PARENTHOOD

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Six

The Doctor skated over to the concession stand and ordered a small bowl of nachos and a Coke. When he received them and paid for his purchase, he turned and noticed Hope was staring at him while Rain giggled as she sat at a nearby table.

"I want some," Hope said, pointing to the nachos.

"Get a job and earn some money and you can get some," the Doctor said as he skated past her to the table Rain was sitting out.

"Hey, I want some!" Hope said while Rain laughed.

The Doctor feigned annoyance and let out a melodramatic sigh while Hope skated over and sat down beside Rain. He smiled, gave her the nachos and Coke and went back over to get some more for him and Rain. They sat together and ate at a small booth that was beside the divider wall for the skating rink. While they ate, Rose skated up, folded her arms on top of the divider wall and stared intently at the Doctor while Rain giggled.

"Since you're sitting here eating, I'm guessing the Daleks are gone," Rose said to him.

"Oh yeah, it took a lot out of me to eject them from the roller skating facility which is why I'm consuming nachos and soda pop," the Doctor said while Rain giggled. "The dirty blighters, they managed to affix roller skates to their undersides and they were going to blend into the crowd while they killed us but I saw right through their disguise so I'm rewarding myself now."

"Yeah, right, Doctor, like anyone would ever believe that," Rose muttered.

Hope offered her a nacho chip and Rose smiled as she took it and munched on it. While she was eating it, Manfred Mann's Blinded By The Light came on and blared overhead. She finished swallowing the chip when Alan coasted up and grabbed.

"Blinded by the light!" he sang loudly. "Wrapped up like a douche, another rubber in the night."

Rain choked on her Coke while Alan giggled.

"That isn't what he's singing," Rose said to Alan.

"Is too, listen," he said, pointing up to the ceiling.

The chorus came on again and Alan emphasized douche and rubber as he sang it to her.

"No, actually, we had this argument before when I was younger," Rain said to Alan. "It's blinded by the light, revved up like deuce, another runner in the night."

"Is not," Alan said. "He's saying douche, you can hear it clearly."

"What's a douche?"

Rain gave Alan a dirty look when Hope asked that. Alan patted Hope's head.

"It's an adult thing," he said before he stole one of her nacho chips laden with nacho cheese and popped it in his mouth.

While he did that, Jack coasted up to his side and Alan asked him about the lyrics while he pointed up to the ceiling. Rain and Rose laughed when Jack corrected him and told him it was deuce and not douche.

"Whatever," Alan said, holding up his hand. "I know what I'm hearing and it's douche."

Jack chuckled and sang the chorus to himself while he rested on the divider and Alan skated off. Suddenly, Alan came back with John, Shilah and Adam and they came up beside him. All four of them took a deep breath and belted out...

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT!

WRAPPED UP LIKE A DOUCHE, ANOTHER RUBBER IN THE NIGHT!

Rose groaned when the four of them skated away, laughing insanely.

"Those four were meant for each other," Rain said, dipping one of her nachos in her cheese sauce before eating it.

"Well, they get along so well because they're all me," the Doctor said.

"Should they be at odds then since they're all you?" Rose said.

"No, we're all one mind. Much like a hive mind and..."

The Doctor trailed off and frowned when he felt his mind being blocked from the rest of his family. He noticed Rose, Rain and Jack giggling and then suddenly the majority of his family screamed out...

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT, WRAPPED UP LIKE A DOUCHE, ANOTHER RUBBER IN THE NIGHT!

The Doctor shook with silent laughter while the rink echoed with laughter. Meanwhile, Jackie skated to the little opening in the divider wall and stepped up into the arcade area.

"Sometimes I think you lot are just barking mad," she said as she skated over to the concession stand.

"Ah, come on, Jackie, it's just a joke," the Doctor said to her. "We're just having a bit of fun."

"Have some nachos, Gran," Hope said to her.

Jackie smiled tenderly at her and skated over while Rose and Jack came up into the arcade.

"Yeah, Mum, just relax and have fun," Rose said as she and Jack skated over to her.

