"Tony, your parents have been calling me all week because they're worried sick about you. First you lock yourself in your room for hours and try to run away. They tell me you lay around all day and hardly ever go anywhere." She said softly. "How have you been feeling?"

"They're not my parents." Tony muttered, looking down. "I'm fine. I'm just tired so I stay in bed. And I went to that group therapy and didn't like it."

"How have you been sleeping?" Dr. Moreno asked. She looked at him kindly, Tony didn't feel like lying to her. He also didn't really feel like saying he hardly ever slept at all anymore, maybe a few hours a night if that.

"Not good." Tony said, his voice lowering.

"Why don't you tell me about it?" She leaned forward and asked softly.

"Well, it won't stop. I keep having these horrible dreams about everything. Like it's happening all over exactly or just a mashed together version of what happened. I wake up feeling horrible and I either stumble around the house until morning or hiding away. So I stopped going to sleep. I don't know why, I just felt like I couldn't do it anymore and stopped falling asleep." Tony frowned. "I do fall asleep for a little bit, most nights. And I spend my days numb and tired, lying in bed and blocking out the world."

"Do you want to tell me how you feel when you wake up from a bad dream?" She asked.

"I don't know. It depends. Sometimes I don't know where I am, I think I'm back there. I feel terrified and I'm trying to run away so I don't get hurt again. I always end up in Clint and Natasha's room when that happens, I don't know how. They take care of me then." Tony said. Dr. Moreno smiled again. "Sometimes I waked up and know where I am but I can't stop feeling scared so I hide under my bed with a lamp and wait until morning so I can lay down on the couch. Other times I just feel wake up and feel empty and exhausted but I can't go back to sleep so I just walk around the place and look at everything until someone wakes up to sit with me. Now I just lay in bed all night and wait until morning."

"And how are your eating habits?" She asked. Tony tilted his head, confused. "Don't worry, this is important."

"I haven't really been hungry, but Nat makes sure I eat all my fruits and vegetables. She's like Bruce, only she also lets me have snacks too." Tony shrugged.

"Well, that explains why you don't seem to be hiding the candy I gave you." She laughed. "Tony, you may be depressed. Depression is quite common in those with PTSD." Tony nodded slowly.

"Oh, alright. That sucks." He muttered. Certainly she couldn't be serious. He was just feeling a bit tired was all.

"I want to write you a prescription for-"

"No." Tony said quickly, shaking his head. "I don't take drugs." Dr. Moreno nodded.

"Do you want to tell me why that is?" She asked softly. Tony hesitated. He always like Dr. Moreno, she always smiled at him, was always kind, and every look she gave him and ever sentence she spoke was soft and gentle and made him feel like it was alright.

"My mother." Tony whispered. "She took pills whenever she was upset with my dad. Eventually she just went away and started putting that horrible stuff in her and left me alone. I don't want to leave like that." She nodded, waiting for a few minutes.

"Alright, but I do want you to try activities that may help you fall asleep. Will you do them?" She asked. Tony nodded quickly.

OOOOOO

"I hate you." Tony signed as he did another sit-up. He had another sleepless night and today was being filled with activities to help him. They weren't allowing him to drink coffee, they took him for a walk out in the sun, Natasha had started to teach him Russian, they refused to let him nap, and now Clint was making him exorcise, five hours before going to bed. There was only so many jumping jacks and squats he could do before his leg started hurting. They didn't stop though, Clint just moved on to different exercises. Rhodey stopped by to laugh at his pain and see who could do more push up. Tony did five. Rhodey stopped counting after twenty. Tony didn't think it counted, he was just a science nerd and Rhodey was joining the military. Rhodey had to leave shortly after.

"Now Tony. You can't expect to be sleeping better right away. These things take time. You have to look at the big picture." Natasha said, signing at the same time so Clint could understand. Tony nodded, he was already feeling exhausted and luckily he didn't have to do anymore exercising today. "We're just starting you out on a routine that will help you in the long-term."

"You mean, we're going to do it all again tomorrow?" Tony sighed. More exercising? This is not what he wanted. The only exercise he needed was waving his arms about to sign at Clint.

"Yes, hopefully you pick up Russian as quickly as you did sign language." Natasha smiled.

"We also have to work on your upper body strength." Clint laughed, pulling Tony up off the ground. Tony groaned loudly. He didn't need to work on his upper body strength. He was in the mood for taco bell, so that's what he needed. They should be thankful his appetite was back.

Tony didn't end up sleeping that night. Or the next few nights after that. He did, however, end up passing out a week later. It was around bedtime and he didn't think he would be able to fall asleep so after half an hour of lying in bed he joined Clint and Natasha in the living room. His head ended up in Natasha's lap and his feet were laying across Clint and they sat there for a few hours letting him sleep while she stroked his hair.

Clint carried him off to bed, tucking him in carefully so he didn't wake him. Although Tony didn't sleep all night, he slept longer than he had in a long time. He went about his day a bit happier and less groggy and could say six curse words in Russian, gaining mix feelings from Natasha.

OOOOOO

Tony had been doing everything Dr. Moreno had been telling him to do for about a month and he was finally sleeping through the night. His nightmares were less often and he no longer felt like lying in bed all day, not that Clint and Nat would let him do that. What Tony figured was the best part of all, was that Clint and Natasha were happier too. They said they were going to go do date nights again, much to Tony's pleasure. He liked that they were doing things for themselves again.

