In an alternate world, Anneliese would have been arguing with the contractors at Stark's expo. She would've have been yelling at them for their disrespect, and remaining them that there is plenty of other men who would die for this opportunity. Instead, she idly sipped at her cup of tea in a nice restaurant with her friends.
It had been so long since she had been able to see them all, if she wasn't busy working - then they were most certainly busy with there own home life. And Anneliese was planning to relish this lunch, not knowing when she will see them again - after all, she didn't find a way for Harold Lockes to be in charge of planning the expo instead of herself for nothing.
She would enjoy her day, even spend a fortune on chicken whilst luxuriating in the pleasantries of small talk until they all had to part ways, resuming their busy days. If it was work, volunteering or chores at home, no one at this table did completely nothing.
However, none of her friends were technically her taste - more like her best friend's friends. Anneliese was always polite and adored them terribly, but the real star of the show was Maria.
Maria Bernard.
The second she entered the small restaurant, Anneliese was out of her chair and her arms wrapped around her neck. This caused plenty of laughter from her table, considering Anneliese was always considered the perfect example of sensibility - especially in public. But Maria was the exception, always the exception.
"Well hello to you," Maria giggled, as she hugged Anneliese just as tightly.
Letting go, Anneliese smiled at the taller girl. She absolutely adored Maria in all her glory. At nearly six feet, Maria was tall and extremely thin, Anneliese often heard her say that her features most definitely came from her mother. Her nose was pointed, similar to Anneliese, her eyes a beautiful brown and her cheeks rosy.
Pulling Maria's hand towards the table, and forcing her to take a seat next to her. The two played catch up- ignoring the current conversation on whether it was social acceptable to eat beef when there was a shortage on it. Turning in her chair to face Maria, keeping each other hands enclosed in the other; together.
"So Mister Stark?", Maria whispered, cocking her eyebrows.
It wasn't that her relationship was a secret, after all half of America had seen the photographs of the both of them interacting in numerous scandalous acts. Yet, it still caused Anneliese to blush profoundly. As a former master at redirecting press, she had always found a way to avoid the question.
But with Maria, that was an impossible feat.
Nodding her head slightly, Maria's lip curved curiously, "And has papa met him?"
A growing smile appeared on Anneliese's lips at the sound of 'papa' from her lips. It had been years since she heard someone else call her father that name. A name only the children on the ship she escaped on from France used - Maria and her family had escaped France at the same time as Anneliese.
There was no greater bond than one made on a small boat that should've have fit the sheer number of families. And here they were: Maria, an accomplished opera singer and Anneliese, a high official in Stark Industrials. No one would've pinned the two to get so high up and well-off, at least not for an immigrant... let alone a woman.
"And I haven't?!?" her screech caused the table to halt, both men and women alike interested in the conversation, "I'm meeting him tonight, yeah?"
Eyes growing larger by each second, Anneliese begun shaking her head profoundly, "The expo begins today, and he will be too busy-"
"-You basically manage the man, empty a time in his schedule."
Before Anneliese could reply, one of her other friends, Guinevere and her husband Maxwell, decided they wanted all the gossip from the expo.
Anneliese knew better, after all, between the two - they owned a newspaper company, the New York Press. She would be stupid to not know this, so her answers were already well rehearsed.
"Anneliese, do you know what Stark's master piece for the opening night is?"
Turning to face the couple, the three of them having a knowing look. They would play the dutiful press and Anneliese was the prize.
"Unfortunately it's a secret from all of Stark Industrials - to keep it a surprise. However, I believe we could make a business deal to get exclusive access for good press in return?"
Business always leached at any table Anneliese sat at, every conversation usually was a transaction in some sort of way. Including when she met up with her friends, especially when she met up with her friends.
A grin spread across Guinevere's face, "Front page for an exclusive on your relationships with Mister Stark, I dare say that would be more interesting than his future technologies."
Anneliese's ears grew red, she knew this as Maria and Eloise, another friend who was accompanied by her Fiancé - a lawyer upstate, when they begun giggling. She should've expected this question, and yet she was lost for words.
Thankful, the question was dropped as a waitress collected their orders. Anneliese decided on chicken, believing she was worthy to splurge considering she had no clue when the next time they would all be having lunch together. Chatter resumed, and Maria keenly questioned Charlotte about her third pregnancy, retorting that she could never go through the pain.
The lunch was nice and yet, Anneliese should've known better that Guinevere always got what she wanted. And that was exactly what Anneliese adored about her, where Maria was strong - Guinevere was determined. It was nice to be surrounded by a mixture of woman, independent and dependent, ambitious and calming. To her, Anneliese knew she would've mind a passive lifestyle like Charlotte or a day filled with work much like her own.
The second Guinevere placed her fork on her plate and dapped the corner of her lips with a small pink handkerchief, Anneliese knew she was screwed. Her smile made her seem almost feline, her eyes narrowing as her teeth became more prominent. Her husband, Maxwell, may be the CEO of the newspaper company, but Guinevere was the press reincarnated.
