( minor TW: mentions of child ab*se )

DISCLAIMER: this chapter is mostly lighthearted and contains SEVERE romantic tension! there is also a scene that you have all been waiting for here so be looking forward to that!😁

One Day Later
September 20th, 2004
11:00 A.M.
Christina's POV

"Hello, Miss Johnson!" the receptionist at the front desk greeted the woman with a bright and polite smile. "It is so nice to finally meet you. Welcome to Mount Sinai."

"Thank you, ma'am," Christina replied timidly, holding her black leather briefcase in her left hand and adjusting her jacket over her purple professional dress. She extended her hand to shake the receptionist's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too."

"Thank you as well," the receptionist said cheerfully. "My name is Sarah and I will be at the front desk to greet you and your co-workers every day. Now, why don't I show you to your office and give you a tour of the floor?"

Christina nodded semi-shyly as she followed the woman in her early thirties down the long and narrow hallway, trying not to bounce up and down with excitement and nervousness. She took a deep breath as she placed her right hand on her chest, making sure her heartbeat was somewhat calm, and she felt relief when she was assured that it was.

The young woman was beginning her first day as an official social worker at the Mount Sinai Health System, and she was beyond ecstatic to finally pursue her dreams for once. She was amazed that she had done so at such a young age but she was grateful to be doing just that earlier than she normally could have.

She had resigned from the Daily Bugle only a few days before this and Jameson had wished her luck on her new job; he had also made her promise to visit him and John whenever she was free, to which she agreed without hesitation.

Christina was dressed in a professional purple dress that extended just past her knees, which was adorned by a jacket of the same color. She wore violet slip-on shoes with said dress, and her brown hair was tied up into a tight bun that went perfectly with her ruby red lipstick and mascara.

Her hands were trembling slightly from anxiety and she balled them into fists for a moment to keep herself at ease.

After what seemed like forever, the two of them finally reached the doorway to her office. It was small and seemed to be a really comfortable place to work in, with a desk in the far left corner with a desktop computer, a bulletin board on the far right wall, and a window straight across from the doorway that had the name Christina L. Johnson emblazoned on it that provided a great view of downtown Manhattan.

"It's nice," Christina said with a sheepish smile, looking over at Sarah.

"I'm glad you like it, Miss Johnson," Sarah replied. "Now, you can just set your briefcase on your desk and I can show you around the floor, which you will primarily work on."

Christina's head bobbed up and down and she toured the floor with Sarah, looking at the offices of her coworkers, the room where foster children would play in whenever they first arrived from their awful families (the toy dinosaurs and cars were a dead giveaway to the brunette), as well as the break room in case she brought her own lunch to work. She was even shown a room where foster children would sleep if nobody could find a family for them right away, and her heart wrenched just a little.

Afterwards, Christina brought her lunch to the break room and ate it quietly, a little relieved that none of her brand new coworkers bombarded her with greetings.

That happened later on when she was back in her office. She struggled to get all of their names ingrained in her memory but she managed to after a while; their names were Katherine Davis, William Evans, Freya Hardy, and Richard Loomis. They were all very kind to Christina and treated her as if she were already their friend, which greatly relieved her.

A few hours later, it was already well into the afternoon and Christina was given the task of going through files of certain foster children that were going through the process of adoption. But, during the middle of said job, her office telephone buzzed loudly. Jumping a little bit, she pressed the button that read 104, which was her room number.

"Johnson speaking," she spoke up professionally.

"Christina, you're needed in the children's room," came Sarah's voice from the other end.

"Thank you, Sarah," Christina replied with a smile before pressing the button again to end the short call.

Getting up from her desk, she exited her office and traveled down the hallway, the heels of her slip-on shoes clacking against the epoxy floor below her. To be completely honest, she didn't know what to exactly anticipate, and she was even minorly confused.

But, when she reached the children's room, she understood.

Her coworker, Freya, was sitting next to a nine-year-old boy at a small table with toy train tracks and was talking to him in a caring tone of voice. But, when she saw Christina, she stood up.

