PARENTHOOD
Chapter Forty Frazer held Alexander to his side as the mermaid's purse shook then cracked and green ooze fell to the ground. They watched as a small head peeked out from under the shell then wiggled free and tiny black eyes blinked at them. Wiggling and carefully squirming out of the shell, a creature the size of a small eel lifted its long neck and titled its head side to side. It made a soft squeaking sound as it flapped its flippers on the ground and swayed its tail side to side. It was covered in a soft black skin with a slit for a mouth and two slits for a nose. The back of the creature has a small hump and four flippers held it up. "Is that Nessy, Daddy?" Alexander asked softly as Frazer gently removed the sonic screwdriver from his pocket and scanned the creature. It made soft growling sounds then tried to bite the sonic screwdriver and Frazer laughed. "Hey now, I wasnae trying tae hurt you," he said then placed the sonic screwdriver away, patting the top of the creature's head. "What is it?" Angel asked as the creature sniffed Frazer's feet then Alexander's feet and Alexander gently patted its head. "Well, its nae a kelpie," Frazer said when he noticed someone coming down the beach and took his jacket off. The creature yelped as he covered it with the coat and hushed it. Carefully standing up, he held the coat in his arms as a man walked closer and looked angry. "What are you doing?" Angus McFaye asked and Angel reached into her purse and brought out her psychic paper, showing it to him. "Animal Rescue," she said as he looked at the paper and blinked. "We found an injured animal and are taking it to get medical attention." "You take bairn on animal rescues?" he asked as he looked at Alexander and Frazer smiled. "Aye, a regular Steve Irwin, me," Frazer said and hoped that Angus had watched the Crocodile Hunter at some point and Angus sighed. "Well, best be on your way then," Angus said as they nodded and Angel noticed the patch over the pocket of his jacket. It read AQUATECH and she made a mental note to ask the Doctor or Jack if they had ever heard of it. Nodding, they headed down the beach when they headed for the bus stop and Angel looked at Frazer. "Ok, how are we going to get that onto the bus?" she asked as he smiled and she just see the wheels in his mind moving. "I can't believe you just told the driver we had a Loch Ness monster in your jacket," she teased as they walked down the hallway and Frazer smiled. "Well, we got it here, didnae we?" he asked as they walked inside the medical bay and headed for the examination table. Alexander crawled onto the stool as he sat across from Frazer and Frazer opened the jacket, gently rolling the creature onto the examination table. Blinking, it looked around when Frazer noticed that the creature's skin was a gray color and touched the skin. It felt hard and stiff as he sighed and frowned. "Its skin's drying out." "We need some..." Angel said when a spray bottle filled with water appeared in front of Alexander and Angel looked at the ceiling. "Thank you, Girl." "Can I do it, Daddy?" Alexander said and Frazer nodded. Smiling, Alexander started spraying the water over the creature's skin and it purred, closing its eyes. Frazer carefully placed a scanner collar around the base of its neck as the creature looked down and he patted its head. "There's na' tae be scared of," he whispered and the creature blinked its eyes. Frazer looked at the scanner as the information appeared and he frowned. "What is that?" "What?" Angel asked as she looked at the screen and he pointed to the green glob. A syringe appeared on the examination bed as he looked at it and picked it up. The information appeared on the screen as he nodded and looked at the creature. "Angel, hold its head still for a second," he said as she took hold of the creature's head and it whimpered. Pinching a bit of the creature's skin, Frazer injected a blue liquid into the creature and it yelped. Gently patting the skin, Frazer sent love and comfort into its mind and the creature growled at him. "Sorry." "What did you do, Daddy?" Alexander asked, patting the creature. "I had tae give it an antitoxin tae counter the poison in its system." "What poison?" Angel asked and Frazer looked at the screen. "According tae this, it was a level three toxin of some sort. Luckily, the TARDIS has a wide variety of antitoxins and it is going tae be just fine." "But where did it get exposed to toxins?" "Well, there was a wee crack in the mermaid's purse. It might have leaked in just before hatching." "An' Loch would have died if we hadnae found him aye, Daddy?" Alexander asked as he patted the soft skin and Angel looked at Frazer with a slightly concerned look on her face. "Um, Xandy, I dinnae think it's a good idea tae give it a name," Frazer said and Alexander frowned. "Why nae?" he asked. "Well, for one thing, we're not going to keep it, Honey," Angel said as she walked to Alexander and slid her arms around him. "Aye, we can keep him in our pool at home!" "Och," Frazer sighed when he typed on the keyboard and looked at the screen. Images rolled on the screen when it stopped and he looked at the picture on the screen. "Hmmm, Angel, come look at this." Angel walked to Frazer when she looked at the screen and on the screen was a drawing of a Plesiosaurus. "Hmmm, it does look like Loch," she said as he looked at her and smiled. "Dinnae you start," he said when Alexander walked to him and stood on his tiptoes, trying to see what they were looking at. Frazer picked