ALAN AND TARA'S DAY IN THE CITY

Chapter Eleven

As they continued to drive around, all of them looked out with sadness at the slummy part of the city. The Doctor shook his head.

"It wasn't like this in the 1960's," he said. "Detroit used to be a thriving city, one of the manufacturing giants of the world. There were slums but not like this."

"That's sad cause it's a neat city," Tara said.

"Well, it's because at this point in history the economy is bad and businesses are shutting down, losing money and going bankrupt. GM, the people who own that big building, filed bankruptcy and caused many people to lose their jobs because of that."

"Are they gonna lose that building then?" Tara asked.

"No, they restructure things and start making better, more fuel efficient cars and recover," the Doctor said. "They won't lose the building and…"

He trailed off when Alan slowed down and started to pull over.

"Love?" Rose said, frowning.

"Tara, love, give me that sack of food," Alan said, glancing back. "I think this old woman over here is homeless, she looks like she could use the food."

He pulled up beside her as Tara got the bag and rolled down the window. The elderly lady was black and was emaciated. She was dressed in saggy, worn clothing that was far too hot for the summer heat. She was carrying a plastic shopping bag filled with her things.

"Hi, are you hungry?" Alan asked.

The women nodded eagerly.

"Wait a tick and we'll give you some food then," he said.

"Jack, get in one of my burger cases and give her some of my burgers so she'll have something beside bologna sandwiches," the Doctor said.

Jack nodded and turned slightly in his seat to reach the food behind him while the Doctor pulled out his wallet and fiddled with the keypad.

"Do you need a ride?" Alan asked the old lady who shook her head in reply.

The Doctor used his magic wallet and produced two hundred dollars. He handed the bills to Alan who gave it to the shocked lady.

"Here you go, find a nice hotel and a hot meal for tonight," Alan said to her.

"Bless you, bless you all!" she said.

Tara handed him the bag containing the Salvation Army food and the burgers. Once again she thanked them profusely and declined another offer to ride with them when Alan handed it to her. They waved at her and grinned when a smile cracked her wrinkly face. She kept on waving as Alan rolled the window back up and drove away.

"Wish we could do more but at least she has food and some money to help her out," Alan said to them.

"Cor, you're just a good Samaritan, you are," Rose said, patting him on the knee.

"Does the good Samaritan get sex in return for his generosity?"

Everyone snickered when Rose looked shocked for a moment before eyeing him.

"Only saying, you know I don't do things to make myself look good and not expect a reward for it," he said, shrugging.

They laughed when Rose swatted his head and rolled her eyes.

After riding around, they swung back and headed back towards the city. They went through the Greektown section which had numerous Greek restaurants and a huge casino hotel. Alan slowed down, pulled to the curb beside the casino and stared at it.

"Fancy trying your luck in here?" he asked.

"I wouldn't mind," Jack said. "I like to gamble from time to time."

"Gee, why am I not surprised?" the Doctor said as they laughed.

"Yeah, but what about Tara? Would they let her inside?" Rain said.

"I think they would if she were with us," Jack said. "It's not like she's a little screaming baby."

"Shut up, Uncle Alan!" Tara said when she noticed Alan was about to reply to that.

All of them got out of the car and locked it before heading across the street. The casino was an enormous brick building. The entrance was nestled in a cul-de-sac that led out to the street. They walked up and went inside. The guard at the door glanced at them and smiled as they walked through.

"Apparently, they don't have a problem with Tara being here," the Doctor said.

The interior was wide with red carpeting on the floor. On the first level was row after row of slot machines. Smoke hung in the air from all the smokers operating them and Tara wrinkled her nose at the stale odor. They split up into three groups after agreeing to meet back at the front entrance in an hour. The Doctor took Rain and Tara while Madison went with Rose and Alan and Jack and Ianto stayed together.

"Come on, Yan, let's see if we can find a blackjack table somewhere. Slots aren't my thing," he said to him as they headed towards an escalator.

Tara had a hold of her parent's hand while they walked through the building. She watched with curiosity at the people playing the slot machines and noticed most of them seemed to be mesmerized as they hit the big buttons repeatedly and the dials spun on the screen. The Doctor made a face as they went by.

"Never fancied slots, I like poker better."

"Like this," Tara said, poking him.

He eyed her as she giggled.

"No because that would be poke-him. This is poker," he said, jabbing his finger in her side.

"Well, a big casino like this, they must have a poker table somewhere," Rain said.

"Maybe Jack's right, maybe they're on the first floor," the Doctor said, pointing up.

"Are you gonna play poker, Daddy?"

"I might play a couple of hands," he said.

"You gonna gamble the TARDIS?" Tara said.

"Uh…no," he said as she and Rain giggled. "I gamble with many things including my life but the TARDIS isn't one of them."

