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Chapter 52 - A New Plan

Lewis and the Doctor sat on the sofas looking over the reports that Pete had left them with. They had both taken off their jackets and rolled up their sleeves. Lewis sat across from the Doctor who was wearing his glasses as he read over the files. Lewis' tattoo peaked out from beneath his sleeve and collar, as it often did when his tie hung loose. They had been busy at it for just over an hour.

Lewis closed a file he had been reading and tossed it back on the table with the others. He rubbed his face and sighed, "This is worse than anything I could even imagine."

The Doctor was looking over a file in stunned silence. He rubbed his finger across his lips as he read. Lewis watched him for a few moments. The Doctor narrowed his eyes and re-read a paragraph again. "No, that can't even happen. That doesn't make any sense." He mumbled.

Lewis had reached his limit. He took the report the Doctor was reading away from him and closed it. "Alright. I'm saying that is enough."

The Doctor tossed up his hands. "What the hell, Lewis?"

Lewis pointed at him forcefully. "I can't take anymore, and this isn't even my wife! You have to be close to your limit. My priority is to protect the family. Even from themselves. I'm not going to allow you to read anymore of these today. Not for a while. Maybe not ever."

To Lewis' surprise he didn't protest at all. He instead leaned back on the sofa, tossed his glasses on the table with the files, and rubbed his face. "Thank you, Lewis."

Lewis stood up and paced for a few moments. "Are all of these even true?"

The Doctor looked up at Lewis with his hand over his mouth. "Please don't make me answer that."

Lewis nodded, "Right, sorry."

"Lying on a report is a criminal offense." The Doctor sighed as he leaned up and put his elbows on his knees. He looked like he might be sick at any moment.

Lewis looked at him. "Are you alright?"

After a few moments, he looked up at him. The Doctor shook his head and whispered, "No."

Lewis put his hands on his hips and sighed, "Man. I don't even know what to say. I….."

He shook his head. "I know. Thank you for doing this with me."

Lewis shrugged his shoulders. "You would do it for me. My Primus partner. We'll get through this, too."

There was a knock at the office door. Lewis turned around and looked at the Doctor. "You're good?"

The Doctor called, "Come in!"

Legate and Logan walked in carrying a paper bag. Legate smiled at them. "Hey! We saw that you guys got pulled into another meeting with Pete, so we brought you back some lunch. Burgers. Just the way you both like them. These chips are excellent!"

Lewis' face lit up as he took the bag and sat it on the Doctor's desk. "That was thoughtful. Thanks, guys!"

The Doctor stood up and walked over to them, "Cheers."

Legate pointed at the Doctor. "What's with you? Pete box your ears?"

The Doctor smiled and shook his head. "Nah. Just some stuff on my mind with this…..mess."

Logan nodded his head in sympathy. "My mum returned if you need her for anything. She asked me to tell you. She's just out there, in her office."

"Right. Thanks." He said as he walked over to the small bar. "Guys. A water? A beer? What?"

Lewis called back to him. "A soda if you have one."

The Doctor nodded, "Hell, that does sound good."

Logan shook his head. "Thanks, but we just are returning from lunch. We're fine."

Legate rubbed his hands together, "I also needed to ask. Primus One and Two-"

"Who's One?" The Doctor called from across the room.

Logan held his hands out, "Is that really a thing? I believe he is joking."

Lewis crossed his arms and looked seriously at Legate. "Primus One and Two. That's interesting. Which is which?"

Legate thought for a few seconds. Then smiled, "Depends on the day."

Lewis laughed as he unwrapped his hamburger and the Doctor walked over with their drinks. "Good answer, Legate. What is your question?"

Legate rubbed his hands together excitedly. "Right. Pete is taking the young boys to the Arsenal warm up. Aemillus is going with Pete. I would like to ask if I can go with the boys."

Lewis looked serious at them. "Polotius always has Tony Tyler. He's not going?"

