Tony had stayed in his workshop for an entire week afterwards. This wasn't entirely abnormal for Tony, but when he wouldn't even let Bruce in, the team knew that something was extremely wrong. Tony hadn't slept. The dam he had created against the memories had broken, leaving them to flood into the forefront of his mind.

Steve had almost broken down the door almost four times. Key work being almost. Tony had built the doors to withstand the force of the Hulk. He had passed out from exhaustion three times. All of which he woke from, dripping in a cold sweat and shaking. He ran a hand through his greasy hair. His clothes were beginning to smell too. After the pool incident, he could barely look at water, let alone be in it.

It was a good thing that Pepper was away again. If she was here she would kick his ass for not telling the team such important information. He stumbled over to one of his larger tablets and sat down. He had been working nonstop ever since he had entered. He had put JARVIS on lockdown.

He started working on an upgrade for the Starkphones that he had been putting off. He looked like a zombie. As he did some difficult calculations in his head, the sound of footsteps was coming closer. God, it was probably Steve again. He could live on granola bars and protein shakes, right? The doors whirred open. Tony turned around glancing around at the intruder.

Rhodey walked over, looking him up and down. "Steve called me. He said that you haven't come out in days. We talked about this Tones. This isn't healthy." He pointed at all the empty cups and wrappers.

"I'm fine Honey Bear." Tony said without missing a beat.

"Tell me that when you don't look like you're about to keel over." Rhodey chastised. He grabbed the hand that was still working on the tablet and lowered it. "You're shaking. When was the last time you slept?"

Rhodey knew Tony better than anyone, minus maybe Pepper. Rhodey would know if he lied. "I passed out about," Tony did the math, "forty two hours ago." He glanced back down at the tablet.

Rhodey whistled."Trying to set a record?" He was more worried than he let on.

"Nah, the longest I've ever gone is nine days. The longest anyone's ever gone is eleven." He knew that he would have to sleep sometime, but he really wasn't looking forward to it.

"Look, why don't you go take a shower and we'll talk. I'd talk now but you look like shit and you smell." Tony tensed at the idea.

"Do I have to?" He whined.

"Yes, Tones." Damn. There would be no arguing with him. Rhodey took him gently by the shoulders and dragged him out of the workshop. They took the elevator up to the penthouse.

"I'll be in the living room. Okay?" Rhodey looked over at him.

Tony had planned to say that he was being overprotective, but what came out was totally different. "Can you stay over here?" He gestured to the large bedroom that connected to the bathroom.

"Yeah, if you want me to." He replied, any hint of surprise covered up by a look of reassurance. He grabbed a magazine and went to go wait on the bed. Tony went over to the bathroom.

He undressed and walked into the large shower. He reached for the knobs. He turned the water on to the warmest setting he could stand. He stood there, hot water running in front of him. He could feel the slight spray and mentally prepared himself. It was just water, it couldn't hurt him. His mind flashed back to the waterboarding. Okay, so maybe it could hurt him.

Rhodey's right outside. Nothing bad could happen to him. Rhodey would save him. He had before and he would if anything bad happened. He put his foot in carefully. See, he was fine. He put his leg in. If he could get past this point, he would be golden. He moved to put his torso in. His shoulders were more tense than ever. He guarded his arc reactor with his hand. He could do this. It wasn't any different than before. He put his head in. Immediately, the memories flooded in.

He ducked out of the spray. His world spun around him. He sat down on the floor, pulling the shower curtain down with him.

"Tones, are you okay?" Rhodey came barging through the unlocked door. Tony was sat on the floor, the shower curtain heaped over him and the shower still running. Tony looked up at his friend with haunted eyes.

"JARVIS, what's wrong with him?" Rhodey asked, panic sightly evident in his voice.

"I believe Sir is having a panic attack. Please try to help." JARVIS had something akin to worry in his voice. Rhodey ran over to his friend and crouched down next to him. Tony was completely oblivious to him. Tony tapped a rhythm on the reactor. Rhodey thought there was something familiar about it, but couldn't place it. Rhodey turned off the water. He took Tony in his arms and started to talk.

"We're at your tower. It's August fourth, 2013." Tony was almost hyperventilating. "Breathe, Tony. What's the atomic number of argon?"

"Eighteen." Tony gasped.

"What is the atomic mass of potassium?"

"Nineteen." Tony was calming down a bit now.

"Helium?" Rhodey went on naming all of the elements he could remember. About twenty minutes later, Tony had calmed down enough for him to grab a towel. Rhodey stood up and grabbed Tony's clothes. He turned around as Tony was changing.

After Tony was changed they went out to the kitchen. Tony didn't use it much, but it was always fully stocked. He reached out for the alcohol cabinet, but a hand stopped him. "No, you are not going to just get drunk." Rhodey said. "You are going to go take a nap and I'm going to sit out here and finish this magazine."

Tony felt a twinge of panic at the thought of the nightmares that were sure to come. He was more relieved than he would like to admit at the fact that Rhodey was going to be right outside, though. He nodded and went into his bedroom. The bed looked so comfortable and he was exhausted. He laid down, not even bothering to change into his pajamas and fell into a fitful sleep.

