AN: Enjoy!

The following day after work, Wanda closed up the store and raced home from the Mall. She still had about two hours before Vision was coming to pick her up for Dinner, but she felt as though she would need every second of that time to feel ready.

Almost as soon as she arrived home, Wanda dove into the shower, washing her hair, and cleansing herself from a day's worth of Mall germs. Then, she took on the rather daunting task of deciding what on Earth she was going to wear. Although she and Vision had been dating for just over two months at this point, this date, the first time they were going to dinner together, just the two of them, felt special. Extra Formal.

But, Vision had also assured her that the place they were going, while nice, wasn't over the top fancy. She needed to find the right balance. And, at some point during her considerations of what to wear, something else occurred to Wanda. While she hadn't done a lot of what most people would call traditional dating, she had, at one time or another, heard of the 'Three Date' rule. That a third date was often the time for, uh.. Increased intimacy.

She and Vision had been on more than three dates, however, if she counted the walk in the park the previous afternoon, then tonight's dinner would, in fact, be the third date in which they had spent time completely alone..

Wanda swallowed, clutching her towel a little closer to herself as she stared into her closet. Was Vision expecting that they would have sex Tonight? Should she shave, wear sexy underwear?

They had been dating for a couple of months, and Viv was out of the house.. It probably seemed like a good time to try. Vision was a good man, but he was still a man, and she couldn't expect him to wait forever.

Wanda didn't know why the idea was bothering her so much. It wasn't like she was some blushing Virgin. She'd had sex plenty of times before, and had thought about having it with Vision, dreamed of it even. Dreamed of the way he sometimes looked at her like she was the most wonderful thing in the universe. Dreamed of him..

Wanda wanted all that, with Vision, eventually. Maybe even sometime soon. She just didn't feel quite ready, yet. Probably because Vision, and Viv too, had come to mean so much to her, so quickly, and Wanda was still so, so afraid that she would mess everything up somehow.. Vision would understand, wouldn't he, if she told him she wanted to wait a little longer? But what if he didn't understand? What if he..?

Wanda frowned and shook her head, beginning to dig through her closet. Of course Vision would understand. He was sweet, and kind, and.. He was Vision. He.. Well, Wanda wouldn't go quite so far as to say that he loved her, yet, but she did believe he cared about her. They had agreed to take things slow, and Vision had given her no sign at all of wanting that to change.

She continued to browse clothes, slightly annoyed with herself. She really needed to stop letting her imagination run away to the worst possible conclusion.

Wanda eventually picked out a black dress, nice, but not too fancy, with stockings underneath, that went surprisingly well with Vision's old coat. She had just finished up with her hair and make-up when she heard Vision knock at the door. She could already tell his knock apart from others, like an annoyed neighbour's 'Bam, bam, bam!' (only for said neighbour to realise they had knocked on the wrong door), or the excited rapping when he let Viv knock. Vision's knock was rather like Vision himself, quiet and polite, like he didn't want to impose.

Wanda, recovering from her earlier mental wobble, rushed to happily answer the door.

"Hey, Vizh.. You look nice" She greeted, and he did. He was wearing a rather nice grey sweater that she hadn't seen him in before, and, just like their first date, he was clutching a small bunch of flowers.

"Thank you" Vision blushed. "You look beautiful too, as always.. Um.." He paused, as though he was forgetting something.

"Thank you.." Wanda blushed a little herself, then smirked and eyed the flowers, remembering that last time Viv had needed to remind him to give them to her.

"Oh!" It clicked a few moments later, and he held up the flowers. "These are for you."

"They're really nice Vizh, thank you" She happily took the flowers. "I'll put them in water, and then we can go."

The restaurant was just as Vision had described it, a cosy, family-owned place, nice, but not fancy. And Vision was the same sweet, perfect gentleman he had always been, taking Wanda's coat, and pulling out her chair for her. Wanda felt rather guilty for the moment that she had allowed herself to think the worst of him, no matter how quickly it had passed. He had never done anything to deserve that, and it had showed her that she still had some work to do as far as silencing the unpleasant voice in her head.

For now, though, she was going to push all that to the side and enjoy her night out with Vision.. And Rocket Raccoon, inside the bag tucked under her chair.

"How was work Today?" Vison asked, shortly after their food (Lasagne for him, and Spaghetti Marinara for Wanda) arrived at the table.

"Still pretty quiet, but at least Mantis left a few things for me to do this time. I'm almost looking forward to the Valentine's Day madness to break the monotony, but I know I'll regret saying that as soon as it actually starts up.." Wanda twirled some pasta around her fork. She frowned slightly when Vision chuckled. "What's so funny?"

"Just.. it's strange how quickly time passes" Vision shook his head, smiling. "You and I met the day before last Valentine's Day, remember? We've known each other almost a year.."

"Whoa.. really?" Wanda knew it was true, but she couldn't quite believe it. Sometimes, it felt like only yesterday that Vision had hurried into her store just before closing time. Others, it felt like she had known him a lot longer than that.. almost like she had always known him.

"Yes, really" Vision chuckled. "Quite a good year though, don't you think?"

"I suppose it was" Wanda smiled softly, fork halfway to her lips. "How's Miss Vivian? Have you spoken to her Today?"

Vision nodded, swallowing a mouthful of lasagne.

"Briefly, this Morning. I think her Grandmother was taking her to a movie. She seemed happy.." He still sounded a little concerned.

"That's good. I admit, I.." Wanda paused, shaking her head. "Never mind. None of my business."

"Wanda" Vision frowned. "What were you going to say?"

"Well.." She hesitated, "I knew you were a bit worried about Viv going away, so I was a little surprised with how soon you called me to say you were on your way back. I'd just assumed you were going to hang around for a bit and settle her in."

"Oh. Well.."

"If you don't want to talk about it.."

"No, it's alright" He sighed. "The truth is, Virginia's parents don't like me all that much. They love Viv, how could anyone not? But I'm the idiot who got their daughter pregnant, the reason she never finished College.. Basically, I ruined her life, from their point of view."

"That's a little bit unfair, isn't it?" Wanda frowned. "I mean, it takes two to make a baby.."

"It does.. and you know what, it is unfair.." Clearly, this was a sore spot for him. "Because Virginia was going to finish College. I'd worked it all out, I had a flexible job, I'd organised daycare. I was going to take care of the baby, so she could.. But then she got sick. That's hardly my fault, but.." He sighed again. "Sometimes people will keep finding a way to blame you, even when you've done nothing wrong.. Seeing that much tension isn't good for Vivian, so I try not to linger when I drop her off there.."

Wanda frowned, reaching across the table to hold his hand. She couldn't let her Vision be that upset and not try to fix it.

"I think sometimes people just see what they want to see, and there's not much point trying to change their minds."

"I know.. I know. But.."

"Shh." She squeezed his hand. "You are a great person, Vizh. I can't think of anyone else I know who would have stepped up for Viv as well as you did at that age. You are an amazing Father, probably the best one I know. Second to my own, of course."

"That is very high praise.." Vision smiled softly, squeezing her hand in return.

"I know" Wanda smiled. "Every little girl thinks their Daddy is the best."

"I wish I could have met your Father. I think I would have liked him."

"How?" She was confused. "I haven't told you much about him."

"He made you, Wanda" Vision replied, kissing her fingers. "That is all I need to know."