The two finished their dinner and walked out of the restaurant hand-in-hand, smiling as the cool autumn air blew past them, making Claire shiver slightly.

"Are you cold?" Wanda asked, stopping as they reached the car.

"No, I'm fine." Claire unlocked the car and grabbed her mask, Wanda's hat and broom, and two little pumpkin buckets. She handed Wanda her hat and broom and a bucket and placed her mask and bucket on the hood of the car as she tied her hair back up in a bun. She then placed her mask over her head and grabbed her bucket and locked the car again.

"What are we doing now Claire?" Wanda asked as she adjusted her hat on her head.

"You'll see," was all Claire said as she led the way down the opposite end of the street. The sun had already gone down an hour ago and there were already herds of children running about as they ran up to houses. A chorus of "trick or treat" could be heard as the young couple made their way down towards the decorated houses. Wanda's eyes lit up like a child's on Christmas as she marveled at the intricate decorations and costumes of the children that ran past them in the street.

"Claire what is this?" she asked, trying hard to contain her excitement.

"Tonight we are going to celebrate Halloween together. We're gonna start with some trick or treating, and then the town throws a little Halloween party, so I figured we could go to that, but if you don't want to, we could head back and watch some Halloween movies in our costumes and eat candy all night." Wanda's smile grew and her teeth shone bright against the darkened street. Her smile melted Claire's heart and relaxed her. She did good.

"That sounds amazing," Wanda gushed in a giddy voice. Claire chuckled at her and held out her hand. Wanda took it without missing a beat and started to pull Claire along, looking at the spooky decorations of the neighborhood houses.

Walking up to their first house, Claire said, "Now what you want to do is ring the doorbell, and when they answer, say 'trick or treat' and they'll give you candy." Wanda nodded as Claire rang the doorbell. A small group of kids ran up onto the porch with them and gazed at their costumes. Claire playfully rolled her eyes when she saw two little boys dressed as Captain America and Iron Man. One of the boys tugged on Wanda's dress, gaining her attention.

"What are you supposed to be?" the boy dressed as Captain America asked her, looking curious. Wanda smiled at him and held up her broom.

"I'm a witch. And who are you supposed to be?" The boy beamed and puffed out his little chest.

"I'm Captain America! The greatest hero ever!" the boy exclaimed. His friend dressed as Iron Man turned to him and stomped his foot.

"No way! Iron Man is the greatest hero ever! He has a super high-tech suit that shoots missiles and lasers and everything. What does Captain America have? He just has a shield."
Wanda knelt beside the boys and looked at both of them, placing a gentle hand on each of their shoulders.

"Boys, you don't need to fight. They're both the greatest heroes ever. There can be more than one great hero."

"And besides," Claire said, turning the boys' attention to the shapeshifter dressed as a werewolf. "I think the greatest hero is Black Widow. Think about it. Iron Man has his missiles and lasers and Captain America has his shield, but Black Widow doesn't need that. She relies on her brain to outsmart the bad guys, and sometimes, that's better than being strong. Plus, she could totally beat Iron Man and Captain America in a fight. Trust me, I've seen it happen." Claire sent Wanda a wink as the boys' mouths dropped open at hearing that she saw the Avengers, not realizing that on a technicality they were talking to two members of the team.

The door opened and the four of them each said, "trick or treat". The man who opened the door marveled at the costumes of the boys and smiled at Wanda and Claire before giving them all one handful of candy. They thanked the man and started to walk down the walkway before the boys stopped and turned back to Wanda and Claire.

"How did you see Black Widow beat Captain America and Iron Man?" Claire walked up to them and got down on one knee in front of them and looked around suspiciously before leaning down.

"Can you both keep a secret?" she whispered. The boys nodded their heads seriously and Wanda giggled to herself. She's good with kids.

"You see my friend over there?" Claire asked nodding in Wanda's direction. The boys looked over at her and Wanda smiled and waved when she saw them look. "Me and her, we're both members of the Avengers. She's got magic and I can turn into a werewolf. In fact, we're in our Avengers uniforms right now. We figured it would be the perfect Halloween costume."

"Are you undercover looking for bad guys?" the little Iron Man asked.

"Oh, of course. But don't tell anyone, or you could blow our cover. Can you keep this between us?" she asked seriously and raised her eyebrow at them. The boys stood up straighter and saluted her.

"Of course!"

"Good. Now run along and don't get into trouble. And watch out for the bad guys!" Claire told them as they ran off happily. Wanda came up behind her as she got up and lifted her mask to place a small kiss on her cheek.

