"Okay, we have four buildings done and The Boys are working on the fifth," Xander said, Willow writing on the white board as he talked, listing The Larder, The Lodge, The Island, and The Endless Dessert. "We have the doors prepared for all our houses and the other half of the doors set up in The Lodge and The Lodge is ready for us to stay in it."

"We need doors leading from each building to the other rather than just using the wardrobes," Willow pointed out.

"We also should mark the spot they open at on the floor," Sharon suggested. "You know, so no one is standing there when someone opens the wardrobe."

"Yeah," Xander said with a wince, "that is a really, really good point."

"What happens if someone is standing there when it opens?" Jessie asked.

"No idea," Xander admitted with a shrug, "but I don't think we want to find out it cuts someone in half or causes an explosion or something."

"Yeah, gonna agree with you there," Jessie said, with a shudder.

"You also made a wardrobe for my mom," Amy pointed out, "and The Island openings aren't inside the building, they're on the beach."

"We can make a line of rocks in the sand to mark it," Willow said, making a note of it on the board.

"Okay, we made the furniture for The Lodge and… I think we're done," Xander said with a frown. "At least for the moment. We've been pretty busy getting this all set up, I think we need a chance to relax and enjoy everything we've been working on."

"Once we get the doors set up in our closets we'll be done," Willow said firmly.

"After that then," he agreed.

"How are we going to sneak these into our houses?" Jessie asked as he stared at the stack of half a dozen doors that they'd spent the last couple of weeks making, having decided they wanted to set them all up at once, so no one was left out, the matching halves already set up in The Lodge.

"Mom knows, so I can just carry mine in," Amy said. "I can take it home when she comes to pick me up today."

"My mom probably won't be home, since it's a Friday," Sharon said thoughtfully. "We can just carry it into my house."

"My mom can give you a ride," Amy told her. "Both the doors will fit in the car if we squeeze in the front seat."

"I could maybe sneak mine in through the window," Xander said with a frown, thinking of carrying it up the trellis.

"I'll have to wait until my parents are away for the weekend," Willow said with a frown, wanting to get hers installed as soon as possible so she could spend more time with Xander even when her parents were home.

"It's nearly impossible to sneak things past my mom," Jessie complained. "Not sure how we're going to pull it off."

"They are tall but thin and not that wide," Willow noted and chewed her bottom lip in thought.

"She has her scheming face on," Amy teased.

"Thinking face," Xander corrected her, poking Amy in the side with a finger and making her giggle.

"We can make a small portal that just fits over the top of the door and feed them through," Willow said. "A small box just as wide as a door and as thick, doesn't need to be tall at all. We can fill it with a bunch of cards and the adults will just think it's a weird card holder."

"I'm confused," Jessie said. "Is anyone else confused, because confused is what I am."

Willow rolled her eyes, knowing he was exaggerating. She walked over to the doors and easily picked one up, holding it flat. "We just have to make a portal it can slide through like the opening in a deck of cards."

"Oh," the other children chorused.

"Okay, but this is the last portal for at least a week. We are going to shut our brains off, have fun, and watch movies and such," Xander said.

"As long as I can read," Willow said quickly.

"Yeah, relaxing on the beach, reading a book is fine," Xander assured her, getting a kiss as a reward.

"Okay, one last project and then it's vacation time," Jessie said with a grin. "Let's get some wood and get to work!"

Willow leaned in close to Xander as the other three raced off to get everything without even asking what was needed. "Take the new box to bed with you tonight," she whispered.

"Why?" he whispered back, even though they were now the only two there.

"Something I read about, I'll explain later," the red head replied with a blush before rushing off to help.

Xander scratched his head, trying to figure out why his girlfriend would want him to sleep with the new box they were building, before shrugging it off. She'd explain or it'd become obvious when they used it, but for now they had work to do!

"After this we're going swimming!" he yelled after them.

That evening

Xander pulled the door through the small box with a grin before peeking through the opening and seeing the warehouse on the other side. "Got it," he said, "going to mount it now."

Willow smooshed her face in the opening and pursed her lips for a kiss, which he gave her with a grin, both wishing they'd made the box wide enough to stick their heads through. "I'll meet you in The Lodge," she said as she pulled back.

"I'll be there as soon as I secure the door," he promised, before closing the box. He left the box on the bed and carried the door to the back of his closet, using a pair of brackets and a couple of small screws to mount it to the wall. Opening the door, he stepped through and looked around.

The Lodge was warm and well lit, thanks to the open sun box sitting behind the massive bed he'd built. He'd made it a lot tougher than normal beds, so they'd be able to jump around and wrestle on it without worrying about breaking anything. The shelves they'd mounted on either side of the fireplace were filled with books… well the right ones were, the left had a handful of magazines that Jesse and Sharon had both contributed to along with their collection of video tapes. They'd bought a wheeled entertainment center to put the TV and VCR on, a small wooden box placed over a power outlet at Jessie's providing electricity.

