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Chapter 37 – Change of Address

Tony Stark stood in the middle of his New York Penthouse, looking through the windows at the night sky. Four Zeppelins hovered within view along the skyline. The Empire State Building was lit up in red, white, and blue. He crossed his arms and mumbled to himself. "You're doing the right thing, man."

Exton walked into the sitting room where Tony stood, and dropped a duffel bag he carried. "Alright. Got what you need?"

"Yeah. Travel light?" Tony asked he walked over to the huge vase of flowers that he had delivered daily. He took a red rose from it and held it to his nose.

Exton grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "Never know when you might need to pack up and go."

Tony nodded. "Yeah, that's true. So, you're in charge of security for the Starks, now?"

Exton crossed his arms and smiled. "Yeah. Lance will be more useful there on the school's island. It makes sense. I really like he has arranged all of this."

"Yeah. Well, you were doing the security here before he took over."

"Not really. Lewis was. I just do what he tells me."

Tony grinned. "Well, I'm grateful it's you. Someone, I know."

"Someone you can beat at cards-"

"That never hurts."

Exton laughed under his breath. "Arcite says he's in place."

Tony nodded and yelled up the stairs. "Soli! What's keeping you, man?"

Soli appeared at the top of the steps. He was holding a bag that was full to busting, and trying to fit more inside of it.

Tony, carrying the rose in his hand, and jogged up the steps to join him. "Soli. All of this will be there. It's alright."

Soli looked up at Tony. "Even my bicycle?"

He knelt down, "Yes. Even your bicycle."

"Are we leaving because of me?"

"We are leaving because of them. Vesuos have already seen us here, and so it's just not safe to stay. I'm taking you and Pepper someplace where you both will be safe. Okay?"

"They won't find us there?"

He smiled, "No. And you can ride your bicycle, play outside, and even go to school."

"Is Sam safe? Karen?"

Tony took the little boy's hand in his. "You are such a thoughtful guy. Yes. They are both safe. And they will be on that same island with us."

Soli smiled and whispered, "Really?"

"You bet."

Soli looked around the penthouse. "I don't know. This feels like we're running away."

Tony shook his head. "No. That's not what this is. Running away is what you do when you are frightened and have given up. Are you frightened?"

"A little. Yeah."

"I'm not because I know I've done everything I can, to keep us all safe. If you can look at the situation and honestly say that's what you've done, you've give it everything you can, there's nothing to fear."

"I still have my bracelet." Soli smiled. "That keeps me safe, too."

"Just like the Quauthin being around keep us safe, too. And don't forget who really stopped that Vesuos that got in here that night."

Soli smiled proudly. "I did."

"And you did a great job. I couldn't be prouder."

Soli looked around and nodded. "I agree. This isn't running away."

"We are simply, changing our address. It's what Primus Lewis would call, 'a strategic move.' Besides, it's rather cold here in New York, and not a lot of opportunities for you to be able to go outside and play. You will be safe where we are going."

"No Vesuos?"

"No Vesuos."

"No Jeclaonides?"

Tony pointed at him, "Never any Jeclaonides. Okay?"

Soli whispered, "Okay, Tony."

Tony looked in his pack. "And what are you so insistent on bringing?"

"Some of my favorite things. I just didn't want to leave them behind."

"A soccer ball, some crayons, drawings, and Doctor Seuss books." Tony looked up at him, "Doctor Seuss?"

Soli smiled proudly, "I can read those, Tony! Would you like me to read them to you?"

Tony smiled. "Absolutely. Are you ready to go then?"

Soli nodded energetically. "Yes!"

Tony helped him fasten the bag closed and held the books that wouldn't fit. He put the rose in the pack, and the bud hung out of the top. Soli put the pack on his back and Tony took his hand.

"Exton?" Tony called and stood up.

"Yeah, I'm still here, mate. Arcite is still standing by. He says Pepper is there."

Tony nodded. "Let's do this. Jarvis!"

Jarvis spoke, "Yes, Mr. Stark?"

"Jarvis, I need you to activate Transfer of Power to the new location."

"All files?"

"Everything. Tell me when it's up."

Exton listened in his head and after a few seconds, he gave Tony the thumbs up. "Arcite has Pepper looking through everything."

Jarvis spoke. "Transfer of Power is complete, sir. Is a Lock-out needed?"

"A complete Lock-Out. Both of the Penthouse and the shop."

"Arcite says Pepper is reporting it's complete." Exton told him as he picked up his duffle bag.

Tony turned on his bracelet and began to type on his arm. "Code that to my voice, Jarvis, and all Super Users."

