PARENTHOOD

Chapter One Hundred and Ninety Four

(In the Doctor's distant future)

Adam had gone and gotten some biscuits and chocolate milk for them to snack on while they waited for Liam to come back from the bathroom when Liam walked down the stairs and Adam looked at Liam.

"Did you wash yer hands?" Adam asked and Liam walked to him, holding his hands up. Adam placed the tray he was carrying on the table near the couch when he reached for Liam's hands and felt that they were wet. Leaning down, Adam sniffed Liam's hands then his face and Liam giggled. "Aye, you smell all clean and minty. Must be that new soap that yer grandmother bought."

Picking up the tray, Adam walked to the couch when he placed the tray on the coffee tray and the children picked up a few biscuits off the tray while Adam handed out the napkins. Sitting back on the couch, Clara climbed onto Adam's lap when he opened his mouth for her to put the biscuit in his mouth but she shook her head and held the biscuit to her chest. Pouting, Adam sniffed while his lower lip quivered and she giggled, holding the biscuit out. He bit off a piece of the biscuit then started chewing when Alan appeared in his head and Adam sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Did I just hear the crunch of freshly made biscuits?" Alan thought and the children giggled inside their head. Alan was on his fifth life, which resulted in him looking like an Asian man with short, wavy hair and sharp features, and he wiggled his eyebrows up and down.

"Aye, you did," Adam thought and Alan grinned.

"Hold on, no one take another bite until I get there!" Alan thought then vanished and the children looked at Adam, who got up and went to get another glass of chocolate milk. Alan arrived a few seconds later when he tucked into a small pile of biscuits and chugged on the chocolate milk.

"So..." he said while wiping his mouth on the sleeve of his sweatshirt and Adam sighed, rolling his eyes. "What are you lot up to this fine day?"

"Papaw was telling us a story," Clara said and Alan's eyes went wide.

"You were having story time and you didn't invite me?" Alan gasped.

"I didnae ken that you wanted tae hear one," Adam said then sipped on the chocolate milk and Alan knelt on his knees, going face to face with him and breathed hard and fast through his nose.. "Och, back off, you got milk breath!"

"How can I have milk breath if I am breathing through my nose?"

"You always have milk breath, Moo Moo Mouth!" Adam said and Alan's mouth fell open.

"Oh, that's it, I demand..." Alan said and Adam held up his right hand, smiling.

"Aye, we can have a water gun battle tae the death later. I want tae get back tae my story."

"Fine," Alan grumbled as he sat on the floor and Liam crawled onto Alan's lap, sticking a biscuit in Alan's mouth. Smiling, Alan wrapped his arm around Liam's waist then took the biscuit out of his mouth and looked at Adam. "So, what is the story about?"

"He was telling us a story about Doctor Merman," Alan said and Alan's eyes went wide.

"Oh, now there is someone I haven't heard of in a long time! Did you include his faithful sidekick?" Alan asked and Adam gave him a shocked look.

"Like I would forget Alan of Seaweed," Adam said, looking insulted. "Now, where was I?"

"Princess Rain Shower was going to tell them about the quest," Liam said and Adam nodded, setting up the privacy block.

"So, what is this quest you want us to go on?" Doctor Merman asked while Princess Rain Shower played with his hair and he coughed, moving his head away.

"Oh, I need you to go find this," she said then snapped her fingers....

"That's not easy to do underwater," Alan said as his head appeared over them and they looked up at him. "Hello, Down There."

"That was a movie, wasnae it?" Adam asked as his head appeared and Alan looked at him.

"What are you on about?"

"I asked if Hello, Down There a movie?"

"Ummmm...I think it was. Yeah, it was made in nineteen sixty nine and starred Tony Randall and Janet Leigh."

"If I remember right, Richard Dreyfuss from Jaws was in it, too."

"Yeah, he was, and so was..." Alan said then saw Doctor Merman tapping his fin on the sand and had an angry look on his face. "Sorry."

"Aye, sorry aboot that," Adam said as they left and Doctor Merman sighed, rolling his eyes. Princess Rain Shower giggled as the merman with long white hair and green eyes swam closer and his blue and yellow scale tail shimmered as he swished his tail. He was wearing a gold chest plate and helmet and he handed her a seaweed scroll then bowed, swimming away. Princess Rain Shower unrolled the seaweed scroll as they looked at the drawings and Alan of Seaweed pushed Doctor Merman out of the way so he could have a better look.

"Oi, that was rude!" Doctor Merman said and Alan of Seaweed stuck his tongue out at him.

"Since I am the map holder...." he said while taking the map from Princess Rain Shower and Doctor Merman's eyes went wide.

"Who said that you're holding the map?" he asked and Alan of Seaweed gave him a smug look.

"Who do you expect to carry the map?" he asked when Rose Coral took the map from him and his mouth fell open. "Hey, give that back!"

"No, besides, you know that you're lousy with directions," Rose Coral said when Alan's head appeared again and he growled.

"I am not!" he shouted as Adam's head appeared and the others looked up at them.

"I wasnae talking aboot you, you daft ninny," he said and Alan glared at him.

"Then who were you talking about?"

"I was talking aboot him!" Adam said and Alan of Seaweed pouted, sticking out his lower lip.

"Papaw, that was mean," Clara said as she appeared next to Alan of Seaweed and hugged him.

"No one likes me," Alan of Seaweed sobbed and she patted his back, looking up at Alan and Adam.

