All through the meal, Dan could see and almost feel his friend get more fidgety.

It had gotten to the point where Dan suggested that Phil change seats to sit next to him so that he didn't have to look at the table where Pendleton was sitting.

That had seemed to calm him down a bit, but every now and then, he'd cast a quick flash of a glance to his right to make sure he wasn't being watched.

It wasn't that he disliked Erica – Phil didn't really dislike anyone – but, rather, he was paranoid that she was constantly watching and silently judging him, and that maybe sometime it wouldn't be silent anymore.

Thankfully, Phil noted, Erica's back was turned towards him so she couldn't really see his face.

Even so, he felt like he could feel her turn and scrutinize him, her icy cold stare travelling down his spine and inspecting every inch of him.

He'd shiver from the very thought and he knew Dan picked up on that because every so often he'd be asked the question of 'are you cold?'

'Not at all,' he would reply.

'Because people generally shiver when they're cold,' Dan would chuckle before patting his arm and returning to conversation with Dab.

Phil felt that he should probably try to interact with the child, too, even if only for the sake of taking his mind off Erica's presence, so we wrapped his long fingers around his cream-coloured coffee mug (which was empty, but he didn't have anywhere else to put his hands) and looked across to Dab.

He didn't really speak until the child suddenly turned to him with a wide grin.

"When we get home, Uncle Phil-" he started, cheerily, "Can you help me draw?"

Phil laughed with his tongue between his teeth and gave a shrug,

"I'm not sure I could help much," he admitted, "You're better than I am, anyway."

"But I want to spend some time with you," Dab begged, "Please?"

"When did I say I wouldn't do it?" Phil asked with a chuckle, "I only said that I wouldn't be much assistance. Of course I'll… 'help'," he nodded with a smile.

He watched as Dab's face lit up again.

"Thank you!" He chirped, as though Phil had offered to do some huge task for him, like building a house or something.

Thinking about it, Phil realised that he kind of had built a house for him - with Dan's help, of course.

"Yeah, lighten up a bit!" Dan agreed, "Art is good for your soul," he smirked.

Phil made an odd sound like a scoff as he wrapped his ankles around each other underneath the table.

"I don't know why you think I need to 'lighten up' so much," he hummed, "I'm completely fine. Look at me all super laid-back."

It was difficult to concur with his last statement – he hadn't really been exactly blasé today – but Dan shrugged nonetheless and chewed his lip in thought.

"Ah, you're right," he agreed, eventually, putting Phil's agitation down to nerves and hunger; he'd seemed to cheer up a bit after coffee and it was a good feeling to see and hear him candidly laugh again.

Phil had one of those contagious laughs that you had to smile back at. He wasn't particularly loud or anything, but the look on his face and the pitch of his voice was the pure expression of joy.

Dan thought maybe he was being too poetic about this all.

He was about to change the subject and tell some very entertaining jokes, but before he could open his mouth again, Dab butted in.

"Uncle Dan?"

"Yeah, kid?"

"Why do you and Phil not like that woman sat-"

"SHH!" Dan hissed, "Quieten down! You don't want her hearing you, do you?"

"But why-"

"I'll tell you later; it's a bit inconvenient now."

"We should really get going, actually," Phil coughed.

The meal had been alright and Dan had been both relived and a little bit disenchanted when he realised that 'Volcano Pasta' was actually just normal pasta with some weird orange sauce that contained an unnecessary amount of paprika. He couldn't remember what he'd chosen for Phil, but it contained bamboo and he'd only chosen it because it sounded the least suspicious of everything on the menu.

They'd paid the bill and were now just sat around, waiting for nothing in particular apart from finally getting bored enough to head home.

Dan could wholeheartedly agree with his friend on the subject of leaving; he was starting to get nervous with Erica's presence right behind him, too.

"We probably should," he agreed, taking a quick look up the stairs to see if he could see anybody checking in. He couldn't.

"Don't want to be taking up a table that could otherwise seat somebody else," he said anyway.

"Precisely!" Phil smiled, glad that they could finally leave and he could stop worrying at last.

"Shall we?" Dan offered, sliding back his chair to stand up.

Phil followed, straightening his pastel blue jacket as he did and pushing his glasses back up his nose.

"Come on, then," he grinned, helping Dab up and ushering him up the steps and past the reception desk. An attendant called a 'thank you! Come again soon!' over to them as they walked past. Phil didn't quite know how to reply, so he only gave a polite wave.

He didn't think they'd be coming back; they always ran into someone or other when they did and he was starting to mistrustfully believe that it wasn't a co-incidence.

But never mind about that.

The three of them pushed open the front doors and headed out into the warm air.

It was somehow warmer outside than it had been inside. Maybe the air conditioning unit had been switched on. In any case, it was boiling hot outside and being in a suit was not helping by any means.

Dab decided to skip ahead and, as the good childminders that they were, Phil and Dan both walked behind him at a slightly slower pace. They wouldn't have to walk very fast even if Dab decided to run because their legs covered more ground in one step than Dab's did in four.

And for some reason, in this very moment, with the sun shining down on them in a strangely wistful way, Phil was suddenly overcome by an odd feeling of both nostalgia and happiness.

It was only odd because nothing sentimental was happening at all, yet it only just occurred to him what was actually going on as he watched the child of whom he had created with the help of his best friend, through two other beings who they had made. It was outré, certainly, but something about it all seemed just so… normal.

It was only natural, he supposed, to take care of your family.

"Phil? Phil, why are you smiling like that?"

"Like what?" Phil asked, turning his head to Dan but not letting the expression on his face change.

"Like that; you're doing it right now," Dan laughed, "What're you so happy about?"

Phil shrugged and chuckled to himself.

"Oh, I don't know…" he mused, "And that's just the thing."

Dan pulled a confused face and gazed at him in a strange manner, tilting his head to the side. He decreased speed as his friend slowed down and looked up to the sky above them.

Dan decided not to ask any questions because if Phil was content, that's all that mattered.

"This is going to be a good week, isn't it, Dan?" Phil breathed.

And Dan couldn't help but smile back.

"Yeah," he whispered, "It really is."