PARENTHOOD

Chapter Seventy One

After they got their lemon ices, Sokanon and Namid strolled along, hand in hand, down the pavement of the town while their father, Rain and Tara followed close behind them. When the adults stopped to look in the window of a ceramics store, Sokanon and Namid walked up to the next store and peeked in the open door. They saw different kinds of furniture inside and near the door was a huge tan suede sofa that looked comfortable. Sokanon got her parent's attention and after telling them they were going inside, she led her sister over to the sofa and they sat down on it and leaned back into the big, cushy sofa pillow behind them.

"This is nice," Sokanon said.

"Yeah, Daddy needs to get this for the house, it's comfy," Namid replied.

They sat together and listened to her ereader.

"I wish we could help that alien person," Sokanon said after a few minutes.

"Uncle Alan said not to," Namid said.

"Yeah, and he meant it cause Uncle Alan only gets really angry like that when he's serious about something," Sokanon said.

"Yeah. I don't like it when he gets angry. I like when Uncle Alan's silly."

"Me too."

Alan was strolling by with Rose but stopped when he heard his name.

"I heard my name being bandied about in there," he said to Rose as they peeked inside. "Hey, what's this? How come they're resting and I'm walking my tired old legs? Come on, Starlight, let's go sit on the comfy sofa and share in their rest."

They came inside and sat down on either side of the girls.

"So, what about me?" Alan said as he rested beside Namid.

"Just saying that you got angry about us trying to help that one man," Sokanon said.

"I know you want to help but even if we tracked down whoever was controlling him and stopped him, all they would do is sell the Quek to someone else. Honestly, girls, the poor bloke cannot think for himself. He would be useless on his own and eventually die. I know it's not right but his race isn't the only ones that are bred for slavery."

"Hey!"

They looked over when the Doctor stood in the doorway with Tara and Rain.

"What is this? You mean you lot are knackered already?" he said as the children giggled. "We just got started."

"This is comfy, Daddy, come and sit," Sokanon said.

"She's right, it is quite soft and snuggly," Alan said. "We need to get it for Daisy's console room."

"P'eh, you'd never leave the bloomin' thing if you did," Rose said.

"True, but we could have lots of snuggles with it."

"NO!"

Alan jumped when he heard Namid yell.

"What's wrong with you?" he said as the Doctor, Rain and Tara came inside the shop.

"Tinkerbell's gonna die," she said, pointing to her ereader.

Alan snorted.

"Oh, well, no wonder I didn't know what you were on about. I've tuned out Cyborg Pan so I don't go insane listening to it," he said.

"I am getting her something else; I just need to remember when I get back."

"No, Daddy, I like this voice. I know it's weird but that helps me tell which voice is reading the story and which voices are talking."

"Oh, well, I s'pose that's an advantage as well," the Doctor said.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Everyone looked over when the proprietor came out of a back room and saw them sitting on the sofa.

"Ought oh, busted," Alan said as the man came towards them, glaring at the four on the sofa.

"Up, kids, this sofa isn't ours," the Doctor said to them.

The four of them got up and the Doctor offered an apology as they hurried out of the shop while the proprietor glared at them.

"Git," Alan said as they walked away, "we didn't dent his precious sofa and..."

He trailed off when Namid started clapping.

"Um, is that applause for me?" Alan said.

"No, I'm saving Tinkerbell," she said.

"Oh, no wonder," Alan said as Namid continued to clap.

"That's it, baby, save Tinkerbell," Rain said as Namid giggled.

"No, let the fairy die, she's a boring character!" Alan said as Rose swatted his arm playfully. "What? She was. I never liked her, in the novel or the Disney film."

Namid stopped clapping.

"Drat, she's alive again, the novel's ruined," Alan said as Rose gave him another swat.

As they were heading up the street, Jack stepped out of a side street with Chaska.

"Daddy, bazaar!" Chaska said.

"What's bizarre?" the Doctor called back.

"No, bazaar," Jack said, "as in booths and haggling. Everyone else is down this way if you guys wanna follow."

