PARENTHOOD
Chapter Fifteen The lift doors opened while Adam held his five year old son's hand and they walked down the hallway. Adam wore a baseball cap and sunglasses as he swung his son's hand back and forth and smiled. It wasn't often that he went back to his universe and he knew that he was taking a big risk. Ever since he and his family became Time Lords and Time Ladies, the Torchwood in his universe was on the lookout for him or Theta. It didn't matter that the year he was visiting was years before he had changed and he sighed, gently squeezing Little David's hand. They walked by the nurses and other visitors as they headed down the hallway and Little David held the teddy beat tightly against his chest. They were going to visit Little David's godfather, who was in the hospital following back surgery, and Adam had called to ask if it was alright for Little David to come see him. They stood in front of the door when Adam checked the name on the door and smiled, looking down at Little David. "Right, you ready?" he asked and Little David nodded. Adam slowly opened the door when he peeked inside the room and smiled. "You awake?" "Yeah," the voice said as Adam led Little David inside the room and the door closed behind them. Walking to the bed, Adam removed the baseball cap and sunglasses and placed them on the night table near the bed. Ruffling his hair, Adam smiled at his best friend, who was lying on his right side under the sheet and blanket, and David smiled back. "It's sticking up." "I bet," Adam said when he helped Little David sit on the chair and pushed the chair toward the bed. The needle to the IV was taped to David's hand as he scratched the itch on the bridge of his nose and sighed. He was wearing a white hospital gown with small blue and yellow stripes and stubble dotted his jaw line. "How are you feeling?" "Much better," David said then looked at Little David, who was pouting. "Hey there, what's with the lip?" "I don't like that you're sick," Little David said softly, looking down. "Neither do I, but it's either surgery or pain and I am NOT a big fan of pain." "This is for you," Little David said, handing him the teddy bear and David smiled. "Thanks," David said, holding the teddy bear to his chest. "Um, are you James or David?" "David," Little David said and David looked at Adam. "You got to stop bringing them at different ages. I'm getting confused," David said with a smile and Adam softly laughed. Little David half smiled and David looked at him. "How old are you?" "This many," Little David said, holding up five fingers and David's mouth fell open while his eyes bugged out. "Wow, that's a whole hand!" he said and Little David giggled. "Has the doctor come and seen you today?" Adam asked and David grinned. "Nope, just you," he said and Adam frowned, thinking for a few seconds then rolled his eyes. "Very funny, I meant your doctor!" "Ah, yeah, he came in about an hour ago." "What did he say?" "He told me that I'm healing nicely and might be able to go home tomorrow." "Can I ask you something?" Little David asked and David looked at him. "Sure, Bump, what do you want to ask me?" "Daddy told me what they did but what did they do with the bits and pieces?" Little David asked and David softly laughed. "Well, I asked my doctor what they were going to do with it before the surgery and he told me that he was just going to get rid of it. I think they burn it or something like that. Don't know why, but I asked if I could keep it." "Why?" "Not really sure. I just thought it would be neat having it. He said he would put it in a jar and I'll take it with me when I go home." "I want to see it!" Little David said and David smiled, nodding his head. "Did he say anything about you going back to work?" Adam asked and David looked at him. "Yeah, I can go back to work but I'll have to take it easy," David said and Adam nodded. The door opened as Adam slid the baseball cap and sunglasses back on while the nurse walked in and looked at them. "Sorry, but I have to ask you to leave," the nurse said. "Oh, come on, they just got here," David said, pouting. "It's time for your sponge bath," she said and David grinned. "Right, out with you!" David said, gently waving his hand at Adam and Adam nodded. Picking Little David off the chair, they said their goodbyes then left the room and Adam held Little David's hand tightly in his. "Daddy," he asked and Adam looked down at him. "What?" "Can we ask Uncle Theta to come and make Uncle David better so he's not sick anymore?" Little David asked when Adam stopped and knelt down in front of him. Smiling, he hugged Little David then stood up and they walked down the hallway. (A few days later) The soft sound of wheezing and grinding filled the air as the TARDIS materialized in the alley near the theater and Adam walked outside, after opening the doors. Standing back, he