Disclaimer: Still not mine. Thank you once again to Marvel Universe Wiki and Marvel Comics Database, and also to my mum for the Swedish translation. This used to be two separate chapters, but after looking over both, I decided to cut a chunk out of chapter four and stick it in at the end of this. I think it flows a bit better now and there's some actual stuff a-happening.

Tony sprang awake when the sound of the front door opening and shutting resounded through the empty house. Having swapped sleep in favour for researching and planning over the past two nights, he was extremely on edge and incredibly exhausted. It was as if he'd never been away, he realised.

Creeping silently through the house, he peeked around the door to the kitchen and found Happy piling shopping bags onto the counter. Seeing he was safe, he made his presence known.

"Happy, my man, you're a saint." He clapped the portly man on the shoulder as he approached and peeked into the brown bags.

"I can't take all the credit." He said, pulling products out of the bags. "Miss Potts said you'd probably resort to chewing on the furniture if we left you much longer." He smirked.

"Well, she's always been the wisest of us all." Tony said, zeroing in on a pack of donuts and snatching it from the bag.

"Tony, you're a grown man and I still have to tell you not to eat sweets before your breakfast?" Pepper shuffled through the door at the other end of the kitchen wielding even more bags. Though her tone was playful, Tony could sense that she still wasn't in a joking mood, so he put the donuts back. Pepper plonked the bags on the counter, turned, and walked straight back outside again. Tony glanced at Happy.

"There are more bags in the car." He said, handing Tony some stuff to put in the fridge. Tony nodded in understanding and stepped away. "Listen, boss, about punching you yesterday-"

"Don't worry about it." Tony said, smiling warmly. "And I'm definitely not your boss anymore."

Happy sighed with relief. "It's good to have you back anyway."

Tony smiled at him. "At least someone's glad I'm alive."

"Hey," Happy winced. "Don't say it like that. You know it's gotta be difficult for her."

"Yeah, I know." Tony sighed, closing the fridge door. "How has she been Happy? I mean really?"

Happy stopped unpacking and glanced around to make sure Pepper wasn't about to come back in before speaking.

"She wasn't great to start with." He sighed. "Actually, she was a completely wreck for the better part of a year, very much kept to herself, wouldn't talk to anyone properly, not even me. She took a year off from work. It took a lot out of her." He smiled sadly. "But then she met Rob and she started to act like the old Pepper again. It took a while, but I think she came to terms with the fact that you really weren't coming back."

"What's this Rob guy like anyway?" Tony asked, trying to appear casual and failing miserably.

"He's a good guy." Happy said seriously. "He helped her get better. He stuck around until she was ready to move on. Rhodey introduced them."

Tony nodded. "Did he now? That was nice of him."

Happy chuckled. "He used to be in the air force with him."

"Used to be?" Tony asked. "What does he do now?"

Happy's amused expression slipped somewhat and he closed his mouth.

"What?" Tony asked.

"Um..." Happy swallowed nervously. "Well now...now he works for SHIELD."

"What?" Tony exclaimed. "Pepper's boyfriend works for SHIELD?"

"Yeah, he does." Pepper voice came from the doorway and both men spun round to face her. Happy went beet red immediately.

"And you're still seeing him now?" Tony asked.

"I live with him Tony." Pepper said, putting the bags down and getting her dander up.

"And you don't think that, given the circumstances, that might not be the best idea?"

Happy shuffled nervously as Pepper changed gear from pissed to furious.

"How dare you." She said, surprisingly calmly. "What the hell gives you the right to dictate how I live my life?"

"Pepper, you don't know you can trust him-"

"Oh don't I?" Pepper crossed her arms across her chest. "Well, I'd say between him and you, I'd trust him more right now."

"The company he works for killed my boss, my friend and then tried to kill me!" Tony said, his voice rising.

"Hey!" Pepper barked. "First of all, Robert only joined SHIELD four years ago, way after you disappeared, and second of all, he is the only reason I didn't give up the ghost when you left, so if you think the fact that he works for SHIELD is going to have any impact on the way I feel about the man I owe my life to, you are sorely mistaken." She set her jaw and stared Tony down, determination set strong in her features.

Tony swallowed slowly and blinked. His gaze flicked briefly to Happy who was looking completely uncomfortable, and then back to Pepper.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled. "I just…there's a lot of stuff going on that centres around SHIELD, and I'm a bit on edge as you can probably imagine. It's going to take some getting used to." He walked forwards and picked up the bags, setting them down on the counter. Glad to have something to do, Happy lunged at the bags and began unpacking them.

