ALAN AND TARA'S DAY IN THE CITY

Chapter Nine

"Okay," Alan said as they finished putting the food in the back of the Camaro, "I believe that's all of it."

He let out an evil laugh and rubbed his hands together.

"Food! All for me!" he said gleefully.

"You better not eat any of ours if you know what's good for ya," Jack said to him.

Alan sniffed.

"I'll consider not eating it," he said, sitting down in the seat.

"Are you sure you're gonna be able to find your way to the airport and back?" Rose asked.

"Absotively-posilutely as Dodger from Oliver and Company would say. I have a keen sense of di-rection."

He pulled his tinted glassed out of his pocket, put them on and grinned at them.

"Now, behave while I'm gone or I'll be forced to torture you all for punishment," he said gently.

"Just go, Dork!"

They bent over laughing when Alan eyed Tara.

"Ahem, I shall ignore that comment. And now, on to Hertz to trade up for a people carrier. Wait here for me, fellow travelers."

He shut the door and rolled down the window, giving them a huge grin.

"Oh yeah, I am a stud!" he said to them.

"Go, Alan."

"Yes, spousal unit," he said to her.

He turned the car on and gave them an evil grin as he waggled his eyebrows and drove off.

"Ten dollars says he ditches it somewhere near the rental place and lands on it later with his TARDIS so he can have it," Rain said.

"I wouldn't put it past him," Rose replied.

"So now what do we do, Daddy?"

Tara waited for an answer but the Doctor stood near the edge of the pavement staring out into space.

"Daddy?" Tara said, tugging on his coat.

"This is the Doctor. I'm not in right now, my mind is off doing quantum algebra calculations. If you need to reach me, leave your name and number and I'll get back to you as soon as I rejoin reality. Beeeeeeeeeeeeepah!"

"Hello, Daddy, it's Tara, your daughter," she said as everyone giggled. "I don't know what quantum algebra is, but I need you to come back so you can tell us what to do."

She thought for a few seconds.

"Oh, and I wanna see a movie tonight before we leave here. That is all."

She mimed pushing a button on the Doctor's arm and walked away with Rain and the others. They looked back and noticed the Doctor was still standing in the same place staring off into space. They all stopped and looked at him.

"He better watch it," Jack said. "Cute guy like him's likely to be sexually assaulted by tramps."

Rose giggled and nudged Rain and Madison. She sprinted over to the Doctor's back, planted her face in the back of his neck and snorted his hair.

"What was that?" the Doctor said as she ran back to Rain and Madison who were now bent over laughing.

The Doctor gave Rose an odd look as she stuck her tongue out between her teeth.

"Like the smell of your hair, Doctor. Smells like bananas," she said to him.

"Really? Let me have a whiff!" Jack said, running over.

They laughed when the Doctor's eyes bulged out and he ran away from him.

"Doc, come back, wanna smell!" Jack said as he chased him.

They ran for several feet and then both of them stopped. The others watched while they glanced at each other and went into a shop on their left side. Curious, the rest of them walked up to see what it was and found a shop selling old LP records. They went inside and noticed the Doctor and Jack thumbing through old LPs that were displayed in huge white wooden racks. Everyone came close to them and started thumbing through the albums.

"I'll keep an eye out for Alan," Madison said as she stood at a rack near the doorway.

Tara wandered up to her father who was studying an LP. She glanced at the LPs on the rack and picked up a Barry Manilow album. She was staring at his face when the Doctor suddenly snatched it out of her hand.

"Hey!" she said.

"I would rather die than have my beloved daughter exposed to Barry Manilow," he teased.

He gave it back to her.

"What is this?"

Rain giggled as the Doctor stared at her in disbelief.

"You don't know what a vinyl LP record is? The kind they used to play on record players?"

"Oh! I've heard of them, I've just never seen one before."

She looked at the LP in the Doctor's hands and frowned.

"Handel's Messiah?" she said.

"Yes, I love Handel," he replied.

He showed her another album.

"Also getting Beethoven," he said. "I love old LPs. CDs are good but the old pops you heard on vinyl records..."

He brought the album to his nose and inhaled deeply.

"And the smell of vinyl. Love the smell of vinyl records."

His eyes widened when Rose ran over and snorted the back of his head again.

"Ah," she said, "Doctor's shampoo, love the smell of the Doctor's shampoo."

"Get away from me, Rose!" he said while they laughed.

While they were looking, a middle-aged black man came up to them. He was short and dumpy with a thick afro and granny glasses. He smiled at his customers.

"Can I help any of you look for something?" he asked. "We have lots of rare LPs in here."

"Yeah, you got any early jazz?" Jack said, coming up to him.

"Lots of early jazz. Come this way."

"Cool," Jack said to the Doctor as he followed the owner towards the back of the store.

The Doctor went back to thumbing through the LPs while Tara held the Handel and Beethoven ones he selected.

"So…" he said to her as he looked. "I believe you were saying something about going to the cinema?"

"Yeah, can we? Later on, I mean. There was one in the GM building. Alan and I looked at it and they had Harry Potter playing."

"What if I don't want to watch Harry Potter."

"You?" Rain said, eyeing him. "The man who's read Deathly Hallows eighteen trillion times and can quote it by heart?"

"Doesn't mean I wanna see the film!" the Doctor protested. "I like books better. I have my own imagination."

He tapped Tara on the top of the head.

"And so do you, you need to start using it."

"I do but I thought it'd be fun to go and see a movie tonight, please?"

The Doctor glanced at his family.

"Everyone who wants to see Harry Potter tonight, raise their hands."

Tara giggled when she and everyone else put their hands up.

"S'pose we're going to see Harry Potter then and…Damn it, Rose, quit snorting my hair!" he said to her as she ran back to Madison chortling. "As I was saying, since it's a family activity then we'll go and…"

The women giggled when Rain ran over and snorted the back of his hair.

"Ooooh yeah, that's the stuff," she said, walking away.

Tara bent over laughing as the Doctor gave him an incensed look and put his hands on his hips. His eyes bulged when someone else snorted and he turned to see Ianto with an evil grin. The women and Jack fell over laughing as he casually walked back towards his husband.

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