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Mix in some pain, some trauma, some terror. Blend well. All of that would be more than enough to rattle anyone's cage.
"Then why do I feel like such a wimp?" she asked.
"I don't know," I said. "Sometimes I feel kinda wimpy myself. Look, MJ, this isn't a big deal. If we have to, I'll drive you down until you
can pass the test."
She frowned and then shook her head. "No. I'll do it myself. I'll pass it Monday morning. If you can deal with immortal, unstoppable
monsters, I can handle the DMV."
"Easy there, Superchick. If you're working up an archenemy, you don't want to start with the DMV Go with someone a little easier to
deal with. Doctor Doom, Magneto."
She smiled at me more because I'd gone to the effort to make the joke than because it was funny. She glanced at the stones. "I'm
not sure I like this Strange person," she said.
"The doc's okay," I said. "I get the feeling he's doing everything he can. He's got limits."
"I don't care about limits," Mary Jane said, her tone practical. "I care about you. He isn't doing well by you, and you're what matters to
me."
I slipped my hand from her wrist, and twined her warm fingers in mine. "I think you might not be totally objective."
"Why would I want to be?" she asked. She leaned down and pressed a soft, warm kiss to my hand.
I pushed my food aside, and went around the table to kiss my wife. She returned the kiss with an ardent sigh, her arms sliding around
my neck, holding on as tightly as she could.
She was afraid.
So was I.
So the kiss became our whole world. She became my whole world. I let her warmth, her desire, her love wash over me, and gave it
back in kind. Words would have been a waste of sensation. So I picked her up and carried her toward our bedroom, where the fear,
for a while, couldn't touch us.
I hadn't really planned on falling asleep, but I'd pulled an all-nighter after a fairly strenuous round with the Rhino and a follow-up game of
Dodge the Ancient, so once I had relaxed body and mind, it was apparently inevitable. I woke to the sound of voices speaking quietly
in the living room.
I got out of bed and suited up, put some jeans and a sweatshirt over my colors, and walked into the living room.
"There's nothing going on," Felicia was saying. "Even you must have that one figured out by now."
"Believe me, sweetie," MJ said in a poisonously friendly voice, "I do not regard you as a threat."
I thought about maybe putting on the mask and going out the window. Nothing I could possibly say or not say, do or not do, would let
me avoid a fight. Although it didn't seem very heroic to go running and hiding like that. On the other hand, it didn't seem prudent to go
rushing into the conversation, either. So I stayed put for the moment, listening.
"A threat? Now why would I be a threat to you?" Felicia asked. "Just because I can actually do something to help Peter other than
waving pom-poms and baking him cookies, that is."
If the barb scored on MJ, I couldn't tell it from her voice which meant that it probably had. "Ah, yes, your job skills. I can't count how
many times I've wished I knew how to steal cars or sneak around in an outfit from Strippers 'R' Us. It would be so helpful to Peter, in his
day-to-day life, if only I could unzip my top a little farther down past my belly button."
Felicia let out a catty little laugh. "That's pretty bold, coming from the girlfriend of Lobsterman. Have I mentioned, by the way, how much
I admired your acting in that fine film? I think the scene in the pink bikini was probably the most moving, though it must have been a
cold day on the set. Did they get you an acting coach to tell you how to scream in terror, or did they just shove head shots of you on a
bad hair day into your face?"
"It was traumatic," MJ said. "Thank goodness there was someone who wanted to share his life with me to help me recover. Does your
husband comfort you after a hard day at work, Felicia?"
"If I ever find anyone I can put up with," Felicia said, "at least I'll make up my mind when I marry him, not bounce back and forth like an
airy little Ping-Pong ball."
At which point, good sense departed, and I'd heard enough.
I pushed open the bedroom door, and said, in a
very quiet, very even voice, "Felicia. That's my wife."
Felicia pressed her lips together before she could say whatever hasty response had come to her mouth. She folded her arms and
turned away from MJ and me, stalking stiff-spined to the window.
"MJ," I said in the same quiet voice. "That's my friend. And yours. You know that."
Mary Jane's face flickered with anger, but then she closed her eyes and shook her head once, and nodded to me. "I just& "
"We're all tense. This isn't the right way to handle it," I said quietly. "You're both better people than that. I need you to call a cease-fire.
Please."
Felicia rolled her eyes at my reflection in the window. She was back in the Black Cat outfit again, though she'd slung a gauzy peasant
skirt and a leather jacket, both dark blue, over it, and it would pass for a clubbing outfit to the casual eye. "Fine," she said. "MJ?"
"Yes," Mary Jane said in a measured tone. "There's no reason we can't be civil."
"Thank you," I said with exaggerated patience. Which was probably asking for trouble, but ye gods and little fishes, they were
supposed to be adults.
"Are my leftovers in the fridge?" I asked my wife.
"Yes. Go ahead and eat," Mary Jane said.
I grunted and did, getting what remained of Wong's Shangri-la-level sandwiches out of the fridge. I took them to the table with a glass
of milk and asked Felicia, "Did you get the prints?"
"Yes," Felicia said calmly.
"Do I want to know how?" I asked.
"Does it matter?"
I chewed on my sandwich. "It matters to me, I guess."
"Because I might have broken the law?"
"Yes."
"Ah," Felicia said. "You mean, the way the Rhino breaks the law. I mean, that's what you said made him a bad guy. How he broke the
law all the time."
"What I said "
"I mean, logically speaking, if you would have busted him for doing something illegal, I should expect you to treat me the same way. If I
tell you that
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