Legate held his hands out. "He does. But, Jacob will be with him as well. Plus, I find it would be a good training opportunity for Logan. He is requesting to join the detail as well. These Arsenal guys, they are …. maybe a bit dodgy…. ummm… we're not sure…. I think we need to have an extra pair of eyes on them."

The Doctor looked at Lewis, "Don't eat the burger. It's coated in bribery."

Lewis chuckled, "That's fine. Have a good time. Remember why you are there, and don't lose yourselves."

Both Logan and Legate said, "Alright!" cheerfully in celebration. Then, quickly looked back at Lewis and the Doctor who were looking seriously at them. "Sorry." They both said as they looked embarrassed at the men.

Lewis laughed under his breath and rolled his eyes. "Get out of here, guys. We'll see you tonight."

Legate and Logan quickly moved towards the door. The Doctor called out, "Logan!"

Logan stopped and turned around, "Yes?"

"If anyone asks who you got in a fight with, tell them you were playing football with Lewis. He's tough."

Logan laughed, "I'll do that. Thanks!" He closed the door.

Lewis shook his head. "Playing football with me, huh? He looks more like he's been playing rugby."

The Doctor laughed under his breath and sat the hamburger back down. "This was nice of them, but I really just don't have any appetite."

Lewis nodded his head as he ate a few chips. "Understandable. At least eat a few chips. These are really nice."

The Doctor forced himself to eat some chips as Lewis spotted something on the coffee table. He carried his container of chips and walked over to have a closer look. "Hey. Are you making notes?"

The Doctor was surprised at his question. "What?" He walked over to where Lewis stood and looked down at the coffee table.

Lewis pointed out, "That's your handwriting."

The Doctor handed Lewis his chips and put back on his glasses. The files were stacked neatly on the table in three stacks, whereas they had been all piled up in a mess only moments before. The Doctor picked up one that had a sticky note on the front. In his handwriting it said, "Sorted." The one under it also had another sticky note on it in his handwriting that stated the same thing. He quickly looked through the entire stack, "Lewis. These all say they have been sorted."

Lewis looked curiously at him. "What? All of the reports?"

"No, just this stack."

He looked at the next stack, which was by far the largest. The file on the top said, "To be sorted…." He looked through the first few. They all had the same note in his handwriting.

Lewis pointed at the third stack. "These say, 'Do not open. FP'. We haven't been through them yet.

The Doctor shook his head. "We haven't been through the majority of these on the table."

Lewis shook his head. "How did you do that? All of these notes are in your handwriting. Am I wrong? That's yours, isn't it?"

The Doctor sighed, and put his glasses back in his pocket. "That's mine."

Lewis ate a chip and stared at him as he thought.

The Doctor looked at Lewis. "Where do you want to start?"

"When did you start traveling in time again?" Lewis asked as he narrowed his eyes at him.

He smiled and shook his head. "I've not been traveling in time. Rose has asked me not to. Not until Genie and Sam get older."

Lewis bit his lip. "You said you didn't have you ship that traveled in time here. Are you working on something you haven't told me about?"

The Doctor groaned, "Lewis. You can get a way to travel in time. Jack has a Vortex Manipulator on his-"

"Fuck you! You have been working on something! You wouldn't tell anyone if you had. Especially, Jack. That man is completely mad. You and Rose would have kept it secret! I bet it's hidden. Someplace you wouldn't let anyone go."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Lewis. You are impossible. These are not even points in time. Some of them are Dimension jumps."

Louis looked at the files, "Rose figured out how to do it before, she can do it again to help you! And she would! She's damn clever and the two of you together would be able to make a machine that would be able to travel in both time and dimensions. Tell me I'm wrong!"

The Doctor bit his lip as he stared at Lewis.

Lewis stared back at the Doctor's face. "You have a lousy Poker face."

The Doctor smiled, "I have a great Poker face. My Peducko face, needs work."

Lewis thought. "You wouldn't want it someplace you couldn't keep a close eye on it, even if you could pop away and take care of it."

The Doctor grabbed his container of chips back out of Lewis' hands and started to eat them. "Have you had these chips?"

