PARENTHOOD
Chapter One Hundred and Forty Eight The first thing the Doctor saw when the DVD started was a little girl that resembled Hope, only slightly darker. She was sitting in a bathtub filled with bubble bath, splashing and laughing. He quickly deduced who it was when Rain groaned and muttered, Oh Lord, to herself. "Hi!" Young Rain said as she waved at the camera. "Hello, my Rainshower, what are you doing?" John said as he filmed her. "Taking a bath," Rain said as she gave him a big grin. "When was this, love?" the Doctor asked his wife. "Um...when I was three, I think. My dad borrowed a video camera from a friend and taped me and Amber doing things along with some other stuff," she said. "I had no idea he was gonna do this." The Doctor was intrigued. He had seen flashes of memories of Rain as a young child during their memory sharing but it still enchanted him seeing her so young and innocent. Then the footage switched to his wife as a five year old girl. She was dressed in a black and red Navajo dress. Beside her was a taller girl that the Doctor surmised was Amber. She was dressed in a black and yellow Navajo dress. "Okay, girls," John said as he filmed them. "Do something for the camera." Amber waved but the Doctor snickered when his wife began to dance around in a circle and clap her hands while she sang. He glanced at Rain and put his arm around her when he saw her red face. Hope and Faith giggled and slid to the floor, grabbing their Cokes as they walked closer to the TV and lay down on their stomachs. The next piece of footage was Rain as a nine year old girl. She was standing in a school gymnasium holding a certificate and a trophy up to the camera while she grinned for her father. "What was this, love?" the Doctor asked. Rain was about to answer when suddenly a caption came on the screen under her face. RAIN. COCHISE ELEMENTARY SPELLING BEE CHAMPION AT AGE NINE. SEE! SHE'S JUST AS SMART AS HER HUSBAND. Everyone laughed while Rain blushed again. "You never told me were you spelling bee champion, Latara. I'm impressed!" the Doctor teased. "Now if I need to spell something, I'll know who to rely on." "Geez, Dad, you had to drag out all this old footage just to embarrass me," Rain said to her father. "I'm proud of you, Rainshower, I just wanted your family to see how special you are, even back then." The Doctor was about to say something when the footage shifted to Jack's smiling face. He looked slightly younger than he is now and he stared at it in confusion until he turned the camera towards Rose and he realized that Rose looked the way she did when she traveled with him in his ninth life. "This is Rose," Jack was whispering. "And for the record, she came up with this prank." "Shhh," Rose said, putting her finger to her lips. "Don't wake him up. Come on." The Doctor raised his eyebrow and eyed Rose as she and Jack stood nearby and nudged each other. The Doctor turned his attention back to the DVD and watched as Rose beckoned to Jack behind the camera. They tiptoed towards the console and when they reached the other side, the Doctor saw his ninth self sitting on the jump seat, arms folded over his chest while he took a deep restoring nap. He stared at the footage in shock, watching while Rose took a tube of lipstick out of her jean's pocket, took off the cap and used the red lipstick to write GEEK directly on his forehead. "I KNEW IT!" the Doctor said while Rose and Jack howled with laughter. "I knew it was you, Rose, even when you denied doing that!" "I decided to finally admit to my guilt, Doctor," Rose told him. "I figured if I didn't, you'd go to your grave wondering who did it." "No...actually, I forgot that happened...until now...and now, I think I'll kill you and Jack and give myself a birthday present," he said while everyone laughed. Rose shrugged and put her tongue between her teeth while Jack patted her on the shoulder and moved away. The Doctor turned his attention back to the footage and saw photos of Rain as a baby and a young girl. By the time they were finished, he was on his stomach beside his daughter along with Duer, Alan and Adam. The next bit after the baby and child photos was another caption. AND NOW A PERFORMANCE PIECE FROM ALAN TIMELORD. The caption was replaced by Alan sitting in bubble bath. The Doctor's eyes bugged out and everyone except Rain laughed when Alan began imitating Rain playing in the bathtub. Then he and Adam played the parts of Rain and Amber, both of them in drag wearing dresses identical to the ones that Rain and Amber wore in the footage. Rain cracked a smile when Alan imitated her dancing around, clapping and singing while Adam spun his finger around his head and pointed to Alan. Then they saw a smiling Alan holding up a certificate and trophy for the camera. ALAN TIMELORD WINS MOST STUDLY AT THE TIME LORD ACADEMY! "I did it! I win!" Alan said while everyone laughed. Then the next bit was Alan standing close to the camera wearing a red jumper and a black jacket with GEEK written across his forehead in red lipstick. "ROOOOOS-AH!" he bellowed. Then the screen faded to black