Lost But Found

Chapter 6

Stephen walked down the street towards the apartment complex. Ever since the Blip, he'd only seen Christine once. The Blip was a year ago. He hadn't seen her in a year.

The last time he had seen her, there was a lot fo tears. He was just glad that she was okay. She had not Blipped, and when he had come back from the final battle against Thanos, all bruised and beaten up, he found Christine waiting at the Sanctum, amid all the chaos of people trying to reunite with their loved ones and get their lives back.

After that last meeting, he felt bad for not seeing her again. They occasionally emailed, but something inside Stephen refused to let him go talk to her in person. But now, rejuvenated by Peter's  words, he was going to go see her.

He got inside the elevator, let it go up, and exited when it stopped. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.

As soon as the door opened, it was as if nothing around him existed anymore. After seeing her again, it felt as if you could say everything. She was the one person who he could cry to and ramble to and she would still listen. 

As soon as the door opened and he saw Christine, the only thing he could do was hug her. That, and the tears started flowing.

"Are you okay?" Christine asked, pulling back to look at his face. She wiped away the tears.

Stephen half-smiled. "I'm just glad to see you," he said, walking inside. He sat down on the couch. "I have so much to talk about," he said. He just felt he needed to speak to someone to be able to comprehend everything. And after hearing the story about Peter, he was even more confused.

Christine sat down next to him. "Tell me everything."

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Stephen told her the entire story about Peter, what he remember of the past few weeks and what he had learned. And the fact that by looking at Peter's fallen ID, he could tell: Peter's living situation was really bad.

"Isn't he a child?" Christine asked, with concern in her voice. "Doesn't he have any other guardians? Does he have health insurance?"

Stephen was taken aback by the stream of questions. "He should be graduating this summer, but from all I know, his parents, his uncle and aunt, any possible guardians are dead. And I don't even know if health insurance tops his list of priorities right now."

"I saw him swinging around the city a few days ago," Christine continued. "That's too dangerous for him. I'm scared for him. That costume looks like it was sewed within 15 minutes. The people he fights have guns, for heaven's sake."

Her words instilled a sense of determination in Stephen. He was going to go protect Peter, or help him, or do whatever it took to make sure Peter was safe and happy.

"He actually accidentally dropped his ID when I ran into him this morning," Stephen said, slipping the ID out of his pocket.

"Then go give it back to him."