Moonlit Walks

They giggled foolishly as Janet ended giving a horrid impression of Spiderman, continually making sure she'd thrown in some stupid quip and go, "My Spideysenses are tingling!" every so often. By the time they had finished the desert they'd ordered, one fancy ice cream and cake combo, which was long since been devoured, they both sat with empty plates in their booth. Carol flashed a grin, reaching across to intertwine their fingers and bring them both in for a tender kiss across the table. When they pulled back, they were both heavily aware of their watching date peepers, the last bit of Carol's patience breaking in that moment.

"Come on Spidey," laughed Carol as she got to her feet, "let's go so I can take you on the rest of our date."

"Rest? You mean there is more" Asked Janet with confusion, following after Carol as they were taken to the front, having already paid for their meal during one of Janet's Spiderman quips. "Now what do you have up your sleeves I wonder." Said Janet with a growing grin as she was led out with their arms locked together. Carol winked, and took them across to where the limo was pulling back up to the curb.

The duo entered it with slowly broadening smiles, Janet's foot tapping excitedly against the floor of the limo as it started off. The slightly tinted windows obscured where they were going too much in the night for Janet to try to piece it together, but judging from the look in Carol's eyes she assumed it was going to be something else fantastic. She could hardly believe the night they'd had already, despite the obviously unplanned interruptions with Hank and their fellow Avengers, it was in the woman's opinion beyond amazing.

Carol gently kissed her on the cheek, making her smile and turn back to the red dressed woman. "So do I get any hints as to where we're going?" Asked janet, intertwining their hands in the shared space between them.

"No." Smiled Carol. "Seeing as I already gave it."

Blue eyes widened as Janet shifted where she sat. "What? When?" She asked with a frown pulling at her lips. Janet's question however was met with a sly smirk. "Oh come on don't play that game." Grumbled the auburn, arms crossing and chin tilting up.

"But it's fun to play with you." Replied Carol teasingly, a cheeky smile plastered across her face.

With a 'hmpfh' Janet turned her body away and towards one of the windows as she tried to figure out just where they were going, Carol still smiling lightly as she watched Wasp try to piece it together. By the time they had arrived, the limo pulling up to a gentle stop besides a curb away from the heart of the city, the sound of car honks and car engines fading in the distance, Janet only had one idea. Janet frowned, obviously it hadn't been what the particular idea had been, and she stepped out of the long limousine with cursory glances all around.

"Okay, I don't know this place." She admitted, trying to find a sign or the sort to tell her where they were.

Ms. Marvel chuckled, and in a single breath had intertwined their hands and pulled Janet in for a quick kiss. She pulled back, and winked. "That's the point."

"You're liking this too much." Commented Janet as she was led towards a building that for the most part looked plain and almost a tad rundown. She could see vines growing out along the base of the red brick building, weaving wildly around one another before bending around a curve and vanishing from sight. A single light illuminated the entrance, a sign besides a white door that made the complex that stood five stories high seem rather residential. Jan swept her blue gaze up and down as they approached it, trying to figure out where in the world she had been taken.

The door opened without any creaking like Janet was starting to expect, smoothly pushing into the moist air inside, making a shudder run up both women's back. Before they stepped in, Janet paused just long enough to look at the sign besides the door. Smith Brothers' Gardens. She arched an eyebrow at that rather expectantly as they entered within, damp air surrounding them and making her cough slightly uncomfortably.

Undaunted, Carol started to lead Janet down a long corridor with faint lighting along the flooring, telling them just where the wall was and little else. A chill was starting to work its way up the auburn haired woman's spine, and if not for the super powered heroine with her, she might have been honestly afraid. It was eerily dark until the corridor ended with a singular door, Carol grasping the knob. "Ready?" She asked over her shoulder.

Janet nodded her head, the door knob twisting and pushing into a well lit clearing. It was outside, technically, walls surrounding them and a mesh ceiling letting in the full moon and stars, the light of the city having to fight past high trees that seemed perfectly placed to keep them out. Janet gasped, eyes widening as she took in the beautiful trees and flowers everywhere, red and pink blossoms accompanied by just about every color Janet knew existed, stone trails leading through the gardens to where neither of them could see.