"See, Mommy, he's afraid. He knows he's gonna lose and…"

She gasped when the Doctor stuck his finger in his mouth, licked it and placed it in her ear.

"So anyway, let's go to the first floor and see what they have," he said casually as Tara tried to get the spit off her ear.

Meanwhile, Alan and Rose were in the queue waiting to exchange money for chips. Alan pulled out his magic wallet and let out a theatrical sigh.

"What?" Rose said.

"I s'pose you'll be wanting no less than five thousand in chips, perhaps even ten thousand because we all know you have an addition, isn't that right, you gambling whore?"

He ducked down when Rose smacked his head three times.

"Only saying, dearest, that you need to cut down on your raging addiction before we lose our shirts and our TARDIS. I know you love the craps table but you can't go around offering me up for sex to anybody with a fat wallet, even though I…do fetch a lot of money for ya, but the point is, I'm not your rent-a-mule for chips!"

"Shut up, ya weirdo," Rose said, giggling.

"Only saying, I'd take a dildo up the butt for you for many things but poker chips is not one of em."

He gave her an evil grin when she turned bright red and looked around to see if anyone heard him. She watched as Jack, Ianto and Madison walked up and got in line behind her.

"Afternoon, Blondie, getting some chips of your own?" Jack said.

"Yes, I'm buying her chips to satisfy her raging gambling addiction," Alan said. "Because we all know she's a gambling whore."

He ran out of the queue before Rose could bop him on the head. Jack and Ianto chuckled as he came jogging back and kissed her cheek. They looked over when the Doctor, Rain and Tara came up and got in line behind Ianto.

"So, the little one is well on her way to her own gambling addiction, I see," Alan said, gesturing to Tara.

"What are we gonna do here?" Tara asked the Doctor.

"We're in line to see a Snizzle," Alan said to her.

"Shut up, Uncle Alan."

"Make me, Niecee Teecee," he said to her.

He stuck his tongue out and spun back around.

"Yup, you can definitely tell he's only two years old," Madison said.

They watched as he walked up to the counter and talked sweetly to the lady behind it while he got some chips. Jack looked back at the Doctor.

"I just love how he can be a complete ass to us and yet he'll treat total strangers like gold," he said to him.

"Well…I have to admit he gets that from me," the Doctor said, shrugging. "You always irritate the ones you love, ya know."

Alan and Rose walked back to them carrying brightly colored chips. He held them out to Tara who took a ten dollar chip and examined it.

"This is what you gamble with?" she asked him.

"Yup, except on the slot machines, you use bank notes on those. But…we're off to find something Rose can do before she loses her mind and rampages through the casino in a blind, hormonal, homicidal rage. Ta-ta!"

"Geez, I've said it once and I'll say it again, Rose has the patience of a saint," Rain said as Jack, Ianto and Madison went up to the counter.

"What are we gonna gamble on, Daddy?"

The Doctor pointed behind her to the wall at the far end of the room.

"See those slot machines against that wall?" he said to Tara.

"Yeah," Tara said, staring at it.

"Well, I thought we could make you stand beside the last one, up against the wall and I'd put an apple on your head and we'd play William Tell and bet on that, how 'bout it?"

"Who's William Tell?" Tara asked.

Everyone giggled as the Doctor gave her a long, hard stare. He looked at his wife.

"It's depressing to make a joke when the person doesn't get the punchline," he said to her.

He rapped lightly on the top of Tara's head.

"Does anything get in there when I'm teaching you? Do facts settle in your Happytown Tales addled brain at all?"

"They do when you quit talking four hundred miles an hour and give me long enough to understand what you're saying!"

She ducked behind her mother as the Doctor's mouth dropped open.

"Your turn, Professor Mouth," Jack said as he, Ianto and Madison walked away with chips in their hands.

"Excuse me? Professor what?" the Doctor said as Rain and Tara giggled.

Eyeing Jack who was giving him an impish grin, he walked up to the counter and talked to the lady behind it.

After getting some chips, the Doctor, Rain and Tara walked around the smoky room looking at everything. In addition to slot machines, there were also blackjack, craps and roulette tables as well as poker. The Doctor took them to one of the blackjack tables.

"This is easy, the object is to get a higher card value than the dealer without going over twenty one," the Doctor said to Tara.

Tara stood beside him and Rain stood on the other side while he played a round. While he played, he pointed out the card values to Tara who was watching in silent fascination at what her father was doing. While he played, Tara could tell he was calculating the cards in order to beat the dealer. He smiled when he won and received more chips.

"See, nothing to it," he said to her with a wink. "Wanna help me play another round?"

"Okay," Tara said.

The Doctor started another round. The dealer dealt him a two of hearts and a four of hearts.

