Duck watches him from the edges of the crowd. He'd almost tried keeping Geoffrey home this morning, but he's kept him home every morning since they woke to find Sunny's bed empty, and Duck can't keep him there any longer, even if he feels about ready to crawl out his skin being this far away from him.

He's almost afraid to even blink anymore, feels more at loose ends now than he ever felt while drinking, and Duck rubs at each scratchy eye in turn. When Geoffrey leaves the stage, Duck is there and waiting to take his hand, pulling him away and back towards home.

"You got through it," he says, patting the back of Geoffrey's hand with his free one, like Geoffrey's the one who needs reassurance here and Duck's hand isn't shaking in his grasp.

Cutter's post, wherein the list of previously completed of huts can be found

Requests:
Jamie Madrox - team M - tbc August 16
Squall and Zell - Team D/B - tbc 11/21


Teams:

TEAM LENNOX
Jason Stackhouse
Eddie Strombeck
Yuffie Kisaragi
Shadow
Bobby Singer
Xander Harris
Johnny Martin

TEAM MACDONALD
Mamet
Thomas Hobbes
Jack Crew
Joe Dick
Dale Cooper
Logan Echolls
Eugene Roe

TEAM DUNNE/BUSH
Robb Stark (as needed)
Daniel Jackson
Mayko Tran (part time)
Calvin O'Keefe (as needed and as schoolwork allows)
Robbie Turner
Davos Seaworth
Ryan Atwood

Completed Huts and Projects:
Izzy Evans (M) - finished Oct. 8
Lucy Carrigan (C) - finished Oct. 19
Huey Freeman (R) - finished Nov. 8
Landry Clarke (M) - finished Nov. 29
Michael Scofield (C) - finished Nov. 30
Chuck and Ellie (M) - finished Jan. 11
Sarah Walker (C)- finished Jan. 11
Rollie (M) - finished Jan. 22
John Casey (T/D) - finished Jan. 31
The Market (M) - finished early Feb
Mark Cohen (C) - finished Feb 9
The Prison - finished mid Feb
Adam Monroe - (D/T) finished Feb 12
The Boathouse - All teams
Bobby Singer - (C) - finished Feb 20
Paul Stanton - (M) - finished Feb 20
The Boathouse - all teams - finished late Feb
Atia - (C) - finished late Feb
Walls for Phedre's Temple - (D/T) - finished Feb 28
Odd & Stormy - (C) - completed March 17
Saffron - (M) - completed March 7
Bela - (D/T) - completed March 7
Ros Myers - (Cutter) - completed March 26
Jill Langston - (M)- completed March 27
Charlie Crews - (T/D) - completed March 28
Dani Reese - (C) - completed April 4
Ray Stantz - (M) - completed April 27
Mohinder Suresh - (T/D) - completed April 27
Tony DiNozzo and Jamie Madrox - (C) - completed April 29
Lighting for all paths, and boardwalks for those most traveled - all teams - completed late April
Sam Seaborn - (T/D) - completed June 3
Neil McCormick - (M) - completed June 4
Ruby - (C) - completed June 4
Carla Jean Moss - (T/D) - completed June 12
Olive Snook - (M) - completed June 13
Leon Tallis - (C) - completed June 26
Sean Cassidy -(T/D)- completed July 18
Penny Lane and Gideon Sparks - (C) - completed August 9
Peter Marwood - (M) - tbd
Warrick - team Teyla/Dunne - tbc 8/17.
Angua - team Cutter - tbc 8/17
Florence - team MacDonald
Summer - team Teyla/Dunne - somewhere near Ryan Atwood
Zach - team Cutter - to be located near to the dojo so Yuffie can dub it New Wutai, on the beach in between Eden and the Dojo, but closer to the Dojo
Sheba - team MacDonald - somewhere close to water would be nice
Pam - team William/Dunne
Marion Ravenwood - team Cutter
Lisey and Scott - expanded by team MacDonald
Robbie and Cecilia - team Dunne/Bush, completed Oct 9
Yorick - team Cutter completed Oct 10
Beat - temp team - completed Oct 12
ELECTRICAL PROJECT - Sept 22-Oct 11
CLINIC - completed late October
Dan and Jenny - temp team - completed late October
STRIP JOINT - completed end of November - all teams
Shaun's bar - Team Cutter - early Jan
Addition to Angua's - (M) - completed Jan 14
Daphne Milbrook - (M) - completed Jan 12
Priestly and Jen - (D/B) - completed Jan 14
Picnic area for NA - (L) - completed Jan 14
Blair and Serena - (M) - tbc Jan 29
Chuck and Morgan (D/B) - tbc Feb 8
Dance Hut (L) - tbc Feb 8
Sam and Jess - (M) - completed Feb 11
Bobby - (L) - completed Feb 15
Extra room in Bill's huts - (D/B) - completed Feb 14
extra room for Robin (d/b) - completed March 8
Secret room in CSC - (d/b) - completed May 12th
Henry Devlin - (M) - completed May 16th
Donna Troy - (M) - completed May 21
Percy Jackson - (L) - completed June 24
Patrick Jane - (d/b) - completed July 5
Taylor Townsend - (M) - completed July 13
Graham Dalton - (L) - completed July 17
Johnny Martin and Chuck Grant - (d/b) - completed July 27


The Map

Any pup wanting to join the building crew, comment here or email me at elsila[at]gmail[dot]com and they'll be added. The more well-meaning, sweaty islanders the merrier.

Cake. A big, frosted birthday cake of her own, once a month until her real birthday.

