Chapter Sixteen
By the time they got back outside and divvied up the popcorn, Airplane was starting. Jack settled back with Ianto and tried to watch it but his eyes kept drifting over to Doc who was laughing at the movie along with the others. Finally, he couldn't bear it anymore and shifted his body so he could see the Doctor. He put a privacy block around his mind and told him what Doc had said. He could tell from the shocked look on his face that this mystery love affair hadn't happened to him, which made him all the more curious about who the woman was.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Rain giggled at the movie and smiled when Namid, who was snuggled against her right side, did the same. She started to take some popcorn from the bucket in between her and the Doctor when she noticed the stunned look on his face.
"What? What is it, what's wrong?" she whispered.
The Doctor turned his eyes to her, put up a privacy block, and told her what Jack had told him.
But…I thought you said you didn't have a lover after Sharina until Rose came along, she thought to him when he finished relating the information to her.
I didn't. This is something new. Something that happened to Doc that didn't happen to me, he thought back.
You don't have any idea who it might be? Rain thought.
Not a clue. I wasn't interested in anybody romantically at that point, he thought back. I was married to Sharina and then you and Rose are the only real loves of my lives and that's it for me. I couldn't tell ya who this woman was that Doc loved.
And he won't look for her?
The Doctor shrugged.
I expect it's too painful for him, he thought. Maybe in time he'll be ready to search for her, but at the moment we have to respect his wishes and not press him for further information on this. I told Jack not to ask John either since I'm sure if Doc gets wind of it, it'll make him angry.
Rain nodded and the Doctor lifted the privacy block. She snuggled close to him and he kissed her head before he turned his attention back to the movie.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
After Airplane ended, they got up again to stretch and use the restroom. By now, scores of people were leaving the lot and they tried to talk to one another amid the sounds of car engines and the honking horns of impatient drivers. While they stood together, Namid tugged on Doc's trousers and he looked down at her.
"Did you like it?" she said.
"I did. I thought it was hilarious," he said to her.
"It is hilarious until your husband downloads ringtones for it," Rose said, looking over her shoulder at him.
"I like my ringtones," Alan said defensively.
"He let me listen after he downloaded em," Namid said to Doc. "He has the part when the guy says, surely you can't be serious, I am serious, and don't call me Shirley and he has the one where the weird guy says, the tower, Rapunzel, Rapunzel."
Jack bent over laughing when he heard her say that. He looked at Adam and both of them ran off and began to skip along in front of the trucks, flinging their arms out while they yelled out the line. Namid giggled.
"He also has the guy who said it was the wrong week to stop sniffing glue," she said to Doc. "I'm glad I got to see it because I saw a lot of things I missed when I was just listening and seeing what Uncle Alan showed me."
Alan came up beside her and put his arm around her shoulder.
"Joey, you ever watch films about gladiators?" he quoted to her.
"What does that mean though? Cause I still couldn't figure that out," Namid said.
Alan glanced up at Doc who sniggered.
"It's a grown up joke, you'll find out when you get older," he said, patting her on the head.
"Ah, nuts!" Namid said as Doc bent over and kissed her.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
After the movie, the Doctor took Namid inside to use the toilet.
"Are you having fun, Sweetie?" he asked.
"Yes, thank you for taking me," she replied.
"Aw, it was my pleasure. I'm just glad you're enjoying your eyesight now."
He paused outside the women's restroom and let her go inside. He leaned up against the wall beside the entrance, stuck his hands in his pockets, and casually glanced out the glass double doors beside him, watching the previews that were still being played on the screen while the cars continued to leave.
Brother, it's Theta, where are you?
The Doctor leaned up when he heard Theta's voice in his mind.
I'm inside the building near the loos, he thought back.
Okay, stay right there, I wanna talk to you for a moment.
The Doctor slumped back against the wall and lazily watched the people walking by him. A few of the women stopped to admire him and he gave them a lopsided smile before he turned back to his thoughts. A few minutes later, Theta came around the corner and the Doctor leaned back up when he approached him. Theta glanced around.
"Rain told me what Doc said to Jack," he said softly. "She said you never had a lover in your fifth life and I didn't either. I have no idea who it could be. "
"Well, I think it's best not to ask Doc. If he wants to tell us, he will, but until then we have respect his decision to remain single and wait for him to make the first move, dating-wise."
Theta nodded. He smiled when Namid emerged from the restroom and walked over to them.
"Who're you?" she said, pointing to Theta.
"I'm the bogey monster, ready to eat you," he said with wide eyes.
Namid sniffed him.
"Nope, you're Uncle Theta. You smell like washing powder."
"How come he smells like biscuits but I smell like I've just been through the wash?" he said to her.
