"Alright. You all have your assignments. I don't think I need to remind you that this is our number one priority now." Mac stood at the head of the conference table, looking into the face of each one of his team members. Satisfied that everyone was on the same page, he gathered up his files and left the conference room, leaving everyone else to trickle out as needed.

As everyone else stood to leave as well, Danny's heart plummeted into his stomach at the sly grin on Don's face. Wishing the floor would open up and swallow him whole before Don had a chance to open his mouth, he tried putting on his most intimidating glare. He knew it wouldn't work as Don was the only person he could never intimidate.

"Hey, Danny, my neighbor's daughters would really like their clothes back, so when you're done playing dress up with them, let me know so I can give them back." Danny's expression turned murderous as he focused his attention across the table at Don, all the while ignoring the questioning looks from his departing colleagues. Don stood up and tossed one more barbed comment at Danny. "And don't forget the Barbie dolls, either."

The pencil Danny had been holding snapped in his hands, though he wished it could have been Don's neck. Mustering up a cheeky grin, he flashed it at those who were still in the room. Everyone else looked thoroughly confused, except for Aiden. She reached over and slapped him upside the head.

"You jerk!" she hissed. "Why didn't you pick up my ID at Don's place?"

Now it was Danny's turn to look confused. "What?"

"My ID. It fell out of my pocket last night. Don found it and gave it back to me this morning."

"What was I supposed to do? Scour the entire apartment for things you might have lost in the sixty seconds between me closing the door and Don opening it again?"

She pushed her chair back angrily and got to her feet. "Ugh." Storming out the door, she almost plastered Chad on the other side of the door as he had been walking by with some evidence in hand. It was only some quick footwork that barely got him out of harm's way before the bags went flying.

Danny watched in awe as Aiden walked away. What on earth is she mad at me for? It was her idea! Sometimes, the female persona was an absolute enigma to him.

::~*~::

Meanwhile...

Don was walking towards the break room when he felt a slap upside the back of his head. "Hey!"

"Why didn't you tell me it was because of some stupid prank?" Stella said furiously.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Stel," Don replied, rubbing his head where she had hit him. Yes, he and Danny were engaging in a prank war, but aside from Adam and Aiden, no one else should have known about it and neither one of them would have said a word, lest it reach Mac's ears.

"Do you have any idea who you are talking to?" she replied, her arms folded tightly across her chest.

"Unless you're about ready to tell me you were the pranking champion during your school days, I really have no idea."

If Stella got any more wound up, Don was afraid he would have to start looking for a pull string. Her mouth dropped open and she leaned forward to slap him again.

"Ouch!" he yelled, jumping away from her.

She slowly started advancing on him, and, worried that another hand was going to fly, he kept backing up until he found himself flattened against a wall. "I did not scale the lab's corporate ladder to become Mac's right-hand man without learning a few tricks of my own." Don felt it was in his best interest to keep quiet about her use of the word man. "You think I didn't notice Adam running around with a horrendous ensemble of clothes over his arm; or Aiden chucking a random door lock into the trash bin; or Danny trying to hide a bunch of pink clothing in his locker before anyone saw him?" Stella paused to catch her breath, before continuing, though in a slightly calmer tone of voice. "Here I was, concerned for Danny and everything he's going through, especially considering his appearance this morning, and I find out it had nothing to do with his apartment and everything to do with a war the two of you decided to wage. I don't care what you do on your own time, but you better keep it out of the lab from this moment forward, or I'll have no choice but to notify Mac."

Don didn't doubt her for a second. He knew she wouldn't willingly try to get Danny and him into trouble with Mac if she could help it, but he also knew that she wouldn't sacrifice the integrity of the lab. If the pranks got too out of control and jeopardized the work of the lab, Mac would have them both fired in an instant. "Absolutely."

She looked down at her watch and swore. "Now I'm running late for court and you've put me in a foul mood." Rushing down the hallway, she didn't have a chance to hear Don's soft parting words.

"Heaven help the courtroom graced with your presence."

::~*~::

Danny stumbled onto the third floor of Don's apartment building close to midnight. He had gotten off work at six o'clock and immediately gone to his apartment to start cleaning it out.

In all the excitement of the previous day and night, he had forgotten who was coming by to help him clean that evening. He almost had a heart attack when Mac walked through his front door with a box of trash bags in hand. Danny spent the first two hours they were working together, waiting for everything to spill out into the open. Once he decided Mac had no idea what was going on between him and Don, he relaxed a little bit and the process of weeding through what was garbage and what was worth saving became a little easier.

For the most part, they had worked in silence. The only time Danny had willingly broken the silence was when he apologized for his appearance that morning, swearing that it would never happen again. Mac accepted the apology and the two men lapsed into silence again. That brief exchange reminded Danny that he had no more decent clothing to wear beyond what he currently had on and so he made his way over to his bedroom, leaving Mac to continue working in the living room alone for a few minutes.

Danny's breath caught in his throat when he opened the bedroom door. Mac looked up sharply to ensure everything was okay. Danny quickly waved him away, before his boss could see the room. "I'll be right back out."

