The Spider's Silk {A Cindy Moon/Peter Parker Fanfiction}

Chapter Eleven: The Awakening

My eyes flutter open as I awake in a damp sweat. A quick breath escapes my chapped lips as my eyes adjust to the golden light filling the room. I wince as I sit up on the warm couch and am reminded of the throbbing pain in my side.
"She's up!" I hear a familiar voice whisper.
"Move Ned." Peter says as his voice wavers. Heavy footsteps run towards me, floorboards squeaking as they rush quickly to my side.
I open my cracked lips to speak and, with a smile, I muster out, "P-Pete..."
"Cin." The boy whispers quietly as he kneels at my side. He brushes the tangled hair out of my face and places his warm hand on my arm. I slowly turn my heavy head to look at him. I'm stricken by his ragged appearance as I look into his hollow eyes. I study the familiar face, but dark circles weigh heavy under his eyes, his brow is furrowed in worry, and his brown hair is sweaty and askew.
"Pete, I-I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." I say as I hold his face in my weak hand.
"No, no, no, don't be! It's not your fault."
"Yeah, but..."
"But what?"
"The only reason they were after you is because of me Pete!" I exclaim, trying and failing to sit  upright. I wince at the sharp pain in my side, and Pete jumps at my sign of pain. "I'm fine." I say through gritted teeth.
"No Cin, I'm the one that broke into one of their labs." Pete states and I nod in sad agreement, weakly laying back down on the warm sofa. "But it was worth it because otherwise who knows what they would have done with you!"
"I can take care of myself Peter."
"I know!" He exclaims. "But that doesn't mean I can't still look out for you!"
"Fine Peter, but this is it. You aren't going to put yourself in danger for me anymore. Okay?" I say with conviction, looking him dead in the eye.
"Okay, but would you not do the same?" He asks, slightly arching his eyebrow.
"That's irrelevant." I say through gritted teeth. Peter's face grows tight, as if biting his tongue to keep himself from arguing with an injured girl on his couch. He gets up and slowly walks into his bedroom. I slowly bring my aching body upright against the tan sofa, making awkward eye contact with a very excited-looking boy.
"Hey Ned." I say with a weak smile. "I'm Cindy, thanks for your help in there."
"Oh i-it was n-nothing." He says, tripping over his words. "Can I ask you some questions?" He says as a eager smile spreads across his round face.
"Knock yourself out." I say as I slowly bring my aching body upright.
Ned's eyes widen and he eagerly rattled off,
"Do you really produce organic webs? Is that what your suit's made of? What does it feel like producing your own webs? Can you make other  things with your webs besides clothes?"
"Wow that's a lot."
"Oh I haven't even gotten started." He chuckles.
"First of all yes, yes I do produce organic webs. Watch." I motion to a distracted Peter, walking out of his room. Silk springs from my fingertips and he quickly jumps out of the way as the silk barely misses him and adheres to the wall.
"Seriously?" He says looking at me.
"What?" I say innocently as Ned chuckles softly.
Shaking his head with a half smile, Peter walks over to me and sits beside me.
"Let me check your side."
"It's fine Peter."
"Please Cin."
"Fine." I slowly push the blanket off my body and he gently moves the large, blood soaked bandage covering my bloody side.
"Okay! It looks a lot better." He places it back on. "Luckily we have better healing abilities than most so you should be okay." He starts to get up but I place my hand on his arm.
"Thank you Pete. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Of course Cin. And I'm sorry but I'm not just going to sit back while you go risk your life! I... I care about you too much." He says as he tucks my hair behind my ear. Our eyes lock and linger, and we both smile as if we've come to an  unspoken agreement.
"Okay Pete, but understand that that goes both ways. I'll be right by your side next time you risk your life."
"Okay." He smiles.
"If you two want to keep looking deeply into each other's eyes, I can go?" Ned says with a smirk.
"No Ned it's okay." I say, blushing. "Can you help me up Pete? I need to get out of this sticky suit."
"Oh yeah! Of course!" He says rushing to my side. He puts his warm hand on my lower back and slowly helps me to stand. Gritting my teeth at the pain in my side, I walk towards Peter's bedroom with him holding my waist tightly to help me.
"Pete, I'm okay. I promise." I tell him, smiling as he sets me gingerly down on his bed. He closes the door to his room and sits next to me on his blue comforter. He looks into my eyes and I watch as he studies every inch of my face.
"Are you okay Peter?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah...I just..."
"Just what?" I saw placing my hand on his firm thigh.
"I just... I was just really scared when... when you were just lying there motionless. I thought I was too late and that I had lost you." Seeing the hurt in his eyes, a rush of emotion runs through me and my tired eyes start to well up.
"Oh Pete." I say smiling. "I'm so sorry, I was irrational and I shouldn't have gone."
"Don't apologize." He says pushing a dark strand of my hair behind my ear. "I know why you did it, it was stupid, but I know you just want to find your family, and we will. I promise. Together you and I will find them Cin." A single tear runs down my cheek and he wipes it away with his warm thumb.
Without thinking, I kiss him. Tingling currents run through my body as he pulls my aching body gently towards him and kisses me deeply. I reluctantly break away and, in a haze, I say, "Hold on Pete." He looks at me breathlessly and smiles. "Are you acting on spider instinct or do you actually truly like me?"
In response he kisses my lips softly and smiles. "Of course I like you Cin."
"How can you be sure?"
"I can't stop thinking about you and all I want is for you to be safe and happy. That's not spider instincts. I think you are the most intelligent, daring, courageous, and beautiful woman I've ever met, and I know that's because your you and not some spider instinct making it so I can't keep my hands off of you." His words stun me and I feel my heart ache for him, that wouldn't just be caused by instinct. I quickly kiss him and chills run down my back as we get lost in each other, falling back onto his bed.
"Shit." Pete exclaims suddenly. "Ned's still out there."
"Oh right. I need to get out of this suit." I say, remembering my original reason for being in Pete's room. "Do you have anything I can wear? I really don't feel like weaving anything complicated."
"Uh yeah." Peter says, collecting himself and looking around the messy room. He pulls a navy t-shirt from his dresser drawer and hands it to me.
"Thanks, I'll just weave some shorts as to not scar Ned."
"Believe me, he definitely wouldn't object to you being half naked." Peter says chuckling as I roll my eyes. "Do you need any help changing?" "You wish." I say, smirking.
"Worth a shot." He says as he leaves me alone.
I quickly change and lay down on Pete's blue quilt, trying to find the energy to get back up. A million thoughts come rushing to my mind as I lay there staring at the ceiling.

I'm no closer to finding my family. Going to confront Morlun was a complete and utter failure. Not to mention it got me stabbed. Pete likes me! But what does that mean? How can I deal with a possible relationship with everything going on?

My brain weighs heavy with everything that's happening. I take a deep breath and try to relax.
What am I going to do now?

Hello my lovely and wonderful readers!! I can't thank you enough for being so patient! This chapter was a long time coming due to my busy schedule and I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for sticking with me and reading this story that I love to write for you!