Finding the Way Home

Chapter 4

Michelle had a headache. She'd been staring at and rehearsing answers for interview questions since Peter had left for SI that morning, but now it was late in the afternoon and she could feel her pulse in her forehead.

With a groan, she closed her laptop and wandered into the kitchen area in search of tea and aspirin. She dropped her phone on the countertop, squatting beneath it to look through their makeshift medicine cabinet after starting the kettle. While they mainly kept medicine from SI down there, Michelle had picked up a bottle or two of regular aspirin for when she needed it. She trusted Stark's ability to manufacture safe medicine, but when it was built specially for Peter's enhanced metabolism, she was not going to risk trying it.

Her phone buzzed and Michelle startled, knocking her head against the counter and groaning.

She reached up, blindly feeling around for her phone before her hand finally landed on it. Resting her forehead against the cool countertop, she frowned down at the message from Kate Bishop.

webs isn't at home, is he?

It took Michelle a minute to write out a response as the screen made her head throb more.

no? he left for SI this morning. haven't seen him since

The text bubble appeared on the screen as soon as her message sent and although Michelle still had a headache and hadn't yet found her aspirin, she pushed aside that problem to focus on whatever Kate was talking about.

are you at home?

Michelle said yes, she was, and immediately followed it up with a short, why?

i'm coming over

It wasn't exactly what Michelle wanted to hear, especially since Kate's first message had been about Peter, but there was a knock on her door two minutes later and Michelle still hadn't figured out how to make her thumbs type out more than just why?

"Come in!" Michelle called, still in the kitchen and leaning against the counter.

The door opened and Kate stepped inside, flipping the lock behind her and raising an eyebrow at Michelle.

"It wasn't locked?" she asked, glancing between the door and Michelle. "What if I'd been, like, a creepy old dude?"

"Then I wouldn't have said come in," Michelle retorted. She turned away, going back to her search for aspirin. Just as she found it, the kettle began to boil and Michelle hastily poured the boiling water into a mug.

"You feeling okay?"

When she turned to glance at Kate, she'd moved from the door to the kitchen, leaning on the counter as she watched Michelle drop a tea bag into her mug and swallow at least three pills.

"Holy shit, dude." Kate frowned. "Should I call Peter?"

"Just a headache," Michelle told her. Her tea was still boiling hot, but she hated swallowing pills dry so she ignored the way it burned her tongue. "I've been practicing questions for my interview in three days."

"Maybe you should―I don't know―take a break." Her voice was too innocent and Michelle knew this wasn't so much a spur-of-the-moment suggestion as a concern.

"Did Peter put you up to this?" Michelle asked, choosing to ignore Kate's suggestion entirely. "Why were you even in Midtown? Don't think I didn't notice how quickly you arrived," she added pointedly.

Kate merely shrugged. "Pepper texted. Said Spider-Man needed to take a few sick days and lie low, so I'm covering for him. If he can't be bothered to stay home, though, I don't know how sick he is."