Next chapter's on the second of June.
The kids are back at school again the next day and only a rather belated check of the calendar in the morning as Florence is getting the children dressed informs the rather busy parents that they have yet another appointment to keep that day.
"Your grandparents are coming over today." Aaron shouts up the stairs over the girls' giggling.
Florence mutters a word under her breath which she hopes Chelsea and Anna don't catch and start repeating.
"Just what we need." She follows up with, prompting Anna to look up from where she's buttoned her cardigan wrong.
"What do we need?" The child asks, gaze serious and determined.
"Don't worry. Mum and dad just forgot something they're doing today. Nothing for you to worry about." Florence reassures, ducking down again and sorting out the buttons for her. She takes the girl's hand and looks around for Anna who has decided to try and brush her own hair.
The woman wants to panic but just closes her eyes momentarily and breathes deeply.
"Come on Anna- mummy can do both of your hairs downstairs, okay?" She says, reaching out a hand to the rather frustrated six year old making a mess of her hair by attempting to brush it all forwards over her face.
After a moment of consideration the child reluctantly agrees, stomping over to her mother with a scowl and making a whining noise in complaint.
"Daddy's going to take you to school this morning because mummy has some things to do." Florence tells them as she walks them down the stairs in an awkward single file.
"But it's not daddy's turn!" Whines Anna in a tone which Florence just knows precedes a tantrum and she really does not need this today of all days.
She bends down a little on the stairs, making sure that they keep walking.
"Well mummy has some things to do so can't take you today. Why don't I make something yummy for dessert then while I'm doing other things? Would that make up for how mean mummy is being for being too busy to take you to school?" Florence asks.
The sarcasm, as she expects, is lost on her daughters.
"Okay." Anna moans as if the whole thing was happening purely to inconvenience her.
Florence turns her head quick enough to hide her smirk and slight chuckle from her child.
Hours later Florence is fretting over the state of the garden, grass perhaps too long to be presentable but better than the mess of children's toys in the dining room which haven't yet been cleaned up.
It's too late now to do anything about it though so it will have to do.
"You know that they won't care." Aaron reminds her, one eyebrow raised as he presses a kiss to her temple and wraps an arm around her shoulders.
The woman sighs.
"Yes but it's how things should be done." She complains, leaning into him slightly as she takes in the mess of their garden in comparison to the one just over the fence to the left. They're walled in on the right by an old wall which has seen more than a little restoration in the whole time they've lived here to keep their children from escaping into the next garden.
The left garden however provides quite the contrast with their own with its neatly trimmed grass and clean sandstone patio slabs. On it sits a black painted metal table and two matching chairs with cushions approximately the same colour as the tiles.
"You know that they are retired with no kids." Aaron chuckles, catching where Florence's gaze falls.
"Mm." She hums her acknowledgement and steps away from her husband, briefly looking up at the sky, "I just hope it doesn't rain." She says, eyeing the clouds suspiciously.
Aaron sighs.
"If it does we'll just go inside. You know they won't care about the mess- they had kids too once." He reassures, rolling his eyes a little.
Florence just sighs and heads back inside to check the time.
About half an hour later Barbara and Ian arrive precisely on time and park up on the curb. Florence gets up from where she'd not so covertly been watching from the window and unlocks the door, pushing it open and waiting in the doorway.
"Are they here?" Aaron calls from the stairs.
"Not even at the door yet!" Ian shouts in response as he and Barbara walk up the path.
When they reach the door Florence wraps her arms around her grandfather and Aaron takes her grandmother's hand, pulling her towards him and patting her on the back.
"It's good to see you." Ian says as they pull apart again.
They swap and Florence sighs.
"I swear the two of you never age." She jokes a little though it is a somewhat true assessment of their appearance.
Barbara smiles as she is released.
"Where's the fun in that?" She asks.
Florence doesn't state what is now obvious to her and instead smiles back.
