A few weeks after Christmas, Sarah arrived to find Howard painting a scale model of the Enterprise A, "Hey, that's pretty nifty. Did you build it yourself or with a kit?"

"Dad got me a 3D printer for Christmas and I did the designs. Did you have a good break?"

"Yeah. It was quiet. You?"

"Same here. Dad says my model needs accurate lights and working phaser beams, so he's down in the lab if you want to say hi."

"Sounds like visiting could be treacherous. No photon torpedos, though?"

"I'm sure he'll get to those next."

She ruffled his hair, "When I get back, tell me all about the Enterprise, OK?"

He nodded, focussing on the lettering on the hull. Sarah dropped her bag by the couch and wandered downstairs. She had only been to the lab once, but it was not hard to find- all she had to do was follow Tony's music.

She watched him from the door as he lowered a little arc reactor into a plastic disk and hooked up something within. He pushed a button and a small blast of light vaporised a paper target set up a few inches away.

He looked up and then glanced at the iPod dock as Warrant's "Cherry Pie" blasted; he turned it down just enough to talk over, "I'm not turning it off. You can tell me it's patently offensive, but this is my lab and my music."

"Why would I tell you to turn it off?"

"Because it's really a horrible song."

Sarah pulled a battered pink iPod mini from her back pocket and flipped through the songs; she went over to the dock, "Switch when it's done?"

"I almost fear what you are about to play."

"Oh, you'll live." When she pushed play, Tony held up one of his hands, miming readiness to fire on the thing if needed. She rolled her eyes.

"Wait, I know this song."

"You'd damn well better."

"You listen to hair metal?"

"Extensively. How could I not dig 'Bad Medicine'?"

"I am so glad I hired you."

"So how was your Christmas?"

"Too quiet. And hard. But did you see the model Howie made? Kid's brilliant. Just like his father. Yours?"

"Also quiet, but not in a bad way."

"How are your rats? He keeps asking about them."

"They're doing fine. I'll tell him when I get back upstairs. You OK down here?"

"Yeah. But I'd love some coffee. And maybe lunch. I forgot about breakfast again."

"I'll get on that. You're coming up to eat, though. No hermitting all day."

"Awww, you steal all my fun."

She took back her iPod and replaced his, "Yep, that I do, boss." As she walked out of the room, she heard him crank up "Kickstart My Heart".

While she did not let him hide through lunch, Tony retreated the rest of the day. He said he was fine and she went home to her own bed. The next morning, she arrived to a very still house and wondered what was going on. Tony was nowhere to be found and Howard was staring at his model. A few slices of toast sat untouched on a plate beside him.

"Howard...what's wrong? You're never this quiet. And you're not at school."

"Nothing important happens the first day back from break."

"You're not answering my question, honey. And where's your father?"

"I don't know. But don't expect to see him today."

"Why not?"

"It's their anniversary."

"Oh. What can I do to help?"

"Nothing. Expect him to be bad. He was on Christmas, too. He will be again on Mom's birthday."

"Firsts after loss suck."

"Yeah."

"Just tell me what I can do to make things easier and I'll do it- comfort foods, movies, whatever you need."

He tried to smile, "Thanks, Sarah. You're awesome."

"I do my best. Hang in there, kiddo. I need to go find your dad, but I'll be back soon."

Sarah did not find Tony, but there was a light on in Pepper's room, so she left him alone. By dinner, she was worried. She put pizza in the oven and went downstairs. She knocked on the door and no one answered. She tested the doorknob and found it unlocked. She slowly pushed the door open. Tony was passed out draped over the bed, bottles on the floor, one still in his hand. Photo albums and boxes of pictures were spread over the comforter. So were the contents of his stomach. She covered her nose and went closer. He was still breathing. She ran a bath and returned for him, hauling his mostly unconscious self into the warm water. He muttered a thank you and then dozed off. Sarah returned to the mess in Pepper's room. Her first concern was if the photo albums were damaged. One look told her that they were.

She went up to check on the pizza and to get a phone number from Howard, "How do I get in touch with Mr Rhodes?"

"Is Dad that bad?"

"Your dad will be fine when he sobers up a bit, but I need some help."

"Oh. OK." He recited the number.

She called him once she was back in Pepper's room, "Hi...this is Sarah at Tony's. I've got a big problem here. No, he's not dead. He threw up all over the photo albums in Pepper's room. If I send you a photo, can you see if you can find similar albums so I can try to save the pictures?"

An hour later, with Tony still asleep in the tub, James arrived, "I couldn't find any that were exactly the same, but I think these will work."

She had the albums on towels on the floor, "Awesome. Do you want to help me?"

"What are we doing?"

