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Chapter 42 – Demons of the Past

Tony woke up on the sofa and looked around his suite. His head was clearer than it had been in a while. He sat up and the blanket fell off of him. He smiled and rubbed his face. Pepper must have done that.

"Friday, what time is it?"

"Good morning, Tony. It's 8:55 in London."

"Pepper let me sleep until 9?!" He mocked her words from the day before expecting her to be in the room someplace with him. No one said anything. He was clearly alone.

He rubbed his face and grew more awake. "Friday, where are Pepper and Soli?"

"Soler Chaomlean is in the playroom with Genie Smith. Pepper Potts is in the work-out room located on the seventh floor."

"That's odd. Are there two work-out rooms?"

"There are plans for another one on the fifth floor. It has not been installed yet."

Tony rose his eyebrows. "Huh. I didn't know that."

He stood up and stretched his back. "Where's John?"

"Doctor Johnathon Smith is presently in his suite."

He held his hand out. "Then who's flying the damn ship?"

"Captain Jack Harkness, sir. Would you like the location of the other passengers?"

He pointed to the ceiling. "Don't be a smart ass, Friday."

Tony took a quick shower. He wore a pair of trousers from one of his suits and a black oxford. Just as he started to make himself a cup of tea, he decided to pick up a file from the table instead. He opened it and read it over.

He sighed, left his suite, and went to John and Rose's. He pressed the button on the side of the door. When it slid open, he heard Samuel's voice first.

"Nee!" He exclaimed, with his hands in the air.

The Doctor lay on the floor beside of where Samuel sat. They seemed to be playing with a football.

Tony smiled, "Nee, is here."

The Doctor kissed Samuel's head. "Tea, Tony?"

"I'll get it-"

"Nah. I'd like one myself." He stood up and walked over to the kitchen.

Samuel held his hands over his head and babbled at top speed.

Tony chuckled at him. "What is he saying?"

The Doctor smiled proudly back at his son. "He's telling you how Genie went to play with Soli in the playroom. Pepper went with Mum Mum, and his Papa is lying on the sofa."

Lewis, unseen from where Tony stood, didn't sit up. "Papa sees you, Samuel."

Samuel began to babble again.

The Doctor was busy making tea in the kitchen. "Lewis. Want some tea?"

Lewis sat up and groaned. "Yes. Ugh."

Samuel blew his tongue at his Daddy.

The Doctor grinned, "You're right. I didn't. I'm sorry. Would you like some tea, Samuel?"

Samuel laughed.

The Doctor shook his head, "See, cheeky boy. That's the reason I didn't ask."

Tony tossed the file on the coffee table and sat down on the floor next to Samuel. "What's wrong, Lewis Smith? Leg hurting?"

Lewis shook his head. "I really don't know about this leg. John looked at it again last night. It's taking forever to heal."

The Doctor called across the bar. "These things take time. His muscle on his calf is cramping."

"Charley horse. That's what we call them in the states." Tony made a face. "Damn. That hurts, too."

Lewis nodded, "Yes, it does. I'll fully admit it. Mortimer says Jake Simmons is really wound up about something."

The Doctor groaned. "I'm not getting involved, Director."

"John. This shit isn't going to work. You know it won't."

"It will. I've promised Rose that I'll stay out of it, if she does."

Tony looked confused, "What is this?"

Lewis explained, "John and Rose have quit Torchwood. Everything. Doesn't want to be a part of it at all."

Tony looked back at the Doctor. "Really? I thought she was going to train those agents."

The Doctor shook his head. "Nope. Not anymore."

Tony looked back at Lewis. "Huh. Well, how are the bets on that?"

Lewis laughed, "Even money. Want in?"

"Hell yeah."

"I'm really done with it." The Doctor insisted. "Jake Simmons refuses to tell me things I need to know about this family. He's lucky I haven't gone in those offices-"

Lewis laughed, "And punched his ass out. Oh, we have money on that too, Tony."

Tony pointed at Lewis. "I need a daily listing of this shit. I'm in on that, too. I say, right hook. To the jaw."

Lewis nodded, "Done. I said the nose. Quick jab."

Tony motioned a quick jab and grinned. "Yeah. You might be right."

The Doctor complained as he made the tea. "There are a million reasons, guys. It's not just Jake."

Tony couldn't help himself, "Well, if he's wound up, you should call him and see why."

