Chapter 10

There was a bit of tension accompanying the silence as Tim was looking at the map, determining their route and Tony was driving. They were mostly just enjoying the views and not stopping anywhere yet. They'd been driving for close to an hour with very little conversation. Tony couldn't take it anymore.

"So what's up, Tim?" he asked, finally.

"What do you mean?" Tim asked...but he wouldn't look up.

"Why are you being so touchy? I wasn't trying to insult you or anything and you totally blew up."

"No, I didn't. You've seen me blow up at you. That wasn't even close," Tim said, still not looking up from the map.

"So is that what it's about, then?"

"What?"

"That I've seen you blow up?"

"And melt down and freak out and whatever other phrase you can use to describe it."

"Is that it?"

"No."

"Then, what?"

Finally, Tim sat up and looked at him.

"Tony, I'm okay. I'm fine."

"Okay?"

"That's the problem."

"Huh?"

"I feel like you're just waiting for me to fall apart again."

"Why would you feel like that?" Tony asked. "You think I want that to happen again?"

"No, but you're being way too concerned about little things. Like when I was driving on our way to Philadelphia. The car was driving erratically. I've been in car accidents before. I don't want to be in another one. So I was a little nervous until the car got past us. Anyone would have been in my situation, but you turned it into something more than me just being a little nervous. I'm fine! Not everything in my life is going to lead to a meltdown!"

"Tim, you have to admit that you've had a few of them."

"Yeah," Tim said, sounding more than a little irritated. "You don't have to rub my face in it, Tony. I'm well aware of that."

"No, that's not what I'm doing," Tony said. "What I mean is that, for your sake, I don't want that to happen again and so I'm asking because... well, not asking the first time is one of the things that got you into that mess to start."

Tim shook his head. "Even if you had asked, I wouldn't have told you back then. I wasn't willing to tell anyone, and that would have definitely included you, Tony. You know it."

"I know. But..."

"No, Tony. Just accept that you couldn't have solved it back then. It took something like what happened for me to talk about it. That can't change. ...but Tony, I am doing fine now. Am I perfect? No. But you need to stop looking at me as if I'm going to have another meltdown. For one thing, I'm doing well. For another... it makes me tense."

Tony laughed a little.

"Fine. I'll promise to work on it, but could you not be so sensitive about it, too?"

"I'll try. I make no guarantees."

Tony would have liked to push it a little more, but he was afraid that Tim might start pushing back and so he just let it drop.

"So is there any place for us to stop and see stuff?"

Tim looked back at the map.

"Of course there is, but we have to..." Then, he stopped. "Have you heard of Fort Stark?"

"Nope. Any relation to Tony Stark?"

"I highly doubt it," Tim said drily.

"Okay. What is it?"

"It's a historic park. Looks like it might just be free to see and it goes out to a nice lookout over the harbor."

"How far off the route is it?"

"Just a few miles is all it looks like."

"Okay. Let's go and see it."

"Watch for 1B. That's the road we need to take, on the right. And it looks like it just loops all the way around so we shouldn't even need to backtrack."

"Oh, even better," Tony said.

The required road came up and Tony turned onto it.

"Okay, now watch for Wild Rose Lane," Tim said. "That should take us right to it."

"Wild Rose Lane?" Tony repeated. "That doesn't seem particularly appropriate for an old fort."

Tim looked up and smiled. "What do you think would be more appropriate?"

"Something that's related to the military in any way, shape or form. Wild roses?"

"Well, back in the 12th century or something like that, didn't England have the War of the Roses? A civil war?"

"Yeah, well, that's England and not here. They could have got something like... Wild Cannon Pass!"

"What in the world is a wild cannon? Are there tame cannons?"

Tony laughed at the idea. "I don't see why not."

"Just watch for the road and stop trying to fix things that don't need to be fixed."

Tony raised an eyebrow. While Tim had obviously been joking, he wondered if there was a little bit of a double-meaning in what he'd said.

For his part, Tim didn't seem to realize that there was something else it could mean. He was alternating between looking at the map and looking out the windshield, watching for the turn.

Tony really was watching for the turn, but the small two-lane road had almost no signage. For a state park, it sure wasn't advertised well.

"Wait! That was it, Tony!" Tim said, pointing to another small road as they passed it.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. There was a sign."

"Where?"

"On the left side. Just a small green street sign."

Tony sighed a little. This had better be worth it. He was already feeling a little frustrated and this wasn't helping. He quickly slowed down, pulled into a driveway and then turned around and, this time, saw the sign Tim had pointed out. He turned left and started down a narrower road. It didn't even have lines painted on it! Still, it was paved, and unless Tim was way off, this was leading to a developed area.

So he kept on going down the lane. Trees on either side, narrow road with barely enough room for two cars and then, suddenly, they were out of the trees, with the ocean spreading out on their left.

"Wow. Look at that," Tim said. "I was beginning to wonder if we'd actually get anywhere."

And then, without any fanfare, the fort was right ahead of them, a small parking lot with just a couple of cars there already.

"Well, it looks like there's something here. Let's see what it is," Tony said as he parked.

"Okay."

They both got out of the car and began to look around.

"It's a fort," Tony said.

"Yeah, Tony. It's called Fort Stark," Tim said.

"Maybe Ned Stark will be here?"

"I doubt it. He's from further north," Tim said.

"A summer home?"

Tim looked around. "Not exactly how I'd picture Ned Stark's summer home."

"Spent a lot of time thinking about it?"

"Nope. Actually, I've never really watched Game of Thrones. It's Delilah's guilty pleasure."

"Yeah, sure."

