"So, if you splice this wire with this one," Tony demonstrated the action for Jeremy. "You get full use of your thrusters and lasers."

Jeremy put on his safety glasses and mimicked Tony's action exactly and his thruster powered up in his hand. "I did it."

"Very good." Tony smiled at him. This kid was smarter than he looks. "What do we do to stabilize the cooling system?"

"Make sure that nothing is cross wired anywhere." Jeremy answered quickly. Tony had showed him how to use most of the tools in his workshop and with Charlie in the hospital, Jeremy spent most of his time working on his own suit of armor.

"Your mom's coming home today." Tony reminded him. "You excited to see her?"

"Yeah." Jeremy said simply. Tony knew there was more to that statement though.

"Come on, champ." Tony urged. "Finish your thoughts or your brain gets backed up and it's no good to you."

"Mom said she's not seeing Clint anymore and that I can't hang out with him." Jeremy sighed. "She didn't tell me anything else."

"Is that bad?" Tony asked, carefully moving Jeremy's soldering torch so it wouldn't cause a fire.

"I liked him." Jeremy replied. "How do I make sure the system always has a backup cooling system?"

"Backup cooling system?" Tony asked. He hadn't thought of that. "What for?"

"In case the other one fails." Jeremy said, giving Tony a 'duh' look.

"Usually when I'm involved in something, it doesn't fail." Tony quipped.

"Miss Pepper says that there's a 12% chance that it will." Jeremy didn't know what it meant but Tony did and chuckled to himself.

"Kid, if you want backup cooling systems, then come on." Tony showed him to his drawing board. "Let's design them."

-0-

Charlie was happy to be home after a week in the hospital. Emma had wanted to bring her home and help her but Charlie insisted she was fine. After Clint broke up with her, Charlie allowed herself a few minutes of self wallowing but then decided not to dwell on it anymore. She wanted to take a shower but first she had something she needed to do. Going into her room, she picked up the pink stuffed giraffe he had won for her at the carnival and took it to the dumpster, throwing it in without a second thought. She took her shower and then went to pick up Jeremy from Stark Tower.

"Thanks so much for watching him." Charlie said to Tony. He had been a huge help and a good friend to her over the last several weeks, especially this last one, and she trusted him with Jeremy.

"Mom, I'm almost done with my suit. Can we stay a few more minutes?" Jeremy asked, his safety glasses perched on the tip of his nose.

"Let him stay." Tony shrugged off any arguments Charlie had otherwise. "Pepper's ordering in some dinner so stick around."

"We don't want to impose." Charlie countered.

"Please." Tony scoffed. "The girl who ruffled Bird Brain's feathers and my new prodigy? I have half a mind to move you two into Stark Tower."

Charlie laughed because she thought he was kidding. "How has he been?"

"He's a little bummed that Katniss isn't going to be around anymore." Tony informed her. "What's with that, anyway?"

"Just didn't work out." Charlie shrugged. Tony gave her a look and she sighed. "He said that we were a cover for him and that our relationship was over."

"That's bullshit!" Tony said loudly. Charlie wacked his chest with her hand and looked pointedly at Jeremy. "Sorry."

"It's fine, Tony." Charlie assured him. "I'm not going to waste my time on a man who doesn't want to be around me or my son."

"Would you have stayed with him?" Tony asked. "After you found out his big, bad secret and your...'ordeal', would you have stuck it out with him?"

Charlie shrugged. "I don't know. He took my choice from me and didn't let me think about it."

"But you cared about him?" Tony asked.

"Yeah. Jeremy's dad and I always went back and forth in our relationship. When Jeremy and I moved here, I thought it was a chance to start over." Charlie said, watching Jeremy work. "I found someone who was thoughtful, made me smile, and was good to Jeremy but I guess it wasn't meant to be."

"What if you're wrong?" Tony glanced at her.

"It doesn't matter." Charlie replied.

"Sure it does." Tony countered.

"No, it doesn't." Charlie said, harsher than she intended. "He left and I'm not going to be one of those women who whine and wait for a man to come validate her life. Jeremy is the most important person in my life and that's how it should be."

Tony raised his hands in defeat as Pepper brought up dinner. Jeremy didn't want to stop working to eat but he did when Charlie took away the tools he was working with.

"Tony, I was wondering if I could ask a favor." Charlie asked.

"Ask away." Tony replied.

"Jeremy and I talked about it and I'm going to take one of the surgical residencies at the hospital. Would it be all right if Jeremy hung out here for a few hours after school?" Charlie handed Jeremy a napkin to wipe the food off his chin.

"Why don't you just move in?" Tony asked and Charlie choked on her soda. "We have a whole floor designated for apartments. Squirt can come use the workshop and you don't have to worry about him while you're working."

"You can't be serious." Charlie said.

"As a heart attack." Tony leaned back in his chair. "Besides, having a doc around could be helpful. What do you say, Jer? You wanna live in Stark Tower?"

"Yeah!" Jeremy said excitedly. "Mom, please?"

"Yeah. Mom, please?" Tony matched Jeremy's tone.

"Um, sure. I guess?" Charlie's voice wavered.

"Fantastic. I'll have your stuff moved over tomorrow." Tony said and moved on to the next topic.

-0-

Clint spent most of the week Charlie was in the hospital at his house upstate, waiting until it blew over to come back. He sat in the bed, which was still unmade from their night together and rested his head in his hands. What he had said to her was harsh but he needed her to believe it, needed Martin and his henchmen to believe it. When he finally returned to his apartment a week later, he paused to look at Charlie's door.

"We moved." Jeremy's voice caused him to turn around.

"What are you doing here by yourself?" Clint asked, clearing his throat. "Where's your mom?"

"She's at work. She wanted me to come here and pick up our mail." Jeremy said, holding up the stack of letters in his hand.

"How's she doing? Is she feeling better?" Clint tried to be indifferent with his questions.

"She's home." Jeremy replied, toying with the envelopes in his hand. "She won't tell me what you said to her, but if you were going to hurt her then you should have just left her alone."

"It wasn't my intention to hurt her, Jer." Clint tried to say but Jeremy interrupted by shoving something into Clint's hands. It was the autograph book. Clint tried to hand it back to him but Jeremy wouldn't take it. "It was a gift. You don't have to give it back."

"I don't want it." Jeremy told him and turned to walk away. He turned back to face Clint a moment later. "My mom puts everybody else in front of her own happiness; she gave up her dream job when I got sick so she could stay with me. I thought maybe it'd be different with you and she'd have a chance to pick what she really wants. But you're worse than my dad! At least he actually loved her."

Jeremy ran down the hall and wiped his nose on his sleeve, stubbornly ignoring the tears running down his cheeks. Clint entered his own apartment and slammed the door behind him, punching it for good measure.

A/N: Thanks to everybody who makes this story a success. The follow/favoriting/reviewing is what keeps me motivated to continue this story and I love all of you! Please leave a review on your way out.

Normally, I answer each review separately but most of them were very similar so I will say thank you so much for leaving the reviews.