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Chapter 35 - Dinner with the Umbrellas

They popped onto large sidewalk with shops facing either side. Cars passed on a street nearby, but where they stood seemed shaded. Rose felt the Doctor's hand in hers as she looked around. The breeze blew the cool air around her. It appeared to the evening of a lovely winter day. He took off his jacket and put it on her.

She smiled back at him, "Where are we?"

He pointed up. "I've always wanted to see this."

She looked up to see hundreds of multicolored umbrellas overhead. They had been tied together and shaded the walkway between the shops.

"What's keeping them up there?"

"Some sort of rope. Line. Something. They started doing this a few years ago to shade the street from the heat during the summer, but it became very popular. So, now they put it up sooner in the year."

He stood in front of her wearing a pair of jeans, and a dark blue jumper. Under his suit's jacket, that he had been wearing over his jumper, she wore a lovely long sleeved blouse with flowing sleeves and a pair brown tights with boots that came up to her thighs.

"Where are we?"

He looked back at her. "Águeda, a municipality in Portugal."

She giggled and looked back up. "I've never heard of this. It's lovely."

He smiled and looked up. "And they have little shops. I love little shops."

She smiled at him. "Then, lead on."

He raised her hand to his mouth and kissed it. "First stop. In here." He pointed to a shop and held the door open for her. She walked in and discovered it was an ice cream parlor. The woman behind the cabinet smiled and greeted them in a language that Rose didn't understand.

The Doctor smiled and spoke to her. Rose hugged his arm. "Not dinner?"

He shook his head as he looked at the menu on the wall, "Nah. We can get something later where we're going. Ice cream, first."

Rose giggled, "Order something for me then."

"Chocolate?"

She shook her head. "Strawberry."

He nodded his head and held her hand. "Right." He turned and ordered in the strange language.

They left the ice cream shop and walked down the street, looking into the windows of the little shops.

"We can go into wherever you like, Rose. I just like being away from…. Everything. Having ice cream."

She giggled at him. "Like the old days, huh?"

He nodded, "With less running. It's like a holiday here."

She looked at him and smiled.

They continued to walk the streets slowly while they ate their ice creams. They made it to the end of the street and Rose spotted a cat in one of the windows. "Why would anyone have a cat in a shop?"

The Doctor finished his ice cream and rubbed his hands together as they looked in the window.

"That is…. Not a cat."

Rose smiled at him. "What is it? An alien from some crazy place?"

He looked at her and smiled, "That is pest control. Shop owners have done that here for centuries. She's just curious who's walking down the street."

Rose smiled at him and finished her ice cream. She put her hand back in his. He led them to a restaurant at the other end of the street. "Hungry?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "We can see what they have."

He led her into the restaurant and after speaking some language that Rose didn't understand, they were seated on the rooftop. The umbrellas were attached to the side of the wall and Rose could see they went on as far as her eyes could see.

"This is lovely." She told him as she sat down.

He beamed at her and ordered something. The waitress nodded and walked away. "Yes. I love the colors. So simple. It's like a sea of umbrellas."

"I love this rooftop restaurant. This is like the bars in Germany. The ones you bought."

He shook his head, sat back and crossed his arms. "I sold them already. I know it will be hard for Lewis to go back there, so I didn't want to keep them."

"You sold them? Already?"

He nodded his head. "Yeah. There have been several interested parties in them for a while. I rang them yesterday, and signed the papers this morning. Got a hell of a deal on them. I was just happy to have them off of my hands. I'm learning to say no. It's harder than one would think."

"Dad's too?"

He nodded his head. "Pete Tyler is amazing. He told me to sell them last night. I'm telling you. Making deals in his sleep. I've never met anyone like him. He's one in a million. A billion. A billion, billion."

She giggled at him.

He looked back her with a smile on his face. "I see where you get it."

"Do you have a crush on Pete Tyler?"

He smiled, "I'll fully confess that I have an obsession with Pete Tyler's daughter."

"Yeah?"

"Oh yes. Completely. It's….. to an unhealthy level. She's all I can think about."

She smiled. "Maybe you should see a doctor then."

He looked her up and down. "That's what I think, too. One, Doctor Rose Smith. Maybe she can help with my problem."

