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Chapter 30 – Henry the Schnauzer

A woman stood at a cooker in a lovely, new apartment. She had curly hair and wore a red jumper over her blouse. A silver miniature schnauzer lay on the floor watching her.

The doorbell chimed. The woman grumbled as he barked. "Now, why is Karen ringing that doorbell? She knows it makes you crazy."

The schnauzer continued to bark as the lady opened the door to the two men standing there. Both wore warm smiles.

"May I help you?" The lady asked.

Legate pat Samuel on the back.

Samuel's face spread into a nervous smile. "Umm….Hello…. I was looking for….Karen?"

The woman smiled. "I'm her mother. Please come in."

Samuel and Legate stepped inside of the apartment. The lady turned and fussed at the dog who was still barking. "Henry. Hush. They could have already killed me four times by now."

Samuel chuckled. "I assure you, we're harmless. My name is Samuel and this is Legate."

The lady's eyes lit up in realization. "You are Samuel. She's told me about you."

He smiled. "Has she?"

"Good things, dear." She insisted. Then she suddenly remembered. "Oh! I'm cooking. Come in the kitchen with me."

They passed through the sitting room and which had cream colored carpet, grey walls, and arched doorways. The window had brown drapes that hung open. The telly played some day time drama as it hung on the wall. Three vases of white roses sat on the table in front of it. A brown rucksack sat on the floor, full of books. Three notebooks and index cards lay stacked on the table in the living room.

The silver schnauzer walked over to the window and lay down to watch the birds that played in the treetops outside. The apartment was on the fourth floor and the view to the parking lot showed very few cars. Snow had been piled into one parking space to the side.

Samuel and Legate followed the lady into the kitchen which was small, but probably four times larger than the one had been back at Karen's dorm. The aroma of something wonderful filled Samuel's lungs as he stepped inside. "Smells like biscuits."

She opened the oven and took out some chocolate chip cookies. "English. Karen didn't tell me that about you."

He put his hands in his pockets. "I'm surprised. She enjoys teasing me about it."

The lady laughed and pulled the cookies out of the oven. "Let them cool, but both of you, help yourself."

He smiled. "Thank you, Mrs. Bennett."

"You may call me Anne." She smiled and shook his hand still with the oven mitt on. Samuel smiled in relief not to have to touch her. She looked back at Legate.

"I'm sorry, your name was…."

"Legate." He smiled. "I'm a friend of Samuel's."

She smiled. "Legate. I love that name. I've never heard it before."

"It's an old family name. I'm named in honor of my Grandfather."

"You and Karen have that in common then. I named her for her grandmothers. Karen Eleanor Bennett."

Samuel's face spread into a while smile. "Karen Eleanor." He tasted in his mouth.

"It's lovely to meet you, Anne." Legate smiled and handed Samuel a warm chocolate chip cookie.

Samuel agreed. "Yes, ma'am. And thank you for these."

She smiled. "I'm so glad you dropped by. The other roses you ordered for her just arrived about 10 minutes ago."

"Oh, good." Samuel smiled and looked back at Legate.

Legate nodded and ate the chocolate chip cookie.

"And that treadmill. She was shocked about that."

Legate looked up and asked in surprise, "You sent her a treadmill?"

"Well, she likes to run."

Anne laughed, "Believe me. I said the same thing, Legate. Anyway, Karen went out to the store to pick up some things. She won't be long. She said you must be running late from your lunch with your grandfather."

Samuel nodded, "Yes, ma'am. We ran later than we thought we would."

They had all been so stoned the night before that they all slept until they were supposed to arrive back home. They had laughed about it all the way home in the small ship. Jackie Tyler, of course, had gotten another explanation.

"Can I get you something to drink?" She offered.

Legate opened the refrigerator. "Let me do that. May I help you with anything?"

She teased. "If you're offering, I'll have you do the dishes."

Legate rubbed his hands together. "I actually like washing up. I'll trade that for some more of those cookies."

She laughed. "Men and their stomachs. Let me pour you some milk then."

Legate laughed and started to gather the dishes in the sink.

The door open and the schnauzer barked again.

Karen spoke. "Yes, Henry. It's only me."

Anne pointed to Samuel, "You can go help her with that. I'm sure she's trying to do too much."

"Yes, ma'am." He rushed to the door.

