Finally, after months of being here, I slept until a teenager should be sleeping in till: Noon.

And it felt wonderful.

Of course, sleeping in that late makes me exceptionally lazy and stubborn to get out of bed, so I stayed in bed until one. That's when I finally made an effort to sit up. It took a few more minutes to actually stand, but eventually I was able to drag myself to the bathroom and take one the longest showers ever. Thank goodness I don't have to worry about the water bill.

I walked out of my room at a little after three, heading towards the basement. As I was walking I realized how hungry I was and hoped there was still some food left for me from breakfast.

My wish was granted as I saw a Dunkin' Donuts bag on the coffee table in the living room. I snatched it and read the sticky note on it: "Mocha Coolatta is in the fridge."

"Yes!" I cried happily and ran to the fridge, instantly sipping delicious chocolaty caffeine-filled goodness. I haven't had one in ages.

Giving myself brain freeze on the way downstairs, I walked into the workshop with leisure as I headed for the couch.

From his desk, Tony said, "I was about to check on you to make sure you didn't die in your sleep."

"Good morning—I mean good afternoon," I replied, in too good of a mood to respond sarcastically or snidely. I sat right down on the couch, stretching out my legs as I continued to sip my frozen coffee.

Tony looked over. "So you sleep for half the day and just move from one room to the next because it looks like you're making yourself really comfortable over there."

"I'm eating."

"Horizontally?"

"My torso is vertical and that's all that matters when I'm eating."

"You know, people usually drink coffee in the morning before they have to work, and it's hot when they drink it."

"I don't like hot coffee," I said.

He stared. "You don't like hot coffee, but you like coffee Slushees."

"Yeah. I don't like hot tea either but I love iced tea. Peach is my favorite."

"That's weird."

"I'm related to you. I kinda have to be." I took a bite of my apple fritter and frowned. "Darn, the apples are cold."

"Were you really expecting them to be warm from eight o' clock?"

"One can hope."

"Try and hope for something less physically impossible."

After sipping my Coolatta, I said, "That I won't get brain freeze ever again."

"There's one."

"I've tried that tongue-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth-trick. It doesn't work for me."

"Really? I did it once when I was like twelve and I never had it again."

I looked at him. "How?"

He shrugged. "Guess you need another hope then."

"You're crushing a lot of my hopes right now."

"I bet I built more than half of them with you being in my house alone."

"Those only make up like a tenth of my hopes," I said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"How many do you have?"

"I don't know. A lot."

"If you asked me—"

"Which I didn't," I interrupted.

He ignored my interruption and continued as if I didn't. "—I wouldn't waste my free time thinking about hopes. They're pointless and 99.9% of the time never come true."

"Hope-crusher," I reminded.

He gave me a look. I smirked a little as I finished my drink.

"Is that an accurate percentage?" I asked.

"From my standards."

"Shouldn't you be judging from the general population's standards?"

"Like it matters," he said in an annoyed tone.

"You know, because your standards aren't very reliable."

"Can you just stop talking? You're getting on my nerves."

I hid a grin and said in an exaggeratingly offended tone, "Well!"

I saw him roll his eyes as he went back to work.

I giggled quietly into my apple fritter as I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.

Tony didn't say anything as I channel surfed, so he was either too involved with his work or ignoring me entirely. I'll bet on the latter.

Time passed by quickly as I watched television, feeling extremely lazy but too happy to care that I had wasted the entire day sleeping and rotting my brain staring at an LCD screen. Tony continued to work until nighttime as I continued to flip channels:

"…Whole pressurization is problematic, I'm thinking icing is a probable factor."

"A very astute observation," Jarvis replied derisively. "Perhaps if you intend to visit other planets, we should improve the exosystems."

Tony went on as if Jarvis didn't respond. "Connect to the sys. co. Have it reconfigure the shell metals. Use the gold titanium alloy from the seraphim tactical satellite. That should ensure a fuselage integrity while maintaining power-to-weight ratio. Got it?"

"Yes. Shall I render using proposed specifications?"

"Thrill me," Tony said as I stopped on a pop culture news channel showing a blonde newswoman talking in front of a silver metallic wall that I recall seeing on the way to this house.

"…The red hot, red carpet is right here at the Disney Concert Hall, where Tony Stark's 3rd Annual Benefit for the Firefighter's Family Fund has become the place to be—"

I heard Tony say behind me, "Jarvis, did I get an invite for that?"

"I have no record of an invitation sir."

But it's your benefit isn't it? I wanted to say but my attention was caught by the newswoman's words.

"…Tony Stark hasn't been seen in public since that bizarre and highly controversial press conference. Some claim he's suffering from posttraumatic stress and has been bed-ridden for weeks. Whatever the case may be, no one expects an appearance from him tonight."

Who writes this stuff? I thought incredulously.

"The render is complete," Jarvis reported.

"A little ostentatious, don't you think?"

I glanced back to see on the monitors the armor that looked solid gold.

"What was thinking?" Jarvis said. "You're usually so discreet."

I snorted at that. "Gold, Tony? That's a little much, even by your standards."

He wasn't listening but looking thoughtfully on his restored '20s hot rod.

"Tell you what," he said to Jarvis. "Throw a little hot rod red in there."

"Yes, that should help you keep a low profile," Jarvis commented as he added some red to the gold, which turned out looking pretty cool. "The render is complete."

"Yeah I like it fabricated. Paint it."

"Commencing automated assembly. Estimated completion time is five hours."

"Don't wait up for me, honey," Tony said to Jarvis, and I heard a clank of car keys.

I turned and asked, "You gonna prove them wrong?"

"You know it."

"Good, 'cause those 'claims' are completely bogus."

I heard him chuckle. "Bogus, Cara? Really, what era are you from?"

I gave him a look that said, "Do you really need to make fun of what say?"

As he walked past the couch he said, "Heads up."

I barely caught his car keys in surprise and stared at him questionably.

"Wanna start the car for me?"

"Seriously?" I laughed. "Which one?"

"The R8."

"Is that the one you prefer?"

"Yeah. If you ever get to drive it you'd see why."

"You know you just gave me a hope, right?"

"A false one. I said 'if.'" But he didn't say it with much certainty, which made me grin at the thought of driving his Audi. "I need to get dressed."

"Make sure it's a show-stopper," I called as he opened the door.

He gave a short laugh. "I don't think you need to worry about that."

"Right," I said with a smile. "You're a natural at that!"

"Make sure you don't touch the gas pedal."

"Oh you just read my mind," I said jokingly.

And with that he was up the steps.

I looked at his keys in my hand as I walked over to his much-esteemed R8. I opened the door, knowing he didn't lock it. There was no point in doing so anyway.

I sat down in the leather seat, glancing around at the luxurious but clearly sporty and built-for-speed interior. I could already see why this was his favorite.

I found the key with the Audi logo and put it in the ignition, hearing the supercharged engine roar to life.

The sound was incredible. It was like sweet heavenly music to my undeserving ears.

I felt the leather-covered steering wheel and set my foot on the pedal, just to get a taste of how it must feel to drive such a masterpiece of metal.

Despite what Tony said, I made sure the car wasn't in drive and tapped my foot on the gas pedal, listening for the angelic but (speed) demonic roar of the engine.

I grinned as I heard it reach my ears.

I quickly glanced at the stairs: He wasn't coming down yet.

I turned back and watched the RPM meter go up as I pressed harder on the gas and the engine got louder.

I released it with a sigh of amazement and a wide grin on my face. God! That is such a nice sound!

I reluctantly got out as I saw Tony coming down the steps a couple minutes later in a tuxedo. And—I would never admit this—he looked incredibly handsome and—forgive the pun—like a million (in this case 'billion') bucks.

I raised my eyebrows as he walked in casually. "Wow. I didn't think you could clean up that nicely."

"Don't sound so surprised." Tony looked at me knowingly. "I heard you."

I gave a quick lopsided smile. "Guilty."

"Couldn't resist, huh?"

"My willpower crumbled."

He turned and walked backwards to his car as he said, "Hey, how old are you?"

"Fourteen. I'll be fifteen in August. Why?"

"Oh just wondering," he said vaguely as he turned back to open his car door.

"Hey!" I called.

He looked back.

"Make a good entrance for me, okay?" I pointed to the TV. "I'll be watching."

"I will anyway," Tony said before giving his famous lopsided grin and shutting the door. He instantly hit the gas and sped off down the tunnel, making sure the tires burned out and squealed in his pursuit.

All that really happened afterwards was me getting an apple from the kitchenette fridge (I felt like I needed something healthy), and watch the channel that immediately changed to some totally different topic and surprisingly didn't show Tony's entrance.

