Pepper's commentary settled in Tony's head, not letting him sleep. After all, it would be possible to alter memories? That, of course, would never change the fact that the original memories actually happened. But it could help, a lot, in the treatment and rehabilitation of people who have suffered some trauma. It would be a mark in the history of psychology and neuroscience.

It would not be easy. Nor cheap. But who said it would be a problem?

Then he made calculations, elaborated algorithms, spent a sleepless night, with his mind racing. When Pepper woke, the bed was full of open books and notebooks, papers with notes and other crumpled, empty cups and food packs. A original-size hologram of a brain was slowly spinning in front of Tony, who was frantically typing on a starkpad and making dots and dashes of different colors in the hologram.

"Good Morning. Donut?" He offered the box without looking at her.

"No, thank you." She grimaced, watching the mess. "Why are you doing this here?"

"I was in the lab, but the cleaning crew arrived and they were deconcentrating me with all that noise. There are people all over the compound speaking, training or cleaning; and the only places without anyone to bother are the bedrooms, but this is the only one Vision will not come to, I hope. So here I am." Tony looked at her and smiled, before turning his attention back to the work.

"Since when do you're that curious about neuroscience?" Pepper said as he scanned the covers of books scattered around the bed.

"Since when I was creating Mark 42; but after your comment last night, my interest has considerably increased."

"So you took me seriously."

"Of course, yes! Pep, imagine if we could intercept the hippocampus and end with traumatic memories. We could aid in the treatment of anyone who lived some traumatic experience!"

"And how are you gonna do this?"

" I answer you that later. Can I borrow Happy?"

"Yes, but where are you going?"

"To Larry's vacation house in the Hamptons. Oracle can give me a little help with this project."

"Be careful with what you are getting into, please." She asked, standing up and wearing his robe.

"Got it."

"And clean this mess."

"Yes ma'am."

…

Oracle Corporation was a successful company, and subsidiary of Stark Industries, specialized in the development and commercialization of computer hardware and software systems. The CEO was Larry Ellison, and he was the first person to hear Tony talk about his new project, taking the opportunity to ask for a review of a slightly different software he was developing.

Even busy with this new project, Tony really tried to fix up things with Pepper. Throughout the week, after the most recent discussion they had, he was beside her. He accompanied her on a tour to present the compound to Nick Fury and the Secretary of State, General Thaddeus Ross; in a lecture she gave at a college in Ohio; in a routine medical check up, and even on her mother's birthday (but he left early, so he could fly to New York and say goodbye to Thor, who would return to Asgard the next morning).

But Tony himself also canceled the farm plans, since he was too focused on the new project to enjoy the life on the field. So the couple made a few professional travel (and a brief stop in Vegas to celebrate Tony's birthday), and from time to time, appeared together at events for which both of them were invited. There were some dances, dinners, charity events, meetings, lectures, presentations, exhibitions, Formula 1 circuits, technology fairs, auctions...

And in the end, after a brief stop in Washington DC, to resolve some matters about September Foundation, the couple (and Happy) went to New York to celebrate the Independence day / Captain America's birthday in a party at the Avengers Tower.

They arrived at JFK airport in midmorning, and right there, Tony took a helicopter, going upstate alone.

He arrived at the compound minutes later, and was walking to the front door of one of the buildings; when then heard an unfamiliar voice:

"Stop right there, expensive shoes!" A guy wearing a red and gray suit shouted, before jumping from one floor up, falling in front of the visitor. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"I own this place and I'm coming in." Tony replied without looking at him, and the huge door opened with his approach, proving the truth. Then he entered the room, followed by the stranger.

"Sorry about that, Mr. Stark. We have to be strict about safety."

"Yeah, right...And who are you?"

"Sam Wilson. I was at the party you gave at the Tower."

"I give lots of parties."

"Cap offered me an invitation to join the Avengers."

"Oh, yeah. Eagle, right?"

"Falcon, sir."

"Whatever. Why are you following me, Tweety?"

"Do you need any help?"

"I know every inch of this place, I think I can find my way alone."