"Christina, this is Connor Roberts," Freya introduced the young child before peering at the shorter woman in front of her only. "He's your first client..."

Although the woman's heartbeat rose in speed just a little, she maintained a friendly grin as she looked down at the younger boy beside Freya. "Hi, Connor..." she greeted gently, stepping slightly closer. "I'm Miss Johnson, but feel free to call me Christina. I'm going to be your social worker."

"Hello..." Connor replied in a low voice, hiding himself from the older woman out of utter fear and shyness.

Christina, noticing this right away, looked over at Freya with a polite expression in her eyes. "Will you leave us in here so I can talk to him alone?" she asked her kindly.

"Of course, Miss Johnson," Freya responded before holding out a manila folder for her to take, which she did. "This is his file; who his parents are, what school he goes to, his grades, the reason he was brought here, and whatnot. Good luck."

Christina simply nodded as Freya stepped out of the room, carefully walking over to the young boy hiding himself behind the small table. She pulled up a chair and sat down, placing the manila folder on the floor next to her.

"You don't have to hide from me..." she calmly told him, looking right in his direction. "I'm not going to hurt you. Nobody here is..."

Connor slowly lifted his head up to look at the brunette woman sitting next to him. "How do I know you're not lying?" he asked her in a very shy voice.

"Because I rarely ever lie," Christina answered with incredible ease, smiling generously. "This is a place where we make sure that children like you are safe and sound. And I know this is my first day here, but I want to help you, Connor. Will you let me help you?"

The nine-year-old boy just stared at her for a long moment, feeling really distrusting toward the slightly taller woman but, feeling slightly at ease from her caring smile, he slowly nodded his head as he got back up and sat in his chair. "I guess..." he muttered quietly.

"Good..." Christina said with a small grin, feeling happy that she would likely be successful in reaching out to this child. "Now, starting off, I will ask you a few questions. I need you to answer them with the complete and honest truth. Can you do that, Connor?"

"Yes, ma'am..." Connor replied.

"You don't have to call me 'ma'am,'" Christina mumbled with a slight chuckle. "Think of me as your new friend of sorts. Now... Connor... Do you want to tell me where in New York City you're from?"

"Brooklyn..." Connor answered with a slightly trembling tone.

Christina's head bobbed up and down as she hummed thoughtfully. "I'm sure Brooklyn is a nice place," she said. "Can you tell me what school you go to?"

"Carter G. Woodson Elementary School..." Connor spoke up again, sighing heavily.

Christina nodded again before she noticed something on the boy's right arm.

"Can I see what's on your arm, Connor?" she asked carefully.

Connor almost instantly shrank away from the woman, shaking his head frantically. "No..." he whispered. "I don't want you to see..."

"Connor, I'm not going to hurt you," Christina assured him again. "Alright? I won't hurt you. I just need to know what's on your arm, okay, sweetie?"

Connor was visibly tensed up, extremely hesitant to allow this complete stranger to see what was on his arm. But he didn't fight back when Christina gently took his arm and rolled up his sleeve.

Christina sighed sadly when she saw several bruises on the poor boy's arm; the colors of said bruises ranged from light green to dark violet and even black. She gritted her teeth at the thought of who had possibly done this to this innocent child, but she remained easy on the boy, knowing that what happened wasn't his fault.

"Where did you get these from?" she asked in a tender voice. "Or, actually... who did you get these from?"

Connor's green eyes were brimming with tears that he tried to frantically blink away but a few managed to fall down his face. He lowered his head, seemingly out of shame for his existence as he attempted to suppress a sob of despair. "My... My momma gave them to me..." he admitted. "She would always... hit me... whenever she thought I was being bad. She would even hit me when I was being good... when I d-did nothing wrong..."

Christina just frowned before grabbing the boy's hand and squeezing it protectively in her own. "That's never gonna happen to you again..." she promised, trying to smile at him. "You're safe here... And we're gonna find you parents that will love you and who will never want to hit you like your mom did. I will make sure that you stay safe. When we find you some parents, I will come visit you all once a month to see how you're doing. Nobody is ever going to hurt you like that again, alright?"

