This is a birthday present for SailorWednesdayMercury. :)

It was still there. After all those years it was still standing, if just barely. The walls were still standing and miraculously not about to collapse, the window holes were covered in moss and cobwebs, the furniture was dusty, paint was peeling from the outside and the floor was squeaky and dirty.

But it was theirs. Even now, even as teenagers who were more interested in dates and social lives and solving mysteries, the clubhouse was and always had been their place. Alan sighed wistfully as he peeled a layer of dust off a chair.

"Remember when we were actually small enough to sit on these things?" he said.

"Yeah. During the last year any of us played in here," Anne laughed. "I was just ten...Henry, Stanley and Suzie were too old to be playing with kids by then, and Tom was just eight. Remember how we tried to get the younger kids into the club, but they wanted their own?"

"Yeah." Alan snorted. "Flip didn't want our old hand-me-downs. Once Scooter and Mimi were big enough he and Nancy and them built their own in the basement so they could have a real detective's office."

"They never finished that, did they?" Anne dusted off a spot on the floor and sat down, drawing her knees up to her chest. "Man, either we grew or this thing shrank!" Alan snorted, sitting down next to her. Amazingly, there was room enough for them both even at their current heights.

"Annie, you know it's because we're both bigger," he teased. "Though the wood is a bit warped from years of rain and other weather effects, so maybe it did shrink. Boy, seems like just yesterday we were little enough to sleep in here. All of us!"

"Yeah, remember how we always begged Mom and Pop to let us sleep out here in the summer?" Anne smiled. "This place was like a mansion to us back then. The only thing missing was a TV."

"And even back then I tried to figure out a way to make one work," Alan said with a laugh. "Too bad we've outgrown the place, I could probably set something up now." He sighed. "Sometimes I wonder why we had to grow up, Annie. Don't get me wrong, I love dating and harder schoolwork and getting to stay out later, but I miss all the good times we had here. Remember when you and Suzie had your treehouse, and this was just for the guys?"

"Boy, do I!" Anne snorted. "I was so mad at you because Suzie wasn't always around to play with me, so I felt left out. And you stupid boys wouldn't let me in to hang out with you!"

"Then Tom asked to hang out with you and you said no," Alan said. "Mom helped us figure out that separate clubhouses weren't such a good idea after all. And then we all moved in here for the next few years."

"Mom and Pop were always the best at solving problems," Anne said. "And then Mom came out to help us paint this place and add more furniture. It took us a while to figure out a look both boys and girls could enjoy." She smiled sadly. "I really miss Mom."

"Me too," Alan said. "It's only been two years she's gone now, it's so weird. Sometimes it feels like a decade, other times it feels like just yesterday." He leaned against Anne, wrapping an arm around her. "But we're doing okay, aren't we?"

"Yeah...we've got Pop, and he's the best we could ask for," Anne said. "And Suzie, even if she's not really taking Mom's place she still takes care of us all as best she can." There was no mistaking the admiration in her voice as she spoke of her older sister, Alan thought with a grin.

"And we've got our mystery-solving careers! Well, sort of. We're just amateur sleuths right now, but someday we'll be as good as our father!" Suddenly, an idea came to him. "Say...maybe this place could use an overhaul. If Flip and the younger kids are gonna use the basement, us older kids could still use this place!"

"Hey, yeah!" Anne grinned. "We'll have to make it lots bigger, but Tom can figure out the measurements for that. Suzie can pick out paintings and rugs and furniture, I can help Henry and Stanley with all the building..."

"And I can figure out a good heating system for winter, and cooling system for summer!" Alan finished. "And this time we'll paint it a color that goes with nature, so it'll be like an official hideout."

"Great!" Anne smiled. "We'll tell the rest of the kids after dinner tonight. I'm sure they'll be all for it!"

And so they sat there the rest of the afternoon, reminiscing about the past and making plans for the future of the Chan Clan's new Headquarters.