"I've missed you mommy." What did she just say? Just back away from her very, very slowly Rachel. Get out while you can; while you're not attached again...at least not enough to kill you. Shit, this obviously wasn't working. Her thoughts were betraying her; running ramped with memories.

Damn. She thought while wiping away the crystal droplets that had formed on her cheeks. This was insane. She hadn't seen her mother in what, 3 years? And now all of the sudden she was standing right in front of her, chatting with her as if nothing had happened.

But everything had happened.

Everything changed.

"I've missed you too. We need to talk.", Her mother instigated wouldn't meet her daughter's eyes. "I haven't seen my beautiful young woman in awhile."

The room was spinning, she had to go now. "Talk? There's nothing to talk about mom." Rachel slowly backed away."Nothing." She'd said those words out of bitterness, and everything that was dying to be set free but instead was locked behind closed doors.

The dark-haired woman clicked her tongue in response and brought herself over to the couch lying near the front door. "You're right, Poohbear." She tried to look Rachel in the eyes but the young girl couldn't bare to meet her halfway. A shield had been put up, preventing anyone from breaking through. No one had called her Poohbear for ages.

"I just want to let you know that I love you and that the mistakes I made as a person doesn't mean everyone is just like me. It doesn't mean I'm a bad person, I've just made bad decisions. But I do love you."

Rachel slowly nodded. "I love you too."

With that her mom pointed to the laptop lying on the table for her daughter to bring to her. Rachel's tiny fingers barely held on to the rectangular shape and she ached for her mom to take it. "Thank you Poohbear."

Rachel flinched but answered, "Yea.", and retreated to her room.

Rachel woke up shivering to pitch black fuzz and her pants off. Rubbing her eyes, she pulled herself back on the bed and surveyed the scene. Her pants were tossed haphazardly in the corner of her room by her wall dedicated to video games, and everything but her pillow lay scattered around the area of her room. It wasn't an uncommon thing for her to come to at the foot of her bed with no recollection of what happened or why she was there. It usually happened when she dreamed certain types of dreams, which usually made her not want to sleep, for fear of tumbling off the bed.

Sighing at the failed attempt at remembering how she got there, she fell back on the mattress and stared up at the ceiling. What was the dream of her mother all about? She hadn't really given much thought to her for awhile. Of course she did randomly think about her at times, but it was more of an unconscious act than an act of will. She didn't want to think about it anymore. If she continued, the memories would spread like wildfire and she would never get out of bed. Not that she wanted to anyway. It was hard to get out of bed knowing no one really wanted you.

The song "Numb" from Linkin Park interrupted her self-pity thoughts and she instinctively reached out for her phone. On the screen was a picture of Tony Stark's scrunched up face. She laughed at the sight before hitting the touch screen to answer. "What Tony? You're kind of ruining my beauty sleep" Rachel laughed spitefully. Yea right.

"You might want to look into adding more of those hours then.",Tony answered. "I just called to say hi and talk about our feelings and all that crap."

Rachel blew out her bangs and tucked the phone under her ear while she trekked across her bed to grab the fallen bedsheets. "Gee thanks boss. You really know how to motivate your employees. Especially ones that know your innermost secrets."

A snicker was faintly heard on the other side of the line. " Sure you do Rachel. Sure you do. Anyway, just wanted to let you know I'm in front of your door."

"Y-you're what?!" She nearly fell off the bed again. Why the fuck would he decide 3 am was the time to come over? "Why the fuck are you coming over now? Its 3 am. Some of us have a life."

"Yeah, that some being who?"

"I don't know, myself?",She tried, still not entirely believing he was actually here. "Why here, why now?"

Rachel immediately rolled over and rummaged through her messy closet to find a pair of pants, dropping the phone. Tony could be heard on the other side laughing. "I have neighbors." She muttered, clumsily pulling her comfy blue jeans on. Humiliation was definatly something she didn't need to go through again because humiliation was aided with awkwardness.

"Just come to your door." Tony encouraged before dropping the line. Rachel sighed and dashed out of her room, nearly careening into the doorframe. Nice one Rachel. Thats exactly how you want your boss of all people to see you. She shook her head and felt around for the door nob before tentatively opening it to reveal Tony kicking the mailbox.

She stared at him in disbelief. He was actually in front of her house at 3 in the fucking morning. She didn't know whether to be pissed or happy. "Yo, Iron Man" She called out."just what exactly are you doing?"

"This one deserved it." He replied looking serious. He was standing in her yard with only sweatpants on. How could she take him serious in that?

"Oh I'm sure." She said, trying to avert her eyes. "You come over to my house at 3 am, shirtless, and kicking my mailbox. Are you drunk or on some new medication I should know about?"

Tony walked up to where she was standing and looked her up and down. "No. I got bored." Then he slipped by her and into her house,slamming the door behind him.

Rachel groaned, Of course. He never could act his age could he? She turned and watched the cars of party-goers trickle down the street and wished she was inside.

The front door opened. "Ladies first." Came the smooth remark of the shirtless engineer. She turned and glared at him and ran inside before he could shut the door on her again. "You never could act like a proper gentleman."

Tony shut the door and came up from behind her. It sent shivers down her spine, "I could, with if it was the right person." I bet you could with me.

No, shut up, he's your boss.

But- No.

He could- No.

"Why are you even here?" She asked tiredly, this was stupid.

Tony roamed around her living room and fell back on the couch. He looked up at her leaning against the counter in front of him. "Why not?" He shrugged, "I can't sleep."

"So you decided to make it so another person can't sleep? That makes perfect sense right there Mr. Stark." She had to admit, she was enjoying him here. It beat being home alone. Rachel sat on the edge of the couch and eyed him sternly. "You should be at home, sleeping."

Tony picked at the lint that dusted the edges of the fabric on the couch. "This is a home."

A smile crossed her lips. "I meant your home, Tony."

"Worth a try." He shifted himself up the couch and stared at her, as though contemplating something. "I've been up all night and I haven't been any closer to unlocking the proton needed for equalizing the energy powering the Iron Man suit that is powered by the arc reactor."

" Well, I'm taking a wild guess here on what to say, considering I'm not exactly your technological equal but have you tried actually going to bed? I hear it works wonders."

Tony crept close to her and pinned her down against the couch cushions, "Sleep is for losers. And I've done that, I don't exactly get any sleep from that, Ms. Colon."

He was so close to her, she could feel his body heat. "Are you sure, Mr. Stark?" She hoped she didn't sound as nervous and a wreck as she felt.

"So what is your plan now, Mr. Stark?" He was playing with her, she was sure of it.

"I'm leaving. I found my idea." He said finally and got off of her. She had felt something. But maybe it was just her...

Woah Stark. Wow, I can't believe the first chapter is already done. Next one should be posted soon so keep checking.