It was an arduous climb up the snowy hill. The Doctor rested his hands on his knees and breathed heavily as Magallan plopped down a snow tube on the top of the hill and sat down on it. If his life depended on his inaction to exert stamina beyond rigorous activity, then he would be dead. Luckily, it didn't. And he had dependable people protecting him every day from harm.
"Sorry, Doctor! To have fun out here, we have to walk around a lot! But that's a good thing because you get the blood moving through your body!" Magallan exclaimed as she looked over at the Doctor with a glint of fondness in her eyes.
The Doctor took quick note of that as he fell on his knees and then on the ground next to her out of exhaustion. "You don't sound sorry at all." He pointed out as he lifted his head to accuse her before he buried it in the snow again.
"That's because this is a secret, diabolical plan concocted by me to force you to exercise!" Magallan exclaimed, feigning an evil expression before she frowned at the Doctor's unmoving body.
She walked over to where the Doctor was and poked him on the side of his stomach, eliciting a grunt from him.
The Doctor rolled onto his back, stared at the expanse of the sky, and symbolized an 'X' across his chest with his arms. "No touching, please."
Magallan ignored him and pulled his arm to lift him to his feet. "Come on, Doctor! We didn't climb up this hill just for you to lie down and count every speck of cloud you see in the sky! We're going to have some fun today!"
"Er... Are there any other ways to have fun without exercising?" The Doctor suggested, trying his best to avoid all the arrangements she had planned for them.
One was to snow tube down the hill, but that required them to climb up the hill every time they went down. The second one was a snowball fight, and that already spelled disaster for his cardiovascular health. And the third was hot chocolate.
The last one sounded like heaven. Why couldn't they skip to the last one already?
"No can do, Doctor! When I first heard you were coming over, I had to push my research back just to make your vacation worthwhile, so no wasting my time, okay?"
The Doctor was about to point out that they still did some research, but remembered they went fishing afterward. "Alright, but if I end up injuring myself, I'm going to blame you, okay?"
"Verbal contract signed! Now let's have some fun!" Magallan shouted as she focused on setting up the snow tubes they dragged up the hill in a straight line. "Last one down to the bottom has to carry all three back up!"
"Suddenly, with the revelation of that information, this feels rigged…" The Doctor pointed out.
The Doctor glanced over at Plume to see if she was part of the plan, but she was occupied with poking the snow tube with a curious expression on her face.
Everything the Liberi was witnessing must've been new to her because she always seemed to take her time to absorb the critical information necessary for her job of protecting the Doctor. And what these new objects were, their functions, and if they could injure the Doctor.
"Oh, I can see what it would look like from your perspective." Magallan thought about it for a second before she stepped over to where Plume was and pointed a thumb at the both of them. "If you lose, we'll bring it up! It's a win-win situation since you still have to walk back up and exercise! Now there's no excuse!"
"Okay, I'm in."
Magallan's proud expression shattered as she suddenly realized she had fallen for the Doctor's trap. She accusingly pointed a finger at him and pouted. "Wait a minute, you waited for the perfect deal to make us do the work...! Well, I guess they don't call you a tactician for no reason..."
The Doctor chuckled. He was crossing his fingers that Magallan wouldn't notice, but it was hard to trick someone who was a genius in her respected field of research.
If he was already breathless from climbing up the hill once, then he could only imagine how difficult it would get if he had to do it multiple times with an unwieldy snow tube, so it was the best deal he could accrue. "Does that mean I can just stay up here, knowing you guys can bring the snow tubes back up?"
"No, no, no! That's not how it works, Doctor!" Magallan gently hit herself on the head. "Ugh... How did you not think of this, Magallan?"
After she berated herself for three seconds, Magallan made her way over to the Doctor and placed both of her hands behind his back, and softly pushed him. Just enough to urge him to move, but not enough to topple him and hurt him. "Come on, come on~! We have so much to do today, and your laziness already wasted a few days of your vacation, so we're on the last legs of it!"
"But it's better if the vacations are lazy!" The Doctor protested as Magallan helped him sit on the snow tube.
"Not in the dictionary of Magallan! Vacations are supposed to be hard-earned breaks that encapsulate the meaning of fun with rewards and more hard work to have fun!" Magallan said as she accidentally bumped the Doctor's snow tube with her foot, sending him careening down the hill.
"Gah!" The Doctor held onto the handles of the snow tube, terrified of the extreme speeds of gravity acting on him.
On the way down, a minor bump of snow at the bottom of the hill shot him several feet in the air before he landed on his back and tumbled around for a few seconds. Stars spun around the Doctor's head as his vision replicated his point of view by two instead of one consistent image shared by two eyes.
"I want to go home…" The Doctor muttered, releasing all the tension in his body to relax on the floor of snow.
"Ah! D-Doctor, I didn't mean to do that!" Magallan called out, sliding down the hill with her snow tube.
Plume joined her a second later and met up with them. By then Magallan was sitting next to him, touching his body to ensure he broke nothing while the Doctor displayed the body language of a flustered individual.
"As you can see and feel, I'm fine, Magallan!" The Doctor vocalized.
Magallan stared at him in confusion before she connected the two puzzle pieces. "Are you embarrassed because of my touch?"
She hit the nail on the head. If it wasn't for his mask, she would be witnessing every little nuance of his embarrassment written on his face.
The long day of accomplishing every idea Magallan planned for them had finally finished. The Doctor was practically paralyzed from the exercise he performed throughout the day to keep up with the fitness monsters known as Magallan and Plume.
