December 19, 1991 — New York, NY
8:00 AM, EST

Shelby hadn't slept well the night before the funeral, and she assumed Tony hadn't either. She'd stayed up with him late as he finished going over the arrangements. He'd gathered photos to lay out and had written his speech. He had created a strong facade, but Shelby knew how much he was truly hurting inside. She was glad to be in New York with him.

If she was being honest, she worried what might have happened if she hadn't come to New York.

She dressed in a black dress and a pullover sweater, the outfit she had dubbed her funeral outfit. It was the second winter in a row that she was having to wear it, after burying Gram the previous January.

As she left the guest bedroom, the smell of fried eggs hit her nose. Standing in the kitchen was an unfamiliar man. Shelby soon realized that it was the stranger from the lobby that had vouched for her with the doorman.

"You must be Mr. Jarvis," Shelby said, smiling at the man.

"Ahh, yes, Doctor Colewell." Jarvis smiled politely, shaking Shelby's hand. "It's nice to officially meet."

"Likewise," Shelby said as he handed her a plate of food. "Thank you for breakfast."

"It's no problem," Jarvis replied, and Shelby finally noticed the dark circles under his eyes. It would be a long day for many.

Shelby took a seat next to Tony, who was dressed in a suit, something Shelby had never seen him in before. His plate of bacon and eggs remained untouched in front of him as he sat with his head in his hands.

"Hey, Stark," she said, reaching over to gently squeeze his hand. As she pulled away, he grasped her hand tightly, squeezing it between both of his palms.

"Thank you for being here, Shelby," Tony murmured, his sad eyes lifting to meet hers.

"Of course. There's nowhere I'd rather be," she said. As she thought about her life back in Florida, the Tenacity launch, everything — she realized how true the words were. There was truly nowhere she'd rather be.

"I'm sorry I didn't go to your grandmother's funeral," he said in a quiet voice. "I knew about it, Rob told me, I just ... I couldn't bring myself to go. I told myself that you wouldn't want to see me, that going there would only make a bad day worse, but ... now that you're here, I know I was wrong, and I'm so, so sorry, Shelby." His voice caught in his throat and he shoved the sob back down.

"Tony, it's okay, I promise," Shelby said, tears springing to her green eyes as she listened to him apologize over something that didn't matter, not in that moment.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, both of them knowing that it was for so much more than a missed funeral.

Shelby watched him, regret flowing in as she looked into his sorrowful brown eyes. They'd missed years of each other's life, and for what?

"I'm sorry too."

4:35 PM, EST

Tony always knew that he'd bury his parents one day. He was an only child - he knew the task would fall to rest on him, and only him. He'd just never imagined he'd have to do it so soon, or that he'd have to bury them both at the same time.

As he sat in the church pew, Shelby on his left side, and Robbo and Rhodey (having flown in from Seattle and Washington, D.C., respectively) on the other, his mind drifted from the polite words of the priest performing the ceremony and all of the well-wishers that had come to leave their sympathy.

He thought of all the times he'd been a terrible son. He'd been so argumentative, and always such a smart ass. He regretted all of it, but he knew no amount of regret would bring them back. He hoped that Shelby was right, that his mom and dad would be proud of him. If they weren't proud of the man they'd known that day they left on the fateful drive, maybe they would be proud of the man he could become.

"And now I'd like to bring up Howard and Maria's son, Anthony, to say a few words."

Shelby nudged Tony with her elbow, gesturing towards the lectern. Right. The speech.

He stood slowly and took a carefully folded piece of paper out of his pocket, then walked towards the front of the church. It was a private ceremony, so it was mostly Stark employees and some of his father's SHIELD friends. There weren't too many people, but he found himself a bit nervous as he approached the microphone.

"Yes, hello," Tony cleared his throat awkwardly as he scanned the room in search of familiar faces.
There was Jarvis, of course, seated next to Shelby and Tony's friends. In the back he spied a familiar-looking brunette woman, who, despite aging over the years, Tony recognized as one of his father's colleagues from his World War II days. He'd seen her picture in his father's study, where she stood between Howard and the large, blond man Howard had called "Captain America."

"Thank you all for coming today," Tony continued. He'd spent hours with Shelby the night before trying to come up with the right words to say, but nothing really seemed good enough. "I know that my parents would be honored that you are all here today. I'd like to say a few words about them, if that's alright. Howard and Maria Stark, as I knew them.

"My mother was the kindest soul on this planet. What she saw in my father, I'll never know," Tony chuckled. "I'm just kidding, they were really, truly great together. He could be a tough son-of-a bitch --"

The priest winced at Tony's words.

"--But she brought out the good in him. She was a great wife, and a great mother. She was compassionate and caring, and she saw the best in everyone," he paused. "Even me."

"My father ... now, he and I didn't always see eye-to-eye. I think maybe that might have been because we were too similar. We butted heads more times than I could ever begin to count, but I know he did his best, raising a son that was, well, a pain in the ass."

The audience chuckled, and Tony let out a sigh of relief. The words were flowing out of him. He hadn't been able to put them on paper, but talking about his parents ... well, maybe it was easier than he had thought.

"He pushed me to be better, and I always thought that he was too overbearing. I know now that both of my parents saw more in me than I ever did. I hope ..." His voice caught in his throat, and he glanced over at Shelby, who was dabbing at her eyes with a tissue in an attempt to keep herself together, for his sake more likely than hers. "I hope that I can do their legacies justice. Thank you."

He composed himself and walked back to the pew, settling in beside Shelby as the priest took his spot at the front of the church again.

