Chapter Two Hundred and Seventeen
Adam sat on the couch while his five year old son snuggled next to him and they were watching Tree Fu Tom on CBeebies. Adam didn't mind the captions on the screen as Little Alan giggled and looked up at him. If anyone would have told Adam that he would be adopting a five year old boy who was not only from a different universe, but deaf, he would have told them to bugger off. But that was exactly what happened and he never regretted his decision.
DADDY, TWIGS IS BEING SILLY, Little Alan signed then pointed to the holo-television as Twigs ran around in a circle and Adam nodded his head. Suddenly a light flashed while the doorbell rang as Little Alan got off the couch and ran to the door. Smiling, Adam got up while the light flashed again and Little Alan jumped up and down, pointing to the door.
HOLD ON. WE HAVE TO SEE WHO IT IS FIRST, Adam signed as he looked out the window and smiled. OK, OPEN THE DOOR.
Little Alan opened the door when he looked up at Duer and smiled. He was a little confused at first with who was who, but he knew Duer wore white, converse sneakers with Superman or Spiderman on them and Duer smiled down at him.
IT'S UNCLE DUER!
I SEE THAT.
HELLO, ALAN. HOW ARE YOU? Duer signed as he knelt down and smiled at him. It still hurt his hearts to think Little Alan was called "Dawg" and abused by his mother most of his life, but seeing him happy and smiling proved that taking him away from her was the right thing to do.
I'M GOOD. DADDY AND I ARE WATCHING TREE FU TOM, Little Alan signed and Duer nodded then stood up, looking at Adam.
"What's up?" Adam asked when he saw something bundled up in his brother's coat and stood back to let him inside.
"Can we go into your TARDIS?" Duer asked and Adam nodded his head then looked down at Little Alan.
IS IT OK IF I GO DO SOMETHING WITH UNCLE DUER?
CAN I HELP? Little Alan signed.
NO, NOT THIS TIME, BUTTER BUTT, Duer signed as Little Alan giggled and he ruffled Little Alan's hair. Little Alan ran back to the couch then sat down as they headed for the garage and Adam opened the door. They went inside the TARDIS when Adam followed Duer down the hallway and they headed for the medical bay. Whatever he had wrapped in his coat made Duer look sad as Adam frowned then blinked his eyes a few times and they walked in the room. The door closed behind them as Duer walked to the examination bed and placed his coat down.
"Ok, what's going on?" Adam asked with concern in his voice and stood on the other side of the examination bed. Duer slowly opened his coat as they looked down and Elby, Faith's chibi, was curled up into a ball. Elby's eyes had dark circles and it was shaking while pulling on the lining of Duer's coat. "What happened to him?"
"That's what we've been trying to figure out. He hasn't been sleeping, he wakes us up with these shrill screams and he barely eats," Duer said while stroking the tiny head and Elby made soft meeping sounds. "I did examine him, but couldn't find anything wrong."
"And you think I might know something?"
"Well, I tried to contact River, but she's off planet at the moment."
"How long has he been acting like this?" Adam said as he brought over a hand held scanner and Duer tried to get Elby to lie still.
"It's been three days," Duer said as Adam nodded his head and scanned Elby.
"Has he eaten anything out of the usual?"
"No," Duer said, shaking his head.
"Did he fall down the stairs or out the window?"
"No."
"Well, the scans show there's nothing broken or any sign of poison," Adam said when he gently picked up Elby and Elby slumped against his hand, placing its head against his fingers. "You know, when you went back to your tenth life, we all thought he would either die or go into stasis."
'Yeah, I remember. Are you saying he's dying?" Duer asked with a worried look on his face. The idea of Faith losing her best friend made his hearts hurt and Adam sighed, brushing the hair out of his eyes.
"I don't know. Has Faith been neglecting him?"
"Well, she hasn't been taking him to the academy lately and had forgotten to take him with her when we go in the TARDIS," Duer said and Elby softly meeped, nodding its head.
"Uh-oh," Adam said and they looked at him. "I was wondering when this day would come."
"What are you talking about?"
"See, when River reached a certain age, she stopped playing with her chibis. Oh, she still took care of them, but she more or less left them on their own. Faith is eight now, isn't she?"
"Yeah, but you don't…." Duer said when he remembered something and his eyes went wide. "Oh crap! She had been putting away her old toys the last few days and there have been boxes all over her room."
