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Chapter 9 – Mistaken Identity

Genie wanted to see the medical print-outs herself, and the Doctor was very happy to stall returning to the island, and Rose. He could feel that she was sleeping anyway.

The computers in the med bay were still working on something for the Doctor, so Genie kissed him good-bye and decided to go to Legate's suite onboard before she returned to the school. She was anxious to pick up the knickers that she had kicked under the sofa. She couldn't believe she had forgotten about that until this morning.

She hadn't wanted to raise any suspicion, so she hadn't asked where Legate was at the present moment. She had already told her father entirely too much. But, she knew he had come aboard to look at the ships on Tuwo Wenck's ship that was now in orbit next to the Asclepius. Maybe, he had also decided to go to his suite for some reason. She hoped he had.

She pressed the button that rang the chime that alerted that she was there. The door opened and Legate stood in front of her. He was wearing a pair of football shorts and a hooded sweatshirt.

His face spread into a surprised smile. "Genie."

She stepped inside and closed the door. "Oh, I'm so glad you are here!"

He covered his mouth in surprise. "Hmm….. yeah-"

She walked over to the sofa and knelt behind it to look under it. "I can't stay. I have a conference call in just a few minutes."

He watched her with his hands on his hips. "Ummm."

She stood up and shook her head. "They aren't here. Did you….."

He hadn't taken his eyes off of her. "No. I don't think so."

"Gosh. I'm going to kill Sam. He saw me kick them under the sofa. It would be just like him to take them and hide them to put me into a panic."

Legate grinned. "Sam seems to be quite the joker."

Genie threw up her hand. "Well, he forgets who he is dealing with."

Legate laughed under his breath.

She stood in front of him and smiled. "Did you get your ship?"

"Yes. It's down in the hanger here." He rubbed his forehead.

"Oh. You've already moved it?"

"It made sense to have it here."

She nodded. "Right. Well…."

"Can I interest you in a cup of tea?"

She giggled and rubbed his chest, "I would love that, but I really need to go."

He ran his hand through his hair. "Okay. If you have to."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Not one to ever argue with a beautiful woman kissing him, he put his hands on her cheeks and returned the kiss.

She looked into his eyes, stepped back and pointed at him. "Hang on."

He rose his eyebrows at her. "What?"

She grabbed his arm and pulled up his sleeve. There was no tattoo of the lighthouse. She covered her mouth in shock. "You're not my Legate." She said quietly.

"Ummm….well-" He started.

"And you just stand there and let me kiss you!" She smacked his chest.

"I am…just in a bit of shock."

She covered her face, turned and groaned. "Oh my God. I'm so embarrassed."

He took her hand quickly. "No. I'm sorry. I…should have told you who I was."

She turned and looked at him seriously.

"Instead of tea? How about a drink? I know I could use one." He offered.

"Wine. Red wine." She insisted.

He shook his head as he rushed over to the food replicator. "Red wine."

"She closed her eyes. "I can't believe I did that-"

"Ah! You aren't to be embarrassed about this. This is completely my fault." He insisted.

"I could honestly, just…."

He carried two glasses of wine to the sofa and sat down. "Genie. It's really alright."

She stood, considering the situation. "I probably shouldn't. I've embarrassed myself enough."

"No, that's where you are wrong. I have embarrassed you. One drink. Five minutes. That's all I ask."

She didn't move.

He moved to the chair that sat next to the sofa. "Look. The entire sofa on your own. I won't even sit next to you. Promise."

She nodded and then sat down on the sofa. He handed her the glass of wine and she thanked him.

He sat down. "First of all, I'm very sorry. I was….just...I haven't seen you yet."

She sipped her wine. "Hell of a first meeting."

"You're the one Legate wants to make the Promise with. He's told me there's someone, but wouldn't tell me who."

She smiled over her glass. "You two look exactly alike."

Legate grinned, "Well, when you get it right, why mess with it?"

She rolled her eyes. "And sound alike. What did he say about me?"

"Now, I'm going to embarrass myself?" He grinned.

She giggled. "I already have."