"You still haven't told us exactly what your plan is." Pepper said, setting the argument to one side for a moment. "I mean, you can't just stay here hiding for the rest of your life."

"Actually," Tony said, reaching for one of the bags himself. "I do have a plan. Quite an ingenious plan at that." He smiled smugly and handed Happy the loaf of bread he took out of the bag.

When he didn't expand on his plan, Pepper spoke up.

"You gonna clue us in or shall we just sit here guessing?"

Tony span around to look at her. "I do, actually, plan on including you both. I need your help to get this thing started."

"What do you need us to do, boss?" Happy asked.

Tony smiled at the man. "What did I say about calling me that?" he turned to Pepper. "Before I get started with explaining, I need to know that if you're both in this, you're in it til the end. You can't back out halfway. I'm going to need all the help I can get for this and it's crucial I have people I can trust. It's going to be hard enough finding people to help."

"Well maybe you should tell us what the damn plan is." Pepper said, beginning to get annoyed with Tony's constant skirting of the actual point of the conversation.

"All in good time my dear." He said happily. "But I take it that you're both in?" he looked back and forth between them. Happy nodded and so did Pepper. "Excellent. First thing's first, I need you to go to New York tonight."

"What?" Pepper asked. "You want me to fly across country tonight? What the hell for?"

"There's a doctor in New York City. I need to bring him here."

Pepper gaped at him. "You want me to fly two-thousand miles to fetch you a doctor? Why the hell can't you do it? Why do you even need a doctor?" she couldn't help the panic in her voice when she asked that last question.

Tony sighed. "I thought you said you were in?"

"I am." Pepper stressed. "But I can't just fly two-thousand miles with no notice, Tony. I have a company to run, and Robert-"

"I already hacked into Stark Enterprises and made up a meeting at the New York office." Tony said, wafting his hand at her as if to dismiss her argument. "Just say it's urgent and you have to go as soon as possible. I'm sure Bobby will understand."

Pepper glared at him but kept her cool. "Fine, but I still don't understand why you can't go, you managed to get here without anyone seeing you."

"Look," Tony said, "I don't have time to explain now, especially when I have so little of it to begin with. Just please, bring him here."

"Yes, ok." Pepper huffed. "Do you have an address?"

Tony shook his head. "I know he works at New York Presbyterian but that's about it."

"What about a name?" Pepper asked. "Please tell me you at least know his name."

Tony smiled. "These days he goes by Donald Blake."

"How are we supposed to get him here bo- Tony?" Happy asked from behind. "I mean, I'm guessing you don't want us to tell him about you."

"That's exactly where you're wrong Hap." Tony said. "I want you to tell him anything and everything you need to in order to get him here. He's vital to the rest of the plan."

"Is there something wrong?" Pepper asked. "For you to need a surgeon? I mean, you're not…sick or anything?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that." Tony assured her. "It's not his medical expertise I'm after."

"Then I don't get it." Pepper moaned. "What's so special about him?"

Tony smiled again, plucking the donut bag off the counter and ripping it open.

"You have no idea."

"You have to go to New York? Now?" Robert asked, bewildered. Pepper had arrived back at the house and immediately rushed up to their bedroom, yanking an overnight bag out from under the bed and throwing some clothes into it.

"I know, I'm sorry." Pepper gushed whilst cramming clothes haphazardly into the case. "I just got a call that there's some sort of crisis happening at the office out there so I have to fly out."

Robert scoffed. "Can't someone else handle it? Someone, I don't know, in New York?"

Pepper finished packing and zipped the case up. "They wouldn't have called me if it wasn't urgent." She said. She lugged the case off the bed and walked out of the room, Robert following right behind her, down to the lounge where Happy was waiting. He took the case off her as she approached.

"Got everything?" he asked.

"Clothes, toothbrush, hairbrush," she counted things silently off her fingers. "Damn it, passport!" she span on her heel and rushed back upstairs. Both men watched her go and Happy chuckled.

"Can't get very far without that." He said. Robert turned to look at him.

"Is she ok?" he asked Happy. Happy's smile faltered and he cleared his throat.

"I think so…why?" he asked. Robert sighed.

"I dunno. She just seems a bit off recently."

Happy tried to stop himself looking too nervous. "It's probably just the stress of the new job. You know how it is." he shrugged. "Can't be easy running a company."

