Chapter Text
Peter had just rang the doorbell to Miles’s apartment, but it already was taking too long in his opinion. He was anxious to have a pointed conversation with his former protégé; his anxiety evidenced by his foot tapping on the ground rapidly, which it took M.J. pointing out for him to notice.
“Easy Pete,” she said, her voice helping him calm down slightly. “Remember, we need to hear him out.”
“I know,” Peter said. He knew she was right. Miles had been his web slinging and crime fighting partner for almost 17 years now, and up until this point, he had not one time done anything to betray his trust. Still, the fact that his daughter’s life was involved made this another matter entirely.
The door finally opened, and Miles’s face indicated he too had anticipated having the forthcoming conversation.
“Come on in,” Miles said, opening the door more widely. Peter let M.J. step through first, following her straight into the living room, where he took a seat on the couch alongside her, with Miles sitting down in a chair across the room.
“Is Annie here?” Peter asked, recognizing his daughter wasn’t out and about in the room.
“She’s in the other room with Hailey,” Miles explained. “I thought it might be better that way, so you could hear what happened from just me first.”
“Go ahead Miles,” M.J. spoke up, turning to look at Peter, who simply nodded, trying to contain his frustration. He forced it down, trying his best to keep an open mind.
“Basically, as soon as you took off for your trip, she was asking if she could go on patrol with me,” Miles began. “I did say no, but I offered a compromise by giving her some lessons on how to use her powers, which I know you’ve been doing too.”
“Then why did I see a bunch of headlines about another spider person swinging through the city when we got back into town?” Peter asked.
Miles swallowed.
“We were training one day when a drug deal got underway in an alley nearby,” Miles explained. “I told her to stay behind, then I jumped down there to handle it myself. I thought I had it under control, until a civilian came across what was happening. I took a bullet that was meant for that woman.”
Peter’s attitude towards Miles softened a little at that detail, and he believed he was starting to piece together what had happened.
“Anyway,” Miles continued. “The bullet hit me in a bad spot, and I was pretty much down. That’s when....”
“That’s when she jumped down and saved you,” Peter finished.
“She was still wearing the spare mask I’d let her borrow, so nobody saw her,” Miles clarified. “But yes, she took them out and got me back here, where her and Hailey managed to get the bullet out of me.”
Peter ran his hands over the back of his head. He felt a little guilty over how angry he’d been when he first saw the headline, but he still wasn’t completely ready to let his friend off the hook just yet.
“Miles, I’m glad you’re okay,” Peter said, “and I’m grateful for what you’ve taught her, but you still took her on patrol with you after the fact. Why?”
Miles looked down, wringing his fingers together. Even though he and Peter had both been adults for a while now, some of those nervous tendencies hadn’t gone away for either of them.
“You should’ve seen her out there, Pete,” Miles explained. “I know you don’t believe it, but she’s ready.”
“Miles, she’s 14,” Peter said, “even younger than either of us were when we started out.”
“I know, but she’s also had powers since she was 6,” Miles countered. “It’s all she’s ever known. She has a lot more control over them already than either of us did when we started.”
“Maybe, but that’s not enough,” Peter said.
“Then what will be enough, Pete?” Miles asked, his tone starting to match Peter’s in frustration. “Look man, I remember how nervous you were to let me come with you the first time, but everything turned out okay, because I had you to learn from.”
“It’s not the same, Miles,” Peter countered. His tone was still subdued but his frustration was likely still obvious.
“I know she’s your daughter,” Miles said, “but neither of us could keep telling her ‘No’ forever. She was going to get out there eventually.”
“And what if it were YOUR daughter?” Peter asked. “What if it was Phin instead of Annie?”
Miles hung his head for a moment, seemingly struck by those words. It took him a moment before he could look Peter in the eye again.
“I guess I would hope that you’d be saying the same thing to me if you were in my situation,” Miles said.
Peter looked at M.J. for a moment. His wife’s expression didn’t lead him to believe she had anything more to say, and neither did he.
“Bring Annie out, please,” Peter said.
“Pete....” Miles said.
“We’re taking her home,” Peter affirmed.
Miles sighed, getting up and walking down the hall. A couple of moments later, he returned with his wife Hailey and Annie herself, who only barely glanced her parents' way.
“Thank you again for watching her,” M.J. said as they got up and headed for the door, signing specifically so Hailey could understand.
“You’re welcome,” Hailey signed back.
Not another word was exchanged as the Parker’s took their leave.
______________________________________________________________________________
The taxi ride back to the Parker’s home in Queens was completely silent, but the proverbial elephant was still evident. As they arrived home, Peter and M.J. got their bags out from their anniversary trip, and their daughter followed them into the house.
“I’m in trouble, aren’t I?” Annie finally spoke up.
Neither of her parents spoke up at first.
“Annie, go upstairs please,” M.J. finally said. “Your father and I need to talk about this.”
“Mom....” Annie grumbled.
“Go,” M.J. reasserted, her voice firm but graceful at the same time. Annie reluctantly did as she was told. Once their daughter was out of earshot, M.J. turned back to Peter.
“What are you thinking?” she asked.
Peter let out a sigh.
“That she shouldn’t have gone out there,” he said.
