Jennifer looked at the reply to her e-mail and sighed wondering what was the best thing to do.

Billie was asking for help designing the display, but she knew this would cause conflict with her girlfriend Lois who was convinced (despite Jennifer telling her the opposite) that her friend didn't like her.

Jennifer asked for the size of the space knowing this would be seen as a message of support and quickly got back the dimensions of the exhibition space.

Lois wasn't going to like this she thought as she tapped out her agreement to the plan. Billie would buy the Lego and she would design the display.

Jennifer looked over at her own small display of Lego her eyes full of tears. It wasn't a big display, just three modular buildings and two vehicles. Could she do this?

It was time to find out. Wiping away her tears she went back onto her computer and started her research

*

She wasn't feeling quite so charitable two and a half weeks later when she and Lois arrived at the museum to build the display.

Lois bless her heart hadn't argued with her about her arrangement with Billie but had pointed out not unreasonably that they would need builders and more than a few if they were going to build the display in time.

Billie however hadn't done anything about this so it became Jennifer's responsibility and the two girls friendship was already getting strained.

Jennifer had wanted to fit all the sets into one giant display but had decided to separate them into five smaller ones; Modular Buildings, Iconic Buildings, Fairground, Winter Village and Vehicles. The wind turbine went on a hill overlooking the modulars which was surrounded by the train track for the Horizon Express, and the Maersk Triple E was placed in the Iconic Buildings section on the water. The Lunar Module rather incongruously went into the fairground.

Billie meanwhile was counting the Lego sets and waiting for the builders. She could hear them arriving but Jennifer was still prepping and didn't want them all to come in when she was ready.

A single tear ran down Billie's cheek. Collecting all the Lego had been hard. Most of the sets were retired meaning she'd had to search on Amazon and E-Bay and Bricklink stores for the ones she couldn't get in Lego stores plus the Old Trafford stadium had only that day become available to the general public. One of the builders had generously agreed to purchase one for the display and Billie was hoping she could keep him to his word.

The builders were allowed in and they seemed a diverse bunch; a father and son team, a man in his mid thirties with a Ravenclaw hoodie, two younger males and two girls one of whom started to cry as she looked at the massive pile of sets they had to build.

"They're happy tears honest." the girl sobbed. "Creator Expert is my favourite theme and I've always wanted to build one."

"We understand Nat." the other girl told her.

Martin who was with his son Ethan took charge and asked the Harry Potter fan if he would like to choose his sets to build.

"Take three or four Jo e'll be here a while." he suggested

Jo nodded his ascent and picked out Tower Bridge, the Ferrari F40, the Harley Davidson and the Gingerbread House

Emma silently put an audiobook on and soon the soft voice of Anna Popplewell reading The Magicians Nephew soon filled the room to go with the click of Lego bricks.

The first set to be completed was the Maersk Triple E which was placed without its display stand in the middle of the iconic buildings display in the body of water.

The modular buildings area was starting to take shape after Natalie placed the ground floor of the Detective's office in its slot. She'd stopped crying now, but still looked happy just building.

Billie on the other hand was still feeling stressed. She'd joined the building team and was currently constructing the Corner Garage trying to do the rising door.

She tried to push it into place but ended up breaking the walls around it causing another bout of tears.

"I'll do it for you." one of the other boys suggested. "I'm used to Technic builds."

"Thanks" Billie said swallowing a sob.

"Haven't you finished the display yet." a voice started behind them.

Billie looked up terrified at the sight of her boss in the doorway.

"Evidently not, that's why we still have unopened boxes scattered around." the boy who liked Lego Technic told him.

"Thank you for that thoughtful analysis." Billie's boss barked. "But if I need backchat I'll speak to my mother in law."

He turned to Billie and informed her that if the display wasn't finished to his satisfaction she would be fired.

He turned on his heel and left. Billie burst into tears and fled the room.

"What a ghastly squit!" Emma said horrified to Jo who nodded in agreement.

They all went back to their builds and Lois approached Jo tears streaming down her face. She hadn't been happy earlier when Jo had taken Billie's side but having been witness to Billie's boss and his recent threat had changed her opinion of her girlfriend's best friend

"Would you like a part sorter." she asked wiping her cheeks with her hand

"Yes please." Jo accepted. Lois sat next to him and started separating pieces into piles.

Billie soon returned her eyes red from crying and after quietly thanking her helper for completing the ground floor of the Corner Garage continued her build.

The father and son team finished Old Trafford and moved onto the Winter Toy Shop.

The Horizon Express was done and placed on it's track surrounding the modulars and Old Trafford.

When the Winter Toy Shop was built the father and son team opted to leave and get some sleep. Billie wanted to object but was too tired and emotionally drained to argue.

At eleven o'clock after Jo had finished his Ferrari F40 he suggested the group found a place to sleep for a while and his fellow builders who were left readily agreed.