watched while Little David walked outside and Adam closed then locked the doors. Adam and Little David were dressed in dark blue suits, white shirts, dark blue tie, dark blue socks and black shoes. Marion wasn't sure if Little David was old enough to go see a nearly three hour play but he promised to take a long nap before they left and he smiled, talking Adam's hand. "Right, let's go," Adam said, placing the sunglasses on as they walked out of the alley and Adam noticed that no one noticed them. They walked down the pavement while Little David looked at the posters then stopped and tugged on Adam's hand. "Daddy, look, it's Uncle David!" he said as he pointed to the poster for Hamlet and Adam nodded. They headed for the door when they stood in the queue and Little David held onto Adam's hand. Adam scanned the crowd as he checked to see if he and Marion were in the crowd then relaxed. He knew that they had gone to see David in Hamlet a few times during the run of the play and knew that it would create a paradox if he ran into himself. The queue moved when they walked inside the theater and he handed the man the tickets. They walked toward the doors then walked inside the room and Little David looked around. A young lady walked closer as she held the playbill in her arms and Adam showed her the ticket stub. Nodding, she led them to where they were sitting when she handed him the playbills and he nodded. Sitting down, he watched as Little David tried to sit in the seat but he couldn't see and Adam smiled, picking him up then placed him on his lap. They were sitting on the aisle as Little David looked at the stage and leaned back against Adam's chest. "Are you sure David's here?" Little David asked and Adam nodded. The lights went down as Adam took his sunglasses off and hoped no one looked at him in the dim light. Looking like David was how they met and he smiled as Little David sat up on his legs and searched the stage for David. "There he is!" Little David thought as he pointed to David and Adam nodded. Watching the performance, Adam glanced at Little David as he smiled and was enraptured by David's performance. When the lights came up for the intermission, Adam placed the sunglasses on when someone tapped his back and he turned around. The young woman who gave him the playbills smiled at him when he saw the piece of paper in her hand and Little David looked up at him. "What does it say, Daddy?" he asked and Adam opened the piece of paper, looking at what was written on the paper. Nodding, he took Little David's hand when they walked down the aisle toward the stage when Adam showed the security guard what was on the piece of paper and the security guard looked at the clipboard in his hand. He nodded then led Adam and Little David to the stairs as they went upstairs then behind the curtain and Little David looked around. "Where are we going?" he thought while they walked by the performers and Adam gently squeezed his hand. "It's a surprise," Adam thought when they stopped at a dressing room door and the security guard knocked on the door. "Yes?" a voice asked. "Your friends are here, Sir," the security guard said. "Ah, let 'em in," the voice said as the security guard opened the door and Adam led Little David inside the dressing room. Closing the door, Adam let go of Little David's hand as he smiled and sat down on the couch near the door. Under the small lights were three large mirrors and a long white table and Little David climbed onto the chair that was sitting in front of the table. A rack of costumes sat next to a door to the right and a bowl of fruit sat on the coffee table in front of the couch. "Be right out." "What are you doing in there?" Little David asked and a soft giggle came from behind the door. "I'm taking a tinkle!" the voice said then a low flushing sound and running water filled the air. The door opened when David walked out of the small bathroom and tossed the paper towel into the trashcan. "My turn!" Little David said as he got off the chair and ran into the bathroom, closing the door. "Need some help?" Adam asked. "Um, I can't reach the potty." "Stand on the little box near the door," David said. "Ok," Little David said and David walked to the rack of costumes, taking the costume he was going to wear off the hangers. Adam picked the script off the coffee table while David changed clothes when they heard a flushing sound and looked at the door. The door opened while Little David looked out and smiled at them. "I can't reach the sink." "Hang on," Adam said, placing the script down and walked into the bathroom. A few minute later they walked out of the bathroom as David smiled and leaned on the table. "So, how old are you now?" David asked. "I'm still five," Little David said and David nodded. "You want to come meet the rest of the cast?" David asked and Little David looked up at