My Patient L

She had butterflies throughout the journey, which was almost four hours when she looked at the cars dashboard clock. Her bum was now numb beyond comprehension but she didn't want to interrupt her mother as she focused.

Lilly-rose (her mother liked flowers) could hardly hold back her excitement. She was a psychiatrist in training and was happily following her mother's footsteps; hence why she had been allowed to come to Wammy's home for gifted children in the first place.

But it wasn't just the fact that they were coming to this somewhat off the grid home that had Lily so immensely excited, no, it was the person they were coming to see that enthralled her.

Her mother was a high class psychiatrist, one of the best if not the best in the entire UK. She had bestselling books; four to be exact and has treated some of the most colourful, ingenious and on occasion highly dangerous people.

So with a reputation such as her mother's it wasn't surprising that she would be invited to such a place.

But it had taken a long time, a lot of phone calls and a lot of security checks to finally be allowed to come. They had both been sent numerous amounts of confidentiality contracts to sign; most of them were delivered personally by people in suits and blacked out glasses.

The contacts basically stated that they would not be allowed to tell anyone where they are going, where the home is, who they were going to see, what they will speak about and witness while at the home and if for any moment the contract is broken they would be prosecuted and jailed.

Lily had thought the last bit was a little extreme but when her mother had explained to whom she would be treating Lily soon changed her mind and understood completely.

So the person they had driven almost four hours for and had basically signed their lives away for was none other than the ruthless, secretive and brilliant detective L.

He was world famous and had worked cases from all over the world. Apparently he has returned from Japan from working on a serious and traumatic case. Of course her mother hadn't received a lot of information from the inside. But she and Lily had of course followed the Kira case and when it was all over everything went silent. The countries governments tried to delete everything about it from the internet.

It was too late however. The case was probably the most famous and unusual case in history. No one could explain how Kira could kill people from just knowing their face and names. There was something supernatural about it thought Lily, there was no rational explanation.

She had followed every moment of it, watched countless footage on internet both legal and illegal. She had to know everything.

L was brilliant as always. Apparently he came very close to becoming one of Kira's victims but that's all she had uncovered, everything was too secretive, too well hidden. It was frustrating but now she hopefully would be able to talk with the man himself.

Of course it was wishful thinking for her to think that she would be able to actually speak to L. She didn't know how her mother had convinced Wattari; who was the man in charge, to allow her to sit in the sessions and take notes. But her mother was persuasive and also her reputation probably helped sway things to her favour.

The one thing that wasn't explained in the contracts or by phone was the reason why L was having treatment. It was known that L was a brilliant and somewhat unusual character. But his mind was strong and nothing seemed to deter him...; at least that was what Lily and her mother had thought and had been told.

L wasn't known to have ever required psychiatric help, although he probably should have considering the sorts of cases he had dealt with Lily thought. He could be dangerous. Like a volcano building up pressure until it can't take anymore and just explodes destroying everything in its path.

L had certainly earned a reputation for being ruthless, arrogant, sneaky, mischievous, unrelenting, and having such a high intellect that no one except for his guardian Wattari who could come anywhere to matching it. He has also been labelled as a lunatic and was no better than the criminals he puts away.

Lily had never seen L as a criminal; well she hadn't seen him at all, no one had. He was always a mysterious synthetic voice within a screen behind the letter L.

But anyone who gave their life for justice; to hunt down and stop the criminals that had made this world into such a terrifying place to live was OK in her books.

Of course he would seem a little odd and arrogant given his intelligence and the back log of criminal names he has put behind bars. She didn't see anyone else doing as good of a job as he was. So he was allowed to be who he was, he deserved that right when he started putting criminals in their place. That's how she thought of it anyway.

They had finally arrived and when they had past the huge security gates and three guards they were on their way, driving up a very long driveway.

The house was in the middle of nowhere; surrounded by trees. No one would ever find this place; you would have to be looking for it to find it.

Her mother gripped the stirring wheel a little tighter when the huge house came into view. 'Oh my word.' Were the first words she had said in over an hour.

Oh my word was right. The house was huge and stunning. Old and gothic with what looked liked original stonework including a few gargoyles.

