Lois was on the phone about a story when the door opened, and Peter came walking over. He sighed as he placed his camera down on the table near the doorway.

"Hey." Peter greeted her as he walked over and pecked her cheek. "How's it going?"

"I got to get Foswell copy in the morning," Lois reported in. "Your plate is in the fridge, Mayday has some news, and April is a little upset."

"She okay?" Peter suddenly got worried.

"She's fine," Lois said as she was answering the phone. "But if you wanna go check on her?"

Peter wondered what was wrong when he looked at the calendar and realized the day and knew why she was upset.

"Yeah, I might," Peter said, making his way up as Lois walked off to take it.

As he made it up the stairs, he heard talking in Mayday's room and knocked. "Mayday?"

"Yeah, dad?" Mayday asked as Peter opened the door and saw she was on a Zoom call with her friend Eliza.

"Hey, just getting home. Mom said you had some news." Peter said to her.

"Oh, yeah!" Mayday seemed to get excited at the thought. "E, one second." She then turned to face her dad. "I got into cheer!"

"You did?" Peter asked in surprise.

Mayday had been excited about getting into cheer practice since she and April would be starting high school. Peter encouraged them both to try, but it seemed April wasn't interested in that type of stuff. She was more of a bookworm as Mayday was the athletic one of the two.

"Oh, honey." Peter cheered as he walked over and hugged her as Mayday laughed. "I knew you would!"

"Dad!" Mayday laughed at her dad's behavior. "Okay, okay, we get it. You're proud of me."

"Okay, I'm gonna stop humiliating you in front of your friends," Peter said as Eliza laughed at their interaction. "Hi, Eliza."

"Hi, Mr. Parker." Eliza greeted through the screen.

"Okay, go!" Mayday started to beg as she tried to hold in laughter.

"Fine. One last thing." Peter said as he leaned in and pecked Mayday's cheek, getting her to blush. "Now I'm done being embarrassing."

"Get!" Mayday said as Peter laughed and left his daughter.

Hearing what sounds like fighting, Peter opened April's door and watched her play a game that's been around for a while. It was a fighting game that he and a bunch of other heroes signed their rights to use in a video game to fight.

"Hey," Peter called to April and watched her fight Chun-Li vs Spider-Man. "Wow, you make a good Spider-Man."

"Spider-Man's lame." April scoffed. "I'm Chun-Li."

"Oh," Peter commented no idea what to say to that. "So...mom said you were a little upset. Are you okay? I kinda know what this day represents to you."

"You mean the day those freaks tried to kill us?" April asked, referring to this day just five years ago.

"They're not freaks, it was just a freak accident." Peter defended it.

"Whatever." April sighed, never likening to discuss it.

Peter sighed and wished he could help her see those people as he does. "So...high school starts tomorrow. Nervous?"

"No, not really," April replied.

"Because if you are, it's okay," Peter promises. "I remember my first day of freshman year was tough. Spent most of it stuffed inside my locker."

"Yeah, well, life's a little different in Metropolis than in New York," April commented.

Peter knew that it was a lost cause to try and get a conversation out of her today. "Well, if you wanna talk, about anything, you know I'm here."

April didn't seem to care to respond to that one and Peter just walked out, leaving her to her game. Sighing, Peter leaned against the wall and remembered why she was like this.

A while ago, five years or so, when they were on a trip out of the city, they were attacked on the highway by a mutant battle against the X-Men and Brotherhood. It almost killed April if it weren't for Peter's fast acting by tackling her and saving her from Pyro. It caused April to become distant by the beginning of the school year. It only lasts a few days, then she's back to her normal cheerful self.

Peter snapped out of his memories when his phone went off. He looked down and saw it was a call from May. Smiling, he walked over down the stairs and took the call.

"Hey." Peter greeted May.

"Hi, sweetie. Are you just getting home?" May asked him.

"Yeah, just a little while ago," Peter confirmed as he took a seat at the table, not knowing May was doing the same.

"Honey, it feels like you've got a lot going on your plate right now," May commented on Peter's job. "You're rarely around your kids."

"May, this job takes me a lot of places ever since I stopped getting pictures of Spider-Man." Peter reminded her.

"Well, there is a way to fix that," May commented.

"You know that I gave up that guy." Peter reminds May. "Spider-Man is no more."

"Only because you think you can't be there for them and be the hero you were meant to be."

"Once, I was meant to be a hero. Now I just need to be their father." Peter stated, feeling this is the best thing in his life.

"But you're never around." May retaliated. "At least those photos kept you close to home. You only have a small number of years left before your girls leave home."

"Don't remind me." Peter pleaded as he chuckled at that reminder. "Was it this hard on you when I left home?"

"Your path was set on a different path when that suit came between us," May assured him with a laugh. "Besides, New York could benefit from more superheroes."

