She felt overwhelmed with guilt as she sat at her sewing machine, moving through each of her tasks as quickly as she could while still maintaining accuracy. She had taken a chance and called in sick the day prior, and apparently Ann had been completely slammed with her excess work. She hadn't meant to cause trouble for anyone with her absence, as she certainly believed that she couldn't have been that necessary to the business for one day. Judging by the anger Ann was tossing at her all day, she had been mistaken.

While she felt incredibly guilty, it had been well worth the unexpected day off. She had spent the entire time with Georg and the children on her mountain, playing her guitar and games and enjoying a picnic together. It was magical, being together as a full family. She made sure the dress shop would be closed by the time Georg drove her home, leaving her with a passionate kiss and a promise to phone her the next evening. While her cat was personally displeased by her extended absence, her heart felt full.

"Stop humming, it's quite annoying." She was taken aback by Ann's tone, unaware that she was humming a tune as she worked.

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize, you sound so weak." She scoffed, grabbing her next task.

"Ann, I told you, I would have just come in had I known."

"Yes, so I heard." Ann grumbled, focusing on her last few stitches of a dress she was hemming. She sighed, meeting Maria's apologetic eyes. "Are you going to be suddenly sick a lot soon? Perhaps within the next nine months or so?"

"Stop that." She looked about, making certain nobody else was around to hear. She hadn't decided how she wanted to tell her boss, but she and Georg had agreed they weren't going to tell anyone until she was a few months into her pregnancy, just to be safe. At least that decision bought her some time, she supposed, though she was already a month and a half into her journey. Her biggest fear was telling the children. They were far more important than anyone else finding out.

"Trust me, nobody would suspect a thing from you. You're perfect, innocent, sweet little Maria…"

"I don't know what else you want me to say." She was frustrated with her friend's childish behavior, and she simply went on with her work instead. She had apologized, there was no way she would grovel for forgiveness for something so trivial. Her friend would have to get over it. She had dealt with such behavior before, so she wasn't necessarily worried things wouldn't be resolved properly.

Ann was an interesting friend, to say the least. One minute they were annoyed with one another, and the next they could laugh and carry on like children together. No matter how much she didn't want to be close to anyone, she found herself confiding in the woman quite often anymore. Ann had always confided in her, so not much had changed there, but it did feel more personal between them. She was on the brink of trusting her coworker's friendship, which was a big step for her.

"Maria, I need you to take measurements." Her boss appeared with a stern command, making her jump in her seat as she was shaken from her thoughts.

"Me? But I don't…"

"Today you do."

"But me?"

"You were requested specifically." Frowning, she stopped working and stood from her station, tentatively grabbing a clipboard of paper and a measuring tape.

"Who on earth…" She was stopped with a hand upon her arm.

"Maria, this woman could buy my entire store twice over. Please don't ask any questions." She nodded, suddenly feeling nervous.

Her nerves were well-founded, as upon entry to the fitting room, she found the one woman she never expected to see again in her life. She was standing there, literally upon a pedestal, mirrors all around her body as she tried on a sparkling, pink evening gown. She looked incredible, thin and beautiful, and Maria felt immediately self-conscious, just as she had all those years ago. She took a deep breath as she entered the room with feigned pride.

"Baroness Schraeder, what a lovely color on you." She smiled as she approached the woman, who returned her smile with an excitement that was far too much for a dress. Maria felt her stomach shake with nerves.

"Do you think so? I'm wondering if it makes my hips look wide."

"Not at all, it's quite slimming." She wrote the date and the Baroness' name upon her notepad, as well as the color and identifier for the dress she was wearing. She had not once been asked to take measurements in the time she had worked at the shop, so the rare occasion made her feel completely unarmed. Not to mention, the customer in question, of course.

"Then I suppose I'll take this one. You would be more honest with me than Frau whatever her name is. She's clearly just trying to make a sale." She began to provide her boss's name, but stopped herself from taking any form of bait. She was simply going to do her job, she decided as she stepped forward and began pinching the fabric and placing pins for alterations. She began measuring the length of the dress, bending down and deciding the amount that would need to be taken off at the bottom.

"When do you need this completed?"

"I have a party this weekend. Hopefully the changes are minor enough I could pick it up by Friday evening." Maria nodded, knowing the dress would suddenly be the top of her priority list anyway.

"I should think that won't be a problem at all." She wrote a few notations on her paper, focusing on her work.

"I see you aren't a nun."

"Yes." She made another notation before measuring the waist of the gown, uncomfortable at having to wrap her arms about the woman's waist. Just as she had taken the measurement, her face inches from the Baroness, a harsh whisper found its way to her ear.

"Did they kick you out for being a whore, or was it voluntary?" She pulled away and met her eyes in surprise, finding a menacing gaze. She wasn't there for a dress due to the popularity of the shop, she was there for a purpose. Of course she was. Maria stopped herself from a hasty response and smiled a bit.

"I left." Short answers would certainly do well for her, she thought as she stepped away and made a few more notations.