"You're really good with kids," she said as they walked to another house. Claire smiled and shrugged it off.

"It's not that hard. You just gotta humor them."

"No, I think it comes from somewhere inside. I don't know what, but whatever it is, you have it." Claire blushed a little and thanked God that she was wearing a mask.

○○○

They visited a few more houses and their buckets were getting filled and heavy. Wanda's smile never left her face as they strolled up and down different decorated streets. They continued to run into the little Iron Man and Captain America a couple more times after that, and every time, they saluted the two women who would salute back to them. Claire was glad that Wanda was having fun and enjoying herself. Wrapping her arm around her waist, Claire pulled Wanda closer to her and nuzzled her with her wolf mask, causing a loud laugh to escape her lips as the fake fur tickled her cheek. Claire smiled at the sound; it was the most beautiful sound in the world, the second being the sound of her name coming from accented lips.

"Did you want to keep going or head over to the party?" Claire asked, pulling them both to a stop. Wanda smiled and pulled off Claire's mask, kissing her briefly.

"Why don't we head to the party. I'd like to get in a dance with my best girl," Wanda said twirling in Claire's hold. Claire laughed and blushed again, now wishing she didn't have this mask so that she could sweep Wanda into her arms and kiss her passionately.

They walked the few blocks further into the town, arriving at the party which was more like a block party. Music blared from various speakers surrounding a DJ and a dancefloor where people were already dancing. There were food stands and tables, little carnival games with cheap prizes, a little Ferris Wheel, and a merry-go-round. Lights and decorations were strung around on light posts and buildings, completely illuminating that festivities. Claire led Wanda over to the entrance and gave the lady at the entrance their tickets who in turn gave them a paper band and a smile.

Walking inside, Wanda's smile grew larger, and Claire was sure that her face was hurting from all the smiling she had done that night. Wanda led Claire past the different venders and games, her face lighting up at one game in particular; the test your strength hammer game. Claire stood beside her giggling as Wanda's face contorted in confusion as she tried to study the object of the game. She stared at the tower and watched the multi-colored lights illuminate the tower and point out different markers running up until it hit a large metal bell. A metal weight sat at the bottom on top of a lever.

"So...you just hit the thing with the hammer?"

"Yep," Claire said as she took out a dollar and gave it to the young woman next to the stand. She smiled and handed her the hammer.

"Hit bell, win a prize. You get three tries." Claire smirked. Seemed easy enough. I can totally hit that bell. She held the hammer in her hands, straightened her back and cracked her neck as she took a deep breath. She lifted the hammer, swung it behind her, following through until it came all the way around, hitting the lever which propelled the weight upwards, shooting up the length of the tower. Claire smiled as she watched it soar but frowned when it stated to slow down a quarter of the way up.

"Ooh, 'weakling'," the lady said. "Try again." Claire huffed and repositioned the hammer and swung it again, hitting it with much more force. The weight shot up again, only it barely made it past "weakling".

"Come on, Claire," Wanda said from behind her. Claire ignored her wolf and once again repositioned the hammer. She took another deep breath and swung the hammer again with as much strength and force as she could muster. This time, the weight flew past "weakling", which made Claire happy, but it still didn't reach the bell. The weight slowed down around the middle of the tower before it stopped and came back down.

"Nice try. Better luck next time," the lady said giving Claire a small smile. Claire frowned and grumbled as she walked away. Wanda draped an arm around her and placed a big kiss on her cheek.

"You did really well."

"It's rigged, I'm telling you. There's no way I shouldn't have not hit the bell. I'm a freaking Avenger! I'm strong. I'm not a weakling."

"Of course not, sweetie."

"It's rigged, Wanda! If it wasn't rigged I could definitely hit the bell."

"I know. I believe you." Wanda grinned at her as she continued to grumble under her breath about how the game was rigged.

They walked around a little while longer, playing different games and trying to bandage Claire's damaged pride. Luckily enough, Claire was really good at the darts game, and managed to pop a balloon with each dart. The older man behind the stand smiled at her and handed her a large stuffed bear, which Claire then promptly handed to Wanda, blushing so hard that the redness creeped up to her ears. Wanda bit her lip as she grinned and kissed Claire lightly on the cheek.

After walking some more, they neared the dance floor, and Wanda pulled Claire closer to her. She took off her mask and laid a hand on her cheek, a sparkle twinkling in her green eyes.

