Author's Note: This is my first fanfic, so please be kind. :) I appreciate all reviews - Let me know if you think I should continue! I know this first part might be a bit slow, but I promise it gets better!

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Daniel looked at his watch. "3:00? Seriously?" he said under his breath. It had only been his third day back since his father's death, and if possible, it had dragged on longer than the first and second combined.

He stood up and put on his long winter coat and walked out of his office. "Betty, I'm going for a quick walk," he said as he adjusted his scarf. "Just forward any important calls to my cell."

Betty looked back at him sympathetically, and he knew that she wouldn't try to stop him today. "Sure. Oh, and Daniel I called George about doing the decorations, and he said he and his crew would be in on Saturday," as she handed him a business card.

"Who's George?" Daniel asked as he glanced at the business card and put it in his coat pocket.

"George. The guy Mode hires every year to come in and decorate the office for Christmas, and put up the big tree down in the foyer," she explained.

"Right, right. Great. Alright, I'm off," he said as he turned to head out of the office.

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Right as 4:45 rolled around Daniel stepped off the elevator making his way back onto the Mode floor. He noticed that Amanda wasn't at her desk, and that the office was unusually quiet. In fact, only a few people were still milling around the office, including Betty.

"Betty, where is everybody?" he asked.

"Well, it's the day before Thanksgiving, I guess everybody just decided to get an early start on the holiday."

"Yeah, I guess so..." he said, nodding as he walked back into his office. He sat at his desk and reached for the nearest piece of paper and pretended to study it.

'Thanksgiving...don't have much to be thankful for this year...' he thought. His father had just died a week and a half ago, his mother was in prison and Alexis said she needed time to clear her head before coming back to Mode, and had jetted off to Cabo last week.

"Hey," Betty said from the doorway.

"You heading out Betty?" he said as he put the paper back on his desk.

"Yeah...Daniel, are you doing anything tomorrow for Thanksgiving?" she asked quietly.

He half-heartedly smiled as he stood up, "Eh, I might be getting together with my friends Jim Beam and Jack Daniels..."

His assistant looked at him sternly, clearly not appreciating the joke. "Why don't you come over my house?" she asked.

"I don't know, Betty. I don't want to intrude..."

"You wouldn't be intruding, and besides, there's going to be plenty of food, and you know if you don't come I'm going to call you and check on you all day..." she said with a smile.

Daniel smiled back, knowing it was true. "Okay, okay, I'll be there."

"Great. We're eating at 2:00, but feel free to come over anytime before that if you're bored...well, see you tomorrow," she replied as she turned to leave his office. He watched as she turned off her computer and put her light blue marshmallow jacket on.

"Hey Betty..." he said as she was starting to walk away.

"Yeah?" she asked as she looked at him through the big fishbowl window that separated them.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome, Daniel. Good night." Then she walked away from her desk and a few seconds later he heard the 'Ding' of the elevator.

He waited a few minutes and then sat back in his chair and swiveled around to look out the window, onto street below. He saw his friend's puffy blue jacket making it's way down the sidewalk, towards the subway station. '

Well, maybe I still have a few things left to be thankful for...'