"This place is great," Willow said as she came through one of the doors on the wall behind him, labeled 'workshop' carrying the small box they'd passed all the doors through. "I can't believe we built all this."

"With some help from The Boys," Xander agreed, turning to face the row of doors on the curved back wall. "Sleepovers are going to be a breeze to organize now, and we can make all the noise we want without worrying about the neighbors."

"We need a stereo," Willow decided, "or maybe a boombox."

"And an alarm clock," Xander pointed out.

"I've got a spare," Sharon offered, making the two jump.

"Where'd you come from?!" Willow exclaimed.

"My door, the hinges are really quiet," she said with a grin.

"I oiled them," Xander said, "creaky hinges are annoying."

"We need to organize a sleepover," Sharon said, "like a housewarming." She walked over to the magazine shelves and set down an armful of magazines.

"This weekend," Xander decided, "we can have a party."

"That would be cool!" Jesse exclaimed making the three jump.

"And maybe put bells above the doors," Willow muttered.

"Mom said you can sleep at my place," Amy announced as she peeked her head through the door to her closet.

"What, really?" Jesse asked with a grin.

"Not you, Sharon," Amy said, "since her mom isn't home."

"Phooey," Jesse said with an exaggerated pout.

The girls giggled.

"Your parents would notice if you were gone," Amy pointed out.

"Sadly," he agreed with a sigh. "So, party this weekend?"

"That's the plan," Xander agreed.

"Well, I gotta go home and get ready for bed, before my parents realize I'm gone," Willow said, giving Xander a hug and a kiss before taking the small box and leaving.

"Yeah, same here," Jessie agreed, grabbing Xander in a hug before he could dodge and giving a sloppy, wet kiss on the cheek and running through the door to his room, laughing like a loon.

Sharon and Amy quickly encircled Xander in a hug while he was wiping his cheek and kissed his cheeks, thankfully with a lot less slobber than Jessie had, before they vanished through the door to Amy's closet.

"Note to self: Plan revenge," Xander said and yawned. "Later, plan later."

He entered his closet through the door and walked into his room, checking the time and realizing it was about time for bed. Since he wasn't staying over with Willow, he didn't bother putting on pajamas and simply tossed all his clothes in a pile on the floor before shutting off the light and climbing into bed.

*tap*tap*tap*

Xander opened the box and saw that Willow was in bed.

"Stick it under the covers near your waist," Willow whispered.

Xander lifted the covers and slid the box under them, wondering what Willow was up to. A moment later he felt a hand fumbling around until it found his. Smiling and holding hands with his girlfriend, Xander went to sleep.

Morning

"Xander, wake up," Willow said, shaking him.

"Bwah?" Xander said, sitting up, his blankets falling down to pool at his waist.

"Xander," Willow squeaked and spun around, "you're naked!"

He blinked sleepily. "Yeah? I always sleep naked at home."

"You were naked all night?!" she squeaked out.

He rubbed sleep from his eyes. "Yep," he tried to keep the amusement from his voice, "and now I need to shower, so keep facing that way or you're going to see a lot more of me than you expected to see." Alright, he didn't try very hard, but it was just so much fun to tease her.

"You better hurry, we gotta get to school," Willow told him, her back to him keeping her eyes firmly on… the mirror she was facing as Xander got up and vanished into the bathroom.

After School

"We should hide a door close to the school," Sharon suggested as they walked down the front stairs of the school, ignoring the students flowing around them, eager to escape. "Something small, hidden in the bushes maybe."

"Too risky," Xander said, "we don't need anyone finding our hub and you know someone would."

"Yeah, meeting up at your place to walk to school is faster than leaving from my house anyway," Sharon agreed. "I'm just glad I don't have to ride the bus all the time anymore."

"Two more days to the weekend and we can spend all day at the beach and nights in a big pile watching movies," Jessie said with a grin.

"Elan is late," Amy noted.

"She is waiting on an adventuring party," Willow pointed out, "and you know what they're like."

"They probably stopped to burn down a tavern and destroy an orphanage," Sharon said with a grin. "For the sake of justice of course."

"Of course," Willow agreed. "No telling what evil those 'orphans' were up to and who doesn't like a nice roaring fire to drink around? Sociopaths that's who," she finished, getting a laugh from the gang.

"We haven't found Narnia, but we have found D&D," Jessie said with a grin.

"We'll find it eventually," Xander said confidently as they reached the street and looked for Amy's mom who was coming to pick them up.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Jessie asked.