"So are you interested? Good press and the front cover, in exchange for an interview of your relationship with Mister Stark?"
Again, Anneliese didn't have to answer the question. Instead, Howard did.
She froze instantly as she heard the soft voice belonging to Howard, "That would be so kind of you, Ms Thomas. Would tonight be alright?"
Anneliese wished she could stop breathing and just perish as Howard somehow managed to find a seat next to her. His hand instantly overlapping her shivering fingers under the table, it should've calmed her, but she just grew redder.
The table grew back to its usual loud chatter and Howard always found a way to seem completely at ease, even in an atmosphere he was completely blind in. Where Anneliese was a nervous bundle of jitters, barely answering the many questions Maria was poaching her way, Howard was laughing loudly at some joke Charlotte's husband had made.
A small ahem from Maria drew in Anneliese's attention. Turning to face her, she wished she hadn't. Her smile curved, eye brows raised her cheeks barely containing a laugh. She knew that Anneliese would rather sink into her chair, than have the other customers in the restaurant glance over at the two, or have Guinevere privy to there relationship is such an intimate and non-scripted time. Anneliese nearly laughed at the absurdity, surely after a year she would be comfortable with Howard to attend dinners with her friends, and yet, she wanted to melt into Howard's hand and hide away like a child.
"Have you knit anything new?"
Anneliese shook her head too fast to be called lady-like, and by comparison, she felt like a child begging their parents for the latest toy train. Mistake number one. This caught Howard's attention, and basically everyones. She was sensibility and she was rationality, and yet she was projecting a childish nature.
"You knit?", Howard asked quietly. Only loud enough for Maria and Anneliese to hear, in fact, he had said whispered it into her ear. The warm breath growing her already red cheeks. He only whispered in her ear like that when they were doing something scandalous- No. Anneliese knew it would be best if she didn't imagine the way Howard riled her up, mark her skin a colourful mess of red and pink and she most certainly shouldn't think about the sounds he makes- she makes; Anneliese was about to die of public humiliation of her own making.
Maria undid her scarf, passing it to Howard, "She's a natural. Made all the clothing for our community back in the day, she made quite the fortune if she wasn't working for you."
"Maria!", Anneliese exclaimed quietly, "Don't be so rude."
With her hands in the air, Maria retorted, "Don't be a prude. I'm sure Stark can handle it, can't you?"
Anneliese didn't dare turn to face Howard, not wanting to know his reaction. Instead, she felt his warm breath on the nook of her shoulder as he slowly wrapped the scarf around Anneliese's neck, ignoring Maria's original question. His fingers trailed her skin, sending her nervous system into overdrive. If she didn't die from embarrassment, she would simply die from a heart attack. Until he was satisfied with the scarf around Anneliese, he leaned across Anneliese, and answered Maria's question.
"Between me and you, Anneliese is the highest paid staff member," he said softly.
Her breathing hitched when he said that. She was not aware of this, believing Alexander took that place next to Howard.
"Considering the hours you make her do, I sure hope so," Maria stated.
She went to grab ahold of Maria's hand, to beg her to stop being rude when she remembered her hands were already taken from her. Howard had snuck into her lap, taking her hand as his; interlaced fingers. Deciding on a glare, this caused Maria to let out a laugh.
"Considering she blew up one of my laboratories yesterday, I'd say my past requests of too many hours can be forgiven."
For the first time, Anneliese turned to face Howard, more like snapped. Her eyes narrowed at him, glaring. They remained silent for a few seconds, before Anneliese begun lecturing him, "It was either the laboratory or the entire building! I had no choice."
"I'd say choosing to mix Potassium and Sodium was a choice," he teased back, his grin growing.
Huffing, Anneliese mumbled, "Well had your lab assistants not mixed up the Sodium with sugar, I wouldn't have caused an explosion-"
"-So you admit it. You caused the explosion-"
"-As if you can even blame me, how many times did you set the fire alarm in the past week? All for that stupid prototype of yours-"
"-Says the one experimenting with chemicals that are banned at Stark Industrials-"
In the corner of her eye, Anneliese quickly realised that the entire table was watching their argument, and were keenly listening. Embarrassment flooded her system, but one thing Anneliese knew was if she was to back down right now, Howard would win. And she would never let his ego grow any bigger, she'd already made that mistake with Alexander.
Turning back to face him, Anneliese smiled sweetly and the small section of Howard's mouth gaping in terror was all worth it, "Isn't your prototype illegal, I'd say a-"
Before she could finish her sentence, Howard had already clamped his hand around Anneliese's hand. In a matter of seconds, he had already placed the bill on the table, wished them all a good afternoon and pulled her out of the restaurant. Mr Jarvis was waiting in one of Howard's many cars, so, Howard pushed Anneliese into the car - only removing his hand for her to enter the vehicle.
The two sat in silence, listening to the radio and Mr Jarvis' comments on what was being said. Anneliese felt like a child in trouble, and considering Howard was sitting arms cross, he seemed a little bit mad.
