Timelined a few days after Progress
<Jessica> Jess sat patiently in Viper's office while she dealt with some sort of minor emergency that seemed to involve a lot of screaming and explosions. She tried to ignore the sounds while Sharky investigated everything in sight and attempted to resist the temptation to poke around Viper's computer.
<Tony> Deciding it was never too early in the day to get a start on the night's festivities, Tony poured himself a drink after shooing away his advisers... and his Rhodey. Seriously, the man was worse than a wife, which, now that he thought about it, was something of an alarming observation on his life.
<Tony> Also, it reminded him of something.
<Jessica> Rather than poke around on a computer that would, in all likelihood, self destruct because Viper seemed the sort that would find that funny, Jessica decided to snoop around the office to see if she could find anything out about the woman she was now living with.
<Tony> Hope hadn't been happy when he'd called her back. Scratch that. Hope never seemed particularly happy to talk to him, but this time she was downright livid. So, he supposed out of fatherly duty it was time he remembered to figure out what the hell exactly was going on.
<Tony> Only problem was Shaw wasn't answering his phone. It went straight to voicemail. Voicemail. He was being relegated to voicemail. Nobody relegated him to voicemail. Well, except for Rhodey.
<Tony> This circled back to his wife theory, and gave him his best idea of the day - he'd call Sebastian's wife. So, he did. The only problem was, he wasn't good at waiting patiently for her to answer, so he sat down in his presidential chair and spun it in a circle.
<Jessica> Jess let out a yelp of surprise when her phone started ringing and dropped the book she was examining, bending to pick it up while answering her phone and tucking it between her ear and her shoulder, "Hello?"
<Tony> "Hello! Finally!" Tony stopped the chair's movement and the leather squeaked indignantly.
<Jessica> Jess blinked, "Sorry I wasn't waiting with my thumb paused over the answer key?" She put the book back on the shelf, "Wait... Tony?"
<Tony> "Well why not? Your commander in chief calls and it's just rude to keep him waiting, right?" Tony grinned, giving his glass of scotch a swirl.
<Jessica> "I didn't know you were going to call me and I don't know why you would call me... so... why are you calling me?" She trailed a finger over the spines of the books on the shelf as she read the titles.
<Tony> "I'm disappointed, Jess! I don't even get a 'how are you?'" There was a knock at his office door and he pulled the phone from his ear for a moment. "I'm busy running the free world, come back when you have an appointment!"
<Jessica> Jess moved her phone away from her ear to give it an incredulous look, "I don't have time for how are yous, I'm having kind of a shitty week. I'm actually in the middle of something so if you have a point it would be awesome if you could get to it before my company gets back." Speaking of, those explosions had stopped, she wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.
<Tony> "Oh." He straightened up in the chair, parking his drink on his desk. "Yeah, well I just got call from Hope, about your husband, and he won't answer his phone, so I was trying to see what was going on."
<Jessica> "I wish I knew..." She pushed her free hand through her hair, "All I know is he dropped off the radar for two days and when he came back everything was wrong..." She turned her back to the bookshelves to lean against them.
<Tony> "Oh. Oh, oh... you're... crying..." Tony winced, waving a hand ineffectually in mid air when he heard the emotion in her voice. "I'm sorry," he finally said, somewhat lamely.
<Jessica> "He doesn't remember me... not properly..." she sniffed and brushed her tears away with her hand, "I tried to talk to him but there's nothing I can do..."
<Tony> "He doesn't remember you?" Now she had his attention, and he pulled open a desk drawer, searching for something. "How about you tell me what happened? From the beginning?"
<Jessica> "That's all I know!" Sharky trotted back to her to see if she was alright and she sat down on the floor so he could climb into her lap. "He was at the club and he left with some people and then he was gone for days. I don't know what happened but he doesn't remember getting married or anything about the last year and a half with me..." And he'd said some things that really hurt.
<Tony> "Okay, okay." Sighing, he wished sobriety wasn't the best option for this conversation. "I'll just have to find him then... see what the hell's going on." Oh, fuck sobriety. He knocked back the scotch, shook his head sharply, then carried on. "That kind of jives with what Hope said anyway."
<Jessica> "Hope's seen him?" She chewed her lip, "When we found him he was back at the apartment in New York and last time we spoke he was at the club so... I suppose you could start there if he's not answering his phone... I just... I've done all I can..."
<Tony> "Oh yeah, Hope's seen... all of him..." Oh, that probably wasn't the wisest thing to say. He stared at the offending empty glass that had urged him to say such things.
<Jessica> Jess took a moment or two to absorb that one. "I don't know what to say to that right now."
<Tony> "Probably for the best. Neither did I, if that makes you feel any better."
<Jessica> "It doesn't.... but thanks..." she glanced up at the door, hearing footsteps in the corridor. "Look... if you talk to him, great... but I don't know how much progress you'll make - I couldn't make any."
<Tony> "Oh, I'll talk to him." He took a moment to smooth his goatee, stare off into space, then smile to himself. "But I have to fulfill my duty to you first."