He rubbed his hands together nervously and sat up on the edge of the seat. "Well, he said you were the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. You were the also the kindest."

She could tell he was telling her the truth. She sat down her wine. "What else did he say?"

He sat back and rubbed his thigh and groaned, "That you won't agree to make the Promise with him."

"Hang on. What's wrong with your leg?"

"It's fine." He shook his head.

"It's not." She went over to the food replicator and asked for an ice pack. He had propped his leg up on the table when she returned.

He thanked her as she handed to him. He positioned it on his thigh. "That helps."

She sat down on the sofa and started to sip her wine again. "I just asked you recently what had happened to your legs."

"What did I tell you?"

"You were….preoccupied." She blushed.

He laughed. "I apologize. I shouldn't laugh."

"Then, why do you?"

His eyes met hers, "Happiness. I'm thrilled. Forgive me, because I probably shouldn't say this, but just…."

She rose her eyebrows at him. She still had those same light brown eyes, curly long hair and beautiful smile.

He swore in Quauhtin. "Genie, you grew up to be such a beautiful woman. Why won't you tell him yes?"

She sipped her wine. "I have a question."

"Okay."

"What did you do to your legs? Both of them injured at the same time?"

"Well, I broke one. A fight with a Vesuos. He threw me into a table. I think, and I landed on it the wrong way. It shattered into pieces, but John put it back together for me."

"That was the Vesuos before the one at Uncle Tony's?"

He nodded, "Yes. Although, I would have loved to have been in on that fight."

She rolled her eyes. "You were."

He grinned. "Of course."

"And the other leg?"

"Well, that happened the day before. I was at Pete's. The mansion playing cards with Adriano."

She nodded. "Okay."

"And there was this….guy. He wanted in."

"An intruder?"

"Yes. He had a gun and…well. Adriano tackled him at the right time. Otherwise, the bullet that went through my leg, would have gone through my head."

"How do you know that?"

"That was where he was pointing it. He wouldn't have missed. He was rather close."

She sat down her wine and shook her head. "I almost wish I hadn't asked now."

"I couldn't tell you as you are now. A small child. That would frighten you."

"It frightens me now, Legate. Why did he shoot you? Because of the 'alien thing'?"

"No. Well. Maybe. He wanted in to get something out of Pete's safe."

"What?"

"A list. They sorted out that it was a list of people that Torchwood has processed in the past few months. Jake has sorted it all out. It's fine."

She shook her head. "This isn't done. That's not right."

"John feels it is sorted. Well, to a point."

"Well, if Dad thinks so. Maybe, I feel it isn't because I'm still in such shock about meeting you."

"Hasn't worn off yet?"

She laughed, "No. Oh wow. I need to tell Legate this happened. My Legate."

He smiled, "Your Legate. I love how that sounds."

She looked up at him and covered her mouth. "I can't believe I kissed you."

"Just tell him 'yes', and he won't mind." He teased.

She insisted. "I also need to tell you that no one knows about us. Please, may I ask you to keep it to yourself?"

He smiled warmly. "Of course. It's not a concern you should have. Nor should you carry the embarrassment of what happened here. Genie. That was my fault. And I apologize."

She smiled. "Thank you, Legate."

"Well, I'm going to ice my leg, and then go to take you, younger you, for ice cream."

"Knowing you and I are now together, doesn't make that strange?"

He shook his head. "No. I'm surprised it doesn't, but I rather expected it."

"How is that?"

"Well, the only other ones that came back in the TARDIS, just aren't my type."

She giggled. "There could be another woman."

"There could be. But, I know I wouldn't have left like that if there was. I would have done anything to get to where you are. Make certain you are alright. I don't trust that to anyone else but me."

"Not even Dad?"

"Maybe him." He grinned.

She giggled, "It's just strange. You, knowing. And being with me as a little girl."

"I will probably be absolutely ridiculously protective over her knowing it's you now. The way Legate has spoken about you, I know what you mean to him. What you will mean to me. I don't know why you came back, Genie, and I don't need to know. But, I can tell you that it has probably made you safer than you would have been before."

She smiled at him and whispered. "Thank you, Legate."

