PARENTHOOD

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Four

By the time they got back into the TARDIS and were hurrying to the next location, Hope was buzzing with excitement. Finally, she couldn't wait any longer and she ran to her mother, begging her to let her know where they were going. Rain smiled, bent down and whispered in her ear. Hope's eyes bulged and Rain kissed her as she whispered for her daughter to follow her so she could get ready. Excitement coursing throughout her body, she followed her mother back to her room on the TARDIS.

Meanwhile, the TARDIS landed and powered down. The Doctor Looked at Donna.

"Should...we open the door and have a peek?" he asked her.

"Might make your wife angry," Donna said.

"Nah, she'd love me no matter what," the Doctor said. "I'll be a naughty boy and have a dekko and then pretend I haven't looked."

"What about me? How do you know I won't tell her you looked," Donna said.

The Doctor stared at her for a moment and then laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Donna, it's been wonderful but I'm afraid I have to wipe your mind and..."

"Ooooh no, you don't," Donna said, backing away while the Doctor sniggered. "You do that again to me and I'll rip your head off your shoulders and use it for a football."

The Doctor looked over when Rain and Hope came back into the room. Hope was carrying a little pink duffle bag. She walked over to her father and smiled up at him.

"I know what we're gonna dooo-ooo," she said in a sing-song voice.

She laughed when the Doctor seized her and began to tickle her.

"Tell me!" he said as he tickled her. "I must know! I must know what we're gonna dooo-oo! You must tell me or I'll tickle the life from you."

Hope pulled away and scurried back to her mother, giggling while she ran around her legs.

"Did he torture you, baby?" Rain asked, looking behind her.

"I must know!" the Doctor said, running to Rain and grabbing her shirt. "I must know! You must tell me!"

Rain glanced up when the TARDIS laughed at that and she patted his head.

"No wonder your ship stayed with you all these years. You've given her centuries of amusement," she said to the Doctor.

"Yup, she's just as barmy as I am," the Doctor said, patting the console while the TARDIS grumbled out laughter. "So...where'd ya take me? Where, where, where?"

Hope walked around Rain, took her father's hand and the Doctor let out a squeal of delight when she led him to the door. Rain and Donna shared a glance and followed them. The Doctor opened the door and peeked outside. He saw several trees in front of him and noticed they were in a field. As he came outside, he noticed they were surrounded by trees and boulders and the field was beside a large, rectangular cinder block building that had no windows. On the side someone had painted a huge rainbow and the Doctor admired it as the others came outside.

"Come along, love," Rain said, taking the Doctor's hand while Donna closed the TARDIS door.

They walked around the front of the building. In the distance the Doctor could see a huge mountain rising up beyond the city. It was glowing in the moonlight and resembled a camel resting. He deduced it was Camelback Mountain which was behind Phoenix and his suspicions were confirmed when they reached the entrance and he saw Phoenix Roller Rink on a sign above the glass double doors.

"Roller skating?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, it's hard to shop for you so I figured a night of roller skating might be to your liking," Rain said.

"Brilliant! I would love to roller skate with all of you," he said as they went inside.

The moment they went through the small corridor and into the main portion of the building, the Doctor stopped short when he saw all of his family and friends standing around the roller rink. They all shouted happy birthday to him and Rain grinned at him.

"Figure out why we landed amid a bunch of trees and rocks?" she said.

The Doctor beamed and laughed at that while Rain squeezed his hand.

"I used my magic wallet and rented the building for the night so we'll have it all to ourselves apart from the staff," she said. "And we told everyone you were coming."

"No one told me," Donna said with a frown.

Jack skated over.

"We searched for you so we could let you know but you went for a walk and I guess Hope intercepted you before anyone else could. But once Rain told me where you were, I told everyone else so we called off the search. Otherwise, you would have known about this beforehand."

"And we brought your roller skates and the TARDIS got Donna a fresh pair so you don't have to worry about renting them," Rain said, pointing to the duffle bag.

"Well, let's get them on and get skating then," the Doctor said.

Very soon, the whole roller rink was crowded with the Doctor's family and friends. A few were at the concession stand getting snacks and Mickey and Cameron were playing the arcade games. The Doctor had Hope's hand and was slowly skating with her while they stayed near the wall. He kept smiling and waving when people would pass by and scream happy birthday to him as well as Rain. Then Alan caught up with him. He was skating backwards and when he reached him, he maneuvered into the empty space in front of him and continued to skate backwards while he talked to him.

"Ah, Rainy can be a painy but sometimes she has wonderful brainstorms," he said as he skated backwards.

"Yes. She's a lot more brilliant than you give her credit for," the Doctor said.

"Eh, let's not go that far," Alan said, making a face.

"Hey, how you doing that?" Hope said.

"How I doin' what?" Alan said.

"You're going the other way, how you doing that?"

"Magic, you silly girl. I'm a powerful sorcerer, didn't you know that?" Alan said.

Amato passed them skating backwards. He slowed his pace and kept up with Alan.

"Where's the butter knife then?" he asked Alan.

"Rosita? I left the fat cow behind, she was too slow," Alan said to him. "What about you? Where's Very Peri?"

"With Martha Artha and Grace Face. I left her behind as well," Amato said. "No one can keep up with me when it comes to backward skating."

Amato looked down when Hope sped up and got in front of him.

"Eeek, wee one coming!" he said while Alan chuckled. "I..."

He gasped when Hope suddenly lost her balance and fell hard on her knee. All four adults stopped and started to help her up while she cried. While they were doing that, Adam was skating by, heard her weeping and stopped. He coasted over and stopped. He leaned over and stared at her with wide eyes. Everyone chuckled when he continued to stare and Hope started to laugh in spite of herself.

"That's better. I don't want you crying. This is supposed to be funtime," Adam said.

"I hurt myself," Hope said, pointing to her skinned left knee.

She giggled when Adam bent over more and stared intently at it. Then after a few moments, he looked into her eyes.

"You need some iodine?" he asked.

"Um...no," Hope said.

"Sure?"

The Doctor laughed when Hope looked up at him with a confused look on her face.

"What's Idonine?" she asked him.

"Never mine, love. Your knee will be okay," the Doctor said.

"My knee will be okay, Daddy said so," Hope said to Adam.

"Well," Adam said, sniffing. "I'm no longer needed then. Goodbye."

He swiveled around and zoomed off on his roller skates. While they watched him go, they saw Rose skating by with Grace and Martha.

"Hey look," the Doctor yelled so she could heard him, "It's that fat cow, Rose Tyler!"

Alan and Jack zoomed away when Rose slowed to a stop and gave the Doctor the look of death while Grace and Martha bent over laughing.

"Baby, step back so we won't get in the way of Aunt Rose killing your daddy," Rain said, taking her hand when Rose made a beeline for the Doctor. Grace and Martha followed their sister while she slowly guided to a half in front of the Doctor and folded her arms over her chest.

"Say that again to my face, if you have the guts," Rose said to him.

"I was only repeating what Alan said," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, well, Alan ain't here and you are, now...say that again to my face," Rose said, skating closer to him.

Rose stared at him while the Doctor shifted nervously. Suddenly he looked behind him and pointed off towards the arcade.

"A Dalek!" he yelled before he zoomed away.

Rose snorted while Rain bent over laughing and flipped off the Doctor while he put as much distance between himself and her as he possibly could.

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