PARENTHOOD
Chapter Nine "On your marks...get set....go!" Alan shouted while the babies started crawling across the grass and Adam and Theta cheered David and Cameron on. Behind them were Christopher, Jackie, Donald, Zoe and Sokanon and Chaska was in last place. "Yes, I told you he was fast!" Adam said as Theta watched David crawling closer to the finish when Cameron made a little growling sound and crawled faster. "NO!" "Yes!" Theta said when Cameron crawled by David then over the finish line and Theta pumped his fist into the air. Picking his son up, Theta blew raspberries onto his son's tummy as Adam picked David up and held him in his arms. "Good race, Brother," Adam said as he held his hand out and they shook hands. "Hold on, I demand a rematch!" Alan said as he held Christopher in his arms and John and Jamie nodded. "Aye, that wasnae fair," Jamie said as he held Zoe and Donald in his arms and his lower lip stuck out. "Besides, all the babies weren't racing," John said when he pointed to Namid and the Doctor frowned. "And how, Brother, is she supposed to do race when she can't see?" the Doctor asked, kissing the top of Namid's head. "Simple, Old Man, you stand at the end of the line and..." Alan said as Adam smacked his arm and he yelped. "That's cheating!" Adam said while Alan rubbed the dead spot on his arm. "If you would have let me finish, I was going to say that he stands there and calls to her. The thing is, we all call to her as well and confuse her." "Oh, sorry," Adam said, rubbing the dead spot on Alan's arm. "That's nae fair either," Jamie said. "No, Jamie, fair is fair. If we want to see which baby is the fastest, we need all of them to race," the Doctor said as he placed Namid on the grass and John and Theta helped him gather up Sokanon and Chaska. They lined the babies up as the babies wiggled and giggled and the Doctor smiled, patting Namid on the head. "Right, Brother, if you would do the honors." "On your marks...get set...go!" Theta said as the babies started crawling again and they called Namid's name. The babies crawled faster and faster until Namid crawled by the other babies and won the race. Alan, Jamie, John and Adam stood there with their mouths open as the Doctor picked up Namid and held her over his head. "The winner!" the Doctor said as Namid giggled and wiggled in his hands and he lowered her onto his shoulder and marched around in a circle. "You cheated, didn't you?" Theta said as he set up a privacy block and the Doctor winked at him. "Well, let's say that she had a little help," the Doctor thought and Theta smiled, picking up Cameron. "There you are," Frankie said as she walked closer and kissed Theta's cheek. "Oh, yuck," Adam said while Alan pretened to gag and she rolled her eyes then looked at the babies. "And what are you loonies doing?" Frankie asked while taking Cameron from Theta and held Cameron on her right hip. "We were having a little race to see which baby is the fastest. Cam won until we realized that Namid hadn't participated. We ran the race again and she won!" the Doctor said as he held Namid to his chest and kissed the top of her head. "She did?" "Yep, though we still think she cheated," Alan said. "How could she cheat? She had no idea the others were there," the Doctor said. "Anyway..." Theta said as he looked at Frankie and tilted his head to one side. "You were looking for me?" "No, I was looking for him," Frankie said as she pointed to Cameron and Theta frowned. "And why were you looking for him?" "It's because it's time for his ninth month checkup." "Oh, I could do that for you," Theta said with a grin. "Um, yeah, the last time you took him, you stood behind Martha the whole time and drove her bonkers," she said and the others laughed. "Hey, I was just making sure she did it right," Theta said when he took Cameron from Frankie and walked away. He looked at Cameron while he headed down the pavement and snorted. "Mummy doesn't know what she's talking about. Martha had no idea what she was doing." "Oh, no, what are you doing here?" Martha asked as Theta and Cameron came into the Torchwood examination room and Theta blinked. "I am brining my son in for his ninth month checkup," Theta said as he hitched Cameron up a bit and Cameron looked around the room. "The last time you were here..." "I know. I supervised the whole thing. Martha, it was his first one and I was...," Theta said then sighed and she walked closer, patting his shoulder. "You have to understand. It's been a long time since I was a father. Oh, I did adopt Jamie like Dot and Tara adopted the Doctor but it's not the same as having a son of my own again." "You're talking about your Dex? I remember Frankie telling me that he was killed." "Yep, he was," Theta said when he placed Cameron in her arms and they walked to the counter. Sitting Cameron on the counter, she undressed him then placed him on the scale and smiled at him. "Whoa, someone's getting chubby!" Martha said as she tickled Cameron's tummy and he giggled. She wrote on the chart near the scale then picked him up, walking to the examination table. "Yeah, Frankie's been putting a little cereal in the breast milk she feeds him. It's not that bad when you put some bananas in it." "Wait, you eat baby cereal?" Martha asked when she picked up the baby thermometer and placed the tip in Cameron's ear. "Yeah, it's good. Though it doesn't make a good hair gel," Theta said as he ran his fingers through his hair and she giggled. "Well, that will teach you to duck the next time," Martha said when the thermometer beeped and she looked at the numbers, writing on the chart. "Oh, believe me, I do. Have you ever been squirted in the face by baby pee? It stings!" Theta said as she laughed and examined Cameron's eyes. She gasped when Cameron reached over and pulled on her shirt and Theta rolled his eyes, taking Cameron's hand away. "Sorry, he does that. I guess any breast will do." "Yeah, well, mine are empty," Martha teased then buttoned her shirt and Theta smiled. "It's funny. On my Gallifrey, the babies were fed through these tubes connected to their cot and this mechanical arm used to placed the nipple end into the baby's mouth." "That's horrific. Babies are to be held when