The hour passed in a blur, and Stephanie couldn't remember a time when she had laughed more. With her sides aching, tears still running down her face and a hiccup that wouldn't go away, she accidently bumped Scott's shoulder as they gathered up the cards for what must have been the thousandth time that day.

It was her fault, really.

She had been watching intently Scott as he'd delicately positioned the last card over the towering structure on her bed, it having finally survived a never-ending string of catastrophes and mishaps ranging from clumsy fingers to the clichéd sneeze (both of which had been predominantly hers). The sheer concentration on his face had mesmerised her, and she hadn't realised she was staring at him until he'd waved a free hand in front of her face, amused. Hey, no more sneezing this time alright? Giggling, she remembered shaking her head rapidly as she lay on her stomach at the head of the bed, her hair fanning out and dislodging one of the cards holding the whole thing up. Horrified, she had clapped her hands to her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut, expecting the castle to come tumbling down in a whirlwind of cards.

The moment never came, however. Cracking her eyelids open, Scott's face had been just inches from hers, the tips of his fingers having just caught the card as he'd launched himself across to save it. She'd looked at him, her mouth hanging open dumbly without her realising it. How on earth did you…? Saying nothing but his eyes twinkling, Scott had awkwardly extracted the card he had been holding out from under him and offered it to her. She'd taken it gingerly and shuffled on her knees towards the castle, reaching up to place it on the peak. But then she'd felt a tingling in her nose and before she could even blink, the sneeze erupted from her mouth and blew the result of an hour's meticulous efforts into smithereens. Laughing uncontrollably with her, Scott had collapsed against the wall holding his stomach and she'd found herself buried in his chest, soaking his shirt with tears as she shook with laughter.

Her hiccups having finally subsided, Stephanie looked sideways at the two small patches still drying out on his shirt and couldn't contain the small splutter of laughter that arose from the memory. Glancing downwards before tutting at her with mock severity, Scott plucked the deck of cards from her hands and deftly shuffled them before sliding them back into the box. All of a sudden, Stephanie felt shy and dipped her head, her hair falling around her flushed cheeks.

Silence now fell upon the room.

She raised her eyes nearly gasped when she saw Scott's locked onto hers. He looked uncertain, confused. Scared? His green eyes flickered, and he looked away.

"Having a good time?"

She started, spinning around to see her uncle ambling through the doorway with the frilly apron proudly back around his waist.

"Give us another deck of cards, and we'll build the Empire State Building!" she replied sardonically, recovering quickly. She heard Scott chuckle softy behind her and was glad. A buzzer sounded loudly from the kitchen, and Milford jumped almost as much as she did when he'd come in.

"Oh! My cake! Oh my…"

Watching her uncle scurry down the corridor, Stephanie turned back to Scott and shook her head at him with a bemused smile on her face. He returned the look, hopping off the bed lightly and dusting off his jeans.

"Well, at least he's trying to get it right this time."

She laughed as she grabbed a blue ball from her rucksack, falling into step beside Scott on his way to the door.

"If my uncle doesn't need any help with the cake, do you want to throw this around outside for a bit and maybe find some other kids? I'm sure it beats building card castles with me at any rate."

Moving aside to let her through, Scott pinched the bridge of his nose in mock frustration.

"Can't argue with you there, so it's a plan to me."

Walking into the kitchen, Stephanie found her uncle teetering precariously as he guided the cake tray onto the bench.

"That's a lovely cake, Uncle!" she exclaimed, spinning the ball idly in her hands.

"Oh yes, isn't it beautiful?" Milford asked, before noticing the rucksack on his niece's back and Scott standing next to her. "Oh, where are you two going?"

Stephanie did the talking.

"We were going out to find some kids to play with."

"Oh, kids playing in LazyTown...that's a good one!" her uncle replied, chuckling merrily. She laughed along with him, thinking he was joking around with her. He wasn't.

"No one does that."

She frowned in disbelief.

"What?"

"No, really!" Milford reiterated. "No one plays outside. And what if something terrible should happen? What if you played so much that you got tired?"

She scoffed light-heartedly, tugging at Scott's arm as she skipped towards the front door.

"We're just going out to play!"

Running outside into the sun and pulling Scott behind her, she heard her uncle's concerned voice follow her.

"Oh, please, please, be careful!"