perfectly fine." It was probably the biggest lie she had ever told. She wasn't fine, she was farthest from it.

Peter sighed and softly said, "I know when you're lying. Please, Gwen, I want to help. What's wrong?"

At this she stood up, "Why don't you see? You can't help me, Peter! I'm dying!"

Confused, he said, "But of course, I can. If you're in danger, tell me. I'm Spider-Man, I'm supposed to help people, it's what I do."

But his words only made it worse. She looked down and softly said, "No, you can't Peter."

"What do you mean?"

Gwen looked up at him, "The cancer's back." And not for the first time that week, she fell to the ground crying. Why did she have to tell everybody the news? It should have been easier, the more people she told. But it wasn't. Peter was the hardest. She didn't look up to see his reaction, it would only kill her more. He didn't say anything. In fact, he was probably gone. The way he always was when she seemed to need him most.

But just as she thought this, a pair of strong arms were wrapped around her, holding her. Peter. She embraced him back. She could feel his body heaving with sobs, and feel the tears falling from his face. "No, Gwen, no. It can't be true, it's not right?" He said.

She only buried her head in the crook of his neck, not wanting to answer. But by not saying anything, she had.