XxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxx

Chapter 31 - A Dead Alien

The Doctor stayed with Howie and Pete for about thirty minutes. By the time they left, Howie was reassuring them that he felt better, but just needed to sleep. According to him, "They treated me like a damn pincushion all night and I just need to get some shut eye!"

The Doctor and Pete returned to Caroline. Adriano stood with her, as many aides in the waiting room surrounded her. Howie's Chief of Staff, Miles Richfield, also stood next to her.

She turned to greet them as they approached her. "I'm so glad you both were able to see him. Thank you for coming."

The Doctor took Caroline's hand. "I'm going to take Pete to see the boys. We'll leave Adriano here with you. Just let him know if you need either one of us. We'll return immediately."

Caroline nodded her head. "I understand."

Pete smiled at her. "Caroline. You need to get some rest. I'll return to get you tonight-"

Caroline was already shaking her head. "You just keep an eye on my son. Don't worry about me. I'm not going to leave."

Miles rubbed her shoulder. "Mrs. Shepherd. It isn't a bad idea. You need your rest."

She looked at Miles and smiled. "I don't need to be handled, Miles. Thank you."

With an air of, "Well that settled that." Pete whistled impressively. "Texas women. Wow."

Caroline raised her eyebrows at Pete. "You'd better believe it, honey."

The Doctor laughed at her. He leaned in and kissed her cheek. "Caroline. Don't hesitate if you need us."

She nodded her head. "I'll be fine. Go on."

Pete kissed her cheek and they left the room with Shakes and Lance.

They walked down the hallway and stepped into the lift. As the doors closed on the lift, Pete's phone rang. He groaned as he held up a finger to tell them to wait a bit on transporting them to the ship.

Lance held the button to keep the lift doors from opening.

"Hey, Jake. I have you on speaker. What is it?" Pete asked him.

"Are you in a secure location?" Jake asked.

Pete smiled, "As secure as I can get at the moment. You can speak freely. What is it?"

Jake sighed, "We have a dead alien over at the resort. It was just reported."

Pete looked up at the Doctor. "And just like that, Welcome Home Son."

"How do they always know?" He asked.

Jake sounded surprised. "Hang on. He's already back? Thomas hasn't said anything."

The Doctor shook his head, "Thomas doesn't know. I found a hole in the Planetary Defense that I plan to patch. My ship is sitting there now. Send me the location and I'll bring Jack to investigate with you, Jake."

"Aye! See you in a bit." Jake said as he ended the call.

Pete put his phone back in his pocket. "I'll let Rose know what's keeping you. Do you want me to send anyone else with Jack?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Gobbo is already informing Jack. They are going to bring Logan, too. They will get there the same time we will. Summus, I can't wait for you to see Sam. You were right. He's grown so much."

The Doctor handed him the transporter remote trigger.

Shakes smiled. "I'm sure he has. Alright. See you later."

Pete and Shakes disappeared. The Doctor looked at his wrist band and told Lance some numbers. Lance typed them in on his watch and they popped away.

The lift doors opened to greet some nurses on their way to dinner.

XxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxx

Jack and Gobbo were standing on a beach. Gobbo was shielding his eyes with his hand.

Jack noticed him. "Oh, it's just a bit of sun! Don't worry about it."

Gobbo shook his head and groaned, "I really wish I had remembered some sunglasses. This damn sun-"

Some sunglasses were handed to him. Gobbo looked over at who had offered them to him. The Doctor smiled at him. "I agree, Gobbo. This damn dwarf star is a bright thing. I complain every morning when it wakes me up."

Gobbo took the sunglasses, "Cheers, mate."

They all walked halfway up a hill to find Jake, two Torchwood agents and Bassanio.

Jake greeted them. "I didn't realize you had came home. When did you get back?"

The Doctor shook Jake's hand. "Just got in. Pete is tied up with something." The Doctor pointed at Jake. "Logan, you know Jake Simmonds, right?"

Logan reached out to shake Jake's hand. "It's nice to see you, sir."

Jake shook his hand and smiled. Then looked at Jack. "So, you don't call?"

Jack smiled. "Oh, I have a lot to catch you up on."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I don't want to know. So, Jake. What's the story?"

They continued walking up the hill. "Well, this man over here in is charge. Let me introduce you."

Jake walked over and a tall, very thin, light blue alien wearing a white jumpsuit. He bowed to the Doctor and spoke in a strange language.

Jake groaned and smacked the side of his universal translator. Apparently, it had stopped working. The Doctor bowed back to the alien, and spoke in the strange language back to him.

It was oblivious the alien was surprised in his reply.

The Doctor introduced himself. Then looked back at the body and said something, matter of factly.

The alien seemed to agree, but also to explain something.

The Doctor nodded his head and agreed. He turned around and explained to the group from Torchwood. "Alright, Ealihn said that they are insisting on handling the investigation since this is a member from their crew. It's within their rights. If we are needed, or they need information, they will ask us to assist."

Jake nodded his head. "Alright. Well, what do we do in the meantime?"

The Doctor turned and explained something to Ealihn. Ealihn nodded his head and seemed to approve.

The Doctor turned back around. "We need to stay close-by in case we are needed. So, I recommend that we go check out this resort I've heard so much about. We can pop back if they need anything. Well, hang on a bit."

