July 31, 1999 - New York, NY
6:21 PM, EST

Shelby couldn't remember the last time she was nervous to go to dinner. It was dinner, after all, and Shelby liked eating. As far as meals went, dinner often had the best foods, too. So, why was she so nervous?

She was getting ready in her bathroom, hastily swiping mascara on her light lashes. She missed the days when Lisa and Donna would help her get ready. College was long over, however, and even though Shelby could probably pay someone to do her makeup, she just did it herself. She didn't really wear it much from day to day, only on special occasions. Like this dinner.

"Shelbster, you done in there?" Tony called from the other side of the bathroom door, knocking lightly. "Traffic is going to be awful, and we can't be late! Robbo will never let us live it down if we are."

Shelby groaned and looked at herself in the mirror, smoothing out the silky, emerald green dress she was wearing. She unlocked the door, letting Tony inside. "Do I look ridiculous?"

Tony scoffed. "Come on, Shelby. Of course you don't."

"I feel ridiculous," she admitted, marching out of the bathroom and into their bedroom, where she grabbed her purse. "Let's go, then."

"Hey, what's wrong?" Tony asked, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

"This whole thing has me feeling a bit on edge," Shelby admitted, taking a seat at the foot of their bed.

"Why?" Tony asked. "It's just dinner with Robbo."

"It's not just dinner with Robbo, Tony."

"Fine. It's dinner with Robbo and his super cool lawyer girlfriend that neither of us have met," Tony said, sitting beside her.

"Do you think she ... you know, knows?" Shelby asked.

A flicker of a smirk crossed Tony's face. "Knows what, Shelby?"

Shelby groaned and gave him a light shove. "You know what!"

Tony laughed. "What, that you guys used to date? Come on, Shelby, what does that matter?"

"I don't know, but if the roles were reversed, I'd be a little weirded out going out to dinner with your ex and their partner," Shelby said.

"You mean, like I'm about to do right now?" Tony said, erupting into laughter as Shelby's face turned bright red. "Oh come on, Shelby. If anyone should be freaked out right now, it should be me. I'm about to go out to dinner with my wife and her ex-boyfriend, who happens to be my best friend, and his new girlfriend."

"But you're not freaked out," Shelby said.

Tony shook his head. "Of course not. Rob's my best friend, and you're my wife, also my best friend. Besides, I'm sure Elizabeth knows, and I doubt she would have agreed to come if she was upset about it. Robbo's not the kind of guy to hide something like that."

Rob was in town for a conference, and he'd brought his girlfriend, Elizabeth, along for the trip. They'd been together for about a year, and neither Tony nor Shelby had met the girl yet. Rob hadn't seriously dated anyone since Shelby -- well, looking back, Shelby figured nothing about them had been truly serious, so maybe Rob had just never seriously dated anyone. More likely, he was just a serial dater.

Elizabeth was a high profile lawyer in Seattle, and Shelby thought that was super cool. She also couldn't help but notice the irony, as she knew that Rob's father had wanted him to become a lawyer himself. In fact, his younger sister, Celia, had graduated from Harvard and was now working at Mr. Everett's law firm.

"Okay, fine. Let's go," Shelby said, standing.

Tony smiled. "That's my girl," he said, adjusting his tie in the mirror quickly before they left.

Tony drove them to the restaurant himself, in the new Lamborghini Diablo he'd recently purchased. Shelby considered buying a car, she certainly had the money for it, but she really didn't see the point in having one in New York. She still had her old Jeep, the one she'd purchased with her NASA money, tucked in the basement garage of their building, but she didn't use it ever. Tony, on the other hand, loved spending his money on cars. Expensive, flashy cars, at that.

"Are you driving this car just so you can show it off to Rob?" Shelby asked.

Tony scoffed. "Of course not."

She rolled her eyes with a smirk, knowing that despite being best friends, the two men, or boys, really, still loved flexing on each other whenever they could.

