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Chapter 14 - Aphunea

Hours later, the Doctor sat in the same chair going over records in his tablet. He had moved over another chair to prop his feet up in. He sat, running his hand through his hair and wearing his glasses. Princess Ashena giggled at how crazy his hair began to look the longer he worked on the tablet.

Logan and Legate had stopped playing ball and had started telling the Princess stories about Batman. The Doctor was so busy on the tablet, he didn't notice when Matron Cletheo returned to Princess Ashena's room to inform them that the child had been found and the threat had passed. The Doctor had made the most of the time by going over all of Princess Ashena's records again, ensuring he hadn't missed anything. He also found that she was a delightful, young lady who was extremely clever. She seemed to be very fond of Logan, who she found "charming" as she had called him. Legate hadn't helped the situation assuring her that Logan could return to entertain her with many other stories from Earth.

King Clagl and his wife returned as soon as the Lock-Down had ended and thanked The Doctor, Legate and Logan for keeping their daughter company through the ordeal. They were both extremely pleased with her progress. The Doctor explained to them that she would be moving to Rehabilitation as soon as they had a room available, which was more like a suite. "You will all be more comfortable there. I'll see you in the morning. If you need me, please tell Matron Cletheo. She can contact me immediately."

The Doctor, Legate and Logan left and walked through the hallways of the hospital.

Legate asked, "So, back to the ship?"

"Nah, let's get some dinner. Hungry, Logan?" The Doctor asked him as he walked between the men.

"Starving. And honestly ready to get out of here." Logan told him.

"Hospitals give you the creeps, too?"

Logan laughed, "You're a doctor-"

"No, I'm THE Doctor. There is difference." He corrected him.

Logan rolled his eyes. "Right."

The Doctor patted him on the shoulder. "Rose told me that Tony was busy with this mess at the Expo, so I doubt he would have gotten to your boxing lesson today anyway."

Logan nodded his head, "It's really okay."

Legate stopped and looked around. "This isn't the way we came. Where are you going?"

The Doctor smiled. "Legate, I have a car! I'm anxious to see it."

Legate looked surprised. "You?!"

"Yeah, they gave me a car when I agreed to work here. Let's go find it and take it to dinner!"

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They went down to a parking garage. It wasn't too much different than parking garages from earth, except it went up with cars parked in shelves that were built into the walls. The Doctor walked up to a desk. A green man with red spikes, where you would normally see hair, sat and spoke some strange language to him. The attendant nodded his head and rushed off to fetch the car.

The Doctor turned to Logan and Legate. "He says he'll bring it around. I wonder what color it is."

Logan watched him leave. "Now, I can't understand what he says."

"No, there is a universal translator in the Princess' room. I don't think anyone was speaking English in there except me and you." The Doctor pointed at Legate. "Where you speaking English?"

Legate looked confused, "When?"

The Doctor shook his head, "Phhh… nevermind."

Legate asked him. "Rose is alright with us taking some more time?"

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders. "She's sleeping again. Every time she nurses Sam about this time of night, she seems to make herself so comfortable that she falls asleep."

Legate smiled at him. "Maybe she's making up for all of the time she didn't sleep. My father says she never slept before. She would be up all night doing stuff."

The Doctor bit his lip and nodded as he was reminded of how miserable Rose was before he arrived. Logan stretched his neck as they all heard the sound of an engine coming towards them. A black, floating car, pulled up next to them. One didn't have to know what sort it was to appreciate how sexy it looked.

The Doctor looked back at the men, raised his eyebrows and smiled to show his approval. He could feel the excitement from the other two men.

"I've got shotgun!" Logan yelled.

Legate held his hands out. "What the hell does that mean?"

The attendant got out and held the door open for The Doctor as they all got inside. The Doctor drove out of the garage and into the night sky. He ran his hand through his hair as he propped his elbow up on the door.

Legate was looking around, "This is a nice ride! There's room for Summus in here!"

The Doctor glanced back at him. "Or four more people, huh?" He shook his head and laughed.

Logan was looking out of the window as he watched the ground get further away. The Doctor smiled at the excitement he felt from him. "Alright men, where should we eat?"

Legate thought for a minute. "Lewis is having dinner with Jack and Tony. Over at ummm…"

The Doctor rubbed his beard, "Aphunea. Ah, that sounds good to me. What do you think, Logan?"

Logan smiled as he looked back at him. "Whatever you think."

Legate raised up between the seats, "So, Logan. Got a girl back home?"

Logan looked over at Legate, and then The Doctor. "Ugh, do we have to talk about this?"

The Doctor smiled as he looked out of the windshield. "You can tell him it's none of his business, Logan. It's alright."

Logan looked back at Legate. "No. I don't."

Legate looked surprised at him. "Sure you do. You're just afraid he's going to tell your mum."

