Chapter Two
After they put the sonar earpieces in, they walked down the trail back towards the field. The children led the way while the adults walked in back. The Doctor strolled along with Tara while Rose and Rain chatted and Alan walked up to play with the kids.
"I didn't think you'd come with us today, Star," the Doctor said to Tara.
Tara was taken aback.
"What do you mean, Daddy? I love it when I go places with you," she said.
"Yes, but you're an adult now. I figured you'd wanna go out on your own and not be seen with an old codger like me."
"Oh puh-leeze, Daddy," she said while he snickered. "If anything, I get people asking me who my hot boyfriend is."
The Doctor's eyes bulged out of his head while she nodded.
"Yes, Daddy, I do look a lot older now and you don't look that old yourself. And I can't just say to people that's my dad because they'll think you concieved me when you were five."
"I adopted you," the Doctor said.
"Okay, how old was I when you adopted me because there again, you don't look much older than me and I don't think people are gonna buy that you adopted me when I was twenty. You know, Jenny and Dorothy and Emi get the same thing, they've told me so."
"Well, I'm sorry if my curse of the Time Lords is preventing you from telling people that I'm your father," he said to her. "You don't tell them I'm your boyfriend, do you?"
"No, I tell them you're my brother. Adopted brother obviously since you're not Indian."
"You're not either, you're Gallifreyan."
"You know what I mean, smart…butt," she said to him.
"Oh, look who's gone all prim and proper all a' sudden. You don't bat an eyelid at cursing like a drunken sailor when you're with your friends and your sisters but suddenly dear old dad's around and you have to go all Victorian lest he disapprove. I s'pose next you'll be wearing the big black mourning dresses and the fifty foot high hats."
"I was just trying to be polite in front of the children."
She laughed when the Doctor gave her a shocked look.
"And once again, when has the presence of children ever stopped ya, Miss Potty Mouth? You don't think I know how much you swear but I do. Trust me; I keep tabs on all my children, even the adult ones."
"Oh…I thought I saw a skinny man wedged in between our refrigerator and the wall. Must have been dirty standing back there."
She squealed and darted out of the way when the Doctor tried to grab her.
"Gorblimey, no wonder you're not married. I don't think any man would be able to stand being in the same house with you and your gob," he said as she walked back to him. "I always wondered why Phillip felt the need to stay on Unico, now I see why. He'd be tearing his horn out in frustration if he lived with ya."
He grinned when Namid walked back to him and he tapped her on her head.
"And here's another one who'll drive men crazy," he said to her.
"I don't like men, they're yucky," Namid said.
"Oi, I'm a man, you don't like me?"
"No, you're special. I don't like regular men," Namid said.
"Oookay," the Doctor said as the adults laughed. "I don't think I even wanna ask what the difference is between regular and special men."
"Obviously, the special men are the men who love her and the regular men aren't," Tara said.
"And I s'pose the moment she fancies someone, they become a special man then," the Doctor said to Tara.
Tara shrugged and grinned. They both watched as Namid suddenly sprinted away from them, swinging her cane back and forth in front of her like a metronome as she ran down the path.
"Hey, Nigel Mansel, get your butt back here!" Alan said as they laughed.
The children let out whoops and took off after her. The four children ran as fast as they could while the adults strolled along and enjoyed their laughter. The four children chased one another in a circle while they waited for the adults to catch up to them.
"You lot are gonna be shagged out by the time we're ready to go to the puppet show," the Doctor said when Sokanon and Namid started walking beside him.
"That's okay, Daddy, I'll just rest on you and let you show me everything," Namid said.
"I'll show you something but it might not be the same puppet show they're watching," the Doctor replied.
Namid gave out a squeal of delight. The Doctor used the need to mentally show Namid everything to his advantage and showed her really silly and wacky things just so he could delight in her laughter. The Doctor was also very good at imagining scenarios. They had recently taken a trip to the Bahamas to visit the beach for a day of fun and watch the sunset and Namid ended up laughing all night because while the others were watching the sun set, she got to watch a seagull tear off the Doctor's bright red speedo and chase his naked body up and down the beach in fast motion while the Benny Hill theme played. Even though being blind was a challenge, she had to admit it did have its perks.
"Just be careful what you show her at the puppet show, Love, or they might drag her giggling self to the nearest loony bin," Rain teased him.
"Nah, I won't go that far, can't live without a single one of my trio," he said to her.
Namid smiled as the Doctor put his arm around her. Ever since she could remember, the Doctor had always shown her things and she considered that another personal, special thing between the two of them. Up until about a year ago, she thought everyone had the ability to project images into other people's minds since almost everyone on New Gallifrey could do it. Her father had told her before that she had been changed into a Time Lady when she was just a baby along with her brothers, sisters and cousins and she was so glad that her father had done that for her because blind or not, being a Time Lady was the greatest thing in the universe to her.
