Building

Summary: James has some trouble, then goes to Paul, who also has some trouble, who then goes to the rest of the boys, who have even more trouble. Jeez! Can anyone build this crib? Preferably before the babies come...

"Waah! Paul!" James whined into his poke watch. Paul stared at his own in confusion. It wasn't often that the ex-villain sounded like that, so whiny and annoying.

"Yes James?" Paul asked dryly, warily.

"I need your help." James whispered, nearly killing himself by admitting defeat. Paul's smirk almost turned to a smile.

"With what?" Paul asked, fully planning to enjoy James' pain.

"Just come! And bring Dawn to distract Lauren!" James wailed, back to the whiny annoying version of himself.

"You're spending too much time with Lauren, you're starting to act like her." Paul commented, snickering.

"Shut up!" James growled, before hanging up on him. Paul shook his head, sighing slightly.

"Dawn!" he called, "We're going over James' house. Lauren will be there." he informed her, knowing of her growing friendship with the girl she had once considered an arch enemy.

"Yay!" Dawn popped into the room, "We wanted to schedule a maternity shopping trip anyway." she grinned. His eyes widened slightly and she rolled hers. "Not for me! For Lauren!" she clarified.

"Thank god." Paul mumbled, as she scowled at him and hit his arm.

"You have got to be kidding me?" Paul said in a way that almost made it seem like a question. He couldn't decide whether to laugh, or shake his head in exasperation as he realized why James had called him here.

"They should make the instructions clearer." James hissed, eyes narrowed dangerously. He sat in the middle of a pile of wood, bolts, and screws. Paul probably wouldn't have been able to tell what he was building if it wasn't for the the empty box next to him, labeled 'Cribs'.

"Wow." Paul finally decided on laughing.

"Shut up! You try it!" James stood up, growling in annoyance. Paul shook his head, letting loose one more chuckle.

"Ok, ok, I'll build the big bad crib." he cooed sarcastically, ignoring James' glare as he stepped around the wood.

The door slammed closed with a bang. Dawn and Lauren laughed and talked, dropping off their bags. "Paul? James?" Dawn called as she realized neither were there to greet them.

"Hey Dawn." Reggie grumbled, appearing out of no where, and very out of character with his moody demeanor.

"Reggie? Hey, what are you doing here?" Lauren asked in confusion. Reggie grunted something unintelligible, falling on to the couch. Dawn and Lauren shared a glance, before both deciding silently that they would go ask Paul and James.

And oh how comical it was.

Apparently, it wasn't just Reggie who had stopped over, it was all the guys.

Paul's eyes were that rare onyx they got when he was very mad, but no one was the focus of his attention, besides a hammer and a piece of wood. Ash was nursing two hands with bandages over all the fingers, looking close to crying. Drew was almost beating Paul in the evil glare contest, but his was at a set of nails. Harley was muttering to himself in the corner, attempting to put two pieces of wood together. Max was just shaking his head, probably the calmest of them all, he must have accepted the fact that whatever it was they were trying to build wasn't going to build. James looked like he was close to tears, and almost completely curled into fetal position in the middle of the room, surrounded by the remaining wood.

"What's going on?" Dawn asked cautiously, and all eyes turned to her. They all started speaking at once, but she and Lauren got the general gist of it. And so they burst out laughing.

"I told you they'd laugh. I told you." James muttered to himself, curling into an even tighter ball.

"It can't be that difficult." Lauren chortled.

"Then you try!" Paul snapped, and led the rest of the men out of the room. Lauren and Dawn looked at each other, then to the tools, and shrugged.

Half an hour later Dawn and Lauren stepped out of the room, wiping their hands. The men in the living room looked to them. "We have hair salon appointments." Lauren explained, grabbing her coat as Dawn put on her shoes. It wasn't until they were almost out the door that Dawn paused, glancing at them with a mischievous grin.

"By the way boys, crib's done."

Silence.