PARENTHOOD

A/N: This is part of my Something Old, Something New series. This is also co-written with my friend, Carol (Ninewood). This is about the triplets and the other children that were born around the same time and little vignettes and stories about when they were babies, toddlers and children.

Chapter One

It seems hard to believe that it's been only a few short months since the triplets were born but I can't imagine my life without them now. Our three little miracles, born from a horrible act that a depraved monster forced us to do. Don't get me wrong; I love all my children with all my hearts but…now at last, I have three that were created from me and my husband.

As for the Doctor, well…Thete is now a very proud papa and he's completely over the moon. It's funny since he hasn't had much experience with children. He had Dex but at the time Dex was an infant he wasn't that concerned with being there for him as he was with traveling and Dex spent most of his time in the nursery on Gallifrey. Then there was Dot but Dot was three when she came along so she was out of diapers and house trained as my husband puts it in his usual joking way. So having three tiny infants is sort of a novelty for him. Once we got over the shock of our precious Namid being born blind, he became a devoted dad to all of them, spending as much time as he could taking care of them and making sure that, unlike him, they didn't grow up abused and neglected. He's not alone, of course, Alan raised Angel from an infant and he helps out along with my dad and Jackie and everyone else. One thing's for sure, these children will grow up knowing they come from a loving, supportive family.

Back to my husband. The man is just fascinated with our three newborns and it's hilarious and touching watching him interact with them. Once he got over the feeling that they would break in his hands if he handled them the wrong way, he spent and spends hours just holding them and walking around the house or standing at the windows, talking to them while they sleep or look at him quietly. The first time he did that, Chas threw up all over his brown suit so after that he made sure to drape a towel over his shoulder just in case. He also his fascinated with their little bodies, particularly their hands and feet and their little finger and toenails. The finger and toenails are really, really fascinating and for awhile there he'd just stare at them in amazement.

"Look at this," he'd say to me as he'd hold one of them up to me. "These tiny fingernails, they're so cute. Along with her tiny hands and feet and face and…"

You get the idea. He also has tried to figure out why Namid was born blind. So far we have no clue and I can see how frustrated that makes my husband since he always loves to figure things out. So far no success in that area but we remain hopeful.

At the moment though, he's walking around the house with Chas on his shoulder while he rambles on about…I think he's talking about string theory to our son. He's teasing me because his son isn't staying awake for his vitally important lecture about it and at the moment he's currently standing at the living room window, rabbiting on as he says while I sit on the couch and breastfeed our girls…

"Oi, wake up, little scamp, I wanna tell you about sting theory and it's applications…"

Rain giggled as the Doctor looked at her and roll his eyes in mock exasperation.

"Apparently sleep is more important to him than string theory, Thete," she said as she held Sokanon to her left breast and let her feed. Namid lay beside her on a pink blanket, fast asleep.

"Well, if my son is gonna be just like me, he better get his priorities straight and wake up," he said as Rain giggled some more.

He stared down at his son with a mixture of love and awe.

"Look at em, he's so beautiful. I can't believe I made him," he said in a hushed voice.

"We made him, Thete."

"No, I made him. He's my property, he belongs to me," he teased.

"Oh really, well, I'll have to correct you on that then since I'm the one that had them. I was the one that went through the labor pains, not you."

"I was having supportive labor pains," the Doctor protested. "While you were giving birth, I went and smashed my finger with a hammer so I would be in pain as well. I figure that was approximately the same amount of pain as giving birth."

"No, actually it was much, much worse. I think in order to get the right amount of pain; you would have to circumcise yourself with a rusty bread knife, Thete."

She laughed when he raised an eyebrow and glanced down at his crotch.

"Then again, sometimes it pays not to experience the same amount of pain as your spouse," he said with a wry grin.

He watched quietly for a moment while she breastfed Sokanon.

"Lucky bastard," he said while Rain giggled. "Gets to have a go at your melons."

"Well, you could do the same if you could stand drinking breast milk," she teased.

The Doctor considered that for a moment.

"Nah, not interesting. Some things are best left to the imagination," he said as Rain shrugged and grinned.

He turned back to the window with his sun and stared out at the pool while Rain stroked the tuft of black hair on her daughter's head and listened to her feeding.

"I want more."

Rain looked up at her husband who was now looking at her with a mischievous grin on his face.

"More? More children?"

"Yes, heaps more. I want a colony. I love babies. I want at least a baker's dozen outta ya."

"P'eh, you want that, you find a way to give birth to them, Thete. Three is enough for me at the moment."

"But Raaaaaaain," he said in a whiny voice.

