PARENTHOOD
Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Three Duer softly hummed while walking down the hallway and stopped near the door, peeking into Faith's bedroom. He had come to tell her a bedtime story but she wasn't in the room and he frowned. He then heard the sound of giggling coming from her bathroom as he walked to the doorway and smiled, seeing her giving Elby a bath. The sleeves of her pink Disney Princesses nightgown was pulled up as she poured a cup of water of Elby's head and it shivered then saw Duer standing in the doorway. "MEEP!" Elby screamed when it crawled out of the sink and slid under the towel on the counter, making Faith turn around to look at Duer. "Daddy, don't you know how to knock? I was giving Elby his bath!" she said as Elby peeked out from under the towel and nodded. "Sorry," he said as she picked up the towel and started drying Elby. "Does he get a bath every night?" "Yep, just like I do," Faith said with a nod of her head and carefully dried Elby's hair. "And he liked bubbles in his bath like you do?" "No, he's a boy, he likes to play with his toy boats," she said as Duer walked to the sink and saw the tiny plastic boats sitting on the counter. "Ah, does he splash water everywhere then? Your brother used to do that when he was little." "Yep, but I just tell him to stop," Faith said when she placed the towel on the counter and handed Elby a pair of blue and red striped doll pajamas and blue dressing gown, holding the washcloth up as Elby got dressed. "Well, I am glad that you take such good care of him," Duer said with a smile as Elby walked out from behind the washcloth and tied the dressing gown closed. "You don't use the hairdryer on his hair, do you?" "No, Mommy said that it would make his hair go all curly." "But he'll get a cold if he goes around with wet hair." "The TARDIS made him that," Faith said as she pointed to what looked like a chair with a hairdryer from a beauty salon and Elby walked to the chair and sat down. Faith lowered the drying unit over Elby's head and Elby made a little purring sound, swinging its feet back and forth. "Hmm," Duer said as he looked at the drying unit then took out his sonic screwdriver and did a quick scan. "Ah, it uses low level sonic waves to dry his hair. It won't bother his ears and dries the hair a lot quicker than a normal hairdryer. Brilliant!" Faith nodded then lifted the top of the drying unit and Elby stood up, walking toward her. Faith carefully picked Elby up as she handed Elby to Duer then went about cleaning up the bathroom. They left the bathroom as Duer turned the light off in the bathroom and they walked to the small vanity. Faith sat down as Duer placed Elby on the table and Elby sat down on the edge of the table. Faith picked up a small, soft bristle brush when she picked Elby up and started brushing its hair. "Mommy says that his hair is easier to brush than yours," Faith said as Duer knelt down next to her and frowned, looking at their reflection in the mirror. "Does she?" he asked and Faith nodded. "She says that you need an extra hour to get ready to go anywhere because your hair goes all over the place," she said with a grin and Duer's eyes went wide. "I will have you know that it only take ten minutes for me to get it to look like this," he said with a smug look on his face and she giggled. "Uncle Adam says that you look like you stuck your finger in a light socket," she said then yelped as he tickled her armpit then rolled his eyes. "Well, your Uncle Adam looks like he just got up," he said and she giggled. "I like your hair," Faith said as she stroked his hair and he smiled, kissing her check. "Thank you, Butterfly," he said when Faith finished brushing Elby's hair and Elby looked at them, blinking its eyes. "There, you look handsome!" "Meep," Elby said as it smiled and gave them a smug look. Duer softly laughed when he carefully picked Elby up and they walked to the bed. Faith crawled onto the bed as Duer placed Elby on the bed and helped her take her pink, fuzzy slippers off, placing the pink fuzzy slippers on the floor. She snuggled under the pink Disney Princesses duvet when he tucked her in then sat on the bed. Elby crawled over Duer's legs then snuggled between them as it looked up at them and Duer smiled, picking Elby up and looked at it. "Daddy?" Faith asked as he looked at her and she looked at Elby. "Where did Elby come from?" "I told you. Aunt Marion made him for Mommy when I had to go away for a bit." "Yeah, I know that story, but where do chibis come from? Are they born like everyone else?" "Ah," he said as he looked at Elby and used his index finger to move some hair from Elby's eyes. "No, Love, chibis aren't born like everyone else." "Meep?" Elby asked with a pout and Duer shook his head. "Aunt Marion told me that an alien had arrived on the Earth where she, Uncle Adam, River and James lived and had asked for asylum." "Why?" Faith asked. "Well, you see, Chabi, that was his name, was a toy maker on his home world and most of his toys were toys that children could interactive with. The biggest seller in his store was the chibis because the chibis weren't like any ordinary doll or action figures. They were alive and could be a companion for a child when there was no one else to play with. Now, some people thought that they were just a new form