A/N: I'm just turning these out left and right, aren't I? Well, I guess that's a good thing.


Before Tony checked himself out of the hospital, against the doctors advice, he had been given a set of strict instructions.

No strenuous labor.

No late nights.

No skipping meals.

No skipping doses of medicine.

No alchohol, which was the worst out of them all.

They were all simple enough to follow, really, if he had only been given one or two of them. Combined, and they were telling Tony to completely change his way of living. It was only for a few weeks but, still, it wasn't a change that he was interested in making. In the slightest. And, if Tony had his way like he normally did, it wouldn't have lasted for more than a day or two. Unfortunatly, things hadn't been going his way.

The moment that the two of them had gotten back to Stark Manor, Steve had instructed Jarvis to 'remind' Tony of the limitations that the doctors had given him. And when it was time to take more pills and have another meal and take a break from puttering about the lab; by now, hearing the AI's voice had become more than a little unwelcome.

But the worst part of it all was that he hadn't had any time to ask Steve what had happened.

Yes, he'd been shot by Shirav but that shouldn't have taken him out. It certainly shouldn't have taken him out for four days. And the ache in his shoulder, though it was more of a burn then an ache, hadn't lessened at all. Even with the medication and the rest and all of the other orders that he was following, the pain was just as bad as it had been that first day when he woke up in the hospital; which was another question in and of itself, because Tony had never woken up to see anyone but Pepper at his bedside.

It was also still beyond stiff. To the point that it was hard to move it in certain ways. And that, Tony knew from experience, was never a good thing. It wasn't something that a simple gamma-blast should have caused, either.

As of yet, with two days at home under his belt, Tony hadn't been able to grab Steve long enough to ask about it. It was just one thing after the other getting in the way; from some mad-man or another causing a scene in town to S.H.I.E.L.D. throwing a fit over the amount of damage to the city that their battles caused. And Steve, the other Avengers insisted, had to come along to every crimescene and every meeting.

Tony didn't see the apologetic looks they gave the Captain, nor did he hear the murmured condolences, but he knew that something was going on. And he knew that everyone but himself had been included in the loop.

And he was getting tired of it.

The Avengers was his team and it was his mansion that the majority of them lived in. It was his inventions they often used, in battle and to get around, and his money that supported them all.

There was no reason for everyone else to know what was going on. There was no reason that he was being confined to the manor. And there was no reason that Steve hadn't explained everything to him yet.

No reason at all.