"Not getting involved."

"He's keeping something else from you, Governor." Tony teased.

"He probably is. I'm going to give him the chance to-"

"Screw this up?" Tony asked.

"Come to me and explain."

Tony shook his head. "And I'd like in on that bet, as well."

Lewis nodded his head. "Done."

Tony grinned, "How much longer do you give this goober being Director?"

Lewis smiled, "You really do need a daily listing of this stuff."

Tony pointed at him, "One week."

"Four days."

Tony nodded, "Done."

Samuel, who had been crawling around the sitting room, crawled to Tony. "Nee! Nee!"

Tony held his hands out to him and Samuel grabbed them. He began to babble again. Tony nodded as if he understood him. "Well, how about that?"

The Doctor brought them their tea. Samuel crawled out of the room, and down the hallway.

Tony sipped his tea. "Thank you, John. I brought that file you had asked about."

The Doctor picked it up and opened it. Realizing it was the records that Howard Stark had created on the recipe he had used for Tony, his eyes got wide. "Wow. I never in my lives thought I would see this."

Tony lay down on the floor. "Sam. Where did you go, man? Come back in here."

The Doctor slipped on his glasses and sat back to read over the file. "He's fine. All of the doors are closed. He crawls down the hallway and back."

Lewis spoke to Tony, who had sat back up and was sipping his tea. "Ashena wants us with Lartius, at the castle, in two hours."

"Who? Me, you, John?"

Lewis sipped his tea. "I don't know who all to expect. Lartius suggested you attend the meeting first, so we can get Ashena back to Andromeda. Then, you bring Pepper down to see the castle. For some reason. I have no idea. But, he was quick to invite you down."

Tony nodded his head and lay back down. Samuel crawled back around the corner and laughed when he saw Tony lying on the floor.

"Nee!"

Tony rose up and sat his tea on the table, then lay back down. Samuel crawled to Tony, who picked him up and held him over his head. Samuel put his hands in his mouth and laughed. Tony brought him down and blew air on his cheek, playfully. It made Samuel laugh and clap his hands.

Tony then helped him stand on his chest. "You are going to be walking soon. Maybe I need to make you a little suit-"

The Doctor didn't look up, "No. No suit."

Lewis laughed at his grumbling.

Tony chuckled at Samuel. "No matter. You are fun without a suit."

He held him up again and brought him down to his lips to blow air on his stomach. Samuel laughed with Tony, then crawled away again.

Lewis smiled, "How did you sleep?"

"Like I had died. I don't even remember Pepper coming back last night. Or leaving this morning."

Lewis nodded his head. "What is your palladium at this morning?"

"7%." Tony told him and picked back up his tea.

Lewis nodded and looked back at the Doctor. "John, did you hear that? 7%?"

The Doctor nodded, clearly distracted with the files, "Yes. 7% is going in the right direction." He looked up and pointed at Lewis. "Take your pain medicine."

Lewis groaned and stood up. "Damn it. I need to go get it. I'm going to Control Room."

The Doctor didn't look up as Lewis limped away. He continued to look at the files and reached in his pocket for something. "Medicine, Lewis."

Lewis turned and caught the small injector that the Doctor threw to him without looking. He injected it into his neck as he limped out the door. Grumbling, "Medicine, Lewis."

The door slid shut behind him.

Samuel crawled back down the hallway, laughing. Tony sipped his tea. "Ah, perfect temperature now."

The Doctor didn't look up. "This is…amazing."

Tony groaned.

He sat the file in his lap. "Honestly, how are you with this?"

Tony shrugged his shoulders, "It is…what it is. Right? Nothing I can do about it."

"Well, I'm looking at this and there are some things you probably don't know. I…." He struggled to find words.

"You can tell me man. I'm already in a …..place about this."

The Doctor pointed at something on the file. "This, would have given you a memory that makes it impossible to forget anything."

Tony nodded, "Yes. I know that."

"So, you can do that?"

"I don't tell anyone I can. I've only told Pepper recently. I would prefer no one knew."

"Now, that's interesting. Why wouldn't you tell people you can do that?"

"Would you?"

The Doctor rose his eyebrows. "Well-"

"Fucker, you can, can't you?"

"I see your point. And this….you have laser like focus on something. You can probably focus everything out."

Tony sipped his tea. "I think that's called, 'Daydreaming'."