Jarvis beeped. "Yes, sir. Lock-out will begin in 30 seconds. See you there, Mr. Stark."

"Alright, Exton. That's our cue!" Tony knelt behind Soli and wrapped his arms around the small boy. He pointed in front of them to the tall windows. "Alright, count the Zeppelins with me. One more time."

Soli laughed. "There's one. Two and three. And four. Five is almost there."

"Five? Where?"

Soli pointed. "Just behind that building. See it?"

Tony smiled. "I hadn't noticed that one. Good eye, kid."

Still holding the book, Tony pointed at the green button that spun in a circle on his wrist. "Hit it, Soli. Pepper is waiting on us."

Soli looked back at Tony's face, smiled proudly he was getting to do something so adult, and pressed the button.

They popped away.

Seconds later, Jarvis spoke. "Lock-out has begun."

The lights dimmed and all became quiet.

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It was late that evening. Rose sat on the sofa in the bedroom of the island home, sipping a nice cuppa. The telly played the news which she wasn't even listening to. She was replaying the fun afternoon they had enjoyed at the mansion. Howie dancing with Karen. Genie and Legate surprising everyone with a lovely dance together. Little Genie insisting on a dance from Legate, and him dancing with her and the older Genie. The adult Tony Tyler standing off to himself most of the afternoon. Pete and he had disappeared for a while together for a chat. Rose wasn't sure why, but Tony had left shortly afterwards.

The Doctor popped back into the room.

"How is he?" She asked without looking back at her husband.

The Doctor collapsed on the sofa next to her. "Oh, that was a mess."

"A mess?" She asked. "You said he was just….tired."

He looked back at her and sighed. "Well, you're going to find out I've done this anyway, so I might as well tell you."

"You've used your regeneration energy to heal him."

"He's already been through so much. There was an….infection, that he had managed to get. It's not surprising to me at all. He was already so weak. He probably had it all along and it just lay dormant when we were treating everything else."

Rose sighed. "That poor guy. Really, how is he?"

The Doctor propped his arm up on the back of the sofa and rubbed his face. "He will be fine. He'll wake up in the morning and be completely well."

"And I can feel how tired you are-"

"I'm exhausted." He admitted.

She looked back at him and ran her hand across his hair. He looked in her eyes and she could feel his determination that he had done the right thing.

"Rose, he's been through so much." He told her.

"I'm not cross."

"I couldn't let him be sick. Not one more minute."

She could feel his sorrow almost threatening to overtake him.

She nodded. "I agree."

He closed his eyes and rubbed his face. "How are things here?"

"All of the children went home with Mum."

He smiled, "With Grand. Grandparents are the best! Just you wait, Rose! You'll love it!"

She giggled. "Do you think Karen and Samuel know about the baby?"

He smiled, "They do. He's so happy about it. Absolutely thrilled."

Rose took his hand and laughed. "That's such good news. Karen?"

"She's…struggling a bit. She's worried that everyone will believe that's the reason that they are engaged."

"Well, so what?"

"Yeah. That's what I think. But, I remember you thought the same thing when you were pregnant with Samuel."

She nodded, "I did. And the rags reported that. And you know what? I still don't care."

He smiled proudly, "Numb to it, huh?"

"Ugh. I hate the damn press. At least she doesn't have to deal with that. I'll talk to her."

"Well, hang on with that. She doesn't know that we know. Well, you know. We know that she knows that we know..."

Rose laughed. "English is strange, huh?"

"Oh yes." He rubbed his face and smiled. "Samuel is trying to sort out a way to make her more comfortable with the entire idea."

"She's really not happy?"

"She's just…he said she was just so sure that it wasn't going to happen because they had been so careful."

"Wait. You looked in his head, or spoke to him?"

"We were due for a chat. We had a nice, long one while he was sleeping. It helped. He told me I need to look in on Caroline Shepherd. Apparently, her heart is in worse shape than Howie's. "

Rose shook her head and groaned. "There's always something."

"And Arles is, so amazing. He is Lewis. Completely. Maybe a bit of you."

She smiled, "He's probably some of you."

He rubbed her thigh and smiled, "Arles, Tony, Lance and Legate took Karen up to the ship with Genie. She helped with the entire, Operation Island School. That's what Karen called it. She fits right in with the rest of those children."

"Children." Rose smiled.

"Well, yeah." He shrugged his shoulders. "All of that is sorted and ready for them to move in. They all went back to New York tonight though. Genie didn't want to copy her files, but needed to put them all in one place. So, her and Legate were doing that. Oh, that's involved. I'm so glad she's in charge over there. I know it will be done right, and those children will be safe."

Rose smiled proudly. "So, they found an island?"

