The Black Spider - 3. Chapter 3: The Lies We Tell

When the home phone rang, May thought it was Peter calling for his ride. When the voice of Peter’s instructor spoke instead, she immediately wondered why he would be calling. When he revealed that Peter had had some kind of episode on the bus and was on his way to the hospital, she almost thought he was joking. When it quickly became apparent that he was not joking, May asked what happened. The bus driver could only tell her the truth. He didn’t know.

For May, that was the wrong answer. That was the same answer the officers had given her on the night of Ben’s death. Her next question was what hospital were they taking Peter to, before she simply said 'thank you' to the answer and hung up without saying goodbye to the instructor.

At this point, May could’ve allowed herself to break down and become worthless. She chose otherwise. Putting on her poker face, right as Tre walked into the front room to ask if it was Peter who’d called, May pretended she had to go to work and pick up something. She already knew Tre and Zeyna wouldn’t want to be anywhere near their school, where she worked as a teacher’s aide, so she left Tre in charge while she went to pick up the thing she didn’t need.

During the trip to the hospital May called one of her best friends, and next door neighbor, Anna. Like May, Anna was retired, and one of her odd jobs was keeping an eye on Tre and Zeyna on the days when May had to work later than the time the children got out of school. May told Anna the situation and asked her if she would be available to watch the kids in an hour and a half if necessary. Anna immediately said yes, then asked if the children knew. May told her they didn’t and the story they were going to get was that May had experienced car trouble on the way back home, the car needed to be towed to a body shop and she was going with it. She would call the house when the time came to let the kids know the situation and send them over. Anna again complied.

May arrived at the hospital almost thirty minutes after Peter was admitted. The nurse at the front desk was only able to tell her that Peter was in critical condition and in the trauma unit, which was a place she couldn’t go. She was welcomed to wait and the nurse would be happy to update her as information was given to her.

May hadn’t smoked a cigarette since Ben’s death, plus twenty years prior to that. It hadn’t even occurred to her that the half full pack was still sitting at the very bottom of her purse until she reached into it for them and found them. The book of matches she always tucked in under the plastic rim of the pack’s packaging had somehow withstood the trip down to the very bottom of the purse and remained in position. Without hesitation, May took a cigarette from the pack, pulled out the book of matches, took one out, struck it, and lit up the cigarette to smoke in the hospital parking lot beside her car.

Shortly after May put out her cigarette her phone rang. The number calling showed up as “Restricted”. May had a rule about any call that came up on her phone as 'Restricted' or 'Unknown'. They got sent directly to voice mail because it was probably some telemarketer who had no business calling her anyway. But for some reason she answered the call. Who it as on the other end was so unbelievable to May that she almost hung up in disbelief. Calling her was the head of the R.W.L program himself. He’d been informed of Peter’s situation and wanted to help in any way he could. With May’s permission, he wanted to have Peter transferred to the UCLA Medical Facility, which was better suited to help him. All expenses would be paid for with no strings attached.

May didn’t believed that.

There had to be strings. There had to be a reason why Tony Stark, the head of the R.W.L program, and Stark Enterprises, was doing this. People of his stature didn’t just notice people like May and her nephew out the blue and decide to be so generous out of the kindness of their own heart. There was always a catch.

The only thing that changed May’s mind was one simple fact. Tony Stark was not like all the other people of his stature. He had an alter ego. One who’d averted many national and worldly crises. And if the crisis could not be averted, he was always there on the front line to help strike it down. And although he hadn’t made Los Angeles a perfect place, he’d made it a much safer place to live. No. Tony Stark was definitely not like all the other people of his stature. He was a superhero. He was Ironman.

Before she gave her permission, though, May asked Tony why he was doing what he was doing. Tony’s answer was simple.

“When a student in my program takes a class trip that lands him in the hospital in critical condition, I get concerned,”

Very concerned in fact.

May didn’t know that the entire time she was at the hospital Tony had also been at the hospital. He’d actually arrived ten minutes before her in search of answers when the driver of the charter bus couldn’t tell him what was wrong or what had happened to Peter. When the doctor was finally able to reach an answer, it’d left everyone baffled. It was understood that Peter was suffering from anaphylactic shock. What wasn’t understood was the cause. There was only one bite on Peter’s body. But according to the test results, the venom affecting his body was not from one solitary creature. It was from a combination of nearly fifty different types of spider. So unless all those spiders had attacked Peter one after another, and bitten him in the exact same place, the tests had to be wrong.