"Ok, I'm sorry," Adam said as Alan of Seaweed sniffed, took out a seaweed handkerchief and blew his nose. Alan, Clara and Adam vanished as Alan of Seaweed looked at the others and Doctor Merman crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head.

"What can I say? I'm loveable," Alan of Seaweed said with a grin and Frazerwick and Angel Fish laughed. Pushing him aside, Doctor Merman looked at the scroll and saw what looked like a seahorse encrusted with jewels and Alan of Seaweed whistled while little bubbles floated into the air. He quickly looked up to see if Alan was going to appear then smiled and leaned his elbow on Doctor Merman's shoulder.

"What is this?" Doctor Merman asked, pointing to the drawing then looked at Alan of Seaweed. "And, yes, I know it's a map. I was talking about the drawing."

"Wasn't going to say a word," Alan of Seaweed said, holding up his hands.

"That is the royal seahorse. It was stolen during the last war and Daddy never sent anyone to get it back," Princess Rain Shower said and Doctor Merman nodded. King Neptune had surrendered the kingdom to Doctor Merman after he had retrieved the Staff of Power and....

"Hey, he didn't do it by himself, you know!" Alan of Seaweed shouted and Adam's head appeared above them.

"Sorry," he said then vanished and Alan of Seaweed folded his arms over his chest, shaking his head.

"He's getting senile," Alan said as his head appeared above them then he yelped and looked at someone who wasn't there. "Hey, that's rude."

"Can we get on with this?" Doctor Merman asked as he tapped his fin on the sand and Alan nodded, vanishing. King Neptune had surrendered the kingdom to Doctor Merman when Doctor Merman, Alan of Seaweed, Frazerwick, Angel Fish, Rose Coral and Princess Rain Shower retrieved the Staff of Power and....

"He is right. You are getting senile. You forgot someone," Alan of Seaweed said and Adam's head appeared above them. Alan of Seaweed pointed to a large coral mountain when the theme music from Indiana Jones started playing and a figure floated at the top of the large coral mountain.

"I didnae forget him. He doesnae come into the story until later," Adam said and Alan of Seaweed blushed, swishing his tail in a small circle.

"Sorry," Alan of Seaweed said and Adam nodded, vanishing again.

King Neptune had surrendered the kingdom to Doctor Merman when Doctor Merman, Alan of Seaweed, Frazerwick, Angel Fish, Rose Coral, Princess Rain Shower and someone to be named later retrieved the Staff of Power and King Neptune had retired to a summer castle in the North Sea.

"And this will show us where the seahorse is?" Doctor Merman asked and Princess Rain Shower nodded her head. "Right then, let's get this adventure on the road!"

"What's a road?" Alan of Seaweed asked as Rose Coral swatted the back of his head and he glared at her. Sighing, he went to catch up with Doctor Merman as Frazerwick looked at Princess Rain Shower and she arched an eyebrow at him.

"Well?" she asked and he blinked his eyes a few times.

"You want me tae go, too?" he asked and she nodded. Tucking Angel Fish under his hat, he waved his hands and a ball of light surrounded him. Princess Rain Shower and Rose Coral watched the ball of light floating away when Rose Coral tapped her and Princess Rain Shower looked at her.

"Um, call me crazy, but I think we should go with them," Rose Coral said and Princess Rain Shower nodded her head then they went to catch up with the others.

"Hold on, my cell phone is ringing," Alan said as he took the cell phone out of his pocket and flipped the cell phone open. "Hel-lu, you have reached Alan's phone. His awesomeness is not in at the moment, so leave..."

"Where are you?" Rose asked as he smiled and leaned back against the couch.

"I am over at Adam's house. He is telling the grandkiddies a story."

"What's the story about?"

"Would you believe it's about Doctor Merman?"

"Oh, I remember that story! Can I come over?"

"Nope, sorry, no can..." Alan said then gasped when Adam took the cell phone and flipped him off.

"Hello," Adam said and Clara smacked his hand for flipping Alan off.

"Hello, can I come over and listen to the story?" Rose asked.

"Of course you can. In fact, can you go around an' ask the Doctor, Rain, Frazer an' Angel if they want tae come over as well. Mebbe ask Donna tae come too. She's in it as well."

"Wouldn't it be better if you just broadcasted it to everyone?" Alan asked and Adam cupped the bottom of the cell phone.

"Nae everyone's on planet right now an' I dinnae want tae interrupt if they're doing something important."

"Ah, you're right, we wouldn't want that," Alan said with a nod of his head and the children giggled. "Hey, who said you can giggle?"

"You're silly," Alan said then yelped when Alan tickled his armpits and Adam rolled his eyes.

"I'll contact the others and we'll be there in a bit," Rose said, ending the call. Adam handed the cell phone to Alan then placed Clara on the couch and stood up, heading for the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Alan asked, getting up and walking to him.

"Well, seeing that we're going tae have more company, I'm going tae need more food and drinks," Adam said then went into the kitchen and Alan turned, looking at the children.

"No touching the nibbles until we get back," Alan said, wagging his finger at them then followed Adam into the kitchen and the children frowned, folding their arms over their chests. The children looked at the tray when they slowly moved their hands toward the tray and smiled, looking at each other. "What did I just say?"

"How did he know?" Liam asked as they moved away from the tray while Alan stuck his head out and smiled, going back inside the kitchen.

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