The Doctor chuckled, "Hardly daydreaming. Wow."

Tony nodded. "Yeah."

"There's a ton of other stuff with this. But….well….this. Huh. This one didn't work. He has notes that he put it in several times."

"Yeah, the….running fast and soldier things. No. They never showed up."

"But, they are still there. Tell me, do you have pain….just.." The Doctor put his hand on the top of his own back, just below his neck. "Just right in there?"

Tony sipped his tea and nodded, "Yes. Dad told me that when I was very small, I fell into a shelf. The doctor told them I had chipped a vertebra there. It hurts if I have been on my feet too much, or if I haven't slept. It always has."

"A chipped vertebra?"

"That's what I was told."

"Can I ….be honest with you about this?"

"I would really like someone to be honest with me about this. Please."

"Well, I have scanned you several times. There is no chipped vertebra, and there never has been. That is where all of those injections where administered. Several of these, are rather….toxic. I don't know how you survived it. This one in particular, is talking about a …..ummm…..well, it's supposed to dissolve over time to administer the dose when you were older. It never did."

Tony took a deep breath. He wasn't sure how to feel about this new information. He was already angry about it, but this was making him furious.

The Doctor rubbed his chin and looked back at the file. "That's surprising the scans have never picked that up before. Interesting. Oh, well, that's why. It's the casing it's in. Collagen. It reads as bone. That is very interesting. The reason he told you that was because that's what it would look like on an x-ray. Bone fragments. Brilliant."

Samuel crawled back into the room and pulled himself up using Tony's shoulder. As soon as Samuel touched Tony, he immediately felt better. He kissed the baby's cheek. "Nee needed that. Thanks."

Samuel smiled, "Nee."

Tony pointed at the Doctor. "Who is that? Have you said his name yet?"

The Doctor didn't look up. "No. He still won't."

Tony put his forehead to Samuel's. "Stop giving Da Da a hard time. If you can say 'Nee', you can say 'Da.' Try it."

"Nee. Nee. Nee."

Tony shook his head and pointed at the Doctor. "Who is that?"

Samuel looked at his Daddy, stuck his tongue out and blew it.

The Doctor pointed at him. "Cheeky boy. I'm going to tell Mum Mum."

Samuel laughed, " Mum. Mum. Mum. Mum." He got back on all fours and crawled away again.

Tony looked back at the Doctor. "I tried, man."

"Thanks. He'll get it."

"So, I have something in my back that hasn't dissolved. Why not?"

"A million reasons, and be grateful it hasn't. With everything else you had, and the palladium, it could be toxic. In fact, it might be the thing behind this palladium problem. That explains why you can't wash it out of your system. It's likely found its way to that and is slowly releasing it."

"But it would slowly be releasing the other stuff, too. Right?"

The Doctor closed the file and sipped his tea. "I need to remove that. I can do it…well….it won't take but just a bit. Want to go take care of it now?"

"We're meeting with the-"

The Doctor was already standing up, "This won't take but a second."

Tony groaned. "Fine. You know, I'll do it. I trust you. We'll just…..go do it."

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Lance stood in Jane's studio, looking at the pictures she had in an album of her work. The sun shone brightly into the windows. It was a beautiful winter day in London.

Jane changed into a lovely, simple, brown dress. She slipped on her trainers as she walked into the studio. "I'm ready. Thank you, Lance. I feel…more presentable now."

He turned back to her and smiled, "You are lovely. I love that color on you."

She grinned, "My favorite color."

"It's quickly becoming mine."

She giggled. "Looking at my album?"

He nodded, "These are amazing."

She smiled proudly. "Those are just children's photos. I need to make another one of adults, weddings and such."

He noticed she had put her hair into a loose braid that hung on her shoulder. He ran his hands through his own hair, stood up, and started to walk towards her.

She held up her hand. "Hang on. Do you mind?"

He stopped and looked confused. "What?"

"You are….just so handsome. There, with the light. Do you mind if I-"

He laughed at her. "I don't mind. Sure."

She picked up her camera from a table and changed the settings on it. Lance watched her work and couldn't help the smile that spread on his face.

She walked to him and took his hand. She led him over to stand near the windows.

He grinned, "This is….strange. You looking at me like that."

She let the camera hang on her neck. "Are you uncomfortable?"

He shook his head. "No. I just..."

