Should have put this in first chapter: I don't own the characters, they belong to MARVEL and Sir ACD respectively. I just like playing with them! :)

Chapter 3.

Temporal displacement can be a real bitch sometimes.

Tony's first day at Baker had started so well and, a little scary, if he was honest. As soon as he and John entered the house he was attacked by an older woman carrying a tea tray. The woman then went on, for ten minutes, commenting on his lack of empathy to others, the state of his health and finally his lack of personal hygiene.

"Mrs Hudson, maybe you could give us a minute?" Watson suggested. Mrs Hudson gave them a death glare before huffing, turning tail and disappearing through a side door. Watson pinched the bridge of his nose, "She just needs time to…" He turned and frowned, "Holmes?" He was standing in the middle of the hallway alone. There came a soft whimper from under the stair-case, he followed the sound and found Tony sitting on the tiled floor huddled around his sack. "Holmes?"

Tony looked up at him with wide eyes, "She nearly gave me a heart attack! Damn it, John, warn a bloke next time, eh?" Taking Watson's offered hand Tony held it tight as they headed up the steps. Tony buried his face against Watson's shoulder, "Hell, she's scary and she lives here with us?"

"No." He felt Tony's smile, "She lives here with you."

"Wha-?" Tony lifted his head, lightly bumping his nose under John's jaw. "Seriously?" John nodded with a chuckle. Tony wailed softly, arms going around the doctor squeezing him tight. "Don't leave me with her! She's a mad woman; I mean who attacks a defenceless man with a tea tray?"

"Apparently she does. Here we are: home sweet home." Watson nudged the door open with an elbow and Tony got his first look inside the great detective's life. "I made sure that everything was exactly as you left it, minus the rotting frog cadavers on the window sills, of course."

Cadavers? Frogs? What the hell? "Uh… thank-you." He edged forward into the room. His eyes taking in every detail; especially the mess. Every available surface was covered in papers and trinkets, clothes draped every-where (was that a shirt hanging from a mounted deer head?) and a couple of black boards full of equations (some of it gibberish, some of it advance mathematics and some of it looked like Latin. Latin?) Guess I found the source for my own sense of organized chaos. He smiled stopping at the bay windows, noticing that they nearly floor to ceiling, and looked out into the street below. He was so engrossed at the sight that he didn't noticed John was beside him until he felt the warmth of his arm brushing his. Tony leaned closer, testing the waters, and was a little surprised when John started petting his hair curling his fingers in the short locks at his nape. "Hhmm…" He could get used to this…

And then the side effects of time travel came into play double time. Tony thought he'd slept them off at the ware-house but apparently not. One minute he was leaning against Watson, the next…Welcome to blurry town.

"Holmes!" John carefully moved him to the nearest chair. "Are you alright? What's wrong?" He leaned closer trying to catch what Tony was muttering about and frowned picking up the odd word or two, "Temper what?"

"Temporal displacement. Feeling a bit blah." Tony closed his eyes head lolling to one side. "Thought I slept it off. Didn't…should've…better…"

"Come on." Watson gently pulled him up and staggered, thanks to the combined weight on his bad leg, towards the bed-room. Tony grumbled all the way trying to get free. Once inside Watson lowered him onto the bed and started to undress him. Off came the shoes, cap and waist-coat. Watson began un-buttoning Tony's shirt, he got the first two undone when Tony suddenly grabbed his wrist. "Holmes…"

Shit, the bandages! "M'fine. Light bruising…better in no time." He tried a smile. "No worries, Watson."

"No worries." John repeated, though he didn't look convinced one bit. "I'll get you some water, you get into bed. Doctor's orders." Tony gave him a shaky salute as he left. While in the bath-room John rinsed a tumbler filling it with cold water. He was worried, normally he could just about make sense of Holmes's rambling, but the nonsense he was sprouting sounded like… Watson shook himself; he wasn't going to think that. Holmes had been doing so well the last few months; surely a little bump on the head couldn't cause him to slide. His grip on the glass hardened slightly, John couldn't bear it if Sherlock had to go back inside the asylum again. The first time was hard enough. "Pull yourself together, John." He muttered. Heading back to the bed-room a tender smile graced his lips at the sight that greeted him. "Well look at that."

Tony was curled up under the thin sheets snoring softly. John gazed at him affectionately placing the glass of water on the table next to the bed. Sitting beside his friend he reached over and lightly brushed away loose locks from his forehead. Tony grinned sleepily and leaned into the touch mumbling under his breath.

"Doctor?" Watson looked over his shoulder finding Mrs Hudson standing in the door-way.

"He's fine, resting now." Getting up he offered her a kind smile while retrieving his cane. "Just check on him every few hours. I would stay… but I have to get home. Will you be OK?"

Mrs Hudson nodded, "I've baby-sat before, Doctor. I'll be fine." The two of them exited the room softly closing the door behind them.