The stones were grey but seemed to shine as if polished when the sunlight hit them. The house had Ivy climbing all around its walls but otherwise seemed spotless, not even a crack could be spotted.

Lily smiled at her mother who smiled back warmly. 'I was hoping for it to look like this, I love old houses.' Lily happily said.

'I know you do but I doubt we will be allowed to explore.' Her mother answered.

'Yes I know. It's a shame. How long are we here for again?' Lily asked.

Her mother shrugged and bit her lip in concentration as she manoeuvred the car and parked just outside the front walls in the driveway. The gravel from the ground crunched under the tyres as she reversed the car and then stopped and turned off the engine.

They book took off their seatbelts but neither went to get out of the car. They just sat in silence taking in the grandeur of the house.

When her mother sighed beside her Lily turned quickly to face her. 'What's wrong? Are you nervous?'

Her mother nodded truthfully. 'A little yes. I can't quite believe that I have been asked here personally, I just hope I'm up for the challenge.'

Lily widened her eyes in surprise; she had never heard her mother doubt herself before. 'Mum you'll be fine, this is huge for you and I'm so proud of you. You would never have been asked if you weren't brilliant in what you do. You will find a way to help him, no matter how challenging it may be.' She hoped her words sounded encouraging as she didn't want to admit it but she knew this would not be easy for her mother. Who knew what they were about to face.

They finally got out of the car and before her mother had opened the trunk to get their luggage two men in uniform came scuttling out of the house, opened the trunk and started to pull out their luggage for them.

Her mother stepped back in surprise. 'Oh...Why thank you, thank you.' Was all she could say.

Lily giggled, 'quite the service.' She muttered.

Her mother followed them to the house where a butler had stepped out and greeted her.

Lily took that time to look around the front of the house and noticed a figure in one of the top floor windows. She couldn't see who it was as the sun was glaring in her face, but when she looked again they had gone.

'Welcome to Wammy's School for gifted children. I am the head butler Bertram.' He bows politely.

He was the stereotypical butler, balding, middle aged if not older, a snobbish but charming demeanour. But his eyes were kind and his smile seemed real.

Her mother straightened as did Lily. 'Hello Bertram, I am Doctor Vivian Everly and this is my daughter Lily.

Lily smiles and gives a little nod instead of a handshake as she wasn't sure if butlers did handshake. From the way Bertram was standing with his arms behind his back it wouldn't seem so.

Bertram nodded and smiled politely. 'Pleasure. Now if you will like to follow me I will show you to the library where Sir Wattari will come and meet you. Then after that you will be shown to your rooms and then you will have luncheon with Sir Wattari and Sir L.'

Lily's heart skipped a beat, L. They would be meeting him soon, how exciting this all was she thought. She kept her composure and walked side by side with her mother as they were shown to the library.

Of course the house was huge and beautifully decorated. There was wood everywhere; wooden floors, wooden carvings, wooden picture frames, wooden staircases and banisters. It was extremely luxurious and smelt of log fire and cinnamon. Red and purple velvet carpets hugged the floors; gold shimmered from door knobs and candelabras. It was dream home almost magical in a sense.

Bertram pulled open two huge sliding doors revealing an impressive room filled wall to wall with books; there was even one of those sliding wooden ladders to reach the very top shelves.

Oddly enough the curtains covering the huge windows were closed. So the room was lit with soft lighting from lamps that were scattered around the room.

Then Lily suddenly realised it was a library and the sun was no friend to books as it made them fade over time. That's why every book in the room looked in pristine condition even though some of them she could tell were very old. Lily loved books so she would notice such things.

'Please have a seat and Sir will be with you shortly.'

They both said thank you and with that Bertram left them alone and closed the doors.

'Mum, this place is unbelievable. It's stunning; I wonder how old it is...?'

'Oh I believe constructing started in the early 16th century and was finally completed five years after. But since then it has had considerable work done but thankfully still holds some of its original features.' Came a male voice suddenly from behind them.

Both Lily and her mother stood up in surprise and turned around to find a young man standing in the doorway from the other side of the room.

From the tone of his voice Lily had expected to see a man in a suit or at least someone that was well groomed...; that was not the case with this man.

