Chapter Three

A little bell over the door rang softly as the Doctor opened it and they entered.

"Okay, you, down you go!" Alan said, carefully putting Namid back on her feet.

"Aw, I wanted to stay in your arms. It was nice," she whined.

"Sorry, I need my arms to shop," Alan said. "You are more than capable of using your tootsies, so use them."

"Make me!" she said to him.

She giggled as Alan stared at her in silence.

"Don't give me that dirty look!" Namid said.

Alan was taken aback.

"How'd you know I was giving you a dirty look?" he teased.

"I just know."

The Doctor giggled when Alan waved his hands in front of her face so he could see if she'd respond.

"Quit waving your hands in front of my face!"

Alan was shocked. Then he suddenly searched the minds of his family and noticed Namid and the Doctor's weren't there.

"Wait a tick!" he said as Namid giggled. "Your dad's cheating and showing you what I'm doin', isn't he?"

"Yup," Namid said.

She giggled harder when Alan eyed the Doctor.

"Hey, it was worth it when you stood there and thought for a moment that she could really see ya," he said as he walked away.

"Yeah, yeah, you're a laugh riot, you are," Alan said as the Doctor chuckled and walked over to a credit stick dispenser.

The CSD worked like an ATM and dispensed credit sticks that had varying amounts of credit on them. Everyone gathered round while the Doctor inserted his own credit stick in the hole next to the monitor and selected three credit sticks worth twenty five credits each that he could give to his children. He watched the screen closely making sure he selected the right amount.

"After all, the last time I didn't watch what I was doing with one of these things, ADAM ended up betraying me."

Rose sighed.

"Oh for the love of God, after all these years you're still sore about that?" she said.

"Yes, Rose, I am," the Doctor said. "I shoulda known that little git would do that to me. I had my doubts about him from the beginning but I decided to humor you and take him aboard."

"The place was filling up with cement, he would have died if we hadn't," Rose protested.

"Well, then he wouldn't have nearly got us killed," the Doctor said as the three credits sticks popped out of a hole near the bottom of the machine.

"Who's Adam, Daddy?" Chaska asked.

"An idiot. Much like Mickey was until he became decent," the Doctor said.

He sniggered as Rose gave him a look of death. She shook her head and mumbled, "I don't know about ya sometimes, Doctor," before turning to her husband.

"Would you like to hear a fascinating titbit, my wife?" Alan said to her.

Rose thought about it for a moment and then nodded. Alan smirked.

"Know the reason why we look like this?" he said, pointing to his face.

"Um…no."

"Brother chose to look this way because you fancy the pretty boys."

Rose's mouth dropped open. She turned to the Doctor who was trying to keep a straight face while he passed the credit sticks out to the children.

"Wait a minute, is that true?" Rose said to him.

"Now children, this is all you're getting so spend it wisely," the Doctor said to the triplets while he ignored her.

"Doctor…"

"After all, I'm not made of credits, ya know," he said, ignoring Rose.

"Doctor!"

"And don't spend it all on sweets, we are eating tonight."

"Doctor!"

"Wha-tah!" the Doctor said to Rose as the children giggled.

"Is that true?"

"Yes, it's true. We are eating later on tonight."

"No!" Rose said as everyone laughed. "What Alan just said, is it true?"

The Doctor feigned confusion.

"What'd you say, Brother? Wasn't paying attention," he said as Rose let out an exasperated sigh.

"I told her that Sloths sleep upside down in trees."

"Oh! Well…yes, Rose, it's true."

"You know what he said, ya git!" Rose said as they laughed harder. "You know exactly what he said so answer me!"

The Doctor let out another sigh.

"Well, you know, you did keep running after the pretty ones, Rose, so I knew I had to do something to compete with them."

Rose stared at him in shock.

"You altered your face to something you thought I'd like so I'd fancy you and no one else," she said.

"Well…worked, didn't it? You ended up with me and with someone that looks like me, didn't ya? I recall Mickey was a nonentity in less than a month after I regenerated, yes?"

Rose blushed.

"Well, if you put it that way, you make me sound shallow," she said.

"No, you're not shallow. But…you do seem to have a preference for the pretty boys so in order to compete, I made me look pretty, nuff said. So…anyway…as I was saying, credit sticks are not rechargeable so don't spend all twenty five credits and then come ask for more, is that clear?"

