XxxXxxXxxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxx

Chapter 74 – The Brigadier's Breakfast

The Doctor and Rose popped into the back of an empty taxi cab. Rose turned to him and laughed in disbelief. He smiled, opened the door and stepped out, helping her out as well. He looked down at his watch, "I put a proximity detector in it. Alleys are so…. Blah. I can tell if someone is around before we land now. Might keep us from landing on someone."

Rose was impressed, "Very clever!"

She held onto his arm as they walked on the sidewalk. It was a cool, brisk day. The Doctor had put back on his jeans, t-shirt and a jumper with his leather jacket. Rose wore her jeans, a jumper and a jacket, too. The wind blew her hair all over the place. It made him smile.

"I love these ginger bits in your hair." He told her.

They were in a very busy, modern town. A huge white building with columns and several domed roofs sat in front of them. They turned and walked into a small, corner restaurant. He spoke a language Rose was sure she had never heard before to a waitress. She smiled and showed them to a table. The Doctor held Rose's chair out for her. He took off his jacket and hung it on the back of his chair as he sat down across the table from her. The waitress smiled and said something to him. He blushed and waved his hand as he winked at Rose. He then seemed to order two of something. He spoke to explain something and then laughed. The waitress laughed and patted his back as she walked away.

He turned around and looked at Rose. "I just ordered for both of us. I hope we like it."

Rose giggled. "That's fine. "

He crossed his arms and smiled at her. "Guess where we are? I bet you'll never guess."

Rose took off her sunglasses and looked at the menu. It was all in a strange language. "Well, it's not Germany. I can't read German, but I recognize it when I see it."

"It's not France, either." he told her.

She shook her head. "I have no idea. Give me a hint."

"Great hint! You'll get this! Father Christmas is supposed to be from here. Well, this country. Not this city." he told her.

She smiled at him. "I have no idea. The North Pole?"

He threw his hands up. "Really? Really? You don't know?"

"Wait a minute! You told me once you were Father Christmas and even told me what I had got for Christmas one year." Rose realized.

He pointed at her seriously, "I'm not talking about that. No."

"Why do you find it so surprising that I'm not as clever as you? You've probably been here ten other times."

"I've honestly never been here. Never. Completely new place for me." he smiled. "I had a friend who spoke of it often. I never made it here, though. Until now."

"Which friend?" Rose asked him.

"The Brigadier! You know, he told me something I bet you would find interesting. He went to Tibet in 1959. His plane was sucked sideways in a freak accident. When he landed, the locals believed he was a foreign agent and interrogated him. Then, he was rescued by another version of him. But, instead of that man being a Brigadier, he said he was a Coldstream Guards major. Weird? What does that sound like to you?"

Rose looked surprised, "That sounds like you. Different versions of you."

He smiled, "Well, yeah. But, he was human. So, what do you think had happened? The story gets even stranger, but you have to understand this part for it to make sense."

The waitress brought the Doctor a cup of coffee and Rose a mug of tea with a glass, milk and sugar. Rose made her tea and considered.

The Doctor grabbed the sugar and poured it into his coffee. "The key to this is the plane as sucked in sideways, Rose. Think about it. You'll get it. This isn't classified either. You can use it in your speech today if you need an example. Well, I don't know if it happened here or not. Maybe you shouldn't."

Rose blew her tea. "He passed between dimensions. Accidently! Holy shit! Why have you never told me about this?"

"I honestly only thought of it. When I decided to come here today, I remembered him talking about it."

Rose smiled, "We're in Tibet!"

He smiled, "No! Good guess though! I need to take you there. We're in Helsinki, Finland. He had to come here a lot for his work. Although, I worked with him, so I'm not 100% sure he wasn't joshing me about that."

Rose sipped her tea. "See, I've heard you talk about him a lot. But, I've never heard you call him anything but the Brigadier. Didn't he have a name?"

He chuckled. "He did. He was Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. He was knighted and made a General in the other dimension before he retired. A professional solider. One of my best friends."

Rose smiled, "Alistair. I like that. That would be a good name for a boy."

His eyes got huge. "Why, Rose Tyler. Are you trying to tell me something?"

She shook her head and smiled. "No. Just thinking ahead if we need it one day."

