Here's the next chapter, enjoooy it because there's going to be a long time until the next one's up. I'm sorry to say so, but I'm moving to start studying on sunday and it's going to take a while getting into routines and such y'know. I can't promise, but I'll try my best on putting up a new one before there's been 10 days.

Tony couldn't anything to it but feeling a little bit threatened when he saw the green colour spread in his friends eyes.

"Whoa, calm down buddy, I'm working on it" Bruce relaxed again and picked up the needle from the floor, to Tony's relief. "You all know what happened right? What really happened?"

"That you blew yourself up? No, no we don't" A grin passed Bruce's face.

"What about all the other things? What I did to Harlan, one of the S.H.I.E.L.D agents, did you get to know that?" Tony turned around to face Bruce, so that he had to stop sewing.

"Right after you disappeared from the explosion, we had a meeting with Fury. He was babbling a lot like always, but he kept saying, almost on repeat, that he always had an eye on you. Because of that he knew everything that you had done and also he had seen and understood what you were going to do, but just minutes to late. The blow went off just when a squad from S.H.I.E.L.D were right around the corner. He also told us about what you did to Harlan, and what was up with the anxiety issues and all... There's not much we don't know about you now Tony" Tony turned back around in his chair, disappointed and feeling very vulnerable when everyone knew his secrets. "I don't judge you, nor do the rest, except from Steve, he can't quite understand why you would do such a horrible thing. Anyways, what you say is a bit weird, since I didn't know he'd let you know yet" Bruce seemed overly relaxed about their conversation and continued rinsing and sewing the wound.

"Know what?" Now Tony was seriously confused.

"That you're no longer part of the Avengers..." Bruce replied hastily.

What the hell? That was not what he meant, not at all! When did that happen? No one had told him anything about it, though it made perfectly sense. Tony had got a chance to prove that he was worth being a part of the Avengers, blowing himself up was just a confirmation to Fury's doubts about it being a good idea. To be part of something bigger, a team, you had to be reliable and listen to what the other parts had to say, and Tony didn't cope with either of the two. He actually felt a little offended anyhow, he hadn't even been told yet, he had just been pushed out without getting the chance to even put in a protest.
"I didn't... what? Do you think I would convert to those golden boys just because I was mad at you guys for not telling me?" His best friend thinking something like that about him was a thousand times worse than being kicked out of the Avengers.

Tony squealed and pulled himself away from Bruce as he missed when he put the needle into his skin. He quickly dragged it out again and pressed some paper against the gash to stop it from bleeding.

"I didn't say that... Would you do that?" He suddenly sounded much more interested in what Tony was talking about.

"No! I don't even want to become Stern's secret weapon, but he's threatening me with telling about Harlan to the public. What do I do Bruce?" Tony sounded sincerely upset.

"Well... I guess that the only reason why he wants you and the suit is because he lost the one he had"

Of course, that was it! When Tony blew up all his suits, the War Machine suit exploded too and the government was left with nothing. Rhodey was his ticket out of this, he had to make him a new suit and make him hand it over to the US army, everything would be fixed and they wouldn't need Tony. Perfect. Just that Rhodey hadn't been speaking to Pepper or Tony since that night, and Tony hadn't even offered one thought to the fact that he may was angry because the suit was blown to dust. He hadn't been contacted by anyone about this before now, and now they wanted him, was it too much to ask for a new one that Rhodey could get or was it just that they needed Tony on their side? Or was it the fact they knew he had been thrown out of the Avengers? This was Fury's plan, no doubt! Tony got off the chair without warning, causing the thread to break and some of the stitches to go up again. Tony was headed towards his earpiece lying on a table nearby while Bruce just stood speechless by the chair, shaking his head in resignation. Tony put the earpiece into his ear and turned it on, right when he was about to make a call to Fury, the sound of his voice made its way into Tony's ears.

"You've got a visitor" A few seconds later Fury stood in the apartment together with Bruce and Tony.

"Thank you for the warning, I guess?" Fury normally didn't say he would come, he just came when it fitted him.

"I heard some noises in here, and I didn't want to disturb anything" A hesitant look was sent from Fury to Bruce, and Tony couldn't hold back his grin.

"Get to the point, you're wasting my time" Tony's smile disappeared as fast as it had come and he sat back down in the chair to let Bruce finish.

"You're out of the Avengers" Fury didn't put too much into what he said.

"And then the news?" A careless voice replied Fury.

"And you're going to serve your country from the more 'reasonable' side" Reasonable has never been a part of my vocabulary.

"No, no I'm not" Tony still pretended like he didn't care.

