PARENTHOOD
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Seven Duer watched while Jenna pushed the wheelchair and Jamie reached up with his good hand, trying to pull her down for a kiss. She giggled as she kissed Jamie's lips then ruffled his hair and he winked at her. Duer often wondered what it was like for them when they traveled as bounty hunters with the cybernetic Dok-Tor as he sighed and folded his arms over his chest. "Ah, what's with the gloomy face?" Frankie asked as she came closer and slid her arm around his waist. "Was just looking at Jenna and Jamie," he said with a nod of his head and Frankie looked at them. "What about them?" "I have done them both an injustice. I should have known that she was still alive and Jamie...," he said then sighed and Frankie gently nudged her elbow into his side. "Yes, I know about what happened to Jamie. We all do. The thing you have to understand is they're both here and, from what I can see, are fine," Frankie said as Jamie pulled Jenna onto his lap and she gently moved the sling out of the way. "Daddy, can we go in there?" Faith asked as she pointed to the toy store as he looked at it then down at her and smiled. Picking her up, he headed for the toy store as they walked by the display tables and Faith looked down at the battery operated animals. There were puppies doing flips, elephants that walked then raised their trunks and squeaked and other animals and Duer saw the look in her eyes. "Do you want one of those?" he asked. "No, I have a real doggy," she said, talking about their timwolf, M'fara. 'Well, M'fara isn't a doggy. He's a timwolf." "What's the difference?" "Well, for one thing, he lives longer than a normal doggie." "And he has dark and light blue fur," Faith said and Duer nodded his head. They walked by the table when he placed Faith down and took her hand. They walked down the aisles when she saw a teddy bear wearing a white shirt and a kilt and smiled, looking up at Duer. Duer picked up the teddy bear when he checked the price and nodded, handing the teddy bear to her. "Bobby, for the last time, we are not getting a toy!" a woman's voice shouted as they came around the corner and saw a tall woman standing over a small boy and the small boy had a Power Rangers action figure in his hands. "But I don't have this one! I want it!" Bobby shouted and the woman slapped him in the face, knocking him to the floor. "Oi, there is no need for that!" Duer said as he stormed toward her and the woman glared at him, placing her hands on her hips. "Bugger off. This isn't any of your concern," she said as Bobby sat there, sobbing softly and blood rolled down his face and dripped onto his Power Rangers t-shirt. "He's bleeding," Duer said as she looked down and growled, pulling Bobby to his feet. "You little git! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get blood out?" she shouted when she went to raise her hand to strike Bobby again but someone grabbed her hand and Duer looked at the security guard standing to the woman's right. He was wearing a dark blue uniform with STORE SECURITY over the pocket and an earpiece was sticking out of his right ear. "Let go of me!" "Sorry, Ma'me, but you have to come with me," he said as he led the woman and Bobby away and Duer turned, seeing Faith hiding behind a large Shrek statue. His hearts hurt as he knelt down and she ran to him, dropping the teddy bear on the floor. Kneeling down, Duer wrapped his arms around her as he kissed her cheek then sent love into her mind and rocked her. Frankie had contacted him and asked what was wrong as he closed his eyes and told her what happened. "Is she ok, Dad?" Jenna thought. "Yeah, she's fine," Duer thought as he winked at Faith and she smiled at him. Standing up, he took her hand as he picked the teddy bear off the floor and Faith squeezed his fingers. "Daddy?" she asked and he looked down at her. "Yes?" he asked, twirling her in a circle and she giggled. "Did you have toys when you were little?" "Um," Duer said as he looked at the Lego sets and smiled at the Harry Potter sets. "Well, yeah, I had toys when I was little but they were mostly educational toys." "You mean like the V-Tech toys Cameron bought me for Christmas?" "Yeah, like those," he said as he looked at the Lego Hogwarts' castle set and she looked up at it. "You should buy that, Daddy," she said with a smile and he blinked, looking