Disclaimer: Nope, don't own.

A/N- this is me tentatively updating...because i think im finally over my writers block! woo hoo! so...there's tony/steve this chapter in a sense, some peter, carol and of course the others. oh and look- is that a plot i spot? i think it may be! so...here it is (it took me kinda long because i didnt want to leave it with just the first part. So i went and added two pages a couple of weeks later)

Tony hasn't needed a drink this badly in months.

He can literally taste the whiskey. Can imagine the burn as it trails down his throat and settles in his stomach…

He needs to get out of there.

"-last known whereabouts were Chicago of all places, he was hiding out…"

He's barely paying attention as Luke fills the others in on another hero that has gone missing. It seems like every week another hero goes missing; it's been happening for about two months now and it looks like the Underground Avengers are no closer to finding the people then he had been. There's no question of who is doing this, though.

Tony could be paying more attention, weighing in his own opinion, the plans he had been formulating.

He's watching Steve instead.

Steve who is listening with a frown, and still looking more handsome than anyone has the right to be, Steve who for awhile he thought he'd never see again, Steve who doesn't know who he is and has no idea he is being watched. Tony is cheating and has linked Extremis to the camera on his phone. One of the few things Extremis can still do with ease.

"So we'll check out Deadpool's tip, see if it pans out."

God, he needs a drink.

"How are we supposed to get inside?"

Tony tunes back into the conversation as Peter speaks up. Luke frowns and Tony realizes that he hadn't thought of that part yet.

"I mean, if Osborn controls that building now, then the security will be different. We can't just waltz in there and be like 'hey Ozzie, would you mind telling us where you're keeping your prisoners?' I've tried it."

Tony glances over at the blue prints laid out on the table top for the meeting he was invited to as an afterthought. He recognizes the building, he realizes with a sinking feeling- it's one of the buildings Norman had taken over from him.

"That is why we're sending in an expert." Carol interjects smoothly. She glances down the table and Tony really wishes he were somewhere else. The rest of the table follows her gaze and he resists the urge to sink down in his seat to disappear.

"I can't." He protests.

"It used to be your building." Carol points out.

Sometimes Tony really hates her; it's very rare though.

"Osborn probably changed everything." He protests weakly.

There are all kinds of reasons why he cannot do this, such as Osborn catching him before he has the chance to finish erasing his mind and Extremis.

"You're still the most qualified person we know for this." Jessica Drew pipes up, arms crossed and frowning at him.

And Cap is supposed to be on this mission. His welcome back to the world, busting into the bad guys layer and rescuing the people (they hope) that are there. The point is Cap will be there.

"Mr. Stark," Tony almost flinches but manages not to. He tries not to look, but his eyes are inevitably drawn to the patriotic hero sitting across from him. "As I understand it, the mission will fail without your help. If you truly consider yourself an Avenger, you won't sit this mission out for whatever reasons you think you have."

Determined blue eyes stare him down until he has to close his own, pinching the bridge of his nose to stave off the perpetual headache he seems to have developed. He doesn't even know if he has the skills to do this anymore. Not with all of the information he has been removing from his head.

He's going to end up drinking by the end of this.

"It's Tony." He finally says.

He knows he shouldn't. He knows he needs to keep his distance, but it is killing him to hear Steve call him Mr. Stark.

The table is silent when he finally reopens his eyes.

"Is that a yes, Tony?" Steve asks and something inside of Tony breaks.

"That's a yes." His reply comes out sounding hoarse, but no one calls him on it.

He just...can't say no to Steve right now.

The meeting continues on around him.

After this, after the mission he'll move on. Go into hiding again and finish downloading his brain before he faces Osborn for a final time. Just one more mission with the Avengers, with Steve- he promises himself.

DI

"Hey."

Tony glances up from the coffee clutched in his hands, pauses and then grunts in greeting. He's been up all night, tossing and turning. He had just been unable to turn off his mind, to stop worrying about what could go wrong. He'd been eyeing the toaster and trying to decide if he could take it apart and put it back together before the others got up, just for something to do.

The sun is barely up but Cap still looks awake and refreshed.

"Is that all you're having?" Steve frowns at the coffee Tony has curled protectively in his hands as he wanders around the kitchen.

"It's all I need." Tony mutters. He hunches further over the beverage, as though Steve would take it away, but even the old Steve never stole his coffee. A Steve that doesn't remember him has no reason to.

