#it started as a p&p and persuasion hodgepodge and then just...veered off the rails

[hmsannlett]

So if one were to ~hypothetically~ write an Annlett Jane Austen/Regency AU, here’s what I’m thinking (@tallmadgeandtea you’ve created a monster):

Anna is a widow (my apologies to the Selah fans, but it’s the only socially acceptable way I can think of to have him out of the picture, unless we want Anna/Hewlett to be Lydia/Wickham levels of scandalous on steroids)

Hewlett is commander of the local militia

Simcoe arrives with the militia recruits (must have our good couple’s antagonist, no?)

In an effort to bolster her dwindling inheritance left to her by Selah (who was somewhat in arrears after getting on the wrong side of the law several times), Anna rents out her house to some of the newly-arrived militia officers (enter, Simcoe) and relocates to a room above Selah’s old inn in town

There’s an initial Annlett meet cute (but make it enemies to lovers) in the town square featuring Hewlett’s awkward rambling and Anna’s disinterest, setting them up for future awkward run-ins and ~conversations while dancing~

Hewlett has the very regrettable idea of asking Mary’s sewing circle about Anna since she hardly speaks to him at first

As an old friend of Richard’s, Hewlett is staying with him rather than at the barracks; Richard drops hints of Anna’s former attachment to Abe and of Selah’s skirting of the law once he sees that Hewlett’s interest in Anna is piqued (must have the gossip; it’s Jane Austen, after all)

Hewlett, ever the proper English gentleman, is a consummate dancer, and has An Illuminating Conversation with Anna while dancing (@angelabowermicelli this is for you)

All the canon animosity between Hewlett and Simcoe is there, and it has the two factions of the regiment quietly seething at each other and putting the townspeople on edge

And, of course, Anna and Hewlett eventually team up against Simcoe like the power couple they are

Abigail, Akinbode, and Cicero are the cute family they deserved to be in canon

Abigail works for Anna (fully paid and free) and lives with Cicero on Anna’s estate with her, until Abigail moves with Cicero to London to find a more secure income than Anna is able to offer her at present

Akinbode (also paid and free) works on the estate as well, until he joins the army

***Now we veer into total AU territory***

Background Ben/Sarah fix-it where she isn’t killed off for man pain

Ben and Caleb are in the Navy but are home on leave (thanks to canon I just can’t picture them being in the same army as the redcoats, so I’m justifying this with the fact that Caleb lived a maritime life after the war + we all know how good Ben looks in blue; it’d be a shame to ruin that image)

Sarah and Anna are boss widow friends

Mary and Anna are not quite friends because of *history* but are on better terms than in canon because there’s no war/espionage secrets dividing them and the Abe/Anna dynamic is severely reduced

Or, other options: Shall we keep to canon and have Mary married to Abe, or go full AU and fulfill one of my Mary/Caleb or Mary/Baker agendas?

Anna must be dragged to social events by Ben, Caleb, and Sarah (mostly Caleb, who only goes so he can drink the hosts out of house and home); Anna has little love for mingling with “society” and even less love for society’s expectations of women

Ben and Caleb disparage the militia at each of these events, criticizing them for lazing around the countryside, while Ben and Caleb had to earn their ranks in the Navy (gotta retain some of the canon animosity)

Hewlett is a part of the Royal Society, as is Andre (and there’s tension between them because Andre was made a Fellow first--a position Hewlett long coveted--after his voluntary retirement from the army after having become lauded enough to earn Peggy’s father’s respect, and he’s more included in the goings-on of the society than Hewlett is)

Andre is married to Peggy and living happily in London (we’re handwaving Benedict out of the story, unless there’s an opportunity to publicly shame him), and Abigail and Cicero work for them after moving to London