Disclaimer: I do not own Dangermouse or Penfold and am not turning a profit on this story.
A nice surprise
Penfold knew that technically it was misconduct for him to be using his access to the files in such a way, but he'd just been too curious, especially since DM had given him such a nice jumper on his own birthday. He flipped through the folder quickly while DM was in the shower, ignoring the background history and casenotes from before he'd been assigned to work with Dangermouse (he was already intruding as it was without nosing into his boss' past). His eyes widened as Penfold realised that he had less than a week to prepare. 'Crumbs!' Penfold squeaked to himself, before hastily putting the file back in the right place and sitting back on the sofa with his knitting moments before DM returned.
So it was that Penfold was up bright and uncharacteristically early next Saturday morning to prepare for the best party tea DM had ever had. Luckily he wasn't a very big spender, habits developed in childhood were hard to break. The Penfold family had always struggled to make ends meet and for them hardship and penury had been a way of life. His parents had never been short on one thing though, growing up Penfold had always been loved and wanted by his mum and dad and what little there had been to go around had always been shared. Those early habits meant that he never spent a lot of his wages and so he had plenty of funds to buy a party tea and present with.
The sedate magpie at the cake shop had nodded understandingly at the little hamster's obvious enthusiasm and desire to get everything right. He told Penfold to go and complete the rest of his preparations and to return just before closing. Penfold had seen one of the magpie's cakes firsthand when Colonel K had thrown a bash for Miss Boathook's twentieth year of service. It had been the most magnificent cake Penfold had ever seen and delicious to boot!
Penfold's feet hurt from all the walking from shop to shop and little arms were aching by the time he had got everything, but he had a good hour before he was to pick up the cake so he turned his weary steps homeward to start setting things up. He was already tired even before he started blowing up the balloons and hanging the streamers he'd bought, but the thought of the look on the boss' face lightened his step as the burdened hamster headed towards the pillar-box.
'Heheheh, that's a pretty big handful for such a little hamster, innit.'
Highly developed coward senses informed Penfold that the voice was bad news. So were its friends chiming in with, 'Yeah, I fink 'e's got enough to share wiv us.'
Penfold's eyes grew with terror as the seven scruffy river voles and mice started to fan out to surround him, slapping various weapons into the palms of their hands threateningly. Penfold lifted his chin determinedly. 'I'm afraid that you leave me with no choice.' He informed them with as much dignity as he could muster, letting them see the determination in his face before he promptly legged it.
Danger Mouse rolled his head from side to side as he adjusted his street clothes and slung his kitbag over one shoulder. It had been a pleasant day at the dojo training with a few of the other top agents and some of the top martial artists in the country. He felt pleasantly tired and relaxed in a way he hadn't felt in the weeks of the last gruelling case. He whistled a cheerful song Penfold had been singing the other day while he'd made crumpets and decided to walk home instead of taking the bus. As he walked the mouse idly wondered how Penfold was getting along with the new fairisle cardigan pattern that had come in the post the other day. He could almost still hear the young hamster's cries of delight… hang on! He really could hear Penfold's cries!
He'd come to a dead end and the bad guys had him surrounded. It was crunch time for Penfold. His burst of speed was exhausted, there was no exit and he was outnumbered and a coward! With a desperate cry he lashed out with one of the shopping bags as the mob closed in on him. 'Help!'
Penfold's voice was coming from the middle of a very cross-looking mob, DM recognised the terrified wails of his assistant, the weakening cries of real distress rather than his usual dramatics. DM increased his pace and bounced up to vault over the heads of the mob to come to a halt next to his friend, where a punch promptly came out of his blind spot and rattled his teeth. He noticed that Penfold's fortunes were no better, the little hamster's nose was bleeding heavily. Penfold had fought valiantly with unusual ferocity, but the lad was plum tuckered, Danger Mouse wondered vaguely what he'd been protecting. A club sweeping towards his nose ended that train of thought and he was forcibly reminded of the matter in hand. He kept an absentminded tab on Penfold as he went on the offensive stepping forward to both pursue the thugs and to place his body protectively in front of Penfold's. After he'd bloodied the nose of the ringleader, yanked a handful of whiskers from the nose of a particularly vicious-looking vole and stomped on the tender tail of another one they decided to go in search of easier prey.
Penfold wiped his nose on his sleeve, leaving a stripe of blood in its wake before he plopped down to his knees in the dust and sniffled disconsolately. The bag with party balloons in it was ruined and all the jelly was squished! Even the crisps he'd bought had gotten pulverised in the fight and then DM had had to get involved and save him! This was the worst birthday surprise ever!
'Easy there, Penfold.' Danger Mouse rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a hanky to wipe the tears and blood from his hapless assistant's face. 'There there lad, you're alright really. Neither of us are hurt that badly so let's get home and crack open the first aid kit. If you're very brave I'll let you put whipped cream on top of your cocoa tonight, there's a lad.'
Penfold shook his head disconsolately. 'I just wanted to make you a party tea for your birthday sir, with jelly and ice-cream and everything.'
DM paused, his hand still on Penfold's shoulder and the little hamster looked up curiously to see an oddly touched look on his boss' face. 'It's alright Penfold.' His voice had gone all distant as if he was trying not to let some odd expression show on his face. Instead he straightened up and picked up the bags. 'If we get a shuffle on we can still get a cake from the shop if you're dead set on celebrating my birthday for whatever strange reason you have.'
The cake! Penfold grinned when he remembered that he hadn't collected that, yet. Those thugs hadn't managed to ruin everything, DM was going to love the design he'd chosen for him! DM ruffled the fur atop his head affectionately as they headed back towards the bakery