It felt like an entirely different world to the woman, the air thick with moisture as the watering system dutifully performed its nightly tasks. The sound of cars off in the distance was still present, but as Janet looked at the bright and beautiful blossoms it was fairly easy to block them out. One more quick look told her all she needed to know.

They were in a gorgeous, romantic garden, and perfectly alone.

"Now how in the world did you manage this?" Chuckled Janet, jaw gaping as she looked around at all the foliage that brimmed with life.

"What?" Replied Carol with a smirk. "You've honestly never heard of this place?" Her response was a rapid shake of the woman's head. "Well, to save you a bunch of details you don't need to know, this whole place is just for us tonight."

"Wow." Was all that slipped past the woman's lips as she started to level off from the initial shock at the size and grandeur of the gardens. She finally tore her blue gaze down from the brilliant flowers to the woman that had taken her there in the first place. In the moonlight that filtered down through the leaves and mesh ceiling, Carol's pale skin seemed to possess an angelic glow, making Janet's heart skip a beat at the sight. "Wow." She repeated again.

A faint redness spread across Carol's face, eyes averting shyly for a moment before taking the first step towards one of the stone trails that bent out of view. "So, well, we've got a lovely walk to take my dear, would you like to start?" Proposed Carol.

Smiling at her, Janet clasped their hands together and gave the woman a quick peck on the cheek before they started walking down the elegant stone path. For a bit of time, they were silent and took in the variety of beautiful blossoms and trees, the sound of wind sweeping in and rushing past them filling the night air instead. But for the size-shifter, after a while it certainly had been long enough. "So tell me about your childhood." Suddenly piped up Janet, taking Carol off-guard.

"My childhood?"

Janet nodded her head. "Yup, your childhood. We talk a lot about your career in the military and then into S.H.I.E.L.D. but not before that. If you wanna play fair, I'll tell you mine afterwards."

Blinking for a moment, Carol cleared her throat before she responded. "Well, I've grew up with two younger brothers that I would always get into sibling rivalries with, that stupid stuff like who could run further or who could get away with the most trouble." Her eyes slightly darkened with thought and memory. "Steve and Joseph Jr. were really great brothers though. Dad though, well let's just say he was a better father to his sons."

Janet tilted her head. "To his sons?"

It felt weird almost to talk about it to the blonde, but out of everyone she could ever whisper it to she'd have it be no one but the woman besides her. "Yeah, I was the eldest, had the best grades, graduated top of my class and always pushed myself to my limits, but when he had only enough money for one kid to go to college he picked Steve. Who, no offense to my brother, didn't really deserve it. I just," she stopped for a moment. "I was never good enough for him, and neither was my mother, in his eyes. No woman was equal to a man as far as my father was concerned."

Frowning now, Janet shook her head. "My father and I, well we were close after my mother died when I was rather young. But he would get so enveloped in his research that sometimes I wouldn't see him for days. And when I did he'd be hardly awake or in a rush to get some parts he'd needed or samples taken to someplace."

"But you still loved him right?" Asked Carol, stopping for a moment to admire a patch of tulips.

"Yeah, he was all I had though." Softly replied Janet. "Did you and your father ever make up?"

The blonde looked back at her. "No." She simply said at first. "I joined the military so I could go to college, and I swore that man off from then on. I still talk to my brother Joseph and when I can my mom, but I don't say a word to dad."

"What about Steve?" Janet asked, brow knitting together.

"I visit his grave every year." Carol glumly replied, the pair slowly walking on along the stone path.

Mentally slapping herself for bringing up the topic, Janet cleared her throat and tried to change the subject to something hopefully far more happier. "So this place is gorgeous." She said brightly, eyes gluing themselves to a pair of intertwining tree branches, dark wood bending gracefully around the other without touching. Almost without thinking of it Janet leaned against her date, head resting slightly against Carol's shoulders.