It was at this time the doctor suggested Peter be transferred to the UCLA Medical Facility. In a matter of moments, Tony was able to acquire May’s cell phone number and contact her. He’d already known she was at the hospital, but he didn’t want to reveal his physical presence to her just yet. Officially he wasn’t at the hospital on Tony Stark business. He was there on Ironman business. The only exception was that he didn’t have on his self designed, and patented, Ironman suit.

Ironman’s shift ended when Tony offered to meet May at the UCLA Medical Facility. The doctors that would be working on Peter were doctors who’d also worked on him. He could serve as liaison. May also accepted this offer.

Shortly after the two met face to face at the UCLA Medical Facility, Tony revealed to May what was wrong with Peter. He was careful to leave out the baffling part, however. May breathed a sigh of relief to finally have that answer, but it didn’t sate her need for more. She wanted to know what was being done to help Peter and if his condition had any hope of improvement. Tony’s answers were able to finally sate that need.

The next hour brought both good and bad news. For the good news, Peter’s condition had improved from critical and unstable to serious and stabilizing. For the bad news, the attack on his body had been so severe it had rendered him comatose. The prognosis was that once his body recovered from the shock, the coma would lift, but it wasn’t known how long it would take for his body to recover.

Because Peter was in the intensive care unit, nobody but staff could see him. Once again, May was welcome to stay at the hospital as long as she wanted, but she wouldn’t be able to see Peter until he was out of the intensive care unit.

For a moment, May almost made the decision to stay. But she realized that besides praying, what else could she really do to help? Plus, there were two little ones at home waiting on her return. The nurse assured May she would be updated on her nephew’s progress. She also gave May the number to call that would put her straight through to the team working with Peter if she had any further concerns or questions.

Just as May started to force herself to be satisfied with that, Tony told her not to worry. The team was going to do everything they could to help Peter and he was going to do everything he could to help. From anyone else, May would’ve thought the statement was a little on the arrogant side. But just like she – and the world – knew he was Ironman, she also knew that Tony was an engineering genius.

It went over Tre and Zeyna’s heads that they’d been lied to about May’s whereabouts. All they cared about was Peter once May told them the truth after she arrived home. Zeyna cried immediately, scared of what would happen if Peter never woke up. Tre had been the little man, only wanting to make sure the women in his life were okay and that they didn’t lose their heads. But once he was alone in his room staring at the ball he’d thrown at Peter earlier that morning, the tears and emotion broke free. He swore that if Peter pulled through he’d never throw the ball, or anything else, at him again.

Glen’s father, George, and Mary-Jane’s mother, Madeline, called May one right after another to extend their comfort and support. May wanted to thank them both by inviting them over and cooking dinner. George told May she had no business being worried about cooking after the day she’d had. He offered to pick up something for all of them and bring it over. May laughed, finding herself reminded of Ben, and accepted.

Although Anna stayed once she brought the children home, May was grateful to have George and Madeline with her too. Like Anna, George was one of her dearest friends. He’d been in her life ever since Ben was in the police academy. She’d been there alongside Ben to celebrate George’s greatest triumphs, such as the birth of his only child, Glen. And also as support in his darkest times, such as when his wife, Helen, lost her battle with cancer.

Madeline was Anna’s youngest sister. May became acquainted with her when she’d first moved to Los Angeles eleven years ago to live with Anna following her divorce from her husband. The two had grown close in their time, with May looking at Madeline as a surrogate little sister, and Madeline at May as a surrogate big sister.

Glen and Mary-Jane went off to occupy Tre and Zeyna while the adults visited after the eating was done. With the kids and teenagers gone, May told the other adults everything, including Tony’s involvement. Anna, George, and Madeline were all shocked at the revelation. George felt the only reason Tony was involved was for crowd control purposes should Peter not make it. Anna and Madeline felt the same way, but Anna wondered if there was something more to Tony’s involvement. Due to his other job, consideration had to be taken. May revealed that she felt Tony’s other job was possibly the sole reason he was helping, though she did wonder about the crowd control thing.