"Seriously. She watched it almost religiously until the whole Red Wedding thing and that was too much for her and she stopped watching. I think she might be sneaking episodes in on the sly, but I haven't seen her watching since then."

"Okay. So now what?"

"I guess we look around," Tim said and walked ahead. "That's usually how these things work, right?"

Tony laughed and caught up with him.

"Well, I know you're opposed to using your phone..."

"Oh, don't start that again, Tony," Tim said. "I use my phone plenty."

"Then, get it out and tell me what's up."

"I don't need my phone for that," Tim said.

"Oh, really?"

"Yep. The sky is up."

Then, Tim grinned and strode ahead of Tony once again. Tony rolled his eyes and caught up once again.

"You're in a giddy mood."

"Nope. Just normal, Tony," Tim said.

That time it was obvious that Tim was making a point. However, it was equally obvious that while Tim meant it, he wasn't trying to get in a dig. He was just emphasizing what they'd already said. Tony could tell that he didn't need to say anything more. He just nodded slightly.

"So, tell me what we're seeing over here," Tony said as they walked toward one of the old buildings.

"The ordnance machine shop," Tim said, reading on his phone. "They also used the towers for triangulating positions."

"How old is this place?"

"Some parts look like they're from the 19th century, but some are post-World War 2. Let's go up these steps."

"Sounds good."

They climbed up to the top of the old batteries and looked out over a river draining into the ocean. They stood there silently for a few seconds.

"Have you ever wondered what you'd do if you had to go into the military?" Tim asked.

"Not really. Have you?"

"It's kind of a family thing," Tim said. "I've thought about it a lot."

"And?"

"And I wonder if I could hack it."

"I'll bet you could," Tony said.

"I don't know, Tony. The times when I've had to kill someone or when I've seen someone killed...even before... even before then, I still didn't really handle it very well."

Tony looked at the river and then over and Tim.

"You handle everything you have to. If there was some reason that we had to go into the military, you'd handle that, too."

"And you?" Tim asked, smiling a little.

"Oh, I could make it anywhere I needed to. I grew up that way... you know, adapting to circumstances. I'm good at it."

Tim raised his eyebrow, and Tony could tell that a question might be coming up. So he pointed out.

"What's that out there?" he asked.

As he'd hoped, Tim was distracted. He turned to look.

"I think it's a lighthouse."

"There's one that we can see closer than this, I'll bet."

"Oh, I'm sure. Maybe we could even get to that one. I don't know. It does look like it's out on an island, though."

They took a few pictures and then walked back down the old steps and continued along the path. What interested Tony was how little had been done to this place. It wasn't restored or spruced up at all from what he could tell. It was like the army had moved out and they'd simply changed the sign from a fort to a historical site. And he really didn't mind that at all. He kind of liked seeing this place in a more natural state.

They came to another building, this one with windows and doors.

"What do you think? Safe to go in?" Tony asked.

"Do you really think that there wouldn't be some kind of restriction if we couldn't?" Tim asked. "I mean, since this is a state park or whatever, that makes the state government liable if something happens here."

"True. Then, I'm going inside."

Tim laughed and shook his head.

Most of the doors were closed, but Tony stuck his head into the ones he could. The rooms were just empty. Nothing exciting.

"Concrete and metal," he said.

"I'll bet they weren't trying to make it look nice."

"Probably not."

They continued along, looking at the various ruins until they got to the shore and the breakwater. Tony instantly started walking on the pier out to the end. He stopped halfway out and saw Tim still standing on shore.

"Come on, Tim! There aren't any big waves here! It's fine!"

"How do you know? Maybe there will be one!" Tim shouted back. "And if there is, it'll hit me, not you!"

Tony laughed.

"Come on! Look at the water! It's calm. Get out here, Tim! You can't claim a fear of heights this time! It's not that high up!"

Tony gestured and then laughed again as Tim tentatively came out onto the pier. When the feared wave didn't materialize, he began walking a little faster. Finally, he was at the end.

"See? No rogue wave there," Tony said.

"We're not back on land yet," Tim said, but he didn't seem very worried.

"Be optimistic, Tim. The rocks are all dry. There's no sign that there are big waves crashing over, at least not now."

"Sure, whatever," Tim said. "The view is nice, though."

And it was. They could look straight out to the Atlantic Ocean. There was a lighthouse to the left and another stretch of coastline to the right. No real beach right there, but it was still a nice view.

"Well, that calls for photos, Probie," Tony said. "And if you want to conjure up a wave to spice up the picture, that would be great."

Tim shook his head. "No. That would not be great."

"Then, just pose and that will be good enough."

Tim did as instructed and then, they switched and Tony posed...as if he was about to fall into the ocean.

Then, they headed back to the car.

"Well, that was a good stop," Tony said. "Even if Tony Stark wasn't around here, it was worth seeing."

"I'm glad that the non-appearance of a fictional character didn't ruin your day," Tim said, with a chuckle.

"You ready to drive?"

"Yeah, but we should decide how far we're going to try to get."

"Okay. Let's look at the map, then. Could we get all the way to Acadia National Park today?"

"It's after noon now," Tim said. "How far is it to Acadia from here?"

They got back into the car and looked at their route.

"It doesn't look like the driving time will be much over three or four hours just to get up there."

"Of course, with stops, it'll be longer," Tim said.

"Yeah, but even if we doubled the time, it'd still be only around nine or so," Tony said. "I say we go for getting all the way up there. Then, we can spend the whole day there tomorrow and head back down to Boston the next day."

"Okay. Works for me."

"But first, we need to get lunch."

Tim smiled. "I'm all for that."

He turned on the car, put it in gear and headed back on their way.