Author's note: This is a sequel to 'The not so simple life of Anthony Stark'. You may want to read it just to get an idea of what's going on.

The story is rated M for later chapters.

Nightmares

Tony woke up as JARVIS was announcing the dawn of the new day. He stretched himself and caressed the mattress finding it odd to be sleeping in the middle of the bed, alone.

"Jarvis, where's Pepper?" Tony asked while getting up.

"You may find some in the kitchen but our supplies are generally low. Would you like me to order some?" the voice with the British accent said making Tony laugh.

"Really funny Jarvis, I didn't realize you were capable of humor. Now, please, tell me where Pepper is." Tony repeated as he was dressing up.

"Sir, I have already answered you, you may want to alter your question." The A.I said. Tony fumed for a moment but tried again. Really this thing needed upgrade.

"Ok, Jarvis, would you please tell me where my wife is?" he said putting on a T-shirt and heading down to the kitchen. Getting out of the room he startled by the silence. "Maybe she has taken the kids outside." He told himself but Jarvis interrupted his thought.

"But, Sir, you are not married and don't have any children." The electronic butler said.

"Very funny, Jarvis, did Millie programmed you to tell me that?" Tony said as he reached the living room. He found himself surprised again seeing the place tidied up and in perfect order. Maybe Pepper decided to get all the toys back in the room. He let that thought linger in his head as he headed to the kitchen.

"Millie, sir? Was that the girl you brought in last night? I was pretty sure I heard you call her Virginia." Jarvis said.

"Of course I called her Virginia, you stupid piece of machinery. There's only one girl entering my bedroom the last five years and that's my wife Virginia Potts, or shall I say now, Virginia Stark, best known as Pepper?" he said grinning like a fool.

"Oh" Jarvis's reply was.

"Yes, remembered now? Maybe I need to change your memory card. Where is everybody anyway? Did Pepper took the kids and went over to Millie's?" Tony said trying to find his favourite mug. It was a red one with Iron man on it that said Iron daddy. He had a matched T-shirt too.

"Sir, would you like me to call Colonel Rhodey?" Jarvis asked.

"No, I don't want Platypus, I want you to tell me where my family is." Tony said losing his temper. Where the hell was that mug? And all the other stuff as a matter of fact. The bowls, the baby's bottles, Peppers mug etc.

"Sir, you have no family." Jarvis said in his cold tone making him freeze.

"You are alone." The A.I repeated.

"Did you catch a virus, Jarvis? Of course I have a family." Tony said in a worried tone. He turned to around to face a plane grey fridge that should be full of children's drawings.

"Where are the drawings?" he wondered and flew out of the kitchen trying to find their family pictures.

"My wedding photo, Edward's birth picture, Millie's video on Marie's birthday. Jarvis play that video." Tony commanded frustrated trying to hide his panic.

"Sir, there is no such video. Did you take your pill last night?"

"What pill? Jarvis stop playing with me, where's Pepper." Tony yelled now really angry.

"Your pulses are raising, I'm calling dr. Stane." Jarvis said and Tony's eyes went wide. Stane? Stane had been dead for over six years, now. Who the hell was Jarvis calling?

"Who is dr. Stane?"

"He is your psychiatrist, sir." Jarvis answered. Tony felt like he was drowning. Something was wrong. He ran to the door in an attempt to get out but instead the door opened and Happy got in closing the door behind him.

"Happy, oh thank God you're here 'cause Jarvis is driving me crazy." Tony said but the smile on his driver's face did not make him feel comfortable.

"Do not worry Mr. Stark, everything is ok, nobody is going to heart you, Dr. Stane will be here in a few minutes." Happy said in a calm and steady tone like one would talk to a mad man.

"Oh, no you too, Happy! Where's Pepper?" He asked again in panic. Happy grabbed him by the arms and looked straight into his eyes.

"Boss, look at me and listen to me very carefully. There is no Pepper Potts, alright? There is no such woman." He said making Tony jump like he had been hit by a lightning.

"Are you kidding me, Hogan?" Tony said in a low voice.

"She lives here!" he screamed. "She's my wife! The mother to my three beautiful children! You've know her for the last fifteen years!" Tony yelled. "She has red hair and blue eyes, she always wears those pencil skirts that are damn hot, walking with those high heels that take my breath off, and she's bossy and she's wonderful and she's my whole life!" Now Tony was really furious. What twisted kind of game were they playing?

"She doesn't exist, Sir, she is not real. She is a figment of your imagination. Remember? After your kidnap?" Happy tried to reason with him. Tony looked at him petrified and ran away like his life was depending on it. He ran down to his workshop finding none of his suits. The hot rod was neglected and the huge family car he had bought was no there.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" this was his life, how could it not be real?

He ran from bench to bench, he searched in every drawer he had, in every cabinet looking for a proof. A proof that his life was not a lie.

"Aha! Found it!" he yelled holding a photo victoriously.

"Found what, Tony?" a long lost voice was heard. Tony looked at him horrified. It was Stane himself, raised from the grave.

"What are you doing here? You're dead!" Tony said very seriously and jumped down from the bench.

"If I was dead would I be standing here with you, Tony?" Stane said getting closer, leaving his briefcase on a bench.

"I killed you myself." Tony hissed.