"Not used to being the center of attention, huh?"

"It's not in my nature. I'm trained to blend in."

She rose her camera and he heard it snap several times. "I've never seen you as a 'blender'."

"Really?" He asked and scratched his arm. His muscle seemed to prevent the sleeve from going down fully.

Jane stopped taking pictures and looked at him.

"What?"

She grit her teeth. "Could I ask you, to take off your shirt?"

He laughed, "I think breakfast is out. Next will be my jeans." He took off his shirt and tossed it on her desk.

She giggled at him and took more photos. "We could order in."

He pointed at her. "We could do that. It's completely up to you."

She continued to take pictures and smile. She asked him to pose a bit for her, which he happily did.

After about ten minutes, she put the lens back on her camera and sat it on the desk. She picked up his shirt and brought it back to him. He pulled it back on himself and took her hand in his. "Get some good ones?"

She smiled, "I don't know. I'll edit them when we get back. Let's go get some breakfast. My treat, to pay you for being my model this morning."

He chuckled. "Sounds fair. Okay."

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Rose and Pepper walked back into Rose and the Doctor's flat on the ship. The Doctor stood holding Samuel against his shoulder and humming to him. He had just fallen asleep.

Rose smiled at them and said quietly, "Hello. My guys."

The Doctor smiled at her. "He's exhausted. He helped his Da Da in the med bay just now."

Pepper joined them from the kitchen, and handed Rose a bottle of water.

Rose rubbed Samuel's back. "Med bay? Lewis' leg again?"

He shook his head, "No. Tony needed something removed. He….well…..he probably wouldn't want me talking about it-"

Pepper looked surprised, "Tony? Is he alright?"

The Doctor looked at Pepper, trying to decide what to say. "Hmmm-"

Pepper pointed at him, "You know that doesn't work with me. What is going on?"

"Well, he….he will probably need to talk to you about that. He needs to talk to someone about it."

Pepper sighed. "I'll go find him. Where is he?"

The Doctor shook his head. "I have no idea. Friday, where is Tony?"

Friday spoke, "Tony Stark is presently in the conference room."

Rose looked surprised, "There's a conference room?"

The Doctor kissed Samuel's sleeping head, "For now. I'm going to do something else with it. It's next to the transporter. Do you know how to get there?"

Pepper nodded her head. "I do. I'll go take him his jacket. I'm sure he's forgotten it."

The Doctor grinned. "Yes. And a tie. We need to go in a bit."

Pepper walked out of the door.

Rose turned to him. "Is he alright?"

"He'll be okay. He's just….going to have to sort out some demons. That's all."

She shook her head. "Poor guy. Like he didn't have enough of that to deal with."

"Ah. He'll be alright. You need to go get ready. Are you going to the surface?"

Rose smiled and shook her head, "Baby, why should I go?"

"Well, it's a castle. A king. Ashena-"

Rose shook her head. "My baby is up here. He needs his Mum so he'll sleep. I'm not pushing that off on someone else-"

"You're not pushing that-"

She held her hands out for Samuel. "You're right. I'm not."

He sighed. "Okay. Right. Fine. Not arguing."

"That's a wise choice. Mum always knows what's best." She teased him as she took Samuel in her arms and kissed his sleeping head.

He stood and looked at her.

She looked back up at him, "What is it?"

He smiled, "Just….happy. Just, seeing you." He rose his hand to caress her cheek.

She smiled at him. "I can feel that. I love you, too."

He kissed her lips quickly and chuckled.

She smiled, "What else is going on?"

"Only a million things."

"As usual."

"As usual. Yes." He laughed, "Lance needs your help. He needs to tell this… Jane that he's ….from out of town. He says I'm no help."

Rose laughed, "I can see that."

"But, I told you-"

"No, you didn't."

He put his hands on his hips and thought. "Yes, I did."

"You….are a nutter. You didn't. Think about it."

He started to argue with her just as the Jack's voice came across the speaker in the room. "And Ashena's ship is here. Lartius says you are welcome to come on down, anytime. Logan is gathering his stuff so he can rejoin his princess. I'm sure he's ready for some sweet loving. I know I am."

The Doctor closed his eyes and sighed, "I need to go tell him bye. Ummm. I did tell you."

She teased him with her tongue in her teeth. "Technically, you didn't. I'll talk to him. This needs a delicate touch." She walked down the hallway with Samuel.

