Chapter One Hundred and Ninety Two
(In the Doctor's distant future)
Adam stood by the window as he looked out at the lights from the other houses and placed his hands behind his back. Having regenerated three times, he still smiled when thinking back to what he used to look like at the beginning and brushed the red hair out of his eyes. Standing six feet two inches in height, he loved to be teased by Marion that he looks like something off a Scottish romance novel and his reflection in the glass made a ghostly image of a very handsome man in his mid-twenties. His eyes were a dark blue color and his red hair had gold and auburn highlights. Red stubble covered his chin as he rubbed his fingers over the stubble and smiled.
"A vast improvement tae what you looked like in your last life," he whispered then shuttered, thinking back to what he looked like. He was tall and lean with long white hair, but what disturbed him was the fact that he had pointy ears and yellow cat eyes. Alan teased him constantly with cat jokes and elf jokes and he did like the fact that he could see in the dark. What wasn't funny was getting shot in the chest with an arrow while trying to rescue a princess and Adam gently rubbed his chest. His regenerating nearly killed Alan thanks to them being empathically connected and Alan returned the favor a few weeks later when he was badly hurt in a cave in.
"No fair, I thought we promised to regenerate at the same time," Alan had told him just before he regenerated, but they both know why Alan was one life up on him. Alan was now on his fifth life where Adam was on his fourth and Alan had to regenerate twice in one year when…
"Pa-paw!" a voice called out as Adam turned around and looked at the four children running toward them. He had lost track how many greats he was as he looked at them and smiled, folding his arms over his chest. Two of the children came from River's family, one came from James' family and one came from David's family and they stopped, looking up at him.
"Well, hello, what are you wee terrors up tae?" he asked, giving them a smile.
"We're bored," Alan said and Adam arched an eyebrow at him.
"How can you be bored with all those games, toys an' videos in the playroom?"
"Can you tell us a story?" Dougal asked and the twins, Liam and Clara, gave Adam sad puppy eyes.
"Aye," he said with a nod of his head and they headed for the couch. Clara held onto Adam's hand and he swung her hand back and forth. Alan was five years old and Adam swore that Big Alan, as they called him, has switched babies in the nursery because Little Alan acted more like him then any of Adam's other grandchildren. Dougal was four and had the same dark blue eyes as Adam did. The twins were three and Clara gave them a scare when she became deathly ill and they were afraid that she was going to die.
"Sit here, Papaw," she said as Adam sat at the center of the large, white couch and she sat on his lap. Liam and Dougal sat to his left and Alan sat to his right and Adam wrapped his arms around Clara, placing his chin on the top of her head.
"Now, what kind of story do you want tae hear?" Adam asked.
"I want to hear a story with a mermaid in it," Clara said and the boys made gagging sounds.
"Och, stop that," Adam said then looked at Clara and smiled. "Well, I do ken a story aboot a very special mermaid."
"Why is the mermaid special?" Clara asked.
"Well…." Adam said then set up a privacy block and half closed his eyes.
"Who lives in a coral under the sea?" Adam sang softly in their minds as they saw a cartoon ocean and cartoon fish swam by, one of the larger fish winked at them.
"Doc-tor Mer-man!" children voices sang as a tiny cartoon version of the Doctor as a merman swam out of the coral and was holding a tiny sonic screwdriver in his hand.
"Adventurous and hyper and handsome is he."
"Doc-tor Mer-man!"
"He swims through the ocean, swish swish."
"Doc-tor-Mer-man!"
"Let's just hope he doesn't get eaten by a fish!" Adam sang as Doctor Merman looked at him then saw a giant shark coming closer and Doctor Merman's eyes went wide. The giant shark swam closer when its jaws snapped shut and the giant shark smiled at them. Suddenly Doctor Merman squeezed out from between the giant shark's teeth and the giant shark pouted and swam away. THE ADVENTURES OF DOCTOR MERMAN appeared over Doctor Merman's head as he looked up and gave them a wink. The scene changed to Doctor Merman swimming through the coral and was whistling while zipping in and out of the coral. Suddenly a watery whirlwind appeared as Doctor Merman sighed and rolled his eyes. The watery whirlwind slowed as a merman with short, spiky black hair and a black fish body appeared and grabbed the sides of his head, his eyes swirling around in circles.
"Whoa, what a rush," Alan of Seaweed said, shaking his head side to side until his eyes stopped rolling.
"And why do I have the pleasure of seeing you, today?" Doctor Merman asked and Alan of Seaweed smiled, brushing some hair from his eyes.
"I am here because her royal pain sent me to fetch you," he said and Doctor Merman frowned, swimming closer until they were face to face.
