ALAN AND TARA'S DAY IN THE CITY

Chapter Sixteen

Juliet opened her eyes the minute they opened the doors.

"Back already, I figured you'd be gone awhile," he said as they climbed in.

"Nah, we got tired of seeing rich people," Jack replied as he got in the back.

Juliet snorted.

"I feel ya. That's why I avoid coming over this way," she said sitting up so Rain and Tara could sit beside her.

They closed the doors and Alan started up the car. Tara grabbed her cup from the cup holder in front of her.

"Yoink!" the Doctor said grabbing it from her.

"Hey!" she said, turning around as Alan drove off.

"I'm your daddy, I deserve the first sip," he said to her.

He took a sip and made a face.

"And most of it is water now," he said, handing it back to her.

He rolled his eyes when Tara took the edge of her t-shirt and wiped off the top of the straw.

"Oh, I don't have any killer germs," he said to her.

"Don't care; I don't want your cooties!"

She giggled and hunkered down when the Doctor leaned forward and stared at her intently over the seat.

"Sometime when you least expect it, revenge will come," he said ominously before he set back in his seat.

Tara glanced at Juliet and spun her finger around her ear while she chuckled. The Doctor leaned back up and his mouth dropped open when he saw what she was doing. Tara squealed and got down on the floor when he tried to tickle her armpit. He leaned back and looked at Ianto and Madison.

"She'll get hers, mark my words," he said to them as Tara sat back in her seat.

"At last, we found it!" Alan said as he pointed to the Wal-Mart sign.

He slowed down and pulled into the parking lot. He stared at Rose with wide-eyes.

"The only Wal-Mart in Michigan," he said in an ominous voice while she giggled.

He found a parking spot near the store and parked.

"Everybody out, let's go shopping because I'm sure this is the only Wal-Mart for hundreds of miles," he said as they climbed out.

The Doctor glanced at Juliet who hadn't moved.

"Aren't ya coming? We have to have you along so we can make sure the clothes fit," he said to her.

"I'm just nervous. I hate going inside places like this since people figure out pretty quick I'm homeless."

"I give you my word, anyone says anything to you, I'll punch their lights out," the Doctor said.

Juliet nodded and climbed out. The Doctor shut the sliding door and walked with her towards the entrance. When they went inside, a few people gave Juliet odd looks but no one said anything. The Doctor grabbed a shopping trolley and they headed towards the clothes section.

"Get whatever you want, I'm paying for it," he said to her.

"I don't know how to thank you, I'm so grateful to you for doing this."

"Awww, it's alright. I like helping people. It's what I do."

"Well, I wish others were just as kind as you were," she said.

"Well, in a way I know what you're going through because I was also homeless for awhile," he said to her as they walked.

"Really, where?"

"Well, it was a long way from here," the Doctor said to her.

"You don't like to talk about it?" she said.

The Doctor nodded.

"Yeah, for the longest time I dwelled on it but I've put it behind me and it's hard to think about it sometimes."

"I hear ya, it's hard being in the middle of it," she said.

"Yes, but you're a strong woman, Juliet. Fighting a crack addiction and winning it takes strength. Not to mention walking as far as you walked in heavy winter clothes."

"Well, I can't really carry much with me when I walk and it gets chilly at night even in the summertime. This summer has been pretty mild, we haven't had any ninety degree days yet and it gets down to near sixty at night," she said to him.

"Ooo," the Doctor said, making a face.

"Sorry, I know ya'll use Celsius in England but I'm not sure how to tell you the temperature in Celcius," she said sheepishly.

"That's okay, I'm pretty good at converting Celcius to Farenheit and I understand what you said," he told her.

They stopped when Tara walked up to him holding a little pink t-shirt with Eeyore on it.

"I think I'll get this," she said to him. "I like it."

"And how do you propose to get this Eeyore t-shirt?" the Doctor said.

"I have money from the allowance you give me," Tara said.

"Oh! Well, I was hoping that would be saved so you could go to university but go ahead and get Eeyore."

He chuckled when Tara gave him a playful swat on the arm. She held the t-shirt up in front of her body.

"What'd ya think? You like it?" she said.

The Doctor looked at Juliet.

"What is it with woman and their wanting to know my opinion on their clothes? Rose did that to me and my wife does it. Are women that self-conscious about their clothes that they have to get a man's opinion?"

"Just making sure we look good to ya," Juliet said, shrugging.

"Okay, well in that case, it looks fabuloso on you and you should definitely squander your university education money on it."

"Cool!" Tara said.

She fell in beside the two of them when they resumed walking.

"I think I'll get an Eeyore backpack to match it," she said as they walked. "I saw a pretty purple one on the way over here."

"Excuse me, but I don't believe we came in here to shop for you!" the Doctor said with mock anger.

"Well tough, I'm gonna shop anyway cause I'm a girl! Bye!"

The Doctor grinned when Tara giggled and ran off.

"She's so precious," Juliet said as they walked through the clothes section to get to the women's clothes.

"Yes, she is. She's my life. She's one of the best things that ever happened to me and I know I'd be devastated if something happened to her and I lost her forever. All of these people have become my whole world and I love them."

"Good, I'm glad. I'm glad you have a family that loves you especially if you have been homeless before," Juliet said.

They reached the women's section and she started looking through the racks while the Doctor walked around, examining everything. He glanced over when Alan ran up with a stuffed tiger, it was wearing a little blue ball cap with a big white D on it.

