Chemical Poison

Dragged was a word Anneliese hated. Only three times has she ever been dragged in her life:

1. When she refused to leave the day room when it was far past her bedtime.

2. When her father had to drag her away from her mouth... on an unknown beach in France.

3. Mr Anderson's immaculate attend to degrade her to keep his job.

And yet again, she felt herself being dragged down an unknown corridor. Her wrist tightly held by Howard, who walked at a deadly speed, and Alexander wasn't that far behind him - forcing her to keep up. A feat made impossible by the ridiculous heels and skirt she had chosen to wear. Alas, she really didn't have any option. She was nearly being dragged down a random corridor.

Each step felt like it would be her last. She was certain her heels was about to break as they clashed against the wooden flooring far too loudly. The CLAP of her heels was no where near as loud as the sound of Howard and Alexander's shoes. It was frightening really, to have two of the richest men in her generation nearly running down a corridor... and dragging her along.

The hallway was a blur: women and men in a rich green, bricked walls and wire poking from the ceiling. None of it was comprehendible to Anneliese, as her eyes could not focus for long as the brutal pace was kept. Why they were walking so quickly was an unknown fact to her; how they managed to find a secluded empty was even stranger.

With the door SLAMMING closed, silence pursued. Heaving breathing escalated the silence, though noise wasn't typically described as silence... in this time, this very specific place in time, the breathing seemed to make it all the quieter. It was a heartbeat. The heartbeat. 

Tu-tum... tu-tump... tu-tum... tu-tump.

And then footsteps followed. Alexander walked from behind her and towards a corner behind Howard. There was no furniture, no curtains, no paintings. It was, quite literally, an empty room. As her gaze examined the room, she noticed only a few quirks. The floor wasn't wooden, it was cement. There was only one small window at the very top of the brick wall; Anneliese was certain it could only be the size of a small house cat. 

The room was empty and now it was filled.

As her gaze continued on its route, they eventually met Howard. Who was still watching her, almost obsessively, like how he watches his machinery. Waiting for a reaction. The man was correct for that.

"What on earth was that?" She asked, nearly whispered. 

Neither replied.

Sighing, Anneliese asked again. Raising her voice only slightly; she spoke, "Let me ask again. Why were we nearly running down the corridor?"

That earned a chuckle from Alexander.

"I was just following the boss."

Snapping her gaze at Alexander, he dropped his head automatically. He seemed so causally elegant as he leaned against the wall; both hands in his pocket. Without having to raise her voice above a whisper, Anneliese hissed in his direction. "The day you listen to anyone is the day Howard learns how to answer a damn question."

Her eyes instantly dropped to the light rub from Howard's thumb. She had completely forgotten he was still holding her wrist. Completely, utterly and hopelessly forgotten. As she slowly brought her eyes back to his, she almost felt bad for what she said. That was until she saw the crawling smile across his lips.

"Is my sheer flair for dramatics a good enough answer?"

His tone was teasing. He was baiting her, she knew it. And she was more than willing to fall into that trap.

"I don't know Mr Stark, is it?"

He rolled his eye before he spoke to Alexander and for one of the many first, he listened keenly. "I believe we've left a big enough statement already. Go fetch yourself a coffee and take the longest route back to the conference room. Make sure to piss them off as much as possible, but at the end... agree to their terms."

Watching wide eyed at Howard, the business man, direct orders that seemed rather cunning.

And he continued, "Only if Anneliese is included, or even better... substitute me. I rather deal with metal and nails than contracts and deals."

Without a second word, Alexander flew out of the room quickly. Slamming the door at his exit. The room suddenly felt so much more empty. Only Howard and Anneliese remained.

The man that stood before Anneliese was an interesting puzzle. She had no clue what the edges were, but she was certain the middle was much more confusing. Before her was a man; she knew that for a fact. What type of man was more difficult to calculate, but she was certain she would eventually figure it out. She always did.

"What was that?" Anneliese asked again, almost pleading.

She begged for his answer to be a moment of irrationality or an opportunity to strike a better deal. Anything but his care, anything but affection. She wouldn't be able to bare it, to carry it, to protect it.

As she begged for such a reply, no god, no deity and no other being answered.

He blinked twice before he spoke. Once. And then twice.

"Why wouldn't I?"

It seemed the language of questions was all that was plausible. That to gain such truths was to rip ones soul out. To comprehend these cover ups was another. It was a waltz she had never taught Howard but it was to a tempo she never dared attempt. It was foreign but similar, it was the poison and the cure. It lacked better speech but had all the pieces held together by a simple glance.

So she asked. Even as her heart ached, she asked and she asked and she asked.

"What was that."

The question was repetitive, and someone as smart as Anneliese should've known that an answer would've been given by now. That they were just as capable of reply, to form speech from simple sounds. And yet... here they are.

In an abyss, empty. Nothing surrounding them as the world spun. It was him and her, and her and him. Neither understanding but both accepting. One loved too much and the other somewhat different. There was better questions to be asking, and better answers to be provided. But neither would provide.

Until he did.

"You."

She blinked.

"What?"

Even if she anticipated such a reply, she didn't expect it. Nor did she think a one word answer was possible.

"It was all for you. I was serious in there, I refuse to work with anyone who hold such ideologies."

She knew her mouth much be gaping, and her legs were shaking. He was shattering any self control, the small pieces that reminded her that this was all staged. An act for better publicity. They were fake dating. No emotions attached, no connection - nothing.

