The New Companion

Part of a Family

Chapter Nine:

I woke up at a reasonable hour of 7:30 and though I was tired, I wasn't getting back to sleep anytime soon and David had already gotten up. I dragged myself out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom to brush my hair and straighten myself up, not bothering about still being in pyjamas. I crept downstairs just in case not everyone was up yet but I rounded the corner to see them all seated in the kitchen.
"Morning Mr and Mrs McDonald, morning Karen," I said cheerfully flopping onto the couch.

"Good morning Zoe, please call us Sandy and Helen," Sandy said with a smile. Karen gave me a small wave and David grinned at me so I grinned back.

"Alright, presents now, and then Zoe could make us some of her famous pancakes?" He asked clapping his hands together. I nodded my reply and shuffled along the couch to allow David to sit next to me. He brought over a cup of tea that was made perfectly to my picky taste of being brewed for three minutes with half a teaspoon of sugar and a dash of milk.

"Thanks love," I said accepting the hot drink. Sandy and Helen sat down on the other couch and Karen sat down next to the tree where all the presents lay in wait.

"Who wants to go first?" She asked.

"You guys can all go first," I encouraged taking a sip of my tea. I knew I wouldn't get much as I never did, and I had presents waiting for me at home from Macy and my grandparents. I also preferred watching people opening presents anyway. Karen had placed a Santa hat on her head and began giving out presents to everyone. It reminded me of my brother and I when we were little and would fight over who got to be Santa, I had been known to win. Everyone was all smiles as presents were exchanged. Sandy and Helen loved the chocolate basket I got them and Karen was super happy with the pamper pack. I was given some stationary and a pamper pack as well from David's parents. I remained leaning against David but growing progressively tired. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and leant his head against mine.

"Everyone is staring," I whispered giggling.

"Let them, then they will know how much I love you," He replied.

"You're never going to stop saying that are you?" I joked.

"Nope," He said popping the p.

"So lovebirds, got anything to tell us?" Karen enquired with a cheeky smile.

"Nothing more than normal Karen, we are officially going out now though." His whole family smiled at us.

"You two will be very happy together I'm sure. Are you going to make it public?" Helen said with a warm smile. David glanced at me questioningly.

"I think we will sort it all out when we need to," I replied squeezing his hand. He nodded his reply and I dragged him into the kitchen. "Come on pancake time, and you can help me."

"Are you sure you are ok with not telling many people? I don't want to make you uncomfortable." He asked leaning against the kitchen counter when we were out of earshot of the others.

"Yeah I'm fine with it. I also don't want anyone assuming anything about my character Lilly as well so I think it's best that we keep it under wraps," I told him mixing up the batter. I didn't really like having too much publicity and enjoyed keeping my private life private. Though the occasional pictures of us holding hands wouldn't bother me. I figured we would just go at his pace because it worked for me.

"I totally agree, have you told your family yet?"

"No," I replied slowly. "I haven't talked to them, they should be calling soon or at least my Grandad should be." I glanced down at the bowl of mixture not wanting to make eye contact with him. I would just see sympathy or he would tell me to call them first. But I didn't do that, I never did that. I had given up on making the first move years ago. It had never worked. I felt his strong and steady hands wrap around my waist.

"They'll call," He whispered softly in my hair. I shivered as his breath hit my neck and remained looking down still stirring. Our small moment was interrupted by my phone ringing.

"I've got to get that, can you please start cooking the pancakes? I have set everything else up." He nodded his reply and I grabbed my phone.

"Go up to my room," David encouraged. I answered the phone and headed upstairs.

"Hello?"

"Hello sweetheart, Merry Christmas."

"Hey Grandad! Merry Christmas, if it still is Christmas over there," I said trying and failing to keep the smile out of my voice.

"Yes it is, have you had a good day so far? It's about nine in the morning right?"

"Yeah it is, and I have had a great day so far. I'm at my boyfriends house for Christmas," I told him sitting down on the bed.

"Oh Zoe, who is he? Wait I'll put you on speaker phone and you can tell everyone," He said taking the phone away from his ear. "Where is the button?" He asked faintly. I could hear my grandmother and brother helping him with the phone.

"Hey everyone," I said grinning noticing my brother had changed it to a video call.

"Hello Zoe!" They all chorused accept from my mother who stood in the background looking sour.

"So I have three pieces of news, one is that your presents are in the mail and on there way. Secondly I got a new job, but it's a secret and I can't tell anyone yet except for close family so none of you can tell anyone this. I'm going to be the new companion on Doctor Who, which is one of the biggest shows on television in Britain," I paused to allow the screams to come through the phone. "Last piece of news, I have a boyfriend, I can't tell you who he is either until Doctor Who starts but I want you to know I'm extremely happy and can't wait to tell you more about him," I finished happily. We continued our conversation which was mostly just excitement about my new job and man and I wished everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. My Grandad even managed to make my mother say something nice.
"Merry Christmas Zoe," She muttered frostily.

"Merry Christmas Mum, I love you," I replied hanging up. I lay back on the bed with a small smile on my face. Today had been good so far and my hope was that it would get better. Well that was until I smelt burnt pancakes. I ran back down stairs to be assaulted by the burning smell.

"Well done David," I said sarcastically as I ran into the kitchen and began to scrape off the burnt pancakes. I kicked him out of the kitchen and continued fixing the mess he had made.

"Sorry, I got distracted," He said with a small smile. I laughed at him and flipped my hair over my shoulder.

"It's not good enough, you need to be dedicated to the art of pancake making," I joked. I dished up the final of the pancakes that weren't burnt as he set the table. I smiled down at our breakfast. Today was magical and hopeful, sometimes things could just get better.