"And Elby saw her doing it. He must think he'll end up in a box and left to rot in the loft," Adam said and Elby nodded its head. "There you go."
"Wait, are you saying that's what's wrong? He thinks she's going to abandon him?"
"Yep," Adam said while nodding his head and stroked Elby's hair.
"If that's true, what should we do? I don't want Elby to die."
"Well, the only answer is for Elby to go live with the rest of the chibis."
"Isn't that a little drastic? He isn't like the others. I mean he does go stay with them sometimes, but he's been with us ever since Faith was a baby."
"Yeah, I know, but it might be the only way he'll snap out of this. If he keeps going on like this…" Adam said as Duer sighed and Elby softly meeped, closing its eyes.
"Daddy, where are you?" Faith thought as Duer moved her mind closer and closed his eyes.
'I'm over at Uncle Adam's," Duer thought.
"Have you seen Elby? I can't find him."
"He's with me in Uncle Adam's TARDIS."
"Why?"
"I wanted Uncle Adam to examine Elby to see why he is feeling poorly."
"Did he find out why?"
"Yes, and Uncle Adam thinks it's time for Elby to go live with the chibis."
Duer felt Faith's mind moving away while they looked at each other and Duer shrugged his shoulders. A few minutes later Little Alan ran into the room when he pulled on Duer's fingers and Duer looked down at him.
FAITH IS HERE AND SHE'S CRYING, Little Alan signed as Duer picked up his coat then took Elby from Adam and left the medical bay. DADDY, WHY IS FAITH CRYING?
LET'S GO HAVE A SNACK AND I'LL TELL YOU, Adam signed as they left the medical bay and the door closed behind them.
Faith sat Elby on the desk as it looked around the room then sighed, sliding down onto its right side. The walls were now painted a tan color and the Disney Princess stickers were gone. The furniture was deep brown with matching bedding and curtains and a computer sat on the desk. Posters of the latest boy bands and movies that Faith liked were now on the walls and the only thing that was remained of her childhood was Elby's dollhouse. Faith sat Elby up as they looked at each other and Faith blinked the tears out of her eyes.
"I am so sorry," she whispered as Elby looked at her and sighed. "I never thought you'd think I would just put you in a box and leave you to rot in the loft. Is that why you've been waking up screaming? Were you dreaming that's what I did?"
"Meepa," Elby said with a nod of its head.
"It's true that I have put away most of my old stuff, but I would never do that to you."
"Meepa," Elby said while pointing to where her board games sat on the shelf and she looked at the video game system and video games that had replaced them.
"I thought you liked playing video games with me."
"Meepa meep meep," Elby said with a nod of its head.
"And I did put my stuffies away in the loft, too,"
"Meepa," Elby said as it looked at hologram photograph of her, Elby and Mumble Bumble, her teddy bear.
"Yeah, that included Mumble Bumble," she sighed and picked Elby up, holding it in her arms. "And I put my Barbie dolls away, too. It's funny, but I never did like them or those Moxie Girl dolls. And Bratz scared you because I had to remove their feet to change their shoes."
"Meepa," Elby said with a nod of its head.
"Do you remember those books that Moira gave me about the monster school?" she asked and Elby nodded its head. "I found out there were video games and dolls that go with the books, but I didn't think you'd like them because you don't like monsters."
She placed Elby on the floor when she walked to the trunk and opened the lid. Elby watched as she removed shopping bags from the trunks then removed what was in the shopping bags and Elby slowly walked closer. She sat on the floor as Elby looked at the dolls in the boxes then ran into the dollhouse and she sighed, standing up.
"Maybe Daddy's right. Maybe…" she said when Elby ran back out and she was surprised to see him wearing a small, academy teacher's robe and hat and smiled.
"Are you sure about this? I mean Elby may be a chibi, but he's also a member of the family," Frankie said as they walked down the hallway and Duer sighed, half closing his eyes.
"Adam thinks so," Duer said softly.
"Faith didn't mean it, Sweetie. She's just growing up," she said as he nodded and she kissed his cheek.
"Yeah, when did…?" he asked when they heard giggling coming from Faith's room and they slowly walked to the door. Peeking into the room, they watched while Elby stood near the computer and was using a pen as a pointer. Faith sat on the floor with her Monster High dolls sitting in front of her and Elby walked back and forth like it was teaching the class. Looking at Duer, Frankie smiled as he placed his arm around her waist and they walked away while Elby smiled, tapping the pen on the screen.