Hello! This is a nice, long chapter. I hope you all enjoy it. I certainly enjoyed writing it! There will be one more chapter, and then that should be all. This is the climax, and the next chapter is the resolution.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avengers, only Diana.

Diana: Actually, she doesn't own me either. She just made me up.


Chapter Three

The Best Things Happen While You Dance

It was Sunday evening, the week before Christmas, and Tony was hiding in his lab. He had finally allowed Diana and Natasha to set a date for decorating the living room, and today was that day. Thing was, he was determined to not show up to their little decorating party. Everyone was going to be there. Thor had brought Jane Foster, Eric Selvig and Darcy Lewis to New York to join them for the holiday, and Bruce and Clint had brought SHIELD agents that they were dating.

Well they're not going to make me go up there. Tony thought to himself. I'm just going to stay down here and-.

"Tony Stark, you had better be getting ready to come upstairs or you will be in big trouble." Pepper Potts entered the room with her hands on her hips and her eyebrows lowered in a glare.

"Well then I guess I'm in trouble, because I am not going up there. It would be like admiting defeat!"

"Tony," Pepper's voice softened as she crossed the room and placed her hands on his chest. "Diana has something really special planned tonight. Please, come up for her. She'll be really mad if you don't, and none of us want to deal with an angry Diana. And before you say it again, she won't gloat if you go up. She'll just smile at you and then go on with the party."

Tony sighed. He knew that she had him trapped. She was right, none of them wanted to deal with an angry Diana. "Alright, fine."

The living room looked wonderful. Steve had to admit that even though he had found Diana's decorating tastes to be a little much at first, he certainly loved what she had planned for the living room. Stepping into the room now was like stepping back in time. It was completely decked out with garlands of ivy, and wreaths of evergreen boughs. The tree was full of ornaments, and loaded down with strings of tinsel, popcorn and cranberries. A fire was crackling cheerfully in the fireplace below the TV, and Christmas music by familiar singers was filling the room thanks to JARVIS.

"Okay, everyone, gather 'round please!" Diana called. "JARVIS, would you please turn down the music a little?"

"Of course, Miss Stark," the AI replied, and the music volume went down enough that they could all hear Diana as she began her speech.

"Friends and family, we are gathered tonight to decorate in honor of the most important holiday of the year. Although most people these days celebrate the fact that they are getting presents, that wasn't the original purpose of the season. The original purpose was to celebrate the birth of our Savior. I think that is what we have been missing in years before. What I've been missing. Steve has reminded me that it's not the decorations or the music or the movies that make the season so special. In recognition of his important reminder, and because it is his first Christmas in the twenty-first century, I would like Steve to put the angel on the top of the tree."

Steve was a little surprised at this statement. He had assumed that Tony would put the angel on since it was his building. But Diana was handing him a beautiful angel with blond hair and blue eyes, all dressed up in a flowing, white dress embroidered with gold threads. Gently, he took the angel in his hands. Carefully, he reached up and placed her delecately on the top of the tree. Everyone applauded, and Steve felt like Christmas had finally begun.

With the decorating complete, the floor was cleared for dancing. Since Darcy and Diana didn't have male partners, they joined Eric in sitting and watching the couples dance. Tony and Pepper, Jane and Thor, and Clint and Bruce with their dates. Steve was sitting down because he still didn't know how to dance. It took him a moment to realize that Natasha was sitting down as well.

She wasn't sitting for long. Not long after she spotted him looking at her, she stood and crossed the room to sit beside him. "Not interested in dancing?" she asked.

"I don't know how. I was supposed to learn, but I was too busy getting frozen."

"Would you like me to teach you?"

Steve looked at her in surprise. "I-I don't know," he stuttered. "I don't know if I'm ready." Natasha cocked her head, not understanding. Steve elaborated, "When I first met Peggy, we had a conversation about how I had never actually talked to a woman. I mentioned that women weren't really lining up to dance with a guy they might step on. I was really small. She asked if I had ever danced. I said that asking a woman to dance had always seemed so terrifying. I figured I'd wait."

"For what?" Natasha asked.

Steve looked right into her eyes. "The right partner."

Nat knew what he was saying. She stood up slowly, pulling him up with her as she did so. In a barely audible whisper, she said, "Am I that right partner?" There was a long pause, during which they gazed deeply into each other's eyes.

Nat felt that all of her barriers were being smashed through, allowing him unhindered access to her innermost being. She hated to think what he must see there. Her ledger was gushing red, just as Loki had said. How could someone as wonderful as Steve want someone as messed up as herself? Yet as she gazed into his eyes, she saw them fill with love and acceptance.

"Yes." His whisper was almost as inaudible as her own. Slowly, he bent down and pressed his lips against hers. When they finally broke apart, Nat pulled Steve onto the dance floor.

As they slowly swayed together, with Nat's head leaning gently on his broad chest, she realized that the song in the movie, White Christmas, was right. The best things do happen while you dance.