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Chapter 10 - Photo

Karen lay in her bed thinking about a conversation her father had with her that evening. He had cooked dinner and sent Anne away to shop, so they could be alone. Over dinner, he had told her everything about finding her on the ship. She couldn't believe she may not be human after all of this time.

She lay against the pillows and ran her hands through her hair. She had taken the small photo from Samuel's wallet of him and the five others. She stared at the image. "I wish you were here. I need to talk to you. You always know just what to say."

She heard a pop next door to her room. Had Arles returned?

She put on her dressing gown and walked quietly out of her room. She gently knocked on his door. He pulled it open and looked surprised at her. "Karen? You're still awake? It's nearly 4:00."

"You can do that thing he can."

He looked confused. "What?"

"Tell time without looking at a clock." She explained.

"Oh, no." He stood up and ran his hand through his hair. "I had just checked the time. I can't do that. Come in."

He turned on the lamp and she come inside and sat on the side of his bed.

"Where were you?"

"Your Dad asked me to go check on the family. Oh, he picked at great time for that. I'm so grateful!" He laughed.

"Is everyone alright?"

He took everything out of his pockets and laid it on the dresser. "Oh yes. Dad finally knows about Legate and Genie."

She smiled, "Oh, tell me everything. I have a bet with Tony."

He looked back at her. "Tony knows?"

"I slipped and told him. He promised to keep it quiet. So, we have a bet between us."

Arles nodded. "Well, there was blood. A mild concussion. He's staying in the med bay tonight, just to be sure. As best as I can tell, Lartius has won the pool. And a dog. He just has to find one he likes."

She shook her head in disbelief. "Oh wow. I lost that bet so badly."

"Dad is happy about it now. Genie just had to shout at him. I couldn't believe it. They have never argued like that. Wow." He sighed. "Sammy would have loved it."

Karen nodded and took a deep breath to keep herself from crying.

Arles turned around to look at her. "So, how was your date with your Dad?"

"Strange. I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure."

"I found a letter, in Sam's wallet."

Arles nodded, "From Mum?"

"There were several pieces of paper. I didn't read them all. I feel badly for reading any of it."

"It's alright. He wouldn't have minded."

"There was a letter to him, from him."

"Really?" Arles smiled. "What did it say?"

"That he wouldn't want to return to the future. He would meet someone that would make him want to stay. There were other things in it, but…."

He smiled at her. "That's good news. I mean, it's good news that he….writes a letter to himself. That means he returns. You see what I mean?"

She realized he was right. "That's true."

He smiled and nodded his head. "That's really good news. Thank you for telling me that. I needed to hear it."

She laughed under her breath. "I hadn't thought about it that way. I'm glad I spoke to you about it. I believe you are right."

He nodded his head. "He wouldn't mind if you read the other letters. If you find that you want to. That's interesting his letter was from himself. I haven't read mine yet."

"You have a letter?"

"All of us got one when we first got here."

"How?"

He sighed and pointed to the bed. "Is it okay if I sit?"

She smiled warmly. "Certainly."

He sat down in the floor in front of the bed. She sat down next to him on the wooden floor. "The man who popped back and forth between time and places. You met him. Jack. We played football with him and Jake that night at the school."

"How can he do that?"

"He wears this device on his wrist that controls that. He's been bringing messages from the future us to Dad."

"Then ask him where Sam is. Send the information back to us."

"The ship we came in, called the TARDIS, disappeared tonight. He was inside. Now, he's gone, too."

"But he can pop back."

Arles shook his head, "He won't leave the TARDIS. She won't allow it. So, we're now completely here. Either the TARDIS has to reappear, or release Jack, or something extraordinary happen."

She shook her head. "Arles, I'm sorry."

"What's to be sorry about?"

"That was your way home."

"Nah. I like it here. No one knows us and it's….different."

"You can't return because of me."

He looked back at her. "I wouldn't return. Samuel is counting on me."

She shook her head. "I asked him to move in with me."

He smiled, "Did you?"

"He agreed."

Arles smiled. "Well, I've lost my flat mate. But, I understand why."

She crossed her legs and showed her the small photo. "Can you tell me who these people are?"

He took the picture and looked at it. "I have a better one of this. Hang on."

He stood up and took his wallet off of the dresser. He sat down next to her and pulled out something that she thought was a silver, credit card. He tapped the top of it and an image appeared of Arles and Samuel. They were wearing sunglasses and laughing about something. They appeared to be on a beach. A flick of his wrist, made the image appear in front of them much larger. It was like looking at a television.

"That was back home on the island. We had just finished surfing."

"Samuel surfs?" She asked.

"He does." Arles insisted and chuckled. "Way better than Legate. He looks like a boneless chicken."

He tapped the images and looked through them. There seemed to be a million on the device.

"Is that a phone?"

"No. It's a photo storage device." He told her as he looked through the photos. "Sam never used one. He preferred to keep everything on his phone or his bracelet."

He found the photo she was looking at. "Ah! Yeah. I remember this. We were at a movie premier. Genie had a part, cameo, in it."

Karen covered her mouth and laughed. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. She was excellent. It was a lot of fun."

"Who are all of these people with you?"

