Soulmates - Jack Thompson

-29-

Right after I unpacked and had lunch with Howard, I called Jack. He was probably about to have dinner. I called the office and they answered right away.
"Good afternoon, you are speaking to Peggy Carter." I heard.
"Hey, Peg, it's me, Rose." Her voice immediately sounded a lot more enthusiastic.
"Hey! How are things there?"
"Great, work doesn't start until tomorrow, but the weather is really great. What about you?"
"Jack thinks we're about to get Dottie. He's really busy, a little grumpy." I chuckled.
"That's nothing new. Hey, can I talk to him by the way?" I heard giggling on the other end of the line.
"I knew you weren't calling for me. AGENT THOMPSON! 'Damn it, Carter, I almost figured this out.' Rose on the phone." There was some thumping.
"I told you he was grumpy." That was the last I heard from Peggy. Jack yelled something else I couldn't understand, then picked up the phone.
"Rose, hey."
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Yes, absolutely, why?"
"You sounded a bit grumpy. Leave 'little' by the way." I just felt him roll his eyes.
"I'm fine."
"Good. I heard you almost got Dottie?"
"Yeah, I'm on it, yeah."
"Good job, hey, Howard is calling me, I'll call you later." He didn't answer and hung up the phone. I put the receiver back down and walked downstairs.

A couple months later

"Howard, what is it?" He was sitting at the table with a newspaper.
"Tea?"
"Yes please..."
"Good, you put it on." I sighed.
"I thought you had a butler?" I said as I poured water into the kettle.
"Yes, but he's busy with his wife." It took a while for the water to get hot, so I stood behind Howard to read over his shoulder.
"What is that?" I pointed to a photo, I think I had seen that more on the way there. Howard held the newspaper a little closer to his eyes.
"A frozen lake, in the middle of summer! I could use that, let's go right away." He wanted to get up already.
"Hold on a minute, you stupid genius." I pressed his shoulder to make him sit back in his chair.
"How come that lake is frozen?" He raised his shoulders.
"Why do I have to know that again?"
"You are the genius here." He looked again at the photo.
"I honestly wouldn't know unless you... No, not."
"Well, that says a lot." I took my hand off his shoulder again so he could stand.
"Are you going to watch?" he asked, folding the newspaper shut.
"No, not now anyway."

Howard went out for a swim, and I went back upstairs. I hadn't noticed Ana was there at all. I soon saw her standing by a wardrobe, my wardrobe to be exact. She turned as I walked into the room.
"Mrs. Stark, nice to see you again!" I smiled.
"It's mutual. Are you looking for something?" She shook her head.
"I just looked at all the outfits you can wear to the office tomorrow, you have to stand out, but not too much. You shouldn't make Jack jealous." I felt my cheeks turn red.
"How do you-"
"Oh come on, I know everything." She grinned and I shook my head slowly.
"What are the options?" She thought for a moment.
"Nude or shopping, and since you don't want to stand out too much, I'd go with the latter."
"That seems to me to be the best option. Do you know any nice shops in the area?"
"Sure, come with me."

The rest of the afternoon I was exploring the city with Ana. We also bought some new clothes and did some shopping. She was supposed to cook tonight and I promised to help. We had decided to make pasta, which is my favorite food. I like all Italian dishes! Well, almost all, anything that has seafood in it I find really gross. Fortunately Ana didn't feel like shrimp either. It was already starting to get a bit dark, and that's a lot in the summer. It would be late.
"Maybe we should go back sometime, Howard will be worried." Ana said, extending a hand for a taxi. We had sneaked out so Jarvis wouldn't whine to be our driver.
"Well, I don't see Howard getting worried so easily." she added.
"I got to experience it once." A taxi stopped for us. We sat down and had a conversation about paintings. There were weird abstract canvases in a shop where we were, it really didn't look like it. Why would anyone buy that?