and FIN came up. "Wow, that was really pointless, Bro," Rain said while everyone laughed. The next segment began with the Doctor and Rain's children standing together. All of them waved for the camera and the Doctor and Rain smiled when they yelled out HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MUM AND DAD. "I think I speak for everyone, Father, when I say that we're truly honored to be your children," Emi said. "Yeah, you are the best Mum and Dad in the world!" Namid added. "Sometimes," Hope said to the camera. "Sometimes?" Alan said as he filmed her and everyone looked down at her. "What do you mean, Hopey-Hope?" Hope came up to Alan's feet and he aimed the camera down at her. "One time I wanted a pony and Daddy said no, so sometimes he's not the best daddy in the world," Hope said. "Well, poor little you," the real Doctor said to his daughter as everyone in the house laughed. "I'm sorry I was such a bastard for not giving you a pony." The next bit of footage was John, Wilf, Tim, Linus and Samuel. They all waved at the camera and yelled Happy Birthday while Alan stood in their yard and filmed them. Then suddenly, Hope's face peeked up over the stone porch wall. "I want my pony, Daddy," she said. The Doctor eyed Hope as she and everyone else laughed. Next was Adam, Duer, Shilah, Jack, John and Amato. "Happy birthday from your brothers!" they yelled. Then the camera panned down to Hope who was standing in front of them. "Want a pony, Daddy!" she squealed. "NO!" the real Doctor yelled at Hope while everyone laughed. Next was Mingxia, Marion, Frankie, Peri and Rosie. They said their happy birthdays and then parted to show Hope standing behind them. "PONY!" Hope yelled. The Doctor threw up his hands while everyone laughed. Then suddenly they heard seductive music and the Doctor's eyes bulged when the footage shifted to Rose wearing a purple nightie as she lay under the covers in her bed. "Hello...Doctor," she said in a seductive voice. "Remember me? We used to have a relationship but you decided to chuck me out of the TARDIS. And now..." They saw a picture of Alan grinning a wolfish grin and the word SHE'S MINE, FINDERS, KEEPERS flashing underneath his face. Everyone laughed when it cut back to Rose in the bed. "Yes, if you played your cards differently, it could have been our birthday today but..." It cut back to the photo of Alan with FINDERS, KEEPERS flashing under him. "You have her, mate, I'm satisfied!" the real Doctor said to Alan. Then it cut back to Rose and suddenly Hope rose up and stared at the camera. "Poneeeee," she said. "Is my pony coveting daughter in every shot then?" the Doctor asked as everyone laughed hysterically. Then it shifted to Torchwood. Everyone except Jack waved to him and said happy birthday but behind them, sitting on the sofa, Hope was yelling out PONY while they said their happy birthdays. Then it cut to Julie, Koschei and Aderyn. Julie and Koschei wished him happy birthday, then the camera panned down to Aderyn and Hope. "WE WANT PONIES!" both children said. By this time, Faith, Hope and Aderyn were all laughing uncontrollably while the Doctor eyed Hope and poked her side. "So...I'm beginning to think that Hope is playing a very poor version of Where's Wally then?" the Doctor said to everyone while Hope laughed and snuggled up against him. The next person was Sarah Jane sitting at the computer in the study in her house on Bannerman Road. "Doctor, Rain, I just want to say how chuffed I am that I'm around to see another birthday and share it with you. I love you both so very much and now, here's the rest of the family..." She gestured off to her left and Alan panned over to the right and they saw Peter, Luke, Rani, Clyde and Hope. "PONIES!" everyone yelled as they waved. Everyone in the Doctor's house laughed as the Doctor banged his forehead on the floor four times before he nudged Hope. Then they saw Hope sitting on a brown pony on a ranch somewhere. In the distance were mesas and the little pony was tied up to a fence in front of it. "I WANT THIS ONE, DADDY!" Hope squealed as she pointed down to it. "NO!" the Doctor yelled out as everyone laughed. They watched while everyone else gave their birthday wishes, each time Hope in the shot in some way yelling that she wanted a pony. When it was finally over, the Doctor looked at Alan. "When did this whole film my daughter yelling out pony thing happen?" he asked. "Remember last Tuesday when I told ya I'd take her to the park," Alan said. "I took her on a very, very long outing. Course we had to bribe her with a film and some buttered popcorn and Coke and some licorice whips but it was worth it. Then we brought her a dolly to bribe her into silence." "It worked. She never breathed a word about it to me or to Rain," The Doctor said. "Yeah, it's nice to know she can keep a secret," Rain said as Hope walked over to her and embraced her. "Yes, she's quite a little angel," Alan said. "But...now that we've shown you your birthday DVD and made sure you heard everyone's birthday wishes. Now...it's time for your gifts!"
Back Home Doctor Who Main Page Next