"You know? Then you know if there's any secret passage, or something sinister like, you know…"

"Hey, Stark!" A familiar voice called, and Tony looked back. "Hey, man…" Rhodes shook his friend's hand and pulled him into a hug.

"Rhodey."

"Came to train?"

"Definitely not." The billionaire straightened his tie as said. Then they both looked at the man who was left.

"I can handle it from here, Wilson."

"Fly, little bird." Tony joked. So Sam nodded before turning around. "It was he who Rogers brought here?" He asked, watching Falcon's backpack technology.

"Yes. He's a good soldier. Don't let even a ant enter without permission."

"Yeah, he might be useful." Tony looked back at his friend. "What are you doing here? It's 4th July!"

"What are you doing here?"

"I knew everyone would be working and came here get you. Where's Cap? It's his birthday, he is the last person who should be here!"

"How cute, you remembered his birthday. Do you remember when is Pepper's?"

"Hey, Birdie!" Tony called for Sam, who stopped halfway and looked back. "You like parties, right? We're gonna have one at the Tower tonight! Can you make Cap appear there?"

"Got it!" He replied, and went his way, beginning to speak in the communicator."

"So tell me: who else is here?" Tony put his hand on Rhodes' shoulders, then the two started walking.

…

Night came quickly; and soon the Avengers Tower was full of artists, models, athletes, veterans, super heroes, entrepreneurs and other guests of Tony and Steve, all together and mixed. Waiters were walking around with champagne and appetizers, and good songs were being played from who knows where, since only a few people knew the location of Friday's audio outputs. The party was in full swing.

"Happy Birthday!" Pepper said excited, as she hugged Steve.

"Thank you, Pepper."

"Here." She gave him the gift. "I hope you enjoy."

"You didn't have to worry about that…"

"It wasn't a headache at all, believe me. Buy a gift for you is easy. Hard is to buy a gift for Tony. This year I just let him take me to Vegas. God, I hate that place…" She took a sip of her martini full of olives. "Open it! I wanna see how it looks on you."

"Alright…" He smiled and obeyed.

"Hey, dude! It's your turn." Falcon slapped on Rogers' shoulder, holding a pool cue and a bottle of beer in the other hand. And only then noticed that he was accompanied. "Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"Not what you're thinking." Steve replied, knowing full well what was going on his friend's head."

"Hey, I know you." Sam looked at the woman, recognizing her from the covers of magazines and news on TV. "You're the boss, right?"

"Oh! No, Steve is the boss. I just pay the bills." Pepper amicably replied. "Speaking which...you're Sam, right?"

"Sam Wilson, at your service."

"Thank you…" She shook his hand. "In fact, I was looking for you…"

"How can I help you?" The man was nervous, already knowing what was coming next.

"Well, first, I would like to say: Welcome to Avengers."

"Thank you." He was relieved with the false alarm, but not for long:

"And also... I had been checking some bills, and I wonder if you already solved the problem that resulted in the exchange of the gate of the shed with my father-in-law's artifacts, during my vacations. I was told that you would solve that." The woman looked at him seriously.

"I already solved that." He was firm, still not revealing the fact that the culprit of the incident was a man with the size of a ant. And Pepper studied him with the look, while drinking her Martini, until she realized that Steve was wearing a jacket she had bought for him.

"Oh, it fits!" She smiled. "It looks great on you."

"Now you can get rid of that old jacket!" Sam joked.

"It's great. Thank you, Pepper." Steve hugged her again.

"You're welcome…"

"Come on, Rogers! Let the beautiful Miss breathe and come play with your partners!" A old man called, before taking a sip of beer.

"You better go. And be careful with your friends. I heard that one of them had to leave loaded the last party…" Pepper looked at the group of elderly people gathered around the pool table. "Have fun!" She said, before turning back.

And the second the woman was out of sight, Rogers broke the smile and looked at Sam:

"What happened to the shed's gate?" He asked serious. Then Falcon found himself cornered.

...

The party was a success. There was a lot of drink, food and music were great, the guests were friendly, and there was no scandals.

