Chapter Text
The next night couldn’t come fast enough. I was excited to meet the new people I had been told were coming. As soon as the sun passed the horizon I was awake and getting ready to leave the room. I had to keep reminding myself that I was suppose to be injured and to slow down. Watari had given me a sling for my arm. I wasn’t really wearing it last night but I figured it would help to keep up appearances and to remind myself that I had to act like I was hurt. The sling was incredibly annoying and I kept messing around with it as I walked to the main room.
I wasn’t paying attention when I was walking into the room and immediately slipped on a toy car. I let out a short shriek and ended up sprawled on the floor. I took a moment to asses what had just happened. At the same time, the others started freaking out.
“Addison! Oh my god, are you ok?” Matsuda yelled, rushing over. He stared down at me nervously. I remained unmoving while I continued to process what happened.
“Nice going Near. You broke her.” Said an unknown voice. I could only assume was one of the new people. L walked over while I was focusing on the new people. I looked up at him when he was right next to me.
“Hello Addison. Thank you for dropping by today. I trust you are uninjured?” I burst out laughing. I definitely wasn’t expecting L to crack a joke like that. His eyes brightened while I laughed. I calmed myself down soon after.
“Are you planning on getting up?” he asked.
“Nah man. It’s quite comfy down here.” I said. I grinned and patted the floor with my good hand. “Want to join me?”
“As nice as that sounds, I would like to introduce you to our guests. We also need to get back to work.” His lips quirked up into a barely noticeable smile. A real grin spread across my face on seeing it. “It is good to see you finally wearing the sling Watari provided you with. Do you need assistance standing?
“Uh...maybe?” I said attempting to stand with just one arm. I managed to get myself into a sitting position before realizing it would be somewhat difficult to stand fully. I may also have wanted him to help me up regardless.
I screamed internally as he gently put an arm around my back and gripped my good forearm to help lift me onto my feet. Once sure I was steady, he let go and stepped back.
“Thanks, Ryuzaki!” I grinned at him.
“You’re welcome. Now, please meet my guests. Mello, Matt and Near.” He said, gesturing towards the newcomers.
Mello was a taller blond boy in around his mid teens. He seemed grumpy despite the bar of chocolate he was chewing on. Matt was a little shorter than Mello and appeared to be around the same age. He had brown hair and was sporting a pair of goggles. He only briefly looked up from a handheld gamming console he seemed to be invested in. Near was quite interesting to look at. He was crouched on the ground playing with other toy cars. He was an albino based on his colourings and appeared to be younger than the other two. They begrudgingly greeted me, except for Near, who glanced at me before returning to his toys.
I heard one of the task force members mention that it was rude to not greet someone and that their parents should have taught them better manners. I was surprise when he spoke up.
“I don’t have any parents.” He said as though it wasn’t a big deal. I gasped, putting a hand to my mouth. They looked up at me questioningly.
“You don’t have any parents! Oh, you poor thing! That just won’t do, no not at all.” I said, walking over to him carefully before picking him up and setting him in my lap as I sat down. “You are mine now. I stake claim. This child is mine now. I am adopting him.”
I payed attention to his thoughts and, although he wasn’t really sure about me, he didn’t mind my actions. Mello on the other hand seemed to tisked under his breath.
“We’re all actually orphans, he’s not special.” He snapped. My eyes grew wide, a wide smile spreading across my face. He backed away a step.
“More children.” I whispered. Before sitting up straight. “You are all mine! I’m adopting all of you.”
“You can’t just do that!” he shouted despite the flush on his face. Surprisingly the other two didn’t seem to mind. I could see a slight smile on Matt’s downturned face and Near remained comfortable in my lap.
“Why not. Isn’t that what you do with orphans? Don’t you want parents?” he spluttered. The flush growing, either out of embarrassment or anger I wasn’t sure. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. But I’ll still call you mine.”
He sighed, turning away and going back to chewing on his chocolate.
“Addison, we really must get back to work. Near, Mello and Matt will be assisting you on the Ashes Ashes case while they are here.” I ignored the fact that they were children working on a case like this and decided to read them later.
“Pick a few toys, I’m bringing you with me.” I told Near. He picked up a few cars before following me to my desk. I stole a chair from a different table and set it next to me. I patted him on the head as he started stacking them on the table then turned to Matt and Mello. “You two can join me whenever you want. My table seems to be miraculously longer than the last time I’ve been here.”