Indeed, Karen had four bags of shopping. She had sat them on the floor to free her hand to open the door. Samuel picked up two in each hand. "Why don't you do some shopping, Karen?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "You're finally back."

He held the bags and smiled at her. "Finally back. I'm sorry I'm a bit late."

She smiled at him. "Gosh, I missed you."

He leaned down and kissed her lips quickly. She closed the door as he took the shopping into the kitchen. "And where can I put these so they won't be in your way, Anne?"

Anne pat a spot on the cabinet. "And see! That's polite. You could learn a thing or two from these gentlemen, Karen."

Samuel sat down the bags.

Karen groaned, "Mom. You haven't been embarrassing me have you?"

Anne considered, "I'm not sure. Have I been embarrassing?"

Samuel laughed, "She has nothing on my Mum."

Legate agreed, "That's the truth."

"Hell, I haven't even gotten started." Anne laughed.

Karen noticed Legate washing the dishes. "And this is?"

Samuel looked back, "Oh. Sorry. That's Legate. Umm…a friend of mine."

Legate wiped his hands on a towel and shook Karen's hand. "It's wonderful to meet you."

She smiled, "And you. Are you doing the dishes?"

He shrugged his shoulders and nodded. "Yeah. Your Mum made cookies."

Karen slowly smiled. "Mum." She repeated.

Legate looked confused. "What does she call her?"

"Mom." Samuel told him.

"Oh. I knew that." He said.

Anne laughed, "I should hope so. I'll unpack these bags, Karen."

Samuel handed Karen a warm, chocolate chip cookie. "These are amazing."

"Karen's favorite 'Study Food'." Anne informed him as she started to unload the bags.

Karen smiled, "If I ate those as much as I've been studying, I'd weigh a million pounds. Oh, Samuel. Thank you so much for the treadmill. That was such a surprise."

He shrugged his shoulders, "You said you like to run. I didn't know if there was a workout room here."

"There's not. I was just planning on going to the student center."

"Ah, this way you can be here. Run in your own flat. I imagine it will be safer."

Karen smiled back at her Mom. "He's always telling me how to be safer. Samuel, you sound like a MP."

Anne explained, "Military Police. Karen and I have had to have body guards assigned to us a lot."

Legate looked surprised. "Really? Why?"

Karen groaned, "My Dad is in the military. It's annoying. He would take us to these foreign countries. And then, meet your babysitters!"

Samuel laughed. "I didn't know that about you."

Anne nodded, "It drove Karen crazy. He threatened to assign a detail up here when she moved."

That caught Legate's interest. "Was there a reason in particular?"

Anne laughed as she unpacked the shopping. "Conditioned learning if you ask me. He's just used to having them around when he's at work. His daughter, far from home…."

Legate nodded, "Makes sense to me."

Karen explained, "He the Commanding Officer of a base down in Jacksonville. They send him all over the place, though."

"So, you haven't always lived in Florida?" Samuel asked as he took another cookie.

Anne smiled, "We have. He hasn't. He was stationed in New Germany when Karen was born. A few years later, I inherited a home on the beach when my parents died. We came back to settle the estate, just as he was deployed. So, we decided to stay in Florida. He's only been in Jacksonville for….what? Two years?"

Karen continued to eat the cookie. "Three."

Anne nodded. "Three? Really. Already?"

Karen finished her cookie. "I'm going to have to run a lot with all of these cookies. Mom, these are really good."

Anne smiled. "Well, thank you." She reached in another bag and pulled out a magazine. "And you got my People magazine!"

Karen shook her head. "I don't know why you bother reading that."

"It's interesting." Anne insisted. She pointed at the cover that had a photo of the Doctor, Rose and baby Samuel. "Do you follow this crazy story about Rose Tyler, Samuel?"

Samuel rubbed his chin. "Which one?"

Anne laughed, "Exactly. I find it interesting. Having a bodyguard for years that you fall in love with."

Samuel looked back at Legate and grinned, "Yeah. That does sound rather unbelievable."

Legate flicked water into Samuel's face.

Samuel laughed.

Karen remembered, "Oh! I got something for you, Samuel."

Samuel smiled. "When you were shopping? What?"

She looked in the shopping bags and found a box of tea. "And this says it's England's Top Tea."

Samuel smiled at her. "That one is good. Do you drink tea?"

"Sweet, iced tea. Hot tea….phhhh…."

"Iced tea?"

"How can you drink hot tea at the beach?" Karen asked.

"Really, easily." Samuel told her. "Just make a cuppa and throw it back."

She laughed. "Well, you'll have to make me a cup. I've never had it."

Samuel shook his head in surprise. "That's the maddest thing I've ever heard. Can't drink tea at the beach. I've honestly had a lovely cup while floating in the pool."

Legate laughed as he washed up. "Genie has done that, too."

Samuel laughed with him. "Yeah, she's the one that brought one for me that day."

Karen giggled and explained to Anne. "Genie is Samuel's sister. And drinking hot tea in the pool is the craziest thing I've ever heard."

"Do you drink coffee?" Legate asked.

Anne groaned, "Oh, I do."

Karen smiled. "Yes."

"At the beach?"

Karen smiled. "Okay, you might have a point. But, you're going to try iced tea."

"I didn't agree to this madness." Samuel laughed.

Anne laughed. "You guys are funny. He sent you more flowers."

She looked back at him in surprise. "Three?"

Samuel shrugged his shoulders. "I was gone for three days. Three dozen. Seemed like simple math to me."

Anne pointed at him. "I like him. And I really like this one doing the dishes."

"Mom." Karen insisted.

Legate laughed.

Samuel beamed at Karen and mouthed, "She likes me."

Karen laughed and rolled her eyes. "Oh my goodness."

Samuel's phone rang in his pocket. "Excuse me."

He walked into the sitting room and sat down on the leather sofa. The silver schnauzer lay down on the floor in front of him as he accepted the call. He put the phone to his ear. "Sam."

Tony Stark spoke on the other end. "Hey. I didn't Facetime you because I figured you are with the secret girlfriend."

Samuel leaned down and stroked the dog as he spoke to Tony. "She's not too much of secret any longer. I told Dad and he's….."

"Being a pain?"

"Being a blabbermouth. Everyone on Caihiri knew about it."

Tony laughed. "Yeah, he called and told me, too."

Samuel sat on the edge of the sofa and held the phone with his shoulder. He felt of the schnauzer's spine and could sense it was out of joint in several places. He moved the bones around and realigned everything as he spoke on the phone.

Tony was eating something. Samuel could tell through the phone.

"What are you eating? You sound like horse." Sam asked.

"Creme Brulee." Tony told him. "Anyway, I'm calling you because I need to blow off some steam. I'm taking a suit out to the desert and want to know if you want to join me."

Samuel's heart leap. "Sure! When?"

"As soon as you can get here. But, I also have a favor to ask."

"What?"

"Soli has asked if he can attend the school. Ugh. Can you talk him out of it?"

"Let's talk about that in a bit." Sam nodded.

"Alright. I'll warm up two suits then. Oh, and Sam."

Sam finished healing the dog's spine, and stroked his back. "Yeah?"

"I've got that ass shield ready. Just for you, Ace."

"Cheers, mate."

Tony laughed and ended the call.

Sam looked back down at the dog. "How's that. Better?"

The dog looked up at Sam and spun in a circle. He barked happily and ran as fast as he could through the apartment. Sam laughed at him.

Karen walked into the room. "Mom. Henry has gone crazy."

Henry ran into the room as fast as he could, barked, and turned to run off at top speed. Karen laughed, "He's never like that. I don't think I've ever seen him run."

Sam laughed, "He must be feeling good."

Karen sat down next to Samuel and handed him a glass of milk. "I thought you might want this. With you eating cookies."

He smiled. "Thanks."

She turned to him. "Gosh, Samuel. I'm….just…overwhelmed. Thank you."

He sipped the milk, "You're welcome?"

She giggled. "For the roses and the treadmill. Seriously. A treadmill?"

"Was that too much? I have a problem sometimes with-"

She shook her head. "It was just very thoughtful. My Dad was impressed. And now, my Mom will return and say it's because you wanted to keep me safe."

"Well, I do."

She smiled. "He will be very happy. Serious, brownie points."

Henry the dog ran back through the room at lightning speed again and barked as jumped on the sofa and ran across their laps. The turned and dove off of the sofa and ran back into one of the bedrooms.

Both of them laughed. Karen insisted, "He's never like that! This is hilarious. Mom! What is wrong with your dog?"

Anne called from the kitchen. "What's he doing?"

Karen laughed. "He's lost his mind!"

Samuel drank the rest of the milk and looked back at Karen.

"Everything alright?" She asked.

"Why?"

"The phone call…."

"Oh." He didn't admit that looking at her had made him began to daydream about asking to see her bedroom. He realized he couldn't do that anyway with her Mom just standing in the kitchen. Legate would have just popped away.

He reached over and took her hand in his. The familiar electrical sensation began. Karen looked down at their hands and smiled. "I've missed this."

He smiled, "Me too. Umm…. I can't stay, but I wanted to come by and invite you to dinner tonight."

"We were going to dinner tonight. Goofball."

"We were?"

"I called you last night-"

"Oh, yeah. I was….oh, that's a good story."

She laughed, "I spoke to you, your brother, grandfather and your Dad."

"My Dad?"

"Yes."

"Oh, Papa. No, that's not my Dad."

She looked confused. "Yeah. That's right. Papa. Lewis."

He smiled. "Alright. Tonight. When is your Mom going? Is that going to mess her up spending time with you?"

"She's taking the 5:00 Bullet back to Jacksonville."

"So, I can pick you up at 6:00?"

She smiled, "Yes."

"Class tomorrow?"

"I don't have class for a few days. Some, goofy holiday that has closed the school."

"Really?" He looked surprised.

She giggled. "Yes. I'm so glad. I need the break. But, I do need to study, too. But, I'm taking the next few days off. Rest my brain."

"Then, in that case, let's have dinner…tonight….at my place."

She smiled. "Your place?"

"We can come back here if you like-"

"It's fine." She looked towards the kitchen and whispered, "We'll talk about that later."

He grinned. "Okay."

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Samuel and Tony Stark both flew in Tony's metal suits in the desert of Arizona. It was amazing to be back inside of the suit, even if it was older than any one he had ever used. He had asked Jarvis where a lot of things were to find that they hadn't been installed yet. Jarvis had thus, began a list.

Tony became more excited with each suggestion.

They flew together to a narrow plateau and landed the suits. Both of the suits opened and they stepped out to look over the edge of the cliff where they had landed. The rock formations around them were beautifully stunning as they rose out of the ground. It was completely silent as they were miles away from anyone or anything. Samuel smiled at the view. "And back on Rhodey Rock."

Tony looked surprised back at him and smiled. "What?"

"You call this spot, 'Rhodey Rock' at home."

Tony looked back at the view and laughed. "Rhodey Rock. That's perfect."

"You told me that you and him flew together."

"Well, we only got to fly together about three times. No, four. Rhodey loved the suits. This is always were we came. It's close to Malibu, and didn't take long to get here. He would loop around that formation over there until he made himself sick. You two, would have really gotten along."

Samuel grinned. "How long as it been at this point?"

"Without Rhodes?" He asked. He bit his lip and shook his head.

Samuel looked back out at the formation.

Tony sat down and dangled his feet over the canyon below. "You know, Doc'. I have to agree with your treatment methods. I'm completely at ease."

"Me too. There's just something about flying as fast as you can."

"And it helps that no one is shooting at us." Tony laughed. "The cloaking system on the suits were a great idea. I'm putting them on all of them. I need to ask John to pick me up some parts."

Samuel sat beside of him and picked up some of the sand in his fist. He let it pour out of his hand slowly back to the ground and smiled.

Tony complained, "And so, Soli hit me with he wants to go to this damn school."

"Yep. You mentioned that. Why don't you want him to go?"

Tony sighed, "Well, I always hated the fact that my Dad sent me away."

"But, you didn't want to go. Soli does."

Tony shook his head. "But, I don't want him to go. I want him with me. Pepper tells me I should let him decide."

Sam leaned back on his hands. "Well, what do you think?"

"I could show him everything he would need to know."

"Yeah, you could. But, having him go someplace, a few hours a day might not be a bad idea."

"Well, he already does that. He's over there with that old lady Nanny of yours."

Sam looked confused. "Old lady Nanny? Who is that?"

"I have no idea. But, she's educating him there on the island."

Sam thought. "The only Nanny I can ever remember us having was Ma'am Ress-"

"Hang the hell on. Ress? Cressida? That's your Nanny?"

"Yeah." Sam looked confused. "Know her?"