Tony slept through to the next day. He woke up in the morning groggy from the lack of food, and more importantly, any form of caffeine. Thankfully Mrs Hudson had left him a pot of tea and a plate of sandwiches in the living area. Once his belly was full Tony explored Holmes's rooms, stopping at the black boards to make the tiniest corrections to his equations, sorting and putting back books onto the shelves and in the process surprising Mrs Hudson when she checked on him during the afternoon. He just gave her the trade-mark Stark smirk loading her up with a basket of dirty washing and pretending to smack her butt for the fun of it. Mrs Hudson let out of small yelp frowning at him, Tony thought he was in trouble but she leaned over, lightly pinching his cheek a playful twinkle in her eyes as she left.

Tony grinned at her retreating form; maybe she wasn't so bad after all.

That night, after making sure Mrs Hudson was to bed; Tony pulled the brief-case out from its hiding place and cleared a space in the middle of the room. He took a deep breath and knelt typing in his code into the side panel. The case bleeped in acceptance and opened up, a little slower than normal he noticed, once opened fully he put his feet into one of the waiting halves. The suit started to build up around him stopping at his waist. He took the other half, lifting the front of the case to his chest. The segment locked over the arc reactor with a click, and the top half of the suit expanded covering the rest of him in the familiar red and gold armour until only his head was naked. Tony stepped around the room and headed into Holmes' bed chamber, where a full –length mirror stood, turning this way and that. Ooh, that doesn't look good. "Jarvis?"

"Yes, sir?"

Tony stepped closer to the mirror. The suit was in one piece, which was good, the down side was that some of the panels were blackened and some were bent and dented from the de-pressurization of the worm-hole. "I need a full diagnostic. Scan the suit and give me the good news when you're done."

JARVIS did as ordered, "The suit appears to be in working order and functioning at 85 per cent. I suggest that you refrain from using it for long periods of time until full re-charge is complete."

"Yeah, you know what, let's do a test flight." Before the AI could protest Tony flipped the face-plate down, moved to the back windows, inching them open slowly and quietly. Looking down into the back yard and the alley he nodded seeing nobody around. Backing up he quickly glanced behind him, finding no-one there, he grinned. "Jarvis, get ready to power the jet boosters at 2.5 per cent as soon as I clear the window. Got it?"

"Sir?"

"No time to explain, just be ready. OK…" He took a running start straight for the window swan diving out of it. "Now, Jarvis!" The boots fired up, Iron Man arched away from the ground and propelled upwards. Tony whooped wildly soaring over the rooftops, weaving in and out of the smoke exhaled from the chimneys. The HUD scanned away: buildings and roads popped up in their little windows. Tony's grin grew as one particular building—Landmark—popped up.

Moments later Tony sat back on the slanted tiled roof of the one and only Big Ben. He sighed looking up at the clear night sky, mapping the stars and their constellations. "It doesn't get any better than this, Jarvis. Look at the view!" He zoned out for a minute, losing him-self to the quietness before Jarvis spoke,

"Sir, with the threat of the Iron Woman still lingering, maybe you should scan the area in case she's out of stealth mode?"

He waved a dismissive hand, "Yeah, yeah, I'll get right on it." and wiggled into a more comfy spot. He could stay like this for ever. JARVIS, it seemed, had different ideas. The HUD lit up with all the bells and whistles, scaring the crap out of him. "Geez!" The noise grew deafening, "Oh, all right!" He took off in a straight line, the noise and light dimming out as he climbed, until they were normal levels again. "Thanks pal." Once he was at the right height he hovered above the giant clock, arms plastered to his sides palms down to keep him steady. "Jarvis, do a scan for any traces of N-Z-E and repulsor tech in the local area."

"Of course, sir. Scanning for traces of N-Z-E and RT in the local area..." Tony waited and then came the calm reply, "No traces found."

She's good, Tony mused, maybe too good. "OK, let's go some-whe-" his sentence was cut short with a worried shout as the RT heart flickered and his boot-jets stuttered causing him to drop several feet. Tony re-routed power and gained control again. "Jarvis, what happened?"

"Due to the time-travelling are there some safety issues with the armour. I strongly advise you cease searching for tonight."

Tony grumbled. He didn't want to cut the search short but making sure his only ride home was safe was top priority. "You got it, buddy. Back to Baker Street."

"Course plotted, sir." Iron-Man nodded in approval and started to descend following the course in the HUD. The journey on the way back gave Tony time to think a few things through. There was something he desperately wanted to try (being Tony Stark) and was just coming up with a rough plan of attack when JARVIS spoke again, "I have made blue-prints with compactable replacement parts and recommend that you get started on the minor repairs ASAP."

"That's great, Jarvis. Just put it on my 'To do list'."

"Sir, I do hope you're not going to do what I think you're planning to do."

"I need my fix, Jarvis."

"You are impossible, sir."

Tony just grinned.