of pet, but there were those that thought the chibis would be the perfect weapons. I mean no one would expect a toy to be trained to kill people or blow things up," Duer said and Elby started shaking and made little frightened meeping sounds. Duer held Elby against his chest as he rubbed its back and sent comfort into its mind. "You mean like in that movie Cameron was watching?" Faith asked. "Yes, just like that movie. Those dolls were made to get revenge and the people Chabi was running away from wanted him to make them chibis that would kill. He didn't want his creations to be used that way and left his home world. Now, Aunt Marion was there when he landed on Earth and took him to Torchwood where..." "Uncle Jack helped him hid so the bad people wouldn't find him?" she asked and he smiled her. "No, this is the Torchwood where they lived," he said and she pouted. "Oh, where the bad man hurt Uncle Adam," she sighed and Duer looked at her with a confused look on his face. "He told you about that?" "Yep, he said Aunt Marion's step-daddy hurt Uncle Adam because he was your brother. He even kidnapped River and made Uncle Adam really sick. He would of died if you hadn't saved him," Faith said and Duer sighed, thinking about what the Peter Tyler of Adam's universe had done to Adam and closed his eyes for a few second. "Are you ok, Daddy?" "Yeah, I'm fine," he said as he opened his eyes and smiled down at Elby. "Anyway, Aunt Marion really liked the chibis and told Chabi that she would take care of them for him. He left the chibis, the instructions on how to make them and the machine he used to create them then she found him a new identity and he went into hiding." "Did he look human?" "I think so. Aunt Marion didn't tell me." "But why do some of them look like you?" she asked as he looked at Elby and smiled. "Well, she did that because River missed me and Aunt Marion thought having chibis that looked like her family, including me and my lives, and my friends would cheer River up. The problem was our family kept growing and growing and growing and she had to keep making new ones." "Mommy said that River took the chibis away to another planet once." "Yep, River had found a planet with living dolls on it in this universe and it turned out that Chabi had crashed landed there. He made those chibis for company but died of old age. Luckily, he had taught those chbis how to use the machines and they built their own villages." "Mommy said that the planet blew up," Faith sighed and Duer nodded. "River was able to save her chibis. She wanted the others to come with her but they refused. That was their home." "You said that some of them look like your lives. You mean there are more that look like you and Elby?" she asked and Duer smiled, shaking his head. "No, they don't look like me and Elby. Did I explain regeneration to you?" he asked and she shook her head. Snuggling closer, she placed her head on his arm as he told her what regeneration was and both Faith and Elby were shocked. "And you look different each time?" she asked. "Yep, that is why Elby doesn't look like me. This is what I will look like in my next life," he said as he pointed to Elby and Elby looked up at him. "River let me see the other ones. There is one that looks like a grandpa," she said and he smiled. "That was how I looked originally," Duer said. "Then there was the one that looks like Grandpa Trevor," she said, talking about Trevor, the Doctor from another universe that came to live with them and looks like Duer's second life. The children had officially adopted him as a grandfather and Duer smiled. "That was my second life." "I like the one that drives around in the toy car." "That was my third life and the car's name is Bessie," he said and she smiled then yawned. Duer shifted a bit on the bed as she snuggled closer and placed her head on his chest. "The one with the long scarf keeps falling down all the time," she sighed and half closed her eyes. "Ah, that is my fourth life. I never figured out why I wanted to wear that scarf. It was always getting in the way," he said and she smiled, placing her thumb in her mouth. Duer watched as she started drifting off to sleep and he softly sang a Gallifreyan lullaby, rubbing her back. In a few minutes she was sound asleep as he kissed the top of her head then slid out from under her and rested her head on the pillow. He moved the duvet up when he bent over and kissed the top of her head. He placed her teddy bear under her arm as she smiled then looked at Elby and Elby looked at Faith. "Meep?" Elby whispered as Duer nodded then picked Elby up and walked to the dollhouse. He opened the front of the dollhouse as he placed Elby inside and helped it take the dressing gown off. Yawning, Elby placed the dressing gown on the chair then crawled under the tiny, blue duvet and half closed its eyes. Duer knelt down when he tucked Elby under the duvet then patted its head and Elby yawned a second time, closing its eyes.. He watched while Elby snuggled under the duvet then Duer stood up and walked to the door. Turning around, he smiled then turned the light off as he walkout out of the room and closed the door halfway. He shook his head when he placed his hands in his pocket then walked to the stairs, going downstairs and smiled.
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