Eventually, company departed and bedtimes arrived. May prayed for nearly an hour beside her bed before attempting to turn in. That attempt ended five hours later, ruined by repeated bad dreams. No stranger to getting by with little sleep, May passed the time by reading her bible and looking through a couple of the family picture albums she kept in her room.

Tre and Zeyna didn’t want to go to school when the time for them to get up and get ready came. They wanted to be ready to see Peter the moment he could be seen. May assured them that if that time came while they were in class she’d walk over to get them because she was going in to work herself. She felt there was no point in staying home, where her mind would do it’s very best to run wild and drive her insane.

A few hours before lunch, May received a call from one of the nurses on the team working with Peter. She reported that Peter had finally stabilized and his condition was upgraded to fair. He was still in the intensive care unit, so still no visitors, but if things held, he could be moved as soon as the next day. The news made not only May’s day, but Tre’s and Zeyna’s when she told them at lunch time.

Further news didn’t come until the wee hours of the next day. One of the nurses on Peter’s team was very happy to report that Peter’s condition was continuing to improve. He had been moved out of the intensive care unit and would be available to have visitors when visiting hours for patients started at eight o’clock.

May wasn’t able to get back to sleep after that. She called George and Anna to tell them the good news. Both breathed sighs of relief and asked May if she needed them to be there when she went to see Peter. Knowing that she didn’t need them, but that both wanted to see him, May answered yes.

Yet another tale had to be told to Tre and Zeyna. May wanted to see what type of condition Peter was in before she let them see him. Seeing a lot of machines operating and tubes connected to their big foster brother could scare them. So they were going to school under the illusion that May was also going to work. After the observation was made she would either get them out of class early, as if she’d just received the news, or continue to tell them that Peter still couldn’t have visitors until as many of the machines and tubes were gone as possible.

George and Anna also made similar decisions. George hadn’t told Glen of Peter’s condition. Anna hadn’t called her sister or Mary-Jane. They were also glad May had accepted their invitation to join her. They knew she wasn’t thinking about it because she was thinking about more than enough, but seeing many machines and tubes connected to Peter wouldn’t only scare children. It could also scare adults.

The only tubes that wound up being connected to Peter were those of an IV and catheter. The only machine he was connected to was a vital signs monitor. To May, Peter looked small and helpless in the hospital bed. It hurt her heart deeply to see him that way. It reminded her too much of how Ben had looked at his funeral. So peaceful laying there dressed up in his special uniform, eyes closed, looking as if he were only sleeping.

But unlike Ben, there was still life in Peter’s body.

That was the thought that sent her to the side of Peter’s bed, where she kissed him on his forehead.

“I’m here, baby,” she told him. “Aunt May is here.”

*                      *                      *                      *                      *

May, George, and Anna were introduced to the head doctor on Peter’s team shortly after the nurse brought them back to Peter’s room. May thanked her for her’s and her staff’s work. The doctor accepted, but let everyone know that Peter wasn’t out of the woods yet. While everything else was in the green, the mind was a tricky device to calculate when it came to how long it needed to recover from attacks. Peter could wake up in the next minute or the same minute next year. Until that time came, they would continue to do everything they could to see a full recovery.

May had to take solace in the fact that she could at least see Peter and be with him. She knew that coma victims could hear. And she would be talking to him every day. Letting him know she was there and waiting for him to find his way back.

George and Anna stayed with May until an hour before noon. During that time, the three decided it would be safe to bring the kids and teenagers to see Peter. May knew Tre and Zeyna would come looking for her during their lunch time. She was going to let them eat and then bring them. George and Anna were going to wait until Glen and Mary-Jane were out of school to bring them. With the plan set, May left for the school. George and Anna left for home.

Tre and Zeyna weren’t bothered by the tubes or machine at all. They were just glad to finally see Peter. Once they found out he could hear them if they talked to him, an argument broke out over who was going to talk to Peter first, who was going to tell him what, and everything else in between. May settled things by giving each of them a turn. Each would get five minutes during their turn to say whatever they wanted to say to Peter.

“But what if she says something I wanna say?” Tre objected.