"Yes, yes you are"

"Listen, Rhodey will get his suit within a few days and then he can serve the country on the country's behalf as Wa... Iron Patriot once more, they won't need me" Tony waved a hand against Fury as if to say that they were finished talking.

The strange thing was... they actually were, because Fury hadn't foreseen that, he started to lose the grip. He was so sure that Tony was all broken after he killed Harlan and almost himself that he would never come back to New York, much less build a new suit. He had to admit to himself that Tony was indeed a very tough guy. Tough or not, he wasn't reliable and he was acting like a child all the time, a child Fury had to clean up after. He couldn't afford the risk to give him a second chance when in the first place he hadn't even intended to give him a first chance.

"I have an eye on you Stark" Was the only reply he gave, but not with the usual 'I am the master' voice, rather with a playful one.

"How do you keep track on everything else then?" Tony yelled after him, but he had already shut the door.

Had he just... did he just win? It was too easy... or maybe not, maybe he actually won this freaky game against Fury. He didn't have to work for the ass clowns, he didn't say it like... literally, but Tony didn't suck at interpreting people's behaviour either.

"Now, were where we darling?" Tony turned his head against Bruce and tried to suppress laughter. A little prick in his side quickly reminded him where they left it.

"Tony, come and sleep now" Pepper put a hand on his back and stroke it slowly up and down.

Tony dropped the pencil and turned off the soft, yellow light from the desk lamp, making the whole room go dark, before he gave Pepper a light kiss and took her in his arms. He ran towards the bedroom door, with a laughing Pepper holding tightly around his neck, and kicked it open before he walked solemnly inside and put Pepper carefully down on the bed.

"Welcome... to the new Stark Mansion" He flung his arms out to the side and kneeled down on the bed to give Pepper another kiss.

She melted into his embrace and his warm, soft lips. It was so good to have him back, to know that things were okay, that he was coping with it. The ever brave and spontaneous Tony Stark she knew was finally back, having taken over for the broken down and vulnerable version. She felt safe together with him now and it was a feeling she had been hungering for the last few days. Tony gave her one last, passionate kiss before he went to the bathroom to get ready to sleep... oh, well, sleep may not be the right word for it. This was the first time Tony really dared to look at himself in the mirror since he was in the elevator that morning he blew himself up. It didn't look to bad, really, his face looked almost untouched except from some blue, purple and yellow spots here and there and the small wounds on the rest of his body had started healing very well. The only thing that didn't look so good was the big, stitched gash on his side. It was sewn with a blue thread, in lack of a better option, but Bruce had clever hands, it was neatly done and there was seemingly no infection or blood around it. Tony knew it would take time to heal anyways, and it stung every time something got in contact with it, just taking off or on the t-shirt was a painful process. Cold water was running down in the sink and Tony splashed it onto his face several times before he dried it with a warm, dry towel. Earlier the same day he thought he would be sitting in complete silence, thinking over his horrible life when the evening came. He was so sure that he would have to work for Senator Stern and his bosses and minions that he was completely out of it, if it hadn't been for Bruce he would've never come up with the idea of Rhodey. Damn, so there was a reason for him not to completely relax. Rhodey had been so busy with schooling people at weapons technology that he hadn't been talking to Tony at all, not one phone call had been made from either of them. There was no point in hiding it from himself, but it hurt deep into Tony's soul when he admitted to his own mind that he had forgot all about Rhodey afterwards. How could he even, after he saved the president and all? No wonder if he was angry, bitter even. The digital clock on the mirror showed 10:40 PM, he could still make that call.

"Honey, I have to make a call, can this wait?" Tony pleaded.

"Tony, you're allowed to take some time off too you know. You don't need to get straight back to work at once, relax a bit, you need it" Soft eyes met Tony's pleading ones who had now filled up with sadness.

"It's Rhodey, Pep, I'm sorry" He looked down at his feet, hoping she would understand.

Pepper just nodded in agreement and gave him a slight smile, and then she turned off the lights and buried herself under the duvet. Tony sighed, he never got to that part when he and Pepper could just relax and let the world run its course, there was always something in the way. This was more important than anything else that earlier had come in the way though, this was one of his best friends, he couldn't just sit around and let him slip away.

_

The Starkster, James Rhodes mouth turned into a big grin when he saw who was calling and he didn't think twice when he pushed the green button.

"Hey Tone! Almost thought you were dead, it's been a long time" Rhodey was so happy that he finally called, the thought about his friend being dead had in fact passed his mind several times.

"Hey platypus, how are you?" Tony was relieved to hear that he wasn't angry.

