End 4

AN: Walked up Scarfell Pike the other day and had a chat with Rachel and Amy on the way down. They had lots of things to say, but one thing they were adamant about was that they didn't like being written out so soon. As one of the major pairings I think that's fair so they should be making a reappearance at some point.

Liz looked around herself with glee as Kelly pulled into a side road with a lavish sign proclaiming "Sanctuary Hotel - The only Underground Hotel in the World" and below it a smaller sign with "No Vacancies" printed on it. Liz had been to Adrian's hotel more than once before and never ceased to be amazed by the huge building, almost completely concealed from the outside world. If Adrian hadn't put up the signs it was possible to drive right by it or sit in the carpark on the roof without even knowing it was there. Kelly ignored all the signs for the hotel carpark which took up the hilltop that covered the hotel and drove into the private carpark inside of the hotel's main doors. Adrian had once told Liz a fabulous story about when the hotel had been a hideaway for a group of freedom fighters and, if they wanted to, they could make the whole building disappear completely. He still could, he whispered to her, if you pressed these buttons and typed in this code he laughed then, but somehow she had always remembered those codes. It felt like something important to her. He had also told her of the aeroplane hanger on the barred-up east wall of the hotel and dared her to find it, but she had always though that this was a little excessive for his story and laughed with him.

Whether or not the stories he told her were true, Liz had always found the building enchanting and very mystical as did many others who turned up to spend their holidays in one of his many rooms. The longer summer holidays like this one, he was usually fully booked, but never to full to turn away family he always emphasised. Liz jumped out of the car as soon as it stopped, stretching and looking around the concrete and glass structure that held several cars belonging to the staff who worked in the hotel and an ancient-looking motorbike which was Adrian's. Ade had been sad to make the huge garage that had been here into a smaller one to make space for more rooms to house his guests, but the extra room meant more guests to enjoy the place and so he was satisfied.

"The hotel is underground?" Sarah asked as she stepped out of the car after Liz.

"Yup. I'll take you for a walk later and you can try and explain to me how it all works. It looks like a tiny hill from out there," She gestured out of the door, "And it stretches for miles in here." She pointed through the door into the hotel. "It's magic."

Grabbing their bags from the car they wandered into the main hall and stood in the reception area staring around at the beautiful room around them. Far from being cold and dark like most underground buildings, this was bright and warm, filled with wooden walls and steel beamed ceilings. A set of stairs ran up to a corridor with many doors leading into rooms from it, and several other corridors ran from the central hall. At the far end of the room a group of people were sat on a raised platform seemingly meditating. Water ran beneath the platform and fell down the wall behind it and small candles bobbed up and down in the pool at their feet. Aside from the visitor's rooms that had been placed wherever space allowed, the building had changed very little from how Sandra might have recognised it from her youth.

Adrian appeared from one of the rooms and headed over to them, putting a finger to his lips and pointing to the people meditating. Pulling the computer desk out from the wall he entered their details and then led them out into another room labelled 'private'.

Satisfied that they wouldn't disturb the people in the hall he grinned, pulling Sandra and then the others in turn into a hug.

"Welcome to the chaos that is Sanctuary at peak time. Sorry about that."

"No problem. Are you very busy?"
"Heaving." He laughed. "But never to full to turn away family." He winked at Liz as she hid a smile at the phrase.

Reaching Sarah he paused. "You must be Sarah." He nodded knowingly. "Nice you finally meet you." He laughed. "Welcome to the family."

He glanced at his watch and grimaced. "I hope you don't mind if I throw you the keys and run. I have to get the kitchen staff sorted for dinner and check up on a few things before I can relax. Meet you at seven in the bar Sand? We have rather a lot to discuss."

"Sure." Sandra grinned sadly. "I'm glad to see that nothing changes, loving us and leaving us as always." Adrian blew her a kiss, grabbing the last two sets of keys hung in a cupboard on the side and throwing them at the group.

"You'll have to fight over the rooms. We don't have much space I'm afraid." He said. "Oh, and feel free to explore the East Annex guys, no one lives down there, it's all my junk. Go in room E1 and you'll find some photos, see if you can find your mum when she was younger." He called as he disappeared down the hall. Kelly turned to them all.

"I'm going to take Shaz back to our room. We're in A5, come find us if you need anything."

"Thank you hostess." Sandra grinned, laughingly. "We'll be glad to." When Kelly had disappeared with Shazné staring after them sadly over her mother's shoulder, Sandra looked at the keys. "Two twin rooms. Looks like we're sharing a room Dave. Unless of course you want to try splitting these two up." Dave gave Liz and Sarah a serious look.

"No, I think we'll share a room." He offered, still serious. Laughing lightly all four made their way to their respective rooms.