While Near played with his toys, I started up my computer continued where I left off. I was annoyingly slower with only the use of one hand. Near would look up occasionally but generally kept quiet. Research was slow and, predictably, nothing new had come up. There was more speculation about past events but nothing concrete due to the fact that I was currently out of commission.
“Addison” L spoke up suddenly. I looked up at him waiting for him to continue, the noise in the room lulled. “I was wondering if you owned anything that would leave a pure silver residue? I would also like to search your coat.”
“Silver residue. I have no idea what I have that could contain silver. Makeup maybe? I don’t really read what’s in mine but some were more expensive and glittery.” I had to think fast. I didn’t think he would try looking into the silver. I do, however, know that he won’t be able to find anything in my coat. “But ya, you can search my coat.”
I went over to him and shrugged out of my coat. He took it and called Watari down. He looked through it then said he was going to bring it to a forensics lab.
“So, you are the main suspect in the Ashes Ashes case.” Near suddenly spoke up. Everyone went silent before Mello snapped.
“You KNOWINGLY have two of your main suspects in working on the cases they’re being suspected of! ONE of which is LEADING THE CASE!!!!!” he screamed at L. Matt actually put his game down to hold him back.
“I can watch them here. With Addison, I review all evidence that she gathers and compare it with my own. If she leaves out any significant details, then she will be held under an even stricter watch. They are both here so that I can have them under constant surveillance.” Mello screamed in frustration and stormed out of the room, Matt followed him. I glared at L after they left. He cocked his head at me. “What?”
“You have angered my son.” My voice came out flat.
“I see. Well, while Mello fails to see the reasoning behind my actions, he must control his emotions.” I held my glare for a few moments longer. A sigh left my lips.
“Aw, I just can’t stay mad at you. You’re too cute.” I walked back to my computer to go back to work. I could feel the shock and surprise spread through everyone left. I opened my mind more towards L and felt a warmth spread through him. I will need to think carefully whether or not I want to go forward and let the emotions I knew were forming develop.
A few hours passed while I continued my work. Matt and Mello returned a while ago and were crowded around my table doing their own research. Near continued playing with his toys and had actually gathered more while I wasn’t paying attention; he would occasionally make comments and suggestions on what I was looking at in a quiet voice when he would look at the screen.
It was nearing 1:00 a.m. and I was fully and completely done with the sling. I had, much to L’s annoyance gotten Near to help untie the damn thing. It was not laying uselessly on the floor on the other side of the room where I had thrown it once removed.
Nothing had happened in a while. L and Light were busy tapping away at their computers, the task force members were trying to keep from falling asleep, Matt, Mello and Near were all doing their own things. I had long since veered of course and had found myself on a strange site that comprised of fake stories and ridiculous theories about Kira, L and Ashes Ashes. They were so bizarre that I couldn’t help but snicker to myself at them.
I froze. Taking only a second to recognize the presence that was rapidly approaching the room we were in. I startled everyone by slamming my hands against the table and standing up. Near, who was watching flinched and stared at me, everyone else jumped and whirled around towards me. Before anyone could say anything, I spoke up
“I’m not here!” I said quickly. I turned the screen and keyboard towards Near then bolted around tables and people. I pressed myself into a shadowed part of the wall near the doors and held still. They stared at me astonished and bewildered by my sudden actions. Matsuda commented on how well I blended in. this might have been a bad idea, they were going to suspect me more now. I couldn’t dwell on it for long though.
Misa burst into the room.
“Light!!! Where’s Addison!! I heard what happened, OMG WHERE IS SHE!!!!” a look of understanding spread across everyone’s faces. A few of them looked over in my direction but when Misa looked over her eyes glanced over me.
“Miss Rae is currently under bed rest and is not aloud any visitors while she is healing. I can assure you that she is well and is recovering at a rapid pace.” L said. Misa calmed down. God dammit he is making it hard for me to not like him, I can’t believe he’s getting the pest off my back.
Misa eventually left. As soon as she was gone I sighed and went to go slump back in my chair. They still stared at me, but I ignored it for now.
“I owe you one. You like sugar food, right? I saw this really nice 24-hour bakery on one of my walks. It smelled amazing. I’ll buy you whatever you want.” I turned my computer back to me and continued as if nothing had happened.
“That would be acceptable Miss Rae.” L’s eye’s lit up adorably.
Then Matsuda spoke up.
“Did Addison just ask Ryuzaki out on a date?” my head shot up. Shit. I did, didn’t I.