He stood watching her walk away from him wearing the tight running clothes. He rubbed his face and groaned. "Are you saying I can't handle something delicate?"

She laughed. She could feel that he was looking at her, and knew he was undressing her with his eyes. She spoke in his head, 'I'm going to lay this one down and take shower while you are gone.'

He shook his head. 'That's just mean. Sending me away with that image in my head.'

She giggled as she walked into their bedroom.

He sighed and shook his head. "I did tell her. What is she on about?" Then he remembered the moment she had walked into his TARDIS for the first time. The surprised look on her face as she looked around. He was busy looking at the plastic head he held in his hands. "You see, the arm was too simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source. Right. Where do you want to start?"

Rose nodded, "Er, the inside's bigger than the outside?"

"Yes."

"It's alien."

"Yes."

"Are you alien?"

"Yes. Is that alright?"

"Yes." She said and turned around.

"Damn it. She's right. I didn't tell her. She figured it out. Huh. Well, she can help Lance sort this out, then. Maybe Jane will figure it out." He grumbled as he walked out of the door.

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Tony stood in the small, oval room onboard the Doctor's ship with his arms crossed. The lights were turned off and the room was illuminated from the glow of the blue, green and white planet below them. One wall had windows that went down the entire side. A long table and twenty chairs where the only things in there. Tony wasn't surprised he never seen it before. John never seemed the 'formal sort'. This was clearly one of those rooms that had came from the shipyard like this, that John had other plans for.

Tony stood looking out of the windows at the Quauhtin homeworld below. One tenth of the planet appeared burnt. The area was black, but there were signs of recovery in places. He could see bits of brown and green within the black.

The door hissed open. He turned and looked to see Pepper standing in the doorway holding his jacket and a tie. He smiled painfully back at her. "Hey."

She was wearing grey, cotton shirt with tight, black yoga pants. Her hair was in a tight pony tail.

"There you are. I brought you a tie and your jacket."

He nodded, "Thank you. I was about to go back to the space dorm and grab them."

She walked over and stood in front of him. One look at his face and she knew he was furious and wasn't there to look at the planet.

He pointed out the window. "Look at that. What a weapon of mass destruction will do."

She looked at the planet, "My God. How long ago did that happen?"

"Lartius told me it happened when his father was King. King Legate. Our Legate's great grandfather."

Pepper smiled at him. "That's still so hard to believe. Legate, a Prince."

Tony cleared his throat. "Lartius is extremely proud of his family. And he should be. From the story he told me, King Legate saved the entire planet along with his nephew. They died right in the center of where that burnt part of the planet is. That entire family…. seem to be….remarkable. And our Legate saved enough to repopulate a planet of these people. Amazing. Bravest bunch I've ever met."

"I look forward to meeting him."

Tony pointed out of the window. "You can see the edges are starting to grow back. It looks like a laser cut the planet there. Probably from a ship above. If it was something that had happened on the surface, it would have had a blast radius around it. That looks like someone carved it out. I should ask him what it was that did that. Legate probably knows, too. Huh."

She lay his jacket and tie on the chair that sat just beside of them. She noticed that Tony's shirt was mostly unbuttoned. She took both of his hands in hers. "Are you alright?"

He sighed and looked down at the ground. He didn't say anything but nodded his head to tell her that he was.

"John didn't tell me anything except he had removed something. I asked him to explain, and he told me I would have to talk to you about it. Are you really alright?"

Tony took a deep breath and turned around so she could see band-aid, just below his collar. He turned back around, "John said to leave it on until tonight. He has, that cream on it that keeps it from scarring."

He didn't look at her.

She buttoned his shirt. He stopped her and took her hands back in his.

"Tony. You need to get dressed. You're expected down-"

He nodded, "I know."

"Tony, you can tell me."

He sighed and bit his lip. "I don't want to even repeat it."

"Soli?"

He shook his head. "No. I hope not with this meeting, too. I just can't take any more bad news today."

She wrapped her arms around him and they held one another tightly. She could feel his hand holding her head tightly to his.

After a few moments, Pepper felt him kiss her head and relax. She leaned back and saw him wipe his eyes with his hands and take a deep breath. She shook her head. "No. Sit down."

They sat down in the chairs, facing one another. He looked down and started to do up his buttons of his black oxford that he wore. She handed him the tie and started to put it on. He whispered. "I'm alright, Pepper."