"Not too far from here. Really tall with a great cliff on one side. Beach on the other. Perfect. They put Stark's house from Malibu there in the cliff. Looks the same. He's thrilled. Pepper, him and Soli are already there. Lance suggested having the same sort of flats like we have here, but larger. The back of each one overlooks the sea. It's lovely. He's moved with Jane."

"Has he spoken to her?"

"He didn't mention it to me. I regret telling him now. I worry he'll end it with her. Jane is so good for him."

"Maybe I should talk to him."

"Let's let Lewis take a stab at it. I think he'll listen to him more than anyone else. And Samuel has ran a Heritage Test on Karen. The computer is still searching the databases, which tells me it probably isn't going to find her species."

"She's not human?"

"If she was, it would have already told him. I looked at his phone. He has all of the records being sent to it. She looks human to me. But, she might be…some hybrid of something."

Rose smiled, "Sounds like something you would bet on."

"I'm out of that. But, Samuel and Arles have a bet on it."

Rose nodded. "Okay. So, Samuel is in New York with Karen?"

"Yeah. And Arles. After they finished everything with the school, he took Karen back to her flat at that university. He and Legate, have transported everything of hers to Samuel's flat at the school. She's officially moved in. Well, on the island. There wasn't any reason to copy it to both places. They sent me home, and are keeping an eye on Samuel for me. She said she'd sort everything out once they get there tomorrow."

"And Samuel is alright?"

"He's sleeping. If he gets worse, she's to contact me immediately. Arles is in the other room in that same flat, so I feel he's in good hands. Otherwise, I wouldn't have left. It was hard to leave."

"Your little boy." She smiled proudly.

"He's….so…." He thought.

"He's so much like you." Rose insisted. "At least from what I've seen."

He looked back at her and grinned. "You think so?"

"I do." She sipped her tea.

"I think he's better. And I have no idea why this had to happen to him, because I haven't seen anything he actually kept Tony from doing. The entire thing is….frustrating."

"He's home now, and on the mend."

He nodded and rubbed his face again. "Yeah."

Rose looked up at him. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm fine-"

"No. I mean. Really? With all of this."

He looked back at her in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"You've been so…..reserved."

He sighed and looked away from her. "Nothing is to be gained from losing my temper about this."

Realizing he didn't want to talk about it, she decided to change the subject. Rose smiled, "Karen was absolutely precious holding baby Samuel. He loves her and kissed her over and over. His Grand said he's going to be so cross when he finds out that he has another guy."

The Doctor grinned. "Yeah?"

"I love that girl. She fits right in with all of our, madness."

"Just like, if you had to pick a girl for our Samuel-"

"Totally would have picked her for him. She's clever, funny, and so loving."

The Doctor smiled. "You know, that's exactly what I was told."

"That she was clever?"

"That you had picked her for our Samuel."

"You mean, she has picked her for our Samuel."

He yawned and nodded. "Yeah."

"Gosh, you're exhausted. Go to bed."

He smiled at her. "Changing the subject-"

"You know I don't want to talk about that."

He snapped his fingers. "I want to try something."

"What?" She sat her tea glass back down.

"I just gave our son….well…let's not get into how many years of my life-"

"Yeah, let's not." She agreed.

"I'm exhausted because of that. I want you to imagine that my regeneration energy, and just general energy, lower than normal."

She rose her eyebrow. "I've not been able to do anything for weeks."

"I think you can. I think you had put such pressure on yourself to be able to do something…."

"Performance anxiety?"

"It's a real thing. I was sick. Sammy, Samuel, was missing. Emotions were high."

"So, you're saying that you think I can probably use that again?"

He rose her hand to his mouth and kissed it. "I think that you should try. If, it doesn't work…I'll just lie down and go to sleep. I'll feel better in the morning. But, if it does…."

She smiled, "Hot tub?"

He closed his eyes and groaned. "Oh. You read my mind. Whatever, you want."

She giggled.

He lie down and put his head in her lap. She began to run her fingers through his hair as he kicked off his shoes.

"You need a trim."

"Samuel was teasing me about my sideburns. He said that I was trying to look like Elvis."

Rose laughed. "You should do a bit a backcombing, again-"

"No. That kid doesn't need any more ammo." He laughed with his eyes closed. "He's really funny. I enjoy chatting with him."

Rose smiled as she continued to play with his hair. "Getting on together?"

"I don't know why we argued so much in the future. He says, it's just, all of the time. Stupid stuff."

"Did you tell him about the TARDIS?"

"Yeah. He already had decided he was staying because of Karen, and their….blueberry."

"Blueberry?"