Connor slowly nodded his head, wiping his tears away. "Okay..." he murmured.

"You're a strong kid, Connor," Christina said, trying to keep him encouraged. "We'll get you through this, I promise."

Connor's head bobbed up and down again. "Okay... Christina..." he replied, slowly beginning to actually trust his social worker.

Christina just smiled. "Okay..." she whispered. "Do you wanna play with these trains while my coworkers look into getting those parents?"

"Yeah!" Connor muttered, a small smile on his face.

_____

Three Hours Later
6:24 P.M.

"Christina, you have three people out in the lobby for you," Sarah said as she peered around the doorway at Christina and Connor. "Two of them are Connor's new foster parents."

Christina noticed the small smirk on the receptionist's face when she refused to mention who the third person was. Nevertheless, she stood up and took Connor by the hand, smiling at how more open he was to her.

For three hours, the two of them just sat at the train table and had conversations about countless things, such as what Connor liked to do in school, what his friends were like, and what his favorite color and movie were. Over that period of time, the young boy had opened up to Christina further and now fully trusted her as his social worker; it was even to the point that he considered the woman his friend since she was the first adult he actually felt safe around in – probably – his entire young life.

But now, as he walked towards the lobby with Christina, he grasped her hand more tightly as he stopped for a moment. He looked up at the brunette, feeling a bit of fear coursing through him.

"It's alright, sweetie," Christina assured him with a caring and motherly smile, patting him on the shoulder. "We're in this together, okay?"

The boy nodded slightly before continuing to walk with her towards the front room on the first floor.

Walking into said room, Christina was almost instantly greeted by two adults that were in their mid-thirties. The woman of the couple had wavy black hair that extended to her waist that adorned her bright green eyes perfectly, while the male of the two had dirty blonde hair and he seemed to tower over everyone in the room, being around five-eleven.

"Christina, this is Judy and Christopher Nelson," Sarah said, introducing her to the couple. "They have an extensive history in fostering young children like Connor, dating back about ten years. Judy is thirty-six and Christopher is thirty-seven, and we've chosen them to look after Connor."

Christina grinned at the married couple as she shook their hands. "It's so nice to meet you two," she greeted them politely. "My name is Christina Johnson, and I'm Connor's social worker."

"It's nice to meet you, too," Judy replied, shaking Christina's hand gently.

"I'm looking forward to working with you, Miss Johnson," Christopher said, shaking the woman's hand firmly but with ease.

Christina then knelt down to Connor's level so she could look at him. "Connor, this is Judy and Christopher," she said softly. "They're going to be your new foster parents."

"You ready to come home with us, kid?" Christopher asked the young boy with a hopeful smile on his face.

"I don't know..." Connor said in a hesitant voice. "I'm scared, Christina..."

"No, don't be scared, kiddo," Christina assured him. "Look, I found out a lot about them. They live in Brooklyn as well so you can still be with your friends at your school. They seem really nice. They even have children of their own so there are kids your age you can hang out with at their house. You'll be safe, I'll make sure of it."

"You promise?"

"Cross my heart, and hope to die," Christina promised with a sweet smile on her face before hugging the little boy and sending him off to be with his new parents.

She watched the three of them leave for a moment before suddenly remembering about the third person that was supposedly there. She noticed them and began speaking up. "I apologize if I ignored you –" She then abruptly paused as she stared at him. "Peter?"

Peter was standing about ten feet from Christina with a huge smile on his face, dressed nicely in a white button-up shirt and dress pants, and his hair was neatly combed. He held a bouquet of roses in his right hand and he seemed to look extremely nervous but insanely hopeful.

"Hi, Chris," he greeted her, taking a timid step forward. "Congratulations on starting your new job."

Peter had watched the interaction between Christina and Connor with a curious expression in his eyes; he was aware of just how well she got along with Sidney and Aidan, but he was seeing for the first time that she was truly amazing with children. He examined just how sweet she was being to this young child and he couldn't help but beam at the sight of that.

For a moment, he even thought of a future where they were married and had kids together....

