A/N: HAI! I have not disappeared, even though I know it's been FOREVER! Life happens, lots of life. But I've been quietly working on this series in the background. I have the plot fleshed out for Part 3, Proof Of Existence. And I've got little shorts to help! I hope you all like it!

I do not own anything that Marvel/Disney own. I only own the ideas of plot, and the original characters of Jamie and Danielle.

May 2014

Tony plopped down on the couch, and the woman smiled at him. He tapped his glasses, turning off the shades. "Have I asked before if I can call you Dany? Because I really think that Dany would fit you better."

"Is this another Game of Thrones plea?" Danielle Cavanaugh asked as she crossed her legs at the knee.

"Listen, the Mother of Dragons is amazing, and if no one is using the nickname Dany when they have the chance, they're nuts." Tony nodded, his fingers tapping on the arm of the couch. "She's going to go nuts, I'm calling it, but she's still pretty amazing."

"Do you still watch it with Steve every week?" The brunette asked. She hadn't been taking any notes, but was using the recording device that Tony had given her. It backed up all of their files to a secure server that Jarvis had access too, and everything stayed between Tony and his therapist.

"It's about the only show that we can watch and stay up to date on," Tony said with a nod. "We're still trying to catch up on Supernatural, but we're close to that." Danielle hummed, nodding. "Yeah, it's taking us a while, but that happens when you have two kids. And when you're an Avenger, of course."

"Are things not going as well?" She tilted her head. "I thought that you guys had been working on a system for call outs."

"Oh, we have," he nodded. He watched as Danielle just watched him. "Okay, so yes, it's a weak excuse." She continued to watch him, not saying anything, letting Tony open up to her. His nose twitched for a second. "I may have a touch of a problem."

"Just a touch?" She smirked.

"Steve and Jarvis teamed up, locking me out of the workshop until I came here."

"Tell me why."

The screen stuttered a little as Tony typed in more commands. "Run calculations," he murmured out as he looked at a second screen, with yet another third screen running through numbers and letters, spitting out results faster than most people could track. "Stop."

The door to the workshop slid open as Steve walked in. He walked over to Tony, clearing his throat a little before putting his hands gently on Tony's shoulders. "Tony, it's time to come to bed." Tony hummed as he started to type again, fixing something that he saw before running the calculations again.

Steve glanced up and saw an iron Man helmet sitting on the desk with wires attached to the inside. He frowned a little when he saw that it looked different than the helmets that he had seen before. This one still had the same slitted eyes that lit up, and it still opened the same way, but the gold of the helm extended well up and over the head. The sides were white, but something seemed off. It reminded him of some of the space suits in the modern Sci-Fi movies that Tony was introducing him too. What was important, was that it was not the same helmet that he had seen Tony working on last week.

"Tony." Tony grunted a little. "Tony, look at me." Steve physically turned Tony's head to look at him. He could see the pronounced circles under his eyes, pale and turning purple. He frowned a little sadly; Tony was back to avoiding sleep.

"Don't give me that look. Everything's alright." He turned back to the screen that was rolling quickly with code. "I'm working on this program with Jarvis, once I get-"

"It's late, and I'm sure that Jarvis will have this waiting for you." Steve looked around and he saw the beginnings of a suit. "This isn't what was in here earlier."

Tony looked up and followed Steve's eyes to the suit. While most of it was the bare bones of any suit, the arms and chest were covered in white and dark grey armoring, and there was the beginnings of a jet pack on the back. "This has been in here all day, actually been in here most of the week."

"Yeah, but this isn't the same suit that I remember seeing," Steve pointed out. "This specifically isn't the suit that you've been using on call outs." He started to walk over to the suit and Tony jumped up, grabbing onto his hand.

"You know, you're right," Tony said quickly with a nod. "It's late, we should go up and get to bed. The kids will be waking us up, as per usual, and it just wouldn't do any good if I was too tired to get up." Steve glanced back at him, one eyebrow raised up. He slid his hand into Tony's, but continued getting closer, dragging the inventor closer with him. Steve felt the pull of Tony's hand on his, but he kept getting closer. With his free hand, Steve gently turned the left hand of the Iron Man suit and looked for the MK stamp.