<Jessica> Jess frowned to herself, "What duty? You don't have any duty to me - you're the fucking President."
<Tony> "Yes! But I'm also the fucking best man!" His grin spread across his face.
<Jessica> "... I have no idea what that means. Is there some terrifying wedding tradition that I don't know about?"
<Tony> Tony laughed. "Naaaah." The smile fell as quickly as it had came and he rubbed his hand over his hair. "He made me promise. Well, I would use the term blackmail, but that's a little strong. Anyway, if anything ever... uh... happened, to him. Sebastian made me promise to watch out... to take care of you."
<Jessica> "Oh..." she looked up as the door opened, "Um... that was nice of him but I'm fine.... I can take care of myself and I'm staying with someone right now... until I come up with a plan."
<Tony> "Yeah, he said you'd say that." He sensed he was losing her interest, and started talking more quickly. "The thing is, he asked me this... it was... last Christmas maybe? I think he was more concerned if something more...uh, permanent happened to him. But, he's definitely not dead, so this should be a piece of cake, right?"
<Jessica> "From what I've seen so far... this is permanent and I don't know how to fix it right now." She gestured vaguely at the phone and rolled her eyes when Viper shot her a questioning look.
<Tony> "Wait, let me get this straight." He cleared his throat dramatically. "He's not dead, is he?"
<Jessica> "No, he's not... but someone told me it's permanent... I don't want to believe it but..." she sighed, mouthing 'President' at Viper.
<Viper> "I see, by all means..." she gestured that Jessica could take her time, sitting down behind her desk and picking up a tablet computer to go over some files.
<Tony> "Okay, well if he isn't dead, it isn't permanent." He waved his hand. "Hell, sometimes dead doesn't even seem so permanent with you mutanty types, not that I'm complaining. After all, a voter with a pulse is a happy voter!"
<Jessica> "It's permanent enough with some of them," Jess pointed out, "Do what you can... I'm staying contactable on this line... I just don't want to stay in the house or at the school right now." She gave Sharky a few scratches behind the ears to make him happy.
<Tony> Tony let out a gusty sigh. "Look, I'm not so good at this, as I'm sure my daughter could and probably does tell you, but I'll do my best to help you fix this. For you, for him, for both of you. You'll help me keep my promise to him at least, yeah?"
<Jessica> "By staying safe? Don't worry, I'm all over that... I'm safe where I am." Sharky yipped in agreement and decided to lick the phone.
<Tony> "And so is your weird silver dog? Which, by the way, would probably have enormous appeal with voters, too. Can I borrow him? No, never mind, that was inappropriate."
<Tony> "If you need me, you know where to find me. Family solidarity and all that." Tony nodded to himself. "He's... apparently better at this family thing, I suppose,” he said with a vague and distasteful wave of his hand. “Hope would definitely agree...” No, wait. “Weeeell, generally. Just not this week."
<Jessica> "Sharky's not for rent, he's not just a weird silver dog thing, he's also a very good bodyguard so I need him to do the staying safe thing. If I think of anything you can do for me that I can't get here, I'll call you... you just better pick up."
<Tony> He laughed. "Yes, Mrs. Shaw."
<Jessica> "Yes is right." She managed a small laugh herself, "See? I don't even need my pheromones to keep people in check. I'm awesome at this... maybe you should hire me if I can't think of anything better to do."
<Tony> "...maybe I misunderstood the request and you are supposed to take care of me," he said, only half joking.
<Jessica> "Not enough money in the world for that, Tony - I can't get drunk." She shifted Sharky off of her lap so that she could get up.
<Tony> "Hmm... yeah, I could definitely find a position for you." His tone was light, but he was already searching through files on his tablet.
<Jessica> She laughed again, "Mmhmm, like I haven't heard that line before... wouldn't be the first time you've tried to get me into bed either. If Sebastian does ever remember anything, I'll leave this out for your own safety, okay?"
<Tony> "Naaah. I like to live on the edge." Tony grinned again as he flicked through screens. "View's better."
<Jessica> "Mmhmm, but be careful which views you pay attention to. Last time your kid found out you hit on me, she threw up. I somehow think it'll be worse now." She pushed a hand through her hair, moving to take her seat. "Anyway, I'm sure you have better things to do than hit on a married woman, promises or no..."
<Tony> "Oh, Sebastian would understand. Hope, weeeell, you're probably right, but I would be a bad dad if I didn't mortify her at least... oh, every other day." His lips twitched with his amusement at himself. Soon, however, he forced himself a moment's seriousness. "I promise there is a promise, so I'll be in touch. Take care of yourself, and your marketable dog."
<Jessica> "I will, don't worry about me - I'm actually pretty good at taking care of myself. People seem to forget." She frowned at Viper's smirk, "No one asked your opinion."
<Tony> "No one needs to, I'm the fucking president." Spinning his chair once, he jumped up and started for the door. "Bye now!" Tony ended the call with a smile, pocketing his phone.
<Jessica> Jess rolled her eyes, "Starks and their giant egos." She put her phone in her pocket and looked across the desk at Viper, "Now, where were we?"