PARENTHOOD
A/N: In the story Our Horrible Holiday in Deserted Disneyworld, I introduced a five year old deaf boy called "Dawg". Adam adopts him and changes his name to Alan. - ninewood Chapter Two Hundred and Sixteen I sit here and wonder when I started acting the Doctor. I think it was on our last trip to Disneyworld and met a little boy named Dawg. That wasn't his real name. His real name was Douglas. "Dawg" was the name his mother and the other children had given him. We had ended up in a different universe and the Earth we landed on had been invaded. Nearly all life had been removed from the planet and the humans that were left were forced to live underground. Now I do admit that I was furious when I learned that Charlie, Dawg's mother, was beating him because he was born deaf, but did that really excuse me from wanting to just take her son from her? I normally don't act like that and it scared me. Speaking of Charlie, I don't want it sounding like she was a complete monster. She was so young when she was raped and she really didn't know what to do with a disabled baby. It turned out that she was so angry with his father for raping her that she took that anger out on Dawg. True, that doesn't excuse her, but judging her before figuring out all the facts isn't something I normally do. Guess that's what happens when the Oncoming Storm inside me kicks in. She did agree to let me give her son a better life, but I know it hurt her when he out right rejected her. At the end of the day, they agreed to be friends and she, as well as the rest of the humans, came with us when we left that ruined world. I was also pissed off that Alan wanted to take the little guy in when he already had adopted a kid. Why do he and the Doctor get all the lost and abandoned kids? At the end of the day, it turned out fine because Dawg wanted both of us as his daddy. What Alan and I needed to do was figure out a new name for our son and decided his first name was Alan and his middle name would be Adamnan, which is Scottish for Little Adam. The next thing we had to figure out was where Little Alan was going to live. We just couldn't see him spending a week living at Alan's house then a week living with me and my wife. It would be too confusing and we both agreed he needed a stable home life. How did we come to an agreement on where he would live? Simple, we just asked him. As much as Little Alan loves Alan, he wanted to live with me and my wife. Alan and I did find out that Little Alan was smarter than most thought. He could read, write, do complicated maths and can communicate with either sign language or blocks. Charlie told us that he could walk before he was a year old and my brother teased that we have another Cameron on our hands. When we returned to New Gallifrey, I wondered how people would react to Little Alan. What isn't there to love about this wild five year old? If no one knew he was deaf, they wouldn't give him a second look. Marion, Charlie and I did take him to the hospital to see if there was any way to reverse or improve his hearing loss and Doctor T'Yar'qua told us that Little Alan was a candidate for surgery. The downside was we had to wait until he was at least twenty or so for her to perform the surgery. She explained the reason for the delay was because he was still growing and would have to endure more surgeries as he grew older. None of us complained and T'Yar'qua did offer some interesting equipment for keeping track of our little monkey. Ok, that wasn't nice, but he does run wild sometimes and he loves his tracking watch. With it, Little Alan can find any member of our mixed up family if he happens to get lost. I do admit the first few nights were hard. He wasn't used to sleeping in a bed and getting him to even try ended up in screaming fits and a tantrum. We would find him sleeping on the floor or he had gotten up and was wondering around the house. He would also get very upset if we put up the bed rails to prevent him from getting out of bed, but he did get used to the bed when I placed David's Disney's Cars play tent on the bed and gave him a torch to use if he got scared during the night. The next thing I was worried about was how my Irish wolfhound, Clover, would react to him. Would she reject him or even try to hurt him? I couldn't cope if I had to choice between the two of them. What I forgot was Clover was female and she turned into a second mum. She wouldn't let him get too close to the pool, which he never did due to him being deathly afraid of water after Charlie tried to drown him, and would gently nudge him to alert him about things like bath time, bedtime or that dinner was ready. The only thing I have to do is stop him from trying to ride on her back. She does give him a "get off" look when he tries and he would just giggle then give her a hug. Truth be told, learning sign langue wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and the whole family can talk to him now. The one thing I do want to know is who taught him to sign FUCK YOU…FUCK THE LOT OF YOU. We had taught him all different types of sign language and I found out that sign comes from Australian sign language. He won't tell me who taught it to him, but I keep seeing my sister-in-law's brother smile whenever he uses it. We now have a list of signs he can use and signs he can't. "Adam, where are you?" Marion thought as he sat back in the chair and arched the fedora up with a finger. "I'm in the den. What's up, Buttercup?" he thought and she softly laughed in his head. "I need you to come over to Alan's house." "Is my partner in crime bugging you and Rose again?" "No, but we can't get his namesake out from under the kitchen island." "Just offer him a biscuit and he'll come right out." "I really think you should come help us," she thought as he heard the concern in her voice and he saved what he had written, turned the computer off and left the room. "Where is he?" Adam asked after Rose had let him in and she pointed toward the kitchen. He walked to the doorway to the kitchen when his eyes went wide and he cupped his mouth with his hands. Milk was dribbling from the counter as laughter caught in Adam's throat from seeing Alan covered with what looked like a banana milkshake and Alan spit some of the milkshake out of his mouth. "It's not that funny," he said as Adam nodded his head and was shaking from trying not to laugh. "Where…?" Adam asked with a squeak to his voice and puffed out some air as he tried to calm down. "Where is he?" Alan pointed to the space under the kitchen island as Adam walked closer and knelt down on his haunches. Little Alan was also covered in banana milkshake as he looked up at him with sad eyes and Adam softly smiled at him. DID, UM, DID SOMETHING HAPPEN WHLE DADDY ALAN MAKING YOU A MILKSHAKE? YES, Little Alan signed and Adam could see the fear in his eyes. DID YOU…DID YOU PUSH THE BUTTON BEFORE HE COULD PUT THE LID ON? Adam signed and Little Alan looked down at his feet. Gently lifting his chin with his finger, Adam smiled as he shook his head and Little Alan titled his head to one side. Adam wiggled a finger as Little Alan crawled to him and Adam carefully stood up as he lifted Little Alan off the floor. He sat Little Alan on the counter while Alan walked closer and Little Alan gave him a sad look. SORRY, DADDY, Little Alan signed while Adam handed Alan a tea towel and Alan wiped his face off. Smiling, Alan wiped Little Alan's face as Little Alan gave him a confused look and Alan kissed the top of his head. HEY, I WILL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME I TOOK A MILKSHAKE BATH, he signed and Little Alan smiled. NOW, ARE YOU GOING TO HELP ME CLEAN UP? IF DADDY ADAM HELPS US, Little Alan signed and Adam's eyes went wide. WHY DO I HAVE TO HELP? I DIDN'T MAKE A MESS, he signed. BECAUSE I WILL MAKE US A TRIPLE BANANA MILKSHAKE IF YOU DO, Alan signed and Adam grinned. HAND ME A TEA TOWEL! Adam signed as Little Alan giggled and they started cleaning up the mess on the counter and the floor.
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