She giggled at him and looked back at the umbrellas. He became oddly quiet. She looked back at him, "What's on your mind?"

He looked surprised at her. "Why do you think something is on my mind?"

"I can feel it. You feel, uneasy about something."

He shook his head as the waitress returned with a bottle of wine and two glasses. Rose watched as she poured them both a glass and then walked away. He held up his glass. "To us. A night, just to ourselves."

She clanged her glass to his and sipped the wine. The wine was very sweet.

He poured some more in his glass. "Oh, I like that. That's really nice."

"What are you so uneasy about?"

He sat down the glass and rubbed his hands on his thighs. "Nothing."

She laid her arm across the table and he took her hand. She whispered, "Please. Just tell me."

He looked at her and sighed, "I don't want to leave. I know it's just for a few days, but….. I just don't want to go. When I left with Pete, it was….painful….to be without you. I just want to cancel the entire thing."

"You sounded rather excited about it when you spoke to Tony last night."

He shook his head. "That was to get him excited to go with me. I wouldn't tell him how I really felt. And it's something I can't hide from you."

She held his hand in hers. "It's only three days-"

He sat back and crossed his arms. "Phhhh…. I don't want to talk about this. Talk about something else. How was your lecture? Did you wow them?"

She pressed her lips together and nodded, "I think so. I had a few questions. I was very happy I could answer them all. That's always my fear. Someone asking me something, and I look like an idiot because I can't answer something someone finds simple. Like, what color is a banana or something."

"If that happens, or rather, when it does. You simply say, 'I cover that in my newest book that I'm currently working on. I go into detail there. I'd prefer not to talk about it at this time.'"

She looked impressed. "That's rather good."

He bit his lip and grinned. "Like that, huh?"

She giggled, "I just have one more tomorrow. And then that's done for a while. I'm glad."

"One more. For how long?"

"It's not been announced. They wanted to see what the interest level was with these two first."

"Had a lot of people there?"

"It appeared full to me. But, they had moved it to a smaller room. I didn't mind. I don't fancy speaking to an auditorium. Just the thought-"

He nodded, "Yeah. I understand. People are strange that enjoy that sort of thing."

"You don't seem to mind it."

He shrugged his shoulders, "Well, I've had to do it so much. I'm rather….immune to it. But, the majority of people….everywhere….hate public speaking. Well, unless they just….are strange."

She grinned. "Like Stark."

"Well, he's strange without that reason. I've not heard from him since the other night."

"Maybe you should go check on him?"

He was already shaking his head, "Nah. I don't believe so. He's bad to lose track of time when he's working on something. He probably hasn't realized how long it has been."

Rose laughed, "That's true. Pepper complains about that all of the time. She will bring him food, and return to find it uneaten and he's still working. I don't know how someone can stay awake that long. He just….. goes. All of the time."

He sipped his wine and sat it back down, "You were like that. When you were working on that canon."

She nodded her head proudly. "I was. I've never had a focus like that before."

"Determination." He teased.

She giggled, "Oh, absolutely. And, look at that. It worked. You're here with me."

He smiled like a loon at her. "No other place I'd rather be."

She reached across the table. He took her hand in his and kissed it, "The lecture sounds like it went well. Lance said that Jake was a live wire."

Rose sipped her wine, "Yes. Lance also told me you threatened him. What did you say?"

He bit his lip and sat back. Crossing his arms again, "Nothing a lady should hear. What do you think was wrong with Jake?"

"Your threat, most likely."

He rubbed his lips and looked over at the umbrellas. "Alright. I told him that ….. nah. I shouldn't tell you that."

He drank his entire glass of wine. She could feel his nervousness.

"Baby?"

He looked up and hummed at her.

"If something was really wrong, you would tell me. Right?"

He looked surprised at her. "Of course I would. I don't keep things from you, Rose."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "That's not always been the case."

"Well, that's the case now. I know…what you know. Well….what you can know. There's some…. Grey there….are you cross? I can't tell. Am I in trouble?"

She smiled at him. "No."

He shook his head. "Why are we even talking about this? Hell, Rose. I simply have too much shit going on to be able to remember what I've told you and what I haven't. So, I just tell you everything. It's easier that way."

"Easier, huh?"

