PARENTHOOD

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty One

Rain brushed her long, dark hair as she stood in front of the full length mirror on the back of the closet door. She, Hope, the Doctor, Alan and Rose were going on an outing and she had just finished changing into jean shorts and a dark blue tank top. While she was combing her hair, Hope wandered into the bedroom, dressed in jean shorts and a pink t-shirt. Rain smiled lovingly when Hope walked over to her.

"Hey, baby, ready to go to the beach today?" she asked Hope.

"Yes," Hope said, going over to the bed and sitting on the side of it.

Rain continued to brush her hair and frowned when she noticed silence coming from her daughter. She glanced over and saw a thoughtful look on her face while she stared at the floor.

"What's wrong?" she asked Hope.

"Mummy, can I have a wedding?" Hope said, looking at her.

"Wedding? Who do you wanna marry?"

"Daddy."

Rain's hearts melted and she put down her brush so she could go embrace her. Her daughter had wanted to marry her father since the age of three. She wasn't the first one that did that, Namid and Sokanon had also expressed that wish and Rain thought it was indicative of how much love he gave all of them along with the level of charisma he naturally possessed. Rain kissed Hope's forehead.

"Baby, I told you before, you can't do that. You have to be his daughter,okay?"

"Yes. But I love Daddy bunches!" Hope said.

"I know but you can love him bunches as his daughter," Rain said, rubbing her back.

The Doctor entered the room and a grin spread across his face when his daughter hopped off the bed and ran to him.

"Ah! Are you ready for a fun Florida day on the beach, my treasure?" he asked her.

"Yes!" Hope said, reaching up for a hug.

"She wants to marry you again," Rain said to him.

"Aw, you do?" the Doctor said, giving her a hug. "I'm sorry, love. But if I married you, Daddy would probably have to leave New Gallifrey before someone decided to put him in Volag Nok for offenses against children. But, you can still be my delightful daughter, yeah?"

Hope kissed his cheek and the Doctor felt his hearts melt. They melted more when he picked her up and she giggled and held on to him.

"So, my little beach bunnies, ready for sand, surf and smiles?" he asked them.

"I'm ready and I think she's ready, but..."

Rain pointed to the Doctor's usual brown suit and gave him a pointed look. The Doctor gave her a haughty look.

"I intend to take this off; I just want to do it closer to the time of arrival. I don't want to show my body to anyone before it's time."

"Yeah, cause the lily whiteness will blind everyone."

The Doctor's mouth fell open and he eyed Rain when she quickly ran past him out the door. He looked at his daughter.

"Your mum just insulted me in a cheeky way," he said to her.

"Good."

Hope giggled when the Doctor stared at her with mock anger. Then he smiled when she kissed his cheek and said softly that she loved him. He held her as he went out the door and went downstairs. He sat her down and smiled when Hope asked him to play with her. He thought for a moment and asked her if she wanted to play School. She nodded and the Doctor got a pad of paper and a pencil off the table by the sofa. About a year ago, he had started looking for ways to teach his daughter without it seeming boring to her lest she tuned out his lessons. That's when Rain suggested he turn it into a game called School. She chuckled when her husband gave her an odd look and asked her what she meant.

"Well, you know how she and her friends play House and pretend to be mommy and daddy and the children and run a pretend household?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Okay, well, another game I used to play with my friends growing up was School. We would pretend to be in school and give each other assignments. Someone would be the teacher and teach the others. Just tell her that it's a game called School and give her simple assignments. Turn it into a game, Thete, just like Mary Poppins suggests."

The Doctor tried her strategy and was overjoyed to find that she was eager to do it. He started teaching her to read and giving her simple math problems while pretending to be her teacher. She and eventually Faith and Aderyn started playing the game and the Doctor used some of the free time his daughter had to give her a little lesson here and there. One year later, his five year old daughter was reading and performing math above her age level and the Doctor was thrilled. So while they waited for Alan and Rose to come, he decided to give her some math problems to work out. He gave her twenty addition and subtraction problems, jotting them down on a piece of paper and then instructing her to try and solve them. Her daughter lay on her stomach on the sofa and began to speak softly while she worked out the problems. The Doctor smiled lovingly and went into the kitchen while she did that. Rain was inside the kitchen, brewing some tea.

