Hey, guys! Sorry for the wait, I've been rather busy as of late! Wow that rhymed! Anyway, a big thank you to you all for waiting and for reading! You guys are the best for doing so, and following, and favoriting, and all that jazz. Seriously, you lot make my day. :)

A big thanks to Saint of the Sinners and Cheshire Kitty 101 for their reviews as well! I love your comments, guys. Keep them coming!

Now, for something a little sad... I'm starting to feel a writer's block coming on with this story. I'm trying to push through it, because I want to finish it before I go to college and whatnot, but I'm worried that if I do, the quality will decrease. Naturally that is not fun. So if my updates become a little less often, I hope you will understand, because I want to make this the best it can be for you guys!

WARNING: This chapter may qualify for the "M" rating. I don't think it's enough to rate the whole STORY as "M," but I just want to be safe!

Thanks for putting up with my long author's notes, by the way. This one is now at an end; have a MARVELous day, everyone!

The rest of the evening was spent dancing, drinking, and laughing with her friends. Esca loosened up and allowed herself to dance—she was good at it, as ballet was one thing the Nurses had taught her so she would master coordination and balance. While she danced with choreographed moves and a classical style, Clint, Tony, and Thor were practically spazzing out beside her, clearly for her entertainment. Nat had the same dancing style as Esca. Wanda, Pietro, Vision, and Steve preferred not to dance—but Bruce, at Natasha's insistence, eventually let himself be pulled along.

James, after spending some time with Zelda, forced Steve onto the dance floor, with the argument that Steve "needed to have some fun." Wanda and Vision eventually joined, as both Pepper and Natasha were summoning them. That left only Pietro on the sidelines.

Noticing this, Esca flitted over to him. "You should come and dance!"

Pietro chuckled uneasily. "I don't dance, Esca Rarity."

"Why not?"

"I can't do it."

"Sure you can! It might not be for everyone, I know, but—"

"No, I mean I literally cannot dance," elucidated Pietro. He looked reluctant to say as much, but with a great sigh he finished, "When it comes to dancing, I am perhaps the worst person on the planet. I am an absolute klutz when I try. Just ask Wanda…"

For a split second, Esca stared at him. Then she announced, "It's my birthday. You have to come and try, at least. Look, even Bruce is dancing!"

Bruce heard this and threw an arm around Natasha's shoulder before raising a wine glass. "Alcohol helps!"

"There's the spirit, Banner!" shouted Tony, doing the Macarena with Pepper, who was restraining hopeless giggles.

Pietro gazed back down at Esca and her pleading eyes. "Please?"

Clint shouted over then, "Come on, Maximoff! You saved my life, and I named my kid after you. Now she saved your life, and you owe her a dance! Plus, she's your girlfriend, so…" He shrugged and focused back on trying to sabotage Tony's Macarena.

With a groan, Pietro looked back at Esca. "Do I really have to?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed, seizing his hand and yanking him to the dance floor with her.

At first, Esca was subject to laughter as Pietro just put his hand to his head and groaned. But when she grabbed his hands and helped him, he began to at least try for her. While Tony was not much better at dancing than Pietro, he was unable to make fun of him—Clint, however, kept his snarky remarks coming as Esca tried to teach her boyfriend how to dance. Before long, Wanda and Pepper walked over to try and help him out, although Natasha was having too much fun dancing with Bruce, and Esca didn't want to distract her. Seeing that the girls were determined to help him, Pietro was unable to shake them off.

After about fifteen minutes of this, however, he finally exclaimed, "All right, I've had enough!" and zoomed off, his hands in the air.

Esca laughed and bounded after him, handing him a beer bottle. "You look like you need this," she giggled. She was rewarded with a small smile.

"You have no idea." He popped the lid and quickly chugged half the bottle.

"So… Did you plan all this, too?" she asked, remembering the first date he'd set up for them, and how he had enlisted the Avengers' help to make it happen.

He nodded. "Everyone came up with the idea at practically the same time… I was just the head of who executed it."

Esca just laughed again. "I thought it would be you. Since that is the case…" She leaned toward him and planted a quick kiss on his cheek. "Thank you. Today has been one of the best days of my life."

Now he smiled. "I'm very glad to hear it."

Just then, Steve barreled over to them. "Sorry Maximoff, but I'm stealing your best girl. I want to dance with her, as she's the birthday girl, and I haven't gotten to yet."

"Seems fair," replied Pietro. "Speaking of, I need to steal my sister…"

With that, Steve and Esca returned to the dance floor. Steve was very careful about putting his hand on her waist; he did not touch her skin, only the fabric of her dress. That made Esca laugh at his old-fashioned notions, but he just shrugged and grinned sheepishly. "How has your night been, Miss Esca?"

"It has been wonderful, Steve," she answered with a large smile on her face. "I have not had this much fun in ages."