“She was with Miles,” M.J. said.
“I know, and yes, I trust him to watch out for her,” Peter said, “but what if something had happened to him while he was protecting her? They would’ve both been in trouble.”
“Pete, I don’t like out daughter going out and dealing with New York’s worst of the worst either,” M.J. explained, “but Miles did have a point back there.”
Peter narrowed his eyebrows inquisitively.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I know that we agreed she needs to wait until she’s 18,” M.J. said, “and obviously I want to have the chance to evaluate what she can do for myself, just like you, but maybe we need to be more open about this.”
“How can you say that M.J?” Peter said. “We’re her parents; we need to protect her from what’s out there.”
“Yes, but maybe protecting her means making sure she’s ready to deal with what’s out there,” M.J. responded. “It just might be that we aren’t doing her any favors by keeping her in the dark on everything.”
“I don’t know,” Peter said, shaking his head.
“Peter, you have no idea how much she talks about wanting to go out there with you,” M.J. said. “Ever since she found out about her powers and where they come from, she has always wanted to help you protect this city.”
Peter gripped a nearby chair, shaking his head as he looked down.
“But what if I can’t protect her?” he said.
“I know, I think about it too,” M.J. said. “It terrifies me too, but if this is what she wants, we can’t continue to keep her from it.”
Peter chuckled.
“You have any idea how bad a parenting philosophy that is when applied broadly?” he asked.
M.J. gave him a stare as she tilted her head, smiling at him as she let out a few chuckles herself.
“Look, Peter,” M.J. began, “whatever you choose to do, I will support it. I just want you to keep her perspective in mind.”
Peter nodded at her. His wife was right; he DID have a decision to make. He still wasn’t sold on the idea of her suiting up with him, but if there was such a thing in this situation as a compromise, what could that look like?
______________________________________________________________________________
Later that night, Peter went up to his daughter’s room. The door was open, and he peaked inside to see her lying on her bed, facing the wall across from her. He gave a couple gentle knocks, causing her to turn her head to see him. He wandered into the room slowly as she sat up on her bed, grabbing the roller chair at her desk and sitting down on it just across from her.
“Dad....” Annie started.
Peter held his hand up.
“First of all, I wanted to say that I am proud of you for saving Miles’s life,” Peter said. “That took a lot of courage to do, so I just wanted to say you did good there.”
His daughter allowed a small smile to curve across her face.
“Thanks,” Annie replied, hanging her head for a moment. “Listen...... I know I shouldn’t have talked Mr. Morales into letting me go out there with him after that, but I just felt so confident after how I saved him, I just...... I feel like I’m ready, dad.”
Peter let out a huff as he smiled.
“I’ll be the judge of that,” he replied.
Annie’s eyes went wide, excitement slowly starting to take over her face.
“You mean I can go out there with you!?” she asked enthusiastically.
“Maybe,” Peter replied. “Your mother and I still need to test your skills out for ourselves. If we feel like you are ready, I MIGHT let you go out there with me, but ONLY with me.”
By now, Annie seemed to be doing everything she could not to bounce up and down on the couch in excitement.
“Oh my goodness dad,” she said, “I promise, I won’t let you down!”
Peter laughed.
“We’ll see. Also, because you technically disobeyed us, your mom and I agreed that you’re to come home straight from school all next week. No friends’ houses or parties, is that understood?”
“Yes,” Annie said, her excitement only barely diminishing.
“Okay,” Peter said. He stood up, putting the chair back in its place. He then walked over to Annie, giving her a hug.
“You know I love you,” he said.
“I love you too,” she responded in kind.
______________________________________________________________________________
About two months later, Peter was finally willing to let Annie come along on one of his patrols. He had worked with her on a suit and everything, and it was almost time. While he was waiting for her to get dressed, he remembered he had never truly apologized to Miles for his frustration when he picked her up. He took out his phone, finding Miles’s number and dialing it.
“Hey Peter,” Miles answered. “What’s up?”
“I just wanted to say that I’m taking Annie on patrol with me today.”
There was a pause on the phone.
“Really?”
“Yep,” Peter said. He glanced in the direction of where his daughter would be coming from before continuing: “Hey, Miles, I also wanted to say I’m sorry for being so frustrated with you. You and Hailey were great to take her in while M.J. and I went on our trip, and I know you were looking out for her.”
“It’s cool man,” Miles replied. “I didn’t actually have your permission though, so I am sorry I scared you and Mary Jane like that.”
“Well, let’s just put this behind us and move on then,” Peter proposed.
“Sounds good to me,” Miles said.
“Alright, I think she’s coming,” Peter said. “Wish me luck.”
“Good luck, Pete,” Miles replied. “Have fun with Spider-Girl.”
“Spider-Girl?” Peter asked.
“Yeah, it’s what she called herself during training and stuff,” Miles replied. “Anyway, gotta go. Bye!”
The call ended just as Annie came out dressed in a red, white and blue outfit very similar to Peter’s own, with some bits of black inserted as well. Peter said nothing at first as he observed his daughter in her own superhero outfit.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said. He looked out the open window, acknowledging in his head that the moment was finally here.
“Okay, Spider-Girl,” Peter said. “Try and keep up.”