He held up his finger. "And…..I respect you. It's my understanding that a relationship works better when people are honest with one another. We agreed when we started this-"

"No more secrets." They said together.

He smiled at her. "Right. I know I haven't always honored that, but…. ummm….."

She smiled, "I understand. And I can feel your sincerity."

"So, not cross?"

She giggled, "Not cross. So, Lance and Jake? There is a theory?"

He ran his hand through his hair, "Lance seems to think Jake has some….information that he's not telling me."

"Like what?"

He waved his hand as he refilled their glasses. "I have no idea. His theory makes sense."

Rose sat back and crossed her arms. "Jake wouldn't keep something from you. Not if it involved my safety."

He looked up at her and sipped his wine. "You're right. It's nothing to worry about. Lance has only met Jake. He doesn't know him that well."

"I touched his hand today at the lecture. He felt so frightened. I don't know how he was holding it together. He just, smiled and carried on. It really concerned me."

"Lance mentioned it."

"Lance was amazing. I told him how I felt and he offered to have you come to me."

"I would have been there in a second."

She smiled, "I know you would. But, I shouldn't have been so upset. I shouldn't let these things bother me."

"You need to remain vigilant. Things happen. Being cautious is never a bad thing. I'd rather you call me a million times for nothing, than the one time that you should have…and didn't."

She nodded her head. "Why didn't I sense Jake's fear before? I only felt it after I touched him."

He nodded and leaned on the table. "Well, you were nervous. Your feelings take priority over anything else you feel in the room. But, when you touched him, it became oblivious it wasn't your fear. You probably felt the nervousness of the agents there and because you aren't used to that, assumed it was your own. In time, you'll learn to separate all of that."

She nodded, "Interesting. Mine, Jake's, the agents, and the Quauhtin-"

He shook his head. "Nah. You wouldn't have gotten any nervousness from any of the Quauhtin. If you ever feel that they are, something is wrong. Or they are injured, or something. Their training has taught them to turn any fear into awareness. It's rather interesting."

She shook her head. "I don't believe that. Everyone feels fear."

"Everyone from here, feels fear. Others…..have more control over their emotions."

She smiled, "Like Vulcans?"

He rolled his eyes. "Back to Spock, huh?"

She laughed and held out her empty wine glass.

He refilled her wine. "But, Lance is working out?"

"He offered to tell them I was ill. I refused. He was ready to take me home, just because I was frightened."

"Why didn't you return home?"

She sipped her wine. "He held my hand and stood next to me the entire time. I could feel how confident he was and knew that if anything happened, he would take care of me. I knew I would be alright."

He smiled at her. "Lance is good. Yes. Not as good as Lewis, but still…he might just surprise me."

She giggled and sipped her wine. "How is Lewis?"

"Lewis has slept a grand total of three hours, which is an extremely long time for him. He woke up and wanted to play with Arles, so I took him up there to him. Lance is with them now, and they are back in a bottle."

Rose smiled, "You might need to go rescue that little boy later tonight."

He sat down the glass he held and pointed to himself. "I'm off duty for the night."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "A Quauhtin is never off duty."

"Well, I sort of am. I'm with you, so….there's that. Jackie has the children…along with Poltious and Timon. Legate is on a date, I think. He didn't say. Gobbo has Pete for me, and the brothers have Lewis and Arles."

She smiled, "And you have me. The Primary."

"I didn't call you that. I know you hate that."

She smiled, "What are your plans?"

He leaned his chin on his fist and looked dreamily at her. "If you are hungry, we'll eat. Then, I have a hotel room here. Just across the street. We don't have to be home, anytime tonight."

She leaned on the table and whispered, "What are your plans then?"

He looked at her up and down. She could feel his lust growing, "I'm going to kiss every inch of your body. Every curve. Every part of you. I want you to know how much I love you. I might wash it all off in a deep bath and then do it again. Then, see how much deeper you are in a hotel bed in Portugal, than our bed at home."

She blushed and sipped her wine. "I'll never get used to you talking like that."

He chuckled at her. "I'm leaving in the morning. I'll be back as soon as I can possibility can."

She took his hand in hers and kissed it. He watched as she then took his index finger in her mouth and sucked it. She smiled at him, "Then we need to get started. I have a few plans myself. Sounds like we might need all night."

He cleared his throat, "Check, please!"

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