Tony braced his elbows against the desk and rubbed eyes that were gritty from lack of sleep and too many hours in front of a computer.

Opening them, he stared at the financial report displayed on the screen. Intellectually he had known what the results of his actions at the press conference would be, but it was still painful seeing it all laid out in black and white.

Going by the report, shutting down weapons production had resulted in him effectively laying off thirty percent of Stark Industries's workforce, with another fifteen projected to go idle within three months if production remained at a standstill. It would also result in a domino effect among the companies who supplied or relied on SI for parts which could potentially cripple almost half of all high tech weapons manufacturing in the northern hemisphere within six months if he left things the way they were.

He scanned over Obie's notes, sighed, then opened one of the shipping manifests that matched the serial numbers on the equipment he had handled in the Ten Rings camp.

There was no doubt in Tony's mind why Obie had attached the financial report to the shipping manifest files; it was a heads up and a rebuke all rolled into one. He shook his head. Sorry Obie, but I can't let weapons production start up again until we figure out where SI operations failed, though I'll agree with you that I can't leave production at a stand still much longer. There won't be a company left to rebuild if I do.

But what do I want Stark Industries to do when I start it back up? He rubbed his temple and glanced down at the bump caused by the new Arc Reactor Pepper had helped him install yesterday that was beneath his t-shirt. One thing to spout off to a reporter about all the beneficial technologies we've spun off of weapon development, another thing entirely to base the whole company around those technologies.

He knew he should just sit down with Obie and start bouncing ideas around, but he needed a solid base to work from before approaching his chief financial officer.

If I don't know what direction to go in, Obie will pick it for me and that'll just put me right back to square one.

Before he could indulge in a moment of self pity, there was a familiar electronic click. Tony heard the door to the workroom slid open and lazily spun his chair around to watched Pepper approach, grateful for the distraction until he noticed the folder she had cradled in one arm and the puzzled look on her face.

Leaning back, using one foot to rock his chair back and forth as he raised an eyebrow in question, Tony asked, "What? Have I got food stuck on my face or something?"

She shook her head. "I haven't heard any music down here since you've got back," she replied.

Tony gave her a startled smile when he realize she was right. He turned back to the computer. "Yeah, well, enjoy it while you can."

A stack of papers landed with a thump on the edge of his desk. He glanced up. Pepper smiled sweetly and held a pen in front of his face. Tony rolled his eyes.

"What, more stuff for me to sign?" Tony pushed his chair sideways and took the pen. "I just did this yesterday."

"You were gone for three month. We're only up to month two right now."

Tony waved the hand holding the pen. "You didn't just forge my name?"

She gave him a narrowed-eyed look which only made Tony smile. You'll never know how much I missed that look while I was gone, Pepper.

As he worked his way through the papers, he asked casually, "You're not mad about yesterday, are you?" He watched her reaction out of the corner of his eyes.

Pepper looked surprised by the question. "Mad?" She bit her lower lip and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear; a thoughtful expression crossing her face. "No, I'm not mad. I'd prefer that you never ask me to do something like that again but…" Her voice trailed off and she fell into an uneasy silence.

Tony sighed. I shouldn't have put that much pressure on you; I should have called Rhodey to help with putting in the new Arc Reactor. Not sure why I didn't though he probably wouldn't have had any more luck fixing the problem than I did.

I'm sure mentioning I was going into cardiac arrest didn't help much either. Yeah, gave my idiot of a boss a hand killing himself today.

Wanting to break the silence that had fallen between them, Tony stated, "But you are annoyed, pissed, exasperated--" The confusion on Pepper's face switched to exasperation and Tony chuckled softly as he returned the pen and paperwork and went back to the files on the computer. "Have you heard anything from Rhodey?" he asked as he started scrolling through the other shipping manifests.

Pepper placed the paperwork back into the folder. "No, why? Were you expecting a call?"

He paused his scrolling and gave her a surprised look. Pepper shook her head. "Tony, until you start up production again, it's not like Stark Industries needs a military liaison. I'm sure the Air Force has plenty of things to keep Rhodey busy with while you figure out what it is you're going to do with the company."

"Do you think I did the wrong thing, shutting down production like that?" he asked before he could stop himself.

She shrugged her shoulders. "It doesn't matter what I think, it's your company. I do think you might have found a better way to go about it though."

No more of this ready, fire, aim business, Tony. You're my son, I expect better from you.

He stared at the files filling his screen as his father's voice echoed through his mind. Shutting down production was the right thing to do, he thought fiercely. We need to change the way we work and what we do. His gaze drifted down the screen to the Mark I icon where the cleaned up schematics of the suit from his Dubai notes were waiting to be filed into the main database.

When are you going to tell Rhodey about the suit? Tony shook his head and looked up to find Pepper frowning at him as she held the folder against her chest.

"Have you gotten any sleep since you got back?" she asked quietly.

Okay, not in the mood to answer that question now. "I better go see how pissed Rhodey is," he said as he pushed away from the workstation. "I'll be back later." He quickly shut down the computer and ignored Pepper's sigh as he grabbed his jacket and the keys to the Audi. By the time he looked back, Pepper was already heading up the stairs, her head bent as she punched something into her Blackberry.