"I'm glad to hear you say that," he remarked as he twirled her around underneath his arm. "We wanted to make this special for you."

"You have surpassed that goal. I will never forget tonight… It's the first time I've really celebrated my birthday with my family."

Hearing that made Steve stop short. He stared at her with puppy-like eyes for a moment before asking, "You think we're your family?"

"No," answered Esca. "I know you're my family." And she gave him a giant hug, as he was like her older brother and she loved him just as much as one. Steve grinned and ruffled her hair before kissing the side of her head.

Before long, it was two in the morning. At that time, Esca laughed and said, "I'm going to bed, you guys. It's getting late."

"But blondie!" protested Tony, his arms wide in challenge. "Sleep is for the weak!"

"Then it is a good thing I have no super-serum or unmatchable genius to set me apart," laughed Esca. "Besides, I get grumpy if I don't have enough sleep. I daresay you don't want to cross me if I have less than six hours of it. But honestly, thank you so much for—"

"We heard you the first hundred times, Esca," laughed Natasha. Bruce had an arm around her waist, which made the girl grin. "Now go get some sleep."

Esca nodded and located Pietro to say goodnight—he was with Wanda, but when he saw her, he kissed the side of Wanda's head and told her goodnight before setting off to walk with Esca.

It was silent for a while, until finally she said, "I really don't know how else to express my thanks for what you've done. It just… reaffirmed that… I'm very happy here, with all of you."

Pietro's eyes softened as he gazed at her. "You don't need to thank me. You deserve it. And… look, I've got to say this now before I lose my mind. I cannot keep it back any longer. I am in love with you, Esca Rarity. I have been for months, practically since the day I met you. You are the most beautiful woman I've ever met, and I'm not being shallow and talking about your looks—although you are beautiful in that retrospect as well. I'm talking about your personality, who you are, who you've become. I love everything about you, from the way you hide your face when I compliment you, to the smirk you get whenever you tease someone, to your strange love of history and literature. You're the most special person I've ever met, and one of the best things that could've ever happened to me. And now I'll just shut up and conclude with happy birthday, Esca Rarity. I love you."

Esca stared at him for a split second before throwing her arms around his neck and exhaling, "I've finally figured out what this is. I've only figured it out, hearing you say that—I love you too. You're the first person I've ever truly loved… did you know that? For months, I've had no idea what I've been feeling for you, but now it's glaringly obvious—I love you."

She giggled a little and exclaimed, tears in her eyes, "This is what this is, God, I've never experienced it before—I love you."

Pietro grinned broadly and kissed her, his hand lightly against her face. Esca blinked and quickly responded to it, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down to her. She stood on tiptoe to be level with him and suddenly gasped when she realized he had backed her against her door. She shrieked a little when the door swung open and she almost toppled to the ground—a rip sounded through the air as Pietro yanked her toward him and held her so there were only a few inches between them.

Esca flushed. "Thank you," she murmured. "That was unexpected."

Pietro, however, had his eyes on the ceiling. "Esca Rarity, I think—I might've accidentally stepped on your dress…"

Esca looked down and saw that one of the shoulders of her dress was ripped, exposing half of her bra. With a discontented sigh, she moaned, "Drat, I loved that dress! I guess I'll have to get another one…" She looked back at Pietro, who still had his eyes on the ceiling. With a scoff, she asked, "Who are you, Saint Maria? It's a bra, Pietro, haven't you seen one before?"

He blinked and looked back at her. "Esca Rarity… did you just sass me?"

"I do that sometimes, yet you are always surprised. The fact that you haven't accustomed to it is cute."

"Cute?!"

"Very," she confirmed. "It's positively adorable."

With each word she said, Esca realized Pietro was forcing her against the wall, as if to intimidate her. Seeing this, she taunted, "Oh, I see. So you're going to try and make me think I'm at your mercy? I'm afraid I've seen this before." With a smirk on her face, she gently placed her hands against Pietro's chest. He abruptly stopped, glaring at her. "You know how I dealt with those?" she asked softly.

He was silent and unmoving, his eyes dark with something Esca hoped was desire. If that were the case, the feeling was mutual.

"I punished them," she finished, raising an eyebrow. "Don't make me do it to you, too."

"Oh, please," he finally retorted, a low growl as his voice. He pressed her up against the wall; Esca's senses were alarmingly alert; she hadn't felt this way ever. It was driving her crazy, making her breath shallow, and her only consolation was that she could tell he wanted her as much as she did him. But she felt both petrified and stirred as his lips gently descended her neck, trailing her collarbone before stopping where the neckline of her dress did. "You wouldn't do anything to me."

Despite how intoxicated she felt, Esca managed to laugh. "And we return to how cute you are." Before he could say anything, she gently slid her hands from his chest to his stomach. The touch was tantalizing—she could feel the outline of his muscles underneath his button-down shirt and wanted nothing more than to take said shirt off. To distract herself, she cocked her head sideways and declared, "You cannot beat me at my own game, Pietro. Perhaps you should come to terms with that."

"Damn siren," he muttered, swiftly grabbing her arm. His grip on Esca's wrist was almost painfully tight, but it made her inhale sharply and look into his eyes, which were still insanely dark. She took the opportunity and stepped forward, directly against him, and bit the crook of his neck. His other hand lightly trailed up her spine, which made her shiver violently and caused him to groan again. "We'll see about that, Esca Rarity."

Though Esca was sure she'd explode that very moment, her smirk grew. "You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into," she murmured, letting him kiss her. Now he was the one lightly biting her neck—she moaned and involuntarily arched her back. She couldn't resist the flush that crept into her face at that… He'd found her weakest spot.

"Hah," chuckled Pietro, lightly cupping her face in his hand. "I'm winning," he taunted.

"Just wait. I save my best tricks for last," she retorted, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you?"

"I do. And by the way—I'm great at finding weak spots. So don't get all high and mighty on me yet." Her fingers lightly trailed his spine, as she knew that if someone made a gesture to another, it was usually because it affected them in turn.

And Esca was right. She smirked as Pietro inhaled and cursed softly before kissing her neck again in retaliation. After a moment, Esca felt her dress slip off her body and felt him reach for the clasp of her bra; he cursed when he couldn't figure out how to remove it.

Esca couldn't help but laugh at that—but she exclaimed, "Excuse you, Pietro Maximoff. You are not getting my bra off while you still stand in front of me, fully clothed."

"Oh, my mistake," he retorted, obviously trying not to laugh himself. "Hit me with your best shot."

She chuckled and gazed at him through lidded eyes. "You shouldn't have said that." With that, Esca forced his shirt off him; for a moment, she simply marveled at how perfect he looked; but she was brought back to the present when he pulled her against him and kissed her again. When he did, however, the contact of his skin on hers made her feel exposed and utterly vulnerable—Pietro seemed to sense her momentary hesitance and kissed her forehead. "It's all right if you don't—"

"It's not that," she murmured, placing her head on his shoulder. "I just… I trust you more than I thought I would ever be able to trust anyone. And it's… liberating," she exhaled, her lips lightly skimming his neck. "It's an amazingly good feeling, to know I am capable of loving someone as much as I love you."

Pietro gently moved her back, his hands gripping her waist, and stared into her eyes as he replied, "Believe me, I understand what you mean."

Esca was astounded to see the truth in his gaze—and then she kissed him again, tightly grasping his shoulders, because she didn't care anymore. She loved him and nothing was ever going to change that. Not her past, not his, not her future. She barely realized that they were moving to her bed, that they were both not even half-clothed. She lost track of everything, drinking in the fact that she trusted him, she loved him, and it meant everything to her now.

As much as she wanted to forget Germany, Esca remembered everything about it, about her less than desirable profession. She remembered how to move, how to locate weak spots, the boys that bought her and how many she would take per day. Usually, it was nine. Maybe ten, if it was a good day.

But now, it had been five years since she'd ever slept with anyone; it had been five years since she had been this physically close to anyone. And she realized that despite all she'd done in Germany, she had been lacking something. Something that Pietro gave her now.

It wasn't having him take her and her taking him that she treasured. Although she did revel in the pleasure it brought her, as she'd never been in love with anyone she'd slept with before, what mattered most to Esca wasn't as fleeting as that.

It something far greater—it was having him steal her heart, a little at a time, until now, when it was finally and completely in his hands.

And with that brought a sense of completeness, of belonging, of being truly wanted and loved. She had that now, and she never wanted to let it go. As he lay next to her, watching her, she kissed his forehead and murmured, "I am hopelessly in love with you. Did you know that?"

"I do now," he replied, pulling her atop him. Esca smiled and closed her eyes. She could've stayed that way forever, his hands against her back, her arms around his neck, her head on his shoulder. "And I am ridiculously in love with you as well, in case you haven't noticed."

"It's not a competition," she giggled, kissing his shoulder.

"I daresay we just had that."

"That was crude."

"But it was true…"

"You are very confident for being the loser," she replied, looking up with a raised eyebrow.

"Excuse you, but I believe you are being the gracious loser."

"Wrong, sir. If your metabolism wasn't freakishly high, you would've fallen asleep twenty minutes ago. Don't make me prove you wrong tomorrow."

He just chuckled and kissed her forehead. "As if. Now get to sleep… You need it, and I've probably kept you up long enough."

She rolled her eyes, but before she could respond, he murmured, "I know I said it earlier, but I will say it again. Happy birthday, Esca Rarity. I love you."

Esca smiled and held him tighter, afraid to let him go. "Love you too, Pietro," she mumbled into his shoulder, and then she closed her eyes and fell asleep.