"You just love that I gave you that idea, didn't ya?" she said to him when he entered.

"Absolutely. I've been able to teach her and she treats it like a game which makes her more eager to listen and learn. Brilliant strategy. Ah, if only the elders had thought of that when I growing up."

"Maybe you wouldn't have done lousy in school?" Rain teased.

"Nah, I was too brilliant for school. That's why I barely showed any interest," the Doctor said, waving his hand dismissively. "I was born to travel and that's all I was meant to do."

There was a knock at the door followed by her daughter yelling at them that someone was at the door. The Doctor hurried to the door, opened it and Alan leaned in and touched noses.

"Many greetings, my mirror image. I have come to be the jester and lighten the mood on our beach holiday."

"And I'm the git who just tags along," Rose said, standing behind him.

"She's grumpy today. Hasn't had her cuppa, bless," Alan said softly.

The Doctor laughed when Rose gave him a playful shove and stepped around him. Hope ran towards her and she gave her a tight hug as Rain came out of the kitchen.

"I'm playing School," Hope told Rose. "Daddy's my teacher."

"Really? What are ya studying?" Rose asked.

"Maths."

"Ooo, can I take over for ya, Brother. I'll make the kid learn or else you can flog me unmercifully with a Dalek's plunger."

"Love, do we have a Dalek's plunger handy so I'll be ready to flog him?" the Doctor asked Rain.

"Um, might be one in the closet somewhere," Rain said. "Or if you're feeling really brave, you can search your TARDIS."

"Ooo, don't do that, he might get lost and never come back," Alan said. "Old age, going senile, ya know. Bless! Anywhoooo, onto lessons, come along, little impressionable child who has a head I must fill up with knowledge."

"Yeah, impressionable child, that alone should prompt you to get Hope away from him," Rose said, hooking her thumb back at Alan.

The Doctor jerked his head back when Alan ran back to him and began rifling through his pockets.

"Aha!" he said, pulling out his glasses and putting them on. "Gotta look wise for the little poppet, bless!"

Rose sighed and shook her head when Alan sprinted back to Hope who was lying down on the sofa again.

"Now, shall we get to learning, my little pupil?" he said to her as he leaned over.

He studied the sheet of paper and the few answers she had managed to put down. He nodded.

"Very good, vessel of knowledge, however, you need something a bit more challenging. Allow me, my faithful student."

Alan picked up the pad of paper turned to the next blank sheet and began to write down a problem for her to solve. The Doctor could tell by the confused look on her face when he handed the pad back to her that it was something she couldn't solve in a hundred zillion years.

"Now, I want you to work out this equation within five minutes and you shall have a pony," Alan said. "Go! I'm now timing you!"

Alan walked away with a huge grin on his face. Everyone else looked at Hope who was just staring at the equation in a confused silence. The Doctor walked over, glanced at it and saw it was some complicated quantum algebra equation that even he couldn't work out within five minutes. Hope looked up at him and pointed to it.

"How do you do this?" she asked him.

"You don't, this is something you'll learn later once you turn twenty and have your Time Lady mind," the Doctor said while Alan sniggered. "Just do the equations I gave you," he added, flipping over the first sheet of paper and handing the pad back to her.

"But shouldn't she be doing quantum algebra by now? She is your offspring, after all," Alan said.

"All in good time. But for now, she'll learn how to add and subtract," the Doctor said.

Alan walked over to Hope. She looked at him when he bent over and peered at her through the Doctor's spectacles.

"Here's a maths problem for you to solve," he said to her. "Rose and I are standing in our house; suddenly I shove her in the cupboard and lock it, how many people are left?"

Rose walked over to Hope and bent over.

"Ignore him, he's rubbish as a teacher," she said to Hope while she patted her head. "You keep listening to your daddy, he's a great teacher."

Alan stuck his tongue out at her and discreetly flipped her the vees as she turned and smugly walked away.

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