*Rhodey Point of View

Rhodey thought about what had been causing this. The only time this had happened before was after Afghanistan, but that had been years ago. Rhodey had no clue as to what had caused this. Tony had been getting close to Dr. Banner. Maybe he would know something. Rhodey asked JARVIS to call Bruce up.

A few minutes later, Bruce walked out of the elevator. "Is everything okay?" Bruce asked, seeing the worried look on Rhodey's face.

"No, not really. Do you have any idea why Tony hasn't been out of the lab in a week?" Rhodey questioned.

"Oh, that. The air conditioning was broken, so we went to the closest pool. The closest pool happened to be Tony's mansion." Rhodey groned. He knew that Tony hated the mansion. "Where is he anyway?" Bruce looked around as if Tony was going to pop out of the walls.

"I tried to get him to take a shower, but that didn't go so well. He's sleeping now but that's not going to last very long. What happened at the mansion?" Rhodey inquired.

"We were all swimming except Tony. Clint didn't know about the water boarding and thought that he should come join the fun so he threw him in." Bruce looked down, ashamed. "We've been trying to get Tony to talk to us but he locked himself in his lab. Steve almost broke down the door."

Great. No wonder Tony freaked out. Rhodey had been there the first time that Tony freaked. Rhodey knew from Pepper that it had taken almost two months for Tony to take a shower without panicking.

"Damn it. This isn't going to be fun." Rhodey said. "Tony could barely look at water after. Afghanistan."

"I'm going to go talk to the rest of the team. They should know." Bruce moved towards the elevator.

"Wait, do you know what this rhythm is?" Rhodey tapped out the same rhythm that Tony had been taping on his arc reactor. "Tony did it earlier and I can't place where I've heard it before."

"It sounds familiar." Bruce hummed, "Sorry, I don't know."

Rhodey watched him get on the elevator. "JARVIS, what was the rhythm that he was tapping?"

"Sir uses it to calm himself down. DUM-E clicks the rhythm." JARVIS answered smoothly.

"What does it mean?" Rhodey inquired. He went over to the bedroom door to see if Tony was alright. There was a small crease between his eyebrows but overall he was fine.

"I believe that you will have to ask Sir yourself." Rhodey huffed at the answer. He walked over to the fridge and opened it. He started looking through the drinks.

He grabbed the carton of milk and looked at the expiration date. He threw it out in disgust. He continued to search, throwing out all of the expired goods as he went. Finally, he opened the bottle of grape juice and poured himself a glass.

Just as he was going to take a drink, a scream echoed around the large room. Setting his glass down quickly, he hurried over to Tony's bedroom.

Tony was tangled in the sweat-soaked sheets. Rhodey ran over. He grabbed Tony's arm, trying to calm him. A stray fist came up and knocked him right on his jaw. Rhodey let go in surprise. With renewed vigor, Rhodey reached over to Tony's arc reactor. He tapped the rhythm that he had seen Tony tapping. Tony's fists were still flailing about, but Rhodey did nothing to stop them. He knew that holding him down would make it worse. A few minutes later Tony calmed. Tony slowly opened his eyes.

*Tony's Point of View

He looked up to an arm that he knew very well tapping the rhythm he knew so well on his chest. He sat up sharply, looking into the dark eyes of his best friend. The tapping immediately ceased. Tony could see the darkness of the wormhole in his mind's eye. Some of the downsides of having a photographic memory. Tony looked down in shame. Rhodey shouldn't have to calm him down from a nightmare like a six year old. Rhodey seemed to catch his guilty look.

"Hey Tones. It's okay. You're at the tower. Everything's okay." Rhodey reassured. He pulled Tony into a firm hug. Tony relaxed in his arms. He felt calmer already. Rhodey was one of the only people that he allowed hugs from.

Once Rhodey let go, Tony stood up. "I need coffee." He said, horsley. He decided to act like nothing had just happened. It was easier for both of them. Neither of them liked really deep talks and only had them when absolutely necessary.

They both walked over to the elevator. To Tony's surprise, the whole team was sitting in the lounge next to the coffee maker. Tony walked over to it as if he didn't see them. He saw Rhodey shoot him a disapproving glare.

"You look like shit." Clint observed. Tony scowled at him, pouring himself a cup of coffee. He took a sip of the steaming beverage. Steve walked over.

"Tony, you should know that none of us think any less of you." Steve looked like he wanted to put an arm on Tony's, but thought better of it.

"Okay." Tony didn't know how to answer that. "I'm going back to my workshop."

"No, absolutely not. You've been down there for a week and we're going to talk." Steve made a move over to him, as if he was going to physically stop him from leaving.

"Didn't take you for the chick-flick moments." Tony shot at him. Sarcasm was his defence.

"Friend Tony. We do not wish to make you uncomfortable. We wish to rid you of your sorrows." Thor boomed from a spot on the couch.

"No thanks, Shakespeare. I've got other stuff to do. You know, running a company like Stark Industries is not as easy as I make it look." Tony moved to the elevator, but Steve's large body was in the way.

