Sunflowers were Dahlia Anelace's favorite flower. You might think that she'd be one of those people who learned to love the flower that was their namesake, but you'd be wrong. She hated being predictable, so she stood strong with sunflowers.

When Pietro Maximoff had found this cute, albeit slightly strange, fact, he had made it his mission to make it so she never went a single day in her life without seeing one.

So, when they bought their adorable little cottage on the outskirts of New York, Pietro's first act to 'christen' the house, as he called it, was to plant sunflowers in every stretch of their yard, so she could never look through the window without getting a glimpse of them.

With a huge supply of them at his disposal, he would leave the flowers for her in different ways every day, tucked behind her ear when she woke up, replacing her bookmark in her favorite novels, in an envelope with a sweet note, his creativity was endless.

That was why, even today, on June 7th, Pietro's 29th birthday, he put her first, with a dozen sunflowers laid out on the kitchen table.

A soft song sounded through the cottage hallway, leading up to the kitchen, where Dahlia and Pietro were slow dancing to a familiar song, one they had twirled around to all those years ago, before the world had fallen apart.

I know I'm just a fool who's willing

To sit around and wait for you

But baby, can't you see there's nothing else for me to do?

I'm hopelessly devoted to you

But now there's nowhere to hide

Since you pushed my love aside

I'm out of my head

Hopelessly devoted to you

"You've gotten considerably better at this, Speedy." Dahlia laughed in surprise as her boyfriend dropped her into a dip, playfully hitting him on the shoulder.

Pietro smirked and raised an eyebrow. "You think so?"

"Well, seeing as you've yet to drop me, I'd say so."

The silence was peaceful, and they swayed to the music with smiles.

Dahlia hesitantly brought up the topic they both wanted to ignore. "How are you? About today?"

He tensed up a bit, hesitating to answer. "I'm... I don't know how to say it. I've had five birthdays without her now, and it never seems to get any easier."

She pursed her lips, not sure how to comfort him. "Darling, it's never going to be easy. You and I both know that. Wanda was your closest friend, there was a time when you only had each other, it makes sense."

Dahlia placed her hand on his cheek, running her thumb across his jawline.

"I love you, you know that, right?" Pietro looked at her like he would move the moon and stars for her, because he would, if she only asked, even if it broke his back in the process.

"Oh really? It's not like you say it to me five gazillion times a day," Dahlia grinned and kissed him on the nose. "I love you too."

"Stupid." He grinned and leaned closer.

"Loser." She retaliated with a smile, their noses brushing.

"Jackass." Pietro's lips brushed hers, strands of her hair tangling with his fingers.

Dahlia pulled away after about three minutes. "Idiot."

"You know, you're one in a million. It's not every day you meet a girl that will simultaneously be in love with you and call you names." Pietro chuckled, kissing the top

of her hand.

She laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Well, I'm sure glad it isn't, or you'd be gone in a flash."

"No way." He grinned and kissed the top of her head.

"Easy there, lover boy. I know it's your birthday, but I promised Pepper that we'd stop by for lunch. She says that Morgan misses your super-sonic piggyback rides." Dahlia grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the door.

"They are pretty awesome, if I do say so myself." Pietro puffed up his chest.

"All right, c'mon Quicksilver, get your shoes on."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming, jeez!"

•

Morgan Stark was everything Dahlia Anelace had wished she had been when she was younger.

Innocent, joyful, loved, hopeful, and happy.

Dahlia loved that little girl with a passion, and made it very clear to every who stood to witness their interactions, giving her everything she possibly could.

"Morgan Stark, get your butt over here and give me a hug!"

The small girl barreled into Dahlia's open arms, squeezing the life out of her.

Pietro looked down at the woman he loved, who was sat in the middle of the dirt path without a care in the world, and wondered what the hell she saw in him, and how he got so lucky.

"Auntie 'Lia! Mommy and Daddy didn't tell me you were coming!" Morgan's eyes were filled with a light that rivaled the suns'.

"Hey, what about me, Morgs?" Pietro grinned and held his arms out, but when the girl didn't move, he crossed them over his chest.

Morgan smiled brightly at him over Dahlia's shoulder. "Sorry, Uncle Pietro, I'm busy hugging my favorite person."

"Did'ya hear that, Speedy? I'm her favorite." Dahlia stuck her tongue out at him, and she and Morgan laughed in synchronization. "Morgs, honey, do you know where your mom and dad are?"

"Mommy's on the dock, and Daddy's in the kitchen. Do you wanna help me scare him, Uncle Pietro?" Morgan grinned giddily.

He couldn't say no to those chocolate brown eyes of hers, and he didn't think he would ever be able to. "Alright, fine."

Dahlia loved watching him interact with Morgan. Hanging out with kids just came so naturally to him, and she couldn't help but let her mind slip to the future, to the kids they could have together. "You guys have fun, I'm going to go talk to Pepper."

Pietro kissed her on the cheek and picked up Morgan on his back, disappearing into the house with a flash of blue.

