Hot Chocolate
I felt a lot less paranoid about killer animatronic animals once I had spent an ample bit of time scrolling through my tumblr. Somehow my account from home carried over to the laptop in my room, so I decided to archive my old blog of spoilers, setting up a few walls even a Time Lord couldn't get past with the TARDIS's help, before deleting it entirely. I couldn't risk the Doctor discovering anything about his future; it would break our agreement of not sharing foreknowledge.
I had lost track of time while getting caught up on memes from my future, only realizing how late it was for a human to be awake when someone knocked at my door. Mind you, it was hard to make out due to my speakers blasting Fall Out Boy at full capacity. The only noise besides "I Don't Care," was a muffled voice, barely audible, but definitely British. I paused the music and staggered over to the door, opening it with a swoosh.
"WHAT?! I COULDN'T HEAR YOU!" I yelled to a bow tie at my eye-level.
"WELL MAYBE YOU SHOULD BLAST MUSIC AT A MORE REASONABLE TIME!" the Doctor yelled at an equal volume.
"I'LL THINK IT OVER!" I was desperately trying not to laugh.
"WILL YOU TO SHUT IT! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!" a ferocious Scottish voice further down the corridor screamed.
"OKAY!" the Doctor and I replied, mere seconds before laughing our heads off. We tried to stop several times, but with each glance came an uncontrollable outburst of giggles. Pretty soon we had to catch our breath though, causing the conversation to be held at a reasonable volume.
"Seriously, what are you doing up this late?" the Time Lord asked. I leaned against my doorway.
"I normally stay up this late when I'm not exhausted from a trip or something of that nature. High school does some terrible things to your wellbeing," I said.
"You don't have to tell me twice. I taught at a school for a few days and saw the stress levels first hand," the Doctor paused as if to reconsider what he said, "Course, that was the school chock full of Krillitaines, so that might've been the reason for the stress."
"It wasn't, trust me. I saw this thing on the internet that said that high school students in 2013 have stress levels as high as those of mental asylum patients from the 1950s."
"Really?"
"Yeah! All the due dates and test grades really drove me mad. I procrastinated for every assignment and ended up turning things in late all the time. My parents weren't too happy about all the late grades or papers that were missing, I tell you."
I suddenly remembered quite vividly one particular incident in which I had blown off an essay for five whole days after it was originally due. My mom had never before appeared as malicious as she did after receiving that email from my teacher about the paper. I mean, yes, she had been mad at me many times before that- it didn't seem like a normal day if we didn't argue about something -but it seemed like this time was different. She had completely snapped and gone off her rocker. I knew fully well that she had reason to be angry at me, but you don't punish your daughter by pulling her out of the one thing she finds happiness in at school. That was the school musical by the way.
I had been so lost in thought that I hadn't noticed the Doctor calling my name until he snapped his fingers in front of my face.
"Huh?" I said, coming back to reality.
"I was asking you if you wanted to continue talking in the kitchen over a cup of tea," the Doctor offered.
I nodded quickly and followed him down the hallway and into the kitchen. I'd never had a chance to drink hot tea before. I grew up in the American Southeast, so all tea was usually iced. Also, I had once taken a whiff of one of my mom's teabags, and the stench was so overpowering that it made me shudder at what tea tasted like. But hey, times change, right?
There must've been two kitchens on the TARDIS because the one I found Amy in was not this one. That kitchen was very industrial, having the appearance of what you might find behind the doors of a five-star restaurant. Pots and pans hung from hooks above and sterile metal counters were lined with stovetops and sinks.
This kitchen was more quaint, resembling something I could easily picture in an urban apartment. There was an area of counter-space that functioned as a bar with five swiveling stools facing a counter island with an electric stovetop. On the back wall was a series of cabinets, a large steel refrigerator on the left, and and oven with a microwave on the right. It reminded me of home so much.
"So, how do you take your tea?" the Doctor asked, rummaging through the cabinets and pulling out a kettle.
"I dunno. I've never been that much of a tea-drinker," I said, sitting down in one of the barstools. The Doctor almost looked offended, which made me laugh.
"You're such a Brit!" I giggled. His look of offense turned into one of pride.
"I know. I only ever seem to travel with British humans. Don't know why. There was one American girl, but that was ages ago. I mean centuries." he began to ramble as he placed the now full kettle on the stove and set it to a boil, "And then there was Captain Jack. Now that fellow is trouble all over. You'll want to stay away from him, Ginny. Oh, since you don't drink tea, is hot chocolate okay?"
"Yeah, that's cool. I still can't believe he turned out to be the Face of Boe. I shouted at my TV screen when that happened."
"I wish I could've seen the look on my face after he told Martha and me."