He pointed at her. "And you need to get back to the school. You have a conference call."

She groaned and sat down her wine glass. "Oh, I do."

He stood up as she did.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Escorting you." He said as if it should have been oblivious to her.

"But, your legs-"

"Will take me there. Don't worry about me."

She put her hands on her hips and smiled at him. "You, really don't have to do that."

"Now, how would it look if you walked out of here and was eaten by wild wolves?"

She laughed, "Wild wolves, Legate? On Dad's ship?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Stranger things have happened." He offered her his arm.

She smiled and shook her head. "I better not take your arm. That will make people ask questions."

"That's true." He realized and ran his hand through his hair.

"But, that's very sweet. Yes. If you would like, you're welcome to escort me to the transporter room."

He rolled his neck back in surprise. "The transporter room is not the destination."

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Legate and Genie faded into her office inside of the school in New York. The smell of all of the flowers was almost overwhelming as they became solid.

Legate looked surprised at the amount of flowers that sat on every surface, and had started being sat in the floor. "And this is a secret?"

"Phhh. This is from people wishing me well on the school opening."

"Oh." He realized and put his hands on his hips and looked around. "Okay, that makes sense."

She walked to the back of the desk and looked at her phone. "Perfect! I'm a bit early."

He smiled at her. "Who else is here?"

"I'm not sure."

He walked to the door and opened it. "Legate is on his way up with Tony."

She sat down and sighed. "I wish I had gotten a bottle of water-"

"Well, hang on-"

"You don't have to do that."

He smiled, "Legate is bringing you a bottle of water. I just asked him. He wants to try to see you before you start your meeting."

"Ugh. With Uncle Tony."

"He doesn't know?"

She shook her head, "No. Shhh."

He put his finger to his lips and nodded. Within a few seconds, Tony and Legate the Third had arrived at the office.

"And this isn't weird at all." Tony insisted as he shook Legate the Second's hand.

"Says the only guy there is one of here." Legate the Second laughed.

Legate looked at his younger version. "Thank you. For…"

"Yeah. It's no problem." He pointed with his thumb. "I need to go."

"You're not going to shake hands at least?" Tony asked.

"John has advised us not to touch one another." Legate the Third told him.

"Oh. Probably, some weird reason." Tony nodded.

Legate the Second smiled back at Genie. "It was nice to see you."

She smiled. "And you, too. Thank you, Legate."

He transported away.

Tony rubbed his hands together. "So, want to talk?-"

"I can't right now. I'm waiting on a call."

"Just, put them on hold. Watch the light blink. It's…..relaxing." Tony told her.

"It's to get the school opened!"

They all heard Pepper shout from far away. "Tony! Need you. Where did you go?"

Tony groaned. "Damn it." He pointed at them both. "Well, this conversation isn't over." He left the room in a hurry.

Legate grinned and closed the door. "I brought your water."

She walked over to join him. "Thank you, Legate. I really need to talk to you."

He smiled at her. "I have something to tell you, too. But, that will have to wait until later."

She looked down and saw that he was offering her a flower he had twisted from a piece of paper.

"Legate." She exclaimed. "This is lovely!"

"I've been saving it. I didn't know if you would be able to tell what it was."

"Of course I can. It's a flower."

"I'll always bring you a flower." He looked around the room. "Even on the days you don't seem to need anymore."

She giggled and put the paper flower on her desk. "Thank you. That's my favorite one now."

He smiled, "Legate said you went to his suite."

"Your suite. Ugh! This entire thing is going to drive me mental."

He chuckled, "Why?"

"Well, I was looking for…..those knickers."

He nodded, "Perfect. Hmm…. Knickers."

"Yes, the ones that I kicked under the sofa." She groaned. "Please tell me you have them."

"I thought about it when I was up there a bit ago. I tossed them in the ship's laundry."

She sighed in relief. "I thought Sam might be holding them ransom."

"Ransom. Hmm… That's not a bad idea. What would you do to get them back from me? If I still had them?"

She rolled her eyes. "You don't need any more ideas."

He laughed at her complaining.