He shook that thought away as soon as it arrived, a blushing mess now.

"Pete... what are you doing?" Christina asked as she also stepped a little closer. "What is this?"

"Um... Christina," Peter began, clearing his throat so he wouldn't seem as awkward. "Would you like to accompany me on a date tonight? Wherever we go is completely up to you."

The brunette's eyebrows raised as she felt a sharp pang in her chest; but that wasn't from sadness or dread... it was from nervousness and excitement. The thought that this could possibly be her and Peter's first date truly hit her and she let out a shallow breath of surprise. She couldn't help but allow a small grin to form on her bright face and her hands began to tremble lightly.

"Yes..." she answered, her eyes softening at what was happening as her heart began racing in her chest. "Yes, I'll go on a date with you, Peter..."

Peter couldn't help but let out a small chuckle of relief before holding out the roses to Christina. "I-I got these for you..." he murmured shyly, his entire face beet red.

Christina gently took the flowers and noticed that they were, in fact, real and that it wasn't a fake bouquet. "I love them..." she said sweetly, grinning from ear to ear now. "Thank you..."

"You're welcome..." Peter replied awkwardly as he blushed even more, closing his eyes behind his glasses and hoping Christina didn't detect just how anxious he seemed to be.

Unfortunately, she did.

But she didn't point it out.

"Um... I'll need to go to my apartment to change into something nicer, though..." Christina added, also beginning to blush herself.

"I think you look perfect the way you are right now..." Peter said bravely, smiling softly at her.

Christina's heart skipped a few beats. If Peter Parker liked how she dressed, then she would stay dressed this way for him. "Okay..." she said, biting her bottom lip bashfully.

She didn't miss Sarah sitting behind her desk mouthing the words, "You two are adorable." And she playfully rolled her eyes at that.

"So, um... where do you want to go?" Peter questioned, tilting his head out of genuine interest.

Christina smiled coyly as she reached out to take his right hand into her free one.

"Why don't we see where we end up, Peter?"

_____

Fifteen Minutes Later
6:45 P.M.

The two of them stepped through the automatic sliding doors of one of the several public Manhattan malls, immediately entranced by the lights illuminating them from the many, many stores inside. After Christina had chosen to come here, Peter was actually somewhat relieved because he still didn't have a ton of money for something like a fancy dinner or a movie night. He only had twenty-five to thirty dollars on him and that would have probably been enough to buy Christina a thing or two from a store and that was all.

He just hoped she would be okay with that.

"I haven't been in this mall before..." Christina said in utter awe, her eyes brightening up majorly. "I've only been to the one in Queens..."

"I haven't been here either," Peter admitted with a chuckle.

"It's really pretty..." Christina mumbled under her breath but just loud enough for Peter to hear.

"Just like you..." Peter said with a grin on his face, especially when Christina began blushing furiously at the compliment.

"Oh, shut up," she murmured, lowering her head timidly.

"It's true!" Peter replied. "Come on, let's see where we want to go."

Just as they began walking towards the escalators, the speakers on the ceiling that emitted songs every few minutes began blasting one of Christina's absolute favorite eighties songs, "Take on Me" by A-ha. Hearing this, she grinned like an idiot as she giggled happily.

"I love this song!" she said ecstatically, her blue eyes even brighter now as Peter looked at her with admiration on his face.

We're talking away
I don't know what I'm to say
I'll say it anyway
Today is another day to find you
Shyin' away
Oh, I'll be comin' for your love, okay

Christina and Peter stepped onto the escalator just as the chorus of the song emanated in their ears, and the brunette was softly nodding her head along to the music. The moment with them felt a little magical and they knew that they deserved a night like this after all of the horrible shit they had been through over the past few years. This was the night they needed to have and it made them happier than they had been in weeks.

At one point, just as they reached the top, Christina was about to step onto the floor when she stumbled and nearly toppled to the ground. Peter, quick on his feet, put his arms around her to prevent her from making a nasty fall.

He held her off of the ground after getting off of the escalator and they both stared at one another, laughing hysterically from the heart-pounding moment.

