Just A Call

₂₉. Fɪʀsᴛ Sᴜʙᴊᴇᴄᴛs

Peter stayed for hours with Tony in his lab doing all the research he could on his parents and the tests they were doing. It turned out that Emerson had been right all along, and Peter went home in a thin layer of rain with his head down, deep in thought.

Across the river, May and Emerson were talking about everything that had happened to her since they last saw each other 15 years ago (besides their brief meeting in August). At the rendez-vous there were many tears and apologies swept aside by Emerson. She had even talked about what had happened the night before. And in between conversations, she had texted Tony about her ideas of opening gifts on New Year's Eve and he had agreed.

Emerson's phone kept ringing with messages and calls from the Avengers wondering where she was or at least if she was okay, but she had then muted her phone and hadn't touched it since she returned to the apartment in the morning. She and May were chatting in the living room after finishing lunch two or three hours earlier when Peter came in.

"Hi." he said in a low voice as he walked into the living room, water dripping from his hair and all over his body

"Oh my God, Peter!" exclaims May, jumping up to grab a dry towel

Emerson looked up at him while she was still sitting and said nothing, pity flashing through her eyes.

"Are you okay?" she finally asked as May wrapped the towel around his freezing body

"I'm just cold, I guess...," he murmured "can we talk, please, Emerson?"

As she was about to answer negatively, May cut her off, "I'll leave you two alone so you can." 

She silently implored Emerson with her eyes as she left the living room and Peter sat on a sofa opposite hers. There was a minute of silence, Emerson letting Peter start the conversation, knowing that he needed it much more than she did. He sighed heavily and looked up at her, his eyes meeting hers that were already looking at him.

"I'm truly sorry." he simply said, letting a tear roll down his cheek

Emerson sighed and stood up, walking over to where Peter was and sitting down next to him. She took his face with both hands and wiped the tear away with her thumb. She leaned closer to him and let her forehead touch his, him leaning into the touch of her hands.

"I forgive you Peter," she whispered "I could never be angry with you for long anyway. I forgive you-- for everything you said to me that hurt me," she paused, kissing his forehead before resting against him again "I'll always forgive you, little brother."

Peter let out a few tears and pulled her into a tight hug, not letting go even after a few minutes. When he finally did, he wiped away his tears with the back of his hand and smiled slowly at her. She returned his smile and wiped away the tear that had managed to fall. Peter leaned back on the couch, making sure he still had contact with Emerson and sighed.

"I went to talk to Mr. Stark after this morning," he revealed, turning his head to look at her "we did some research. A lot of it, actually. And it turns out you were right. Yet again."

"I'm sorry you learnt it that way, you should never have known that, I was... hurt and it slipped my mind," she sighed as she looked at her hands "I wanted you to keep the best version of your parents."

"Our parents, mer." he whispered

"No," she shook her head "you were right about that. They stopped being my parents when they abandoned me and they were even less so when I killed them."

"You didn't choose to kill them." he reminded her

"I did anyway," she whispered "what if you were in that car with them? Mmh? I would have killed you too without hesitation!"