"Look at that wall. It's so thin a child could punch through it. No protection at all," Spike complained. "And there aren't enough towers on that side. A whole army could sneak up on 'em and they even wouldn't notice."

"But the flags on the main castley part are pretty," Xander said. "And the windows have a good arch to them."

"They're banners, and they're on the *keep*. The windows may look nice, but they're too big to be practical. Arrow-slits are much better."

"Not if you want to have natural light inside. Arrow-slits would be fine for a vampire castle, but humans would find it pretty dark."

"Castles aren't about comfort; they're meant to be about defense, aren't they?"

"This one's about washed away," said Xander, poking the crumbling wall with his bare toe.

"If it were built properly, it wouldn't be."

"Actually, I think -"

"Look here. If the moat were deep enough it would channel away the force of the ocean, but as it is it's just helping increase the erosion all around the structure. Shoddy planning, that's what I say."

"It's just a sandcastle, Spike."

"That's no excuse for poor craftsmanship," Spike said, dropping to his knees on the sand. He began to add on to the crumbling structure. "If you build up this wall here, maybe reinforce it with some shells, it would stand a chance."

"I don't think -"

"And then if we dig out the moat and maybe cut some other channels, we can divert the water away from the walls. You know what would be good? Some driftwood. We could make a palisade. Maybe use seaweed to hold it together."

"It's just a sandcastle," Xander said again. As much as he was entertained by watching Spike play in the wet sand, he had been enjoying their moonlit stroll along the beach and was rather anxious for it to continue. They were almost at the deserted little cove that they both liked so much.

"You gonna give me a hand here or stand there with your mouth open like that dead fish we saw half a mile back?" Spike asked, not pausing in his attempts to save the castle.

"I was just -"

Spike glanced up from his work and gave Xander his best look of abject pleading. Never able to resist for long, Xander sighed and sank to his knees. Spike grinned and gave Xander a quick peck on the cheek.

"What do you want me to do?" Xander asked.

"Scoop out the moat on the other side and then look for some shells and stuff to support the outer walls. We'll turn this sad excuse for a castle into something that could withstand Cromwell's armies!"

"It's not Cromwell's armies I'm worried about."

"Napoleon's, then."

"It's more Neptune's armies that concerns me."

"What's that?" Spike asked. He was pressing shells into the outer walls of the castles."

"I think that there's a fundamental flaw in the plans of the castle, Spike."

"Nah. We can fix the walls, and the windows aren't that bad. It's not like we're actually under siege."

"It's its location," Xander said. "See up there? That's the high tide mark. No matter what we do, Spike, this castle's going to be submerged. Unless you want to make it out of concrete, there's no way it'll be here in a couple of hours."

Spike glanced up the beach to where the line of seaweed marked the extent of high tide. Then he looked sadly back at the approaching ocean.

In a single graceful movement the vampire rose to his feet. He leaned down to brush the sand off of his jeans.

"Oh well. It was a shoddy castle anyway," Spike said. Smiling once more, he reached out a hand and pulled Xander up beside him.

"We can build one ourselves, if you want," Xander offered. Spike didn't seem too disappointed, but Xander knew that he missed obvious signals sometimes. "Above the high tide mark. Maybe in the cove?"

"I can think of better things to be doing in the cove than building sandcastles, pet."

Spike tugged Xander flush against him and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

"No complaints here. You want to level the castle before we go?" Xander asked. "You know, get out your aggression at its inferior design?"

"Nah. Let nature take its course. I've got better things to do."

"Yeah?" Smiling at the memory of what they did last time they were at the cove, Xander happily let Spike tug him along the beach.

"I have a plan."

"Want to tell me about it, or is it a surprise?"

"Well, you've got those Legos at home, right? Could make a *proper* castle with those..."

*Legos?*

"Spike..."

"Could get one of those sets with the knights and stuff and stage battles. Think of the carnage. Body parts everywhere. We could use fruit punch for blood. Or maybe ketchup; it would stick better when it got spattered on the walls."

"Spike..."

"I'd put plastic down on the rug first; I learned my lesson last time. Come on, Xan. Don't tell me that it doesn't sound like fun."

Xander sighed; it looked like their time at the cove would be cut short, not that that was necessarily a bad thing. Fast could be enjoyable too, and then...

"Fine. But I want my own knights. And a drawbridge."

"Anything for you, love."

~end~

go on to Winds of War