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Chapter 11

It was the middle of the night on the homeworld of the Quauthin. Lewis stood on the balcony of his apartment. The former King, Lartius, had used another apartment there at the massive castle that was built into the side of the mountain. Lewis was able to see it from where he stood.

The sky appeared a light purple as the two moons hung in the sky. The colors danced across the sky and Lewis couldn't help but smile.

He was home. This was his most favorite part of his day since he had taken over as the King of the Quauthin. Finally, all of the day's work had been finished and Lewis could just stand in silence and listen to his thoughts.

It seemed as if they always returned to his beautiful wife, Arla. Lost in a car accident a few months before. Not only had Lewis lost her, but their unborn daughter. Their son, Arles, had survived, but only narrowly. He was now eight months old and had just left with the Doctor. Well one version of him.

The thought of his son always brought a smile to his face. He was such a lucky man to not only have Arles in his life, but he was able to have him twice at the moment. The older Arles had come back in time using The Doctor's TARDIS. Along with The Doctor and Rose's son, Sam, their adopted daughter Genie, and her husband, Legate.

Lewis was so proud of the great man Arles had become. The Doctor and Lewis, being best friends, had raised their boys together as brothers.

Mysteriously, Sam had disappeared. Lewis had spoken to Sam's wife many times and had been told what he felt was still not complete the entire story. Arles had told him that Sam had been taken by a friend who had come back from the future.

"I'm sorry, that's really all I can say about it, Papa." He had told him. "Sam is not in danger, and will return as soon as he can."

That had been months ago. Lewis guessed it was the Doctor who had returned to bring his son along to help him with something. Although, he had promised Rose he would not travel in time when he had first arrived there, their recent divorce may have changed that.

Lewis had known Rose since he had crashed in Paris and she had become trapped in this Dimension. He had asked her several times what had happened.

Rose would reply with, "I'm sorry, Lewis. I just don't want to talk about it."

The Doctor wasn't talking either. He had even managed to get him drunk off his ass, and he still hadn't talked about it.

To give Rose some space, the Doctor had been staying at the castle with Lewis. With the Quauthin being on the edge of war, the Doctor had asked Lewis to allow him to take the baby Arles someplace to keep him safe. It made sense, but after all of the loss that Lewis had experienced in such a short period of time, he couldn't think of Arles not being with him.

Streaks of orange lit up the sky. Someone was firing at them from space. Sirens sounded to alert everyone to take cover.

Lewis's heart leaped into his throat as he ran inside to take cover.

"Papa!" Sam shouted and ran into the room with another tall man.

"Sam?" Lewis couldn't believe he was there.

Sam ran over to him. "Soli. He's here!"

The taller man joined them. He was already typing in some information on the large device he wore on his wrist. He mumbled to himself. "Got it. Got it…"

Out of nowhere, Soli was struck by fire. He spun around and fell to the ground.

"Sam! Take cover!" Lewis shouted.

The confusion began as soldiers from the Home Guard arrived at the apartment. Shots danced around them and Sam pulled Soli behind the sofa with Lewis.

"We have to get you out of here, Papa." Sam insisted while shots popped off of the sofa.

Soli groaned. His jumper had turned red with his blood very quickly.

"Oh, shit." Sam insisted and pulled off his jacket to apply pressure to the wound.

"Soli. We need to go. NOW!" Sam shouted.

Soli closed his eyes and grunted. "Sam, I can't control where we will land-"

"Do it!" Sam shouted. "Anywhere, but here."

Before Lewis could blink, he had been popped away. Seconds later, the castle was reduced to ashes.

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Lewis woke up. The windows in the bedroom had been opened to allow the fresh, ocean air into the room. He rolled over on his back and yawned.

He was lying on his and Arla's bed. He had arrived after she had gone to sleep the night before. Instead of waking her, he had laid down to watch her sleep.

He sat up on the side of the bed and rubbed his face. He was still wearing the oxford from his suit, and trousers. He had only removed his shoes and jacket before he had laid down with her.

He walked over to the mirror and rubbed his face with another yawn. He walked out of the room, scratching his head.

As he entered the kitchen and saw the doors were opened to the outside patio garden that overlooked the sea. That had always been her favorite place to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee. He could see the back of her head. She sat with her back to him, sipping her coffee and reading a magazine. She wore a lovely blue dress that he had recently purchased for her. She had her bare feet propped up in the chair next to her.

He leaned against the doorway and smiled. He spoke in German to her. "I'm not sure which is more beautiful. You or this lovely day."

She giggled. "Good morning, Lewis. Did you get some rest?"

He walked over to the chair that she propped her feet on and sat them in his lap. "I did. Why didn't you wake me?"

She teased, "You didn't wake me when you came home last night."

"You are so lovely, I just want to look at you."

She smiled and poured him a cup of coffee, "Lewis, you are so silly."

"I mean it. I don't want to miss one opportunity to tell you how much you mean to me."

She placed his coffee in front of him and smiled, "I love you, too."

He smiled and sipped his coffee, "Perfect, thank you."

"Sam just rang."

"Did he?"

"Yes. He said that Tony is going to be alright."

Lewis grunted and sat his coffee down. "Wonderful."

"Are you going to tell me Tony who?"

He began to rub her feet. "Not right now. So, how are you this morning?"

"I'm just fine." She smiled.

"Baby, okay?"

"I suppose. It's very early, Lewis."

"I know. I just worry."

She looked at him sadly. "Dreaming about Arles?"

He nodded, "Nah. About the night we left."

"He's safe, Lewis. John has him. And he's in no better hands."

He sighed without looking up. "I know. It's just hard."

"Wouldn't it be something if this baby is him?"

He shook his head. "Nah. Arles was a twin. There was a boy and a girl."

She watched him rub her feet and sat down her cup. She rose and took his hands in her own.

"Lewis. I could never love anyone more than I do you. How lucky I am to be able to get this second chance at life with you, and now our family."

He smiled at her. "I promise it was an accident to arrive so early in this timeline-"

She playfully smacked his shoulder. "I'm having a moment. Stop being reasonable."

He laughed at her. "Yes, ma'am."

She sat back in the chair and Lewis began to rub her feet again.

"What else did Sammy have to say?"

"And why is he Sammy? You know he hates that."

Lewis pointed at her, "Because he screwed up. Big. He's Sammy until I'm not pissed about it anymore."

She sighed. "So, you are taking care of John's son while he's caring for ours."

Lewis nodded and continued to rub her feet. "Yes. Sammy. Until I'm happy about it. Sammy!"

"What did he do?"

"Nothing that needs to be repeated."

"Well, I'm going to call him what he prefers. Samuel. He's such a great guy."

"Of course, he is." Lewis insisted. "He's John's son. I can't wait for you to meet John. He's such a…."

"Such a what?"

"Pain in the ass." Lewis joked. "We did our Quauthin training together to reach the rank of Primus. I couldn't have done it without him."

"Primus is.."

"It's the highest rank within our …. Whatever."

She smiled. "Your whatever?"

He shook his head and didn't look up from rubbing her feet.

She knew what had to be on his mind. "Lewis. Samuel is doing his best to organize allies for when they attack."

"Yeah. I just hope it will be enough. I hate that I just…disappeared. I don't know if anyone survived the attack. Our world already had so much devastation and had lost so much. I should be there."

"But, you're here."

"And is it wrong that I'm happier than I've ever been? Knowing that my people may be suffering unspeakable things-"

"They aren't yet."

Lewis sighed.

She took her feet out of his lap and leaned forward to caress his face. "Lewis. This hasn't happened yet. It's possible you can change it."

His eyes met hers.

"Lewis. I believe in you and know you are doing everything you can. What an opportunity to know where the mistakes are going to be made in the next few years. It's something a King could only dream about."

He nodded, "You're right."

She smiled warmly at him. "I know I'm right. I'm always right."

He laughed away the tension. Grabbing her hand, he rose it to his mouth to kiss. "I'm so grateful for you. You are the love of my life, and I'm sorry I'm wasting our time talking about this-"

"You need to talk about this. And who knows. I may be able to help. Imagine that, Primus Lewis."

"Thank you, Arla."

"So!" She sat back and took her coffee in her hands again. "Enough of that. Tell me about Danny. Do you think Samuel was able to save him?"

"I have no idea. I hope so. I really like Danny. He's an interesting person."

"And handsome." Arla added.

"Better looking than me?"

"Oh, please don't make me answer that."

Lewis laughed. "Okay. That answers that."

"My question is though, do you trust him?"

"What do you mean?"

"He spent all of that evening with Rose. Do you really think they just talked?"

"Of course they did."

She laughed, "Yeah, right. Keep believing that, then."

He looked at her in confusion. "What are you on about, Arla?"

She rolled her eyes and mumbled, "Men. They are all the same. No matter where they are from."

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