Chapter Text
1943
Yana giggled flirtatiously, “oh Howard come on, no haha, Howard” she laughs “they’ll barely know we’ve left just a quick trip to Paris Dove” he tempts “oh yes a night of fondue before my procedure, Stark you flatter me but you know we mustn’t” the man looked down and sighed. “Hey” Yana smiled lifting his chin, “it’s going to be ok, just a couple of weeks then I’ll be back, I know you’ll be watching over me the whole time” she says sweetly, “not when it counts, we should delay it a day, just so I am there...”, “Howard” she warns nicely. “If they...”, “Howard”, “I won’t be able to forgive myself if something happens Anastasia” he pushes out and she smiles at him, slowly leaning forward to press a gentle kiss upon his lips, “gosh don’t call me that, it will be fine Howard, I worry about you out there tomorrow, you focus on getting your mission done” she whispers. “You know I’m safe, just a short sleep, in a few weeks you’ll wake me up in London and we’ll all go out” Yana assures her friend “and then come home for a little, you know”, “STARK! hehe you are insatiable” she smirks. The pair smile at each other in the testing room before he pulls her closer, his arms wrapping around her slim waist, he slowly presses kisses into the skin of her décolletage and working his way down her neck and chest. He loves the way her body reacts, he breath starting to quicken, back arch, “well so are you Dove, good thing we made it so you’re able to keep up with super soldiers” he says smug as he lays her back on the desk ready to fill the empty room with her tantalising sounds.
1944
“Come on baby breathe, breathe god damnit”, “Mr Stark she is deteriorating quickly, her levels are dropping”, “GOD DAMNIT, PUT HER BACK IN AGAIN” Howard yells in frustration flipping a table, he’d been at it for weeks now, Yana’s cryogenic procedure had gone wrong almost killing her. They had managed to stabilise her on life support before freezing her but she wasn’t waking up, all her injuries had healed as expected because of the serum but she remained in a vegetable like state, her heart pumped to a point but she required a respirator. Stark was trying but there simply wasn’t the technology needed to keep her alive, keeping her cryogenically frozen was the best option until he could build something himself but he knew all to well they were eager to pull her plug now the Super Soldier was gone. The mission Stark had gone on instead of being with Yana had ended up causing the death of Sargent James Barnes, Steve was devastated then they come back to find out Yana was probably never going to wake up, Steve died saving everyone by crashing the hydra ship.
Howard knew time was running out, he was secretly working on plan B, risky but there was no way he was going to lose Yana, even if it took him twenty years to wake her up, the thing is they didn’t even know the serum was in her, the project assumed Yana had been given something different. Just something Dr Erskine developed to make her a little more durable while he was testing, Stark was the only living man that knew that Yana was half Super Soldier, he had created a Cryogenic chamber for her and just had to wait till he could take her. Theft of government property destined to be destroyed, incinerated, he would use his position to be the one to deal with her body then he and Edwin would move her, after weeks of planning and preparations everything went down without a hitch. Well almost, Anastasia Shepherd was declared brain dead and the decision was made to pull the plug, she was reported dead, her body was disposed of by Howard Stark and Edwin Jarvis due to the extensive medical procedures she received when alive. At the same time the body of one Miss Yana Miller, a comatose young woman was donated to Howard Stark in the hopes that the study of her body and condition would improve medical care in the years to come.
1960 - 1970
There were in fact quite a few medical inventions that did come from the study of Yana’s body and condition, foremost was a life support pod that was able to support the young women out of cryogenesis, Howard tinkered with it frequently, constantly bettering the invention while Yana was frozen. Every few years he would attempt to wake her up without any luck, the number of people that knew about Yana grew one day, Maria Stark, the woman Howard had fallen for and eventually married, Maria hadn’t been in Howard’s lab many times, it was his private space and she respected that. But today she had a surprise for her husband, she crept down slowly only to frown when she heard him talking, just chitchat about life in general, work, dinners, the conversation was one sided though or she just couldn’t hear the responses. Howard was laughing, almost carefree, “oh Dove, you and Maria will be the death of me, I wish you could meet her, she’s an amazing woman”, did he ... have another woman, Maria stepped out expecting to see Howard on the phone as he tinkered. Instead saw the woman on the slab her head gently hanging off the edge as Howard washed her hair, she gritted her teeth “seems we shall meet Howard” she said her heels clicking as she strode forward amused at the horror on her husbands face, paled at being caught.