Jackie ate the nacho chip that Hope offered to her, nodded and skated back over to the concession stand.

"All these years and she still acts like we're a bunch of naughty teenagers," Rose muttered to everyone as she leaned down.

"Well, you ran away with me when you were a teenager so perhaps she's basing her assessment on that," the Doctor said with a shrug.

"Yes but you came back and got me after I refused," Rose countered.

The Doctor froze mid sip of his Coke and slowly lowered the cup.

"And your point is?" he said to her.

The Doctor and Rose stared at one another for a moment and then Rose looked off to her right.

"A Dalek!" she said.

Rain and Jack laughed as she skated away.

"What was that you were saying about some of us being barking mad, Jackie?" the Doctor called to her.

He frowned when he felt fingers through the back of his hair and turned to look at his wife and daughter who were giggling.

"May I ask what that was about?" the Doctor asked Rain.

"Not me, that was Hope."

The Doctor looked at Hope who was giggling and shaking her hand. He held up her hand and looked at her short arm and then held up his wife's longer arm and gave her a pointed look.

"Hope stood up really fast," Rain said with a shrug.

She and Hope laughed when the Doctor's eyes bulged the moment he felt someone's finger going through his hair. He turned and saw Jack was sitting in the booth behind him.

"What?" Jack said with a look of innocence.

"That better not have been you," the Doctor said.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jack said with a shrug before biting into his hot dog.

The Doctor was about to say something when he felt a finger in his hair and heard Hope giggling. He jerked his head around fast enough to see Rain quickly putting her hand down under the booth.

"Uh huh, caught ya now!" the Doctor said triumphantly.

"Caught me doing what? Putting my hand in my lap?" Rain said innocently.

The Doctor was about to answer that when suddenly Rose sped up and slammed into his table.

"The point is you were contributing to the delinquency of a minor! So there!"

Jack bent over his table, laughing hysterically while Rose zoomed away. The Doctor stared at her as she skated away and then looked at Jackie who was standing by the concession stand, sipping a soda with a you see what I mean look on her face. He rolled his eyes and smiled when Rain and Hope laughed at that and took a nacho chip from his bowl.

After three hours, it was time to close up for the night and everyone filed out to the car park to say goodbye before going to the field. The Doctor and Rain accepted hugs and good wishes from everyone as they slowly went back to their TARDISes. Finally, Rose and Alan were left.

"A very awesome idea, Rainy. We must do this again sometime," Alan said to her.

"Well, he's very hard to shop for so I thought a night at the skating rink might be the perfect gift for him," Rain said.

"Yes, I'm very hard to please. My standards are very exacting and I frown on shoddy gifts," the Doctor said. "The roller rink gift was deemed satisfactory."

"Let's go again," Hope said.

They laughed when the Doctor looked down at her.

"You want to send me to an early regeneration? I'm tired and you want to keep going. I'll drop dead of exhaustion before you're through," he said to her.

"I like roller skating. I wanna do more," Hope said.

"Yup, she's yours alright," Alan said.

"Uncle Alan! He's inexhaustible! He'll do things!" the Doctor said to Hope as he pointed to Alan.

"Ooo, I'm being given permission to take the child out for a night of frivolity!" Alan said as he scooped Hope up in his arms. "Cinemas, funfairs, restaurants, opera! Anything goes with us!"

Alan looked at Rose while Hope held onto him.

"Come along, Starlight. We will go climb Mount Everest with the young one!" he said to her.

"Heh, you first. Night, Doctor and Rain, I'll be in Daisy waiting for the kid to take me home."

Alan watched as she walked away.

"Mount Fuji perhaps?" he said as she walked away. "the Himalayas? Pike's Peak? The hill behind our house?"

Alan shrugged. He gave Hope a tight hug before putting her down.

"I s'pose we should go home and have a rest," Alan said to Hope. "We like to travel but even me and your dad have to rest sometimes. But we'll climb Everest when I recover and get my second wind so..."

He gave Hope a firm kiss on the cheek and whistled as he walked away. The Doctor swooped up his daughter, kissed her cheek and the three of them headed for their TARDIS.

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