January 8th, 1990 — Cape Canaveral, FL
7:34 AM, EST

Shelby didn't mind winter, not in Florida.

Back in Boston, or even in New Hampshire, the weather in January was cold and dreary and altogether not desirable.

But in Cape Canaveral on a dreary January day, it was a hot 84 degrees Fahrenheit and Shelby was having the time of her life.

She'd been at NASA for a little less than two years now, and life was treating her well.

She was designing spaceships, had a big fat paycheck in her pocket every two weeks, and lived a mere 3 minute walk from the beach.

Things could not have been better for Shelby Colewell.

Her NASA check, besides assisting in paying off her MIT student loans, had allowed her to purchase a gorgeous, white, pristine, brand-new 1990 Jeep Wrangler with a removable top. The redhead had quickly realized that upon relocating to the Sunshine State that she rather loved the sunshine, beach, ocean, and everything in between.

As she made her way to work that fine morning, the Jeep's top was off, Shelby's red hair was blowing in the breeze, and Led Zeppelin was blasting out of the stereo.

She was quite the brilliant young thing, the 20 year old female NASA engineer that spent her days designing the electrical components for spaceships and her nights dancing on the beach with her roommate and whatever cute boys they could scrounge up to buy them drinks.

Shelby's roommate Maggie was a waitress from Miami that had moved up the coast following a boy years ago. When he'd ended things, she'd decided to stay, and Shelby was glad, because otherwise Maggie would not have had the need for a roommate, and Shelby would have been out of an apartment. Despite their almost 10 years in age difference, the two got along great, and Shelby was glad to have a friend like Maggie down in Florida.

As she pulled into the gated parking lot that housed employee vehicles, she caught a glimpse of a familiar face crossing the parking lot.

Her stomach fluttered and a smile came over her face.

Adam Mitchell.

Dr. Adam Mitchell was somewhat of a genius himself, with dual doctorates in mechanical and electrical engineering from Cambridge that he had earned before the age of 24, which was his current age. Sure, Shelby was working by correspondence to complete her own doctorate from MIT, but even she had to admit that Adam's accomplishments were impressive.

He was also extremely dashing, flirtatious, had an English accent, and Shelby had developed an enormous crush on him.

Both were on Dr. Joe Feldstein's wonder team, the ones that were designing the upcoming NASA shuttle, Tenacity. Besides being an incredible mentor, Dr. Feldstein, or Joe, as he insisted on being called, had put together a great team of the most intelligent and gifted individuals NASA had to offer. They came from all ages, ethnicities, sexes, and backgrounds, yet they all had the same goal in mind: making the best damn aircraft that they could.

As Shelby grabbed her backpack and lunch from her passenger seat and hopped out of the Jeep, Adam came waltzing over, a smirk on his face.

"Hey, Shelby, how was the ride this morning?" He asked, clapping a hand on the hood of Shelby's car.

"Excellent, per usual." She responded, flipping her slim round sunglasses up into her red hair.

"Late night?" He teased, propping his arms up against Shelby's car.

The redhead rolled her eyes, knowing full well that it had been a late night for her and Maggie, as they had stayed down at the beach club until 3 am. Her ragged appearance was apparently evidence enough for Adam to notice.

"Might have been." She responded, walking towards their building. "Nothing a little coffee didn't fix."

Adam chuckled and followed her, shoving his hands into the pockets of his dress pants.

Shelby hated when he wore suits to work: it made him even more desirable.

"Now I don't doubt that you and your roommate know how to have a good time, from what you've told me, but you really could be having more fun." Adam said, a smirk on his face.

"What do you mean?" Shelby asked, feigning disinterest as she punched in the code that would let them into the lab.

"You and me, Colewell. Friday night."

Adam's suggestion stopped Shelby in her tracks.

A date? With her? Dr. Adam Mitchell wanted to go on a date with her?

Shelby was aware that she was a great catch, but still ... flirty men like Adam Mitchell didn't always go for nerdy girls like her.

Then again, she had dated Rob Everett in college, and she'd managed to make legendary flirt Tony Stark fall in love with her.

Tony.

She missed Tony so much. The feelings that she'd had for him around graduation had since dissipated, but that didn't mean she didn't miss her old friend. Unfortunately, both of the MIT Wonder Twins were far too stubborn and had too much pride to apologize to the other and resume their friendship.

"What do you say, Shelby?" Adam questioned as Shelby had been staring off into space. "You and me, Friday night?"

The redhead smirked and crossed her arms before heading down the hallway and calling over her shoulder, "If you insist. You can pick me up at 7."

January 8th, 1990 — New York, NY
10:07 AM, EST

"Anthony, you need to wake up. Your father is looking for you." Mrs. Stark was standing at the foot of her son's bed, shaking his foot to wake him.

Tony groaned and rolled over. "Five more minutes."

"Your father's been waiting for your help on his project for almost two years, Tony. You don't need five more minutes." Maria replied, pulling the comforter off of her son. "Besides, I need to wash your sheets. Your room smells like stale pizza and beer."

It was safe to say that Tony had fallen into a dark pit after his graduation from MIT. What was sure to be a bright future as the son of Howard Stark and the heir to his multi-million dollar company, Tony spent most of his nights getting drunk and his days laying in bed, sleeping off his hangover.

He'd helped his father out with small projects, sure, but it was nothing compared to what Howard had imagined when his genius son was set to join him at Stark Industries.

The Stark boy slowly rose from his bed, picking up the crumpled and stained MIT t-shirt that was laying on the floor.

"Oh no." His mother said, shaking her head. "Go shower and put on something clean, Tony."

"Ahh, yes, clean." Tony groaned, walking towards his closet as he pulled out a t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

"You know, it's hard to believe that you are the same boy that I watched be handed a diploma in Boston a year and a half ago." Maria stated quietly. "I'm worried about you, Tony. I feel like you're throwing your life away."

Tony's eyes flitted over to his mother, who was on the verge of tears. "I'm fine, Mom."

"All you do is get drunk, illegally, I might add, and sleep. In what world is that 'fine'?" She questioned. "Have you spoken to any of your friends from school lately? I was told they were all set on very successful paths."

"Yeah, Ma, they're all doing great, I think. Haven't really spoken to any of them in a while." He admitted.

He'd sort of kept in touch with Robbo and Rhodey for a while, but it was kind of difficult. None of them had the time for phone calls, and what would Tony tell them? His mother was right. He hadn't been doing anything with his life.

"Not even that redheaded girl I met at your graduation? The one you did your senior design project with?" Maria asked innocently.

He frowned. "Especially not her."

"What about Robert? You've been friends since your freshman year?" She asked.

"Well, he's been busy, over at Boeing." Tony stated.

"Sounds to me like your making excuses, son." Mrs. Stark said. "Now go on, get showered and head over to your father's office."

The Stark boy groaned and sludged off to the bathroom to clean himself up. His mother was right. He needed to get his act together.