She couldn't help the smile that came to her face when she caught sight of the blonde woman sitting on the old wooden dock, feet dangling over the surface of the water.

Dahlia pursed her lips slightly and sat down next to Pepper, crossing her legs underneath her.

"Dahlia, it's good to see you, darling." Pepper radiated a kindness and light that always made her feel safe, and evidently those same qualities had been passed on to Morgan.

"I've missed you, Pep." Dahlia smiled.

Pepper looked up and at the young woman beside her. "I've missed you too, but I don't think anyone could miss you as much as Morgan has. I assume you've already seen her?"

"Yeah," She chuckled. "Almost the moment I left the car. Her and Pietro are going to go play some sort of prank on Tony."

"How are you two? You and Pietro?"

Dahlia hesitated before answering, knowing that when she said what she was thinking, it would become real to her. "I never thought I'd love anyone like I love him, honestly. It's so much that it almost scares me."

"If it doesn't scare you, you're doing something wrong." Pepper smiled comfortingly, placing an arm around her surrogate daughter's shoulders.

"Did loving Tony scare you, too?" She asked curiously, wanting to know the answer desperately.

"Yeah. It did. I mean, first it scared me because of who he was, my boss and a total jackass," The two women laughed at that. "But then it scared me because I worried about something happening to him all the time. I'm still so afraid of that. Love is terrifying, but that's part of what makes it so wonderful."

"I just..." She hesitated once more, needing to mean the words. "I know that he's who I want to spend the rest of my life with. I just know it. I can't picture anyone else when I think of marriage, or kids, or growing old together."

"So, why haven't you tied the knot? Not that you have to, if that's not what you want, but I'm fairly sure it is. Is it because of what he thinks about it?" Pepper rested her head on her hands.

She rushed to correct her, for Pietro made it very clear that it was what he wanted, just simply not with words. "Oh, no, not at all. For years, he's 'joked' about us getting married, having kids, what we would name them, etc. I know for a fact he wants all that, he's just never said it to me in a non-joking way."

"Well, having only known him in glimpses, I can tell that he definitely does. Even when he plays with Morgan, he looks back at you, like he's picturing her as your kid. It's really sweet."

Dahlia couldn't suppress the smile on her face at that. Just the idea of Pietro thinking of the future, same as she did, gave her major butterflies. "Does he really?"

"Oh yeah, big time."

Back in the house, Pietro and Morgan were planning their scare-tactics, readying to scare the wits out of Tony.

"Okay, so when you say three, we'll run up real fast and yell." Pietro whispered to the small girl, who grinned with two big thumbs up.

"Okay. 1... 2... 3!"

With a bolt of blue lightning, the two popped up behind Tony Stark, who was humming while doing the dishes.

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Pietro and Morgan yelled in unison, nearly giving her dad a heart attack as he dropped the porcelain plate into the soapy water below.

"Jesus!" Tony spun around and sighed when he saw Morgan laughing on the back of a familiar speedster. "Ah, Maximoff. Still running around, I see?"

"Yes, sir." Pietro mock-saluted, Morgan giggling loudly as he did so.

Tony had never been fond of Pietro, that much was obvious, but what was to be expected of him? Still, through his grudge, he managed to push past it when he saw how undeniably happy Dahlia was to have him in her life.

Morgan took off into the next room, evidently bored with the conversation.

Tony crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the counter to look at him. "I never liked you, you know, but she seems annoyingly happy with you, so I'll let it slide."

"Thanks?"

To both of their relief, Pepper and Dahlia entered the room immediately after, leaving the awkward conversation in the dust.

Pepper gave her husband a kiss on the cheek, which was sweet, but Dahlia and Pietro were more immature then the other couple.

Their greetings were generally more chaotic, destructive, and fun, as Dahlia liked to say.

This time around, she jumped on his back and covered his eyes, making him jump a tad and try to catch her, looking like a dog chasing their tail.

"Alright, alright I'm getting dizzy." She jumped off his back, but not before smacking him on the head.

"You two are made for each other, I swear. I've known five year olds that are more mature than you." Pepper laughed, turning to dry the dishes her husband had just washed.

Tony, however, was distracted from the conversation by a black Audi pulling up into the driveway. "Uh, sorry Pep, but there's a situation outside, Dahlia, Maximoff, care to accompany me?"

As they followed him out onto the porch, the two looked at each other in confusion.

"Are we supposed to know what's happening?" Pietro whispered.

"I have no clue whatsoever." Dahlia whispered back.

"Also, I just remembered, we need more chicken nuggets." He whispered yet again.

"What? Why? I just bought two bags!" She whispered, raising an eyebrow.

"I maybe sorta kinda used up them all by putting them all on a pizza." Pietro sheepishly grinned.

"Of-fucking-course you did." Her tone might've been annoyed, but he knew she wasn't mad, for she couldn't repress a smile.

The two followed Tony towards a sleek black car in the dirt driveway, which three familiar faces exited out of.

Steve, Natasha, and Scott climbed out of the car, apprehension evident on their faces.