"Mark Thirty-Nine? Tony." He turned back to face said man, who wasn't able to look at him. "I didn't know you had this many suits." Tony mumbled something, and Steve pulled him a little closer. "There's more?" He nodded a little, and Steve pulled him into his arms. "It's time to come to bed. I'm going to have Jarvis put the workshop on lockdown."

Tony's jaw dropped and he let out a little squawk. "You can't-"

"I am apt to agree with Captain Rogers," Jarvis piped up and Tony had a look of betrayal on his face. Steve kissed his forehead, turning him around to start walking back to the elevator. "Your working-to-sleep ratio is vastly underperformance, Sir. I would recommend that you get sleep for a minimum of eight hours."

"Then I can come back down to work on the suit? Just an eight hour lock down?" Tony asked, stepping onto the elevator, Steve coming in next to her, arma round his waist as Jarvis took over the controls of the elevator, taking them to their private floor.

"I think maybe we need it a little longer than that," Steve commented, feeling Tony tense a little. "You're starting to look like a raccoon, baby. It's not a terribly attractive look if that's not what you're aiming for."

"What if that is what I'm aiming for?" Tony asked, watching the numbers of the floors steadily flash by.

"You'd do a better job at it," Steve said right back. His hand settled on Tony's back, warm and secure. "Tony, how many suits do you have?"

Tony hesitated for a second, and Steve knew that he wasn't going to like the answer. "Completed, or in progress?"

"Think of the number, and whichever one you were going to give me. Then give me the other number."

Tony let out a little groan. "Forty-two."

"Forty-two?" Steve looked at Tony with big eyes. He had seen some of the suits, and the more recent ones weren't just upgrades of the current Iron Man armor. They were different colors, different body styles, they looked like they all had different functions. Steve was sure that there were multiple hidden functions. "The one that I walked in on, thirty-nine? That one looks almost like it was space grade."

"The materials have been rated for different atmospheric pressures, different levels of gravity," Tony rattled off. "Or," he started to amend when he looked up at Steve's expression, "for hypothesized space travel."

Steve hesitated as a dozen different thoughts went through his mind. The elevator doors opened and he started to guide Tony to their bedroom. The lights were off in the main rooms, the hall lights dimmed. Jamie's door was mostly closed, the glow of a night light peeking out from under the door frame, while Peter's door was closed all the way. Once inside their bedroom, Steve closed the door and Tony went off to the closet to change into his night clothes.

"Tony," Steve knew that his questions weren't going to go over well. He heard Tony hum in response, letting him know that he had heard him. "You're not having nightmares again are you?" That had been one of Steve's biggest worries, that the nightmares were coming back, that whatever being had had his control over Tony was starting to come back.

"No," Tony answered without hesitation, coming back out in a tank and some lounge pants. "No, any nightmares that I'm having are of the plain old, not physical, variety. Where I stay up too long, and my brain works too much. It can happen anytime. My brain doesn't stop."

"I know," Steve took his hand, giving it a squeeze as they went to bed. "I just needed to make sure, you know that."

"You wanted to ask because you think the reason for all the new suits is tied to that," Tony said. "I think that's what you meant to say."

Steve ran his hand through Tony's hair, feeling some of the dust, making his hair feel not as soft as it could be. "I just get concerned. It's kind of a default setting." He kissed Tony lightly. "If you don't want to talk about it with me, I know who you can talk about it with."

Tony gave a little whine, turning into Steve's side. "I was kind of hoping that you might have forgotten how long it's been since I went there."

"I have near perfect recollection, Tony," Steve said with a fond little smile. Of course he knew how long it had been since Tony had visited his therapist. But since it was still under a two month period he hadn't felt a need to start pestering Tony about scheduling another visit. Maybe now, though, would be a perfect time to get him back down there. Maybe it would help Tony get some sleep. "I think that it wouldn't be a bad idea to go see Danielle. In fact, I think that the workshop should remain locked until you do go see her."