"Right! Tea?" She asks and backs away into the house, turning to lead them to the garden through the kitchen and avoid the various messes on the way.
"You know that's the only reason we come." Teases Ian, closing the door behind him and turning the keys in the lock again as he follows behind the other three.
Aaron takes over when they reach the kitchen, holding the back door open and gesturing through it.
"It's just the bench. I'll be out in a second." Florence says, distracted by picking up the tiered display of sandwiches and cakes and carefully trying to pick up the tray holding the tea set with one hand.
"I'll get that." Ian says goodnaturedly, taking the tray from her before she can drop anything.
Florence huffs, "You're the guests." She complains mildly.
Ian laughs.
"And we'll always be your grandparents." He says then gestures with the tray towards the door where Barbara and Aaron wait, equally as amused.
"Lead the way?" He asks, eyes warm.
Florence shakes her head and sighs but can't help the smile which curls her lips upwards.
"Fine." She agrees, squeezing past the three of them to the door and into the garden.
There's a brief patch of poured concrete they've been meaning to put tiles over since they moved in before the grass which really should have been cut at least three weeks ago. A twisted wisteria plant cleaves to the old wall, a somewhat stagnant old pond left by the previous owners not far from its feet. A faded plastic boat floats belly up near the centre of it, a rim of deeper colour just visible around the waterline where it bobs.
Their destination however is the run down picnic bench not far off the trodden path, the wood bleached a little from exposure.
"Ah." Barbara murmurs and Florence places down the food, looking back to her grandmother who seems to be struggling a little with her smart heels in the grass.
"Sorry- do you need?" She asks, beginning to move back towards them in her own more flat shoes as Ian gently puts the tea set in the middle of the bench.
"No need." Barbara insists, slipping off her shoes and pulling the end of her tights back over her feet and ankles.
"Nothing wrong with getting a bit of dirt between your toes." She assures Florence, "Can't believe it took people so long to make tights you can step out of though." Barbara says with a strange glint in her eye as she walks barefoot the rest of the way to the table. There's a brief rustle through the grass beneath the table as she gets there.
"Perhaps a clean up is in order though." She teases as she sits down, flattening her skirts and passing out the small plates.
"Ah- sorry. The kids are always losing things." Florence is quick to apologise, catching sight of faded red and setting a mental reminder to get rid of the ball before they cut the grass.
"You know that we'd be happy enough to have tea in the kitchen out of mugs." Ian reminds Florence as he takes a few of the cucumber sandwiches.
The woman blushes as Aaron huffs a laugh next to her.
"I know. It's only proper though- it seems wrong to do it any other way." She says, thinking of a certain Time Lady before she distracts herself by pouring tea and distributing sugar.
Ian laughs again, shaking his head.
The rest of their chat goes relatively well.
The rain decides not visit them and Barbara and Ian seem just as amused by everything as they always do, smiling between themselves in a secret way when Florence almost says something a little too revealing about her life or talks about something she possibly shouldn't know about.
At the end of their visit Barbara and Ian wave at the door and Barbara presses a crisp envelope into Florence's hand in a way that hides the name on the front.
She smiles, lips tight and seeming to be holding something in.
"You know where this will belong I imagine." She says, turning with mirth in her eyes as Ian opens the passenger door for her and waving.
"I'll call to arrange next time within the week." Barbara calls out to them, waving again through Ian's open window.
Florence smiles and waves back at them, wrapping the hand with the envelope in around Aaron's back.
"See you next time." She calls back.
They wait in the doorway until the car has disappeared down the road, closing the door only then.
Florence releases Aaron and turns over the envelope in her hand, a little creased from her holding it.
In practised handwriting on the front is a name that Florence hadn't really expected to see.
Aaron's eyebrows raise as he looks down on it and sighs, hand coming to his face.
"You know I really should expect strange things wherever you're concerned…" He says, not unfondly as Florence groans in frustrated confusion.
The Doctor.
Of course.