"I want to dance with you," she whispered in her ear. Claire smiled sweetly and leaned in close to Wanda's ear.

"Go have the DJ play something slow." Wanda winked at her and walked over to the DJ. Claire turned towards a table and laid the bear and her mask down on a chair, hoping that someone wouldn't take them. Wanda came skipping back over to her, a huge smile on her face as the music changed to a nice romantic slow song.

Claire led Wanda towards the middle of the floor, placing her right hand on Wanda's waist and her left holding Wanda's right hand and Wanda placed her left hand on Claire's shoulder. Claire felt her face heat up as she gazed at Wanda's breath-takingly beautiful smile. Nervousness set back in and her palms started to sweat, and every nerve in her body screamed at her to pull away, but Wanda kept her grip, not caring about Claire's sweaty palms.

They swayed a little bit, feeling the rhythm of the music as it flowed through them. "I'll never stop trying. I'll never stop watching as you leave. I'll never stop losing my breath every time I see you looking back at me. I'll never stop holding your hand. I'll never stop opening your door. I'll never stop choosing you babe. I'll never get used to you." Once they got comfortable, Wanda closed the little bit of distance between them and laid her head against Claire's chest, listening to the steady beat of her heart as it thumped against her chest in time with the music.

"And with this love song to you, it's not a momentary phase. You are my life, I don't deserve you, but you love me just the same. And as the mirror says we're older, I want to look the other way. You are my life, my love, my only and that's the one thing that won't change."

Claire closed her eyes as she enjoyed the feeling of Wanda's body pressed up against hers. Their dance was utter bliss. They still swayed, not doing anything fancy—mostly because this was all they could do—but it was enough. Wanda's smile beamed bright though it was covered by Claire's chest, and even through the thick flannel that she borrowed from Steve, Claire could still feel the gently tears that absorbed into the fabric. Claire opened her eyes and gazed down at Wanda. Her eyes were also closed and the smile still there, and though it was hard to see, Claire saw the wet streak from where her tears fell.

"You still get my heart racing. You still get my heart racing. You still get my heart racing. You still get my heart racing for you. I'll never stop trying. I'll never stop watching as you leave. I'll never stop losing my breath every time I see you looking back at me. I'll never stop holding your hand. I'll never stop opening your door. I'll never stop choosing you babe. I'll never get used to you."

Claire pulled away from Wanda just the tiniest bit and removed her hand from Wanda's and wiped away her tears. Wanda looked up at her, her smile still shining bright as the world around them disappeared and it was just them on dancefloor. Claire smiled down at her and moved her hand to under Wanda's chin and lifted it, bringing Wanda closer to her. She bit her tongue hard, preventing her from saying those three little words. She desperately wanted to say it, thinking that there wouldn't be a more perfect time, but she couldn't. She couldn't do it. Claire leaned in and grazed Wanda's lips with her own, placing a delicate and passionate kiss. They stopped their swaying and stood in the middle of the dancefloor kissing each other with as much adoration and affection that Claire hoped said the words better than she ever could.

When they pulled away, breathless, heads swimming, and faces red, Claire rested her forehead against Wanda's not wanting to let her go just yet. The song had ended, but still played in each of their minds. Wanda removed her hand from Claire's shoulder and wrapped both arms around the back of her neck, pulling her down some more. Claire chuckled as she started swaying them again, quietly humming the song that had just played, ignoring the faster song that played in its place.

"I'll never stop trying. I'll never stop watching as you leave. I'll never stop losing my breath every time I see you looking back at me. I'll never stop holding your hand. I'll never stop opening your door. I'll never stop choosing you babe. I'll never get used to you," Claire sung, whispering the words in Wanda's ear and gently kissing the side of her face just below her ear.

Wanda sniffled and pulled away, looking into Claire's eyes. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but soon closed it before she opened it again. Her mouth hung open as her heart pounded in her chest. Now it was her turn for her palms to sweat. She cleared her throat, stalling until she found the courage to speak. Should I...no! No, I can't say it now. No one says that on the first date.

"You're amazing. Do you know that? Utterly amazing." Claire grinned a goofy grin at Wanda's words and planted another kiss upon her lips.

"Not as amazing as you. Do you hear me?"

"I hear you," Wanda whispered as she settled into Claire's arms, enjoying the gentle sway that she had started. The more she stayed, the more she began to think that Claire's arms were where she belonged. She sighed, content, as they moved to their song that played in their heads.