"Have six, what should I do?" he asked Tara. "Hold or go on?"

"You have to get twenty one?" Tara asked.

"Gotta get as close to twenty one as I can without going over so I can still have a total of fifteen and stay safe, so what should I do?"

"Um…go on," she said.

The Doctor nodded and the dealer dealt him a ten of clubs.

"Sixteen," he said to her. "Hold or go on?"

"Um…hold," she replied.

They watched as the dealer dealt her cards. The Doctor made a face when she scored twenty and took his money. The Doctor feigned anger as Tara ducked behind him, giggling and then smiled. He took Rain's hand and the three of them walked off to find something else.

"Come on, baby, get me a seven," Alan said as he picked up the dice from the craps table.

He grinned at Rose who was standing beside him and held the dice up under her nose.

"Blow," he said to her.

Rose grinned and blew on his hand. Alan leaned in.

"Not the dice, me, you silly monkey."

He grunted when Rose smacked his bottom and he gave her an interested look at that.

"Roll, Mister High Stakes before I roll for ya," she said.

Alan gave her a scandalized look and then rolled the dice.

"Four," the man said when they stopped rolling.

Alan feigned irritation at Rose.

"That puff of air was meant to bring me luck, Misses, what the hell happened?"

Rose grinned and shrugged innocently.

Meanwhile, Jack, Ianto and Madison were gambling together with a couple of others at the roulette table. Jack had some of his chips on twenty two black, Ianto on sixteen red and Madison on three black. They and the others watched while the ball rolled around and around the grove in the roulette wheel, waiting for it to settle into a niche.

"Come on, twenty two black, twenty two black!" Jack chanted as it rolled into a niche and the wheel slowed down.

His mouth dropped open when he noticed it landed in three black. Madison's eyes bulged out of her skull.

"I won?" she said. "I've never won at gambling in my life!"

She beamed from ear to ear when the dealer gave her all the chips. Jack grinned and stuck his hand out.

"Borrow a fiver, Sis?" he asked.

"Eh, I'll think about it," Madison said, shrugging.

They watched as she quickly gathered up the chips and walked off.

"Wait, you're not going again?"

"No, I'm gonna cash these out. I was never much for gambling," she said to him.

"Wait, some of those chips are mine, gotta give me a chance to win them back," he said.

"Sorry, I know when to quit while I'm ahead," Madison said.

Jack sulked when she walked away in search of the place to cash in her chips. Jack looked at Ianto.

"I s'pose it's up to me then, right?" Ianto said.

"Yup, lay those chips down; I need to win back what Maddie took from me."

After playing blackjack and trying one round on the roulette wheel, the Doctor, Rain and Tara went over to the slot machines. Tara stood behind her parents as they sat side by side and played. She was fascinated by the video game-like display on the screen. The Doctor and Rain both explained what they were doing as they played. While she was watching, a waitress came over and sat a small plastic cup of alcohol down in front of the Doctor and Rain and went away.

"Hey, Miss, they didn't order those," Tara called to her.

"They're complimentary drinks, Honey, they give them to everybody," Rain said. "They give you free drinks and food because they're hoping you'll stay and gamble longer while you eat."

"Course some people don't need the free drinks and food in order to stay a long time," the Doctor added.

Tara picked up his drink and stared at it.

"What is it?" she asked the Doctor.

He glanced at the cup and sniffed the contents.

"Rum and coke, I think," he said to her.

Tara took a teeny sip and made a face as she stuck her tongue out.

"Ugh, they can have it. I'd rather have plain old Coke," she said, setting it down.

Imbibing alcohol as a minor?" Alan said as he and Rose walked up to them. "For shame!"

"Bite me, Dorkface!"

She giggled when Alan leaned over her head and clicked his jaws as he pretended to bite her.

"Any luck at all?" Rose asked.

"No, I'm not really playing to win. I'm just amusing myself until the dollar's used up in this five cent slot machine," he said to her. "You?"

"Not a sausage. We played a round of poker and tried the blackjack tables and neither of us won anything," Rose said. "However, Maddie beat Jack and Ianto at the roulette wheel."

"Oooohoho, that must have ruffled Jack's feathers," the Doctor said.

He played his last round at about the same time Rain did and both of them sat back.

"I'm ready when everyone else is," the Doctor said. "I'd rather go and see something besides a video screen. If I wanted to do that, I would have stood in the console room and stared at my monitor for six or seven hours. Do you wanna try this one, Star?"

"No, it looks boring. I'd rather do something else too. This place smells bad cause of all the cigarette smoke."

"I wholeheartedly agree," the Doctor said as he and Rain rose from their seats. "Come on, you lot, let's see if we can find the others and head out of here."

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