He watched her go then sighed and dropped into the Audi.

As he headed out of Malibu, Tony's mind kept turning over the numbers from the financial report until he finally flipped on some music to try and block them out. The music wasn't enough though so he let his mind drift to the Mark I schematics.

By the time he hit the turnoff for 14 north of San Fernando, Tony realized just how much Rhodey's input could help in straightening out a few aerodynamic issues the suit had. Going up and coming down was no problem, and it would be easy enough to incorporate adjustable surface panels to control any roll and yaw tendencies the suit might have, but pitch- that was going to be a challenge. Balancing the thrust output on four independently working repulsor units to keep the wearer of the suit from flipping head over ass was going to take some work-- getting a pilot's feedback would certainly streamline the concept to prototype work that needed to be done.

As he exited 14 onto Rosamond Boulevard, a little voice pointed out, You could have told him about the suit in Dubai but you held back. Why are you telling him now? Is it guilt that's making you drive all the way out here, or do you really want his input on the project?

Of course I want Rhodey in on this.

But it's Colonel Rhodes you'll be talking to here, remember, not Rhodey. Do you really want the military liaison to Stark Industries to know about the suit, especially when you still don't know how tech from SI is getting into the wrong hands?

Rhodey had nothing to do with that.

Doesn't mean someone isn't using him the same way someone might be using you.

Tony felt a chill at that thought.

Burying the questions that idea brought up, Tony stopped at the main gate to pick up his visitor pass and to find out where Rhodey was, then headed over to the hanger Rhodey was supposed to be herding a batch of trainees through. Stepping through the partially open hanger doors, Tony pulled off his sunglasses and tucked them into his leather jacket then paused a moment to let his eyes adjust to the dark interior of the hanger.

The sound of a jet engine cycling up outside echoed off the walls, and Tony automatically identified the sound as a Pratt & Whitney F119 engine on an F- 22 Raptor, one of many fighters the Air Force had received over the last decade from Stark Industries after SI won the Advanced Tactical Fighter contract over Lockheed and Northrop Grumman's bids a few months before his parents had died.

I'm sure Rhodey and Obie have been catching hell about that contract since the press conference. We still owe the Air Force, what, 64 Raptors under that one?

Tony shook his head and walked further into the hanger, heading for the office built against one wall, but changed course when he spotted Rhodey and his trainees passing between the Raptor and the Northrup Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance aircraft sitting in the middle of the hanger.

Rhodey was dressed in his one piece flight suit, same as his trainees, and Tony could hear his enthusiasm for his job running under his speech as he said, "The future of air combat, is it manned, or unmanned? I'll tell ya, in my experience, no unmanned aerial vehicle will ever trump a pilot's instinct, his insight, that ability to look into a situation beyond the obvious and discern its outcome; or a pilot's judgment--"

Thinking of his brief flight in the Mark I suit, Tony interrupted as he made his way around the low narrow wing of the Global Hawk. "Colonel? Why not a pilot without a plane."

Rhodey turned in surprise, then grinned as he held out an arm and said, "Look who fell out of the sky, Mr. Tony Stark."

Fighting down a bout of unease similar to what he felt at the press conference as he stopped in front of the trainees, Tony said, "Speaking of manned or unmanned, gotta get him to tell you about the time he chose wrong at spring break-- just remember that, spring break 1987. That lovely lady you woke up with--"

"Don't do that," Rhodey said as he gave him an amused, exasperated look. The trainees, on the other hand, were fighting to keep their expressions appropriately serious in front of their instructor as they listened to Tony speak.

"What was his name?"

"Don't do that," Rhodey repeated as a few of the trainees began to laugh.

"Was it Ivan?"

Rhodey shook his head, smiling. "Don't do that, they'll believe that."

Tony stopped and returned the smile then turned to the trainees to give them a quick nod.

"Give us a couple of minutes, you guys," Rhodey said, chuckling softly.

As the trainees passed around him, the unease grew. Tony tried to pin down why the feeling was lingering instead of fading like it had before, but was distracted when Rhodey slapped him on the shoulder.

"I'm surprised," he said. "I swear, I didn't expect to see you walking around so soon."

There was something off with Rhodey's tone of voice and Tony tensed up as he said cautiously, "I'm doing a little better than walking."

An emotion Tony couldn't name passed over Rhodey's face as he crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. "Really?" Tony could hear the doubt in his voice.

Tony managed not to scowl at that. We're not going there, he thought irritably, and I told you, I don't need to talk to anyone about what happened either. A little put off by Rhodey's attitude, Tony tried to get back on track. He lowered his voice and leaned forward.

"Rhodey, I'm working on something big. I came to talk to you. I want you to be a part of it."

"You're about to make a whole lot of people around here real happy," Rhodey said with a relieved smile, though his stance remained stiff, "cause that little stunt at the press conference, that was a doozy."

Tony shook his head and felt his defenses going up. That's not why I'm here, Rhodey! "This is not for the military, I'm not…" He trailed off when Rhodey began to frown. "It's different," he said softly.