"Yes, Daddy," the children said.

"Good, go and enjoy yourselves and spend wisely and Rose, stop worrying about if you're shallow because I know you're thinking that right now," he said as they laughed.

He gave his sister a kiss on the cheek.

"You're not shallow, Rose," he said softly to her. "You have two of the biggest hearts I've ever seen. I just figured this form would be more pleasing to you and obviously it is so quit worrying."

Rose grinned and tousled his hair while he let out an "Awwww!" and walked off. She looked at Alan who bent his head down and shook his head, letting his tousle sway a bit. Rose giggled and played with it for a moment. She laughed harder when he began to purr and nuzzle up against her.

"Ah, quit that, ya big lummox. You're gonna knock me into the bows and arrows," she said, indicating the display right behind her.

Alan straightened up.

"Ah! Then Cupid's arrow would have pierced your heart and made you fall even more deeply in love with me," he said.

"No, the shop's arrow would have pierced my heart and sent me to A and E," Rose replied.

"That too," Alan said.

He giggled when she swatted his head and gave her a tender kiss on the lips as he put his arm around her.

Meanwhile Namid was walking around, listening to everything and occasionally taking something down from the wall and feeling it. Suddenly, in her mind's eye, she saw the side wall of the store and then she began to giggle when her father walked into view and stood in the center of the projection. She giggled harder when he did nothing but stand there and stare at her intently. Then suddenly, he began to dance around while he sang to her.

"NA NANANANA!"

While he sang and danced around, he began to toss items around with reckless abandon to his daughter's delight.

"OOOOH, WE GOT A LOT OF ITEMS AT THE STORE, STORE, STORE AND PRETTY SOON WE'RE GONNA HAVE SOME MORE, MORE, MORE. ALL OF THE ITEMS YOU COULD EVER WISH TO BUY ARE RIGHT HERE FOR PERUSING SO OH ME, OH MY!"

Namid bent over laughing as the mental Doctor grabbed some chainsaws, turned them on and began to juggle them as he continued to sing and dance.

"TONS AND TONS OF ITEMS FOR ALL YOU GALS AND GUYS INCLUDING HUMONGOID PANTIES FOR THOSE BIG, FAT THIGHS!"

By now, the elderly man up at the cash register noticed Namid was laughing hysterically at what seemed to be nothing. Behind her, Rain and everyone else was sniggering while the Doctor stood calmly behind his daughter with his hands behind his back as he concentrated on her mind.

In Namid's mind, the Doctor dropped the chainsaws on the floor and they buzzed away out of view before he walked off to the right out of his daughter's view. He returned with a flaming torch and set fire to the walls and the floor in front of him before he resumed dancing and singing with torch in hand.

"OH, HERE WE ARE, RIGHT HERE AT THE STORE, STORE, STORE AND I JUST SET FIRE TO THE WALLS AND FLOOR. AND NOW WE'RE GONNA WATCH THE SHOP JUST BURN RIGHT TO THE GROUND. CAUSE I'M THE KOOKIEST DADDY IN THIS WHOLE FLIPPIN' TOWN!"

Namid snorted out laughter as the mental Doctor walked out of view and came back with a frankfurter on a stick. He whistled out his tune while he stuck the frankfurter into the fire. He looked back over his shoulder at Namid.

"Nothing like wall cooked hot doggies, eh, Rainbow?" he said with a maniacal look on his face.

The Doctor got a puzzled look on his face when he heard the buzzing sound returning. He looked to his right and let out a girly scream as the chainsaws buzzed towards him. He dropped the frankfurter on the ground and ran while the chainsaws pursued him. Then suddenly, the Benny Hill theme began and the Doctor and chainsaws kicked into fast motion as Namid bent over laughing.

In the real world, Rain watched as her daughter laughed uncontrollably.

"Dear God, what are you showing this poor girl?" she said to the Doctor.

The Doctor gave her a look of innocence.

"Nothing much," he said, shrugging.

He hugged Namid tightly from behind and gave her a kiss on the head while he let her calm down. Once she was calm, the Doctor took her hand and the two of them walked around while he let her shop.