PARENTHOOD
Chapter One Hundred and Forty While Rain got her daughter dressed, Josiah reappeared with a bigger box. When Rose looked inside it, she saw two adult princess outfits. "For you and your female companion, m'lady," Josiah said to Rose as he bowed. Alan and the Doctor shared a glance. "Do we get royal finery then?" Alan asked him. Josiah left without answering him and shut the door. "Coo-ee," Alan called while Rose laughed, "Yo! Royal slave person, where's mine? Hey, Rainy, ask Her Royal Highness to tell her slave to give me clothes! Damn it, I want royal robes, you cloth-eared git!" Rose took the big box back behind the folding screen. A few minutes later, Hope came out dressed in the purple dress, tiara and gray satin shoes. She held a small scepter in her hand that had a glass orb on top of the gold rod. The Doctor rose from the sofa, walked over to her and knelt in front of her. "My sovereign," he said reverently. Hope giggled and tapped him on the head with the orb of her scepter. "See that, she needs a beating," Alan said, leaning back against the sofa cushions as he put his hands behind his head. "Course I don't support the monarchy, I'm all for a republic so you won't find me groveling on the ground trying to kiss Princess Hope's bum. Nope, equality, fraternity, no Rainy, that's me." "Ha ha," Rain said sarcastically from behind the screen, "that's really amusing." She came out and the Doctor let out a low whistle when he looked at her. She was dressed in an identical outfit to her daughter, minus the tiara and scepter. The Doctor walked over to her, put his arms around her waist and looked at her with love. "My queen," he said to her. Rose stepped out from behind the screen. She was dressed in an identical outfit and the Doctor let out another low whistle. He glanced over at Alan who had closed his eyes and was pretending to be asleep. The Doctor grinned while he embraced his wife. "My love," he whispered to Rain. "You look gorgeous." Alan, in response, snored loudly while Rose walked over to him. He let out a yelp of pain when Rose slammed her foot down on his. "Hi," Rose said sweetly while Rain and the Doctor laughed, "what d'ya think of my outfit?" "Where's mine?" Alan said, ignoring her while he looked around. "Where's my royal robes trimmed with ermine and scepter of power. Why am I still dressed like a commoner here?" Rose sighed and walked over to the Doctor. The Doctor pretended to eye her critically then picked some imaginary lint off her bodice and flicked it away. "I s'pose it will be satisfactory for the likes of you," he said to her. Alan, Rain and Hope laughed when she began to smack his head. She stopped when the door opened and Josiah entered with a young girl dressed in a pink princess dress. The girl had a large wicker basket and she began to scatter different colored flower petals on the floor. "Step on the flowers, Highness, and walk to your ride for the afternoon," Josiah said, bowing low. "Sir, what about my royal robe and..." Alan sighed angrily when Josiah went outside. The girl followed him, scattering the flower petals in her wake. Rain urged Hope to step on the flower petals but she also picked them up and looked at them while her mother led her out of the room. Alan nudged his brother's rib. "Here's Rose, think we should throw her down with the flower petals and step on her?" he said, nudging Rose's side. "I wouldn't if you want to live," Rose said to him before following Rain and Hope. "Tetchy, ain't she?" Alan said to the Doctor as they followed them out. They went down the hallway following Josiah while the girl dropped the flower petals in front of them. Hope frowned while she walked on them and looked at her father. "They're makin' a mess. Do I have to clean it up?" she asked him. The Doctor and his family laughed and he patted her head. "No, they have to clean up their mess," he said fondly while they walked. They went out the front door and saw a wooden palanquin. The palanquin was made of wood with two foot wooden sides and a white canopy on the top. Two long poles ran parallel underneath it and there were four burly man dressed in white military outfits who were standing by each end. The Doctor and his family followed the flower petals into the palanquin and when they were all seated on the blue velvet cushions, the men grabbed the poles picked it up and set the poles on their shoulders. Hope looked over the right side of the palanquin while they followed Josiah and Thomas along a paved path that went past the other shops and restaurants. People stopped and looked at them and waved and called to them. Hope grinned and waved back to them. "Hey! Quit waving to the peasants," Alan said to her. "You're s'posed to look down on them, Your Royal Purplyness." "You leave me alone!" Hope said with a huge grin as she lunged at him. "I'm a princess today and you have to do what I say!" "I do, eh? Well, I never thought much of princesses. I like to overthrow their rule and take over, what'd ya think of that, small and mouthy?" "You listen to me today, I'm a princess," Hope said, thrusting her finger in his face. She giggled when Alan snapped his mouth, trying to bite the offending finger. "I'm a princess, Mummy," Hope said, crawling over to her. "Yes, you are, but you have to be more polite and proper than that, you can't crawl all over the cushions in that dress." "AMEN, SISTER! " Alan said to her. "I still say we should beat her so she'll learn to sit still like a little purply statue and not run her gob and backchat." "You mean, like you do?" Rose said to Alan. "Brother?" Alan said to the Doctor. "Yes?" "I assume if Hope is the princess, that makes you king?" "You better believe it," the Doctor said while Rain giggled. "Sire, might I have your royal permission to stick this mouthy broad in the guillotine and sever her head?" Alan said, gesturing to Rose. Rose gave the Doctor a warning look when he studied her. "Nah, she might come back to haunt us, then she'd be indestructible," the Doctor said, waving his hand dismissively. "Not if we go find a universe where the Ghostbusters are real," Alan pointed out. Rain looked around when the front suddenly tilted down and she noticed they were headed down a ramp into an underground tunnel. Hope, noticing it too, went back to looking out the side of the palanquin while the others looked around. "King Doctor has an underground kingdom, does he?" Alan said to Rose. The tunnel was narrow with concrete walls and globular lights that cast a pale white glow. Rain got on her knees and looked over the side but she couldn't see anything other than the tunnel and the lights. "Is this some kind of underground walkway to get to another part of the princess thing?" Rain asked as she sat back down beside her husband. "Your guess is as good as mine, Latara. What about it, Rose? Your friend mention this?" "No, she never said they went underground. She said they went inside a large building and had a party with a huge meal and a cake. But she never mentioned going underground to get to it." The Doctor frowned when they kept on walking. His senses, honed from years of fighting evil, suddenly went on red alert when he sensed something was wrong. "Excuse me, can we stop a moment?" the Doctor said, leaning over the side and yelling to Josiah and Thomas. They looked back at him but they kept on going. "I mean it, stop!" the Doctor said angrily while his family gave him odd looks. "What's wrong?" Rose asked. "Dunno, but I don't like this, stay here," the Doctor said. He went to the opening in the wall of the palanquin and slid out onto the floor. The moment his feet hit the concrete floor, everyone stopped and Josiah and Thomas walked back to him. "When I say stop, I mean stop," the Doctor said to them. "Now, I'm sorry if this is part of the whole princess experience but I want to know why we're going through a dimly lit tunnel and where it goes. So will you please humor me and..." The adults in the palanquin yelled when Thomas's fist suddenly flew up and hit the Doctor in the face. The last thing he heard as he slipped into darkness was Josiah yelling at the others to take his family prisoner.
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