"You did good," Shelby whispered, reaching over and giving his arm a squeeze.

Tony smiled. He hoped she was right.

The rest of the funeral progressed, and Tony found himself drifting in and out of focus. Eventually the ceremony was over, and after another round of sympathetic greetings from the guest, he was finally allowed to leave.

He headed outside, Shelby, Robbo and Rhodey trailing behind him.

"It's nice to see you two together again," Rhodey noted politely, glancing at Shelby and Tony.

Tony watched a flicker of a smile cross Robbo's face, and knew that his old friend was holding in a sarcastic comment. "Save it, Rob," he said with an eye roll.

"What? My two very best friends are finally talking again. Excuse me if I'm happy about it," Robbo replied.

Happy.

Tony realized that in that moment, standing alongside his friends, he felt the happiest he had since before the accident.

Maybe things could turn around.

7:59 PM, EST

After attending the will-reading ceremony, Shelby and Tony grabbed a pizza and headed back to the Stark residence. It had been a long day, and both were extremely glad to be done with everything.

Tony had received everything, as expected, except for a few of his father's cars, which he left to Edwin Jarvis. After all, Jarvis had driven them more often than Howard ever had.

What scared him the most was that he'd have to face all of his father's company alone, in an attempt to fill the shoes he'd never thought he'd have to.

"I'm not sure I can do it," Tony told Shelby as the two of them sat on the couch, the pizza box on the coffee table in front of them.

"Do what?" Shelby asked, bringing a can of Coke to her lips.

"Take over the company. I mean ... my father grew Stark Industries from the ground up, and now I have to take over? I always knew it would be mine someday, but I'd always imagined it'd be a gradual process. I never thought I'd have to jump in like this. I always thought ..." Tony swallowed down the lump in his throat. "I'd always thought my dad would be there to show me the ropes."

Shelby sighed and reached for Tony's hand, squeezing it gently. "Listen to me, Tony Stark. You were born for this, okay? It's in your blood. You are the smartest person I know. You've got great ideas. You're passionate and creative and hardworking and I know you're going to take Stark Industries so far."

Tony smiled. "Thanks, Shelby." He set down his piece of pizza and turned towards her. "What if you stayed in New York?"

"What?" Shelby turned towards him, her eyebrows raised.

"Stay here, with me," Tony said carefully. "Help me get Stark Industries back on its feet."

A strange look filled Shelby's face, one Tony couldn't quite place.

"Tony, I ..." Shelby frowned. "I can't. This is something you need to do on your own. For so long, you've relied emotionally and professionally on other people. This is something you need to do for yourself. As Stark Industries takes its first few steps under new leadership, Tony Stark needs to take his first few steps as an independent person."

Tony frowned, knowing full-well that Shelby was right. His brain had got him easily through every year of schooling, and he hadn't even needed to apply for a job upon graduation because he knew his father would take him on. Even under his father's wing, he'd slacked off. His relationship with Cassandra was pretty much a sham; a crutch after what had happened with Shelby.

The redhead was right.

Tony needed to take some time for himself.

"Right, you're right," Tony shook his head. As much as he might have wanted Shelby to stay in New York with him, he couldn't ask her to walk away from NASA. That was her dream. "Besides," he cracked a smile. "You've got that moonwalk coming up, don't you?"

Nothing in the world could have prevented the smile that immediately formed on Shelby's face. "Yeah, I do. February 12th."

"I can't believe Shelby Colewell is going to space," Tony said with a shake of his head and grin. "Actually, no, I can. Of course you're going to space." He beamed at her. "I'm proud of you, Colewell."

Shelby blushed. "Thank you, Tony. You have no idea how ... how hard it's been, not having you to talk about this with."

"So you're excited, then?" Tony asked, sipping his soda. He would have preferred a beer, but Shelby had suggested against it. He supposed that maybe she was right — he'd become too reliant on certain things in his daily life.

"Mmm, yeah, I suppose you could say that," Shelby joked before excitedly going into detail over the upcoming spaceflight.

Tony watched as Shelby's eyes lit up, her smile growing bigger as she told him what she could about the Tenacity flight. After all, NASA was a government organization, so there was some classified material. Tony was finding it hard to believe that his best friend was going to space, but he was incredibly proud of her.

"Will you come?" Shelby asked.

"What?"

"Will you come? To Florida? For the launch?"

Tony's eyes widened in surprise. "You ... you want me to be there?"

Shelby nodded, her face flushing slightly. "Yeah. I mean, all the others will have their families there, but ..." She trailed off, but Tony knew what she meant: Shelby didn't have a family. "You and Rob and Lisa and Donna ... you're the closest thing I have to family." She reached forward, gently setting her hand on top of Tony's. "Will you, please?"

As Tony stared into her green eyes, he realized that his soul had been entwined with Shelby Colewell's since the day they'd met. He'd never fallen out of love with her, not even when they were apart. He was in love with her still, more than ever.

She was as familiar to him as ever, their connection the same. It had been awkward a bit at first, but now it was like they'd picked up right where they'd left off. She smiled the same, she laughed the same, she cried the same. She was Shelby through and through, and he'd never not be head over heels in love with her.

"If you want me to, I'll be there, sure."

She grinned and pulled him in for a hug, squeezing him tightly. The urge to kiss the redhead was excruciating, but he knew he couldn't make a move. Whatever his feelings for Shelby might have been, she was in a relationship. Tony's last one had ended because of cheating, and he couldn't do that to someone else, not even the preppy brilliant NASA PhD that was dating Shelby. Beyond all that, he was glad to have her back in his life at all.