"Well, Genie, of course. Pepper and her wore the same designer that night. Mum, had to be different. And of course you know him." He pointed at Sam.

She smiled, "He looks so happy."

"And that guy is Jake Herd. You know him at the moment as Jacob Shepherd. He's Howard Shepherd's son."

"Really?"

"Yeah. He was just about to leave to go to NASA. He's an astronaut. Too much time on a ship with us. And this is me, of course. That there is Tony Tyler."

"I don't know why I didn't think of him. He looks just like he does now."

"Well, the same guy. And that huge man there, is Soli."

"That! Is Soli?" She asked in shock.

He chuckled. "It is. Soli is a Quauhtin Warrior in our time."

He tapped the photo display off.

"Why aren't you a Quauhtin Warrior? Your Dad, Papa, Uncle all are."

He shook his head. "It's never something I wanted to do."

"Well, what do you want to do? Be a chef?"

He smiled, "I like cooking, but that's not what I see myself really doing. I don't know. I've not really thought a lot about it."

"How can you not think about it? Life is short-"

"Not mine." He chuckled. "Papa is over 200 years old! And he's considered a young man, still!"

"No, he's not."

"He is! Dad has forgotten his age. He had no idea."

She shook her head. "That's just the craziest thing I've ever heard."

He nodded, "I suppose it is."

She looked back at her photo.

"Your date with your Dad was strange?"

She shook her head. "Arles. He told me something."

"Want to talk about it?"

She was quiet for a few minutes. "He told me that found me on a ship."

"Like, floating in the sea?"

"He said he was on a ship. A destroyer. A large ship."

"Yeah?"

"It was the middle of the night and when he looked down, I was there."

"How old were you?"

"He says only a few days old. No one was around."

"Lights in the sky…."

She laughed under her breath, "I asked him the same thing. He said there wasn't. Just one minute I was there."

"Huh." He replied. "You could be proper weird then. Like Sammy, me, and Genie."

She shook her head. "There's no way to know."

"No. Dad can do a test to see. He usually can tell though. Just by looking at you."

She looked back at Arles. "Samuel and I….do something when we're together."

He rose his eyebrows, "Okay?"

"When we touch one another, it's as if there is an electrical sensation that starts to move through both of us."

"Sammy doesn't do that. He makes people feel better when he touches them."

"I've felt that, too. But, this is more…."

"Extreme?"

"Not a good word, intense."

"Okay."

"What if that is something from me instead of him?"

"Well, do you do it with anyone else?"

"I never have before."

He rose his eyebrows. "Huh, he hasn't said anything about it."

She sat up on her knees and looked at him. "Can I ask if I can try with you?"

He held up his hands. "What are you going to do?"

"Just touch you. That's all-"

"Where?"

She smiled. "Your hands. Relax."

He exhaled in relief. "Oh. Okay."

She shook her head. "You idiot. I'm not going to do anything like that."

He laughed. "Sorry." He held out his hands to her.

She put both of her hands in his. She looked up at him. "Do you feel anything?"

"Just your hands touching mine. Nothing like what you were talking about."

She let go of him. "I don't feel anything either. Why would that only be with Samuel?"

"I love that you ask me this stuff like I know the answer."

She put her hands on her hips. "Well, you know more about this than I do-"

"No, I don't." He insisted.

She groaned. "I'm going to bed."

He took her hand. "Wait a second."

She looked back at him. "What is it?"

He looked at the photo display device. "Give me this back, when he gets home. I don't think there's anything embarrassing in there. I need to stop looking at it."

She sat back down and took it in her hands. "Arles. It's alright to be sad-"

"I'm fine."

"You have been so busy making sure I'm okay-"

"Karen, I'm really fine."

She looked at him sadly. "No, you're not."

He closed his eyes and looked away from her.

"Arles. You don't have to be strong for me, or anyone-"

"See, that's where you are wrong. I do."

"Why? This 'One' thing?"

He sighed and looked back at her. "Dad wants to see you tomorrow."

"Changing the subject…"

"And there's that softball game."

"Arles." She said softly.

"And you have that meeting at UCLA. Tony will be here tomorrow sometime, too."

She took a deep breath. "Arles. He's coming back."

He stopped talking and looked painfully at her.

She took his hand in her own. "Arles. You are 'One'. So, that makes me your 'One'."

He grinned at her. "Well, not really-"

"Yes, it does. The way I understand it, you are to come to my aid, right?"

"Right."

"Let me come to yours. Arles, he's coming back."

He looked back at her and nodded. He couldn't help the tear that escaped his eye.

Karen noticed and wiped it from his face.

He continued to watch her and didn't say anything.

"Thank you for this…picture thing."

He nodded. "If you have any problems with those photos, let me know. It's just like the phone's photo app. Do they call that an app?"

She smiled. "Yes."

He nodded and ran his hand through his hair. "You need to get to bed. I need to try to sleep, too."

"Thank you, for this. I'll take good care of it."

"Okay."

"And if you need to look at these…"

"Oh, I put them all on my computer back at the flat. They are also in my bracelet. That's just so I can look at them, when I'm not there."

She nodded. "I understand. Well, good night."

He watched her stand up and leave his room, quietly. After the door closed, Arles hung his head in his hands and cried silently.

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