"Now that seems a little unfair," Tony pouted. He would have thrown a bigger fuss, but he knew on some level that Steve was right. As he looked at Steve's face, he knew that Steve also knew that, and that there was no getting around that. "Jarvis wouldn't possibly listen to that request."

"I would, Sir," the AI responded. "And I find myself agreeing with Captain Rogers."

"Traitors, both of you," Tony muttered and pressed himself against Steve's side again.

"And that's how I found my way here." Tony had taken his glasses off, folding them up in his hands, and looking at Danielle. She only continued to look back at him, her face carefully neutral. "Are you sure that you haven't treated any other superheroes? You're awfully good at this."

"No superheroes," this time she did let herself smile, but Tony knew that it was because of her next comment. "But I have treated other celebrities."

"Oh, let's dish!" He leaned forward.

"We absolutely can. Let's dish about why you've been working on so many different suits." Tony let out a groaned and leaned back, slouching down on the couch. "We both know that you would have fought Steve more on coming here if there wasn't something happening."

"Do you talk to Steve, too?" She just smiled at him. That smile that said she knows the answer, and it could very well be 'No', but she wasn't going to tell him. "The only way for you to know me this well if for you to talk to him at the same time. That's a Steve thing to do. His stupid concerned butt." He grumbled the last part out, minus any malice in his voice.

He sighed and sat up a little straighter. "You know, it partially has to do with the nightmares. But, I didn't lie, I'm not having those again. Rather, I'm not having the living nightmares." He put his glasses back on, the lenses darkening slightly into sunglasses, something for him to hide behind. "I still have nightmares of Those nightmares, does that make any sense?" Danielle hummed, nodding, giving him her full attention.

"What if they come back? They're not going to stop searching for this place, just because they can't get access to my head anymore." He looked over at her. His brain was in full activity mode. The only other person he talked to like this, about this subject, was Jarvis. It almost felt good to get it off his chest, and he knew that even if Danielle wouldn't understand the science behind it all, she wouldn't judge him. "I know what's out there, I've seen it. Took a bomb straight up into space to meet them, and then played an unwilling host to them for more than a year after that. There has to be a way to be ready for them. I know that we're not going to be able to hold them back."

"Who is 'Them', Tony?"

"Them!" He motioned upwards with his hands. "The ones that launched an attack on us nearly two years ago." He slumped against the couch suddenly. "It'll be two years, since that first attack. The Battle of New York, as they call it. I hate that name," he sighed.

"So, the suits, they're a way for you to be prepared for something that might happen?" Danielle asked, not wanting to lose him just yet. She had tried to jump into the Battle early on in their sessions, and had seen Tony experience a panic attack. She was able to pull him out of it, but he wasn't willing to admit that he needed more help than he thought. You had to move at a certain pace with Tony Stark, a pace that was constantly changing throughout the day.

"We have to be prepared," he nodded. "They're based off of the idea of the Mark VII, being able to have a suit come to me when I need it, and not have to need a service station. I've been fine tuning all the little things, making different suits for different needs instead of the same suit for everything. Why the need to keep adding on when I can just be prepared for everything at once?" Tony took a breath and started to rub his temples. "If we're supposed to be the best defense for this planet, then why aren't we taking any pre-emptive action?"

"That's what you're used to, isn't it?" She asked. "In business, you always need to start working on the next best thing before your competitor. You can't fall behind."

"We made the weapons before the enemies could fire their own." Tony looked at her, leaning forward a little. "I have so much more to protect this time around, and I can't lose any of it. Before, I didn't care, that wasn't on my list of priorities. But now, those are my only priorities. I need to create something, I've been working on an idea. Something to stop the aliens at the door."

"And that's why you started working on a space ready suit."

