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New Digs (1/1)

"All done with your homework?" Joseph asked as Kaitlyn made her way onto the porch at the condo.

"Yea. We had time to finish most of it in school because my teacher had to leave a little early, so we got to go to the library," she explained as she watched him put the finishing touches on a small wooden box he was building to store all of Elizabeth's gardening tools out of sight. It was just one item on a list of projects he wanted to get completed before their friends from the mainland visited.

"That's nice." He began to stack his unused wood in a pile. "What do you wanna do with all your extra time this afternoon?"

Kaitlyn grabbed the broom from the corner of the porch and began sweeping up the sawdust and wood shavings. "Are you gonna use that extra wood?"

Joseph smiled at her. "I don't have any specific plans. Do you want it?"

"If you don't mind." She finished sweeping the debris into a pile then grabbed the dustpan. "I want to build Midnight a cat tree."

"I think that's an excellent idea." Joseph held open a bag for her to empty the dust pan into. "He'd love that."

"I looked at them when we were in Petco last week and they're really nice but they're super expensive and I was thinking maybe I could make him one myself. I mean it wouldn't be as fancy but …"

"Are you kidding? It'll be even better." He closed the bag and dropped it in the trash can. "And he'll like it even more because you made it."

"Do you think so?" Kaitlyn asked hopefully.

"I know so," Joseph replied with absolute confidence. "And it would be my honor to help if you would allow me."

Kaitlyn clapped excitedly. "What do we do first?"

"Well, when I was out for a walk earlier down by the pool, I saw they were doing some maintenance and there were a lot of plastic pipes laying around. What do you say we go down there and see if they're planning to throw them out and if they are, we'll ask if we can have them."

Kaitlyn nodded excitedly. "Let's go."

As they headed back into the house to tell Elizabeth where they were going, she slipped her small hand into his. "Thanks, Uncle Joseph."

Half an hour later Elizabeth opened the door as Joseph and Kaitlyn returned to the condo. She'd heard them chattering happily about their plans the whole way down the hall. Joseph was carrying an armload of PVC pipe in various lengths while Kaitlyn toted a circular object that Elizabeth couldn't quite identify.

"Look at all the stuff we got!" The young girl was practically bouncing with excitement.

Joseph kissed his wife's cheek. "We're gonna drop this stuff on the porch then make a quick trip to Home Depot and we'll be ready to build the world's best cat tree."

His smile was so bright Elizabeth wasn't really sure who was more excited about the project, Kaitlyn or Joseph.

While the two of them were out buying supplies Elizabeth and Grandma Ang gathered an array of cardboard boxes they thought might be useful. Ang found some extra fleece from a lap blanket project her senior club was working on and began fashioning a bed for Midnight.

An hour later, after having spent some time huddled over a legal pad mapping out a plan for what they wanted the final project to look like, the build was underway. Jacob and Dylan had finished up with their homework and joined the effort. Dylan was assisting with the actual build while Jacob was huddled in the corner working on a special surprise. Ang was finishing up the bed while Elizabeth worked on curtains and fashioned flooring out of a carpet remnant from Home Depot.

Kaitlyn stood back and with a broad smile observed what they had so far. Joseph had cut the PVC pipe into six different lengths which created various levels for the tree ranging from six inches off the ground to about five feet. Atop each pipe was a large square of wood securely bolted on for stability. Half of them would remain as flat, resting areas while the other three held a cardboard box, with windows and doorways cut out.

Joseph was currently wrapping rope around another piece of pipe that would be used as scratching post while Dylan worked on just the right angle to attach the circular item Kaitlyn had brought back from the pool area earlier.

"What is that?" Grandma Ang asked.

"It used to be part of the old pool filter," Kaitlyn replied. "I'm not exactly sure what it did but look." She took the circle from Dylan and held it out towards Grandma Ang. "This red ball spins around almost like it's on a track." She held the item upside down and shook it. "It won't fall out either. So Midnight can play with it and we never have to worry about the ball falling out. Mr. Sam down at the pool said he thought it would make a great toy and I think he was right."

"I think so too," Ang agreed. "Midnight will love that."

A short time later Joseph and Dylan were putting the finishing touches on a series of ramps and ladders which would allow Midnight to move easily from one level to the next when Steve and Danny opened the door from the condo.

"What in the world are you up to out here?" Steve grinned.

"We're building a cat house," Kaitlyn bubbled. "For Midnight."

"It's pretty fancy," Steve said as he took the time to study each of the components. "Great job."

"Do you wanna help us finish?" Jacob asked.

"We'd love to but unfortunately we can't," Steve told him. "We're on our way to check out a lead. We just stopped by to drop off a box of donations for the tutoring program."

"Thanks," Elizabeth said. "I really appreciate you creating a drop off point at Five-0 headquarters."

"Happy to help," Steve responded.

Danny took a few steps closer to the cat tree. "Have you thought about how you're going to get this into the car and over to the Allen's house?"

"It comes apart." Dylan stood up to demonstrate. "See." He unlatched one handle and the pieces of the tree slid apart. "It's four different pieces. It'll easily fit in Mom's van and then I can help put it back together when we get it home."

"Making it modular was all Dylan's idea." Joseph placed his hand on the middle Allen son's shoulder causing Dylan to smile proudly.

"Good call," Danny said.

"You know what would be great?" Steve stepped closer to the tree.

Kaitlyn moved to stand beside him. "What?"

He looked around for a minute before his eyes landed on some extra material on the table in front of Elizabeth. "May I?"

"Be my guest," she smiled, eager to see what his idea was.

"I think you should stretch a piece of material between these two poles and make a hammock for Midnight."

Kaitlyn squealed with excitement. "That's perfect!" She eyes the green material in his hand. "And green is Midnight's favorite color."

All the adults smiled at Kaitlyn's absolute faith that her beloved cat had a favorite color.

"I'm finished with my surprise!" Jacob said.

Kaitlyn turned to her youngest brother. "Goody. Can I see?"

"You know how Midnight likes to lay on the window sill and watch the birds?" Jacob said.

Kaitlyn nodded.

"And how excited he gets when he sees the UPS truck?"

Kaitlyn giggled. "He really does."

"Well, I printed out some pictures to hang in the rooms of his new house." Jacob beamed. "I even made them popsicle stick frames." He held one up. "There are birds, trucks, and a few pictures of Kaitlyn because he loves looking at you too."

Kaitlyn's hand fluttered to her chest just seconds before she wrapped Jacob in hug. "Thank you."

Steve ruffled Jacob's hair. "That was a very good idea. I wish we could stay and help but we really have to get going. You guys have fun."

When Jenna arrived to pick up the kids, they were just adding the finishing touches. Kaitlyn made her mother cover her eyes then led her carefully out to the porch to see Midnight's new tree.

"Oh my," Jenna said when she took her hand away. "You guys built that all today?"

Kaitlyn nodded. "Everybody helped."

"It comes apart, so we'll be able to get it in the van," Dylan added.

"I made the pictures and Uncle Steve suggested the hammock." Jacob said. "Grandma Ang made the bed and her and Aunt Elizabeth made the curtains and Uncle Joseph built the ladders and ramps and Dylan attached the toy and helped build the towers. We all worked together."

Jenna beamed. "It sounds like you had a lot of fun."

"We did." Kaitlyn beamed. "It's always fun when we work on things together."

THE END

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