"Shit, that was scary," Christina muttered through her giggles.

"Are you okay?" Peter asked her gently, also chuckling.

"Yeah... I'm alright..." she said timidly before clearing her throat and straightening her posture, separating herself from Peter.

They had been so close to kissing by pure accident right there and they both knew it was not the right moment for that.

Hopefully, there would be a moment like that later... when they weren't surrounded by loads of people.

So needless to say
I'm odds and ends
But I'll be stumblin' away
Slowly learnin' that life is okay
Say after me
It's no better to be safe than sorry

A little while later, the two of them traveled along the second floor of the mall, their hands still interlocked as they glanced around at all of the stores. To be honest, Christina didn't really care where they ended up; as long as she was with Peter, she was perfectly fine with wherever they went.

Peter saw something straight ahead and his face lit up, but Christina was momentarily distracted when she went over to one of the storefront windows. She stared at her reflection before grabbing her hair tie and allowing her brown locks of hair to fall just past her shoulders before playing with it to make it look nicer.

Christina beamed a little bit at her reflection. Try and impress him again, why don't you? she thought to herself.

Peter noticed this and smiled to himself, walking over to her. "You're gorgeous..." he said happily, kissing her on the cheek gently.

Christina blushed at that. "Thanks..." she murmured.

"Come on, I saw something over there," Peter replied, grabbing her delicate hand again before carefully pulling her in the direction of what he had been looking at moments before.

Christina's bright eyes widened when she saw a photo booth machine ten feet away from them. She chuckled before quickening her pace as she practically jogged to it, just praying that there was nobody else in there.

There wasn't.

"Get in here!" Christina pleaded with Peter, a huge grin on her face.

"I'm coming, hold on," Peter responded with a laugh as they both stepped into the photo booth and sat next to one another in the required seat.

Christina almost instantly pulled her wallet out of her purse after setting the roses aside. She pulled out a five-dollar bill, which is what was needed for the pictures to be taken. But Peter instantly put a stop to that before getting out his own wallet and pulling out the required amount of money.

"I'll pay for this, okay?" he assured her.

"No, Pete, you don't have to," Christina protested with a small frown on her face.

"I insist," Peter said with a tiny smile.

Christina relented and nodded her head with a playful sigh, shrugging her shoulders in defeat. She watched as Peter inserted the dollar bill and a timer instantly popped up on the huge screen in front of them, so they needed to pose quickly.

"Oh, shit!" Christina exclaimed with a laugh before an idea came to her. "Bunny ears?" she suggested.

"Uh, sure, I guess," Peter replied with a grin just as the timer hit one.

The two quickly held up bunny ears just in time for the photo to be taken, a bright light flashing in their faces.

Over the course of the next minute or so, they chose different poses that ranged from battle stances to scary expressions to goofy ass looks on their faces.

When the photo strips were finally printed out, Christina grinned as she looked at each black-and-white picture on all of them, her heart fluttering at the happy memories she had ingrained into her mind forever.

"Here, pick your favorite one," Christina recommended to Peter with a sweet smile. "You can keep the one you pick. I personally love the one where we were acting silly..."

Peter's decision was made in less than five seconds as he pointed to a particular strip. "This one..." he mumbled with a softened look in his eyes.

Christina looked towards the one he had picked and her heart skipped a beat again as she stared at the pictures printed onto the paper. In one of the pictures, Peter had his right arm slipped around the brunette's shoulders as their heads leaned against one another. In the second one, Christina was kissing him on the cheek in a really sweet way, which repeated in the last picture, only with Peter placing a kiss on her cheek this time.

"You look really cute here..." Peter pointed out, glancing over at Christina with a loving look in his eyes.

Christina returned the same expression for just a moment before pulling Peter into a caring hug, feeling butterflies in her stomach when he returned the embrace with no hesitation. "Thank you for this..." she whispered in his ear. "I really needed it."

"Anything for you, sweet girl..." Peter replied.

