January 8th, 1990 — Cape Canaveral, FL
12:08 PM, EST

Walking on the moon had been a dream of Shelby's since she was a young girl. Since as long as she could remember, the redhead would look up at the sky and know that she would walk on the moon one day. There was just a feeling there, that deep in her gut, she knew she'd walk on the moon.

Tenacity would be going to the moon in a year's time, Shelby knew that much. What she didn't know is if she'd be going with it.

There were ten individuals in Dr. Feldstein's team, excluding himself. Four astronauts, along with Joe himself, would be headed to the moon. Shelby was hell-bent on being one of those four.

She knew she was the best of the best, but so were the other nine NASA employees that she worked with every day. Besides, Shelby didn't even know if the astronauts they would be choosing would be on Dr. Feldstein's team or not.

Though NASA had halted sending manned vessels to the moon in the early 70s, they'd received word that the Soviets, despite their crumbling country, were looking to send humans to the moon. They'd never done it before, and even though the US already had, NASA was going to beat the Soviets to the punch once again.

NASA had put together a board of higher-ups to select the four individuals that would become American heroes, and the choosing process was long and tedious. Shelby had submitted her application of interest months ago, along with everyone else that was interested in walking on the moon.

No one had heard back yet, Shelby knew that for sure. But, as she was sitting in the break room, enjoying her lunch of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a strawberry yogurt, she couldn't help to eavesdrop on the conversation between two of her co-workers.

"Yeah, I'm excited. I've barely been out of the country, so going to freaking space? That's going to be amazing."

Shelby turned around, noticing that it was a man named Kevin Lawrence that was doing the talking.

Shelby didn't get along with Kevin. He was a condescending misogynist, and Shelby didn't care to interact with men of that type.

The old Shelby, the one that punched assholes like him in the face, would have said something. But, Shelby didn't want to jeopardize her job. If she was meant to be on that trip to the moon, she would be. Creating a disturbance and ending up in Human Resources would not help her case, and she knew that.

Thankfully, just as she was shoving another spoonful of yogurt into her mouth to prevent herself from saying anything, Adam Mitchell walked over, setting his lunch down across the table from Shelby.

He could tell something was up with the redhead, so he reached into his lunch bag and pulled out a Twix bar. "Halvsies?" He asked, his signature grin flashing over his face.

Even Shelby couldn't stay mad at the world when a handsome man such as Adam Mitchell offered her chocolate by saying "halvsies" in his lovely accent.

"Thank you." She replied as she took the candy from him.

"So, Cherry Bomb, what's on your mind?" He asked, leaning back in his seat so he could prop his feet up on the table.

"Cherry Bomb?" Shelby repeated with a raise of an eyebrow.

"No?" He smirked, sensing her dislike of the nickname.

"No." She repeated with a laugh.

"Alright." He laughed and looked into his lunch bag. "But anyways, what's on your mind?"

"Is it that obvious?" Shelby questioned with a sigh.

"Afraid so." He replied.

Shelby didn't respond, but she flicked her eyes over in Kevin's direction and Adam understood.

"Ahh." He nodded. "Don't mind him, Shelby. He's a wanker."

"Yes," Shelby giggled. "A wanker."

"So, about Friday night." Adam stated, changing the subject. "Since you've accepted my date, where should I pick you up?"

Right. The date. Shelby was excited, she had to admit. Sure, Adam had always been nice to her, and he'd always flirted with her, but he flirted with everyone.

"Um, my apartment." Shelby replied. "I can write down the address." She said, then did so. She couldn't wait to get home and tell Maggie about her date.

January 8th, 1990 — New York, NY
12:33 PM, EST

"Thank you for finally joining me, Anthony." Howard was seated behind his large wooden desk when Tony finally arrived in his office across town.

"You bet, Dad." Tony gave the man a forced smile before plopping himself down in one of the chairs across the desk from his father.

Howard sighed and studied Tony for a few moments. As upset as he was that Tony had become such a slacker since he'd graduated from MIT, he was still quite concerned with his son's condition. "Are you doing okay?" He asked. "Your mother and I are concerned --"

"I'm fine." Tony said, cutting him off. "Is this what you wanted me down here for? So we could talk about whether I'm okay or not? I'm fine, Dad. Let's work on something."

Howard was glad to see Tony's ambition had returned, but he couldn't help to think that his son was far from okay. "This is about a girl, isn't it?"

Howard and Tony didn't often have "heart-to-hearts". Their relationship just wasn't like that. But, Howard could clearly see that something was wrong with his son, and he wanted to help him. He didn't want to see Tony in a dark place.

Tony's eyes went wide. He was clearly surprised that his father had interest in his love life. "A girl? Come on, Dad." The younger Stark scoffed.

"The redhead, right?" Howard questioned as he leaned back in his desk chair, his arms crossed over his chest. "The one that came to dinner with us after graduation."

Tony averted his father's gaze and said nothing, thus confirming his father's suspicions.

"Shelby." Tony said, clearing his throat. "Her name is Shelby, and nothing is wrong. We were just friends. We don't talk anymore."

Tony might have been in love with Shelby at one point in his life, but now, all he wanted was to have his friend back. She was the best friend he had ever had, and now they didn't even speak to each other anymore. If she were to see his sad state now, Shelby would be mighty disappointed.

Hell, Tony himself was mighty disappointed.

"Ahh." Howard simply responded, knowing that there was much more to the situation but understanding that Tony didn't want to discuss it. "Well anyways, I've been waiting around on you for weeks with help on this project, so..." The elder Stark stood and grabbed his briefcase, then made his way to the door. "Let's head down to the lab, shall we?"

Tony nodded and followed his father out of the office, but whatever project they were about to start working on was the furthest thing from his mind.

Maybe he would give Shelby a call. He didn't have her number down in Florida, but he had Robbo's out in Seattle, and Tony was pretty sure the two had stayed friendly since graduation.

He would apologize, since he'd been pretty much the largest douchebag ever on that last day that they'd spoken to each other.

As they reached the elevator, Tony pondered something in his head. Besides himself, his father was the biggest douche he knew well, yet somehow he'd still managed to land a sweet and kind woman like Tony's mother. "Dad, how did you and Mom meet, if you don't mind me asking?"

Howard was clearly taken aback by his son's sudden interest in the love lives of his parents. "Through mutual friends, actually. We were going on a double date with some friends of ours, but we didn't really hit it off right away. She thought I was a jerk."

Tony snorted before adding, "She probably wasn't wrong."

Mr. Stark gave his son a look before adding, "She wasn't. But anyways, we went our separate ways that night, and then ..." Howard shrugged, a grin falling over his face. His early days with Maria were a secret between him and his wife. "We met again and things were different." He cleared his throat as the elevator arrived. "Let's get to work, shall we?"