“Then you’ll have tell him something else,” May answered.

May knew Tre was going to object again when she named Zeyna as the one who would go first.

“Why does she get to go first? She’s gonna tell him everything!” He did as expected.

“Because you’re going to be a good big brother and let you little sister go first this time.” May had her answer ready.

Tre scowled and folded his arms angrily across his chest.

“What if I don’t wanna be a good big brother?” he mumbled.

“Then your sister gets ten minutes on her turns and you get five on yours.”

Tre started to object further, but thought better of it.

“Go ‘head, Zeyna,” he sighed.

Peter’s ear was kept plenty busy by his little foster sister and brother until George and Anna arrived with Glen and Mary-Jane. They took their 'turn' to see Peter together. Neither one of them expected to get as emotional as they did.

Mary-Jane found herself having to hold back tears a couple of times. She’d known Peter since she was five. Met him while staying temporarily with her mother at her aunt Anna’s house. She knew she liked him after that first meet. He was funny. He made her laugh. He always made her laugh. Even in times when she thought she couldn’t. He was like a brother to her. And it hurt and worried her to see her brother as he was.

It hurt and worried Glen to see Peter in the state he was in as well. Their relationship extended beyond just being boyfriends. They’d bathed in the bathtub together when they were little, been 'partners in crime' since forever, shared things with each other that they would never share with anyone else, and watched each other’s backs like it was mandatory. Peter was more than a brother, more than a lover to Glen. He was a soul mate. To lose Peter would be like having half of his soul ripped away.

Glen ended his and Mary-Jane’s turn by telling Peter that if he didn’t wake up soon, the two of them were going to find a way to come in and drag him out.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *

Since she’d been told about the visitation rules earlier in the day, May decided she was going to spend the night with Peter. Part of her didn’t want to disrupt life for Tre and Zeyna. Unless the situation became dire again, she wanted them going to school and trying to stay to as close a normal schedule as possible. But in order for that to happen she would need to be there with them and not away from them. And that would mean if Peter woke up, he would be alone. That was what the other part of her did not want.

Tre and Zeyna wanted to stay with May of course, but couldn’t due to the lack of accommodations in the room. She left with them to return home and get clothes for the next day. Afterward, she took them over to Anna’s and returned to the Medical Facility. Just as she was getting settled, the final guest of the evening stopped by.

May found she was actually glad to see Tony. Although some of her reservations about him remained, she could not deny that he had done everything he’d said he would. That deserved the highest recognition.

“I don’t even know how I’m going to repay you for everything,” May added after her thanks.

“Like you, I only want to see Peter make it through this. That’ll be payment enough for me.”

Part of May felt like Tony was sincere with that answer. The other half thought he just wanted to see Peter make it through to avoid a possible law suit.

“I keep forgetting to ask the doctor if she ever found out what caused the shock in the first place.” May wished to sate the negative side of her thinking. Tony had been forthcoming with information before. She wanted to see if he still was.

“I take it Peter’s never been stung by a bee before, has he?” Tony asked.

May thought for a moment.

“No.” She shook her head. “Not that I can remember.”

“Well, he was on the day he was brought in.” Tony felt the sting of the lie on his lips.

“...And he’s allergic to bee stings.”

May knew that bee stings to people who were allergic to them could be fatal.

“So it would seem.” Tony nodded.

May sighed feeling even more weight lifting off her shoulders in having that answer. Plus, she knew they made medicine for people who were allergic to bee stings to take when they got stung. So there would be no repeat occurrences if Peter pulled through this one.

Tony withheld his sigh, as he felt more weight falling onto his shoulders. The last thing in the world he wanted to do was lie to May about what’d happened to her nephew. But he was very concerned about what telling the truth might do to her. If he told her that his analysis pointed to Peter having been bitten by a spider that had more than likely been altered genetically, she might not understand that. But she would definitely understand what the rest of his analysis pointed to. Since the venom was from a genetically altered spider, the effect it would have on the human body was unknown. This venom had somehow started to cause changes in Peter’s very DNA. While the scenario tests he’d run didn’t show the DNA altering to the point of physical or mental mutation, it did show that it was changing him. What those changes would be was unknown. What was known was that the genetic alteration was what was keeping Peter comatose. When the alteration was done, he was going to wake up. But first, he had to survive it.