Lewis was still consumed in his thoughts. Then he declared, "It's in the room with the DVDs. Behind the door in that room. I thought it was a cupboard. It's where you are keeping it."

The Doctor chuckled, "You are just too damn good at this, Lewis! It's scary. Get some help. This isn't normal behavior."

Lewis waved him off. "Don't tell me what's normal! You don't have time to work on something like that. How are you doing it? Unless, it's doing for itself. It's organic, you're growing it! DAMN IT! You said your other ship had to be grown. It's that damn plant you said you needed to get off of the island. Where do you have it now?"

The Doctor mumbled with his mouth full of chips. Lewis crossed his arms. "Jackass. You can speak in my damn head. Where the hell is it?"

The Doctor put another handful of chips in his mouth and shook his head. He spoke in Lewis' head, 'These chips are fantastic. Are you going to eat yours?'

Lewis sat his chips down in the chair and crossed his arms. "John. We're mates. You know the oaths I've taken because you have taken them now, too. I won't say anything to anyone about it. Not in the Guard, not in the family. You've went through great lengths to keep this hidden, and I've stumbled upon it. I won't take it. I wouldn't know what to do with it anyway. It's obvious that it is a very powerful ship and you need help to ensure that it remains safe. Let me help you with that. You are keeping my secret about my twins. Let me keep your secret."

The Doctor shook his head, "Well, not really. I told Rose about that already. She's thrilled."

"Fuck! I don't care! Tell me I'm wrong, or tell me where it is!" Lewis demanded.

The Doctor nodded his head. "It's in my pocket. It's safe." He sat the chips down in the chair and walked over to the reports on the table and pointed at the files. "This. This is clearly me fixing where it went wrong. And I totally should. None of this should have happened. I never meant for this to happen."

Lewis shook his head. "No. That's not a good idea. You heard Pete. All of that happening gave her the determination to find you. If you erase that, she will never make it back to get you. Won't that cause….I don't know. I've heard it in those damn physics lectures….."

"A paradox?" The Doctor shook his head. "No. See, that's not how it works. These 'Sorted' and 'Needs to be Sorted' stacks, they are all points in time that you can change. This other stack, I marked 'FP', which means it's a fixed point and I can't change it."

"How the hell can you tell?" Lewis asked.

"It's a sense I have. Like breathing."

Lewis tried to put it together. "So, this ship? You're doing this now?"

The Doctor shook his head, "Oh, hell no. I'm years away from being able to take that ship anywhere. This is clearly me from the future, coming back now to show me what to do. I'll probably start finding other notes to myself. I used to do that often in the other Dimension."

Lewis shook his head, "I can't say I approve of this at all."

The Doctor opened one of the files from the 'Needs to be Sorted' stack. "Well, mate. I can tell you that you won't always feel that way. Isn't this your handwriting?"

The Doctor showed Lewis where a note had been made across the top of the report. It said, "Bring cards when you deal with this. You might win some money."

Lewis took the file from the Doctor's hands. "Hell. What sort of shit are you going to pull me into?"

The Doctor chuckled at his friend. "Something that will clearly help my wife. Damn, Lewis. I'm sorry about this. This is all my damn fault. I thought she was getting on with her life. She was with her family and was safe. I never would have dreamed she would have dealing with anything like this. She had her mum. Mickey. And her Dad back. Ugh. I'm a fool."

Lewis shook his head. "There is no way you could have known this would happen. I'm sure she doesn't blame you-"

"She doesn't. But, I blame myself. I've apologized so much she gets cross when she hears it. So, instead, I just am sure to tell her everyday, without fail, that I love her. I don't want her to ever think for a moment that I meant for any of this to happen. Don't misunderstand, we're very happy together and rarely disagree, but I know that one day she's going to get proper cross with me about something and this will cross her mind. I want her to be able to immediately stop that thought before what I've done cases her any more pain than it already has."

"I'm going to stop as much of this from happening as I can. As soon as my TARDIS is ready. Rose deserves so much better of a life than she's had. This." He pointed at the table. "This gives me hope. This. I can fix."

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