That's what it had taken to get Sunny to bed early tonight.

But, Duck thinks, lighting another candle, a sudden and forced interest in baking is well worth it, if it means having Geoffrey for a quiet evening, just the two of them. He'd take them out to the stage if he could, cover the entire surface in candles and dance Geoffrey over it, but tonight their porch will do just fine. All the night lacks now is Geoffrey and some music, and the latter can be taken care of with the touch of a button. He arranges the stereo on the steps and fiddles.

It's not long before Duck can lean back on the porch bench and smile as the opening strains of Moon River fill the small pool of candlelight in front of their hut with sound.

From here:

Duck peels himself away from Geoffrey, snatching up his hand to tug him along the side of the building. It's dark, and the shadows are deep and tempting, but if they stop again they're gonna stay, and that won't do.

He all but shoves Geoffrey inside the toolshed when they reach it, banging the door closed behind them. "Thank god I never put in that fucking window."

Duck stretches his hand out over the table.

Two years with Geoffrey, one year of it married, and it feels like the only life Duck's ever known, and at the same time, constantly startling and new in the best of ways. And now, next door asleep in her bed, is their Sunny. The little girl they were never sure they'd get to bring home, the one Duck wanted so much he almost couldn't bear speaking about, and now she's there, and Geoffrey's here, and Duck's heart is so full up with love that he finds himself again speechless.

So he stretches his hand out over the table, pulls Geoffrey's away from his book, and squeezes.

Duck had peeled himself away from the crowd before Geoffrey, walking doubletime back to their hut to give himself time to gather both his thoughts and his courage. Geoffrey isn't going to be happy about this, Duck knows that already, and his biggest fear is that Geoffrey will think he was hiding the discs from him for the wrong reason. And maybe a little of that wrong reason had crept into Duck's thoughts along the way, but the overwhelming reason he had for hiding them had been the play, how much it meant to both of them, and how much Geoffrey had wanted it to go well.

But the play had gone well, and now it's over, and Duck's excuses are gone. He draws a chair up to their table, sinking himself down into it with the discs in his lap. Any moment now Geoffrey will come bursting through the door, breathless and jubilant and looking to celebrate.

And Duck's going to crush him.

The thing about splitting a small amount of tools between three construction teams is that they get dull in a hurry. Today and everyday, Duck thanks whatever's behind the island for providing some extra hammers and screwdrivers for general use, but tools like the radial arm saw? Duck's just glad it's made to withstand constant use, because it gets that and then some.

Still, it'd be a hell of a lot easier to sharpen with a proper grinder, but he'll take what he can get, he thinks, carefully removing the blade from the machine. He's just going to wipe it down when he hears footsteps outside, weighted with an unfamiliar hesitance.

"I'm in here," Duck calls, peering through the crack in the door curiously.

Technically, it's a birthday pie, not a cake, but Duck doesn't expect that will be a disappointment. It's strawberry after all, and in honor of the occassion, Duck's thrown caution to the wind and added a bit of extra sugar, so he doesn't think Geoffrey will mind.

Neither does he expect Geoffrey will protest the absence of a large celebration this year. After the month they've had, a quiet evening together feels more appropriate, and Duck is all but salivating for the chance to just have some simple fun together, to celebrate something without any other complications weighing on them, and on Geoffrey in particular.

He pushes a candle into the center of the pie and puts it on their table, covering it with a cloth. The candle in the middle forces the cloth into a little tented mound, one that Duck will let Geoffrey unveil himself later when the other dishes have been eaten. Those dishes are covered too, but it won't be hard for Geoffrey to guess what's beneath. The slow-roasted chicken(things) took all day, and the smell is likely tormenting the far side of the Hamlet even now. There are yams, too, which aren't quite the sweet potatos he's wishing they are, but close enough, and fresh-baked bread, whose creation in the kitchen had required Duck to temporarily dethrone Eostre as the kitchen's most unholy terror.

He smiles to himself as he remembers chasing Mamet bodily away from the oven, smiling wider when he hears Geoffrey's footsteps on the path outside.

Duck doesn't know why he's so antsy. As far as he knows, Donald hasn't asked her yet, and as far as Duck knows, he couldn't stop him if he wanted to, which Duck's not sure he does. If this is what it takes for her to be happy, he'll learn to live with it, whether it's a damned premature idea or not.

Giving up on his nap with a frustrated sigh, Duck rolls to the other side of the bed and wonders where Queen's gotten off to. Probably matching Geoffrey pace for pace across the stage while the actors look on. You'd think that'd be distracting, but only if you've never seen Geoffrey in his element. He could have dragons and tigers following him and nobody would notice. Well. Maybe Kate.

Astounded at the turn his thoughts have taken, Duck sits upright, finally tugging his shirt up and over his head. Maybe he's overwarm, and that's why he can't get any sleep. In a few seconds time he'll cross the room to the pitcher of water, probably as hot as the air around him now, though it'd been cool enough when he'd pulled it from the waterfall. And would still be cool now, if he'd have bothered to put it in evaporation fridge on his way in the door.

"My kingdom for a fucking ice cube," Duck murmurs, folding himself into a petulant heap at the end of the bed.

Duck lets go of Geoffrey's shoulder and rolls onto his back, stretched out fully clothed on the bed next to his sleeping husband.

He's always up and ready to start the day pretty early, and as a rule, Geoffrey's not. It doesn't usually bother Duck.

Today, though...

"C'mon," he says, giving a lock of Geoffrey's hair a tug. "Wake up!"