"That is my wife you are talking about, Bass Breath!" Doctor Merman said and both looked around when they heard the children giggling. "Did you hear that?"
"Yeah, just ignore it! Oh, wait, it's song time!" Alan of Seaweed said and Calypso music started.
"Not that song again," Doctor Merman sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Under the sea," Alan of Seaweed sang while dancing and spun around in a circle. "Under the sea! It's just little, little ole me, under the sea! The sea is big and scary and I'm just a little fish. I better be mighty careful before I end up a big, fish dish. Oh I am a studly merman, on that we can all agree. I am the studliest thing that…is livin' here under the sea. Under the sea, under the sea, my bladder is full, gotta take a big pee, under the sea!"
"Don't you dare!" Doctor Merman shouted when a yellow liquid shot out of Alan of Seaweed's tail and he smiled at Doctor Merman.
"See, I had to pee, take a piddle, a piss, a wee wee….UNDER THE SEA!" he sang and Doctor Merman sighed, brushing some hair from his eyes. They swam away as Alan of Seaweed hummed and swayed his hips side to side. A few minutes later they came to a humongous coral palace and Alan of Seaweed swam faster. "Yoo-hoo, Honey Fins, I'm home!"
Doctor Merman watched as the doors to the palace opened and a blonde mermaid swam out. Her purple tail shimmered as Alan of Seaweed swam around her and Rose Coral giggled. Behind her came a dark skin mermaid and she had dark hair and a teal tail. Her name was Princess Rain Shower and she batted her eyelashes at Doctor Merman. Swimming closer, she kissed his cheek as Doctor Merman blushed and took her hands, swinging them back and forth.
"Uh, you sent for me?" he asked then heard someone making kissing sounds and looked over at Alan of Seaweed, who quickly turned away, Doctor Merman sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Yes, I need you to go on a quest for me!" she said when several seahorses appeared and made trumpeting sounds with their noses.
"Oi, that was loud!" Alan of Seaweed said, wiggling his finger in his ear.
"And what will I be searching for while on this quest of yours?" Doctor Merman asked when a tiny bubble of light floated out of the palace, soared through the air then crashed into a rock and someone tumbled out of the bubble of light.
"Ow, I really got tae learn how tae land," a voice said when a light brown haired merman sat up and shook his head. He was wearing a purple robe with gold trim on the bottom and sleeves and a purple shell hat was perched on his head. His tail was blue with purple fins and the robe was tied closed by a gold rope belt. Removing the purple shell hat, the merman dusted his hair off when a tiny ball of light flew out of the purple shell hat and landed on the merman's shoulder. With long white hair, the tiny merfairy straightened her white dress as the merman placed the purple shell hat back on his head and smiled at them.
"Good morning, Frazerwick," Princess Rain Shower said and the tiny merfairy glared at her, crossing her tiny arms over her chest. "Good morning to you, too, Angel Fish."
"Good morning, Your Highness," Frazerwick said with a bow and Angel Fish tumbled off his shoulder and landed hard on the sand. "Oops, sorry aboot that."
Picking her up and dusting her off, Frazerwick placed her on his shoulder when he heard giggling and looked around, trying to find where the giggling was coming from. "Did you hear that?"
"Yeah, just ignore it," Doctor Merman said while Alan of Seaweed and Rose Coral swam closer and floated next to them.
"So, what's the scoop? Why did you make me take time away from my wife and go fetch Captain Catfish here?" Alan of Seaweed asked as Princess Rain Shower glared at him and Frazerwick and Angel Fish softly laughed.
"I need him to go on a quest," Princess Rain Shower said and Alan of Seaweed's eyes went wide.
"We're going on a quest?" he said and Doctor Merman gave him confused look.
"Who said you were going?" he asked when Alan of Seaweed swam to him and pulled him to his side.
"Where you go, I go! It says so right here," Alan of Seaweed said when scroll made of seaweed appeared in his hand and a pair of tiny glasses sat perched on the end of his nose. "Article Three, Subsection Eight. "When Doctor Merman goes on quests, or adventures that are filled with action, danger and deadly traps, Alan of Seaweed must be in attendance of the quest or adventure is null and void!"."
"Whatever," Doctor Merman sighed as his tail swished back and forth then he smiled, looking at Princess Rain Shower. "So, what is this quest?"
"Uh, Papaw, can we take a break?" Liam asked as Adam looked at him and Liam had his hands between his legs.
"You have tae pee?" Adam asked and Liam nodded. "Alright then, go on."
Adam watched as Liam got off the couch then ran up the stairs and Adam smiled, kissing the top of Clara's head.