It's earlier than Tony had anticipated being up. About four or five hours earlier to be exact, but Aaron had been fussy all night, and Pepper had taken the last watch, so now it was his turn. Of course, if Aaron followed the pattern he'd set in the last few weeks, then he was going to finally go to sleep in an hour...just in time for the sun to rise and normally, for his parents to start getting ready for the day.

As they now how the day off - except for those meetings Pepper had beguiled him into - Tony takes his fussy son down to the basement. Now is as good a time as any to attempt getting a hold of Mick. There's some questions he needs answered without Pepper finding out. Her confessions of the day before had hinted at things he'd done his best not to think about, but they'd also torn away any excuse he'd had for wearing blinders. He needs advice. About whether or not he's crazy…about what his options might be if he's not.

'This is only an attempt,' Tony has to remind himself as punches in the code for the workshop. In Savannah Mick had been a bit of a night owl, but he figures it can't hurt to check.

He sits down in his desk chair and logs into his email and instant messenger, relieved to see Mick's icon immediately pop up online.

Tag: HotSuperSecretSpy. Status: 'What on earth convinced me it was a good idea to have that sixth pork burrito last night?'

It's a little bit more information than's strictly necessary, and it makes Tony hesitate for moment before he starts to wonder if this is just his brother-in-law's sense of humor cropping up.

Shifting Aaron into one arm with the infant held securely against his chest, Tony opens up a window and types, "If I'm not interrupting anything important, do you have a couple of minutes to talk?" There's a pause of less than fifteen seconds before he gets a reply.

"God yes, I've been contemplating my navel the last three hours, so what's up?"

Tony hits the voice conference button, waits to get confirmation from Mick's end, then settles into his chair more comfortably. "Do I detect a hint of boredom in your voice, Andrews?"

"Forget a hint. This place is dead as a doornail this weekend. Even the crabs are marching back toward the ocean in what I assume is the intent of relief through suicide."

"Vacation not agreeing with you then?" Tony yawns and rubs his face with one hand. "I'd be glad to switch places with you."

"I said a slow weekend, Stark, not vacation. There's a series of festivals starting up soon, and the tours have been awesome. Not that you, Ginny and the monkey aren't welcome to fly down and visit for a week or two if you like."

"I wish we could," Tony says with true regret. This nine to five kind of workday had cramped his style before he'd also had a family to make time for. Not that he's going to say anything about the hours he's been working. If Pepper hasn't mentioned it yet in her frequent e-mails to her brother, then he's not going to jump into that fire. "You could ask Amelia to speed up her timetable."

"We'll see," is Mick's reaction after a moment of silence. "So...is this early morning for you, Stark, or did you just not go to bed again?" he asks after another moment or so. Tony gets the distinct feeling he's deliberately changing the subject.

"I've been in and out of bed several times already," he says, playing along for now. Besides, it's Pepper's place to nag on the girlfriend front. "Aaron's got a cold and is sleeping like crap at night."

Mick makes a sympathetic noise. "Try filling up one of the bathrooms with steam. It always helped knock me out when I had croup at that age."

"Not a bad idea," Tony acknowledges after a moment. "Pepper and I already talked about getting a nursery humidifier. In truth though," he pauses. "That's not really why I called."

"Yeah, didn't think it was. Or I hoped it wasn't. That was about the extent of my baby advice." Tony can hear the sound of a chair scraping back against a wood floor and footsteps. "What's up with Ginny?" Mick's voice is dimmer, as if he's moved to get something across the room.

"Why do you automatically think this has anything to do with your sister?"

"We've confirmed that it's nothing to do with Aaron, and if it had something to do with you, you'd be talking to Gin." The sound of footsteps gets louder. The chair scrapes again. It sounds like a bottle cap comes to a spinning stop on a table.

"I guess I could just use an ear to help me...process...through one of our recent conversations."

"Start talking. It's just me and the crabs...you know what I mean."

A grin flits across Tony's face, but it doesn't stay. Instead he shifts Aaron again and grabs a tissue to wipe the boy's nose. The move is fast - Pepper had made him practice at being ruthless about it - but still produces a few squalls from Aaron.

Those squalls in turn, set into motion something Tony had never actually programmed his 'bots to learn. But like a twitchy finger on the release of a fire extinguisher, Dummy comes rolling over, picks up a pacifier from Tony's desk and dangles it in front of Aaron's face though the crocodile tears in the boy's eyes keep him from noticing.

