For the second time today, Jessica found herself standing in the porch of a Queens household, unsure what sort of reaction she was going to get, or even what she was going to say. She'd thought long and hard about what to say when she finally got the courage to come to MJs house but words eluded her right now.
Her heart leapt when the door in front of her slowly opened.
A brown haired, middle aged woman sporting glasses stepped foward.
forward.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" she asked.
Jessica remembered seeing this woman thousands of times in her life, but she had gotten used of no one recognising her current form.
"Hi, are you Mary Jane's mother?" Jessica asked, feinting ignorance.
"I'm uhh... Peter's cousin? I was ummm... pretty close to Peter and I know Mary pretty well. May thought I should come around and talk to see if Mary Jane was holding up ok." Jessica replied nervously.
"Oh... well Mary Jane could do with someone that knew Peter right now. I'll just go up and see if she's feeling well enough to see visitors." the middle aged woman told her.
Jessica just smiled awkwardly at Mary Jane's mother as she left to check on her daughter.
"His cousin?" She thought to herself. Mary Jane's mother didn't seem to question her white lie however, so Jessica decided not to dwell on it for too long.
After shuffling her feet about impatiently for a few minutes, Mary Jane’s mother reappeared.
"She told me to send you up." she told Jessica.
Jessica smiled at her again, this time with renewed conviction.
"But... she's still in a bad way. Please be careful what you say to her."
Jessica nodded and headed up the stairs. Even though she remembered knowing Mary Jane all her life, she'd never actually physically met her herself as Jessica Drew. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. This wasn't someone she remembered merely as her girlfriend but as the person who had always been her best friend and for the longest time, her only friend.
She put her hand on the door handle to Mary's room but stopped short of opening it when she heard the sound of stifled sobs coming from the other side.
Jessica turned the handle and proceeded to half open the door. Inside she saw Mary Jane lying on her bed. When the young red-haired girl heard the creek at the door she turned to look at Jessica. Her wet puffy eyes and the tears that were still soaking her cheeks didn't succeed in ruining the pretty young girl's looks.
The shock of seeing Jessica seemed to halt new tears from joining the ones that were currently streaking down her face. The look she gave her reminded of the one MJ had given her when she was speaking at Peter's memorial last night.
"It's... you." MJ said quietly.
"Yeah... hey." Jessica replied, putting her hand to her head. "Mind if I come in?"
MJ looked up at her for a moment, started to wipe the salty tears from her eyes. She sat up on the side of her bed and slowly beckoned Jessica to join her.
"So, I take it Fury asked you to check up on me?" MJ asked with a sort of hollow sadness in her eyes.
"No! I mean, no. I wanted to see if you were ok after... after last night. You looked so sad, I just, I dunno, felt guilty. That I was responsible..."
Tears started to well back up in Mary Jane's eyes. "You really are his clone..." she whispered, looking away.
Jessica looked away too. She couldn't help but feel the sting of MJ's words, the fact that even the person she loved the most in the world just thought of her as a clone.
"Maybe... maybe I should go. I'm sorry MJ, I shouldn't' have come back."
Jessica got up and tried to leave without looking MJ in the eye. Then, as she was in the doorway, she took one last glance at Mary Jane. Mary Jane was looking right back at her, unsure of what to do or say.
After a few seconds, Jessica could feel a lump growing in her throat as she fought back the tears. She turned to leave without saying a word.
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