She had assumed he was upset about her stunt from the restaurant, but it turns out he was angry about a completely different thing all together. Turns out Harold Lockes had not done the greatest job at following Anneliese's direction and they were behind schedule enormous, jinx why Howard had arrived unaccounted at her lunch.
"I can't always fix other people mistakes-"
"-This was your task," Howard snapped back.
Rolling her eyes, Anneliese was used to Howard throwing a tantrum over business, especially when something hasn't gone his way. It was one of the few terrible moments in her job, and she especially hated it when Alexander joined Howard.
"And Mr Lockes is completely competent."
This caused a rise in Howard, his eyes met her's before he spoke harshly, "I didn't want him to do it, I wanted you to do it."
Now that was new. Usually Howard only cared if it affected his business dealing, and he really didn't care how he completes his business - and yet, here he was. Upset that Anneliese hadn't planned his expo for his new prototype and for him. Anneliese almost felt apologetic for passing the task off to Lockes. Almost.
She already had too much on her plate, especially with Howard wanting to spend nearly every second after hours with her, or she was working until twilight to ensure everything was perfect. Nothing but smooth sailing for project rebirth, after all, her safety and her father's life depended on it. The last time she had any free time to herself had been months, and when was the last time she even knitted? Anneliese had no clue.
"I can't do everything-"
"-Yes you can. You're Anneliese."
Mr Jarvis exited the car.
"And I am still human. I need breaks, I need free time. I want to go out for lunch-"
"-We always go out for lunch-"
"-Howard, you're not listening. I haven't seen my friends in months, I've barely picked up a knitting needle since I've become in charge of this project and I haven't thought of myself since my father foolishly decided to join. I'm drowning in work, can you not see that?"
Silence.
Looming, everlasting silence.
Her voice begun to crack, "Gosh, I don't even remember the last time I read out of leisure and not for necessity. I haven't even been able to post a letter to my father, and he's sent countless letters to me already. When was the last time i got to sleep in? Or the last time I was able to go to bed early. Howard-"
Trembling fingers. Silent tears. Rosy cheeks.
"And I keep seeing the news everywhere. The Nazi's seem invincible, let alone Hydra. I am so, so scared right now and all I want to do is help the cause. But-but", her voice begun to fail her; a stuttering mess.
Taking a deep breath, Anneliese started her sentence again, "But I am exhausted, I am doing the job of too many people. I have to cover for Alexander, and Miss Cotton is drowning in work - the press have been brutal in the past few days. The SSR are wanting an update every three hours - I'm waking up in the middle of the night to call them to inform no progress has been made. I- I-"
Before she could finish, Howard had already wrapped her in a tight embrace, kissing the top of her head. This caused the tears that just hanged by a thread on her waterline to come pouring down; she was in the storm. Anneliese couldn't handle anything more or anything less. She was going to collapse or explode very soon, and she had no clue which fate was better.
Small hiccup-like sounds flew from her mouth, almost a small feline sound. And the tears just kept coming, no longer slow and kind, but cruelly tragic. She was so, so, so tired.
"Let's get you home," Howard mumbled as his fingers brushed through her hair, "Have the rest of the day off."
Moving her head upwards to stare at Howard, his eyes had golden specs in him. It was awfully beautiful, cruelly so.
"The expo-"
"That can be delayed by a day, in fact I believe I have no other choice since none of the marquees have been set up. Let alone the list of safety issues listed by the safety officers you chose. I reckon you purposely asked them to say that the green panels are a hazard, you've never been a fan of the colour green," he paused briefly, "Yeah?"
Resting her chin on his chest, Anneliese ignored the tumbling the bees in her stomach was making, refusing to swoon at the way Howard spoke. An early night seemed like a good idea, slowly Anneliese found her eyes drifting to sleep as Howard continued to run his fingers through her hair - now a knotty mess. And for the first time in a while, Anneliese slept soundly.
A/N:
If you've read the original (pls don't, I had to re-read a chapter for this and realised I managed to use three different perspective in one sentence :000000 save yourselves!), you may notice some of the parallels and the change of name for some of the characters. In the previous fanfic, Guinevere was Anneliese's closest friend - however I decided to change this to Maria due to plot reasons.
I'd keep a close eye on Maria in future chapters ;)
I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, it is by far more dialogue heavy... but I am trying to come to terms that I don't need to write lengthy paragraphs with very little dialogue. Dialogue is good. In my defence, I am a recovering Year 12 graduate, where to get an A in english... I was required to write in a very specific style.
I want to know your opinions so far, and any theories you have! of course atm we haven't gotten to the beginning of the major plot yet (obviously soon to come!) as I've been focusing on developing the characters as they were so underdeveloped before!
--> Also, if anyone wants to beta on this story, send me a message! I only do a quick edit after I write the paragraph and sometimes before I upload... jinx why there are a few edits --> this is the only way I am being able to write so many words in little time (As i work two jobs atm hahah).
edited: 13/12/21