In The Webs We Weave

Chapter Fourteen

Authorities arrived not long after Peter left the dock last night. The sounds of gun shots, explosions and fighting must have startled a lot of nearby residents.

'8 men were arrested last night after a shoot out on Pier 11. It's believed more people were involved. Thanks to Spider-Man 8 men involved in human trafficking of minors out of New York was stopped in its tracks last night. Local crane operators are currently doing their best to un-sink the ship caught in the cross fire.' A news anchor woman says on a News station in the next room.

The hospital has given Paige a private room, thanks to tony and Peter's pervious run-ins with one of the nurses here who specialises in superheroes.

Even though the closest TV is 5 metres a way beyond a wall Peter's spider enhanced hearing picks up the news cast easily.

Paige lays in bed asleep after her fourth surgery while Peter spends every afternoon after school sitting right by her side, holding her hand hoping and praying she'll be ok when she wakes up.

Peter can't help but shed a tear as he listens to the nurse, Claire explain just how bad a shape Paige is in.

'She sustained bad breaks in both her ankles, her left wrist was shattered, her right shoulder was dislocated and she has damage to her inner ear, and temporal lobe of her brain resulting in speech and language issues.' Claire explains to Peter. Even with spider enhanced healing, it's a matter of hours until her bruises fade, days for her internal injuries to heal, at least three weeks for her bones to heal and perhaps months of speech therapy and relearning English until she can talk again.

Peter stays with Paige as long he can every night until visiting hours are closed at midnight. Then staying on her windowsill outside in his Spidey suit until the city beckons him.

Paige stays in the hospital for two weeks before she's transferred to the infirmary at the Avengers compound and she wakes up not long after that.

Paige can't help but cry when she tries to speak, it's so difficult. Her tongue won't cooperate and everything that comes out is just gibberish. The frustration that comes from not being able to understand what others are saying is about the final straw. When others try to talk to her everything sounds muffled and like they're speaking a different language.

Thankfully, Peter is there every day, holding her hand and listening to what the nurses and doctors say about her. She studies his face to determine whether what they're saying is good news or bad news, but she's pretty sure Peter just has a good Poker face.

Moving and getting comfortable is hard, two leg casts, a wrist cast and a sling pretty much immobilises her for the most part. Fortunately the bed she's given in the infirmary is comfy.

From what the doctors tell Peter, Paige is going to have to have speech therapy three times a week and physio four times a week once the casts are off in a few days. As well as having hearing aids fitted so she can hear.

Peter spending nearly every wakeful moment in the chair next to her bed tells Paige that its now the summer holidays. She feels bad that Peter is wilfully going to spend about half of summer inside, in the Avengers compound infirmary. She can't complain too much because it lights up her morning and spreads a smile across her face every time Peter steps through that door.

Eventually and unsurprisingly Paige has to face more case workers and Child protection services representatives. Tony takes care of most of them for her but she still has to sign mountains of paper work to say she's safe at the Avengers compound and that she's getting everything she needs. She's grateful that Tony steps into help but she can't help but feel useless, when they ask her questions she can't hear or answer.

Three weeks into recovery, her casts are off, her shoulder is back to normal and her speech therapy going along as well as it can as well as slowly becoming more and more accustomed to hearing again with her high tech hearing aids, thanks to Tony's late night tinkering.

'Happy's not coming in today, his wife has an appointment for alternative solutions.' Tony says to Peter, who looks saddened by the news that makes no sense to Paige. Like listening to half a conversation someone is having in the next room, Paige tries to guess what they're talking about, but this is the first time she's heard of Happy's personal life, she likes the man and cares about him, after all he's what she considers to be a friend.