down at her. "Don't you think I'm too old?" "Nope," she said, shaking her head. "Um, nope, it's too big to carry around. Maybe I should get a smaller set," he said as he looked at the selection then picked up a box containing blue, white and yellow Lego blocks and smile. "Oh, yes, this will do!" "What are you going to build?" she asked and he smiled at her, wiggling his eyebrows up and down. "You will just have to wait and see!" he said when he found an empty trolley and placed the teddy bear and box in the child's seat. They went down the aisles when Faith saw a green, plastic carrying case with Tinkerbell and friends dolls in it and held it up so Duer could see it. "Can I have this, Daddy?" she asked as he looked at the price and saw there were nine dolls in the case. "Nine dolls for ten pounds? That is a good price," he said as he placed the green, plastic case in the trolley and she smiled. "I know all their names," she said and he gave her a blank look. "Well then, Oh Pixie Expert, what are their names?" "There is Tinkerbell. She is the leader and a tinker-talent fairy. Then there's Silvermist. She is the water-talent fairy, Then there's Rosetta. She is a garden-talent fairy. Next is Fawn. She is an animal-talent fairy. There's Iridessa. She is a light-talent fairy. And there's Vidia. She is a fast-flying-talent fairy and she is mean to Tinkerbell..." "That isn't very nice, is it?" Duer asked and she shook her head. "There's Terrence. He's a dust-talent sparrowman and he hands out the pixie dust. I think he likes Tinkerbell," she said as Duer smiled and rolled his eyes. "Her boyfriend, hunh?" he asked and she nodded her head. "My two favorites are Bobble and Clank. They're tinker-talent sparrowmen and..." "Are sparrowmen boy fairies?" he asked. "Yeah, and Bobble and Clank are Tinkerbell's friends. Oh, Daddy, her name really isn't Tinkerbell. It's just Bell, but they call her Tinkerbell," she said and he arched his eyebrows up in surprise. "I didn't know that!" "Yep, and they all live in Pixie Hollow," she said as he gave her an impressed look and they headed for the checkout. The sales girl smiled at them as Duer placed their purchases on the counter when the security guard that had taken the woman and Bobby walked closer and Duer looked at him. "Excuse me, Sir," he said and Duer gently held Faith against his side. "The manager of the store has told me that you don't have to pay for your purchases, seeing that you and your daughter were witness to that woman attacking her son." "What? Oh, no, that is nice of you, but I would rather pay for them," Duer said. "Are you sure?" "Yes, I just hope that woman finds help. He only wanted a toy," he said and the security guard nodded, walking away. A few minutes later they walked out of the toy store as Duer held onto the big bag and Frankie smiled as they walked closer then stopped next to her. "Are you ok, Sweetie?" she asked as Faith looked up at her and sighed. "Yeah," she said, nodding her head then looked up at Frankie. "Mommy, why did that lady hit her little boy?" "I don't know, Love," she said as she knelt down and hugged her. "Oh, Daddy, can I have the bag, please?" Faith asked as Duer handed her the large bag and she opened the bag, taking the teddy bear out of the bag. Jamie and Jenna were standing in front of the fountain and Cameron was sitting in the wheelchair. Jamie held onto the handle of the cane when he felt someone tugging on his jeans and looked down, seeing Faith holding the teddy bear in her arms. "Did yer daddy buy that for you?" he asked with a grin and she shook her head. "I bought it for you," Faith said as she held the teddy bear up and Jamie blinked his eyes a few times. Taking the teddy bear in his hands, he looked down at Faith when she climbed up onto the bench in front of the fountain and Jamie hugged her. "Thank you, mo bean-bhrathar," he whispered in her ear and she kissed his cheek. Jamie had been teaching her Gaelic and she knew that bean-bhrathar meant sister-in-law. Letting go, he held the teddy bear against his chest as Faith smiled and got off the bench. "Look at what she bought me!" "It's really cute," Jenna said as she took the teddy bear from him and held it against her chest. "It's mine now!" "Och, give that back," he said as she backed away from him when Duer came up behind her and tickled her ribs, making her giggle and drop the teddy bear