"Yeah, but she's been running the company for over ten years." Robert argued. "She was running it even when Stark was in charge. I don't get what's so different now he's dead."

Happy gulped and prayed silently that Pepper would come back soon. He had a terrible poker face and he could practically feel his façade slipping as the seconds ticked by.

"I mean," Robert continued. "I get that he was a huge part of her life, but I'm here now, and it still feels like she's grasping onto what little of him she still can."

'Hurry up, Pepper.' Happy thought.

"It just feels like I'm second fiddle to him sometimes, you know?" he said sadly.

"Mmm." Happy hummed.

"Found it!" Pepper said victoriously as she descended the stairs once more. Happy sighed in relief and made a hasty retreat to put Pepper's bag in the car, leaving her to say goodbye to Robert.

"How long are you going to be gone for?" he asked.

Pepper shrugged. "I honestly don't know. It can't be more than a few days. As far as I can gather there's just the one problem that needs sorting."

Robert nodded sadly and Pepper smiled. "Hey, don't give me the kicked puppy look, I'll be back before you know it." She brought her arms up to wrap around his neck and pull him close. He responded by placing his hands on her hips.

"I know, I just…I don't like it when you're away." He smiled and leant forward to kiss her softly.

Pepper hummed happily and ran her fingers through his hair. She found herself wondering what it would feel like to do the same thing to Tony with his new longer hair.

Wait, what?

She pulled away from Robert's kiss a little too soon for his liking. "I'll call you as soon as I get there, ok?" she tried to extricate herself from his embrace but he pulled her back.

"Hey, listen." He lowered his head again and nuzzled her ear. "When you come back, how 'bout we go away for a little bit? Just us two."

Pepper once again attempted to free herself and Robert took the hint. "We'll see how it goes with work, ok?" she said, smiling reassuringly. "Especially as I don't know what's happening with this meeting-"

"Yeah, ok." Robert interrupted, stepping away from her.

"Rob, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine. I get it." He tried to smile but it was more of a grimace. "I'll see you when you get home."

When she didn't move, he affixed a more convincing grin and motioned to the door. "Go on, Happy's waiting."

Pepper opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it, instead nodding and turning to the door.

"I love you, Rob." She said softly before hurrying out the door.

Rob sighed and lowered himself gingerly onto the couch.

"Yeah, you too."

Donald Blake sat in his office, painstakingly studying the medical chart in front of him. His patient, a politician from Boston who had flown in especially to see the best neurosurgeon in the country, had been complaining of nausea, vomiting, headaches, and since his admission, he had suffered four seizures and fallen into a coma. He'd been given both a CT and MRI scan which had revealed somewhat enlarged ventricles in the brain. From this, Blake had ordered a spinal tap to help determine his cerebrospinal fluid pressure, and then a cisternagram to evaluate the flow of the fluid in the brain and spinal cord.

From all of this complex data, Blake was able to diagnose the man with water on the brain and set in motion the correct medical procedures. The entire diagnostic process had taken close to a month and Blake had been fixated by it, not taking another case until he had made sure there was a reason for the man's illness, and that he could fix it. He had done just that, the man was due in for surgery to release the pressure on his brain and divert the fluid elsewhere, but Blake was exhausted.

He sighed, rubbed his eyes, and lowered his head onto his folded arms on the desk. Closing his eyes, he granted himself the luxury of a power nap.

Apparently, the orderly that knocked on his door merely thirty seconds later didn't think he deserved that luxury.

"Doctor Blake?" she squeaked, clearly aware of the fact that the man was not fully in the game.

"What is it Lauren?" Blake mumbled without lifting his head.

"Um, nurse Turner asked me to come get you." Lauren replied tentatively. "She says there are two people waiting for you by the nurse's station."

"Is there any way they can come back in about a week when I've had some sleep?" Blake said against his sleeve.

"They said it's urgent." Blake raised his head to see Lauren chewing her lip. The brunette shrugged. "Sorry."

Blake sighed and ran a hand through his mussed up dirty blonde hair. "Its fine, I guess I'm just that needed." He forced a smile and heaved himself out of his chair, grabbing his cane with his right hand as he went and leaning heavily on it as he walked. "Show me to my adoring public."

They made their way to the nurse's station two floors down, and Blake hobbled over to the buxom blonde sitting behind the desk.

"Ah, Samantha, looking lovely as always." He beamed at the woman. Samantha looked up and immediately smiled back.