The Doctor's group headed across the street and followed Jack and Chaska. They rounded the corner onto a wide street that had about forty different wooden booths set up with various items for sale. Humans and aliens moved among them, haggling and buying items. The Doctor put his hands in his pockets, his eyes taking everything in as his group moved into the wider group. Eventually some of them drifted off to different booths when something caught their eye but the two girls stayed with the Doctor and Rose while Chaska walked with Jack and Ianto over to a booth selling sports equipment and memorabilia. The Doctor's group walked over to a booth selling books and both the Doctor and Rain began to look through them while Sokanon and Namid stood near them and looked around. While they were looking, Sokanon suddenly saw the Quek buying fruit at a stall across the way. She whispered to Namid what she saw and Namid tugged on her mother's trouser leg.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"That person, the one you said we couldn't help, he's over there," Namid said, pointing ahead of her.

The Doctor laid down a book and looked over his shoulder at him.

"Stay away from him, kids," he said to them. "Keep close to us."

Just then, two boys about the same age as Sokanon and Namid ran up to the Quek and began to taunt him as he selected fruit. The Doctor sighed and shook his head.

"Where are their parents? They need to stop..."

Suddenly, he and Rain gasped as the Quek dropped the fruit and seized one of the boys around the neck, choking him. The Doctor sprinted over as the child left free began to cry for help. Out of the corner of his eye, the Doctor saw Jack, Doc, Dex and Alan running his way but he was closest and he tackled the Quek from behind, knocking him into the booth. The impact was enough to loosen his grip on the boy's neck and he wriggled out of his grasp and ran away with his friend. Namid and Sokanon stood with Rain while Chaska stood with Ianto and Christopher stood by Rose. They all gasped when the Quek decked their father, sending him reeling back. He tried to seize his neck so he could choke him but Alan, Dex and Jack quickly pounced on him and grabbed his arms while the Doctor used a nerve pinch to render him unconscious. As he dropped to the ground, the police came running up.

"Are you alright, sir?" one of them asked the Doctor.

He nodded and rubbed his jaw as the police looked around at the crowd.

"Who owns this Quek?" one of the policeman demanded as the Doctor and his family stepped away.

The Doctor walked back to Rain and his daughters.

"Now you see why I warned you to stay away from him?" he said to Sokanon and Namid.

"Are you okay, Daddy?" Sokanon said as she, Namid and Rain came close to him.

"Yeah, jaw aches but I'll be alright," the Doctor said.

"I repeat, who owns this Quek?" the policeman asked as the rest of the Doctor's family came up to him.

"I doubt the owner is gonna come forward now," Dex said.

"Yeah, especially since his servant tried to kill two people," Nelak added.

"What's gonna happen to him?" Namid asked, looking his way.

"Well, if they can't find his owner, he could be sold to someone else or destroyed if he's viewed as a threat," Nelak said to her.

"You mean they might kill him?" Namid said.

"Depends on whether they think he might be a danger or not," Nelak said as Doc put a hand on her shoulder.

Oh, please don't kill the Quek in front of the children, the Doctor thought to himself as he watched the policemen examine him. I just got done taking out the memories of Namid being nearly burned alive.

They watched as one of the officers took off the Quek's leather coat and pulled up the sleeve of his black cotton shirt. On his inner wrist was a tattoo that resembled a barcode. One of the officers pulled out a scanner and scanned it, then read the display.

"Sasha Cor Darrow," the officer said aloud. "This Quek belongs to Sasha Cor Darrow, show yourself!"

The officer pushed a button on his scanner and a 3D holographic image appeared above it of a woman. She was tall and thin with long purple hair down to her waist and an Asian face. She was wearing a black shirt, red leather vest and khaki jodhpurs with thigh high black boots. The policeman scanned the crowd, comparing the image with those present while the Doctor and the adults in his family did the same but Sasha was nowhere to be found.

"Sargent, take the Quek away and keep it locked up until we find the owner," the officer with the scanner said.

They watched for a moment as the officers picked up the Quek and carried it away and then the crowd dispersed and went back to what they were doing.

"Daddy, will he be alright?" Sokanon said as they went back to browsing.

"I think so. They won't kill him till they find this Sasha," the Doctor said.

