"A week! Can you believe it? A fucking week! What the hell am I supposed to do for a fucking week?" Anders complained as the three of them walked through the door to the office. Instead of answering him, however, Dawn completely ignored him and logged onto her computer. "Here you go, Danny, you can play around on this while I go have a work with Anders."

Danny nodded with a smile as he jumped into her seat and began to amuse himself. As Dawn left him she found Anders standing in front of his desk with his hands on his hips. "What's the matter?" Dawn asked.

"Did you leave this here?" he asked, pointing to it.

Dawn peered over his shoulder and saw a briefcase sitting on it. "No, is it yours?"

"Do you think I would be asking if you left it here if it was mine?"

Dawn rolled her eyes as she said, "Have you tried opening it?"

"No, why would I do that?"

"Because it is on your desk. I'm sure if you open it then you will find out what it is."

Anders looked at in deep through before turning to Dawn and pointing at it. "Open it."

"What, no. It's on your desk."

"Dawn, as your boss I am ordering you to open it."

"What are you scared of, Anders?"

"Snakes in my flat, dying alone, unexplained briefcases. Just please."

With a sigh Dawn reached the desk and clicked open the briefcase. When they opened it up both of them stood in shock and wonder. "Whoa," Anders muttered.

Before them in the briefcase was a gigantic pile of cash. On top of it all was a note that Anders picked up. On it read in neat handwriting, First installment. If you want the rest, meet me at 39 Garrett Terrace at 1100. "First installment of what?"

"Hopefully, many more."

"From who, for what?" Dawn asked, crossing her arms and watching Anders with worry.

"Dawn, does it matter? It's a briefcase full of money."

"Anyone that does business with a briefcase full of money, we don't want their business."

"I do," Anders said as he pulled out his phone to look up the location on his GPS. Dawn looked from Danny to Anders. "You can't meet them."

"Sure I can."

"What if it's a trap?"

Anders began to laugh. "Ah, now you're trying to use my natural tendency towards caution."

"Cowardice," Dawn corrected.

"Against me, are you? It's not going to work, Dawn."

"What if this is bait to lure you?"

"Then consider me lured." Anders turned to walk away with Dawn hot on his heels. Before he could leave Dawn stepped between him and the door and said, "What about Danny?"

"What about him?"

"You can't just leave him here."

"Why not? You're here, you can keep an eye of him."

"And what if this is a trap, Anders? What if something happens to you? What happens then?"

"Look, Dawn, he is not my responsibility."

"And what if he is?"

"Well we won't know for a week now, will we? So until then I don't care. Take him home to play with your cat but for now I can't be bothered. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an important date with a rich client."

Before Dawn could protest anymore or even remind him that she didn't have a cat, Anders was out the door. He was such an insufferable oaf. Why in the world was she still working for him? With a sigh Dawn turned and found Danny's eyes looking at her sadly. "He doesn't like me, does he?"

"Oh, it's not that, sweetie. He's just…"

Dawn stopped, not sure how to explain it to him. How in the world did she explain to Danny that Anders was an dick who avoided any sort of responsibilities with a twenty foot pole? Instead, she said, "He's just not sure how to deal with it all."

"Do you think he would like a present?"

"It's possible, but…"

"I know!" Danny was instantly off of her chair and running towards his backpack by the door. All Dawn could do was smile as she watched him rummage through it. "What are you doing, Danny?"

Out of the backpack he pulled paper, glue, scissors and markers. Instead of answer Dawn Danny ran over to the big table and laid out all of his supplies. Once they were completely laid out he turned to Dawn and asked, "Do you want to help?"

Dawn smiled. "Of course. What are we making?"

"You'll see!"

Soon the table was littered with scraps of paper and at some point Danny and Dawn had made a game of marker wars and their exposed arms were covered in various colors. They must have been working for a few hours because by the time they were done and were inspecting their artwork when the door opened and Anders came in with something scrunched up in his hands. "Glad to see it wasn't a trap," Dawn greeted, watching him walk to his desk.

"It might as well have been one," he sighed, falling into his desk chair and looking at the slightly disturbing puppet he was now carrying. "What is that?" Dawn asked.

"I have no idea," he replied as he began to mess with it.

When Dawn turned around she saw Danny asking her silently to come help him with some final preparations. As she did so she could overhear Anders talking on the phone with someone. From the sounds of it, it sounded like Mike. All the while he was messing with his puppet. By the time he was done with the phone, Danny was finished and was ready to show Anders his finished project. With Dawn leading the way they walked over to Anders who was grabbing his keys. "I'm going to be out of the office the rest of the day. If anyone stops by, which I doubt, have them make an appointment."

"Where are you going?"

"Away from here because I'm sure Mike is going to come by and try and get me to come with him on some stupid mission. So if you don't mind I am going to try and get one step ahead of him."

"And what about Danny?"

"What about him?"

"He's got something for you."

Before Anders could ask what Dawn took a step to the side to show Danny clutching something close to his chest. "I made something for you."

Anders shot his glance between Dawn and Danny, trying to figure out what was going on. Dawn was just standing there with a smile on her face while Danny held out what he was holding. It was a piece of paper cut out into the shape of an aquarium. The paper was colored blue with a little castle and pebbles drawn on. Glued to the paper were three fish. Now these weren't little goldfish that most kids made because they were easy. These were the fish that were in Anders' apartment. Anders was in complete shock and awe, not just by the artistic skill of the kid, but by the fact he had made him something. The last time Anders had received any sort of handmade thing it was from Axl on Anders' 18th birthday and Axl had made a card because he had completely forgotten about his brother's birthday. "You made this for me?"

Danny nodded. "I saw your fish and I thought you might like a picture of them when you're at work."

Dawn could see the small glisten of affection Anders rarely ever showed. The last time she had seen it, it was when she-who-must-not-be-named was around. Anders looked from the gift in his hands to Danny. "Do you like fish?"

Danny nodded his head with a smile. After casting a sideways glance at Dawn, Anders replied, "You want to feed my fish?"

Danny nodded even more fervently. "Well, Danny, there is no time to waste then, is there?"

Anders took Danny's hand and whisked him out of the office. As their backs disappeared out the door, Dawn looked on affectionately. First the first time in forever, Dawn had witnessed the humane side of Anders Johnson.

TBC…

D'awww! I made myself squeal with adorableness. Now, before you jump down my throat about how quick it seemed Anders seemed to warm up to Danny quickly, I will let you know that the road is always bumpy, especially with Anders and no worries, the humor will continue as Anders struggles to get used to having a kid around. If there is anything you want to see, let me know!