"Now, why would you do such a thing?" he asked completely calm. Tony kept a safe distance trying to estimate the situation.

"No particular reason, you just tried to kill me and take over my father's company." Tony said looking around nervously trying to find a way to get rid of Stane once for all.

"I see your sarcasm has not abandoned you, that's a good sign, but I never tried to kill you, Tony, let alone take over your company. What do I know of such things? I am just a doctor." Stane said getting his hands up in the air in a proof of innocence.

Tony smirked. So, there was a conspiracy here.

"Just tell me how you hacked Jarvis. Happy, I can get, all though I trusted him and thought he would take a bullet over me, I get how you can corrupt him, but my own A.I? It takes a lot of genius." Tony said taking a step forward.

"Exactly, think Tony, is there anyone smarter than you? Could anyone hack into your system and make all this? Disappear your whole life?" Stane said getting dangerously close.

Tony thought for a moment. He thought it was impossible but apparently it wasn't. Because if it was his whole life had been a lie and that couldn't just be. He had a picture.

"Your trick won't work Stane. Pepper is as real as me." He said and Stane noticed the picture in his hand.

"You think that picture is real Tony?" he asked and Tony snorted. Off it was, he had had it for years. It was from the first ball Pepper accepted on escorting him. She looked beautiful that night and he had a photographer taking her picture while she wasn't looking. He kept it secret all these years.

"Take a better look." Stane proposed and Tony looked at the picture again. His hands trembled. It was a collage, not a picture.

"Where's the photo, Obi? What have you done with Pepper? Where is she? What do you want?" Tony demanded to know.

"I want you to be healthy, Tony. Pepper is not a real person. Pepper is a ghost, a creature of your imagination, a holographic program you were making before your trip to Afghanistan. I don't know what terrible things you went through but when you got off that plane, you were talking to nowhere referring to Pepper. Want to see I am right, command Jarvis to run the program Pepper." Stane said looking less than friendly.

Tony was afraid. He was afraid that Stane was right. He would go completely insane some day; everybody said so, so it wasn't hard to believe. He didn't deserve a life like that anyway, but how could it all be a lie?

"Jarvis?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Run Pepper." Tony whispered hoping the A.I wouldn't catch it.

"Good day, Mr. Stark, would you like me to inform you about today's meetings?" the very voice of Pepper Potts said and Tony turned around to face her with a huge grin on his face, but his face soon fell once he met his familiar figure in a holographic form.

"Pepper?"

"Yes, Mr. Stark?"

"Are you real?"

"No, Mr. Stark I am an A. I like Jarvis, you made me." The hologram answered.

"This can't be, there's a conspiracy, you are behind this!" Tony yelled angry and marched to Stane.

"Where are my wife and kids, Stane? Where is my family?" Tony shouted grabbing Stane by the collar ready to punch him.

"It's all a dream, Tony, nothing's real." Stane said injecting him something into his main vein. Instantly Tony lost his strength and let Stane fall. He tried holding on to the bench but his hands slipped and he fell down facing the hologram of Pepper that looked very real now.

"Pepper." He whispered trying to touch her.

"Nothing is real, Tony. You are all alone." Stane whispered in his ear.

"Would that be all, Mr. Stark?" Pepper asked slowly vanishing from his view.

"Pepper, no, don't leave me."

"Would that be all, Mr. Stark?" she repeated like a light breeze.

"Pepper!" Tony screamed as he woke up facing two very comforting blue eyes while he felt her hands on his face.

"Tony, wake up, I'm right here, you're home, you're safe." She repeated trying to calm him down. Tony jumped up hugging her tight to make sure she was real.

"It's alright, Tony, everything's fine, now." She whispered in his ear. "Another nightmare?" she asked and he nodded. He had been having nightmares since he had come back from Afghanistan but lately they were increasing both in frequency and intensity. She had realized it had more to do with his missions nowadays than his hard time during his kidnap and that was what made her worry the most. She had learned to deal with it and calm him down but it was killing her to see him tortured b his own mind.

"Care to share?" she asked never leaving his embrace.

"It was bad, really bad." Tony said. He was aware of his nightmares and Pepper's worry about them. She had a point there as he rarely let her sleep lately. He was worried too, because they kept filling his mind with dark ideas and he didn't like that. It was like he was going mad. In the past he wouldn't discuss his problem with her but since the priest said together in sickness and in health Pepper demanded to know everything and he felt better when he succumbed to her will.

"I was here, in our house but you weren't here. I tried to find you and then Stane came out of nowhere telling me you're a figment of my imagination. He told me you were not real, none of this was." Tony said burying his face down her neck.

Pepper stroke his back and kissed his shoulder. "I assure you I am very real." Pepper said and smiled against his shoulder. They stayed like this for a moment or two not blinking an eye until a child's scream alarmed them both.

"Edward Anthony Stark you better bring that back because you won't live to see another day!" a very angry Mildred was heard.

"As it is that." She added and got off him to meet with any crisis that was going on in the kitchen.

Tony fell back enjoying the voices coming from downstairs.

"Jarvis, what's going on?" he asked the A.I

"Your children are awake, Sir, I think it says it all." Jarvis said making Tony laugh.

"I guess you are capable of sarcasm after all." he said before getting up to help Pepper dealing with their little monsters.