He tossed his hands up. "Damn. Got me all excited for a minute."

Rose laughed, "Sorry. You talking about Genie last night, it just made me start to think."

He smiled, "About what, sweetheart?"

"Ugh, embarrassing question." she said as she covered her face.

He leaned back and smacked the table, "Oh, I know what you are going to ask me, then."

Rose looked surprised, "You do?"

"You want to know if there is anything weird that you need to know about if we decide to have children. Am I right?" he asked her.

Rose nodded her head. He patted his hand on the table. "Yeah, we need to talk about that."

She could feel how uncomfortable he was. "We can talk about it later."

"No, it won't make it any easier." he cleared his throat and sipped some of his coffee. "Basically, everything is the same. Works the same. It is just extremely hard for it to work together. I'm not doing a good job at this, am I?"

Rose smiled and held his hand. "I understand. Keep going."

"Susan and David tried for years. But, she was...from out of town...and he was a local. I think it really is nearly impossible to work in that order. But, with us... you are a local and I'm not."

"I would think that order would make it easier. I can see how it wouldn't work the other way." Rose told him.

He rubbed his beard. "How do you figure?"

Rose sat down her tea. "His local boys couldn't break into the superior house she had built. But, your out of town boys could probably tear my house apart."

"Yep! Exactly! That's the problem. But, I see our point. It could also be the benefit. I don't know. I've never really thought about it before." he confessed.

He ran his hand through his hair. "They tried for years and ended up adopting."

Rose held his hand. "You have never told me those children's names. What were they called?"

He rubbed his face and considered. Just as Rose was sure he was going to tell her that he didn't want to talk about it, he began. He rubbed his hand across the top of the table as he spoke. "There was Ian. Very clever boy. Full of adventure. Then there was Barbara. He looked so much like Susan, that I thought that's who it was when I saw her once. I couldn't believe it. And of course, David. Little David Junior. Named after his Dad. They were all orphaned during a Dalek Invasion. Susan and David took them in. Alex was born later. Susan was pregnant for six months before she told me."

Rose giggled, "Wow! Six months? Why didn't she tell you as soon as she found out?"

He smiled, "That's when she did find out! There was a war on, she had other things on her mind. The gestation period for a person from my town is a bit over twelve months."

Rose's mouth fell open. "Twelve months?"

He laughed under his breath. "I'm glad you asked me this. I wondered how I was going to tell you about it. I felt like you should know. I knew you would kill me to find out after the fact. We might need to start being careful."

Rose shook her head. "No, I don't care about that. If it happens, it happens. But twelve months? My God! Your poor mother!"

He laughed and shook his head. "No, that's handled a bit differently back home. There are womb-births and loom-births. We couldn't do a loom-birth here. There just isn't the technology. It would have to a womb-birth. Carried for twelve months, well. Unless it is more from your town and it could be shorter. But, I really doubt it would be. Usually traits from my town are very prominent. Rassilon's Rules. Still in effect. Even here."

Rose's look of surprise said everything. He chuckled at her as he sipped his coffee. "This was a great question! Wow! I really have been trying to figure out how to talk to you about this. I'm glad you brought it up."

The waitress brought them two bowls of something that looked like porridge with berries on top. They also were given a basket of breads with a bowl of butter. A wooden plate held a combination of different meats, cheeses, sliced cucumbers, sliced tomatoes and a few hard boiled eggs.

He thanked the waitress and rubbed his hands together. "Ah! I thought this is what this was! Brilliant! I love this sort of breakfast! Let me show you how to do this, Rose! The Brigadier got me on this, years ago!"

He took a roll, cut in half and spread butter on it. Then he put a few of the different meats and cheeses on top of the bread. He stacked some cucumbers and tomatoes on it and put it on a plate for Rose.

"Here. Try that. It's like a... sandwich. But, not. I love this!" he told her as he used the other half of the roll to make himself one.

Rose was still sitting there looking at him. He looked up. "What? What's the matter?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. We're not done talking about this."

He chuckled at her, "Oh, I'm sure we're not! What else do we need to say?"

Rose shook her head. "I don't even know where to begin. Your answer to my one question has probably given me a hundred more!"

He laughed at her as he ate. "That's why you love me. I keep you on your toes!"

