PARENTHOOD

Chapter One Hundred Thirty One

Four year old Hope giggled as she played with some large plastic farm and zoo animals that her parents had gotten her for her birthday. She was sitting in the living room of their house near the patio doors. At the moment only she and the Doctor were at home while Rain was off at the store getting something for supper. The sunlight streamed in making warm rectangles of light. She was sitting in one of the rectangles playing and making up a narrative as she played with her animals.

"And Cow goes hello to you, Lion," she said, picking up a brown cow and a lion in her hands and making them face each other. "Hello, Lion, I'm Cow, whatcha doing? I'm goin' to the shops, Cow, wanna come with me? Okay, Lion."

Hope sat the animals on the carpet and made them walk while she sang a made up song. She was so busy playing and singing and talking to herself that she didn't realize that the Doctor had sat down halfway up the stairs and was listening to her with a smile on his face.

"NOOO!" Hope suddenly yelled as she leapt up from the floor with a plastic dog in her hand. "The doggy is flying away! Come back, doggy!"

She turned to run to the stairs with the dog and froze when she finally saw her father sitting there.

"Go ahead and play, don't mind me," the Doctor said. "I'm just enjoying your little performance art."

"I'm playing, Daddy."

"I know, that's why I'm enjoying it so much," he replied. "I never did this when I was your age."

Hope climbed the steps.

"You never played with toys?" she asked as she sat down beside him.

"I did but not the sort of toys you played with and I never made up stories about them like you do."

"How come?"

"Because I never thought to do that. I grew up in a place where people didn't have much imagination and no one thought to invent plastic animals or make them talk. Not to mention I grew up very fast and had to be an adult at an earlier age. And I have a very mean father who didn't let me be a child, that's why I don't do that with you."

"How come your daddy was mean to you?" Hope asked.

"I...was a bit different and my daddy thought I was a loser because I wasn't the sort of son he thought I should be. So he...hurt me and spanked me very hard and that's another reason why I don't do that with you or your brothers and sisters. I want you to grow up and be a happy, healthy adult and have a fun childhood."

"Come and play with me, Daddy. Come and have fun," Hope said, standing up.

"But I'm having fun listening to you making up silly stories," the Doctor said.

"Come and play with me, Daddy. Come and be like me for a bit."

The Doctor grinned at that and stood up. They went back downstairs and the Doctor lay down on his stomach beside the animals. He watched while Hope ran upstairs.

"Oh, my darling," he whispered to himself as he watched Hope running back towards her room. "I'm so glad you inherited a human child's imagination. I love watching you use it and listening to you making up cute and silly stories. That's why I wanted the new generation of Gallifreyan to have a human imagination so they can imagine as you do."

A moment later, Hope ran back down the stairs, a toy house in one hand and a toy barn in the other. The Doctor watched fondly as she put the toy buildings down and lay down on her stomach beside her father. Hope picked up the lion and made it go into the house.

"I'm home now," Hope said. "Who else is here with me?"

She looked at her father who had gone back to listening quietly. He got the hint and looked through the pile of animals, picking out a brown horse. He put the horse in the house.

"I am Arthur," he said in a deep voice. "I'm here with you."

"Hello, Arthur," Hope said, turning the lion towards the horse, "I'm bored, wanna go to the circus?"

"Sure," the Doctor said. "Where is the circus?"

"In the barn, come on, let's go!"

The Doctor grinned as he and Hope made their animals walk towards the barn. Hope opened the barn doors and they put the animals inside. The Doctor looked inside the empty barn.

"There's no one here, Lion," he said.

"The circus is going to start soon, Arthur," Hope replied.

"Ah, I hope we'll have fun," the Doctor said.

He groaned when the mobile rang in his pocket.

"Blast, would have to ring right now," he said, shifting to his right side so he could reach in and get it.

He pulled it out and rolled back onto his stomach while Hope picked an elephant out of the animal pile.

"Yes?" the Doctor said into the mobile while he pulled a giraffe out and put it beside the elephant.

"I'm out for walkies," Alan said. "And I just wondered what my brother is up to."

"I'm playing with Hope. We're playing with plastic animals," he said while Hope pulled a zebra out of the pile.

"Ah, done plenty of that with my children. Love it."

"Yeah, so do I. Nothing like my childhood but then you know that."

"Indeed. Children are a blessing," Alan said.

"Especially children with human imagination," the Doctor said, pulling a gorilla out of the pile.

"Yes. Always entertaining to watch the wee ones make up stories."

"Well, I told Hope that I didn't do this as a kid so she insisted I play with her while her mum goes grocery shopping."

"Ah, Smelly Belly is getting groceries, is she? Perhaps I should walk over and irritate her."

"I didn't say where she went," the Doctor said, smiling when Hope started making the animals dance for Lion and Arthur.

"And where did she go, pray tell?"

"Offworld. To Galatus, to a specialty foods store. We're having Salmanian stew tonight and she needed some Rombaga meat for it. So unless you hop in Daisy and got to Galatus and try to find the store, you won't find her."

Suddenly, the front door opened and Alan stuck his head inside.

"Neglected to say I was nearby," he said, coming inside as he and the Doctor ended their conversation. "Wanted to see what you were doing, mind if I come in and watch playtime?"

"No, go ahead. We're going to the circus, aren't we, love?" the Doctor said to Hope.

"Yes. Me and Arthur are at the circus and the animals are dancing now," Hope said.

Alan closed the door and strolled over. He started to sit down on the sofa when Hope called him over to play with them. For the next hour, the three of them played with the animals, laughing and smiling at Hope who was making up most of the story and singing songs. The Doctor and Alan kept prompting her, saying little things that would make her go on with the story so they could just listen and enjoy it. Then the front door opened and Rain entered the house with a small brown paper sack in her right hand. She paused and looked to see what they were doing while she closed the door.

"Looks like the three of you have been having fun while I was gone," she said.

"We've been playing, Mummy," Hope said.

"We've been using our imaginations," the Doctor said proudly.

"I was a donkey," Alan said.

He eyed her when Rain bit her lip at that.

"Okay, I'll be an adult and resist making the obvious joke," she said while the Doctor sniggered and Alan discretely flipped her off. "I suppose the donkey is staying for dinner?"

"Well, I wouldn't mind it, except I'm sure I must go and get Mrs. Donkey," Alan said.

"Don't bother. I ended up going with her and I invited her and you, except she has no idea you're over here so I'm sure she's searching the house for you and..."

She paused when she heard Rose in her mind contacting Alan, asking where he was. Alan mentally spoke to her as everyone got up off the floor.

"Well, gotta go home and get the missus. But thank you so, so much for playtime. I needed that," Alan said, hugging Hope. "I'll be back later for suppertime so you be good and don't give your daddy multiple heart attacks, yeah?"

"You come back so we can play some more."

"I will, rest assured of that," Alan said, hugging her tightly and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Hope took his hand and followed him to the door while Rain came up beside her husband.

"I have a feeling you needed that playtime more than Alan did," she said softly to him.

"Always, Latara. Nothing like a little bit of playtime to relieve some stress and get a bit of the childhood I never had."

Rain nodded. She kissed his cheek and he nuzzled her forehead before Rain headed into the kitchen to make supper.

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.