The phone rang. Legate, standing in front of her, looked down at the phone with her.

She closed her eyes, "Damn it. On time."

He took her hand and kissed it. "Dinner? Tonight?"

The phone rang again.

"Dinner?"

"I want to take you someplace, rather special. We can chat then?"

The phone rang again.

"Yes."

He picked up the phone, "Sara Tyler's office." She smiled as they looked into one another's eyes. She could feel his warm hand caressing hers. As the person on the other end of the line spoke, he quietly kissed her lips.

"Yes, ma'am. She's expecting your call. I'll put you right through." He put the call on hold and without taking his eyes off of her, whispered. "How long will your call be?"

"I'll let you know when I'm finished."

"Is that the last thing today?"

She looked across her desk that was full of files and paperwork. "Gosh, Legate. I'm not-"

"Sorry, no rush. I'm going to play in the snow with Soli. Take your time."

She laughed, "You love snow."

He smiled at her. "I love snow."

She giggled.

He kissed her lips quickly and then pointed at his, "Lipstick?"

She rubbed the side of his lip, even though he didn't have any on him. She just wanted to touch him. "You're sorted."

He rocked on his feet, so happy to be there with her. "Ummm. Miss Tyler. There is a phone call for you, ma'am. Just that blinking light there."

She picked up the phone, "Thank you, Legate."

"And Exton is around this area, if you need someone."

"Go play in the snow."

He walked out of the door just as she took the call. Before he pulled the door almost closed, he turned and winked at her.

She smiled, "Yes, ma'am. Thank you for calling me today. There are just a few things I need to get sorted."

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Tony walked down the hallways of the school. "Pepper?"

He heard her voice. "I'm up here."

He turned around and walked up a narrow staircase to an upper floor. He found her standing outside of a wooden door.

"I would have never even found that staircase had I not been walking so slowly."

He laughed. "I've not been up here in years."

"What's behind this door? I can't open it."

He grinned, "There is a trick to it."

She watched as he pressed a button near the door handle and then opened the door.

"Hang on a bit, Pepper. Some of this stuff in here is dangerous."

She stood in the doorway and watched as he walked across the room. The ceiling was low and the room was full of things covered in white sheets. Once he got to the other side, he pulled the shudders of the windows back and she was able to see the room better from the light that filled the room.

One entire wall was books and various odd toys. Tony picked up a keyboard sitting on the floor and typed something in on it. "Alright. You can come in."

She looked around. "What is this?"

He pulled a sheet back reveling a table that held a large assortment of toys that had been taken apart, and put together in odd ways. "This, is a nursery."

"Nursery?" She asked as she looked at an old computer that was taken apart on another table.

"Well, yeah." He told her as he picked up a cube, that was almost as large as his fist, and grinned at it. "I always loved this."

"Your nursery." She smiled.

He threw the cube into the corner. As soon as it hit the floor, a loud bang rocked the house and sparks flew everywhere, lighting up the room. Smoke filled the corner where the cube landed.

Pepper jumped and shouted as the walls shook.

Tony laughed proudly. "Still works."

Pepper slapped him in the shoulder. "Damn it! Don't do shit like that!"

He laughed and took her hand. "It's just a little sugar bomb."

"Sugar? Sugar isn't explosive."

"That's what Mom thought, too. That's how I was able to get it up here." He grinned as he picked it up and looked it over.

Pepper groaned. "That poor woman. Dealing with you."

Tony laughed at Pepper, "She loved every moment of it. Kept things interesting."

Exton ran into the room and looked around. "What the hell was that?"

Tony waved his hand. "Nothing. It's just an old toy."

Exton rolled his eyes and walked out of the room. "Sounded like a bomb. Good grief."

Pepper crossed her arms and looked around the room. "I don't believe there are any toys here that you didn't take apart."

"Well, they had some good stuff in them."

Pepper grinned at him. "Seriously?"

Tony picked up a circuit board. "This. See? It has a great voice in it. Instead of some goofy bear talking, you can slow it down and have it notify you when someone comes into your room."

She looked at it and then back up at him. "You didn't."