Afterwards, the two exited the photo booth and made their way towards the food court, where they ordered some Japanese food before sitting at one of the tables. They talked for an incredibly long time about what was new in their lives and they even discussed the recent controversy about Spider-Man no longer being active in Manhattan. Peter said that he was bummed that he couldn't take any more pictures of the masked hero, and Christina expressed sympathy by saying she always liked the photos he took because of how professional they really were; he appreciated that.

As she stirred the soda in her glass with the straw, the memory of her talking to Sidney the day before came back to her. Taking a deep breath, Christina decided to come clean with Peter. "Um... there's something I've been meaning to tell you for a little while now," she said shyly. "Sidney already knows but I figured you should know as well. That way I don't have to keep secrets from you."

Peter nodded his head, genuinely curious as to what she would say. "I'm all ears..." he assured her.

Christina lowered her gaze for a moment before inhaling a sharp amount of oxygen. "Um... I'm not just into men..." she confessed, her hands shaking. "I'm into women as well... Well, I'm into people of any gender, honestly. I'm-I'm a panromantic woman. I figured you should know that, to be honest. I hope you don't hate me for that."

"No, of course I don't hate you, Chris..." Peter said with a small frown, leaning forward to try and get her to look at him. "That's perfectly fine with me. I don't love you any less than I already did. In fact, I love you more for telling me that so I would know."

Christina visibly lit up as she grew hopeful. "Are... Are you sure you don't hate me?" she asked just to make sure one more time.

"Chris, I would never hate you for that," Peter assured her with a small smile before it grew into a smirk. "But... that means that I'm gonna have even more competition...."

Christina gasped as she jokingly hit Peter's arm with a loud laugh. "Oh, shush! No, you're not!" she protested with a look of surprise on her face.

"I don't know..." Peter teased, that smirk never leaving his face. "Based on how beautiful you are, I wouldn't doubt that both men or women alike would be fawning over you."

"I'm not beautiful!" she tried to counteract but Peter wasn't allowing that.

"Yes, you are, and don't you dare say otherwise," he said, leaning across the table to peck her left cheek again, making her blush.

"Well... then I'm just gonna have to tell them that my heart is for one person only..." Christina said sweetly, grinning at Peter timidly and not missing how he blushed insanely at that.

Peter didn't have the courage to say anything else as he closed his eyes for a long moment. His breath hitched in his throat when he felt Christina's right hand gently grip his left one and squeeze tenderly; his eyes opened as he stared at her with utter awe etched into his face.

"I love you..." Christina whispered so only he could hear, the smallest of smiles on her perfect features.

"I love you..." Peter replied as he struggled to breathe from the entrancing look she was giving him.

_____

Two Hours Later
8:58 P.M.

Peter was walking Christina home once again out of the kindness of his heart, still having a hold on the shorter woman's hand. He listened to her talk about how her first day at her new job was and how she would be balancing that with her college courses for the fall semester with an expression of actual interest in his eyes. He couldn't help but smile at the passion in her voice as she discussed these topics with him, and he knew that he could listen to her talk all day and it would be his favorite part of his day.

They were making their way back to Christina's apartment from the mall but they had made a quick stop at the pier next to the Hudson River to admire the last bits of sunset. While Christina had her hands on the railing with a bright and optimistic smile on her face, Peter had made a daring move and slipped his arms around her waist to hug her from behind. She had flinched a little from surprise but almost instantly leaned into his embrace, allowing him to rest his chin on her shoulder as she placed her hands over his arms.

"Are you happy?" he had asked her, murmuring those words in her ear and causing a shiver to go down her spine.

"Very..." she had replied before turning her head to stare into his eyes.

Their foreheads had rested against one another for a very long moment as Peter reached up to caress her cheek to provide solace for her. He hadn't dared to lean in to kiss her just out of caution because she probably wasn't ready for that still. And he was perfectly fine with that.

"Peter, did you hear me?"

He snapped out of his thoughts as he looked down at Christina with a puzzled expression on his face. "Huh?" he muttered, his eyebrows scrunching together.

"I said thank you for walking me home," Christina replied with a soft giggle. "And for the date... It was lovely."