But Howard was ruining this all. Declaring love and accepting her denial but still loving just as fiercely. He was a gentleman for sure, but she knew the morals he held for her sake was dropping. And she feared those days more.

The day his control would collapsed. It has before. When he became a crumbling mess and made such declarations. When he suggested that she should feel the same, when he enabled her to think such things, and when he accepted her in announcing such things. It was all wrong, it had to be all wrong. She needed to stop bouncing, to stop thinking.

As the more she thought, the more she knew she was falling.

If it was falling from the truth or series of falsehoods. Anneliese knew there was only one answer to all of this. It would be a swift one, much like a blade. She was at the gallows, and she'd be damned if Howard wasn't the most handsome executioner. He may deliver the calm, but he offered the storm as well.

It was all in those damning golden eyes.

"No." Anneliese whispered.

He stepped forward; she stepped backwards.

"No." She said even quieter.

She stepped backwards, he followed.

"No."

Her voice was inaudible by the time she felt her back against the rough brick wall. The room became fuller by the second as Howard stepped into her personal space. With her wrist still in his hand, he forced it gently against the wall, right next to her body. She should fear what comes next, that the cut that would soon be delivered.

Daring to gaze up, Howard moved even closer. His body basically pressed to hers. His other hand on her right side, trapping her in. His face was so dangerously close. She could see it all. Every eyelash, every freckle and the gold specs in his hazel eyes. The creases across his forehead from a lifetime of stress before age thirteen, and the dimples that refused to show itself.

But what caught her eye even more was how he stared at her. It was indescribable. He maintained eye contact as he lowered his face to meet hers, lips nearly touching.

"No?" He questioned, his breath warming her collarbone. "No?" He questioned again.

Slowly, Anneliese turned her face away from his. Cheek hard against the wall.

"No?" He asked again, his lips too close to her neck to be even considered not on her neck. The vibrations hummed across her body, and she was electrified. She expected a quick cut, a simple one.

Not a slow torture.

She didn't dare to speak.

And then she felt his other hand gently tilt her chin back to him, forcing their eyes to meet again. He didn't automatically remove his hand from his chin, allowing his fingers to explore her skin and gently pull down her lips. He was providing the answer she didn't want, she had asked for an answer... any but this. But she was hypnotized by the flames within his eyes

They sung songs not no one could voice: the depths of rich soil and a well of golden gems. In only the smallest specs of his iris, he provided what Anneliese always knew. He was never faking, he had even said so. He only needed permission each time he made a move, and every time she consented. 

She was correct at the Expo. 

If Howard Stark was the flame.

Anneliese was the oxygen.

She encouraged the behaviour before she remembered herself. 

"Is this still an act for you, mhm?" He hummed against her ear.

No. Her mind screamed. Not at all.

"Are you playing with me, sweetheart?"

Never. She wanted to say. Not at all.

His lips met under her earlobe. Slowly trailing kisses down until it met her jawline. That was when all walls crashed. The way he stared up at her murdered her. There- there was the clean cut.

It was never an act. His lips danced to a song she had seen so many times before. It was no longer an act but reality. This, whatever it is, was dangerous.

"Answer me, love."

And so she did.

"I'm not sure."

A lie, of a sort.

He arched an eyebrow as he continued his small kisses across her jawline and back up towards her earlobe again. Never stopping, and the heat from his lips never leaving. It was stars exploding and dreams reuniting. This was no where near darkness sinking; night's incarnation. It was so much more.

This wasn't a declaration or announcement. It was a promise.

As he kissed her forehead gently, he whispered. "I'll wait for you. In this world or any other. I'll always wait."

She knew that. She has always known that.

"I will always ensure the future you have is the brightest... that choices are for you to make, and you alone to make. If it is through busting a contract with an international agency or speeding down the hallway crazy to ensure you didn't need to stay in their company any longer. I will do all of this for you, forever or... however long you will let me."

Each day it proved to be harder to deny him, and each second proved that too. Anneliese was lost at sea, all morals and all rules long gone. And there was Howard, a plank of driftwood she could help herself to safety. She long knew she would never be an angel, but right now she felt much more than a sinner.

So she kissed him, a seal of a promise and not an answer. She angled her head enough to meet his lips, painfully position until Howard slowly moved them off from the wall. Holding her cheek as walked her oblivion-

-then the door bursted open.

"You'd never guess what I just learnt Howard. Did you know cows can have curly hair." In the corner of her eyes, she can see Alexander storm right through with his coffee, clearly too self obsessed to realise what he had just walked in on.

Well, she had hoped and lords know that Anneliese needs to stop hoping.

His voice echos as he continues, "Spoke to the Colonel and a rather tragic massacre or something just happened and they're willing to compromise, so once you're finished eating Anneliese... mind doing your weird boss stuff?"

There was the kicker. Bloody man.

Neither moved from their rather problematic position for an unwed couple until Alexander closed the door behind him and begun chatting with whoever spoke to him in the corridor. Anneliese didn't breathe until the sound of Alexander's voice was nearly a whisper. And then she laughed, a genuine happy laugh.

"We really need to stop being caught like this," Anneliese joked.

Howard grinned. "Speak for yourself, I think I rather enjoy being caught like this."

And with that, he pecked her lips one final bruising time and left just as quickly. Swinging the door open and yelling for Grey's name. Anneliese was alone again, but the room was no longer empty. It was filled to the brim of emotions she hadn't dared have free range.

What was the worse that could happen anyway?

With that in mind, Anneliese chased after Howard down the corridor.