He slipped into the room and shut the door behind him. Beady little eyes stared down at him from every inch of the room, including the ceiling. Standing alone, these things would have been cute and cuddly, but plastered all over the walls and ceiling—it was just creepy. Danny reached forward to rip off the closest poster of a teddy bear, but his fingernails scratched harmlessly over the edges. Frowning, he reached for another and another. None of them were remotely close to coming off. It appeared that whoever had plastered them all over the room had used some kind of wall sealant to glue them to the walls and ceiling.

Whipping out his cell phone, Danny furiously started typing an angry text to Don. Wrenching the closet door open after he had hit send, he started tossing clothes into a few bags he had brought in with him. For the most part, his clothes being hung up had protected them from the lake that had settled onto his apartment floor. The only thing he had to worry about now was whether all the standing moisture in the air had caused mildew to spring up anywhere. Trying to separate the damp clothes from clothes that had stayed relatively dry, Danny didn't notice the footsteps outside the bedroom door until it was too late.

"Hey, Danny, do you—" Mac's words hung in the air in front of him. His eyes took in the walls and the ceiling. Danny stood there in horror, praying pathetically that maybe Mac wouldn't see him, even though he was standing right there.You have to give the man credit, Danny thought. Other than a slightly wider opening of the eyes than was normal, you would not be able to tell by Mac's expression that he had just seen teddy bear posters plastered all over a grown man's bedroom.

His eyes finally fell on Danny. "Anything I should know about?"

In a deadpan voice, Danny said, "I've never seen these posters before in my life?" It was almost a question –of whether or not Mac would buy it...and Danny would lose a lot of respect for the man if he did.

"Danny, I know things have been tough over the last couple of months, but you know you can talk to me—"

Danny cut him off. "Look, Mac. I'm doing fine. I love my job, I love my life, I love the ladies. I think that about sums up the typical life-changing events. I'm not trying to get fired, I'm not suicidal, and I'm definitely not homosexual." Not coming up with any ideas on how he can reasonably explain away the teddy bear pictures, he opted for part of the truth. "It's just a joke Don decided to play on me, you know, to get me to liven up a little bit and not get so depressed about everything that's going on."

Mac nodded. "You should probably tell him to tone it down a little bit next time."

If Mac only knew the half of it...

Relieved that Mac wasn't taking a much more intense interest in the shenanigans of his employees, Danny replied, "Will do." Looking at the walls and ceiling, he said, "Uh, Mac. I don't suppose you know a way to get this stuff off?"

::~*~::

Earlier in the day, Don had presented Danny with a spare key to his apartment so Danny could come and go as he pleased, though Don implied he was probably going to regret this decision later. It wasn't until Danny was standing outside the apartment door that he began to wonder if Don had given him the real key to the apartment. Figuring at this point that he better just try, he put the key into the lock and turned it.

::~*~::

Don lay awake in his bed, listening for the sound that finally reached his ears. He smiled at the darkened ceiling as he heard Danny enter the apartment building. Minutes later, he heard Danny start grumbling as he headed for the bathroom. Don could only imagine what veiled threats Danny was slinging towards his door as he walked by.

::~*~::

When the key had turned in the lock, Danny had breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he wasn't trapped in the hallway for the night. His elation quickly turned to frustration as he flipped on the light and saw that the sleeping area he assumed he would be using was presently occupied. Grabbing the note up off of the counter, he read: Danny. Hey, buddy, I'm sorry about the couch, but I had a few boxes I needed to pick up from my storage unit this evening. Few? The whole living room was buried under boxes! The only place that didn't have boxes stacked to the ceiling was the coffee table and that's probably because it would buckle under the weight. Danny looked in annoyance at the perfectly bare dining room table and cursed Don under his breath. He continued reading: Since I know how much you enjoyed your beauty sleep in the bathtub last night, I fixed it up for you tonight. Sweet dreams. Don. Danny crumpled the paper up in his hand and threw it right into the middle of the cardboard mess.

Curiosity got the better of him, and he found himself wanting to see how Don had "fixed" the bathroom up for him. Dropping his bags onto the floor, he went to the bathroom. Flipping on the light he was greeted with the sight of some couch cushions lining the bottom of the tub, on top of which rested some bedsheets. A folded up blanket sat on the closed toilet cover with a pillow on top of it. To complete the setup, a fuzzy, brown teddy bear was perched on the edge of the bathtub, just waiting for him.

Danny was sorely tempted to go dump a bucket of ice water on Don, but he was, once again, too tired to do anything so daring. Instead, he unwound a good three feet of floss from the dispenser, furnished himself a noose, hooked the teddy bear up to it, and hung it outside on the door handle—his own morbid version of a "Do Not Disturb" sign.

Danny turned off the light and jumped into the tub, getting comfortable. Aside from the fact that he couldn't stretch out in the too-small tub, he found the arrangement quite comfy. Apparently, Don had set up one additional feature of the "bathroom suite"—as Danny's eyes adjusted to the darkness, the stars came out to watch his slumber.