"Hey, Tony." Steve knew this conversation wasn't one he wanted to have, and was careful with how to say it.

"Well, Stevie boy, I think you're forgetting to greet the best people here." Pietro said, as he and Dahlia crossed their arms and posed, back to back, like a movie poster.

Tony sighed. This was gonna be one hell of a discussion. He gestured to the house, indicating for them all to come in.

"If this is gonna take a while, I'm gonna make some popcorn." Dahlia took Pietro's hand and skipped towards the porch, pulling him behind her.

"Calm down, woman. You're gonna dislocate my shoulder!"

"A small price to pay for popcorn."

•

"Now, we know what it sounds like..." Scott played with his thumbs, knowing that suggesting the prospect of time travel sounded pretty goddamn insane.

Obviously Dahlia and Tony weren't thinking the same thing, for as Dahlia said, 'Fun! Let's do it!', Tony had said, 'Suicidal, that's what it sounds like.'

Steve sighed and leaned up against the porch railing. "Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?"

"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?" Tony smirked as he watched their faces morph into confusion.

Pietro cleared his throat and pretended to know what he was saying. "Oh, yeah. I suppose we can agree on that."

"In Layman's terms, it means you're not coming home."

Scott butted in. "I did."

"No, you accidentally survived," Tony massaged his temples. "It's a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull off a... What did you call it?"

"A time heist?" Scott prided himself on the name.

"Yeah, a time heist. Of course, why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable? Because it's a pipe dream?" He clearly wasn't taking the suggestion well.

"The stones are in the past. We can go back and get them." Scott was feeling more and more stupid by the moment.

"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everyone back." As Natasha said this, Pietro's breath hitched, thinking of getting to see his sister again. Dahlia's fingers intertwined with his, trying to reassure him silently.

"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony was becoming exhausted with the topic.

"I don't believe we would." Steve's brow creased, surprised at Tony's lack of faith.

"Gotta say, sometimes I miss that giddy optimism. However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist. I believe the most likely outcome would be our collective demise."

Dahlia leaned over and whispered to Scott loudly. "He called it a time heist!" The two fist bumped and grinned.

"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-"

Scott was interrupted by Tony, who had an amused expression on his face. "I'm gonna stop you right there, Scott. Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe on Back To The Future?"

"...No."

"Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure is far superior." Dahlia snorted.

"It is, she's right." Pietro nodded. "And I'm definitely not saying that because I live with her and I'm afraid of what will happen if I don't agree with with it."

"That's all beside the point, but good. You had me worried there. 'Cause that'd be horse shit. That's not how quantum physics works." Tony said.

"Tony..." They all hoped that Natasha could be their saving grace. "We have to take a stand."

"We did stand. And yet, here we are." Tony threw his hands in the air.

"I know you got a lot on the line. You've got a wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me. A lot of people did. And now, now we have a chance to bring her back. To bring everyone back. And you're telling me that won't even..." Scott's desperation was evident in his voice.

"That's right, Scott. I won't even. I've got a kid." Morgan came and ran into Tony's arms.

"Mommy told me to come and save you." Morgan grinned at Dahlia from her father's arms.

"Good job. I'm saved." Tony's love for his daughter was obvious.

He turned to them while holding Morgan. "I wish you'd come here for something else. Anything else. Honestly, I... I missed you guys, we've only seen these two idiots, and we all know they're painful to deal with."

"Hey!" Both of the aforementioned people yelled.

"Tony, I get it. And I'm happy for you, I really am. But this is a second chance." Steve's eyes were caring.

"I got my second chance right here, Cap. I can't roll the dice again. If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch." Tony headed back into the house, and Pietro and Dahlia walked with the three back to their car.

"It's nice to see you two, despite the horrible circumstances." Steve said.

"Yeah, well, we're fun people, that's to be expected." Pietro grinned, fist bumping Dahlia.

"When did you guys make it official?"

The two exchanged a confused look.

"What? Do you mean when we started dating? Cause that was like seven years ago." Dahlia laughed.

"Yeah, I knew you weren't observant, Cap, but I thought you would've noticed by now. It's not like we try to hide it." Pietro shrugged.

Natasha elbowed Steve in the stomach. "They're not... what you think they are."

"Oh," Realization spread over Dahlia's face. "You thought we were engaged?"

Pietro looked at her with apprehension, trying to gage how she felt about the idea. However, he didn't get to find out, since she changed the subject.

"Sorry about Tony, by the way. He's just afraid to lose what he has."

"He's not wrong." Steve sighed.

Scott brought up what they were all thinking. "Yeah, but I mean, what are we gonna do? We need him. What, are we gonna stop?"

"No, I wanna do it right," Steve put his hands in his pockets. "We're gonna need a really big brain."

"Bigger than his?"

"Hey, do you mind if Pietro and I join you? I kinda wanna see where this is going." Dahlia was enjoying the suspense of the situation.

"Be my guest." Nat smiled.

"Alright, let me grab Dahls's emergency popcorn stash."

"I love you so much."