elmo-doodle: thanks for all the reviews, guys! sorry about the late posting... i've been really busy with studying etc.
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By the time Alex was six months old he could walk and could pretty much put together a proper sentence. Rose was amazed at his ability to learn and remember so much, and the Doctor kept reminding her that Alex was Gallifreyan, and, therefore, more advanced than other children.
Though, this never stopped her from baby-ing him.
"Say 'aaaah'," Rose cooed to the little alien-Time-Lord baby. Alex giggled and opened his mouth obligingly as Rose fed him. They were sitting in the kitchen, and Rose had placed Alex in a highchair that the TARDIS had provided for him. Rose absolutely loved spending time with the Time-tot, almost as much as the Doctor did.
"Ah, there's my little guy!" Said Time Lord walked in to the kitchen and affectionately ruffled Alex's chocolately-brown hair. Alex giggled in response and reached out towards his father…/mother…
"Well, I'm finished feeding him," Rose said, placing the spoon in the dishwasher and putting the empty food carton in the bin. "You should look after him while I go get some sleep."
"What were you feeding him?" the Doctor asked as he picked Alex up out of his highchair and held him in his arms.
"Petits Filous."
"You're feeding him that?!" the Doctor asked, astounded.
"Yeah," Rose replied, washing her hands at the sink. "He likes it, so 'might as well let him have some once in a while."
"B-but, he's a Time Lord! A superior species! And you're feeding him earth food?!" The Doctor's protests fell upon deaf ears as Rose yawned widely and left the kitchen. "She's insane…" he said, as he left the kitchen and headed towards the consol room. "Well, I'll prove to her that Time Lords have an advanced sense of taste. Whaddaya say, Alex?" he asked, as he placed Alex safely in a playpen in the corner of the room. "Want to go find some good food?"
"Yeah!" Alex cheered and he joyfully clapped his hands.
"Rightio, hold on tight!" With that, the Doctor began pushing levers and flicking switches in all places. Considering the mess that he punched in the coordinates, the landing was quite smooth. Picking Alex out of the pen, the Doctor carried him to the TARDIS doors. He opened them and revealed them to be in little town that had purple skies and green clouds surrounding it. "This is Strephon," the Doctor told is son, who was gazing around with innocent curiosity. "Home to the Peeri. They're a relatively peaceful race…only had about two wars in their planet's history."
"What's that?" Alex asked, pointing towards a large building with elegant writing on the windows.
"That's a restaurant," the Doctor said, heading towards it, "and that's where we're gonna eat!"
Twenty minutes later, the Doctor and Alex were sitting in a little corner in the restaurant, with hot plates of what looked like lasagna in front of them.
"This is called 'piestromannaza'," the Doctor told Alex, who was poking cautiously at the food with his fork. "It was adapted from a Spanish dish in 23rd century Earth."
"Yum!" said Alex, as he swallowed his first bite.
"After this, I'm going to take you to some other great restaurants," the Doctor said, and he too began to eat.
Terra, year 400 613...
"It look like something dead," Alex said, eyeing the brown mush in front of him.
"Hmm," the Doctor said before taking a bite. His eye twitched a little before he said, "Tastes like chocolate!"
Alex immediately took a spoonful. He chewed for a moment before pulling a face a spitting it back out again. "Ew!" he exclaimed. "Bitter!"
The Doctor laughed at him. "That's one to me…" He began to take a drink of water when something wet hit his face. He looked over to see Alex innocently looking around, his spoon lying in front of him. "Oh, now you've started it…"
Needless to say, they were chucked out of the restaurant and banned from returning.
Vampi, orange.6...
The Doctor and Alex sat in a dark little restaurant, owned by a pale man wearing a black cape. They were both staring at the contents of the bowl before them.
After a moment, Alex looked up. "I think it's blood," he whispered in mixed horror and awe.
The Doctor shook his head. "It can't be, it's illegal…I think."
Alex took a sniff at it and then scrunched up his face. "Smells like it could be really hot…"
The Doctor and Alex both looked at each other.
"First one to spit it out looses," the Doctor said, grabbing his spoon while Alex did the same, giggling. The simultaneously took a spoonful of the soup and held it in front of their mouths. "On three…one…two…three." They both forced the liquid in to their mouths.
The soup burnt their entire mouths, almost as if it had been made completely of red hot chilies. The Doctor and Alex stared at each other, silently daring the other to spit it out first.
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"Okay, so that's one all," the Doctor said as they walked back in through the TARDIS doors, Alex laughing in victory . He didn't know how Alex did it, but his son had managed to hold the liquid in his mouth longer than the Doctor. "We'll need a perception filter for the next place that we're going to." The Doctor watched as his son stumbled on to the floor. "I think that soup was rigged with something," he muttered as Alex dissolved in to a fit of giggles.
Tokyo, Japan, 2007...
They stared at the plate of dried squid for several long minutes.
Alex looked up at his father. "I dare you to lick it."
The Doctor visibly paled.
A little restaurant near Villengard, 52nd century...
"Now this is good," the Doctor said as he drank the milkshake.
"Mm," Alex said happily as he drank one, too.
"Oh, and it's two-one to me."
Alex shook his head. "You spat after licking the squid."
"But I still licked it!"
Alex shook his head again, and the Doctor huffed, and moodily continued drinking his milkshake. This caused Alex to giggle.
"What in this?" Alex asked, pointing in to his drink.
"It's a banana milkshake," the Doctor replied, cheerfully. "Banana's picked fresh from the Groves in Villengard," he added, smiling.
Alex hiccoughed when he finished his drink.
"Okay, I've got the best place to go to yet," the Doctor said. "Still got that perception filter?" Alex took the little necklace out of his pocket. "Good man; let's go!"
Street corner, London, Earth, 2008...
"So, what do you think?"
"Fan'astic!" Alex exclaimed, his mouth full of chips.
The Doctor chuckled and ruffled his hair. "This is where Rose and I came on our first date," he told Alex.
"It's good," Alex said, munching happily on the vinegar soaked potatoes. "Is this the last place?"
"Oh, no!" the Doctor said. "There's still plenty more places to try!"
Several planets and quite a few restaurants later, the Doctor and Alex finally stumbled back in to the TARDIS, their stomach's in turmoil.
"There you are, boys," Rose said as she walked in to the consol room. "Where have you two been?"
The Doctor and Alex both mumbled incoherently in response. While walking past the consol, the Doctor hit the de-materialization button. "I'm going to go lie down…" he said, meekly.
"Me too…" Alex said, and the both slowly staggered in to the corridor.
Rose sighed. "I guess I'll go put on some tea, then."
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elmo-doodle: like it? this was the chapter that i had the most fun writting!! reviews are greatly appreciated!
