Take Care of My Heart

Chapter 23 - Afterglow

When Miles came to, his vision, much like his mind, was all fuzzy at first. When it cleared, he stared half-lidded at a ceiling, which was different to the one before... he wasn't in the ICU anymore. Another thing he noticed was the screaming pain in his chest that he expected to wake up to... it wasn't there anymore... it was gone now.

Squinting to his side, he first found his dad snoring in his chair; the poor man was all stubbly and furrowed with stress lines, but he was at least getting rest now. The other sleeping figure, Gwen, had her head resting on his mattress with her soft hand neatly laced into his crisp one. Lifting his hand out of hers, he caressed his fingers through her pink-dyed golden hair, smiling faintly.

As soon as she noticed that Miles was awake, she shook Jefferson by his meaty arm to let him know too, and within seconds, their tired faces brightened.

"Miles..." Gwen clapped her hands over her mouth, "... you're awake!"

"Hey, babe." For the first time, his words didn't come out garbled. "Missed me?"

"You have no idea!" Elated, she dove her arms around his neck. "Thank God you're okay!" she mumbled, crying yet again into his pillow while he patted her.

Looking back to his dad, Miles quickly remembered something and said it out loud before it could fade from his memory, which was, "Uncle Aaron says hi."

His dad hung his mouth open before smiling back through tears of his own, wiping his face and sniffling. "How are you, son?" he asked, trying to sound casual.

"Like..." he thought for a moment before answering, "... I'm reborn."

To prove this, Miles sat up without any strain or assistance from Gwen; all that stung now were the stitches from his most recent surgery, so he made sure not to move his torso too much and risk reopening them. The fact that he could breathe with his own two lungs again was more than liberating; it was like taking his first gasp of air after being held underwater for so long.

"Welcome back, kid!" spoke another cheery voice from the doorway; it was Peter B. Parker. Joining them inside, he grabbed a chair of his own to sit with the others at bedside. "How are you feeling?" he asked as well.

Miles gave a different answer. "Like I just came back from the dea—" Pausing mid-sentence, the rest of his memories came flooding back, surging like a tidal wave... the memories right before the surgery... and it shadowed his face with haunting realization. "Where's mom?"

Immediately, the smiles that filled this room dissolved into worrying side-glances... and that was when he knew what he wasn't yet ready to accept.

"Where's...?" Lowering his chin, he held his chest firmly, held his breath... and felt her rhythmic heartbeat quickening under all those stitches and bandages. "M-Mom... she's..."

"She's gone, son." Jeff stated solemnly.

"T-Take it b-back!" he blubbered, stewing with nausea.

"Miles!" His father reached out, only to be shoved away.

"N-Not hers!" Like a raging faucet, tears poured from his eyes all over again. "I didn't... want it to be... h-hers!" With his trembling fingers, he dug into his chest... he wanted to rip her heart back out; this wasn't what he wanted at all, despite the promise he had made.

"Miles, stop!" Jeff seized his wrists, wrestling him, but his big frame was no match for his spider-strength, which had also fully returned. "Don't... throw it away!"

"Miles, please!" Gwen lunged herself between them, joining the struggle.

"Don't throw away her sacrifice!" his dad bellowed. "IT'S ALL THAT'S LEFT OF HER!"