They pulled up to the restaurant, which was a fancy Italian joint in upper Manhattan with a valet out front.

"Be careful with her, okay?" Tony said, passing the keys to the young man at the valet stand. As they walked inside, he turned to Shelby, a giddy smile on his face. "I've always wanted to say that!"

The maitre d' greeted them with a friendly smile. "Name, please?"

"I think it's under Everett," Shelby said. "Party of four."

"Yes of course. Mr. Everett and his guest are already seated," the woman said. "Come with me."

They followed the maitre d' to their table, where Rob sat with an elegant blonde woman, who was dressed in a stunning black dress.

"Well, well, well," Rob said, rather loudly, as he stood to greet them with his large, boyish smile. "If it isn't Mr. and Mrs. Stark! Or rather, Mr. and Dr. Colewell," he joked, pulling both Tony and Shelby in for a hug.

"Hi, Robbo," Tony replied, clapping his old friend on the back as the two men hugged.

"It's nice to have you back in New York, however brief your stay is," Shelby said, smiling as the trio was reunited.

"And it's nice to see you guys. Look at you, all married and shit," Robbo said with a grin. He turned to the woman next to him, who had also stood and was facing Tony and Shelby with a smile. "Oh, right! Tony, Shelby, this is Liz Cross. Liz, these two lovely individuals are Tony Stark and Shelby Colewell."

Elizabeth, or Liz, rather, was a beautiful woman with curly blonde hair, striking blue eyes, and the kind of smile that made a person instantly want to be friends with her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both," Liz said, smiling. "Rob's told me so much about you."

"All good things, I hope?" Tony said with a grin as he and Shelby sat down at the table.

"With you, Stark, are there any good things?" Rob joked.

"Ha ha," Tony said, rolling his eyes, though a smirk was on his face. "Tell me, Liz, how did he convince you to go out with him? Bribery? Corrosion? Are you being held hostage? Blink twice if you are."

Liz laughed and looked at Robbo, smiling. "No, none of that. He's surprisingly charming."

"I sure am," Rob said, smirking. "Just ask Shelby."

Shelby felt her entire face turn red and her eyes widened as she stared at Rob. She let out a snort before covering her face and laughing. "Oh, we're making jokes about that tonight, Robert?"

Rob shrugged. "It's fine. Liz knows all about our little dalliance," he joked.

"Ugh, don't remind me," Shelby laughed, running a hand through her red hair. "I'm sorry, Liz. I'm sure this is not what you had in mind for this evening."

"Actually, based on what Rob's told me, this is exactly what I was expecting," Liz said with a grin.

Tony was watching Liz and Robbo with a bewildered look on his face. "Honestly, Robbo. Where did you find her? Is there a secret robot-girlfriend division at Boeing you didn't tell us about?"

A waitress came over, looking nervously between the two friends as they laughed loudly at each other.

"Hello, my name is Rosie and I'll be your server tonight. Umm, is there anything I can get you?"

"A new table, please? This man is ridiculous," Robbo joked as he pointed to Tony.

"I'm going to need a tall glass of beer if I'm to sit with this bozo," Tony replied.

"We don't have beer," the girl said nervously. "I'm sorry."

"I am so sorry," Shelby said, turning to the waitress. "They're joking. They're stupid. Could we just get some menus and some water to start?"

The waitress nodded before quickly retreating, as Shelby turned to glare at Tony and Robbo, who were each trying, and failing, to hold in their laughs.

"It's nice to see you, bud," Rob said, smiling.

"Same to you, Robbo," Tony replied.

The waitress came back with water, a wine menu, and their food menus, before leaving once again.

"I think you two scared the life right out of that poor girl," Liz said, playfully whacking Robbo's arm with her menu. "We're giving her a huge tip."

July 31, 1999 - New York, NY
8:12 PM, EST

Shelby soon realized that she had nothing to worry about, and Elizabeth was a dream. Dinner, beyond the embarrassing show by Tony and Robbo in the beginning, had been more fun than she expected, and she was sad that Rob and Liz would be returning to Seattle in a few short days.