"Oh, y-you're welcome," Peter stammered, chuckling a bit himself as he realized that they were now outside of Christina's apartment. "I hate that I have to go."

"There's always next time," Christina offered with a hopeful smile and Peter didn't hesitate to nod in return.

"Yeah, we can go on another... another date if you want," Peter said, trying not to fumble over his words.

"I have next Wednesday night off," Christina suggested.

Peter just nodded. "Yeah, yeah, Wednesday sounds perfect."

He's so adorable when he's nervous, Christina thought, blushing madly at that.

"Alright, sounds great," Christina mumbled.

Peter smiled before taking a brave step closer, languidly grasping Christina's left hand and intertwining their fingers together. "You... You really do look beautiful tonight..." he said, his face pink with shyness.

Christina just smiled at that. "Why, thank you," she responded.

"I think it's your hair in particular..." Peter said, trying his best to flirt with her and hoping he wasn't failing miserably. "I... I kind of prefer your brunette hair... It's perfect."

Christina giggled gently as her face was swarmed with redness but she didn't shy away from Peter's gaze. In fact, she stepped a little closer, allowing the roses she was still holding to drop from her right hand as she carefully raised it to remove Peter's glasses from his face.

Peter was a little surprised by this but he chose to go with the flow, even closing his eyes for a moment before looking back at her; he was utterly relieved that he could still see the brunette's face clearly despite his extremely blurry eyesight.

"I... I always thought you were cute with glasses..." Christina pointed out with a flirtatious beam. "But... without them, I think you're really handsome..."

Peter let out a nervous breath. "Really...?" he whispered.

Christina's head bobbed up and down. "Yeah..." she murmured, removing her hand from Peter's and resting it on the right side of his face, caressing his cheekbone right away.

Peter's eyes fluttered shut as he leaned into the woman's enchanting touch and quivered from how gentle she was being with him. He then gazed back at her, his eyes filled with pure and complete love for her and only her.

Christina couldn't hold herself back anymore as she let out a shaky breath. She suddenly leaned forward and pressed her lips against Peter's, making sure to be easy on him so as to not hurt him. It was more of a peck than anything, and Peter didn't even have a chance to return the kiss because the woman pulled back seconds later with wide eyes.

"I-I'm sorry..." she stuttered, completely flustered from what had just happened.

"What for?" Peter replied with a concerned expression, holding her hands in his.

"I didn't ask your permission and I should have..." Christina muttered in one breath, lowering her head and feeling ashamed of herself.

"No, no, no," Peter murmured, tilting her chin up so she could look at him. "It's okay, sweetheart... I'm not mad."

"Thank God..." Christina replied, sighing with pure relief.

Peter just smiled at the nervous woman in front of him. "Christina... can I kiss you?" he asked in a tender voice, his lips parting at the close proximity between them now.

Christina's mouth twitched as a smile slowly crept onto her face, her heart racing a million miles an hour against her ribcage. "Yeah... Yeah, you can..." she whispered, her hands quivering.

That was all Peter needed to hear.

Squeezing one of her hands to reassure her that she was completely safe and he wouldn't hurt her, he leaned in. Their lips then touched as he held her a little closer, making sure to be extremely gentle with her so as to not make her feel uncomfortable. He was automatically pulled back to the night when they shared their actual first kiss just over two years ago after he saved her from the five robbers. Remembering that made him deepen the kiss ever so slightly, which she welcomed straight away, placing her free hand on his shoulder to keep herself upright since her legs were wobbling.

Christina kissed back delicately but with a sense of passion to it, taking it slow. The first thing she recognized was how soft Peter's lips were against hers and she knew she could kiss him all day long and never get tired of it. She also acknowledged how great he was at this, which made her heart beat crazily in her chest.

But she also sensed that the kiss felt... familiar. It seemed as though she had kissed Peter at some point in the past but she couldn't quite put her finger on it just yet. Besides, it was hard to think and concentrate when she was this close to the love of her life...

They slowly pulled away for just a moment, attempting to catch their breath as their foreheads leaned against each other's.