"Move, I've got stuff to do." Tony rolled his eyes at the immatureness of it. Honestly, Tony just wanted to get out of here. If he could just get in the elevator, he would be safe.

"No. You need to talk about this Tony." Rhodey gave him yet another glare. They were ganging up on him now.

"You can't just let it fester inside you. You need to talk about it." Bruce walked over to him and took his abandoned coffee cup. He walked over to the large coffee table and set it on top. What an ass. Tony could just get another cup, but that wasn't the point. That was his favorite cup, with Iron Man on the front.

Tony walked over to the smaller table and grabbed his coffee back. Clint, Natasha and Thor all made a wall, blocking him in. Tony resisted the urge to roll his eyes again. He instead took a sip of coffee and sat down on the large couch, as if there wasn't a large wall of superheroes blocking him from going to his workshop.

"Yes I can. I've done it before and I'll do it again." Tony tried to get past the barricade, but they were very strong.

"Yeah, and we know where that got you. Having an anxiety attack on the shower floor." Rhodey spoke up from the kitchen. Tony glared daggers at him around the large body of Thor.

"Tony, we all fear something. You just happen to fear water. With good reason too." Clint noted.

"Yeah? What are you afraid of?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Cold, ice." Steve spoke from the doorway. Tony was surprised that Steve has spoken up so quickly. He felt a moment of guilt at the practical joke that he had played on Steve earlier that week. He and Clint had thought it funny to put an action figure of the Captain in the ice dispenser.

"I fear all of my family turning against me, as my dear brother has." Thor boomed. Honestly, did he have any sense of an inside voice?

"I'm afraid of losing my eyesight." Clint said. Tony saw the reason in that. If Clint couldn't see, he wouldn't be able to use his bow.

"I'm afraid of hurting my friends." Bruce said. He looked regretfully at Natasha.

"You'd never hurt any of us, Jolly Green." Tony called to him over the barricade. "What are you afraid of Natashalie?"

"I'm afraid of the people I trust turning on me." She walked over to the couch, breaking the wall of people.

"Okay, chick-flick moment over. Can I go to my lab?" Tony hated the sympathetic looks that were being thrown everywhere. He just wanted to escape.

"No. You need to get it off your chest." Steve started moving over to the large couch.

"I already told you. I'm fine." Tony moved to the elevator for the second time in an hour, just to be stopped again.

"According to the Colonel, that's not true. You're definitely not fine if you can't even take a shower without panicking." Bruce could have phrased it better, but bluntness got the point across just fine.

"Can you have JARVIS alert one of us if you have another anxiety attack?" Steve's tone told Tony that it was a command, not a simple question.

Tony sighed. "Fine. But only if I say it's okay."

"Well that's never going to work. We all know that you won't do it. You're too headstrong." Natasha said, cleaning under her nails with a knife that had come from nowhere. Knowing her, there were secret knives stashed everywhere. Tony had to agree with her.

"JARVIS alert one of us anytime Tony has an anxiety attack." Bruce called, looking up despite the many times Tony had told him that the AI didn't live in the ceiling.

"I will Doctor Banner." Tony groaned at his AI's response. It was true that JARVIS had his best intentions at heart, but sometimes he cared too much for Tony's liking.

"Is there anything else you'd like to tell us Tones?" Rhodey inquired.

"Nope. You've done enough damage already. Now my AI's taking orders from you and my team knows my biggest weakness." Tony mumbled the last part under his breath.

"Tony, what do you think we're going to do? Throw you off the team?" Steve chuckled at the last part. This brought an unsettled feeling in the pit of Tony's stomach. Technically, he was still a consultant. They could if they wanted to.

"Nah, you wouldn't do that. You love me." Tony lied. God, he just wanted to get out of here.

"We wouldn't throw you off the team." Natasha reassured, putting her knife away. She always seemed to know what he was thinking. Damn spies.

"If you won't talk to us talk to someone, please Tones." Rhodey was almost pleading with him now. Tony had to admit, anxiety wasn't fun.

"Okay, Okay, I'll talk to JARVIS. Now can I go to the workshop?" Tony was annoyed now. All he wanted was some coffee. He walked over to the elevator, unstopped this time. Thank God. He was alone now. He rode down the elevator, AC/DC's Shot Down in Flames playing softly. He walked smoothly into the lab and pulled up the most recent project. "Pull up playlist number six, Jay." He called.

JARVIS knew everything. The AI had also become Tony's therapist in the last few years. After everything that had happened to Tony, how could he not confide in someone. He worked listening to the loud music that JARVIS had provided.

Tony watched as DUM-E rolled over, brandishing a fire extinguisher at him as if he would spontaneously catch fire. Tony clicked at him in slight irritation. The bots had their own language that Tony had invented for them. It was mostly clicks. The small robot clicked in sadness. DUM-E rolled closer, setting the fire extinguisher down on the table. He moved his claw out, resting over the arc reactor. He tapped the rhythm that Tony knew so well on the warm metal. "Don't waste your life."

I do not own Avengers. If anything is wrong please tell me. Reviews mean a lot. Thanks!