"The girls aren't Supers, May." Peter was sorry to say.

"Still...Parker's have always left a mark on New York one way or another." May said as she then groaned and held her chest. "Ooh."

"May, you okay?" Peter asked, getting a little worried.

"I just need to lie down," May assured him.

"Well, I'll let you go. Get some sleep. Call you in the morning." Peter promises her. "I love you."

"And I larb you," May stated, getting a laugh from Peter.

With that, the two of them hang up and Peter thought of what she said. Before going to bed, Peter went back up to his room and pulled out the suitcase from under his bed. He never hid anything from the girls, but this was something that he wanted to keep buried. When he opened it, he looked and saw the old and worn down Spider-Man suit.

May was right. He did miss it from time to time. The feeling of always being there for someone. Having a place in this world that he used to help.

But now he has a bigger responsibility. Done thinking of the past, he folds the suit back up and places it back into the suitcase.

The next morning, Peter and Lois were doing their daily routine of getting breakfast together and getting the girls out to school.

"Morning." Peter greeted them as he came over and picked Lois' lips.

"Oh, your aunt called while you were in the shower," Lois informed him as she gave him a plate. "Something about a visit."

"Are we gonna see great aunt May?" Mayday asks her parents.

"Yeah, I think we're overdue for a visit," Peter replied, feeling they can take a weekend to visit aunt May in New York.

"Oh, yay, another visit to the city that never sleeps," April said, sounding a bit sarcastic, but she loves her visits to New York.

April would spend hours talking to the people at F.E.A.S.T. The place where May works is a home for the homeless people of New York.

"Well, we can start heading down there this Friday. Spend the weekend with May." Peter tells them the plan.

"You two, go. Time to get to school." Lois tells them as they quickly eat their food and start to make their way out the door.

"Love you, girls," Peter called out.

"Love you, dad." They replied as they made their way out the door.

Peter sighed and knew they would be okay. "Okay, they're gonna be okay."

"Still convincing yourself that they don't have anything?" Lois asked Peter.

"What?" Peter asked her. "Lois, these girls are nothing like me."

"She's going through cheerleading as a freshman." Lois reminded her.

"So? Just because Mayday's more flexible than the other kids doesn't mean she has powers." Peter replied. "Even the tests that I sent to reed said that they don't have any anomalies."

"Don't you think that it's time that they knew about all of this?" Lois asked him.

"All of what?" Peter asked her. "Spider-Man is gone. I am done with that life."

"If that's true, then why do you still have that suit?" Lois asked him, referring to the suitcase.

"That's for an emergency." Peter defended why he keeps that suit around. "And what about April? She despises mutants after what happened."

Lois rolled her eyes and knew that if she knew, that might change her mind. "We're gonna be late."

Even in the elevator on their way up to their offices, they were arguing about their decision.

"It's too dangerous for them to know." Peter denied.

"It's more dangerous if they don't," Lois replied.

"Lo, if they slip up once, say the wrong thing to the wrong person, then everyone discovers who I am. I may not be Spider-Man anymore, but I still have enemies."

They arrived on their floor and started to make it through the floor.

"They're 14. Freshmen in high school. They have enough problems." Peter replied when they noticed something. "What's going on?"

Lois looked and stopped Maxy. "Maxy, what's going on?"

"Whit...fired," Maxy explained and went about his day.

"More layoffs?" Peter asked in shock.

"I knew when Carlton Drake bought the Planet there'd be cuts, but this is unbelievable." Lois scoffed at that statement.

"Parker!" Foswell called out to the room, causing the two of them to stop. "Have a minute?"

Lois looked worried as she looked at Peter, who just decided to see what he wanted.

Seems it was exactly as they feared since when the two of them met back up, he confirmed he was laid off.

"Foswell fired you?" Lois asked Peter in shock.

"Better me than someone else. I can get another job with my credentials." Peter tried to reassure her.

"That's not the point. Foswell is no editor, he's a patsy for Drake!" Lois cried in anger as she walked over to the vending machine. "All these billionaires who buy media outlets use this 'moving to digital' crap as a way to destroy journalism." As she buys her snack, it ends up getting stuck in the middle of it. "They don't care about people's interests or facts. Only clickbait!"

Peter helps her out by picking up the machine and letting it fall out.

"We'll figure something out," Peter assured her when his phone rang. Picking it up, he noticed it was May and answered it. "Hey, May, sorry I didn't..." that's when he hears someone on the other end that wasn't his aunt. "Dr. Carter?"

Lois turned to face him, wondering what the problem was when she watched Peter freeze. She then watched as his face turned to shock and fear.

"What?" Lois asked, seeing something is definitely wrong. "What's going on?"

Peter put down the phone and started to tear up. "It's May...she's gone."