Chapter 11

This is set during post Age of Ultron. Mild Spoilers.

AN1: A HUGE THANK YOU to my Friend Emily who is editing this story and who is helping me figuring things out when I get stuck, So THANK YOU.


For a few agonizing minutes where all he sees is blue and white and electricity Tony feels himself hit the ground and when he looks up he sees Steve, Bucky, Pepper, Natasha, Sam, Rhodey, Fury, Hill, Jane, Wanda, The Vision, and Erik standing around.

"Tony." Steve says relieved pulling Tony up and into a hug.

"Easy there Capsical, I'm okay." Tony says, awkwardly returning the hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay." Steve says relieved.

"Thanks." Tony says as they break apart and he walks over to Pepper and kisses her.

"Don't do that again." Pepper says to Tony when they break apart

"I'll try not to." Tony responds, "I thought I told you to run." Tony says as he turns to face Bucky.

"I did. I guess I didn't run fast enough." Bucky says to Tony with a shrug

"Thank you." Tony says.

"You don't have to thank me, I told you that I would help you get home." Bucky says.

"That you did." Tony says with a nod, "Speaking of home I have plenty of room if you want to stay with me at the tower while you figure things out."

"I'd like that." Bucky responds and they exchange nods.

"Bucky said you were shot, are you okay?" Pepper asks concerned as she turns to look at Tony.

"Yeah, you know me I heal quickly." Tony says, with a shrug trying to make it seem like it's not a big deal as he doesn't want anyone to worry or Bucky to feel bad, something which shows just how much things have changed in the last few days.

"Not this quick." Pepper says with a frown, seeing what Tony is trying to do

"I'll get Dr Cho to look at it when we get back to the Tower." Tony says, being pretty sure that he doesn't have another option.

"Good." Pepper responds, relived.

"Nice job on the portal." Tony says to Jane and Erik, who he has turned to look at.

"Nice job on the instructions, they were pretty easy to follow." Jane tells him.

"Good I'm glad." Tony says looking around, "How about we get out of here and head back to the tower." Tony suggests.

"Sounds good." Natasha says and everyone heads towards the door.

Instead of following everyone else out of the door Tony walks over to his desk where someone has put the albums that he left on the floor. For a little while Tony just stares at the albums, trying to decide what to do.

"Tony?" Pepper asks when she notices that the he hasn't followed them.

"I'm coming." Tony says as he makes his decision. Instead of putting the albums back where he found them Tony picks them up, deciding to take them with him.


When they got back to the tower Tony and Pepper headed straight to Doctor Cho's lab while the others headed to the main living area.

"So what's the verdict?" Tony asks curious after Helen has had a chance to look at his shoulder.

"It's healing well, whoever stitched you up clearly knew what they were doing." Helen say, "But you said you were shot almost three days ago?"

"Yep."

"What is it?" Pepper asks.

"This injury looks about a week old." Helen admits.

"Yeah, that happens. I heal fast, I always have." Tony says with a shrug.

"And you've never wondered why?" Helen asks.

"Of course, but I've had other things to focus on." Tony says, as the fact that he heals fast is something he was just thankful for not something he questioned much "I have a theory now, but still working on a way to test it."

"Well if you need some help let me know, I would be quiet interested in finding out the answer to that." Helen says.

"I will." Tony says though he is pretty sure that this is something he has to do alone.

"So, are you going to continue avoiding everyone or are you going to deal with things?" Pepper asks walking over to Tony.

"Neither." Tony admits.

"Tony…" Pepper starts to say.

"I haven't really figured things out. I'm the reason I never knew the truth not Peggy and I don't know how I feel about that, I don't know how I feel about any of this." Tony admits, "I'm not going to avoid everyone, but I'm not going to actively deal with it either." He says.

"You can't avoid this forever Tony." Pepper tells him.

"I can try." Tony says standing up, "If anyone other than people who are biologically related to me needs me I'll be in my lab."

"And if they do?" Pepper asks.

"I've gone out." Tony says as he walks out as while he is more comfortable around Bucky than he was he still isn't sure how to act especially now that he is home, thankfully he has a promise to try and keep to distract him.


