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Chapter 54 -

The Doctor and Poltious walked out of the back of Legate's ship. Both of the men were laughing and celebrating Poltious' win. Aemilius met them in the hanger. "What did I tell you? Can he fly or what?"

The Doctor laughed as he wiped his eyes. "I've never had my eyes sucked back in my head like that. Damn. Hell of a pilot."

Poltious laughed. "Oh, that was great! Did you win anything, Aemilius?"

Aemilius waved them off. "Nah. Everyone here bet for you, so no money exchanged hands. Although, Lewis is looking for you."

Lewis' voice called from across the hanger. "No, Lewis has found them. Are you lot racing? Is that what I've heard?"

The Doctor and Poltious looked at one another. "Well. Umm…"

Lewis put his hands on his hips and looked at them sternly. "Go on. Out with it."

The Doctor pointed at himself. "This was my fault, Lewis. I ordered him to do it. Aemilius had told me what a great pilot he was and I wanted to see it for myself."

Lewis nodded his head, "And you, Poltious?"

Poltious nodded, "I wanted to see if I could still do it. Legate offered his ship. We dropped off Pete and the children, first. It was just the two of us."

Lewis nodded his head and laughed under his breath as he rubbed his face. "You guys will be the death of me."

The Doctor looked at Aemilius. "I think he's alright with this."

Lewis waved them off. "Hell, I don't care. You are both Quauhtin. If this is how you decide you want to die, there's nothing I can do to save you."

Poltious pointed at the Doctor, "But, he's one of the family."

Lewis shook his head. "No. He could be Primus or a member of the family. He chose Primus, he's on his own."

The Doctor turned and smiled proudly at Poltious. "And just like that, I'm out of trouble with Lewis. Why I did the trials. Oh, I could get used to this. Freedom is fantastic."

Poltious laughed.

Lewis turned to walk away. Then turned suddenly around and faced them both again. "Both of you though, I think you have a death wish. And I know why."

Poltious and the Doctor looked at one another again.

"You think?" Poltious asked nervously.

"Nah." The Doctor insisted. "We're fine. Both of us."

Lewis nodded his head. "Yeah. I've had time to think about it. I think it would be good for you both to go talk to someone about this constant need for an adrenaline rush. The Rixalarian psychiatrist is expecting you both tomorrow. On my orders."

The Doctor looked shocked, "What?"

Poltious shook his head and groaned. "Damn Rixalarian. Are you joshing me?"

Lewis smiled and shook his head. "I'm not. Both of you have to be cleared before you can go back on active duty." He pointed at the Doctor. "Rose is going to be pissed. You better hope she doesn't find out."

Lewis walked away. Poltious groaned. "Damn it. A Rixalarian, too. They can just drag anything out of you."

The Doctor shook his head. "Ah. I'm not worrying about this tonight. I needed a holiday anyway. So do you, Poltious. Look at it that way. More time for football."

Poltious chuckled as he joined the Doctor as they walked out of the hanger.

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Rose woke up to the evening sun shining in her face. The warm, sea breeze blew into the island bedroom. She lay in the silk sheets, still in her silk gown. Her skin still tingled from the Joined Climax she had enjoyed with the Doctor hours before.

She rose up and looked around the room. She could smell the steamy aroma coming from the shower that told her that the Doctor had just gotten out of it. She lay back in the pillows and listened to his voice.

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The Doctor stood in front of the bathroom mirror. He was wearing his jeans, but hadn't put on a shirt or socks. His hair was still wet. Sam lay in a chair on the counter next to him. He kicked his legs and the chair bounced. He coo'ed.

"I'm trimming my beard. I have a date tonight with your mum." He told his son.

Sam giggled.

"Laugh if you like, son. But, I'm excited about it."

Sam laughed again.

"I'm not shaving the hair off of my face. Your mum likes it, even if you don't. I like it, too."

Sam said, "Ahhhhh."

"Well, I can put something on it to make it softer. Yeah. Alright. I'll do that. Your mum would probably prefer that, too."

Rose smiled and got out of the bed. She quietly walked over to the bathroom and leaned in the doorway. She smiled as she watched the Doctor take a towel and wipe off his face. Sam coo'ed at him again. He tossed the towel on the sink, leaned down and kissed Sam's cheek.

"Oh, I love this boy! And my lips are stuck to his cheek!" he playfully told Sam.

Sam laughed loudly as his Daddy continued to kiss him.

The Doctor stood back up and looked in the mirror at his beard. He saw Rose out of the corner of his eye. "Oh, hey! I'm sorry, did we wake you?"

