A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS
Chapter Sixteen Lori laughed when the Doctor and his family came into the kitchen. "Sorry if Mandy woke you," she said. "Well, most of you," she said, looking at the Doctor. "We have some eggs, bacon and tater tots for everyone along with milk and some hot tea. Merry Christmas." "Merry Christmas," they said in unison as Rex came in behind them and walked over to his dog bowl in the corner. They walked over to the counter and picked up a plate. They filled it with food and poured some hot tea and put a bit of milk in it before the four of them went over to the kitchen table. Mandy was sitting at the bar stools with Tom and Michelle. "Sorry," Mandy said to them. "No worries, you're eager to get the day started and you want us to come up to breakfast," the Doctor said as he sat down with his plate, silverware and mug of tea. "We insist on making the children eat breakfast first, even though we know it's the last thing on their minds," Lori said while Jim came into the kitchen and walked over to the counter. "We all need to wake up before we go downstairs." "Except Uncle Doctor, he doesn't sleep," Michelle said. "Yes, except the alien who never sleeps. The humans in the house do need to wake up," Lori said while everyone laughed. The Doctor ate his scrambled eggs and watched while Lori turned on the oven and put a prepared turkey into it. "FYI, my TARDIS could make you a turkey dinner if you ever need to cook something and just can't be bothered with it," the Doctor called to her. "Your ship does everything, doesn't it?" Lori said, looking over her shoulder. "Pretty much, yeah," the Doctor said smugly while the children giggled. "Well, this is ready to go so I'll just go ahead and cook it but thanks for the offer," Lori said, turning the dial and shutting the oven door. "I'll keep that in mind." She looked around, thinking of what else needed to be done while Jim leaned against the counter, held his plate and ate his food. "Darling, don't stress out, everything's fine," Jim said when he noticed the worried look on her face. "I know, just wondering if I have everything cooked and ready to heat up for later," Lori said, walking over to the counter for her breakfast. "Hey, Doctor, did you celebrate Christmas on your planet?" Brittany said. "Not Christmas but we did have festivals and holidays," the Doctor said. "I was just thinking, what did you eat? Because I think it would be cool if your TARDIS made a traditional food for everyone to eat. That way we could include you too." The Doctor thought about that while his companions glanced at each other. "Yeah, what sorts of things did you eat?" Amy said. "And would it be edible for humans?" Rory added. "What'd you mean, of course it'd be edible," the Doctor said to him. "That's why I was thinking, I'm trying to think of what to include that humans would like." "I was just thinking that would be a cool idea," Brittany said. "And everyone knows you're an alien so…" The Doctor grinned. "I think I'll contribute a dessert, Lori, if you don't mind," he said to her. "Please, go ahead…" Lori said. "I'm kinda curious too about what you ate on your planet." The Doctor decided that now was a good opportunity to give them the medallions. "Speaking of my planet," he said, rising from his chair, "I have gifts for all of you. I decided to make medallions that have your names on them. The names are written in Gallifreyan, my language." Amy, Rory and River watched while he took the medallions out of his trouser pocket and put them on the table. Tom, Michelle and Mandy hopped down off their chairs and walked over to him to see them. The Doctor picked up one and held it by the chain. "Mandy, this is yours," he said, showing it to her. The children leaned in to stare at the concentric circles while Brittany, Jim and Lori came over to watch. "It's a bunch of circles and lines," Michelle said. "Yes, that's how you write my language," the Doctor said. "Cool!" Michelle said to Brittany. The Doctor undid the clasp and put the chain around Mandy's neck. "Merry Christmas, my love," he said, fastening the clasp. He picked up the one for Brittany while Mandy held the medallion and stared at it in fascination. One by one he put the medallions around the necks of his adopted family and wished them a Merry Christmas. He kept Michelle's medallion for last and when she came forward to accept it, he smiled tenderly at her. "Now, I suppose I'll have to teach you Gallifreyan someday so you can read this as well," he teased as he undid the clasp. "How do you read it? Where's my name?" Michelle said, staring