She giggled and shrugged. The Doctor glanced out the door and noticed the dancing cancan balloon girl animation that signaled one minute was left to showtime was on the screen. The Doctor had always been amused by the little cartoons that counted down every other preview from the five minute mark to showtime. The cartoons looked like they'd been made back in the 1950's and the cancan one was a woman with a human head, arms and legs but three balloons for her belly and what resembled her breasts. She danced around and then all three balloons popped before 1 MINUTE TO SHOWTIME came up on the screen in big bold letters. The Doctor gestured to Theta and Namid and they walked out of the building.
When they got outside, they noticed Adam, John, Alan and Jack were splitting their sides laughing while the others sat inside the trucks and watched them with bemused looks on their faces.
"What's this then?" the Doctor said as they walked up.
"Oh blimey, Brother, you missed it," Alan said as he and his brothers came up to them. "They had a couple of new cartoons along with the counting down ones. The new ones were advertising the food and one of them had this German boffin who apparently was in charge of making the food and…"
He giggled uncontrollably and Adam took over.
"He spoke with a heavy German accent while he was talking about all the delicious food inside the building and when he talked about the hot dogs, he described them as…"
He looked at Alan, John and Jack and as one they yelled out…
"DE-LOOOOOOOMPTIOUS HOT DOGGIES!"
The Doctor glanced at Theta and Namid giggled as the four of them bent over laughing. Doc shook his head as he sat in his truck.
"Personally, I didn't think it was quite that funny," he said to the Doctor and Theta.
The Doctor grinned when Alan followed him to his truck while at the same time saying, "De-looooomptious hot doggies!" to himself. Rose rolled her eyes when they climbed up into the bed of the truck.
"Now, I'll be hearing this nonstop for several months," she said, gesturing to Alan.
"Alan!" Adam called to him.
Alan looked over.
"De-looooooooomptious hot doggies!" Adam yelled.
Alan sniggered as Rose sighed and gave the Doctor a pleading look.
"Wanna switch husbands with me, Sis?" she said to Rain.
"Not on your life," Rain said while the Doctor giggled.
Namid snuggled against her father and took some of the popcorn that was left as the movie started.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
About five minutes in, Rain glanced at her husband and noticed that unlike the first two movies when he had been relaxed and smiling, he was now sitting there, arms folded across his chest with a bored look on his face. She glanced at her children. Namid was eating popcorn, her eyes glued to the screen, and Sokanon, Chaska and Christopher were on their stomachs in front of them, silently watching. She glanced at Imiko and saw the confused expression on her face while she watched it. Imiko had watched movies with them when they traveled together but never horror movies and she guessed from her friend's expression that she was probably wondering why anyone would make a movie that showed people getting killed. She shifted uneasily when the scene shifted to two young camp counselors having sex.
"Blast," the Doctor muttered to himself, "would have to show this rubbish."
"Daddy, what are they doing?" Namid asked him.
"Things that only adults do, Rainbow, and you are not to ask any more questions about that," he said.
"Gross," Christopher said to Chaska.
"Yeah, when are they gonna get to the killings?"
Rain glanced at her husband and saw the shocked look on his face as he stared at his son.
"He's a ten year old boy," she whispered in his ear. "Ten year olds say things like that. Calm down."
"I just wished they'd shown this last," the Doctor whispered back. "That way we could have gone home and avoided it."
He jerked his head around when he heard the woman scream and saw it freeze-frame on her horrified face as an axe descended towards her head. Namid tapped him on the shoulder.
"Someone killed that lady?" she asked.
"Yes," the Doctor said.
"Why?"
Rain giggled when the Doctor gave her a bemused look.
"I don't know. I s'pose the killer was bored and had nothing better to do than to cleave their heads open with an axe. Maybe he doesn't like blondes. I've never seen this film before, Rainbow, so I'm afraid I can't answer the deep philosophical questions you have about why someone is killing these teenagers. That's just the nature of horror films."
Namid grabbed another handful of popcorn as the Doctor settled back into his crossed arms, bored demeanor. They heard tinny music and the Doctor glanced over at Alan who was now playing his DS and completely ignoring the film.
"Why didn't I think of that?" he said to Rain. "We could have brought your DS and worked on the amusement park we haven't worked on in donkey's years."
Rain giggled at the memory and snuggled against her husband. The Doctor continued to watch it in order to make sure the children were alright but the whole movie bored him and he hoped it would end quickly so they could move on to Flash Gordon.
"Hey, isn't that Kevin Bacon?" he heard Jack say.
"Yeah, I think it is," Ianto replied.
"I'll be damned. I didn't know he was in this," Jack commented. "So this is how he got his start."
"Johnny Depp is in the first Nightmare on Elm Street," Awinita yelled to him.
"He is?" Jack said, glancing at her.
"Yup, gets killed too. He gets devoured by his bed and blood gushes up like a fountain onto the ceiling. That's how he got his start!"
The Doctor snorted at that and Rain giggled and kissed his cheek.
"Did they turn Johnny Depp's body into de-looomptious hot doggies when they found the corpse?"