The Doctor glanced back at Logan. The Doctor held his hand up. "I'm not like that, man. It's your business." He looked back at Legate. "Don't give the man a hard time, Legate. Geez."

Legate laughed quietly.

The Doctor's wristband lit up, "Ah, speaking of your mum. That's her calling me now."

He tapped his wristband. "Hello, Michelle. I've got you on …. ummm… speaker, so please don't embarrass me."

Michelle laughed, "I really don't even know what to say to that. Who all is there so I'm informed."

He smiled, "Legate and Logan. We're headed out to dinner. It's around, 8:47 at night."

"Ummm… Logan is behaving himself?" Michelle asked.

The Doctor looked at Logan. "Michelle. Logan is of age. He's a grown man. Don't worry about him. He's fine. Logan, say something to your mum before I have to send someone to give her oxygen."

Logan laughed, "Hi mum. I'm fine. How are you? How are things at home?"

Michelle's smile was oblivious through the speaker. "Very good. The band is getting better, which makes for a more comfortable living environment."

The Doctor laughed with Logan. "That's good news."

Michelle asked, "How long do I have before you arrive at your destination?"

"Not too long. But go ahead. What's up?" The Doctor asked her.

"Well, this mess with Idles and Stark. The media has gone crazy. I'm sure you've seen it."

The Doctor glanced back at the other two men and rolled his eyes. "Oh, they always have to be barking about something. I'm beginning to believe Stark about that."

"Well, they are certainly barking now! The people that are taking responsibility for the explosion at the Expo are saying it is because you and Stark are such friends and they are trying to get your attention."

The Doctor groaned quietly, "Oh, bleeding hell."

Michelle continued, "It might a good idea to do an interview with Stark, but no one seems to be able to find him. You had already planned to do one anyway, and I'm sure you've forgotten and not even asked Rose about it. She's not going to want to do it anyway."

The Doctor patted the steering wheel. "That's very true. And I know exactly where Stark is."

"Oh! Well, discuss it with him and see what he thinks. I can arrange everything."

"I'll do that. What else do you have? You never call for one thing."

Michelle agreed. "You know me too well. Pete is standing on his head. He told me to have you call him."

"Ugh. Tell him I'm busy. I'll call him when I have nothing else to do." He told her.

"I've told him that. I am just relaying the message. And you might find it interesting that Shakes has moved both him and Jackie Tyler to your flat in London." She told him.

He looked shocked back at Logan. "Ugh. Well, I'm not currently using it. Why didn't Summus tell me that? I've been chatting with him all day. Legate? Did you know about that?"

Legate shook his head. "No. But, Summus expects something bad if she's done that."

He nodded, "Of course. Sorry, Michelle. Was that everything you had?"

Michelle sighed, "I think that's the main things for now."

"What are you and the boys eating for dinner tonight?"

Michelle laughed. "And I knew you were going to ask me that."

Logan looked at him, "Do you ask her this often?"

He looked back at him, "Of course. And if she tells me that she hasn't planned anything, I tell her to get pizza."

"Explains why we eat so much pizza." Logan smiled back at him.

"I was thinking chops tonight." Michelle told him.

"Chops and gravy! Sounds good. Call me if you need me, Michelle. Don't worry about Logan. He's fine. We're keeping him busy." The Doctor told her as he drove down on a landing platform.

Logan returned to looking out the window and smiled. "This is great."

"Alright. Everyone tell Michelle bye. We're here." He told them.

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The Doctor walked up to the hostess and said something in a strange language to her. It looked to be a nice place. She nodded her head and took them to a room where they found Stark, Lewis, Licio, Lance and Jack. They were sitting around a large table that appeared to be made out of a large, white piece of plastic. The room was bright white and appeared very futuristic. Logan could see a window in the back of the room that held a conveyer belt with four arms and cooking utensils.

Jack looked up at them. "Lewis says you have a car? The fuck?"

The Doctor smiled, "Yes. I have a car. Whatever. Carry on."

They walked in and took their seats across from the brothers. Legate pointed at Lewis. "Arla let you off the ship without her?"

"She's playing with the children. They were all involved in a strange movie about some girl with really long hair when I left."

"Tangled!" Jack exclaimed. "I love that movie!"

The Doctor smiled as he looked back at Logan and shook his head. "Of course he would."

Logan laughed.

The Doctor looked at Lewis. "I need to talk to Arla. She seems to have turned into our Nanny, accidently. I probably need to see if she wants to continue that. If she does, I need to pay her more."

Lewis sat back and waved his hand. "Ah. Don't worry about it. We'll talk about it later."

Licio drank. "I can't believe you are getting married. Wow."

