Across the Stars 🕷 Peter Parker [3]

twelve

Colin

Two days. It had been two days since Colin had spoken to his daughter. The last time he had spoken to her, she had been on her way to Wakanda to fight with the Avengers against some villain that had apparently won the fight. Right before his very eyes, he watched as people on the street simply vanished. Cars crashed, people panicked, and the entire world realized in horror that half of them were gone. As though they had never existed.

Colin realized that they were lucky. Leo hadn't vanished. He hadn't either. But Colin hadn't heard from Alexandra, and so his mind was spinning with worry, and Leo was asking questions. He knew something was wrong.

"Where is our daughter, Colin?!" He demanded. "It's been two days since people vanished and she's gone! Oh, God, what if we lost her?"

Colin did what he could to console his husband, but it was hard to do, especially when he knew that his daughter was likely gone. Leo began to suspect that Colin was hiding something from him after Colin got a call from Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow.

"Is this Colin Wallace, Alexandra's father?" She had asked.

"Yes." Colin did his best to hold himself together.

"I'm so sorry." Was all she said, and Colin finally understood. His daughter was gone. Just like the rest of the ones who had simply vanished. "She said she loves you."

His throat grew tight as he tried to answer the woman. "Thank you for telling me." He hung up and set his cell phone down on his nightstand. He placed his head in his hands and sat there for a very long time, just thinking. Remembering.

He tried to picture his daughter's face. He pictured her smile, her laugh. The way her eyebrow quirked upwards when she asked a question. He had to remember her. He couldn't forget her. Not ever.

When he heard his husband's voice behind him, he knew he had to come clean. "Who was that?" Leo asked. Colin stood up and turned to face his husband, his eyes sad. Leo noticed this and his eyes grew wide, he took a step backwards. "Colin, what's going on? Who was that?" Colin simply moved forward and wrapped his husband in a warm embrace. "Where is Alexandra?" Leo demanded.

When Colin didn't answer immediately, Leo pushed out of the hug and stared his husband dead in the eyes, his own welling with unshed tears. "Secrets tear people apart, Colin." His voice was tight, yet determined.

So Colin told him. He told him everything. Because Leo was right, these secrets had been tearing them apart for a long time. His husband deserved to know the truth. The whole truth.

He told Leo about his real job, how he spent his days protecting Stark Industries and its information. He told Leo how he had been employed at Stark Industries after SHIELD collapsed, and how they had moved to New York City all those years ago not for a law firm, but because Nick Fury had wanted him stationed in New York.

And finally, he told Leo that their daughter was Spider-Woman.

Leo's face had gone pale. He stared at Colin, but his eyes, which were normally full and bright, were now dull. "No." He whispered. "W-who was that on the phone?"

"Natasha Romanoff." Colin answered quietly. "Alex was in Wakanda with the Avengers when everything went down..."

"And? So, where is she?"

"Leo..."

"Where is she, Colin?"

"Baby... she's gone."

The breakdown was understandable, of course. Leo's yells and cries. The way Colin held his sobbing husband to his chest and let him pound his hands against his chest. Because Colin knew he shouldn't have kept these things from Leo. But now, it was too late and their daughter was gone.