"Trust me, it was hilarious. I shouldn't say that though. My face was probably just as funny looking."
We continued on in this small talk until the kettle started whistling loudly. I slid down from my stool and began searching for the hot chocolate powder. When I asked the Doctor where it was, he looked confused.
"I thought you wanted to make it from scratch," he said.
"I've never had it from scratch," I admitted, my mouth already watering at the idea of how it would taste.
"Ginny, you haven't tasted hot chocolate until you've had it with cocoa powder from Loridon. The people there are the best chocolate farmers in the galaxy."
"I'll take your word for it!"
Once the Doctor had poured his tea, he pulled some cocoa, sugar, and salt from a cabinet and began mixing them in a bowl. I was instructed to fill a mug with milk and microwave it until it was warm enough for me. After that, the Doctor poured the powdery confection into my mug and began to stir the contents until it was well-blended. I added my own personal touch by spraying the top of the drink with whipped cream.
Eagerly, I took a sip. My tongue might've gotten first degree burns, but I don't care. This hot chocolate was amazing. It was what I imagined Willy Wonka's chocolate waterfall tasting like, only a hundred times better. I drained the mug in a matter of minutes, ending up with a whipped cream mustache and nose. Laughing a bit, the Doctor handed me a napkin with which I wiped the mustache off.
"Ginny, do you ever think about your home?" he asked, somewhat out of the blue.
"What? Why would you ask that?" I said.
"Well, you've been traveling with me for awhile, and you never really seem to mention your family. It's okay if you don't think about it, by the way. I'll understand."
"No, it's not that. I think about home and my family sometimes. I mean, come on, they're my family! It's just that, I know I'm never going to see them again. They weren't even my real parents anyways, and I had only known my sister for a year. We were both adopted daughters, you see. I didn't get the best parenting from either of them. Both Mom and Dad would always compare me to their older biological daughter who graduated from college, going on about how she was the perfect child and how I was nothing like her. Well obviously I wasn't going to be like her! Don't hold me against it! And then my sister was adopted and she seemed to be even more perfect than the biological daughter. I was sort of feeling like Harry Potter because of the way I was blamed for everything. Believe me, that Crack was the preverbal Hagrid I had been waiting for."
When I saw the serious look on the Doctor's face, I quickly apologized for dumping my life story onto him.
"You've got nothing to be sorry for, Ginny. You actually answered a question I've been meaning to ask you," he said.
"What would that be?" I asked.
"I wanted to know if you would be interested in writing a letter to your family. I found a small Crack in the void that's connected to your home universe. It's not large enough to fit a person through, but a bit of paper could easily slide in."
I thought a moment about the information I had just received. This could be my last chance to send a message to any of my friends from home. But then again, what if the letter ends up being dropped in the South Pole? The crack isn't exactly linked to my room, is it?
"I think it's a good idea, but can I have a bit more time to think about it?" I finally said. The Doctor smiled understandingly and nodded.
"Take your time. That crack's not going anywhere for a long while," he said, then glanced down at his watch, and then looked back to me, flabbergasted, "Would you look at the time! We should be getting you to bed."
I scoffed, "Good luck with that! I'm still not tired. I can stay up until the sun rises if I wanted to."
The Doctor raised his nonexistent eyebrows slightly, "Oh, really? Well then, I suppose that only leaves one option."
For some reason I suddenly grew somewhat frightened. What was he planning? He was walking towards me slowly. In response I began to back away from him, similar to our first encounter. Then, he sprang forward with his arms outstretched, as if to pick me up. I leapt out of the way and dashed over to the other side of the island, grabbing the whipped cream canister in my hand. The Time Lord pounced again, but this time I was ready. I emptied the contents of the can all over his face and made a dash for the door, however, I ran half-heartedly as I was rather enjoying this game of cat and mouse. Unfortunately I got so caught up in the thrill of the chase that before I could reach the door, I had been swept off my feet and thrown over a shoulder covered in whipped cream smudged tweed.
"You never learn, do you Parks?" the Doctor asked, snickering as he carried me back to my room.
"Apparently not," I answered, "But you haven't learned either, have you?"
"I haven't learned what?"
"That the expression 'carrot top,' doesn't mean I'm a sack of carrots one throws over his shoulder."
"Oh I know you aren't a sack of carrots, but you are a sack of stubbornness."
I was about to say something in response, but ended up admitting defeat when a loud, long overdue yawn came from my mouth instead.
"I don't want to hear a peep out of you, Time Boy. You only have to sleep maybe once every month or something."
The Doctor stifled a laugh, "It's actually once every two months, but it doesn't matter."
He then dropped me off in my bedroom doorway and said goodnight. Just before he could leave however, I thanked him.
"What for?" he asked.
I smiled, "The day off."