"Sweetheart, you're not. Please talk to me."

He looked at her and saw the worry in her eyes.

"Tony. You are frightening me."

He shook his head. "It's nothing like that. I'm sorry. Umm… John took a capsule out of my back. My spine, in fact. Tiny, thing. Things, rather. There were four of them."

"Are you in pain?"

"No. In fact, I've never realized that it has hurt all of my life. It doesn't now."

"Why?"

Tony rested his elbows on his knees. "Do you really want to know this?"

"You need to talk about this. Stop bottling up everything."

He sighed, "He….lied to me, and Mom. If he had told her the truth, I don't think she would have stayed. Not after my brother died and all of the… shit… There's just no way she would have."

Pepper knew he was talking about his Dad. He was so angry, he was having trouble organizing his thoughts.

"Do you know why Stark Industries doesn't make chemical weapons?"

"The NATO agreement of '97?" She asked.

"No. Because. As perfect Captain Rogers said, 'Howard Stark was friends with men from the first war. Senior. He said the tales of chemical warfare were unbelievable. Howard said it gave him nightmares, just thinking about it. If he was going to make a weapon, he said he would rather have it be something that would kill a man. Not torture them.' I've heard him say that, too. Over and over. Ground it into my head. Obie always wanted them, and Dad never allowed it. He insisted I didn't either."

"One thing you two agreed on."

Tony grit his teeth. "He wouldn't torture someone he didn't know. But…..do you know why he took me from an orphanage?"

"Tony. What has happened?"

"Because, if he had killed me in his sick experiments, he could have gone and got another one!" He was barely able to contain his temper. He was so hurt and furious, he was barely able to speak without his voice breaking.

She took both of his hands and waited for him to calm down.

He continued. "He….made these…..injections. Full of all sorts of things to enhance my memory, my brain, my everything. You remember, we had talked about that. With, me….being unable to be a father….and such-"

"Tony, that's not a big deal to me."

"From what John has told me now, the injections should have killed me."

"But, they didn't."

"But, he wouldn't have cared if they had. He would have went back to get another kid, and started again. He already had four picked out."

"How do you know this?"

"He kept records of everything. I thought that was what it was." He shook his head in complete disbelief. "All of the children are given numbers as identification markers, from the orphanage. John noticed a list of five. Mine was at the top. Number 6722910."

Pepper fought back her anger and tears, too. Tony sat back and covered his mouth to compose himself. "There was this….thing. I remember seeing once when I was really very small. I went down to his shop where he worked on things. It was sitting in the corner. It was a board about as long as my arm, with leather belts attached to it. I picked it up and asked him what it was and he became furious. He had been drinking and I should have known better. He shouted and told me how my Mom had never wanted me and that's why he had taken me. I was worthless to even her. How, my Mom had begged him for a child, so he would just have to put up with me."

She whispered. "Tony."

He shook his head. "That was a good day with him. He told Mom I had fell into a shelf, and I believed it for years, too. But, now I know he had put this capsule in my back. It would slowly release some of the chemicals to make me strong and one of his stupid, 'Super Soldiers'. It never dissolved fully and fed the palladium. That's what John removed. He found that he had done it several times, hoping it would work. It never did."

"That's not what has you so upset. What was the board for?"

He closed his eyes tightly and shook his head. "He had strapped me to the board to put those shots in my back. I couldn't have been older than Samuel. Can you imagine that? A baby, small like Arles. A person doing that to him."

Pepper wanted to run out of the room and cry. She knew that wouldn't help anything at all. She knew in that moment, she had to be powerful enough for both of them.

She held his hands tightly. "Tony. Howard Stark was a monster. He absolutely was. You are a good person, like your Mom. You know this was wrong what he did you."

"He ….was responsible for killing Arno. John found that, too. With his….injections. It didn't mix with…something. I honestly had to stop listening at that point. I asked John not to tell me anymore after that."

"You might need more to this story-"

He shook his head. "I can't hear more to this story. I just. Can't."

She nodded her head. "I understand."

"Don't you see? He is as damn bad as these fuckers that had Soli. Worse."

"Yes. I do see that. And you should be angry about this. But, Tony. He's not here to be angry about this. Sometimes you have to accept and apology that you will never get."

Tony shook his head. "I can't do that."