"Lookie, Brother, a Detroit Tigers plushie, isn't it cuuuuuuuuuuuute?"

He smushed it up against his cheek and grinned from ear to ear.

"Awwwwwwww, so softy cute and lovably squishy," he said.

He ran off while the Doctor snickered. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to Juliet.

"Sorry but is your brother gay?" she asked.

The Doctor bent over laughing at that.

"Blimey, um…sometimes I wonder," he said when he recovered enough to speak. "No, my brother's straight as far as I know. He's just a free spirit and loves to tease and have fun. He's a little overbearing if you don't know him but you get used to him after awhile. Frankly, I enjoy having him around. He helps keep everyone happy."

"That's good, I'm glad. You have a nice family, Doctor."

"Thank you."

He looked over and groaned when Rose came stomping over towards him as Juliet went back to looking for clothes.

"I swear, your brother," Rose said, walking up to him.

"Now what's he gone and done?" the Doctor said.

"He has a tiger plushie."

"I know, I saw it. He made a point of showing it to me."

"Yeah, well he's buying it now. And he's going to name it Scratch and it will be going with us everywheeeeeeeeeere we go," Rose said.

The Doctor vibrated with silent laughter.

"So why are you telling me this?" he said with amusement.

"Just wanted you to be aware of how daft he is, is all," Rose said, shrugging.

"I was sorta aware of that anyway, Rose," he said.

"Yeah, well he gets even barmier by the day," Rose replied.

She smiled at Juliet as she walked over to her.

"I love my husband but he's a big man child."

"Aren't they all?" Juliet said.

"Ahem!"

They giggled when the Doctor walked over to them.

"Wassat you say about man child?"

"Oh, like you aren't," Rose said, raising her eyebrow.

"Yeah, you're right, I am a man child," he said while they giggled. "But, Rose, I s'pose if my daughter can buy an Eeyore backpack, he can buy a tiger plushie and name it Scratch."

"Well at least an Eeyore backpack is appropriate for Tara's age," Rose said.

The Doctor heard Tara squeal and saw her running towards him while Alan followed waving the tiger around.

"Roar, my name is Scratch and I'm gonna eat you!" he said in a deep voice.

Juliet giggled when Tara ran to the Doctor's side and hid behind him. She was wearing the Eeyore backpack on her back and the Doctor pointed to it.

"I see you found that," he said.

"Yup, I did."

He noticed her empty hands.

"What happened to the shirt?"

"It's inside the…BACKPACK!" she squealed as Alan ran around the Doctor menacing her with the tiger.

Tara laughed when Alan picked her up from behind and swung her in a circle before setting her down again.

"Ah, I love swinging her around like that, good for the back muscles," he said, walking away.

The Doctor grinned, ran up to Tara and she squealed when he lifted her up and swung her in a circle.

"Yeah you're right; it does exercise the back muscles a bit."

Alan gave Rose an evil grin.

"You do and you'll regret it," Rose said.

She ran off when Alan pursued her.

"Ya'll got one big crazy family," Juliet said as she held up a pair of purple shorts in front of her.

"Yeah, but Daddy loves it," Tara said.

She giggled when he grabbed her from behind and gave her a tight hug.

"Yup, I do," he said.

"Daddy, gotta talk to ya," Tara whispered to him.

He bent into her ear.

"You want Juliet to come back with us and get a house like Linus did."

Tara eyed him.

"How'd ya know?" she whispered.

The Doctor cocked an eyebrow and leaned back into her ear.

"Because, my daughter with the two enormous hearts of pure one hundred percent gold, I would be concerned if you didn't come up with that idea," he whispered.

Tara giggled when he ended his statement by blowing into her ear.

"So can we?" she said softly.

The Doctor stared at her intently while Tara giggled. She laughed louder when he suddenly crossed his eyes and then smiled at her. He gave her a big kiss on the cheek and took her hand as he led her over to Juliet.

"My daughter has a question for you," the Doctor said to her.

"Um, I was wondering if you'd like to come back with us and live near our house," Tara said.

Juliet's eyes bulged out.

"In England?" she said.

The Doctor cleared his throat.

"Not exactly. I haven't been completely truthful with you because I have to be careful about what I say around strangers. But I like you and I would like you to come back with us as well. I can get you a house to live in. I did that for another friend of ours named Linus."

"Dang, how many homeless people have you helped?" Juliet said.

"Just you and Linus and technically Tara was homeless at the time we found her, so three," the Doctor said.

"For real? You wanna buy me a house?"

The Doctor nodded.

"We live in a very nice neighborhood and I have a large family that all live beside one another and we help take care and look out for each other. You wouldn't be alone and you wouldn't have to worry about walking several miles ever again."

Juliet was shocked into silence.

"Please, we like you and I don't want you to struggle anymore," Tara said. "Come with us and you can have a home and friends that love you."

"And if you still want to try to make amends with your family, I have a way for you to keep in touch if you need to," the Doctor said. "But in order to do all this, you…have to have a leap of faith and trust us because I have to tell you something that is a bit fantastical and it takes an open mind to hear it."

Juliet was confused but she nodded.

"I think I can do that. I try to keep an open mind about everything."

"Good because that's the way to be. Narrow mind is a dangerous thing," he said. "Which is why I don't go around telling everyone what I'm going to tell you. But right now, go ahead and finish picking out your clothes and when we're back in the people carrier, then I'll tell you our big secret."

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