PARENTHOOD

Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen

The Doctor sat with Rain and Rose on their sofa while he chatted with them and Alan. Alan and Rose were spending the night with them along with Christopher. They decided that in the morning they would go down to New York to JFK Airport and ride in an airplane from there to Heathrow just to give their children the experience of riding in one. Both the Doctor and Alan liked for their children to be familiar with every facet of the human experience and to fall in love with Earth and its people the way they did and they realized the other day that Christopher, Chaska, Sokanon, Namid and Hope had never ridden in an airplane before. The Doctor figured he had his Stattenheim remote control and could call his TARDIS to them wherever they landed so they could take the trip without worrying about how to get back.

For the moment, the older children were out at the cinema while the Doctor made his four year old daughter go to bed and get some sleep so she would have enough energy for the trip. Rose and Alan were telling them about a trip they just took to the Amazon and the boat ride they took down the Amazon River. While they were talking, the Doctor saw movement out of the corner of his eye and saw Hope standing halfway down the stairs staring at him quietly.

"Oi," the Doctor said fondly as everyone looked where he was looking, "what are you doing up? You know that's against the rules. You're s'posed to be dancing and singing in Dreamland right about now."

"There's a monster under my bed, Daddy," Hope said.

Alan got up, pranced over and slammed his arm down on the banister while he stared at her.

"What's this?" Alan said.

"There's a monster under my bed, Daddy Alan," Hope said, pointing upstairs.

"Who told you that you could have a monster under your bed? We didn't authorize any pets for you," Alan said with mock sternness.

"Make the monster go away," Hope said to him as she pointed up the stairs.

"Should I take this, Brother?" Alan asked the Doctor.

"Be my guest. You're an expert at monster catching," he said.

"Okey-dokey, let me at that freak!" Alan said, coming around the banister and hurrying upstairs. "I'll soon sort this intruder out!"

Rain walked over to Hope who was still standing there looking up at the top floor.

"Baby, you want some milk before you go back to bed?" Rain asked her.

She nodded and was about to come down the stairs when they suddenly heard Alan bellowing from Hope's bedroom.

"GET OUT OF HERE, SPAWN OF SATAAAAAAAAN!" Alan screamed.

Hope turned and stared upwards while everyone else laughed.

"NO! DON'T POSSESS ME!" Alan screamed. "RIGHT! IT'S TIME FOR TIME LORD TOES UP THE BUM TIME!"

Hope looked at her mother who was giggling.

"Is he beating up that monster?" she asked Hope.

Hope grinned and nodded and Rain laid her hand on top of her head while she looked up. Alan breathed a sigh of relief as he came down the stairs.

"Blimey, that was one strong monster, gave me some trouble but I finally sent him on his merry way."

He stopped in front of Hope.

"Room is monster free, all is well now," he said, patting her on the head. "You can mosey back up to bed now."

"I want milk," Hope said.

"Really? Me too. I need some refreshment after my life or death struggle with the monster."

Hope giggled as Alan picked her up and carried her back down the stairs.

"Golly gee, I'm so tired. Your monster was huge. Took all my strength just to subdue it," he said to Hope as he carried her to the kitchen.

Rain was about to sit back down when she heard a knock on the door.

"Wow, we're suddenly very busy," she said as she walked to it.

She opened the door and smiled when she saw Amato, Peri, Shilah and Mingxia. All of them had leis around their necks and Peri and Mingxia were wearing grass skirts.

"Aloha," Amato said. "We just came from the Tiki Tapi Tooki Party on Festus. They have a huge immigrant Hawaiian population and we just came from the annual luau. What have you lot been up to?"

"Well, we were planning to take an airplane trip in the morning and we put Hope to bed so she'd be wide awake for it and she had a monster under the bed so Alan went up and got rid of it."

"Yes, I was brilliant at chasing away the monster under her bed," Alan said, coming out of the kitchen.

He and Hope both had glasses of milk and they walked over to Amato, Shilah, Peri and Mingxia.

"So, you went to a luau? Splendid. Did you eat poi?" Alan asked while the four of them came inside and Rain shut the door.

"Yes. Suckled pig, pineapple and poi, the three luau biggies," Amato said. "So you're going to go on an aeroplane ride in the morning?"

"Yup, you lot wanna come? We're going from New York to London. The children have never been on an aeroplane so we thought we'd let them experience it."

