PARENTHOOD

Chapter One Hundred Sixteen

"DADDY!" was what woke Duer out of a sound sleep as he snorted and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Frankie rolled over as he hushed her and kissed her hair. New Gallifrey weather was normally sunny and warm but it did rain and snow and thunderstorms were mild, with only small rumbles of thunder. But there were some storms that raged like the one outside and the lightning lit up the sky.

"Coming," Duer said as he shuffled down the hallway and M'fara, the timwof he brought home from his exile, was looking up at him with sad eyes. "Ok, go sleep in our room but not on the bed."

"Thank you, Friend Duer," M'fara thought as he ran into the bed room and Duer smiled. Heading toward his three year old daughter's room, he opened the door and saw her sitting up on the bed. Elby, the chibi of his eleventh life, was sitting on her lap as they both shook and she rocked back and forth on the bed.

"Hey, Princess, what are you two doing up?" he asked when the thunder roared in the room and Faith screamed, diving under the duvet. Sighing, Duer moved the duvet back when he slid his arms under her and picked her and Elby off the bed. Faith placed her head on his shoulder while Elby snuggled against his chest and Duer walked down the hallway, heading for his bedroom.

Frankie watched between the flashes of lightning as he carried Faith to the bed and saw M'fara lying on the floor near his side of the bed. Carefully stepping over him, Duer handed Faith to Frankie then climbed under the duvet and Faith snuggled against him, placing her head on his chest. Frankie held onto a shaking Elby as she stroked the soft hair and kissed the top of the chibi's head.

"Daddy, I'm scared!" Faith said as he hushed her and kissed the top of her head. Elby meeped when the thunder roared in the room and Frankie covered its small head, sending love into its mind. Faith buried her face into Duer's chest as he smiled and closed his eyes, pulling Jamie's mind forward.

"Jamie, are you awake?" he thought and Jamie softly laughed inside his head.

"I am now," Jamie thought.

"Sorry, but we have a problem. Faith is scared of the storm."

"Och, so is Wee Jock. Poor dog's lying between us and Jenna's trying tae calm him down," Jamie thought and showed them his West White Highland Terrier snuggled between them and Jenna gently stroked the frightened dog's head.

"Uncle Jamie, will you tell me a story?" Faith thought.

"I have a better idea," Jamie thought then set up a privacy block and whispered something to Duer.

"Right, thanks," Duer thought then released Jamie's mind and looked at Faith.

"Now, Uncle Jamie told me how to make it so you're not afraid anymore," he said and she looked up at him.

"Excuse me, Brother, but I think I need to know what Jamie told you because I have a really scared little girl in my bed," the Doctor thought as Duer smiled and shook his head.

"Fine, but I am going to need a little help," he thought and set up a privacy block. Suddenly Duer appeared in their heads and was lying on a soft cloud with the Doctor, Faith, Hope, Rain, Frankie, M'fara and Elby. Faith and Hope were snuggled against their daddies as four walls with windows surrounded them and the sounds of s storm raged outside the walls.

"Right, what Uncle Jamie told me was how to not be afraid of storms," he said as Faith, Hope and Elby looked at him and M'fara placed its head on his leg.

"How do you do that, Uncle Duer?" Hope asked, laying her head on the Doctor's shoulder.

"Well, first off, can you hear the wind?" he said when they heard the wind moaning and screeching against the glass then it stopped and they looked at the window.

"Hold on!" Alan said when he walked to the large fan and kicked it. Walking around the large fan, he saw that it had come unplugged and shrugged, plugging it back into the socket. The wind started blowing as he yelped and was blown away by the sudden gust of wind. "HELP!"

"Coming," Adam shouted as he and John ran to the large fan and turned it off, watching Alan drop down onto the cloud and moaned.

"Ok, remind me WHY we're doing this?" he asked when the Doctor coughed and pointed to Faith and Hope. "Oh."

"Now," Duer said as the girls looked at him and he smiled down at Faith, gently stroking her hair. "We all know that the wind can't hurt you, right?"

"I think it hurt Uncle Alan," Hope said and Faith giggled.

"Alright, normally, it doesn't."

"And Cam says that tornados are big winds and they hurt people," Faith said and Duer looked at Frankie, arching one eyebrow at her.

