Chapter One Hundred and Forty Nine
"Whoa, will you look at all those gifts, Latara!" the Doctor said as they walked toward the table that was stacked with brightly wrapped presents and Rain smiled. He couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she opened the presents that he had bought her and took her hand, wrapping his fingers around hers.
"Can I help you open them, Daddy?" Hope asked as he looked down at her with wide eyes and she giggled.
"No, I am perfectly capable of opening my own presents!" he said, giving her a smug look.
"You better let her help, Brother. We don't want you to regenerate from a paper cut," Alan said and the Doctor's eyes went wide.
"You know as well as I do that wouldn't happen!"
"Are you sure? Some paper cuts can be nasty," Adam said.
"Yeah, let's get you some safety gloves just in case," Tara said and the Doctor gave her a shocked look.
"Who asked you?" the Doctor asked and Tara laughed.
"I'm just saying," she said as she held her hands up and the Doctor growled.
"Is there anyone else that thinks I need help opening these gifts?" he asked when everyone raised their hands and he sighed, rolling his eyes. "Well, I am going to open them and risk it!"
"Good for you, Brother," Duer said with a smile. "But, if it were me, I wouldn't risk it."
"Yeah, I like you looking like this," Frankie said as she kissed Duer's lips and Faith scrunched her face, making little gagging sounds.
"Ew, Daddy, that's gross," Faith said then yelped when he tickled her under her armpits and she wiggled free, running behind Adam's legs. She peeked out at Duer while Duer wiggled his fingers at her and she giggled.
"Maybe we should let the TARDIS open them. That way he wouldn't have to worry about getting a paper cut," Namid said as they laughed and the Doctor growled, balling his hands into fists.
"Enough!" the Doctor said then looked at Rain and smiled. "Um, why don't you open one first?"
"Oh, right, let me be the one that regenerates from a paper cut. Thank a lot," Rain said as he kissed her cheek and she rolled her eyes.
Smiling, Adam looked over at Duer while Rain started opening one of the gifts and Adam tilted his head to one side. Duer had been laughing at the dvd like everyone else but he knew that his big brother was still sad about something. Holding up a finger to Marion, Adam walked over to Duer and looked at him with his eyes nearly popping out of his head.
"Why are you looking at me like that for?" Duer whispered while Rain started opening the box she had unwrapped and she smiled.
"I am looking at that little rain cloud over your head," Adam whispered as he put up a privacy block then sent a cartoon image of Duer with a dark cartoon cloud over his head and the rain fell around him. Arching an eyebrow, Cartoon Duer looked at them then pulled out a cartoon umbrella and opened the umbrella, placing it over his head.
"I do not have a gloomy cloud over my head," Cartoon Duer said as Cartoon Adam appeared and gave him a blank look.
"Then why are you so sad?"
"It's not sadness as it is awe. I never thought in all my lives that any of this would have happened. I always thought that I would end up alone. When I look at all this, it overwhelms me."
"Yeah, it overwhelmed me at the beginning, too. I think back to when you left us on that beach and I was sure that I was going to be abandoned and left on my own. I didn't know if Rose, uh, Marion wanted me or would accept me. I wasn't the man she fell in love with and thought she would be better off without me."
"Did you ever think about running away?"
"Oh yeah, tons of times, but I could never bring myself to go. Where would I go if I did? I had no money or friends to go to. I didn't have any skills that were mine. They were yours."
"Oh, really, which one of us is the writer in the family?" Cartoon Duer asked and Cartoon Adam smiled then blew on his knuckles, rubbing his knuckles on his chest.
"Yeah, well, I had to do something to escape or I would have gone mad," Cartoon Adam sighed and Cartoon Duer nodded.
"What Pete did wasn't your fault," Duer whispered and Adam half smiled at him when Faith walked to Duer and pulled on his fingers. Duer knelt down as she placed her hands on the sides of his face and tiled his head side to side.
"I want a pony," she said as he softly laughed and picked her up, wrapping her legs around his waist.
"You want a pony?" he asked when the Doctor stopped opening his present and looked at them.
"If she gets one then I get one!" Hope said as she placed her hands on her hips and everyone laughed.
"I want a pony, too, Baba," Aderyn said and Koschei sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Can I have a pony, too, Daddy?" Moira asked and Hamish sighed, rubbing his thumbs on his wooden stick.
"I had a pony," Moira's sister, Zoe, said and Faith, Hope, Moira and Aderyn looked at their fathers.
"Ye had tae go an' say that, eh, nighean?" Hamish asked and nighean was Gaelic for daughter.
"Here's an idea," Frazer said and the girls looked at him. "As you ken, we do have ponies at the zoo for the kids to ride on, but what you didnae ken is that four new ponies arrived this morning from Earth. Anyway, they dinnae have ayone tae take care of them so, if you promise tae take good care of them, they're yours."