"Really creepy sounding. It was great." He chuckled and tossed it back on the table.

Pepper laughed. "That's crazy."

He turned and picked up another small cylinder. "And this! I know you know what this is."

She walked over to him and looked at the black cylinder he held in his hand. As she reached out to touch it, he pulled it away from her reach. "Maybe not. Hmmm. Hang on."

He looked around and picked up another few things and quickly wired them together. He held it in his hand and she saw a red glow illuminate above it. "You can use it as a light. So you can read."

He sat it on a window seat and looked back at the shelves of books. "I spent a lot of time right there in that window. Reading all of these books."

Pepper smiled and walked over to the bookshelf. "These are all in English."

He nodded, "Yeah. I got into Thomas Malory for a while."

"Who is that?"

"He wrote about King Arthur. Knights. Round table. I found it interesting."

"And you remember it, too."

"Every word. 'For this was written by a knight prisoner Thomas Malleorre, that God send him good recovery.' I was just thinking about this last night."

She looked at the bookshelf.

He put his hands in his pockets. "You've never told me what you liked to read."

"Phhh….gosh, I haven't thought about it."

"Name something. Something you liked."

She looked back at him as she thought. "Well, I did school at home those last few years. So, I read everything all at once, to just get it done. Some of it might have ran together. But, I do remember The Grapes of Wrath."

He laughed.

She giggled, "Not at all what I expected."

"A teenage girl running a vineyard reading The Grapes of Wrath. 'How can we live without our lives? How will we know it's us without our past?'"

She knew he was quoting the book. "And you've read that one, too."

"I've read everything. It was how I passed the time, and avoided Dad."

She looked back and watched as he picked up something else to take a closer look at it. The light from the snowy grounds outside seemed to glow behind him. She looked out of the window and saw several people having a snowball fight. She smiled. "Looks like Soli found someone to go outside and play in the snow with."

Tony grinned. He wore a dark jumper and was dressed more casually than she was used to seeing him. "Yeah, I promised him I'd go out there, too."

"You? Are going to play in the snow?" She asked in disbelief.

He looked up at her and nodded. "Sure! I'm planning an ambush against some Quauthin, currently."

She giggled. "Go out the front door go through the garden."

He nodded. "Good idea."

Pepper crossed her arms and looked around the room. "I have no idea what they would use this room for."

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "Just ask Gene and see. It's so small, there's not much you can do with it. Storage, maybe."

"Do you want to save anything in here?"

"Nah. Just a bunch of old toys."

She picked up a piece of metal. "Broken toys-"

"Improved toys." He insisted.

She rolled her eyes.

"John called earlier. He said he has a new ship for me."

She smiled. "Yeah?"

"Yep. I just need to come up and pick out what I want."

"You didn't give him a hard time about yours, did you?"

"Nah. I told him that getting Soli back in one piece was better than a ship. Apparently, according to Jack, that ship was supposed to have been destroyed in that solar storm when I first got it. Remember that?"

"Oh yes."

"And no one is telling me what happened to me in that. Is it wrong that I just want to ask?"

She closed her eyes, "I'm just glad everyone is safe."

He nodded and picked back up the cube that had stopped smoking. He twisted it and held it to the light to see something as he made some adjustments. "How are your hips today?"

"They are fine."

He looked up at her. "Not sore or anything?"

"Well, you held me all night so I had to sleep on my back. I think it helped."

He twisted the cube and grinned. "I have different plans for tonight that will put you on your back."

She smiled. "Sounds like something I'll enjoy."

He threw the cube against the wall causing it to explode loudly again. The entire house seemed to rock from the noise of the explosion.

Pepper jumped. "Damn it, Tony! I'm going downstairs."

He laughed. "I might have to take that home."

Exton ran back into the room. "What is that?"

Pepper was on her way out. She stopped and pointed at Tony. "Him! It's him!"

Exton looked back at Tony with his hands on his hips. "Every Quauthin is on notice with that."

Tony laughed and tossed the cube playfully in the air, "Oh yes. This is going home with me."

Pepper groaned and walked out of the door.

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