The Doctor asked Ealihn something.

The alien seemed to think for a moment, and then pointed at the two Torchwood agents who had arrived with them and said something.

The Doctor nodded. "That's a good idea. Okay, they want to keep this quiet that it's happened. So, he's asked if we will leave you two with them to keep the area secure."

Gobbo spoke, "That's a good idea. Shall I remain with them?"

The Doctor thought for a moment. "Yeah, that's fine. Alright."

The Doctor turned and spoke to the alien again and pointed at Gobbo. Then the Doctor turned around and said, "Alright. They have this. Let's go."

XxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxxXxxxxxxx

They walked down the hill and back towards the beach. The sun was beginning to set, and the sun's colors through the clouds were breath taking. They all stopped walking to look at the sky.

"Wow. And to think, home is just over there." The Doctor said as he took off his jacket, and rolled up his sleeves of his oxford.

"This is beautiful." Logan said.

They started to walk towards the main building.

The Doctor looked over at Logan. "That reminds me, Logan. You have an apartment over on the island with us. Well, if you want it. I imagine that will just be easier. And it's yours. I don't mind who stays there, who you have over, whatever. Just keep in mind that your neighbors have young children."

Logan smiled, "Wow. Thank you. Um… Mr. Smith, Doctor Smith."

Jake smiled at Logan. "Just call him John. Seems to help with that."

XxxxxXxxxxxXxxxx

The beautiful, clear blue water came right up the edge of the platform where the thatched roof and table sat. They had decided to all grab a bite at a restaurant there at the resort since they had some time to waste. Jake and Jack were thrilled to be back in one another's company. Jack entertained them all with stories of their recent travels. He had them all laughing hysterically at the story of the high speed car chase, the Quauhtin fighting the pirates, and of Lewis' wedding and football reception.

"Why didn't he want to wait until he got back? I imagine a wedding on the island would have been lovely." Jake asked.

The Doctor shook his head. "I have no idea."

Jack pointed at Lance. "He told me to tell you, 'Bye' and 'He'll see you in a few days'."

Lance raised his hands up, "Bye? What the hell? What was he on about?"

The Doctor smiled and explained. "Honeymoon. Him and Arla went to Cancun together. I'm not sure how long they will be gone. I told them to not worry about us, and have a great time."

The waitress brought them all their drinks. Everyone had a beer except Lance, Logan and the Doctor who all had water. Jack noticed. He pointed at the Doctor as he took a drink.

"Something up, Doc'?" Jack chuckled at him.

Knowing what he was on about, but not wanting to tell him about Rose asking him to take a break from drinking, he looked seriously at him. "I don't know. Is there?"

Logan laughed. "You know, I was in that high speed car chase. It sounds so much better as a story than when we were actually doing it."

The Doctor patted him on the back as he sipped his water. "We're all stories in the end. Just make sure it's a good one."

Jack declared, "Now that looks fun! We should make one of those!" He pointed at what he was talking about.

Two small peninsulas of land had a large play system swing set that hung above the water. The visiting aliens would swing out on them, and then jump out and dive into the water.

Lance nodded his head. "Oh, we're doing that. That's brilliant!"

The Doctor shook his head and grunted in disapproval. "Looks like a great way to break your leg. Rose would love it, though."

Jack scoffed, "Oh, geez, Daddy. We'll try to be careful on it."

He shook his head at Jack. "It's not you, child, that I'm worried about."

"You are the most overprotective parent I've ever met. You need to let them live a little." Jack fussed at him.

The Doctor grunted. "Do I need to remind you how Tony is still not able to put weight on a leg because he was living a little?"

"Oh, hell. He's fine. He was just climbing up ladder. You can't keep them from getting hurt."

"I can try." The Doctor told him.

"Phhh…." Jack dismissed him.

The Doctor pointed at Logan, "Do you see this man? Mad, I'm telling you. One time, I took him out to the country side of England-"

Jack covered his face. "You are not going to tell this shit, are you?"

The Doctor laughed, and then continued his story. "He'd had a bit to drink, or something. I don't remember what. We landed in a pasture. Full of milk cows. This man-"

"Oh, good. It's this story. Carry on." Jack relaxed.

The Doctor chuckled again, and shook his head. "This nutter, decides he wants to grill out hamburgers. So, he goes out and stands in the middle of the pasture, cooking burgers. The cattle all surround him to see what he's doing, of course. He tells them it is their long lost friends and just talks so much shit to them."

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "It might have been."

"After a while, that gets boring for him. So, he starts belching at them. Loud, alien sounding belching. Rose thought it was disgusting."

The entire table laughed at the story.

"No, that was Martha. Not Rose." Jack added.

The Doctor nodded his head. "Oh, that's right. That was Martha. You're right. Rose would have probably found it hysterical." He laughed with the others.

Jake nodded his head. "I know the belch you are talking about. Jeez. It's deafening. Sounds like a…."

"It sounds like a Cralphyrc choking on something is what he damn sounds like. And NO! Do not do it here." The Doctor demanded.

They all laughed at them.

A waitress came up to the table to ask for their order. They all stopped laughing and looked at one another.

"You know, I think I'll have a burger." Jack said as he laughed.

"Yeah, me too." The Doctor agreed through a smile.

XXXxxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxxxxxxXxx