PARENTHOOD

Chapter One Hundred and Forty Six

"Finally," the Doctor muttered when Rain went outside to go visit with her father for awhile. "Now to get that other gift from the TARDIS."

He hurried out to the garage, went inside his time ship and requested the gift. There was a flash and the large gift appeared on the console, wrapped in pink wrapping paper with red hearts all over it and a big red bow on top. The Doctor thanked his ship, walked out, shut the door and walked back inside the house. He froze when he saw Hope standing there staring at him. She had been upstairs playing with her dolls when he went out to the TARDIS and he hoped she would still be playing with them when he came back inside. He feigned surprise while Hope stared at the gift with silent interest. The Doctor walked past her and once he was past her, he took two steps, froze and looked back at her with wide eyes. Hope giggled as she followed behind him. He walked over to a potted plant by the stairs, slowly bent down as if he was going to hide the package there, froze and looked at Hope with wide eyes while she giggled. Then he quickly straightened up and walked over to the sofa while Hope followed. He moved aside a tan pillow on the sofa and leaned down as if he was going to hide it behind the pillow, froze and stared at Hope with wide eyes when she came up beside him.

"I see you," Hope said before she giggled again.

The Doctor set the gift down on the sofa, fiddled around in his pocket, withdrew a long red scarf and blindfolded Hope. Hope laughed and pulled it off as the Doctor grabbed the gift and walked towards the kitchen. She followed him and laughed when he paused at the door, looked over his shoulder and his mouth dropped open in feigned surprise.

"I see you," Hope said with a wave.

"What will it take for you to keep your silence about Mummy's gift then?" he asked.

Hope walked up and touched the box.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Something special for Mummy," the Doctor said. "It's her birthday gift."

"Ooo, can we give it to her now?" Hope asked.

"Not yet, my love. We wait till tonight, yeah? In the meantime, don't say anything or I'll tickle you until you can't speak anymore, okay?"

Hope giggled and nodded.

"This'll be our secret so don't tell, okay?"

Hope nodded and she walked with the Doctor as he went upstairs with the gift. When he entered the bedroom, Hope walked over to Rain's pillow and stared at the jewelry box.

"That's the other gift I got her. Don't say anything," the Doctor said, laying the gift on the bed in front of the pillow."

"What did Mummy get you?"

"Dunno. But I don't care if she got me something or not. Your mummy being here with us is a gift I enjoy every day," the Doctor said, taking her hand as they walked out of the room. "But don't tell, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy."

They went downstairs and the Doctor let go of her hand as he walked to the front window. Hope followed him and came up beside him while he stood at the window and looked across the way at Rain. She was sitting with John on his porch, talking and laughing with him. Hope frowned when she heard her father saying something in an unfamiliar language.

"What did you say? You didn't make any sense, Daddy," she said.

He knelt down beside her.

"I spoke in Gallifreyan. I was saying that I was glad that I met your mother and I hoped that we'd spend many more birthdays together," he said.

"What's Gallifreyan?" Hope said, frowning.

He smiled.

"My native language. It's the language I spoke when I was your age, when I lived on the original Gallifrey," he said to her. "It's what I use when I sing you lullabies at night."

"It's pretty. Can you say doggie in Gallifreyan?"

The Doctor frowned.

"Um...well...there was something like a dog on Gallifrey, but you're thinking of Earth dogs and they didn't have a word for that, love. They didn't know what Earth dogs were until our ancestors found Earth and started visiting it. So I'm afraid the word for dog on Gallifrey is dog. Now the thing that was like a dog was a va'ya and people kept them as pets like Anne and Elizabeth."

"Va'ya," Hope said slowly.

"That's right," the Doctor said, patting her head. "I'll have to start teaching you some Gallifreyan then."

"How do you say happy birthday in Gallifreyan?"

"E'ya Shi'an," the Doctor said.

Hope repeated it with him a few times and then the Doctor smiled when she dashed to the front door, threw it open and screamed it at her mother as she ran down the porch steps and across the street. The Doctor stood up and watched with loving eyes as Hope ran up the porch steps yelling "E'ya Shi'an!" to her mother while they laughed.

"I see someone has been giving her a language lesson," the Doctor heard Rain say to John as she hugged her daughter.

The Doctor stood and watched them, listening to Hope's excited words that drifted back to him. He figured in her excitement she would tell her mother about the gifts but he was pleasantly surprised when she didn't say a word and after twenty minutes walked back over with her to their house. He looked down at Anne and Elizabeth when they came up to him and he scratched behind their ears.

"I'm so proud of my daughter," he said as he petted them and they licked his hands. "She'll make a wonderful Time Lady someday."

Several hours later, Alan boxed up the cake he and Adam made while Rose finished wrapped a rectangular gift. They were having another pitch in for their birthday, a huge feast for everyone and Rose contributed some mashed potatoes that were in a huge pot. While Rose finished putting a red bow on the gold wrapping, she smiled when Alice came up beside her and she rubbed her head.

"Behave, you. Don't you and Speck cause trouble while we're gone," she said.

"Specky-poo's an angel. She won't cause a fuss unlike the canine calamity there," Alan said.

"Yeah, right. That rat of yours loves getting into the cupboard and leaving her shite everywhere. Least Alice is house trained," Rose said.

"She does not. My Speck is well behaved," Alan said.

"That's because I clean up the shite before you see it," Rose said.

"Uh-huh, probably gifts from your mutt and you're just blaming my sweet little chewie-woowie."

"No, I don't think Alice's poo is microscopic but I'm not gonna argue about it. Come on, we need to get over to the house before the party begins."

Alan went over, picked up Speck and kissed her on top of the head.

"I know you're innocent, Speck, but you behave just the same so Rose won't have any cause to blame you."

Rose rolled the eyes as she grabbed the pot and headed towards the door.

An hour later, Hope and Faith were walking through the crowded house while the party was in full swing. Both of them were drinking Coke and listening to the adult's conversation and laughter.

"Grown-ups are strange sometimes," Faith said to Hope as they walked through the crowds of people.

"Yeah, but some of them are cool. Uncle Alan is silly. He makes me laugh. Watch."

They walked up behind Uncle Alan and Hope reached up and pressed the small of his back as if she were pressing a button.

"Beeeeep," she said as she pressed.

Alan paused for a few seconds and then with robotic movements lowered the glass of bitter he had in his hand onto the coffee table. Faith and Hope followed while he walked robotically across the room to the Doctor who was standing and chatting with Grace, Amber and Tara while he sipped a mug of tea. Hope and Faith watched gleefully as Alan came up behind the Doctor, robotically raised his hands and clasped them around the Doctor's neck. The Doctor froze and his eyes bugged out while the women laughed.

"Must...kill...Doctor," Alan said in a robot voice. "Must...choke...Time...Lord."

"Bored again, Brother?" the Doctor said before he took a sip of tea.

"Must...kill...Doctor...children...command...it!"

The Doctor looked down and the women laughed when he rolled his eyes.

"Shoulda known Tweedledee and Tweedledum were behind this," he said to the women.

Hope reached up and pushed the small of his back. Alan blinked and feigned shock when he heard her go beeeeep.

"Where...where am I?" he said, slowing removing his hands from the Doctor's neck. "How did I get over here? Brother, what happened?"

"You were the temporary robot slave of two children," the Doctor said while Hope and Faith giggled.

"I was? Bugger! I need to block my mind to prevent enslavement by children then," Alan said, walking back towards the other side of the room.

"See, Uncle Alan's silly," Hope said to Faith.

"Am I silly as well?" the Doctor said, leaning down and getting in her face.

Hope and Faith looked at each other and hurried away, giggling.

"Well, bang goes that big expensive gift I purchased for them then," the Doctor said to the women while Hope and Faith slowed down, walked around and watched everyone.

After they ate, everyone made the Doctor and Rain sit down on the sofa. Rain and Faith came and sat down beside Rain while everyone else gathered around them.

"Okay," Jack said. "We have something special for both of you. A special DVD we made of past memories and birthday wishes so before you can open the presents you have to watch it."

Everyone laughed when the Doctor gave him a wary look. Jack grinned and everyone parted and walked to the sides of the room while he walked over to the DVD player and turned it on.

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.