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Chapter 37 – Return Program Five

The Doctor walked into the island bedroom carrying Sam in his arms. He was still sleeping.

It was early in the morning and the sun had started to come up out of the ocean. The light peeked in through the windows of the bedroom. Rose lay on her side, asleep, in the bed. He had already taken Genie back to her bedroom. He lay down in front of Rose and positioned Sam in front of her chest. He unbuttoned the oxford that she wore and gave her the injection on the side of her breast with the small hydro spray box he often used. He gently massaged her breast and nipple for a few moments. She opened her eyes and smiled at him.

"You're back." She said quietly.

He smiled back at her, "I'm back."

She looked down and saw that milk had started to run out of her breast. Sam moved his head and started to cry. His Daddy smiled at him. "Yes. That's what you smell."

He helped Sam find the nipple and Sam started nursing immediately. Rose smiled as she looked down at him and kissed the top of his tiny head. She looked back up at the Doctor and smiled, "Thank you."

He smiled as he injected her other breast and kissed it. "You are going to be miserable today and tomorrow. You're going to make too much and feel….ummm…."

"Like a cow?" She whispered.

He smiled, "It won't last long. I can give you something to make it less painful if it starts to hurt."

She stroked Sam's head with her fingertips as he continued to nurse. He could feel her happiness. "Why did I ever want to stop doing this?"

"Don't worry about that. He's very happy to have it back. He's been asking me for it."

She looked at him as he lay in front of her. "Why didn't you tell me that?"

He put his hand on her hip as he closed his eyes. "I didn't want you to be swayed. I wanted this to be your decision. Honestly Rose, do you think that's the last thing he's going to ask for?"

She giggled, "That's true. You feel tired. Have you slept at all?"

"I'm fine. I don't need as much sleep as you do."

She smiled as she felt him drift almost immediately to sleep. "You can say that all you want, Old Man." She whispered to him. She raised her hand to his cheek and felt the beginning of stubble. She could feel he was comfortable. She looked down and saw that Sam had went back to sleep with her nipple in his mouth. She tickled his cheek and he started to suckle before falling back to sleep again.

"In this moment, you look exactly like your Daddy." She whispered to the small baby.

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Later that same day, The Doctor could be found in his workshop with the music blasting. He leaned over inside of the old yellow roadster's engine compartment as he took something off of the engine. The speakers played "Blue Orchard" by The White Stripes. He sang along with a high pitched voice to tease Tony Tyler, who sat behind the steering wheel of the car.

Tony shook his head. "That's just embarrassing, John. Wow."

He continued to sing to the song as he smiled and worked on his car.

"What are you even doing to the car?" Tony asked.

"Making it better." He told him as he brought something up and looked at it. "What the hell is this?" He mumbled, and tossed the piece behind his head.

Lewis danced in to the music. He pat him on the back as he stood next to him. "What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing. I'm making her better." He told Lewis. "Friday, turn the music down."

The volume reduced.

Lewis nodded his head. "Upgrades. Right. Anyway. The computer is still chewing on that data from that ship. Is that normal?"

He stepped back and got another tool. "Yeah. It will take a while to retrace its path."

Lewis shook his head. "I don't understand that. Why? It's just a simple program."

He didn't look up from the engine where he was working. "Nope. I'm having it also run a report to identify any settlements, ships or civilizations that it might have came in contact with. In order for anyone to be affected by it, they would have to be exposed at a certain distance for a certain amount of time. It's a complex program."

Lewis nodded his head. "Sounds like it. I wouldn't expect less, though. Oh, and I officially know I'm going to be a father."

He smiled, "Congratulations."

"Thanks. She's known for weeks. She wanted to wait and tell me at Christmas."

"Ah, close enough."

"That's what she finally determined. She did ask if you could look her over to make sure everything is alright."

He stood up and looked at Lewis. "You're okay with that?"

Lewis shook his head. "Well. I suppose. I mean, it's not like any other doctors here are going to be able to treat her."

He chuckled as he went back to his work. "Don't worry Lewis. The computers do 98% of the work."

"Right." Lewis nodded his head as he leaned against the car and crossed his arms. "Tell me. What are you planning on doing with this guy on the ship?"

The Doctor sighed. He stood up and pointed at Tony. "Little brother. Would you go get us some chips from the food replicator?"

Tony jumped out of the car, "Sure!"

Lewis watched him run to the other side of the workshop. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize he was there."

"Ah, he's working on his spy skills. You've been warned. He's pretty good."

He chuckled proudly, "You never know. The first human Quauhtin?"

The Doctor smiled as he pointed at Lewis with the tool he held, "Could be. Anyway. What am I going to do with this guy?" He went back to work on the engine.

Lewis nodded his head. "I've been in contact with Summus. He doesn't approve that you have taken him."

"I've not taken him without cause. He's my responsibility."

"I'm honestly having a hard time seeing that, mate."

The Doctor rose up and looked at Lewis. "I need time to think about this. I can't screw this up."

"Then just kill the guy and let it be done."

He shook his head. "Nah. That's not me."

Lewis crossed his arms and looked at him. "Lance told me what you told him. You threatened that his very soul would scream for mercy. And then he would find that you have none?"

He rose up and bit his lip. "Lewis. I used to have so much patience. So much mercy. I just don't anymore. Especially towards this man. The things I've thought about doing frighten even me."

"You broke four of his fingers? Is that what I heard?"

Tony ran back over to them holding a plate of chips. "Here you are! Want some chips, Lewis?"

Lewis smiled, "Thank you, Tony. I hear you are working on being a spy."

Tony smiled proudly. "Yes! John has me watching the monitors. When it gets to 100%, I'm to tell him."

The Doctor looked at Lewis as he tossed a chip into his mouth, "That's when the computer will be finished running the program."

Lewis nodded his head. "Our other discussion-"

"Oh, I'm sure that's not over. I value your input." He said as he rubbed grease on the end of Tony's nose, making the small boy smile. He smiled back at him. "Lewis, I've lived a long time. I've made decisions that I'm not proud of. I don't want to look back at this and find I should have done it differently."

"Then, do you want my advice?" Lewis pointed at him with a chip.

"Yes."

"Talk to Rose. See what she says."

He groaned. "That's not that easy."

Tony pointed at him, "John. You should talk to Rose. Instead of just kissing her all of the time. You might find that she's pretty smart."

They both laughed at him.

"But, I like kissing her so much."

Tony shook his head. "That's just gross. Even Jack thinks so. Is it really that nice?"

"Remind me of this in a few years, Lewis."

Lewis laughed as he ate some more chips, "Oh, I will."

The Doctor's wristband lit up. Friday spoke. "Priority Return Program Five has been activated."

Lewis looked confused, "What? What is that?"

"Oh, shit. I need Timon here. Immediately." He told him.

Suddenly, a loud pop echoed through the workshop as Tony Stark, wearing his metal suit, appeared. He crashed hard onto the concrete floor. The suit was smoking, and shot electricity out in places. The Doctor, Lewis and Tony Tyler rushed to him. The Doctor turned him over and pressed a button on the side of his mask. It opened to reveal Tony looking shocked at him. The suit completely went silent.

"John? What the hell am I doing here?" He asked.

The Doctor pointed at Tony Tyler. "Go over to the desk and bring me my screwdriver."

"Right!" Tony agreed as he ran to the desk.

"I can't fucking move with this suit powered off!" Tony complained as he groaned.

"Don't try to move. We'll get you out of this and get you sorted." He told him.

Timon popped into the room. His eyes became as large as saucers when he saw Tony lying on the floor. The Doctor spoke to him. "Timon, help me get this helmet off."

Timon twisted a plug on the side of the suit as it tried to come back on and then went completely dead again.

Tony complained. "Just get the damn jumper cables and give me some juice! It's fine!"

Timon shook his head. "It's had it."

Tony continued to look around. "Is anyone going to tell me what I'm doing here?"

Tony Tyler returned and handed the Doctor his screwdriver. "Here, John."

The Doctor scanned him with his screwdriver. "I put an automatic return in the suit if it was damaged to a level of 75%. I imagined you would probably be damaged that much, too."

"Fuck that! I was winning!" Tony yelled, then he groaned in pain. "Oh, shit."

Timon shook his head as he looked over the suit. "It looks like you were hit by a missile."

"Ah, a damn tank shot me."

Lewis looked impressed, "Took a direct hit from a missile. Impressive."

"Hell, it wasn't direct. I dodged three other ones." He closed his eyes tightly.

Lewis smiled, "Helping a convoy?"

"Yeah. They had time to get away. Saved all of them." He grunted as he closed his eyes tightly. "John, I might have broken something."

The Doctor finished scanning him and read the screwdriver's readings. "Tony, you have 5 broken ribs, a dislocated and broken collarbone, and crushed shoulder."

Tony closed his eyes and growled, "I was winning!"

Tony Tyler smiled at him, "Mr. Stark. It doesn't look like you were winning."

"You should see the other guy, kid. Get this damn helmet off of me!"

The Doctor looked at Timon. "Can the helmet come off?"

Timon nodded his head.

The Doctor insisted. "Alright. Gently."

They worked together to pull off the helmet. Blood covered the inside of it as a large gash was revealed on the side of Tony's head. Lewis quickly put his hand over it. "Damn, Tony!"

"I can't move. Is the suit dead?"

The Doctor looked where he was cut on his head. "He's taken a blow there. He's in shock."

"Yeah, I'm in shock I'm here! I was winning!"

"We need to get him out of this suit and see what else is damaged. Your screwdriver is probably being blocked by the cloaking device on it." Timon said.

The Doctor nodded his head. "Right. Tony, we're going to have to get you out of this suit and it's going to really hurt."

"We need to have a discussion about making your patient feel better, Doc'. It's called bedside manner." He closed his eyes tightly and groaned. "Yeah, I think I broke something. For sure."

The Doctor smiled, "I'm going to put you to sleep, and take you up to the ship. Alright?"

Tony kept his eyes closed tightly. "Mr. Tyler!"

Tony Tyler snapped his head to look at him, "Yes, Mr. Stark?"

"Keep an eye on your brother and make sure he does a good job on me."

Little Tony smiled, "Sure, I will."

The Doctor put his finger to his forehead and Tony relaxed as he fell unconscious.

Tony Tyler smiled, "That is so cool, John."

Lewis looked up, "How bad is it?"

"The suit is holding parts of him together. He did a hell of a job. I'm going to roll that damage program back to 60%. Damn it. I knew 75% was too high."

The Doctor reached in his pocket and pulled out the transporter remote. "Timon, come with me. Lewis, can you get Tony back to Rose?"

Tony immediately protested, "John. I can help!"

"I know you can. Help me by keeping an eye on your sister. I'll be back later today."

Tony rolled his eyes, "John-"

"This isn't open for discussion, Tony. I have to get up to the ship immediately." He pressed the button on the remote. Tony, the Doctor and Timon all disappeared.

Lewis put his hand on Tony's shoulder. "We'll go up later and play in the Zero Gravity room."

Tony groaned. "Why does he insist on treating me like a kid?"

Lewis bit his lip to keep from laughing. "You should probably ask him that."

Tony nodded his head and put his hands on his hips. Lewis was reminded of Pete Tyler. "Oh, I intend to."

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