"Movies, messing around… anything we like," Xander said as Amy's mom tapped the horn, catching their attention.

"Math homework," Willow reminded them as they headed for the car.

"Did that while I was in class," Sharon said, "it was easy compared to the stuff you have us figure out."

"Same," Amy agreed as they got in the car.

"Dude, we should have done that," Jessie complained.

"We mostly just handle making stuff, so the girls are way ahead of us on the math," Xander said with a frown. "We're going to have to fix that, but that's for later, right now we are still on break from working on anything."

"Taking the day off?" Catherine asked.

"Taking a number of days off," Xander said, "don't want anyone to get burned out and we've all been working hard the last couple of weeks."

"That sounds like a good idea," she agreed, "everyone needs to relax every once in a while. So, am I taking you all to the shop or not?"

"Any of our houses will do," Willow reminded her, "we have the doors to get around now."

"That's going to take some getting used to," she said with a smile as she pulled into traffic. "I'll just head home then."

"Help me with my homework and I'll do whatever you want," Jessie told his girlfriends.

"You'll do that anyway," Amy said.

"And?" he asked.

"And nothing," she said with a grin, "I just wanted to make sure that was still true. Of course, we'll help you with your homework."

"Can we at least plan out future projects?" Willow begged.

"Yeah, but no concrete planning," Xander told her, "wild flights of fantasy only."

Willow giggled. "We'll still pull them off."

"Probably," Xander agreed, "but the important thing is to have fun with it."

"Can I use the whiteboard?" she asked hopefully.

"Nope, you can only use things that don't interrupt our cuddling," Xander said, giving her a kiss.

"I think I can handle that," Willow said with a smile.

"Has anyone had any problems controlling their strength?" Jessie asked.

"I've destroyed three alarm clocks," Sharon admitted. "I finally fixed that by moving it across the room. Not sure that counts though."

"I kept breaking the tip of my pencil," Willow offered, "but after I got the hang of it after… about a dozen pencils. I haven't had a problem with it since then."

"One doorknob, cause I didn't realize it was locked," Amy said, making her mother laugh. "A bunch of pencils as well, but I've been pretty good about it since then, just wrecking some clothes that were pretty worn anyway."

"Yeah, gave myself a couple of wedgies," Jessie said. "I'm a little surprised we all got it that quickly."

"Except for our habit of tossing each other around, and we know we can take it, I don't think we've really had any problems," Xander said thoughtfully. "I broke some pencils and wedgied myself as well, but really we should have had a lot more trouble getting used to it or maybe that's just how it is in comic books because it's funny."

"Hadn't thought of that," Jessie admitted with a thoughtful frown.

"So why did you bring it up?" Willow asked.

"Oh, I was just going to use it as an excuse for us to play volleyball as a strength training exercise," he replied.

"You could have just asked," Willow pointed out, rolling her eyes.

"Where's the fun in that?" Jessie asked before sticking his tongue out at her, which prompted her to stick her tongue out in return.

"Okay, beach volleyball it is," Xander said, "then movies at The Lodge."

"And math homework," Willow corrected him.

"And math homework," Xander agreed with a sigh.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

*beep*beep*beep*

"Mwuh?" Xander asked as he woke us, looking around for what had made the noise.

"It's the alarm," Willow said, as slid out of bed and stood up. "Cold floor!" She danced back and forth as she raced to the alarm sitting on the entertainment center to shut it off before rushing back and jumping back on the bed. "Cold everything," she complained, her breath fogging the cold air in the massive circular room.

"Why did we set the alarm for this early?" Jessie asked with a groan, sandwiched in between Amy and Sharon.

"Cause we need to be home in bed before out parents realize we snuck out," Amy reminded him. "Well, you do anyway, Mom knows where I am."

"Having parents that don't care comes in handy sometimes," Xander offered as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Ditto," Sharon said.

"Still need to get ready for school," Willow pointed out, shivering in her flannel pajamas and hunting for her slippers, which she found on the side of the bed and slipped on.

"Yes, but that's like three hours from now," Sharon said, "so…"

"Wake us in two hours please," Xander begged Willow.

Willow leaned down and kissed Xander's cheek. "I'll come get you guys," she promised.

"Darn responsible parents, ruining my snuggle time," Jessie complained as he climbed over Amy to get out of bed, wincing at the cold stone on his bare feet and quickly hotfooting it to the row of door on the wall opposite the fireplace, shivering in the cold air, dressed in just his boxers and a T-shirt.

"Wrong door," Willow called out as Jessie grabbed the knob of the second door without paying attention.

"Oh yeah," he said moving two doors down and vanishing into his closet.

Beta By: Abyssal Angel and Mist of Shadows