A few minutes after Tony walked out of Dr Cho's lab Pepper walks into the living area where everyone is.

"Where's Tony?" Steve asks when Pepper walks into the room.

"He's in the lab, but he said that if anyone he is biologically related to asks then he has gone out." Pepper explains.

"Is he drinking again?" Rhodey asks.

"No, I don't think so. He had that determine, obsessively look on his face as he left." Pepper explains knowing that Rhodey will understand what that means.

"I'll go talk to him." Rhodey says getting up of the couch he is sitting on and heading towards the lab.

"You and Tony spent a lot of time together in the past, do you think he's doing okay?" Steve asks Bucky concerned.

"I don't know." Bucky admits, "We got along because we avoided the issue all together" Bucky admits, "Neither of us brought it up, basically all we talked about was how to get Tony to the future and what we were going to eat."

"He'll talk to you, to both of you, when he is ready." Pepper says, noticing the look on Steve's face.

"I hope you're right." Steve says as he would like to sit down with Tony and figure this whole thing out, figure out what they are to each other and what they both want.


"Don't do this again." Rhodey says when he walks into the lab where he finds Tony sitting at his computer.

"I'm not drunk." Tony responds, not looking up from what he is doing.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Rhodey says as he walks over to his best friend.

"I've got a promise to keep. I don't have time to listen to your lecture." Tony says.

"What promise?"

"I told, no I promised, Peggy that I would give her back the memories I took. The memories of meeting me and Bucky in the past, of telling me the truth." Tony explains, "So that what I'm going to do." He says, "Gotcher." Tony says happily, glad he found the right program.

"Tony don't go down this rabbit hole again." Rhodey asks as he knows his friend which means he knows exactly where this path will lead and he doesn't want to see that again.

"This isn't like that." Tony says as he sends what he is looking at over to his holosystem so that he can have a better look.

"Isn't it?" Rhodey asks, "Ten years ago when Peggy was first diagnosed you threw everything you had into research for a cure, and it almost destroyed you, don't do that again." Rhodey says as he remembers all too well what Tony was like, "Tell me you haven't just pulled up your old research?"

"I can't do that." Tony says turning to face his friend.

"Why not? Tony, talk to me." Rhodey says.

"Do you know what meeting Peggy in 1991 showed me?" Tony asks.

"No."

"It showed me how much was taken from her and that I shouldn't have given up ten years ago."

"You had to. Peggy wanted you too." Rhodey points out.

"Yeah, well, that was a mistake. I'm not going to give up this time." Tony says, turning his attention back to what he is doing.

For a few minutes Rhodey just watches his best friend, trying to think of the right thing to say.

"Are you doing this to avoid dealing with everything you found out?" Rhodey asks.

Tony snorts at that, "It's just a handy side effect." Tony admits, "look, you can either help me or get lost, I'm not fussed.'

"What can I do?" Rhodey asks, realising that he isn't going to get through to Tony.


The following morning not sure what to do or where to go Bucky is just sitting in the living area when he hears footsteps and turns to see Steve walking towards him.

"How did you sleep?" Steve asks.

"I didn't, not really." Bucky admits as Steve sits down.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Steve asks curious.

"Not really." Bucky admits and they drift into silence.

For a few minutes Bucky and Steve sit in silence, both of them relieved to be sitting next to each other after everything they have been through.

"I walked by the lab a few hours ago, Tony was still inside working." Steve reveals.

"Why didn't you go in to talk to him?" Bucky asks, knowing without Steve saying anymore that he didn't go in.

"Because I don't think he wants to see me, or talk to me. Last time I tried to talk to him I got a spanner thrown at my head." Steve explains.

"Really?" Bucky asks, not sure what to think about that.

"Really." Steve confirms, "I know you said earlier that you didn't, but you and Tony spent almost three day together, you must have talked about something."

