By Sunlight (P.P + M.J)

47. Onward

"One more step, Em. Just one more step, can you give me that?"

"I'll give you a black eye if you keep telling me what to do, Parker."

Peter was encouraging his increasingly-irritable girlfriend, who was staring him down with murder eyes. She was finally walking without the support of the two long, steel bars at her sides. He hadn't missed any of her physical therapy sessions, and the coach that was supposed to be helping them was letting Peter handle MJ alone today.

"If you make it to me, I'll say it again," he offered with a cheeky smile. Her eyes softened slightly at that.

"You're gonna say it anyway whether I make it or not," she replied, and he conceded with a nod.

"I mean, yeah, but don't kill my street cred."

"You know you have to have that first in order for me to kill it, right?"

Peter made an offended noise before taking a step backward. "Now that's two steps you have to take."

She narrowed her eyes dangerously at him and he feared he might be pushing her too hard. They were three months into physical therapy, and even though she had missed a big chunk of the school year, MJ was so fiercely against being held back that she fought tooth-and-nail to be allowed to do her schoolwork at home (as soon as she out of the hospital, that is). Tony Stark was more than willing to let MJ use the Avengers Facility's many on-call physicians and therapists to help in her recovery, even going so far as to reinvent the "Regeneration Cradle", which created Vision. Created initially by Dr.Helen Cho, it was capable healing wounds by grafting a simulacrum of organic tissue to the patient and having it bond to the their cells. Thus, it can also be used to create synthetic tissue. It was perfect for healing any kind of injury, though it took a while for MJ to get her strength built up enough to walk.

If Jack was here, he'd never understand all of the techno babble. His mind was never scientifically-wired like Peter's, MJ's, Ned's or Mr.Stark's. He was always the odd man out, but he rarely let that keep him from helping in any way he could.

Peter fiddled with the collar of his blue t-shirt, the present that Jack had gotten him for Christmas. A picture of a bowl of salad was depicted on the front, with words reading "salad: the taste of sadness" (a note inside the box read "you wear too many science shirts"). Some other gifts Jack had gotten was a book for MJ about the Black Dahlia Murder, an R2D2 mug for Ned that he absolutely loved, and an Italian recipe book for Aunt May. When Peter asked how he was able to get all this stuff, Mr.Stark refused to give up any information, but Peter was pretty sure the billionaire had helped out more than he was saying.

He wouldn't be able to sleep easy while the whereabouts of one of his best friends remained unknown.

But for now, in the gym of the Avenger's Facility, he just wanted his girlfriend to take a few more steps forward.

MJ took a shaky step forward, arms trembling violently as she struggled to hold herself up. Peter made himself ready to catch the instant her strength gave out.

With an iron will, MJ managed to take the last two steps and Peter finally allowed himself to embrace her, keeping her upright by holding on to her upper arms. She smiled at him and he pressed his forehead against hers, smiling as well.

"You're doing amazing. You'll be going for walks in Central Park by the end of the week," he said cheerily. Peggy, who had been resting on the other side of the gym, barked appreciatively, and he added, "Maybe we can take Peggy with us, huh? Would you like that, girl?" The pitbull got up from her spot and trotted over to them, tail wagging and proceeded to jump on Peter.