Title: A Little Gift

Finding the Child

Angel walked down a dark and dank ally when he heared a small sob coming from the opposite side of the dumpster he was approaching. He slowly peeked around it and his gaze was met by the most briliant blue eyes he had ever seen. A thin girl with messy blonde hair sat curled in a ball against the ally wall, shaking from the cold. She wore torn and dirty clothes that didn't cover her enough for the rainy weather they were in. She jumped as she saw him and hurried to her feet.

"It's okay..." Angel stated to the girl before him, "I won't hurt you..."

She was the most beautiful child he had seen in a long time. Her skin was a perfect, creamy color that glistened in the rain and her eyes were enchanting, but she had a scar that stretched vertically from her brow to just below her eye. Her eye had luckilly gone unharmed.

"My name is Angel..." he replied as he knelt before her, "What's your name?"

"Danni..." she said in a voice that didn't quite match her angelic appearance. It was rough and changed by the great amount of growing up she'd apparently had to do.

"Well, are you hungry?" he asked, feeling he should get her somewhere warm before she caught pneumonia.

He was relieved when she nodded in reply.

"Well, will you trust me enough to come with me to get you something to eat?" he asked.

"Okay..." she answered feeling, for some reason, that he was trustworthy.

She looked him over for a moment before speaking.

"You're a vampire..." she commented.

"How could you tell?" he asked, a little taken-aback.

"I can sense it..." she answered, "A little trick I picked up."

"It doesn't scare you?" he said in more of a statement than a question.

"I don't scare too easilly..." she replied kind of throwing him a side-ways smile.

She was fairly quiet for the rest of their walk to Wolfram and Hart.

He was met by Fred and Wesley as he arrived. They started to ask him where he'd been but stopped as Danni entered behind him.

"Who is she?" Fred asked, looking through the glass at Danni who was sitting in Angel's office.

"Her name's Danni..." Angel replied, "That's all I could get out of her...plus I really didn't want to push her away by asking too many questions."

"Where'd you find her?" Wesley asked, feeling a little suspicious.

"She was huddled-up in an ally," he answered, "I didn't want to leave her in the rain..."

Fred made a very sympathetic look and asked, "And she was all alone?"

Angel nodded and then asked, "Will you take her to your house and get her some dry clothes?"

"Of course..." Fred answered nodding.

"Will you go with Fred?" Angel asked as they joined Danni in his office,"She's going to get you some dry clothes and then we'll get you some food..."

"Okay..." she nodded, thinking that the very thin woman before her couldn't put up much of a fight so there was no reason in distrusting her.