After I was absolutely sure they weren't going to bring the benefit up again, I walked back up to my room to watch TV up there, but I changed my mind after I sat on my bed to go to sleep. Tony could tell me about how it went in the morning.

"Lights," I mumbled to my pillow, and they shut off as I drifting to a peaceful sleep.

"Lights, Jarvis," I heard through my unconsciousness.

The black in my eyelids lightened as the lights turned on.

I groaned and asked with my eyes still shut as it hurt to attempt to open them, "Oh what is it Tony?"

"Obie allowed a shipment of the Jericho to go to Afghanistan."

I finally was able to open my eyes and replied groggily, "Really? That crazy dangerous missile that splits itself up and stuff?"

He sat on my bed and I could see the anger in his eyes. "Yeah, and they sent it to the very people who held me hostage to make it."

"Wow. To go to all that trouble and end up just getting it mailed to you. That's gotta hurt," I said to Tony.

"Can you hold it on trying to be funny? This is serious."

"Look, I'm half asleep. My mind isn't exactly on high alert right now."

He sighed. "Fine. I just came up here to say that I'm going to Afghanistan tomorrow."

I stared. "On a plane?"

"No. In the suit."

I hesitated. "Are you sure?"

"Cara, I gotta destroy those weapons before they do more harm."

As I grew more conscious, I realized what he was telling me. "Tony, we agreed that you wouldn't try to get yourself killed!"

"Yeah, I know—"

"You should've just not told me about it and locked my door for the duration of you flying across the ocean and going against gunfire so I wouldn't be sick with worry."

"But I need you to watch the monitors in case something goes wrong."

"Can't Pepper—"

"No," he said almost immediately with absolute finality.

"Right," I muttered. "I—I don't know if I can…"

"The chances of something going too wrong are unlikely."

"How unlikely?"

"Unlikely enough."

"You're being vague again, which isn't helping."

"I would feel better if you were at the monitors."

I didn't answer as his eyes bored into mine, making me look down and sigh. Finally I said, "Fine."

"I won't be flying until nightfall so it'll be light in Afghanistan when I go over there."

"'Kay," was my only reply.

"Hey, look at me."

I did, but reluctantly.

"I know I'm asking a lot from you. But I feel like this is what I have to do. I put those people in danger and I need to fix the problem. Have you ever had that feeling where you know you should be doing something and when you try to think otherwise, you answer immediately 'no'?"

I nodded slowly.

"I know that means I need to do this, even though it's not necessarily smart."

"You got that right," I said, but added. "But you feel it's the right thing to do, right?"

"Exactly."

I paused. "My mom said that it's better to follow your heart than your mind, because even though your mind's telling you what's best for you and your needs, your heart is telling you what's best for others and your conscience. Like how my mom taking the ride my dad offered to her was a decision made by her heart. It wasn't smart of her to leave college, but she said it felt right getting on that motorcycle with him, despite how she was practically abandoning her future."

"And look what happened," he said softly.

"Yeah, he left her after finding out she was pregnant, leaving her to raise a baby on her own."

"No." I looked at him. "You happened."

I got his meaning and blushed. "Oh."

"So I can blast off without your objections?"

I nodded with a small smile. "Yeah."

He got up and walked to the door.

A thought came to me. "Wait, Tony," I called.

He turned.

"Can you promise you won't let yourself get killed?...Please?"

He paused, and I thought he was going to say "no."

Then he looked up. "I promise."

I let out a deep breath and smiled sincerely. "Thanks."

He gave a small smile back and nodded. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight. I'll be holding you to it."

He gave a short laugh before the door shut behind him.

"Lights please," I told Jarvis.

"Finally, some manners," Jarvis replied as the lights shut themselves off again, and I fell asleep once more, not exactly as peaceful as before though, thanks to Tony.

A/N: Hey you guys and gals, writers and readers alike, there's another chapter for you that was somewhat delayed. Yeah, sorry about that. I would type some excuses but they seem like pathetic ones when I try to write 'em down, so I won't even attempt to. I promise I'll get another one out sooner, I've just been working on other stories, reading, and participating in the event called my life not as often as I'd like to.

But I'd like to thank the reviewers at this point! Thanks for taking the time to write something down for me to read so it makes my day! Really, it does. :) You guys receive my undying gratitude, along with the favoriters, alerters, and just regular readers. :) Thanks again.

~Annabeth Snicket