"What will they do to Sasha when they find her?" Namid said as she fiddled with her ereader, rewinding back so she could hear the parts she missed in the commotion.

"Well, it's against the law to leave a Quek unattended because they're unpredictable. You saw what it tried to do to me and that child. So I suspect if they find her, she'll go to prison."

Sokanon fell silent while she thought about that. Meanwhile, Namid found where she had last paid attention to the story and began again. The Doctor snickered and looked at Rain.

"And now we get to listen to the tale of Robocop, the boy who wouldn't grow up," he said as she snickered.

They paused when they passed by one booth and noticed Alan was trying on a bright red fez. He turned around and grinned at them.

"What's that, Uncle Alan?" Sokanon asked, pointing to it.

"It's a fez. I like fezzes, fezzes are cool," he said. "Do you think I should get it?"

The Doctor glanced over at Rose who was standing nearby and shaking her head vigorously.

"Um, I wouldn't if you wanna stay married, mate," the Doctor said as Rain giggled.

"You always take her side," Alan whined as he put the fez back.

He walked over to Namid and leaned over into her face.

"You do realize that cyborg voice is annoying, right?" he said to her.

"Tough! I'm gonna listen and you're gonna like it," Namid said as the Doctor patted her on the head.

Alan put his fingers on the ribbon.

"You know, this could mysteriously vanish," he said.

"So can you."

Rain and Rose bent over laughing when the Doctor said, "Oooo" to that.

"Permission to tickle, Brother?" Alan said to the Doctor.

"Permission granted."

Namid squealed and ran for her father's side as Alan laughed evilly. Alan looked down when Christopher came up beside him.

"What do you want?" Alan said.

"I'll tickle her, Daddy!" he squealed.

Alan raised his eyebrow when she lunged at her and tickled her armpits.

"Wow, I have a minion," he said to the Doctor. "I feel so important now."

"Well, call off your minion; she already had to rewind her ereader once."

"Oh crud, and that means prolonging the Cyborg Pan story. Down, Chris, come to me."

Christopher ran over to him and he patted him on the head.

"See, minion," he said proudly. "I have produced someone loyal to me."

"You suck, Daddy."

The Doctor, Rain and Rose bent over laughing as Alan's mouth dropped open as he stared at his giggling child.

"Fine. I'm swanning off now. Toodles," he said, walking away.

"Wait, I wanna come with you for awhile," Namid said, heading towards his voice.

"Why? So you can torment me with Cyborg Pan?"

"Okay, I'll turn it off then."

"No, you don't have to, I was only havin' ya on. You can leave it on and listen and yes, you can follow me as long as you fawn over me incessantly."

"I wouldn't do it, Mi-mi, that sounds like too much of a chore," Rain said.

"Nah, I love Uncle Alan."

Rain shrugged when Alan stuck his tongue out at her.

"Come Mi-mi, you and I will have some fun for awhile," he said, taking her hand.

"Yeah, well don't bring the police running back here when you have your "fun"," Rain said.

"Yada, yada, yada, buh-bye!" Alan said before he walked off with Namid.

"You know, dear, sometimes I completely understand why you booted him out the door of your TARDIS," Rain said as the Doctor grinned and winked.

He looked down at Sokanon and grabbed her hand.

"You! You will entertain me!" he said as she giggled. "You will accompany around the town and listen to me rabbit on about nothing!"

"No!" Sokanon said, dramatically as Rain tousled her hair.

"Mind if we join you?" Rose said, taking Christopher's hand.

"Ah, not at all, in fact..."

They watched as he walked over to a booth selling rugs and tapped Tara on the shoulder. She turned around and he seized her hand.

"Love me! I'm lonely!" he said dramatically as he pulled her away. "Come and entertain me and be my daughter!"

Tara laughed and walked with him.

"There, I have my daughter. I have my other daughter. Now where's my son?"

He looked around and saw Chaska laughing with Jack, Ianto, Doc and Namor as they walked around.

"Eh, leave my son for the moment, he's having fun. I'll have fun with my girls instead," he said. "Having said that, come along, my women!"

Rain, Tara and Sokanon smiled and walked with him as he headed back towards the pavement.

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