In the middle of the celebration, a huge red, white and blue cake, with 97 candles, was carried by a group of waiters to Steve, which took a while to blow all of them, but got it in the end.

Close to midnight, there was a huge show of fireworks, celebrating the national holiday and Cap's birthday. All the people who were in Manhattan and the surrounding areas were able to watch the festival of lights, which made news in worldwide media.

Over time, people began to leave. And in the end, only the hosts remained; scattered on the couches of the living room and chatting, while having a few drinks.

"Wanda, are you sure you wanna do this?" Helen Cho was worried, but deep down she knew that there was no need. "Wouldn't it be better if you start with something less important?"

"How about Stark?" Natasha suggested.

"I'd love to, but I have to refuse." Tony stopped to admire his girlfriend's face and fake smiled to the agent, who reciprocated.

"Don't worry about it." Wanda said, leaving her glass on the coffee table.

"Are you sure?" Vision asked, extremely worried.

"Yes, I am. I trust you." She weakly smiled, then stood and waited.

Vision then rose from his chair and stood in front of the woman. Then he crossed her body in a second, not wanting to be there beyond that. And when he found himself on the outside again, he checked if Wanda was well, under stupefied looks of his partners.

"So! How was it?" Natasha asked.

"That was...Interesting…" Said Maximoff, and immediately Dr. Cho was at her side, measuring vital signs and asking a few questions.

"So you can go through people? You can pretend to possess some on Halloween!" Stark joked.

"Or he can remove objects such as bomb fragments from inside of them." Steve added.

"You can't even understand when I'm playing, right, popsicle?" Tony stared at his partner, who was serious.

"Tony…" Pepper rebuked him, putting her hand on his leg.

"I know…" Today is his birthday, I'll leave him alone…" He drank the rest of his whiskey and stood up. "I'll get another drink. You guys want something?" Then almost everyone started talking at once. "I'm gonna pretend I heard everything. Honey?" Tony looked at Pepper, who didn't think twice before answer:

"A Vodka Martini with a lot of olives, please."

"Consider it done. Come on, Happy!"

"Are you kidding? I just sit!" The safety complained.

"Hey, I'm not asking! Let's go!" Tony gestured toward the bar; and Happy then rose up in disgust and followed him.

"Don't talk to me like that again, you're not my boss."

"Whatever…" They started a discussion as they walked to the bar.

"Where's Hill? I didn't see her." Steve looked for the agent, after observing Wanda, Helen and Vision getting back to their seats after ensuring that everything was right with the woman.

"Her vacations ended yesterday, but she didn't come to work today. She's probably solving something with SHIELD…" Pepper said. "How about Clint? I knew his son was born. And as is a boy, I assume that the name is not Natasha…" She looked at Romanoff.

"No…" The agent smiled. "It's Nathaniel."

"Nathaniel Pietro Barton." Wanda completed.

"It's a beautiful tribute…" Pepper launched an affectionate look at Scarlet Witch, who agreed.

"While we're on the latest developments; Miss. Potts; have Mr. Stark mentioned to you if he had some progress in the searching for Dr. Banner's whereabouts?"

"Vis!" Wanda scolded him, then looked disguisedly at Natasha.

"No, he hasn't mentioned...anything." Pepper had to tell the truth. "But I know he's still looking for him. And I'm sure he's not gonna rest until he find him." She added, then also looked at Natasha. The agent had a empty look, the smile was gone from her face.

Suddenly the room went silent. Then Vision looked at every single serious face over the place, not understanding the situation:

"I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?"

"No. You didn't." Natasha reassured. "So... Pepper! How was in Washington?" She changed the subject, trying to improve the climate in that room.

"That was excellent! If all goes well, we will start in two school years." She replied, excited.

"Two years?"

"It's the time we need to solve all the paperwork, achieve partnerships, schedule dates, plan the speeches... Maria and I have some ideas, but we still have a lot to discuss."