Excitement rushed up the blonde's body at the touch, taking it as a sign that despite their gloomy conversation that Jan was still enjoying their date. "I'm glad you think so." Was all she could manage to say. The trail turned to the right and circled around as the ground began to grow steeper, each step the duo took starting to become longer in stride. It wound its way up a few times around the hill until it leveled out with a singular gazebo before them. White wood fashioned in a manner that seemed to come out of a fairy tale book, it stood as the sole structure in the gardens they'd seen in the garden.

Strolling over to it, Janet could pick out small little carvings of initials typically surrounded by hearts or small dashes that's meaning escaped the pair. A few of the pairs of initials were crossed out, one in particular violently so. They seemed to stretch back years to others the wood still looked freshly carved. There was podium like shape in the center of the gazebo, a glass cover harboring a small, slightly dulled yet elegant blade beneath it.

"I think couples do that old cheesy initial name thing here." Remarked Janet with a smile, turning to Carol who was peering down at the blade. "Do you, wanna do it?" Shyness managed to win her voice, the uncertain sound to it making Carol smile back at her as she lifted the case top.

"Well, I think we should do it twice." Said the blonde as she moved to a white support beam that didn't seem to have too much scarring to it, a countless number of couples carved into the wood. So many stories that they had no idea how they'd ended, the thought of the public announcement and yet anonymity of it made Carol more than happy with the task. "Once for Jan and Carol, and another for Ms. Marvel and Wasp." The woman pressed the hilt of the blade to her lips slightly, noting how Janet for a moment seemed to blank before nodding her head in agreement.

"Twice, I like it." Said Janet as she walked over to the beam they'd seemed to have chosen. The paint peeled with age as Carol made the first strokes, 'CD' engraved in a few short motions. Handing the blade to Janet, Carol gave her a smile and shuffled slightly to the side to allow her access. Janet quickly carved a plus sign beneath Carol's initials and then her own 'JVD'. "Heart?" Asked Janet over her shoulder, Carol nodding her head. The paint was carved away in simple strokes, her control of the blade at the awkward angle impressing the blonde woman.

Once their civilian names were engraved on the wood, they moved to a second beam just across from the first, and Janet easily gouged a 'W' on the face of the beam. Taking the offered blade in hand, Carol added a plus and 'MM' below. "Oh, I know." Smiled Carol, added a comic styled action shape around it like the 'blam!' or 'Boom!' words would appear on the older comics she'd read as a child.

"Perfect." Whispered Janet, the husky tone to her voice instantly sending Carol reeling with desire. "So what's next on the walk?" She asked, seemingly oblivious her date's sudden desire.

Carol gently reached up with one hand and stroked the shorter woman's cheek, staring into blue eyes that she nearly lost herself within. "I was thinking something like a kiss in the moonlight." Breathed the woman, her lips brushing against full ones that made her weak in the knees, asking for permission.

"You do still owe me a good one." Replied the auburn haired woman. Janet was already breathing a bit faster, not waiting to give the woman who tenderly asked permission and instead leaning forward and claiming lips by her own demand.

Arms wrapped themselves around Janet's waist and pulled them closer together. A soft murmur came from the pair each as they at last had the chance for a more passionate kiss. One of Janet's hands moved itself from where it had been resting looped around Carol's neck with the other, and ran through the blonde's locks of hair. Ms. Marvel's whole body ran with a shudder. Carol's grip tightened on the woman she was falling so terribly for.

It wasn't their first kiss, no that had been a simple but honest event on Janet's bed after watching far too many movies for their own good. And the pair had certainly shared plenty of quick ones since then, but nothing ever came as close as this one. Carol's heart was beating in her chest as she dared take a step further, tongue probing at Janet's lips asking for entrance. When the auburn haired woman eagerly returned the gesture, heat swelling between them as they kept up with the French theme of the night with the kiss.

One way or another they'd ended up with Janet backed up against the support beam, Carol pressing against her. When they'd broken apart, both of them heavily short of breath, the pair started to smile nearly foolishly. "Damn." Whispered Janet.

Laughter came from Carol, the blond shaking her now teased hair back to the shape it had been in. "Damn." Agreed the woman.