on the floor. "No fair!" Jenna giggled as Faith picked the teddy bear off the floor and gave it back to Jamie. "That was mean!" Faith said as she wagged her finger at Jenna and Frankie cupped her mouth, trying hard not to laugh. "Aye, that is was," Jamie said then walked over to Jenna and scrunched up his face at her. "What do you have tae say?" "Oh, ok, I am sorry for taking your teddy!" she said and Jamie smiled, kissing her on the cheek. "Thank you!" he said then winced and Jenna gave him a concerned look. "Cam, can you get out of the wheelchair. I think Jamie needs it," she said and Cameron nodded, getting up. Jenna helped Jamie sit down as he placed his feet on the footrests and she placed the cane on the back of the wheelchair. "Hmpht," Jamie grumbled and Faith walked closer, placing her hand on top of his hand. "Do you want to go home?" she asked and Jamie shook his head. "Then shall we head for the food court? I am getting peckish," Duer said as they laughed and Jenna pushed the wheelchair toward the food court. "And what happened to you?" the Doctor asked when he saw Jenna and Jamie in the queue at the Chinese noodle shop and Jamie looked up at him. "Well, it seems that my fleet footed Highlander decided to see if he could roll down a hill," Jenna teased as Jamie rolled his eyes then told the Doctor what happened. "Well, I'm glad that you're ok," the Doctor said and patted Jamie's shoulder. "Where's the rest of the family?" "I think they're over there," Jenna said as she pointed to the table where Frankie and Faith were sitting and the Doctor waved at them. Frankie waved back when Faith ran to him and held up the teddy bear she had bought for Jamie. "Oh, that is nice," he said as he looked at Jamie and Jamie smiled, shrugging his shoulder. "We bought it at the toy store." "Was it the toy store next to the record shop?" "Yep, and the man said we could have it for free, but Daddy said he wanted to pay for it." "Why did the man want you to have it for free?" the Doctor asked with a confused look on his face. "Some mean lady was smacking her little boy because he wanted a toy," Faith said and the Doctor sighed, rolling his eyes. "Some people shouldn't have kids," he said and Jenna nodded. Jamie noticed that the queue was moving as they headed toward the counter and the Doctor told them to tell Duer where he and his family were and Jenna nodded, watching him walk away. "Will you put that away?" Rose half shouted as Alan showed Cameron the shuriken he bought in the marital arts supply store and Alan pouted, putting the shuriken back in the bag. "Better not show that to Adam," Duer said as he sipped on the Coke he had bought at the food court and Alan smirked, brushing some hair out of his eyes. "Well, if you must know, it was a special sale and I bought one for him," Alan said and Duer's eyes went wide. "Oh no, that's all we need, the two of you running around with shooting stars!" the Doctor said and Alan smiled, placing the bag behind his back. "Better make that three of us. I bought one for John, too," he said and Rose grabbed the bag, handing it to the Doctor. "Hey, that's mine!" "It was yours!" the Doctor said as he placed the bag into his jeans pocket and Alan frowned, folding his arms over his chest. "How can I be the Ninja Lord, king of all ninja without my shooting star?" Alan grumbled. "You can't," Rose said and Alan stuck his tongue out at her. The Doctor laughed then looked over at Jenny and sighed. Jenny noticed that he wanted to talk to her about something when she nodded her head and they walked off to find somewhere to talk in private. "Wonder what that's all about," Alan said as he watched them leave then yelped when someone smacked him on the bottom and turned around, seeing Faith and Hope standing behind him. "Did you just smack me on the bottom?" "Yeah," the girls said at the same time then ran as he growled and they hid behind the wheelchair. Alan stormed up to Jamie as he looked up at him and gently slid his arm under the sling. "If you want them, you're going tae have tae go through me!" he said as the girls stuck their tongues out at Alan and Alan smiled, rolled his eyes then shook his head, walking away. Faith and Hope walked around to face Jamie when he winked at them and the girls walked away, heading for the bench to play with Hope's Ernie doll.
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