"Not really." Bucky says, "We talked about what we would have to do to Peggy and younger Tony to make them forget. What we would have to do to convince Pierce that Peggy wasn't a threat. We even drove from DC to New York and the only thing that was said was Tony complaining about the radio station every five seconds." Bucky reveals, "Truthfully Tony spent most of the last three days trying to hate me."

"What!" Steve says surprised.

"Steve, think about it. I just killed Howard and the woman who he believed was his mother for his entire life, can you blame him?" Bucky says, guilt so clear in his voice and it being clear that he struggled to say Howard's name.

"It wasn't you though." Steve says.

"That didn't matter, not at first."

"But it does now?"

"Yeah, he said he couldn't hate me." Bucky admits.

"Good, that's good." Steve says feeling like it is a step in the right direction.

"Steve? What is it?" Bucky asks when he notices the look on his friends face.

"I had myself convinced that I wasn't the person who wanted love and a family anymore. I even told Tony that after our latest battle, but now, since finding out about Tony…." Steve says trailing off.

"You want to be a father to him." Bucky realises, knowing Steve well enough to know what he is thinking.

"I want to be something." Steve says, "He's an adult, all grown up, so he doesn't need a father in the strictest sense, but I would like to be something." Steve explains.

"I think that everyone, no matter how old wants a parent, you should talk to him, tell him all this." Bucky says as he hasn't thought about what this news means, not really, but Steve clearly has and the two of them building something could be very good.

"I don't know if he is ready to have that discussion I mean he doesn't even want to talk to us right now." Steve points out.

"Steve…" Bucky starts to say, but before he can say anymore they are both distracted by a loud voice.

"DAMN IT TONY YOU NEED TO SLEEP, YOU NEED TO EAT." Rhodey's voice yells.

"I'M FINE." Tony's voice yells back and Steve and Bucky turn to see Tony and Rhodey walking down the stairs from the lab, Tony in his Iron Man armour.

"NO. YOU'RE NOT. YOU'RE THE FURTHERST THIGN FROM FINE." Rhodey yells and from the tone of voice he is using Steve and Bucky are pretty sure that this isn't the first time they have had this argument, "Where are you going?" Rhodey asks as Tony puts his Iron Man mask on.

"To talk to my Mother." Tony says before flying out of the tower, completely ignoring Steve and Bucky who got up and walk over to him and Rhodey.

"Rhodey, what's going on?" Steve asks.

"Steve, Bucky." Rhodey says, only just noticing them, "I'm really glad it was you two who heard that." He admits.

"Why?" Steve ask.

"You should sit down, it's a long story." Rhodey says and the three of them walk over to the couch, "You know Tony drinking isn't the most worrying way he deals with things." Rhodey says.

"Then what is?" Steve ask

"What he's been doing since he got back from the past, what he did when Peggy was first diagnosed ten years ago, and what he did after Afghanistan." Rhodey explains.

"Which is?" Bucky explains, not really understanding what Rhodey meant by after Afghanistan but feeling like it wouldn't be the best time to ask.

"He focuses on a problem, and he obsesses about it and he doesn't stop until either he solves it or he's made to stop." Rhodey explains, "Tony drinking on the surface may seem more distractive, but trust me when I say it's not. He doesn't look after himself when he gets like this all he cares about is solving the problem, no matter the cost." Rhodey says and Steve and Bucky exchange worried looks, "After Afghanistan Tony being like that lead to him creating the Iron Man suit, but ten years ago it resulted in Tony almost killing himself trying to find a cure for Alzheimer's so that he could help Peggy." Rhodey says, it being clear to both Steve and Bucky that he didn't like seeing his friend like that.

"What happened?" Steve asks, not being sure if he wants to know but at the same time needing to.

"Pepper and I tried to get Tony to see that what he was doing was just hurting him, hell even Obadiah tried, though now that I think about it he was probably happy with Tony shutting himself in his lab."

"Who's Obadiah?" Steve asks confused.

"You don't know?" Rhodey asks surprised then realises, "Right, S.H.I.E.L.D covered it up." He says, "Obadiah worked with Howard before his death. After Howard died he mentored Tony, but it turns out he was always jealous. He was behind Tony's capture in Afghanistan, he paid Ten Rings to kill Tony, but they captured him instead." Rhodey explains.