"You're talking about September Foundation, right?" Tony asked, coming back with the drinks. Then served Natasha, Wanda, Helen, and, at last, Pepper, taking the opportunity to sit next to her. Happy came close behind him, with an ice bucket full of beer, meeting the requests of Sam, Rhodes and Steve. "I was thinking about we start it at MIT."

"Great idea!" Pepper smiled at him.

"And I can include the BARF in the presentation, what would be perfect, because it fits into our goal!" Tony enthused.

"BARF?" Everyone asked, but the man only had eyes for one person:

"We're doing this to finance projects of people who normally would never get the sponsorship, right?" He asked directly to Pepper.

"And to give scholarships, but that's the idea. What is BARF?" She grimaced.

"Oh, yeah. I haven't explained yet." Tony then looked at all and began to lecture:

"Binarily Augmented Retro Framing. A method of intercepting the hippocampus and erase traumatic memories. Ok, our mind is like a computer. We have a HD with stored files of any data type; a smell, a taste, a face, a feeling, an event... anything. And these data are encoded in binary, with the purpose of being processed on the computer, or in that case, in our mind. For example: When we remember of our mother baking a raisins cake on Christmas 40 years ago, it is as if we had looking for a video on our computer's HD and watched." He took a sip of champagne. "Manipulate the memory is simple: we only need to imagine it, already modificated. But a stimulus, a shock, is needed. I'm sure I'll have to handle a hell electromagnetic headache after use it; but in the end I'll can, for example... Well, I wish I had never created Ultron. So I can have the memory that, on the day I convinced Banner to help me to make that stupid mistake, he shows me how it would be crazy, and then I listen and get convinced to give up." He drank some more. "There it is: my fake memory. It don't change the fact that I created Ultron and screwed up everyone's life. But perhaps it helps me to have at least three hours of sleep a day." He ignored the pity looks he received.

"But how…"

"But how will I send files from my mind out?" Tony finished Rhodes' question.

"Binarily augmenting it." Pepper said. "It's like sending an e-mail."

"And that's why I love you." Tony smiled at the woman, before explaining to others. "E-mails doesn't allow sending all kinds of data in binary files. They are often transliterated into the plain text representation, and this encoding increases the file size during the transfer. After the receipt, the file is transliterated to binary again and is displayed normally." He made hand gestures as said. "What I'm gonna do is send the manipulated memory, via a transmitter point positioned in my head. Prior the transfer it will be transliterated, and then again, when received. And how our memories are not in MKV or something, I'm developing an app that converts them into video format. Larry gave me some tips and... I know exactly what to do."

"It will be like watching a movie of your altered memories?" Natasha asked.

"The idea is to be more like something real going on around you. We can recreate the local in which the memory occurred with a 3D printer, and then watch it as if we were there again. Pepper, for example, could walk through Stark Industries' office while watching herself meeting me, without taking pepper spray on her face…"

"I was just doing my job! How many times do I still have to apologize?" Happy complained; then Pepper looked at Tony as if asking him to stop with that.

"And how much it will cost?" Helen asked.

"The cost? About 600 million. Ten million plus or minus."

"What?"

"600 million?"

"What you guys thought, that it would cost one dollar?"

"Tony, that's a lot of money…" Steve said softly, ignoring the scandal.

"Exactly! No one would ever finance this project!" Stark then looked at his girlfriend. "But you would! Because you trust me. And we trust those kids. That's why we're doing this. Not us. You. Because all this...the September Foundation...it's your idea." He pointed to her heart. "And that's it. Will you accept me? Come on, we already spent more than that with only one of that suits I exploded that Christmas...

"I'm not worried about the money. I'm worried about what you're spending the money with; the kind of thing you're getting into."

"It will work." He said convinced, looking at her in the eye. And the woman stared at him for a few seconds before giving the verdict:

"You have a year and half."

"Okay…"

"I want you to keep me always updated."

"Okay."

"And please, don't melt your brain."

"Of course not, I'm gonna need it." The man smiled. Then he kissed the woman, who soon walked away with a shy smile. Then he kissed her temple as she drank her Martini, paying attention on the next topic of the conversation.