"There's been a whole load to do down here, you won't even imagine. There's new students here, and they're a pack of stupid kids, all of them, you knew more than them when you where five dude. Also there is a lot to do without the suit, y'know, but it's working, we coped without it once too you know" He laughed into the phone, just happy to hear his friend's voice. "I would've come to check up on you and all, but I've been trapped in work down here"

"Nah, it's okay Rhodey, I've been sort of... busy... myself. We need to meet so that you can catch up with what's happening, because you missed a lot pal" Tony tried to sound happy and relaxed, but he was extremely afraid of how his best friend would take the new information he knew he was about to bring to him.

"Sure, but I'll be held captive here for a few more weeks, unfortunately. Can't you just tell me now?" The colonel had no idea what was about to meet him.

"You know I got rid of the Arc Reactor, right?"

"mm"

"Well, it's back... kind of... and, um... I won't go into details, but it was awful" Tony hesitated, terrified of the reaction he would get, but he decided to keep talking. "What I wanted to tell you is that I've been thrown out of the avengers, and that Stern wants me over to their side. Everything is a set up from Director Fury, which is not important... anyway, I just wanted to ask if you're ready for a new suit?" Tony tried to sound really enthusiastic in the last part, to wave the rest away.

"What? Tony, why is it back? I thought you didn't want it there? Are you okay?" Rhodey sounded terribly worried.

"I told you, no details. I'm okay, it's working fine, and it was just another set up from the beloved Director. Do you want the suit or not?" Tony was trying to sound more urgent this time.

"If it would help you in any way, yes, of course" He replied truthfully.

"Great! As soon as the workshop is fixed I'll get it done and you can come over here and fly it back to where it belongs"

"Wait, are you going to upgrade it?" Rhodey sounded like a five year old child, waiting for Santa to come with his new toy car.

"Can't leave you with that old piece of metal you used before, now can I?" Tony laughed back. "Bye platypus, be careful, all right? And don't push them too much, not everyone can build an engine when they're six you know!" A smirk was formed at Tony's lips.

"Yeah yeah, you be careful too" And then Rhodey took the phone away from his ear, right before he regretted it. "WAIT! Fix the workshop!?" Tony heard those last words, but he just laughed and hung up anyways.

Maybe he should just ask for someone to take over the wheel for a week or so, so that he could go check on Tony. His work was important, and there were few others to step in for him, but his best friend was much more important. Maybe he even got to decide some new features for the suit?

Tony lay back down on the bed and pulled Pepper, who laid with her back against him, into his embrace. Now everything was okay. He didn't know whether to be sad or happy about not being an avenger anymore, but he sort of felt a bit more free, able to choose his own missions. The anxiety attacks were controllable and every other problem that had been eating his soul was gone. He felt safe when he had Pepper in his tight grip, he knew that no one could hurt her then. He remembered how she said that as long as she knew that she was breathing, then it was okay, because then at least she was alive, and how those words calmed Tony down. He lay for about fifteen minutes just listening to Pepper's slow and steady breath and his own relaxed one. It was weird how calming it could be, just listening to someone breathing. He sniffed in her hair, her beautiful, soft, red hair, and smiled to himself. Finally he felt how tired and exhausted he actually was because of the events from what had now almost become a whole week. Sleeping had never been a way to escape for Tony, like it was for many people out in the world, the workshop was his escape, but when there had been 72 hours between each time he saw a bed, things had started to spin around for him and he couldn't focus anymore. Right now he understood how important sleep was, and that if he could keep the nightmares away... it would be a terrific way to escape everything and just relax. Problem was, right now he didn't want to escape, because everything was so perfect. He planted a kiss on Pepper's forehead and was about to close his eyes and sleep when she started talking.

"You were almost killing me, that took you forever" She said, not even a slight touch of sleepiness in her voice. She had been awake all this time, waiting for him to continue where they stopped before he left to talk to Rhodey.

Kill. Harlan. Everything wasn't perfect after all, no of course it wasn't, how could he be that naive? Fifteen minutes, that was the longest time he was allowed to feel happy, at least he knew that now so that it wouldn't be such a downer the next time his happiness was broken. He should have just said it long time ago, maybe she would've digested it now already. Saying it now, however, would just crush what little he had left of happiness... screw it, with it on his mind there was no happiness left.

"Pepper, I-" Tony got startled when he heard the male voice disrupt him and he understood that he had forgot to take out the earpiece.

"Stark, we've got a mission"

Thank you so much for reading, and hey, I found a way to get Rhodey in to it after all, yaay! Now, would you be so kind to review, it doesn't take much of your time and it leaves me extremely happy! Love you all!