After eating, and leaving their poor waitress a generous tip, the couples retreated to Tony and Shelby's home for some evening drinks.

Tony was showing Rob a new gadget he'd been working on in his office, leaving the women to start with the drinks.

"So, Shelby," Liz began as the redhead poured them each a glass of wine. "I understand you worked for NASA."

Shelby nodded, her stomach twisting. "Yes, I did," she said, the wine bottle shaking in her head.

NASA had been her dream since she was a little girl, and it was still hard to look back on her time there, and how they treated her after the incident in space and Joe's death.

Liz cleared her throat. "It's ... umm, really incredible, what you did with your time there. But I'm really sorry. About what happened."

Shelby set the bottle down as she turned to Liz, her green eyes filling with tears. People always talked about her time at NASA. Shelby Colewell was the first woman on the moon. She went to space. She was an astronaut. They talked about the Tenacity flight, and they talked about the moon. But no one ever really talked about what happened, and how they lost Joe. No one talked about the fact that four of NASA's best left the organization not soon after the flight. And, no one ever gave Shelby their sympathy.

"Thank you, Liz," Shelby said in a whisper. "You have no idea how much that means to me."

Liz gave her a sympathetic smile. "You're welcome, Shelby."

The girls sat at the dining table, drinking their wine and chatting about life. Shelby was amazed by the legal work Liz was doing in Seattle, while Liz couldn't give enough praise to Shelby about the cutting edge technology she was developing with Stark Industries.

"Where are the boys?" Liz asked, craning her neck down the hallway that Tony and Rob had disappeared to.

"Oh god, they could spend hours in Tony's office," Shelby said. "He certainly does."

"They could probably use the catching up time," Liz said, smiling. "Rob's always rather energetic, but he definitely lights up around you two."

Shelby smiled. "Tony and Robbo have been through a lot together," she said, topping off each of their wine glasses. They were almost done with the bottle.

She kicked off her heels, which despite being labeled as "comfortable" at the store, weren't so comfortable in actuality. "Should we move to the couch?"

She was beginning to feel the wine. Well, maybe not beginning to feel it.

"I think that's a great idea."

They settled in on the couch, and Shelby flipped on the TV, seeing that Friends was about to begin.

"I love this show!" Liz exclaimed, taking a sip of her wine.

"Me too," Shelby said, smiling.

The opening credits began rolling, and a smile plastered itself onto Shelby's face.

"I love this song!" Liz said, letting out a laugh.

"Me too!" Shelby giggled, setting down her wine glass.

"So no one told you life was gonna be this waaaaayyyy," Liz sang, laughing as she clapped along to the song.

"Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's DOAAAAAA," Shelby sang.

"It's like you're always stuck in second gear...." they sang together.

"...so it's a user interface system at its core, but I think it has the potential for much more," Tony and Rob came down the hallway, discussing Tony's project.

"When it hasn't been your day," Shelby pointed to Liz.

"Your week," Liz sang.

"Your month," Shelby sang.

"Or even your yeaaaar!" They joined back together right before the chorus.

"Umm, ladies?" Tony and Robbo stood before their wife and girlfriend, respectively, as the two women danced around the living room, using their wine glasses as microphones.

"I'll be there for yoooou!" Shelby called out.

"When the rain starts to pour," Liz responded, pointing her glass at Robbo, who started laughing.

"Did we leave them alone too long?" Tony asked with a chuckle.

"I'll be there for yooooou," Shelby sang, dancing her way towards Tony, her arms outstretched.

"Like I've been there before!" Liz answered.

"Let the boys sing!" Shelby said, pointing to Tony and Robbo, who stared at each other with bewildered expressions.

"Well, I'll be there for you, Stark," Rob said in his regular voice, laughing.

"'Cause you're there for me too, Everett."