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Link to Chapter 6
http://amythest-n-ice.livejournal.com/19035.html
Link to Chapter 8
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The three of them walked over to the beach with Timmy and his mother, who it turned out was called Sally.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how come he speaks no English?” Sally asked as Timmy dragged Raiko down to the waters edge to play in the damp sand. They all settled themselves out of the reach of the surf to keep an eye on the boys.
“His parents were traveling in areas where English wasn’t really spoken when he was born. This is the first time he’s been away from them, so the first time he’s been anywhere where English is the dominant tongue.”
“His parents didn’t speak English to him?”
“What would be the point? They needed him to be able to talk to the natives.” Ianto shrugged, watching as Timmy patiently showed Raiko how to build a sandcastle.
“So how long will you have him for?”
“Just the fortnight. He came to us unexpectedly, so we were lucky Alistair could fit us in at such short notice.”
“He’s a really nice man, Timmy and I have been coming here since he was a baby. His father died in a car crash a month after he was born, so my mother brought us here for a break. I think she used to know the Brigadier. We come every year now.”
“I’m sorry to hear about his father.”
“It was a long time ago now.”
There was a shrill scream from where the children had been playing, and looking over, they could see Timmy sitting in the sand, screaming, and writhing in pain. Raiko knelt close to him, firmly trying to hold his leg still.
The three of them ran over, and Sally blanched, there was blood pouring from the sole of Timmy’s foot, and Raiko was trying his best to keep him still and apply pressure to the wound. Ianto’s sharp eyes saw a large shard of glass sticking up from the sand, slicked now with blood. Timmy had obviously stepped on it. The Doctor knelt behind Raiko, kissing the top of his head lightly.
//Good boy, keep pressing on that for a little bit longer,// he said softly. He dug in his pockets, and pulled out a clean white handkerchief. Leaning forward he reached around Raiko and eased the blood slicked hands aside, quickly wrapping the handkerchief tightly around the wounded foot.
“What’s going on?” The lifeguard arrived, pulled over by the noise and the gathering crowd.
“There’s glass in the sand, this little boy has gashed his foot quite badly.” The Doctor tugged a shaking Raiko into his arms as Sally tried to comfort her son.
“I’ll get it cordoned off, and the rest of the area checked. Does he need any first aid?”
“No, he probably needs stitches though, we’ll make sure he gets to the hospital.” Ianto said. He leaned down to pick up Timmy while the Doctor stood up with the still shaking Raiko.
Alistair was coming down the stairs with the laundry from the vacated rooms when they hurried in through the front door.
“What in blazes happened?” He asked, seeing that they were all covered in blood to some extent.
“Timmy got his foot gashed quite badly on the beach. Do you have the number of a Taxi company, so we can get him to A&E?” Sally asked.
“You can take my car. Ianto, you can drive can’t you?”
“Of course, where’s the hospital from here?”
Alistair grabbed his keys, told Ianto where the car was, and then gave him directions to the hospital.
“I’ll stay here, get Raiko cleaned up.” The Doctor gestured to the amount of blood covering the still shaking little boy.
“I’ll see you later, I’ll wait for them, so I don’t know how long it will be.”
“All right.”
The Doctor carried Raiko into the TARSDIS, taking him through to the bathroom and gently peeling him out of the blood soaked clothing. He put him under the shower to let the blood sluice away as he ran a warm bath for him.
//Is he going to die?// Raiko whispered as the Doctor lifted him from the shower and into the bath.
//Of course not. Why would you think that?//
The Doctor waited patiently for an answer as Raiko played with the bubbles in the bath for a while, his shivering finally abating.
//Uncle
Big blue eyes looked up at him, and the Doctor ruffled damp hair, saddened that this little boy had sat with his uncle as the man bled to death.
//He isn’t going to die, it’s just a cut, and he’ll probably get a couple of stitches, but he’ll be fine.//
//Sure?//
//Yes.//
He got Raiko out of the bath when the water started to cool, and dried him off with a soft, fluffy towel. There were some jeans, trainers, and a long sleeved t-shirt waiting on the side when he finished drying Raiko, and the Doctor silently thanked the TARDIS, he hadn’t thought to bring in clean clothes. He noticed that the blood soaked clothes had vanished too.
The Doctor was helping Raiko with a jigsaw puzzle that Alistair had found somewhere when the others came back in the late afternoon. Timmy was grinning, showing the bright white bandage on his foot proudly as he came in on crutches.
“Five stitches, mum says she’ll take a picture so I can put it in my holiday journal.” Timmy bragged, plunking down in a chair and holding the foot out in front of him so he could look at the bandage.
“Glad you’re feeling better,” the Doctor said.
“Yeah, loads,” Timmy bounced in the chair.
“The doctor at the hospital said that Raiko did exactly the right thing. How did he know what to do?” Sally asked.
“His parents made sure he learned first aid as soon as he was able to take the basics in. It was kind of rough and ready where he was raised, so there was no guarantee that there would be proper medical help readily available,” the Doctor said.
“Well, I’m very grateful. They said if he had lost much more blood, then they would have had to keep him overnight to give him a transfusion.”
“I’m glad it worked out OK.”
“Is Raiko all right? It must have been frightening for him, all that blood.”
“He was a little shaken, but he’s OK now.”
“I’m glad. Well, I better get Timmy cleaned up, I promised him fish and chips tonight, and I don’t think they’ll appreciate him turning up covered in blood.” Sally smiled, prodding her son out of the chair and ushering him on his crutches to the stairs.
//See, I said he’d be all right,// the Doctor said, pulling Raiko onto his lap. The boy cuddled in to him, smiling at Ianto as he came to sit in the space Raiko had occupied, and the three of them worked on the puzzle together.
“I was thinking, when I was waiting for them at the hospital.”
“What were you thinking?” The Doctor asked.
“Whatever happens when we go back to
The Doctor leaned over to steal a kiss, making Raiko laugh at them.
“I was hoping you’d say that. Now, what do you say we give this little imp something to really laugh at?”
“What did you have in mind?”
The Doctor grinned and started to tickle Raiko, making him squeal. Ianto laughed, and attacked the squirming boy’s other side. When Alistair looked in a few minutes later, to see what the noise was, the three of them were on the floor, the Doctor and Ianto keeping Raiko pinned down with strategic attacks of tickling, dodging his flailing feet, the three of them laughing so hard that tears were running down their faces. He smiled fondly and shook his head, leaving them to it. If anyone had told him years ago, when he had first met the Time Lord, that he would be watching him happy, rolling around on the floor and laughing, in love, then Alistair would have wondered about their sanity. He had never been so glad to be wrong in his life.
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I hope this made your NJ hotel room a little less boring, lol.
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