Chapter Prologue
[~*~*~*~*~*~*~*]
Dione Stark was 24 years old when her younger brother, Tony, was born. Her father, Howard Stark, has been married to Maria Stark for over five years now, and the pregnancy was an unexpected happiness for all three Starks. Dione was already done with schooling and moved out of the house when he was born. She worked at a modeling agency, posing for magazines and strutting down runways. During the off season of fashion week, Dione would help her step-mother with charities, and superfluous social events.
Much like Tony, Dione grew up hearing Captain America stories, and eventually grew to resent the absent man. She feigned admiration in passing, but in the long run she just wanted her father's attention. During her youth and rising adulthood, Peggy Carter was a fixture in her life. She was always coming and going, being secretive of the time spent with Stark, but always had time to give advice and help Dione with her seemingly infantile problems. Girls, boys, and whatnot.
Dione was never a people person, often standoffish or aloof. She kept close to family and protected them to the best of her ability. She met her future husband and father of her children during such an occasion, too. Tony had run off during a shopping trip with Dione and Maria. Dione had Maria stay where she was, being the command center of the large store, so that there was a person to go to after Tony was found. Dione prowled the store, going through clothing racks, looking between shoe racks, ting to find her errant brother. A deep cough behind her as she crawled out from under another clothes rack.
"Um, excuse me, miss? Mrs. Stark wanted me to let you know that your brother has returned safe and sound. She told me to look under the clothes racks, but I didn't know she really meant it."
A tall broad shouldered man stood before her, wearing a three-button suit and shiny leather Derbys. A large calloused hand was in front of her face, offering to help her stand up. Dione's face blushed deep red, she wiped her hand discreetly on the back of her skirt, and place her hand in his.
"Thank you, and my apologies. Tony always seems to hide when clothes shopping and I was checking his usual spots. The little rascal must've just wandered off this time."
Dione's large green eyes looked up through her eyelashes. 'He is so tall and big, oh and his eyes are so dreamy.'
The man chuckled, "It's quite alright miss, just not the way I thought my lunch hour would end. Where are my manners? My name is Charles Mosse, and yours?"
"Dione Stark. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She held out her right hand and he shook it. "Well, I must be going then. The shopping won't finish itself. Thank you for finding me for my mother and brother, Mr. Mosse."
"I hope we'll see each other again soon, miss Stark."
"Oh, no doubt about that. Good day, again."
"Oh, Maria, he was stunning, where did you find him? His broad shoulders, his warm brown eyes, his dark blonde hair. He was much taller than me even, not many men can say that around here, you know. His name is Charles Mosse, dad has to help me find him again. He must!"
"Dione, you only spoke to him for barely five minutes, slow down a second. You know what he looks like, and his name. Nothing about his life, his job, or even if he's already married or going steady with someone. If it's truly fate then you will find each other again, just live your life normally, dear."
Dione pouted, "Fine, I guess your right. I'm busy now anyways with the new line coming out from Vogue. I've got a photo shoot in two days, and a fashion show in four. I still wanna see him again. Hmmm, his hands were rough, but he had such an expensive suit. And he was wearing Derbys! He said that there was no doubt we'd see each other again, maybe daddy does know him?"
"We'll see honey, now let's g- Tony, get down from there! That's dangerous!"
"Thank you, Mr. Stark, for this opportunity. I will not disappoint you, sir." They shook hands.
"You better not, I'm stepping out on a trip branch for you, any mistakes will be all on you. I will and can crush you, Mr. Mosse."
Charles Mosse was starting at his new job at Stark Industries, working close to Mr. Stark himself, on the arc reactor theory. Untapped unlimited energy for the future is the next big thing in the world. The theory was already there, it was now just building it that was the problem, there seemed no way to shrink it to a more acceptable size, but Charles will try.
The plans so far had it larger than a three story building, but Charles was looking to shrink it as much as possible.
Ever since middle school, Charles Mosse has been fascinated with technology and how it works. He loved taking things apart, finding out how they tick, and how to improve them. He had just graduated from MIT, when word got out that SI was looking for capable engineers to help on a secret energy project, and Charles couldn't not sign up.
He ran his hands down his face, stretched and left the office. Following a secretary through the complicated twisting hallways, he reached the laboratory. There were cat walks three stories high in the warehouse-like room. There were tables and computers centered around a large empty space in the room. Men in white
lab coats were bustling around fumbling with the computers and looking over blue prints, looking over the arc reactor plans that Mosse had written up.
He clapped his hands together, the sound echoing through the large cavernous room, "Alright, let's get to work!"
The couple did run into each other again when Maria and Dione came to pick Howard up for lunch. They were planning to pull him away from his work for a rare lunch to go over the Stark Foundation's upcoming Christmas Gala and Raffle.
They quite literally ran into each other. Charles' sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and tie was loosened. His cheeks were covered in stubble and his warm brown eyes had deep bags under them. He was focused on the papers in his hands when he ran into her. He was quick to drop the papers to wrap an arm around her waist, holding her in a ballroom dip.
Dione lost focus of everything around her, staring into Charles' eyes nothing else seemed to matter. Unbeknownst to her, Charles felt the same way. Staring into her bright green eyes, everything around them was blurry, unfocused.
*Cough cough*
Both their faces burned bright red and Charles quickly stood up straight bringing Dione with him. He dropped his arm, and bent down to pick up his scattered paperwork.
Flustered, he quickly stood up, stuck out a hand to Mrs. Stark, "Ma'am, it's an honor to meet you. My deepest apologies, my name is Charles Mosse. Dr. Mosse. I-I must be...going now. Um, I was right, we would see each other again Ms. Stark, just not the way I had imagined it." Charles nervously chuckled, running a hand through his messy hair and looked down.
Realizing his tie was still loose, he quickly buttoned up the top button and straightened his tie, fumbling with the papers still in his hands. "Excuse me, so sorry again. Good day." He turned and quickly fled from the two Stark women.
Maria turned to Dione, bemusement on her face, "That's Prince Charming?"
"Maria~"
The sound of laughter followed Charles down the hall as he leaned against the wall around the corner. He had to catch his breath, and was clutching a hand over his heart, his cheeks still pink from embarrassment and star struck.