him up as he held him in his arms and Alexander looked at the screen. "What is that, Daddy?" he asked, pointing to the screen. "That is a Plesiosaurus. It is a marine Sauropterygian reptile that lived during the early part of the Jurassic Period. It has a small head, a long, slender neck, a broad turtle like body, a short tail and two pair of large, elongated flippers." "Just like Loch," Alexander said with a grin and Frazer smiled. "Well, I'm nae sure if that's what Loch is," Frazer said when he placed Alexander down and looked at the scanner. He checked the scans with he noticed something unusual and blinked. "Now what is that thing?" "It looks like a womb," Angel said, looking at the screen. "Does that mean Loch's a Nessie?" Frazer asked with a smile. "Either that or some sort of creature that is male and female." "What does that mean?" Alexander asked and they looked at each other, forgetting that he was in the room. "It means Loch has Daddy parts an' Mommy parts," Frazer said and Angel glared at him. "Well, what did you want me tae tell him?" he thought after setting up a privacy block. Suddenly Loch made a loud squeal as they noticed that it was about to fall off the examination table and Frazer ran to the examination table, catching it. "Where do you think you're going, eh?" he teased as he placed Loch on the floor and it waddled around, looking at everything. "I think we need to find Loch a placed to stay so we can figure out what we're going to do next," Angel said and Frazer nodded. Walking to Loch, he carefully lifted Loch up as they left the room and Frazer noticed that the TARDIS had moved the pool room so it was across the hall from the medical bay. The water had been changed into fresh water and a small rock island floated at the center of the pool. Frazer placed Loch down as it sniffed the air then waddled toward the pool. A small ramp led to the water as Loch waddled down the ramp and slid into the water. "He went into the water," Alexander said with a grin and Frazer knelt next to him, watching Loch swimming in the water. Suddenly Loch dived to the bottom of the pool then swam upward and jumped out of the water. Loch did a flip then dived back into the water and the water sprayed into the air, falling lightly back into the pool. Alexander clapped as Angel and Frazer laughed while Loch came to the surface and blinked at them. Going on its back, Loch clapped its front flippers as it made a gurgling sound and Frazer gently hugged Alexander. Angel brought a cup of tea into the medical bay while Frazer sat at the screen and looked at the information on the toxin. Walking to Frazer, she kissed his neck as he sat up and smiled at her. "Where is Xandy?" he asked, taking the cup from her and sipped on the tea. "He's taking a kip," she said as she looked at the screen and blinked. "Still no idea where that toxin came from?" "Nope," Frazer said as he shook his head and sighed. "I think we should call my dad or your grandfather and see what they think," Angel said as he sipped on the tea then placed the cup on the examination bed. "I already sent them the copies of our findings an' Pa-paw said that he's never seen anything like it." "What about my dad?" "He said he'll show them tae..." Frazer said when there was a flash of light and they turned around, seeing Jack, Gwen and Ianto standing behind them. 'What are you doing here?" "Your grandfather sent me what you found," Jack said as he walked to the screen and looked at the information. "Yep, just as I thought, it's kelnarium,' Jack said and they looked at him. "What is kelnarium?" Angel asked. "It is a bio-toxin. I saw it used a few times during my time with the Time Agency." "How did it get here?" Angel asked. "I don't know," Jack sighed when Angel remembered something and tapped him. "Have you ever heard of Aquatech?" she asked and Jack frowned. "No, never heard of it," Jack said when Ianto head something and looked across the hall at Loch. "Jack," he said as Jack walked to him and looked at where he was pointing. "Whoa, what is that?" Jack said with wide eyes and grinned. "That is Loch," Angel said as she walked closer and they walked into the hallway. "We found it on the beach near Loch Ness and brought it here after it hatched from its egg." "Oh, it's so cute!" Gwen said as she knelt down then slowly reached out to touch Loch but felt something blocking her and frowned. "The TARDIS set up a force field so it won't go wandering around the TARDIS," Angel said and Gwen nodded. The force field lowered as Loch waddled into the hallway and looked up at them. It made soft squeaking noises as Gwen knelt down and gently patted its head. "Where are its mother and father?" Ianto asked and Frazer sighed, leaning on the doorway. "I think its parent's dead," he said then told them what he felt while using his power. "Oh, the poor thing," Gwen said, stroking the soft skin. "So, where did you get a sample of the kelnarium?" Jack asked. "It was in Loch's bloodstream. Luckily, the TARDIS has the anti-toxin or he would have died," Angel said and Jack nodded. "And you found Loch at the...loch," Jack said with a grin and Frazer nodded. "Then I guess we're taking a trip to the shore." "Do you want us tae come with you?" Frazer asked. "I think Yan and I should go while you and Gwen check out Aquatech," Jack said and Frazer nodded. Watching Ianto and Jack walking down the hallway, Frazer and Gwen went into the medical bay and Angel led Loch back into the pool room.
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