He chuckled, "That's what he's calling the baby."

Rose could feel him growing more exhausted by the moment. She imagined the energy he had growing inside of him, as if he was a battery and was recharging.

She smiled at him as he continued to lie in her lap with his eyes closed. "That is adorable. The Blueberry."

"I thought it was, too. He's so excited. And he's delivered a lot of children. I wouldn't have guessed that."

She continued to imagine his regeneration energy regrowing. "Where did he deliver these children?"

"Lenox's colony. Can you believe Legate left?"

She grinned. She could feel it was working. "He felt it would be confusing for Genie. Little Genie."

The Doctor sprang off the sofa. "And see, that's just mad! Our Genie is wiser than that!"

She smiled that he was completely restored to his normal, mad, energetic self. "You think?"

He threw his hands up, "Well, of course she is! She has figured this entire thing out already. I know she has. I'm waiting for her to ask me about it."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Today, before they got here, she wanted to know if Samuel had become a Doctor to make his Dad happy."

Rose smiled, "I've wondered that, too."

The Doctor bounced on his feet. "Nope! He's a Doctor because he has a really amazing gift. Rose! You should see what this kid can do!"

Rose laughed. "How do you feel?"

He put his hands on his hips and considered. "Like I've regained 98 years of my life back."

She looked shocked. "98 years?"

He cleared his throat. "Umm…yeah. Did I say that out loud?"

She rolled her eyes. "At least Sam is better."

He bounced on his feet. "And I'm complete again. How about that!? Rose! This is brilliant!"

She laughed as he sat back on the sofa and wrapped his arms around her.

He kissed her quickly. "Hot tub? Or, what?"

She held him tightly. "Maybe, let's just stay up here. See what happens."

"Well, there's no baby to wake up." He grinned.

She laughed and they begin to kiss one another.

The reporter on the news spoke, "And this just in. A statement from Stark Tower. Hang on, I'm just reading it now."

They stopped snogging and looked back at the tellie.

The reporter looked back up at the screen. "A press release that reads the following:

For Immediate Release. Mr. Tony Stark would like to like to officially announce his marriage to Miss Pepper Potts.

Mr. Stark says, "We are extremely happy together, and I feel like a complete fool to have waited this long to ask this wonderful woman to be my bride. She's always been by my side, built my business more than I could, and has nursed me back to health during the darkest days of my life. We look forward to the rest of our lives together.

The reporter looked up and laughed in disbelief. "And we'll be right back after these messages."

The Doctor continued to kiss Rose's neck.

Rose was laughing at the news. "Did Pepper okay this?"

The Doctor's muffled voice said, "Doubt it."

"She's going to kill him." Rose laughed.

"On an island with no witnesses."

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Pepper read over an e-mail she had finished composing on her computer. She sat in her office that had been copied from the Malibu home. It was complete with her desk, computer system, and small, flat screened television on the wall. It presently played the news, but was on mute. Pepper had turned it down so she would be able to think and still see the stock's numbers.

Next to her computer, was a single rose in a small vase that Tony had brought her back from New York. She glanced over to it and smiled.

She made some edits to the e-mail and pressed send. She looked out of the door, and realized it had been quiet for a while there. "Tony?"

There was no answer.

She looked down at her watch and realized it was 11:04 at night. She powered down her computer, and turned up the sound on the television just as the reporter looked up and laughed in disbelief. "And we'll be right back after these messages."

"Damn commercials." Pepper groaned and turned off the television. She walked out of her office, and looked around the large sitting room. It was dark. The large window showed a gorgeous view of the night sky and twinkling stars over the ocean below. She crossed her arms and smiled at the scene. It was hard to believe that was a different ocean than the one had grown used to seeing through those windows.

She rubbed her arms, and walked up the stairs. She glanced into her and Tony's bedroom, and all of the lights were out. She went to the next bedroom and found them.

Tony and Soli were lying on Soli's bed together. Soli's head was propped on Tony's sleeping chest, right next to an opened Doctor Seuss book. Soli lay on his back and took a deep breath as he continued to sleep.

Pepper smiled at them and said quietly. "My guys."

Neither one of them moved as she quietly pulled a blanket over both of them. She leaned down and kissed the top of Soli's head. She smiled and ran her fingertips through his short hair.

Pepper stood up and started out of the bedroom. Then she heard the sweet, young voice say, "I love you, Pepper."

She turned and looked back at the bed. Soli had turned into Tony's chest and gone back to sleep. Tony's eyes were open. He looked up at her and grinned.

"She loves you, too." Tony told him quietly as he rubbed the little boy's back.

Pepper covered her mouth and smiled.

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