Anders wasn't sure how many times he looked from the note to the kid. This couldn't have been happening. There was no way he could be the father of some kid. Sure he had slept with a lot of women but he was sure that if he was the father of a child he would have known by now. Eventually he found his words as he came to stand between the kid and the TV. "Who gave you this?"

"A man." The shyness in the boy's tone was very evident as he watched his feet kick.

Anders sighed. "Did this man have a name?"

The boy, Danny, nodded his head. Anders stood with his hands on his hips, waiting for him to finish the answer. When he realized he wasn't going to say Anders asked, "And that name would be?"

"I don't know," Danny shrugged as he tried to look around Anders to see the TV. With a groan Anders turned around and turned off the TV, earning a sad groan from Danny before he sat on his coffee table so he was eye to eye. "Listen, kid…"

"Danny."

"Whatever. I don't know who dropped you off here or what they told you but whatever it was, it was a big misunderstanding."

"No it isn't."

Anders furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean it isn't?"

"The man said he knew who my dad was and said he would take me to be with him."

Fucking hell. How gullible were kids? Anders couldn't remember a time he was so damn gullible. "Look, I'm not your dad."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm…" but Anders stopped to rub a hand down his face. After groaning inwardly, he said, "I'm not your dad, kid. This guy who said he supposedly knew your dad lied."

"No he didn't. He doesn't lie. He's my friend. He made a promise and he never breaks his promises."

"Oh really? He's your friend and yet you don't know his name."

"He never told me his name. He just said to call him my friend."

"Well, your friend lied."

"No he didn't! He never lies!"

"Have you ever met your dad, Danny?"

Danny shook his head. "Then how do you know he wasn't lying about me being your dad?"

"Because."

Anders was getting really tired of this game. He just wanted to get this kid out of his flat. "Well, I'm sorry to break it to you, David…"

"Danny."

"Whatever. I don't have any kids so I can't possibly be your dad."

"Did you know about me?"

Anders looked at Danny quizzically. "What?"

"Did Mom tell you about me?"

"Uh….no, why?"

"Then how do you know you can't possibly be my dad?"

Anders let his head drop as, releasing a large amount of air as he ran his fingers through his hair. Leave it to an eight year old to try and argue him. Apparently this wasn't going anywhere. It was time to pull out Bragi. After taking a deep breath he looked into Danny's eyes and let Bragi flow through his words. "Danny, I'm sure you really want to meet your dad but you are just now realizing that this isn't the place and you really want to go home to be with your mom so why don't I find you a way home and you don't come around here again?"

At first he thought it worked but when Danny crossed his arms and leant back in the sofa, he replied, "I don't want to go home. I want to stay here."

Anders couldn't believe it. Sure he had never tried his powers out on kids but he was sure that if Bragi could persuade a group of people then surely Bragi would work on a kid! Anders glanced at his watch. He didn't have time to deal with this kid. He had to get to work. "Okay, you want to believe this, fine, you can believe it until I have time to argue with you. I need to get to work and there is no way in Hell are you staying here. Don't you have school or something?"

Danny shook his head. "Summer!"

Of course, how could he forget? Anders didn't want to leave this kid alone in his flat, Mike was renovating his bar and he really didn't want to tell Mike or any of his brothers about this mess. Stacey was busy with her business and would probably tell Olaf who would then tell everyone and Ingrid…well, he wasn't sure he would trust leaving himself alone with her. It seemed there weren't many options and the only one that was available was not his first choice. With another groan, he said, "Alright, grab your bag. Let's go."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to work and since you won't go to whatever place you came from and I am not leaving you here by yourself then you are just going to have to come to work with me. Now come on."

He gently grabbed Danny's arm and guided him towards the door, grabbing his jacket, keys and the kid's backpack as he went. As he approached his car Danny immediately ran to the front passenger seat. "Whoa, whoa, what do you think you are doing?"

"I'm going to ride in the front!"

"No, you are not."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because!" Anders looked around, getting really annoyed with this kid's incessant questions. The last time he had to hear this he was a teenager trying to deal with Ty and Axl while Mike was off doing whatever the fuck he was doing. "Because I said so now get into the back seat."

"But…"

"Get!"

Danny let his lower lip pout as he got into the back seat. As soon as he was in and continued to pout Anders looked around. "Unbelievable," he muttered as he got into the driver's seat.

TBC…

So yeah, this chapter was a bitch to write. Please review to tell me what you think!