Alan and John sniggered when they heard Adam ask Awinita that. The Doctor grinned when Alan got a severe case of the giggles and had to put his DS down because he couldn't stop laughing.
"You git! I was in the middle of my game!" he said to Adam when he was able to stop giggling long enough to talk.
"I'm sorry, I'm just thinking of what they might have done with the corpse," Adam said to him. "And now that I've said that, I think I will go into the snack dispensary and get myself a de-looomptious hot doggie."
"I WANT ONE TOO!"
The Doctor bent over laughing when every single ten year old said that at the same time.
"Never say that phrase aloud in front of the children, mate," the Doctor said to Adam. "Now you're stuck carrying out a bunch of food for them."
"I want another Coke too," Namid said to Adam.
The children chorused out with "Me too!" Alan gave him a sympathetic smile.
"I'll go with ya, mate," he said, laying his DS beside Rose.
"Me too, I don't wanna watch this rubbish," Theta said.
"Nor me," Doc added.
Rain glanced at her husband.
"What about you, Love?"
He shook his head.
"I wanna sit here in case they get scared," he said, gesturing to the children. "I think they have enough hands to carry out the food especially since I notice Donna and Mingxia are going now too."
"I'm sorry, this film is disgusting. I don't wanna see it anymore. Had enough horrors travelin' with you," Donna said as she went past their truck.
"Which is why I never watch horror movies," the Doctor replied.
"Daddy…"
He glanced down when he heard Namid call his name in a scared voice. He glanced up and noticed someone was watching from the woods as a nude couple snogged each other in the lake. He put his arm around Namid and kissed her head, comforting her as she pressed half of her face against his t-shirt and watched the action with one eye, both curious about what was going to happen but at the same time ready to bury her face in her father's side if it got too scary. Rain reached over and took her hand, giving it a squeeze while they both sent love into her mind. The Doctor glanced at the other children. Sokanon was watching the movie through her hands but Chaska and Christopher seemed unconcerned about what was going to happen while they lay on their stomachs and casually raised and lowered their legs. He heard Rose let out a bored yawn and noticed that Imiko had stopped watching and now looked like she was deep in meditation. Glancing over at the other trucks, he noticed Jack had his arm around Ianto while they watched quietly and the children were clustered around Adam who was comforting them while they watched. In the last truck, John was holding Jackie to him while Tara sat beside him against the back window, Arms behind her head while she watched with a blank expression on her face. He glanced back down at Namid and kissed her head when he saw she was even more terrified.
"Rainbow, come with me for a moment. I need to go to the loo," he said gently.
"Okay," Namid said softly.
He got up on his knees and rubbed Sokanon's back.
"Soki, love, wanna come with me for a moment?" he said when he noticed she was still watching through her fingers.
"Yeah, I don't like this part," Sokanon said, getting up.
He glanced at the boys and noticed they weren't afraid and were discussing the movie quietly while they watched. He got out of the truck with his daughters and walked with them inside the building.
"I don't really need to go, I just noticed you were scared and thought it might be better to come into a nice, warm, lighted building for a moment," he said as they went inside.
"I'm sorry, Daddy, I'm trying to be brave like you, but some of that stuff is scary," Namid said.
"Yeah, I'm getting scared too but I wanna be brave like you too," Sokanon said.
He smiled tenderly at that and waved at his family who were in the queue.
"Are you lot alright?" Alan said.
"Yeah, they got scared so I took them in here for a moment where it's well lighted and safe," he said to them.
He winced when a woman's scream came through the speaker mounted on the wall.
"Just in time it seems," he muttered.
"I'm sorry, Daddy," Namid said as they walked over to the blue cinderblock half wall that separated the queue from the rest of the room.
"For what?" the Doctor said, glancing at her with a frown on his face.
"I'm trying to be brave and I'm a chicken," she said.
"Yeah, me too," Sokanon said.
The Doctor chuckled and kissed their heads.
"You're both very brave. You stood up to the Valeyard and the Master five years ago and that's nothing to sneeze at," he said to them. "This is your first horror movie and you're only ten years old, I don't blame you for being scared. I may be brave but I still get scared sometimes."
"You do?" Sokanon said in disbelief.
"Sure. Being scared helps keep you alive because fear can make you cautious. If you were always brave, you'd be plunging headlong into situations without a care for life or limb and going through all thirteen lives in a trice."
"What made you scared, Daddy?" Namid asked.
"Ooooh, lots and lots of things have scared me. I'm a very old man and I've seen a lot in my ten lives," he said.
Sokanon giggled.
"You're not old, Daddy. You're young," Sokanon said, pointing to his face.
He grinned.
"Ah, thank you for saying that, Soki, but my face stays this way for the duration of this life. I've had ten lives and I'm nearly fifteen hundred years old now."
He chuckled at the shocked looks on his daughter's faces and patted their heads as his family finished paying for the food and came over to join them.