The Doctor sat back as the men began to talk to one another. "Okay, Logan. This is neat place. What you do is tap the tabletop, like this." He tapped the tabletop and a menu appeared. "Alright. Then you pick what you want to eat. Most places are like this here. They will usually transport the food to your table. But, this place prepares it over there behind the glass. Those robot arms do everything and you can watch it."

Jack heard him explaining. "But! The coolest thing is the beer. Show him Stark!"

Stark held up his finger as he drank the rest of glass. Then he sat the glass in the middle of the table on a medal circle. The glass refilled from the bottom up. Logan smiled. "Okay, that's really cool! How the hell does it do that?"

Logan picked up his glass and turned it over to see that the bottom had a place where it would lift up when would be sat on the medal circle. He sat it on the circle and watched as his glass filled up with water.

He took the glass off of the circle. "Well, I didn't think about that. I suppose there are different drinks for different taps."

Stark leaned back in his chair and handed Logan a clean glass. "Here." He pointed to the tap he had used. "This one is the one you want, kid."

Logan put the glass on the tap and watched as it filled up.

He returned his attention to the menu. The Doctor told him. "Okay. I'll translate whatever you are interested in."

Logan shook his head. "I think I might be alright. This says, 'Lake Salad.' Is that right?"

Jack looked surprised. "He can read this?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No. Trust me. You don't want that. It wouldn't mix well with your body chemistry. Focus on this side of the page."

Logan nodded his head as he pointed at something and then looked back at The Doctor. "This? It looks…"

"Spicy!" The Doctor told him.

Lewis laughed, "Or as Genie says, 'It makes her mouth angry'."

They all smiled. Legate, who sat on the other side of Logan, clicked on a picture. "I'll have this. You can try it and see if you like it."

The robot behind the window sprang into life. Logan watched as it prepared the meal.

The Doctor must have seen it a million times. He was busy talking to Stark about the explosion and how Michelle had recommended they go on CNN together for an interview.

Stark complained. "Oh, fucking hell. Like how are we going to be able to even do that? We're out here for several more days."

"Oh, phhh….. that's easy. Let me worry about that. Pepper hasn't called you about this?"

Stark shook his head. "No. She's probably even more pissed at me."

"Why? You didn't do this."

"But, I'm not there to deal with it. Well, like I ever deal with it. She always cleans up messes for me. That's sortof our arrangement." Stark told him.

The Doctor leaned back and took the plate that popped out of an opening of the robot cook's window. He handed it to Legate. On the plate looked to be a huge mushroom, with a lot of tiny little mushrooms growing out of it. Some sort of green plants popped out of the holes as well. Legate thanked him as he took a knife and cut a bit of it off and handed it to Logan.

Logan tasted it. "Okay, that's really good!"

The Doctor clicked something on the menu and the robot sprang to life again to prepare his meal. He continued his conversation with Stark. "My secretary tells me that the news has gone mad about this."

Stark dismissed it. "Oh, the press can suck a fart out of my ass. Of course they have! It's too early in the election year for them to be bitching about Howie's drinking. Besides, they all know you are going to endorse him so they will probably leave him alone. Are they talking about this Idles thing? Or is that even on their radar?"

"Oh, they are talking about it." The Doctor told him. "Pepper hasn't called you? This entire time that we've been gone?"

Tony drank his beer, "I'm telling you. She was pissed."

The Doctor leaned back and took out three plates, one at a time, and put them on the table. "Try this stuff, Logan. But, order something if you want it." He looked up. "You guys didn't order anything?"

Lewis shook his head. "We've already ate before you lot got here. We're just keeping you company."

"Right." The Doctor said as he directed his attention back to Logan at the plates of food.

He pointed at the first plate that looked to hold different squares of gelatin. They all had something inside of them that Logan didn't recognize and came in many different colors. "This is like sushi. Some of them are spicy. Tread lightly there."

He pointed at another plate that held purple looking donuts, "These look like donuts, but are actually like a …." He looked at Jack.

Jack smiled, "I don't know what the hell they are like, man. They are like gnual, which is what they are called." Jack took one off of the plate and ate it.

The Doctor waved his hand. "Alright. I suppose so. And then this." He pointed at the third dish. It had little rolled up bits of meats in some sort of cream sauce. To the side were tiny, thin white circles that almost looked like candy wrappers. The tops were red. "These are good, but you really should put the little, well, they are like onions on them and eat them with that." The Doctor showed him what he meant as he put the white bits on the top and ate the rolled up bits of meat.

Logan tried everything. "This is really good!"

The Doctor smiled at him. "Alright? Good." He turned to Jack. "What do you have in mind for Lewis' bachelor party?"

Jack drank his beer. "No. It is a surprise. But, you will love it. You will wish it was yours!"

The Doctor sat his glass on the beer dispenser and filled his glass. "Phhh….."

Licio asked, "What is a bachelor party?"

Stark looked at Licio. "A reason to get drunk and act like an idiot."

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