"Trix, what's up with all these black cubes?"
"Shht! I'm undercover right now, Anji!" Trix hissed angrily, voice an octave lower than usual. Anji rolled her eyes and shifted her phone, holding it against her ear with her shoulder as she unpacked the groceries.
"Sorry. Who're you now?"
"Tracy McAllen. Physicist."
"Well, Doctor McAllen, what's the status on the decidedly harmless looking but presumably murderous alien boxes?" Anji opened the cupboard, one hand shooting forward to catch a box as it fell. The phone slid away and clattered to the floor. Anji swore; she'd told Chloe how many times to put the packages back neatly? She put the offending box on the counter and glared at it before retrieving her phone. Trix was still talking. Of course.
"-UNIT's still not sure what they are or what they're doing here. They've started acting up, though, which could be dangerous, seeing as everybody's using them as paperweights these days."
"We're not," Anji said, trying to figure out a way to stuff the tin of dog biscuits onto the shelf without it collapsing. "Greg tried picking one up when they fell in our yard last year and Chloe just about tackled him to the ground. Said they were dangerous. I had to agree, you know; travelling with the Doctor tends to make you suspicious."
"Speaking of the devil, guess who's here?"
"Of course," Anji grinned, placing the tin on top of a box of cereal and hoping for the best. "What's he look like now?"
"No eyebrows, strong chin, floppy hair. He's wearing a bow tie of all things." She could hear the amusement in her voice.
"No better than a cravat, I suppose." Anji had moved on to the refrigerated items.
"At least that had class, though. This Doctor's not as good looking as ours."
"Trix, that's just rude." Anji objected, piling produce into the fridge. "What if he hears you?"
"I'm just saying! Besides, he's too busy talking to the redhead he's got with him."
"New girl, huh?" Anji snorted. "Can't say I'm surprised. Aren't you going to say hello?"
"Undercover, remember?"
"Hmph. What if I wanted to say hello?"
"Sorry." Trix chirped brightly. "Better luck next time."
"You're impossible." Anji inspected an apple hungrily.
"But that's why you love me, isn't it?" Trix said sweetly. Anji rolled her eyes again, mouth twitching into a smile.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. You'll call me with an update."
"If there is one. Hey, I'll probably be swinging by after work. What're you making for dinner?"
"Pasta." Anji laid out the respective ingredients as she answered.
"Sweet. I'll bring wine."
"Trix! Minor in the household, remember?"
"Pssh." Trix made a dismissive noise. "Chloe's not even human, she'll be fine. Besides, kids love it when you treat them like adults."
"Yeah, you'd know, you keep dumping stray children on my doorstep."
"You love them, don't lie."
"Maybe," Anji admitted grudgingly. "Bring the kind I like."
"I was planning on it. Oh, gotta go." Anji could hear excited background chatter over the line. "The cubes have started a countdown or something."
"What? Trix!"
"Bye, Anj. See you at dinner." Trix ended the call and Anji laid the phone down, sighing.
"Deal with this nicely, would you, Doctor?" She muttered under her breath, filling up a pan with water. "No explosions, mass killings or world destructions, thank you." Although, given his track record over the last couple years, Anji didn't exactly have high hopes. Still, no end-of-the-world malarkey was going to keep her from enjoying a nice dinner with her family.
Anji dumped the pasta in the now-boiling water, wondering if Trix would remember her favorite brand of wine.