they're fed. It helps with the bonding process." "That's what I told my first wife but she didn't care," Theta sighed and Martha nodded. "Now, my mother was different, she breast fed me instead of doing that." "How do you know?" Martha asked as she examined Cameron's ears and Theta smiled. "Hey, you don't forget a thing like that," Theta said and she sighed, rolling her eyes. "You are such a pig." "Oink," Theta snorted and Martha laughed. "Another thing we didn't have were nappies. Blimey, let me tell you this. He goes through a lot of them." "Do I want to know how the babies peed and pooped on your Gallifrey?" "No, you don't," Theta said, making a face and she nodded. "Anyway, that's why I like living here. It is totally different from where I came from and I have no regrets. Well, maybe one." "You're back to your Dex again, aren't you?" Martha asked as she placed her hand on his shoulder and Theta nodded. "I miss him," Theta sighed and she nodded. "You could tell Cam about his older brother when he gets older. I mean you do have pictures or video of him, right?" "Um, I did," Theta sighed and brushed the hair from his eyes. "Oh, right, in your TARDIS," Martha said and he nodded. "I looked through the files in Adam's TARDIS in hope that mine copied them into her but they're not there." "You could show him your memories of your Dex by using the simulator room," Martha said as he thought for a few minutes and his eyes went wide. "You're right!" Theta said with a smile and kissed her cheek. "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to do that." "It's ok," Martha said as she took the stethoscope from around her neck and placed the ear buds in her ears. Cameron wiggled while she listened to his lungs and heart and smiled at him. Removing the ear buds, she wrote on the chart then gently poked Cameron's stomach and he giggled. "Someone is ticklish." "Oh yeah, I just have to wiggle my fingers and he giggles like crazy," Theta said as he watched her check Cameron's range of motion and reflexes and smiled. "Well, he's fine. I just need to do one more thing," Martha said when she walked to the medicine cabinet and he picked Cameron up, sitting on the examination table. "What are you doing over there?" Theta asked when Martha turned around and had a few syringes in her hands. "No, no way, no shots!" "But he needs his nine month old shots," Martha said as she walked to the examination table and he hopped off the examination table, holding Cameron to his chest. "But he's just a baby!" "Frankie, you owe me big time," Martha sighed as she placed the syringes on the examination table and Theta walked to the corner, facing with his back to her. "Theta, give Cam to me." "No, I will not allow you to stick those...those THINGS into my son's tender bottom!" "That isn't where I do it," Martha said as he turned around and looked at her. "Where are you going to stick him?'" "I usually stick the needle into his legs." "What?" Theta shouted as he looked down at Cameron's legs and Cameron kicked his legs against Theta's stomach. "Oh no, not his chubby legs, he'll be paralyzed!" "No, he won't. Now, give him to me!" Martha said as she walked closer and he turned around. "Theta, come on." "I am not going to let you use my child as a dartboard! Go find something else!" Theta said and she sighed, folding her arms over her chest. "Fine, let him get sick and die! See if I care!" Martha said as he turned around and blinked. "Wait, you don't care if he gets sick?" "Of course I do. Look, it's only going to hurt him for a second. And his legs will hurt for a day or two, but it's worth it to prevent something bad happening to him," Martha said as he looked down at Cameron and sighed. Nodding, he handed Cameron to Martha as she carried Cameron to the examination table and Theta sank to the floor. He winced while Cameron cried after Martha gave him the shots and tears rolled down Theta's cheeks. Frankie walked inside the kitchen when she saw the freezer door open and several small ice packs were on the floor. She walked closer when she placed the small ice packs back in the freezer and closed the freezer door. On a big piece of paper taped to the freezer door were the words NO MORE SHOTS and she smiled, taking the paper off the freezer door. "Darling, where are you?" Frankie thought. "I'm in the nursery with Cam," Theta thought as she walked out of the kitchen and headed up the stairs. She walked to the doorway to the nursery when she leaned against the doorframe and smiled. Theta sat on the rocking chair as he held two small ice packs on Cameron's legs and was softly singing to him. "That bad, eh?" Frankie thought as he looked up and she saw the anger in his eyes. "Martha used his legs for pin cushions," Theta thought as Frankie walked closer and sat on the footstool in front of the rocking chair. "That's because the veins are bigger in his legs," Frankie whispered as she looked at their sleeping son and Theta sighed. "That's not how we did it," Theta whispered and kissed the top of Cameron's head. "All infant medication was done orally." "That does sound like a good idea but he can get more medication through the shots." "He was in such pain! I don't think I'll ever forget his fear as she stuck the needles into him." "I felt it, too, but he's not going to remember it." "Hmph," Theta snorted as she stood up and kissed his cheek. "He's going to be ok," Frankie said as he nodded and she walked to the door, leaving the room. Theta looked at his son when he kissed the top of his head and gently rocked him. One of the small ice packs slid off Cameron's leg as Theta felt the coldness against his leg and his eyes went wide. "Blimey, that's cold!" Theta said when Cameron opened his eyes and looked at him. Cameron smiled at him as Theta's hearts thumped hard in his chest when he placed the small ice packs on the footstool and stood up, holding Cameron against him. "You know what we need? Ice cream! Triple scoops of banana ice cream with sprinkles! Yes, that's exactly what we need!" Cameron giggled and kicked his legs while Theta smiled then headed for the door and closed the door behind them after they left the room.
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