Y'all, I am so sorry. This chapter has been written for like a week but I got sucked into another fanfiction and I just couldn't put it down. I read all three parts in a week. Shout out to SolasShines for writing one hell of a Kakashi-based fanfic!

Anyway, here you are, my dears! Enjoy!

"Tony, I have to stop." Olive fell to her knees in the sand. Exhausted and injured, her body was finally giving in to it. They'd been wondering around for hours with no other sign of civilization and Olive had just about had enough. Tony turned back and took a knee next to her, taking a look at the wound on her leg and making a face. With all the dirt and sand and god knows what else getting into it, the wound was starting to get infected. It wasn't horrible, but he needed to get her to a hospital as soon as possible. She sat down and looked at him with the biggest unintentional puppy eyes and he sighed.

"Here, let me see your chest."

Olive smirked, "How many times a day did you say that back home?"

Tony couldn't help but smile at the sense of humor that she seemed to be holding onto and pulled open her shirt. Her bandages were still holding okay, and the wires he'd rigged to her magnet seemed to still be doing their job. He thought about their crash landing and the fleeting moment of bliss they had before they realized that one: now they were stuck out in the desert with no food, water, or shelter; and two: Olive's battery and wires were gone.

"Tony, what am I gonna do?" Olive started searching frantically for the big black box that was keeping her alive. Without that magnet she probably had a few days before that shrapnel get to her heart, but who knows how long they were going to be stuck out there? Tony came running after her, stopping her before she ended up with a panic attack.

"Olive, listen to me." He said, grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to stop, "You're going to be okay. We are going to be okay, do you understand me? We'll find the battery."

"But what if it got destroyed in the landing?"

"Then we'll figure something else out. I'll give you the arc reactor if I have to."

"No! Tony, you can't-!"

"Olive, stop. We've made it this far, we can't give up now. We're gonna make it home."

Olive was quiet a moment and Tony waited for her to speak. He needed her to be stable before they moved on or they weren't gonna make it very far.

"Am I gonna die?" she finally said, "Without the battery?"

Tony sighed. She was scared, he knew she was. Hell, he was scared. He pulled her into his chest, a reflex that was not normal for him but over the course of their imprisonment, this woman that he'd thought he'd known for years suddenly brought out another side of himself he didn't even know he had. But they needed each other, now more than ever. If they thought building that suit and getting out of the cave was hard, finding some way to get home was going to be nearly impossible. He held her at arm's length and looked her straight in the eye, "No, Olive, you're not going to die. Not today at least, and not on my watch."

He led her back to the pile of iron suit pieces and pulled a piece of cloth from his jacket that had gotten ripped on impact and wrapped it around her thigh, on top of the piece that was already there and she had already bled through, to stop the bleeding. That's when he noticed how small she was, and in turn how small he was. They both had some arm muscles from wielding all day every day for so many weeks, but the rest of their bodies were small, malnourished. The Ten Rings fed them enough to keep them alive but no more than that.

Once his makeshift bandage was secure they started to look for the big black box and some wires, all the while Tony was keeping an eye out in case anyone survived the explosion of the Ten Rings' camp and decided to come after them. It seemed hopeless, and the wind was starting to bury all of the pieces in sand. Olive let out a frustrated breath and sat in the sand with her legs to her electromagnet, resting her chin in her knees, and that's when she saw it. She sat up a little bit straighter, squinting in the bright sunlight at the small, black something sticking out of the sand, blue and red strings of some sort not too far from it.

"Tony," she said, her voice small and unsure of her discovery and not wanting to get his or her own hopes up but he stood up straight from having been bent down to dig in the sand and followed her gaze as she stood up and started for what she hoped was the battery, shouting with excitement when she realized that's exactly what it was. She never thought she would actually be excited to see it again but she ran straight for it with the biggest smile, skidding into the sand next to it on her knees and began digging. Tony was right behind her, reaching her just as she pulled the battery out of the sand with a smile. She yanked the wires that had come off of it and smiled up at Tony, "Can you fix it? Will this keep me alive?"

The corner of Tony's mouth pulled up and he sat in the sand next to her, "Let's see what we can do."

"Your head is bleeding again." Olive reached up and lifted the material he had wrapped around his head to protect himself from the sun, inspecting the gash he'd gotten from the crash landing.

"I'll be fine." He closed her shirt back up and winced at the movement. Olive furrowed her brow.

"You're hurt more than you thought you were."

"I'll be alright. Are you sure you can't keep going?"

It was excruciatingly hot, as to be expected, and they were right at the bottom of a large sand dune and Tony wanted to see if there might be a village or something on the other side. When he explained this to Olive she sighed, but nodded. She adjusted the straps for her battery that was slung onto her back and Tony helped her to her feet, helping her up the sand dune as slowly and steadily as he could. They would be lying if they said they didn't each have a little bit of hope that there was something or someone on the other side, but that hope was crushed when they got to the top and found nothing but miles and miles of sand.