But as Maria got closer some of her edge started to drip away, the blonde woman didn’t move, didn’t react, ever still, surely she was playing some sort of game, Maria looked at Howard expectantly but he was unable to find himself, “well” Maria huffed, still nothing. She was sick of the games “who’s this floosy” she spat going to slap the woman on the arm and it was like a switch flipped in Howard, standing up and snatching Maria’s hand away “Don’t. Touch. Her” he growled and for the first time in her life, just for a minute Maria was afraid of what her husband was capable of. Not only had Howard become menacing but when he had removed his wet hands from the woman’s hair her head had tipped, glazed eyes staring at them, this woman was dead, “Oh My God. Howard what did you do” Maria stuttered. Howard went rigid taking a deep breath to calm himself, Maria started to sob “Maria, shh no no my love I am sorry, I should’ve told you I know but here let me get you a chair and I will explain everything” he said trying to calm his wife. After some tissues and deep breaths, some simple questions answered, Maria somewhat calmed, she somewhat understood the womans condition but not who’s she was, why Howard really had her, “Maria, this is Anastasia” he said cautiously and Maria’s head jerked up to meet his eyes immediately.
It couldn’t be, Howard looked away sheepishly, pieces clicking into place, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I didn’t think you would understand” Howard said his eyes starting to water, “No Howard, I’m sorry, I understand this is very hard for you and I reacted poorly, no wonder you hid her”. Maria felt remarkably guilty, she knew who Anastasia was to her husband, best friend, love of his life, a woman he believed he had failed, his words carried both grief and guilt whenever he talked about her, and here she was, frozen in time, forever asleep in the hope of one day waking up. She hadn’t seen many photographs but Howard did have a few sketches of her that had been done by a friend, some military inspired and others not so much. Maria had to lighten the mood as Howard would probably be having some dark thought now, guilt about his decisions beginning to consume him, “she is much more beautiful than I imagined, her skin looks great maybe you should do my beauty routine too” Maria smiled softly. Howard looked at his wife through his blurry eyes, “I just copied you my love”, “can she hear us”, “I’m not sure, I talk to her everyday she’s out but I couldn’t tell you” he responded with furrowed brows, “well Yana” Maria said remembering the name her husband used in his stories. “I am sorry I interrupted your time with Howard, it may happen a bit more regularly now after my appointment with Dr Bell” she finished quietly and Howard looked at Maria in shock, she nodded with a smile, “I’m going to be a father” Howard gasps. He jumps up enthusiastically “I’M GOING TO BE A FATHER!” he yelled before leaning down to kiss his wife, “thank you, for being accepting and loving and the most amazing woman” he praised, “I accept all of you Howard, even parts you need to hide, parts others wouldn’t understand” she smiles. “Yana is a part of you, a part I wouldn’t dream of removing, you are a brilliant man and I know you will be a great father” she adds.
1970 - 1991
Howard had a son, a brilliant yet troublesome, talkative young tyke, Howard and Maria decided to withhold Yana from him though, it was dangerous, and as much as Howard tried he wasn’t able to wake Yana up nor part with her, the time she spent out of Cryo became less and less as he became busier. Work was a constant demand, it wasn’t until Jarvis got injured and almost passed that Howard realised that he had always wanted to say goodbye to her but they had never been able to wake her, Howard didn’t come out from his lab for over a week, Maria had to drag him out to stop him from doing something he would regret. More time passed, their son grew, in and out, a troublesome young man that Howard had to much pride to say he loved or was proud of, then one trip they didn’t come back, a car accident, and she was alone, all that knew of her had died, Edwin had an inkling but Tony had no clue. He knew of his fathers lab, his fathers work, but they had kept Yana from him, so the angel, Howard Starks Dove, stayed, frozen in time, packed away in a secret room with all her files, her only rescue a safeguard Howard had put in after his son was born.