This analysis had been kept from the doctors and team working on Peter. Tony had been able to convince the doctors at both facilities that it was the sting of a bee and not the bite of a spider that’d caused Peter’s condition. Spider bites, while deadly from certain species, were not known to cause anaphylaxis in humans, bee stings were. Add to that the earlier readings of venom from over fifty different spiders being picked up from just one bite, and the doctors were more willing to go with Tony’s conclusion. Especially when the contents of the anti-venom he produced had not only shown up in their system as one used to treat a patient with an allergy to a bee sting, but had led to Peter’s condition stabilizing and upgrading from serious to fair and onward.

No. He couldn’t tell her. Not yet. Not unless it was absolutely necessary. And Tony was holding the same reservation when it came to Peter. If all things pointed to normal with no side effects when/if Peter woke up, Tony wasn’t going to say a thing. But he would have to keep watch. Maybe for a few weeks. Maybe for a few months. However long it took until the answer was confirmed.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *

The next day passed without much change. Anna came with Tre and Zeyna to visit. Madeline came with Mary-Jane. George came with Glen. Tony was the only one who didn’t make an appearance. May noted it but didn’t fret. She knew he was a very busy man.

As regular visiting hours ended and friends departed, May went to Peter’s room to begin night one of her five night stay. After that, she would need to get back home. Anna would watch Tre and Zeyna until the same time next year if May needed her to just to allow her to be there when Peter woke up. And she honestly wanted to do just that. But that wasn’t fair to Tre and Zeyna. They needed her too. No, she didn’t want Peter waking up alone in a place he knew nothing about. But how long would it be until he woke up? May was hoping it was within the time she could spare. If not, it would have to come during a visit and hopefully not while she was away.

The decision to stay only five nights still weighed heavy on her mind when sleep set in. It conjured up a dream. In the dream, it’d been the evening of the day after May stopped spending the night. A nurse on Peter’s team called to tell her that Peter’s condition had fallen into the red again and was slipping. By the time she arrived, Peter had already gone. The nurses and doctors ridiculed her for leaving Peter’s side. They told her it was the only thing that’d been helping his recovery. May had fought her way through them and arrived in Peter’s room. Where once his sleeping body had lain there was now a body covered by a blanket. The last of the staff that’d been trying to save Peter’s life were leaving the room. They cast sour looks at May as they passed. That left May alone to walk up to the body and pull the blanket back to see the face. The sight she saw took her breath away. Peter’s pale face stared back at her, still looking as it had while he was in the coma. Like he was only sleeping.

May was two seconds from breaking down. On that last second, Peter’s eyes came open. They were dead and white.

“Why did you leave me, Aunt May?” he questioned in a horrible, twisted version of his real voice.

That was enough to snap May out of the dream and back to reality with a jolt and small yelp that had formed the beginning of the scream she would’ve unleashed had she continued dreaming.

“Aunt M..ay?” The somewhat raspy voice caused her to jump again.

Her head turned immediately to the direction she’d heard the voice come from. For a moment, she thought she was still dreaming. Everything was back as it had been before. No Peter lying dead with the cover over his body. He was in his bed. But his eyes were open. He was looking directly at her.

“Ar…you okay, Aunt…May?” he spoke.

May felt herself stand and the cover she’d been covered in fall to the ground. Her eyes never left…

“Peter?” She wanted to believe, but…

“Y..es, ma’am?” he responded.

The level of joy May felt go through her defied words. She knew she wasn’t dreaming. She knew what she was seeing was real. Before she knew it, she was at the side of Peter’s bed, with his hand in hers. His grip was weak, but present.

“How do you feel, baby? Can you see and hear me?” she asked.

“Y..eah,” Peter answered. “I fe..el weak. Throat hurts.”

“Does anything else hurt or feel wrong?”

“I don’t th..ink so.”

“Oh good. That’s real good.”

“Wh..at’s going on? Wh..ere am I?”

May got ready to answer, before remembering what she was supposed to do if/when Peter woke up. She needed to hit the call button.

“Let me call the doctors in here. And I’ll tell you everything while we wait for them,” she answered.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *