I do not own Death Note

Inese Wammy was a fairly pretty woman, with long blond hair that curled slightly at the end and eyed the color of dark chocolate. Time and time again she had been told she resembled her late mother, yet she usually didn't see much resemblance.

Her mother, Martha Wammy ne Hightower, had been a wonderful woman in her time. A mother of two children and wife to a hard working inventor. Just like Inese, her hair was blonde, though she kept it neatly trimmed so it only slightly brushed against her shoulder. Her eyes, also like Inese's, were brown. Martha had come from a middle class family n a tiny village in Scotland, but left for to so to collage shortly after turning 18. She had dreams of achieving a career in medicine. However, due to family problems, Martha had to drop out of collage, but not before getting engaged to Quillsh Wammy. He was a top class student, an impressive inventor, and destine for success in his life. Unlike Martha, he was from an upper class family, which provided Martha plenty of room when she moved into his house with him. Ten months later, they were married, and within another year, Martha was pregnant.

Inese had been born on a snowy January night. The roads had been frozen over, so she had been born in their home. After a long 36 hour labor, a tiny baby girl was brought into the world. Her name meant "The dying Daylight." as she was born just as the sun had began to set.

Eventually they moved to the city of Winchester. Her father had been offered a business proposal by his old collage friend, Roger. Together, they opened an orphanage, the first of many to come in his career.

Their family grew in wealth, to the point where Martha decided to go back to collage to try to finish her dream. Inese had been four years old at the time. With her father working on his inventions, she usually had to be watched by a baby sitter. She remembered the woman well. Evelyn Rhyme Denault was the teenagers name. 13 years old, dark hair with equally dark eyes. She was obsessed with books, always having one with her. She didn't like those children stories that are traditionally read to kids. When her bedtime came around, Evelyn always had a thick chapter book, and was ready to read her the next chapter. Sometimes if it ended in a cliffhanger, she'd get two chapters read.

Evelyn was also a good cook. She made many sweets for her, mostly cakes and the occasional brownie.

Sometime in the summer of her sixth year, Evelyn moved to another house outside the city, and couldn't babysit Inese anymore. She was sad to see her go, however it was around that time that her mother got pregnant again. This time it was a little boy, her baby brother, Colten.

Her brother grew up to be a clever little boy. He resembled their father in the hair and face, but like her, he had their mothers warm brown eyes.

The years went on peacefully. Martha never did get her degree in medicine, but their father went on to be wildly successful. With Roger, he opened up many orphanages around the country. He also worked hard as an inventor. The English police often had request for devised, as did many businesses around the area. Inese was also growing up quickly. She became an honor student in her middle school, as well as high school. Colten was just as smart, always coming home with more praise from his teachers.

When Inese was 17, and Colten was 12, their mother had a heart attack. They tried to insure she made it to the hospital, however by the time an ambulance arrived, Martha Wammy was to far gone to be saved.

Inese didn't remember much after that. She recalled holding her brother in her arms while he cried. She recalled seeing tears in her fathers eyes. She remembered standing knee deep in snow with her black dress soaked though as they lowered the coffin down into the grave.

After that, things went slowly for everyone. Colten's grades slipped briefly, but spiked back up after a few months. Inese got accepted into a collage where she would study journalism. She got her bachelors degree, then tried for a masters. Colten also graduated from highshool, afterwards joining the British military. Their father was still inventing, still running businesses with Roger, and still as successful then ever.

Everything seemed to be going normal again. Until he showed up.

Inese would never forget the day she was planning to surprise her father with a visit, and when she knocked on the door, a child answered.

This child looked no older that six. His hair was raven back, and messy beyond fixing. He had dark grey eyes, that reminded Inese of Evelyn's. He had been wearing an oversized white T-shirt was hung down to his knees, with bare feet and a lollipop in his mouth. At first Inese though she got the wrong house, until her father entered the room.

When he saw what was going on, he looked like a dear in the headlights. Inese and the mystery boy both looked confused, and were gazing at him to answer. Eventually, Quillsh cleared his throat.

"Inese, I wasn't expecting you." He looked at the boy. "Law-er, L. This is my daughter, Inese."

The boy-L was what her father had called him-gazed up at her curiously. She made no move to introduce herself, and L remained silent. After several long seconds, her father broke the tension.

"L, I think there's some more cake in the kitchen."

His eyes lit up, and he was gone before Inese could react. After shaking off the shock, he looked at her father. "Who was that?"

"That's L." Seeing the look on her face, he continued. "No, that's not his real name. He uses that as a alias when first meeting strangers."

"But what's he doing here?" Inese demanded, eyes flashing over to the doorway to the kitchen where the boy had disappeared to.

"I adopted him." Quillsh answered.

Inese's eyes widened. "You what?" She wondered what possessed her father to do such a thing. Perhaps loneliness, considering he was now living by himself. But then again, he was welcome to come see her whenever he wished, plus he had Roger to keep in company as well. There was no need to adopt a child.

"I found him on the streets." Quillsh explained. "He was injured and alone. I couldn't leave him there."

"No." She sighed, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "But you own so many orphanages. Couldn't you have sent him there?"

"I couldn't do that either."

"Why not?!" She hadn't meant to shout, and she was usually a very composed girl, but something just seemed to slip out of her somehow.

Quillsh sighed, brushing his hand over his face. He opened his mouth to respond, but at that moment, the phone rang. He glanced at her apologetically, and left to answer it in the other room.

Inese groaned in frustration, and finally stepped all the way into the house. While she waited for her father to finish his conversation, she ventured off into the kitchen.

The boy was there, eating a slice of cake. She noticed how he had his knees pulled up to his chest. She had nothing to say. Even if she wanted to, she didn't know what to say to the stranger that was suddenly her new little brother.

"Do you want some cake?"

Inese jumped. They boy hadn't even looked up from the table. She shifted slightly where she stood, and was about to refuse, when the growl of her stomach gave her away. She had to choice but to accept. "Sure."

He jumped up, and opened the refrigerator. She say there were a surplus of sweets now occupying the shelves, probably the child's doing. He picked out a plate with what looked like a slice of Strawberry shortcake. She took it from him, sat across the table and began eating.

The tension in the room could be cut with a knife, Inese noticed, and it made her even more uncomfortable than she already was. After a few minutes, the boy seemed to notice it to, and decided to pick up.

"You don't like me."

Inese heard what he said, but was surprised that a child would say such a thing. "What?"

"You don't like me." he repeated, taking another bite of his cake. "You think Mr. Wammy should have just sent me to one of the orphanages."

"Were you easdropping on our conversation?" Inese demanded.

"No." He licked a bit of frosting from his finger. "I just know."

"Oh?" She raised a blonde eyebrow, half-amused with this kids mock intelligence. "And how would you know that?"

"Because you think I'm a threat to your relationship with you and your father." He picked up a strawberry from him plate, and shoved it into his mouth. "Ever since your mother died and your brother joined the army, you feel that Mr. Wammy is the only family you really have left."

The look on her face must have been something amusing, because L smiled before picking up another strawberry.

"And what ever in the world gave you that idea?" She snapped with a bit more force than she meant to, her voice rising an octave.

L seemed unphased. "It's pretty obvious. Your mother died, right. No, Mr. Wammy didn't tell me that, just I've seen the picture of their wedding on his nightstand. Since she's not here, I figured it was either divorce or death, but then again, why would he keep the picture if it was divorce, so I went with the later." He eyed her plate, where her strawberries had been forgotten. Noticing this, she slid her plate over to him. He smiled, grabbed one of the strawberries, and continued. "Also, your brother often sends letters from the army bases, so that's how I know the other fact. Anyway, loosing your mother must have been hard, so you turn to other family for comfort. Now that your brothers gone, you only have your father to go to. However, since I'm here, you think I might take Mr. Wammy's attention away from you, so you see me as a threat."

He nibbled on the end of a particularly ripe strawberry. "Am I correct?"

Inese knew her mouth was hanging agape, which she would probably be embarrassed about later. L continued to watch her, not effected by her seemingly rude behavior. Finally, she managed to get out "How old are you?"