"Ten rings." Bucky says, looking like he remembering something, "I know about them, they captured Tony?" He asks looking at Steve, as he knows enough about Ten Rings to know that Tony would have gone through horrible things while being captured by them.

"It was before I was unfrozen, but from what I know he was heled prisoner for three months before he escaped. He took shrapnel to the chest but I don't know what else happened." Steve admits, only knowing what he does as it was in the info that S.H.I.E.L.D gave him.

"No one does." Rhodey says, "He doesn't talk about it." He reveals, and for a few minutes all three of them are quiet.

"So you tried to get Tony to see he was hurting himself then what happened?" Steve asks feeling like moving on with the discussion might be best otherwise all of them are going to focus on the horrible things Tony has been through.

"It was over two weeks and the only sleep Tony got was when he passed out, the only food he ate was when he was forced and apart from spending time in his lab he did nothing else." Rhodey reveals, "Pepper and I didn't know what to do, we didn't know how to help him so we went to go see Peggy." Rhodey explains, "The disease was still in quiet early stages so she was a lot more like her old self than she is now and as soon as we explained what was going on Peggy basically demanded that we take her to Tony." He says with a smile, "She got through to him. She managed to convince him that the only thing he was doing was hurting himself and that she didn't want him to do that for her. He stopped working so obsessively on a cure but I believe he continued to work on it from time to time."

"What Tony obsessed with now?" Steve asks.

"Finding a way to give Peggy back the memories we erased." Bucky realises.

"Yeah." Rhodey confirms, "He also pulled out his research from ten years ago."

"What do we do? How do we help him?" Steve ask.

"I wish I knew." Rhodey admits.


After leaving the tower in his suit Tony flew to DC. Instead of flying straight to the facility where Peggy is Tony flew to the house he owns in DC, the house where he grew up, and left the suit there as it is the one place in DC where he knew it would be safe. After leaving his suit Tony got in one of the cars there and drove to the facility where Peggy is.

When Tony arrives at the facility he heads straight to Peggy's room. When he arrives he realises that Peggy must have just finished her breakfast as the nurse is walking out with a tray.

"Can I come in?" Tony asks from the door.

"Of course, you know you don't have to ask." Peggy says from the door, looking glad to see him, "How are you? Steve said you were sucked into a portal."

"Of course he told you that." Tony mutters as he pulls the chair over so that he can sit right next to Peggy, "I'm okay." Tony tells her, "I kind of accidently built a time machine." He admits.

"You accidently built a time machine." Peggy repeats, to make sure she heard right.

"Yeah." Tony says with a sheepish look.

"That's…..that's incredible." Peggy says, clearly impressed with what Tony manage to do.

"Thanks." Tony responds, "I went to 1991."

"You what?" Peggy asks surprised, "Why don't I remember?"

"Because I made you forget." Tony says looking guilty, "I'm so sorry Peggy, I didn't have a choice." Tony says looking upset, "And I'm so sorry about how I acted. You didn't deserve that, you were there for me, you were always there for me no matter what I mean, hell, you were even in the operating room with me when I had my appendix out and Dad was nowhere to be found, and I treated you so horribly, I'm so so sorry."

"It's okay, Tony." Peggy says reaching out and grabbing his hand, "It's okay." she assures him, "Why don't' you tell me everything." Peggy says and Tony nods, "But before that you should know that the reason Howard wasn't there when you had your appendix out wasn't because he didn't want to be, but because he went missing on an op, he was captured." Peggy explains, deciding that Tony deserves to know exactly why Howard missed something so important.

"He was?" Tony asks surprised and Peggy nods, "Wow." He says, not sure how to react to that, "Did that happen much?"

"More times than I care to remember." Peggy admits.

"If I tell you what happened in 1991, will you tell me what happened?" Tony asks curious.

"I will tell you everything you don't know. Everything I should have told you a long time ago." Peggy says, "How does that sound?"

"Good, that sounds good." Tony says and the mother and son start to exchange stories.