Tony sighs as he reaches for the plug and persuades Aaron to take it. He's thinking about learned behavioral patterns as he starts swiveling his chair back and forth to help calm his child, when other learned behaviors creep back into the center of his thoughts. There's so much he can say to Mick, some of it too personally revealing to be comfortable, some of it so integral to Pepper the woman that he doesn't know how to say it to her brother. Finally he simply says, "She's scaring me."

"In what aspect exactly?"

Mick doesn't sound totally surprised – or even bored, considering the long pause that had led up to the answer - which shores up Tony's failing courage. "We talked a bit about her...history. In dating I mean."

"Mmm...you mean her lack of serious relationships before you?" There's a guarded tone in Mick's voice, but still no surprise.

"That I more or less knew about. My past treatment of her as my employee –" and her acceptance of it "- is more than any boyfriend would have been willing to tolerate." Where Pepper had been concerned, he'd quickly set up a monopoly.

"I'm…worried…about her penchant for one night stands apparently aided and abetted by wine to help her 'relax'." Tony winces even as the words leave his mouth. That hadn't been the most delicate way to broach the topic. But then he needs Mick's advice, so pulling any punches seemed counter productive.

"I was wondering if and when I'd get a call from you about that." Again, the strongest emotion that Tony can discern in Mick's voice is resignation…or at least something very much like it. Considering the brother and sister in question, Tony doubts that Mick is quietly accepting of any of this. He's probably just tired of beating his head against this particular wall when it comes to Pepper. "I assume she did her best to make it sound like a harmless quirk, and that you're experienced enough to not have fallen for it."

"Would I be talking to you about it if I had?" Tony asks. This is hardly a conversation he'd be having with Mick unless he had any other choice. "I'm not happy about it. At all. Which she knows and probably even accepts, for all that she thinks I'm being hypocritical. But the way she raised the subject…" There's a little mouth working on the cotton of his collar; Tony closes his eyes as he holds his son a little closer. "The last time she was pushed too far beyond her boundaries, she ran away, Mick. She ran away without telling me what was wrong or where she was going. And I can't allow her to make me the reason she feels the need to run. Even if her arguments sounded logical, I can't risk her wellbeing."

There's a long silence on the other end of the connection. It'd been a lot to pour out at once, and it hadn't been terrible cogent, so Tony's not surprised that Mick needs a moment to process. But what Mick says next is surprising.

"Are you sure her wellbeing isn't already at risk?"

Tony's brow snaps down, causing deep furrows to appear in his forehead. "I'm not sure I like that statement. What exactly are you implying?"

"God. You're going to make me draw you a picture, aren't you?" Now Mick does sound resigned. "Fine. Let's pretend for my sake that we're not talking about my sister, in which case, protecting her from herself might actually be hurting her more than just…doing things her way. I'm not saying that I want you to deliberately get her drunk and take advantage of her. If you did that, I would have to take time out of my vacation to come pound on you."

"Oh, anything but that," Tony mutters under his breath.

"Suck it, Stark. Stop second guessing me for a few minutes, and put yourself in her shoes. For the first time in her life, Ginny is in love and physically attracted to someone. That on it's own isn't a big deal. That on it's own she is totally capable of handling, and it sounds as if she's trying to. But she's got to be freaked out. She's revealed a lot of weaknesses to you, Stark, and it hasn't be easy for her. For years she has respected the hell out of you and prided herself on the fact that you can rely on her for anything. Years. Do you get that? And you said it yourself that the last time she pushed herself too far, she freaked out in a big way. Do you think she wants to put you in the position of being the catalyst for another panic attack anymore than you want to be the reason for one? Everything she knows about sex has put her at odds from acting the way she wants to with you. And if I know my sister, she's viewing that not only as a personal failure, but as a disservice to you."

Tony's speechless. "But why…I love her just the way –"

"I've seen the way you look at her, Stark. You might be thinking in terms of 'when,' but right now Pepper is dealing with 'able.'"

Tony sighs. "Mick, there's got to be a better option here than booze."

"Technically? Yes. Of course there is..."

Tony waits...and waits a little more... "Were you going to clue me in, or is this something I'm going to have to try to work out for myself before coming back for a hint?"

Mick sighs again, "The real question right now, Stark, is if she's overloaded by the changes in her life at present, or if she's strong enough to face the possible trauma of everything that's behind this."

"I suppose that depends on what's behind it." Tony sighs and slouches in his seat as he cranes his neck to check on Aaron. Big blue eyes blink at him slowly. Aaron's eyes have been darkening over the last couple of weeks. Pepper thinks they might become hazel in time. Something about Mick having the same eyes.

