*sticks head out of cave*

Is it safe? AHHH! ANGRY STORY READERS! HELP ME!

...seriously though, I am very very very very sorry for basically forgetting about this story for as long as I did. I was working on an unrelated writing project that ate up a lot of my time... I'M SO SORRY.

This chapter has some references to alcohol and mild swearing, just in case that's not your thing.

Of COURSE I don't own the Avengers. If I did, you'd see my obvious cameos in every movie.

Taylor and Tyler tried to look like they belonged at a fancy gala. They had a suspicion that it wasn't working. Taylor elected to blame their woozy father, who was propped up between the two of them to keep him from collapsing. Tyler had apparently had to pump some major drugs into his systems while fixing his Arc Reactor (Taylor did not know where he had gotten them and was debating whether to ask), and while they'd hopefully wear off soon, right now he gave all appearances of being falling-down drunk.

Tyler was trying to tell if it was possible to see how much the Arc reactor was sparking alarmingly through the fabric of Tony's suit. It wasn't going to abruptly quit on him now that he'd fixed the capacitators, but that hadn't stopped it from looking... funny. He was fairly sure that at this point it was still meant to be a secret anyways. He reached the conclusion that it was safely concealed and turned to his sister.

"Story?" he asked her. She was a naturally better liar than him, so he'd asked her to cook up a story explaining their lateness and their dad's current state. He had a feeling what sort of story she would pick, but she had fun with such things.

"I went the easiest and most believable route. Dad sent us to our rooms to get dressed. He got ready too, but then took a shot to make him braver. And another. And another. You get the idea. He also spilled some on his reactor, but don't say that unless she notices it's sparking. We were late because dad started choking, we had to take him down to the lab to get him medical care. Explains what we were doing down there when she called and why he was there with us. Also, we totally found these clothes at the house and didn't pick them up at Goodwill and change in the car. You shouldn't say any of this unless she asks you, just remember it. You can't lie for shit and you know it. You always laugh."

"That's true," Tyler admitted, who was smart with the logical workings of the human brain, but not putting it into motion. "Why did we let him keep drinking?"

"We were busy getting ready ourselves," Taylor replied without a second's hesitation.

"You really thought this through. This might actually work."

"It worked when I explained away the scar you got from skateboarding with those idiots Dad told you not to hang out with, didn't it?"

"Oh, yeah. But also when you told them I accidentally blew up some chemicals to explain the damage from that party you threw."

"What party? I thought you were just playing with nitroglycerin," Taylor said innocently. Tyler rolled his eyes and dropped the subject when he saw Pepper. Her eyes bored holes into the trio from halfway across the room, and Tyler found himself using his father as a bit of a human shield. Taylor glared at him.

"Cut it out! You look so guilty right now."

"Sis, she's scaring me."

"Why? There's nothing to be scared of. She's mad at him, because he got drunk and was late. There's no reason for her to be mad at us. She should be thanking us for getting him here, even if it does present a rather unflattering social image of him right in the middle of all the people who he absolutely needs the respect of."

Tyler blinked. And blinked again. "That sounds like something I'd say."

"Just shut up, she's looking at us."

Pepper looked at them for about twenty seconds, pausing only to shoot false smiles and greetings to all the well-dressed people that passed them. After an almost unbearable silence, she said, "Normally at this point I'd ask Tony what he's done this time. It looks like he's unable to do that, so I suppose I'll have to ask you two. What happened, and why were you late?"

Tyler had to give Taylor credit- she didn't even pause to organize her story in her head. It would appear she had it all ready to go.

"He's drunk," she said flatly, her voice betraying no emotion. "He started eating and taking shots right before we left, and then he started to choke..." her voice trembled a little bit, and tears materialized in the corners of her eyes. Tyler blinked a few times in wonder. He knew machines, but his sister knew people. How scary was that?

Pepper seemed to swallow the story hook, line, and sinker. She rounded on Tony and slapped him hard. Tyler felt a bit bad letting his father take the fall after everything he and Taylor had put him through recently. She slapped him again, and it became outright guilt. He tugged his sister's arm and hissed in her ear, "This is wrong."

She gave him a sharp and uncomprehending look. "What? Don't ruin this, Tyler. It's going perfect."

"No, it's not. The man was abducted by terrorists for months, got a piece of shrapnel embedded in his chest-"

"Several pieces of shrapnel," Taylor amended, who could sense where he was going with this and was starting to feel rather badly herself.

"Thank you for making my point. Shortly after, you lit his house on fire and wrecked his water for a moment-"

"Just his couch."

"-and then you electrocuted him, nearly killing him, and I turned into the Hulk and probably did something stupid too. I'm not sure, to be honest."

"Fine. You made your point," Taylor huffed, blowing a chunk of red-striped hair out of her eyes in irritation. She wasn't sure who she was more annoyed with- her righteous brother, for pointing out the unjustness of the situation, or herself, for letting the sick guilty feeling manifest in the pit of her stomach. She tapped Pepper nervously on the arm just before the redhead could kick Tony in a place that would have been very uncomfortable.

"Pepper? I'm sorry. It wasn't Tony's fault. It was ours. We lied," she admitted, nodding to her brother standing next to her.

"She lied," Tyler quickly amended. Taylor shot him a dirty look, and they quickly feel into a bickering match. Pepper dug the heel of her palm into her forehead, swallowed two aspirin and a gulp of champagne, and looked up to see Tony Stark regaining some semblance of consciousness.

Please review! If you do, I'll get the next chapter up sooner, I promise!