He was dressed in blue baggy jeans and a white, long sleeved top. His hair was black, long and messy and stuck out at the ends almost into points; he reminded her of a hedgehog. He also didn't have any shoes or socks on, not even slippers. It was a very odd sight but she couldn't deny that she found him very attractive. Although he had huge dark circles under his eyes he was beautiful. He had sharp pointed features, delicate lips and huge dark eyes that seemed to stare into your soul. Some would find that stare intimidating but Lily found it exciting.

'Oh, hello there.' Her mother was the first to speak. 'I am Doctor Everly and this is my daughter Lily.'

'Yes I know who you are Doctor, your reputation precedes you.' He answered quickly but his voice was kept at a monotone level. Then his eyes fixed onto Lily.

Lily took in a breath and felt her cheeks start to flush, she felt so embarrassed with herself. But she smiled and tried to seem professional.

'However I was not expecting you, are you also a shrink?'

Lily raised her eyebrows a little confused by his informality. But she smiled warmly and answered, 'Yes, well I am in training so almost there.' She grimaced internally; why she sounded so girly and childish all of a sudden was beyond her. Why was she so thrown off by his presence alone? Who was this unusual man? She thought.

'I have discussed this with Mr Wattari in great detail and he agreed for Lily to be able to sit in the sessions and take notes. She has signed all the confidentiality agreements as have I.' her mother smiled throughout her sentence but kept her voice firm and professional.

His expression didn't change and then with a quiet 'hmm' he started to walk around the room. He had sort of a hunched walked and his feet slid across the floor. It was a very slow and lethargic walk.

It seemed a long time before he started to speak again. He didn't look up at them this time, just looked ahead and sometimes glanced down as he stroked the furniture he passed.

'You are here to treat L correct?' It was more of a statement than a question.

'Yes that is correct. But I'm afraid I won't be able to speak anymore about it, only with Mr Wattari. Do you perhaps know when he will be with us?' He mother sounded a little too eager as this man was probably making her feel uncomfortable Lily thought.

The man stopped in front of the sliding doors that they had come through. He pulled one of them open keeping his eyes on them.

Suddenly an older man came through the door. He wore glasses, had white hair a moustache and again a warm and kind smile. 'Oh, please forgive me; I was caught up in a very important phone call.' He apologised politely.

He shook each of their hands. 'Welcome and thank you for coming all this way Doctor Everly. It's a pleasure to meet you finally.'

Her mother smiled and then introduced Lily once again. 'And this is my daughter Lily.'

'Ah yes the doctor in training, I am sure you will receive more than enough experience from the sessions ahead.'

'Yes hopefully, I am looking forward to them.' She glances quickly back at the strange man who was staring back at her with no obvious emotion.

They hold each other's stare for a few more moments before he turns slowly and walks out the room without a word.

Mr Wattari motions for her and her mother to sit again.

'Ah I must apologise again, it is against my custom to keep guests waiting for so long.'

'Please don't worry yourself so Mr Wattari; your home and your impressive library kept us entertained.' Her mother charms.

'As did one of the residents did for a short time.' Lily pointed out quickly.

'Ah yes...I suspect he didn't introduce himself?' Wattari says with a hint of humour.

'No he didn't.' Said he mother.

'Who is he?' Lily asked.

Wattari chuckled a little, 'He rarely makes good impression on people as socialising and basic manners don't come naturally to him I'm afraid.' He says as he motions for a butler to fetch some tea.

It suddenly dawned on Lily who that strange but attractive man was.

She gasps and puts her hand to her mouth, 'you don't mean? That was him?' She stutters somewhat.

Wattari nods and smiles while picking up a cup from the butler's tray. He plops two sugars in and stirs the golden spoon in the delicate little teacup.

'Yes that was L.'

Lily and Vivian both look at each other wide eyed.

'I...I wanted to introduce myself more thoroughly to him; if I had known...' He mother splutters.

'No no please don't trouble yourself Doctor Everly. I must say I am somewhat taken back that L made himself known to you so quickly and the fact that he spoke to you well; let's just say it's not normal behaviour but then again he hasn't been quite himself lately. That's why you are here after all.' He smiles at them both.