Tony threw his hand up and grumbled. Of course he remembered the woman he had picked up at the Feast of the Fallen on the Andromeda. "Damn that, John. I'm going to leave my footprint in his ass."

Samuel laughed. "I take it you do remember her-"

"Oh. Wow. She…." He stopped talking and looked back at Samuel.

Samuel rose his eyebrows, "She what?"

"Never mind. Cressida is on the island." He rolled his eyes. "Jump into my nightmare, the water is warm."

"So. What if he just went to the school instead of the island for his lessons? And then, you could work with him some at home, too."

Tony looked surprised. "Huh. I should have thought of that."

Samuel smiled, "Too close to the problem."

"I suppose. Yeah, I'll agree to that. He's safe there with you guys, and hell, he's with his Samuel. He really likes you."

"Soli is my best friend at home. I find that I miss him probably more than anyone else, but that's probably because he's the only one really missing here. It's so strange to see him as this skinny kid."

Tony grinned, "So, he's not a skinny guy in the future?"

"Soli, is a huge, 7 foot tall, Quauthin Warrior. Well, my Soli is. I don't know how that will work with the timelines now."

Tony grinned proudly. "My Soli. Does he still box?"

"You don't want to box him. Trust me." Samuel chuckled.

"Nail that ass into the ground." Tony laughed. "That's awesome. I love it."

They looked back at the view. The birds flew over the canyon.

Tony spoke. "Your Dad had me do a background check on this Karen."

Sam dramatically dropped his head, "I bet he's having one done at Torchwood, too."

"He did. Mine was better. Her Dad, worked for the CIA on an alien crash several years ago."

"He did?" Sam was shocked.

"There was some…classified assignment through the state department. Some alien crash with some soldiers that looked like potatoes. Seriously. I never laughed so hard at the images."

Samuel grinned, "Sontarans."

Tony pointed at him and continued. "Yes. That's them. It was a small unit that had gotten themselves bumped by a bigger ship. They crashed. Over in Wyoming. Side of a mountain. Injured the majority of them. He was doing some training thing there, and led the first responders to the crash. Torchwood took over after the first 18 minutes, but he was in charge before that happened."

"What happened?"

"He insisted that they were to all be treated fairly. Most of the soldiers he was with were scared shitless. It was only months after the Cyber Invasion, and that was fresh on their minds."

"Especially with Sontarans. They live for battle."

Tony agreed. "That's what the report said. He managed to keep them all calm, his soldiers, too. And no one got hurt. Well, except from the accident. John says he has never heard of him, but it's completely remarkable."

Samuel agreed. "It is. Sontarans?"

"He received a commendation from our friend, President Howard Shepherd. And when Howie asked if there was anything he could do, he simply asked to be stationed in Jacksonville so he could be close to his family. He's been there for three years."

"Wow. So, he's….not a sort who is going to flip out if his daughter is dating someone strange?"

"I wouldn't take it that far." Tony warned him. "I talked to Pepper about this problem of being normal."

"What did she say?"

Tony rubbed his hands together and laughed. "Oh, it's was the best talk we've ever had!"

"Why?" Samuel laughed.

"She said, that no matter what you want others to think. The truth will come out. So, it's better to be honest from the beginning."

"That's what she said?"

He laughed, "Yes. Perfect."

Samuel was confused. "Why is that perfect?"

Tony looked back at him, "Because then I reminded Mrs. Stark that she's still pretending to be Miss Potts."

Samuel laughed, "Oh, you planned that."

"From the moment you told me you had this problem." He admitted. "So, thank you. I'm going to finally get to announce that I am officially, off the market. Although, she hasn't told me when."

Samuel laughed, "That's totally not what happened where I'm from."

Tony looked back at him, "I screwed up, didn't I?"

"Oh, yes." Samuel laughed. "You were on a news program being interviewed. I never saw it, but mentioned your wife during the interview. Derailed the entire thing."

"How angry was she?"

"I don't even know. I was still a baby."

Tony nodded. "Good. So, we're still around the same time then."

Sam smiled. "Yes. What else did you find out about Karen?"

Tony looked back at him and rose his eyebrows. "Not telling you that. John has asked me not to. But, I imagine you already know."

Sam groaned. "What does that mean?"

Tony got up and dusted his pants off. "That I'm going to get back in the air conditioned suit. It's fucking hot out here."

Samuel rolled his eyes.

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