"Christina..." Peter murmured in a tone of voice that led to goosebumps spreading all over the woman's body.

Feeling more alive than she had in years (and wanting to test the waters once more), Christina tugged at his shirt and pulled him right back to her, their lips meeting again and moving together much more passionately than last time. The brunette didn't hesitate to deepen the kiss now, which led to Peter slipping an arm around her waist and that made her tremble. Her fingers moved to his hair and combed through the strands.

This is what should have happened when they were dancing at the planetarium the night Harry had interrupted them. They should have been making out just like this, and Christina was immensely happy that she and Peter were finally having their moment of true romance.

All hell nearly broke loose when she felt Peter gently biting her bottom lip, which made her gasp softly.

Christina allowed for their tongues to touch and she had to suppress a moan when Peter pulled her impossibly closer. Both of them still kept the feverish kiss gentle regardless of this, neither one intending to go further than this. They were no longer being interrupted and nobody was ruining this moment for them, which relaxed them greatly. They could finally have this time to themselves and they were making the most of said time. What made it even better was that this was their opportunity to release all of the pent-up tension that had been growing between them since the woman started returning Peter's feelings.

Fucking finally, Christina thought.

The kiss slowly drew to a close after a few minutes, but Peter still pressed a few sweet pecks to Christina's lips to make the moment even more perfect for them. "I love you..." he said in a hushed whisper as if he wouldn't ever be able to say it enough. "I fucking love you..."

"I love you," Christina replied almost instantaneously, smiling insanely widely because of how overjoyed she felt.

"It feels nice not getting interrupted for once, doesn't it?" Peter then spoke up, chuckling shyly.

"It does," Christina said, closing her eyes and pulling Peter into a loving hug.

It was at that moment Christina finally put two and two together on why the kiss had felt familiar to her. Her eyes opened as she stayed in the embrace, and she was scolding herself because she hadn't fucking figured this out sooner.

He's Spider-Man... she thought to herself. I kissed Peter Parker that night.

She chose not to confront Peter about that, not wanting to make him feel uneasy.

After another minute of them hugging each other closely, they pulled apart and Christina picked her bouquet of roses back up as though she hadn't figured out something extremely vital.

"Thank you for the date..." she whispered timidly, biting her bottom lip flirtatiously.

"You're welcome," Peter said. He then noticed the scars on Christina's left wrist that he never knew about; his heart dropped for a moment before realizing that they were way older than he thought they were. Nevertheless, he raised her left hand and placed a few careful kisses over the scars, wiping away a single tear that had fallen from the woman's eye as a result.

They shared another pleasant kiss before finally separating for the night; they made sure to exchange their goodnight 'I love yous' before leaving one another.

"Oh, I'm in trouble..." Christina murmured to herself after Peter walked away.

What she didn't know was that Peter's heart was beating painfully in his chest as he went back to his own apartment, mostly since he knew that she had been hurting for so long because he was Spider-Man. He had indirectly caused her agony and he would not be letting that happen ever again...

...even if that meant never being able to be with her.

A/N: i stayed up until three in the morning knowing i had classes today just so i could finish this chapter! i wrote it in less than 24 hours. i hope you're happy, guys lol

also, i hope you like the scene edits i made for this!

ANYWAYS, thoughts on this chapter? did you like it? let me know!

do you like christina as a social worker? do you think she's doing a great job?

what about the scene between her and that connor kid? do you like their dynamic and how motherly she is to him?

also, CHRISTINA AND PETER'S DATE! thoughts?

what about the scene where christina came out to peter as panromantic?

also... EEEEEEEEEE! THEY FINALLY FUCKING KISSED!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! technically, it wasn't their first kiss but it still counts! thoughts? was it written well? was the long wait worth this moment? did you like how it started off slow before it grew to be... THAT kiss?🤭

also, christina is now pretty damn sure that peter is spider-man because of that kiss! do you like how i revealed that?

predictions for the next chapter? what are you hoping to see?

there are now six chapters left of part two and then it's on to part three!

be looking forward to the next chapter!

-denbroughswife