"Can we do that, Daddy?" Hope asked with wide eyes and Faith, Aderyn and Moira looked at Duer, Koschei and Hamish. The Doctor wiggled his finger as Koschei, Duer and Hamish walked to him and they huddled together, placing their heads together.
"Well?" he asked as they looked at each other and Duer smiled.
"If it will stop them asking for one then I say yes," Duer said.
"Yeah, I think it's a good idea," Koschei said.
"Aye, I did promise Moira that she could have a pony when she was of age," Hamish said as they moved back and the Doctor stood in front of them with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Do I have your word that you will do whatever Frazer tells you and be gentle with the ponies?" he asked and the girls nodded their heads with wide eyes. "Well, ok, you can have a pony!"
"Yay!" the girls shouted then ran to their fathers and Hope kissed the Doctor's cheek after he, Duer, Hamish and Koschei knelt down on the floor.
"You are the best daddy in the whole universe!" Hope said as the Doctor smiled and hugged her. Letting go, the Doctor stood up then nodded at Frazer and the girls ran to him, hugging Frazer after he knelt on the floor. The Doctor went back to the presents as Duer shrugged and held Faith against his hip.
"Still see a gloomy cloud over my head?" Duer whispered to Adam then set up a privacy block and Adam saw the cartoon Duer walking around his head in a rain coat and rubber boots, twirling the umbrella over his head. Cartoon Duer was whistling "Singing in the Rain" as he dancing around and splashed in the puddles.
"No, I don't," Cartoon Adam whispered as the cartoon cloud vanished and the cartoon sky turned bright blue with a cartoon sun and little cartoon birds flying across the sky. Cartoon Duer closed the umbrella when he took off the cartoon boots and rain coat and placing everything on the ground. He wiggled his finger at Cartoon Adam and looked at the puddles spread out around them. "Hmm, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"How old are you?" Cartoon Duer asked while scrunching up his face and Cartoon Adam wiggled his eyebrows up and down. Taking a running start, Cartoon Adam jumped into the air then landed in a big puddle and the water flew into the air. Shaking the water out of his hair, Cartoon Adam did a bow while Cartoon Duer clapped and Cartoon Adam pointed with his hands toward one of the puddles. Laughing, Cartoon Duer ran then jumped into the air and landed in a large puddle. Water soared into the air as they laughed and jumped from one puddle to the other then Cartoon Adam stopped, looking up at the sky. "What's wrong?"
"Do you hear knocking?" Cartoon Adam asked as they stood still and a low knocking sound filled the air. Lowering the privacy block, they watched as a cartoon Alan walked toward them and he folded his arms over his chest then tapped his foot.
"Right, this is the second time you two were being quiet. Mind telling me what's going on?" Cartoon Alan asked and Cartoon Duer smiled while looking at Cartoon Adam.
"Oh, we were just doing this," Cartoon Duer said then ran and jumped into the air, heading toward the large puddle in front of Cartoon Alan. Cartoon Alan gasped as the cold water hit him in the face and Cartoon Adam fell to the ground, laughing.
"Revenge!" Cartoon Alan shouted as he ran toward a large puddle then jumped into the air but sank up to his waist in the water after landing in the puddle and looked down at the water. "Oh, that's not fair!"
"Are you stuck?" Cartoon Adam asked as he walked toward the puddle and knelt down on his haunches.
"Yes!" Cartoon Alan shouted then his eyes went wide when he saw a cartoon shark fin popping up from under the water and the theme from Jaws filled the air. Cartoon Duer and Cartoon Adam laughed as Cartoon Alan scampered out of the water, hid behind Cartoon Adam then noticed bubbles coming from under the water. A snorkel appeared when the Cartoon Doctor stood up and had the fin strapped to his back. "Oh ha-ha!"
"Can we go back to me and Rain opening our presents now?" the Cartoon Doctor asked as Cartoon Duer and Cartoon Adam nodded and the Cartoon Doctor dived back into puddle and the fin sunk into the water. Cartoon Alan pouted when Cartoon Adam walked closer and handed him a cartoon towel.
"Sorry about that," Cartoon Adam said as Cartoon Alan sighed, shook his head and rolled his eyes.
"That's ok," Cartoon Alan said then twirled the cartoon towel and snapped it, hitting Cartoon Adam on the bottom.
"Oh, you are so asking for it!" Cartoon Adam said as Cartoon Alan laughed then ran off and Cartoon Adam chased after him.
"Kids. They are both big kids," Duer whispered then went back to watching Rain and the Doctor opening their presents and the Doctor looked at him. Smiling, the Doctor nodded and Duer smiled back, gently stroking the top of Faith's head.