Tony takes a long drag from the mug and grimaces around the cold liquid; apparently he's been sitting there longer than he had thought.

He watches- head tipped down slightly so it looks like he's studying the paper- as Steve pokes through different cupboards, searching for something. After a moment he steps back and drops a plain bagel into the toaster, pushing it down and then leaning against the counter with his arms crossed.

"Out of sesame?" Tony asks before he realizes what he's saying.

Steve gives him a confused look, lips twisting down into a slight frown.

"How did you know I was looking for sesame?"

Tony freezes and panics momentarily.

"You just look like a sesame bagel kind of guy." Tony covers quickly, offering a strained smile.

Then it hits him; he knows what type of bagels Steve likes, he just doesn't know how he knows.

"Are you alright?"

Steve is suddenly in front of him, worried frown replacing the confused one and Tony really just wants to make him smile.

"Yeah," he waves it off, pushing thoughts of bagels out of his head. "Just…tired."

Steve grins at this and sinks down into the chair across from him.

"You don't seem like the kind of person who enjoys getting up early."

Tony goes to take a sip of his coffee, remembers it's cold and promptly puts the mug back down. Steve watches the entire thing with what can only be described as amusement.

"I'm more of the 'doesn't sleep for a few days' kind of guy." Tony admits, a grin making its way across his own face. This feels…nice. Like the old days. The normalcy of it all makes him want to cry. "Before all of this," he gestures around the kitchen but really means everything that has happened in the past two years. "I'd spend days working on…projects and I practically lived off coffee."

He remembers Jarvis always sneaking in when he was too caught up in the armor to notice, to fill up one of the various coffee pots; he remembers Steve dragging him away when everything started to blur together in front of him from days of staring at circuitry.

"Yeah." Steve nods, but he's staring blankly over Tony's shoulder.

Tony cranes his neck, looking for whatever it is that has Steve's attention, but there's nothing there. He turns back, watching Steve slowly blink, almost like he's trying to…trying to remember…

"I know I should be surprised to find you two up already but somehow I'm not." Peter quips as he appears at the doorway.

He sends a cautious look in Tony's direction, and then heads straight for the coffee pot.

Steve snaps out of his trance to turn and smile fondly at Peter, before turning back to Tony.

"Sorry," He smiles sheepishly. "What were we talking about?"

Peter glances between the two of them, clutching a mug of fresh coffee to his chest, unreadable expression on his face.

"Nothing important." Tony shakes his head, standing to empty his mug. "Just coffee."

DI

Tony stares at the armor spread out on the bed.

He hasn't worn his armor since finding the Underground Avengers, hasn't needed to. Now he's going to have to put it on.

It's one of his more simple designs, for him at least. The make is a couple of years old, back before Wanda and Clint.

He knows that the second he steps out of the room wearing it, the others are going to notice and start to ask questions. He's not sure he's ready for it.

Two or three more of his downloads and he won't even be able to use this armor, he'll either have to build another suit, less advanced, or find someway to down grade his current armor.

The problem is, is that the others will notice.

There are gaps in his mind already; he needs to do another download, get rid of some more information, just in case Osborn does get a hold of him, but at the same time, it could compromise the mission. What good is he if they get there and suddenly he can't remember how to override the lock?

"Almost ready to go?"

Carol pokes her head in the room and spots the armor on the bed, her gaze hardening. She glances back into the hall, and then slips into the room, closing the door behind her.

"Is that…?" She trails off, eyes glued to the armor.

Tony crosses his arms defensively and shrugs.

"Tony," She rounds on him, taking two steps across the room until she is toe to toe with him. He has two inches on her but it means nothing now. "What the hell is going on here?"

He forces himself not to shrink back from her gaze.

"Nothing."

"Like hell it isn't." She snaps. "This is your old armor; you're not jumping at the chance to bring down Osborn; what's going on?"

He shouldn't tell her, he really shouldn't. It will just make things that much more complicated.

As he opens his mouth to tell her that there's nothing going on, it all begins to slip out. And he finds that once it has started, he cannot stop it. Part of him wonders, as she makes him sit on the edge of the bed, if this is a side effect of downloading parts of his brain. He could blame it on that.

But as she wraps an arm around his shoulders, choosing to just listen instead and get angry at him later, he knows it's a moment of weakness, and that maybe he can't do this all on his own.