"What, you're a humanitarian now or something?"

No! Hell, where did that come from? "I need you to listen to my--"

"No," Rhodey said sharply, "what you need is time to get your mind right." They stared at one another and Tony smiled tightly.

My mind is fine! Damn it, I'm finally taking control of my life here and you want me to stop? What the hell, Rhodey!

The smile slipped away and he took a mental step back as he searched Rhodey's face, but it was as if a wall had suddenly formed between them.

Is this what our friendship is to you? Tony thought. Just business and nothing more?

When did this happened? This didn't need to be fixed, did it? Or have I been blind about our friendship on top of everything else?

I didn't fuck this up too, did I?

Rhodey moved away from him and Tony did nothing to stop him. "Nice seeing you Tony," Rhodey said.

"Thanks." Tony stood in the center of the hanger and watched Rhodey and the trainees leave, then walked out of the hanger back to the Audi. After settling behind the wheel, he stared out the window past the runway out to the bright dusty surface of Rogers Dry Lake for a few minutes, then started the engines and headed for the road out of Edwards.

When he realized he'd been staring at his bedroom ceiling long enough to make out its texture again, Tony flipped the blanket back and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He scrubbed his face then dropped his hands in his lap.

This isn't working, he thought as he looked at his hands. I can't keep doing this lying in bed staring at the ceiling thing.

He pushed off the bed and headed for the bathroom, ignoring the almost full bottle of sleeping pills sitting on the counter. Stepping into the shower and closing his eye as he let the water pour down on him, Tony wondered how many more sleepless nights he was going to have to put up with.

"What you need is time to get your mind right."

Tony braced his hands against the wall of the shower and bowed his head.

I thought that was what I was doing. He ran a hand over his face, pushing damp strands of hair off his forehead. Seems the more I try to fix things, the more I'm fucking thing up. I need...shit, I don't know what I need.

He pushed off the wall. And I don't know who I can trust anymore. Well, Pepper of course but she can't help me figure out what I need.

A very unprofessional thought crossed Tony's mind and he rolled his eyes at himself. Okay, that's not the need I need fixed right now. It did start a curious line of thought though and Tony mulled over the concept of having an actual relationship with someone instead of a string of one night stands as he picked up the shampoo and started lathering up. Not something he would have considered before, but it was certainly a more interesting subject than Obie's numbers and Rhodey's cold shoulder treatment.

Quickly washing up then toweling off and throwing on some clothes, he headed down to the main floor in search of caffeine. The house was quiet-- it was still too early for Pepper to be in-- as he wandered into the kitchen and made himself a cup of coffee.

Pulling down a black mug with a white Stark Industries logo emblazoned on the side, Tony put it under the spout of the coffee machine and tapped the marble counter top as he waited for the coffee to brew.

Thinks it's time for me to try a new approach. He rapped out an uneven rhythm on the counter then started pacing.

I can't do everything. Obie knows his job, if anyone can track down where the missing shipments got waylaid, Obie can; I just need to give him time to do. And I need to be honest with myself-- I don't know what the hell I'm looking for.

I'm not going to learn how to run SI in a week, or hell, even a month. I need to be patient. Baby steps first.

In the meantime, I need to do something to clear my mind. He leaned back against the counter, arms crossed. He thought about the Mark I.

Maybe that's the way to go-- build a suit that can be used for something other than military operations. Just have to make sure no one finds out about it before I finish. Don't want to give anyone ideas.

Feeling surprisingly good now that he had a course of action in mind, he grabbed the full mug of coffee and headed for the workroom.

Settling down at the 3-D workstation, he took a deep breath and tapped the keyboard to bring the system on line.

"Jarvis, you up?"

"For you, sir, always."

"I'd like to open a new project file, index as Mark Two." He opened the file, picked up a slim pen-shaped pointer, aimed it at screen and captured the file so he could drag it over to the holographic table.

"Shall I store this on the Stark Industries Central Database?" Jarvis asked as he released the file and stuck the pointer in his pocket as he stood.

"Actually, I don't know who to trust right now." Because the one person I was going to trust with this doesn't seem to exist anymore.

The 3-D version of the file spread out into component parts, then reassembled as Tony walked around the table. As it returned to it's original state, Tony spotted several of the redundant sections he had put in to support mainline system functions in case something failed because of the jury-rigged nature of the Mark I suit.

He had the parts now though.

"Till further notice," he said, "why don't we just keep everything on my private server?"

"Working on a secret project, are we, sir?"

He pressed his lips together as he reached out and began removing everything he no longer needed and tossed them into the virtual trash. It is now. "I don't want this winding up in the wrong hands. Maybe in mine, it can actually do some good."

Tony spun the file and considered where to begin.

End of Part One- TBC in Found, But Still Searching: Reset

Author's note- Just want to thank everyone following this story and I really appreciate all the comments! I'm still plotting out Part Two (I wasn't planning on novelizing parts of the movie but realized that, to tell the full story, I'm going to have to.) Because the narrative structure changes and the crossover aspects start appearing, I'll be posting it as a new story. Thanks for reading!