"That's why I started working on a space ready suit," he said with a nod. "I have an underwater suit, better than just the basic capabilities the other suits had. All of the suits that I've made, and have been working on, will be able to move independently as well, not just fall around the user. The next suit I'm looking into will have each part moving on it's own, able to come at my command. I'm still working on the name, but I feel like it has to be obnoxious. Something like autonomous and propulsion, maybe something else in there."

"So you ever feel that maybe you need to slow down for a little bit? Just a second?"

"I mean," Tony shrugged a little. "My brain probably knows all of this, knows that I should be slowing down, taking time to myself. I need to make a visit to the Malibu house soon."

"Why?"

"The Tower doesn't have the space, or security, that I'm looking for. I've already been shipping the complete suits to Malibu."

"If my math is right, which sometimes it isn't," Danielle said with a smirk, having heard him use the phrase before, "you've already been working on, physically, another thirty-two suits. How do you have room at the smaller Malibu location for all of them?"

"Well, Malibu isn't actually that much smaller," Tony told her. "When I had started working on the Iron Man suits, dealing with the unfortunate situation of Vanko, I started making some upgrades and additions to the house, including storage. I made some more plans when we took our family vacation last year as well, knowing I'd need some changes when I went to the house with a Partner and two children."

"Amazing how just a couple of smaller changes can lead to so many bigger ones." Tony hummed a little at her words, giving a nod. "I think that perhaps Steve had the right idea of shutting off the workshop."

Tony made a whining noise. "I was afraid you were going to say that. I need to keep working on stuff, need to keep creating."

"You need rest more, and you also need to be able to have the attention span to give to your family, and those Avengers call-outs." Tony gave her an unamused look. "We both know that you can run on low batteries for a while, but eventually those give out. Usually at the most unexpected time."

Tony groaned and dropped his head on the back of the couch. "How long are you recommending that I stay away from my life's work?"

Danielle rolled her eyes a little, fondly. "I don't know your usual habits, how long it could take you to recharge, but I'm going to say that you find other hobbies to work on for at least a week. But, I'll also recommend that you listen to Steve, because he knows you better. He'll help you, it's alright to rely on him for some things, Tony. Can just be little things, shift the little bits of burden from your shoulders to share. He won't mind, trust me."

"Uhhhnnn," Tony moaned, mouth open wide. He then sighed and nodded. "I know, and I should, and I know that he'll pull it out of me. And he knows that's okay, once I get used to it."

"I'm proud, Tony, you're slowly learning, and I don't have to tell you anymore." She grinned and Tony rolled his eyes. "I think you might be my favorite client to work with."

"You're lucky I like you."

Tony walked out of the office and saw Steve sitting on the couch, in what was becoming his usual spot. There was a hardcover book sitting on his tight, one hand holding it open, while his other arm was down holding onto a sleeping Jamie, her head pillowed on Steve's other leg. The secretary was always stealing looks over at Steve with his adorable mini-me, which Tony had to admit that it was one of the cutest sights. Jarvis had hundreds of pictures of these little moments on his servers thanks to Tony.

"Hey," Steve smiled, looking away from his book. "All set?"

"Yeah." Tony went over and sat next to Jamie, gently so as not to wake her yet. "How long has Little Miss been asleep?"

"Probably about five minutes after you went in the room." Steve closed his book, then started to rub Jamie's back, hoping for a gentle wakeup. "She probably won't be exactly happy to wake up."

"We can bribe her with ice cream," Tony said as he started to life the girl up and into his arms. She let out a whine, one that Steve says Tony taught her, and he kissed the top of her head.

"We'll have to bring ice cream back for the boys," Steve warned him.

"They're still in classes, and spending the night with Mary," Tony said with a grin. "It's just going to be the three of us tonight. I say let's go out for lunch and ice cream."

"Ice cweam?" Tony looked down to see a sleepy Jamie looking up at him with sparkling eyes. Tony snorted with a smile.

"Of course that got her to wake up," Steve commented, getting up and putting his book in the bag he had with Jamie's stuff in it. "Well, let's get going then. Sweetness awaits."

"Yay!" Jamie lifted her arms in success and Tony winked at her as he stood up with her in his arms. She giggled and grinned.