"Professionally speaking, what's behind it is probable early childhood sexual abuse." The utter lack of emotion in Mick's voice as he says it tells Tony how hard the words are for him personally.

"That's exactly what I've been trying not to tell myself," Tony says hoarsely, still captivated by his son. By the innocence of his son. "That first time she told me about her mom, when we were in Georgia... She mentioned that she had learned to lock her bedroom door at night."

"I think I've known and not wanted to since the summer I turned thirteen. My parents used to...talk occasionally. I was a shrimpboat - small enough that it was easy not to see me. And once I was in graduate school, it was hard not to recognize my sister in the pages of my textbooks."

Okay, textbooks were good. Textbooks are great. Textbooks defined a problem and then described the steps of possible solutions.

"I just…I need to know what to do, Mick. I need to know how I can help to fix this."

"Well, talking to your wife instead of your brother-in-law would be a good start." Mick's voice is dry. "But since that's also just a start, I'm going to give you some homework. The first term I want you to look up is 'desensitization'…"


Pepper is stirring cream – or something non-fat and dairy free that's like cream – into her coffee when Tony finally stumbles into the kitchen. After finishing up with Mick and finally getting Aaron settled, he'd gone back to bed. He remembers curling up into her back, pulling her close as he tried to go back to sleep…and not too much after that.

The look on Pepper's face, the tight smile instead of the warm one he usually gets in the morning, puts him immediately on guard.

"What's wrong?" He wonders if she's already gone too far too fast and it's starting to catch up with her.

She relaxes – as if his cluelessness wipes away whatever she'd been thinking when she'd first seen him. The motion of her hand becomes more graceful as she sets the spoon aside in the sink. "Did you have a good talk with Mick this morning?"

Tony hesitates briefly, caught in the act of pouring his own cup of coffee. "Uhh…" Her tone is…off. Just a little. He'd can't tell if she's amused by the prospect of his early morning conversation or anxious because she suspects what the topic might have been.

Or maybe it's much worse, and she'd overheard part of the discussion. This isn't the first time it's occurred to Tony that Pepper might not appreciate his desire to "help." She can be too independent sometimes.

Pepper crosses to the kitchen table where the morning newspaper sits, unrolled and face up. "I woke up and you were gone. I asked Jarvis about it, wanted to know if Aaron was worse or something. He just said that you were engaged in conversation with my brother."

"Ah." Tony finishes his task, reaches for the sugar bowl. So she hadn't overheard anything. "I um…" But does that matter? There's really no use in dissembling. Honesty's the best policy and all that. "I fix things, Pepper. It's what I do." She looks confused when he turns away from the counter and faces her. "I needed to talk to someone who could help me process and figure out what I should be doing."

Comprehension slowly changes her. She holds her coffee mug so that it covers part of her lower face; her free arm wraps around her ribcage. Her feet rearrange into the "shy little girl" pose.

"Oh."

Tony huffs a sigh at his own communication related shortcomings before he sets his mug down. He takes hers away as well, setting it on the table before settling his hands on her shoulders. "I love you." Her shoulders shrug beneath his hands, as if this is accepted as a given, which isn't actually the reaction he was going for. Of course, if she'd met his eyes he would have believed her. Would have believed that she did accept it. "Don't shrug me off, Pepper. That's not - When I said I wanted to know how to fix this, it wasn't to imply that you're in any way malfunctioning."

"I am –"

"No. You're behaving the way you're programmed. Programming dictates behavior, but programming can be changed. I just don't know the code yet –"

Pepper's cheeks are flushed and her eyes keep meeting his and darting away. She's uncomfortable, but she's not trying to move away, so he stays put. "You could have asked me before running to Mick."

"Which is actually what he said. So here I am. Let's talk."

"I don't think this is a good time –"

"Aaron's asleep. Finally. Still. Whatever." He rubs her shoulders and waits for her to look up at him. "Why not?"

"I'm not ready." He's not sure they're even talking about the same thing anymore. These rapid fire exchanges are always impressive when he thinks about them later, but usually confusing right in the middle.

"That's not what I wanted to know," he responds, on the off chance they're both talking about whatever it is that's programmed her approach to intimacy.

"What is?" She guarded, cautious, as if she's having to trust him against her better judgment. He can understand. This isn't exactly what he would have chosen for early morning banter either. But she's clearly been waiting for the sword to fall, so waiting will make things worse.

"Why did you really leave LA?"