After some encouraging words from Alfred, Peter told him to drop him off at a florist so he could get some flowers for Barbara. He could barely afford a bouquet of flowers so opted for a single rose. He got to the hospital, straightened his hair as best he could and barged into Barbara’s room.

“Hey Babs I got you some…”

Barbara was hunched over, sobbing with a nurse patting her back. Commissioner Gordon stood by the door with a sombre expression on his face. The nurse stared at Peter and then at the Commissioner who gave her an understanding nod and took him outside the room.

Peter followed the Commissioner up the stairs to the roof. The Commissioner had a grim expression on his face. They went to the rooftop, standing on opposite sides of the door. Peter twirled the rose in his fingers while Gordon took out a cigarette and light it up.

“You smoke?” Gordon asked.

Peter shook his head.

“Good,” Gordon said, puffing out a cloud of smoke. “What took you?”

“Part time jobs,” Peter said. He suddenly felt itchy. It felt like his shirt was trying to strangle him. “I just moved here…”

“Oh yeah you’re May Parker’s kid,” Gordon said. “Part-time jobs? You’re pretty responsible for your age.”

Peter let out a nervous chuckle. “You don’t know the half of it,” he muttered.

“You got some bruises on your face?” Gordon said. “You got into a fight?”

“No,” Peter said a little too quickly. “Just fell. Look, what happened to Barbara?”

“She won’t be able to walk again,” Gordon said.

Thee rose slipped from Peter’s fingers. “What? No… no way. That’s not possible. The Doctors said she was fine and she’s… they have to be wrong. There’s just no way…”

“I think the Doctor’s know what they’re talking about,” Gordon said. “Look if you’re just here to pay a social visit you should get out of here. She doesn’t want to see anybody.” Gordon crushed the cigarette under his heel. “She needs space to process everything.”

“But I wanna be there,” Peter said. “I can’t just sit around…”

“Well, you should’ve been there when she got the results,” Gordon snapped. Peter was taken aback.

Gordon sighed. He took out his box of cigarettes to pop out another cigar but when it wouldn’t come out he crushed it and stuffed it back into his coat pockets. “Look kid, this is stressful. For the both of us. I suggest you give her some space to process this. Right now, I think that’s all we can do here.”

“Yeah,” Peter said. “Yeah, you’re right.”

He walked over to the door, crushing the rose underneath his heel.