"What do you think, Per?" Feel like taking an aeroplane ride?" Amato asked his wife.

"Yeah, count me in, it sounds fun."

"Me too," Mingxia said. "I love it when we fly."

"So, I take it that means the menfolk are coming as well?" Alan said.

"Ball and chain here, mate," Amato teased as Peri slapped his arm playfully.

"Yeah, can't get away from this one." Shilah said. "We're kinda joined at the hip."

"Yeah, just like me and Doodle here," Alan said, lowering his head so it was next to Hope's. "Me and her, we is insep-per-a-ble! Aren't we?"

"NO!"

They laughed when Hope walked over to the Doctor and stood by him.

"Sorry, Brother, apparently she likes me more," the Doctor said smugly as Alan froze in the position he was in. "And by the way, I think you can stand up now. We don't like looking at your fat bum."

"What?" Alan said as Amato and Shilah nudged each other.

Alan straightened up and stomped over to the Doctor who was staring at him calmly.

"Apology or duel, make your choice!" Alan said to him.

"Um...neither. I choose sofa, bye!"

Hope and Rain followed the Doctor as he walked back to the sofa. Alan noticed Rose was about to follow him. With lightning speed, he wrapped his free arm around her body.

"No, mustn't!" he said, as he pulled her close. "You are my ball and chain!"

"Mingxia," Rose said, looking around Alan at her. "Could you help me?"

Mingxia walked around Alan. Alan's mouth dropped open when she grabbed his arm and pulled back.

"Thank you," Rose said as she stepped away from him.

Mingxia let go and patted Alan on the head when he eyed her. She laughed and ran over to Shilah when he tried to grab her. Alan sighed and took a sip of his milk while he headed towards the sofa.

"Much maligned, me," he said as he plopped down beside Rose on the sofa. "Hope's the only one that appreciates me and even then she runs to her daddy when I could offer her so much more...like...a rocking horse. Oh, woe is me, struth!"

Rose caught Rain's eyes and shook her head as she rolled her eyes. Hope sat on her father's lap while she sipped her milk.

"Daddy, when we goin' on the plane ride?" Hope asked him.

"In the morning, Butterfly."

Hope took a sip of milk.

"Is it mornin' now?" she asked hopefully.

"Um...no," the Doctor said while everyone laughed. "Besides even if it was, we have to wait for your sisters and brothers to come home from the cinema. So you might as well calm down and relax."

"So the kids are at the cinema?" Amato said.

"What'd they go see?" Peri asked.

"Um...not sure. Knowing them it's some violent sci fi monster film that has no redeeming value. I'm sure since the boys are with them they didn't go see some soppy chick flick. Not unless they want to deal with Chas and Chris's vomit," the Doctor said. "But if you're coming with us, Mi-mi will be thrilled. You know she'll want all her homewreckers together with her one and only real dad."

Shilah discreetly flipped him off while the others except for Hope giggled. Hope walked over to Peri and sat on her lap while she finished off her milk. Peri smiled as she rubbed her back.

"Are you excited about going tomorrow?" she asked Hope.

"Yes, I wanna go on the aeroplane and go vrroooom!" she said.

"And when we get on the aeroplane and go vrrooom, I'm gonna go out on the wing and walk around!" Alan said.

"Really? I'd like to see that," Rain said.

"Okey-dokey, I'll wait till we get to cruising altitude and take a little jog on the wing and then I'll find your window and moon ya."

"And you're gonna be able to stick onto the wing like Spider-Man, eh?" Rain said while the Doctor snickered.

"Brother will sort that part out," Alan said, gesturing to the Doctor.

The Doctor looked at Rain.

"I will?" he said.

Rain shrugged and grinned.

"I guess you have until tomorrow to do it. In the meantime, I think it's time for you to go back to your monster-free bedroom now, Sweetie," she said, getting up and walking towards Hope. "You need to get some sleep so you can have fun tomorrow."

Hope gave her the empty glass. She set it on the coffee table and picked her up. Everyone waved at her as she waved back. Hope put her arms around her mother's neck while Rain walked to the stairs and carried her up to bed.

Back                         Home                              Doctor Who Main Page                          Next

Your Name or Alias:      Your E-mail (optional):

Please type your review below. Only positive reviews and constructive criticism will be posted.