"One day, you might be able to. But, in the meantime, you need to focus on what's here now. Tony, this is terrible, but there is a little boy here. Now. Who needs your help. So many who depend on you. If you let this consume you, he will have destroyed you. Just like he did your brother. Do not give him the pleasure. Focus on your Mom. She taught you how to love and showed you that you were worth it. Tony, you are worth it."

"Tony, you have a hard of steel." She tapped where he used to have the arc reactor. "And I see it with so much that you do. You've spent so much time trying to convince people otherwise, but I see it so clearly. I see, so much of a woman who I never met. Someone you have only told me the sweetest things about. I look at my engagement ring and realize that it's made from the closest thing that's ever been to your heart, since she was there."

"That's where you are now." He pointed at his chest. "Right there. So much better than shrapnel or an arc reactor."

"Exactly. Tony this is terrible. It's alright to be upset, and to cry about it. But, you can't go back and change what happened. But, you can start here. Where you are now, and change the path for someone else. You have saved this little boy, but you're not done. You've only just started. Those monsters that had him are still out there. He still needs you. You can't let this consume you."

"So, I have to choose. Is that what Jimmy would say here?"

"Tony, I'm here for you. Always. You can dwell on this and be pitiful, or you can sit this aside to be angry about another day. Decide now, that you are better than this, and realize that you have survived this and worse. You are powerful without even trying hard, but that's only on most days. Some days, you have to work at it. Today, you're going to have to try."

He sighed, "I don't know about this-"

"It's not forever. It's for today. This is where we are right now. You have to try, just for today. Alright?"

He grinned at her. "I have to try. Just for today. How about tomorrow?"

She smiled at him, "I'll tell you the same thing."

He smiled back at her.

"We live our lives one day at a time. Only made decisions that require a lot of effort like this, on a temporary basis. So, that's why I'm telling you, we are worrying about today. Just today. Tomorrow, will hold its own problems."

He chuckled at her, "That sounds so Irish. You should say it with the accent."

She smiled proudly, "Jimmy was Irish. What do you expect?"

He finished putting on his tie and smiled back at her. "Thank you, Pepper. And Jimmy."

They both stood up and she helped him on with his jacket. He turned around and looked at her face just as she wiped the tears from his eyes.

"There. No one will know. You look, very handsome."

He put his hands on her cheeks and kissed her. She held his hips and slid her hands to his bum as he licked her lips. Her tongue danced in his mouth, then his came into hers. He seemed to be gaining his strength the longer he kissed her.

His bracelet beeped. "Hey! Hey! This is Captain Jack's reminder. Everyone who is going down for the meeting, need to get their butts to the transport room. I'm ready to scramble some molecules!"

Tony laughed at Jack's announcement. "He's crazier than I am."

Pepper held him, "Tony. You are alright."

He smiled at her without taking his hands from her cheeks. "Thank you for the pep talk. It helped."

"Tony, I'm always here for you. I love you and want you to know you are loved. You are so dear to me. You do know that, don't you?"

He was smiling larger than he had all day. He whispered, "I love you, always."

He caught her lips again and kissed her. He caressed her cheeks and laid his forehead to hers. "After this meeting, Lartius wants me and you to tour the castle."

She rose an eyebrow and leaned back to look at him. "You're serious about getting married there."

He nodded, "I am. Although, I had a better idea."

She stepped back, closed her eyes, and held out her head. "Hang on a minute. You and your crazy ideas. I need to prepare myself."

He stood in front of her and bounced on his feet. He buttoned his jacket and rolled his shoulders. "That's so odd that doesn't hurt anymore. Wow."

She looked at him, "Alright. Ready. What's your idea? A wedding Expo?" She teased.

He looked surprised and jerked his head back. "That's not a bad idea."

"Oh God."

He laughed, "But not what I was thinking. How about the winery?"

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "The winery?"

"Yes. That way, it's as if…Jimmy is there."

She covered her mouth and willed herself not to cry.

He thought, "Although, a wedding Expo. Huh. I'll have to get that some thought-"

"Tony!"

He grinned and wrapped his arm around her waist as they walked out of the room and towards the Transporter Room.

"I love that I'm friends with this man I never met. And he would have liked me!"

Pepper smiled proudly at him. "I think he would have. But, only after he had gotten to know you."

"Terrible first impression, huh? Yeah, I've heard that about me."

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