When he woke up Sunday morning, that familiar headache had resurfaced. Tony Stark groaned as he got out of bed and walked in the direction he remembered leading to the bathroom. He instead found a closet. It was then that he opened his eyes and realized that August and Lisandra had relocated (well, he and Maria had relocated them) after the damages to their former residence. They had only lived as Tony and Maria in the new home for a few days before he had faded off to wherever it was he went when August took back over completely.

It took a moment for him to remember the bathroom door was on the other side of the room. At least Maria wasn't in the room to laugh at his mistake. He wasn't sure where she had run off to, but a quick glance at the clock told him she had been up for a few hours and left him to sleep. Tony appreciated the gesture. Something was off, but he couldn't place it. He could have sworn everything was a strange shade of blue. He blinked his eyes a few times as he walked, but the hue didn't go away.

He was too disoriented to look down.

Of course, he didn't need to. The moment he entered the bathroom, the familiar shape of the circular object he had grown accustomed to was reflected in the large mirror in front of him. The room was dark, which made the glowing blue light that much easier to see reflected back at him. "Huh," he said to himself as he finally turned the switch. There it was, his repulsor tech node, otherwise known as the arc reactor. It had saved his life and countless others by not only keeping the shrapnel in his chest from reaching his heart but powering his various Iron Man suits.

August's tired eyes looked back at him as he glanced away from the device temporarily, and Tony's mind started churning with thoughts of what this could mean. It could mean the shrapnel that endangered his life for all those years had returned with the device, which was problematic should it ever stop working. He took in a deep breath and placed his hands firmly on the counter top in front of him. He had assumed the device had come planted in the suit that had shown up a few months prior, as it had been completely functional, but it seemed that was not the case.

Tony would need to do research on this. He knew he needed to inform Maria of this new development, but he also didn't want to worry her. A glance into August's memories of the last few weeks told him the couple had enough on their plates. They were planning on adopting. "How cute," he commented aloud.

He went through the motions of preparing for the day ahead, though, the snowfall outside was going to prevent him from getting out and looking into his predicament. Instead, he put on the thickest sweater August Bergmen owned, placed over the thickest t-shirt he could find, and chose to try and shield the arc reactor from his wife until he had some idea of what it meant.

As he found her in the kitchen, looking over something work-related with a cup of tea at her side, he wrapped his arms around her and placed a firm kiss to the top of her head. Hopefully he could distract her enough with conversation to keep her from noticing the faint blue light coming through the fabric of his clothing.