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Chapter 37 -

The Doctor walked into the training room in the island home. Chiron had Genie inside of the boxing ring with him.

She wore a pair of purple shorts and a yellow shirt. Her braid jumped off her back as she bounced on the mat, wearing gloves and laughing. "Do it again! I'm ready."

Chiron chuckled and with his high pitched voice, "Ready….and…..go."

Chiron held the pads out and Genie hit them in every combination he offered to her. She was fast as lighting and Chiron couldn't help but grin at her.

Tony Tyler and Soli hung on the side of the ring with Lewis. The boys cheered her on and Lewis clapped, "That's it Genie! Go!"

Lance walked into the room still wearing his navy trousers and oxford shirt that he had worn to Tony's. He stood next to the Doctor watching Genie and Chiron. "She's not bad."

The Doctor looked at him and grinned. "She's not. Man, she's fast."

Chiron swung his arm and Genie dodged him each time.

Lewis clapped, "Yes, Genie. That's it! Brilliant!"

The Doctor chuckled. "She's amazing. Wow."

Lance crossed his arms and spoke quietly to him, "I wanted to tell you, thank you. For, keeping it to yourself about me and Jane."

The Doctor smiled and nodded, "It's no one's business but your own."

Lance groaned, "That's true. But. I."

The Doctor looked back at him. "What?"

Lance shook his head. "I need to tell her. The truth. I have no idea how to do that."

The Doctor crossed his arms. "It's not easy. It's such a charged climate. Has she given you any clue on how she would react?"

Chiron cheered with the children and Lewis, loudly. Genie had finished with her training. "Amazing! One of the best I've ever trained with!"

Genie bounced on the mat and saw the Doctor and Lance standing in the back of the room. She smiled proudly, "Daddy! Lance! Did you see me?"

The Doctor laughed back at her. "Daddy is so proud of you. You are simply, amazing, my Sara Gene."

Lance clapped for her. "I'm glad you are on our side."

Genie laughed and climbed out of the ring. Lewis helped her take off her gloves.

The Doctor looked back at Lance. "You might think this mad, but I think you should wait."

"Wait?"

He nodded, "Yes. When the time is right, you will just…know. Until you have a better idea of how she will react. It's so early in your relationship, she might feel you are telling her your origins in an effort to frighten her off."

"How long did Lewis wait with Arla?"

The Doctor chuckled, "Your brother didn't even tell her his name for months. Let alone where he was from."

Lance rolled his eyes. "That's him. Yep."

Genie ran over to her Daddy and he picked her up. She hugged him tightly around his neck. "Ohhh! You are such a strong, young lady! I can't believe you can still hug me so tightly after you have been training with Chiron."

She giggled and covered her mouth. "Oh, Daddy. You need to watch Soli. He's the best out of all of us." She insisted.

They looked back at the boxing ring to see Lewis finishing putting on the boxing gloves on Soli. He pat him on the head and Soli returned into the middle of the ring, patting the huge gloves together.

Chiron smiled at him, encouragingly. "Alright. I'll see if we can keep up with one another. Are you ready?"

Soli took a deep breath. "Yes, sir."

Chiron started out slowly, holding the pads where Soli could hit them. He increased his speed until Soli and his hands were hardly able to be seen. Chiron was having a hard time keeping up with the boy. Finally, Soli made connection with Chiron's head.

They stopped immediately. Chiron smiled. "I'm alright. It's alright."

Soli looked frightened, "I'm so sorry-"

"This happens when you are boxing. It's alright."

The Doctor sat Genie down, and walked over to the ring. He slipped off his shoes and climbed inside. "I think you are actually faster than our resident Arov. And that's saying something."

Chiron bowed his head. "Primus. Thank you."

Lewis tossed him up a long punching pad, which he held against his body. "Lewis. Get a video of this for Tony."

Lewis nodded his head. "Right."

The Doctor looked back at Soli. "Alright. I'm going to hold this as tightly as I can. You hit it as fast and as many times as you can. Ready?"

"I won't hurt you?"

"Nah. Just hit the pad. Ready? You can do this."

Soli bounced on the mat and tapped his gloves together. Genie and Tony slapped the mat and cheered for him. It made him smile.

The Doctor grinned at him. "Come on, Honorem Quauhtin Soler of Chaomlean, son of Mageer, and protector of the house of Stark."

Lance laughed proudly, "That's one hell of a title there."

Lewis held the phone up and chuckled at his brother.

Soli tapped his gloves together and started out slowly hitting the large pad that the Doctor held.

The Doctor encouraged him, "That's it. Now, faster."

Soli began to hit the pad with more speed. Genie and Tony cheered him on. His speed increased until his arms couldn't be seen any longer. There wasn't even a blur.

Lewis shouted, "Wow! Soli, go!"

Soli stopped and took a deep breath. Sweat had beaded up on his face. "How was that, John?"

The Doctor sat down the pad and smiled proudly at him. "That was amazing."

Rose walked over to the ring. She had been watching him hit the pad. "How do you hit that so quickly?"

Soli shook his head. "I don't know."

The Doctor rubbed his head. "He's a Khrele. I think you people are allergic to my voice."

Lewis was busy sending the video to Tony. "But, Tony has him wearing that bracelet."

The Doctor picked up the boy's arm and looked at the bracelet. "Yep. He's turned off. Hang on."

The Doctor jumped out of the ring and announced, "To the tank! Best place to see this."

They all walked out of the room, down the hall and to the indoor soccer pitch. Friday turned the lights on for them when they came into the room. The Doctor pointed at Tony Tyler, Genie, Soli and Lance. "Alright. All of you lot, come with me. The rest of you, stay out here. Lewis, get a video."

Lewis nodded and stood next to Rose outside of the glass. Chiron sat on the bench and watched.

The Doctor held Soli's bracelet in his hand and pressed a few buttons.

"Daddy? What are we doing?"

He smiled, "We're going to have a foot race. We're going to stay on the edge and go all the way around. And I'll warn you all, Lance is really fast."

Lance chuckled, "I'm not bad. But, I've never raced a Khrele before."

The Doctor smiled, and knelt in front of Soli. "Alright. This is how this works. Feel the energy around you, and bring it into your body. Then, imagine you are part of it. Just as it travels so quickly from one side of the room to the other, you will be able to travel like that, too."

Soli looked confused. "That's just mad."

Genie smiled, "I think you can do it. Try."

Tony pat him on the shoulder and nodded encouragingly to his friend.

The Doctor stood beside of him, "Alright. Start slow, then go faster. Ready? Oh, and if you need to run on the walls or the ceilings, go ahead. You won't hurt anything."

Soli took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright."

Rose smiled at them proudly, "Are you ready?"

The Doctor winked back at her and smiled as they all took their marks.

"Steady….and go!"

All of the runners began running, Lance was ahead until Soli slowly took the lead and increased his speed. They all watched in amazement as he continued to advance until he disappeared into a streak of light and zoomed around the top of the tank.

Genie and Tony stopped running, and the Doctor and Lance stood with them, watching the light that was Soli, spin around the top of the tank.

Genie put her hands on her hips. "Well, that's just unfair. We'll never win another race against him."

The Doctor laughed at her grumbling. "Well, we have ourselves a Khrele. Tony is going to love this."

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Tony and Pepper could be found laying in one of the nets that dipped into the pool. Tony had moved an umbrella over to give them shade from the sun. They had enjoyed a lovely swim in the nude and now lay watching the sunset together in each other's arms. Tony seemed more relaxed than she had ever seen him. He lay quietly next to her.

"Tony. Are you asleep?"

He didn't open his eyes and hummed to her.

"I love this place."

"I love any place where you are." He told her without opening his eyes.

She turned her head to look at him. He appeared completely relaxed, and nearly asleep. Through all of the recovery from the injuries he had suffered, losing Obie, and then losing Rhody….to see him so calm lying next to her brought a smile to her face. She ran her fingertips across his chest.

She whispered to him. "I love seeing you like this. It has to be the best part of being here."

He didn't open his eyes, but rose his eyebrows. "No, the best part was putting sunscreen on you. All of you."

She smiled, "And you have already tanned."

He chuckled, "My ass feels like it might have gotten too much sun."

She laughed at him. "Next time, let me put sunscreen on it, then."

"It's all yours."

She rolled over and started to kiss him.

He smiled at her. "But, I'm afraid I've caught this Honeymoon Disease. I don't want to ever return to any responsibilities. I just want to make love to you all of the time."

She giggled, "That's not what it is. Goofball." She ran her hand over the bruising on his shoulder and arm. "What is this from?"

Tony caught her lips with his own and kissed her. She felt his warm hand caress her face as he sucked her bottom lip.

"Are you trying to change the subject?" She teased him.

He chuckled at her.

Her phone rang that lay on the floor behind them.

Tony groaned and handed her a towel to cover herself up with. He accepted the call and Natasha's face filled the screen. "Oh, Mr. Stark. I didn't realize you would be there, too."

"I just jumped up here to get dry. Here. You can talk to Pepper. Talk her into relaxing. It's an ongoing problem with her."

She smiled, "Certainly."

Tony rolled out of the net and began to swim in the pool again. Pepper watched him slip back on his swimming trunks and smiled, "Hey, Natasha. What's going on?"

"I rescheduled your morning appointment to Monday morning. Mr. Stark said you wasn't feeling well."

"I'm so much better this afternoon. Monday will be fine. Thank you."

"I also need to tell you that I'm going to have to resign."

"What?" Pepper asked. "Why?"

"I'm sorry, but a former job I had has….asked me to return."

"Well, I'm asking you to stay."

"I'm sorry. It's a bit more complicated than that."

Pepper groaned, "Did Tony do something I need to kill him for?"

"Why do you always jump to that?" Tony called from across the pool.

Natasha laughed, "No. It has been a great pleasure working with you, and Mr. Stark. I'm so sorry that I'll have to move on."

"Oh, man. Is there anything we can do?"

"I'm so sorry, Miss Potts. I will be able to continue here until you have found a replacement. I wanted to let you know as soon as I did."

"I appreciate that. Well. Damn."

Natasha nodded, "Enjoy your weekend, Miss Potts. Mr. Stark asked me to remind you to relax."

Pepper groaned and ended the call. "Tony. You'll never believe this."

Tony swam back up to the net where she lay and leaned on the side. "Satan has been called back to Hell?"

Pepper groaned. "I don't know why you say that about her. She's the best assistant I've ever had. Damn it."

He nodded. "It must be the season for losing good assistants. I can honestly say, that I know how you feel."

She looked back at him, "Is that why Happy was there?"

"No. I feel confident I would kill him if we had to work that close together, everyday. I don't know. I'm going to try life without one for a while."

"I give that-"

"I'm an adult. Dad never had an assistant-"

"He had three." She laughed.

"Four. Those were secretaries. He never learned how to type."

She rolled her eyes at him, "I give this two days."

"Starting now. You're on." Tony teased.

The phone rang again. Tony continued to hang on the net just out of view of whoever she was speaking to. He rubbed her hip, under the towel.

"Oh, hey Rose." Pepper smiled at the phone.

Rose smiled, "Hi Pepper. Is Tony there?"

Tony shook his head. "No." He mouthed.

"He's swimming. What's up?"

The Doctor looked over Rose's shoulder, "Did he get that text we sent?"

Pepper shook her head. "No. His phone must be back in the house. He's been swimming here."

The Doctor nodded, "Oh."

Rose shoo'ed him away, "I'm on the phone here."

He kissed her cheek, "Sorry."

Rose looked back at the screen. "Well….Pepper, I'll talk to you later about that. Listen, John is obsessed with this wine."

Pepper heard the Doctor complain. "It's not obsession, Rose. It's interest. I can't figure it out."

Rose smiled, "Right. Anyway. It's that wine you gave us. You know….Potter Cnoc. Is that how you said it?"

The Doctor voice could be heard. "Yes. It's Irish for hill. Potter's Hill. "

Rose continued, "Anyway. Yes. They are having a thing there where they make this wine. John wants to go and see if they would be interested in …. doing something with all of this Harry Potter madness."

Pepper closed her eyes and laughed under her breath. "Wow."

"I know its short notice, but would you and Tony like to join us?"

"I can't go there."

Rose looked surprised, "Why? John said you were ill-"

"Is she still ill?" The Doctor asked.

"Gosh. I'm talking on the phone….shhh…"

"Sorry." He insisted, kissed her cheek, and walked away.

Pepper closed her eyes and thought. "I…"

Tony took the phone. "I tell you what, Rose. We were planning something else, but let me talk to her and see if she would rather do this. We'll call you right back."

Rose smiled. "Thanks. Okay, bye."

Tony ended the call. "I haven't told her or John. I swear."

Pepper shook her head. "I know. Damn. I can't go there."

"Why not?"

"You know why not. Ugh. There will be press everywhere."

"Why?"

"They just won Winery of the Year. Brianca told me when she called earlier. That's what that party is about. Celebrating that."

"Then, let's go-"

"No. Tony. I can't be seen there."

"You are thinking too much about this."

"If I hear her speak-"

"That's such a cute accent." He grinned at her.

"Ugh. No. I can't do this."

"Alright. Well, I think you should. And this is why. If you don't, Rose and John are going to know something is up. We won't stay long. Call Brianca and tell her we're coming, and to just….act…normal. Harry Potter is huge right now. This would be great for them. For you."

"Tony. Press?"

"I'm used to the press. I can handle that."

She closed her eyes and groaned, "Oh, God. This is a nightmare."

"It will be alright. Look. You'll have to tell John that you are still sick."

"Well, he'll know I'm not."

He rose his eyebrows. "Exactly."

"There has got to be a way out of this."

"Harry Potter is huge right now. This would be amazing to do something with him. That's only going to get bigger. Can you imagine? Jimmy, James Potter? He's a major character in those books."

"I can't believe this."

He pat her thigh, "Look. I love you. But more than that, I respect you. If you don't want to go-"

"I need to go. You're right. Ugh. But, Tony."

"Yes?"

"I can't speak. That damn accent-"

"Which is so damn hot-"

"Tony."

"I'm curious. Do you kiss with an accent?"

"What?"

"I just was…wondering-"

"That's the craziest damn thing I've ever heard in my damn life!" She insisted with hints of the accent again.

He jumped into the net with her and laughed.

"Tell me again, what? I didn't catch that?" He teased her.

"What?"

"Do you kiss with an accent?"

"Of course I don-"

He kissed her quickly, lying on top of her in the net over the pool's water. He smiled back at her. "Oh, that's hot."

She rolled her eyes. "Tony, don't let me speak. John and Rose will know."

"I'll handle everything."

"That's what scares me. Tony, and the press?"

He looked shocked, "I'm brilliant with the press-"

"Oh, no you're not!"

"I'll have them eating out of my hand."

She covered her face and groaned. "Oh, I hate this."

He smiled and kissed her neck. "I can keep a secret. I'll help you keep yours. I know how important this is to you."

"You promise?"

"Yes. You can cut off all sex for me for-"

"Ever! Tony. I'm serious."

"Forever?"

She thought. "Okay, maybe not that long."

He smiled proudly, "Yeah. You love that third leg, don't you?"

She pushed him out of the net. He splashed into the water. "Crazy man. Impossible."

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