"Well, you're certainly doing well for yourself, it seems. Though, I must say, you're quite a bit thicker than you were last time we saw one another." Don't take the bait, she told herself as she nodded in response. She had put on a bit of weight, but none that was unhealthy, she thought. Her pregnancy certainly wasn't showing yet, so it was very obviously meant as a complete insult. She couldn't imagine it being anything otherwise from the Baroness. "What is wrong with you?"

"I beg your pardon?" She met her eyes, surprised at being called out for her lack of response.

"I just called you a whore and fat, and you merely smiled. You must be daft too."

"I'm only here to do my job, Baroness." The woman laughed, and Maria clenched her teeth in frustration. She needed to be careful, she was trying so hard to be. She made a few more notations, nearly finished.

"A fat, daft, little whore…" She taunted with a condescending tone.

"Baroness, may I remind you that you are in a place of business? You sought me out, remember?" The woman smiled, pleased she was getting a reaction. "Not to mention that you've called me much worse. It's hard to take offense."

"There you are."

"Please, what do you want from me?" The woman took a deep breath, smiling.

"A dress, of course. Your dressmaking is perhaps the only good thing about you. Even though you always have dressed like a child yourself." She laughed, and Maria sighed as she stepped forward to take one last measurement. "You dress a bit like an old woman now."

"We've all gotten older." She met the Baroness's eyes, unwilling to back down all the way. "Haven't we?"

"Very cute." She gave a small smile, stepping away to notate her final numbers.

"The dress will be ready by five on Friday." She began to walk away, doing her best not to run for the door. She needed to get out of there as quickly as possible, before something could cause her to ruin the sale for her boss. She would never be forgiven if that happened, she knew.

"I hear you're seeing him." She stopped, biting her lip as she contemplated pretending she didn't hear. "Do you remember how you and I left things between us?"

"Yes."

"Remember when he chose me over you?"

"Who the hell do you think you are?" She turned around with venom in her voice, rushed back toward the woman before she could stop herself.

"Perhaps I'll pay him a visit when I leave here. Just to remind him."

"Remind him of what, how much happier I make him?" The Baroness stepped down from the pedestal, moving closer to Maria. She refused to back down, her head held high as the woman approached. She was not going to show weakness. "You want to remind him how miserable he was with you?"

"Or how you'll never be good enough for him. You know that, don't you? No matter how hard you try, you'll never be enough."

"Why do you care at all about him? You're the one who cheated on him, remember? You're only here to cause trouble, and I'm not interested in playing your silly games." She began to walk away, only to be harshly pulled back by a perfectly manicured hand upon her arm.

"You will not walk away from me."

"Baroness, I have no more words for you. If you're only here to accost me at work…"

"Accost you?"

"Then you should take your leave."

"You intolerable little bitch. How dare you speak to me that way?" She pushed the woman's hand from her arm, maintaining eye contact.

"How should I speak to you?"

"As if I've given you the greatest gift of all by leaving him. You would still be tortured and alone if it weren't for me." Maria remained silent, trying her best to calm down. The woman before her was clearly after something, clearly had a motive, but she couldn't decide exactly what it was. Maria sighed, forcing a smile.

"Thank you, then." She nodded in farewell, and she began to leave once more.

"I need help with these buttons." She bit her lip, closing her eyes in frustration. Of course she did. Maria ran a hand through her hair as she turned around, putting down her clipboard and making her way to the Baroness once more. She reached for the buttons, working quickly. "I'm trying to remember how I made you cry the last time we spoke."

"Please shut up." The Baroness scoffed, and Maria bit her lip in regret. She hadn't meant for the words to slip out.

"Have you gone to his bed?"

"That is none of your concern."

"Has he called out my name when he's made love to you?"

"Did he call out mine with you?" She gave the woman a shove as she finished with the buttons, rushing to collect her clipboard.

"How badly do you hate me?" She sighed, meeting the eyes of the only woman in her life she had come close to being able to hate. It simply wasn't in her heart to hate.

"I don't hate you, I feel sorry for you. It must be exhausting to be such a…" She grasped for words, wanting to hurt her, but knowing there were no words that would express how she truly felt.

"Such a what?" She sighed, shaking her head. No matter how she wished to hurt her in the moment, she knew in her heart she couldn't.

"Such a scared, insecure woman." She gave a small smile, putting on her face of professionalism. "Your dress will be ready by five on Friday."

She left a speechless Baroness in her wake, but was thankfully able to leave and return herself to the safety of her sewing station. She was shaken, to say the least, but she could finally let out the breath she had been holding as she collapsed into her seat. Hand to her chest, she closed her eyes and took a moment, doing her best not to cry. Her heart was racing, and her brain was spouting off at all paces, trying to determine the reason that horrible woman had come back into her life. She should have never seen her again.

She opened her eyes to find Ann looking at her with great interest, and she shrugged in response. It would do no good to share anything about her history with the Baroness, as she wanted nothing more than to put that relationship behind her, as did Georg. She took a deep breath, deciding she was going to simply take it all in stride and complete the dress for her. She would pick it up on Friday, and then she would disappear again, once and for all.

"Some strange, rich lady just requested you do her measurements. You're really not going to say a thing?" Maria shrugged, turning her attention back to her work.

"Rich people are confusing, I suppose."