"Nice to see you again Don." She said. "You look tired."

Blake laughed, his blue eyes sparkling. "I'll try to take that as a compliment."

"Seriously, Don." She said, scrutinising his appearance. "You should take a vacation or something."

"Is that an invitation?" he waggled his eyebrows and Samantha scoffed. "I guess not. Besides, who has time to take a vacation when there are people's lives to save?" He smiled. "So what's the skinny on my visitors?"

Samantha motioned to the waiting room opposite. "Man and a woman, wouldn't tell me what they wanted with you, just said it was 'critically urgent'" she said. "The woman's name is Virginia Potts." Samantha snorted.

"Hmm." Blake hummed. "Well, I guess we won't get anywhere standing here contemplating the mysteries of the universe." He winked at the nurse and limped over to the waiting room, shoving the door open and looking around. There were a few adults with children and a couple of geriatrics, and then, off to one side of the room, there was a very attractive redhead wearing a pencil skirt and a white blouse, sitting next to a portly, balding man in a black suit. Guessing these to be his visitors, he shuffled over to them. "Miss Potts?"

Pepper stood immediately and automatically held her hand out to shake the doctor's. "Please, call me Pepper." she said. "This is Happy Hogan." She motioned to the man next to her who also stood and shook Blake's hand.

"Uh, ok, Pepper." he nodded at her and smiled. "So, what can I do for you both? I was told it was urgent?"

"Oh, it is." Pepper assured him. "Um…could we speak more privately?"

Intrigued, Blake agreed and led them to an empty clinic room. Feeling a dull ache in his right leg, he hopped up onto the examination table and laid his cane next to him. He waited for Pepper to start speaking, but noticed she seemed to be having trouble getting started.

"Miss Potts? Pepper?" he said to try and get her talking.

She looked around the room. "Is it safe to talk in here?" she asked.

Blake scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "Uh…are you worried about someone overhearing? The walls are pretty thick." He patted the one next to the table as if to prove the point. Pepper looked at Happy, who shrugged back at her. "Look, Miss Potts, I'm incredibly busy-"

"Do you know Tony Stark?" Pepper asked him.

Blake froze, his expression slipping from a polite smile to slack jawed amazement. He cleared his throat. "It's a name I haven't heard in a while."

"What do you know of him?" Pepper asked.

Wondering what she was getting at, Blake answered her question. "He was CEO of Stark Enterprises, he was Iron Man, he disappeared while fighting with the forces over in Afghanistan and is now dead."

"No, he's not." Pepper said.

Blake squinted at her. "What?"

"He's still alive." Happy said.

Blake's eyebrows shot upwards. "Are you serious?"

"Deadly." Pepper said. "Tony Stark is alive and he needs your help."

"So SHIELD lied?" Blake asked. This time it was Pepper and Happy who were surprised.

"How do you know about SHIELD?" Pepper asked him. Blake laughed mirthlessly.

"I worked for them, back before Maria Hill corrupted the entire institution." He said. "I heard of the story she put out concerning Tony, but I never believed it. Tony would never kill the good guys."

Pepper felt relief wash over her. Someone else believed him.

"I take it Shellhead has a plan?" Blake asked. Happy laughed.

"Shellhead?"

"He does." Pepper interrupted. "Well, he says he does, but he won't tell us what it is. He just sent us here to get you. He said you're critical to the plan."

Blake smiled jovially at them. "Tell Järn Mannen that I'll help in any way I can, and I'll bring anyone else I can find." He hopped off the table gingerly, supporting himself with his cane. "And while you're in New York, you should talk to a guy called Peter Parker; he should be able to track down Spider-Man for us."

"Seriously?" Happy asked. "Cool."

"Anyway." Pepper spoke over Happy. "We'll get straight on it. Do you know where we can find him?"

"He works over at The Daily Bugle in Manhattan." Blake said. "He's a freelance photographer for them."

Pepper nodded and held her hand out to shake the doctor's again. "We will. Thank you, Doctor Blake."

"Call me Don." Blake said. "I'll be seeing you very soon."

Pepper and Happy exited the clinic room and Blake whistled, looking down at his cane.

"Well, Mjölnir, it seems our services are once more required." He shoved himself off the table and threw the door open. "Samantha! I'm going to have to take some of those vacation days!"

TBC

P.S. For those that don't know, Järn Mannen is 'Iron Man' in Swedish, and Mjölnir is...well, you'll find out soon enough.