She laughed, "That you do. Wow!"

He drank his coffee and grabbed her hand and kissed it. "We can certainly talk about it later. I want to talk more about this. But, you need to think about some things first. If you want us to start doing something different, we need to start."

Rose smiled at him. "I feel like you are so far away sitting over there. Move over here with me."

He nodded his head and moved his chair next to hers. He sat down and kissed her cheek. "Better?" he asked.

"Yes. Thank you. I don't need to think about this. I don't want to change anything. I don't want to try, but I don't want to prevent anything either. How do you feel about it?"

He smiled, "I like that plan. Are you sure?"

"We might get lucky. You told me that a person from your town is a miracle. I don't want to prevent something amazing from happening. I won't deny you that if I can help it." she told him.

He looked at her seriously, " I don't want you think it's a requirement. It's not. I'm happy with just me and you….well and now, Genie. It's a lot to ask. It's a long time. You will be so uncomfortable."

"I know you will take good care of me. I'll be fine. I'm not going to tell you no. Not ever. Not about something like that. To hell with my comfort." she laughed.

"I'll remind you of that when you are complaining." he laughed. "Have I told you today, that I love you?"

She shook her head as he cupped her face and kissed her.

He leaned back and smiled. "Alistair Gordon Smith. Or would he be Alistair Gordon Tyler-Smith?"

She smiled, "We can decide later. We need to write it down and see."

He laughed, "Very true! Good point! In fact, Genie. Will she be a Smith or a Tyler-Smith?"

Rose thought for a minute. "Sara Genevieve Smith. Sara Genevieve Tyler-Smith."

He crammed a bite of breakfast in his mouth, and dug in his pocket. Rose smiled when he brought out the same notebook he had used the day before when they talked about her name. He wrote down both names and looked at the page. He sat back and looked at both of them as he sipped his coffee.

He handed the notebook to Rose and said, "I like Sara Genevieve Tyler-Smith. What do you think? It looks more, complete."

Rose looked the page and smiled, "She could always call herself something completely different as she gets older."

He smiled proudly, "Hide her name in the stars, like her Daddy."

Rose handed it back to him. "I think you should ask her and see what she thinks. So much of her life has been chosen for her."

He pointed at her, "That is an excellent point, my dear! Yes! Thank you for reminding me of that."

He continued to eat his breakfast.

Rose looked at him and sipped her tea. "What language are you speaking to the waitress here?"

He thought for a moment. "Swedish. Why?"

"Ask her if you have an accent when she comes back over here." Rose teased him.

He rolled his eyes. "You're still on about this? What do you think she's going to say?"

Rose giggled, "I have no idea. I'm curious to see what she'll say."

He shook his head and laughed. He called over the waitress. Rose sipped her tea while he spoke to the waitress. He ran his hand through his hair and explained something, pointing at Rose. Rose smiled as the waitress smiled at her. He asked her something. She giggled and said something back to him. He sat back in surprise. He seemed to thank her as she walked away.

"Well, huh." He said in surprise.

Rose smiled. "What did she say?"

He grinned and said, "I explained that you thought I spoke this language very beautifully and wondered if I had an accent or not. She asked where I was from and I said, Britain. She complemented my teacher because she said I sounded like I was from here. Huh. I didn't know that. Interesting. I wonder if I sound German when I'm in Germany? See, what you've started, Rose? Now, I'm going to have to see!"

Rose laughed at him. "I bet you do!" She sipped her tea. "Okay, finish telling me your mad story about the General."

He rolled his eyes, "Brigadier! We called him that even after he became a General. He preferred it. Anyway, the two of him managed to pop into a third reality. This time in the 1940's, where they met Nikola Tesla. Turns out, he had caused the events that started the entire thing."

"So, he returned and told you?"

"Well, after many years. The interrogation drugs they used left him confused and believing he'd simply been a prisoner in East Germany. As the memories came back, he told me. I went to visit Tesla and saw him allow half a million volts of electricity pass through himself. He walked away like nothing had happened. Now, he was a mutant! Mad man!"

Rose laughed at him as she ate. "There's no such thing as mutants, daft Old Man."

He looked at her seriously, "Ha!"

XXxxxxXxxxxXxxxxXxxxXxxxXx