His muscles burned from the sudden activation of the stress and it collapsed on him towards the end of the day. And he wanted nothing more to do than sleep for a whole day if that was possible.
Magallan was in the lab's kitchen, making hot chocolate for the three of them as the Doctor and Plume situated themselves in the chairs of the dining table. But before Plume sat down, she walked over to the open space where they spent their nights sleeping and grabbed three blankets, one for each of them. To see how she considered everything was kind of cute.
She walked over to the Doctor and helped wrap the fluffy blanket over his body before she laid one on Magallan's chair and one over herself as she finally sat down.
"Thank you, Plume." The Doctor mentioned as he messed around with the blanket to adjust it to his liking by closing the open space in front of him to trap his body heat from escaping.
"I must protect you, even if it's from the cold. If you have any additional requests, you can tell me." Plume responded as she wrapped the blanket over her body and snuggled against it.
"You already did more than enough by coming out with me on this trip, so I wouldn't want to bother you any more than this."
Plume looked ahead of herself thoughtfully, but within a few seconds, her eyes flickered over to gaze at him. The Doctor didn't know what she was thinking, but for a moment, he saw her lower her guard for a second and relish the moment instated upon them.
He had forgotten just how much his approval meant to her. Perhaps he should shower her with praises more often to make her feel happier and valued.
"Okay, the hot chocolate you've been waiting for all day is ready! It's piping hot, so I recommend sipping it slowly!" Magallan exclaimed as she brought all three mugs of hot chocolate over to them. She set one down in front of the Doctor, one for Plume, and the last one for herself.
The Doctor took some time to watch the steam rise in streaks of wavy formations. The vapor shimmering against the light and the mini marshmallows floating on top of the brown liquid was a delight to his eyes.
The Doctor took his mask off to sip away at the warm, sweet drink. It sloshed around in his throat before it dipped down to his stomach. The heat from it circulated through his body, making all the pain he endured worth it just for this drink. There was nothing like indulging in something sweet after a day of excruciating effort.
The Doctor savored every second of his drink while it lasted. He wasn't sure if Magallan would allow him the luxury of a second serving. Maybe he could make some during the night when they fell asleep.
"I can't believe it's already the last night of your vacation, Doctor..." Magallan commented, a glum expression on her face. Suddenly, she raised a finger in the air as if an idea had magically materialized itself from thin air. "Do you want to build a snowman tomorrow in the shape of you before you leave?"
"What would that even look like?" The Doctor pondered, his imagination jumping from description to description. Perhaps it would look like a snowman wearing a coat, replicating his distinct fashion style, and a mask shaped in his very image.
"Well, it would look like you! Maybe we could put your mask over it!"
"But I have to take this mask back with me to Rhodes Island."
"Doh... I forgot about that. That's a bummer..." Magallan deflated as she rested her head on her arms and closed her eyes. "I'm going to miss you, Doctor..."
The Doctor stared at his mug of hot chocolate and swished it around for a second before he looked up to see Magallan's eyes gazing into his. "I feel the same way, but we both have work to do that is required of us. And our goals won't let us be, so I guess this vacation was nice while it lasted. I wouldn't change a single thing that happened while I was here, even though I wasted some days being lazy, but I guess cheers to this vacation?" The Doctor raised his mug in Magallan's direction and waited for her.
It seemed like Magallan was about to say something, but she just shook her head and smiled. "Nothing but love for you, Doctor!" She raised her mug and gently clinked against his.
Plume joined a second later when both of them encouraged her participation in the celebration of their successful vacation. They downed the last of their hot chocolate within a second, leaving nothing behind, except a puddle of murky brown liquid at the bottom of the mug.
To the Doctor's surprise, Magallan made seconds for all of them. And that disappeared just as quickly as the first serving they had.
When Plume wandered away to tidy up her bedding for the night, the Doctor leaned over to Magallan. "Uh... Did you actually mean that?"
"What? Me saying I have nothing but love for you? But of course, Doctor! I love you and there's no absence of truth in this heart… Embarrassing to say it out loud in hindsight, but I guess this is a good time to say it before you leave tomorrow."
It was bound to happen. The Doctor was already suspicious of her affectionate behavior, but it was still shocking to hear her say it directly in person.
"I… I don't know what to say."
A warm smile grew across Magallan's face. "Then you don't have to."
The Doctor inspected her for any signs of intoxication, but she seemed fine. Was she speaking this out of her own volition, or did she secretly pour some liquor into her hot chocolate? He had to test her out. "D-Did you put alcohol in your hot chocolate or something? You're saying all of this so suddenly and boldly! Are you perhaps drunk?"
"If I say I'm drunk in love, then I'll say yes!" Magallan opened her arms wide and leaned towards the Doctor.
The Doctor caught her as she wrapped her arms around him, but he wasn't strong enough to keep her afloat in that position as her weight pressed onto his fatigued body. With a yelp, he fell to the ground along with Magallan and the blankets that were draped over their bodies.
Magallan burst out laughing while Plume sprinted over to see what the commotion was. She let out a sigh of relief when she discovered the Doctor was fine. It seemed like the vacation was testing Plume's concern for the Doctor.
"This last week has been extremely fun, Doctor! I hope you come back next year, so we can have a repeat of what we did, but with more preparation!"
"I look forward to it, but could you get off me now?"
Magallan gazed at him for a few seconds and giggled before she laid her head down on his chest. "I rather not!"
Author's Note: Muahaha! Magallan is getting all lovey-dovey with the Doctor!
I hope you've been enjoying the story so far because we only have one chapter left! I'm going to take my time to make sure it's polished and amazing!
With chilly love from your favorite writer, Out4Lunch!