"Yep, they do, but we are talking about the wind outside the window. It's just making that noise because it's pressing against the glass."

"Oh!" the girls said together and Duer smiled.

"The next thing you have to listen to is the hail," Duer said as they heard the soft ticking sound and looked up at the ceiling.

"What is hail made from, Daddy?" Hope asked and the Doctor thought for a few seconds.

"Hail is hard frozen water," he said and they nodded. They watched as the hail fell outside of the windows when the hail stopped and they heard footsteps on the roof.

"Hey, do we have any more hail?" Jack's voice asked.

"Nope," Alan's voice said.

"We have ping pong balls," Adam's voice said and the girls giggled when ping pong balls started falling outside the windows.

"Now, it is true that getting hit by hail does hurt, but, like the wind, it is out there and we are in here," Duer said as the girls nodded and M'fara and Elby yawned, closing their eyes. "Ok, the next thing to listen to is the rain."

They waited for the rain to start when Adam and Alan appeared on the cloud and sank down next to the Doctor and Duer.

"Um, what are you doing in here?" the Doctor asked and Alan sighed, snuggling down beside him.

"Rose won't let us use the hose," Alan grumbled.

"Yeah, she said something about us opening the windows and squirting you," Adam said and plopped down next to Duer, placing his head on Duer's shoulder.

"Were you going to do that?" Rain asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah, but we wouldn't have gotten the girls wet," Alan said and reached over, patting Hope's head.

"Then it's a good thing that she stopped you," Frankie said and Adam stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry at her. The rain started falling as Faith and Hope smiled and snuggled closer to their daddies.

"Raindrops are falling on my head..." Alan started singing when the window opened and he looked up, seeing Rose with the hose in her hands. "Ah, look, there's Miss Party Pooper. Why did you stop?"

"I thought I heard a cat being skinned in here," she said when Alan got up and his eyes went wide. Rose yelped as he dived out of the window then chased after her and the girls giggled. Alan stuck his head back in the window when he whistled and Adam got up, climbed out of the window, closed it and went to catch up with Alan.

"They're silly," Hope laughed when the lightning flashed and the thunder roared around the room. The girls screamed as they buried their faces in the Doctor and Duer's chests and the room became dark. M'fara howled as Elby shook and Frankie gently rocked it.

"Shh, now, I want you to watch the lightning," Duer said as they watched the lightning flashing in the room and the girls blinked. "See, it's just light. It can't hurt you."

"Cam said that lightning can kill you," Faith said and Duer glanced over at Frankie and she shrugged.

"Yeah, well, Cam is a doody head," Duer said and Faith and Hope giggled.

"Don't tell her things like that!" Frankie said and gently kicked his shin.

"Yeah, don't be using words like doody around my daughter!" Rain said and Duer pouted.

"Sorry," he said and sniffed.

"Don't cry, Daddy," Faith said as she gently patted his chest and he wrapped his arms around her.

"But Mommy and Aunt Rain are being mean to me," he said and pouted.

"Aw, I'm sorry," Frankie said when she leaned closer and kissed his cheek, making him smile.

"So am I," Rain said and he nodded.

"Where was I?" he asked when the thunder roared through the room and the girls screamed. "Right, now, thunder is just noise, loud and unexpected noise. It can't hurt you."

"He's right," the Doctor said as Duer looked at the girls and smiled.

"So, all you have to do is pick your favorite thing about the storm and listen to that. If you do, then you can go to sleep and forget about the rest of it," he said as they nodded and the walls and cloud faded. Duer looked at Faith then at Elby and Elby was sound asleep, curled up in Frankie's arms. M'fara was also asleep as Duer smiled and sighed.

"Daddy, I think I think I found my sound," Faith said and he looked down at her.

"And what is it?" he asked.

"It's the thumping sound," she said with a yawn then closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

"What thumping sound?" he whispered as Frankie pointed to his chest and he looked down, watching Faith's head rise and fall as he breathed. "Oh."

Frankie closed her eyes while holding onto Elby as she drifted off to sleep and Duer wrapped his arms around his daughter, listening to the sounds of his family sleeping peaceful around him and smiled.

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