Chapter Text
Gwen cannot remember a time when she wasn't listening for sirens.
As a small child, she remembers clinging to her worried mother, unsure as to the reason her breath is catching in her throat. But there's sirens echoing in the night, and the tension doesn't ease until daddy comes home and embraces them both.
The years pass and learns why her father rushes off at a phone call, or the sound of sirens waiting to take him away to work. Gwen worries with her mother, keeps her brothers distracted while they wait.
When George Stacey is made captain, the nights of worrying decrease in frequency, but they all still know the possibility of George being called out are still there.
That there's the chance he won't come back from such a call is never said. It doesn't have to be.
Then the day comes that he doesn't come back.
Gwen Stacey buries her father today. And through the grief and tears, the thought crosses her mind that her family won't have to listen for those telltale sirens anymore.
But she knows she still will.
She can guess why Peter is not here. Knows her father well enough that he wanted Peter to stay away from her, to keep her safe.
Gwen isn't sure who she's madder at, Peter or her father, for this high-handed attempt to run her life. Though it's easier to be mad with Peter at the moment of course.
But even with her feelings towards Peter a confusing mess behind the grief she's feeling, she can't help but worry about him.
The sirens in the night now cause her to worry about someone else, and she doubts she'll ever be free of the awareness.