Rose smiled, "No. I needed to get up. I won't sleep tonight if I don't."

Rose walked over to him and kissed his lips quickly. "Your eye looks a lot better."

He rubbed where it had been bruised so badly. "Yeah. Well, keep that in mind. I need to tell you something and you might want to hit me."

Rose crossed her arms. "What have you done now?"

"Umm…. Well." He looked back at Sam and put his hand on his chest. "Sam, how do I put this?"

Sam coo'ed at him.

"Right, just tell her. Right."

Rose smiled. "Good advice, Sam. Just tell me."

"Alright. Well, Poltious is a hell of a pilot. I've wanted to fly with him for a while. After we cloned the house, we dropped the children off and ummm…. went out to the lane and raced a Caksy Cruiser. Oh, it was brilliant."

Rose giggled at him. "I can feel how excited you still are about this."

He smiled. "Oh, it was great! Poltious looped Legate's ship around Saturn. We probably were pulling….. 22g's. I nearly blacked out. It was brilliant!"

Rose laughed as she watched him bounce on his feet as he told her of their adventures. "22? The human body can only withstand 16."

He looked seriously at her and put his hands on his hips. "How the hell do you know that?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "I trained agents at Torchwood. It was a question one of them asked once and I had to look it up."

He looked impressed. "Really?"

Rose smiled, "Okay, so I attended a lecture about plasma accelerators at Berkley a couple of years ago. It was brought up."

The Doctor covered his face and bit his lip. "Sam. Your mum is so amazing. If you weren't in this room, son….. ugh. I believe she does this to me on purpose."

Rose laughed as she walked over and turned on the shower. "I'm going to shower. We're still on for our date tonight, right?"

He stood and watched her take off her gown. He covered Sam's eyes and he rubbed his own beard and watched her. "Oh wow. Nevermind, what Daddy is looking at, Sam."

Rose laughed at him as she closed the shower door. He could see her silhouette through the frosted doors.

"So, you aren't cross about this racing? Lewis is sure you will be. Bets have been placed."

Rose laughed, "No. I wish I had gone with you."

He smiled and nodded his head. "See Sam. What did I tell you? She's amazing. Lewis is overly cautious."

Rose's voice came out from the shower. "I do have one question though."

He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. "I doubt it's one."

"You dropped the children off?"

He nodded his head. "Correct."

"So, you knew it was dangerous?"

"Ummm….. going down a road I'm worried about now." He pointed out.

Rose laughed, "I don't think I want to know anything else about this. I don't want to be that sort of wife that demands you can't do certain things that you enjoy. I mean, I would have done it. Would you have been cross with me?"

He rubbed his chin. "Umm… probably."

"Then are you saying I should be cross with you?" Rose asked.

"Ummm… I don't know. Can I have a think on this and get back to you?"

"Geez. What are you so worried about?" Rose demanded.

"A Tyler Punch. My eye is just beginning to look normal again." He answered seriously. It caused Rose to laugh.

"Baby, I'm not going to punch you."

He turned, pointed towards the shower and spoke to Sam. "See, that's what she says now. She just doesn't want you to see her get violent with me."

"Oh, shut up." Rose giggled.

Sam coo'ed.

"Ah, maybe you're right." The Doctor agreed.

Rose giggled, "Are you agreeing with me or Sam?"

"Both. He says that I should listen to you."

Rose nodded her head. "Good advice, Sam."

The Doctor smiled proudly back at Sam. "Yeah, he has a good head on his shoulders."

"Better than his Daddy's." Rose teased.

"Without question." The Doctor agreed as he picked up Sam and cradled him in his arms. "Rose, I'm going to put on a shirt, and then we're going downstairs. We'll leave right after the game. Is that alright?"

"That's fine. What should I wear?" Rose asked.

"Casual. Just be comfortable. Warm though. Think, early morning, ocean. Wind blowing in your face. That's all the information you are getting from me."

"Speaking of ocean, which one is outside?" Rose asked.

He smiled, "The Atlantic. This is the new house. We're in the same time zone with London now. Sleeping problems hopefully will be a thing of the past."

Rose giggled, "I would like something from you at some point."

He smiled, "What is that?"

"A tour of our house. I have never seen it all." Rose told him.

He looked surprised, "You haven't? Really? How is that possible?"

She laughed, "I believe I was busy having a baby. Then my Doctor wouldn't let me walk down steps. Then, we went out of town….."

"Alright. I'll give you the full tour. But, not tonight. Different plans. Tour will be tomorrow. I'll be home all day. That will happen." He quickly started kissing Sam as he walked out of the room before Rose could ask him any questions as to why he was going to be home all day.

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