When Agent Hill arrived, she was given the same instructions as last time on how to take care of Tony if he had an incident. She was also to make sure he went to bed at ten, no later or else it will mess up his schedule. Clint and Natasha hugged Tony goodbye and went out to go eat and watch some spy movie they planned to point out everything they could have done better.

"How are you feeling, my little Coulsling? Hopefully happy and healthy." Maria said, plopping down on the couch and turning on the tv.

"Pretty good actually. It's been a while." Tony smiled, jumping onto the couch next to her. "Can we watch something normal, in English?" He asked. She laughed, nodding her head and changing the channel.

"Have you ever seen 'How I Met Your Mother' because it's a great show and I swear one of these women look just like me." Maria said, pointing up to the tv. Tony had seen the show. He didn't really see the resemblance so he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Whatever." Hill laughed. "You know, I'm really glad you're feeling better. Everyone back at base has been freaking out worrying about you. You're getting enough sleep?"

"Yeah, they're making do all this stuff that's supposed to help people sleep like eating a bunch of carbs and exercising a lot and getting sunlight and going to bed at the same time. They're so pushy." Tony said, smiling. "Sometimes I just feel like lying in bed and dying, but they just keep dragging me out and making me do stuff. It's terrible." Tony said fondly. He was about to go on about their stubbornness to help him when his phone started vibrating. He paused for a second to look at the number he didn't recognize before answering.

"Tony, my darling boy. They're letting me out an-" Tony hung up quickly. His mother had been ignoring him for months, why was she calling now. Why did she call him that? The last time she called him 'her darling boy' was when he was Howard had broken his arm when he was nine. He recognized the feeling he was getting, like he was going back and getting locked into the memory. He'd spent weeks practicing so he could recognize when he was going into a flashback and then do his best to ground himself. All that knowledge just seem to leave him the moment his mother's cheerful voice called him up and acted like it hadn't been months since they last seen each other, let alone spoke.

A pain shot up his left arm as he stumbled out of the room. He didn't think it was real, but he did what he always did when he knew his mind was taking him away. He went to Clint and Natasha's room. They weren't there to hold him and ask him what was happening and guide him back home, so he curled up on top of their bed. He cried at the cold feeling of hands gripping his arm that pulled and squeezed until it broke. He couldn't quite pin down who it was, sometimes Howard and sometimes Stane but it was constantly changing between the two.

Someone kept touching him, Tony tried desperately to push them away. A broken arm was enough for today he didn't need anything else. They wouldn't stop so he kept crying, begging to be left alone. Something cold and wet was in his left hand. Was he bleeding? No, if he was it would be warmer. He lifted his head quickly. It was ice. Why was he holding ice? He dropped it and looked around quickly. His eyes fell on Maria Hill, she was a highly trained SHIELD agent.

"Make them go away." Tony whispered, clutching his left arm and tucking his face away again.

"You have to tell me who Tony. I'll kick their ass." Maria said, trying to pull him to sit up. She frowned as he pushed her away again.

"Howard and Stane. I don't … my arm." Tony whimpered. Maria nodded.

"It's done. They're gone. Kicked their ass with speed no one has ever seen." She said. She leaned in closely to him. "Now, Tony, you have to tell me where you are." Tony lifted his head to look around, he was still cradling his arm and looked at everything as if it were going to jump out at him.

"Clint and Natasha's room." He said, laying back down.

"Are you safe here?" Maria asked. Tony nodded. She sat with him for several minutes until Clint and Natasha came home.

"Coulson called us. Tony's mom was released from rehab and has been asking for him. We came straight home to talk to him." Clint said quietly, looking around the apartment.

"Well, that's probably who called Tony and freaked him out, thinking people were hurting him again." Maria sighed. "He's in your room, I think I calmed him down." Natasha walked off towards the room, leaving Hill with Clint.

"She called him? No warning or anything!?" He whispered angrily.

"It was probably her. How does she even have his number?" Maria asked.

"When we bought Tony a new phone we managed to let him keep his old number. For his friends and stuff." Clint sighed. "She must have known it." Natasha walked back, frowning deeply.

"He kept asking me why she stopped ignoring him. Then he locked himself in his room." Natasha said. "Either I pick that lock, demand answers, and then comfort him, or you guys tell me why he's upset."

"We think his mom called him. Same day she was released, Tony gets a phone call and it upsets him." Clint groaned, rubbing his face.

"So she doesn't bother trying to contact him once the whole time she's in there, but the moment she gets out she wants to be his mother again." Natasha said bitterly. "She has no right."

"She is his mother." Maria sighed.

"I'm his mother, I did more for him than she ever did." Natasha barked. "If she wants him she'll have a hell of a fight and we all know who will win." Clint frowned, looking down at his feet.

"But, what if when Tony calms down and feels better he wants to go live with her? What do we do then?" He said. "If we keep him here and he wants to go then he'll hate us and he'll be unhappy. If we let him go with her, he might be happy but we all know she can't take care of him." Agent Hill excused herself for the night, going home. Clint and Natasha stayed up, waiting around for something. They did end up picking the lock to Tony's room, finding him curled up under his bed fast asleep. It's where he always went when he was scared or anxious. Clint pulled him out gently and tucked him in.