tw: overdose, mentions of drugs, mentions of death
Dianna's POV
"I haven't come to visit mom in a while." I bent down to place the flowers on her grave.
"Neither have I."
"Hurts too much to come by. I get reminded of all the good memories we shared. Then I remember the day she died. Burying her was the hardest part."
My dad wrapped his arm around my shoulder, "I've been avoiding coming here. I remember all the memories she and I shared before you were born. How she was so supportive of me throughout the whole Hulk thing and respecting my decision to get a divorce, she was so understanding, I think you get that from her."
flashback
"Mom, I'm home. I stopped by Mr. Delmar's to pick up a few things for dinner. I figured you wouldn't be in the mood to cook tonight so I also got us some sandwiches."
After placing everything in the fridge, something seemed wrong.
"Mom?" I walked around, continuing to call her, but there was no answer.
The door to her bedroom was locked. I knocked on the door, "Mom, open up." I tried. There was still no answer. She's a heavy sleeper so I assumed she was sleeping, however I was still worried so I kept trying to open the door. "Mom, you in there?"
The level of concern in me kept rising. I was getting anxious. "Mom." I banged on the door.
I kicked the door down and found her lying face down with a syringe right next to her. I ran over to her lifeless body, trying to find a pulse, checking her airways to make sure that there was nothing clogging it up. I tried to use my healing abilities to help her, but nothing needed healing.
"Mom." I shook her as I dialed 911, "Mom, you have to get up."
"911, what's your emergency?" the operator asked.
"Yeah, my mom's not breathing. Her airways are clear and she has no pulse."
"What's the address?"
I gave them my address and the operator said to stay on the phone while the medics were on their way. Once the medics got to the house, I called my dad and told him what was happening.
We followed the ambulance to the hospital and she was taken into the emergency room. They didn't let neither my dad nor me go through, "you guys are going to have to wait out here."
"That's my mom." I pressed.
"I'm sorry." the nurse turned me away.
I turned to my dad and he comforted me, telling me that everything was going to be okay. It wasn't. Turns out she overdosed on a mixture of heroin and opioids. I knew she wasn't taking the recovery of the blip well, but I didn't think it was this bad. She hid it so well from me. I went the next couple weeks blaming myself for not being able to prevent this.
The autopsy report said that she had a mixture of opioids, heroin, and alcohol in her system. She fell down and hit her head on something, which I was assuming was her bed frame, and caused a concussion. She'd been lying on the ground, dead, for about three hours before I got home. If she'd been found sooner, there might've been a chance that they could've done something to revive her.
present day
"You know it's not your fault right?" my dad said, noticing my silence.
"I could have prevented this." I said, barely above a whisper. "She hid it so well. If she would've talked to either one of us, she'd still be here today."
"I know your mom wouldn't want you blaming yourself for this. Listen to me, it's not your fault."
"It feels like it is."
"You were at school. There's nothing that you could have possibly done that day to save her."
"I always think about the what ifs. Like what if I would've called that day to check in on her? What if I didn't go pick up groceries after school? I could've found her sooner. All of this could've been preventable."
"What if you forgive yourself? You know she wouldn't want you blaming yourself for her actions. Yes, it could've been prevented but it happened. I wasn't there for her either. So if anything, it was both of our faults. You can't keep blaming yourself for this."
"I really miss her." I wiped my tears.
"Me too, kid."
"Do you mind if I go to Skylar's after this?"
"Of course not. Just be home before curfew." There was hesitation in his tone and I understand why. Skylar could be up to something that would expose the Avengers and that's not what we need right now.
"Always."
Peter's POV
I went over to Dianna's again.
"Oh, hey Peter. Dianna's not here right now." Dr. Banner said.
"Actually, I was here to see you."
"Me?"
"Yes."
"Come in." he widened the door, "would you like a glass of water or anything?"
"No, thank you."
"So how can I help you?"
"Dianna's been upset and I don't want to push her into telling me what's going on but I also don't want her to feel alone. I think part of it has to do with our breakup and the other part is her still coping with the loss of her mother." I paused, "it wasn't a car accident was it?" I asked.
He shook his head.
"Then may I asked what really happened?"
He sighed, "she found her mom unconscious in her bedroom. She overdosed on drugs. She wasn't handling the comeback from the blip very well and needed a way to escape reality. Dianna's been blaming herself ever since she found her."
"Is there anything that I can do to help her?"
She's been there for me through a lot and I wasn't even able to properly comfort her after her mom passed away. She helped me get over Uncle Ben's death and I couldn't even set my Spider-Man priorities aside to be there for her.
Throughout the first few weeks of Dianna's mom passing away, I was there for her. But I wasn't there for her enough. When it was my usual time to patrol, I told her I'd be back instead of staying with her until Ned told me it was go time.
She should've been my top priority at the time but I sidelined her as if she didn't matter. Maybe she understood that I had to go because it's kind of my job, but that doesn't mean that I should've abandoned her during these times. I should've been there for her. I should've been her rock the way she was always mine. But I failed.
As the weeks went by, she started seeming like she was okay again. Things seemed like they were going back to normal, just for me to now find out that it was all a mask. She didn't want any of us to still worry about her. How could I have been so ignorant of all of this?
"I can't help but feel that there's something else going on. She doesn't just go into her defensive state the way that she did. She usually has a good grip on that and is able to control when she uses it. It doesn't take over like it does when she's emotional. There was more than just me trying to kiss her."
"Maybe that's something you should talk to her about."
"So there is something else going on?"
"It's not really my place to say anything, Peter."
"Alright. I'll talk to her. Thank you."