"Moving everything. If the pages are clean, we keep them and move them intact. If not, we take out the pictures and move them over to a clean page. The covers aren't salvageable."

"He must have been pretty wasted. He's threatened me for sneezing near these."

"I'm not sure he even knows he's in the bathtub. You want to make sure he's still alive?" He checked, and then settled down beside her. Pepper had scrapbooked a few of the albums, and while many of the pages were fine, there were a few they had to recreate on a clean page. Howard peeked in twice before bed time, but did not want to help. She tucked him into bed and resumed the work.

They took a break to shelve the albums they had finished before returning to the heavily damaged wedding scrapbook. Their work was not perfect, but it was either an imperfect salvage job done with care, or the entire album ruined.

A few minutes after midnight, they finished pulled Tony from the tub. He woke just enough change into dry clothes.

Sarah went to check on Howard, still awake in bed with a book, "Hey, kiddo. You OK?"

"I guess."

"You just guess?"

"No. No I'm not. I'm mad."

"At?"

"Dad. He's so stuck that he just forgets about me and drinks all day. And then he ruins the pictures of Mom. Is it bad that I kind of hate him?"

"No, it's not bad to be that mad. He's your dad and he's not there when you need him. That sucks. But he didn't ruin the pictures. I think four pictures have a little smudge at the edge because we had to wipe them. We did our best and even rebuilt scrapbook pages when we had to. Some of the stickers couldn't be moved, but we got most of them, and we did a pretty good job."

"He'll still be pissed off because you didn't do it perfect."

"And I'll tell him to stuff it. There were two options- do the best we could, or throw them away."

He sighed, "Thanks, Sarah. He might not think it's good enough, but I think you guys are awesome."

"You're always welcome."

"I think I'll try to get some sleep."

"Probably a good idea. James is getting your dad to bed and I'll be tucking in soon, too."

"Are you staying the night?"

"Of course."

He smiled as he set the book aside and she tucked the blankets up to his chin. James set up a cot in Tony's room while Sarah washed dinner dishes. She brought her bag down to the spare room and mopped Tony's bathroom before falling into bed.

In the morning, Sarah woke early and started breakfast. Howard helped in the kitchen. It was not long before James brought Tony to the table, his hand over his eyes.

"God I feel like hell. Rhodey, how much did I drink last night?"

"Do you remember being in the bathtub?"

"When was I in the bathtub?"

"Too much, Tony, too much."

"So how did I end up in the tub?"

"Sarah put you there. You were a mess."

Something clicked in his mind, "Wait, but I was in Pepper's room."

Neither Sarah nor James knew quite how to tell him what had happened, but Howard was still angry, "Dad, you threw up all over Mom's photos." Tony did not seem to hear him.

"But I told her not to go in there. Sarah, didn't I tell you not to go in that room?"

"Yes, you did."

"And you did anyway?"

"It's not like I had much of a choice."

"No, you did. And I told you not to." He was growing agitated, "You know what? How can I be sure you'll do what I ask when you disobey the one direct order I've given you? Just...just go home. You're done."

Sarah could barely contain her anger, but managed not to throw the plate of eggs at him. She set it down on the counter.

"Did you hear me? You're done. Go home."

"After what we did to fix what you screwed up... Next time, I hope you wake up with your face vomit-crusted to your wedding pictures. I should have left them, let it be a wake up call." She went to the guest room to pack her things.

James stared after her.

Howard tossed his silverware on the table, "God, Dad, you are such an asshole!"

"Hey, you don't talk to me like that!"

"Dad, you threw up all over Mom's photo albums! They spent HOURS moving everything. They even rebuilt Mom's wedding scrapbook because it was so bad!" He stormed away from the table and ran down the stairs.

James picked at his eggs, "He's not lying. I've never been a scrapbooking man, but I think I am now."

"Wait, what?"

"Your wedding album. The one Pepper spent days getting just right. You hurled all over it. We slit the plastic sleeves, lifted out the pages, and took everything off each one you ruined and rebuilt it on a clean page. Took us hours. You spent most of that time asleep in the bathtub."

He heard footsteps on the stairs, "Shit, I owe her an apology."

"A big one."

He saw her pass on the stairs, "Sarah! Wait!"

Sarah did not wait. She did not even hesitate. Tony bolted from the table and stumbled up the steps. She slammed the door and threw her bag on her front seat, cranking the radio. Michael Jackson. "Scream." Exactly what she wanted to do. She saw him open the door. She spun her tires as she left the driveway.

"I can deal with the drinking. I can deal with the vomit. I can deal with just about anything with what he pays me. But for hell's sake, I am not going to be treated like shit for doing something right."

She dug around in her bag and found her phone. There was one person who might be able to help her sort through her thoughts. Her brother.