Rhodey gently laid his wet charge down on the king-sized bed and quickly left to get a few towels. When he returned seconds later, Tony had already curled up into fetal position, his body instinctively trying to save up as much body heat as possible. Rhodey toweled him down quickly.

„Man, I sincerely hope you won't remember any of this later." he mumbled. When he was finished he shifted him to a dry spot on the bed and covered him up with as many bed sheets as he could find.

„Sir, may I remind you that even though is experiencing discomfort due to the cold, his body temperature is still slowly approaching dangerous level. He is also severely dehydrated"

„Is there any ice in the fridge, Jay?"

„Yes, in the workshop, Sir." Jarvis answered quickly. Rhodey quickly proceeded downstairs again, and continued questioning the faithful A.I..

„Why did you not call emergency services when you couldn't get in contact with either me, or Pepper. Or Happy, for that matter?"

„Mr. Stark explicitly instructed me not to introduce any more people to his condition."

„What condition exactly?"

Rhodey actually wasn't sure anymore. He didn't know where the black crossword puzzle all over his friend's body came from or what they were exactly. Why he seemed almost on the brink of death all of a sudden, when he was in combat-shape only 24 hours ago. Where the sudden secracy came from when it came to his RT, which had been checked over and over by military and private doctors alike upon his arrival from Afghanistan. He knew there had been complications with the reactor core. He remembered his own horror, when he had pulled out the black and smoking palladium nugget out of the maulfunctioning arc. Once again he mentally kicked himself for not following up on his gut feeling when he had first confronted Tony about his obviously deteriorating condition. He should have investigated more deeply, he should have pushed further. The way he had always done, when it came to this mercurial, untrusting and obviously damaged man. The way he had done ever since he met him as a boy of 14 in MIT. Rhodey had always felt big-brotherly instincts towards the billionaire, despite the younger man's obvious genius and arrogance and he wondered when he had suddenly become too lazy to bother anymore. Rhodey tried to convince himself that it had nothing to do with Stark Industries' sudden reatreat from weapons manufacturing and the concurring damage to his own career. But to be honest, he wasn't so sure anymore. Maybe his willingness to put up with the excentric man's antics had slowly and almost unnoticably receded with the lack of career advantages. Rhodey shuddered for a second and it had nothing to do with the contact of ice with his skin, when he removed a few ice packs from one of the fridge's drawers. Had he really become this person? Had he chosen his career over his best friend? Had he really been on the verge of abandoning this man, who he sometimes still saw as the neglected and lost boy he had been, when he first met him in MIT.

I think hanging out with you is bad for our friendship.

He cringed, when he once again remembered the short and bashful dialogue they had exchanged on the private jet from Washington. He couldn't really blame Tony for not bringing up this new change of behaviour in Rhodey. The man had undoubtedly noticed, but being so used to people leaving him, taking advantage of him and sometimes even betraying him, he had probably accepted it the same way he had accepted all the betrayals before - as the natural way his relationships went. Nobody deserved this. Especially not Tony. Especially not after everything that had occured within the last year. He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't catch Jarvis' explanation about Tony's new condition, the severity of the palladium poisoning, which had almost killed him and the new element he had created in an act of desperation. Due to the developments of the last two days and the haste with which he had to finish the project, he hadn't hat time to properly test the new RT and its effects and measurability. It was basically top secret and had to remain so until further noticed. And since Tony was attached to it, nobody was to get anywhere near him.

When he came back to the bedroom he found Tony entangled in the sheets. Breathing heavily, almost wheezing and sweat already covering his shivering body. He was caught in the middle of a nightmare and using up his last ounces of strength to fight off the invisible demons plaguing his sleep. Rhodey dropped the icepacks on a small table beside the door and rushed to him.

„Tony!" he yelled and took a hold of both his shoulders. „Wake up, man!" He shook him a few more times before Tony's trashing finally ceased and he managed to crack open his eyes into two small slits. Rhodey was overjoyed to see the recognition in his friend's feverish gaze.

„Pepper" he croaked before once again closing his eyes. Of course he was asking for Pepper. Pepper, the only one who was yet to leave or betray him.

„She'll be here in a minute, dude! She's on her way!" but his answer went unheard. Tony's head fell limply to the said. Rhodey wasted no more time. He fetched the ice packs and put a couple of them under the prone man's armpits and on his groin. The rest he lined up along the side of his body before he once again pulled the sheets up to the arc reactor.

He studied the grey silvery lines and extended a finger to touch them. The moment he made contact Tony flinched violently and opened his eyes again to fix him with, what under normal circumstances could have been described as, an angry glare.

„Stop that!" he hissed.

„Sorry, man!" he answered sorrowfully and reached out to grab his friend's hot hand in his own.

Come on, Pepper! Hurry up!