Olive's knees buckled again and Tony was the only thing holding them up. He was about to say something that he hoped would lift their spirits, then he heard it. It was very faint at first but quickly grew louder and louder and he just knew that the desert had to be playing tricks on him. He and Olive turned their heads and saw a helicopter flying overhead. Keeping one arm around each other they each used their free arm to call attention to themselves, yelling and screaming and running for the helicopter. It stopped and both of them raised to fingers to signal peace and it started to descend. They took off running as fast as their weak bodies would carry them To both Tony and Olive's surprise, as they slowed their pace, they reached for each other's hand before falling to their knees in the sand.

A small group of American soldiers jumped out of the helicopter as soon as it landed and started running for them, and right in the front was none other than Colonel James Rhodes. Olive raised her hand to her mouth, sobbing at the sight of him. She hadn't really cried since they were first captured and now it was all hitting her very hard and very fast. She leaned over into Tony's chest and he didn't hesitate to wrap his arm around her, burying his face in her neck.

"We did it, Olive," he whispered, close to tears himself, "We're going home."

Rhodey approached them and they looked up at him with a look of happiness, joy, pain, exhaustion, all of it. He was quiet a moment, taking in the sight of them before he spoke: "How was the 'fun-vee'?"

Laughing hurt, but neither of them could help the chuckle that escaped from deep in their chests. Olive rested her head on Tony's shoulder and he tightened his grip on her hand as Rhodey squatted down in front of them, gripping Tony's shoulder, "Next time, you ride with me, okay?"

He nodded and Rhodey turned to Olive. There were tears streaming down her face and he shook his head with a smirk, "And you need to learn to take orders better."

She just smiled at him and he wrapped his arms around both of them, pulling them into his chest and he could feel both of them relax. But it only lasted a second. He got them both onto their feet and started for the helicopter, a soldier having to carry Olive when they realized how much pain she was in from her wounded leg. Someone else grabbed her battery and started to yank it away before Tony stopped them, showing them that she was connected and their eyes grew wide with fear. It took a little bit for Tony to convince them that it wasn't a bomb or a weapon of any kind before they let them on the helicopter. When they finally understood and get everyone on board and in the air, a couple of medical officers stepped in to look them over. Tony's arm had been dislocated and he had several cuts and bruises. When he told them the shortened version of how they escaped he was told he would need to be looked at for internal injuries. Olive was mostly fine, save for the nasty and infected missile-shot wound on her leg. She winced when they removed hers and Tony's makeshift bandage and even more so when they started to clean it up. Tony looked over from his stretcher and reached out to her with his good arm and she gladly took hold, gripping his palm as the doctors cleaned her wound with absolutely no gentleness. They landed at the base and they were taken away to be looked at; though they couldn't stay long. They had orders to get them back to the States as fast as possible. They kept them there long enough to get them cleaned up and bandaged up before being put back on a huge plane for the States.

The soldiers wheeled Tony and Olive into the plane that would take them home in wheelchairs, per policy orders, and they sat there the whole flight with Rhodey and a few other soldiers by their side. He observed them throughout the flight, comparing it to the last long flight he had with them and he could tell something had changed. He hadn't gotten the full story from them, and he wasn't sure he ever would, but being stuck together in that prison for three months definitely changed them.

When they finally landed and the ridiculously large cargo hanger door opened, Rhodey helped Tony to his feet. Olive's leg injury prevented her from walking, so one of the accompanying soldiers wheeled her with her car battery in her lap next to Rhodey as he helped Tony down the big ramp towards the small welcoming party on the airport runway. Olive wiped tears away when she saw Pepper and Happy waiting for them. She exchanged a look with Tony as an emergency medical team approached them but he waved them off.

"Are you kidding me with this?" he said, "Get rid of them."

"Tony, Olive needs immediate medical care." Rhodey replied.

That stopped Tony in his tracks, "What do you mean?"

"You may be in good enough shape to refuse medical assistance, but we have to take her to the hospital."

Tony looked down at her and saw her scared eyes. They hadn't been apart for three months until now, and he was surprised by the light skip his heart made at the thought of not being by her side. He shook it off and kneeled down next to her, "I will be right there as soon as I can, okay?"

She nodded her head, letting their hands linger where she didn't even know she'd been holding them. Pepper and Happy joined them, while Tony talked to the medics and Olive swore she heard him threaten them if they removed the magnet. Pepper reached down to hug her with pure joy and relief. Both girls had happy tears in their eyes and Happy also bent down to hug her before they took her away. She gave one last look at Tony before she was led away on the gurney. Tony watched her go before turning back to Pepper, who was wiping tears from her eyes.

"Your eyes are red." He told her, "A few tears for your long-lost boss?"

"Tears of joy. I hate job hunting." She replied, "And the Olive is alive. I don't know how I would survive this job without her."

"Yeah, looks like you're gonna have to last a little bit longer without her. Vacation's over."

The three of them piled into the car and Happy looked back at Tony in the rearview mirror, "Where to, sir?"

"Take us to the hospital, please, Happy." Pepper instructed. But Tony stopped her and she looked at him with confused eyes, "No? Tony, you have to go to the hospital."

"No." he repeated. He was watching the vehicle that was taking Olive to the hospital, "No is a complete answer."

"The doctor has to look at you."

"I don't have to do anything. I've been in captivity for three months. There are two things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger," he paused, "and the other…"

"That's enough of that."

"Is not what you think. I want you to call for a press conference now."

"Call for a press conference? What on earth for?"

"Hogan, drive. Cheeseburger first."