I have decided to continue this story as connected one-shots. Each new chapter will be a recollection from one of the characters on a different picture on the wall.

I will try to explain in this chapter why Pepper got so emotional at the end of the last chapter.

On with the story…

- Coming Home –

"Well Jarvis, how did she like them?" Tony asked as he was working in the basement. He had already been informed that she had arrived for the day and he had tried his hardest to wait as long as he could before asking Jarvis her reaction.

"She is…touched, sir."

Tony heard the pause in the AI's response. "What's wrong?"

"She seems to be a little emotional, sir."

"Just great," he muttered to himself as he headed for the stairs. He now regretted adding that last photo.

The photo wasn't the biggest on the wall, it wasn't even in the center but it had drawn her attention because it was slightly blurry and fuzzy.

Taking a closer look she realized what she was looking at.

James was in the shot, still having all his gear on minus his helmet and it looked as though he may have been taking the picture himself the way his arm was angled and how close-up the shot was.

He had his arm around Tony. It looked like a half hug as well as support to hold Tony upright.

James was smiling with a look of pure relief on his face.

Behind Tony's shoulder she could just make out an open door with bright light pouring in.

It must have been them in the helicopter right after they found Tony in the desert. That would explain the blurriness of the photo.

Tony was trying to smile in the picture through the obvious pain he was in. He was dirty and bloody, and looked about 20 lbs lighter than he did when he left. But he looked determined. Determined to smile for the photo, determined that he wasn't going to give up after coming this far even though there was a gapping whole in his chest. And now looking back on it a determination to be a better person.

"I kept asking him to call you but he said we wouldn't be able to hear each other over the helicopter. I had to wait until we landed at the base." Tony noted as he had been able to walk up behind her without her noticing.

She cursed herself for not locking the door after she closed it. She didn't want him to see her like this. She didn't let anyone see her like this.

"Then once we landed they took me straight to the hospital. They still wouldn't let me call you. Rhodey promised me that he would call and I know he did but it just wasn't the same."

She wished he would just be quiet as it was getting harder and harder for her to keep fresh tears from forming.

"If you don't want it here I can take it down. Rhodey made me promise to take it down if it upset you."

She couldn't take it anymore. At this moment she didn't care if she was at work. This wasn't Mr. Stark her boss, it was Tony, her friend.

She turned to face him, still crying and just not caring anymore. She leaned into him and he put his arms around her, her hands resting on the arch reactor.

"You came home," she stated as if she still couldn't believe it, as if him standing there with her didn't make that obvious.

"Yeah, I came home," he said quietly looking over her shoulder at the photo.

The first thing Pepper did at work that day was to sit down and send a very long thank you e-mail to James.