Adam. "Can I?" Little David asked. "Do we have time?" Adam asked and David nodded. "Sure, go ahead." Adam watched them leave the room while David closed the door and Adam got up, walked to the bathroom, going inside, and closed the door behind him. A few minutes later the door opened as David and Little David walked inside the room and Adam looked up from reading the script. Little David let go of David's hand when Little David ran to the couch and sat down next to him. "Did you have fun?" Adam asked and Little David nodded, showing him the playbill. The entire cast had signed it as Adam smiled and ruffled Little David's hair. "Did you thank them?" "Yep," Little David said, popping the "p". "Well, you better get back to your seats," David said as they nodded then left the room. The lights were dimming by the time they got back to their seats and Little David sat on Adam's lap. The curtain came up as the play started and Adam removed the sunglasses. Little David jumped when someone ruffled his hair then looked up and saw David standing next to him. Giving Little David a wink, David headed for the stage while they watched him and Little David snuggled against Adam. Adam was surprised that Little David stay awake for the whole play and did jump when David fired a gun at the mirror but he wasn't sure how Little David would react to the end of the play. The swordfight started as Little David sat forward and placed his hands on the back of the seat in front of them. Standing up on Adam's legs, he watched as David fell to the stage then closed his eyes and Adam felt the fear in Little David's mind. "NO, DAVID, DON'T DIE!" Little David shouted as he fell onto Adam's lap and started crying. Hushing him, Adam sent love into Little David's mind as he sobbed harder and Adam slowly stood up. He quickly carried Little David out of the room while the doors slammed behind them and Adam held his son in his arms, hushing him. "Is he ok?" David asked as he ran to them and Adam rubbed Little David's back. "David?" Little David asked, sniffing and David nodded. He held his arms out as Adam handed Little David to him and Little David held onto David. "I am so sorry that I scared you. I thought you knew that Hamlet dies at the end of the play," David said and Little David shook his head. "I should have told you," Adam said as he rubbed Little David's back and Little David sniffed, wiping the tears from his eyes. "Bad Daddy," David said, shaking a finger at Adam then looked at Little David. "Just for that, you're coming home with me." "No, please, don't take my son!" Adam begged while dropping to his knees and David laughed. "Nope, he's mine!" David said, turning around and looked at the wall. "But Marion will beat me if I come home without him!" Adam said but David shook his head and Little David giggled. "You two are silly!" Little David said as he giggled and Adam stood up. "Yeah, we are!" David said then handed Little David to Adam and ruffled Little David's hair. "Can I go back and finish dying?" "Yeah," Little David said, nodding. "Come on," David said as they walked to the door and walked inside the backstage area. They watched as David walked back on stage then sat on the floor and placed his wrists on his knees. "Sorry about that. It turns out that I just scared the heck out of my godson because he didn't know that I'm supposed to die." The audience softly laughed when he shrugged then slid to the floor and finished the scene. The audience clapped as the curtain came down and David got up, walking to Adam and Little David. "That was cool!" Little David said and David ruffled his hair. The curtain came up as the cast went out for a final curtain call and David looked at Little David. Holding his hand out, he softly nodded and they walked out onto the stage. David smiled down at him as they bowed then David knelt down and Little David smiled at him. "So, Godson, want to tell them you're name?" he asked and Little David nodded. "It's David Alan Storm." "And how old are you?" "I'm five," Little David said, holding up five fingers. "Did you like the play?" "Yeah, but I didn't like that he died." "Sorry about that," David said and hugged Little David. Standing up, David held his hand out and Little David took his hand. They did another bow as the curtain came down and they walked to Adam. David let go of Little David's hand as Little David ran to Adam and Adam knelt down, holding his arms out while Little David ran to him and hugged him. "Did you see me on stage, Daddy?" Little David asked and Adam nodded, standing up. "So, who's up for some pizza after I come back from signing autographs?" David said and Little David waved his arm as he jumped up and down. "I guess he does," Adam said as they laughed and walked off the stage, Little David holding tightly onto David's hand.
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