"But Theeeeeete," Rain said, imitating him. "You want more, make em yourself. I'll artificially inseminate you and turn ya loose to make your colony!"

"Nah, too much work," the Doctor said as she snorted.

The Doctor went back to staring down at Chaska who was sleeping peacefully on his shoulder.

"My little boy. Ooooh, you're so beautiful," he whispered as Rain smiled softly to herself. "I'm so glad you're here now and I promise you'll never be abused or neglected like I was. I won't be like my father and I won't do to you what I did to Dex. I'm going to be in your life and be a part of it as you grow up, my darling son."

Rain felt tears coming to her eyes upon hearing that. She tried to avert her face but she had forgotten that her husband could feel her emotions and she looked up when she felt his hand on her face and saw his concerned expression.

"What's wrong?" he said.

"Nothing. Just listening to what you said, I got teary eyed especially knowing what you went through as a boy."

"Well, my son deserves better than what I had and after seeing what my absence did to Dex, I'm not going to repeat that mistake. My children will not grow up resenting me for not being there. I will love them so much and so deeply they won't bear to be without me."

"Good, I'm glad," Rain said before accepting a kiss from him.

He looked down at Sokanon who was sucking quietly.

"Lucky bastard," he said as Rain sniggered.

He straightened back up and then sniffed the air. He groaned and looked at his son.

"Again? What are you, a shite machine?" he said as Rain laughed. "I don't recall feeding you that much, where is all this poo coming from?"

"Do you want me to change him?"

"No, stay there and let Soki keep on being a lucky bastard, I'll change the shite machine," he said.

"Just remember which end the diaper goes on, dear."

"I will!" he said as Rain laughed. "I'm not a total incompetent, Rainy Painy!"

"Hey, don't you start that. Bad enough Alan calls me that without you joining in," Rain said, thrusting her finger at him.

She shook her head and grinned when he called her Rainy Painy in a singsong voice as he carried his son back to the bathroom in their bedroom. Rain looked down when Sokanon suddenly pulled away from her breast and made a grunting sound.

"All done, my darling?" she asked her daughter as she rubbed her back."Ready for a nap now before your daddy comes along and holds you to death?"

"Bloody hell!"

Rain jerked her head around when she heard the Doctor yelling upstairs.

"What the hell do you feed these babies, Rain, algae? Why is the shite always green?" he yelled to her as Rain laughed.

"It's baby poop, Thete," she called up to him.

"Well, why is it greenish in color? Why does it stink to high heaven? What are you doing to these children because I'm sure as hell not doing it."

"Why don't you ask Maddie about Dot's poo or ask Alan about Angel's poo then?" she yelled up.

There was a short pause.

"No thanks, I'd rather not get into a poo discussion with members of my family," he yelled back. "All I know is this color isn't natural and I think your breast milk is sour or something. I'll have to consult my TARDIS databases."

"Yeah, you do that, Thete, I'll continue to believe it's a normal baby thing," Rain yelled back to him. "You are putting the diaper on his ass, aren't ya?"

"Yes, dear," the Doctor said with mock exasperation as she chortled. "I'm doing everything exactly as taught. Our son's nappy is in the correct place on his body."

"It's a wonder, gramps, seeing as how you're going senile and all!"

"I beg your pardon?" the Doctor said in a high-pitched voice as Rain laughed hysterically. "Gramps? Senile? Where the hell did that come from? And you accuse me of being around Alan too much, Miss Cheeky! Did you hear that, son? You hear what she called your dear old dad? Senile, indeed. I'm perfectly sane, sound and super. She, on the other hand, has been feeding you algae and I will be putting a stop to that, by Rassilon."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Thete," Rain said with a grin as she laid Sokanon down next to her sister.

The Doctor came back downstairs, Chaska asleep on his shoulder.

"Another question, lives mate. Does your breast milk contain sedatives?" he asked her as he came back down. "They're always nodding off and I could drop a nuclear warhead next to them and they wouldn't so much as bat an eyelid at it."

"That's another thing babies do, Thete, sleep and sleep soundly."

"Except apparently at night when they turn into human bats and screech like a howler monkey until you attend to them," the Doctor said, sitting back down beside her.

"And yet, you want more of them."

"Lashings! Lashings of infants for me to cuddle and coo with," the Doctor said. "I just want you to fix your tainted breast milk and stop feeding them sedatives so I can discuss string theory with them."

He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek while she chuckled. He settled back into the sofa and held his son closely, letting out a contented sigh while Rain turned on the TV and tried to find something for them to watch.

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