"I'm six." L answered. His lips twitched upward in an amused smirk that went well beyond his years.

Quillsh chose that moment to enter the kitchen, much to Inese's relief. L smiled innocently at him, as if he hadn't been exploring the deepest corners of her mind seconds before.

"Hi Mr. Wammy." He said. While he looked like a normal kid now, apparently her father saw passed that.

"Alright, what have you been up to?"

Instead of answering, L grinned sheepishly, and bolted out of the room before he could be further questions. But not before grabbing an extra piece of cake on the way out.

Her father sat in the seat where L was previously sitting. "Did he bombard you with facts about yourself that you weren't even aware of yourself?"

"...yes."

That was her first time meeting the boy known as L. Quillsh had explained to her how he had intelligence well above that of a normal child, (or even that of a normal adult) and how he knew that L would do great things someday. She saw how his eyes had lit up when he spoke about the boys talents, and she wondered if he ever had that look when talking about her. It caused a spark of something inside of her to irrupt, and she instantly wanted the child out of their family's life. The second this thought went though her him, she was surprised at how immature she seemed to be acting, and wondered where the sudden jealously had come from.

Maybe the kid had been right after all

Still, Inese made a mental note to remain wary around this child.

Her second meeting with L was a few months later, at a Christmas dinner her uncle was hosting. Her uncle, Alexander, was Quillsh older brother. Like his brother, Alexander lived in a large house and was fairly wealthy. He made a career as a superintended to many of the local schools, and the headmaster at an exclusive collage upstate.

Colten was also there, his army uniform replaced with one of those ugly Christmas sweaters people like to wear during he holidays for some reason.

When their father walked in with L, everyone had went silent. L was wearing a large winter coat with a white scarf wrapped out his neck. Inese felt sure that he was going to have some cocky grin on his face, yet when introduced he remained silent as he clung onto Quillsh's leg.

The first one to speak up was Alexander, who greeted them warmly, and introduced himself to L. L did the same, once again using the alias in place of his actual name.

Her father introduced L to Colten, who had a much better reaction to him than she did when she first met him. He grinned childishly, took L's hand and introduced himself as "the coolest older brother you'll ever have!"

L didn't respond to that. Perhaps it was because he simply didn't know how. It annoyed Inese how Colten was so accepting of the brat when he didn't even know what a little devil he could actually be. Yet, she remained calm, reminding herself that once he got the chance, L would reach deep into their mind and utterly creep everyone out.

After the introductions, L seemed to disappear from sight. She didn't see him in the kitchen while she helped make dinner. She was sure he's catch him trying to sneak some of the sweet off the tray. But no, he didn't show. He also wasn't in the living room, peering under the tree like a normal child would do, trying to guess the contents inside each present. Inese figured as such, seeing as he was anything but a normal child.

It wasn't until she had walked passed the deck did she find him. He was standing outside in the middle of the yard. It was snowing, and his raven colored hair had already collected quiet a bit of flurries. He wasn't doing anything, just standing there. He appeared to be looking up. Was he looking at something? Or maybe for something?

Inese stopped and watched him for a few minutes, but he didn't move from his spot. Despite her emotions towards L, she still couldn't help but wonder what he was doing. He was bound to be cold, that much was certain.

Sighing in exasperation, he took the blanket off the couch, wrapping it around herself for extra warmth, and ventured outside toward him.

If he noticed her, he didn't let on.

"What are you doing out here?" She asked once she got close enough to where he would hear her. "Aren't you cold?"

"No." He answered, not looking at her. "My coat is actually rather warm."

Inese raised an eyebrow, and looked up to where she guessed his eyes were placed. All she saw her a collection of grey snow clouds. Straining her eyes, she searched to find any image the clouds might be formed as. She found none.

"What are you looking at?" she questions curiously.

"Snow's really pretty, isn't it." He replied after a moment, completely changing the subject. "They say no two flakes are exactly alike, but I have a hard time believing that. Just look at the ground. There has got to be billions of flakes on the ground. To say no two are alike would be highly illogical."

"I-I suppose so..." There he goes, being creepy again.

"It's also so white. So pure, like hundreds of tiny angels slowly flying down from heaven."

Inese flinched back slightly, hugging the blanket closer to her chest. "If you choose to see it that way, I guess it could appear as such."

He still made no move to look at her, and she was growing more uncomfortable with every second. She had half a mind to run back inside the house and leave him here in the cold.

"How old were you when your mother died?"

"Excuse me?" She wasn't sure if he had seriously asked such a risqué question, or if she had heard wrong.

He repeated himself.

Inese bit her tongue to keep herself from snapping at him. Instead, to avoid further confrontation, she simply decided to give him a straight answer. "17 years old."

"I see." Inese might have imagined it, but there was a soft tone to his voice that sounded almost sad. "So you remember her well."

"Of course I do." She hugged the blanket even tighter, the evening chill just starting to set in. "What kind of person would forget their own mother."

At the sight of her own breath, she decided enough was enough, and turn back to go inside. L might have been following her. Then again, he might not have. Inese didn't really care at this point.

"I don't remember..." L spoke up, cause Inese to slow her step. "...her eyes."

She looked over her shoulder, about to question what he meant, but he continued.

"Her hair was black, like mine, though her skin was reasonably tanner. Maybe because she went outside more. She had a nice laugh, and a pretty voice. She would always sing to me before bed. I can still remember the words to her favorite lullaby. But her eyes. Whenever I try, I can never seem to recall exactly what they looked like."

It hit her like a sack of bricks that he was talking about his own mother. She knew he was an orphan, but she'd never pondered about what happened to his parents.

And as intelligent as he may be, he was still just a little kid.

Inese found herself back behind L, leaning down to reach his level. "Now I told you my age. It's only fair that you return the favor. How old were you, when it happened."

L seemed to hesitate a tiny bit, but then he answered, "I was five and a half."

That made her flinch. So it happened within the passed year. Inese bit her lip.

"What was her name?" She asked.

"Evelyn." L answered almost immediately. "Evelyn Rhyme Denault."

Something about that name sounded familiar to Inese, but she couldn't put her finger-

Her old baby sitter.

Oh, god.

Inese hadn't realized her hands had covered her mouth in a gasp till L finally looked at her. His dark, sad, grey eyes gazing at her curiously. It brought her back to when she was his age. Her mother doing homework on the kitchen table while her father worked away on yet another gadget. Evelyn and her sitting on the floor playing with building blocks or Barbie dolls or whatever they felt like playing with. Inese knew Evelyn wasn't that interested in toys, but so long as she was happy, Evelyn would keep playing till Inese was satisfied. She recalled the way her face lit up whenever she laughed, those deep grey orbs so full of life and brightness.

Eyes that L couldn't even remember.

"Come here." She told the boy, opening her arm. He jut stared at her, until decided go give into her wishes. She wrapped half the blanket around his shoulders. Then she pulled from her pocket the small make-up mirror she always made sure to carry around.

"Look in this mirror. What do you see?"

L did as instructed. "Me."

"Now what color are your eyes?"

"Grey."

"Come on, now." Inese said. " I know you can be more descriptive than that."

L looked in the mirror for a few more seconds. "Grey like those clouds. Kind of dark, but only in certain position."

Inese nodded, satisfied with this. "Now I want you to picture those same eyes on your mother. I have no doubt in my mind that you have your mothers eyes."

"How do you know." L looked up at her innocently, in a way that actually made him look younger than he was, rather than older.

"Because sharing your mothers eyes mean she's always watching you, though any bad times you may go though."

This was one of the few things she remembered Evelyn telling her back when she was small. She had been sad that her mother was always busy with school, so Evelyn cheered her up by telling her that same exact thing.

She didn't know if L would believe this, but he made no protest to deny it. Instead, he looked down at the snow on the ground. His fist were balled as if he wanted to say something, but held himself back. Inese wondered if it was because of her first impression on the boy. But then, he finally said something.

"Inese..." it was the first time he had ever said her name. "...does it ever get better? The sadness over losing someone, I mean."

Inese offered a comforting smile. "Of course it does. Your mother wouldn't want you to be sad forever, would she?"

She felt rather than saw him curl up into her chest, and clutch onto her shirt tightly. He wasn't the super genius toddler anymore. He was just a young boy, who needed comfort over something he had been pondering for who knows how long.

Inese picked him up, brought him inside where it was warm, and together they sat in front of the fire. For a very long time, L didn't move or say anything, and Inese later realized it was because he had fallen to sleep. She considered putting him in one of the guest bedrooms, but decided on just letting him rest there, leaning against her leg while she rubbed his back soothingly, the way her mother used to do for her.

And she realized, maybe L wasn't so bad after all.

She would meet the little boy known as L three more times. Once when her father visited her, and brought him alone. Another when Colten had gone on leave, and demanded a get together with his family, and finally when they had met up for lunch one summer afternoon.

It was on that lunch that he had pulled her aside and whispered something in here ear. It was just one word that at the time didn't mean much. A word that in just a few short years men would kill just to get a hint of what it might be. A word that only a handful of people would get the honor of knowing.

'Lawliet.'

As she looked back on her memories of him, she realized how her childish behavior almost ruined her chance to get to know one of the greatest detectives in the world. Just remembering that spark of jealously made her laugh at how silly she's been back then.

"Did you remember a joke, Inese?"

Dark grey eyes ringed with bags from lack of sleep started back at her from across the table. His knees were pulled up to his chest in that strange position of his. In his hand was a cup, filled with sugar flavored with coffee.

"Something like that." She took a sip of her own coffee, savoring the slightly bitter taste. Unlike Lawliet, she preferred her coffee unflavored. "So, can I ask about your next big case?"

"Los Angeles." He replied, sounding monotone and bored. It was always difficult to tell what his true emotions were. "That's all I can say. The rest is classified information."

She chuckled. "As it always is, Lawliet. Would you like some more coffee?"

He nodded, sliding his empty cup towards her. She refilled it. then places a bowl of sugar cubes on the table next to it. Lawliet immediately went to sweetening his drink, piling in five cubes at a time.

"Well, whatever you must do, I wish you the best of luck at bringing this criminal to justice."

He smiled, that same childish and innocent smile he had twelve years ago.

"Any new stories for your newspaper article?" He asked. Inese doubted he was really cared about such thing, but was just trying to be polite.

"Yes, actually." She answered. "A wealthy family was robbed the other day. Twenty thousand dollars stolen out of the house fault, plus some jewelry. However, the jewelry stolen wasn't very valuable. Police seemed stumped on who's behind it."

Lawliet took a sip of his coffee, then bit his thumb lightly, signalizing that he was thinking. Inese used this moment to grab a notepad and pen. "An old acquaintance of the family, obviously envious of their apparent wealth. Robbing them of a good portion of their money was his way of evening the playfield."

Inese wrote down his every word. "Do you have any proof to this claim?"

"The jewelry." He added two more sugar cubs to his drink. "If it wasn't valuable, then why would the family report it as missing. It must have sentimental value. And if the culprit did not know them personally, how else would he know to take it?"

Nodded, she finished writing. "And who can I put down to quote?"

"Denurve."

"Ah, third best in the world." She recalled how the man across from her was not only L, but also the second and third best detectives, Coil and Denurve. "Though must say, this case seems rather simple for someone of your caliber."

"Even if an artist could paint a masterpiece on canvas, they will always find pleasure in a doodle on paper."

Of course he would say something like that. He always did like to confuse her.

She watched him drain the rest of his coffee, then start munching on any leftover sugar cubes in the bowl. Always one for sweets. She always made sure she was always stocked with extra sugar, in case he decided to come visit. His visits were rare, and random. It may be a quiet winter afternoon, or in the middle of a huge crime investigation, but he'd just show up at her door for coffee. Inese never asked why he did this, and frankly, she didn't care. So long as she got to see him a few times a year.

And to think she wanted him put in an orphanage at one time. Funny how idiotic jealousy can make a person.