at the medallion. "Well, this group of circles here in the center is how we would say your name on Gallifrey," the Doctor said, pointing to the medallion. Michelle held up her hair while the Doctor put the chain around her neck and fastened it. "Merry Christmas, Bookworm," he said, patting her head. "Merry Christmas, Squid Monster," Michelle said. "Squid Monster? Fine, I'll take it back then," he said, reaching for her medallion. Everyone laughed when she shrieked and ran away from him. She trotted back to her seat and finished her breakfast, staring at the medallion in her left hand while she ate with her right. The Doctor watched her and smiled before he turned his attention back to his meal. XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO After breakfast, the Doctor and his family helped Lori and Jim clean the dishes and put away the leftover food. After awhile, only the dishes needed to be done and the Doctor and Amy volunteered to help Lori do them while everyone else waited in the lounge for them to finish. "Hey," Amy said to the Doctor while they did the chore. "How come you never gave us fancy necklaces with our names on them?" "Well…in your case, it's because you never settled on a name for yourself," the Doctor said, while he dried the dishes Lori was washing. "Her name is Amy, isn't it?" Lori said to him. "Yes. But originally she was Amelia. For some odd reason, she changed it when I was away so I call her both Amy and Amelia." "He calls me Amelia when he's cheesed off at me," Amy said, putting away the dried dishes. "I do not," the Doctor said to her. "You do. You say things like, "Amy, look at these stars!" and other times it's, "Amelia Pond, get your arse in here right now!" "I do not!" the Doctor said in a higher pitched tone of voice while Lori chuckled. "I can relate. Sometimes it's Shelly, I love you and other times it's Michelle Marie Stevens, get your butt in here right now!" "Marie? That's her middle name?" the Doctor said to her. "Oh, I like that, it's pretty," he said when Lori nodded. "What? I didn't do anything," Michelle said, walking into the kitchen. "No, baby, I was talking to the Doctor," Lori said while the Doctor and Amy giggled. "You didn't do anything wrong, I was just telling the Doctor and Amy that sometimes I say your full name when you are in trouble. But see, it works. She knows when I'm angry at her and not messing around." "Yeah, Mommy uses my full name when I'm gonna get it," Michelle said, walking up to them. "Is it almost time yet?" she asked her mother. "Nearly time, baby, we're nearly finished, I swear," Lori said to her. "We need to do this so we can have clean plates for dinner tonight." "I like my necklace," Michelle said to the Doctor. "Good, I'm glad you like it," he said, patting her head. "Do you have any pets for me? Like a purple dog or something?" Amy burst out laughing at that and the Doctor gave her an odd look. "What? Is that amusing to you?" the Doctor said. "Isn't that what the Dream Lord said to you? That you're so lame you should have a purple space dog?" Amy said. "Ooooh yeah," the Doctor said, rolling his eyes. "Who's the Dream Lord?" Michelle and Lori said in unison. The Doctor briefly explained about the Dream Lord and their adventure with him while they finished up. Lori and Michelle listened in a fascinated silence while he told the tale. They finished the dishes before the Doctor finished his tale but they stood with him while the Doctor finished speaking. "Wow, you fight a lot of bad people, huh!" Michelle said when he finally finished. "Yup, I do," the Doctor said. "Aren't you scared?" Michelle said. "Always, Bookworm but I do it because I can't stand evil and injustice and neither do the friends who travel with me." "I wanna do it someday, Mommy," Michelle said, tugging on Lori's shirt. "I wanna fight evil too." "So that's your career choice now? I thought you wanted to be a ballerina when you grow up," Lori teased her while the Doctor and Amy laughed. "Nah, I wanna be a Time Lord now," Michelle said. "Ballerinas are for sissies." "Wow! I won't be taking you to a ballet any time soon," the Doctor said. "I'm scared halfway through the performance you'll be screaming that to the dancers from your seat." "Yup, I would do that," Michelle said. Lori rolled her eyes and smiled when the Doctor and Amy chuckled at that. "Come on, Shelly. Let's go start Christmas before everyone goes insane from waiting," she said, putting her hand on her head. Michelle beamed. She took the Doctor's hand and the four of them walked out of the kitchen.
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