The Doctor glanced down at Namid and took joy in the huge smile on her face. He was so proud of her. He was proud of all his children. Ten years ago, Callum had nearly torn their family apart but when the dust settled from the chaos, he had three more children to love and cherish as well as nieces and nephews. And although he loved all his children, these three were special because they had come from both him and Rain and it showed. All of his children were becoming tall and gangly just like he was and Christopher was the same way. Rose joked with him that all four were becoming mainly arms and legs now. His son was almost exactly like him now. Confident, self assured with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of energy. He resembled him except for the darker skin and hair which the Doctor though made him look extremely handsome. He was still prone to outbursts of anger especially when someone did something to Namid. He was extremely protective of her as was Sokanon which filled him with pride. Sokanon looked just like her mother except for the pale skin. To him, it looked like someone had shrank Rain back to a child and drained all the color from her. Her ebony hair that matched her mother's was already down to the middle of her back and it bounced up and down as Sokanon ran and played. Both she and her sister also took after their mother in their empathy for others and gentleness. Sokanon also had a keen sense of humor and loved to tease everyone.
As for Namid, the Doctor was so proud of her, he felt like he could pop. Never once had he ever heard her complain about being blind or throw a pity party because her siblings could see and she couldn't. She just took everything in stride and overcame any obstacle that came her way. The Doctor now felt like a fool for crying when he found out she was blind since she never let that stop her from doing anything. Her family and the TARDIS always figured out a way to include her in everything they did, not just with the mental projections but also with the audio books and they also found a way to include her in games and sports they played. The TARDIS made sports equipment that beeped so she could home in on it and using that, the Doctor and Alan had taught her how to play some of their favorite games. Everything tried to give her as normal a life as they could and treated her no differently from any of the others and through that, Namid was able to grow and gain confidence and now she was no longer as shy as she once was. She also started to poke fun at herself and let everyone else know that it was okay to tease her about being blind. One of her favorite jokes was letting someone point something out to her and she would retort with, yes, I know, I'm not blind! Then after a few seconds she'd say, oh wait, I am blind, my bad and giggle at that while everyone else would smile and tickle her fondly. Because of that, people got over the fear of treating her like a china doll and realized it was okay to joke with her about some things. The Doctor had no doubts that one day, blind or not, she would make a fantastic Time Lady.
They reached the wide plain and headed for the shops. On the way, they passed by the stage and Alan vaulted up onto it.
"To be or not to be, that is the question!" he said melodramatically, thrusting his arms out.
"Boo! Get off the stage, you old hack!" Tara yelled at him.
"I am not a hack, I'm a thespian!" Alan said indignantly. "Aren't I, Rose?"
Everyone laughed when Rose threw up her arms.
"Why do I always get pulled into the middle of everything?" Rose said. "He always ends up including me."
"Because you're my spousal unit and we're joined at the hip."
"Yeah, well I'm findin' a scalpel in one of the shops and unjoining us," she said to him.
She gasped and ran when Alan took a running jump off the stage and pursued her.
"Nope," he yelled as he ran. "Not happenin'. When you married me, it was for life!"
"I know but I didn't say we would be joined at the hip, ya berk!" Rose yelled back.
She squealed when Alan caught up to her, grabbed her around the middle and began to spin as he swung her around.
"But you can't sever our bond," he said as he spun. "How will I live? Especially since you have my kidney inside you?"
The triples squealed with delight and ran over to them. The Doctor smiled at that. Even though Alan acted juvenile at times, he loved that he was so childlike and he knew how much the children adored him. He had so much patience with them. There were times when the Doctor was shagged out and had to muster up the strength to do something with them but Alan was ready to play with them any time they asked. The decision that he had made long ago not to follow in the Doctor's footsteps had caused Alan to become a free spirited, fun loving person and even though people sometimes wished he would grow up a bit more, he knew that Alan kept everyone elses spirits up and helped to keep everyone happy and it allowed the Doctor to loosen up and be a bit more silly and spontaneous with the result that even though he was in his fourteen hundreds now, he never felt his age. Everyone around him helped to keep him that way and he hoped it would never end.
He chuckled when Namid came up behind Alan and slapped him hard on the butt.
"Oi, you come here, Missy, and get what's coming to ya!" Alan said as he chased his giggling daughter around in a circle.
Everyone gasped when Namid's foot connected with a rock and she went sprawling out onto the ground. Alan's playful mood instantly turned serious as he knelt down beside her.
"You alright, Princess?" he asked as the other children gathered around.
"Yeah," she said, getting up on her knees.
She looked around.
"What happened?" she asked as the other adults came up to her.
"Your foot hit a rock, you silly thing," Alan teased.
The Doctor helped Namid to her feet.
"You alright, Rainbow?"
"Yeah, I'm okay, Daddy."
"Good," Alan said. "Don't wanna have to amputate your foot with a butter knife."
"I'll amputate your head, you thing!" Namid said, lunging for him.
She squealed when Alan swooped her up into his arms.
"Guess I'll have to just carry you from now on," he said as he and the others headed towards a shop. "I need to keep a close eye on you so you don't amputate my head."
"No, put me down, Uncle Alan, I can walk," Namid said between giggles.
She paused a moment and thought.
"No wait, carry me, this is nice."
Everyone laughed as Alan feigned exasperation. He sent love into his niece's mind as all of them headed into the nearest shop.
