Work Text:
Arborus scheduled a quick visit with Walter Worker Chelsea to check out what he thought was an over-extended arm tensor. It had been a quick sensation of stressing on the right side of his upper chest when he had lifted one of the side panels onto the dray on the day of the hayride. He was sure it was nothing and hated to bother Chelsea about it, but he had promised Butterfly he would. Even though it was late in the day, Chelsea said, “Come on up to the lab.” So he did.
She checked him all out and ran a quick diagnostic scan. Nothing bad came up, just a slightly off reading on one of the hydraulic lines in his chest. She did a scope but could find no indication of a leak and it went away on subsequent scans. “Just keep an eye on things, Arborus. If it happens again or gets worse, we’ll have Peter take a look.”
Arborus got up off the table. As he was putting his shirt back on, Chelsea went to sit at the desk in the corner of the room. She sighed as she switched off the computer there. Arborus looked at her with his head cocked to one side in his odd questioning manner. “You seem sad, Chelsea. What’s wrong?”
“Oh I don’t know, Arborus.” She toyed with a felt marker on the desk. “It might just be winter time blues.”
“But…winter has barely started yet,” he said, confused.
“That just makes it worse, I think,” she said. “It hasn’t really gotten started and I already wish it were over.”
“It’s not that bad, or so I hear.” Arborus smiled. “At least you don’t have snow here. Snow can make winter very, very long.”
“I know, I don’t know if its the weather or what. Sometimes it’s just….you know? Bleh….” She dropped the pen into the desk drawer and closed it.
Arborus thought hard for a minute then said, “I know something that fixes winter blues.”
“You do?”
“Momma told me. Hot chocolate. Do you like hot chocolate?”
“Who doesn’t!” Her face lit up. "Boy, I could go for some hot chocolate right now.” Then her face got all sad again. “But all we have here is that instant stuff.”
Arborus extended his hand to her. “Come on! Let’s go up to the staff kitchen and see what we can find!” Chelsea looked morose. “Even if we could find the stuff to make real hot chocolate, I…I don’t know how….” Now she was really sad.
“Leave that to me!” he said. “I made it for Momma all the time.” He offered his hand again. “Come on!”
Impossible to resist his enthusiasm she took his hand and they went upstairs to the large staff kitchen on the main floor. Chelsea showed him where the pots were kept. They dug through the pantry together and found the sugar. He grabbed a salt shaker off one of the tables. There was plenty of milk in the fridge. But no cocoa powder or vanilla. Telling Chelsea to “wait right there,” Arborus went around to the main Kitchen. Cook was there, just starting to get dinner together. She couldn’t resist his smile. He returned to the staff kitchen with a box of powdered baker’s chocolate and a small bottle of real vanilla extract.
He measured a large coffee mug of milk into a pan, tossed in a sprinkle of salt from a table shaker and set it to heat up. He put the powdered chocolate and the sugar into a cereal bowl and mixed it together well with a fork, mashing out any lumps in the powder. It took a bit for the milk to warm up but when it was nice and hot he added a bit to the bowl to make a paste, then a little more to make it pourable. With precision he lined up bowl and mug, then poured the milk into the bowl and into the mug. Adding a good dash of vanilla he gave it all a quick mix with a spoon. He carried it over to where Chelsea sat at a table watching him. She took the mug and inhaled deeply.
“This smells soooo good!” she blew on it a bit then took a sip. “Oh, this is so good! Thank you Arborus, this is just what I needed today.”
“Sure thing!” He went back to wash the pan. He looked up at Camille’s voice from the door.
“I smell something really good!” she said, coming over to check what her sister had.
Arborus said, “It’s home made hot chocolate. Do you want one?”
“I would love that, Arborus, if you’re offering.”
“Sure!” He finished washing the pot then repeated all the steps to make a new cup of hot chocolate. Just as he was doing the pour into the mug, Matter Master David was standing in the doorway with Norman standing at his elbow. Chelsea was trying hard to suppress a giggle.
“See!” David said “I told you I smelled hot chocolate. I can’t resist anything chocolate. Tell me you have more of that, Arborus?”
“Coming right up, David. Norman, do you want one too?” At his vigorous nod Arborus grabbed a larger pot, this time making a double batch. It wasn’t quite done when Peter appeared in the doorway.
“What’s everyone up to?” he asked the happy crowd. Chelsea was laughing out loud now.
Arborus said, “Hot Chocolate, Peter. Do you want one?” As soon as he said it he realized his mistake.
Peter just glossed over it and said, “I'm just gonna sit right here and inhale for a bit. It sure smells good!” He sat down at the table with everyone as Arborus poured the last two mugs for David and Norman. As he washed out the cookware and set it in the rack to dry he realized how good it was to hear his friends laughing happily together. Chelsea looked over and gave him a wink, then tapped the chair next to her. Arborus went over and sat down. She gave him a one-armed hug, gesturing at everyone with her mug, she whispered, “I really needed this. Thank you Arborus.”
He nodded once. “Glad I could help, Chelsea.” He touched the stone on the choker at has throat. “Glad we could help.”